A Postcard to Philemon
05/18/2003 - Two Marks of Maturity
Did you ever have one of those "small world" experiences? You know, when you run into somebody you haven't seen in years at the mall or when you meet up with someone you know while you're away on vacation or far from home and you can't believe it. I've had a number of those, but one small world experience I'll never forget happened to me when I was in Milan, Italy, of all places. That's a pretty good drive from Collegeville!
I was in Milan one summer doing outreach work with a team of people from my former church. We had gone there to help one of our missionaries hold open-air evangelistic meetings on street corners and in parks and city squares. And while we were conducting a meeting in the heart of that sprawling city, in front of the Duomo, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, a crowd of curious people gathered and among them was a man named John.
John had heard us singing Italian songs and then listened while I preached a gospel message in English that was translated into Italian. Recognizing that we were Americans he hung around after the meeting was over and went up to a member of our group and asked. "Where are you from?" And they said, "Bucks County, Pennsylvania." And John said, "You're kidding! No way! I'm from Bucks County, Pennsylvania!" And as they got talking other members of our group came over and they soon discovered that they knew mutual friends who had attended the same high school. It was one of those small world experiences.
So we invited John to come back to the church with our group that night and enjoy a meal together. And over dinner he told us his own small world experience story. A few years ago, John had been on an airplane flying to Mexico and sitting right next to him in first class was Reggie White, the famous football player. And while Reggie was sipping soft drinks, John was slurping down as much free alcohol as he could. Until Reggie finally asked him why he was drinking so much. That could be intimidating!
But a spiritual conversation started that ended with Reggie White using his own story to lead John to Jesus Christ right on the airplane. And for a while John did really well in his walk with God. But he never connected with a local church and started to struggle in his faith and when we met him he was on a backpacking trip around Europe trying to find himself. But what he found instead was the Lord bringing him back into the fold. In fact, we met John on his very last day in Europe. The next day he got on a plane and flew back to Philadelphia. And we were all amazed at the sovereignty of God in bringing us together that day!
I never forgot John's story, because it reminds me that God is always pursuing us and using people and places and small world experiences to bring us to himself. It also reminds me of another of a man who was looking to find himself. But this man didn't run into Reggie White on an airplane or into a church group in Milan. Instead, he ran smack into the apostle Paul himself in another Italian city, the city of Rome. The man's name is Onesimus, a runaway slave, and his story can be pieced together from Paul's letter to the Colossians and from Paul's postcard to Philemon, his master.
If you have a Bible, turn with me to the little book of Philemon. If the pages of your Bible stick together you'll miss it. It's only twenty-five verses long, tucked right in between Titus and Hebrews in the back of your New Testament. This morning we begin a three-part mini-series called A Postcard to Philemon that serves as a fitting follow-up to our recent series in Colossians because Philemon lived in Colosse. In fact, he hosted the church in his house there.
Colosse is a city about 100 miles east of Ephesus and about 1,000 miles east of Rome where Paul is as he writes this letter. Ephesus and Colosse are located in the country called Turkey today, which in Paul's day was known as the Roman province of Asia.
Colosse was situated in the Lycus Valley, straddling the Lycus River at the foot of majestic mountains that rise 8,500 feet high. It's a beautiful area known for its mineral springs and chalk formations and beautiful sunsets. Today Colosse is a ruin, destroyed over the centuries by earthquakes and changing trade routes, but in Philemon's day it was a thriving city known for its banking, clothing and medical school.
Since we know Paul never visited Colosse, it's possible that Philemon visited Paul while he was preaching and planting a church in Ephesus. Paul had spent three years in that city and most likely Philemon had been saved under his ministry there and the two of them had become friends. Philemon's name means "friendly." And it seems like he and Paul had developed a warm friendship over the years.
Philemon was a wealthy man, a man with servants and a house large enough to host a church. But, not all was going well for Philemon. One his servant's was a real problem, a waste, a troublemaker who had stolen his money and absconded to Rome. That slave was Onesimus. And in Rome he hoped to find himself, sow his wild oats, live large and then blend into the crowd. There were 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire at that time and many of them were in Rome. It would be easy to get lost.
Onesimus left Colosse in his rear view mirror and thought he'd never see it again. Yet, God in his magnificent sovereignty brought him to Rome to run right into the apostle Paul. And not only did he run into Paul, but he ran into Epaphras as well, the pastor of the Colossian church that met in his master's house. Just the guy he didn't want to see. That's a small world experience!
Well it didn't take long for Paul to lead Onesimus to Christ, offer him a fresh start and a whole new way to live. He quickly grew in grace and proved himself quite useful to the apostle. They spent hours together having long talks and this runaway slave helped Paul get a better handle on the struggles of slavery, which he writes about in his letter to the Ephesians and also to the Colossians.
Yet, Paul knew all the time that the day was coming when Onesimus' would have to go back home and be reconciled to his master. It was the right thing to do.
But Onesimus didn't want to go home. Seeing Philemon again was his worst nightmare. He knew that it would mean almost certain death. Slaves in that culture were considered living tools, two footed animals, creatures without souls. And we know from the writings of Pliny, an ancient historian, that normal treatment for a runaway slave was death, torture or disfigurement. At best his forehead would be branded by a red-hot iron with the letter "F" for the Latin word fugitivus meaning "runaway." And for the rest of his life Onesimus wouldn't be trusted by anyone.
But he had to return for his sake, for Paul's sake, and for God's sake. But before he does, Paul pens this postcard and the letter to the Colossian church that we just studied and tucks them into the mailbag of Tychicus and sends them both back 1,000 miles on foot to Colosse.
In brief, this little letter is Paul's appeal asking Philemon to forgive and accept his slave back. And I'm sure that when Paul wrote this memo he never dreamed that so many people over so many centuries would end up reading his personal mail! Yet God preserved this postcard for us because it's twenty-five verses are packed with what it takes to live an authentic Christian life that has the power to do the hard things like confessing our mistakes and asking for and giving forgiveness and reconciling relationships that were meant to last a lifetime. So at the risk of dissecting heartbeats I want to take three weeks to examine this postcard around it's three main characters-Philemon, Onesimus, and Paul. Today we'll look at Philemon. Next week at Onesimus. And the following week at Paul.
Look at Philemon 1-3, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, 2 to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul begins his letter in an unusual way. This is the only letter he opens by saying I'm a "prisoner of Christ Jesus." Paul was a prisoner, along with Timothy, under house arrest in Rome when he wrote this letter and the letter to the Colossians. But in Colossians he refers to himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus, but not here. That's because he's writing to a friend. And he's not going to pull rank and command Philemon to take Onesimus back because he's an apostle. Instead, he's going to appeal to him as a dear friend and fellow worker.
The letter is not only addressed to Philemon, but also to Apphia, Archippus and the believers that meet in their home. Most likely Apphia is Philemon's wife and Archippus is their son. And if that's true then what we have here is a family serving God together, a real team ministry.
The picture I see is of a local church in Colosse that's meeting in the home of Philemon. We know churches met in homes up until the 4th century when Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Philemon, a somewhat wealthy man, has a home large enough to host a gathering. He also has slaves as was common in that day and his wife, Apphia, was in charge of their day to day responsibilities.
Archippus was a leader in this house church. He must have been a big guy because his name means "big horse!" He could have been the interim pastor, filling the shoes of Epaphras who was the pastor that was in Rome visiting Paul. Which is why Paul calls Archippus his fellow soldiers and in Colossians 4:17 says, Tell Archippus, "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord." It was a family serving God together. And Paul greets them all, knowing that they'd all be interested in Onesimus' story.
When I pondered that this week it surfaced a real longing in my heart to serve God together as a family. It surfaced the desire for Jennifer and me to use our home to minister to people. I know that's one reason we love our Wednesday night gatherings. And I know our kids love them too. Not just because there's good food there, but because of the love and the laughter that's there. And they've told us more than once that they love going to sleep at night knowing there's a house full of people.
Philemon's family fuels my desire to see my children walking with the Lord. And I know that each one of them will have to make that choice on their own. Jennifer and I can't make it for them. But we resonate with the words of the apostle John who said in 3 John 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
So when we pray for them we pray that God will give them a hunger and thirst for himself. Of course we're concerned about their education and their athletics and their social life, and we pray for those things too, but not nearly as concerned as we are that they learn to walk with their God. Because that will serve them well no matter whom they become or what they do with their lives.
One of the many things I love about Valley View is that most of what I do in and with the church I do in the presence of my family. It's a not a church that pulls me away from home. Instead, it's a church that encourages me all the time to be a better husband and a better dad, to be in community with my family. And I love that!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace and peace is Paul's favorite phrase, his two prized themes. He opened the letter of Colossians with it too. The Greek word grace, charis, means "unmerited favor, gift, getting what we don't deserve." It was the common Greek greeting. Grace to you. But Paul couples it with the word shalom or "peace" which was the common Hebrew greeting. Grace and peace to you.
The order is significant. Grace always comes first. Grace always comes before peace. Because none of us will ever have peace with God until we've first experienced the grace of God. Without grace there is no peace with God. Have you experienced the grace of God in your life? Do you understand that apart from God's grace you were headed for hell? But Jesus Christ said, "I love you so much I'm going to go to hell for you." And that's where he was when he screamed from the cross, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me." He was taking the hit for my sin and yours, so that we could be spared hell and given heaven freely simply through faith in Him. That's that grace of God that brings peace to our life.
And if Onesimus and Philemon were ever going to be at peace with each other, Philemon would have to extend grace, not the gauntlet to his renegade slave. He would have to absorb the blow Onesimus had given him.
Paul calls Philemon a dear friend and a fellow worker. He has a lot of admiration for this man in Colosse and in the next few verses we see why. Look at verses 4-7, I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. 6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. 7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.
Paul admired two things about Philemon, two marks of a mature man or woman of God that I want to see in my life and I'm sure you want to see in your life as well. He had faith and love.
Philemon's faith in Christ was an active faith. It wasn't a passive, spectator kind of faith. It had feet on it and Paul had heard about it. No doubt, Epaphras and Onesimus had both told him story after story of Philemon's faith. Things that Philemon had done in faith, that had once seemed so foolish to Onesimus, were now becoming clear to him like the time energy and resources he committed to his house church. Onesimus used to resent all the extra work it caused, the meals prepared, the prayers said, the money Philemon so willingly, almost foolishly gave away, the people he helped, the message that was always on his lips, the "God talk" that once sickened Onesimus, now caused him to see that his boss wasn't a fool at all, but a man with a great and active faith.
And hearing about it causes Paul to say, "Keep it up! Stay active in sharing your faith is the idea in verse 6, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ." Do you see that connection? Only when our faith is an active part of our life we will ever come into a full understanding of every God thing we have in Christ. Our simple faith gets us into the family of God, but and active faith helps us understand all that is ours in Christ.
It reminds me of what Jesus said in John 14:21, Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
Do you really want to get to know God? Then do what he says. It's really that simple. Do you feel stuck or stagnant in your walk with God? Often we do. And when that happens it's usually because we've stopped being obedient to God in some area of our lives.
I've met with believers who have said that they just feel so distant from God, "like their running in place," the way one guy put it. They go to church, read their Bible from time to time, try to pray, but it seems like God's ignoring them. They don't feel close to God.
But often as we talk things surface that reveal the reason for the blockage. They have some unreconciled relationship with a parent or a spouse or a boss or a friend. And they're choosing to hold on to bitterness rather than forgive. Or they have some destructive addiction going on to a substance or to pornography that has them by the throat. But they're not ready to get help. Or they're being less than honest with their finances. Or their sexual life is way out of control or they're in the middle of an affair. You can read the Bible, pray, go to church everyday of the week, but if those issues aren't faced you "will keep running in place" with inactive faith.
6 I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Philemon was active in using his home as a base for ministry. But learn this lesson from Philemon also. Not everyone responded to his active faith. Some, like Onesimus, thought he was nuts, stole from him, hurt him, and had to run 1,000 miles away in order to find the Lord.
But not only was Philemon a man with an active faith. He was also a man with a refreshing love. Look at verse 7, Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. I love that phrase. Philemon knew what it meant to open his home and his heart to others. He built people up. His home was known throughout Colosse as an oasis in the desert.
That word "refresh" is the same Greek word that Jesus used in Matthew 11:28 when he said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Come to me all you who are "stressed out" and I will refresh you. That's what Jesus offers. And that's what Philemon offered to all those who came into his home. He refreshed them.
The word "hearts," literally means "bowels, inward parts." You've refreshed the guts of the saints. It was the ancient way of referring to the emotions of a person. Philemon refreshed the emotions of those who came into his home. They felt better when they left then they did when they came. That's what the church should do. It should shoot straight with us and then give us hope.
Valley View Community Church couldn't exist without a whole lot of Philemon families. And we have them. People who open up their homes and apartments and dorm rooms for others to be refreshed and built up in one on one settings, small groups, big parties, you name it. Places where you can enter after a horrible, no good, very bad day and know you'll be greeted with a smile and often a hug. Places where there is lively conversation and this wonderful blend of authentic sharing and good-natured fun.
I thank God that I'm married to a woman who loves to refresh the hearts of the saints in our home, who wants to help people find rest for their souls. That's what goes on Wednesday and Sunday nights at the Giessler's home with teens. Or in the home of the Lawson's on Tuesday nights with Alpha and many others who are gathering people together in their homes to be refreshed in the Lord. May your tribe increase! Keep it up!
So Paul opens his postcard by praising Philemon for these two qualities, his active faith and his refreshing love. How about you? Are you a man or a woman of faith? Is your faith active? Or are you "running in place" because you're holding on to something that you know God wants you to let go of? Do you have a refreshing kind of love? Do you build up the hearts of others? That was Philemon. How about you?