Day 30: 40 Days Through The New Testament

Ishmael LaBiosa: Welcome to 40 Days Through the New Testament. This podcast is led by Pastor Rusty Small at Liberty Baptist Church in Appomattox, Listen as he guides you through all 27 books of the New Testament in preparation for Easter. Get your Bible ready. Here's today's message. Well, we make it to the end of Paul's letters, and today we look at the shortest of Paul's letters, the letter to Philemon. As we noticed, We have a few books written to people, Timothy Titus and now Philemon. As you notice, Philemon doesn't even have a chapter. It's only 25 verses. And so I'll be able to cover a great deal of this, almost reading it in our brief time together. The letter to Philemon, however, even though it's brief, picks up a very interesting topic. because let me tell you a little bit about the letter. Who is Philemon? I told you previously that Colossians and Philemon go together because Philemon is at Colossi. But the more interesting thing is who are the other characters and what are the other key topics in Philemon? There's a few characters. One, Paul. Two, Philemon. Three, Onesimus. That's not everybody mentioned in this brief letter, but those are the big three. And I'll just go ahead and give you the contours here. Philemon is, you ready for it? A slave holder. And Onesimus is Philemon's slave. So this is actually a case study in how early Christianity dealt with the issue of slavery. I think you'll be quite surprised if you really internalize the essence of this letter. If anyone tells you, the New Testament, it says nothing negative about slavery. It basically keeps on with the same old thing. No, not if they've read Philemon well. This is a very interesting book. Let me tell you what happens. So Onesimus is not just a slave. Onesimus is a runaway slave. That's what he is. and Onesimus runs away from Philemon. Evidently, it is implied that he steals from Philemon on the way out and then Onesimus, well, just so happens in the providence of God to run into the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul, well, does what the Apostle Paul does. He shares the gospel. Onesimus comes to faith and then Paul says, Now, Mr. Onesimus, would you like to give me your testimony? Where were you before here? And Onesimus says, well, it's kind of a complicated testimony. I was actually the slave of this man Philemon. And Paul goes, ⁓ Philemon. ⁓ I know of him. I'm sure Onesimus was like, great. But now because of this situation, Paul has Onesimus with him and is going to write to Philemon about what to do. This is a situation with multiple ethical layers. Why don't we read it? I'm just going to read the little book for you. You won't have to even read yourself because I'll probably read most of it today. Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother to Philemon, our dear friend and co-worker to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your home. Grace to you. and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 4, I always thank my God when I mention you in my prayers because I hear of your love for all the saints and the faith that you have in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your participation in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for the glory of Christ. For I have great joy and encouragement from your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother." He says, look, I know you've done a lot of good. Now I've got some instruction for you. Verse eight, for this reason, although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is right. Paul says, verse nine, I appeal to you instead on the basis of love. I, Paul, as an elderly man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus appeal to you for my son, Onesimus, I became his father while I was in chains because he was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me." Now I think the most staggering thing here is what is Paul going to do with the runaway slave? Surprisingly, Paul's sending him back to his slave owner. It's quite startling, verse 17, but now listen to the words. Listen carefully. I am sending him back to you. I am sending my very own heart. I wanted to keep him with me so that my imprisonment for the gospel, he might serve me in your place. But I didn't want to do anything without your consent so that your good deed might not be out of obligation, but of your own free will for perhaps. This is why he was separated from you for a brief time so that you might get him back permanently. Listen to verse 16. no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a dearly loved brother. He is especially so to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. And if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it, not to mention... to you that you owe me even your very self. Yes, brother, may I benefit from you and the Lord, refresh my heart in Christ. Since I'm confident of your obedience, I'm writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. Meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, since I hope that through your prayers, I will be restored to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. My coworkers, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Let me point out a few things. Number one, Paul says, I could have told you exactly what to do, Philemon, I didn't. I'm appealing to you. I don't want this to be done by command. I want this to be done because you know it's the right thing to do. He says, I'm sending you back. Now the first thing at the heart of slavery is the inequality of peoples. That's at the heart of it. And by the way, there's a bit of a difference between New Testament slavery and slavery in the American South, but slavery at all places at any time is wrong. But there was some differences that it wasn't race related like it was in the American South. But nevertheless, the key idea is inequality among peoples. And when Paul sends Philemon back, he says, I'm sending you back, sending him back. And you should see him as a brother. And Philemon is not to punish him for running away or punishing him for stealing. says, charge it to my account. mean, forgiveness and reconciliation. Here's the deal. If Philemon would have lived out the principles of Philemon, this letter, slavery in the early Christian church would have functionally been abolished. You say. Rusty. Why didn't the earliest Christians abolish slavery? Well, I would propose that the earliest Christians had no political power to abolish slavery. They were running for their lives. And I do want to note that when slavery was abolished and it was abolished in England and that became the basis of air abolishing it, it was done by a man by name of William Wilberforce and he did so based out of, guess what? Christian conviction. And then additionally, the Civil Rights Movement In America, Martin Luther King Jr., he did it, his philosophical basis for the end of racism to move civil rights forward, he did it based out of Christian conviction. I think this little letter, Philemon, is already setting a trajectory to say there are not inequality among peoples, that the slave is our brother. And here in Philemon, Paul says, if you embody that and understand that and live that, that's Paul's instruction to Philemon. And I think we ought to think about this. The last thing I'll say with my remaining moments is sometimes we see societal issues and we want to rage about them and say, how unjust and there are plenty of unjust things. But let me just say this, while we're... saying things are unjust in the broader society, why don't we in our own communities, church communities, in our own families, show that we can live out the ethical ideals that we say we believe? Like Philemon could functionally abolish slavery in his house by treating Onesimus as a brother. And I think rather than us just raging about all the things we'd like somebody else to change, Maybe in our own churches, in our own communities, in our own families, we ought to go ahead and do the change functionally to show that we can live out ethical ideals, well, in our own life, in our own families, in our own churches, in our own communities. Before we tell everybody else to change their ways, maybe we should change our own. Thank you for listening to this podcast, a ministry of Liberty Baptist Church. We pray that this is an encouragement to study God's Word and that you will join us for the next episode.