Well, we are living in a time of deep polarization. I don't have to tell you that. It seems like we're talking about this on a regular basis, whether it's Republican or Democrat. mass conscious, or mask averse, or pro-vax, or anti-vax, or people that support the police, people that want to defund the police. There are a myriad of topics. And much of the dialogue is not constructive, or even civil. Cancel culture is a manifestation of this hostility. If you do something wrong or say something that doesn't align with cultural values, you are done. Everything you've ever said is dismissed. Tweets and soundbites are often sort of the language here with no nuance, no opportunity for dialogue. And again, this just makes for a rather toxic atmosphere. And I would suggest it's not simply a Western thing. We're seeing certainly some heightened emotions in our own culture, for sure. There is a rise in civil wars. There's more civil wars taking place now than any time in human history. People are having trouble getting along. And if we're honest, we have to admit we're not immune. We're swimming in the same water. We have the same tensions and polarities in terms of our own preferences, convictions, matters of conscience. So it's very real. But our responses as Christ's followers should be very different, very distinct from the responses of the world. We are called to love one another, even when we don't agree with one another or we don't like one another. There should be an unconditional aspect of our love. Matter of fact, this is one of the things that should set us apart. that should identify us as followers of Jesus. Jesus extended grace to us as undeserving sinners and we are called in turn as his followers to extend grace to other undeserving sinners. This is the point of the scripture that Jay read for us here this morning. So you might claim to be a follower of Jesus but The proof that you are a follower of Jesus is your willingness to show unconditional love. Jesus told his disciples, by your love for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples. This is the main distinctive of the follower of Jesus. This is what should set us apart. And this little letter we're gonna be looking at today, the letter of Philemon, is a case study in reconciliation. We learn here what real love looks like in the context of Christian community. We're given a powerful, real-life example of gospel love and reconciliation. I'm going to suggest an example that we ought to emulate, an example that we ought to follow. And so if you have a copy of God's Word, I'd invite you to join me here in the little book of Philemon, right before Hebrews. We are continuing our Route 66 series, Road Trip Through the Bible, considering the 66 books of the Bible in a 52-week calendar year. So we are moving very quickly, looking at entire books of the Bible in one sitting. We've considered God's great work of creation, how he created imperfection in beauty, how he created humanity in his image. We have considered how creation has been marred by human sin and rebellion. Matter of fact, the scriptures tell us that death entered into the world in response to human sin. So this is the great dilemma. We're estranged from our creator. and subject to death and Of course, the real payoff in the biblical story, as we've tracked it, is the offer of the gospel, the good news of forgiveness. God had promised to send a deliverer to make things right again, and he has done that in an unthinkable way. He has sent his own son into the world to take on human flesh, to die in the place of sinners, to pay the penalty that our sin deserves, and to allow us to, once again, be reconciled to our creator. So this is the gospel, this is the good news, this is what we declare. Each week as we gather together as God's people, we declare the good news of forgiveness of sin. Now Paul wrote a series of letters in the first century. to churches to help them understand the gospel, to help safeguard the gospel, and to help them know how to live in light of the gospel. So these little letters are very important for the church. They are a training manual for us. So this is the little blue stack here on the bottom shelf. We are looking at the last of Paul's letters this week. Again, this little letter to Philemon. It is a little letter, the shortest of Paul's letters, and so I would like to, here at the outset, read the letter in its entirety. Philemon, verse 1. Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker. Also to Afia, our sister, and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your home. Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brothers, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people. Therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you on the basis of love. It is, as none other than Paul, an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus, that I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me. I am sending him, who is my very heart, back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do would not seem forced, but would be voluntary. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever. No longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me, but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord. So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back, not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. And one thing more, prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends you greetings, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. God add his blessing to the reading of his word. So Philemon was a prominent member of the church in Colossae. Aphia, mentioned here in verse 2, was probably his wife and Archippus is presumably his son. We are given indication that Philemon was a man of certain means. He and his wife hosted the church in their home. They opened up their home for the church to be able to gather. So Paul is saying, I'm writing this to you and to all the church that meets in your home. So Philemon was a person of some influence and prominence. in the local church and he had a personal relationship with Paul that becomes very clear as you read the letter Paul is appealing to this relationship as he writes to him and he calls him a dear friend and a fellow worker Philemon had a slave named Onesimus who had run away to Rome This provides sort of the crisis, the tension in the story, in the narrative. While in Rome, Onesimus encountered Paul and the gospel. So Onesimus wakes his way to Rome. Paul would have been under house arrest at the time. Think of a tether type of situation where he wasn't sitting in some dungeon somewhere at this point, but his movements were restricted. He was able to entertain and interact with people. Probably in that context, he would have been responsible to provide for his own food. So the Roman government wasn't going to provide that. He had to have benefactors who would sort of care for him. during this season of house arrest. But it was during this time that Onesimus came into contact with Paul and with the gospel and became a Christian, a follower of Christ. And Onesimus stayed in Rome for a time and served Paul out of a sense of gratitude. So he had become very useful to Paul, a great encouragement to Paul. Paul came to value him a great deal. Since Tychicus was returning to Asia with the letters of Ephesians and Colossians, Paul took the opportunity to send Onesimus back to his master along with this letter. So Tychicus, we've mentioned before, if you're going to send a letter, you don't just drop it in the mail. You don't just send off an email or an iMessage. You have to do the arduous and expensive and time-consuming work of actually composing a physical letter and arranging to have a courier take it. And at this point, if you could have a courier take two letters, or better yet, three letters, that's a better bang for your buck, okay? So Tychicus was the messenger that was taking it back. And we get a glimpse of this at the end of Colossians. So Paul in Colossians is writing to the whole church there in Colossae. But notice what he says here. There we go. Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts. He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here. So this is the context. A messenger is going back from Rome, back to Asia, and Paul feels compelled to send Onesimus back to his master. Now, before we really, I think, step into the lesson of the text here, I want to talk for a moment about the issue of slavery. Because this is sort of a question lurking below the surface here, isn't it? Why does a first century church leader Philemon own a slave. That certainly seems strange to us. Seems a bit out of line, a bit inappropriate. Why did Paul acknowledge the institution of slavery? I mean, Paul actually sent Onesimus back to his master. Instead, maybe Paul should have stood up to Philemon and Push back, right, on this evil institution of slavery. So what is going on here? How should we think about this? Well, to provide context, we need to understand that slavery in the ancient world was distinct from the African slave trade that certainly shaped our country. This is not to say that abuses did not take place. But slavery in first century Roman context was not an issue of ethnic oppression. It was an issue of economic equity. Individuals generally became slaves when they found themselves in debt with no way to repay what they owe. And so you didn't just go and declare bankruptcy, right? And someone wiped it all clean. That's a nice sort of easy solution in our context. But it was not a reality in the ancient world. And so you would have to essentially sell yourself into servitude to pay off your debt. So this was an aspect of economics in the ancient world. Interesting to note that Paul, Peter, and James all referred to themselves as slaves. So there's a framework there, and I think, again, they bring this aspect of indebtedness, understanding the indebtedness of their sin, right? Christ has purchased us out of slavery. That's the whole idea of the word redemption. It's a financial word, to buy back. So God has bought us out of the slave market of sin, and we now have a new master. Right. So this is this is the framework and there's an economic aspect to all of this. Now, depending on the source, 20 to 50 percent of the residents in first century Rome were slaves. So this was not sort of a side thing. This was a very prominent aspect of society. Paul was not advocating for slavery. Matter of fact, he and Peter both advocated for humane and equitable treatment of slaves. We certainly see some things here that tell us some of Paul's thoughts towards the institution of slavery, but slavery was a reality, a prominent reality in the first century, and Paul was less focused on trying to change the culture and more focused on helping the church live godly in the culture. We want our circumstances changed. but God wants us to live godly regardless of our circumstances. And I think we certainly see that coming through here in Paul's letter and in the other places where he addresses the topic of slavery. I want us to focus on the three main players in the drama here. We get a glimpse of real life reconciliation in the context of the church and the people of God. So Onesimus, Philemon, and Paul. They together model a pattern for forgiveness and reconciliation which is a vital discipline in the life of a healthy church. Each of these individuals help us understand a crucial component in the process and I want to suggest to you that we should see ourselves in each of them. We need to consider our various roles and responsibilities in this whole arena of reconciliation within the people of God. So first, the need for reconciliation. Or the need for forgiveness, rather. The need for forgiveness. And this is Onesimus, alright? That's who we're considering here. Onesimus had fled from his master. The text implies that Onesimus had also stolen from his master. Verse 18, you get into some of the nuances here. Onesimus had traveled 1,311 miles from Colossae to Rome, roughly the distance from Grand Rapids to Orlando, Florida. So he had put his past life behind him. He put a lot of distance between himself and the bondage of slavery. He found a fresh start in the big city where no one would recognize him. Now we don't know all the details of how he came into contact with Paul and how he came into contact with the gospel. Perhaps he began attending one of the house churches there in Rome and put himself in a position to be known by these other brothers and sisters in Christ, this new extended family of believers. But somewhere along the line, it seems there was an awkward conversation. Where are you from Onesimus? What brought you to Rome? What is your occupation? Oh, you're from Colossae. Boy, the Apostle Paul, he knows a lot of people from Colossae. Maybe he knows some of the same people you know. Right? I mean, somehow or other, the secret got out. Onesimus was a runaway slave, and Paul actually and amazingly knows his master. Now, we don't know if Paul prodded Onesimus to return or if Onesimus was convicted by his own conscience, but ultimately he sets out on a long and uncertain journey back to Colossae to face his master. This was probably the last thing he wanted to do. He probably went through a whole series of reasons why this was a really bad idea. His stomach was undoubtedly churning. A runaway slave would, at the very least, face a severe beating, perhaps even a branding, or even death. And he had nothing to offer by way of compensation or remuneration. But the gospel compelled him to be reconciled to those he had wronged. And he had a growing sense that Philemon was not just his master, but also his brother. And there was more at stake here than just his freedom and his personal ease. The gospel was at stake here. He was called, as a follower of Jesus, to love his brother, love his sister, And so he makes that lonely journey. Knocked on the door and presented Philemon with Paul's letter. This is Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son. The prodigal son had come back from the far country. And you see him here in the foreground, rather disheveled, kneeling down before his father. His head is shaved, which would have been sort of an indication of the fact that he had had to sell himself into slavery, right? He didn't have any money. We know that he ended up hiring himself out to work among the pigs, according to the parable in Luke 15. But again, you see his clothes are in rags. If you look closely, you see that he only has one sandal on. The other foot is bare. He comes with nothing. There's nothing to offer here. He just throws himself down at his father's feet and begs for mercy. Now, we all should identify with Onesimus. We all should identify with the prodigal son, right? We all stand in need of forgiveness. We have all sinned against God. And we are all needing to take that lonely walk back from the far country, that humbling journey to acknowledge our sin. Scripture tells us, blessed are the poor in spirit. These are the words of Jesus. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the beggars, for they will be welcomed into God's country. This is the formula. And so I ask you, have you come to God for forgiveness? God stands willing to forgive. The Father stands willing to forgive. But you must make that uncomfortable walk up the lane. and come home to the Father. You must come in humble faith. And certainly that is the most important decision you could make if you've not been reconciled to God, if you were estranged from God because of your sin, and we are all estranged from God because of our sin and our natural condition, this is the only way that we can approach Him to seek His forgiveness, and He has promised to give it. So that's the gospel. I petition you today to respond, to turn to Christ. So we certainly need God's forgiveness. We ought to see ourselves in our messiness in that regard, but we also need to seek forgiveness from one another. We are called to confess our sins to one another. I think we could say that actually one of the ways that we confess our sins to God is by confessing them to one another. We actually have to look a human being in the eyes and seek forgiveness. And this is messy and uncomfortable and humbling stuff, and we avoid it at all costs. We're really more comfortable confessing our sins to God than to each other. Bonhoeffer reflected on this in his work, Life Together. Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than a brother than to a brother? God is holy and sinless. He is a just judge and evil and a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother is sinful as we are. He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than to the holy God? But if we do, we must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not really rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution. So when we avoid going to a brother or sister, we really avoid the hard work of actually having to own our sin. So this is certainly in view here, isn't it? I mean, Philemon is not just having to come to peace with God. He did come to peace with God through Paul's ministry and the presentation of the gospel, but Philemon also had to come to peace with, Onesimus, rather, had to come to peace with Philemon. I ask you, when is the last time you sought forgiveness from another brother or sister in the family of God? I was wrong. Will you forgive me? Those are, we choke on those words. It's really tough stuff, but this is what we are called to do. When we think about this whole area of reconciliation, this is certainly one of the components, to have to seek forgiveness. Maybe there's something you need to seek out even today. There's a second component in reconciliation, and that is the need to forgive. The need to extend forgiveness. Philemon here is in view. He is being asked to do something just as difficult as seeking forgiveness. He is being asked to extend forgiveness to someone who has wronged him. Philemon had every legal right to deal harshly with Onesimus. We have a hard time being sympathetic with the slaveholder Philemon. When we read the letter, he's kind of the villain. Here from a 21st century perspective He never should have owned a slave to begin with and he got what was coming to him good for him But that certainly isn't how you would have read the text in the first century Onesimus was a young punk that threw aside convention refused to work hard stole from his employer and went on a spending spree to the big city and And who knows how many resources Philemon expended trying to recover Onesimus. Philemon had been wronged. He had been defrauded, and he was entitled to justice. And yet he was being asked to swallow his pride, surrender his rights, and show mercy. He's being asked to welcome Onesimus, verse 17, or receive him. A loaded concept. And he was being asked to receive or welcome or embrace Onesimus, not just as a slave, to somehow restore him to his previous position. He was actually being told to receive him back as a brother, not just as a slave. To receive him back as an equal, in some sense. How does that work? How can he be both a slave and a brother? And how do you trust him again? Do you just send him off with money to the market the next day? I mean, what does it actually look like to have to receive him back, to bring him back into his home, to give him another chance? He's being asked to settle grievances. Philemon is being asked to take off his victim hat. Sometimes we like to hold onto that hat, don't we? Philemon's being asked to put it down. He's not being asked to just forgive and forget. Paul acknowledges that there was offense that took place, and he actually offers to make restitution to make this right, which itself was rather awkward. I mean, was Philemon really going to take money from the Apostle Paul, who was languishing in a Roman prison? I'm not so sure that was going to happen, right? But Paul's offering this. Let's make it right. What is it going to take to make it right, Philemon? And I'll help be a part of that remuneration to bring about justice. Philemon was being asked to welcome Onesimus in the same way that the father had welcomed the prodigal son. Matter of fact, the same word is used in Luke chapter 15 to describe the welcome, the receiving of the father. Off to the right here in Rembrandt's painting, we find the older son standing, arms crossed, a bit angry at the father for welcoming this younger son we find also between the father and the older son another gentleman sitting down there probably a person of some standing based on his dress he's wearing sort of a fancy hat and has a a flowing robe some have suggested that this is maybe the father's financial advisor you know, some other big wig on the estate. And he's sitting down there, actually his legs crossed, unmoved by this scene, right? But the Father, look at the Father. He receives. His son, he welcomes him. Of course, if you read the account there, this older distinguished gentleman did what no older distinguished gentleman would do. He lifts up his cloak and he runs down the lane to meet his son when he sees him coming. And he embraces him. Rembrandt captures it with a hand. One hand is larger and stronger, and the other hand is softer and gentler. And it seems that Rembrandt's trying to capture the nature of the embrace here. This is what Philemon was being asked to do. So we are called to seek out forgiveness, but we are also called to extend forgiveness. This is another key part of the equation, isn't it? In biblical reconciliation. And this too is uncomfortable business. We desperately want to hold on to the moral high ground. We don't want to let go of our victim status. But the danger is that we will become like the older brother. Remember the account there in Luke 15? Even though the father had extended forgiveness to the younger son, the older brother had not extended forgiveness. And at the end of that account, we find that the older brother is estranged from the father because of his unwillingness to forgive the younger brother. It wasn't just an issue between the older brother and the younger brother. It also impacted the older brother's relationship with the father. And if we are unwilling to extend forgiveness, that creates a problem between us and God. Again, the point of the parable that Jay read for us out of Matthew 18, the man who has forgiven the great debt and then is unwilling to forgive the small debt. Extending forgiveness requires me to be emotionally vulnerable. I have to put down my guard. Perhaps I even have to acknowledge my own fault in this situation. There are questions here in the text that kind of lurk in the background. Why did Onesimus run away in the first place? Does that in any sense speak to Philemon? Was Philemon a cruel master? Did Philemon drive him away? And why didn't Onesimus come to faith in Jesus Christ while he was still with Philemon? Did Philemon, in some sense, drive Onesimus away from the gospel because of his own actions? We don't know. It's pure speculation, but when we get into this idea of extending forgiveness, it causes us to have to sort of let our guard down. Quote a Proverbs here on this front, a brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city, and quarreling is like the bars of a castle. In other words, when An offense has been perpetrated against us when we have been mistreated, devalued, spoken against, misrepresented. The bars go up, right? And I'm not gonna let anybody in. It's like a well-fortified city. It's tough to break down those barriers. We have to be careful that we don't put up those barriers. And I'm unwilling to forgive. We need to seek forgiveness, but we also need to extend forgiveness. We need to be like Onesimus, and we also need to be like Philemon. Finally, there is the need to facilitate forgiveness. The need to facilitate forgiveness, and this of course focuses on the Apostle Paul. Paul could have just left things the way they were, kind of stayed out of it, right? He was risking, potentially risking his friendship with Philemon by making an issue out of this. These kinds of situations consume a lot of emotional energy, But in spite of all these possible objections and rationalizations, Paul steps in and plays the role of a peacemaker in drawing these two individuals together. He undoubtedly understood the need for church leaders, in particular, to model gospel reconciliation. Philemon was a man of influence in the church. We see how Paul goes about this with great skill and sensitivity. We can't unpack all of it here, but he expresses genuine appreciation for Philemon. He tells him how much he loves him and how much he appreciates him and his hard work for the sake of the gospel. He appeals to Philemon with gentleness. This is the only letter where Paul doesn't appeal to his apostolic authority. And he kind of says, I could, but I'm appealing to you out of love, Philemon. He's appealing more to Philemon as a friend instead of Someone who is under Paul's authority. He says, Philemon, you're my friend. He argues for Onesimus' usefulness. It's a very interesting section here in verse 11. Formerly, he, Onesimus, was useless to you. but now he has become useful both to you and to me. So the name Onesimus actually means useful, or we might say handy, right? A good name for a servant. And Paul says he wasn't useful to you, he wasn't living up to his name before, but now he is useful to you and he's useful to me. He's been changed by the gospel. And so he appeals to to this as well, that he would be a great help to Philemon as a believing servant. He reminds Philemon of Onesimus' new status, right? Not to receive him just back as a slave. He's not just a slave, he's also your brother. makes an offer for satisfaction or justice, right? If Onesimus owes you anything, just send me the bill and I will take care of it. Let's make it right. He appeals to Philemon in that regard. And there's also a little hint of accountability here at the end if you catch it there in verse 22. One thing more, prepare a guest room for me because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. I'm hoping to come visit. Maybe just an extraneous detail. Maybe a little bit of an edge there. I expect you to follow through. But Paul goes about appealing to Philemon. Undoubtedly, he's already had extended conversations with Onesimus to bring Onesimus to the point where he's willing to go back. But now he's having conversation with Philemon. We are not told if. anyone was involved in prodding the prodigal son toward reconciliation. Perhaps someone gave him some good advice along the way, a few nudges here and there, but Paul plays this wonderful role. In another occasion, in Philippians chapter 4, we have Jodia and Syntyche, two older ladies in the church in Philippi, who were at odds with one another And Paul appealed to the church, as he wrote to the church, he said, help these two women to agree in the Lord. So we all have that responsibility to come along and facilitate forgiveness. We're called to be peacemakers. Well, the tradition of the Orthodox Church tells us that Philemon did indeed forgive Onesimus. And he not only forgave him, but he sent him back to assist Paul in the ministry in Rome. And after Paul's death, Onesimus went to Spain with the gospel and then returned to his homeland to serve as the Bishop of Ephesus. And then, years later, during the reign of Emperor Trajan, Onesimus was arrested, imprisoned, and stoned for his faith. Of course, the text tells us none of this. It doesn't tell us how Philemon responded. And the unresolved nature of the letter leaves us to wonder. It makes us think about how we would have responded in such a situation. And it makes us think about how we're responding now. in our situations. So I petition you to be one who seeks out forgiveness. I charge you to be one who extends forgiveness after the pattern of Christ. And I encourage you to be one who facilitates forgiveness, a peacemaker.