Charge it to My Card

The title of my sermon today is... Charge it to my card. Charge it to my card. You ever said that? Have you ever heard that? Hopefully you can hear it a lot. You may have said that's a strange title for a sermon. But I want to talk about charging things or putting something on an account. Do any of you here have an American Express black card? It's called Centurion card. Does anybody? You have one. Oh, okay. American Express, you have one in the back?

Yes, I would think so. Yes, yes it is. The American Express black card, the apex of credit cards, apex of credit. I researched it because I have an American Express card, but it's not a black card. But it has an unlimited, they say you really can't, but it has almost an unlimited amount of charge power credit that you're given. If you want to get one of these cards, you have to be invited. It's by invitation only. You get that by having some of the other cards or your credit. If you decide to have this card, it's going to cost you a $10,000 initiation fee, and then you'll have a yearly fee of $5,000 to have the card. And you also have to spend a minimum of $100,000 per year charge on that card. I don't see anybody here flashing their card, but you may see it on, see it in rap videos, you see it in movies and TV shows if somebody wants to feel like they want to show they have money or power. The black card was created a few years ago because there were certain entertainers. Elton John was one who put over a million dollars on his American Express platinum card that he had at the time. There is a platinum card, which is the next step down, quite a step down, because the platinum card cost $695 a year, comes with certain perks, and you can spend at one time up to $100,000 to buy something. Now with the black card, you can buy cars, houses, people bought yachts, they have that much credit. This is a little different. It says it doesn't have a cap, but if you go and buy something for $100,000, you may find the next purchase. It may be different.

These are a MasterCard sapphire card, which is also on the level of the platinum card that's out there. But then there is, of course, the gold card. American Express gold card. I don't know what it costs, but it has certain perks with it, and you're not limited by the amount you purchase at one time, other than less than $100,000.

I bring this out because credit is good. It's good to have credit. It's not always good when you have credit cards, because American Express credit cards, you have to pay them off. They have a place now where they're trying to get you not to pay it off, but they've always had that. You got to pay it off every month. You don't let you just buy, but you can carry it over. I bring that out because most of us can relate to having a charge account where we don't have to pay right then and there.

Back in Tennessee, when I had my construction company, we had a hardware store right up on the square. The man and his family has been in family for all the years called Holden's Hardware. They just had an account. I still have one because when I was up working with Mike well back, I went in there and picked something up and they said, oh you want to put it on your account.

Well, I sold my company. Maybe I should have, but that wouldn't have been right. I said, no, I'll pay cash for this. They were willing to put it on Mike in because I had the account for over 20 years. You just go in and get something and it's on your account. Back years ago, someone would call, put it on my tab.

You hear those phrases. In fact, I remember the old, what is it, the bar joke. A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says, why such a long face? A duck walks into the bar and says, let me have a beer and put it on my bill. We all know about a bill because bills come due so many times.

So today, I want to talk about an interesting story I think we can all relate to. Hopefully, at this time of the year, it's very appropriate. It's a story of three individuals that really existed. It's a story of one individual who owed something to this other individual.

The main thrust of the story is not just the two individuals, but the man in the middle. Because there's a man in the middle of this story. It is very good for us because I read this. I've read it many times. Each time, I get something a little more deeply that I can use in my life. It's in one book of the Bible. It's actually a letter instead of a book. It happens to be the shortest letter that Paul ever wrote in the Bible.

Of the 13 books that he wrote, this is the shortest. You can actually read it in two minutes, but yet its impact is incredible. It may be Paul's shortest letter, but it's long on the meaning of agape, why we're here and how we live. So, who is this guy? The letter is written to a man by the name of Philemon.

Philemon is a short book, short letter, and it's a personal letter. Different than the letters Paul writes to the churches because this one is directed to this individual, Philemon. He's in the church, and Paul is writing this from prison. You understand Paul was really arrested three times. He served two different times of serious time. His last time they killed him, but the time before that he served three years, maybe even four years, in a Roman station at home.

He could be he was in prison, but it was in someone's home, and so he just had to stay there until they decided what to do with him. So, he was able to have visitors and write letters, which he did to the churches. He wrote to the church of Colossae, he wrote to Ephesus, and he wrote this letter to an individual called Philemon. And so, what's interesting about this is it is about reconciliation, being reconciled one man to another man, but it's deeper than that.

It's because Philemon is a wealthy, extremely wealthy individual in the church. Paul is in the middle, and he's writing this letter on behalf of another man in the church, and his name was Onesimus. Onesimus. So, you had Onesimus, you had Philemon, and you had Paul in the middle. And Paul's job was to get Philemon to reconcile and see Onesimus as his brother in Christ. Okay, what's the big problem? The problem was Onesimus was a slave.

Philemon was rich and had slaves, and one of those was Onesimus. And Paul makes the leap that wasn't made back then of, you need to be equals.

Even though he is your slave, which would be like, what? Romans would be going, huh? Now, what is interesting is that Onesimus, his name means useful. But he wasn't very useful, obviously. The thought from theologians is that Onesimus was in Colossae as a slave to Philemon. And Onesimus decides, can't take this anymore. I'm leaving. And he runs away. Now, it was legal to have slaves then. There were different types of slaves. There were different things, different reasons why you became a slave, whether it was debt or whether you were a conquered individual or a conquered nation that became slaves. And there were penalties for slaves running away. They could be beaten. They could even be killed. So, here we see the backdrop of the story is that Onesimus ran away from Philemon, a rich man in the church. Was he mistreated? Some have speculated that Onesimus from the writings may have stolen something. Or maybe he was just lazy. We don't know. But why would he have stolen something? Let's look at Colossae, because he escaped and ran away from Colossae and went all the way to Rome to see Paul. Did he know Paul? Had he heard of Paul? Seems obvious that he did for some reason. Why didn't he just run and just say, I'm leaving that behind?

Well, he could have been brought back as a runaway slave.

So, I know none of you are GPS experts, but how far do you think he ran from Colossae to Rome? Anybody have any idea? Yes. 26 miles. That'd be a marathon. First marathon runner.

This is what got me, because I didn't understand it. So, I looked it up. 1300 miles. 1300 miles. From Miami to Cincinnati, Ohio is 1300 miles. I know, because I had to drive it. That's a long way. You know what's interesting about slaves at that time? Is that Rome had anywhere between a third and a half, depends on who you read, of their entire population of Rome were slaves. A lot of slaves! Of course, you also have to realize Rome conquered quite a few countries, quite a few peoples, cities, and that slaves were so common then, at the time, that this letter was written that you could trade seven men slaves for one horse. So, a horse was worth more than seven men. Not to be sexist, but I want to be fair. It was 14 women and one horse. So, you can see slaves were very common.

How could you tell a slave from a regular person? There was one sure way it was a Roman law. Slaves could not wear shoes. If you saw somebody wandering around, they didn't have shoes. Guess what? They weren't from Tennessee or Kentucky. They were from...they were a slave. They were not allowed to wear shoes. That's how you could determine whether it was a slave or not. Imagine 1300 miles with no shoes.

That's the story we're looking at here. That's the impression that we get.

And that he came to Rome and looked up Paul, which was the preacher to Colossae. So, obviously, being Paul spent a lot of time. We don't have any record of him spending much time in Colossae, but we do in Ephesus, and Ephesus was only 100 miles away. So, it's possible that Onesimus had heard of Paul or knew of him because for some reason, he goes 1300 miles to appeal to him, to hear from him. And it leaves Paul as being the middleman, an advocate. And Paul became a broker of peace, you might say, an agape broker, because Paul was going to then introduce the Paul credit card, figuratively, going to introduce the Paul credit card and say, put this on my account. So, I'd like to go there now. If you will with me, I'll be reading from the New Living Translation. Philemon is just before the book of Hebrews, and I'll read this very quickly. It doesn't take long, and touch on a few things, but if you'll join me in this reading, whether you have a New King James or whatever you have, I'll just read this one. So, the book of Philemon. Verse 1, this letter is from Paul, a prisoner for preaching the good news about Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. So, Timothy is staying in under house arrest with Paul helping his boss, his mentor. And it says, I am writing to Philemon. Our beloved coworker and our sister, Athea, which is believed to be Philemon's wife. And to our fellow soldier, Archippus. Archippus is believed to be the minister who is overseeing the church in Colossae for Paul. And it is believed that Archippus happened to be the son of Philemon. A little intrigue there. This letter is written. It said, May God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. I always thank my God when I pray for you, Philemon, because I keep hearing about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people. And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ. Your love has given me much joy and comfort. My brother, for your kindness, has often refreshed the hearts of God's people. So he's been a fine example at the church in Colossae, and he's being commended for it. That is why, in verse 8, I am boldly asking you a favor. I could command it in the name of Christ because it is the right thing for you to do. But because of your love, I prefer simply to ask you, consider this as a request from me, Paul, an old man, which he would be in his 50s, something in the 60 age range, and now a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus. I appeal to you to show kindness to my child, Onesimus. It's interesting that it was considered at the time, if you took someone and you worked with them, pertaining to God's law, like Timothy. Paul took Timothy. Paul took Titus. They were younger, and he taught them. Then it became known as a father-son relationship, a spiritual father-son relationship. I think we can see here. So Onesimus had come there to Paul. I appeal to you to show kindness to my child, Onesimus. Well, that's how I strong. That's my child now. Don't go messing with people's children, right? I became his father in the faith while here in prison. So Paul had taught him. Onesimus hasn't been of much use to you in the past, but now he is very useful to both of us. I am sending him back to you, and with him comes my own heart. I wanted to keep him here with me while I am in these chains for preaching the good news, and he would have helped me on your behalf, because he was a slave. Paul was using that time that Onesimus was obviously doing things to help Paul, the Roman churches being there were many churches.

But I didn't want to do anything without your consent. I wanted you to help because you were willing, not because you were forced. It seems you lost Onesimus for a little while so that you could have him back forever. He is no longer like a slave to you. He is more than a slave, for he is a beloved brother, especially to me. Now he will mean much more to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord. So he was a converted individual now, but still a slave. So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you welcome me. If he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. I'll pay. Maybe it was hurt feelings. Maybe it was money. Maybe he had to steal some items, had to steal some food, had to steal some stuff, because you're traveling 1,300 miles. You're going to just walk out and go, the Lord will provide.

But Paul says, charge it to me. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. That's a big account. Does he know how much? Don't know. And I won't mention that you owe me your very soul. That's calling in a big marker there, but he's reminding him. Guess what? You wouldn't even know God and understand God without me. Yes, my brother, please do me this favor. So he's not just demanding, but he's also strong in his writings. For the Lord's sake, give me this encouragement in Christ. I am confident as I write this letter to you, I write this letter that you will do what I ask and even more. For you see, it's known that Philemon, the church, was in his house.

He had a big enough house that the church met there in Colossae. And so Paul is appealing to this individual, this person that he loves. He's calling in a favor, but he's also saying, don't blame him, blame me. If he sinned against you, don't hold it against him. If you need to hold it against somebody, hold it against me. We haven't seen this in Paul's writings any other place like this, because it's really a personal letter. But there's an interesting word that's used in not only verse 16, but it's used 20 different times in the New Testament. And it is a Greek word, and it not only stands for the partner, but the brother. And the Greek word is koinonia.

Interesting word. You may have even seen this church's name, koinonia. And that word never existed or never used in Scripture until after the Holy Spirit was given. All the writings of the Gospel are just not in there. But it's interesting that it means a partner, but more than a partner, it means a Christian fellowship. It means a brotherhood to be joined together spiritually. Think about that.

Philemon, society-rich, Onesimus, the slave, the, you know, barely human in the food chain. And now Paul, the broker, is coming up and saying, there's a brotherhood, there's a Holy Spirit bonding you together. So forgive him and do it on my account. Strong words. You may not have wanted to do it. It's interesting that Philemon is Paul's only letter that does not mention Christ's death and resurrection. Every other book does. But every other book was written to church, not just to an individual. So there's a great deal of heart poured into Philemon. He shows his agape because he has to, and he doesn't mind using the word, coionina. He wanted just to understand. He wanted Philemon to understand. He educated which man. He would have known what that word meant.

And so, was it more of an elevation of Onesimus? Or a coming down of Philemon?

What do you think? That's what Paul's asking him to do. And if you need to have me help you do that, I want you to do that. Well, it's interesting that if we can turn over Philippians. Philippians. Back up. Didn't mark this. I just thought about this. Now Philippians 2. Philippians 2 and verse 1. Philippians is such a powerful to the church, Philippi. And in chapter 2 and verse 1, I'll be reading as I have from the New Living Translation. Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from His love? Any koinonia? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? So, this is what binds us. So, why 1 John 1.3 talks about koinonia with God and Christ, that we need it. It's that brotherhood. It makes us closer than blood because it ties to spirit. It helps us put away a lot of things, doesn't it? When we're able to look at someone.

Remember what it said here in this very chapter in Philippians 2 verse 1. Esteem others better than yourself. Now, that is one of the most difficult scriptures in the entire Bible. You don't live like me because it is. Esteem this scumbag over here. No, he's not a scumbag, Chuck. This low life, it's not about bringing Him up. It's about bringing us down. To a humble state of mind because Christ just didn't die for all these special people in this room, did He? We could all go, you know, this is great. Christ died for us.

Everyone, even those that hated Him, that treated Him bad. What Paul did was Paul saw value in an individual. Haven't you done that before? You may have judged somebody right off. You may have said, well, yeah, that person, he's a loser or she's a loser. I don't want to have anything to do it. And later on, you kind of get to know the person and you go, wow, they're pretty good. And you begin to understand them. This is what Paul did with Onesimus. Onesimus, he had to have won it.

Man, you travel 1,300 miles and you're here? You could have been 1,300 miles and been on away, far away. But you didn't. You came here and he started working with him. And he saw this incredible value that he had. And he changed the man and the man changed. I'll tell you a true story. True story. There's a man by the name of George C. Bolt. George C.

Bolt. You ever seen him before? He's a little older than you guys. Older than I am. George C. Bolt was a manager in a small little hotel in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia. And he was a night manager and wasn't a big prestigious hotel or anything.

But the amazing part was that late one night, it was cold in Philadelphia, it was raining. This older couple came in, older man and woman. And they came in and said, do you have a room? We just can't travel any further. And he said, no, all of our rooms are full. I was about to turn in myself because I booked all my rooms. And they said, oh. And he said, well, and this was 1929. And so he said, because they had a phone at that time, let me call.

There was no other, everybody was full. He couldn't get a hold of anybody. And so they said, well, I guess we'll just try to drive on to New York. And he said, no, don't do that. It's raining, it's miserable. He said, I'll tell you what, I've got this little cot in this back room back here. Why don't you? I hate to see somebody as nice as you people. Do they just take my room back there.

And then in the morning, you can get up when it's daylight, maybe rain stop, and you can go. They say, yeah, but what are you going to do? And he said, I'll just sleep on this little couch out here. You know? So he did. The older couple got up in the morning and there was George C.

Bolt had a coffee ready for him and said, here, I'll get this for on your way. So, I hope you slept okay. Just incredibly nice. They said, well, yeah, thank you. And the older man said, you know, you need to be manager of a really nice hotel. He said, maybe someday I'll build you that hotel. Two years later, 1931, William Waldorf Astor built the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. 1931. He built that hotel, the nicest hotel in the entire country at the time.

It's still there today. But in 1931, you can imagine, and as they were finishing the hotel, George C. Bolt received a letter with a train ticket and some money that says, show up at this address. And when he got there, the older man turned to him and said, I built you a hotel and I want you to be the manager. George C. Bolt was a little taken back. He said, I saw you do what you didn't have to do.

And I want that at the best hotel in the entire country. Amazing part, George C. Bolt, of course, took the job. But he also instituted things in hotels that's even done today that were never done back then. Room service, all these extra little things that were never done at that time. Matter of fact, George C. Bolt then became a very wealthy man, as he was paid well, but he invested his money in New York property. I bring that story because the old man and old woman saw value in someone that others didn't see.

And he was rewarded for being that way. What do you think our reward is for treating people and holding them up here and not down here?

The largest line of credit ever was given to Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. Now, what does Christ tell us? Put it on me. We're all guilty of sin. We're all guilty of the death penalty, according to the Bible. And Christ said, put it on me. Put it on my account. Charge it to my card. And hopefully we do every single day. We walk. We get up off our knees and walk debt free every day, because of that incredible credit card that was established 2,000 years ago. He also told us to turn the other cheek, didn't he? That was something new when he walked on earth. Turn the other cheek. Well, no! If he gets one smack, I get at least one. Right? Sometimes we want two. But he said, no, take it. Take it. What an example to us. He's saying, take one for the team, isn't he? That's what Christ taught. It's amazing because Paul. Paul learned that. He learned that all sin, all debt was put on Jesus Christ's account, and he was willing to take it.

Imagine us being able to do that. But God doesn't require us to die for all humanity that's already been done. But he asked us to what? Die daily. He asked us to become living sacrifices. The problem is too many times we crawl off the altar, don't we? Brethren, we have the opportunity, especially as we focus in in the next few weeks, of being like Christ. And it starts up here, doesn't it? It has to get up here before it can get in here to where we can then realize and thank God.

For the debt that was paid for us.

Or think about it just one second.

Are we great debt collectors? Are we great debt collectors? We won't forget who owes us. And I want to collect that debt. If not, it's going to stay in here.

God wants us to be the farthest thing from a debt collector. We need to be like Christ and take it if somebody doesn't. I remember, and I wish I could get this out of my head, but it popped back in here that 44 years ago, this guy borrowed in a church, a friend of mine, borrowed 50 bucks from me and he never paid it back. And I'm still carrying that.

Why? Because later on he became a lawyer. Now, okay, here's the money. He didn't give me that 50 bucks. He never even brought it up again. Am I going to carry that? I have. Otherwise, I should all... I shouldn't even remember. Shouldn't remember his face, but I see his face right here. This... I speak to me with the sermon because of what Paul was trying to teach Philemon. A whole lot more than a slave. It's worth a whole lot more than 50 bucks. After 40 years... am I going to remember it 50 years? Shame on me. Shame on us. So, brethren, we can be thankful that our debt was paid in full. Our debt was paid in full. And he's asking us...

Christ does. Paul did. Charge it to my card. Charge it to my card. Paul did it. Christ did it. Can we? Can we? Can we write some debt off this year before we take that wine, before we take that bread?

As he's forgiven us, so we should forgive others.

As you charge your card.

Because spiritually, I hope you have the black card.