Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Philemon 1:1,10-21
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  September 29, 2019

I’d like to start with an excerpt from the book The Hammer of God by Bo Giertz. The story takes place in Sweden during the 1800s. A young curate, a pastor-in-training, visits a man on his deathbed. But when he arrives, he finds that the common people in that house understand the Gospel much better than he does himself. As he rides back home the next morning he has the following revelation:

Sitting there in the carriage, it seemed to him that God was just as distant and exalted for him as the cloudless and spacious summer sky above him–infinitely majestic…but oh, so far away! …They turned into the village street at Hester. The sunshine danced in the tops of the lindens. He felt, almost physically, how its warm flood spread over the earth and was absorbed by the grass and the flowers, how it flowed into the whole creation as a warming, life-giving, budding, and uplifting power. Heaven must be like that. It must come down to earth, into creation, shine in a broad stream on the kitchen table, through the doors of the cattle shed and the windows of the mill house. It must come thus to bring life into being, that must struggle and be saved. It must not just be above the soil and the dirt, it must be in the midst of it.” [Bo Giertz, The Hammer of God]

The sun isn’t some theoretical ball of light in the sky, is it? It’s rays are real. It provides light so we can see, it provides warmth so we can survive, it gives life to our planet. The same is true of our God. Jesus Christ is not just encased up there in heaven, his Word applies to every moment of our existence. His love and promises should work their way into every part of our life. The light of heaven, as Giertz wrote, should shine in a broad stream at the kitchen table. Does Jesus shine on your kitchen table? Does his word come to bear in those every-day conversations? Is he at your workplace? Is he with you in the hallways of your school, in the car as you drive? The reality of Christ should permeate our thinking and life. A faith believed, as they say, is a faith lived. Today, we get to explore one of the best pictures of lived faith in perhaps the entire Bible. In the short letter of Philemon, faith in Christ is applied concretely to a broken relationship. The apostle Paul urges a run-away slave, Onesimus, to reconcile with his former master Philemon.

Let me set the scene: Philemon was a wealthy Christian in Colossae whom Paul had instructed in faith. Like most wealthy Roman citizens of that time, he had a slave. The slave was named Onesimus. And we aren’t quite sure of what happened, but Onesimus wronged his master Philemon and ran away. Most assume he stole some money from him, but whatever happened he fled to Rome. Rome was the capital city, large enough where you could easily lose someone, just the thing many escaped slaves wanted. However, while in Rome, Onesimus ran into the apostle Paul, the very man who had brought his master to faith. Paul was in prison. We aren’t sure if Onesimus intended to find Paul or if was accidental on his part. In any case it was not a coincidence; the Lord brought them together and Paul shared the gospel with Onesimus. He too became a Christian and began to help Paul continue his ministry in Rome. But in time Paul knew that Onesimus and Philemon needed to be reconciled, for the sake of the Gospel they both believed. So Paul told Onesimus that he needed to go back and, inspired by the Holy Spirit, sent with him a letter.  That letter would survive and became the book we call Philemon.

The letter reads: Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon, our dear friend and coworker…[Note the language of family Paul uses throughout.] I am appealing to you on behalf of my child Onesimus. I became his father while I was in chains. 11 There was a time when he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to you and to me. [This verse is a bit of wordplay because Onesimus means “useful” in Greek. Paul cleverly says that while Onesimus was gone and therefore useless to Philemon as a slave, he was also unknown to him as soul loved by God. But now Onesimus has an identity in Christ which Paul wants Philemon to acknowledge.  I have sent him (who is my very heart) back to you. Welcome him. I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might serve me in your place while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that your kindness would not be the result of compulsion, but of willingness. Perhaps this is why he was separated from you for a while: so that you would have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave, but as more than a slave, as a dear brother. 

I should make a comment about slavery. Slavery was common in the ancient world and was very different than what we usually think of in 1800s America. Greco-roman slavery was not race-based and was seldom life-long. People were not bound because of the color of their skin and they could work to purchase their freedom. That money was called a peculium and on average could be fulfilled in 10-15 years. So it was much different and preferable than the kidnapping-fueled, race-based slavery we may be more familiar with. However, that doesn’t mean that this ancient slavery was good. These people were still owned by other people. They were devalued from souls to property. So let’s ackowledge that slavery in the 1st century was different, but it was still against God’s will. It could be horrible. For instance, if a slave ran away and got caught, the master was legally allowed to beat, kill, or even crucify them.

Needless to say, then, it was not a small thing for Paul to ask Onesimus to return to his master. To go back to a man who legally could crucify you, or who could empty your peculium so that you and your family would never breathe in freedom? Why would he ever go back? Not to mention there was 1,200 miles between Rome and Colossae, a difficult journey of 2-3 months by foot, filled with its own danger and risk. And what could possibly work forgiveness in the heart of Philemon and, more than that, cause him to free Onesimus and call him a brother? This would have been crazy to do from a material standpoint. Philemon was losing free labor that he now could demand for the rest of Onesimus’ life. Or he could just sell him to someone else. He stood to gain so much from this. Why would he forgive his debt? And what would people say if he called a slave his brother? An equal? This was more than unlikely, almost impossible.

That’s how reconciliation seems sometimes doesn’t it? We know that God calls us to forgive as we have been forgiven, but applying that reconciliation in our own lives can seem almost impossible. Who have you been avoiding on reconciliation road? Is there an old friend who wronged you? Is it your mother or father? An ex-husband or wife? Is it a fellow member here at Eastside? Are you unable to forgive yourself? Or perhaps you are in a position to be a mediator like Paul, but you think it would never work. Are there members of your family who no longer speak to one another? Are there two co-workers who you could sit down with? Kids, is there a rupture between your Mom and Dad that you are afraid to ask them to address? For many of us reconciliation road is a path we don’t want to walk. It’s a difficult route to maneuver, filled with wounds from the past, and the potential for offense. And sadly, whether out of fear or doubt, we often take a path of silence. We avoid conflict and the gulf widens. Reconciliation road can be difficult. I won’t deny any of that, but the good news that we have as Christians, is that our efforts at reconciliation do not depend on probability or expectation—two things our God loves to overturn. Regardless of the outcome we will be blessed if we seek reconciliation.

Listen to why the Apostle Paul wants Philemon to reconcile with Onesimus. So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 And if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge it to me. 19 I, Paul, have written this with my own hand: I will repay it…Refresh my heart in Christ. Paul is saying here that he is willing to put himself in the place of Onesimus and bear the cost of his wrongdoing, whatever that was. Paul asks to have the cost charged to himself. And on the converse side, Paul then asks Philemon to receive Onesimus as if he were Paul. Remember, Paul brought Philemon to faith and, even in prison, his title of an apostle holds a lot of weight. Paul embeds his own apostolic status in Onesimus despite the fact that he is a lowly slave. Does this remind you of anyone? Think about it: Paul takes the punishment for Onesimus’ failure on himself and credits his own status to Onesimus. Living in faith, Paul is a picture of Jesus! Jesus took the punishment for our sin and asked God to credit us with his life, his status, his perfection. He reached out his arms on the cross and became the sacrificial link between a holy God and sinful people. He reconciled us through his blood and we now have his status as children of God. In the same way we see Paul here with his arms outstretched to reconcile Onesimus and Philemon. 

So what happened? Well, Onesimus went back to Colossae. He walked back to Colossae, back to the possibly of his own death or a life of slavery, trusting the power of the Gospel would set him free. And, based on the fact that this letter was preserved and is in the Bible, we are quite certain Philemon did forgive him and set him free as a brother in Christ. Can you imagine the scene when Onesimus finally arrived in Colossae? After he had dragged himself 1200 miles and Philemon opens the door? What words would have been said? Would Onesimus have simply got down on his knees and held out the letter for Philemon to read? I like to think about the way Philemon’s face must have changed while reading Paul’s words. The way his expression must have softened…I wonder who tried to apologize first? What a beautiful picture of reconciliation would they paint every day for the rest of their lives?

The Path to Heaven is the road to reconciliation. Both our own reconciliation to God through Christ, and proceeding from that our own purpose to reconcile all those around us. My friends, live in faith Forgive as you have been forgiven. Reach out with sacrificial arms to those dear ones you love in order to reconcile them with one another. Not based on anything they have done, but based on the fact that someone has already forgiven their sin and put it away. And who do you know that has wandered away from their master? Who has God put in front of you that needs to know about what Jesus has done for them?  Can you be an ambassador for Christ? Tell them of his love. Tell them that he calls them his very heart, his child, and if they have done anything wrong he has paid the price. Tell them they can be reconciled to God.

I will end with the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5: Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view… All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 

Amen.