Good to see everybody here this morning. Welcome to Elmira Baptist Church Sunday School. And I've been trying to say the date for the recording, October the 13th, 2024. Welcome for all of you here and those who are online. And we have a a good long lesson today. So I want to get started. So where are we? We're in Colossians 4. If you turn to chapter 4, we're going to read verses 7 through 9. And also, at the same time, if you could turn to Philemon and just put a marker back there, we'll come to Philemon a little bit halfway through the lesson. So Colossians 4, 7 through 9. and Philemon. And we're also going to skip down in our outline. Everybody have a handout here? It's, I don't know, Cindy's not here so I can't tell the color. I don't know if that's pink salmon or Pink, is it pink? Okay, ladies are voting pink. I go with that. And you should have a pink copy. It's three pages, two pages, front and one page, front and back. And now mine, purple. This one's purple. I got one purple one, so. I don't know. That maybe I just took. Okay, so. pink or purple, whatever color you have, it is that kind of direction color. And this is gonna be real wordy today, so you really have to have the handout. So if somebody comes in, make sure they get a handout. So we're gonna, actually, we're gonna kinda cover the whole book of Philemon, Lord willing, today. And then, verses four through, chapter four verses seven through nine of Colossians and also go back and do 417 there. We'll skip ahead in chapter four and cover that 417. Okay, so. Let's read together. Actually, I'll read if you'll follow along. We're four, verse 17 through 19. All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate and comfort your hearts. With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother who is one of you, they shall make known unto you all things which are done here." Paul is writing the letter to Colossians, I'm sending two people and he's commending them and actually part of his commissioning to them to go and to tell them what is happening. Remember there's no cell phones, there's no telecommunications, there's no satellite, there's no shortwave radio, there's no regular telephones, there's no cables, there's letters and personal delivery and that is it. And the letter was a big deal in those days. And travel was difficult, so it was very difficult to communicate in those days. He says, I'm gonna let you know, make known unto you all things which are done here, and really answering all their questions. So let's have a word of prayer. Father, thank you so much for the challenge of looking at your word and understanding it. We pray that your Holy Spirit would help us to understand your word thoroughly so that we might apply it to our lives. Lord, as we look at these men that, served you and that were fellow servants of Paul, I pray that you would open our eyes and help us to see things from another perspective, not from our perspective or 21st century perspective, but from your perspective. Thank you for each one that is here. We pray your comfort for those that are at home, unable to be with us today. We pray for your healing for those that are ill. Thank you, Father, for your blessings in this Sunday school time, in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, if you look at the handout, the outline of the passage, we're calling this Paul's conclusion, and this is chapter four, verse seven, through chapter four, verse 18, and the first part is commendations. We looked at Tychicus last week in verse seven, and we looked at eight, so we're gonna look at eight and nine today. And we want to be able to move on to the next section. The greetings is the second, third is instruction, and four is benediction. In Paul's conclusion here, he mentions at least 10 persons, and we divided it for ease of looking at it in four sections. Commendations, that's two persons, Tychicus and Onesimus. Greetings, verses 10 through 15. Six persons are sending greetings to the Colossians and others who this letter may reach. Aristarchus, Mark, Jesus, Justice, that's one name, Epaphras, Luke, Demas, and then the second bullet there, one person and two groups are to receive greetings, Nymphos and the church in his house, and the brethren at Laodicea. So the church in his house and the brethren at Laodicea. And then as some instructions, we're gonna touch on today with our Kippus in verse 17, and then a benediction, Paul, who was a great theologian studied under the Lord himself. So he has a wonderful prayer there at the end. Okay, so let's review what we looked at. Look at Roman numeral two. Let's look at where we're at. I want to, I guess, jump right now. I made a mistake. No laughing, okay? Turn to page two of your pink handout there, and you see the word Philemon towards just below the middle of the page, and it's labeled C. Grab your pencils. That should be number two, because that follows number one. Paul commands two men in this passage, Tychicus and Onesimus on page one. So this is number two right there. So mark out C right, number two. Then the man, which is right under that, that should be A. Sorry about this. Thanks Rob, I appreciate it. Rob's laughing, which I deserve. And B is number 2. So instead of a number two, it would be B. So Philemon is going to talk about the man, the epistle, and then the church that met in his house on page three. Number three there should be a number two. Because you see, I looked at this and it said, after I'd already given it to Cindy to publish, There were two number threes on page three, so I couldn't have that. So I had to go ABC, right? OK, thank you for everybody got that. I mean, it's just housekeeping. I just wanted to kind of help the logic follow it in your mind there, OK? Say? Yes, sir? Maybe you should cut back on the coffee. Do what? Cut back on the coffee. Cut back on the coffee? Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah. I don't drink coffee. That's why I said, what? Sorry, OK. OK, so that's funny. Yeah, start coffee, right? OK, so commendation. Paul commends two men in this passage, Tychicus, and he kind of commissions them too, Tychicus and Onesimus, verse 7 and 8, to the Colossian church, this letters to Colossae, Now they did circulate it around, but it's to Colossae addressed to them to ensure that they received Tychicus and Onesimus. It's kind of a commissioning too. These people, these two guys, these two men are Paul's direct representatives. While he is in prison, he cannot go personally, so he can't go himself. So he sent Tychicus and Onesimus. I want to quote J. Vernon McGee. I have short quotes today, so you don't have to worry about a long quote. J. Vernon McGee said, We come now to a remarkable list of names of people who Paul knew. These are men and women who lived back there in the first century. They walked down the Roman roads, lived in Roman cities, were under the Roman rule. They were in the midst of paganism. He's talking about living, like we live near, San Francisco and Oakland and other evil influences, they lived among paganism. But they were God's children. Many of these people lived in Ephesus. When I was in Ephesus, he visited the ruins, he said, I climbed up in the theater there, and from that height, I could look down that great marble boulevard. Now, when he is in the theater, it's like an amphitheater kind of thing where there's a round area where all the seats are terraced with the ones in the highest being the further back and then coming down into the Center I saw a picture of it and you know, it's like all of those Roman amphitheaters then thousands could sit in there and He says I climbed up in that theater from there the height, I could look down that great marble boulevard, and he's talking about being up on top and looking out, and you could actually see, I saw a picture of it, it's still there today. The road leads right down to the harbor. Now he called it the Great Marble Boulevard, and he said, I call it Harbor Boulevard. Now it was not named Harbor Boulevard, but he was just doing a play on words there, because it leads right down to where the harbor was in that day. And one of the reasons that city failed is because the harbor silted up, and the water brought so much stuff that, and they didn't have ability to dredge that easily, so the city actually went away. He says, I thought, This is where one could have seen Paul come walking up the boulevard. There would be Tychicus coming up the way, and there's Onesimus, and Aristarchus, and Epaphras, all those fellows. They were all Christians. They were God's men back yonder, that's a southern word for then, in the first century. The interesting thing is that Paul had never been to Rome, nor had he been to Colossae. Yet he gives a list of people that he knew, and many of them are from those two cities. This reveals that Paul had led many people to Christ who returned home to cities that he was never able to reach directly or personally, but his ministry was tremendous, far-reaching ministry. When he was in Ephesus for those years, two or three years there, that he spoke and taught and people came to Christ and they went back to their own cities and they started churches and just amazing. So these men represent those that we never will meet because the Bible doesn't give us a list. Unlike Chronicles, you have a list of everybody that ever did anything there. We don't have a list of all the New Testament Christians and even the workers and leaders, but we have a few. And that's why I wanted to look at these people because they represent many of the people. It's like God kind of give us a little bit when he said thank you to these people and he spoke to them, Paul. Actually, it's kind of like the Lord pulled back the curtain so we could see some people from that time that represent the effects of the gospel, the far-ranging effects of the gospel. So Tychicus 1a, Tychicus' name meant fortuitous, and he was a Gentile convert from Paul's ministry in Ephesus. He is from the province of Asia, and most likely Ephesus itself. Both Ephesus and Colossi were in the province of Asia which was Turkey. That's what the Romans called it. Later on they called a big huge section of the world Asia, but at that time it was that small area. Tychicus was tasked by Paul for two things in verse 8. First, Let the Colossians know how Paul is doing and answer their questions. And secondly, to comfort or encourage their hearts. Paul calls Tychicus, and we looked at this last week in detail, beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant. Now these qualities and characteristics and virtues are examples to us of what we should be. We should be faithful, beloved brethren and sistren, and faithful ministers and fellow servants. Now, so moving to Onesimus, this is new, but before I read that, I want to, A.T. Robertson was a Greek scholar. There are two A.T. Robertsons, but this is the Greek scholar and teacher and seminary professor. He said, So these two messengers are linked together here with Paul's love as they speed across the sea and land to Colossae with this, he's talking about Tychicus and Onesimus that Paul commissioned and sent, with this bundle of letters. McLaren, who was an English preacher, and Sheila's just giving a thumbs up there, okay. McLaren indulges his sanctified imagination with the wonder that would seize Tychicus if he had been told. Tychicus had no idea that what he was carrying would have such power, that these bits of parchment that he was carrying would outlast all the ostentatious, showy pomp ceremony of the city, and that his name, because it's written in them, would be known till the end of time all over the world and His name would be known at the end of the time all over the world. Colossae has vanished from the earth. They do know where it is, and I saw a picture of it, and it's just a hill, just kind of a round mound, and they haven't done any excavation. Ephesus they've excavated, but Colossae is not there. But the names of Tychicus and Onesimus are known and loved wherever the name of Jesus has won power with men. A.T. Robertson goes on to say, they will make known to you all things here. Paul assumes that the Colossians will desire to know all about the Christian conditions in Rome, and he leaves most of that story for Tychicus to tell in person. and he certain that they would do it wisely. That's a lot of trust to represent Paul to the others. He would go and be an ambassador for him. Okay, so let's look at Onesimus 1B, paragraph B, bottom of page one. Onesimus in the Greek means profitable. And he accompanied Tychicus to Colossae on this journey to deliver Paul's epistles and let them know about Paul and his A.T. Robertson and Paul commission to encourage them, encourage the hearts of the Colossians. And one of those epistles was a letter to Philemon regarding Onesimus himself. Now, Ironside, Harriet Ironside has said After Onesimus was brought to Christ, Paul sent him back to his master offering himself, offering Paul himself, to become his surety or guarantee in the tender words, if thou count me as a partner, receive him as myself. If he have wronged thee or oweth thee aught, that means anything, put it on my account. I, Paul, have written it with my own hand. I will repay it." What a gospel picture is this, Ironside says. It is Christ himself who assumed responsibilities of the penitent sinner. We are all God's onesimuses, said Martin Luther. Christ paid our debt that we might be accepted in Him before God. He bore on the tree, he quotes this little poem, He bore on the tree the sentence for me, and now both the surety and the sinner are free. And when Jesus And then when redeemed, it goes on to say, it is our happy privilege to serve him in glorious liberty and say with the psalmist, truly I am thy servant. Thou hast loosed or freed my bonds. Okay, so, looking at, The paragraph on Onesimus, right in the middle. Some believe that this escort by Tychicus was for Onesimus' own protection. He was a runaway, he had been a runaway slave, and as a former runaway slave, he was in danger because there were slave hunters seeking to recapture runaway slaves for lots of money, for a reward. Onesimus had been a slave in the household of Philemon and Colossae, but he left and it's thought that he stole money for his escape. By God's grace, he was saved. The Lord led him to Paul, Paul's ministry. He was saved. We don't know how, but we know that Paul took personal responsibility for him, called him a brother and a son, as we'll see in a minute. In verse 11 of Philemon, Paul stated, Onesimus, who in times past was unprofitable, but now is profitable to thee and me. Now, Onesimus' name meant profitable. And so Paul takes a play on words and says, I know he was unprofitable then, but now he's gonna be profitable to you. He's been profitable to me. So this is a reference to his name, which means profitable. Paul sent him back, top of page two now, Paul sent him back for reconciliation with Philemon despite Paul's own desire to keep him. He had need of him there. He said, he was very helpful to me. And he had a love for him, which is encouraging. You know, you have those that you love near you, that encourages you. You feel like you have support. Paul called Onesimus a faithful and beloved brother. And in the book to Colossians, he calls them, who is one of you, meaning a trustworthy member of the community. Now, in verse 9, chapter 4. He never mentions, it's interesting, I read this and I thought, that's true, Paul didn't say Onesimus who did this, this, this, and this, and this, and this, he just said Onesimus who is a faithful brother and a son to me, a beloved brother and a son to me, I want you to take back and put anything wrong on my account. That that's that's amazing because you know we have we say we forget and forgive But we have a long memory well you members This happens among spouses a lot you remember when you did this this this and this and this you know and so Yeah, that happens, but Paul didn't do that. He said this is a this is a beloved brother I want you to take back so in In Philemon, let's take a minute to look at this, okay? Everybody in Philemon? Okay, flip over there. It's right before Hebrews. It's a very small book. You'd miss it in a heartbeat. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ sent Timothy, our brother unto Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow worker or fellow laborer, and to our beloved Apphia and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house." The church was in Philemon's house. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we have some verses here that commend Philemon. They talk about his character. But Paul's going to turn around and use these in his persuasiveness and his desire that Onesimus be accepted back by Philemon as a brother rather than a slave. He says, Paul says, I thank my God making mention of thee, Onesimus, Philemon, always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord, Jesus, and toward all saints, that the communication, and that word is fellowship, it's koinonia, That means fellowship, that the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you and Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love because of the hearts or bowels, which is their word. that's in the King James, and that's correct. That's where they thought the seed of emotions were, and we think of hearts. But the hearts of the saints are refreshed by the brother. Wherefore, though I might be, verse eight, now he's starting to intercede for Onesimus. Now watch how smoothly he slides into this. Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin that which is convenient or fitting, Yet for love's sake, I rather beseech thee, you see, I could have just tell you to do it. Yet for love's sake, I rather beseech thee being such a one as Paul, the aged, and now a prisoner of Jesus Christ. So he kind of pulls out his cards of suffering. I'm aged, I'm a prisoner. We're gonna talk about that in just a second. I'm making note of these so you can see them in the scriptures. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, my son. whom I have begot in my bonds, while I was a prisoner, refining him again, I'm a prisoner, in my bonds, who in times past was unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and me, whom I have sent again, I'm sending him back, thou therefore receive him, that is my own heart, or bowels, Paul is telling them, he's like my own heart, I'm sending my own heart to you. Verse 13, whom I would have retained with me that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. He's saying, you know, you probably should be here helping me, but instead I could have kept him to work in your behalf, but I thought Verse 14, but without thy mind, in other words, without your understanding this, would I do nothing, that thy benefit should not be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly. I didn't want to do this and make you do it. I wanted it to be your decision for your benefit. 15, for perhaps he therefore departed for a season, maybe he ran away just for a while, that thou shouldst receive him forever. You have him back forever because he's now a Christian, not now as a servant, verse 16, but above a servant, a brother, beloved, especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If, verse 17, he turns on the pressure here. If thou count me therefore as a partner, receive him as myself. He's saying, I want you to receive Onesimus, the trespasser, the one who stole and ran away, and that was considered really almost an unpardonable offense as a runaway slave. Receive him back as you would receive Paul the apostle, Verse 18, if he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee anything ought, put it on my account. Verse 19, I, Paul, have written it with my own hand, I will repay it, albeit I don't, he said, but although I do not say to thee how much thou owest unto me, even thine own self besides, he's Paul saying, I want you to the Lord, you owe me everything. He brought that up. Yea, brother, let me have the joy of thee and the Lord refresh my heart and the Lord. Now remember in verse, 5, he said, hearing of that love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints. And verse 7, for we have great joy and consolation in that love because the hearts of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. Now he's saying, yea, brother, let me have the joy of thee in the Lord and refresh my heart in the Lord on this matter. It's verse 21. Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing, I know, I know, he's assuming, I know that thou will also do more than I ask or say. And then his benediction. At the same time, withal, we looked at that earlier, a couple of weeks ago. Withal, prepare me also a logic, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you. There, greet thee, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. So I wanted to read that. Hopefully that we're going to emphasize those things. So Paul then mentions past specific sins, about three lines, fourth line down from page, top of page two. And he didn't, he didn't say, here's all his sins. He said, here's my beloved brother and son. Instead, Paul calls, and this was a beloved brother, and in Philemon verse 16 and verse 17, he asks Philemon to receive him as myself. In verse 12, Paul stated, thou therefore receive him my own, that is, my own bowels or heart. Paul is saying in verse 12, I'm sending him, and it's like I'm sending my own heart to you. Paul had asked Philemon to receive Onesimus in verse 16, not as a servant, but above a servant, a beloved brother. Not only does he call Onesimus a brother, but he calls him a son, as I've said a couple of times. And then a man named Gardner that wrote a book on Onesimus, Who's Who in the Bible that Rob told me about and showed me that book has been a big help to me, Rob. Thank you very much. I'm quoting him. He said, Paul's appeal that Onesimus must not be treated harshly as an offender since he had repented and gotten saved, but as a Christian brother. He says that's a masterpiece of pastoral exhortation. I like that. Now, can you imagine that humble and joyous reunion of Philemon and Onesimus. Can you imagine them getting together and that interchange? We didn't get to see that, but I can imagine that. That would be a dramatic story in Christianity. God chose not to tell us that or show us that. So I want to take a minute. We just looked at the book of Philemon. I go slow, right? Probably a verse or two a week. We just looked at a whole chapter, and we're doing that too. So we covered a whole book today. You could say we covered a whole book and four verses. I often say, you be the theologian. I wanna move into the note now. This story does something, it really is a picture of reconciliation, but something else as well. Now normally when I say, you be the theologian, I let you make a choice between A, B, C, or D. But in this case, I want you to put on your theologian hat, and I want you to think with me about this. Look at the note in the middle of page two. This story perfectly illustrates the doctrine of imputation. That's the act of God in which, here's the theology, he accounts the righteousness to the believer in Christ, the act of God in which he accounts righteousness to the believer, the person who has accepted Christ, he gets the righteousness of Christ. Christ who has borne the believer's sin and vindication of the law. James 2.23 tells us, Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness. Well, Abraham lived before the law and he, it predates the law, but there it says that faith, his belief in Christ and belief in God looking forward to Christ, his belief in God was imputed to him for righteousness. In verse 17 and 18 Paul writes to Philemon, receive him as myself if he hath wronged thee ought on anything, put that on my account. Put that on my account. This last phrase, put that on my account, that's an accounting term, meaning to charge one's account or impute. Simply stated, our sins are imputed or put on Christ's account because of His work at the cross. He was in our place. He died in our place. He bore our sins. And Christ's righteousness is back imputed to us. So when God sees us and our standing before him, he sees us righteous because Christ has declared us righteous. So I'm quoting now this last line starting with just to the quote mark. This is MacArthur and a man named Mayhew that written in a book of biblical doctrines. He said, Just as our sins were reckoned or imputed to His account when He died on the cross, in the same manner, His righteousness is counted as ours. Sinners are not justified because of some good thing in them. Remember we say, I don't have any merit when I come and ask for salvation and I believe in Christ, I put my faith in Him. It's not my merit, it's God's, it's Christ's merit. So sinners are not justified because of some good thing in them. They can't do anything to work their way to heaven. God can declare us righteous. He can justify the ungodly and still remain just. Because the question is, sinners, the wages of sin is death. We're all, our righteousness is just filthy rags. We don't have any righteousness. There's nothing we can do before salvation to please God. So how does he still remain a righteous God and just and not declare us to eternal condemnation and yet, give us salvation? Well, the answer is that sinners aren't justified because of some good thing in them. God can declare us righteous. He can justify the ungodly and still remain just because he graciously imputes to us the perfect righteousness of his own dear son. So the sole ground, the only ground of justification is the righteousness of God counted to be ours by a gift of grace alone. That's imputing. Our sins are imputed to Christ. He died for them on the cross. His righteousness is imputed to us. By grace are we saved through faith, and not of ourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Okay, so let's look at Philemon. So this is number two in the misnumbered handout. You should have a number two in front of Philemon. Three things are associated with the name of Philemon, okay? We're talking about this letter that Onesimus is taking, and one of them is to Philemon. So I wanted to take this time to look at the book of Philemon, and three things are associated with the name of Philemon. The man is number one, A, or A, okay? His name means loving, affectionate, or kiss. And he was converted by Paul in verse 19, he talks about you own your own self, possibly through Paul's extensive ministry in Ephesus in Acts 19. Apphia is Philemon's wife, and that's, Verse two to Apphia, Philemon was most likely affluent or well-to-do. He had his own home and servants. Paul calls Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow labor worker. Paul says Philemon had refreshed the hearts of the saints and he had love and faith toward the Lord and all the saints, which is quite a compliment. So we're gonna look at the man, the letter, the epistle to him and then the church. So item B is the epistle of Philemon which is addressed to Philemon and it's the shortest book of all the epistles, the shortest letter that Paul wrote and it's the most personal letter that he wrote. And it wasn't about ministry per se, it was about an issue of the church and Onesimus. So I wanted to read a Spurgeon quote. He said, this is one of Paul's private letters though it has a stamp of inspiration on it. It was not written concerning church business but there was a runaway slave who had come to Rome who had been converted under Paul's ministry and Paul was sending him back to his master and this was the letter which he was to take with him to make sort of an apology for him and to ask his master to receive him with kindness and to forgive his fault. Every word of this epistle is wisely or stated, Paul begins by calling himself a prisoner, now note this point, I made it earlier, Paul begins by calling himself a prisoner of Jesus Christ and he also calls himself aged, aged, and Spurgeon said, who would not grant Paul his desire when he was wearing a chain for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake? If a letter were to come to you from some beloved minister who you knew to be lying in a dungeon and likely soon to die, you would be greatly touched if you noticed the traces of rust of his bonds and fetters on the letter. A little bit of hyperbole there, but that's a valid point. Paul, a prisoner of Christ. This has been called the polite epistle, for Paul uses great courtesy and tact in writing it. Onesimus, a slave, had robbed his master Philemon and had run away from him, hoping to conceal himself best in a large city, a metropolis of Rome. Onesimus had fled to Rome where he heard Paul preach and became converted. Paul sent him back to his Christian master. Although his first object was only to restore a runaway slave to its master, it is a weighty letter and every syllable has substance in it. Because you can see a picture of aspects of our salvation in it, I would add. So the epistle to Philemon is addressed to Philemon and it's the most personal of all. Paul's purpose was to intercede for Onesimus with his owner Philemon. Paul uses his powerful but tactful and courteous persuasiveness as well as biblical principles to ask Philemon not command him but ask him to take back Onesimus as a brother as a brother above a servant. Schofield states at the theme of this epistle of Philemon as love exemplified. I like that. Love exemplified. Philemon's own name reflected the quality and virtue of loving. Remember Phileo is the love of man. and his name is Philemon. So love is characterized in his own name. Paul may have used that part of his name and that issue of his name and meaning of his name to make his point. Reconcile with Onesimus in the love of the Lord. Your own name is love. Be love and do this. I love that. Okay. So Paul addressed Philemon as our dearly beloved and fellow laborer worker. Paul praised Onesimus also multiple times. Paul thanks God in his prayers for the love and faith which Philemon has towards the Lord and the saints that we read in verses four and five. Paul says he has a great joy and comfort and encouragement from Philemon's love because he had used it to refresh the hearts of the saints. Now in the same way, Paul turns around and says, I want you to refresh my heart so that I can have joy in the Lord by doing the right thing here, verse 20. So he begins by commending Philemon for all his love and faith toward the Lord and all the saints. Then he asked him to receive Onesimus as a beloved brother. Paul expresses confidence. Somebody really wants you to do something, they say, I know you're going to do a real good job on more than I'm asking. And that's what he does. Paul's really powerful in his persuasiveness here, very tactful. But this comes from someone who has great authority and who is well-loved and is responsible for your own salvation. And in the prison, in chains, and in bonds and chained to a soldier 24 hours a day. And he gets to change out and you don't. And I don't know how they handle all the personal matters, but he was chained 100% of the time. So it was really a harsh thing. And he did not know also that being in prison and not knowing, will I be killed? Will I face martyrdom? Paul, of course, faced it the right way, but that's a big weight hanging on you. It's almost here as if Paul were saying, if you love me, love Onesimus. If you love me, love him. Paul said, I'm sending my own heart to you, verse 12. And if he's done anything to you or owes you anything, I will pay it, put it on my account, as we looked at. The third aspect of Philemon here, is the mention of the word Philemon, is a Colossian church met in Philemon's house. Now here we jump to another verse, we'll jump ahead, Archippus. What we know about Archippus is, is that, as we talked about a minute ago, is that he said in verse to Philemon and to our beloved Apphia, we know that was Philemon's wife, and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house, that was Philemon. So he mentions Archippus. It's thought that Archippus Archippus in verse 2 may, oh and here's some instructions in chapter 4 verse 17 back at Colossians. And say to Archippus, he got instructions in the book of Colossians chapter 4 verse 17, in Colossians, instructions to Tychicus and Onesimus, actually to the, excuse me, instructions to the church at Colossae that Tychicus and Onesimus were carrying. This is not in Philemon, this is in the book going to the Colossians. They had instructions. I want you to say as a church to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord and that thou fulfill it. And some people thought he was an evangelist. Some people thought he might be Philemon's son. And it's thought he might be, we don't know if he was his son or not. It's interesting that he mentioned him right there, but the church was in Philemon's house. So it's thought that he may be the elder or minister that took Epaphras' place ministering to the Colossian church. When Epaphras, who was the pastor there at Philemon, the church of Philemon, went to Rome to talk to Paul, somebody had to take over for him in that church at Colossae. And they think that was, I think it was Archippus. And this would explain this admonition to Archippus sent to the Colossian church to admonish him or take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfill it. I don't think it's a criticism. I think it's like, go get them type message, you know, an encouragement. Take that ministry and fulfill it. And God bless you as you do. And that admonition would be very appropriate sent to the Colossians for the Colossians to share with Archippus if he was the pastor there. So replacing Epaphras who stayed with Paul there in Rome. So this admonition was included in the letter written to the whole church and to be very appropriate if he were the newly ordained elder minister. Now we don't know a lot about that church other than it was a house church. Now the churches didn't have separate buildings at the time. The early churches spent much time together in homes. And I've been to churches that didn't have buildings, and they met like in a school in the morning, and then Sunday evening and through the week, and different days of the week, they would meet in houses. And you hadn't met in a house church. And that's biblical. It's also not unbiblical that we have buildings as churches. Because who has a house that can meet 100 people? I don't. Do you? So it is great that we have buildings. But in that time, they didn't have buildings. They spent a lot of time together during the week in close, joyful fellowship, serving each other in prayer and the apostles' doctrine, worshiping God, and eating together, sharing with one another, with those who had need. And they were an example to the community and won many people to Christ, Acts 2.42 and 47. Spurgeon, I want to give you a little quote from Spurgeon. He said, Paul joins Timothy with himself. You notice that he said, Paul, a prisoner of Christ, and Timothy, our brother. He adds Timothy. Paul and Timothy are the persons that are writing this letter. He puts Timothy's name on it to give double weight to the message. The more you look at this, the more you can see the influence Paul was trying to make on the people there. Probably Timothy was well known to Philemon and respected by him, so he puts Timothy's name that there might be two to plead with him. And then notice the loving titles which Paul addresses Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer, probably the person whom who Paul called Beloved Aphria, was Philemon's wife. So he's bringing in the wife to have an influence, he says. So he writes to help also, for perhaps the wife was the more tender heart of the two. So she might put in a good word for Onesimus. And her husband would all the more readily grant Paul's requests. He also mentions Archippus, who was either the pastor of the church at Colossae or an evangelist who stayed occasionally at the house of Philemon. But how would Paul know when he was going to be there? So I like the idea of him being the replacement pastor. So he mentions him with all the rest of the household. He met there for worship and so made up the church and the house. OK, so we're looking at number three. This is after the section on Philemon. So Paul entrusted Titicus and Onesimus, the significant responsibility of sharing his condition, his state, what was going on with him, what he expected his ministry to be and what he was trying to do and answer all their questions. With the Colossians personally, Paul didn't include these details in his letters, either one of the letters, but he chose these men to relate important oral reports directly and person to person. That's powerful. And Paul chose them to represent him. They were his ambassadors. They could answer questions, clarify issues and encourage the saints. There was great concern for Paul's status in ministry and there was very little communication possible. Can you imagine tremendous and momentous occasion of these deliveries of these epistles to the churches and to Philemon. I just like to imagine what that must have been. Talk about a celebration of getting these letters and being read and then Paul and rather Tychicus and Onesimus answering questions about what happened and what was going on with Paul. Talk about a missionary report, that would be the missionary report. They were tasked with that important responsibility of delivering these three letters, Colossians and Ephesians and the personal letter to Philemon. Then a historical note, we don't know what happened to Onesimus. They went, we know they delivered the letters because we have them. If they hadn't delivered them, we probably wouldn't have them. And there was an early Christian leader of Ignatius of Antioch who wrote about a man named Onesimus who was a bishop of Ephesus. But there's no evidence that this is the same person. But it could be. Could be the same person. But we don't know. But it could be because age and the location certainly fits, but like a lot of the names in the Bible, there's like how many, six different Marys? So there's a lot of people with the same names in the Bible. So it's impossible to prove with no supporting documentation. And I always wondered, why didn't the Lord let us see that picture of that wonderful reunion with Onesimus and Philemon and that reunion of Tychicus and Onesimus coming back to the church and giving their report. The outcome's just not shared with us. Well, I thought of four reasons that that might be, and that's not in your handout. Number one, Deuteronomy 29, 29, the things of the lords of the lords. And there's some things that he didn't choose to share with us, and it wasn't for his purpose of revealing to us his purposes. So God chose not to share those. And we have to say, yes, Lord, we understand. Number two, Perhaps he chose to focus instead on Christ, not the men that were involved, and the location, and the people, and the things that were involved, but focusing on Christ because Christ is the whole message here in Colossians, that he is supreme, he's sovereign, and that he is sufficient. Number three, perhaps it was to emphasize the principle of loving and forgiving, and not focus on the emotional issue of the man and the men resolved and the situations here, but focusing on the principles of loving and forgiving and acceptance and salvation. And number four, perhaps us to better imagine ourselves in that place of Philemon. We don't know what that was like, but we could think, well, what would it be like if I was that person? And would I obey the Lord and the principles, the biblical principles, and would I forgive Onesimus for stealing from me and running away? And that was also brought shame on him for letting him go, but would it bring honor on him for honoring him and forgiving him. So I thought about those reasons, perhaps that's a reason we don't know. You know, I kind of like to hear So often you watch a story and it's more about the problem than it is, tell me more about the good part. I wanna hear the good part. That's why I don't like to read about the kings, because there's only a couple of good parts in all the kings and they were all from Judah. Yeah, I wanna read more about the ones that were good and did good things. I'm tired of seeing the idol worshiping and think how much God hated that. Anyway, look and get the questions here. Are we faithful with tasks God has given to us like the tasks that Paul commissioned Tychicus and Onimus? Are we faithful? Are we faithful servants? Can God, can fellow believers, can even unbelievers count on, rely on, and depend upon us? Is our word our bond? If we say we're going to do something, are we going to do it? Paul called Onesimus profitable. and a beloved brother? Do we demonstrate our faithfulness to Christ? Are we beloved brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we profitable spiritually? Are we like Onesimus became? His name was profitable. Our names ought to be spiritually profitable. So I wanted to share that with you. Questions?