God's Word this morning comes from Philemon chapter 1. I realize that it's long, but at the same time, you can walk away saying, I read one book of the Bible this morning at church. So Philemon chapter 1, verses 1 through 25. Philemon chapter 1, verses 1 through 25. Hear now the word of the Lord. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow workman, and Aphia, our sister, and Archippus, 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 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 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 am 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 preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of 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 slave but more than a slave as a beloved brother especially to me and 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. Epophras, 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. So far, the reading of his word. Friends, have you ever wondered why Philemon is included in the Bible? It does not provoke significant theological arguments like the Book of Romans. It doesn't evoke energy and emotion like the letter to the Galatians. It also is not intimate, intimate letters written to protégés like Timothy and Titus to keep the church pure. What is the significance of this seemingly insignificant book? Lest my orthodoxy be challenged here, let me assure you, I do believe that Philemon does belong. I want to suggest to you this morning that Philemon is unlike any other writings of Paul, because its central message is told in the form of a story. I don't mean fiction. This is a real and historical story, the first reality show, if you will. It tells a story of the gospel in action, the way the gospel works in and affects those who are touched by the message of Christ. It is a story told in multiple levels, primarily through the lens of its main characters. And this morning, what we hope to do is to focus on two, primarily looking at it from the perspective of Paul and then from the perspective of Onesimus. Like any good story, we need to figure out the main characters here, which many of you know so well, and the main plot line. On the one hand, we do see three main characters, one being Paul, second being Philemon, and third being Onesimus. Paul, you know well. He's an apostle, currently in prison, according to verse 1, 9, and 13, for Christ and for the gospel's sake. The second introduction is about Onesimus. He's a former slave, but became a believer at some point through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Now, when I use a word like slaves, it requires some explanation here. The Greco-Roman slavery of the first century was not identical to the race-based slavery of the African slave trade that you and I are so familiar with within our own history. Modern slavery is race-based, lifelong, and permanent, and based in kidnapping. Greco-Roman slavery of the first century, while not practiced uniformly throughout the empire, is generally based on economics, impermanent, where a self-purchase is even possible, and sometimes even voluntary. This means that when you walk the streets of Rome, you could not tell who was a slave and who was not. Some slaves were highly educated, owned slaves themselves, and often became one either because of war or because of financial circumstances. And this is why many translators have had difficult time trying to figure out what word to use, often turning to words like indentured servanthood or bondservant. This definitely does not mean, however, that being a slave was desired. It was not one of individuals' aspirational goals. They belonged wholly to another, which involved absolute ownership and control by the owner, and the absence of freedom to determine action or movement. This is who Onesimus was. This slave Onesimus, at some point having become the son of God, has become very dear to Apostle Paul. Note especially as he says in verse 12, I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart, he says. The third character introduced here is a person named Philemon. Philemon is number of times noted as a partner with Paul. He was a wealthy man in the church of Colossae, an active member who opened his home not only to visitors, as we can hear here, but to the local church for their weekly gatherings. And it's understood that the letter to Colossians was written to the church that met in Philemon's home. He seems to have had a unique gift, and we see echoes of this gift in the words that Paul uses in verses 7 and 20, where he says, For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Verse 20 picks this notion up again when he says, I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I mean, I'm sorry. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you and the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ, is what he says. What's intriguing here is that in the mind of Paul, Philemon had a unique gift of providing rest and refreshment to fellow believers. I'm sure this is not the case in this church, but there are individuals that you meet, even for five minutes, and they suck the living energy out of you. There are others whom you meet for about five minutes, and then they give you a lot of energy, excitement, for the kind of life that they lead. Now, in this, Philemon seems to have had this special gift, at least according to Paul, in providing some sort of rest, refreshment to the fellow congregants. What makes him unique in this story is that he also came to faith through Paul, either directly or indirectly, according to verse 20, when he says here, simply saying in verse 19, I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repeat to say nothing of your owing me, even your own self, as he says. Now, with these three characters, we see the plot line developing. Onesimus was once Philemon's slave, but he separated from Philemon, according to verse 15. In other words, he was a fugitive, running away from his master. Further, Paul suggests that Onesimus was less than an ideal slave who wronged his master and perhaps even stole from him, as we can infer from verse 18 when he says, if he has wronged you at all, and most likely he has or owes you anything, is what Paul says. And the crisis or the driving plot of our story and narrative here this morning is that Paul sends Onesimus back to his former owner, with a letter in hand, so that they may ultimately be reconciled. It's at this juncture we want to take perspectives from the eyes of Paul, and then again from the perspective of Onesimus, to understand the theological importance of the book of Philemon. Simple question is this, what does Paul, from his perspective, want Philemon to do? Paul obviously wants these two brothers to be reconciled, and this seems eminently reasonable from our perspective. Paul simply wanted these two brothers to live out what he had taught them earlier. Now, what's intriguing at this stage is how he goes about introducing this topic in such a delicate and careful way. He could have simply commanded Philemon to forgive his slave, but he doesn't do so. Although he had the rights and privileges where we come to recognize that demanding of obedience was possible for Paul because he was indeed an apostle, a heralded one at that. He is an elder, that is an older man. He saved Philemon in the sense that he led him to Christ. And he is now sitting in prison for Christ's righteousness sake. But in a bit of pastoral diplomacy here, he says in verse 8 and 9, carefully approaching him, he wants this to be done out of his own accord when he says, 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. He speaks in the most delicate way. Why? For love's sake, he says. He is showing the importance and practicality of love so that Philemon might act out not of compulsion, but out of voluntary desire. So in this loving way, he teaches and models reconciliation by commanding him this way in verses 17 and 18, where we want to place our focus for a little bit. For Paul spells it out for Philemon. He says, 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. There's an interesting ledger discussion here, a charging of accounts. In this accounting analogy, Paul willingly volunteers to bear the cost of Onesimus' former financial wrongdoing. He asks that Philemon charge whatever was owed to him on Paul's own account. You know what this looks like in our financial situation now. I grew up in a family of five kids, that is, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl. Having grown up in a Korean-American family where we grew up in the Christian Reformed Church, I had all the makings of a person who is quite frugal with the way we spend our money, especially given the fact that my father was also a minister, so we didn't have a whole lot of means anyways. But what was interesting is that out of the five, my brother, who is number four, is the only unique person in the way he deals with finances. He was a free spender and a free giver, which none of the other children really was. And I remember him being in college where he, as he was going through school, often with scholarships and loans, he would take the family out to dinner and give generously by providing a rich meal. And then we would ask him, John, that's my brother's name, how would you pay for this dinner? And his answer was uniformly and always, don't worry, Joel, Mr. Discover would pay for it. Many of you know what Mr. Discover is. It's a credit card. It's a charge account. To make it an over-simplistic idea, that's exactly what Paul is saying. Whatever he, that is Onesimus, owes to you, Philemon, charge that to my account. Moreover, Paul asks Philemon to receive Onesimus as if he would receive Paul, someone to whom Philemon owes his very life. In other words, someone in a lowly state is to be treated like someone with a high status, an exchange of positions. I'm thinking that for most of you, this should sound familiar in some ways. Paul is offering to pay for another's wrongdoing and exhorts that someone who lacks status be treated with the status and stature of another. This is significant for us because Paul often explains salvation in terms of this great exchange. On the one hand, charging and counting of one's sins upon another who did not commit those sins in the first place, and moreover, reckoning or counting of one's value and dignity to another who has not earned it, and, even more scandalously, who does not deserve it. This is why the same cognate words are used in places like Romans chapter 4, verses 4 through 5. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted, reckoned as righteousness. Furthermore, in 2 Corinthians 5.21, we are told, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Perhaps one of the more visual ways of explaining this exchange is found in 2 Corinthians 8.9, where Paul says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you, by Christ's poverty, might become rich. Is the great exchange envisioned by Paul? This is the gospel story of Paul. Of all people, Paul understood what this great exchange looks like. He himself was a foremost of sinners, as he says, the least of the apostles, and a persecutor of the church who was reconciled to God, not by his own works, but by grace. And as a recipient of this grace, Paul believed that he had an obligation, an obligation to live out and practice what Christ had done and has done for him. Despite not using words like reconciliation or justification or imputation, all those ideas are present in our present teaching. An application of what he himself taught in places like 2 Corinthians 5.17, where he says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us this message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. According to Paul, not only in his teaching in Corinthians, but also practiced in the book of Philemon, we have become ambassadors of reconciliation. Not only do we preach the message of reconciliation, but we also practice a life of reconciliation. In other words, not only do we pray, as we often do, forgive us as we forgive others, not simply as a lip service to what has been taught to us, but we live out what we pray. A life of forgiveness, of life of reconciliation. A life recognizing that indeed we are recipients of a scandalous grace, something that we do not deserve in Christ Jesus our Lord. But if that's the perspective of Paul, we've only begun to scratch the surface of Philemon as we turn now our attention to the person of Onesimus. The question for us is, what is then the gospel narrative or story of Onesimus? Perhaps we can begin by looking at the parenthetical statement in verse 11, in chapter 1, where it simply says, formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. And I'm sure you have been told many times how important names can be. And here is no exception. When you come to recognize the play on words based upon the name Onesimus, which simply means useful, useful, or profitable. Unfortunately, that's not been the characterization of the life of Onesimus. His life, instead of being useful or profitable, according to Paul's summary of Onesimus' life under Philemon, he was simply useless, profitless. He couldn't even live up to his own name. My Korean name, my middle name now, a name that I was born with before I came to the States when I was 10, is named simply Grace Overflows. That's the meaning of my name, a name that I'm sure my parents aspired for their son. My children's names are Anna and Simeon, taken from Luke chapter 2, with the hopes that one day, while no one else may, they may recognize Jesus as he appears before them. Here, names are important for us to consider because we come to recognize that Paul inputs in the text a lesson for us to consider. While useless, now because of Christ, Onesimus has become useful. The point seems very simple for us. Onesimus' new birth has transformed his identity. And in fact, he has already lived up to his name, has become useful for Paul when he says in verse 13, 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 he sends them back. Sends him back so that he may come to recognize in practice how his identity has gone through a wholesale transformation and change. Friends, you may recall, he was a slave. But now, he's referred to simply as son and a brother. Look at what it says in verse 10, as Paul refers to this person whose heart, right, whose place in Paul's heart is very significant as he says, I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. This notion of giving birth is even more explicit in the New American Standard, where it says, I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment. No longer a slave, and no longer is he referred to as a slave, but the son of Paul. Family terminology is quite common in the writings of Paul, as you know, and not surprisingly, in the book of Philemon as well. For instance, notice the use of the term brother. Now, in this case, referring to Philemon, who was once his master, his lord, now he gets to refer to Onesimus no longer as my slave, but as my brother, as verses 15 on and teach, 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 will receive me. Terms like brother dot the land of the book of Philemon often, where you see it in places like verse 1, verse 7, verse 16, verse 20, with sister being used in verse 2. Here, this family terminology reminds us that as Onesimus returns to his master, his Lord, no longer is their relationship the same anymore. And the difference and the change maker is the fact that Onesimus has now become the son of God. Compare this to how a master treats his own servant and slave as Jesus tells the narrative in Luke chapter 7. Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and recline at the table and weep with me? Will he not rather say to him, prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink? Here, there is a standard by which you treat your servant. There is a way in which a relationship between the master and the slave is kept. But notice what Paul is doing here. In sending back this former slave, now a child of Paul, child of God, he's telling Philemon he ought to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, you as the master but simply as a beloved brother no longer a servant coming to serve him but as someone who's united to him as family the shocking nature of this change is sometimes lost on us that during six days these slaves will toil in the field for their master And in the first century church, on any given Sunday, they'll meet at the homes of these oftentimes rich slave owners, no longer separated by these legal standing of master and slave, but will sit side by side, recognizing one another as brother and sister. Here, the first century is an interesting one, and perhaps this might come home for us even more strongly when we come to recognize that the first century church were filled with a lot of folks who are either slaves or former slaves. A socioeconomic condition that you and I find very difficult sometimes to swallow. For instance, if you look at Romans chapter 16, I realize that Romans 16 is a chapter that you kind of glide over. There are lots of names that are told there. Oftentimes we can refer to that as the first century Facebook. I don't do Facebook, but that's what I understand. There's a similarity here. He knows a lot of people, despite the fact that he's never been to the church in Rome. Out of 26 names mentioned in Romans 16, 10 are definitely names of slaves or former slaves. Four are names not originating, definitely not originating from slaves. The remaining 12 are unsure. That is, we don't exactly know the origin, they may be slaves, they may not be. What this means is that in simple math, potentially, 22 out of 26 people in the Church of Rome, to which Paul was writing at that time, were either a slave or a former slave. The composition of the Church is shocking if you think about the origins of the names. And this is the Gospel narrative or the story of Onesimus. The shame and indignity of being a slave, and the guilt and condemnation of his past sins, and crimes have been taken away by another. He who was once a slave is now, because of Christ, the Son of God, brother to Paul, and brother to Philemon, his former owner, to whom he is now being returned, with whom he can worship side by side, and the reference to one another is no longer between a master and a slave, but brother to brother. It's a shocking transformation. A transformation of great proportions that we often do not come to recognize or see in our present time. Thus Onesimus is the living example of what happens to the identity of an individual when the gospel overtakes them. This is the application without using the actual words of Galatians 3, 28 and 29 where Paul taught, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. For the gospel has become the great leveler. Legally, Onesimus may remain a slave. Spiritually, however, because of Jesus Christ, he is a child of God with equal standing as his master, Philemon. No longer called a slave, now called the child of the living God. Brother to Paul, brother to Philemon. My guess is, when you come to recognize Paul's gospel story of the reconciliation that has come in Christ Jesus, and when you see the story of Onesimus as this transformation of identity that has come to us because of Christ Jesus, that there may be multiple applications that are possible. One application that's particularly noteworthy for me as we consider the identity change of Onesimus is the notion of self-forgetfulness. For someone like Onesimus, self-consciousness is unavoidable. Even as he walks into church, sitting next to his master and other masters surrounding him, I would imagine it's unavoidable for him to think that perhaps he doesn't belong. I am not worthy to be here. I am not like anyone else here. I think they're looking at me. After all, he is a slave. With no dollars behind his name that he can speak of. But one thing that we are to walk away with this morning is that in Christ, he, that is Onesimus, now has the freedom of self-forgetfulness. Often when we look at ourselves in the mirror, We are defined by measures of worth that is quite worldly, even within the church. Our past, our present future, our jobs, the letters behind our name, zeros in our accounts, the area in which we live, the family from which we come. All these things matter to us because oftentimes those who are meaningful to us around us consider those things to be important. But now, Onesimus is defined by the fact, not according to the eyes of the world, but defined by the fact that he was once a sinner like everyone else, who has been pursued and found by God. His identity is no longer identified by what the world sees, but identified by Christ, what God sees in him. This is why the Heidelberg Catechism simply states, I am not my own. I am not my own, but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. It's at this point, perhaps, the words of one of the pastors in a book called Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness is helpful for us to consider. Listen to this. I find it helpful. Hopefully it's true for you. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity makes a brilliant observation about gospel humility at the very end of his chapter on pride. If we were to meet a truly humble person, Lewis says, we would never come away from meeting them thinking they were humble. They would not be always telling us they were a nobody because a person who keeps saying they are a nobody is actually a self-obsessed person. The thing we would remember from meeting a truly gospel, humble person is how much they seem to be totally interested in us. Because the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less. That is to say, because the essence of gospel humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself. It is in thinking of myself less. Nobody thinks of us as much as we think of ourselves. And the self-consciousness with which we come into the church, that perhaps forgetting the kind of identity transformation that because of Jesus Christ that we have undergone, no longer judged, no longer determined by the eyes of the world, but simply eyes of God seeing us through the color lens of Jesus' blood, that identity is the only one that actually counts. No longer with titles, no longer with status that's earthbound, but simply a status and identity that Christ has bestowed upon us. Onesimus, who's no longer a slave, but a child of God. You and I, no longer, because of Jesus Christ, a sinner, condemned to die, but now children of God, sons and daughters, reveled, marveled at, loved, and pursued by God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's who you and I are. This, whether it be the reconciliation that Paul himself experienced and tasted, or the new identity in Christ that Onesimus found, this is the gospel in action. A story of the gospel as it affects the lives of Paul and Philemon, as the reconciliation that has come in Christ Jesus and the transformation that has come by his death and resurrection bring into their lives. What's intriguing here, though, is what's missing. What is missing here? Well, my guess is, if you and I are reading this again, what's missing is how the gospel affected Philemon. Did he accept Onesimus or not? Did he receive him as his brother, or did Onesimus return to his life, former life, simply as a slave? It's a bit of a cliffhanger of some sorts. My guess is that he did. Paul thinks that he would. But the silence is what makes Philemon even more interesting to you and I as you read this epistle. While we cannot answer the question regarding Philemon with great certainty, perhaps the silence forces us to ask the question to ourselves. How has the gospel affected us? how has the gospel affected you and I what is our gospel story that is how do we come to understand and recognize what Christ has done for us in our lives my hope and prayer is that my life and the lives of you saints here will be able to tell the story of God's grace the reconciliation that we have received because of the living, dying, and rising of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that indeed our lives will be indicated and punctuated by our desire to forgive. That indeed we are not only intellectually committed to Christ, recognizing our new identity in Christ Jesus our Lord, reveling in this new identity in Christ Jesus our Lord, recognizing that indeed God sees us differently than perhaps the world seeing us, but practically and daily committed to Him. That we are not only witnesses, but at the same time, proofs of God's grace. That we, as brothers and sisters, are not only talking about a Christian life, but living it for the glory and the proclamation of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we come to you this morning confessing that we are mere sinners with nothing to bring and offer to you. It is solely because of your grace demonstrated for us in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who came, who lived, who died, who resurrected on our behalf, that we stand before you as sons and daughters, no longer living in fear, no longer sitting, wondering about our future and ends, but we stand before you confident as sons and daughters. We stand before you with hope and purpose because of what you have done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Work in us by your Spirit, O Lord, so that daily we may remember the grace showered and poured out for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. That it may motivate and challenge and encourage us, O Lord, to live out what you have already shown and taught to us. As people forgiven, that we may readily forgive. As people accepted, O Lord, that our confidence and our satisfaction and goals will not be found in what we accomplish or what we hope to do in our lives, but that our confidence will be found in the work that was already done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. That being called sons and daughters of God will be more meaningful and sweet than any other titles and the adulations that the world may offer to us. Thank you for this time and the reminders of your grace. For this we pray in your Son's name. Amen.