Alexander the
Great early on during his rise to greatness had entered the great Greek city of
Athens. While on his way somewhere
important with his host of soldiers he came upon a man lying across a wooden
barrel basking in the sun and working on his tan. His name was Diogenes, and he was the famous
philosopher who lived in the barrel he was at that moment lying upon. Alexander stopped and standing before
Diogenes asked him, “What can I do for
you?” The philosopher opened his
eyes and looked at the soon to be conqueror of the world and said, “Move.
You are blocking my sunlight.”
Upon hearing this, Alexander looked at his soldiers and said, “If I were not Alexander, I would want to be
Diogenes!”
Sometimes, in the
Christian life, there are great obstacles preventing God’s light from shining into
our lives. Un-forgiveness is one of
those obstacles. It can eclipse the
light of Jesus Christ in us and cause us to wither away in bitterness rather
than grow. The letter to Philemon
addresses the issue of forgiveness and we are leaving no stone unturned in this
beautiful letter’s words. It is like a
diamond and we are making sure to see it from every angle. The reason is simple: the more we can learn about forgiveness the
better we will be. This small letter has
big lessons for us in living for Jesus Christ.
Paul is in prison
and writes this letter. A young runaway
slave named Onesimus has crossed paths with the Apostle and has been led to
faith in Jesus Christ. Now, Paul in
sending the slave back to his owner, whom Paul knew personally, he is sending
him back with a letter for his master.
Paul’s letter is a masterpiece in the art of advocating for someone.
Forgiveness leads to Faithfulness (v12-13)
Forgiveness
leads to faithfulness. Notice verse
11-12 with me, “…” We have to see the
situation these words are written from:
Onesimus, who was a slave to Philemon, ran away from his master, and
after coming to faith in Jesus Christ, he was now returning to his master he
ran away from. We can learn 3 very
important lessons here
First, when we
experience forgiveness for our sins, we do not treat it as a license to go on
sinning. Romans 6:1 says, “What shall we say then, shall we
go on sinning so that grace may increase?
By no means!” Salvation
is deliverance not only from the penalty of sin but also from the pattern of
sin. Second Timothy 1:9 says, “[God]
has saved us and called us to a holy life…” First Peter 1:15-16 says, “But
just as He who called you is holy so be holy in all you do. For it is written, ‘Be holy because I am holy.’” Ephesians 4:1 says, “live worthy of your
calling
The right thing
for Onesimus to do was go back and continue as Philemon’s slave and serve
him. Paul didn’t encourage Onesimus to
stay, he didn’t make excuses for him to stay and he didn’t harbor him. They did the right thing and decided Onesimus
should go back to his master and go back to being a slave. It would have been wrong to do
otherwise. And when we comet to Christ
we start doing what’s right – forgiveness leads to faithfulness, and is not a
license to go on sinning.
We often hear
people who say things like, “So if God
forgives me all my sins does that mean I can just go and commit sin and ask for
forgiveness and everything is just ‘hunky-dorey?’” No.
Their premise is wrong:
Forgiveness of sins equals license to sin. Jude actually condemns anyone who would teach
people to think this way, “They are godless men, who change the grace
of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only
Sovereign and Lord.”
Instead, the
Bible says that when we are forgiven our sins it leads to a desire to live
apart from sin. Think about this, true conviction
of sin does not manifest itself in the guilt-free indulgence of sin, but,
rather a disgust with it. When we see
sin in us for what it is we are repulsed by it, we do not relish in it. We see how wrong it is and a developing
hunger for what is right grows in us. “Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6).
Second
Corinthians 7:10-11 describes what this looks like in someone’s life. Key in on the phrase “godly sorrow”, “Godly
sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but
worldly sorrow brings death. See what
godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear
yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what
readiness to see justice done.”
The idea here is that when someone has turned to God in humble
conviction (godly sorrow) to receive forgiveness for their sins it produces a
change in them: a desire to make right the
wrongs they have done – wherever possible.
This is rooted in what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew
5:23-24, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your
brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the
altar. First go and be reconciled to
your brother; then come and offer your gift.”
A wonderful
example of this is the conversion of the wealthy chief tax collector named
Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. Tax
collectors were typically Jews hired by the Roman government to collect taxes
from the Jews for the Roman government.
You cannot understate how much the Jews hated these Jews for betraying
their countrymen for the sake of money.
They were in a category of hatred all by themselves. Often they extorted the people for more than
the government demanded which is why they could become very wealthy. Zacchaeus was very wealthy from his cheating
people. But listen to what Zacchaeus
says when he comes to Jesus Christ for salvation, “But Zacchaeus stood up and said
to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I
give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of
anything I will pay it back four times the amount.”
When we come to
Jesus Christ and we acknowledge our sin to Him, if we have sinned against
others we will seek them out to make it right.
We don’t just “let it go” and say, “Oh, they’ll get over it” or “I’m
right with God so I don’t need to get right with them.” Application:
Does the Lord’s forgiveness of my sins fuel my desire to live
righteously?
A second lesson
here is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a mission to reform a society or
culture. This is going to rub a lot of people the
wrong way, but, something is ever so evident in what Paul is doing in this
whole situation: he is sending a runaway
slave back to his master. Paul, the
Apostle of Jesus Christ, called and sent by God and not man, says absolutely
nothing about the moral failure of the system of slavery in Rome; he says nothing
about whether Christians should be trying to overthrow this oppressive system,
and he certainly does not try to help an runaway slave to illegally escape a system
in the name of Jesus Christ. In 1
Corinthians 7:20-24 Paul is very specific that if you are saved when you are a
slave then remain a slave. He says try
to get your freedom, if you can do it legally, but, “Each one should remain in the
situation he was in when God called him.”
Nowhere do we
ever see any hint that Paul or the early church set out to rid society of
slavery. There were no marches,
picketing, sit-ins, boycotting, or demonstrations mentioned anywhere. Contrary to Liberation Theology and Social
Gospelism, the Church’s agenda is not to re-order society according to
Christian ideals. Instead you see the
Bible provides the moral and ethical guidelines for Christians to operate
within the existing immoral society.
Paul sent Onesimus back to his position as a slave. It was not a Christian slave-owners
obligation to free his slaves but it was his obligation as a Christian to treat
them kindly and fairly. Furthermore, it
was not a Christian slave’s right to desert his position, but it was his
responsibility before God to serve his master with faithful integrity. That is why you will find every instruction
to slaves in the NT is to serve well and never to escape or runaway illegally. (Example Colossians 3:22-25)
Application:
We are called to live a godly life in ungodly situations, and, even if
it comes at a cost to ourselves. But, we
must remember that God will reward us for our sacrificial faithfulness to obey
Him. Are you like Onesimus, trying to
runaway from something? Are you thinking
like he was, “If I can only get out of this situation” and, “There’s got to be
more than this. This isn’t where I want
to be in life.” Like Onesimus, and like
Jonah too, perhaps you don’t want to face what’s in front of you and getting
out is all you can think about. We are called to live a godly life in ungodly
situations, and, even if it comes at a cost to ourselves. But, we must remember that God will reward us
for our sacrificial faithfulness to obey Him.
Application:
We need to be careful to stay on track with the Great Commission Jesus
Christ gave us: Proclaiming the Gospel
of Jesus Christ and building up believers in the faith. That’s it. And that was clearly the focus of Paul in
this situation. He cared more about this
individual Christian’s growth in Christ which was of eternal importance, more
than he did of freeing him from a temporary bad situation.
Francis of
Assissi said, “Preach the Gospel and when necessary use words.” Jesus came to preach. The Apostles were sent to preach. Romans 10:14 says emphatically, “How
can they be saved if they haven’t called on the Lord? How can they call on the one they have not
believed in? How can they believe in one
they’ve not heard? How can they hear
without someone preaching to them? How
beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” NOT, “How beautiful the feet of those who do good deeds.” Assissi’s gospel is a sissy gospel, it’s
social activism. Despite the good
intentions of some, the Gospel is not something we do, it is something we
proclaim. It is what Jesus Christ did
for us, not what we do for Him. The
Gospel is a message about Jesus that is to be told, not a mission to be lived. The Gospel must be heard so that it can be
believed so that people can be saved from their sins and the wrath of God. It is not a mission to transform this burning
world into a world of righteousness.
This world is destined to undergo the wrath of God and it is the first
earth that is going to pass away and make way for a new earth in the
future.
Have you believed the Gospel for your
own salvation?
Thirdly, we need
others in our lives to help us do what is right.
Paul was discipling Onesimus.
Notice Paul’s words, “I am sending him back to you…” Paul was Onesimus’s spiritual authority, and
guide, and mentor, and as such he was integrally involved in his decision to
return to Philemon. And, as a new
Christian and he was teaching Onesimus what it meant to live for Jesus
Christ. We need to surround ourselves
with godly people to help us live for Christ.
I suggest we need the input of godly Christians around us for 2
reasons.
First, to help us
find the right way when we don’t know. So
much of living a Christian life is about making decisions, handling situations
and determining how to proceed. We need
others who are full of the Holy Spirit, mature, and able to help us understand
God’s Word to make choices about how we live for Christ.
But, secondly, we
need others around us because we need their encouragement to do what’s right
when we know what is the right thing to do.
It doesn’t say, but, I think Paul probably led Onesimus to go back. I’m sure it was a conversation that Onesimus
was hoping wouldn’t happen, but, when it did, he knew it was right and Paul no
doubt gave him the encouragement he needed.
You have to remember that a runaway slave that was caught often received
horrible punishment. They would be
branded with a hot iron with the letter “F” which stood for “Fugitivus”,
meaning “fugitive” in Latin. If their
master wanted to execute them they could without the law getting in their
way. Many runaway slaves were
crucified. This is what Onesimus could
be going back to. I don’t think Philemon
would do any of that because he was a Christian, but, legally he could do any
of that and more.
This was a brave
decision for Onesimus to go back. He was
putting his life at risk in returning to his master. But it is a testimony to his Christian
character, and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit that he was willing to
do what was right even in the face of such great risk to himself.
Application: I was told a long time ago by a wise person,
“The right thing to do is often the
hardest thing to do.” True
words. Usually you can tell the right
course to take because of your options it is the hardest. Encouragement from your friends in Christ to
do the right thing is just as valuable as the wisdom they give to help you
discover the right thing to do.
Application: Do the right thing no matter what the risk
is.
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