Church Sermon - September 19, 2004

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Old Testament Lesson; Proverbs 9:8-12
Gospel Lesson; Luke; Luke 14:25-33
Sermon Text; Philemon 1:10-21

Let’s go back 2000 years, to Roman society. To help you understand the two main classes of Roman society, I am going to break you up into the two groups, this morning. Let us imagine that the congregation members, on the left side of the church, are the nobility of Roman society. You are the ones who own the businesses. You are the ones who make the economy really go. Your business may be making wine. It may be making ships. You may own an olive garden. However, whatever it is, you have a business. And, you are the ones, 2000 years ago, who makes the Roman society go.

Amongst you is a man by the name of Philemon. Philemon is a wealthy man, who lives in the city of Colosse. This wealthy man by the name of Philemon, who belonged to the upper class of society, met St. Paul, there in the city of Colosse. And through St. Paul, he learned about amazing grace and how sweet that sound is, that saved a wretch like him.

This wealthy man, Philemon, learned how amazing God’s grace really is. God’s grace is amazing!

And so Philemon, this wealthy man in Roman society, became a believer. And, he understood the amazing grace of God.

Now, there was another class of Roman society. The members of the congregation seated on the right hand side of the church will represent that group of people. Some people believe that there may have been as many as 80% of Roman society (that is a lot of people) who belonged to what is called the slave class. The nobility owned the slaves. They owned ‘you’. You had a job. Your job was to work for them and do what they asked you to do. They had a responsibility to you. Their job was to make sure that you had food to eat, clothes to wear, shelter over your head, and that your needs were provided for.

Amongst the slaves, 2,000 years ago, was a man by the name of Onesimus. Onesimus was a slave in the city of Colosse. It just so happens that Philemon owned Onesimus. Onesimus was his slave.

Now, Roman society depended, the economy depended upon this relationship between the slave owners and their slaves. Can you imagine what would happen if a slave ran away from a master, and that slave was not punished and nothing was done? What do you think all of the other slaves would want to do? Well, they would all want to run away. They would want their freedom, too. And so, in Roman society, if a slave ran away, the punishment could be so severe that when he was caught he could be executed.

So, we have Philemon, who is a Christian. He owns a slave by the name of Onesimus. And we have Onesimus, who is a non-Christian. He belongs to Philemon.

Something happened between those two men. We don’t know what it was. We don’t know if Onesimus didn’t like what Philemon was asking him to do. We don’t know if Onesimus was simply rebellious and he didn’t want to be a slave. We don’t know what happened between them, but we do know that there was a division between those two men. And then Onesimus took a huge risk. Onesimus stole from his master and then ran away. We don’t know if he did it secretly during the day. We don’t know if Philemon sent him on an errand and he just never came back. Or whether he slipped away at nighttime. But, we do know that he was a runaway slave. At that point, Onesimus became a fugitive.

This was so serious. He knew that his very life was at stake. He knew he was a wanted man. You can imagine how he must have felt, a slave, who knew that if he got caught for running away, he could be put to death.

Hiding from Roman soldiers, he made his way all the way down to the city of Rome. It was a huge city. He probably thought that he could get lost in the crowd, there in the city of Rome.

While he was in the city of Rome, you know who else happened to be in the city of Rome? Remember St. Paul, who had converted Philemon? By this time, St. Paul had ended up in prison, in Rome. He was under house arrest, so although he was in chains, people could go and visit him.

Somehow Onesimus, the runaway slave, who was a non-believer, heard that Paul was in prison in Rome. We don’t know why, (maybe because he was scared, or maybe because he needed someone to talk to), but Onesimus went and found Paul in prison. And, this runaway slave began to talk to Paul. Maybe Onesimus was pouring out all of his fears. "I have run away from my master. Now what is going to happen? What if I get caught? What if I die? Then what is going to happen to me?"

We all know Paul. Paul was a person who could not stop talking about his Savior. And Paul taught Onesimus about amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Onesimus, the runaway slave, became a Christian. Now he realized, "What amazing grace I have in Jesus Christ! What an amazing Jesus I have! I have an amazing Jesus. I don’t deserve to be loved by God, but I have amazing Jesus, who died for my sins! God, Himself! I have an amazing Jesus, who wipes away all of my sins! I have an amazing Jesus, who no matter what happens to me in this life, is going to take me to Heaven!"

So we have Philemon, the slave owner, the master, who has been hurt. His slave ran away. What is he to do? What if his other slaves all decide they can run away? Then he has a problem.

We have Onesimus. He has a problem. "What if I get caught? Then what are they going to do?"

And, we have St. Paul, right in the middle. St. Paul is right in the middle. St. Paul loved both of those men. He loved Philemon. He had been brought to faith, and now was a leader in the church. He even shared his home, so people could use his house as the church. Paul loved Philemon. And, Paul loved Onesimus. He said that Onesimus became like a son to him. Onesimus was now a believer in Jesus. Now he wanted to serve Jesus, in whatever way he could. Paul, who loved these two men, wanted to bring them back together, as friends. So, Paul served as what we call a go-between, a mediator. He wanted Onesimus and Philemon to be united together again, as brothers.

And so we get to our scripture reading. Here, in today’s scripture reading, Paul serves as a go-between for Onesimus and Philemon. He appeals to Philemon. He says, "You know what grace is. You know God has forgiven you yourself and all of your sins have been freely forgiven. You know how awesome it is to be forgiven. You know that. You know your brother, your slave Onesimus. Now he has become a believer. He believes in Jesus. He is sorry for his sins. Take him back. Take him back, as a brother."

He says to Onesimus, "Onesimus, you know how gracious Jesus has been. He has forgiven you all of your sins. Now you want to live for Jesus. Go back. Go back and serve Philemon, as if you are serving your Savior."

Let’s read part of this letter that was sent by Paul the go-between.

"Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker…

I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

I am sending him – who is my very heart – back to you. I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chains for the gospel. But I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that any favor you do will be spontaneous and not forced. Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good – no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.

So if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. If he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand. I will pay it back – not to mention that you owe me your very self. I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I wrote to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask."

Now that is a wonderful little selection from scripture. Martin Luther, in his preface to the book of Philemon says, "All of us are Onesimus." We all have a Master. That Master is God, the Father Almighty. He made us. He formed us. He owns us. He is our Master. He is a loving master who asks us to serve Him, expects us to serve Him. He provides for all of our needs. He freely gives us food to eat, clothes to wear, and all we need for this life. And He has every right to expect and demand that we do what He wants us to do. We follow His commands, because He knows what is best for us.

And so God is our Master. But then Luther says, "We have all become like Onesimus." We have all become like Onesimus. We have resented God as our Master in our sinful nature. Our sinful nature says, "I don’t want to serve some master. I don’t want to do what he wants me to do. I am not happy with the way He provides for me. I wish that I had other things, and that He would provide me with other things." And so all of us in our hearts have run away from our Master, and in sin, we have gone against Him. Many of us have fallen into grave sins, things that we know go against the Master. We have pursued things that He doesn’t want us to pursue. And now we are all in the condition that Onesimus was in. Onesimus had every reason to look at Philemon and say, "You could have me executed, because I have run away." We too can look at our Master, and say, "Woe is me. I have run away from the Almighty Master. I have fallen into sin. I have spit into His eye, in His mastery over me. He has every right; the Master has every right, to destroy me. He has every right to punish me. He has every right to send me to Hell."

So what do we do, since we have all become like Onesimus? Here Martin Luther reminds us that just like Paul served as the go-between, the mediator between Onesimus and Philemon, thank God we have a go-between! We have someone who loves us dearly. He loves the Father dearly. He is a friend to both of us. That someone is Jesus Christ. The Bible says that there is one mediator, or one go-between, between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. The awesome message in scripture is that Jesus has become your go-between. He has gone to His Father and He loves His Father, dearly. He says to His Father, "Father I know, I know that they have sinned against you. They have spit in your eye. They have run away from you, as their Master. And, they deserve, they deserve to be punished for all eternity. But Father, I love them and you love them too. Father, you know that whatever wrong they have done, whatever they have done, I have taken that as my very own sin, as if I were the one who had sinned against you. Father, you know that you poured out all your anger on their sin against me. I, on the cross, have paid fully and completely for all of their sins. And now Father, because I have paid for their sins at a great price, I come to you on their behalf, and I ask you for my sake, don’t hold their sins against them. Forgive them. Welcome them back with loving arms for my sake."

And what does the Father say to His dear Son? The Father says to His dear Son, "Son, I love you. Oh, how I love you. You have paid for them, at a great price. You have paid for their very sins. And oh, my dear Son, because you ask me to forgive them for your sake, yes, I welcome them back with open arms. I want them to be mine. I want to forgive them."

Then Jesus comes to us, because He serves as the go-between. He comes to us and says, "I know that your conscious bothers you. I know that you are concerned and you have fears, and rightfully so. My Father could punish you for all eternity. But, I want to assure you that I have paid for all of your sins. My Father is not angry with you, anymore. For my sake, He has forgiven you. Now, go back. Go back and repent of your sins and believe in me, because for my sake, He forgives you."

And what have we done? We have run back to God the Father. We said, "Father I have sinned against heaven and against you, and I no longer deserve to be called your child."

And the Father, for Jesus’ sake, who is our go-between, has thrown His arms around us. He has thrown His arms around us and taken us back! We are reconciled.

Jesus is our go-between. How thankful we are. What an amazing, amazing God we have!

Because of that, it also affects our earthly relationships. There may be ‘Onesimus’ here today. There may be ‘Philemons’ here today. Maybe you are a Philemon. Maybe somebody has really hurt you. Maybe somebody, a Christian brother or sister has said something that really hurt you deeply. Maybe a husband, wife, son or daughter has treated you in a way that has been very painful for you. Maybe someone has "spit in your eye" so to speak. There is a deep hurt, because someone who should be of service to you and kind to you has hurt you. We have all been hurt by a Christian brother or sister.

Maybe you are an Onesimus. Maybe you are the one who has done the hurting. Maybe you have said something that really hurt somebody, another Christian brother or sister. Maybe you have run away from a relationship with someone. Maybe you have been disobedient to your parents. And, there is a deep hurt.

Now, what do we do, as Christians? How do we restore that relationship? We have a go-between. Not only between us and God the Father, but also between us and our fellow Christians. That go-between is Jesus, Himself! To those who are Philemons, He comes to you and says, "Yes you have been hurt. A Christian brother or sister has done something that has hurt you greatly. You know, you know what grace is. You know that you have hurt your Father greatly. And yet, for my sake, all of your sins are forgiven. And now, for my sake, for my sake, because I have forgiven you and I have forgiven your brother and sister at a great price, for my sake, take them back. Welcome them with open arms. Forgiven them, for my sake."

He serves as our go-between.

And to the Onicimuses He says, "Yes you have sinned. You have hurt a brother or sister in Christ. You have done something that hurt them greatly. But you know grace. You know the joy of repenting of your sins and hearing that your sins are forgiven. You know the joy now of wanting to serving me. Go back. Go back to your brother or sister, with a repentant heart. And know that for my sake they will take you back. And now, for my sake, live for them."

He is our go-between man, not just between us and God the Father, but also between us and our fellow Christians. What an amazing, awesome, awesome thing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is, restoring our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ!

Amen.

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