A Power Packed
Postcard
Well
today – Memorial day weekend – time for looking back – Memorials – War heroes –
A)Good
weekend to do something we haven’t done on a Sunday morning in a while - Communion
B) Passage
the Lord put on my heart – Philemon
Turn there -
E)
Philemon has been called – one of the Postcards of the New Testament - Power
Packed Postcard:
Postcards
– We have all seen them – most of us have sent them –
A) Usually great pictures –
with short message –
Hey
I miss you – love you – Having too much
fun to sit down and write a letter – so
I am sending this
B) Then there are the
ones where we flat out lie – Having
a great time – wish you were here.
Philemon
is not like that
The
book of Philemon is unique in many respects.
A) It is the shortest of
Paul’s inspired writings, why it has been called a postcard.
B) it is the only one of the prison epistles addressed to an
individual. – Philemon
This
letter to Philemon is one of the most brilliant & compelling letters of
reconciliation in ancient history. A) Awesome picture of the
doctrine of Imputation – Explain in a minute – appropriate for communion
B)
When the Lord laid this on my heart – I originally thought – one week – move
into 1st Timothy
1)
But the more I studied the more blessed I became –
C)
Began to see just how Power packed this letter is from the hand of Paul to us!
D)
For that reason – 3 weeks here
1) Today look at the
Story as a whole. Doctrine of Imputation
2) Next week: Onesimus a transformed slave.
3) Third week: Philemon a Master called to forgive.
V.1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and
Timothy our brother,
A) Paul usually begins his letters by
identifying himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
B) This time, however, he’s a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
1)
I wish I was more like Paul when I feel chained by circumstances or imprisoned
by problems,
C) I would realize I would not be there were
it not the Lord allowing me to be there for His purposes.
D)
Paul was used powerfully because he had this understanding
1) wherever he might have been was not due to
the politics of man, but to the sovereignty of God
E) Great thing to remember
To Philemon our
beloved friend and fellow laborer,2 to the beloved Apphia, Archippus our fellow
soldier, and to the church in your house:
3 Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
A)
Paul had not founded the church in Colossae, nor had he visited it.
1)
It is likely that the church started as a result of his ministry in Ephesus.
B) It seems that two men:
Epharas & Philemon –
1)
They probably journeyed from Colossae
to Ephesus to hear Paul and were converted.
C)
They went back and started a Church in Philemon’s home – Epharas was the Pastor
-
1)Apphia
was Philemon’s wife & Archipus was his son
D) Some believe that
Archipus because of other writings about him succeeded Epharas as the Pastor of
this home Church
RD V.4-7
Philemon
had a reputation for love, a
fact that brought Paul much joy
and comfort.
A)
Through Philemon, the hearts of the saints had been refreshed.
B) Hearts
speaks of the seat of the emotions –or the deepest part of a persons being ..
1)
So People who were struggling, suffering, and hurting emotionally, had been refreshed by Philemon.
C)
Refreshed is
a military term that speaks of an army
resting from a march.
1) Philemon brought troubled people rest and
renewal; in Jesus – Great trait
Set
up the Story:
A) Philemon had a Slave who’s name was
Onesimus – Onesimus – one day escaped –
He also stole some things from Philemon’s property before he left –
headed to Rome
B) It was logical that Onesimus escaped to Rome, the biggest city of the
Roman Empire.
1)
Lightfoot says: “Rome was the natural
cesspool for the unclean of humanity.”
C) Our Las Vegas of our day/
New York
1)
It was the place he could get into the most trouble.
While
in Rome Onesimus somehow encounters Paul – probably got into trouble and ended
up in Prison himself – there that Paul led him to Christ
A) Onesimus found there is
no freedom in freedom itself,
for
although he was free from his master, he was still a slave to his own
conscience, to his own sin.
B) Some people think they
are free when in reality they are a slave to money /
1)
others think they are free - slave to
sex / slave to work – I pick this job- I started this business
C) But Onesimus was to
discover that although there is slavery in freedom, there is also freedom in
slavery. How?
Jesus calls all who are
weary and heavy laden to take His yoke upon them, to be chained to Him.
Matthew 11:28-30
28
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is
light."
A) SO Jesus calls us to Yoke
ourselves to Him But He is a good Master!.
1)
That’s why Paul said, “I am a bondslave”—a slave by choice
B)
The question in this life is not whether or not you’re yoked, but to Whom are
you yoked?
1)
If we are yoked to Jesus, we are yoked to the most excellent Master,
2)
to the One who loves us so much, to the One who’s so good for us, and so
good to us.
C) So Onesimus came to see that although in chains, Paul was free, and
although he was free, he was enslaved to his own sin, { Gave his heart to
Christ
D)
Onesimus ends up spending some time in Rome with Paul
1)
He was discipled by Paul and ends up helping Paul while in Prison –
E) But then the time comes – Paul says – I am sending you back –
that is where we pick up this letter:
1)
Paul sent Onesimus back along with this letter to Philemon.
RD V.8-9 –
A)
Paul says I could have commanded you as an apostle – but I am appealing to you
as a friend – as a brother in the Lord !
RD V.10-14
Now
Paul obviously wants Philemon to deal gently with Onesimus.
A) See Under Roman law the
slave owner had complete and total control over his slave.
B) It wasn’t unusual for
slaves to be crucified for lesser offenses than escaping.
1)
One ancient writer describes how a slave was carrying a tray of crystal
goblets, and he dropped and broke one.
The master
instantly demanded the slave be thrown into a fishpond full of man eating
fish that tore the slave to
pieces.
C) “Roman law : imposed no
limits to the power of the master over his slave.
1)
Considering there were as many as 60 million slaves, there were constant fears
of a slave revolt.
D)
Therefore, laws against runaways were strict.
1)
A captured, runaway slave might be crucified, or branded with a red-hot iron on
the forehead with the letter “F” for fugitive.
That could have been Onesimus
E) So according to Roman law
Onesimus deserved any and all punishment that Philemon would choose to throw at
him
Now
Philemon must have flipped reading this letter and taking note of the words
that Paul was using to describe Onesimus.
A) Onesimus – name means
Profitable – but it seems that he was anything but that to Philemon-
1)
apparently he wasn’t a very good slave – Paul says in v.11 formerly he was
unprofitable to you –
2)
{ Seems he wasn’t a very good worker – and he stole from his master to
boot.
B) So he may not have been
profitable to you – but he has been extremely profitable to me!
1)
Paul refers to Onesimus as his son /a beloved brother and one who ministered to
Paul in his chains
This
is a wonderful picture of our relationship to God – transformation of our
Position
A)
We go from being Unprofitable – to Profitable as His workmanship created in …..
B) We go from being - Those who caused God
great grief – to those who now can bless his heart
1)
Those who were lost – to those who are sons –
C) Those who were enemies –
to Brothers
RD V.15-6
Now
Paul says something really interesting here in v. 15 perhaps he departed for a
while for this purpose !
A)
Paul is trying to get Philemon to see the big picture –
B) Onesimus left but it was
this very thing that brought him to Christ
C)
Paul suggests to Philemon that God was using this evil to produce good (cf.
Gen. 50:20; Rom. 8:28).
1) Satan meant it for evil – He wanted
Onesimus to be caught / killed and forever lost
D) But God had something else in mind – a Divine appointment that
must of freaked Onesimus out –
1)
Sure he had heard of Paul – now he was with him
D) Love it when God does
that: Divine appointments
1)
God’s plan – for Onesimus – Saved & transformed !
Story
of a man who was going thru heavy stuff
One
day he stopped to watch some men building a stone church. One of them was chiseling a triangular piece
of rock. 'What are you going to do with that?' he asked
The
workman said, 'Do you see that little opening way up
there near the steeple? Well, I'm shaping this down here so that it will fit up
there.'
Tears
filled the eyes of the heart-broken man as he walked away. It seemed that God had spoken through the
workman to explain the ordeal through which he was passing.
Perhaps
you have made some bad choices.
A)
The consequences of those choices have been devastating and you are at the
point of complete despair.
B) You feel as though God is
through with you, and will not put up with you anymore.
1)
You feel as though the hammer of God is coming down on you hard.
C)
Listen, if you know the Lord as your Savior, you need not despair.
1)
All bitter consequences of your sin, and all of the loving discipline that you
are experiencing under the loving hand of your heavenly Father, is being used
by Him to PREPARE you for heaven.
D) Paul is asking Philemon
to see how the Lord used this
circumstance to transform Onesimus.
E)
Onesimus left a slave, but returned no longer as a slave, but more than a
slave, a beloved brother.
1) New Man
F) So Onesimus had Changed –
but what about his Punishment ? – what about Justice?
RD V.17-19
Paul
did not suggest that Philemon ignore the slave’s crimes & forget about the
debt Onesimus owed.
A) Rather, Paul offered to pay the debt
himself. “Put it on my account—I will repay it!”
B)
Onesimus could not possibly pay back all he owed Philemon.
1)
The Bible teaches clearly that restitution needs to be made in such cases
C)
Paul deals with the issue of restitution and of Justice by asking Philemon to accept
him as you would me .
And
if He owes you anything – Charge it to my account.
Here we see one of the grandest illustrations of full substitution and
imputation.
A)
Paul’s appeal is powerful because he stands beside a guilty man and says to the
owner of the slave,
“I know this man
is a criminal and deserves punishment.
Yet this slave is my friend, so if
you punish him punish me also. I stand
beside him to take his punishment
B)
Paul’s willingness to meet Onesimus’s debt to restore his relationship
with Philemon is a marvelous picture of
Christ’s work.
C)
Philemon had been wronged by Onesimus’s flight. 1) Just like we wronged God - / offended – rejected – took the
life he had given – to please Him and stole it – we lived for ourselves –
D)
Some of us – stole life from others – Hurting them – leading them down roads
that took them farther from God .
SO Philemon,
like God, had been wronged.
A) Onesimus, like the sinner, stood in need of
reconciliation.
B) Paul offered to pay the
price to bring about that reconciliation.
1)
That is the same role Jesus plays in the relationship between the sinner and
God. Paul, like Christ, was
willing to pay the price of reconciliation.
C)
Paul’s willingness to suffer the temporal consequences of Onesimus’s sin
mirrors Christ’s willingness to suffer the eternal consequences of our sin.
D) Result: The sinner is
received on the same standing that Christ is received.
1)
In other words, the saved sinner has as much right in heaven as Christ has, for
he has His right to be there.
We
are accepted in the beloved (see Eph. 1:6).
1 John 2:1-2
My
little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if
anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.2
And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also
for the whole world.
Advocate
= Defense attorney – Jesus stands in the Court room of God as our Defense
attorney –
A)
Satan the accuser of the Christian – Prosecutor – lays out our sins
Aa) Jesus agrees – He is guilty – He did all of
that – But Charge it to my account – I paid the Price at Calvary – See these
scars
B) Propitian =
Satisfaction – Jesus in his death on the Cross – satisfied the righteous
requirement of a Holy God for sin – Covered paid in Full
1)
Charged to his account –
Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Romans 4:8 - why ?
C)
Your sin was imputed to him so that his righteousness could be imputed to you.
2
Corinthians 5:21
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him.
A sin less Jesus became sin filled so that sin filled people could
be sin free
D)
Paul is not asking Philemon to forgive and forget – He is saying Forgive and I
will pay the debt
Jesus
says: Forgive him because I did pay the debt –
And the father responds by
saying I will forgive Him and I will forget that it every happened
A)
Justified – Declared righteous in my
eyes !
B)
His sacrifice is sufficient for
the whole world. But it is only efficient
for those who trust in Him.
C) APPLICATION: If you haven’t given your
heart to Jesus you do not have a personal comforter and helper and Advocate.
You are alone with the guilt and consequences of your sin.
ILLUSTRATION: In 1835 a man visited a
doctor in Florence, Italy. He was
filled with anxiety and exhausted from lack of sleep. He couldn't eat, and he avoided his friends. The doctor examined him and found that he
was in prime physical condition.
Concluding
that his patient needed to have a good time, the physician told him about a
circus in town and its star performer, a clown named
Grimaldi. Night after night he
had the people rolling in the aisles. "You must go and see him," the doctor
advised. "Grimaldi is the world's
funniest clown. He'll make you
laugh and cure your sadness."
"No," replied the despairing man, "he can't help me. You see, I am Grimaldi!"
You
might have everybody fooled into thinking that YOU are the happiest man/woman
on earth.
You might be the one that
everyone else comes to for advice.
But
deep down inside you know that YOU have no remedy for the emptiness of heart
and life……
YOU
have no real answers for your own dilemma.
You
NEED a Savior….. You NEED Jesus.
For
without Him you stand alone and guilty for all of your sins.
You
must own Jesus as your personal Savior.
BELIEVER:
May you, like
Onesimus, celebrate the freedom of your salvation.
May
you, like Philemon, embrace others, knowing their sin has been imputed to our
Lord’s account.
And may you, like Paul, be a peacemaker.