For love's sake. For love's sake. The Word of God teaches us to
do what we do out of love. Out of love toward one another.
And out of love, really, toward all men. We could say it this
way. You know, Paul said in verse
9, yet for love's sake. We could say for Christ's sake. The Scripture says God is love.
Christ is God, and therefore we can say, for Christ's sake.
That's basically what Paul is saying to Philemon. Philemon
is no doubt a businessman. He had servants, and he had this
one particular servant that just decided he's going to go out
on his own. He's going to run away. He's
going to just leave. And I've never seen anybody who
was upset just quietly leave. I'm sure before he left, he had
some things to say about Philemon. I'm sure he was running his mouth,
so to speak. And so he packs up and no doubt
probably took some of the goods of Philemon and left. And so
when he left, he runs right into the Apostle Paul or the providence
of God, how it guides our steps. He leaves one believer and then
runs right into the man who preached the gospel to his master. And
I have no doubt he knew Paul probably from that, but he runs
right into Paul. God puts Paul in prison. He's in prison in Rome. And of
all places that you would think that Onesimus would run into
Paul would be in prison in Rome. But this is where he meets him
again. And he preaches the gospel to him. And God saves that slave. God saves that rebel. God saves
that runaway serpent. God does a mighty work of grace
in him. I mean, what a change. What a
change God makes in a man or a woman when He saves them. And
this is what has happened. So in verse 8, Paul says, in
writing to Philemon, he says, Therefore, though I might be
much bold in Christ, that is, I could, with the authority that
is invested in me as an apostle, which was the highest office
in the church at that time, he said, I could use my authority
and command you to receive and forgive Onesimus. But what would
that be like? I mean, what joy, what glory,
what glory would God receive out of that? And what kind of
fellowship would there really be between Philemon and Onesimus
if Paul said, I command you to receive this man and restore
him back to his place of service and go on. That wouldn't go over
very well, would it? I've learned one thing about
human nature. commands usually bring out the worst in us. When
we are usually commanded to do something by another person,
there's something about it that arouses that old nature in us. And so Paul says, I could do
this. I could do this. Scripturally, I have the power
to do this. Listen to these Scriptures in
Hebrews 13, 7. Remember them which have the rule over you,
who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose faith follow,
considering the end of their conversation. And then in Hebrews
13, 17, Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves,
for they watch for your souls as they that must give account,
that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that
is unprofitable for you. And then it says here in 1 Thessalonians
5, And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among
you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to
esteem them very highly, and love for their work's sake, and
be at peace among yourselves." The scripture teaches, especially
with the apostles, that they had the authority, the rule,
and the power to command the church to do certain things.
And Paul said, I could command you to do this. And as believers,
we are commanded to love one another. Our Lord, we've looked
at this in the last two or three weeks. The Lord said two or three
different times, this is my commandment. This is my instructions, my commandment,
that you love one another. In other places, he said that
you love one another as I have loved you. This is my commandment. And then upon this foundation,
Paul tells Philemon, you receive Onesimus. Listen to this scripture
in Luke 17. Take heed to yourselves. If thy
brother trespass against thee, rebuke him. That is, tell him. Because if you just keep carrying
it around, it will just fester and fester and it will be a problem.
It says rebuke him. That doesn't mean reach over
and slap him. That just means tell him. Tell him the offense
between you and him. You and him or you and her or
whichever, you tell him. And if he repents, forgive him.
Forgive him. Forget it. And if he trespasses
against these seven times in a day, oh my, seven times in a day, if
he offends you seven times in a day, if he steps on your toes
seven times in a day, and he turns again and says, forgive
me, I mean serious about it. He says, forgive me. Our Lord
says, thou shalt forgive him. I can assure you this, we sin,
we trespass against our God, our Lord, far more than seven
times in a day. And every time we seek mercy,
he gives it. And upon this basis, upon this
basis Philemon, you receive Onesimus. And upon this basis, we are to
deal with one another. And then he says here in verse
nine, he gives here the foundation on which to receive and forgive. Yet for love's sake, we can say
for Christ's sake, for love's sake, here's the true motivation
for all that we do. For love's sake. Paul said in
2 Corinthians, For the love of Christ constraineth us. It constrains us. Because we
thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead. And
that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth
live unto themselves. Now the world does. The world lives for itself. It
gets all it can for itself. But we live unto Him. We live
unto Him which died for us, as it was died for them and rose
again. This is the basis for the love
of Christ. For the love of Christ we forgive.
For the love of Christ we receive. For the love of Christ we let
things go. That's what He's teaching. That's why he's teaching Philemon.
Philemon's been wronged. This servant has bad-mouthed
him. I have no doubt this servant bad-mouthed him before he left
and probably took some goods, stole off of Philemon and took
off and left. And the Lord had saved Philemon,
and I don't know how long that had been, how long he'd been
saved, you know. But Onesimus, the Lord saved
that man, and I'm sure, at least after the Lord saved him, I'm
sure he was a good master. I'm sure he was. And Onesimus
took advantage of him. Listen to this in 1 Peter 4.8.
And above all things, have fervent charity. Fervent. You know what
the word is. Fervent, strong, vehement. Love among yourselves. He doesn't say just have love,
but to have fervent love. among yourselves, for love shall
cover the multitude of sins." Love will forget it. Love will
overlook it. It will. True love, that's a
God, will overlook it. It will overlook it. And he's saying here, for Christ's
sake, for God's sake, for the sake of our Father who loved
us, who chose us, who redeemed us, receiving, receiving and
forgiving as if nothing happened. Receiving with open arms. Receiving
with open arms. And Philemon, receive him with
the same love that you would receive me with. Now, you know
that Philemon would be anxious to see Paul. Love to see Paul,
because he heard the gospel from Paul, just like I love to see
Henry. I heard the gospel, you know, just as many of you have,
if not all of you. You heard the gospel from that
man. That man is special to you. He's special because you heard
the gospel from him. God sent him, gave him a message,
and you heard the gospel. And of all these men that come
and go, we hear them preach. I love to hear these other men
preach. But I tell you, there's one that I have a special regard
and love for. because I heard the gospel from
him. And Paul's saying to Philemon, you received him with that love
that you would receive me with. That you would receive me with.
And this advice not only comes from an apostle, it comes from
an old man. Paul the Aged. Now, Paul the
Aged. Now, you're probably thinking
90-year-old man or something. You know, you're thinking somebody
like that. But I was reading and his age was calculated to
be 56. I'm 54. And he said, Paul the aged. But
here's why he's saying Paul the learned, Paul the one who has
experienced the grace of God, Paul who has been around a while
and I've learned some things. Paul the aged, not just an apostle,
But Paul, the age, consider my wisdom in this. Consider the
wisdom that God has given me in this. And consider the experience
that I have from this, from being around a while. And I've learned
some things and this is the best way to handle it. Philemon, this
is the best way to handle it. Now, you receive him. And notice
here in verse 10. I beseech thee for my son." My
son. Why did Paul call Onesimus his
son? Because he had begotten him in
the faith. God used Paul as the preacher
that preached the gospel. Onesimus heard it. And Paul is
saying, I'm his spiritual father in a sense. There's a sense in
which he's his spiritual father. And he said, he's my son. Now
you receive him as my son. Don't just receive him as someone
that has wronged you and wants to be forgiven, but you receive
him as my son. My son in the faith. Well Nesmus
had been saved under the preaching of Paul. He was born again by the word
of God that Paul preached while he was in prison. And he's saying, this man's special
to me. This man's special. You know, if I can say this,
if I were in prison for preaching the gospel, if
I was in prison for preaching the gospel, and God sent someone
along like Onesimus, a runaway slave, a rebel, and I was able
to preach to him, and it became very evident that God has used
me in preaching the gospel to save that young man, that young
man would be special to me. Paul said, I have begotten him
in my bonds while I was in prison. And this man is special to me.
He's special. I know that in time past, there
in verse 11, I know that in time past he was unprofitable. He
was a rebel. He caused you trouble. I know
that. He was unprofitable. He was a
useless servant. And I have no doubt he was a
bad example to everybody else that works for you. And he stole
from you. And it left you. But you know
what? Every one of us is unprofitable
by nature. Every last one of us, by nature, is unprofitable. Listen to the Word of God. In
Romans 3.12, they are all gone out of the way. All. That includes us. They are together
become unprofitable. All of us together are unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Good for nothing. Good for nothing
but to be burned, to be cast out, and to be burned. But not
so now. Now one time he was unprofitable,
but not so now. This slave is now profitable. He's now profitable. He's profitable
to himself because the Scripture says, for godliness is great
gain. It's a real blessing. And now
he can be profitable to you, Philemon. I tell you what, I've
had men work for me. But to have a man work for you
that loves you, now that would be something. Not just working
for you to collect a check. But I mean somebody that works
for you, that loves you. And he said, now this man's profitable.
At one time he was unprofitable, but now this man, this man loves
you, Philemon. You know Onesimus, you know Onesimus
would say, oh, I wish I hadn't have done that. You know he would,
you know in his heart he said, in his heart he said, I wish
I hadn't talked about him, and he felt so bad about that. I
know he did. If God saved him, I know he did. He felt so bad
for stealing. He felt so bad for leaving. He
felt like the scum of the earth for what he did to Philemon, his own brother now in the faith.
Oh, he felt bad about that. He's like that prodigal son who
came home. He said, just treat me like one
of the servants. You know, that son said, just treat me like
one of the servants. He said, no, you're my son. See, there's
a relationship here now that they never had in the past. In
the past, it was employer, employee. Now it's a brother. It's a brother
in Christ. He's profitable to you now, Philemon,
receiving. He's profitable to you. He's
a good servant now. And he's a helper to me. He's been a helper
to me in the ministry, in the gospel here while Paul was in
bonds. Onesimus was profitable to Paul. He was helpful to Paul at that
time. But Paul, being the man that he was, a man of God, he
said, I'm going to send him back to you. I'm going to send him
back to you. You see, Paul could keep Onesimus
and Paul actually, I believe, needed Onesimus at this time
as a helper. But Paul saying this man ran
away. And it's really not it's not
it's not what I want to do, I don't want to keep him because I can. As an apostle, he could say he
could write to Philemon and say, I'm going to keep Onesimus. He's
a real benefit to me. But here's Paul in his humility. Being the kind of man that he
is, he says, I'm going to send him back to you. I'm going to
send him back to you. And I'm going to let you make
the decision to send him back to me. I'll leave that up to
you finally. You can send him back to me to
be a helper if you want to. But I'm going to send him back
to you first. That's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to send him back to you. I want you to receive him.
And I want you to receive him with open arms. I want you to
receive Him without suspicion. I want you to receive Him without
any grudge. Well, if you wrong somebody,
well, let me just say it this way. Isn't that the way you would
like God to receive you? Without any grudge. Without bringing
up the past. Without looking at you with an
eye of suspicion. Watch that one. Watch that one now. I'm telling you, He'll steal
from you. I want God to receive me in Christ
with open arms, with love and forgiveness and mercy. And he
says, Philemon, you receive Him. You receive Him as a brother.
You receive Him like you would receive me. Just like you would
receive me, like you were receiving my own heart. He said, my bowels,
my own heart. I would have kept Him here with
me to assist me in the ministry, Without first consulting you,
I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. This shows
Paul's humility. He had the spiritual authority
to do it, but he wouldn't do it. He would not abuse his power
that God gave him. And this also shows how we are
to handle and deal with one another. Henry wrote this in his He said,
the gifts, love, and assistance which we render to one another
must not be by pressure. You know, if it's voluntary,
it's not pressure, is it? That's what voluntary means. Do it voluntarily. He said, but
willingly and voluntarily. Otherwise, there's no spiritual
value. If Philemon chose to return Onesimus
to Paul, then all would be blessed and God-glorified. I thought
that was the best way to put it. Then verse 15, for perhaps
he therefore departed for a season that thou shouldest receive him
forever. Yes, he did depart for a season.
He departed for a season an angry man. He departed an unhappy servant. He departed for a season. But
by God's good providence, by the Lord's good providence,
he has overruled Onesimus' heart, Onesimus' purpose. And he has
saved him. He has saved him. And that's
the way God does all things. God rules and overrules all things
for the good of his elect. Every last one of us at one time
or another was a rebel. Now we were an absolute rebel, but God has ruled and overruled
through providence and brought us under the sound of the gospel,
created faith in our hearts, and enabled us to fall in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ And he said, now you deal with one
another like this. It says in Romans 8, 28, and
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
You remember in Genesis, I know you remember this, we've just
been going through it. Joseph met his brothers and they were all scared and
terrified. And Joseph said to them, Now
therefore, be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you
sold me here. Don't turn around and beat up
on each other. Don't turn around and slap each other. For God
sent me here to preserve life. For these two years hath the
famine been in the land. And yet there are five years
in which there shall be neither earing nor harvest. And God sent
me before you to preserve your posterity in the earth and to
save your lives by great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent
me here, but God. God's hand is in this. That's
why he's telling Philemon. The Apostle Paul is saying Philemon,
God's hand was in this. God's hand was in this. Onesimus
ran away. with evil in his heart. He did
you wrong. But God was sovereignly at work
in this. He sent Onesimus. He let Onesimus do what was in
his heart. But he guided his footsteps.
That slave was his. That slave belonged to Christ.
Long before he ever belonged to Philemon, long before Philemon
ever had him, he belonged to Christ. And his footsteps, I
can just see this, Onesimus upset, working this plot in his mind
to leave, and he's going to take some goods with him so it'll
help him along the way. And all this is going on. And
God has got Paul here in prison. And Onesimus takes off and heads
out. He thinks he's going to be free.
He's going to do his own thing. He's going to do his own thing.
And what does he do? He runs slap dead right into
the Apostle Paul, right into the Gospel. It's like the Lord,
when He stopped Paul on the road to Damascus, stopped him dead
there, saved him, and changed his whole course of life. And
Onesimus, He ran away a slave. He ran away a rebel. He came
back as a brother. Now, Philemon, what's that worth?
What's that worth? Oh, what's that worth? Had he
not left in anger, he would have never came back rejoicing. Now, what kind of servant do
you have, Philemon? Look what God has done. Look
what God has done. And Paul says, you receive him
with open arms. You know, later on down here,
he says, if he's wrong thee, in verse 18, if he's wrong thee
or owe thee aught, you put that on my account. You just forgive
him. You forgive him. And that's the
way, that is the way we are to deal with one another. That is
the way we are to deal with those who offend us. We have a brother,
a sister. He says, you forgive them. You
receive them as Christ received you for the love's sake. For
the love's sake.