Philemon 8-14 - Evangelism and Text Us From Jail

Welcome back to Strength of the Day. And looking forward to continuing in the Book of Philemon. We've been in this study for a long time, a full week.

Full week.

And what a week it's been.

What a week.

I can't even begin to mention all the things that have happened during the past seven days.

Correct. So I won't. But we learned last week a Book of Philemon.

Paul's writing it to a former convert, I would say a former convert, a convert of his that he had met in Ephesus, who would then go on to kind of start some of the gospel ministry in the town of Colossi.

There was a church that was meeting in his house. And one of the people that was in his house was a slave of his whose name was Onesimus, who wronged Philemon, stole from him, and then booked it and went to the hubbub city of Rome.

And while he was there in Rome, he interacted with Paul. Paul led him to Christ. And we learned last week, Paul goes, okay, now I know Onesimus, he's a brother in Christ.

I know Philemon, he's a brother in Christ. They, there's some stuff between them. And I'm going to send this letter, I assume, with Onesimus.

Yeah, I think, so that's actually an interesting topic, because I think that Onesimus carried the Book of Philemon.

I would also say he was part in helping carry the Book of Colossians.

Yeah, I could totally see that.

I know that some people think otherwise, but you look at, anyway, the way things are written in Colossians and Philemon, they're very similar. Go back to that, sorry, go ahead.

So, sidetrack.

So, last week, we looked at the start of the letter, where Paul is saying, like, Philemon, I'm so grateful for you, I'm thanking the Lord for you, for your ministry, for how you refresh the sphagnon of the saints, their innermost being, their heart,

their, the old word, their bowels, it's their insides. He says, you have refreshed people, your love, how you've lived, all wonderful. So now I'm going to get to the meat of what I'm asking.

Yeah. So here's what I'll say is this is a, some people think this is a new technique, but it's not. You know, when you want to ask for something?

Good.

Yeah.

Give them the good, butter them up, and then make your request.

And then put some more good on the end of it.

That's what Paul is doing, right? And of course, he's doing it led by the Holy Spirit. But I just love, I love what we talked about last week, that he just highlights the character of who Philemon is.

And now he's going to turn and ask, really a big ask. This is a big question.

Yes.

And I'm looking forward to jumping into this. Why don't you read those verses and we'll get to our study.

For this reason, although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is right, I appeal to you instead on the basis of love. I, Paul, as an elderly man and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, appeal to you for my son, Onesimus.

I fathered him while I was in chains. Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me. 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.

So here's the ask.

Like we highlighted last week, because of what Onesimus had done, the law said the punishment for Roman law said the punishment for what he had done could be imprisonment, beating, depending on the severity of how much he stole, even death. Right.

You can think the thief on the cross.

Yeah.

Like you could die for stealing. So here Paul is asking Philemon, I want you to absorb this wrong.

Yeah.

Against you. Yeah. Not because like the law says to or anything, but because of your love for me, because of who you are as a Christian.

Yeah.

Like I'm asking you, absorb this blow and receive back onesimus.

Right.

Yeah.

And I think there's, I mean, it is a, there's forgiveness that he's asking him to have.

Yeah. There's giving that he's asking him to have. But I know we'll look at that more next episode.

But this one, here's what, here's what, okay, when I read the Bible, I have a lot of questions.

Sure.

And so one of my questions in this is, how did Paul and Onesimus meet?

Right? Yeah.

We don't know.

Yep.

I think personally, I think Onesimus got arrested in Rome. I don't know what for.

Yeah.

But here's somebody who's, that's kind of his character, right? I'm just here for my old boss and I'm moving and I'm leaving. And so I think that maybe there was something small that he had done in Rome.

And again, this isn't, we don't have text.

Speculative.

Yeah, speculative. Very much so. But either way, Paul meets Onesimus.

And here's what I love. Paul doesn't waste opportunity to share Christ. You know, we had Friend Day here at our church a couple of weeks ago, and we really just encouraged people with reaching out.

And one of the challenges we gave everybody is like, see every relationship as an opportunity to share Christ. I love that about Paul. I really do.

Like, I think it's super awesome how God orchestrated this, and Paul becomes the intercessor for Onesimus, but that never would have happened had Paul not witnessed to Onesimus.

Yeah, and I think one way that Paul highlights that is throughout this book, he speaks of himself not as a prisoner of Rome, but a prisoner of Christ Jesus. That he's like, Rome didn't bind me.

Jesus has put me here so that I can tell other people about the gospel. And we can see he gave it to Onesimus. You can read in the end of the Book of Acts.

I don't remember if that's the same imprisonment, but while he's arrested there, he's still declaring the gospel. He's still telling people about Jesus.

Well, that's Acts 28 verse 20, I think, of the chapter. It says he's going to be bound there, but he kept preaching.

Yeah.

So that stands out to me.

And I want to throw in 2 Philippians 4 where imprisoned, he tells the Philippians, hey, those in Caesar's household greet you.

Right.

Like, you just can't stop telling people about Jesus. And I love it.

Well, I think there's a big challenge to us. And like never underestimate your opportunities to share Christ with people.

Yeah.

You know, we call this strength for the day, like this day and this week, God is going to bring opportunities of people that you never know. You don't know who they know or who. And that doesn't matter.

But God could be bringing you and Onesimus that after you lead them, you know, because I think it's after Paul led Onesimus to the Lord, he found all this out. Oh, 100 percent. You know, he leads Onesimus to the Lord.

And then Onesimus is like, Oh, man, you sound just like my old boss. Paul's like, who's your old boss? He's like, well, you know, I'm from, I'm from Colossi.

And man, it's a guy named Paul goes, I know some guys from Colossi. Yeah. Well, who's your boss?

Well, it's a guy named Philemon. Paul goes, what?

You know, Epaphras is with Paul. Yeah.

Right. At this time. Yes.

Yeah.

Epaphras is who brought the word to Paul that the church at Colossi was needing some encouragement.

So that's who I think, I think Onesimus and Epaphras traveled back together. That's my opinion.

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's awesome that just it reconciled so many relationships.

That was really only a God thing.

Totally.

Like Rome was a huge city. And, you know, there were a ton of different places that Onesimus could have been in Rome. And somehow he ended up with the guy that had led his master to the Lord.

Yeah. What else do you kind of see from from the passage? Sorry.

What else do you kind of see from the passage, in addition to Paul's emphasis on evangelism that that we can emulate as well? Because none of us are imprisoned.

No, but we still have opportunities all the time.

If you are imprisoned and listening to or watching Strength of the Day, let us know.

Text us.

Wait.

Ask your guard to text us. Anyway. What else stands out to me?

I think verse number 11, when Paul is describing Onesimus, and he says he used to be useless or unprofitable, but now he's profitable to me, Paul, and also to you. And that's huge. So I think, man, honestly, I can't wait to preach this next year.

Like, I'm already going, I mean, I've already done a little bit on it, but now that we're doing this, my brain is just going, there's so much there about the change that the gospel makes.

Yeah. Well, I think this is a really cool micro example of what Paul was saying in Colossians 3.

Yeah, yes, completely.

Where he says, okay, masters, here's your roles, slaves, here's your roles. You serve not men, but you serve God in everything that you're doing.

And so now he's telling Philemon, hey, this person that had no care for God or man before, now he is profitable.

Now he is useful, both to me, like an encouragement to me in my walk with the Lord, and now he can be profitable to you, that now he is your brother in the faith.

Now he is someone that has a desire to serve God through kind of his role, his station in life, just as you are seeking to, just as I'm encouraging you to treat him like you've been treated by the Lord.

So that's Colossians 4 with the masters, you know, treat your slaves well, give them what is good and just, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.

Now, he's telling this to Philemon of, okay, now he's going to treat his work as if it's the Lord's work, and I want you to treat him just like you've been treated by the Lord. Yeah.

Well, you bring up Colossians. If you look at Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, they all have a lot of similar thoughts and points. They're all written during the same time period.

I think Colossians and Philemon were written, I think, very closely together. And again, my brain just goes down all these different rabbit trails of how that happened. But it's just amazing that the gospel really does change people.

And I'm reminded of a discussion we had in one of our growth groups a few weeks ago, just the fact that we can try to force change in our life or in the lives of others.

But when you really experience Christ, change just happens because of who he is and what he's done. And so that that stands out to me. He was useless.

He was unprofitable, but now he's profitable. And I wonder, you know, we can't read into this too much, but I wonder how. Like, how was Onesimus profitable to Paul?

I mean, Paul's sitting in a jail cell. I think personally, I think there's some encouragement, because here's what Paul writes to Philemon. He says, I wish Onesimus would stay here and be you, Philemon, in my life.

So we already know about Philemon from his first seven verses, so we could probably guess some things about Onesimus to say that Philemon was an encouragement and refreshed Paul's Splaggagnon. Splaggagnon. I can't say it.

You can. So Onesimus probably was having the same effect. I imagine just this new Christian.

Yes.

That's just like, tell me more.

Like, what else? And Epaphras is like, hey, we got to go. We got to take these letters.

And Paul's like, yeah, Onesimus, just go. And you know what? Man, we'll see you.

See you maybe in eternity or whatever they can. They didn't know they're going to see each other again. But there's just this great hunger and thirst for God's word that was encouraging to Paul.

And he says, you know what? He's profitable in my life. So those are just a couple of things that stand out to me.

And then the last thing I would mention that stands out is verse 14, where Paul's about to ask, in verse 15, we'll see this next, he's about to ask Philemon, receive onesimus, forgive him completely, here's the reasons why, but I love verse 14,

because he says, I want you to do this, but I want you to do it because you want to do it, not because I'm asking you to or I'm telling you to. And I just think that's so cool, because it was Paul.

Like he knew who he was, and I'm not in an arrogant way, but he knew the, you know, you go read the Book of Corinthians, like Paul is like, hey, I'm writing to you as one that God has told, write, and so I'm doing it.

Like I have permission from God to let you have it.

Yeah, well, yeah, there were times when he had to pull the apostle card. And I think it's interesting here where he emphasizes, I think it's three or four different times through Philemon. He says, I'm a prisoner.

Right.

He tells him, I'm an elderly, aged man.

He's kind of...

Yeah, I led you to the Lord.

Yeah, he's not doing it in a sense of like, hey, I know I'm telling you to do something that is basically...

I just kicked the screen.

Sorry. I know Onesimus broke the law.

Right.

And the punishment for breaking that law was this. And I'm asking you a big old thing. And I'm not commanding you to do it.

Yeah. A lot of times, we want to pull our authority card. And I think Paul gives a great illustration there of...

There are times when we need to, as Paul showed several times, especially for the sake of the gospel. Yeah. That's time we can pull an authority card.

But when we're dealing with... When we're dealing with normal, everyday situations, I think the basis of love, like he mentions, that basis of, hey, I didn't want you to do this out of constraint. I didn't want you to do this out of obligation.

I want it to be of your own free will. I think that's such a healthier way to go about our life in most of our normative situations.

Yeah. It's letting people choose for themselves what... I mean, my mind again, I'm thinking about my kids, helping them choose right.

My wife has such a great outlook on this, often like, hey, let's just talk to them and present to them these options. And it's not like they're three years old and we're like, okay, do you want to obey today?

I mean, our kids are 17, 16, and 14, and it's like, okay, let's talk about the motivation behind this. And that's what we're gonna get into next time, so I don't wanna jump ahead. But I would ask you, Bryon, I mean, let's, we're out of time.

What's the application for today, for our listeners, for us, for our viewers? What's something we can walk away with?

Yeah. I'd say the first thing that you started off with, I think, is an incredible step that we can have today. We don't know who the Onesimus is that God might bring into our day-to-day walk today.

And whether it's, you know, whether it is someone that isn't saved, that we can, you know, start up a conversation about God or church or Christ or, you know, what God's doing in our life or something. Maybe it might be that kind of a conversation.

Maybe it might be like Paul mentions with Philemon that, you know, just another believer that you can refresh. You don't know who you're going to interact with today, but be ready. We talked again.

I think it might have been that that same conversation in growth groups a few weeks ago where we said, just have talking about God, talking about the church, have that be a regular part of your life. Yeah.

That you're not ashamed to mention that you were at church on the weekend. You're not ashamed to mention that, oh yeah, tomorrow night, I've got this going at my church.

Yeah.

Something like that. Oh, write in my Bible this today that pertains to whatever we're talking about. Don't be ashamed to talk about God because you never know how God might use that in the life of an onesimist or an apathrist or something like that.

Yeah.

I think that's a great one. Just recognizing that God brings gospel conversations our way and taking advantage of them.

And I would challenge you as a listener and a viewer today, maybe just pray, God, give me opportunity to share you with an onesimist and then the last challenge or quick thought I would give is from that verse that an onesimist was useless, he was

unprofitable before Christ, but with Christ, his life was given value and meaning and so I just want to encourage you, you have value, you have meaning, if you know Jesus Christ is your Savior, you are not useless, you are profitable for God's work

and he wants to use you to encourage someone today, this week, and he wants to use you to reach someone this week, be a testimony to someone. So take those two thoughts, walk with them, ask the Lord to keep your eyes open to opportunities to witness

and opportunities to encourage. And we look forward to seeing you again next week. We will wrap up Philemon, just spend three weeks on it and then start a brand new study after that. So we look forward to seeing you in the next week.

I would encourage you, share this with someone, go and like it, and I'll let someone know if it was an encouragement to you. If we can have any questions, if you have any questions, or a way that we can be a blessing, reach out to us.

And then the final thing I'll say is, if you have any suggestions of books that you want to study in the coming months, send that to us, and we would love to jump into some of those, except for Isaiah and Revelation.

I don't want to do those on this podcast. So anyway, that's just me. All right, well, we will talk to you later.

Have a great day.