September 7, 2013

Do the Unexpected Out of Love for Christ!

16th Sunday after Pentecost, 9/8/13
Philemon 1, 10-21


Do the Unexpected Out of Love for Christ!
I. Forgive your fellow sinners.
II. Deal with other Christians in love.


This is the latest edition of our monthly WELS magazine, Forward in Christ. It features a short historical article on Polycarp. Are you familiar with him? He was the pastor of the congregation in Smyrna, which was near Ephesus in what is today western Turkey. The emperor had demanded that Polycarp burn a pinch of incense in honor of him, which was emperor worship. Polycarp refused and the emperor ordered his execution. Polycarp went to heaven as a martyr on Jan. 26, 156 AD. He counted the cost of discipleship and did the unexpected.

The words before us this morning were written by St. Paul who was under house arrest in Rome for preaching the gospel. Paul had done nothing illegal. But you don’t hear Paul screaming for his rights and encouraging demonstrations against the injustice he was bearing. Paul knew this was part of being a Christian. He counted the cost and did the unexpected.

Today’s text is from Paul’s letter to Philemon. Are you familiar with it? It’s by far the most personal letter Paul wrote among the letters we still have. With tremendous Christian tact he asks his friend Philemon to do something difficult—to take back his slave, a man named Onesimus.

Onesimus had run away from Philemon and made his way to Rome. While there, he came into contact with Paul and Paul used the opportunity to share the gospel with him. Onesimus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, came to faith in Jesus as his Savior. And now Paul was sending him back to Philemon.

Wait a minute! Why would Paul do that—encourage this slave-master relationship? Why didn’t Paul demand that Philemon set Onesimus free? Those are good questions. They’re among the many I hope to ask Paul or Jesus when I get to heaven. The Bible doesn’t deal with the issue of slavery.

And I’m not excusing it, but slavery in the Roman Empire was somewhat different than the slavery in our country in its first 100 years of existence. And it was common. Estimates are that slaves comprised 50% or more of the population in the Roman Empire at this time. Paul’s purpose was not to reform society, but to reform hearts with the gospel and let the gospel then change relationships among people.

In asking Philemon to receive Onesimus back, Paul was requesting something unexpected in those days, but that’s what Christians do. They do the unexpected. And it comes from their love for Christ.

Let’s encourage that very thing this morning. Do the unexpected out of love for Christ!

Part I.

If you’ve ever had to deal with a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, you know how difficult it can be. It can advance to the point that the victim can’t recall who you are and it may even rob them of the ability to recall who they are. One way of dealing with it is to patiently and lovingly remind them of both.

Paul’s friend, Philemon, wasn’t suffering from Alzheimer’s or even momentary memory loss, but Paul did take the opportunity to remind Philemon very subtly who he was. In the opening words of this letter he addresses Philemon as “our dear friend and fellow worker.” Those are words of high praise from Paul. Philemon was a leader in the congregation at Colosse. As such he opened his home as a place of worship for the young congregation there. As a mature Christian, Philemon knew that the Lord had given him abilities and he gladly used them to serve his Savior.

But he also knew where he had come from. In this letter Paul reminds Philemon that “you owe me your very self.” Had Paul rescued Philemon from some life-threatening danger? In a matter of speaking, yes, but not in the way most people would consider. Paul was responsible for bringing the truth of God’s word to Colosse. Either directly or indirectly Paul was responsible for the fact that Philemon knew and confessed that he was a sinner deserving eternal punishment from God, the same thing we confess. Philemon knew he deserved nothing good from God.

But by God’s grace he also knew that he was a redeemed child of God. He knew and confessed that Jesus had suffered and died for him. He was convinced that he was a child of God by faith in Jesus. He looked forward to the certainty of eternal life in heaven with Jesus. He lived each day knowing that this life offers nothing compared with what he already had. He knew that accumulating possessions or fame wasn’t his goal. Heaven was his home. He had counted the cost of discipleship.

That’s why Paul could write to him, “So if you consider me a partner, welcome [Onesimus] as you would welcome me.” Paul was asking Philemon to do the difficult thing—to welcome this runaway slave back into his house as a brother in the Lord. And what is one of the most important aspects of one Christian’s relationship with another? They forgive one another. They forgive each other fully, as Jesus has forgiven us. They don’t hold grudges. They let go of how they have been wronged. They put aside how the other person’s sin might have hurt them.

Can you imagine how difficult that might have been for Philemon? Who would expect him to do it? Paul did, out of Philemon’s love for Christ. Do the unexpected out of love for Christ! Forgive your fellow sinners.

Have you ever had a hard time forgiving someone, especially someone who is a fellow Christian? After all, they’re a Christian. They should know better than to have sinned against you like that. They call themselves a Christian and yet that’s how they act? That’s what they say? Didn’t they realize how that would hurt you? In fact, maybe they did and they decided to do it anyway. It’s hard to forgive such a person. In fact, we’re tempted to think that it’s easier to hold a grudge. In other words, we decide we won’t forgive them. We’ll hold it against them for as long as we like. That attitude is at the opposite end of this attitude, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” You recognize those words, don’t you? Jesus spoke them while nailed to the cross. He spoke them about the murderous mob that wouldn’t stop their attack against him until he was nailed to the cross. But the real reason he was hanging from that cross in the first place was because I’m a sinner. You’re a sinner. And we need his forgiveness more than anything else in the world. That person who has wronged us needs our forgiveness as well. And love for Jesus gives us the reason and the motivation to do exactly that. Our world doesn’t expect it, but Jesus does. Do the unexpected out of love for Christ! Forgive your fellow sinners.

Part II.

You can’t watch or read the daily news without screaming for justice. We can’t believe the terrible things some people do. We demand that the authorities apprehend the perpetrators and that they be brought to swift justice.

I wonder how much Philemon felt that same way. There were laws in the Roman Empire which made it illegal for slaves to run away. They owed their owner daily service. Philemon had lost the services of Onesimus for some time. It might have been quite a long time. No doubt Philemon had calculated just how much productivity he had lost because Onesimus had run away.

It’s even possible that Onesimus had stolen from him. Paul told Philemon that if Onesimus owed him anything to charge it to Paul. We know from history that theft in the slave-master relationship was common.

Truth be told, it was within Philemon’s rights for him to physically beat Onesimus for running away. More than that, he could have Onesimus executed without a trial. There may have been other slave owners who were telling Philemon to do just that so that other slaves would think twice about fleeing.

But Paul told Philemon to do the unexpected. Onesimus didn’t need a beating. He was repentant. He was asking Philemon to forgive him. Paul had asked Philemon to do just that. And what Onesimus needed now was a Christian mentor. Who better to fill that need than Philemon? Paul wanted Philemon to welcome Onesimus back as a brother in the Lord and to treat him as such.

In effect, Paul was telling Philemon, “Do the unexpected out of love for Christ! Deal with Onesimus in love.”

I’m sure there are innumerable times in your life when justice meant that you meted out what the other person deserved. In fact, your friends and relatives may have even urged you to do so. And in good, Christian judgment, you did so, because that’s what was best in that particular situation. But it doesn’t have to be that way all the time. There are also times when the best thing to do is to forgive and love the person as a fellow Christian, to let by-gones be by-gones, to recall that others have refrained from giving you what you deserve. In fact, that’s the theme of the cross of Jesus. He took what you deserve—hell’s punishment—so that he could love you eternally.

That’s not what’s expected in our world. But that’s what Christians do. They do the unexpected out of love for Christ. They deal with each other in love. May God empower us all to do just that! Amen.