The sermon by Robert Bosley explores the Epistle to Philemon, focusing on Christian unity within the family of God. It addresses the historical context of Roman slavery and how the letter has been used controversially in the slavery debate. Paul’s main concern is not to address slavery directly but to maintain unity in the church. The sermon highlights the familial imagery used by Paul, emphasizing that the church is a family bonded by faith in Christ. Philemon is presented as an example of Christian love, showing love through practical actions. The sermon stresses that faith in Christ is the source of Christian unity and encourages believers to actively participate in the church community, demonstrating love through deeds and prayer. It challenges listeners to examine their own faith and commitment to the church as a family.

If you could turn in your copy of God's Word to the Epistle to Philemon, a short little book right before the book of Hebrews. So if you find Hebrews, you've gone too far. Blow it to the left. Any time that you begin to study a book or a passage, at least for myself, I'm always amazed at how much depth there is when you really start to dig into a passage. And as you look at this book, it seems almost inappropriate to even call it a book, and most of your Bibles is a page.

But it is truly remarkable what God has given us in this short little letter. And when you study a passage or a section of scripture, one thing that is of great help to all of us as we study is to try and read as much of the context as possible in one sitting. If you can read an entire book in one sitting that's fantastic that may not work for isaiah but other books will you can knock out easily in one sitting so though we're only going to focus on the first seven or so verses we will read the entire entire letter so follow along with me in your copy as I begin Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy our brother to Philemon our beloved friend and fellow laborer to the beloved Apheia and Archipas our fellow soldier and to the church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting. Yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. I am sending him back.

You therefore receive him, that is, my own heart, whom I wish to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But without your consent I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he is wronged, you are owes anything, put that on my account.

I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay, not to mention that you owe me even your own self besides. Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord. Having confidence of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow laborers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Well, Father, we come before you in the name of your son and we ask Lord for your help open up our hearts and our minds that we may understand your word God give us eyes to see and ears to hear that we may know what you are teaching us through these words.

Help me Lord to speak as I ought to speak and God above all. May you be pleased and glorified in our time together in Christ name. Amen. So this short little letter to Philemon has a controversial history. It is a controversial letter.

And that controversy is mainly fueled because this book centers around one of the darker facets of human history, the concept and institution of slavery. The problem is that this epistle has been used on both sides of the debate on slavery, used by some to defend slavery in any form at any cost and also used by others to argue for the abolition of slavery in all forms. And this is partly due to the result, or this is partly due to the fact that the Apostle Paul does not clearly call for the end of slavery, nor does he clearly put a seal of approval on it either way. Neither does he even call for the implementation of the more humane servitude that we find in the Old Testament that was permitted under the law. And though some argue, and I agree with them, that Paul does intend for Philemon to free Onesimus.

The letter as a whole does not address the moral problem of slavery as an institution or a concept directly." Now, At this time in the Roman Empire, slavery was universal. It was also varied. There were different kinds of slavery. Some slaves were permitted wide freedom. Some even had their own families or even businesses.

Others were abused and degraded in the worst ways imaginable and were treated as less than property. We do not know the status exactly of Onesimus other than the fact that he was some form of slave. Unlike American slavery, the slavery of the Romans was not based on race and the slaves were typically acquired via conquest or persons selling themselves into slavery to pay off debts and children born to enslaved parents became slaves as well. At its height, at the height of its power, Rome's population in Italy was about one-third slaves. The empire wide, about one-fifth.

So slavery was a universal and constant fact of life. Many slaves would be freed by their masters at some point, but until then the slave was essentially the property of the master. And therefore a runaway slave and anyone aiding him would be breaking Roman law as a thief. They were stealing a tool. They were stealing the slave's body from the master.

So that's the historical context as we come to this book and what is in the backdrop as we read through these. As far as we can tell from what Paul says to Philemon, Onesimus was apparently a slave of some sort of this man Philemon, who had run away. Possibly in the process of running away, he may have stolen something, some money or something valuable that he would be able to use to be able to fund his escape, per what verse 18 indicates. And either intentionally, Onesimus seeking him out or simply in the gracious providence of God, Onesimus found the apostle Paul, imprisoned, most likely in Rome. And by God's grace, Onesimus became a believer.

And now Paul, imprisoned, has to deal with, well, what do I do now? This is a man who has run away from his master, he's a slave, he's... I'm breaking Roman law, he's breaking Roman law. What do we do as Christians now? How do we fix this situation?

And that is Paul's concern here, how the two realities of freedom in the gospel and Roman slavery come together in the Christian church. That is the backdrop of this epistle. And so when we read through this, and we may be dissatisfied or confused about why Paul doesn't more, doesn't address slavery more head on, the fundamental reason is because Paul's main purpose is to maintain unity in the church. He is not writing a political treatise on how to reform Roman government and laws regarding the institution of slavery. That's not his purpose.

His purpose is on bringing reconciliation to two Christians. That is Paul's purpose here. And so, as a result, we have a short and immensely practical book that speaks volumes on what Christian unity looks like in even the most difficult circumstance of life. Now this letter was almost certainly written and sent at the same time of the book of Colossians. The parallels and the tie-ins together are overwhelming.

Both are sent by the hand of Onesimus. Colossians 4.9 refers to Onesimus as being one of the bearers of the letter to the Colossian church. He clearly is being sent with this epistle. Both letters list Timothy as a co-author. Both refer to Paul being imprisoned.

Both have a similar list of people sending their greetings at the end of the epistle Epaphras mark aristarchus Demas and Luke Both address archipelago and indicate that he is has some sort of role in ministry Colossians 417 Paul tells him to fulfill the ministry he has received from the Lord, and here he is called a fellow soldier with Paul. Both address the themes of unity and love in connection to faith in Christ. And so therefore we can conclude that Philemon is a resident of Colossi and as is his slave Onesimus. And the Colossian church met at least sometimes in Philemon's home and Archibos is perhaps an elder in the church. As I mentioned, this book is a very short book, only 335 words in the original language.

It's the smallest epistle that we have of the Apostle Paul, and it is intensely focused on the practical. Considering its author, the Apostle Paul, is amazingly non theological, at least overtly, considering what we normally expect from the Apostle Paul. However, when we compare it and read it in conjunction with the book of Colossians, we see the theological background that is driving this little book. Its larger companion, Colossians, is the theological underpinnings of this book in many ways. In Colossians we have a magnificent treatise on the grand and sovereign power of Christ in his rule over all things, in his gathering of people to himself by his redemptive work.

And now Philemon takes that theology and makes it practical. Philemon shows us what theology looks like with its boots on. Scott McKnight in his commentary, he puts it this way and it's a fantastic description. The letter is highly suggestive of what theology looks like on the ground level as the apostle becomes pastor and friend. And so today we're just going to look at the first seven verses where Paul sets up his foundation for his appeal on behalf of Onesimus.

And the main takeaway that I want you to get from this, The main thing I want you to be listening for and trying to grasp from these verses is that faith in Christ creates a new family community built on love. Faith in Christ creates a new family community built on love. So as we read through these first couple of verses, first I want us to see that Christian unity is found in this family community. Paul writing, he says, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow laborer, to the beloved Apheia, archipice, our fellow soldier and the church in your house. And so here Paul, referring to Timothy as his co-author, he calls him a brother.

Some versions actually will call Apheia sister. Later on, he refers sister. Later on, he refers to Philemon again as brother. He refers to Onesimus as a beloved brother in verse 16. He refers to Onesimus as his son, his child, but he has begotten in his chains.

And so Paul is using all this household imagery to communicate this idea that the church is a family in the most real sense. The church is a family. Paul here is taking the idea of a family with the patriarch and his children and bringing that into the church. The apostle here who is at least humanly speaking responsible it seems for the conversion of not only in this month but also Philemon as well as many of these other brothers that he he's listing he's setting himself up as this fatherly figure Paul the aged. He never refers to himself as the apostle here.

He always is using these family terms. And so he is setting himself up as his father over this household. Obviously not father in the most extreme sense that is reserved for God the father whom he says grace to you and peace from God our father so Paul is a sort of fatherly figure underneath the supreme father the holy father over all Christians God the father And even the language of the church, in your house, the idea of a house church might be a little unusual to us today, but in the beginning of the church, that's all they had. There were no buildings that they could come to. And so churches would meet in homes, not unlike what we do on Wednesday nights.

They would meet together in the home of someone who had a large enough space and they would worship together in a home. And we all, I think, can, from our own experience, can see how much that intimacy and that togetherness inside someone's house creates a family bond among us in the church, just even being in someone's home together. And so the church meets in the house, they are brothers and sisters to one another. So much so are they a family that Paul expects this letter to be read in the church. Did you notice that Paul greets the church?

He doesn't just address Philemon and Apheah, who seems to possibly be his wife, we don't know. But he addresses the church, to the church in your house. So this letter is intensely personal. Here he's using the second person plural word, you, you all, greeting grace and peace to you all and ours, but soon he moves into the singular. It becomes a conversation between Paul and Philemon directly.

This is an intensely personal letter, but Paul expects it to be read to the whole church, or at least he expects it's a possibility. And so we may think, well, that seems awfully odd. Why would Paul want this dirty laundry to be aired in front of all the congregation? Well, it's not airing out dirty laundry. This is a family loving one another and supporting one another and bearing one another's burdens.

And we see parallels of this kind of language of the family throughout the New Testament. We read one of them this morning in Galatians chapter 3, which I should have marked. But Galatians 3, he says, actually no, we didn't read this, we were like Colossians 3. Galatians 3, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you were baptized, as were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise Paul uses this language this family language throughout and lest we think it's only a concept that Paul has Second Peter also uses much of the same language. Second Peter three verses eight and nine. Peter writes, but beloved do not forget, sorry, not second Peter three. First Peter three, eight and nine.

Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another. Love as brothers. Be tender hearted, be courteous, not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. So Peter there uses the language of inheritance, of loving one another as brothers. This family language is throughout the New Testament.

And this is because Christian unity is found in this family-like community that we call the church. And we are to view one another as beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, family members, members of God's household, loving one another and caring for one another, building one another up. And while it's not strictly a family term, I do want to jump back to verse 1. Paul calls himself the prisoner of Christ Jesus. Now here I think there are a few things going on.

Paul is using the language of a prisoner. This is the only time he uses this as his, so to speak, title in a greeting of his epistle. Usually the apostle Paul likes to pull rank, so to speak. But here he uses the term prisoner. He's a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

And I think what he's doing here is he's identifying himself with Onesimus, a prisoner and a slave not much different in many ways. And he's showing that even he, the great apostle Paul, missionary to the Gentiles, he's no better than Onesimus. They are one, they are together. And also I do actually think there's a play on words, a dual meaning here, the emphasis in when he's saying prisoner is a reference to the fact that Paul is literally in prison. He's writing from prison.

But I think there's also another sense in which the of, a prisoner of Christ Jesus can be taken here. And I think it, like Paul, when he says that he's an apostle of the Lord Jesus, he is the apostle working for the Lord Jesus. He's the apostle that belongs to the Lord Jesus. Here I think he's saying he has been taken prisoner by Jesus. There is a real sense in which when Christ renews your heart and you repent and put your faith in him, you have been captured by one greater than you.

Christ has conquered your heart if you are in him. Parallel to this 2 Corinthians 2, 14 where Paul says that Christ leads us in triumph. Many people will think that that is the idea of Christ will cause us to triumph in everything we do and that's not what's being meant there. The language of a triumph or triumphal procession is the idea of what the Roman generals would do when they successfully captured a new country or a new city. They would go through the city in a triumph and march their soldiers behind the general and then behind the soldiers the captives from the battle and so the idea there in second 2nd Corinthians 2 14 is not that Jesus causes us to triumph in whatever we're doing it's that Jesus has triumph in his conquest of his people He has conquered us by his work.

Jesus has the victory over our sins, over our rebellion, and has brought us to himself. He is our general, he is our Lord, and he has mastered us. And so this language of prisoner, of the conquest of Jesus on the soul, brings together all believers in this family, this mutual community where everyone looks around regardless of differences and says, yes, that's my brother. Yes, that's my sister. Secondly, I want us to see that faith in Christ is the source of Christian unity.

So Christian unity is found in this new family community and faith in Christ is the source of this Christian unity. Paul says, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith, which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. And the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." Paul is constantly in prayer for the believers that he knows, particularly believers that he's worked with. We read this over and over in his letters. He is constantly bringing them before the Lord.

He says, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers. Paul is bringing Philemon before the Lord, and why is he doing this? Verse 5, the hearing, this is the basis for why Paul brings Philemon before the Lord. Hearing of your love and faith. And I think here what is intended is that love is the love toward the saints and faith is toward the Lord Jesus.

Here, a little, permit me to be a little technical for a second. I think what we have here is what's called a chiasm. And a chiasm is where you have an arrangement of topics with an emphasis on a set of topics in the middle of the arrangement. And So what I mean is you have topic A, then B, and then you go back through those topics in reverse order. So you hit B again and C.

And so the emphasis is on that B topic. As an example, the Sabbath was not made for, or sorry, man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. That's a chiasm. Man, Sabbath, Sabbath, man. Okay?

I think here we have another chiasm. Love, faith. Then verse 6, faith, verse 7, love. And so that's why I think the love and faith in verse five, it's faith towards Jesus, love towards the saints. Okay?

So Paul's constant prayers on behalf of Philemon are prompted by these ongoing reports about Philemon's love and his faith. Philemon loves the saints and he has faith in Christ. Now here faith is preeminent. Faith has the preeminence here. It's the center point of the chiasm.

You have love, then faith, faith, then love. So the emphasis is on faith. And verse six, he says that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Now, I don't particularly care for the way the New King James renders this because when we hear the sharing of your faith, what do we immediately think of? We think of evangelism.

Sharing your faith is an idiom in English for evangelism, making disciples. We go out and we share our faith. That's not what's meant here. And so I really enjoy, I really think the meaning is captured by the net translation the NET it's called the net because it's free online it's kind of a dumb pun they made but whatever but the net renders it really well I think he says I pray that the faith you share with us may deepen your understanding of every blessing that belongs to you in Christ. That's the emphasis here.

That it's not the sharing of faith in the communication of faith to outsiders, it's the fellowship we have together in this common faith we have in Christ. That's the fellowship, the sharing of faith, the fellowship of faith. The main thrust of this is that their common faith is the cord that binds them together. And it is an actual power at work helping them to know the blessings that are theirs in Christ. And so faith is the source of Christian unity.

He says that the sharing or the fellowship of your faith may become effective, New King James, by the acknowledgement, I think, better to or in the knowledge of every good thing in Christ. Every blessing that we have as believers we have because of our faith in Christ and the in Christ is key. It's not simply a faith on its own, it's faith in Christ. And every blessing comes to you because you are in Christ and the blessing is in Christ. It's all about being united to Him by faith.

And through this common faith, believers have unity together. And so Paul is praying that the shared experience of their common trust in Jesus would bring Vilemon and all believers understanding of every good thing that is our common lot as Christians. He wants him to understand and the common lot, the good thing that is at the forefront of this epistle is unity and reconciliation. Regardless of what may be trying to divide you from your brother or your sister, in Christ you are one. And that is Paul's point.

Our common faith bringing us together in this household. So faith in Christ is the source of Christian unity. And then finally, this family community is built on and held together by love. Again, he says that he's hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. Then verse 7, for we have great joy and consolation from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother." And so Philemon is here presented as an example of Christian love.

Think about that for a second. That's not a very popular idea today that Philemon, a slave holder, is in a way an example of Christian love. You have the social justice crowd that is ready to say Jonathan Edwards wasn't even a Christian because he had slaves. I believe that the American system of slavery was evil and it was not lawful even under the Old Testament. But the idea that we can throw a man out of the kingdom for that kind of a blind spot, it doesn't stand up to what this letter says.

Philemon is an example of Christian love, even though he's a slave owner. Well, how is Philemon an example of Christian love? Well, Paul says that because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. Now this is not the normal word for the heart. The Greek word that we expect for heart is kardia.

We hear that in our English in numerous ways. Here it's not that word, And this is your Greek lesson for today. This is the word splachna. It's a lot of fun to say. Splachna.

So it doesn't literally refer to the heart like Kardia does. This refers to the guts, the entrails, the center of your being. This is where in the Greek and the Near Eastern mind was the seed of the emotions, which honestly makes a lot more sense. We say, you know, I love you with all my heart, but where do you really feel the effect of your emotions? Your stomach.

You get butterflies in the stomach when you're nervous. You feel a deep pit in your stomach when you're frightened. You feel the warm and fuzzies from your stomach when you're in love. It feels like it radiates from the stomach. And so that's what the idea here is.

This is referring more to the seat of the emotions. And so what Philemon has done is, it seems that he in some way has comforted other believers in their distress. He has shown his love by actions that have comforted believers in their anxieties. He has helped other believers to have peace of mind. He has been a comfort to those whose emotions and distresses have been overwhelming.

And I don't think you generally can do that just by telling someone you'll pray for them. He's shown his love. He's not just claimed it by word. He's demonstrated love practically to believers and probably not only the Colossian Church by opening up his home to them. Although that is a real way to show love for believers.

But Paul calls him not only a beloved friend, but fellow laborer. Perhaps Philemon joined Paul at some point in one of his missionary journeys or was helpful to Paul in gathering financial support or evangelism in some way, Philemon has shown practical love towards the saints. And so he has relieved and removed their anxieties and helped them in their distress. And the idea of refreshing, he has refreshed the hearts of the saints. This imagery of refreshment or rest is a term that is often used to refer to Sabbath rest in the Old Testament or eschatological rest in the eternal kingdom.

And I think what Paul is getting at here is that Philemon has been a conduit of God's rest to other believers. In real ways Philemon has personally benefited other Christians as a means of God's grace, not saving grace, but his grace in comfort and in preservation for his people. So that God's people have been given rest by God through Philemon in some way. And so we have here a very clear demonstration that love in the church is practical. It's not simply words, but it's doing good.

It's helping your brothers and sisters in their need because as we said earlier, Christian unity is found in this family community. And what do brothers and sisters do? Any functioning, loving household, what do brothers and sisters do? They love one another, not just in word, but indeed. And so, what does this all mean for us?

Now we haven't gotten to the real body of the epistle, the meat of it, so to speak, we'll get there next week as we actually begin to deal with Onesimus and Paul's appeal. But I want us to see that these three things, the Christian unity being found in this family community, faith in Christ being the source of Christian unity, and the fact that the family community is built on love. All of this is laying the groundwork for Paul's appeal to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus. So when we get back to this and start with verse 8 next week, have these things in mind, this family concept, this unity based on faith and this love in the household of God. This is the starting point of Paul's appeal on behalf of this newly converted runaway slave.

But practically what does it mean for us? Well first I want to ask you, are you neglecting the family community of the church? Is church just something you go to on Sunday? Or do you look around and genuinely see beloved brothers and sisters in Jesus? I'm not saying you have to remember everyone's name or birthdate of all the kids.

Half the time I don't remember all my kids' birthdays, let alone all yours, sorry. But, but do we have that heartfelt affection for one another? That love, That we look at one another and see a brother, if they're in need, I will give you the shirt off my back if that's what you need. Do we have that passionate, God-empowered love for one another? And I know in my own heart so often I don't.

God help me. So are you neglecting the family community of the church? Secondly, 1 John 3 18, my little children, do not let us love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth. That love that you ought to have, that you hopefully say you have for one another, is it merely words? Real love works and it sacrifices and it lays its life down for those in need.

Real love, real love puts others first and seeks to meet their needs. One simple way is to remember your brothers and sisters in prayer. It's so easy just to say I'll pray for you and to forget all about it. I've done it myself. But Paul here he says, I make, I thank my God making mention of you always in my prayers Paul I'm sure had quite the prayer list Of all these brothers and sisters that he knew from all over the Mediterranean And he probably regularly brought them before the Lord and are we doing that?

Start there if you need help on how you can practically love for one another I know we don't always think of prayer as being practical prayer is practical Your brothers and sisters need your prayers. And lastly, the foundation of all of it all, do you have faith? Faith is the source of it all. Faith in Christ is what brings Christian unity. Faith in Christ is what creates this family community.

Faith in Christ is what gives this true heartfelt love for one another. Do you have that kind of faith? Has Christ conquered your heart and made you his prisoner? Unity will be a farce and true love impossible if you are not first reconciled to God. So I urge you, examine yourself.

See that you are in the faith. Ask yourself the hard questions. Am I trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone today? Not did I make a decision years ago or did I pray a prayer? Have I been baptized?

Are you trusting him today? Not perfectly, but are you trusting him? Is he your hope and he alone? Because only faith in him allows you to partake in all these other blessings. All good things are ours only in Christ Jesus.

Let's pray. Our Father, we come before you Lord and we just we beg you God for help for we are so frail so needy often so focused on ourselves our own little world and often neglecting our brothers and sisters and neglecting you. Oh Lord give us hearts of love, hearts inflamed with love for your son and hearts of love and compassion toward one another god build us up that we may truly be a church that is a family that we see one another as brothers and sisters genuinely loving one another as a family. Oh God, help us. Help us, Lord, to be faithful.

Help us, Lord, to find those needs and meet them. And God, may you be glorified in all that we do and in the work that you are doing in our own church and in the church around the world. God may you be glorifying for this great saving work you have done in bringing together a numberless multitude from every nation, tribe, and language. God thank you for your work. Thank you for reconciling us.

God, may that reconciliation be made real in our hearts by faith and toward one another in love. In Jesus name, amen.