Philemon 1:1-21 "All Things Work Together For Good'

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, to the beloved Apphia, to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the assembly in your house: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, hearing of your love, and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all the saints; that the fellowship of your faith may become effective, in the knowledge of every good thing which is in us in Christ Jesus. For we have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. Therefore though I have all boldness in Christ to command you that which is appropriate, yet for love’s sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beg you for my child, whom I have become the father of in my chains, Onesimus, 11 who once was useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me. I am sending him back. Therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the Good News. 14 But I was willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness would not be as of necessity, but of free will. For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while, that you would have him forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much rather to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then you count me a partner, receive him as you would receive me. But if he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, put that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it (not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self besides). Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord. 21 Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even beyond what I say. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:28 “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purposes.” The reason for starting with this verse is because it contains the three essential components of today’s message: the goodness of the Lord, our proper response to him which is love, and our calling by God. Today’s text is Philemon 1: 1-21. The background for the text is that Paul is in prison in Rome. It was in Rome where the other prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians were written. The time is 60 A.D. To get some perspective of this, Jesus was crucified in 32 A.D., this is 60 A.D. and the last epistle of Revelations was written in 90 A.D. Here, Paul is an old man and describes himself as “a prisoner of Christ.’ Not a prisoner for Christ as though he is suffering in Jesus’ behalf, but instead a prisoner of Christ, where Christ is the master and he is the suffering servant. Recall how Paul obtained the office of apostle. He was a zealot of the Pharisee sect when he was on the road to Damascus to make a house to house search for Jesus’ followers when Jesus meets him on that road and says “Paul, Paul, why do you persecute me? You are a chosen instrument of mine and you will preach to gentiles and their kings, and suffer much for my name’s sake.” At this time in Rome, the Caesar was Nero who was the cruelest of Rome’s leaders. But because Paul’s reputation preceded him to Rome, the Caesar gave him some leeway in his confinement and allowed certain visitors such as John Mark and Luke the physician. In this context, Paul is a prisoner in chains and encounters a run-away slave whose name is Oneismus. He was property of one of his converts from Colosee whose name is Philemon. Oneismus was led to the Lord by Paul’s sharing of the gospel and he became important to Paul’s ministry in Rome and became an emissary of Paul. An emissary is a representative of another. Just as Paul was an apostle and represents Jesus, Oneismus became a representative of Paul in building the church in Rome. In this time, the punishment for a run-away slave was death, but Paul decides to send him back to Philemon, not as a slave, but a emissary of Paul and a fellow brother in Christ. Paul suggests that the run-away of Oneismus was the providence of Christ supplying him a needed someone to carry out his work. Paul had no intention of Oneismus remaining with Philemon, but instead wanted him to send him back to Paul because Oneismus had become profitable to Paul (Oneismus means “profitable”). He wanted Philemon to do this with the right heart attitude. To understand what Jesus defines the right heart attitude, let’s refer to Revelation chapter two where Jesus is judging the seven churches of Asia (All churches planted by Paul). To the angel of the Church of Ephesus, write what he who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven golden candle sticks says. “I know of your hard work and how you hate those who call themselves apostles and are not. I know how you worked to show them to be liars. I know of your patience for my name’s sake and your labor, but this I have against you: you have left your first love. So remember from where you have fallen and repent. Return to your first work or I will come quickly and remove your golden candle stick, unless you repent. What we learn is that the Lord desires that our giving and service be from a motivation of love and if it is not, he will remove us as his representative. When it comes to our calling, we will remain in the Pauline epistles in 1 Corinthians 7: 20-24 and learn “Live the life the Lord has appointed to you and for which God has called you. This is my advice to all the churches. But many of us don’t know our calling and if we don’t we should pray that God reveal it to us. But whatever you do, do not do it for the sake of man but for Christ. Did not Jesus say “whenever you have done it to the least of this my brethren, you have done it to me.” So if you go to work and you are a roofer, isn’t that supplying safety to this family? Isn't this service to the Lord? Of course it is. Whatever way you earn your living, make it your ministry and service of love toward the Lord. We have been preaching for weeks how all of us ought to read the Bible more. This book is a small book and to remember what we said today, let’s outlines it as follows: 1. Paul’s introduction of himself as an Apostle and Prisoner of Christ. 2. Paul encounters Oneismus and he becomes profitable to Paul. 3. Oneismus becomes Paul’s representative 4. He is sent back to a convert in Colosee who is Philemon, but as a brother in Christ. 5. He seeks his return based on his gift of love and service to Christ. 6. Oneismus is profitable to both Paul and Philemon. The lessons we can learn from this short book are the following: 1. The Lord is good all the time. 2. Our proper response to him who loved us first by going to the Cross in my place is an attitude of love in my gifts and service. 3. All persons are called and whatever you find to do with your hands, do it for the Lord and not for man. 4. Bring your gifts and service for the love of the Lord. ALL THINGS COME TOGETHER FOR GOOD FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD AND ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSES. AMEN.