Philemon 15-25 - Motivations and Pastor Is A Ventriloquist

Well, welcome back to Strength for the Day. I'm here with the world's best ventriloquist.

I do what I can.

Yep. Yep.

And that was only something our viewers could see though. Yeah.

You know, if you just listen to this podcast, you have no idea what a phenomenal ventriloquist Pastor Dennis is. And so I feel bad for you. So for our listeners, you need to watch the audio, the video version because he is just a great ventriloquist.

So, Pastor, we have been in one of the longer books of the Bible. Wait, what?

Why are you rude?

What do you mean, why am I rude?

Yeah.

What was rude about that?

Never mind. Never mind. Just go watch the video.

You'll find out why.

I'm so confused.

Okay. So what about us being in a long book?

We've been in one of the longer books of the Bible.

It really is.

Which book is that?

It's Philemon and it is honestly, it's insanely long. Yeah. Almost equivalent to Psalms.

Yeah. Almost.

Basically, it's like Book of Psalms, Isaiah.

It's like the Book of Psalms minus 148 chapters.

Maybe 149, depending on which Psalm you're talking about. Because if it's like Psalm 117, that one's two verses.

Right. So, yeah, it could be like five chapters then if you're...

Yeah, true.

Anyway. Yeah.

You build up Psalm 1, Psalm 117. Those are about the only super short ones I'm very familiar with.

Yeah.

I think...

I want you to like Psalm 8 even and Psalm 9. Yeah. They're not super long.

Anyway, people are not...

Irrelevant.

Okay.

We're not talking about those today.

We are in Philemon.

Who wrote Philemon?

Been a great study. So Paul wrote Philemon.

Okay. Who'd he write it to?

He wrote it to Philemon.

Who is Philemon?

Philemon would have been one of the pastors, I believe, of the Church of Colossae. Started a house church and got saved through Paul's ministry in Ephesus with Epaphras.

Philemon's son, which is Archibos, is probably the pastor of, now the pastor of the Church in Colossae, Colossians 4. But Philemon is also a wealthy man, perhaps, more than likely, and had certain people that served for him.

And there's one servant specifically, though, that ran away. And his name, what was that?

Onesimus.

Onesimus. And we don't know much about him running away. We just know that he did run away.

So that's what we've been studying.

Yeah. And first part, Paul says, Philemon, really thankful for you. You're doing great.

You're refreshing people. You're refreshing their splagic non, their bowels, their inside, their heart. And then he comes to him with the question, Hey, I know for what Onesimus did, we'll read some of those verses today, kind of how he wronged you.

It meant that he could be thrown in prison, he could be crucified, he could die, any number of things. But I want you to receive Onesimus back, even though he's wronged you.

And I don't want you to kind of pursue those kind of justice ends with him, specifically because Onesimus had accepted Christ with Paul in Paul's imprisonment in Rome.

Yeah, and I think if the readers or listeners wanted to, you go back and read like an Acts 28 and find out all of the people that were coming to visit Paul.

And so here, okay, this is really actually kind of interesting and stood out to me the other day.

When you write in verse 23, what he writes, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greet you, as do Mark, Eris, Tarkas, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers.

So if you compare Philemon to the Book of Colossians, Paul, Epaphras was the one that was delivering a message to Paul. So here's, okay, you know how you kind of read the Bible? You try to fill in the gaps in your mind, like what could have happened?

Here's what I think could have happened. So Paul's in jail. I think it could have been Epaphras is coming to visit Paul, right?

And he's coming to visit him in Rome. And Epaphras, like walking through the streets of Rome, sees Onesimus. And he would have known him because of his connection with Philemon.

So he sees Onesimus. He's like, hey, what are you doing here? Man, you've been missing for a while.

And Onesimus is alarmed, like, man, this guy is going to turn me in. And you can see Epaphras like, you know what? I got someone you need to meet.

Like, just trust me, he's in jail. Trust me, you need to meet him. And Onesimus is like, no, I'm not going to go with you.

And somehow Epaphras maybe convinces him, just trust me, come on, man. You know you're at your lowest and the Lord pulls him in. Like, I don't know, but that could be it.

And then he goes and talks with Paul. Or the other thing, and I mentioned this last session, is it could be that Paul met Onesimus in prison, that he got arrested for some petty theft or something like that.

But regardless, he met him, led him to Christ, and now is writing the letter back to the Father in the name of God.

It's a great book. Yeah. And so now Paul is given, okay, here's my request.

And then he goes in this section that we're going to read through right now. And he kind of gives Philemon, hey, here's why I want you to do this. And I'm just going to kind of read through it.

And then we'll talk about it. So I was going, I'm going to start back in verse 12. I am sending him back to you as a part of myself.

I wanted to keep him with me so that in 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, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave as a dearly loved brother.

He is especially so to me, but even more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord. So if you consider me a partner, accept him as you would 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 own self.

Yes, brother, may I have joy from you in 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.

But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I hope that through your prayers, I will be restored to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greet you. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my coworkers.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

So here we have, he lists out some different things and he gives them, man, as I'm looking through there, probably one, two, three, four, five, I think five reasons why he thinks that Philemon should.

Should restore on SMS, accept him back.

Yeah, so one is Philemon's own free will. And he says, hey, I want you to make this choice, for you to make it, because it's a good choice. He tells him that he would receive him now as a dearly loved brother.

Yeah, and well, the voluntary thing that he asks him is coming off of the heels of him saying, like, you, I want to remind you, I did lead you to Christ.

Yeah, yeah, that's first eight, right? Anyway, go ahead.

Yeah. And verse once or sorry, and verse 19, not to mention to you that you're giving your soul. Yeah.

Accepting him as a partner, or accepting him, accepting him as he would Paul. Yeah. Substitution, verse 20, that Paul would have joy.

As you mentioned that because he has that ownership and refreshing Paul, and then kind of in an obedience thing.

So we talked a little bit last week about kind of the wrong motivations that we can have to do something, and how like love and a voluntary obedience is kind of the best way to go about things. Right.

That if you have to like force someone to obey, Right. then it's not really real. If you force someone to love you, they don't really love you.

And I think in here he gives a lot of reasons, and only one of them is really kind of on the more strong-handed side.

Right.

Of like, but it's mean it like that. Yes. And it's encased in all of the others.

So even if you wanted to read the one like, oh, I guess I owe it to Paul, but I think it was a happy.

Oh, yeah, it would have been. And that's where he's saying like, I could push this on you, but I don't want to do that. Receive him voluntarily.

Like, you just need to make this choice of your own free will, your own volition. Like, I'm not doing that. So here's some other reasons why you should receive him back.

Yeah.

How do you think some of these motivations could play out in our lives? Because most of us don't have a wayward, thieving slave that comes back to us sent by the apostle Paul with a letter. So how can these motivations affect us today or this week?

Well, I mean, I think that we could apply it to just anything we do for the Lord.

You know, any service that we give to him.

I'm reminded, kind of a little sneak peek, but one of the devotions I wrote for next year's devotional, because we're doing all that right now for next year already, is the fact that we are, we are, oh, I heard a quote a while ago, and it was like,

we are never a more visible expression of Jesus than when we serve others out of love. And I think that here, like Paul is writing, like, hey, you love the Lord, you love me, now show love to Anesimus by receiving him back.

And, you know, even Paul is writing that, like, put the charges on my account, and do this because of your love. And so I think that our motive for why we accomplish or pursue anything in the Lord, our motive really does matter.

And when we have the right motives, I think we really see God bless. And at the times we see him maybe not answer a prayer request the way we want him to, we still are able to trust him because our motive is not selfish gain.

It's not, well, this will make me look good. Our motive is, I trust the Lord and I love him. So I don't know.

I think maybe ask the question, how can this apply to us each day? I think searching our own motives, why are we serving the Lord at church? Why are we giving to others?

Why are we going about the day caring about our testimony? Some things like that. What about you?

What do you think?

Yeah, I feel like occasionally we can get in our minds that we need to do things just because it's right to do. So maybe a sense of duty.

And I think all the reasons that are kind of listed here help us to see that we can have multiple motivations to do good and right things that are all helpful.

Because it's one thing if you have one reason to maybe reach out to a friend that you haven't seen in a couple weeks at church. Or you might have one reason to share the gospel with a person at a local coffee shop that you often frequent.

That wasn't a pointed statement. No, no, no. But if you have several motivations, it can be so helpful that you go, okay, well, yes, it's right to do it.

God commands me to do it. I love the person.

I would love for them to, you know, in the one instance, be reconciled with their church family, not feel like they're alone, that they would know that they're loved for, you know, sharing the gospel with someone.

It's, I would love for them to be reconciled to God. I want what's best for this person.

You know, maybe having a hard conversation with someone where, you know, they're just kind of going off the deep end and you go, I would love for them to not isolate themselves from the people that love them most and be able to draw them back and

compel them to be right. And I feel like multiple motivations helps in that because occasionally we can have, you know, one or more of our motivations that just doesn't really pull at us as much.

And when we have multiple motivations that it's like, no, here's all the reasons why I really want to do this thing.

Well, especially when it's selfless.

Yes, yep. Kind of a, you know, three-fold court is not easily broken type deal. That's definitely not specifically what the passage is directly saying, but that's, I think, one thing that it makes me think of, of, okay, what are my motivations?

Because many of us can have motivations for whatever we do. Some of those motivations can be more on the selfish side of, okay, what do I gain if I do this? Am I gonna put out too much energy or, you know, whatever?

How will I look in this?

Yeah. Yeah. And like you said, I don't think necessarily that's the main thrust that Paul is trying to get.

Really, he's trying to emphasize forgiveness and restoration, which for our listeners and our viewers, like, I would say one of the best principles, I'm gonna say, it's kind of a bold statement.

I think one of the best principles that the Word of God and that Christianity endorses is forgiveness and restoration. Because all of culture gets even, and God says, no, forgive.

And it doesn't mean that if someone's offended me or hurt me or abuse or anything like that, that I, all right, forgive them, let them back in my realm of influence. That's not it.

But in this situation, like, it is, because it was like, hey, he stole from you, but be the bigger person and forgive him and receive him because now he accepted Christ. Like now he'll be different, Philemon, you can know it.

And I love what Paul says, like, accept him just like you would me. And anything, if there's a debt to be paid, I'll pay it. And that's how much trust I have and the difference that Jesus can make in his life.

And the forgiveness and restoration is a huge part of that.

Yeah. One thing that I heard someone mention is this is, I think, the only book that Paul writes that he doesn't specifically outline, like Christ's death, burial, resurrection.

Yeah.

But in one sense, like the whole book is kind of a picture of that, of Christ dying on behalf of sinners and then raising again and you have Paul here that says, okay, in that same realm of like substitution, put his wrongs and what you are owed,

that he took from you, put that on me. I'll take the punishment for that and you take this renewed, this now risen from the dead as it were, Onesimus who was dead to you and is now alive again. This is just kind of a cool thought.

And speaking back to what you're saying with forgiveness, so often we only want to extend forgiveness when it's easy. Yeah.

When it's like, you know, our best friend and they did something really small, you know, they forgot to text you on your birthday or something. Again, not personal. He texted me.

He is attacking me.

I'm 99% sure that he texted me on my birthday.

This year.

Yes.

Yeah. That's all that matters. It's easy to forgive people who do little things.

Right.

But what makes Christianity, what makes the gospel so incredible, is that Jesus forgave all of our sins, the worst of us.

Yeah. And so often we do exactly what Jesus' parable with the unforgiving servant is, where he's forgiven like 1.2 or 2 million dollars in debt, and then he goes out and shakes down another servant for 20 bucks. Right.

And we do that with people all the time. And it's not that the hurts and offenses weren't there. Right.

Or weren't real, rather. It's not that it didn't hurt. But if we're going to be like our savior, then we need to have that same heart that Jesus had on the cross for giving us.

We need to have the same heart that here Paul is calling Philemon to, of, hey, forgive. This was a hurt. This was a big hurt.

You were betrayed. You were stolen from. But I want you to forgive.

And while it's not easy, it's always something that will help us to mirror our savior and will be good for us, that we let go of bitterness, and we let go of those things that would eat away at us because we're mirroring our God and we'll always be

the healthiest in our spirit and in our mind when we are mirroring our savior versus just following our flesh and going, I don't want to, so I'm not going to.

Yeah, no, I totally agree.

And so I think, you know, maybe, I know we need to wrap up, but I would say to all of our listeners, our viewers, maybe an application for today and this week is to ask the Lord, is there any area of my life that I'm not extending forgiveness like

the Lord would have me to extend? Is there someone in my life, maybe it's a spouse that you're holding some bitterness against, maybe it's a kid, maybe it's a parent, maybe it's a coworker, a friend, that, you know, we have that bitterness built up

and today maybe we would be challenged to ask the Lord, like, all right, God, as best as I know how, I want to offer forgiveness to them. But then I, can I add one more thing?

Yes, please do.

I want to add this to all of our viewers and listeners. Verse 15, I love it, because Paul says basically, like, hey, perhaps this is the entire reason that he left, that he could be with you and me forever. So what's Paul saying?

He's saying to Philemon, maybe the Lord allowed Onesimus to leave so we could meet, so he could get saved and be our brother in Christ forever and come back and be restored. Maybe God allowed it because God knew, God's sovereignty, he knew it.

Now, God didn't make that happen, but God allowed it to happen because he knew the end result.

And so I want to say, like, immediately in my mind, that is a principle from the Book of Philemon that really helps me, because we all have situations and we all have challenges that we don't understand, we don't like them, we don't appreciate it, we

don't know what good could come of it. I'm just reminded of the story of Joseph, and Joseph got sold into slavery by his brothers, and yet at the end of the book, he says to them, what you meant for evil, God used for good.

And so I just want to encourage you today, no matter what situation you're facing in life, forgiveness and restoration, that's kind of the application, but maybe a side thought is, maybe there's some situations in your life that you don't understand.

I want to say you never know what God is doing behind the scenes. And so perhaps this is a reason it happened, is because someone's gonna trust Christ because of your situation.

So maybe just a side thought for us, and I don't know, every time I read Philemon in C verse 15, I'm like, man, God, thanks for always working behind the scenes. So anyway, why don't you wrap us up?

Okay. So that's the Book of Philemon. God has forgiven us in incredible ways, and as a result, we who were once slaves are now brothers.

I think of Hebrews 2 where Jesus is not ashamed to be called our brother. That we who were alienated and far away have been brought nigh.

And as a result, we can forward that love into every relationship that we have, and we can rest that God knows what he's doing, and he can bring beauty out of all of the painful moments of our life.

Next week, we are going to be starting in a different book. And we have exhausted all of the books of the Bible that have to do with the town of Colossi.

Well, not all of them. Oh, that's true.

But we're not going to go through Acts. We're going to Habakkuk next week. And if you have never read through the Book of Habakkuk, you have no idea what it's about.

I know it's going to be a huge encouragement for you.

I have no idea what this next week is going to hold in our world, but I know at least as far as circumstances are right now, it is going to be an incredibly timely look at how God views the world, what he's doing.

And I think it can be a huge encouragement and comfort to us in the days that we're living in. So tune in next week at Strengths for the Day as we begin the Book of Habakkuk.

And we'll be there for maybe four-ish weeks, depending on how fast or slow we go. Yeah, looking forward to that time together.

It'll be a good time. So we will see. Have a great day forgiving others and knowing that Jesus is always working behind the scenes.

We'll see you next week.