Lessons From Philemon

Alright, we're going to do something a little different here today. It'll be more of a Bible study approach. There is one letter written by the Apostle Paul that is a private letter. And it's written to a man whose name is Philemon. And it's only 25 verses long, but it is a marvel as a study of tact and diplomacy. And I think there's a lot that we can learn from that because surely we have all made our mistakes.

I know that I certainly have. So let's go ahead and turn to the book of Philemon, which is tucked away there between the pastoral epistles and the book of Hebrews. And as I said, only 25 verses in length. The title of the letter comes from the name of the Adressee, as we see in verse 1.

In the middle of verse 1, to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer. Now, Philemon, the evidence says that he lived in the city of Colossae. And Colossae was in Asia Minor, quite close to the city of Laodicea.

We notice in verse 19 that Philemon had been converted through the ministry of Paul. So verse 19, I, Paul, am writing with my own hand, I will repay. And then he says, not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. And this probably means that Paul was the one who taught and then baptized Philemon whenever he was in the area of Colossae. We will see that there was a church meeting in Philemon's home.

This probably means that he was rather well-to-do, would have been highly regarded. It is not known, and it does not matter if he was ordained to any office in the church at all. Now, on this book, as we've gone through the general epistles, we sometimes will comment on how modern Biblical criticism may question whether certain books in the New Testament were actually written, say, by Peter or James or Paul. With this letter, there is almost no question. It seems beyond any doubt that Paul is the author.

Inside the book, Paul refers to himself three times. Verse 1, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. Verse 9, in the middle, being such a one as Paul the aged. And then, as we read in verse 19, I, Paul, have written this one with my own hand. The placement of this little, short, private letter in the New Testament canon has been widely recognized from early on. There is very little question about whether this one should be in the Bible. There are surely a lot of letters that Paul would have written, but most of them have not been preserved.

But you have some of the early writers referring to this book as having been written by Paul. It is referred to by Ignatius, Tertullian, Origen, Eusevius, and it was in the meritorian canon into the second century. Now, the epistle is brief, and it is a private topic. There is no proof, no defense of doctrine or of the Gospel in this. It is a private letter, the only private letter that we have of Paul's. And we might wonder, why did it make the New Testament? Well, the answer, if nothing else, is that it is a most marvelous example of tact and diplomacy, and I think we will benefit a great deal from going through this.

The date of the book, probably 60-62 AD. I know I'm using that word probably a lot. Probably 60-62 AD, because Paul is writing from his imprisonment in Rome. Now, verse 1, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Verse 9, Paul, the aged and now prisoner of Jesus Christ. Verse 23, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus. So, three places he refers to the fact that he is in prison. This would align it time-wise with his prison epistles. We normally think of his prison epistles as Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, because in those he very clearly says, I am a prisoner or I am a bond slave of Jesus Christ.

He was not only a prisoner of the Roman Empire, but he was more importantly a bond slave of Jesus Christ, because he had given his life to Christ. Let's go back just a little to Colossians 4.

Colossians 4. And notice, let's pick it up here in verse 7. Colossians 4 verse 7, A beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord will tell you all the news about me. So, this letter is going to the church at Colossae. And again, the evidence points to Philemon being a member there at Colossae, again, a city near Laodicea.

I am sending him to you for this very purpose that he may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts. With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you. So, this helps. We will get into the book of Philemon, and essentially the story involves this Onesimus was a runaway slave. He was the property of Philemon. He apparently stole from Philemon.

I mean, a runaway slave would have no money of his own, so he had to steal some money. And then he ends up in Rome, of all places, where he can probably just disappear into the masses. And somewhere along in the course of time, he comes into contact with the Apostle Paul, who is imprisoned there. Now, Paul, as you remember, late in the book of Acts, Paul was taken prisoner there at Jerusalem, basically for his own safety.

Later, he's transported down to Caesarea, down on the coast. He spent two years there. Then, late in Acts, Chapter 27, you have the story of the transport by ship over to Rome. And then, Chapter 28, it ends, the book of Acts ends, by stating that he was in his own hired house for two years. So, he waited two years before he had his appeal to Caesar.

He had his chance to see Nero before Nero went totally bonkers a little bit later on. So, Paul has now been cooling his heels two years in Caesarea, and then, some time during his Roman imprisonment, he's writing letters. So, this letter to Colossae is one of his prison epistles, and he's telling them, I'm going to send Titicus, a minister, and I'm going to send with him this Onesimus.

Because, as we get into Philemon, we realize one of the things Paul had to do, he would have been legally bound, and it's morally the right thing to do, is send the slave back home. Much like, once upon a time, I finished church, there was a young man sitting there, and he was in his army dress uniform. And he came to me as soon as church was over, and he said, Mr. Dobson, I want to tell you that I'm AWOL. And I said, I think the best advice I can give you is, you better call, turn yourself in, and take your licks. If you want out of the army, there is a legal way to go about it.

And you better, you know, you signed on the dotted line, so you better do what the army tells you. So, anyhow, Paul is sending this slave back to his owner. But again, we'll see in the book of Philemon, he's asking him, don't receive him as a slave. It's more than implied, set him free. He's your brother in Christ now. So, in verse 9, they will, middle of verse 9, they will make known to you all things that are happening here. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you with Mark, the cousin of Barnabas.

Well, he goes on here, but these very names are basically the same names that are going to be mentioned as he's wrapping up the little short letter to Philemon. So, Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians and sent it with Titicius and Onesimus back. Now, in this book of Philemon, if we go back over there, we have three main characters.

Onesimus is the runaway slave. We have Philemon, who is the aggrieved slave owner, church member, congregation meets in his house. And, of course, we have the Apostle Paul. And so, the little book is about their interaction over this matter. It's about resolving a conflict. And that's a topic that we can always learn more about. Because if there's one thing that I've seen in my years in the Church of God is, we're really not very good at resolving conflicts between brethren.

So, this should give us lots to chew on. So, Onesimus the slave fled from his master, probably robbed Philemon, because in verse 18 Paul says, if he owes you anything, you know, he can't repay, I'll pay it for him. So, probably robbed his master and ran away. Ends up with Paul. He is called. He is baptized. And now Paul sends him back and implores Philemon, receive back this man. He's not a slave. There's no bond or free in the calling of God.

Receive back this brother of Jesus Christ. Though it is brief, the epistle is very important. I think, first of all, it's important because it shows us another side of the Apostle Paul. I think that as Paul has been cooling his heels in prison, in Caesarea and now in Rome, he's changing. You know, his earlier letters, even like when he wrote to Corinth, which was one of the earlier letters, and then he wrote the second time to Corinth, he addressed the fact that there were some who says, well, you know, he's fearful in his letters, but he's, you know, kind of calm and mild in person.

In his earlier letters, like Galatians, he just wrote to them and just dropped the ball, and just dropped it on them. You know, who has bewitched you that you've been leaving the truth of God? Who's turning you to another gospel? But his latter books, he comes across differently. So we get to see a bit more of Paul's character through this letter. I think we also, from this letter, secondly have an important insight into the institution of slavery in the Roman world.

There were some 50 to 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire, and they lived in absolute dread that there would be some universal slave revolt that they couldn't control. So it does give us a little insight into that. And then, thirdly, it serves as a...put some faces on the statement that Paul made, that there's neither bond nor free. If we look at this book, we have the salutation, meaning he just gives his greetings in the first three verses.

And then he gives thanks to Philemon in verses 4 through 7. Then he makes his appeal for Onesimus verses 8 through 21. And then the last three verses is just the conclusion. So let's go to verse 1, and we'll just wade through it like we've done in Bible studies before. So it says Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother.

So again, Paul was not just a prisoner of the Roman Empire, but he was more importantly a prisoner for Jesus Christ. His witness for Christ had made him a prisoner of Rome.

Timothy was with him at Rome, and we should also note that Timothy is from back in that same area of not that far from Colossae and Laodicea. A little bit further over, if you go back into the story, I think it's the beginning of Acts 16, where Timothy, we first come across Timothy, and he was in that area of Durbay, Iconium, and Lystra, and he was highly regarded of the brethren in one of those areas. But those three areas were right together just a little bit further. So Timothy is from that general area. Then he says to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer.

And you know, this is just about all we know about Philemon. Just this statement here. But it does tell us that he was dearly beloved by Paul, and Paul considered him a valued co-worker in his ministry. Philemon is a name, a Greek name, that means affectionate or beloved. Now we have the term Philadelphia, or Philaeo, which speaks of brotherly love, and that root, Philemon, comes from that word as well. But we notice something different right off the bat here. Most of Paul's letters, he mentions Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. It's missing here.

He does not call himself by that term apostle. He does not come across as pulling rank, because he's going to reach out to the heart of Philemon. He wants Philemon to choose to do the right thing. He refuses to tell him, I'm the apostle, and you're the member, and therefore you do this.

Like, you know, a lieutenant might say, Corporal, take these four men and go and do what I say. He has nothing to prove, nothing to defend to Philemon. It is a private letter on a private matter, and he wants Philemon to come to the point of choosing to do the right thing. But he tells him, you are beloved, and that's important for us as well. Be sure to tell people that you love them, especially, you know, if it's with a child, or someone at work, or someone at church. If you're going to make an appeal that they would then come out, that they would, well, either correct them or make an appeal that they would do the right thing.

First, too, to our beloved Athea. Now, this is a Greek name as well. It is in a feminine form. It is thought that Athea was either Philemon's wife or at least a close relative, because the congregation met in their family house. We really don't know, but some manuscripts added our beloved Athea, or it says, our dearly beloved sister, Athea. Then it says, our kippos, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house. So, our kippos is mentioned a few times.

We read of him in Colossians 4. He was a minister of the church at Colossae, as Colossians 4, 17 mentions. I noticed in some commentaries that both Adam Clark and Albert Barnes speculate that our kippos may even be their son, who was the local pastor. Now, that may be stretching it. We don't quite have that nailed down clearly in what the Scripture actually says. But at any rate, it is speaking of a family, Philemon, Athea, or kippos.

The church in your house, which again would imply it's a family. You're all living together. A congregation met there. The earliest churches met in homes. There are, well, toward the end of, I think the last chapter of Romans, somewhere in there, it mentions Priscilla and Aquila and the church at their home. And another one of the Gospels ends, and it mentions someone named Nymphos and the church in her house. So, actually, the building of church buildings, per se, didn't even come along until the third century.

But by the fact that they had room for a congregation, it would imply they were probably rather well-to-do. And also, the fact that he is a slave owner would imply that he was rather well-to-do also. Verse 3, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this salutation is almost identical to other greetings Paul sent to other churches or pastors. Very similar to what you find in Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians.

It's a very common salutation because here he emphasizes grace. He connects grace with peace. Grace, as we know, is undeserved, unearned, unmerited pardon or forgiveness. And he reminds him, we are the undeserving recipients of God's forgiveness. Then he says, and peace. And the two are connected. Peace is one of the great benefits of the Spirit of God.

So, we also notice, as has been pointed out before, and I know our booklet that Scott Ashley wrote on the Trinity, points this out as well, that in all of Paul's epistles, every last one, he has a similar greeting. And he'll say in the name of the Father, God our Father, and the Son Jesus Christ. Not one place does he mention the Holy Spirit, as if it were some third being of a Godhead.

So, I think that's also important to make note of. Verse 4, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers. So, Paul almost always opens his letters with the word of thanksgiving for that person or church. Now, Galatians is one exception. Galatians, things were going awry, and the church is in that, and Galatians is a region. Things were going awry, and he just kind of says, I'm Paul, and he just jumps right into it. But in all of his other letters, he tells people, I'm thankful for you, and I take your name before the throne of God.

It was his habit, his custom, to pray for fellow servants. Verse 5, hearing of your love and faith, which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. So, we see here, he begins to praise his friend.

We could say, he's even laying it on a little thick, maybe buttering him up because he's leading to an appeal, but he's not going to get to that appeal later on. And maybe therein is something for us to learn as well. We've got to have a relationship before we can go to someone and pick, choose the right time. You know, it's been said that maturity is a sense of timing, and there is a right time to bring up something. When you have a brother or sister, a son or a daughter, a co-worker, and you want to bring up something to them that might be uncomfortable for them to hear.

So, he gets Philemon in the right mood to receive the coming appeal. He establishes common ground. How many times do humans go in with guns blazing and make things worse? As parents, we probably all, I remember some many times personally, coming in on an evening, and you know, kids that are giving, little kids, giving my wife, their mother, a lot of trouble that day, and I wanted to come in and just bark a few orders and just get compliance. Well, you can get compliance when they're little, but you know, as they get older, we have to reach out to the heart.

We want them to choose to discern what is right and wrong and choose to do what's right themselves. So, verse 6, that the sharing of your faith, and you know, that would have included the fact that they hosted a church in their home.

Who knows how many acts of love and acts of service he would have known of because Paul had been there at Colossae. That the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Verse 7, for we have great joy and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

So, the old King James, that term, the hearts, it says the bowels, the innermost feelings have been lifted up because of you and what you have done and how you have served among your brethren. But he calls him brother. Again, a close, intimate word. He's not coming across as the apostle to a member somewhere. He's coming across that we are brethren together and with Jesus Christ. Verse 8, therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting. Well, yes, again, he could have said, I am the Colonel, you're the Lieutenant. I order you to do thus and such.

He's not going to do that. His request to Philemon he's leading to is to take Onesimus back as a brother in Jesus Christ. Now, verse, well, me comment a little about slavery. Again, the slavery that they had is foreign to us to understand. Our country started. We had, there was a type of indentured servitude. You had people from one of the countries in the Old World who could sell themselves into seven years of servitude and get passage across the ocean and then work off their loan.

Then they're free. We also had the horrible era of black slavery in this country. And it's not just here. It was around the world and in many Muslim areas, it's something that continues to this day. And we had the horrors of that. And thankfully, it's largely behind us, but it seems like some of these sins never go away. But here we have a runaway slave. Onesimus was a piece of property of Philemon. I mean, that's just the bottom line. Philemon owned this human being. And Paul sends him back because even though he had no legal rights in the Roman Empire, Onesimus was now a brother in Christ and he's being sent back and he's appealing to Philemon to receive him as a brother on an equal spiritual plane with both Philemon and Paul before God.

Now, verse 9, yet for love's sake, I rather appeal to you. So he just said, I'm not going to command you to do what's right. I'm going to make this appeal. Being such a one as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul by this time is probably estimated to be somewhere perhaps in his mid to late 50s. Which when I was 55 or 58, I didn't want to call myself Paul the aged or David the aged.

But we do have longer life expectancy now than there. Hippocrates, the one who wrote about medical treatment and all. In one place stated that someone from around the early 50s on is continue to be a senior citizen. We would call them today or a seasoned citizen. So Paul says, as he's writing Philemon, you know, I'm not as young as I used to be. And of course, in other letters, he has reminded the churches that I bear on my body the marks of my service for Jesus Christ.

So he says, I'm up in years. I want you to warm my heart. Give me something to rejoice about. And he says also, I'm a prisoner. I don't have freedom. And I think it's interesting that this topic comes up after Paul has known what it's like for two years in Caesarea and now maybe a year, maybe a little more in Rome. He has not had freedom. And you know, freedom is a passion of the human heart that I believe God created within us. And that was a part of the heinousness of slavery as this world for six thousand years has had it.

But he wanted him, again, to choose willingly to do the right thing. Verse 10. Let's see. Now, wait a minute here. Yeah, verse 9. As we look at the way he's sitting, he has not even made his request yet. But something begins to melt within Philemon, surely by this time, if the Spirit of God is there within him, as Paul is convinced that it is. We have an example of tact and diplomacy and persuasiveness that, again, we can learn from. Verse 10. I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains. Now, again, Paul wants Philemon to come to make the right choice. He is sending Onesimus back. He obviously wants him to set him free, forgiving him of what he has done, and view him as an equal brother in Jesus Christ. Any gift that is forced is not really a gift at all. If Paul had come across commanding and ordering, and Philemon may have complied and set him free, it would not have been an issue of the heart that he would have chosen to do the right thing. Paul had the marvelous ability to play on a person's emotion, which can be used for good purpose or for bad purpose. We have an advertising world that we live in, and they are always pulling on our heartstrings because they want us to open our wallet and give them our money. But there is a right way, and Paul is doing this. He had that gift. King Agrippa said, You almost persuade me to become a Christian. But again, verse 10, he reminds him, I am appealing to you, set this man, or receive this man back. He is now your brother in Christ because he has been begotten with God's Spirit through my ministry here in Rome while I have been a prisoner. Verse 11. Now, let me first explain. The Greek word Onesimus means profitable or useful. And in verse 11, Paul is going to use a beautiful play on words here. Onesimus means profitable or useful. And so in verse 11, Who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. So again, the play on words. Onesimus was useless to you in the past, but in the future, he's going to be profitable and useful to you again. The man whose name means useful became useless, but now he's useful again. Not just to you, but to both of us. In fact, Paul tells him shortly, I'd like him to stay here in Rome and help me. But he's going to send him back, as he felt compelled to do. Verse 12, I am sending him back. You therefore receive him. That is my own heart.

And you know, the calling of God does not cancel out prior obligations. If a person is called, and we've known a number of them, they've been called, and they've been in the military. Just because you're baptized, it does not give you an honorary discharge.

There's a way to go about it. Or in some cases, a person's been able to keep a Sabbath in holy days and finish out the rest of their time. If you're in a call of God and you're in prison, baptism does not hand you a get-out-of-jail-free card. You have an obligation to society that you continue to pay. Forgiveness of sin does not erase all consequences.

It does not. Sin is forgiven. But then there are consequences, and all consequences are not equal. One called and forgiven of God, in this case as a slave, is not automatically freed as being a piece of property to someone. Debts owed. When I was baptized, if I had... I didn't even have a car, but if I had a car loan and owed a few thousand dollars, just because I was baptized didn't mean the bank would say, Oh, well, we forgive your loan now. No, they were going to want their money or their car.

It may be me. Christian calling does not allow people to escape the past and run from it. Christian calling demands that we face our consequences that we brought on ourselves, pay what we owe, learn from them, and rise above them. Christianity is never an escape. It demands that we address our mistakes and make changes in our life. So again, in Rome, a slave was a piece of property. They were deliberately repressed because of the fear of a slave revolt. But justice required Paul to return this slave to his owner. And, you know, he didn't know how it was going to go. Because the master had complete total authority over the slave. Now, we would not expect Philemon, a member of the church, to have killed his runaway slave, but the next master could have. He could have beaten him beyond recognition. He could have sold him to someone worse. And Paul was appealing to him, do the right thing. Receive him as a brother, set him free, work together in the ministry of Jesus Christ.

So he returns him. And as we read this, I keep thinking, how could Philemon refuse?

Verse 13, Whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf, he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. Let's go on to verse 14. But without your consent, I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary.

So again, Paul could have exploited this brotherly relationship and request that Onesimus be allowed to remain there as his helper.

But he refused to take advantage of Philemon. He sends the man back.

He states it in such a way that, you know, if Philemon, if you can't help me here in Rome, why don't you allow Onesimus to do so?

Had Paul kept Onesimus in Rome and written to Philemon asking to forgive his slave, Philemon likely would have begrudgingly done so. But Paul wanted him to choose the right. Verse 15, For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever.

So here he suggests, how do we know that God has not been working throughout this whole situation? That here is an opportunity for repentance, for return, for forgiveness, and that God has eternity in mind. Onesimus is more than a slave. He's your brother, he's your friend, he's your fellow servant.

How many times has God worked behind the scenes? We certainly see that in the life of Joseph, whereas it all comes to a crux there in Genesis 45, as his brothers have come again and he reveals himself to his brothers. And he says that God did this to save many people. That God allowed all that Joseph had gone through, and then the famine that the family had gone through, in order to fulfill prophecy and to bring them all back together.

So he says, if you were wronged, can you look and see the good that God's working behind the scenes and forgive the man? Verse 16, No longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more do you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? So here the appeal is to receive him back. He states it so beautifully. Onesimus now has a new relationship to Philemon, not as his slave, not as his property, but as his brother in the Lord. Now, we don't know the rest of the story. We do not know whether Philemon immediately freed Onesimus, but certainly Paul's appeal included that he be set free, because slavery is incompatible with Christianity, as far as one man owning another man as a piece of property.

Verse 17, If then you count me as a partner, Ouch! He has the man's arm behind his back, and he's kind of twisting it a little bit now. If you consider me as a brother, receive him as you would me. Receive him as if I'm the one who is free to be sent to you.

Verse 18, But if he has wronged you or owes you anything, put that on my account.

So the crime is not mentioned, but again, a slave would have had nothing, so likely there was stealing. That would have been a particular sum of money. Paul says, I'm sending him back. If he doesn't work it off and pay you back, let me know, and I'm paying. So Paul wants it to be known that you're going to be getting your money back either way, unless you forgive it, which really is what he's leading him to conclude to do. Verse 19, I, Paul, am writing with my own hand, I will repay, not to mention to you, that you owe me even your own self besides. Now, there were times when Paul merely signed his own name at the end of a letter that someone else had scribed for him.

Toward the end of 2 Thessalonians, there at the end you have a statement like that. There's more than one where he says, you know, writing my name on hand, one time it says, so large a letter. Second Corinthians, he talked about this thorn in the flesh, and some have speculated that maybe it was a vision problem. But this is a letter that he says, I wrote the whole thing myself. I wrote this with my hand. And then he reminds Philemon, by the way, God used me as a tool in bringing about your conversion too. So again, as we keep reading through it, what other conclusion can a man with the Spirit of God come to, but to welcome this man back, free him, receive him as a brother? Verse 20, Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord, refresh my heart in the Lord.

He'd had three years, maybe more, now in prison, total. He had been shipwrecked. He had gone through all the rigors of his calling. He had so little to rejoice about while he waits his time to make that appeal to Caesar directly. And all he asks is, give me a little comfort. Give me some encouragement. Give me something to rejoice over. Refresh my heart. Help me be able to rejoice over something good, and that would be to hear that you've received this man back as your brother. Verse 21, Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. Beautiful the way that's worded. He is confident in stating thus that he is confident that Philemon would act above and beyond the call of Christian duty in order to do what was right and to please Paul. You know, people, it's been found that people rise to the level that we expect of them. Studies have found that's true with children. A child where we expect a lot out of them, they'll tend to rise to that level. An employee that is treated with love and tact and appreciation will generally rise to that higher level of what they're expected than the next person that's going to drive them with a cattle prod. Verse 22, But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you. Now, again, prepare a guest room, a little clue to the financial well-being that Philemon's family must have enjoyed. And we have Paul's confidence that he was going to be released from prison. There is a statement in Philemon 2, verse 24, that speaks to that, another one of the prison epistles where he wrote to those at Philippi. And he stated that he expected to be able to come see them soon. Earlier, he had written there in the book to the church at Rome that he wanted to pass by them and go on to Spain. But now, things have changed. He wants to go back to Philippi and back to Asia Minor, back to places like Colossae where he's worked before. So, have a room ready for me when I come visit. So, not only is he sending Onesimus back, but as soon as Paul gets out of prison, he's going to plan to come back too. And how would Philemon face Paul if he treated Onesimus anything but graciously and with Christian love? Verse 23, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you. Epaphras is a prisoner with Paul. Again, the list of people here is essentially identical to the list at the end of Colossians 4. As do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers. Now, we don't know what happened with most of these men. Sadly, 2 Timothy, his last book, he mentioned that Demas had forsaken him for love of this present world. But, let's go on to verse 25.

So, he ends with a reminder of the unmerited pardon, the forgiveness that God has given to all of us, all involved in this book, this story. And he reminds Philemon that you're not worthy of what you've been given. You have freely been set free by God, and I'm sure that reminded him that you need to set free your slave. Now, that's the end of the book. The Amen is the end. But, as we look at this, I'd like to just enumerate with you certain lessons that are unique from this little brief letter written to the man named Philemon. First of all, there is no bond or free in Christ. There is no bond or free in Christ. Upon conversion, forgiveness, and receipt of the Holy Spirit all become members of the body of Jesus Christ. There is no class system. There are no categories within that. If we are Christ's, we are Abraham's seed, and heirs to the promise. It doesn't matter. Paul made it clear. It doesn't matter if you're Jew or Gentile. If you're male or female, bond or free, it does not matter. You are Christ's. And all then have equal status. They are one in Christ. The names like Master and Slave become irrelevant. I was reading yesterday in William Barclay's letters to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. I'm reading on this part of the book of Philemon. On pages 306-307, he says, If masters treat slaves as Christ would have treated them, and if slaves serve their masters as they would serve Christ, then the terms Master and Slave do not matter. Their relationship does not depend on any human classification, for they are both in Christ. So, there's no bond or free. It's equal status before God. Regardless of nationality, race, socioeconomic status, gender, we're one in Christ. Number two, God's forgiveness of our sins does not erase consequences. We wish it would be that way.

I wish when I was baptized if I had owed $3,000 on a car, it would have been nice if I had been erased. Get out of debt free, card. Well, one called while in the military must fulfill obligation or seek legal orderly discharge. One who has debts must pay off debts. One in jail must serve the rest of their debt to society. They are forgiven of God. They are members of the body of Christ. But it does not necessarily erase consequences that we brought upon ourselves by some of our mistakes. Number three, restitution is due unless the offended party forgives.

Restitution is due unless the offended party forgives. Now, that's why Paul said, I'm sending this man back to you. He's your property. But he obviously stole from you, so this man will pay you back or he'll work it off. And if he doesn't, I will. Unless, as we all hope, Philemon just says, hey, it's all forgiven. We're brothers in Christ. But there is plenty in the law back in the Old Testament about restoration and remuneration. Number four, do all possible, all that is possible to reconcile those with differences.

As I said a while ago, we have such great difficulty in resolving conflicts among brethren in the body of Jesus Christ. And as the Apostle James wrote, I love there in one scripture in the King James, it says, My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Somehow, I just like the way that's worded. We ought to, and in fact, Christ commanded us that herein will they know you are my disciples, if you have love, one for another. And a part of that is the ability to resolve conflicts too many times. We have money loaned. We have harsh words. We have all kinds of things that drive wedges between brethren. And there are many other scriptures that tell us, you know, you see a brother sending you who are spiritual, go to him in the spirit of meekness. So we need to do all that we can to bring about the reconciliation of those who have differences. Number five, number five, forgive, forget, and receive those who repent. Forgive, forget, and receive. You know, how many times do we have someone who makes mistakes? They're in the Church of God. I've known young couples that, you know, they get things out of order, and they get a baby on the way. And, you know, we would ask that they make it right, make it legal, by man's laws and God's laws. But, you know, thirty years later, it shouldn't be that, well, this young family over here, well, thirty years later, they're not quite that young of a family now. Well, the people are kind of grousing around, and they're talking about, oh, well, you know, well, they got... they were pregnant first, then they married. Forgive, forget, let it go, and receive that person as a brother or sister of Jesus Christ and go on with life. You know, the Corinthian Church, you had, again, one of Paul's earlier letters, his first letter to Corinth, and he said, you got this guy, this fornicator living with his stepmother that is wrong. I've judged and get him out of the church, deliver him to Satan. The second letter, the man's obviously been welcomed back into the church, and Paul is telling them, essentially, you're shunning him. You might destroy him through overmuch sorrow. You need to forgive, forget, receive that man back. So that's something that we find here in Philemon as well. Number six, don't use authority unless absolutely necessary. I like the old saying that we've heard many times, rank stinks.

Rank stinks. Don't use authority unless absolutely necessary. Walk softly at first. Use authority only if it's necessary. It usually isn't. It usually isn't. Again, back to child rearing as they get older. When they're little, we basically tell them everything they need to know. They're learning. But we also want to take them from full dependence to independence, of making their own decisions. And we have to learn to relax and bounce. Let them make choices. Even let them make mistakes, although we might want to take action that those mistakes aren't life-altering. But they need our love. They need our support. And if we always use authority of being parents, or if we always come across, they'll ask, well, why do I have to do that? Well, because I'm bigger than you. Well, you may not always be bigger than them. Some of us have sons that have outgrown us. But anyhow, we want them to be weighing pros and cons, and discerning right from wrong, and choosing the right. And to do that, we have to only use authority when it's absolutely necessary.

I think number seven in this little letter, we have number seven further insight into the character of Paul.

He was a man of generosity. He was a man of great warmth and friendship. He was a man who can teach us a lot about being tactful and diplomatic in our dealings with each other. Those in Galatians who had gotten his letter, the region of Galatia, his letter said, you know, who is bewitched you, and why do you so quickly turn from the gospel to another gospel? And they probably didn't have a way of seeing this side, but as the years came and went, because the letter to Galatia was one of his earlier letters. And from this, we see a different man. We see a man of tact. We see a man who has continued to be changed as he has suffered for the name of Jesus Christ. And then number eight, here is an example of how to approach someone under us in responsibility. Yes, Paul was the apostle. He said that in every letter except this one. There was no question about who was in charge. But this wasn't the time to remind Philemon that I'm the apostle. Paul models the proper way of exercising responsibility. Now, this is all we know about Philemon, sometimes and Onesimus. Sometimes we'd like to know the rest of the story, and we just aren't giving it yet. As far as Philemon, if he and Athea were parents of Archippus, who was the pastor, then they obviously had some years under their belts. And so who knows how much longer they would have lived. Onesimus might have been quite young. We don't really know that either. It is interesting that we have some letters that aren't in the Bible. Some of them, it's kind of hard. And in the decades as they went into the first century, it's kind of hard to really distill those letters to see, was this person hanging on the truth, or was this one drifting off into error. But there is one writer whose name was Ignatius. Ignatius was one of the early church leaders who was taken at Antioch in Syria and was being transported across Asia Minor on his way to Rome where he was going to be martyred. He was going to be executed. As they traveled across Asia Minor, Ignatius wrote a lot of letters. And a lot of those continued to this day. One letter was written to the church's Ephesus. Now this is about 50 years later than Philemon. So if Philemon was around 60, 62, we're looking at year 110, 115, somewhere in that range, about 50 years later. And he writes this letter to the church at Ephesus as he's coming across Asia Minor. And in the first chapter, he pays the highest compliments to their local pastor.

And the pastor's name was Onesimus. Now we don't have all the dots to connect there. But I kind of like to think of it that way. Is it possible that this runaway slave who leaves his master, steals from his master, ends up in Rome, ends up with Paul, is called of God, is baptized and forgiven? Is it possible that this man later on was a valuable, a man of great, praiseworthy man, who was the servant of the church there of God's people, Ephesus? I'd like to think that that's true, but you know, we just don't have enough information. For any more than that, we're going to have to wait until we hear the rest of the story. But at any rate, those are our lessons from the Little Book of Philemon. Have a wonderful Sabbath, everyone!