We come this morning to the last of our prison epistles, so-called, the letter of Philemon. So if you're moving through your Bibles, you have to jump over the pastoral epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, and then you'll find little Philemon at the end of the collection of Paul's letters. But it belongs with Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians, the other letters that we've been studying. And instead of being addressed to the church directly, although it's to be read in the context of the church, so it's for all of us, but it's addressed to a particular individual. There's actually three people that figure prominently in this little book, and that's the way we're gonna look at the book. in terms of Philemon and Onesimus and Paul. Now, the people who know how to pronounce Greek say that Onesimus is pronounced Onesimus, and that's right. But, and I've been practicing all week long to say Onesimus. And I can't do it consistently, so I'm not going to distract myself or you. I'm going to go with English phonetics, and we'll pronounce it Onesimus. But just so you know that I did my homework, and I know how the word ought to be pronounced. I'm going to read the whole letter. It's only 25 verses long, and it'll be good to have it in our ears, at least, as we begin to look at it this morning. So Philemon. Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Aphia, our sister, and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. 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 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 by your own accord. For this, perhaps, is why he, Onesimus, 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. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it to say nothing of your owing me, even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ Jesus. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this book so filled with the resonances of what we've read and studied in Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians. Indeed, this little book is a kind of tip of the iceberg to what Paul says everywhere in his writings. All of those things that he believes and taught the churches are now brought to very personal and particular expression for these two men, a slaveholder and a slave. Lord, we pray because you want this church to be read, or this letter to be read by the church, the church in Philemon's house and the church here at Bayview. You have important things for all of us to learn, to put into practice in our lives. And so we pray that as you made Onesimus useful, in the Lord Jesus Christ. You would make us useful as well in partnership with one another and with the Apostle himself as we seek your kingdom and your righteousness in this world. So bless and guide our thinking we pray for Jesus' sake. Amen. So most immediately we've read Colossians and Philemon was an inhabitant of Colossae, and apparently one of the churches, if there were more than one, or the church, met in his own house. So we're still in the immediate world of Colossae, and if it's true that Paul wrote this letter from Ephesus, could be he was in Rome, writing at a much more distant remote. If he was in Ephesus, then he was only about 100 miles away, And when he says, get a guest room ready for me because I may be free to visit you, that makes more sense if you're traveling from here to Orange County than if you're traveling here to St. Louis, for example. But we don't know where Paul was when he wrote the letter. But the great themes of Colossians, together with the other prison epistles, Ephesians and Philippians, are particularized in the lives of individual believers. We all have to take what Paul says to all of us and apply it personally and individually to our own lives and circumstances. We're at different stages in Christian development. We've had different instruction, we've had different models in our lives, so it's always a matter of taking the general and making it specific and concrete. Part of my job as a preacher is to help you do that, give you some idea of how the general ideas and principles of the Word of God might apply to you as a husband, or as a wife, or as a child in the home, or as a worker in the workplace. It's always a matter of taking the principles and applying them. We saw when we were studying Philippians that in a letter where Paul has a lot to say about partnership and about sharing, he brings it right down for two ladies in the church, Euodia and Syntyche, who are in conflict with one another and estranged from one another. to come together, to work out their differences. And so the principles of the book, humility, caring for others ahead of yourself, then comes to particular and personal expression in the lives of these two elect ladies. Well, we have the same kind of thing here now with Philemon and Onesimus. I said it. Good, an old dog can learn new tricks. Okay, so now we're gonna be in the inconsistent realm, yes, all right. This is not you say potato and I say potatoe, but it is kind of like that, right? Paul had said to the Colossians, whole, there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. It says a similar thing in Galatians. No slave or free in Christ Jesus. So in the congregation, what does the master think when he hears those words spoken generally? What does the slave think? Well, now we're going to find out where one master and one slave are told, alright, here's how this works out for you guys. But not in the abstract. In a very concrete situation that's already marked badly because of Onesimus running away, and maybe even robbing Philemon in the process. So as I say, we're going to look at Philemon in terms of these three main characters. And the overarching idea that I want you to think about is partnership in usefulness. Partnership, a huge theme in Paul's writings, particularly in these letters. It's the word that we often translate fellowship, koinonia, but it means the common life that we have in Christ. And when we say fellowship, we think about coffee and snacks afterwards, but that's not what it's about. Think about partnership. You're in a business together, or maybe you're a law enforcement officer, and you have a partner who has your back, you hope, who's going to stay with you and help you in every situation. Or a husband and a wife, they are partners in a shared labor. That's more of what Paul has in mind. So it's a partnership in usefulness. Usefulness for the kingdom of Jesus the King. Now for Onesimus, who we're going to think about this morning, that partnership in usefulness requires a restoration to usefulness. And we'll get to that in a few minutes. The relationship between God's works of grace in individuals and the work that He does in us collectively is always a struggle. Which is more important? The one or the many? Is it the corporate life of the church or the individual life of the church? And in the history of the church, they swing back and forth. All you need to do is be a member of the church and show up on time and you're good to go. That doesn't cut it. But then if you swing in the other direction and say, well, really, it's just you and Jesus, you know, your personal relationship. That's the only thing that's important. Well, that's not correct either. The one and the many, the individual and the collective reinforce one another. What God does for us individually feeds the life of the body, but what God is doing in the whole body feeds our individual lives as well. And that's why we can't be isolated from one another, but we always have to be putting the general into personal application. So it's not the one is more basic, more important than the other. The one cannot exist without the other. The one anothering, you know, when Paul talks about do this and that for one another, the one anothering that goes on provides accountability so that we don't stray or fall behind the pack as we're moving through this world. So accountability is important. But encouragement and help is also important. How am I going to be useful to God and to his kingdom? Well, I need the help of the other body. If I'm an eye, I can't get anywhere without some legs. Hopefully without a head to put the eye into. If I'm a hand or a foot, I can't function without the help of the other parts of the body. And so we need one another in order to complete our kingdom work. So, partnership in usefulness. And for Onesimus, this means restoration to usefulness. Now, I want to put this in a story context again, and I'm gonna try and do this very briefly. But I think we have to, and I say this a lot these days, we have to see what we must do in terms of what God has done for us. So let me remind you of the backstory here for this little letter and for everything that we've been studying. Redemption is restoration. It's fixing something that was broken and then taking it on to a whole new level. What's broken is the whole creation and the human race within it. We've been studying in the evening in the Shorter Catechism about God's purpose in creation and in providence and now in redemption Well God's original purpose for creation was to create something outside of himself capable of receiving the benefits of his generous goodness and Love God didn't create because he needed something he created so that he could give something you could take that That phrase from the book of Acts, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Well, you can apply that to God from the very beginning. God always knew that it was more blessed to give. Well, if you're God and you exist all by yourself, Who do you give to? Well, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they give to one another, but that didn't satisfy. And so God said, I'm going to create a world and human beings within that world that I can show my grace, my goodness, my generosity to. And so the purpose was to give. God's original purpose for humankind was, in the words of our catechism, that we might glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And so He made us unique creatures who could commune with God, understand Him, and respond to Him so that we would find our highest joy in fellowship with the Creator God and in doing His will. Our purpose as human beings is to make God's good creation even better. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, said the Lord. To give verbal expression to the praise and worship of the whole creation toward God who is worthy. In the fourth chapter of Revelation, and maybe you remember this vision John has of the throne room in heaven, and around the throne there are four living creatures that represent the whole of non-human creation, if you will. And they're all praising the one who sits on the throne. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. But then there are these 24 elders, these human beings, representing humankind in the church, glorified. And they too are worshiping and praising God. Worthy are you, O Lord and God, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. That was the original purpose. for human beings, that we might serve him in the world, make his world a better place, good as it was, and then bring back to God the praise and the worship that he deserves, for he created all things, and by his will, they existed and were created. But of course, then the storyline turns dark, doesn't it? There came the fall. Because of human ingratitude, Because of the unbelief of our first parents, they rebelled against God's will for their lives and, by all appearances, derailed God's original plan for creation. And so the human race subjected itself to the evil one, to the tempter, to the liar. They put themselves at his disposal, rejecting the knowledge of God. this prince of the world, so to speak, became their new Lord. And God visited upon them, visited upon us, His just and holy wrath. Everything that's in us, everything that's in God's creation that contradicts His holy nature is now subject to judgment. And that judgment must fall. And that's our problem. We stand as sinners before a holy judge And we know we're guilty. You know, when somebody gets accused and somebody provides a defense, there may always be a question of who's telling the truth and who's lying. But when we're on trial and God is the accuser, there's no doubt that we are guilty and we deserve His just sentence. That's the justice of God. C.S. Lewis in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe called that justice deep magic from the dawn of time. If you've read the book, a great phrase. But there's an even deeper magic from before the dawn of time, and that's divine love, a love that will not be thwarted. And so right there from the beginning, in the curses of the fall, mysteriously and wonderfully, God reveals his ultimate purpose, which is to sum up all things in Jesus Christ, his son. Through him to reconcile all things to himself, and in him to make all things new. You see, these are not afterthoughts. This was God's intention to glorify himself through the second and last Adam. And so even what happened with the first Adam and with the whole history of the human race is pursuant to that great goal to bring everything to its final glory in the sun. And so God sent the sun. into the world. He becomes a genuine human being just like us, except without sin. He's the promised Messiah, the Son of David. He's the true and faithful servant of the Lord. Adam failed. Israel failed. But the Messiah will not fail. He will do the Father's will and accomplish His work. And so through that, God has provided for the renewal and the restoration of all things. Now that's the big story of the Bible. And we need to constantly keep it in mind because what's Paul see himself doing now? In light of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, his job is to begin the war on the insurgency. You know, a few years ago, if somebody had said insurgent, we'd say, I wonder what that is. I better look it up in my dictionary. But now we all know what insurgencies are, right? It's when an unlawful group has taken control of an area and that area needs to be liberated and restored to its rightful headship. Well, this world has been taken captive by the satanic insurgency. And Paul sees himself as an apostle of the king saying, now God's gonna take it all back. Now he's going to restore it to its rightful king, who is Jesus. And that's what the kingdom of God is all about. In light of the exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God, Paul is making a royal announcement. That's what the gospel is. And to begin to form little pocket communities, local communities that have begun to live life differently. during the war in Iraq. There were cities that had to be liberated. And while much of the country was still in the hands of the insurgents, they could say, alright, this little hamlet or that village or that city have now been restored. Or they're beginning to be restored. That's what churches are. That's what we are. We're little pockets. We're pilot programs for the liberation of planet Earth. But that work isn't done yet. But for Paul, it's very important then that the people in the churches begin to live life in a completely different way than what's dictated by the surrounding culture and by their own fallen nature. So remember when Paul talked about, we have to put off the old and put on the new, live in terms of the new reality, even though everything around us is still part of that old reality. We were just saying about let the light shine. Fill the nations with grace and glory. Well, what are we singing about? We're singing about what Paul says is the mission of the church. And if the song doesn't become practice, then we're hypocrites. And so Paul wants the Philippians or the Colossians or the Ephesians or now Philemon and Onesimus to begin to think in concrete terms about how this message about Jesus changes their relationship, personally, but also in terms of a master and a slave. In contrast to the business as usual in the midst of the old world of sin and death, Philemon and Onesimus and you and I are called to live as part of that new creation, as members and agents of the kingdom of God. We are to let our light shine in the darkness. So here, The question is, what difference, practically, will the gospel make in the relationship between these two men? When one is a master and one is a slave, a runaway slave, a thief who is a runaway slave, what does the new creation look like in this specific situation? Well, it means that Onesimus, whose name means useful, has to become useful, has to be restored to his usefulness. The people who have studied slavery in the ancient world say that Onesimus was actually a kind of a of a favorite name to give to a slave. Maybe in the hopes that if this person knows that their name says useful, they'll be compliant and useful. We don't know, but that's certainly what the name means. And that's the irony then of Paul's comment in verse 11. It's in parenthesis in the ESV. Formerly, he was useless. to you, but now he is indeed useful to me, to you, and to me. As a matter of fact, as a thief, he was worse than useless. He not only left his master's service, but perhaps taken something with him, and we don't know what it would have been. We don't really know the, we know something about slavery in the ancient world. We don't know much about Onesimus as a slave. There are people who are under authority who seem to get along. You think about employees. There are employees that are pretty happy and content with their work. They do their job. They don't make trouble. And then there are others who are always complaining about the hours or about the wages or about the benefits or about the boss or about the coworkers. They don't ever seem to be happy. Where was Onesimus on that spectrum? Was he always disgruntled or had something happen that set him off and made him decide that he wanted to run away? We don't know. We don't know what kind of a master Philemon had been before he became a believer. Was he a kind and generous, a just and fair master? Or was he one of those who loved the power and liked to arbitrarily exert power just because they could? We don't know. He had become, Philemon, and we'll talk more about him next week, he'd become a Christian and apparently even a leader in the church. But we do know that Onesimus had run away and apparently had stolen something. And again, we don't know whether he fled to Ephesus or whether he fled all the way to Rome. We don't know whether he just in the providence of God happened to bump into Paul or bump into someone who could take him to Paul. If Paul was close to Colossae in Ephesus, perhaps there had been some previous contact. And so maybe when Onesimus ran away and realized what a pickle he was in, he went looking for Paul. Again, we don't know about those backstory details, but something brought Paul and Onesimus together Now when you think about the big story, fundamentally what's Onesimus doing? He's grabbing for the hope that if he can just be free, if he can get out from underneath the authority of Philemon, his life will be better. And we could say there's reason to believe that that might be true. But we also know that freedom all by itself can lead to an even deeper and more miserable bondage. And so that kind of acting out the sin of Adam, pursuing a dream of autonomous freedom and independence. And what would have been Philemon's reaction when he found that Onesimus was gone and some of his stuff with him? We're told that in the Roman world there was no question Onesimus could be executed. He could be crucified for that kind of an offense. It's hard to imagine that Philemon as a believer would have been thinking, oh, wait till I get that guy back. He's going to pay. But certainly the sense of injury, particularly if Philemon had been a good master, why would he leave me? And why would he take my stuff? What did I ever do to deserve that? So we can imagine what's going on in Philemon's mind. And what would be his reaction then when he hears this letter to him, spoken into his own specific concrete situation? Well, Paul's purpose is to restore Onesimus to usefulness. Indeed, he's been restored to usefulness already in Christ, and a usefulness to Philemon, but even more to Paul and to the kingdom of Christ. Paul wants Philemon to know that things have changed for Onesimus. The Gospel of the King is all about change. All of us have been changed by coming to faith in Jesus Christ. The old has passed away and the new has come. And what's true for us was true for this runaway slave as well. Look at what Paul says in verse 10. I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus. whose father I became in my imprisonment. Now Paul had no wife and did not physically beget Onesimus. What's he talking about? Well, Onesimus has been born again through Paul's ministry of the gospel while Paul's locked up. While he's not able to do what he would ordinarily be doing, God has brought Onesimus to him and Onesimus has heard the gospel and has been touched and transformed. Verse 15, perhaps this is why Onesimus 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." Onesimus' life has been changed. Whatever he was before, whatever he cherished and prized, whatever his plan and purpose in life was, now he's got one, and that is to honor and to serve his new master, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved him and gave himself for him. There's now a new set of values at work in Onesimus' mind. He has new priorities at work in his life. And they've already begun to manifest themselves because Paul says, he's already started taking care of me while I'm in prison. Now again, not knowing the details of the imprisonment, was Onesimus able to serve him in the prison? Or was he go-between, between Paul and the outside world, carrying messages and maybe bringing supplies to him? We know that prisoners in those days had to pretty much maintain themselves. It wasn't the cushy deal that is now so often the case in modern imprisonment. But now Onesimus is thinking and functioning differently. He knows that he's been bought with a price. That he no longer belongs to any human master, not to Philemon, and not even to himself. He's no more in bondage because now he's in Christ. Again, we read verses, but let's contextualize it. You suppose Paul had said to Onesimus what he told the Galatians? I'm crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. Could Onesimus say, I'm crucified with Christ? Sure, he could. And I no longer live, but Christ is now living in me. You talk about a change. This isn't about Philemon. This isn't about slavery. This isn't about me and my freedom. This is about Christ, who has now He purchased me with His own shed blood. And the life that I now live, I live by the grace and power of the Son of God who loved me, a slave, and gave Himself up for me. You see, Paul has taught Onesimus what this new life with a new Master begins to look like. And now he's going to send Onesimus back. would have been easier, wouldn't it? If Paul had just said, I'm sure Philemon won't mind if you stay here and continue to help me. And he probably would have been right. But Paul wants to check all of the boxes so that Philemon is fully on board with what Paul has in mind and that we, the whole church, might understand how deeply The Gospel requires that we rethink everything. You know, so often, particularly in a culture like ours, which has a lot of Christian influences, we just kind of bob along the surface, identifying with one human cause or another, one side or another. We don't think radically. We don't think revolutionarily. We don't think deeply enough as Christians. But Paul does. And now Onesimus does, and so Paul's saying to Onesimus, I'm gonna send you back. And I'll send you along with Tychicus, so you'll have a friendly face in the crowd. And I'm gonna send this letter along with you. But you see, Onesimus' heart is already prepared. Now there's a humility in Onesimus that will soften him from whatever kind of slave he was before. Now there's a trust in Jesus that was never there before. If I don't take care of myself, if I don't protect myself, if I don't provide for myself, I'm lost, I'm hopeless, I'm helpless. No, now I know that Christ will be with me, and I can go back and face Philemon. And so he goes back. You know, we've been studying in Sunday school about faith and emotions, and Mike just finished talking about fear a couple of weeks ago. And the idea is not that we become fearless, but that something in our lives exerts more power over us than fear does. And here, for Onesimus, it's faith in Jesus, reliance upon Christ, and a confidence that the grace that's now at work in Onesimus is also at work in the heart of Philemon as it has been in Paul. You see, everybody's on a new footing because of the gospel. The air that they all breathe is new creation air with all of its loveliness, all of its sweetness. And so Paul can speak to Philemon of the prospects of Onesimus' new usefulness, first to Philemon. Now, you see, Philemon has a heart, which if, Onesimus has a heart, which if Philemon determines to keep him in bondage will make Onesimus a completely different kind of slave. Now he will willingly be a benefit to his master. Paul says there again in verse 11, formerly he was useless but now he is indeed useful to you. I'm sending him back to you for perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while. He's gonna come back no more as a mere bondservant but now as a brother. So worst-case scenario Philemon retains his ownership of Onesimus. Even in that situation, the relationship between the two of them is going to be radically different than what it was before. But as we'll see, Paul has much more in view. But on that level, Onesimus is changed from a useless to a useful slave because he's become a slave of Jesus Christ. And there's no longer looking at human mastership, but a new life where the Lord will bless him in his service. And you know, Paul talks about that in other passages where he does say, if you're a slave when you're called, you don't have to agitate to be set free. If you can gain your freedom, then by all means do that, but that's not the big issue. It's transforming people, and as it transforms people, relationships, even economic relationships are changed, and things become new. But there's something more important than Onesimus' usefulness to Philemon. And that's the prospect of Onesimus' usefulness to Paul and to his kingdom mission. Onesimus has already voluntarily undertaken to help Paul in his imprisonment. Again, look at verse 13. 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." So the usefulness is already at work. Paul is already benefiting. And remember, Paul's not in prison because he's a thief or a murderer. He's in prison because he's an agent of the gospel, an agent of the kingdom. And so to help Paul in prison, is to help the cause of the kingdom. Onesimus has already begun to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness by concretely, tangibly helping the Apostle Paul in imprison. And so Paul would love that to continue. So there's the seed for next week. What does Paul want Philemon to do? He says, here in verse 17, and we'll develop it more next week, but it's here in verse 17. So, if you consider me a partner, receive him as you would receive me. Welcome him. That's the word that's used here. And in many contexts in Paul, that welcome is specifically a Christian welcome. Welcome to the community of faith. Welcome to the body of Christ. as he says in Romans 15-7, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. So, no punishment, no mean, nasty, on Philemon's part, that would be completely inappropriate, because the one that's being returned is Paul himself. Receive Onesimus as you would receive me. Well, think about it. If Paul shows up, having been released in prison, and knocks on Philemon's door and says, can I stay for a few days? Would Philemon have said, yeah, sure, go over there, sit down in the corner? No, there would have been hugs, there would have been tears, there would have been joyful reception. That's what Paul expects Philemon to extend to Onesimus. So think about the struggle, okay? What the world tells me I have a right to, now I'm going to do something completely different because of the Gospel. The world tells me I have a right to revenge, to criminal damages from this runaway slave. But now he's in Christ. And I'm in Christ. And I love Paul and his service. And now this slave is coming back to me as if Paul was standing at the door. What can I do? You see, there's no outward compulsion here. It's the inward constraint that makes us think and live differently because of what we have come to experience through faith in Christ. This is deep, deep revolution. This makes Marx look like a Band-Aid placer. This is really turning the world upside down. So Paul says, welcome him. Welcome him in genuine Christian love. Receive him as a partner. Paul says, he's my child, he's my heart. treat him as such. And so Paul is giving Philemon the opportunity, and he wants Philemon to sign on to this wholeheartedly. There's no manipulation here. Sometimes people interpret Philemon as very subtle manipulation on Paul's part. But Paul is simply reminding Philemon of all of the things that he taught the Colossians and the Philippians and the Ephesians and all of these different letters about this new creation. So he expects Philemon to resonate to what Paul is asking. and to return Onesimus to Paul for kingdom service. Yes, brother, verse 20, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. Is Philemon gonna grant the minimal request or is he gonna go the second? or the third or the fourth mile, we're right in concluding that Onesimus was returned to Paul and not as Philemon's slave, but as a free man in Christ. See, that's the gospel's answer to things like slavery. It's to change people on a deep level. And it begins to make a difference even if the laws don't change. And that's the power of the Kingdom of God. You see, redemption in Christ doesn't just fix things that are broken. It does that. It restores what was lost. But then it takes it all to a whole different level, whether it's relationships or institutions or laws or customs, whatever they might be. There's a whole new glory because it's the glory of Christ himself on display in his kingdom. So the challenge for us, we're not in Onesimus' situation. We're not slaves. We haven't run away. We haven't stolen anything from anybody. But the real question is, how deeply in your life does what you profess about Jesus operate? I mean, are the tectonic plates of your life moving? Or are you pretty much the same as you always were, but now you do something different with your Sunday mornings? And maybe you give a few bucks to the ministry of the church, but basically it's business as usual in the old world. Or in Christ, do you feel everything tipping? Is everything being turned upside down? And you can think, and this is probably because, well, some of us are employees, so we can at least make that application. What kind of an attitude do you have towards your employment and your employer in Christ, serving Christ? This goes back to what Paul said in Ephesians and Colossians about servants and their masters. Keep your eye on your true master, not upon your human master. Well, next time we'll look at Philemon and see what's going on. And then in our third message here, then we'll look at Paul himself and notice how he internalizes the principles of the gospel himself in terms of substitution on behalf of Onesimus. It's easier, I think, to look at the whole book from these three different angles than to just try to work through verse by verse. Thank you for your grand purpose, for the creation and for human beings within it in the beginning. And we thank you that the fall did not derail that purpose, but provided for it now to take its redemptive coloration and its focus upon the person and work of Jesus, the Eternal Son, come in the flesh, our King and Redeemer. Lord, this is truly deep magic from before the beginning, the dawn of time. This is transforming love, redeeming grace, renewing spirit, And when we put Onesimus or this book under a microscope and give it some careful reflection and thought in terms of all of the other things that we've learned from Paul in these letters, we can see that there are attitudes and values in our lives that are sub-Christian, to say the least, where we just comply to the conservative or liberal expectations of our society. So Lord, use the example of this book to help us think more profoundly, more deeply about what creation and new creation are all about. It's not accidental that Christianity really changed the world in so many different ways, not by baptizing the world's own ideas, but by deeply, profoundly shifting the way we think and live our lives. We thank you for Christ, who came not only to pay for our sins as precious and sweet as that is, but to bring to us a new way of thinking, a new way of evaluating things, a new perspective on life's circumstances, a new goal for our living, His kingdom, His righteousness, a new motivation, loving Him who first loved us, and a new standard to live according to the rule that Paul and the others in the New Testament have given us for life in the kingdom that has come. Lord, thank you for speaking to us through your word. May it register deeply in our hearts and minds and in our behavior. To the glory and praise of your name. Amen.