Philemon

This short little book gives us some keen insight into the ministry of Paul and his relationship with other people.  It is obvious that Paul and Philemon were close friends, yet Paul shows great respect for him while at the same time feeling free to challenge him to obedience.  It is obvious that Paul’s ministry was all about people and there were many of them in his life.  I think that we can all learn from the relational skills of Paul.  As I look at this book there are several key words that I think are important to consider as key lessons from this brief book.

REFRESHMENT: I love Paul’s description of Philemon’s ministry when he says “the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.”  Philemon was obviously wealthy enough to own slaves and had a big enough home that it the church met in his home.  He was faithfull to use his resources to refresh the lives of his brothers and sisters in Christ.  Apparently, Paul had stayed in his home in the past and I would imagine that many other ministers had been hosted by Philemon and his family.  Our homes, families and all that God has given us should be used as a source of refreshment for the body of Christ.  It is so easy for us to get caught up in our own world and the activities that fill our time and eat up our energy.  May the Lord help us to follow the example of Philemon and open our lives and our homes to the family of God.

REPENTANCE: In many ways, this is a story about a repentant sinner.  Onesimus is a runaway slave from Philemon’s house.  Somehow he comes into contact with Paul, who happens to be in prison.  We can only imagine that Onesimus had committed some other impropriety that landed him in the general vicinity of Paul’s cell.  Paul recognized him from his previous visits with Philemon and I am sure said something like: “dude, what are you doing here?”  Paul takes advantage of this opportunity when Onesimus is very much “down and out” to confront his sin and preach the Gospel.  Onesimus repents!  He finally came to that point in his life where he decided that it was not working.  He needed help and he wanted to change.  He found his answer in Christ.  God is always gracious to forgive and transform us when we come to the end of ourselves and place our faith in the work of Chirst.

RESTITUTION: Even though Paul was certain that Philemon would forgive Onesimus, he still thought it was important for Onesimus to go back and make things right.  It seems Onesimus was free to travel before Paul was.  Paul would have liked to keep Onesimus with him but knew that it would be far better for him to go back to Philemon and face the consequences of his sin.  Just because we are forgiven does not mean that we will not suffer for the sins of our past.  We must trust that God will use the difficult process of restitution for our sin to bring honor and glory to Himself.  We must be sure not to allow our past to get in the way of the future that the Lord may have for us.  Sometimes we think that if we ignore our problems that they will just go away.  This is delusional.  In reality, they will just become more complicated.

RESTORATION: I believe that this story is about restoration and though we really don’t know for sure, I think that Philemon set Onesimus free and probably supported him as a missionary that ended up traveling with and helping Paul in the final days of his ministry.  God is very good at turning ashes into diamonds.  He took a runaway slave and transformed him into a productive servant of the Lord.  God wants to restore us from our sinful state to a position of great usefulness in His kingdom.  God also wants to restore broken relationships that may occur between other people.  God is all about restoring men to Himself and to other people.  This brings great glory to the Father and great joy to all who are involved.  We must do all we can to cooperate in God’s work of restoration in this world.