Very good. Well, it's a blessing for us to be here with you all today. The Lord is good to his people. He has shown us incomparable love. The work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. To redeem us from the slavery of our sin. and to bring us into right relationship with Him. Through that work, God has also brought us into relationship with His people. He's adopted us into His family. And He's given us a new identity, not only in Him, to be independent, long-ranger Christians, but rather, he has united us with his people. And through his work, he's poured out his love into our hearts. Now, love is not only towards him, but also towards We're going to look today at the book of Philemon. You can open your Bibles with me to the book of Philemon. We're going to title this message, Lessons in Love from Philemon. Philemon gives us an illustration of Christian love in real life. The book of Philemon is an illustration of Christian love in real life. We know that our love for each other flows out of that love which God has shown to us in the cross of Christ. We are enabled to love because he first loved us. Let's pray and then we're going to walk through this book a little at a time. We're going to look at this entire book. It's only 25 verses long. And we're going to meditate on this story. We pray, God, this morning that you, Lord, will work in our hearts. We pray, God, that your Holy Spirit, Lord, will be with me, helping me to preach your word faithfully and accurately. We pray, God, for each one of us, Father, that your word will comfort those who need your comfort, that your word will confront those who need your confrontation, and that your word will work to sanctify each of us, Father. We ask, Lord, that you will help us, Lord, to pay close attention to what you are saying, and you will open our hearts to hear from you. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Philemon was a prominent Christian in the early church. He likely lived in the city of Colossae. The city of Colossae was in what we know today as Turkey. It was in the area that we would call Anatolia. It was an area where there were a lot of sheep, a lot of people raised sheep in that area. And there still today is a livestock guardian dog called the Anatolian Shepherd, which came from the same region. It wasn't very far from Laodicea. It was under 10 miles away from the city of Laodicea and not too awfully far from Ephesus and the other cities to which the Lord directed His letters at the beginning of the book of Revelation. We don't know for sure that he lived there, but it seems very likely and the commentators seem pretty much agreed that the evidence points to him having lived there. He was obviously a wealthy man who had a significant amount of property. He owned slaves. And as we will see in the first verses of this book, the church met in his house. One of Philemon's slaves was a man named Onesimus. And Onesimus ran away from his service. And given what is said in the letter, it seems likely that Onesimus took with him valuable items that did not belong to him, or perhaps damaged some of his master's property. Onesimus fled to Rome. Rome was the largest city in the Roman Empire at the time. And Onesimus fled there, presumably trying to blend in with the crowd and escape detection or accountability for his actions. But God was not done with Onesimus. The hound of heaven was hunting for Onesimus and would not be deterred. We don't know how long Onesimus was in Rome. But at some point in God's providence, he came in contact with the apostle Paul. And as God would have it, Paul introduced Onesimus to Christ, and Onesimus became a new man. The miracle of the new birth occurred in Onesimus. Paul, the prisoner, enjoyed having Onesimus' company. Onesimus became one of his co-workers. And Onesimus began to live up to the meaning of his name, which is useful. But Paul also knew that Onesimus needed to deal with his past. The conflict in Onesimus' relationship with Paul's friend Philemon needed to be dealt with. Is reconciliation possible? Will Philemon receive this slave who has proven untrustworthy? How does Onesimus' newfound faith in Christ affect how Philemon will relate to him? These and probably many other questions must have bothered Onesimus as he carried this letter from the Apostle Paul. to the man who is his rightful master. Now that we've opened our Bibles to the book of Philemon, let's begin reading here in verse one. It says, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to the beloved Appiah. Archippus, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house, graced you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. He begins the letter with, The name Philemon is derived from the Greek word phileo, which is brotherly love. As Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love, we could say Philemon is the man of brotherly love. He's also a man reached by Christ's love. He has been forgiven his sins, he has received, been received by our Lord. He has been included in the family of faith. And he shows evidence of all these things by faithfully hosting the church of Colossae in his own home. People who have received the undeserved grace of God are enabled to love others. Philemon has been prepared by the Lord's love to receive this message from the Apostle Paul. and the return of the one who has, in some way, been unfaithful, the one who has caused him harm in some way. The Apostle Paul is recognizing here the work that the love of God has achieved in Philemon's life. He is his beloved friend and fellow laborer. In the critical text translations. If we're struggling to show love to those who have lost their loved ones. We're struggling to show love to those who have lost their loved ones. wronged us. We should ask ourselves, am I appreciating the undeserved love which God has shown me in Christ? Am I abiding in His love as He commanded me? As we walk through this life, there are going to be a multitude of offenses. Just think about the life of our family, of a little family, right? And the number of offenses that can occur in one day between a series of brothers and sisters. It can get to be a little bit radical sometimes, right? A little overwhelming. And if there's not that forgiveness, what's going to happen? If we don't express the love of Christ one to another, those offenses begin to accumulate in our heart and pretty soon they turn into this root of bitterness. And the Bible tells us to watch out for that root of bitterness and to pull it out. Because if we don't, it won't only defile us. Others may very well be defiled by our root of bitterness as well. This is something that Philemon is going to have to be watching out for in this moment. This is a moment of testing for Philemon. His faith is going to be put to the test in this moment. And suddenly standing before him will be a man he probably was not expecting to see. It's not like Paul sent him a text and said he's on the way. No, he had no way to know that all of a sudden Philemon, his former slave, was going to be standing there before him, looking for reconciliation with him. Looking for him to show him the love of Christ. This was going to be a moment of testing for Philemon. Verse four. I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers. Hearing of your love, and faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints." Paul is grateful for God's work in Philemon's life. The only way that Philemon is going to be able to Show this love and acceptance to Onesimus that Onesimus so needs is because of the special working of God and Philemon's life. And Paul is grateful for the work that God has already begun in Philemon. He recognizes God again as the source of love. And even though it is likely that Paul never met Philemon, and this is an interesting thought, but in the book of Colossians, what does the apostle Paul say? He says he has a special burden in his heart for those whom he has never met. And the church in Colossae was one of those churches, as well as the church of Laodicea, people that he had never met. Maybe he met Philemon in another setting. We don't know. We don't know, but it's very possible that up to this point, Paul had not met Philemon, but that their relationship was more of a long-distance sort of relationship. Even though perhaps he had never met Philemon, he knew of Philemon's solid reputation among God's people as a man of love. So he's heard of his love and faith, which you have towards the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. Verse six, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. So as Paul prepares to bring up this important topic of love and the question of Philemon's love for Onesimus, he prays that Philemon's love will become even more effective, that the effect of God's love in Philemon will become even greater. He's already proven himself faithful. And may God continue to prosper that faith in Philemon's life. And may he become even more fruitful. This was Paul's prayer for Philemon. As we walk through this life, There are many things which we cannot change. One of those things we cannot change is another person's heart. That is beyond our capacity. But it is not beyond God's capacity. And as we notice the need for that to take place, and we're going to notice the need for heart change again and again and again. And I'm not saying we have no influence. But our primary resource is prayer because God is the one who can truly change people's hearts. And so Paul is praying for Philemon and praying that God is preparing his heart and that God will produce more of the fruit of faith in Philemon's life. Paul knows that this is a sensitive and difficult issue, and he needs the Lord's help in order to see the needed reconciliation achieved. And this reminds us that reconciliation is primarily the work of God. primarily the work of God. Let's continue here. Verse 7, for we have great joy and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. This reminds us that Christian love refreshes the hearts of the saints. Christian love refreshes the hearts of the saints. Perhaps we could focus too much on tough love sometimes, which is sometimes a little less than refreshing and sometimes needs to take place. But there's definitely a very important place in the life of the body of Christ for a refreshing love and that fellowship that builds us up. We live in a hostile world. which serves a hostile false Lord. For the Christian who will live godly in Christ Jesus, it's a dry desert out there. And the fellowship of the saints should be that oasis that builds us up and that helps us, that oasis in which we exhort one another, encourage one another on to love and good works. God has given us the fellowship and love of His church for our refreshment. And God has not saved us to live lives of Christian independence from other believers, but to be interdependent with other believers, and to live in community with them, and to work to build each other up in our most holy faith. And Philemon's attitude towards the church is exemplary. He hosted the church in his house. It's really hard to skip church on Sunday when you're hosting it in your house, right? When you're hosting the church in your house, you're going to be there. Philemon was very evidently a faithful church goer, an important member of the church. How often would you skip church if church was at your house? And how often do you skip church now? Think about that. The church, the gathering of the church is vitally important. The Lord commands us to not neglect the assembly of ourselves together as the manner of some is. So apparently, in the very early church, there was already this tendency to sleep in on Sunday, or this tendency to watch football instead of going to church. When I was a boy, I grew up in Colorado and there were people who they could be there every Sunday as long as it wasn't football season. But when it was football season, they were worshiping under the orange and blue flag of the Denver Broncos. This is very important. And obviously, Philemon is setting a great example for us. He was a refreshment to the body of Christ, an encouragement to his fellow believers. How can we be like Philemon? We need to be thinking about this. Each of us needs to think, how can I be a source of refreshment to my brothers and sisters in Christ? How can I participate in the community of faith in such a way that I am an encouragement to others. Encourage one another and build each other up. Verse eight now. Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, yet for love's sake, I rather appeal to you being such a one as Paul the Aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, who was once unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. So here we have Paul's appeal to Philemon for Onesimus. He's motivated by his love for both men. And Paul takes the risks and pursues the needed reconciliation. Christian reconciliation is obviously very important to Paul. He says, I could command you to do this. It's worthy of that level of emphasis. I could command you to receive Onesimus. But Paul chooses the meek path here rather than the heavy-handed path. Paul chooses the path of an appeal for love's sake to preserve the relationship and to promote a loving relationship going forward. The word appeal in verse 10 is the word parakleo, which is also translated plead. I'm encouraging you to do something. I implore you." It's a meek response. It's not a heavy-handed action here. And this word is closely related to the word parakletos, which is the comforter in John 14 and John 16. The comforter, the advocate, the helper, the one called alongside to help, the Holy Spirit. Paul chooses the soft answer. which will turn away any possibility of wrath, rather than the harshness which would tend to stir up anger. Next we see in verses 12 and following, that Paul strongly identifies himself with Onesimus. I am sending him back, you therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, whom I wished to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. Paul really strongly identifies himself with Onesimus in this verse. Paul not only asks that Onesimus be received by Philemon, but he also puts all his moral weight into the situation. Paul calls Onesimus his son in verse 10. I have forgotten Onesimus in my chains, he says. And now here in verse 12, what's he call Onesimus? He calls Onesimus his very heart. for Philemon to reject Onesimus was now in some way for Philemon to reject Paul. Paul is so committed to this reconciliation that he puts all of his weight behind Onesimus' case. And this is a beautiful inference of the gospel. This is what Jesus has done for us. We were those who were useless, unuseful. And in His mercy, God sent His own Son. And His Son identified with us in some tremendous ways. He took on flesh and blood like we have. And then on the cross of Calvary, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin. Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself and was punished for our sin on the cross of Calvary. In Hebrews, It says that Jesus calls us his brothers. Jesus has very closely identified himself with us, and he has put all of his weight behind our case. And he is the perfect advocate who never loses a case, the perfect advocate who perfectly represents us before God the Father in the heavenlies. And he continues to intercede on our behalf. And He not only prays for us, but His blood appeals for us before God. And we can have the confidence of being received by a loving God who is also a just and wrathful God. Why? Because Christ, because of His work on our behalf. Paul, in some sense here, is following the example of his Savior and pursuing this reconciliation, not merely by making a request, but rather by also so strongly identifying himself with Onesimus and placing all of his weight behind Onesimus' case. We'll continue reading here in verse 14. But without your consent, I wanted to do nothing that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever. no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord." These verses remind us that the gospel of Jesus Christ elevates the condition of the lowly. The gospel of Jesus Christ elevates the condition of the lowly. Onesimus is a slave. A very significant percentage of the population in the Roman world were slaves. And slaves could hold a variety of positions, everything from some very menial tasks to they could be physicians, they could be accountants, they could hold some comparatively very significant positions. But Onesimus is a slave, no matter what category of slave he fit into. And he's not just a slave, he's a disgraced slave. He's a slave who has proven himself unfaithful. But Paul pleads for Onesimus as a beloved brother. And between brothers, there's parity, isn't there? Brothers are peers of brothers. Even my littlest child treats my biggest child, in some sense, as a peer. And that can kind of be a problem sometimes. But still, there's this perception of some parity there. Paul is appealing for Onesimus to be received as much more than a slave, as a beloved brother. There would have been a significant disparity in social standing between these two men. One was the owner of significant properties. The other was property to be owned. There was a significant, significant difference here. And yet, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the brother of low degree is brought up, according to the book of James. And there's that brotherhood of all believers Christian love receives fellow Christians as brothers, our equals. And this reminds us of that glorious doctrine of the brotherhood of all believers. The Apostle Paul appeals for Onesimus to be received, not to be despised, not to be rejected, but to be received as a brother. Verse 17, "'If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand, I will repay, not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord." Put that on my account, says the Apostle Paul. Christian love is sacrificial. Christian love does not seek its own, according to 1 Corinthians 13. It looks to benefit others. It looks for ways to benefit others. And in this phrase of the Apostle Paul, put that on my account, we see another reflection of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Our wrongs were charged to the one who had done no wrong. He willingly took upon himself the chastisement that brought us peace. Charge that to my account. That's what Jesus has done for us. Our wrongs were charged to Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. And real Christian love imitates our Lord's attitude of love, especially towards repentant sinners. Verse 21. Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you. I trust that you will do even more than I say, says the Apostle Paul. Love believes all things, says 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Love gives the benefit of the doubt. Because of his love for Philemon and confidence in Philemon and confidence in the work that God is already doing in Philemon, Paul can trust that Philemon will do the right thing. Paul contrasts that Philemon will do the right thing because of that working of God in his life. Lack of love so frequently jumps to negative conclusions about others prematurely. a lack of love, very frequently jumps to negative conclusions about others prematurely. And we see Paul resisting any sort of natural urge to jump to negative conclusions about Philemon. How many of us have been tempted to jump to negative conclusions prematurely about other people? I know what you're thinking about me. I know you have these negative thoughts towards me. And we kind of naturally have this conspiracy mentality, right, where People are out to get me. The Apostle Paul didn't have that sort of an attitude towards Philemon. He had this confidence. Because of Philemon's reputation of love for the church and love for Christ, he presupposes that Philemon is going to be open to this reconciliation. He's not going to reject the the solid encouragement of his brother in Christ to receive Onesimus. He doesn't jump to negative conclusions prematurely. May God fill us with his grace to learn these important lessons of Christian love from the book of Philemon. The Apostle Paul finishes by saying, Epaphras, My fellow prisoner in Christ, Jesus greets you. As do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers. Each of these names indicates that likely this letter was written at the same time that the book of Colossians was written. Then it says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. And that is what Philemon needs more than anything else, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's unmerited favor to guide him into making wise decisions, having wise reactions, having a godly response to this situation, which was going to be a significant trial or a significant test for Philemon's love. Each of us are going to face tests. of our love, aren't we? Tests of our love. Our faith is going to be put to the test. Are you ready for the test of your faith? Are you ready for the test of your love for God and your love for your brothers? God is the one who tests us. He According to the book of Jeremiah, he weighs the heart and tries the reins. He's looking at us and he's testing our hearts. We need to be ready for that test. And there's no way to be ready for the test than to be cultivating our love for the Lord and cultivating our love for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's pray. Gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your word. And we thank you, Lord, for this book of Philemon. We pray, God, that you, Lord, will continue working in our hearts, Father, helping us to pursue walking, first of all, in love for you and in love for our families and love for your church. And we thank you, Lord, for loving us even when we were unworthy, wretched rebels. Thank you, Lord, that when we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And I pray, God, that your glorious gospel will continue transforming our lives and that you, Lord, through your work of sanctification will continue transforming our perspective to give us more and more of a biblical perspective. And we thank you, Lord, for your goodness. In Christ's name, amen. Before I step down here, I'd like to give a brief, brief update on the ministry in Mexico, if that's all right. As you all know, we live in northern Mexico, in the state of Chihuahua, the city of Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, about... 300 miles, more or less, south of El Paso, Texas. And the Lord continues to bless our ministry there. We've had times of difficulty, times of more blessing, but recently we've gone through a time of some significant trials. We thank the Lord for his sustaining grace. And so I bring you greetings from Iglesia Biblica Sola Scriptura in the city of Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua, where we gather every every Lord's Day to worship the Lord with other believers. Praise God for the new co-workers he's brought in to work with us. Brother Osman and his family have been a real blessing to the community of our church. And we continue reaching out both in the city of Cuauhtémoc and also in a mountain village called Bawinocachi, about two hours away from our town. And so we continue, I continue preaching there. I've been preaching there, traveling those two hours back and forth every other week for the last about eight years now. And that's gone through multiple changes in that amount of time, but the Lord has enabled us to continue going up there and ministering to a group of people up there. And then also through the blessing of the Lord, there's been two churches established among the Low German Mennonite population in our area as well. And those churches are functioning with their elders and doing very well. I preach for each of them every other month, each one every other month. So I alternate months between Preaching in each of those places and we have really good fellowship with the church that's closer to us We we're working together to do some outreach in Spanish their their church services take place in in in the low German language, but they They read the Bible in high German So they'll read the Bible in high German, preach in low German. And then when we're there, they sing in English. And so it's a whole mixture of languages there. It's very interesting. In one of their meetings, you'll hear people speaking in four different languages. And in our meetings in KwaWuTenMuk, there's several different language groups as well. There's people of the Tarahumara indigenous people group. There are low German Mennonites who will be in our meetings frequently. And there are mestizos, which is the predominant culture in Mexico. So we praise God for the opportunities he's given us there. Our church building right now is right on an open air market that gathers on Sunday morning. So on Sunday morning, the whole street is just full of people. We're kind of on the edge of that. And then behind us is really where the people really are concentrated. So there'll be thousands of people there on Sunday. So our service is on Sunday. Sunday afternoon. We couldn't even really get in there on Sunday morning. It's so tight But we have the plan and we've begun to go on Sunday mornings To hand out tracks and visit with people about the gospel. It's a good really good It's a really good setting for that the people are there they're sort of in a relaxed atmosphere and just wandering around it's very family-friendly and Setting and we can just stand there and visit with people about the Lord. So that's been that's been a blessing Thank you all for praying for us. We're so grateful. Thank you also to those of you who support us financially in the church for The financial support that we receive, we are so very grateful. And God has used that support to really keep us going down there, maintain us economically. So we're very thankful to you all as a church. Also to the deacons who manage the financial accounts. So grateful for that. Thank you all so much for your Labor in the Lord there and thank you all for again for praying for us Planting churches is a is very frequently a long-term long-term project and so And there's a couple other churches we're working with in some way and also we have a I have a men's Men's meeting online every Tuesday where we work to Build up leaders and encourage leaders in Being leaders in their homes and then leaders in the in the church, so Thank you all so much. We're very grateful to you all and grateful for your fellowship in the Lord and that's been a Couple years since we've been at family camp here hasn't it but That's a blessing each time that we're able to be here with you so may the Lord bless you all