Pentecost 16
Philemon 1,10-21
Let’s say that you were a pastor, and you had this situation come up in your church: there was a problem between two of your most solid members, we’ll call them Philip and Oswald. But the problem between Phil and Ozzie isn’t a personality clash. The problem isn’t that Phil’s idea got blasted out of the water during a Church Council meeting by Oswald and now feelings are hurt. The problem is that Philip owns Oswald. Oswald is Philip’s runaway slave, and now both these men are members of your church. How would you handle that situation if you were their pastor?
Sound farfetched? You might be surprised that this exact situation indeed occurred, not between Philip and Oswald, but between Philemon and Onesimus. Paul was the pastor of these two men, and that is the occasion of this letter to Philemon. St. Paul takes this opportunity to remind these two men, and us, that We Are All Slaves.
Part I
We don’t know how Onesimus got to be a slave. Sometimes slaves were the result of Roman conquests. Villages and tribes that they defeated became slaves. Sometimes slaves got to be that way because of their debts. They owed someone so much money that the only way to pay it off was to be a slave. Sometime people were slaves because they were born that way. If a slave man and a slave woman had a baby, guess what? That baby was a slave too.
We don’t know how Onesimus became a slave. But I think we can understand his frustration and anger over his lot in life. I mean, what parent would like to hear their child say, “one day, I hope someone owns me. I’d think being a slave would be cool.”
We do know that Onesimus was a pretty lousy slave. Paul admits that in his letter to Philemon. Paul says, “formerly, he was useless to you.” Onesimus was a slave you couldn’t trust with anything; he talked back, was lazy, irresponsible, irritable; he just generally had a bad attitude. On top of all that, he ran away from his duties. Paul hints that as Onesimus was making his getaway, he stole stuff from Philemon, money, or other articles of value that he could sell and sustain himself for a while. Paul said, “if he has done you wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me – I will pay it back.”
Somehow along his journey, Onesimus bumped into Paul. Maybe his money had run out and he thought a Christian like Paul could give him more. We don’t know. But we do know that Onesimus received a lot more than he bargained for. He got riches from Paul – eternal riches. He learned about Jesus Christ, a name he had heard in Philemon’s home, but a name that he never really understood until Paul explained Christ to him. He learned that Jesus had set him free from his sins and had made him an heir – with heaven to look forward to as his inheritance. And this useless slave turned into a useful servant of the Gospel – he faithfully served Paul when he was a prisoner in Rome.
Paul would have loved to keep him, Onesimus was a fellow Christian, a hard worker, and was developing into a dear friend, but Paul knew something wasn’t right. Onesimus had run away from his responsibilities to Philemon, and it was only right to let Philemon have him back. Onesimus was a slave, and owed respect and obedience to his master.
Fortunately, none of us will ever have to deal with slavery. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t owe people respect and obedience. In a way, we are all slaves like Onesimus. This is an election year, and maybe the person you want to be president won’t be elected. For sure there have been presidents in the past who weren’t your first choice. Have you given all your governmental leaders the respect that you owed them? It isn’t God-pleasing to make jokes about presidents we don’t like. God doesn’t say that only the leaders we agree with merit our respect. You younger people – do you always give your teachers the respect you owe them? God has placed them over you for your good, for your learning. And we disobey God when we make their job miserable by misbehaving, by being lazy with assignments.
There was a guy I worked at a factory with named Rich. And Rich was about the laziest person I have ever seen. I’m not sure what the company paid him for. He was never at his workstation. He’d walk around the plant and just talk to everyone else during his shift. Every once in a while he’d get a little work done, but not much. And it used to just burn me up to think of this guy making double what I made for doing a fraction of the work. But then, was I the perfect employee? Perhaps I didn’t screw around as much as Rich, but was I always giving my employer the effort he paid me for? When other employees made fun of our clueless shift leader, did I ever join in and voice my disrespect? While we aren’t bound to the same company for life, it’s ok to go find another job, but while we are there, we owe our employer respect, and hard, honest work. Each of us is a slave to certain people, but like Onesimus, we have a tendency to run away from our duties. A part of us doesn’t want to admit that we are bound to earthly authorities, and that is simply a lie. We are slaves, we do have responsibilities to others, and it displeases when we try to get out of them.
Part II
There was another slave in our story. A guy you wouldn’t think of as a slave. The master – Philemon. Sure, he was a rich guy hundreds of years ago, and he probably had a nice life, but if Paul had never come to the town of Colossi, Philemon would be burning in the flames of hell right now. But Paul did come, Philemon did listen, and he became a Christian and an heir of heaven. And Philemon really had a debt to Paul: he owed Paul his eternal life.
Paul tactfully reminds Philemon of that fact when he says, “if [Onesimus] 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.” Paul doesn’t come down with a hammer and make a big deal about this fact as if to intimidate Philemon to be kind to Onesimus. But he does gently remind Philemon that if not for Paul’s work, Philemon wouldn’t have a clue about where he was spending eternity.
And that brings us to another group of people that we are slaves to: our Christian leaders. Now I’m not saying this because I feel disrespected by you, or that I’m looking for more honor from you. Forget me, and think of some other spiritual leaders that could use your honor. It’s easy to admire the missionary that gives up their comfortable life in the US and lives far away from family to preach the Gospel. But how about showing awestruck admiration for the Sunday School teacher who prepares their lessons so that young Christians can grow in their faith. Those who perform this task should be at the top of the list of people to thank for their work, because without Christian children, where will the church be in 20-30 years? Go up to that teacher who has just taught a lesson for your child and say, “thank you for telling my son or daughter about Christ today. I can’t tell you how much I value your work. Nothing that they learn this week in school will be more important than the lesson you just taught..” We owe the Councilmen honor for their efforts in keeping the business matters of the church running, as well as planning and performing spiritual tasks. I don’t mean to brag, but this happens a lot, that a parent will tell me that our Pre-K is the best in the area. Some moms will tell me that many other Preschools say they teach the Bible, but they are astounded (and sometimes stumped) by all the Bible knowledge their children come home with every day. We owe our preschool staff a huge debt of honor for the name they have made for our church in the community – what can you do to say thank you to the staff? A card? An encouraging phone call? A person doesn’t serve the Lord looking for honor, that isn’t the purpose, but anyone who handles the precious truths of the Bible and hands them out to other people demand our reverence and thanks. We are slaves to them. Like Philemon, let’s recognize those who we owe spiritual debts to.
Part III
And there was one more slave in our text, the Apostle Paul. As he is writing this, he is in chains, a slave, locked up by the Roman government. But in the first verse, he doesn’t say that he is a slave of Rome. Did you notice, he calls himself, “a prisoner…of Christ Jesus.” In other words, he has to follow Christ. He has to obey Jesus. He had no other choice. Jesus is his master. And Paul wouldn’t have it any other way.
And it’s it remarkable that the same can be said of us. We are slaves to Christ. Jesus owns us. He directs us. He guides us. But Jesus, our slave owner, did something that no other master ever did for a slave: he gave out his life on a cross for us slaves. I’m confident that no other master ever chose that fate for himself to save a slave. All those times we showed disrespect to earthly authorities, Jesus died to forgive us. All the times that we forgot to honor our spiritual leaders (all of them), Jesus died for that too.
There was a slave in pre-Civil war days who was up on the auction block. Slaveholders were bidding for the right to own him. All of a sudden, someone put in a huge bid, far more than the slave was worth. This mysterious bidder won the slave, and as he took the papers to take ownership, he wrote the word “freed” on the papers, and handed them to the slave. Then he slipped into the crowd and disappeared. The stunned now-former slave, went and searched for this man who had set him free, and when he found him he said, “you have set me free. I was a slave, and now I’m a free man. I owe you everything. I will be your servant for life.”
That’s exactly how Paul felt about Christ, and that’s exactly how we feel. Jesus freed us from our sins. He pardoned us from the threat of hell. And we search Jesus out and say, “you have set me free. I was a slave, and now I’m free. I owe you everything. I will be your servant for life.” Is it any wonder that Paul is proud to call himself “a prisoner of Christ Jesus”? We are all slaves, but that’s ok.
And if Jesus owns you, how should you act? Let’s thank our master by doing what we are doing right now, and then multiply it by 20. Since we love his gracious Word, let’s not be satisfied with a single listening of it each week. Let’s listen to our Master often! Listen to the Bible on tape or Cd in your car. Jesus speaks to you twice a week here; on Wednesday evenings as well. You know, there are a lot of other things that want to be your master. Your job might want to make you a slave. Your hobbies and leisure want to be your master. But don’t let them. Because Christ is a far superior master than anything else.
Conclusion
So let’s serve him as obedient slaves. You know, everyone’s a slave of something. We believers have the privilege of being slaves to Jesus. Non-Christians are slaves to their sin. Sin is their master, and they have to serve it. The three men in our text used to be salves of their sin, but the Lord changed their allegiances. So let’s tell other people a better way to live. Let’s be like Paul, who showed Onesimus, who showed Philemon, that we are slaves to Jesus Christ, our loving Master. Amen.
sdg
