This time, please get your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Philemon, the little little letter of Philemon. Again, if you find the book of Hebrews, it's one book back. It's the final book in the collection of Paul's letters. People are question whether or not it was Paul who wrote Hebrews. I think when the New Testament was put together, they stuck Hebrews at the end of all of Paul's letters just to cover themselves if that was the case. The Philemon is the final of the ones we know that Paul wrote. Somewhat personal letter between Paul to a man named Philemon. about a runaway slave or servant from the house of Philemon named Onesimus. Let's give our attention again in our. Our thoughts. To the reading of God's word. The letter to Philemon. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus and Timothy, our brother to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Afia, our sister and archivist, our fellow soldier and the church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God, our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I have heard of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the Saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required. Yet, for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I'm sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel. But I prefer to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not come by compulsion but of your own free will. For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it to say nothing of your owing me, even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers, I will be graciously given to you. The Pafos, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Please bow with me briefly as we ask God's blessing on our time in his word now. Father, please, we pray, grant us the illumination of your Holy Spirit so that we might understand what he desires to say to his church today. We pray that your grace, and particularly as it's manifested in Jesus Christ, we pray that that might be exalted and we would be drawn unto him this morning. Please soften our hearts, convict us where we need convicting and restore us by your grace and enable us to walk in new obedience in the paths of righteousness. We ask these things in Christ's name, amen. This is now our third message in the little book of Philemon, and in the first two messages, Just for just very brief review, we've seen that this little letter from Paul to Philemon in a general way, this little letter between Paul to Philemon concerning the relationship between Philemon and Onesimus, we've seen that generally it's a very beautiful picture of how our faith is to bear fruit in our relationships within the Christian church. And ultimately, it's giving us a very graphic picture of of what it looks like to live as Christians with one another and how our our relationships with one another in the church are to be affected by our faith. In other words, this little epistle, it takes the truths of God's forgiveness of our sins. It takes truths like Our equality now in Jesus Christ, because he's our righteousness and we stand before God in him. And truths like the supernatural sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, it takes those kinds of truths and it brings them to bear on a real life problem. That needs those truths to be believed and acted upon. in order for the problem to be solved. The problem there between Philemon and Onesimus will not go away and cannot be rectified without those truths being consciously believed, held fast and acted upon in relation to the problem there. And therefore, notice in verse three, as Paul's salutation right at the beginning, it invokes And he is not just throwing out nice words for reconciliation to truly take place between all the parties that are involved here that are touched by this by the friction between Philemon and Onesimus. They will need that grace and the peace that comes from God alone. So when Paul begins that letter and says grace and peace to you. from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not just throwing out something meaningless, just nice words among Christians. But he's saying you're going to need these supernatural graces of grace and peace if this issue between you two will get solved. And so we see that this is not just a plea to get along. This is a call to allow God to work in you And so that supernatural reconciliation might take place. Particularly, we've seen that as Paul has so often issued commands to the churches to consider others higher than themselves, that we are to forgive one another as God and Christ has forgiven us, that we are to seek peace among ourselves. Well, what we're seeing here in this little letter is, is that Paul is actually From his point of view and from his part in the process of the issue with Philemon and Onesimus, what Paul is doing in this letter is he's actually practicing what he has been preaching. Paul calls us as believers to lay down our individual rights, to consider others higher than ourselves, to give up our own self-interests in a matter and let the glory of God shine through so that reconciliation might happen. And you see here that Paul is forgoing and you see it explicitly there in verse eight. He's forgoing his apostolic authority and he is forgoing his right to command, and rather he's giving way to the Holy Spirit to bring forth a supernatural work of grace and forgiveness and reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus. In other words, as love is the preeminent fruit of the Holy Spirit. Paul's desire in this letter is that it will come forth, that love will come forth in Philemon's life toward Onesimus, not by compulsion. But as it were, if you see there in verse 14, but of your own free will. You see that that's what Paul is urging Philemon to do. If you look back at verse six, that is what Paul is urging Philemon to do in verse six, that that love and forgiveness. That's the sharing of the faith. That's the communication of your faith. That's faith taking the form of bearing fruit. And he's seeking that in Philemon so that Philemon might come to a fuller knowledge of the goodness of God and his will. In other words, he's desiring that Philemon's faith will now evidence itself in the fruits of love and forgiveness, just like Philemon's faith has evidenced itself with so many others. That's why Paul said, I've heard of your love and how you've refreshed the hearts of many saints. Philemon's faith has bore fruit and in a sense, he's famous for it. But now Paul is asking him to do it in this relationship with Onesimus, and he's realizing that he's asking Philemon to do something very hard, if not impossible, without the grace of God and without the support and encouragement from others, believers around him. And so having told Philemon that he is indeed praying for him in this very manner. He now moves As we get into verse eight here, he now moves to encourage him to do the right thing. And the way that he seeks to encourage Philemon to do the right thing is immensely instructive for us. And I think we'll just let the picture fill itself in as we move into our text now. The first way, though, I want you to see that Paul seeks to encourage Philemon to do the right thing in regard to Onesimus. Again, which if you've forgotten or if you didn't catch it when we were going through is that Paul is asking Philemon to forgive and receive back Onesimus who has wronged him. Onesimus has left, has rebelled against him and has defrauded him. And so Paul is encouraging Philemon to actually forgive him, to let love cover a multitude of sins. And the first way that Paul encourages Philemon here is by appealing to the nature of familial love. The nature of familial love, when I say familial love, I'm talking about that love that is normally found among families. And you can see that particularly here in verses 10 through 12. Notice the way that Paul speaks here. I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. So, you can see it and you can hear it there as Paul speaks in terms of the relationship that he has with Onesimus being akin to a parent-child relationship. My child Onesimus, whose father I became. That's what we mean by familial love. And the reason why Paul is appealing to Philemon in this way should be obvious. because almost everyone understands the nature of that love between parents and their children. This is why in a in like a criminal trial, when it comes to the usually when it comes to the sentencing part of the trial, both sides tend to bring in witnesses, usually the mother. to plead in the case of the guilty, either for leniency in their sentencing or in the case of the victim to plead for a severe punishment. Again, usually the family is brought in so that they might appeal and tug at the hearts of everyone around who can empathize and that they know those feelings. How would you feel If your son went away for life and you were never able to see him again. How would you feel if your son was taken away? And you never were able to hug him again. And so this strong emotional appeal that Paul is invoking here as he pleads with Philemon on the basis of familial love. And so when When Paul begins this appeal here in in verses eight and nine, saying that although he has he has the freedom or he has the boldness to command Philemon to do the right thing. He says he's not going to do that, but rather it's going to be on the basis of love that he will make his appeal. Paul says, I have the right to command you, but I'm not going to do it that way. I'm appealing to you on the basis of love. And you see, we might not recognize it. Maybe it escapes our notice here at first glance, but appealing to something on a love basis rather than on a legal basis is actually a much stronger and higher appeal. You see, legalism is always more appealing than actually loving someone. Is it not? In legalism, you do your duty. You dot your I, you cross your T. But obedience is never merely the external action of our hands, just something we do. It is ultimately always to flow from our hearts. Again, think back to the parent child analogy, the law tells you you need to take care of your kids to feed them, clothe them. The law doesn't tell you you have to deal compassionately with them, that you have to love them and care for them. Love goes far beyond the law. As one commentator has said, it creates an expectation and it poses obligations that can't be ignored. And that often go far beyond what any law might impose. You see, that's what relationships do. Think about any relationship that you have, the relational bond creates a much higher obligation upon us in that relationship. Whether it's the relationship of creator to creature, whether it's the relationship of a of savior to sinner, whether it's the relationship of parents to their children or children to their parents, whether it's the relationship of brothers and sisters together in Christ. Those relationships form bonds which create. a much higher expectation upon the parties involved in that relationship. And therefore, Paul is making it abundantly clear here that he's putting pressure on Philemon with that ultimate relational bond of love. And he does this really by referring, I think, kind of the final blow here is by referring to Onesimus at the end of verse 12 as My very heart. I'm asking you to treat my heart. Kindly. You see, if Philemon, the point of this is that if Philemon really loves Paul. And if they really have this close relationship with one another, which is implied at every turn in the letter. If they really do have this close relationship with each other, how can Philemon then not deal tenderly with his friend's heart? How can Philemon not deal rightly and compassionately with the very heart of his beloved friend? And this is precisely the card that Paul is playing here. He's implicitly saying here what he's going to explicitly say later in the in the little letter, and that is Philemon for my sake. Do it for my sake. I'm not even at this point asking you to look at Onesimus. I'm asking you to look at me. And extend the love and the mercy and the forgiveness to him. Because he's my heart. In other words, because because you love me. And because I love him. I'm asking you to love him also. And this is the power. Part of the power of the appeal from love. And in this case, familial love. Surely, Philemon can relate to this. As very well could be the case, if you look back up there in verse two, Archippus might be, and many scholars believe that he's Philemon's son. He seems to be mentioned above with Apphia, who Again, many scholars think is his wife. But really, regardless, even if those two turned out to not be Philemon's wife or son, Paul's calling on Philemon to think in terms of how he himself would feel about his own son, or at least some kind of of a close family relationship. In fact, Paul's asking him to think about their own relationship with each other. their affection and respect and concern for each other and to look upon Onesimus in light of that relationship. In other words, do this for my sake and in light of all of these relational concerns that I brought up. Now, even in light of the relational concerns that Paul is bringing up here, even though those are there, Because it is a call to a very costly love. That Paul is calling Philemon to. Paul is recognizing and I think he puts it here in a sense in words that maybe we don't see at first glance, but Paul is asking Philemon to make a great sacrifice. And Paul uses the terminology of sacrifice here. to articulate, I'm asking you and I want and I'm wanting you to know Philemon that I realize I'm asking you to make a great sacrifice. He's been wronged, he's been defrauded and he's been asked to forgive Onesimus, receive him back and forgo his own legal rights in this situation and therefore it comes as no surprise here that Paul is seeking Philemon's obedience here on the basis of love and ultimately as an act of his own free will. To understand the reference here to free will, you have to read this in light of its biblical background. What does it mean to do something of your own free will? You need to read this in terms of the sacrifice or free will offerings that are in the Bible. Think for a minute in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 in verse 7 Paul writes each one must give as he has made up in his mind. Not reluctantly or under compulsion. There's the very word that's being used here in verse 14. by compulsion. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 9-7 that everybody has to give as he's made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. When Paul writes that in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 verse 7, and as he alludes to it here in Philemon verse 14, What is behind all of this is Paul is simply quoting from the law where God said in more than one instance, but for instance, back in Deuteronomy chapter fifteen, you shall give freely and your heart shall not be grudging when you give. That's that's what's behind this idea of making this great sacrifice, according to not being compulsion to do it, but by his own free will. And therefore, again, within this biblical trajectory, in this case, Paul is implicitly acknowledging that he's requesting that Philemon sacrifice significantly in reconciling with Onesimus. And thus, and this is a little bit more complex, so that Philemon himself, so that he can benefit from the blessings that are attached to a heartfelt free will obedience to the Lord. Paul is seeking a response from Philemon that can be characterized as a true free will offering. And that's why he writes here in verse 14, I prefer to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but by your own free will. We can break this down into very simple words. In other words, he says, do it because you want to. Not because you have to. The obedience that Paul is seeking from Philemon is that heart obedience that says, I'm doing this because I love. I'm doing this because I want to. Not because I have to. We have a great example of this that we are called to follow, and that is Jesus. In Chapter 12 of the book of Hebrews. The writer tells us that Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith and listen to the reason why Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, Endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. You see, Christ was able to look past the hard thing that he was being asked to do. And rather for the joy that was set out beyond that obedience, that's why he went through the hard thing. In Philippians 2, Paul says, let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others, having this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who? Laid his life down for others. You see, Paul is seeking this kind of free will obedience from Philemon. He wants Philemon to see the joy and the glory before him and to do the right thing of his own free will. as Christ did. There's a final comment that probably should be made concerning what Paul says back in verse nine. Just very briefly, Paul makes this autobiographical comment back in verse nine, and it's not entirely clear what Paul's exact point is in making the comment about his condition. We're not exactly sure what Paul is meaning, but we're sure that he's using these comments so that he might encourage Philemon to do the right thing as it relates to Onesimus. The question there is when Paul says, I, Paul, an old man, the question is whether or not Paul is saying, I'm an elder in the church, because the word is presbyter there. Or is he saying, I'm an old man, I, Paul, an old man, and now a prisoner for the Lord. Paul would have been roughly in his 50s at this point. Just to keep it brief, Paul has been downplaying his office throughout this entire letter. He didn't even greet Philemon in the way that he normally does. Normally, he says, Paul, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice he begins the letter, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, verse eight. Although I'm bold enough in Christ to command you, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to treat you. What Paul seems to be saying here is he's giving he's describing himself to be in a condition of need. In that culture, older people were to be honored by and cared for by younger people. Paul is here saying, I'm an old man. I'm in need of care, which Onesimus had been rendering to him. And therefore, many people read this as Paul is actually in this little letter, he's asking for more than merely having Philemon forgive and receive back Onesimus, but he's actually saying, can you actually return him to me? So that he can keep serving me. as he has been. And so Paul speaks of himself as being an old man who needs the help of a younger man and he's in prison. He's a prisoner for the Lord. Ironically, like Onesimus, he's not a free man. So Paul is here really appealing and really bringing down many things to bear upon Philemon as Philemon considers the request upon him to forgive and receive back Onesimus. Well, all of this is to underscore what I'm going to call the relational web that Paul is weaving here in the letter to Philemon. He has chosen to come at the matter from the perspective of relationships and love and not the perspective of authority and law. There's a need for reconciliation, and Paul has chosen to come at that problem from the perspective of relationships and love. Again, not from the perspective of authority and law. And he has appealed to both natural family love and a heart-produced free will. In other words, not legal matters or some kind of assertion of office. That's not the way Paul is responding to this great need within the church and in doing so, as Paul approaches the issue this way, we gain an amazing insight into the way that we should go about living and loving one another in the body of Christ. You see, even though this letter is technically a letter that deals with three individuals, Paul, Onesimus and Philemon, it's ultimately an extended argument The Book of Philemon is an extended argument for the importance of the Christian church and our relationships within it. Look at the front of your bulletin, Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25. The writer says, and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Do you realize this is essentially what is going on in the letter to Philemon? Paul is is seeking to stir up Philemon to love Onesimus by manifesting goodness towards him in the form of forgiving him and loving him and receiving him back. And again, maybe even sending him back to Paul. But Paul is encouraging Philemon to do the right thing. And almost the entire basis of his encouragement to Philemon so far is on the relational level. Because of our love and our friendship. Because of our relationship with one another, because of my relationship with Onesimus, please extend love and forgiveness to him. And this is a major reason why God has put us together as a body of his people. You see, God's design is, is that as we worship together and as we fellowship together, what happens is, is that we form significant relationships with one another and by way of those relationships with one another. We encourage each other to stir one another on to love and good works. It's part of the means God uses in our own sanctification. He brings us together and he causes us to love one another for the sake of Christ. And in that love relationship, there's a bond that is developed. That brings with it obligations that go far beyond a legal exactness. And the Lord uses these relationships that he's created by his spirit because of our mutual relationship to Jesus Christ. And he uses them in our own personal sanctification. Frankly, I can hardly give you a better argument at the pragmatic level than than that for why we need to be here. Why we need to be part of the church Why we need one another, why we need to not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some. The question comes up, why? Again, because as we learned in the first message, where Paul starts bringing these other people into the discussion between Philemon and himself, God uses others in our lives to encourage us to do the right thing. In other words, he uses others in our lives for our own personal sanctification. If you cut yourself off from the body. If a person neglects the gathering together of the saints, you forfeit a major mechanism that God uses in the lives of his people and this major means of growth and love, forgiveness and obedience. You see, Paul is subtly saying in this letter, legalism will kill you. If you want to go by the law, Philemon, if you want to just do what you what is your right in this regard, that will kill you spiritually. Only love will build you up. And love is something that happens between people. Love is something that takes place in a relationship, and it's here in the body of Christ that God has provided the means of building up in love. We might say, well, that everybody's so sinful in the church. It's full of hypocrites. The church isn't doing what it's supposed to do. You're right. The church is full of centers, it's full of hypocrites. It needs to be sanctified, it's not doing what it's supposed to do, and therefore all these imperfections are actually a call to engage yourself. On behalf of your brother who is stuck in his sin. to engage yourself on behalf of your sisters who's fallen backwards to be there for the ignorance that don't know the right way. In other words, it's here. This is where the call to let love cover a multitude of sins actually comes to fruition and engagement. It's in light of the imperfections. It's actually in light of those imperfections. of our brothers and sisters and that we find within the body of Christ that we actually have the opportunity to to express self-sacrificial love to one another. It's not a time to pull out, it's a time to engage. And guess what? It's like a muscle. When we actually exercise love, We grow in it. When we actually do manifest that fruit of the spirit, that fruit of our faith in the relationships among ourselves, when we let love cover a multitude of sin, real sin. Friction points between one another, we actually grow stronger in it by loving one another, we grow in love. That is why the church is so important. That's why we why our relationships with one another are so vital to our growth and grace. That's why you need the body of Christ and you need the significant relationships that are formed within it. Because God uses them in your own personal sanctification and to bring forth fruit in your life. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, as we think of your design for the church. This body. That you have brought together in your head, this is the head of your son, Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that you might strike us with the value and the blessing of the congregation of your people. Father, we pray that you would engage us in that great activity of stirring one another up unto love and good works. Lord, we pray that you will use this congregation and you'll use our relationships within it to further sanctify us and grow us in grace as we love one another. And we engage with one another. Father, we pray that as our church. Daughters and other congregation. That the preeminent characteristic upon that new daughter in work would be they love one another. So that all might know that they are Christ's disciples. Father, we pray that you will enable us to view the cross and what Christ has done for us. With such clarity. That the love that is expressed there might flow out of our lives. And that we might be able to love one another, even as you in Christ have loved us. Father, please continue your work of grace and sanctification in us. Thank you for the abiding and work of your spirit. Please bring forth these fruits of him in us. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.