Refresh My Heart

Philemon 1:8-20

Refresh My Heart

October 30, 2022

The Plea for Onesimus.

This short letter is one of the greatest of Paul’s writings. Even unbelievers have seen the power of this small excerpt of history. It speaks of a request for redemption and reconciliation. ILLS: The Setting. Here is the history of a saint who has been greatly wronged and is called upon to put it all behind him and forgive. Here is also the history of a sinner running from his past who found grace with God and was told to go back to what he ran from. In America we have never been able to get beyond our original sin of slavery. As I read more and more about the first slaves brought in chains to our shores in 1619. The Africans who were torn from their country in Angola, kidnapped and sold in the British colony of Virginia. The arrival of the enslaved Africans in the New World marked the beginning of two and a half centuries of slavery in North America.

Why does the Bible not speak out strongly against slavery? It gives instructions on how slaves should be treated (Deuteronomy 15:12 never keep a slave more than 6 years and when you let him go give him some money; Ephesians 6:9 don’t threaten your servants; Colossians 4:1 treat your slaves with justice and equality), but it does not outlaw slavery altogether. Why? Slavery in biblical times was very different from the slavery that was practiced in America. I appreciate the exhaustive work of groups like the 1619 Project for exploring slavery in ancient times. In Biblical times, slavery was based more on economics; it was a matter of social status. People even sold themselves as slaves when they could not pay their debts or provide for their families. What the Bible does condemn is race-based slavery in that it teaches that all men are created by God and made in His image (Genesis 1:27). Both the Old and New Testaments condemn the practice of “man-stealing,” which is what happened in Africa in the 16th to 19th centuries. Africans were rounded up by slave-hunters, who sold them to slave-traders in the North America. This practice is repulsive to God. In fact, the penalty for it in the Law was death: “Anyone who kidnaps another and either sells him or still has him when he is caught must be put to death” (Exodus 21:16). In the New Testament, slave-traders are listed among those who are “ungodly and sinful” and are in the same category as those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, adulterers and perverts, and liars and perjurers (1 Timothy 1:10).

Know this… the purpose of the Bible is not to reform society but to point the way to salvation. When the Bible approaches societal issues, its always through the lens of the believers. If a person experiences the love, mercy, and the saving grace of God through trust in Jesus, God will reform his soul, changing the way he thinks and acts in society. In our text today a slave named Onesimus had stolen property from Philemon and had run away. Paul as an apostle, had authority in the church over the local ministries and members. But the Bible says that Paul chose to make a request instead of a command. “Yet, for love’s sake I rather appeal to you…”

FIRST Paul says, “I am sending him back.” V.12

RECEIVE HIM AND REFRESH MY HEART - There seems to be an allusion to the name Onesimus, which signifies profitable. Onesimus means "useful." Paul used a play on words, saying that Onesimus had not been much use to Philemon in the past but now had become very useful to both Philemon and Paul. Although Paul wanted to keep Onesimus with him, he was sending Onesimus back, requesting that Philemon receive him even though he ran away. We need to be useful. I always get a side look when I make the true statement, “If you can’t be used, you are useless.” Paul said, “For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever…” Now he will properly answer to his name. Now he has purpose in Christ and is useful. Onesimus had wronged Philemon and stole from him and ran away from him and lived as if he were his own but he was not his own; because he belonged to a system, his master was man and not God. But Paul says that now he is useful because in his running from man he found the grace of God! So, Paul pleads with Philemon not to hold his past misconduct against him, but to receive him now, anew and forever. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”