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Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
St. Stephen's Anglican Church
The Rev. Jeffrey O. Cerar, September 8, 2013


A Community of Grace


Text: The Letter of Paul to Philemon

Why is the Letter to Philemon in the Bible? It is only 25 verses long—too short to divide into chapters. It reads like a personal letter. Many people who have been reading the Bible for years couldn't tell you what Philemon is all about. And yet, it stands there, just as much a part of the Word of God as the Gospel or the Torah, or the Psalms or the Prophets. It reaches out from the scriptures with the same power all the 66 books of the Bible have: the power to convict, the power to convert, the power to heal, the power to save. Let me speak with you for a few minutes on what makes the Book of Philemon such an important part of the Word of God. To summarize, this short letter is a microcosm of the Kingdom of God. It pulsates with grace, forgiveness, restoration and new life.

As such, it tells us about God, and it tells us about the Kingdom of God at work among His people. God has shed His grace on the believer; He has forgiven us our sins; He has restored us in our intimacy with Him; and He has given us new life. And because of that, He has drawn us into the Kingdom where that is how things are. Therefore, He expects us to live and move and have our being in lives of grace, forgiveness, and new life.

Let me give you the background about this letter that will help you see what is going on. Paul, who wrote this letter, was in prison in Rome. While he was there in Rome, a young pagan came to him whose name was "Onesimus." I'll tell you in a minute why it probably was that he sought out Paul in particular.

Onesimus had a very great problem. He was a runaway slave. Under the laws of the Roman Empire, a slave-owner who recovered one of his slaves who had run away could just about do what he wanted with that slave. He could even kill him. The man who owned Onesimus lived in Colossae. He must have been a man of substance, to have slaves. But what is most significant about him was that he was a Christian. In fact, he seems to have been a leader among the Christians in Colossae. The letter talks about Apphia and Archippus, who were probably his wife and son. And it talks about the church that met in their home.

So Philemon was the leader of a church that was planted by one of Paul's fellow evangelists. And he was a personal friend of Paul's. That is undoubtedly how Onesimus ended up with Paul in Rome. He would have heard his master speaking very highly about this man. When a slave ran away, he usually tried to disappear into the dregs of society. But that guilt and that death sentence hung over them forever. It may be that Onesimus couldn't live like that anymore, and he went looking for Paul, hoping to get some help with his problem.

This was the beginning of a deep relationship between Paul and Onesimus. At some point, Onesimus was converted and became a believer. Paul was active in ministry while he was in prison. He had a lot going on, and quite a few people were helping him spread the Gospel. Onesimus became one of Paul's valuable helpers. And more than that, as Paul says in this letter, he became like a son to Paul, who loved him.

When it came time to deal with Onesimus's problem, what Paul did was to send him back to his master, Philemon, carrying this letter. And what Paul asked of Philemon was to take him back, to forgive him, and to release him from slavery. He was asking something enormous of his friend—

But as I said in the beginning, this letter is a peek at the Kingdom of God. In the Kingdom of God, the focus is not on our legal rights, or our right to be angry with one another, or upon the opinions of the world. In the Kingdom of God, the focus is upon the way God does things. And Paul is asking Philemon to exercise grace, as God exercises grace.

What is grace? The simple definition is that grace is unmerited favor. It is something God does for us, even though we don't deserve it. It is something God does simply because He can and He wants to. Grace is the jewel and the centerpiece of our salvation, because what we deserve from God is to be found guilty of our sins and to be banished from God's presence. But God has chosen instead to love us, and to sweep away our guilt, and to wipe clean our slate, and to take us back into His kingdom.

Jesus told a parable that described God's grace in such a circumstance. It was the parable of the prodigal son. When the runaway son came slinking back in shame, the father not only forgave him, but he put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet; and he threw a banquet for him, and treated his son with undeserved honor.

That is grace. And that is what Paul was asking of Philemon. Why? Because Paul loved Onesimus. And He loved Philemon. And because both of them were believers who had come into God's kingdom. And because that is how things work in God's kingdom.

We have trouble understanding grace. It is hard for us to accept grace. And it is hard for us to dispense grace. I remember one time we were driving on the Delaware Turnpike on our way north. I pulled up to the toll booth, and the attendant waved me on through. I looked at her quizzically, and she shrugged her shoulders and said, "The car in front of you paid your toll." I didn't get it. For a while I tried to catch up with that car and see if it was somebody I knew. I couldn't figure out why a stranger would do such a thing. Maybe I had let them in when the traffic was backed up. What did I do to deserve this favor? I never did find out, and it bugged me for weeks.

As hard as it is for us to accept grace, we aren't any better at dispensing grace. The world drums into us that you get what you deserve. And the harder you work, the more you deserve. The more you risk, the more you invest, the more you sweat, the more your reward should be. But we serve a God who doesn't treat us that way. He wants to bless us, and He can do it. So He does. He is a God of grace, and grace rules in His kingdom.

So it was a big deal, but perfectly natural, for Paul to write to his friend and say, "Here is your runaway slave, whom I am returning to you. Treat him as a beloved brother. Set him free from his bondage." Freedom from bondage. Forgiveness. Forgiveness is a hallmark of the Kingdom of God. Without it, we are lost. We human beings have a way of messing things up by what we do. We call it sin, and we know all about sin, whether we like to talk about it or not.

That is what Paul is asking of Philemon in this letter. Not only was Onesimus a runaway slave, but there is a suggestion in verse 18 that he might have also stolen from his master. And Paul, confident in God's grace, and confident that God's Kingdom is supposed to reign in the midst of the believing community, says, "Forgive him. Wipe his slate clean. Set him free."

That freedom leads to new life. Onesimus' new life had already begun when he became a believer and was baptized into God's family. We can see evidence of that in Paul's statements about how important Onesimus had become in Paul's Gospel ministry. And we can see that new life working in his willingness to go back to Philemon and face up to his past. He didn't know whether he could trust in Philemon's generosity. He didn't know if he would have to pay for his crimes. But because he had come to know God's love and grace and forgiveness, he could now take whatever might befall him and know that he was going to be all right.

Paul's vision of that new life is an expansive one. It is expansive because Paul knows what God's vision of new life is, and he knows what new life is supposed to be like in the Kingdom of God. His vision is that Philemon would welcome Onesimus back as he would welcome Paul, a dear friend. (verse17) And his vision is that Philemon would receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but a "dear brother." (verse 16) In fact, Paul suggests that the reason that Philemon and Onesimus had been separated might well be so that Philemon "might have him back forever." (verse 16) In other words, Paul is saying it may be part of God's plan that this slave ran away so that he might go from being a pagan and a slave to a free man saved by grace for eternal life! That is grace. That is forgiveness. That is new life.

In the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch, we hear of a bishop who was greatly loved in the early church. His name was Onesimus. Could this be the same man saved by grace? He was the bishop of Ephesus after St. Timothy. Ephesus was a just a few miles west of Colossae. Who knows? In God's Kingdom, such things are supposed to be commonplace.

Do we have such a community here at St. Stephen's? Are we ruled by grace, forgiveness and new life?

John Stott has said the kingdom of God is both grace and demand. God showers His grace on us. And when He does so, He transforms us and the believing community in which we live. He has expectations for this community. He places demands on us—not because He expects us to earn what He has already given us—but because He expects us to be grace-filled ourselves.

Notice in the Letter to Philemon how Paul goes back and forth between asking and demanding. He says that he could demand this of Philemon, but instead he is asking, because he wants this blessing not to be forced, but to be voluntary. The lesson for us here is twofold. First, God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

And the second message we get from Paul's request of Philemon is that we ought not to be shy about asking big things of each other in the Body of Christ. What Jesus has set us about in this missionary community is the most important work in the world. All the tasks He gives us have great consequences. And He equips us with His power and His gifts so that we can do these things. I have never known a parishioner to leave because they felt we demanded too much of them. But people will leave if they feel unwelcome or uninvolved because not enough was demanded of them. People drift away not because they are working too hard, but because they are not being effectively included in the mission of the church. We should be bold in recruiting each other for Kingdom work.

Well! That is a lot to get out of a 25-verse letter to a friend about a runaway slave. But as God has said, not a word from His mouth returns to Him empty. Just as the rain falls to the earth and waters it, making it bud and flourish, (Isaiah 55:10-11) so the letter of Philemon gives us nourishment and insight and hope. God is the source of all grace, all forgiveness and all new life. And He has created in us a community that is defined by those qualities. Let us praise Him for His Word. Let us praise Him for His grace. Let us praise Him for His forgiveness. And let us live with joy the new life He has bestowed upon us.

© The Rev. Jeffrey O. Cerar, 2013

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