Please remain standing for our scripture lesson which comes to us from the book of Philemon. There's only one chapter in Philemon and we'll be looking at verses 4 through 16. Verses 4 through 16. And as I read and as you follow along, remember this is the word of God. Philemon beginning in verse 4. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers. because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child, Inesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own accord. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. Amen, dear saints, you may be seated. Today we are in the twelfth, believe it or not, of our fourteen-part series in The Best of the Rest, the whole Council of God, wrapping up those fourteen books from which I had never preached. All of them from the Old Testament, now that we have Zephaniah in the books, have been preached. This week it's Philemon, and next Sunday, Lord willing, second John. And then on the 22nd of December, 3rd John, and the 29th of December, back to Joshua 1, where it all started 36 years ago. Well, let's go to the Lord where it all starts. Father, everything starts and ends with you. And our Lord Jesus, we thank you and bless you for your good, tender to us. Now fill us with your Spirit as we ingest Jesus by faith. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Have we ever considered that the true Spirit-filled, Christ-loving Christianity is really the epitome of genius? And this ingenuity is granted to us by the God of all wisdom and grace, the God of all love. God is a God of incredible genius, and he gives us this wonderful privilege of sharing it with him. Now, Paul exercises and exemplifies some of the most remarkable personal interaction to be found anywhere in all the holy book, Old Testament or New, through this little short letter he wrote to his friend, Philemon. who lived in or near the city of Colossa, was a member of the church in Colossa. Colossians is the book that we associate typically with that church. He was a beloved brother there. He was a master. He had at least one slave. Onesimus was one. We're going to talk about that. Now, Paul wants a favor from his friend Philemon, and the way he, the apostle, gains this favor is truly epic. Instead of putting the hammer down on Philemon and telling him, this is the way it's going to be, it's got to be like this, you're going to do what I say. He takes his heart, his self, his capital he had gained with Philemon over many years and puts it in Philemon's hands and trusts his friend to do well with it. Paul reminds his brother Philemon that he owed the apostle his life because Philemon had preached Jesus, or Paul had preached Jesus to Philemon. We read that in verse 19. And in that gospel, Philemon had been transformed into this new creature that became such a wonderful character in the New Testament era, and Paul knew it. And the Apostle Paul had so much confidence in Philemon's compliance with his request that he's going to make in this letter, that he leaves no room for any other alternatives throughout the balance of his little epistle. In fact, he knows that his friend is not only going to accede to his humble request, but he's going to continue to be very generous with him. And so Paul says, hey Philemon, someday I expect to be released from this prison, And I'm going to come to Colossae again, and when I get there, I want you to prepare that guest room for me again, as you have in the past. And he mentions it in verse 22. So in light of all this wonderful, gracious doctrine, this sort of dynamic, let's make it our gospel goal on this Resurrection New Covenant Sabbath day to treat each other with miraculous grace in Christ. Toward that end, we're studying Philemon, verses 4 through 16. The title of the sermon, Spirit-Filled Ingenuity, the doctrine, there are surprisingly gracious ways for God's children to relate to one another. And keep in mind that it is true these ways are surprising, but they're also heavenly, miraculous, supernatural, wonderful gifts of God that he only bequeaths to his faithful yet still struggling sinner saints in the true churches in the world. Not only in the first century when this letter was written, but all the way down to the 21st century where we are today. You're the ones that get to exercise this kind of grace. The unbelieving and unregenerate world really, when you think about it, has little choice but to use force and intimidation and threats and bullying. And this is not the case for the born-again saints of the redeemed and yet still struggling body of Christ. And in this text, we will discover, even now, that there are surprisingly gracious ways for God's children to relate to one another. First, instead of exercising legal force, and by legal force here I mean even ecclesiastical or even letter-of-the-law biblical compulsion, I suppose Paul could have put the hammer down and applied that if he really wanted to. So in case you're not that familiar with the book of Philemon, this is a case where Paul is writing a letter to his friend by the name of Philemon, and the main issue was Paul's desire for Philemon to receive back into his company, his conversation, his very environment, perhaps even his own household, a runaway and probably thieving slave by the name of Onesimus. Onesimus was a slave. Most of the people in the Roman Empire were slaves. Probably most of the members of the church were slaves. It was an interesting situation where you could have a civil situation where you have a master and slave and you go to church and the slave is the elder and the master is not the elder. And so this is possible, because in the church, that's the way it works. It's not about where we are in the civil according of things, but in the way it is with God's gifting of people. And Onesimus was a runaway, so he takes off. And that was a serious crime, really. It could cost your life back in those days. And Paul wants his friend Philemon to receive this Onesimus back as a brother in Christ and no longer only as a slave. because Onesimus had become a Christian, a real believer, in the presence of Paul while Paul was in prison. So let's say Paul's in prison in Rome. Onesimus flees Colossa, ends up in the capital city trying to hide out from the spies and the slave chasers and whatever, and he runs into Paul, and Paul preaches the gospel to him. and he becomes dramatically converted under Paul's ministry. And then while Paul is incarcerated, in those days you didn't really have a big network to take care of you, you really needed friends if you were in prison, and Onesimus takes care of Paul, takes care of his needs, runs errands for him. Paul, he even intimates in the reading that Elder Ryan gave earlier, that Paul would have kind of liked to keep him around, but because he wanted to do the right thing, he's sending Onesimus back to Philemon. So the great apostle Paul could have done this. He could have played the big tough guy, right? He could have said, Philemon, I adjure you, I command you Philemon to receive Onesimus with grace." Now does that sound very complimentary? Does that sound like it goes together? I command you to receive Onesimus with grace. All these names are going to get really challenging to work through it. He could have said that. He could have said, I command you to forgive him. I command you now Philemon to view him as a brother. And I command you to perhaps release him from this service as a slave, although I hold the view, I'm sure with others, that we're not totally sure that that's what Paul's asking. Sometimes to be released from being a slave and just left out on your own is not such a great idea. So maybe love was to keep him in the family, even as a bondservant. And Paul could have said on top of all that, by the way, if you refuse, I'm taking you before the session of the church in Colossa. And if they can't handle it, I'm taking you to the presbytery around the church in Colossa. If they can't handle it, I'm taking you to the General Assembly of the whole church. But Paul doesn't do any of that. Instead, he's gracious. He takes a different and more effective and more God-honoring and more loving and tender tack. What do we learn from this great gospel example of the great Apostle Paul? Well, among other things, you learn this, dears, that when we are relating to faithful and honorable church members who love Jesus, we may and should always lead with grace, tenderness, gentleness, and charity. Always keep that in mind. I'm not trying to say we don't do that with other people, but when we're dealing with faithful churchmen, who are faithful, yet still struggling. That's the way we lead. That's our first mode of operation. Instead of exercising legal force, sweet and kind persuasion will avail. Paul was so certain of the outcome of this situation by God's grace alone that even before he wrote the letter, he left no room in the epistle for any other eventuality. He doesn't say toward the end, oh, by the way, P.S. Philemon, if you don't do what I say, here's what's going to happen, laying down the letter of the law. He doesn't do that. It should be not thought, however, and I want to be clear about this, or to put it more clearly, I'll say, it should not be thought, however, that the Apostle Paul would have addressed every, even faithful, church Christian believer in the first century in the exact same way he deals with Philemon here. Remember that. The spirit of it, yes, but not all the details. And why is this true? Why is this the case? Because not everybody had attained the same level of Christ-likeness and sanctification as Paul's friend Philemon had. And also, Paul didn't know all the other Christians in the churches as well as he knew Philemon. He wouldn't necessarily have written this same kind of letter to just anyone. in the churches in the first century. But he did know Philemon. Because they were friends, brothers, and fellow soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and both of them were wholeheartedly committed to the same Savior, gospel, and church, Paul could exercise this kind of rather extreme grace And still, though, I want to say this, important, that the principle holds appropriate grace, i.e., the proper type of grace designed for each individual Christian based on where they are in Christ, and where they have grown in grace, that kind of appropriate grace in all circumstances is assured to bring good results in everyone who is a true saint, i.e., a churchman who loves God in Christ in sincerity and in truth and in humility. Now, with excitement, let's dive into verses 4 to 16 of Philemon. and observe how spirit-filled ingenuity marries innocent integrity. Now by this statement, marrying innocent integrity, I mean that heavenly honor is always connected to sincere truth. There's no nobility, let alone godly ingenuity, devoid of honesty, candor, and love. And therefore, let us now behold Paul model how spirit-filled ingenuity marries innocent integrity. First, by honestly speaking the truth in Christ, verses 4 to 7. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints. And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you." Now someone might be tempted to think as they read those initial verses that Paul is just buttering up Philemon. He's just flattering him. He's just getting him ready to drop the bomb on him. And even though that might be true in people with much less character than Paul, that judgment doesn't fit here. Paul is not buttering up Philemon whatsoever. This judgment would not fit the apostle. Everything the great minister writes to his friend here was actual, factual, and true. And let's look at the details, three points in brief. First, indeed Philemon was a lover of Christ in the church. And Paul is bold in saying that. Even back in verse one, the apostle had called Philemon a beloved fellow worker. Next, Paul refers to Philemon as an encourager of the saints and an evangelist of the lost with the kind words of verse six, which relate Philemon's sharing, quote, sharing of his faith. And finally, Paul recognizes and honors Philemon as one of those saints, and we all know who these people are, whom everybody knew to be loving, comforting, and kind, as per the sweet words of the expression of verse 7. And so everything Paul says here by Philemon is true. How spirit-filled ingenuity marries innocent integrity? By honestly speaking the truth in Christ and by frankly making our request in Christ, verses 8-14. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man, and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. I am sending him back to you, sending him my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel. But I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but of your own accord." So Paul doesn't beat around the bush here. He starts getting right to the point. And put yourself in Philemon's spot here. Somebody hands you the letter. Ironically, it might have been Onesimus, but for now we'll say probably not, right? Maybe Tychicus, who traveled with Onesimus. We know that from Colossians 4, 7 through 9. We're going to reference that. Say Tychicus shows up at Onesimus' house. Ecclesiastical male knocking on the door. Philemon takes the letter, opens it up, starts reading, and when he sees Onesimus' name, you can imagine the heart started beating kind of fast. Maybe the temperature, the blood pressure, started to show. Maybe he was sweating a little bit. What? Onesimus? Are you kidding me? He sees this name. Onesimus had probably stolen something out of Philemon's house. Taken it with him on his running away from Philemon. Ends up in Rome. And now the great apostle Paul is asking Philemon to do that guy a gigantic favor. Possibly, maybe, even to free him from bond service? Again, we're not sure about that. It may not have been such a mercy. Sometimes it's better to stay in the house and be like a family member, and the way that system works, especially with the Christian masters. Who knows? So here he gets this letter, and it's had to be a shocker for him. A huge favor. Paul is asking of Philemon, and he's asking it of, or for, Onesimus. But in truth, I would say Paul is requesting a special grace for himself as well. Now this man Onesimus, his name means useful in Greek, but really for all practical purposes, Onesimus had been pretty useless for Philemon. He was probably not a very compliant bond servant. Otherwise he wouldn't have stolen from him and run away. He probably wouldn't have been a happy camper. So he was not very useful, but useless. And we know that from verse 11. Now he will be useful for Paul and Philemon, for both of them. Paul becomes here something of a patron, an intercessor for Onesimus, as he, Onesimus, must again appear before, in person, before his master. Under the Roman law, of course, he was still in slavery or bondage to Philemon. So there was no getting out of that. Now, of course, Philemon could have released him of that, but he has to appear before him. Now, of course, we don't have a letter, a subsequent letter of Philemon back to the Apostle Paul, but I would say it's a very safe assumption that all went well for all the parties. Went well for Philemon, Onesimus, the church in Colossae, and the Apostle Paul. And if I missed one, you know what I'm not talking about. All of them, they were all covered. They were all happy campers. Ironically, Onesimus, the once useless, untrustworthy one, think about this, probably ends up conveying to Philemon this letter as he returns from Paul, as Paul was in prison. And he may also have helped convey the letter of the Colossians, again referencing Colossians 4 and 9. So now this guy who was once useless, worthless, just a runaway slave who steals from people, now conveys the very Word of God. You heard Elder Rines say, this is the Word of God. Guess what? This is the Word of God. And so this guy ends up conveying the Word of God. Paul became a spiritual father to Onesimus. You know that there aren't, I don't think, that many cases. I know Paul calls himself a spiritual father to Timothy, and second Timothy, and maybe first. I know, I think he calls himself spiritual father to Titus, his dear friend. But maybe beyond that, this is the only other one. This guy, Onesimus, not a very likely candidate for greatness, at least in the eyes of the world, or even us Christians as we look abroad upon people. This is a great lesson for us, dears, not to give up on people. not to draw undue and unrighteous conclusions about people, i.e., that person could never be useful in the kingdom of God, that person would never come to Jesus, that person would never be of any value for anybody. None of those things are true. This man, it would be spoken of in Colossians 4 and 9, Onesimus, Paul called him a faithful and beloved brother. And Paul didn't just hand out compliments. Not like Paul's just being super nice and calling everybody names like that. He didn't do that. But he does do it here. Onesimus became also a valuable member, eventually, of the church in Colossae, as Paul, quote, speaks of him in this way, he was one of you, i.e., he was one of you in the Colossian church, Colossians 4 and 9. So how spirit-filled ingenuity marries innocent integrity. Honestly speaking the truth, frankly making our request. Finally, by humbly submitting to God's will in Christ, verses 15 and 16. For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord." I think that both Paul and Philemon had to submit here to God's will. Think about it. Philemon was probably a very influential man in that city, in that area. He's got slaves. He's got a big house. He's got room for guests to come. He does a lot to minister to the saints. He comforts them. He was one of those, right? He was just one of those guys you could always count on. He was one of those that would always open their house and always give anything he could. So he was one that really had clout in his community. And if Philemon had been fleshly or gnarly or legal spirited, he could have easily and civilly, legally, totally disregarded the Apostle's request. Roman law was completely on his side if he wanted to go that route. And as great as the Apostle Paul truly was, and he was one of the greatest human beings to ever breathe, He also, in truth, had to submit his request to Philemon, his brother in the church. And Paul would have to live with Philemon's decision. Now, like I said earlier, Paul was certain of what Philemon would do. He left no room for any other alternative. But truly, Philemon, theoretically, could have gone another route. He could have said, Paul, I love you, but you know, I need those slaves and this guy needs to be whacked around, taken out behind the shed and just shown the way it is for runaway slaves who steal stuff. I mean, he could have used the letter of the law against him. But none of that happened. Even though we speak of these potential contingencies or eventualities, we know that nobody in the history of the church has ever believed that anything but goodness came out of this. There was no negativity here at all. And in fact, what prevailed was greater love and grace, kindness, mercy, and example of fruitful gospel living in the church in Colossa. And for that matter, all the way down to us today, the kingdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel of his mercy being given to this man, Onesimus, and to us. Remarkably in the subsequent verses, Paul even goes so far in verses 18 and 19, we didn't read them, you might want to go home and read the entire very short book today. He says to Philemon, look, if Onesimus stole from you and he owes you anything, put it on my account, I'll pay for it. That's what he says. This is a beautiful story of grace and of how God's children relate to each other in love, forgiveness, reconciliation, and kindness. It's something for all of us in this fallen world. The church is the one community where that can and does happen. We get to enjoy it. It's a beautiful thing. As always, let's do some more application. and understand why it is always best for us to be winsomely truthful with God and man. So why was Paul's example so beneficial for us, who are every day tempted to put on airs, to pretend we're something we aren't, to seek to trust our own performances, our own alleged self-righteousness, and who are also subjected to the cruel and vicious abuses of Satan, his comrade, the world, and the flesh, especially when we don't put on errors and do trust in Christ's righteousness alone, and then especially become the target of those errors. Let us be refreshed in the glories of why it is always best for us to be winsomely truthful with God and man. Winsomely means in a very positive, upbeat, yet truthful, healthy, pleasant manner. Well, first because candor, C-A-N-D-O-R, welcomes the light of Christ. What I mean by this is that especially in harmony with today's lesson out of Philemon, transparency, like that of Paul's appeal to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, is always a great thing. Transparency. The more we grow in Christ, the less we have to put up barriers, blocks, falseness, self-defenses, all those things, the light of Christ can shine through our hearts to Jesus and back to us as Christ is the light of the world. Transparency, like Paul's appeal to Philemon on Nessimus' behalf, that kind of transparency engenders trust, love, and security. and a very sweet fellowship among the saints. You know, think about it. What if Paul had tried to stick a Groucho Marx mask on Onesimus and sneak him into the Colossian church? Oh yeah, Onesimus, just go over there to Colossae, put on this little fake thing, go in and nobody will know. Be incognito. You'll be okay. You'll hear the gospel there every Sunday and nobody will know what's going on. What if Paul had tried to do that without first telling Philemon, especially of Paul's gospel ministry to Onesimus, and what had happened, and how this once useless, runaway, thieving slave has become a valuable, beloved brother, useful for the kingdom of God. Well, had Paul not done that, had he not communicated with Philemon, there would have been confusion, hurt feelings, and broken trust. Can you imagine how Philemon would have felt? I mean, just think about it. They show up at church on Sunday morning in Colossae, no word at all from Paul about Onesimus. On Philemon's behalf, Philemon shows up for church, and there's that guy who stole from him. Everybody, you know, showing him love, happy to see him, but he's like, what's going on? But transparency was absolutely necessary. When we stopped to think about it, we realized it was incredibly necessary that Paul write this letter to Philemon. Especially according to Colossians 4, 7, and 8, the previously mentioned Tychicus was also traveling to Colossa with Onesimus, and Tychicus knew the whole Onesimus coming to Jesus story. He knew it. Now remember, he didn't have email and phones and stuff like that. Everything took forever to get around. And so how uncomfortable would that have been for Philemon, the man who provided the saints so much comfort, verse 7, to have these guys show up in town with no contextual knowledge of what had happened regarding Onesimus. Therefore, dear saints, I think the gospel lesson for us is just let's open our hearts up first to God. We can trust Him. Listen, I'm telling you. You can completely trust the three persons of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Implicitly trust them. 100% you can trust them. Open your hearts up to them. Trust them. Don't trust yourself and don't implicitly trust anyone else in that sense. But in love we trust each other. We put the best upon each other and believe the best of each other. Open your hearts fully to Christ as fully as you know how to do. Set aside all the barriers and give it all. Just open it up. Let him have it all. Let the light of Jesus, the truth, expose even the yet unsanctified parts of your souls. Now, I know those are horrifically scary sights. They're worse than hell. They're looking in the face of Satan. But you don't have to fear them. You don't have to fear those yet unsanctified parts of your souls that you know are still there. Open them up. Expose them all to Jesus. just like Paul does and sets the example here. We can trust God. He will deal gently and kindly with us. As we come to Him humbly, broken, contrite, He will never turn us away. He will make us more welcome in that situation than we could have ever imagined. We may be scared to death to come to Him based on who we are, and yet He will receive us in Jesus kindly and tenderly. The world is a viciously cruel place. The people in the world are vicious and cruel, not only to you but to each other. The safe place is the church who leads you to the God of all comfort, the triune God of the true religion, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. why it is always best for us to be winsomely truthful with God and man because candor welcomes the light of Christ to shine on everything for healing and glory. The essence of sin is shame and shame compels us to hide from the Holy One whom we have offended, i.e. God. And naturally that makes sense. That's what Adam and Eve did in the garden and we do it all too, right? We're afraid of God. And we should be. It's healthy to be afraid of God. Sinners that don't fear God are reprobates. You can read about them at the end of Romans chapter 1. We're scared to death of God. Rightly so. We should be. If we're not covered with Jesus Christ, we are the objects of His wrath. Righteous wrath. Rightly so, because we're sinners. The essence of redemption, however, is the exact opposite. It's liberty. Liberty in Jesus to be who we really are in him. To be real before the holy and powerful God. even as we approach Him as yet still unfully sanctified sinners, saints in the church militant. We're always going to be like that down here. But we can still approach Him and He will receive us in Christ Jesus. The beams of Christ's love dry up and heal the infection-riddled sores of our hearts. and we all have them. The more we expose our souls to God in Christ, the more healthy, free, unencumbered, and secure we become. And this is something I certainly in my final weeks here want to encourage you in. You have that inheritance as the children of God, the people of the covenant. The only way this grace may be attained, however, is in the person of Jesus. There's no other way to get it. You can't try real hard. You can't try to keep the covenant of works. You can't try to be a good person. And by the way, when I speak about good people going to hell, I don't want our children to be misunderstanding what I mean by that. I mean people that think they're good and think that they can do anything to add anything to their atoning merits before a holy God. Anybody that thinks they can add anything to Jesus' work deserves to go to hell. I don't care how good they are. Truly good people are simply humble sinner saints in the Church of God who trust Jesus. His shed blood. View Him on that cross, dying for you. That blood heals you. It's the balm of Gilead. It heals your souls. Expose your souls to Him. Lay yourself out before Him. Avail yourself of the healing that God gives in the preaching of His gospel, even as He's doing it on this Sabbath day and in the Sabbath days to come. In this way, dears, you will experience heaven on earth all in Jesus. Beloved of the Lord, spirit-filled ingenuity is the fruit of faith, love, and happy obedience in Christ. In Jesus, let us live in spirit-filled ingenuity. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this great example of Paul with Philemon and Onesimus, part of the story of the church in Colossae. Thank you for the way it all came out so beautifully. Thank you. You're a God of grace and comfort. Thank you that you love your church, and you want us to just trust you completely. We can completely trust you, for we know that you'll be kind and gentle with us. We can't trust ourselves, Lord. We can't, in that sense, trust anything or anyone other than you, only you. We trust you through Jesus Christ because every single one of your promises are yes and amen and true, and they all apply to us, and you have kept all of your promises to us, every single one of them. You are trustworthy. We love you. We thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.