Now this epistle to Philemon
was written by the Apostle Paul when he was a prisoner in Rome.
It was probably written about the same time that he wrote the
epistle to the Church of Colossae. And most people think Philemon
probably was a citizen of that city, Colossae, a member of that
church. He was a wealthy businessman
there is what most people think. And you know the story of this.
Philemon had a servant, Onesimus. who'd stolen some money and goods
from his master and ran away. And in the providence of the
Lord, as he ran away from his master, he ended up in Rome and
he visited the apostle Paul while he was in prison. He probably
knew the apostle from his visits there to Colossae. And even though
he didn't believe what Paul preached at that time, he liked him. He
had a respect for the man. He went to visit him. And during
those visits, the Lord is merciful. He saved Onesimus. And Onesimus
was a changed man. This useless, unprofitable servant
was now finally useful, profitable to somebody. He's a changed man.
And Paul would have liked to have kept him there with him.
He would have been a help to Paul, but Paul wouldn't do that.
He's sending Onesimus back to his master with this letter in
hand, asking Philemon to be reconciled to Onesimus, to forgive him and
to receive him as a brother in Christ. And you'll notice as
we go through here, every single word of this letter is written
and crafted in such a way to intercede for Onesimus. There's
not a wasted word here. Every bit of it is written to
pull everything together so that Onesimus will receive mercy and
forgiveness. Paul uses every possible argument. And that's such a picture of
Christ. Everything that Christ has done. Absolutely everything he's done
for his people, he's crafted everything together in such a
way to gain mercy for his people. Every, I'd say human event, but
even before creation, every event, everything God's ever done has
worked together for the purpose, for the glory of Christ, but
to give mercy and forgiveness to his elect. And another great
picture here is who is Paul, the Apostle Paul? Who is he so
earnestly interceding for? He's interceding for a slave,
a guilty man who's guilty of stealing from his master and
running away. And that's us. And it's my prayer
in these next couple of weeks as we go through this epistle
that each of us will see ourselves in Onesimus. When we look at
Onesimus, at his character, at what he's done as an unprofitable
servant, we're going to see ourselves in him. That's a description
of me by nature. And it's also my prayer that
as he was an object of mercy, we'll find mercy and grace as
he did. But he's a picture of us. We're
born slaves to the law, slaves in bondage to Satan. We're guilty
of attempting to rob God of his glory. And instead of coming
and begging God for mercy, What we do is run away, just go further
and further and further away until God in his providence arrests
us and makes us just as finally, or just as Onesimus did, run
into one of his servants. So the first lesson for us to
see in this epistle is the intercession of Christ for his people, how
he intercedes for his people. And the second lesson is this,
for us never to despair. for those people that we know
and love. They may be a runaway thief.
They may be just good for nothing, unprofitable. But we'll just
never know what the Lord's pleased to do. In all their running,
God's still in control. And you just don't know how he
may arrange the events of providence to bring them to himself. Because
one thing hasn't changed from the Apostle Paul's day to our
day. God's still in the business of saving sinners. So don't Don't
despair. Don't give up on a sinner now,
because God's able. He's the only one who's able
to save them. So here in verse one, Paul begins his epistle.
He says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ and Timothy, our
brother, and to Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer.
Now, Paul was in prison for the sake of Christ. He didn't call
himself the prisoner of Rome. He says he's a prisoner of Christ.
It's for Christ's sake. It's by the will of Christ for
preaching the gospel of Christ. And the very first words of this
letter, Paul's subtly laying the groundwork to gain mercy
for Onesimus. We can just imagine how much
Philemon loved the Apostle Paul. Paul was more than likely the
instrument that God used in his conversion to preach the gospel
to him. We can just imagine how much he loved Paul. He highly
esteemed, highly respected both the man and his ministry. Now, is he really going to deny
this man's request to show mercy? Paul says, would you do something
for me? Absolutely, I will. What is it? You can just imagine.
But Paul's a prisoner. Now, are you really going to
deny his request and add to his affliction while he's in prison?
Be pretty hard to do, wouldn't it? If you look down at verse
nine, look what Paul says. He says, yet for love's sake,
I rather beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the aged and
now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. You're really going to
deny the request of this old man down here in a Roman prison?
I don't think so. For love's sake, I just don't
think so. Well, here's the picture. We
can just imagine we don't have hardly any concept of how much
the father loves the son. Such an infinite love. Now, is
the father really going to deny the intercession, the pleading
of his son after his son suffered so much for the sins of his people?
After he became a prisoner for our sins, the father really going
to deny his request? Will the father ever reject the
intercession of Christ? who's pleading his blood as payment
for the sins of his elect. When he asked for forgiveness
for his elect, he pleads the blood. The father always hears
that prayer, always grants that intercession, always. Well, then
Paul includes Timothy in this introduction to the letter. He
says, and Timothy, our brother. Now, Timothy was a very respected
man, a loved man in the early church. Is it possible for Philemon
to deny both Paul and Timothy? It'd be pretty tough to do, wouldn't
it? Well, there's the picture. Not
only does Christ make intercession for his people, but God, the
Holy Spirit, makes intercession for his people with groanings
that cannot be uttered. Now, is the Father going to deny
the Son and the Spirit as they make intercession for the people?
Can't do it. Because they're one, they're
one in purpose, they're one in mind. He'll hear that intercession
for his elect. And then Paul says he's writing
to Philemon, our dearly beloved. And I know he loved Philemon,
but again, this is laying the groundwork for mercy because
the basis for mercy is love. You'll do almost anything. You'll
sacrifice almost anything. for people that you love. And
Paul says, not only do we love you, we love you dearly. You are dearly beloved. And it's
what he says over here. We'll look at this next week
in verse 9. He says, it's for love's sake that I'm beseeching
you to show mercy and forgive Onesimus. It's for love's sake.
And he calls Philemon our fellow laborer. Now, Philemon's a preacher. He was a preacher, elder, or
something there in the church. Now, who should know more about
mercy and forgiveness than someone who preaches, someone who studies
God's word and is in God's word, the servant of Christ? Who should
know more about mercy than a servant of Christ? And that's not just
restricted to somebody, you know, who stands up here. Who should
know more about mercy and forgiveness than someone who's been taught
so well from the Word of God, who's been shown the Lord Jesus
Christ. That ought to be a merciful person.
And that's who Paul is pleading for mercy to. That's who he's
asking. And he goes on in verse 2 and he says, and to Apphia
and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house.
Now, most people believe Apphia is Philemon's wife. And Paul
includes her in this effort to get mercy for Onesimus. Because
you have to remember, she's offended too. You know, when Onesimus
stole and went from his master, well, he stole from her too.
He offended her too. And if this guilty slave is going
to be accepted back into this household, she's got to be on
board. She lives in that house. She
runs that household. If he's going to be accepted
back, she's got to be on board. And it could be. that Paul thought
after you, you know, being a woman, she might have a softer heart.
Maybe she'll be more ready to forgive Onesimus, you know, more
readily than Philemon would, maybe. And then maybe she'd help
Paul work on Philemon a little bit. You know, if he wouldn't
listen to the apostle, maybe he'd listen to his wife. You
know, your wife is close to your heart. She's got more than your
ears. She can talk to your heart better
than anybody. Wasn't that the son, as he makes
intercession for us? He does have the ear of his father,
but he speaks straight to the heart of his father as he intercedes
for his people. And Paul includes Archippus in
this letter. He says he's writing to Archippus,
our fellow soldier. Now here again, Archippus is
some sort of a preacher, elder there. This had to be someone
that Philemon would have trusted. Maybe he'd listen to him. Take
some advice from him. Now, Archippus is not part of
this household, and he wasn't personally wronged, probably,
by Onesimus. So he's a little bit removed
from the emotion of the situation. Maybe he's more inclined to see
the wisdom of showing mercy, and maybe he'll be able to talk
to Philemon. If Philemon is not disposed right
at the first to show mercy, maybe Archippus can kind of talk to
him a little bit. And then Paul says to the church
in thy house, Now, it could be there was a church that met and
worshipped there in the house, in Philemon's house, or maybe
he just had a large household and many of those people were
members of the church there at Colossae. We don't really know.
But here's what I do know. The church is a place for sinners
to find mercy and forgiveness. Sinners should be comfortable
in the church of God. any of us ever forget that's
what we are. Sinners. Well, other sinners
ought to be comfortable in a place where mercy is found. This is
who we're preaching to, the sinners. The church is comprised of sinners
who've been saved by grace. Well, we ought to be a compassionate
people, shouldn't we? But Matthew Henry said this,
and this is good, let me give this to you, about the church
in thy house. All of us don't have churches,
meaning in our houses, but This is what he said. Such should
all families be nurseries of religion. Our homes should be
churches in this sense. Our homes are a place of daily
worship. Our homes are places where our
children are taught the scriptures. Our homes are places where our
children are taught to pray, where they're taught the fear
of the Lord, where they're shown By example, the conduct and character
of a believer. Our homes, in that sense, should
be nurseries of true religion, churches in our homes. Paul goes
on, verse 3, he says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is Paul's usual salutation,
but it has meaning. Every time he uses it. Scripture
has no wasted words. Just because they're repeated
doesn't mean they're wasted. Just when they're repeated probably
means we better pay more attention to them. And I pray we would
never take the grace of God and peace with God and our Lord Jesus
Christ lightly. These are the greatest gifts
that we can have. And the usual meaning that we
take from this salutation We think that what Paul means is
he's writing to someone who already has grace and peace with God.
What he means is that we hope that you experience more, an
increase of grace and peace, that you're growing in grace.
And again, Paul uses this salutation, laying the groundwork, the foundation
to gain mercy for Onesimus. A person who's growing in grace
ought to be a gracious person, certainly. A person who has peace
from God has peace with God. He's got peace in his heart.
He looks for ways to be as much as his lives within you, as much
as possible, live peaceably with all men, but particularly the
brethren, have peace with the brethren. Now, with that in mind,
you receive Onesimus in peace. That's the foundation he's laying.
I know Onesimus doesn't deserve it. He deserves for you to take
him and throw him in jail. That's what he deserves. I know
that. But let me ask you, did any of us deserve grace or mercy
or peace from God? Paul's not asking Philemon to
show mercy to Onesimus because he deserves it. He's asking to
show mercy because he does not deserve it. He doesn't deserve
it, but show mercy to him, have peace with him, just like God
did for you. In verse four, he says, I thank
my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers. Now the
apostle Paul, you look through his writings, he's known as a
man of prayer and practically all of his epistles, he tells
people how he's praying for them, how he's thanking God for them.
He's a man of prayer. And all of us would be better
off if we were more like Paul on that sense, spending much
more time in prayer, being a person of prayer. And, you know, we
don't read of Paul praying for himself all that often. We read
of him praying that the Lord would remove his thorn in the
flesh three times, but just three times. He did ask others to pray
for him, but mostly what we read about is Paul spending time in
prayer for others, for all the churches. And that's just that's
a good lesson for us, too. You know, when the Lord brings
someone to mind or some of our other churches that we know of,
when the Lord brings them to mind, Pray for them, like Paul
did. Give thanks for them. Because
Paul, not only did he pray for them, that the Lord would bless
them, but he thanked God for them. Now Philemon is known as
a man of solid character, a man of hospitality, a man of faith
and love. He didn't come into this world
that way. The Lord made him that way. And that's why Paul's thanking
the Lord for him. And Paul's still laying the groundwork
here for mercy. It's mighty hard to deny a request
from someone who's praying for you and is so thankful for you. It's mighty hard to just refuse
their request. You see how Paul's been given
a lot of wisdom in handling this matter, using all these different
arguments, these different points here to bring to head mercy for
Onesimus. In verse 5, namely, here's what
Paul is so thankful for that he finds in Philemon. It's faith
and love. Hearing of thy love and faith
which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints.
Now the life of a believer can be summed up with these two words.
Faith and love. Faith and love. They always go
hand in hand. Faith in Christ, love for Christ,
and love for one another. Now a believer is justified by
faith. We live by faith. We live looking
to Christ and believing Him, trusting Him. That's faith in
Him. And we must live by faith because eternal life is looking
to Christ, seeing Him, looking to Him in faith. And look over
Galatians chapter 5. True faith. Saving faith is an
act of faith. Galatians 5 verse 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith, which worketh by love. See, there's faith and love always
going together. True saving faith is an act of
faith that works by love. And just like a believer lives
in faith, a believer lives in love. That's the chief characteristic
of a child of God. It's love. What did our Lord
say? By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. Look
over 1 John chapter 4. Those who are begotten of God,
who are God's children, they have a loving nature. In 1 John 4 verse 7. Beloved,
let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God. and knoweth God. Now he that
loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. This is the chief
mark of a believer. It's that we love because we've
been given a new nature, the nature of God that loves. And this is love unfeigned. It's not just some stupid act,
you know, that we put on. It's a genuine, heartfelt love. Love for one another and love
for God. It's a love and care concern
for all men, but particularly the brethren. And we are to love
as Christ loved us. This is his commandment. He said,
a new commandment that I give you, that you love one another.
As I've loved you, that you also love one another. Well, how has
Christ loved us? Unconditionally. He loved us
when we were sinners. when we were yet enemies. He
loved us when we robbed Him of His glory, when we spit in His
face, when we rejected His Son. Even then, He loved us. Not because we deserved it, just
because He set His affection on us. Well, that's how we're
to love one another. Not because somebody deserves
it, because this is the commandment of our Father. This is the nature
that you've been given in the new birth. Now, Paul says, Philemon,
I've heard about your love. and your faith toward all the
saints, now I want to see it in action. I want you to show
love to Onesimus, because as hard as it is to believe, he's
one of the saints now too. Now that can test a person's
faith, can it? It's easy for us to sit here
and love one another. But do we really believe that
God will save anyone? Really? Do we believe that? Even
our enemies? Even those who've wronged us?
Even those who hate and despise us? Now, God saves one of them. Do you have the faith to love
them? I hope God will give it to us, because that's what Paul's
telling Philemon. You love this man who's wronged
you. He's coming back to you in repentance,
and you show faith and love by being forgiving, showing mercy
to him. Now verse 6, he says that the
communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging
of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Now this
word communication, I looked it up yesterday, and it literally
means the proof of fellowship. Extending the right hand as a
pledge of fellowship. So what he means here when he
says the communication of your faith is showing your faith by
reaching out to your brethren, reaching out to people, In the
pledge of fellowship, in true fellowship, it's faith working
by love. And faith, a professed faith,
is not true faith. It's not saving faith unless
it's communicated. Look over at James chapter 2.
True faith is not faith unless it's communicated. In James 2 verse 14. Now what does it profit, my brethren?
The old man say he hath faith, and hath not works. Can faith
save him? Can that kind of faith save him?
If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, and be ye warm
and filled, notwithstanding, you give him not those things
which are needful to the body. But what does it profit? What
is your profession of faith profit at all? Even so, faith, if it
hath not works, is dead. being alone. True saving faith
is always communicated, and if it's not, it's just an empty
profession. True faith is shown in our actions. Abraham's faith was shown to
all men when he offered Isaac on Mount Moriah. Rahab's faith
was shown to all men when she hid the spies and hung that scarlet
line out the window. Her faith was shown to all men.
And true faith is shown by good works. True faith is just a profession. It's just words on paper, unless
it's communicated through good works. True faith is shown by
acts of love. It works by love. Love for Christ
and love for other believers. And of course, Paul is bringing
all this to our attention for this purpose. What he's interested
in right now is seeing Philemon show his faith and his love for
Christ by showing mercy to Onesimus and forgiving Onesimus. And that
kind of mercy, that kind of forgiveness can only come from somebody like
us because of that good thing which is in you, in Christ Jesus. Now, what in the world is Paul
talking about when he talks about that good thing which is in you,
in Christ Jesus? Well, he's talking about the
new birth. The new creature, look over at 1 Corinthians 15. This kind of mercy and forgiveness
does not come from the nature that we're born with, not in
our first birth, it comes from the nature that we're given in
the second birth. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 10. By the grace of
God, I am what I am. And His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain. I labored more abundantly than
they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me
or which was in me. Now look over at Hebrews chapter
13. Hebrews 13 verse 20. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. See, that's working in you. Now
Calvinists don't need to be so afraid of talking about good
works. Not of a believer they don't.
Because no one with true faith would ever take any credit or
glory for these good works. Because one thing we know, it's
Christ in you. It's Christ in me. It's not me.
It's Christ in me that gives me the desire to do good works.
It gives us any ability to do anything good or helpful or loving.
It's Christ in me. So I'm not going to take any
glory or credit for that. All the glory goes to Him because
it's Christ who did it. And Paul knows that, he knows
it's going to take the power of God working in Philemon to
enable him to show mercy and forgive Onesimus and receive
him. The same way it took the power of God to put away our
sin, to remove the enmity between us and God and enable God to
forgive us and receive us as sons. So verse 7, Paul says, Now, Paul and anyone who knew
Philemon knew him to be a man of hospitality, knew him to be
a man of kindness. He'd refresh not just the bellies
of the saints, but he'd refresh their hearts with his fellowship
and kindness and warmth. And that brought great joy to
the Apostle Paul. Look over at 2 John, 2 John,
verse 4. John said the exact same thing
here in 2 John, verse 4. He says, I rejoiced greatly that
I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received
a commandment from the Father. And look down here at 3 John,
verse 3. For I rejoiced greatly when the
brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even
as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to
hear that my children walk in the truth. And that's the joy
that Paul says he feels when he hears of Philemon's faith
and love, how he's refreshed the bowels of the saints. And
he's still laying the groundwork here as he's getting ready to
ask for mercy for Onesimus. What he's saying here is, now
Philemon, you've refreshed the bowels of all these other saints. Now refresh my bowels. Refresh
my heart. Give me my heart a blessing by
showing mercy to Onesimus. And bless Onesimus' heart. Refresh him by forgiving him
and receiving him as a brother. Because remember, he's a saint
too. And you do for him what you've done for the other saints. I'm confident of this. I don't
think we read anything else about these men or find the outcome
of this story. I'm confident Onesimus was forgiven
and received mercy and spent his lifetime as a profitable
servant from that point on. God help us to do the same. Be
thankful for the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ.