The interview began with these words: “It was Charlie.” In October of 2006 a 32 year old man walked into an Amish school in Lancaster PA and shot 10 schoolgirls, killing 5, before shooting himself. As the Emergency Response rushed to the school, and while helicopters and sirens were heard in the town, and while her phone was ringing non-stop, Terri Roberts with tears in her eyes looked at her husband and said, “It was Charlie.” Charlie was their son.
In an interview with CBS
in 2013 Terri said her first reaction was that they had to move. But she shared that on the same day as the
shooting the Amish community came to her and said they wanted her to stay. One article describes the details of how the
Amish continued to reach out. They
immediately forgave the killer. The
Amish mourners who attended the killer’s funeral are said to have outnumbered
the non-Amish mourners. They
This story leads us to
another story. The story of
Philemon. And though Philemon’s story is
not tragic like that of this Amish community, like the Amish community Philemon
had the choice to forgive or not to forgive.
To forgive, or, not to forgive.
Turn to the book of Philemon and let’s look at Philemon’s story.
Philemon was a Christian
man from the city of Colossae, who was saved because of the ministry of the
Apostle Paul. Philemon was also a
wealthy man because his house was big enough for a church congregation to meet
in and he owned at least one slave. It is
this slave that our story turns. His
name was Onesimus and one day he stole some money from Philemon and ran
away. Once he escaped he made it all the
way to Rome. While in Rome trying to
“get lost” in the busyness of Rome’s capital, he ran into none other than the
Apostle Paul, who was himself under arrest and awaiting trial. Paul the great evangelist led Onesimus to
faith in Christ and the slave became free in the truest sense – “free from his
sins”. Jesus said, “the truth will set you free. If the Son sets you free you are free indeed.”
Somehow it came to light afterwards that Paul had in front
of him a runaway slave belonging to a man he knew personally. The right thing for Onesimus to do was go
back to his master, Philemon. After
staying with Paul and helping Paul minister for a time, Paul sent Onesimus
back, but not empty handed. Paul wrote a
personal letter to Philemon appealing to him as a friend. He asked him to forgive Onesimus all wrong,
and accept him back not as a slave, but, as a fellow brother in Christ. So you can imagine the look on Philemon’s
face as his prodigal slave stood before him, truly sorry, and as he read these
words of the Apostle Paul. [Read]
Philemon is a book that has multiple themes woven together
in it. We are going to witness how far
Christian forgiveness should reach. We
are going to learn to rejoice over the repentance of someone who has offended
us. We are going to stand in awe of the
unpredictable providence of God. Because
this letter spotlights the issue of slavery in ancient Rome, we are going to
see how God expects us to live for Christ within an ungodly social system. We are going to watch what it means for
someone to have the courage in their new faith to do what is right in the eyes
of God, even in the face of great risk.
We are going to be taught by an excellent example how to be someone
else’s advocate.
Let’s look at verse 1 and see Paul the Prisoner.
Paul the Prisoner (v1a)
Look at how Paul opens up
this personal letter, “Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus…” It was customary in that day to start with
your name when you wrote a letter, not end with it like we do today. Notice the very important way that Paul
describes himself, “a prisoner of Christ Jesus.”
He doesn’t use his apostolic title like he does in most his letters,
“Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ”.
Why? Because he was not using his
authority as an Apostle in this situation.
He was not issuing a command down from his elevated authority. He was speaking to a dear friend and making
an appeal on the basis of love – not authority.
But the appellation was
deeper than just avoiding an authoritative stance. Paul was a prisoner of Christ. He was serving Christ by preaching the Gospel
and saving souls. That preaching led to
his current imprisonment. Two points
stand out to me that I think were not lost on Philemon:
First, he was personally led to salvation by Paul’s preaching
not too long ago. Now, in an amazing act
of providence God used the same man to lead his runaway slave to salvation.
Secondly, Philemon would have seen that Paul was willing to
go to prison for Christ so people could be set free from their sins. Would Philemon set Onesimus free by forgiving
him?
This highlights the expanded theme of freedom in this
letter. 1) The picture of Paul in chains
no doubt aroused a desire in Philemon for him to be released. Certainly Paul hoped this would put Philemon
in a frame of mind to set Onesimus free.
2) onesimus set free from his
crimes against Philemon. 3) Maybe even
set free from slavery. 4) Onesimus now
had freedom in Christ, “If the Son sets you free you are free indeed”, John 8:36. 5) The freedom put before Philemon: freedom from bitterness through forgiveness.
This presents us with some important applications. First, Paul’s willingness to sacrifice his
freedom for the sake of the Gospel should make us pause and consider our own
sacrifice for the Gospel. Second, is
there someone in our life that we need to set free through forgiveness? Are we a prisoner to our anger and
resentment? “Forgive whatever grievances you
may have against one another. Forgive as
the Lord forgave you.” (Colossians 3:13).
Philemon the Faithful (v1b-2)
Philemon was a faithful
Christian. Notice verse 1b, “To
Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker.” Philemon’s name means “beloved”, or
“affection”; A fitting name for someone who can be described as a dear friend. He was no doubt a loved man who many of the
Christians had deep affection for.
Certainly one reason he was dear to many was he opened his home up for
the church to meet there (v2). As a
fellow worker he did whatever he could to “refresh the hearts of the saints”
(v7). Paul was greatly encouraged
thinking about him as he says in verse 4-5, “I always thank my God as I
remember you in my prayers because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus
and your love for all the saints.”
We only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the reasons why
Philemon was so beloved. He was a faithful
Christian.
Now Paul, knowing his
dear friend’s faithfulness, was going to ask him to go further in his faith. He was asking him to forgive a serious crime committed
against him by his slave Onesimus. It
raises up for us two important points.
First, as Christians we are never to withhold forgiveness. Forgiveness should be a defining trait in the
Christian life. Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be
kind and compassionate towards one another, forgiving each other, just as in
Christ God forgave you.” While
no one would say forgiveness is easy, it is something that is both encouraged
and expected of us. The repeat offender
is to be forgiven (Matthew 18:22-23).
The big sins are to be forgiven (1 Timothy 1:15-16). The little day-to-day annoyances are to be
forgiven (Eph. 4:2). Forgiveness is not
to be withheld and our Lord warns of the consequences (Matthew 6:14-15).
Second, we are to get even better at the things we do well
in our Christian walk. We are to go from
“okay” to “good” to “really good” to “excellent” in our Christian virtues. Never are we to say, “I’m doing that good
enough”. Listen to Paul’s words to the
Thessalonians “We instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you
are living. Now we ask you and urge you
in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.” (1 Thess.
4:1). Then in verse 10 speaking of
loving other Christians he says, “And in fact you do love all the brothers
throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you,
brothers, to do so more and more.” He wasn’t saying they were doing poorly. In fact he commended them for how well they
were doing and wanted them to keep going.
The more we press on the more we are urged to keep going. The things we are doing well we are told to
get even better at. Philemon was a man
who wanted to live for Christ and reach others for Christ. Here he had an opportunity to grow into
greater Christian maturity by forgiving.
The Gracious Greeting (v3)
Lastly we see the
Gracious Greeting, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” We are bound together with many things as
believers, but two important bonds are mentioned here: grace and peace. Paul wasn’t just slapping in some cliché for
a salutation. His whole approach to
Christians was from the view of grace and peace. We all have the grace and peace of God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. God
has given us His grace and He is at peace with us who have come to Him through
Jesus Christ.
But that’s not all. These
two – grace and peace – should stand out in the fellowship of Christians. The rules that govern us should be grace and
peace. The quality of our relationships
should be fragrant with these virtues. Underlying
our willingness to live by these virtues is the realization we have that this
is how God lives with us. The question
from this letter then is this: was
Philemon going to let grace and peace govern his heart towards Onesimus?
Conclusion:
Terri Robertson said that on the day her son committed that horrible
tragedy she was visited by the father and mother of 2 girls killed that day. They came to offer their comfort to her. She said in her interview, “Wow. Is there anything in this life that we can’t
forgive?”
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