October 20, 2013

One of the responsibilities I have during the month of October is to lead our church in worship each Sunday. Our small church has a retired minister as our stated supply (Presbyterian term) who takes a sabbatical during October (a well deserved one I might add.) A few years ago he asked if I would speak in his absence and the rest, as they say, is history. I am going to attempt to post my sermons for this month here on this blog.

Disclaimer: What I am going to post is going to be a rough attempt at a transcript of what I actually say. Now I am creating this transcript before I speak so it isn’t really a word for word transcript. Also, when I write a paper I try to use sentence structure and vocabulary and all those things you learned about in school correctly. I do try and speak professionally as well but my point is don’t grade this as a writing, but as a speech. Even then I hope you get the point of the message and don’t get caught up in the grammatical issues. Feel free to comment.

Charge My Account

Philemon 1: 1-25

October 20, 2013

¹ Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, ² to Apphia our sister, to 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.⁴ When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God ⁵ because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. ⁶ I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. ⁷ I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.⁸ For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, ⁹ yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. ¹⁰ I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. ¹¹ Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. ¹² I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. ¹³ I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; ¹⁴ but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. ¹⁵ Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, ¹⁶ no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.¹⁷ So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. ¹⁸ If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. ¹⁹ I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. ²⁰ Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. ²¹ Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.²² One thing more—prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.²³ Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, ²⁴ and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.²⁵ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

The Word of the Lord

(Thanks be to God)

Once upon a time in their marriage, a man did something really stupid. His wife chewed him out for it. He apologized, they made up.
However, from time to time, the wife mentions what he had done. "Honey," the man finally said one day, "why do you keep bringing that up? I thought your policy was 'forgive and forget.'"
"It is," she said. "I just don't want you to forget that I've forgiven and forgotten."

As I researched this book I discovered a couple of different viewpoints on some of the details of the story. Things like Onesimus’ actual relationship with Philemon or how he came to meet up with Paul. I decided to take a particular approach which seems to be the most popular but no matter how you deal with some of the details of the story, I do not think the message of the book changes. As with all these Biblical stories whether they are actual events or parables, the purpose of including them in the Biblical Cannon is based on their inspiration and benefit to us as a guide to Christian living. So as we look at this passage this morning do not get hung up on details of the story but focus on the message of the letter. So what are some of those details?

The book or letter to Philemon was written by the Apostle Paul in or around 60 AD. It is considered one of the four prison epistles written by Paul. (Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians are the other three.) This letter is one of the letters attributed to Paul that most scholars agree was written by Paul. Many of his other letters are disputed as to the authorship, but not Philemon.

We have three main characters in this passage. First we have Paul, a leader in the Church who was currently in prison. As you know Paul was once a devout Jew and Pharisee who was a chief persecutor of early Christians. After his conversion, he became a great saver of souls and one of those he converted to Christianity was Philemon. Philemon, by all accounts was a wealthy man. He apparently had a house big enough to host the worship services of the newly formed church in Colossae. He and Paul were brothers in Christ but there was also that mentor-mentee relationship between them and therefore a great deal of respect between them. In addition to his material wealth he also had slaves. One of those was named Onesimus. Onesimus must have done something pretty bad so he ran away from Philemon. Perhaps he stole money or at the very least did something that caused Philemon to lose money. The letter never states exactly what he did but according to Paul in verse 11, “Formerly he was useless to you.”

Now that we know the main characters let us look at the letter itself. Paul, after an introduction, begins to commend Philemon for the work that he is doing in the church and how much joy it brings him to know of his love for the work they are both doing for Christ. Paul spends the first seven verses “buttering him up” for what comes beginning in verse eight. That is not to say that Paul does not genuinely believe all those nice things he said about Philemon, but they were strategically placed at the beginning of the letter. Then in verses eight and nine he makes a very bold statement, “For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, ⁹ yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus.” Paul realizes that he is in a position of leadership within the church and has the right to demand that Philemon grant the request he is about to make. But instead, he appeals to him on the basis of love and on the fact that he is an old man who is in prison for doing the work of Jesus Christ. Even though he is not “forcing” Philemon to do something he is making it awful hard for him to resist. But it is still the choice of Philemon to make. As of yet, however, Paul has not even alerted him to what this request is going to be. Then verse ten, “I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.” There it is. Onesimus. Imagine reading this letter and from the beginning you are being told what a wonderful person you are and how much you are appreciated. After that introduction Philemon was probably thinking of course I’ll do what you ask Paul, as good as you have been to me it is the least I can do. Then he reads that name and all those happy feelings have now turned to anger. Here is a slave that caused him pain and loss and now he is being called a child of your mentor. Any number of thoughts could have gone through Philemon’s mind at the sight of that name and more than likely they were not good ones. Yet here is his mentor calling this man his son. Paul is not through. He realizes that this slave was once useless to Philemon but now claims that he is useful to both of them. He is sending his own heart back to Philemon. The question then becomes why is Paul sending him back if he finds him so useful where he is now? He answers that in the next verse. He could have pulled rank on Philemon and compelled him to free the man into his service but he chooses to give the choice to Philemon because he realizes how much more meaningful that would be. Think about it from the standpoint of someone offering you an apology. When someone is genuinely sorry for something and they come to you by their own accord, the apology just means more. When people are forced to apologize for something they said or did it loses some of its effectiveness. As a teacher I would much rather have a student recognize a mistake, take ownership of it, and apologize to me than sit in a parent conference and have the parent tell the child to apologize for their behavior. Sometimes it is helpful to have someone to point out the mistakes we have made so we then can seek forgiveness on our own. That is not even really what Paul is doing here. It’s not Philemon that has done anything wrong. In fact, it is his legal right to take back and punish the runaway slave. What Paul is trying to do is give him the chance to reject his legal right over Onesimus and recognize him as a brother in Christ. The letter never goes into what Onesimus said by way of apology or if he came to Paul remorseful or if Paul had to pull the confession out of him. Regardless of how it all played out between Paul and Onesimus, Paul now thinks of him as a son so he clearly believes Onesimus had adequately repented. Paul goes on to say in verses 17-19, “So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. ¹⁸ If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. ¹⁹ I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it.” It was common for Paul and other letter writers to have a scribe actually write for them while they would dictate the document. Here Paul either has written this whole letter himself or maybe even more powerfully just written that last statement in his own handwriting. Either way Philemon would have recognized his handwriting and understood Paul was serious about taking on this man’s debt. He begins to wind down the letter by saying he knows Philemon will do even more than he asks and asks him to prepare a room for him as he hopes to visit soon. Then the letter concludes by sending the greetings of his other companions.

That was kind of a brief overview of what this letter contains and we could go into greater detail about each sentence if we wanted to but there are a few main points I think this letter expresses and I would like to address. One is the issue of slavery. Let me just touch on this topic briefly as it relates to this letter. Many proponents of slavery in the past used this letter as justification for the practice. Interestingly, many opponents to slavery also pointed to this letter as a reason it should be outlawed. Paul and for that matter Jesus never directly attempted to abolish the practice of slavery. In the Roman culture during this time it was very common for rich citizens to own slaves. Jesus, and therefore Paul after him, did not take the approach of trying to end slavery by publicly admonishing it. Rather they tried to change the culture from within. Christian principals teach a lowering of oneself into service of others for the good of God’s kingdom. When we truly take on a position of service in our hearts then the thought of owning a person like a piece of property no longer seems like the right thing to do. As we mentioned before, Philemon was by all accounts a good Christian man and leader in the church in Colossae yet he had slaves. Since Paul is sending Onesimus back it appears that Paul is endorsing slavery and rightfully returning him to his master. But I think a closer examination of the text reveals the opposite. Paul chooses to use his method of persuasion to try and convince Philemon to forgive Onesimus and hopefully do more than that. What more could he do but change his status from runaway slave to brother in Christ? I believe we could have a much deeper discussion and theological debate on this topic but that will have to be saved for another day.

Another underlying theme of this letter is the relationship between two people and how that relationship affects a third person. Paul has that mentor status with Philemon. I can think of many examples of how there are people out there that have the kind of credibility with others that Paul has with Philemon. Imagine how many young baseball pitchers would show up to a clinic on pitching if the likes of a Clayton Kershaw or Justin Verlander were to be there. (Or for you baseball fans my age and older a Greg Maddux or Sandy Koufax.) How about a quarterback camp with Payton Manning or Tom Brady? (Dan Marino and Joe Montana) If someone like Charles Stanley or David Jeremiah or if you are not familiar with them, Billy Graham were to come and lead a Bible study, how many would come to learn? Now imagine that you had a personal relationship with one of those people and they came to you personally and asked you to do something. Would you be able to refuse? Paul is appealing to Philemon’s sense of respect for what Paul has done for him and even mentions that he is responsible for introducing him to his new life in Christ. It’s almost like he is making him an offer that he can’t refuse. But, he can. There are no threats or consequences laid down by Paul if he refuses to accept Onesimus back. He just presents a case so compelling and couple that with the respect Philemon has for Paul, and you have a situation where it is nearly impossible to deny the request. Think for a moment about someone in your life that you hold in a place of honor such that if they made a request of you that you would be willing to do it. Maybe it is a parent, grandparent, or other family member. Perhaps you have a friend that has earned your respect to a level that you would be willing to go against what appears to be popularly accepted and do what is right in the sight of God. Maybe you have a mentor in your professional life that showed you how to run a business or how to advance within the company you both worked for. What about a coach who taught you more than just how to play a sport, but about how to live your life? Or a music teacher who instilled in you a love of music and not just the technical aspects of playing an instrument? These are just a few of the possible relationships that we can have that can positively affect our daily lives. What about from Paul’s point of view? Are you a mentor to someone else? Have you earned the respect of a family member, friend, or coworker to the point that you can have a positive influence on their life? The relationship Paul has with Philemon allows him to put into action the process of mending a relationship with a mutual acquaintance. Paul lived his life in such a manner that he could build the kind of friendships that helps advance the kingdom of God. Our challenge is to emulate that kind of life.

Maybe the most important component of this letter is its emphasis on forgiveness. Onesimus clearly did something wrong and fled as a result. The fear of what would happen to him sent him far away from his master Philemon. But look what happened on his journey. He runs smack into Paul. He listens to his message about Christ and his offer of forgiveness and realizes his own need for forgiveness. As Onesimus became closer to Paul he probably confessed to him what he was running from. Imagine the look on his face when Paul informs him that he knows Philemon very well. Onesimus has a decision to make. Does he flee again or does he hope for the forgiveness that he heard Paul preaching about? This is faith in action. He has faith that Paul’s relationship with Philemon will allow him the opportunity to reconcile his differences. Paul is even willing to assume his debt so all he has to do is throw himself to the mercy of his master.

Last week we looked at a parable told by Jesus that dealt with forgiveness but this is not part two of a series of sermons on forgiveness. This is a completely different situation, one that actually happened and is not just a story to drive home a point. Yet, the common thread is the need to forgive. Paul in other letters that he wrote encourages us to be imitators of Christ. He then goes on to say that if nothing else, imitate me because I am spending my life in the pursuit of Christ-like service. Here is an example of him doing just that. He tells Philemon to “charge that to my account.” Paul is willing to assume the debt of one who has shown faith in the message he has been preaching. Is that not exactly what Christ has done for us? On the surface this letter looks like just a correspondence from one man to another trying to reconcile differences with a third man. Why then is it included in the Biblical cannon? Perhaps because it is a perfect representation of what God does for us through Jesus Christ? We sin against our Master and flee only to be drawn back to the one who is willing to take on our debts and say, “Charge that to my account.” We’ve all been in Onesimus’ position where we find ourselves in need of forgiveness. We try to run from the situation but end up running into the Holy Spirit that draws us back to Christ. We’ve also found ourselves in Philemon’s position; a position where we need to extend that forgiveness to someone else. Sometimes we need the encouragement of a mentor and sometimes we just need to be still and listen for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Either way we can rest in the knowledge that our faith in Christ gives us access to the one, the only one, who is both willing and able to say before the Father, “Charge that to my account.”

Let us pray.