Well, you can take your Bibles, open up to the book of Philemon this morning, which it might be a little sticky if you haven't been there or if you're like me and you have a somewhat newer Bible, at least to me. And it's just right before the book of Hebrews. So right after the pastoral epistles, Timothy and Titus, you will find this little letter of Philemon. And I thought it'd be fitting for us this morning to look at it. We're going to, Lord willing, get through all 25 verses of this. But because Onesimus is mentioned there at the end of Colossians, we've been in Colossians, this would be a church near there or part of it that is housed, we're going to see at Philemon's home. But it'd be an encouragement to us and honestly forgiveness, whether the one to forgive or even I think you see Paul being the one who mediates. who's taking two individuals who are broken apart and his desire is to see them reconcile, whether you're the one helping people reconcile, the one who needs to be reconciled of all those things, or you need to be the Onesimus, the one who has wronged someone and needs to go back and make things right. This is one of those classic lessons that every Christian needs to learn and relearn. And so I think of it, there's the how to study your Bible more sermon. Or how to read your Bible more, sermon. The, you need to evangelize more, sermon. You need to pray more, sermon. And probably with that there's a, you need to forgive more, sermon. That's this one. But you keep coming back to those things because those are things that you go, that you really, the Christian life is made up of these things that are very core to it. And we live among sinners. We are sinners. And so, forgiveness is just going to come natural to every situation. Maybe not natural to us to do it, but the opportunity is going to be there. And are we going to see it as an opportunity for the Lord to work rather than sitting in our own bitterness and perhaps our own rights if we have been the wronged one. And so there's lots of lessons here, both from a leadership perspective and from just the topic of reconciliation and forgiveness. We're going to try to look at all of those this morning. Let's pray and then we'll begin looking at Philemon. Father, we thank you this morning for your love for us, that we have known it, that it was you who first loved us. May we just be mindful of that in any and every situation where we are wronged, that we look back to how you have responded to us. Lord, that we were not friends, not co-laborers, But your word says that we were enemies and that while we were still yet enemies, Christ gave his life, he died for us. Even more so thinking through this week, thinking through the necessity of the atonement, the sacrifice, the crucifixion where Christ atones for sin. We celebrate Friday. and to be reminded that he needed not only to die for sin, but to be raised to life. And that knowing he was raised, that you will also raise all those who are in him, if they have trusted, believed in you. So Lord, we are encouraged, yet also this morning desire to reflect on the difficulty of being wronged and being called to forgive. It's never easy. And yet, we have seen the greatest example in what you have done for us. Lord, keep us this morning in a place of remembrance of always of what Christ has done for us. We ask this in your son's name. Amen. Some of you may know the name Louis Zamparini or Louis Zamparini, a World War II veteran who was shot down in the Pacific. He then spent 47 days adrift, which in and of itself without enough food and water with his crew before being captured by the Japanese Navy. That would be kind of torment enough. But then he was imprisoned. for two years. And so some of you may have seen the movie of Recent when it was made about his life, but it's a well-known story, but often you move right into this story of forgiveness and reconciliation without perhaps sitting and trying to put yourself in his shoes. And what it would be like to be mistreated wronged day in and day out for two years. In particular, there was a guard that they called the bird that was particularly terrible to him and he suffered. And as his story goes, when he returned home, he was consumed with bitterness and rage and became an alcoholic. And just as he would tell it himself, forgiveness seemed utterly impossible. How could he ever let go? How could he ever forgive those he felt so much hatred towards? I think appropriate, not intentional as far as my preaching calendar goes, but as we finish Colossians to come into Philemon this morning on the eve of what we celebrate as Palm Sunday, which of course Christ came not riding a white horse. He came riding a colt, symbolizing peace. that we begin to understand that Christ came while we were yet enemies, and even the complexity of forgiveness in this way, because I've always looked at Palm Sunday, and it's so confusing, because as a child, I remember celebration, but then you're trying to put two and two together, but we celebrate Him coming in to Jerusalem, the King is here, and yet by Friday, they've turned, and He's crucified. And yet, those who crucify him are those that he is actually giving his life for. And so appropriate, I think, that we look here as Paul is going to write to this man Philemon this letter to give him instruction of how to handle this man Onesimus. At first glance, you're going to see Philemon is a book that's very small, 25 verses. It's true. If I wanted to sit here, especially with a lot of Croft references, which we have this morning, we could probably do three weeks on it. It might be a little harder to go more. But I'm going to try to do it in one. But it's not long. And oftentimes, you look at it, and if you flip, I mean, for me, it's actually one page. You probably overlook it. You read it quickly. There are those who even ask the question of why is it even in the scriptures? It's a very personal letter. It's Paul writing to an individual. We're going to see some of that maybe is a little broader as he writes to perhaps a household or at least addresses a public issue. Because this is meant for more than just Philemon. But I think you see the Spirit's inspiration here, not only to maybe come off of the letter to the church at Colossae, but also to say this kind of issue wasn't just for Philemon. Paul knew this kind of issue of how do you reconcile with a brother, and perhaps even more so, how do you reconcile with someone who is a completely different class within their society? And so you're gonna have the owner, Philemon, and you're gonna have the slave Onesimus. How are they as Christian brothers reconciled when Onesimus clearly owes him? Not only what he has tooken or taken, what he's wronged him with, but also that he just simply owes him because of the way the culture has assigned him to Philemon. And so, This is an issue that Paul seems to feel needs to be made public. And the Spirit, inspiring him to write, I think knows that we need to understand this situation to learn from it as well. So like Louis Zamperini, many of us are going to struggle to forgive deep wounds, things that seem too unforgivable. And you encounter here in Philemon one of those messages that Paul keeps saying, I know he has wronged you, but this is what I desire. And he does so himself, I think, modeling love and kindness. And the personal nature only reinforces that he desires to see reconciliation. The backstory here of this book of Philemon, some of which we have very specific, some of which we don't necessarily know exactly, but it would appear that Philemon is a respected believer near Colossae. He's going to host a church, as we'll see. He probably was evangelized. Well, it seems like he was evangelized by Paul himself, which means perhaps he was in Ephesus. We don't know where he met Paul, got saved, went back. has this church here, but he had a slave named Onesimus, who is not a believer, who is discontent with his life, and runs away. And it would seem that he runs away, and in God's providence, he runs as far away from Philemon as he thinks he can go, which is to go to Rome and to get lost, and there he finds himself face-to-face with the apostle Paul. Again, we don't know. I find it interesting to think about that. Perhaps he had known of Paul. Perhaps he had seen the church meeting in the home of Philemon. He was exposed to Christianity. Maybe he's not met Paul, but he knows of Paul. And there he is, he meets Paul. And in God's incredible providence, orchestrates the meeting where Paul is able to share the gospel with Onesimus, and he gets converted. And we're going to see that although he leaves useless, His name means useful, and Paul says, he's been useful to me, but he wants first and foremost for Onesimus to go back and to reconcile with Philemon. And even that's a lesson here for us as well, that he does things in the correct order. He doesn't just assume it. He doesn't want to assume it. He wants it to happen, and perhaps then we don't know if Onesimus will even, will he stay with Philemon and he becomes useful there? Or did he go back to Paul? That's not for us to, I guess, to know, but I hope and pray as we'll see Paul's heart that he believes, love believes all things, and he believes that Philemon will reconcile and bring Onesimus back in, not just as a slave, but as a brother in Christ. Forgiveness is a defining characteristic of every believer. But it's difficult. It's not to say it is an easy thing. But it is, I think Joel mentioned this phraseology, or this phrase when he's praying, that it's difficult to release the debt that is owed to us. But we do so by looking to Christ and realizing that he has forgiven us of far greater debt. And if you remember anything from this, I think this is not just Philemon, this is just the New Testament, which is this phrase that forgiven people Forgive people. Forgiving people, forgive people. That is, if we look at Philemon, we're gonna see that genuine forgiveness flows from a heart rooted in love, expressed through humility, humble grace, and demonstrated by intentional Christ-like actions. That is, it moves from the inward to the outward. It can't stay, and I, want to, I forgive, it needs to actually move into some level of action and reconciliation as Paul will call Philemon to do with his own actions in his own home. And so we're gonna look at these 25 verses and we're gonna look at what I'm gonna call the essentials for forgiveness. And the first of these essentials is that you need a heart. That is, you need your heart to be prepared to forgive. A passion for reconciliation. A heart that sees the offense or the wrong as an opportunity to see the Lord work in your heart and your life and in the relationship that there is some brokenness. Because you're gonna see Paul has a heart for forgiveness. He's not even the one that's done any wronging. He's the mediator outside of this, yet he has a heart for forgiveness. He's telling Philemon, you ought to have a heart of forgiveness and onesimus. I'm sure he's been telling him, you need a heart of forgiveness and reconciliation, so much so that you don't want to continue in ministry until you get right with Philemon. And so we need a heart of forgiveness. Let's look at these first seven verses. We see the introduction. somewhat normal, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother. You might expect here that Paul would say he is a slave of Christ, which is similar. You might see that he would talk about him being an apostle of Christ. 1 Corinthians says, chapter 1, he's an apostle of Christ by the will of God. Of course, in 1 Corinthians, he wants to establish authority, because he is going to write to the Corinthian church that you guys aren't getting along. You're fighting over Apollos and Paul and all these different things. You need to be unified, and yet here, I don't think it's an accident that he doesn't say, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. He simply says, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus. And of course, mentioning Timothy, our brother, as well. He wants them to, or he wants to fight Laman to know, and those who read, he is now not appealing. You're going to see this throughout the letter with his authority, although he's going to say he's bold enough. He would, he could, but he chooses to simply say, remember, I have followed Christ. And we saw this in Colossians, right? He's even reminding them towards the end of Colossians, Paul has paid a price for following Christ. He is a prisoner. He's in prison for the sake of the gospel. And so lest you think Paul is writing from the ivory tower, he's wealthy, and things are going well, and his life is easy, and people are serving him. He's like, just so you remember who's writing you, I am Paul the prisoner. And you might expect he's saying, I'm the prisoner of Rome. He's like, no, I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus. That is, I understand my role is yes, a prisoner, but I understand that I'm not here because Rome, I'm here ultimately because the Lord has called me to this place. So there's even a lot there, I think, in the way Paul appeals. And you see it from the rest of the letter. He begins with this heart of forgiveness, of humility that we'll see. He's writing to the Philemon, second part of verse one, our beloved brother and fellow worker. Perhaps interesting there that he calls Philemon a beloved brother. And we saw last week as he finished the book of Colossians chapter four, he calls Onesimus a beloved brother. And if these letters come together, which it seems they did, And Onesimus is perhaps delivering both of them. Wow. He says, you're a beloved brother, and Philemon's a beloved brother. You're both beloved brother. And so in Christ, there's neither slave nor free. And also to Aphia, our sister, could be his wife, some will say. And to Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. And you remember Archippus at the end of Colossians, he says, fulfill your ministries. What does he tell Archippus? And so he may be the pastor. He may even be a son who's leading this ministry there. If he's addressing the house, Philemon, his wife and his son, we just don't know for sure. Other than we do know from Colossians, Archippus is to fulfill his ministry, our fellow shoulder, so I think likely some church leader. But he's addressing Philemon, who seems to be the one who is housing this church. So perhaps, we don't know the timing of it all, but a church that Onesimus knows and at least saw from the outside in as an unbeliever, but now is returning as a beloved brother. And so he begins emphasizing the relationship he has with Philemon first, saying, you are my beloved brother, before he will then get into his relationship to Onesimus. And he says, grace to you, verse three, peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Similar to Colossians, he's saying to Philemon, I thank my God always making mention of you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have all towards the saints, Lord Jesus, and towards all the saints. And I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the full knowledge of every good thing which is in you for the sake of Christ. This is where Colossians is so helpful to understand Paul's writing from the same heart, from the same place to a similar, or you could say same, that Philemon is part of this area, part of this church of Colossae, this area that he is writing to him. And he's saying, I want you to have a effective faith. that comes through a full knowledge, which that sounds so much like the first few chapters of Colossians, a full knowledge, not a partial knowledge, a full knowledge of every comprehensive, every good thing, which is in you for the sake of Christ. and without him getting yet into a heart of forgiveness. He's saying, I'm praying for you that your faith would become effective, that is your faith would produce a fruit that comes from a knowledge, knowing that in Christ the Spirit is within you, that you have a heart and an ability to forgive that was not there apart from Christ. He talks of the fullness of the riches and the knowledge of Christ and Colossians. And he's saying here, you have those riches and I know maybe you are going to struggle with what's coming. But I want you to know you have, in Christ, the capacity to do what you think you can't do. That is what is impossible with man is possible with God. You think you cannot forgive, yet He's reminding him what you have, every good thing that is in you. for the sake of Christ, which includes the riches of Christ that you have the ability to forgive. He says, verse 7, for I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. It would seem that I don't think they seem to know each other well. Remember, Paul does not plant the church in Colossae, but again, perhaps they met in Ephesus We don't know, it's not too far away. But he appeals and he reminds them that this natural ministry, this natural knowledge of what Christ has done leads to fruit, namely the fruit he's going to call them to is this fruit of reconciliation and forgiveness. That is, when he starts, what you feel from Paul is that he understood the nature of ministry is relational. John 13, 35, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. There Christ in John 13 is saying love for one another is a mark, a defining mark of who we are in Christ. This is a love for people demonstrated here, this heart of Paul that he wants Philemon to have the same heart that is deeply rooted in relationship, that wants to see reconciliation. He wants to see strong, healthy relationships among people. Believers. He wants to see what he wrote in Colossians 2 or 3 that we put on as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, and graciously forgiving each other, whoever has complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave you, so also should you. He wants this kind of character, this kind of relationship within this church. Every good thing which Christ has prepared for him. He's thankful and because love believes all things, he's expected as he'll write this letter that Philemon will listen and he will reconcile. So as Paul is going to explain this forgiveness, and he really explains in Colossians, and again, expect that he's writing Philemon with a expectation that you're going to read about forgiveness as well in Colossians chapter three. He knows that Philemon is gonna get this full knowledge that he wants from Colossians, and he wants you to graciously forgive each other, whoever has a complaint against one, just as the Lord graciously forgave you, so also should you. And so he wants him to understand that this place of forgiveness comes from a love for Christ first and foremost. But again, it becomes this relational soil of which Paul lives his life. And I think a call for all of us that would we speak of one another in such a way Are we praying? Could you say in honesty to anyone here this morning that I always thank my God, making mention of you in my prayers. This is a man who is geared towards those he knows in ministry, those he knows in his church, and he is praying for them. I think it's called for us to, even if we're not the most relational people on the planet, We still need to grow in that area. And you see Paul's heart grow, and it's his love for Philemon, his love for Onesimus that brings him to this place to write this letter, the heart that he desires, not just of forgiveness. He's not the one forgiving. It's his desire, even as a third party, that everyone in the church would be reconciled, forgiving one another, growing in grace, experiencing the full knowledge, the riches, of Christ, that they would understand that we know as 1 John 4, 19, that we love because He, that is Christ, first loved us. And there is a way in which if you do not have a heart of forgiveness, a heart of love for one another, there is a way in which you could see the analogy. Paul's life is full of those moist soil that is laying down relational roots everywhere. And if there is not love, if there is not that desire for forgiveness, or if there is an issue that has caused friction, it is if the soil becomes dry and cracked and depleted and your own spiritual life can be affected by an unforgiving heart. Bitterness creeps in, you feel dry. rather than the love you see here demonstrated by Paul. And so if you need your heart, as it were, to be warmed, say, I can't love that person, I can't forgive that person, I'd say go back, you see the heart of Paul, but more importantly, you see the heart of Christ and you see the letter here, just remember that we are called to graciously forgive, not because of something in us, but because of something that has happened to us that Christ, as we have put our faith and trust in Him has forgiven us. And so we should go, we should do likewise. But that's gonna take something. Not only the desire, but it's going to take a level of humility. That is to say, it is like a king who's on a throne, who has the right over everything, who has to come down. He doesn't have to, he's the king. You're saying, I don't have to. I didn't do the wronging. I don't have to forgive. And so yes, it's going to take not only a desire to see forgiveness, but it's gonna take a humility to get off and say, you know what? I have done, I have wronged Christ even more than you have wronged me. And so, Paul is going to appeal that Philemon be humble. And so you have a heart of forgiveness, you have a humility of forgiveness that each of us need if we are to be men and women that forgive in the church. And he simply appeals here by saying, therefore, because, remember, all these things, I've heard these great things about you, I know these things. He's gonna later say, you owe me something. And I love how he does this from a leadership position. He says, therefore, though I have much boldness in Christ to command you to do what is proper, that is he's saying two plus two is four. We read the unforgiving servant story. You have been forgiven an infinite debt. How can you not forgive? such a finite debt between another human, as serious as it may be, it's still relative to the infinite debt we owe God. Can we not forgive?" And he's saying, I could boldly command. That is, he could write the letter. Paul, an apostle of Christ, by the will of God, commands you to reconcile and bring back Onesimus. And he can make that letter public and put external pressure and make Philemon do. But he doesn't want to coerce him. He doesn't want to force the issue. He wants it to be something that he does on his own. And so verse 8 says, And I think in that way Paul demonstrates his own humility. And perhaps a younger, fire-breathing Paul would say, and for the men who were at the men's conference yesterday, and we talked a lot about being bold for Christ, he uses that word boldness here. He's saying it's easy to be young and bold and force people to do things and use authority. He's not even saying that it's improper. It's actually proper for him to exercise the level of authority in the church. He's just saying, I got gray hair. I'm old. I've seen people, I'm sure, depart for ministry, I'm in prison. Listen, I don't want to force you to do this anymore. I would like you to do this for the sake of your love for me. Of course, love for Onesimus, but he's even, for love's sake, I'd rather plead with you. If you love me, Paul, I would like for you to reconcile with Onesimus. It doesn't sound as strong. But there is something beautiful about it because he appeals for the sake of love. There's a number of good books with the title, For Love's Sake. because it's much more appealing. Even the wisdom, you think of the book of Proverbs, you're gonna catch a lot more flies with honey than with vinegar. He's saying, this is even effective, but he's also genuinely saying, I love you, verses one through seven, and I want you to do this. You know it's the right thing to do, but I'd like for you to relationally do it because of your love for me and your love for Christ, and then your love for Onesimus. He could simply say, Philemon, forgive Onesimus, period. But he understands that you force it, it's probably not gonna be genuine. Rather, genuine forgiveness is going to have to come when the person is ready. And so it does no good to appeal to me to say, hey, I want you to do something, do it. Every parent knows this. Try to make your kid do something and you just, if they don't feel like doing it, good luck. Now, every once in a while, it's okay. You have authority as a parent, you're going to do it anyways. But you want them eventually to grow and mature to do things because they love you and respect you rather than just out of compulsion because that's going to build such a different relationship to those things. And of course, as those children grow, then your goal would be they're going to do it even when you're not there. Otherwise, if they just do it because of authority, when they leave, they'll simply do something else. You want to do it and you want to plead for love's sake. Now again, you can use authority as it sees fit, but it is more powerful here that it be done in a way where it is voluntary. I think leadership principles of here when you could go rather appeal to love but that's going to have to take somebody thinking and believing if I appeal to love and you're going well I don't think you love me then it's not going to be very effective so it comes back to people seeing and you demonstrating a heart of forgiveness, a heart of compassion, that they go, you know what, based on your actions in our relationship, and I've known you for a number of years, you've always been there for me, you always showed up, you called me, you have a relationship with that person, and they're gonna go, yes, when you say you appeal out of love, it's gonna be believable because there is a relationship with that person. So you need to establish that for it to be genuinely, and for it to be effective, they actually have to believe that it is true. I think Paul does that, and so therefore he comes to his request in verse 10, and he says, I plead with you, my child Onesimus, of whom I became a father in my chains. It's pretty intimate language. Probably the language that the early church is using of your father, a spiritual father. That is the language that Paul uses with Timothy, that he was privileged to be the one who shared the word, planted the seed, and Onesimus became a believer. And he did so while he was in chains. He says in Estimates verse 11, who formerly was useless to you, and it's kind of a planned word because his name means useful. He says he's formerly useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me. He's useful for Christ. And I've sent him back to you in person, that is my very heart, whom I intended to keep with me so that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But, Without your consent, I did not want to do anything so that your goodness would not be in effect by compulsion, but voluntary." And so he expresses this in more words to say, Onesimus is one who I have come to know, who's a believer, who's a beloved brother in Christ, whom I love. I would love to keep him here. He's useful to me, but I want to send him back that he might reconcile. And so I don't know, perhaps Onesimus Does a U-turn and goes right back and Philemon says, you can go minister to Paul. You go back and minister to Paul. We don't know. But you see Paul's heart. He wants Nonestibus to be effective for ministry, Philemon to be effective for ministry, and for them to be reconciled together. And to do so in a way that is not out of compulsion, but out of this desire voluntarily to serve Christ, to love this man who has wronged you. And so he says, for perhaps he was for this reason separated. That is God's providence. Maybe this is, we don't know, maybe this is why God has done this. He separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever. Maybe as a believer in Christ forever, all eternity. Or even just saying, you can have him back now and he can effectively serve that church within your household. No longer as a slave, but much more than a slave of a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord." And so here Paul actually takes a relationship that already exists, in this case a master and a slave, and he elevates that relationship in Christ to say, yes, those things may be true, but they're now more than that. You are beloved brothers. How much more to you, both in the flesh, that is, and the way he does his job, and ministry in the Lord. Perhaps even the advice that Paul gives, and remember, Colossians, particularly to slaves, which we understood to our economy and our culture more as employees, but that we don't do things out of eye service. You don't do things as man-pleasers. And I'm sure it's what the things he's taught Philemon and others. He's saying, you're gonna come back and you're gonna do work as unto the Lord." You're gonna see everything that you do as ministry. And he's saying he'll be far more effective now, and so embrace him, welcome him back. Forgiveness will transform the way they engage with one another because of what Christ has done. And he wants to encourage, I think, Philemon here, that real forgiveness isn't going to be you simply making it happen or wielding power or, again, the rights he has according to Roman law. Rather, it is going to be through forgiveness that he, we'll see, we'll expect to happen. And Nionespes, yes, has run away. Part of this culture, he would be, not only has he run away, but he likely has stolen something from what we understand, and Both of those things would come with costs, and perhaps imprisonment, yes, but even perhaps a runaway slave, depending on the circumstance, could be put to death. And rather, Paul is radically calling him to embrace him as much more than a slave, but as a brother in Christ. But Paul is asking for nothing more, nothing less, than the forgiveness Christ offers each one of us. Because forgiven people forgive people. And so we need to have the humility to come down. You might have a right. Someone will wrong you. In other words, you are absolutely right, and that's okay to establish the facts. but then to understand, but we may have a right, we get down off that and get down and ask and receive a forgiveness because that's exactly what Christ has done for us. So if you're gonna forgive, you're gonna have relationship, you need a heart for it, you need the humility, but also here, we're gonna see we need the action or the habit to continue to forgive one another, that it actually requires an action of which Paul describes here in verse 17, that if you then regard me as a partner, accept him as you would accept me. So again, he appeals not to authority, but he appeals to relationship. If you regard me as a partner in the gospel ministry, accept Onesimus as you would accept Paul. That's an amazing thing. Even just, not that Onesimus has wronged him, but that he would accept a slave the way that he would accept the Apostle Paul. There's neither slave nor Greek, or Jew nor Greek. Galatians 3.28, there is neither slave nor free. There is no male nor female. For you all are one in Christ. And this would be an outworking of that theology. What does that mean? What does that theology mean? It means you treat everyone equally. You do not, as James 2 says, you do not show partiality. Rather, you build this habit of accepting and forgiving one another. This is the action, he says, if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything, charge that to my account. That's pretty amazing. I mean, He doesn't know anything about Onesimus and his changed life, but just for the love of Paul and his heart forgiveness, you can imagine Philemon reading this letter, he's already softened and going, wow. I mean, I can't ask the Apostle Paul for whatever he has taken from me. He's not gonna charge it to the Apostle Paul, but he knows because of their relationship that Paul genuinely means that. Paul's saying, if I can fix this, he stole $5,000. If me writing a $5,000 check right now fixes the problem, I'll write it. That's what he's saying. He might only have that much, but he's saying, I'll write it. If that's all it takes, and I'm out money, no big deal. Because I'd rather see you reconciled than anything else. And so Paul again, similar to Colossians, verse 19, says, Paul, I'm writing this with my own hand. I will repay it. Not to mention to you that you owe to me even your own self as well." So again, he's not being manipulative as much as just saying, remember who we once were. We all were once enemies of Christ. We all were once dead in our sin and trespasses. This is where we understand and perhaps it was Ephesus where they met and Paul evangelized and Philemon got saved. You owe me. In that sense, I came to you and you were forgiven. And Onesimus has come to me and he has been forgiven. How can you not, as that unforgiving son, how can you not forgive this thing? Yes, he says, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord. So he doesn't just want to benefit, generally speaking. He's saying, this is in the Lord. Again, as it's fitting, in the Lord. He's saying, as a Christian, there's a way in which you can benefit me. And he's not really, he's not, he's saying, I'll pay you. He's not asking for money. He's simply, what I'm asking is that you would accept Onesimus as I have accepted you. That is to say, I mentioned it here before, 1 Corinthians 13 7, he understands the principle that he writes himself that sandwiched between all of the disunity and the arguments on spiritual gifts at the church at Corinth and the way they bring practice and they're not edifying one another. He sandwiches in there love because love is the thing of which is going to govern all of these things. Love will bear all things. And it believes all things. It hopes all things. It endures all things. And I think here, in verse 21, you see he's saying, I love you, and I love Onesimus, and I love you, the church, and I have confidence because of my love for you that you will be obedient, that you will do this thing, since I know that you will do even more than what I say. That is to say, he's saying, I know the character of you. and I know you're gonna be even kinder. And perhaps, I don't know, the best illustration I have in my mind is someone who is an extremely hospitable person and you're going, listen, like, if you have a friend in another state. I have friends in multiple states, let's say Virginia, and they're wonderful hosts, him and his wife, and I was to send you there, and I'm just going, no, trust me, you're going to get treated better than you can imagine, because they're such wonderful hosts, you're gonna have such a great time. I have confidence because of their character, and he's saying, I think in a similar way, he has confidence in the character of Philemon. you're going to do even more than I ask. And that person who maybe then would go visit my friends would come back and say, yeah, that was the best trip we've ever been on. They were so kind, so wonderful, far better than I expected it to be. And you're going, yeah. It's that kind of confidence he has in the character of Philemon. And at the same time, though, he says here, I want you to be preparing a lodging for me, he says, because I hope that through your prayers, I will be graciously given to you. And so he's hoping that one day soon, post-imprisonment, he will be able to visit this church that he's heard so many things from, verse 23, from Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, who greets you, as do Mark, and Aristarchus, and Demas, Luke, very similar. We looked last week who all these men were in ministry, and simply ending with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. And you remember at the end of Colossians, he says, they're going to tell you what's going on in Rome, but also clearly he's saying, they can tell you about a lot of things, but this issue, I need to put pen to paper and I need to describe it to you and make an appeal to you that you might forgive, that you would have this habit of forgiveness, that you would extend it to this brother the way you would extend it to me. that you would have confidence that you would be the one who would forgive. That is to say, he loves, he believes all things. And it isn't to say that you don't look for fruit. It isn't to say that you don't have someone who is wrong to you, that there's all caution to the wind. It's simply to say, if we're going to truly be reconciled, we must believe that the Lord is working and that We must believe that and have confidence in the kind of person that we have come to know, and it goes back to the relationship issue. The other thing I think to note here is verse 23, is you see the involvement of others, just as we saw as the audience involves Philemon, yes, very personal to him, but also the greetings to others, and what we know is that also this letter is being addressed and being read to more than simply Philemon. Again, it could be that this is a public issue which needs a public response, but it's going to become a model for the whole church on how they forgive one another. It's going to become the model of which forgiveness becomes the bridge in which you're going, I don't, I have two broken relationships. How do I put together this thing that is broken? You know, you often feel like in certain relationships, it's Humpty Dumpty. He fell off the wall. Nobody can put him back together. All the king's men. And this is the bridge. Forgiveness is meant to be the bridge. And so if you remember Louis Zamparini, that's the conclusion of his story. He, yes, suffered horrific abuse. his captors. And although, yes, he came back and went through a dark time of alcoholism, depression, despair, ultimately he goes to a Crusade, basically, the Billy Graham Crusade, and he gets radically converted. And the very thing that he said he could not do, which is that he said, I could never forgive my captor, he says, now that I am in Christ, he understood. And he had what we would call, of course, supernatural, spirit-empowered forgiveness to forgive those who had wounded him. And he goes back to Japan, and he finds the man, and he asks for forgiveness, and he is forgiven. It's not easy, but it is meant to be transformative, not only in the life in this case of Louie Zamperini, but also in the case of the guard as well. Why? It's because forgiven people forgive people. Each of us is gonna have choices to make in life and relationships to either be bitter or to forgive. I think you look at Philemon, you see Paul's heart. We need the same heart. to remember that we are forgiven people because of what Christ has done for us, therefore we should forgive others that wrong us. It doesn't take away the work, it doesn't take away the challenge, it doesn't take away that people are deceptive at times, it just simply means we always have ourselves coming back to Christ, that we have a heart of forgiveness even if people continue to wrong us. And as Jesus said, how many times? Seven times, 70, which is to say you keep doing it And you pray that the Lord will continue to work and to change. And hopefully for all of us, we in turn mature through these things. And we are reminded that Christ is patient with us and therefore we should be patient with others as well. It's the heart for forgiveness that we see in Paul that may the Lord give to us as well. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the time that we've been given even thinking through forgiveness and reconciliation and Paul's desire to see it in others. Lord, and every one of us is probably in one of those situations, a bystander looking and desiring for others to be reconciled. Perhaps one who has wronged, who needs to ask for forgiveness as Onesimus, who needs to go back and make things right. Or one who has been wronged, who has every right to be angry and bitter but yet we know we are called in Christ to recognize that we have been forgiven much as well. Lord, we will be in all three of those situations at different times and different places in all of our lives. Lord, help us to be reminded of who we serve, that we'd have a desire to see people come to Christ, people to remain in Christ, people to be reconciled in Christ, that we'd have the humility to continue to extend forgiveness, the humility not to simply wield authority with no love, but to appeal for love's sake. Lord, and ultimately, may our actions match our words. That, as Paul wrote to Philemon, that our faith may become effective through the full knowledge of every good thing, knowing that those things are inside of us only because what Christ has done for us and that he is in us. We just ask this in your son's name, amen.