A writer once said that youth is wasted on the young because they have all the energy and nothing to do and we have all the things to do and no energy. But I hope you have some energy to stay with me this morning as we look into God's word. One of the buzz words that I'm hearing a lot now in our culture, particularly in Canadian culture, is the expression culture change. That there needs to be a change to culture and there needs to be agents of change in culture and this is being talked about in a lot of different ways.
Some are very positive, some are very concerning. Someone recently in a class asked me, how does God bring about culture change? And it's a very good question in our current day when people are talking about culture change and one of the examples we see of how God brings about culture change is found in a little epistle in the New Testament, the book of Philemon. So if you have a Bible with you or the electronic means to look it up, if you would go to the epistle of Philemon, some people pronounce it Philemon, whichever works for you, I'm going to call it Philemon this morning.
Before we get into it though, let's focus our attention on the Lord in prayer. Let's pray. Our Lord and our God in our thoughts, we desire to continue to praise you for you are worthy of our praise. Lord, as we gather here, we recognize that you are all that we have sung about and infinitely more, that you are the Lord and there is no other, that you reign supreme in the universe, that you are the King of kings and Lord of lords, that you make the plans and they are never thwarted, that you are holy, that you are righteous, that you are just, that you are merciful, loving and compassionate.
Lord, we recognize that we in our natural selves have no right to stand in your presence, because our sins separated us from you, but you and your great love for us, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Lord, we thank you for so great a salvation as purchased through the precious blood of Christ, so that all those who put their trust in His finished work are now the children of God, made righteous through His righteousness. Lord, this morning as we gather here as a body, we recognize the presence of your spirit in us and with us. We ask that you would remove distractions from us, those things that catch our minds and pull us away in our thoughts.
Lord, focus us here. We thank you for your word which you have given to us. We pray now that you will speak to us through it, for your glory and yours alone in Jesus Christ. Amen.
So to give you some background, because when this letter was written and circulated, it is considered one of the prison epistles, one of the letters that Paul wrote while he was imprisoned in Rome, the context for it would have been immediately known to the hearers, but were 2000 years removed, so let's give a little bit of context. Paul is writing this letter to a gentleman named Philemon. We know a bit about Philemon, we know that Philemon was a prosperous Roman who came to faith in Christ through the ministry of the Apostle Paul, and then he and Apophorus traveled to Colossae where they were instrumental in establishing a church in that city. The church met in Philemon's home, which also tells us that he was a successful man because he was able to have a home large enough to be able to welcome believers in his home regularly.
We also know as a prosperous Roman, he was part of Roman financial culture. Roman culture was built on an economy of slaves. There were more slaves within the Roman Empire than there were free men. Everyone from the bureaucrat to the teacher, the civil servants, most craftsmen, most of them were slaves.
It was a slave economy. And Philemon owned slaves, as everyone else in his culture who were prosperous Romans. And so we come to this little epistle, this little letter on the occasion of something that's happened. The idea of Philemon's slaves has committed a crime against him and then ran away.
Now, as I said, Rome is an economy built on slavery, and you have to maintain that economy. And the Romans and their pragmatic way of dealing with everything were very practical about this. If a slave ran away, the punishment was death because you can't have slaves thinking they can run away and get away with it because then all the slaves will be run away. Generally done by crucifixion, those strangulation was also acceptable.
So Philemon has a slave, his name is Onissimus, and he has wronged him and then run away. Onissimus finds his way to Rome and encounters the Apostle Paul. Whether he's seeking Paul out intentionally, hoping for some help from him, or whether it's simply through divine circumstance, Onissimus the running slave and Paul encounter one another. And Onissimus comes to faith in Christ.
So now here's the Apostle Paul. He's got Onissimus here, a new believer in Christ, and a runaway slave. He's got his master, Philemon, known to Paul. Paul led him to Christ and discipled him, who's the man by Roman law has the right, first of all to have the slave return to him, and secondly to take this man's life.
That's the culture in which the church is operating. Now let's read this little letter. Starting at verse 1, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our dear friend and fellow worker, to Afriya, our sister, and the grippess, our fellow soldier, and to the church that meets in your home. Grace to you in peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints. Now I want to tell you that this letter is in a way written following a template.
In Greco-Roman culture, there were letters of persuasion that you would write to someone when you wanted to get something from them, and they were always laid out the same way. You always began with introducing yourself, then you had what was known as the flattery, then you would give your request and your persuasion to that end. So at first look, it looks like Paul is going, oh, I wonder how you write a letter like this. Hmm, what does Gramerly say?
Ooh, there's a persuasive letter, I'll try that. Though it demonstrates Paul's understanding of the writing of the time, we know that Paul isn't starting with flattery. Paul's giving an honest assessment of this man that he's writing to, and he's commanding him in his faith, and this is important because this is going to lead into what Paul has to talk to him about. He's saying, brother, I know what your life is like.
I've heard of your faith in Christ. I know how you love the saints. I know how you are helping to contribute in the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this.
I've heard it about you, and I want to encourage you in it, because now I have something I need you to wrestle with. Verse 8, therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do, yet I appeal to you on the basis of love. I then, as Paul, an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my son, Onissimus, 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.
So all of a sudden, Paul's written the first part. Onissimus, or Philemon's reading, this and going, oh, thank you, Paul. That really blesses me. And then he's mentioned, so I've got something I could, I want you to know, I've got something I've got to talk to you about.
And I have the authority as an apostle to tell you what you're going to do, to simply order you to do it. But I don't want to order you to do what I want you to understand why you need to act this way. And then he drops the proverbial grenade in there. He mentions, so I have my son here, Onissimus, which is immediately going to get Philemon's attention.
Like, oh, I know Onissimus. Ironically, the name Onissimus means useful or valuable. And he's not lived up to that for Philemon at all. But Paul is playing on that name when he says, formerly he was useless to you, but now he's 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'm 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 is done at 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 write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
And one thing more, prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers. Apophorus, my fellow prisoner in Christ, Jesus, sends you greetings. And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
In this short epistle, the Holy Spirit through Paul is throwing a hand grenade into an entire culture. An entire culture which is based on economy of slavery, which is based on denigrating the value of some for profit. Paul is stepping in and saying, Filemon, you know, onissimus? According to your culture, he is your property.
According to your culture, he deserves death. Now let me introduce you to onissimus, your brother in Christ, who is saved by the same salvation that saved you. Who has the same value as a brother in Christ that you have to me. And Paul is basically saying, so, Filemon, what are you going to do with that?
I'm sending him back to you. What are you going to do with that? Because your church now has their eyes on you. The community now has their eyes on you.
This was a circular letter, so other churches are going to be looking at this and wrestling with it too. What do you do? One of the complaints often made by liberation theologists against the Word of God, and particularly in the New Testament, is that neither Jesus nor Paul stand up and say, slavery is evil. And there's been many comments about that, why that particular social ill was not dealt with front on.
Part of it is, if you stood up in Roman culture and said, slavery is evil, on an economy built solely on a slave economy, you wouldn't exist. And also because you cannot legislate morality. So what the Holy Spirit is doing through this letter to Filemon is saying, Filemon, look at your culture, and look at who you are in Christ. Because too often we live as schizophrenic personalities, culturally, where we live our Christianity here, but we live our culture here.
Someone used the expression that we live in the realms of the secular and the sacred. But what Paul is saying is, sorry, when you're in Christ, there is no secular. Everywhere we place our feet is holy, because we brought the God of the universe into that place. Every situation should be sacred because the God of the universe is present in us, if we are followers of Christ.
So we do not have the freedom. Basically, Filemon realizes if he acts like his culture and treats his brother in Christ as his property, if he takes his life like he has the freedom to do in his culture, how does that reflect the body of Christ? When anthropologist has said that it was this mindset of recognizing that Christianity through the gospel changes how people interact with people became that pick that kept shipping away at a worldwide concept of slavery and the denigration of people, constantly picking, constantly. So even when cultures would try to build up slavery again, it was always being undermined by this.
Well, how does this work? So what does it look like for us? And we see this even when we talk about slavery, when we look at Colossians where this issue is addressed in Philemon's Church, in Colossians chapter 3 starting to read at verse 22, Paul says to the church, Slaves, obey your earthly masters and everything and do it not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not men. Since you know that you will receive and inheritance from the Lord as a reward, it is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong and there is no favoritism. Masters provide your slaves with that which is right and fair because you know that you also have a master in heaven. So again, our whole view begins to change. Why do we do what we do?
Do we do it out of compulsion or do we do it as we serve the Lord? A number of years ago, a number of us were laid off from a ministry position and I had to find a job and so I got a job at a large Swedish furniture store and I worked as a cashier. Now I never worked as a cashier at my life. My supervisor was 19.
She was amazing. I made mistakes all the time. But it was interesting because you know, human pride is a terrible thing and it's like, okay, I used to be a teacher and I was a pastor and now I'm sitting at a cash register and really having to spend a lot of time going to the Lord and said, Lord, you need to give me the attitude to go to work today. To do this for you, not for some Swedish corporation but I will go and do this for you.
And one of the blessings that came is one day my supervisor came to me and said, the other people on the team call you the cashier pastor because they say, when you're on shift, they feel better because you're calm because you care for them because you look after them and she made the comment to me. He said, I was wondering how you would act when you weren't the leader in a church but we're doing a minimum wage job. And I realized how much, how we live out in regular culture affects our testimony. A story was told in the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in England as factories were beginning to be developed and there was a lot of money to be made and a lot of the rural people were moving into the cities and they were poor and they were looking for work, huge advantage was taken.
Conditions were terrible. People were abused, injuries and death were common because there was always more poor people to come and work. One gentleman pushed back against this, he was a believer in Christ and he said, I have a responsibility to my fellow man and I have a responsibility to my lord to act in a way that would reflect Christ. So he totally changed how his factory was to be run.
He put in safety protocols, he put in hours of work. He ensured that everyone had Sunday off which was not a common practice. He removed children from working in the factory. He made sure that those that were ill, he paid that a doctor could visit them.
And his colleagues around him said, you're full because you're spending your profits. And he said, but I am responsible to my master and how my master would treat those under him. Within 10 years he had the most profitable corporation in Britain. He was never for want for laborers.
His laborers were happy. Their production was higher than anyone else. So all the other ones around him worked against him through government to shut him down and they succeeded. And you may look at that note, that's not a great encouragement to us to walk in the sacred in the midst of a secular culture.
But today most of the rules that we have that protect people in industry, most of them started on the model he created. So even though in the moment they shut him down, when people started to go, you can't treat people this way, they went back to his model and said, how do you treat people fairly and safely in factories? In the 1800s in Britain, of course, because of the Industrial Revolution, there was a huge issue with orphans. And if you've read any of Charles Dickens, you know how bleak those places were.
They were horrible places where children were taken and put in work houses and used as incredibly cheap labor until they were broken or until they died. Charles Dickens, English author, was also an activist against orphanages and poor houses because he had experienced some of that in his youth. And he heard that in Bristol, England, there was a massive orphanage. And so Charles Dickens went to that orphanage to write an expose, exposing its horrors.
The orphanage was run by a gentleman named George Mueller. And when Charles Dickens arrived at the orphanage in Bristol, George Mueller said to one of his employees, he got out his large ring of keys and gave it to him and said, take this gentleman, open every door of every closet, every cupboard, every cellar, every attic, make sure he sees everything. Answer every question he has until he is satisfied. Charles Dickens spent the entire day going through everything.
He talked to the children, he talked to the teenagers, he talked to the servants, he talked to the groundskeepers. At the end he came back and he said, sir, I have never seen a more humanely run institution. It is what has been my hope. And I would gladly promote what you are doing through every avenue I have.
And George Mueller told him why. Because he said, as a follower of Christ, he desired to reflect Christ to the orphans so that they would come to the saving knowledge of Christ. Too often we live a life where we keep separating the two. We cannot do that.
Because you see, the way culture changes is culture changes when people encounter Christ. And people encounter Christ when they see Christ lived out in culture. When they see something different in us. Some years ago, talking with a group of church leaders, one church was in the process of appointing new elders and deacons.
We were talking about the process. They looked at the man in church. They talked to the man's wife. They talked to his children.
But then they asked to meet the man's employer. Or the man's clients. Or they visited the man's neighbor. And said, this person is taking on a position in our church that has great importance and high trust.
Can we talk to you a little bit about what is your experience with this man? And they said they had one man who was well known in the church. He was an expositor of scripture. He was well respected in the church.
But when they spoke to his boss, his boss was quite pleased and said he's hard. Always gets the job done. Then they spoke to his coworkers. And there was not one good word said about the man.
Said he maligns others. He'll step on anyone. He needs to step on. He's climbed the ladder by using and abusing and casting aside.
Everybody who worked under him. And they had to go to the man and said, brother, your life in church and your life in the culture of the world, they don't match. Because in church, you reflect Christ. And in the world, you reflect the world.
This cannot be. So we are called to reflect Christ in our culture. Which means we are called to be holy people. To be loving people.
People who still speak the truth in love. So just as Philemon had to wrestle with what he was going to do and give you the other side of the story, church historians say that Onissimus did return to Colossae. Eventually, he moved to Ephesus where he became one of the elders of the church in Ephesus. So Philemon didn't have him executed.
It appears that he walked alongside him and then released him to the ministry God had called him to do. To be useful for the kingdom of God. And how many churches knew that story. How many leaders had to wrestle with that themselves.
One historian has written one of the great things about the early church is that there were masters and slaves who went to church together. And when they gathered around the Lord's table, there were no masters or slaves. And in some cases, there were slaves in their work who were elders in the church. And the masters in their secular life sat under their authority in the church.
I love that. When the message of the gospel changes and transforms people. And so that we then become the agents of change in culture. Not trying to change the culture, but God changing people through us.
So that people come to the saving knowledge of Christ. And then they walk against the culture of this world. Because the culture of this world aims in the end to simply destroy us all. That's the culture of this world.
In the end, we all lay in rubble. Because we feed into our own desires, we feed into our own greed. In the end, it simply destroys us all. But the culture of the gospel simply renews us and brings us on to glory.
So my encouragement to you today, as you wrestle with Philemon and look in your own life and say, Lord, if Paul were writing to me today through the Holy Spirit, is there something where he would show me where right now I am more secular than sacred? That right now I reflect the standards of the world rather than the person of Christ. I ask him to show you so that he can reveal that to you so that you can be Christ in every situation. Because as ambassadors for Christ, that's what we're called to be.
To be Christ in every situation so the world can find him. Let's pray. Father, we need your help. Because it's so easy to become saturated in the world's culture and how to respond and how to act, whether it's in work or school or relationships or entertainment or any of the things around us.
But Lord, just as you, through Paul, challenged Philemon's whole worldview, I pray that you would be challenging us, that you would be revealing to us through your spirit where we don't reflect Christ. And Lord then changed that in us. Draw us even more into the image of your own dear son. So when the world looks for a change, they would see it in the person of Jesus Christ.
When they see that this culture that we live in is only going to bring destruction, that they would see an alternative as they see Christ lived out and they would turn to his saving grace. Lord, do this work I pray in each of us. For your glory in Jesus Christ, amen.