Let's turn tonight to the book
of Philemon, the small book of Philemon. It's right before the book of
Hebrews, Philemon. Duane asked me for a title, and
I said, well, I guess Lessons from Philemon. I want to tell you about something
that actually happened a long time ago, over 30 years ago. I was in business back then,
had a retail store. There was a young lady who came
to work for me when she was a senior in high school, just a little
before she graduated from high school. And she was going to
go to college and desperately needed a job. And so we hired
her and we helped her with her college expenses and paid her
well. And we fit every semester. We fit. our hours for her around
her schedule and so forth. About four years later, it became
obvious to one of the managers and I that somebody was stealing
things from the store. So we set a little situation
up to try to find out who it was and it was this girl. And
she was caught red-handed and frankly it broke my heart that
She was so ungrateful after all that I felt had been done for
her, really. And I said to her, I said, why did
you do this? And she said, I don't really
know. It just seems so easy. And that says something about
us, doesn't it? The only difference between her
as a thief and all of us is the grace of God. And I explained
to her that I could call the police and have her arrested.
But I was overwhelmed with the sense of I ought not do that.
That that was the wrong thing to do. And that compassion and
mercy was what was called for. And so I said to her, and honestly,
part of me wanted to call the police. I mean, part of me wanted
some retribution, some payback here. I felt betrayed. But I said to her, I said, how
about if you just resign and we'll act like this never happened?
And she said, that's good. And she did. Well, years went
by. I don't remember if it was four
or five years later, I walked into business in town to take
care of something. And as I was finishing, somebody
tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around and here was
this girl. And I said, hi. And she said, hi. And she said,
would you mind to come into my office? And I said, sure. And she was the manager of the
whole place. She was married, had a little
child. And we got in her office and
she said, she looked down and she said, I just wanted to thank
you for not ruining my life. And it broke my heart all over
again. And I thought, this is how it
should be. Now, don't take away from this
the wrong lesson. It's not that I'm such a good
guy. It's just not. any mercy that any of us ever
show, it's not us. It's Christ in us. Do we see
the difference? Forty years ago, I'd have been
happy to grind her into powder. But there came a day when the
Lord intervened, and he won't let his people do that. He won't let that be in us. There are some lessons to take
away from this. You see, we by nature are hard
people. Hard people. We by nature show
no mercy. But the Lord Jesus Christ, on
the other hand, is plenteous in mercy. And the lessons from
my little story and from this account of Paul's letter to Philemon
are many. Let me just give you a few before
we go verse by verse through this. Take away from this an understanding
that God's people will be. Not they might be. Not that they
could be. God's people, they will be hurt. They will be stolen from. They
will be lied about. they will be mistreated, they
will be abused, they will be taken advantage of and even despised
by unbelievers. It will happen repeatedly and
often it will come from the most unexpected sources. So we not
only should not be surprised, we ought to prepare ourselves
and ask God for grace to respond to that as the children of God
that we are. We ought not seek retribution
or vengeance. That belongs to our Lord. He
says vengeance is mine. And he also warns unbelievers.
Does he not? He says, Woe unto him from whom
the offense cometh. The least of God's children that
are abused, mistreated, lied about, any of those things, the
Lord will take care of that. The Lord will repay, but not
us. And if we are somehow, by the
grace of God, able to respond not in kind, but in kindness
and mercy and grace, realize that it's not us that's doing
that. It's Christ in us. Now, sadly,
even believers can say and do terrible things to one another. We all know that, don't we? Ever
had somebody right here who we love, say something, and it's
just like a knife in the back. And, you know, we don't want to do that to one
another, do we? What happens? Let me tell you,
that old black heart, it'll leap up in your tongue. I've done
it, and I'm ashamed of it and sorry for it. But we need extraordinary
grace at those times to not only forgive, but listen to me, to
forget. And not only to forget, but to
love those who despitefully use us. Remember some simple, basic
truths. When we think we're wrong by
somebody, the truth is, it's never as damaging to us as it
could be or as what we deserve. When somebody lies about us,
it's never as awful as the truth would be if that were known. When we're stolen from or our
generosity is abused, all the money and stuff, do we realize
it's not ours anyway? It's not ours. What did you bring
into this world? I didn't bring anything into
this world. It's all just been loaned to us for a little while.
We can't and won't take it with us. That old joke about the fellow
who died, he was real wealthy and somebody said, well, how
much did he leave behind when he died? And the answer was he
left it all behind. Every bit of it. Every bit of
it. And then learn this simple truth. When we're despised, if folks
just knew what we really thought, their hatred would be more than
justified. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
4 with me real quick. All of our afflictions are light when compared to those
of our Lord. You see, he was despised and
rejected of men. Did you know he was stolen from?
Judas, who carried the purse, of the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Jews stole from it. His own disciple did that to
him. And our Lord was lied about.
They called him a wine-bibber, a gluttonous man, and even a
devil. He was mistreated. Does anything we have ever experienced
deserve to even be mentioned in the same breath with falsely
accused, found guilty when completely innocent, stripped naked and
beaten with a cat and spit upon, beard torn out, nailed to a tree,
speared in the side, and the whole time being jeered and mocked
by a mob, while his friends and disciples cowered in the dark
corners, refusing to even admit that they knew him, and then
sent to hell for it." Then went to hell on top of all
that. He endured this shame even Though
he lived a perfect life, he, unlike us, deserved none of this
for what he had done. But he endured all this because
of what we had done, his people had done. Now, really, is it
much to expect us to endure these light afflictions in our lives?
Look at 2 Corinthians 4, verse 15. For all things are for your sake,
everything the Lord did. that the abundant grace might,
through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God.
For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction,"
there it is, God's word calls all this I'm talking about, light
affliction. Which is, but for a moment, we
realize that we may live, if we live to be a hundred, It's
just a moment, a hand's breath, when compared to the eternity
that is before us. For our light affliction, which
is just for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal. Folks, when we think it's at its absolute
worst and darkest, When somebody is just railing on us, somebody
lying about us, stealing our goods, all these things, maybe
all at the same time. Never lose sight of the fact
that God knows the end from the beginning. He has a purpose in
it all. And he will reveal that to us
in time. The Lord Jesus Christ endured
it all for the joy that was set before him, and so ought we. Now, turn back to Philemon, and
let's go through these verses and see some things. We read in verse 1 that Paul
says, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy, our brother,
is with me. And this letter is unto Philemon,
our dearly beloved and fellow laborer. I thought about being
the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul was in chains
in Rome. We understand that. He'd been
taken up there and imprisoned because he was preaching the
gospel. And Rome was trying to determine whether or not this
was sedition or what needed to be done about it. He was creating
a big hubbub by preaching the gospel. So Paul was actually
in chains in a house, and that would be bad. But Paul said,
I rejoice in this, that I've been put here. And even the most
cruel circumstances can never diminish the joy that awaits
everyone whom The Lord Jesus Christ has conquered and made
a prisoner. Let me ask you, when we look
at the run of folks in the world, aren't we glad that one day Jesus
Christ conquered us? You know, that's what a prisoner
is, is somebody who's conquered, been made to surrender. Had he not conquered us, we never
would have volunteered to be in his army. You see, in verse
2 here, it says, to our beloved Athia. and Archippus, our fellow
soldier? What's this about soldiers and
to the church at your house? You know, during Vietnam, I was
conscripted, I was drafted, or I promise I would not have been
in that. They had to make me go. And everyone
in the army of Christ is a conscript, else they never would have come
to Him. And they are taken, all of them, against their will,
yet with their full consent. Do you hear that? Every believer
is made a prisoner of Jesus Christ, totally against their will, but
yet with their complete consent. Is it any wonder the world doesn't
understand us? Doesn't get what we see? What's
happened? And they ridicule us, take advantage
of us, say ugly things about us? But I like this. He calls Philemon
My dearly beloved. And Athia, who most folks think
Philemon's wife, says she's beloved too. And I want to take just
a minute to something that overwhelmed me when I read this. I thought,
here's a man and a woman. They both love Christ and they
love one another. And I want to tell you young
folks something, okay? If you're not old enough yet
to be thinking about a husband or a wife, it's a good thing
to be thinking about. But I warn you about this. Don't you dare marry somebody
who's an unbeliever. If you want a little hell on
earth, marry up. They'll take you there. On the
other hand, if you want a little heaven on earth, well, you just
marry yourself another believer and that's what you'll get. It's
not what Bob says or what some marriage counselor says. It's
what the Word of God says. Don't you be unequally yoked.
If you want to pull the whole wagon train by yourself, marry
an unbeliever. That's what you'll be doing. You'll feel the lash or the whip
and it'll be bad all the way there. But isn't it, when we
read what Philemon did, he did it with atheist love and consent. They were partners in this thing.
They were together. And it's the picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ and his people. We don't do the right thing because
we're so good. No, we do it because Christ is
in us. And then it says here, Archippus,
he's the fellow soldier and he's the pastor of the church. And
it's I appreciate the fact that Luke and Claire said we need
to pray. And in the study, Todd, our pastor,
was being prayed for. Let me tell you what he's in.
He's in a warfare. He's leading the whole army here,
and he's under attack. He's going to be from things
we don't even see or know or understand, oftentimes. We need
to pray for him. But now, read verses 3 and 5
with me. Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I thank my God,
making mention of thee always in my prayers. hearing of thy
love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward
all the saints." Folks, concerning Philemon are said the two marks
of every believer. Number one is faith, which is
the gift of God. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the mark of every true believer. And the second thing
is love of the brethren. And what that is, is the love
of the brethren is the evidence that there is faith in Christ.
They go hand-in-hand. You can't separate them. And
this is also saying that every true believer will not only say
things that are right, we'll do things that are recognized
as good works. And not in order to be saved,
but because we have been saved. Our motive is not, I better do
this or God's going to send me to hell. No, our motive is, I
want to do this because He's redeemed me from that. He saved
me from that. Bilemon didn't just communicate
or talk about good deeds. You see verse 6, it says, that
the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging
of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Bilemon
didn't just talk a good game. No, he did things with the means
that God gave him. He did some things. You see verse 7, he says, Paul
says, For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because
the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. That's
the heart. I mean, we get a lot of stuff
running in and out of our head, don't we? You like me, you wake
up thinking about stuff, worrying about stuff, and wasting time
and energy and all that stuff. And it's because we don't have
the peace in the heart. We need comfort and peace and
joy in the heart. And this man, Philemon, gave
that to some people. God used him to give it to somebody.
Do we have that capacity? Apparently so. Apparently so. Let's not just talk a good game.
Let's try it. Let's give it a shot here. God
will enable us to by His grace. And Philemon, you say, well,
he was a man of great means. He was really wealthy. Well,
but he used those means to bless and help others. He also was
a man who had a wealth of kindness and love and compassion for others.
Turn a few pages back to 1 Timothy 5. Our society and our country. You know what we have going on
in this country? We're having a love affair. And maybe I should
say a lust affair. with money and stuff. Goods. The stuff money buys. And hear me on this. There's
no evil in money or being wealthy. There isn't. God raises up men
of means at times to accomplish his purposes. And if God makes
us wealthy, then we ought to use it for his glory. And if
not, we need to be content. And here's the evidence of that
in 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy 6, verse 5, perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of truth. This is going to tell us what
evil men do, what they think. They suppose that gain is godliness. Do you follow what that's saying?
They suppose, do you hear what these so-called fellows are saying
on TV when they get up to so-called preach? They say, if you do the
right thing, God will bless you. You come down front, shake my
hand, God will give you what you need, what you want. It's
a health and wealth gospel. Those folks are supposing, you
see, that gain is godliness. And it's not. Getting money is
not godliness. It's not evidence necessarily
of God's blessings. Charles Spurgeon said, for every
man I've seen depart from the gospel from a lack of money,
I've seen a hundred depart from having too much of it. Be careful
what we ask for. You see, evil ungodly men suppose
that gain is godliness, and it says, from such withdraw ourselves. If we recognize that happening,
get away from it. But the truth is, in verse 6,
godliness with contentment is great gain. If we have the Lord
Jesus Christ, if we have godliness, if we are made perfect in Christ,
he has put away our sin, what do we need? We can be content
in that. Verse 7, For we brought nothing
into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And
if we have food and raiment, let us therewith be content.
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction
and perdition." Boy, that sounds awful, doesn't it? But did you
catch this little thing there in that verse? Did it say, boy,
money will lead to that? That's not what it said. Look
what it says in the beginning of verse 9. It said, "...they
that will be rich." those that desire to be rich, those that
make that their gold. You see, it's not money that's
evil, it's the love of it. And that's what we read in verse
10. For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while
some covet it after, they have erred from the faith and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God,
flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness,
faith, love, Patience, meekness. Now, which would we rather have?
If I put a stack of $100 bills on the bench back there, a million
dollars worth of it, and said, you can go by there and pick
up the stack, or on the other hand, if you'd rather have righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, or meekness, which would we pick?
I don't have a million to put back there, so you don't have
to worry about the test. But the truth of the matter is,
We may think what we pick, but except for the grace of God,
we run back to that money right now. Because our nature, we don't
just like money, we love it. We love it. We'll kill for it,
we'll betray for it, we'll do anything for it. By nature, we
will. And we need to ask the Lord Jesus
Christ to save us from that and give us Godliness. Now turn back
to Philemon with me. And we find that Paul has a request
to make of Philemon. He had the authority to command
Philemon to do what he wanted, but he wrote to him with respect
and out of an humble spirit. And it's not a favor for himself
that Paul asked, but for one whom he has come to love as a
son, a man named Onesimus, who is a runaway slave or servant
of Philemon. And look at his request in verse
8. Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin
thee, to demand of thee, to require of thee, that which is convenient,
that which I am asking for, yet for love's sake I rather beseech
thee, being such and one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner
of Christ, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have
begotten in my bonds." Do you see those three words in verse
9? For love's sake. For love's sake. That's the motive. And I'm a
little reluctant to even comment on this. I've got such a big mouth and
I shoot it off all the time and I'm too quick to draw fire and
say things, and I know that. I'm sorry for it and ask you
to forgive me for it and pray the Lord will help me with it.
You know, it's so bad that if I had a 24-7 hotline to somebody
who could and would always tell me the truth, and give me the
perfect solution every time, I'm ashamed to admit to you that
I've used that hotline not nearly enough. You say, why wouldn't
you do that? Well, you know, I have a communication
line wide open night and day, morning, evening, every time
with the Lord Jesus Christ. And too often, I'm too lazy and
too arrogant to call upon him. What's my problem? I think I'm
too smart. I think I know everything. My
problem is I'm proud, and too often I'm interested in doing
it for Bob's sake instead of for love's sake or for Christ's
sake. That's my problem by nature. God, help us to learn, to get
wisdom, to get our eyes off ourselves and look to the Lord Jesus Christ,
to his glory and the good of his people, and not just on myself. And I know Onesimus was a mess. He was a scallywag. He'd stolen
and embezzled from Philemon and fled to Rome. You see, in verse
11, what we read, Paul's talking about Onesimus. He said, in time
past, he was to thee unprofitable. He stole from you. But now he's
profitable to you and to me. How's that? He said, I've sent
him again that thou therefore receive him. That is, mine own
vows. He said, with mine own heart
I want you to receive him, whom I would have retained with me,
I would have kept him with me, that in thy stead he might have
ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. Onesimus had made
himself a servant of Paul in his change. He waited on him,
did for him, helped him, obviously in this. And Philemon, he had
to feel harmed by Onesimus. But Paul is informing Philemon
that our Lord had a greater purpose. You see, in verse 14 and 15,
but without your mind, Paul said, I wouldn't command you to do
this. I wouldn't do anything. I wouldn't keep him here. I've
sent him back. That thy benefits should not be, as it were, of
necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore departed
for a season that thou shouldest receive him forever. By Lehman, when Onesimus left,
he's thinking, that rascal, that rascal, he stole my stuff. He's gone. I had a lot invested
in him. He's in my debt. And he's taken
it and run away. How could he know God's ultimate
purpose, which was to send this man up to Rome to one of God's
pastors who's in trouble up there? and to become his manservant
and serve him and comfort him as a son would to a dad. And
in the process, the Lord Jesus Christ would save his soul. Now,
what have we got that wouldn't be worth that? What have we got,
really? If Onesimus was your boy, you'd
be happy about it, wouldn't you? Paul says, You receive Onesimus
no longer as a servant, but as a brother. And that's going to
cost Philemon something, okay? Just to forgive the whole debt.
Get it over with. Be done with it. And Paul says,
better yet, receive him just like you would me. You see in
verse 16, he says, Not now, servant, O Nesmus, but above a servant,
a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto
thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord, if thou count me therefore
a partner in Christ receive him as myself, just like you would
me." And these next two verses are very powerful. Paul says,
if he has wronged you or owes you aught, anything, put that
on my account. I, Paul, have written it with
mine own hand, and I will repay it. Albeit I do not say to thee
how thou owest unto me even thine own soul besides. It's obvious from this that Paul
doesn't really know all the wrong or the extent of damage that
Onesimus did to Philemon. But now everyone hear me on this,
and I'm speaking to myself here. There comes a time to get over
whatever harm others have done to us. Period. To dwell on it
is evil. It's toxic to our own spirit
and attitude. We really do need to forgive
others of their trespasses against us as we would have God forgive
us of our trespasses against him. That's not just a saying. That's the truth. Paul reminds
Philemon that he, Paul, preached the gospel to him. So what's
that worth to Philemon? What price would he put on his
eternal soul? God's purpose, as in Onesimus'
case, It may cost us something, money or pride. So what? Write it off. Just write it off. What did our transgression cost
God's son? His very life on Calvary is what
it cost him. Did he complain or whine or make
over it? No, he did it. And don't bow to this attitude
and demeanor begrudgingly. Do it willingly. And with a glad
heart, Paul said, Hylemon, I know you. And I'm going to send on
Esmus down there, and I know better than to think you're going
to do this because you think you have to. Or you're going to do the minimum.
He said, you're going to do much more than that. God loves a joyful
giver. In verse 20, we see, Yea, brother,
let me have joy of thee in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the
Lord. Having confidence in your obedience,
I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do even more than
I say. Paul knew full well that Philemon,
what he would do, more than he asked. And let me go back to
something here. The biggest hindrance to all
of us in these things is not our lack of money. It's our love
of money. Did anybody hear that? Our problem
in this is not our lack of money. It's our love of money. As believers,
we need to get a phrase out of our vocabulary. This recession
has made it the most common thing I hear as I travel. I go to a
lot of places and I hear this phrase continually. And it ought
not even be in the vocabulary of a believer. You know what
it is? It goes like this. I can't afford fill in the blank. And I don't care if it's a thing
or if it's stuff or whatever it is. I hear it all the time
now. I can't afford something and
this or that and the other. For a believer to use those words
is, at best, finding fault with God's providence. Folks, if we
can't afford it, we don't need it. Need to hear that again? If we can't afford it, we don't
need it. At best, it's finding fault with
God's providence. at its worst. You know what those
words say our God is? Not able to provide for his children.
That's dishonoring and blasphemous. When it comes to supporting the
preaching of the gospel and to acts of love, kindness and generosity
to God's people, we can't afford not to. To do so is to deny our
love of Christ and God's people. And I'm reluctant to use this
to make the point. Can anybody here imagine, even
imagine, that the Lord Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane,
when His blood ran backwards, or when He got before Pilate
in the hall before the judgment seat, or when He was in the soldiers'
hall being beaten, or when He started up Calvary, or right
before they drove the nails through His hands, can anybody imagine
the Lord Jesus Christ saying, I can't afford this? I mean, that's obnoxious, isn't
it, to even utter those words? And I apologize to you, but does
it make the point? And I'll tell you, if anybody
ever had a reason to say they're not worth it, it would have been
him. And in that sense, we're no bargain
in that regard. But obviously, we are to God
Almighty, because he sent his Son to do it. put Onesimus' debt on his account. Jesus Christ, for the joy that
was set before him, put on his account all the sin debt his
people had. Paul said to Philemon about Onesimus
the same thing that Jesus Christ says to his father about us.
And I really, really like this. I hope you do, too. Remember what Paul wrote to Philemon
and told him to do with Onesimus? Jesus Christ went to his father
and said, Father, receive them, but not
as the nasty sinners they are, not as the rebels that they were. Father, receive them as you would
my brothers. He said, I'll go one better.
Father, you receive them as you would me. And you know what? Father honors the son. Don't
think for a minute one day I mean. Paul said he was the lastest
least of all the saints. I'd have to argue with him about
that. But I tell you what, one day when I go to God the Father. It's not going to be as a second
rate citizen. It's not going to be if the guy
who just slipped in under the door. I'd go that way if that's
the only way. But that's not how it's going
to be. You know how it's going to be? Welcome, son. Welcome, daughter,
into the kingdom I prepared for you from all eternity. We're
going as Jesus Christ went. Wow! Get a hold on that! Does
that inspire you to be kind, to be compassionate, to love
one another? As Christ loved us, perhaps it
will. One more scripture, turn to John
14. And hold Philemon there. When you find John 14, hold that
and then go back to Philemon. And I want to read you the last
three verses, which is Paul's salutation. He says, Their salute,
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Jesus Christ, Marcus, Aristarchus,
Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with your spirit. Amen. What a simple little kindness. If you'd been one of these fellows
in the church that was meeting at Philemon's, what joy would
it have given you to have the Apostle Paul put your name in
this? Gee whiz, we ought to just be
able to give each other a little of that once in a while, right? But look at verse 22. But withal, Paul says to Philemon,
prepare me also a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers
I shall be given unto you soon. He said, I think maybe they're
going to set me free and let me come down there and that's
the first place I want to go. Now, Paul would never actually
get back to Philemon. He would die in Rome. He didn't
get back to Philemon in this world. But they would be together
in another place prepared for them. And let me show you that
in John 14. Our Lord says, He knows it's
tough here. He says, But let not your heart
be troubled. Verse 1, You believe in God,
believe also in me. He said, In my Father's house
are many mansions, many dwelling places. If it weren't so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. And whither I go, you know, and
the way you know. The way is in the Lord Jesus
Christ." Now, let me conclude with this.
That girl in the story earlier, she was glad her life wasn't
ruined. And Onesimus was glad that Paul nor Philemon turned
him in and ruined his life. But I tell you what all of God's
people have in common. Whether it's Onesimus or whoever
it is, God's people have this in common. Aren't we glad God
didn't let us ruin our eternal life? And we all know that's where
we were headed. Left alone, that's exactly what we do. You know
why? I don't know, it just seems so
easy. It's the broad way and it's easy. The narrow way is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He sent Christ to save us from
ourselves. We have a great and kind and
capable Lord who loves us and gave himself for us. May he give
us the grace to be a little like him in this life. Wouldn't that
be great? And again, I hope you all know,
I'm not preaching at you or to you. I'm preaching to me and
I'm letting you all listen. May the Lord bless this Word.
Let's bow in prayer.