The Gospel Changes Everything (Philemon 1-7)

And this week we're going to be starting a new series.

We finished up the book of James last week.

And this week we're going to be in Philemon.

Now I'm going to go ahead and tell you we're going to be in Philemon

because it may take you a minute to find it.

It is one of the smallest books in the Bible.

In fact, if you want to go ahead and start making your way there,

no shame if you look at the table of contents to help find it there.

But if you find Hebrews, then just go back one book of the Bible

and you'll be right there in Philemon.

But as you make your way there, I can remember the first time

that I ever got to go see a PG-13 movie in the movie theaters.

The movie was The Mummy.

And this took place back in the 1900s.

And so, you know, just barely.

It was 1999.

But every time somebody says that, I felt so old.

Like I didn't think the 1900s was that far ago.

But I can remember this taking place.

And we had talked Dad into taking...

Mom, I'm not even sure you know about this.

But we had talked Dad into taking us to see The Mummy in the theaters.

And I was barely old enough at the time to see this,

which means that my younger brother, Blake,

probably wasn't quite old enough to see it.

But for some reason, we talked Dad into allowing us to go see it anyway.

And so I can remember going in and everything was great.

We thought we were big stuff being able to go see this PG-13 movie in the theaters.

But then we realized why it was rated PG-13.

And there were some pretty intense scenes for some younger kids.

And I think my dad started regretting taking Blake to see this.

And so all of a sudden, Dad gets up.

Towards the end of the movie, there's a good portion of the movie left,

but it's towards the end of the movie, he gets up and he motions for us to go with him.

Well, Blake follows him.

And again, I feel like I'm remembering this correctly,

but again, it was back in the 1900s.

But I can remember him motioning for us to leave with him.

And I just pretended like I didn't see that he was motioning us to leave.

So him and Blake left the movie theater and were waiting in the car.

And I feel like I remember this correctly

because I kind of remember seeing the look on my dad's face

when I finally emerged from the movie theater and made my way out to the car.

But the thing is, I don't like to miss out on what's going to happen.

I like to know the story, right?

I don't like to come in at the middle of a movie or leave before it's over

because I want to know what happens.

Now, some of you may not be that way.

Some of you may, it can get, you know, intense or whatnot,

and you're fine with not even knowing how it ends.

I like to have a good conclusion to the story.

And so we like to know how a story ends.

And nobody likes to come in late to a movie and leave before it's over

because we like to know the story.

However, this is sometimes where we find ourselves when we come to Scripture.

We don't always know how a story begins.

We don't always know how a story ends.

For example, if you look at the book of Jonah, for example,

listen to how the last two verses of Jonah conclude.

Jonah, it says this.

After everything that's happened, it says,

And the Lord said,

You pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow,

which came into being in a night and perished in a night.

And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city,

in which there are more than 120,000 persons,

who do not know their right hand from their left,

and also much cattle?

The end.

It ends right there and you're thinking,

Well, God, what's the deal with the cattle?

Why all the cattle?

Why ending this with a question?

What happens next?

How does Jonah respond to this next?

Or even if you look over in Judges,

Judges chapter 3, verse 31,

Judges 3:31

this is the story of Shamgar,

and this is the whole story of Shamgar.

It says this.

And after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath,

who killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad,

and he also saved Israel.

That's all we know.

This guy kills 600 people with an ox goad,

which, what's an ox goad?

And also he saves all of Israel.

But this is all that we have on this passage.

But sometimes God in his wisdom

doesn't give us the rest of this story.

And so this week,

we're going to be starting a new series

that's going to take us,

really for about the next three weeks or so,

through the book of Philemon.

And in this story,

we find ourselves coming

into the middle of this story.

We don't exactly know the beginning of this story.

We don't know how Philemon came to faith in Christ.

We don't know a lot of those things.

And we certainly don't know how this story ends.

But in the middle section,

what we're able to see

is the beauty of the gospel on display.

In this middle section of this story,

God is showing us the beauty of the gospel

and how that changes who we are.

And so with this being such a short book of the Bible,

I want us to read this entire letter of Paul

to Philemon this morning.

And so I encourage you to follow along

as we read God's word.

This is what it says.

It says,

Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus,

and Timothy, our brother,

to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,

and Athia, our sister,

and Archippus, our fellow soldier,

and the church in your house.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father

and Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God always

when I remember you in my prayers

because I hear of your love

and of the faith that you have

toward the Lord Jesus

and for 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 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 be by compulsion,

but by your own accord.

For this perhaps is why

he was parted from you for a while,

that you might have him back forever,

no longer as a bondservant,

but more than a bondservant,

a beloved brother,

especially to me,

but now more to you,

but 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 life.

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.

And 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.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ,

sends you 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.

You see, the book of Philemon

is one of the prison epistles.

You're probably able to pick up on that

on all of the times

that Paul talks about

his imprisonment in here.

And Paul is writing

during his imprisonment

at the end of the book of Acts.

And it was written

at the same time

as the book of Colossians

was delivered

and probably would have been

delivered with it.

Most of the commentaries

that you see,

for one,

because Philemon is so short

and wouldn't require

a pretty extensive commentary,

most of the time,

they combine this

with Colossians

because it was written

at the same time

and the church was meeting

in Philemon's house

in Colossae.

And so this would have been

written at the same time,

most likely delivered

at the same time.

And you can see

Colossians 4 and 9

as a reference for this.

And the book is written

to Philemon

from Paul

about Onesimus

who was a runaway slave

from Philemon.

And what's interesting

about this book

is throughout church history,

many people have used

the book of Philemon

for different purposes.

There have actually been

those who've used

the book of Philemon

to make an argument

for slavery

many years ago.

But there's also been

so many that have used this

as a means for calling

for the abolition of slavery.

And I think we can all agree

that that's where we land today,

that this book is calling

for the abolition of slavery.

Now that being said,

Paul doesn't take

this opportunity

to fully address

the issue of slavery.

And I think part of that

is a huge population

of Colossae

would have been

considered slaves

and it would be difficult

for a small house church,

probably 30 to 50 people in size,

to change a whole system.

And I love how Danny Akin,

he makes some notes about this.

He says,

Paul used great wisdom

in not confronting slavery

head on

because to do so

would have been

very subversive

and would have been

something that would have

gotten in the way

of the gospel.

He says,

but Paul also knew

that the outworking

of the gospel

would eventually be

a death nail

to an institution

like slavery.

In other words,

the gospel is ultimately

what changes people's lives.

And when we understand

the gospel,

it changes our lives.

And understanding this

is key to understanding

our first reminder

in this passage.

We're going to look

at two things today.

Our first reminder

in this passage

is honestly going to be

what is our theme

throughout this entire series.

Throughout the next three weeks,

this is going to be

our theme

and it's going to be

what we take a moment

to consider this morning.

So the first reminder

I'd like us to see

in this passage is this.

It's the gospel

changes everything.

The gospel,

it changes everything.

These first three verses.

Paul, a prisoner

for Christ Jesus

and Timothy, our brother.

To Philemon,

our beloved fellow worker

and Appiah, our sister.

Now this most likely

would have been

Philemon's wife here.

And then to Archibus,

our fellow soldier.

Now there's a lot

of debate on this

but most likely

most people believe

this would be

Philemon's son

because of their

close relationship

and what Paul says next.

And the church

in your house.

He says,

Grace to you

and peace from God

our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so when we understand

that the gospel

changes everything

it's something

that you will see

each week

as we look at this

but to help us

understand this

I want to begin

by looking at

some of the characters

in this short

book of the Bible.

When you look at it

there's 12 people

who are mentioned

in this book

but there's three

main characters.

Actually four

but three that we're

going to look at

briefly for just a moment.

And those three

main characters

are one the author

of this which would be

Paul and then you

also have who he's

writing to Philemon

and who he's

writing about Onesimus.

And so when you

look at these three

people it's interesting

to look at their

different backgrounds.

You have Paul

who was a former

proud Pharisee.

If you want to look

at kind of his

track record and look

at who he was

then go to the

book of Philippians

and look at chapter 3

and you'll see

all the things

that Paul was

as a Pharisee.

And so you have

this once proud

Pharisee and then

you have Philemon

this very wealthy

probably businessman

who was traveling

some for business

but you have

this really wealthy

man and then

you have Onesimus

who would have

been a slave

and one that

Alistair Begg describes

as one of the

dregs of Roman

society.

And so you

couldn't find

three different

more different

people than this.

It almost sounds

like the beginning

of a joke, right?

You have a Pharisee,

a wealthy man,

a slave.

They walk into a bar

and then you get

the punchline, right?

And so you have

all of these

three different

people that are

coming together

in this story.

The backgrounds

could not have

been more different.

People would look

on the outside

and say what

possible way

would you ever

find these three

people associating

with one another?

And the answer

that Paul would give

and I believe

that the Bible gives

is the only

possible way

is the gospel.

The only

possible way

that you'll see

these people

from such

different backgrounds

coming together

and associating

with one another

is the gospel

of Christ.

Paul, Philemon,

and Ismus

are the ones

that get the

attention in this

passage but the

one who brings

this all together,

the fourth character

that we're talking

about who's really

at work in this

is Jesus.

And understanding

that relationship

with him

that Paul has,

that Philemon has,

that Onesimus now has,

understanding that

this relationship

is present

is what brings

these three

together.

Acts 2, 44 says,

and all who believed

were together

and had all things

in common.

When you're looking

at this passage

which happens

right here at the

beginning of the

early church,

what you're seeing

is all these people

coming together

and Luke describes

the scene of the

church and what

he says is they

were all together

and had all things

in common.

He doesn't mean

they all like the

same food,

that they all

preferred the beach

to the mountains

which they should

have,

but he's saying

that they had

the most important

thing in common

and that most

important thing

was Jesus.

And because of

this it gave

them a new

identity that went

far beyond their

cultural or racial

identities.

The gospel had

taken root in

their lives and

had changed who

they were.

The beauty of

this is that the

gospel still does

this today.

The gospel still

has this power

today.

Nothing changes

our identities or

what we value most

like the gospel.

The gospel brings

people together from

different races,

from different

ethnicities,

from different

interests,

different families.

The gospel brings

together from

different economic

statuses,

from different

geographic locations.

The gospel restores

broken relationships.

It reconciles

relationships with

each other.

Just this week,

our men's class,

we were talking

about this very

issue on our

Bible study on

Wednesday night,

of how the gospel

affects our

relationships with

people that are

tough to get along

with.

People that we

oftentimes don't

get along with.

Many of your names

came up as we were

talking.

I'm joking.

That is a

hundred percent

joke.

I shouldn't

have said that.

But the gospel

does change our

lives in so many

ways.

The gospel affects

everything about

us.

Those that have

wronged us, it

changes our lives.

C.S.

Lewis wisely

observed, he says,

everyone thinks

forgiveness is a

lovely idea until

they have something

to forgive.

Everybody loves

the idea of

forgiveness until

they have something

to forgive.

Until somebody

needs their

forgiveness.

We noted that

our relationships

with one another,

especially those

where we feel we

have been wronged,

we must let the

gospel speak to

those areas and

understanding that

first and foremost,

we are a sinner

ourselves and

secondly, we are

sinned against.

First and foremost,

we are sinners in

need of God's

grace and only

secondly are we

sinned against.

That we will

never be asked to

forgive someone more

than we have been

forgiven ourselves.

And understanding

the gospel really

does change

everything.

And this brings

us to our final

reminder that I

want us to

consider today and

it's this.

Let us be

thankful for

gospel community.

Let us be

thankful for

gospel community.

verses 4 through

7.

It says,

I thank my God

always when I

remember you in my

prayers because I

hear of your love

and of the faith

that you have

toward the Lord

Jesus and for all

the saints.

And I pray that

the showing 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.

Even though

Christians may

experience trials

and conflicts

with one another

because of the

gospel,

because of our

relationship with

Christ,

we can lift each

other up in

prayer.

We can encourage

one another and

celebrate the

change that God

has already begun

in our lives.

We see this

taking place in

the context of

gospel community

and the church

when we look at

this.

Paul is writing

to an individual,

but he's also

writing to the

church that's

meeting in this

individual's home.

And we know this

because he not only

addresses Philemon

here, but he also

addresses the church

when he uses the

plural form of you

here.

He's understanding

that this is to

Philemon, but it's

also going to be

read for the church

and ultimately it's

going to be read

to us today.

In these few

verses, Paul is

showing his

thankfulness for

the sanctification

that is taking

place in Philemon's

life.

And he does this

by stating his

thankfulness for

Philemon's devotion

to God, what God

has already done,

and by praying for

the change that

comes about because

of gospel community.

The change that

comes about because

believers are

gathering together

in fellowship,

doing life together,

and he writes

about this.

Much change has

already taken place

in his life.

Paul shows us of

how thankful he is

for Philemon's

devotion to God as

he opens and he

closes this paragraph.

If you look at

verses 4 and 5

and then also 7,

you'll see he's

thankful for what

God has already

done.

This is deeply

personal.

He says, I thank

my God and my

prayers.

And he says, and

I hear about these

things.

This is a deeply

personal and genuine

relationship that he

has with Philemon

that he's writing

to, he's thankful

for.

It's not hard to be

thankful and pray

for this dear

friend who has

already been so

faithful.

It's not hard to be

thankful for this

man who's opened up

his home so that

there can be a

church in Colossae.

Who's this wealthy

man who has a house

large enough for a

church to meet in.

It's not hard to be

thankful for his

generosity and the

ways that he's

already been faithful

to God.

But also in

anticipation of his

request for Onesimus,

Paul wants Philemon

to know that he is

aware of all the

good things that he

is doing.

I laughed when I

read Spurgeon's

thoughts on this

this week.

He says, and when

you are about to

ask a favor for

anyone, of anyone,

it is always well to

show your gratitude

for what you or

others have already

received from them.

Most children learn

this pretty quickly,

right?

Mom, dad, or better

yet, Nana and Papa,

you are the best.

Can you please buy

this for me?

You know, can you

buy it?

And so you're

sharing what you're

thankful for, but

then you're bringing

this request to them.

Now this is not

exactly what is going

on in this passage.

It's not exactly the

same thing because

manipulation and

flattery is not

exactly Paul's style.

It's not exactly the

way that he usually

operates.

Rather, I think Paul

is using this as a

discipleship moment.

He's using this as a

way of encouraging him

and challenging him

at the same time.

He's reminding

Philemon of his

relationship with

Christ and how that

changes everything in

anticipation of the

request for Onesimus.

Paul wants Philemon to

know that he is aware

of all the good

things he is doing.

And Paul is hearing

good things and he's

hoping for even better

things from this man

of God.

So let us be thankful

for the gospel change

we see in our lives

because of what Christ

has done.

The gospel not only

changes how and where

we spend our eternity,

but the gospel changes

here and now as well.

The gospel absolutely

absolutely has the power

to change our eternity

of how and where

we're going to spend

that.

But the gospel also

has power to change

here and now

in our lives.

And so this is what

we see taking place

in Philemon's life.

But we also see

another component

in this encouragement

to Philemon.

And that is Paul's

prayer for continued

obedience

experience that is

fostered in the context

of gospel community.

Listen to verse 6.

It says this,

And I pray that the

sharing of your faith

may become effective

for the full knowledge

of for the full knowledge

of every good thing

that is in us

for the sake of Christ.

Christ.

This verse is probably

the verse I spent

most of my time

trying to wrap my mind

around this week.

And it was actually

really encouraging

when I was reading

Douglas Moo on this.

He started off saying

this verse is universally

recognized as the most

difficult in all of

Philemon.

Part of the difficulty

comes from the phrase

sharing of your faith.

Alistair Begg,

he noted that

regretfully,

he regretfully taught

on this passage

one time

and used it

as speaking

to the importance

of evangelism.

And while evangelism

is absolutely important

to sharing our faith,

that's missing the point

of what Paul

is saying here

in this.

Many translations

like the ESV

translate koinonia here

as the sharing

with others.

Like CSB,

it translates this verse,

I pray that your

participation in the faith,

not sharing,

but your participation

in the faith

may be effective

through knowing

every good thing

that is in us

for the glory of Christ.

And I think Paul's point

is this,

is that we share

in fellowship,

which is what koinonia

ultimately means

is this fellowship.

We participate

in fellowship

within the church,

this sharing of our faith,

that we should pray

that our faith

will be active

and effective.

In other words,

that our faith

will actually be fleshed out.

That we won't just claim

to be followers

of Christ in community,

but that this community,

this community of faith

will put our faith

into action.

That it'll make it effective

to go out

and to spread God's word

throughout everybody

we come in contact with.

Paul is praying

that their shared life

in the gospel

will be what energizes

the manner in which

they conduct themselves.

because fellowship

within the church

is far more than

sharing a meal together.

It is life-giving.

It's life-transforming.

It is crucial

in our sanctification.

All too often,

we see our sanctification

as a task to be completed

that we're just going to

hopefully complete it one day

and we'll be done with it.

Many of you recently

have started reading through

together as a church

doing a chronological reading

through the New Testament.

And many of you

are going through that,

but let me go ahead

and tell you,

at the end of the year

when you finish

the New Testament,

we're not going to give you

a certificate that says,

alright,

you are completely sanctified.

You're done.

You don't have to be

discipled anymore.

Congratulations.

That's not going to happen.

This is a lifelong process

that we're supposed to

live out in the context

of community.

And reading scripture

is a great place to start,

but we also must understand

that we're made for fellowship.

We're made for community.

We need fellowship

with other believers

to help us grow.

We need Sunday school.

We need life groups

to help us in this journey.

We need corporate worship.

In short,

we need our family.

We need each other

in this process

of growing in our relationship

with Christ.

When Catherine and I

first got married,

there was little that I thought

that she could do wrong.

I thought that she was just perfect,

you know,

that she would never

do anything wrong.

And I definitely thought

that I was going to be

the easiest person

to ever live with.

I thought, I mean,

I had no obnoxious qualities

about me.

And so I was going to,

it was just going to be

great for her,

great for me.

It's just going to be

smooth sailing,

really easy.

But then all of a sudden

I realized,

I learned some really

horrible things

about Catherine.

Like she likes

to squeeze the toothpaste

from the middle

of the toothpaste.

All right,

who does that?

It just squeezes it

from the middle

of the toothpaste.

And then she also

had these horrible things

that she did

with syrup and flour.

She would put them

in the refrigerator.

She would put flour,

baking flour,

in the refrigerator,

put syrup in the refrigerator.

I'm like,

who does this?

And then all of a sudden

she had these

unrealistic expectations

of me.

Like wanting me

to go to bed

at the same time

that she goes to bed.

I mean,

unrealistic things.

Hopefully you can see

that Catherine

was not the problem

in this.

That it was my selfishness.

Who cares if the flour

is in the refrigerator?

Who cares if you squeeze

the toothpaste

from the middle?

Who cares?

Well, actually,

I don't like syrup

because nobody wants

cold syrup on their pancakes.

But all of these things

were things that I had issues with.

They were all surrounded by me.

And then all of a sudden

I realized that I had

some pretty selfish tendencies.

And then kids start coming along

and all of a sudden

even if you want everything

in your life

to revolve around you,

you learn pretty quickly

that it doesn't.

Just in my immediate family

because of those relationships

I've been able to identify

selfish tendencies

and begin working

on those things.

Now, it's a process

and you can ask

any person in my family

that I am still

a work in progress.

That there are many things

that I need to change

about my life.

There are many things

that I need to do differently

in my life.

But what we're seeing

in a similar way

is that we are encouraged

in this passage

to let our family,

our faith family,

be a part of our sanctification.

How do we do this?

Well, one,

we let our family

be our family.

We let our family

actually be our family.

We understand that fellowship

is far more than

a covered dish meal

that we do once in a while.

But it's doing life

with one another.

And when we do life

with our family,

then we'll not only be able

to see our sin more clearly,

but we'll let our family

be able to hold us

accountable for that sin

that is in our life.

And so what we must do

is to let this community,

this gospel community,

this church,

be our family

to get plugged in,

to get invested in it.

And so let us first and foremost

be transformed by the gospel.

That's where we must start.

We must do this personally.

May we never lose sight

of the fact that Jesus

is our only hope.

That's our only hope in life.

And that the news

that Jesus left,

the glory of heaven,

lived the life

that we couldn't live

and died the death

we deserve

is the greatest news

the world has ever heard.

It's the absolute greatest news

the world has ever heard.

And if you have not experienced

that relationship personally,

then I encourage you

to talk with me

after the service.

Talk with a parent

that brought you.

Talk with a friend

that brought you.

Talk with a Sunday school.

Talk with somebody.

But make sure you get this right

before you leave today.

But for those of us

who have a relationship

with Jesus,

then let us lean

into our family.

Let us lean

into our family.

Maybe that means joining

or at least starting

a conversation.

I would love to talk

with you about this.

And you have an incredible

opportunity today.

If you're thinking about that,

you can join us

for breakfast right after

the service in the youth room.

And if we're running low

on breakfast items,

Evan doesn't have to eat.

He'll be all right.

But we want you to start

having those conversations.

We want you to be thinking

about those things.

Because it's not just,

this isn't just a nice thing

that we do

when we come together.

But this community,

this gospel community,

when we understand it

the way that we're supposed

to understand it

is life transforming.

It's life giving.

It becomes something

that we desperately need

in our lives

to grow in our relationship

with Christ.

And so maybe that means

getting plugged

into a Sunday school class.

Maybe that means

joining a life group

on Wednesday nights.

But it absolutely means

leaning in

to our gospel community

that we call

our church here.

Understanding that

those relationships

are incredibly important.

So as we think about this,

may we be transformed

by the gospel

and continue to be transformed

by gospel community.

Father, thank you so very much

for your word,

for what it teaches us about you.

And Lord, I thank you

for giving us a glimpse

into the early church

where it's not just

a letter written

to the church,

but it's a letter written

to individuals of the church

and letting us get a glimpse

of real life things

that the church

was going through.

And God, thank you so much

for making it so clear

that the gospel changes

everything about us.

That it's good news

for our eternity,

absolutely,

but it's good news

for us today

because it transforms

our life today.

And God, thank you

for giving us

a window into the church

to help us understand

that we're made

for community,

that we're made

to experience

this fellowship

that can happen

when believers

come together

and do life together.

And so Lord,

help us to lean into that.

Help us to lean into

that gospel community

that transforms

our lives

in powerful ways.

So Lord,

thank you so much

for Jesus.

Thank you for the difference

that he makes in our life

each and every day.

We ask all this

in his name.

Amen.

I'm going to invite you

to stand.

We're going to sing

a song of invitation.

If God is speaking

to you this morning,

won't you respond

as we stand together

and sing?