Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien

August 28, 2022

INTRO

1. This is our final week in our series called “Paul’s Prayers”. Next week, we will be beginning a series in the Gospel of John called “Full of Grace and Truth”. I’m very excited to study the Gospel of John because it teaches us about Jesus in a way that is deeply theological and also deeply personal. This is a great opportunity to invite friends, neighbors, or family to join us because the Gospel of John is an incredibly powerful book.

2. Well, today we are going to wrap up our Paul’s Prayers series by doing something unique. We are going to read an entire book of the Bible! The good news is, it’s only 25 verses!

   1. We are going to read Paul’s letter to Philemon, who was a wealthy Greek convert to Christianity living in the ancient city of Colossae. Philemon was part of the Colossian church and Paul became friends with him during his ministry in the region.

   2. Philemon had a servant named Onesimus who had run away and probably stolen some of Philemon’s property. This servant had heard of Paul and in his desperation came to Paul in Rome to seek asylum. Of course, Paul shared the gospel with Onesimus and he became a believer. But Roman law required that Paul send Onesimus back to his master Philemon, so Paul penned this letter to send with Onesimus as he traveled back to Philemon’s household.

   3. As we read this short letter, you will see these details come to light.

PROP — Here’s the central theme of this letter: (SLIDE 2a) Paul gives Philemon an opportunity to deepen his understanding of the gospel by putting the gospel into practice.

This letter is intensely personal and is like reading someone’s private correspondence. Now that you know the background, listen to this letter from Paul to Philemon and watch as the gospel transforms the kind of relationship that Onesimus has with his master Philemon. (SLIDE 2b) READ Philemon 1-25.

You can see when you read this whole letter that Paul’s own relationship with Onesimus was transformed to be like a spiritual son, and he is inviting Philemon to accept Onesimus back as a brother in Christ. In order to understand the deeper thinking behind Paul’s invitation to Philemon to apply the gospel to his relationship with Onesimus, we need to focus on the prayer that Paul prays at the beginning of the letter. This prayer reveals how Paul see evidence of God’s goodness in the fellowship of believers united in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, let’s look at this prayer in verses 4-7.

ORG SENT — Paul observes three evidences of God’s goodness in this brief prayer. Let’s go through them one at a time.

MAIN 1 — Genuine faith and love are intertwined (vv. 4-5). (SLIDE 3a)

1. Go back to verse 4 with me. Paul start his prayer by giving thanks to God for Philemon. He mentions two specific things he is thankful for in verse 5. READ vv. 4-5.

   1. Calling all grammar nerds, verse 5 is for you!

   2. Verse 5 has a structure that is very intentional. Take a look at the screen and you’ll see what I mean.

      1. (SLIDE 3b) The word order of the verse literally says, “I hear about your love and faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.”

      2. As you can see, the phrase “faith toward the Lord Jesus” is embedded within the phrase “love for all the saints”

      3. The word order matters greatly in the biblical language, so Paul is doing this on purpose. He is making a powerful point: (SLIDE 3c) The center of exemplary Christ-like character is faith in the Lord Jesus. (SLIDE 3d) Our love for other believers flows out of that faith.

   3. KEY: Paul literally intertwined our faith in Jesus and our love for others grammatically to show that they are intertwined in reality!

   4. He saw this displayed in Philemon’s life. He saw a man who had come to faith in Jesus Christ from the Greek aristocracy and from paganism. He saw a man who had turned from idols and from self to grow to love the other believers in a way that illustrated the sacrificial love of Jesus!

   5. APPLY — Let me ask you: Has your trust in Jesus softened your heart toward others? Has the foundation of your faith led you to greater love for other believers? Has your salvation in Christ produced a love for the Body of Christ?

2. This is the first evidence of God’s goodness: (SLIDE 3e) Deeper trust in Christ leads to greater love for the Body of Christ.

MAIN 2 — Genuine fellowship deepens our understanding of the gospel (v. 6). (SLIDE 4a)

1. Paul now moves to the heart of his prayer request for Philemon. This reveals what he desires in Philemon’s life. READ v. 6.

   1. (SLIDE 4b) That word “partnership” could also be translated as “fellowship” or “sharing together”. It is the word “Koinonia” in Greek, which you may be familiar with.

   2. The ESV probably captures the wording best: “I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.”

   3. This isn’t the “sharing of your faith” in terms of evangelism or outreach. It is a “sharing of your faith” in terms of the unique relationships, connections, and brotherhood and sisterhood we have within the Body of Christ. This word “Koinonia” is about the rich fellowship of those who have the same Spirit of God within us, who are blood-bought children of God, and who are united together in a local church family.

   4. You see friends, Paul is asserting that the Christian faith is a team-sport! It is a fellowship of sinner-saints who support each other, practice sacrificial love with each other, and often bear with one another in love, even our faults and shortcomings!

   5. KEY: (SLIDE 4c) Closeness with each other puts the gospel on display.

      1. ILLUST — Bible scholar and professor Donald Guthrie, whom I’ve studied under, and he recently said, “The gospel is personal, but it is not individual. It is intensely personal. But it is never individualistic. We come to be connected to Christ through his Spirit while immersed in his Body, the church.”

         1. Friends, it is through the fellowship of believers, the Body of Christ, that we come to know the goodness of Christ and the richness of the gospel.

         2. The coming together of sinner-saints means we will have conflict, we will have faults, we will have sufferings, and we will have opportunity to exercise grace and forgiveness and mutual care. It is in the crucible of the fellowship of the believers, face-to-face, that the gospel comes to life and we become a living witness to the world!

      2. IMPORTANT: You need to know something important that Dr. Guthrie also said: “Isolation is death. Connection is life.” (SLIDE 4d) He has spent his career studying what makes leaders, churches, families, and individuals healthy and resilient. His research shows that isolation is death, and connection is life.

         1. ILLUST — He illustrates this using marriage. He said in a class I took recently, “In every marriage there are unsolvable problems. So, what is the difference between healthy couples and unhealthy couples? What is the difference between couples that stay together and ones that drift apart? Healthy couples keep talking about the problems.”

            1. You see, often the most painful things in life cause us to turn inward and not share our burdens with others. Illness, infertility, shame, anger, loss, or intense doubts can make us sometimes feel that the darkness and silence are the only safe place.

            2. But friends, it is critical that spouses, family members, and friends continue communicating graciously and compassionately about hardships and pain, to remain in the light, to come closer together, and to recognize that we all need Jesus!

            3. Dr. Guthrie says, “Intimacy is only a sentence away!” It takes courage and grace to step out to say the one thing that will open the door to intimacy in a friendship or a marriage or a family relationship.

         2. APPLY — This is most perfectly exemplified in our connection to Jesus. John 15 says that we must abide in the Vine, Jesus Christ. In our abiding in the Vine there is life, apart from connection to Him there is death.

            1. KEY: (SLIDE 4e) Intimacy with Jesus is only a sentence away! It’s only a prayer away! You can simply say, “Jesus, I want to be close to you. Show me how.”

            2. He will show you his goodness, and he will use his Body, the church, to show you the intimacy of the fellowship we have in the gospel.

2. This is the second evidence of God’s goodness: (SLIDE 4f) The fellowship of the Body of Christ deepens your intimacy with Jesus.

MAIN 3 — Genuine care results in joy and encouragement (v. 7). (SLIDE 5a)

1. Here Paul speaks of the personal joy and encouragement he has received from Philemon because Paul has seen the impact that Philemon has had on others. READ v. 7.

   1. We are not sure exactly what he had done, but evidently Philemon had a reputation for caring for the church and bringing restful refreshment to others in the midst of their struggles. (SLIDE 5b)

   2. Remember, the church in Colossae was under intense persecution. The believers were going through difficult things personally, in their families, and in their interactions with others in their city. Philemon was a source of great joy and encouragement for Paul because he had come alongside others who were suffering to give them rest and refreshment.

   3. APPLY — Who in the Body of Christ has brought you joy and encouragement in the midst of your struggles or challenges? Is there someone or a group of people who have put the gospel on display as they have come alongside you when you were in need?

      1. KEY: What Paul is describing here in verses 6 and 7 is an “experiential knowledge” of the gospel as the Body of Christ ministers to one another.

      2. ILLUST — Our church is in the middle of this. I have been so encouraged by how our church rallies around people in need, like the Willems family who are in the thick of a battle with their newborn son Isaac’s heart condition. The gravity of difficult things like this can actually bring greater opportunity for the mercy and grace of God to be displayed in the sacrificial care of a church family.

   4. There is a key word here that gets to the heart of Paul’s point: The word “encouragement” in verse 7 is the word “comfort” (SLIDE 5c). It is the same word that is used to describe the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Paraclete.

      1. IMPORTANT — Caring for one another in the Body of Christ is one of the channels by which the Spirit of God brings comfort to us in our difficulties and suffering.

         1. Sometimes this is simply sitting with someone, being present with them.

         2. Other times it means meeting a practical need, such as food or transportation.

         3. And sometimes it means getting involved in a messy or difficult situation.

2. This is the third evidence of God’s goodness: (SLIDE 5d) Caring for one another puts the gospel on display and enriches our fellowship.

APPLY

1. It is these evidences of God’s goodness that Paul prays and models to Philemon because he has an important plea to make on behalf of Onesimus. Remember the situation? Onesimus had broken the law, stolen from his master, run away, and was desperate. But he had surrendered his life to Christ, and now Paul is sending him back to Philemon.

   1. Philemon had a choice: (SLIDE 6a) To receive Onesimus as a disobedient runaway slave and exact punishment for his wrongdoings, or to receive Onesimus as a brother in Christ and extend mercy, realizing that this man’s sins have been paid for by Jesus’ death on the cross, just as Philemon’s own sins have been covered by Christ’s blood.

   2. This is the level playing-field of the gospel, and reason why barriers break down in the wake of the goodness of God displayed in the free gift of the forgiveness of sins.

      1. You see, the three main characters here illustrate this reality:

         1. Paul was a former Jewish Pharisee, a proud legalist and arrogant persecutor of the church who surrendered to Jesus on the road to Damascus.

         2. Philemon was a wealthy Greek aristocrat, a self-serving man who came to faith in Christ and became a benefactor and source of refreshment for the persecuted church.

         3. Onesimus was a slave, a man with no rights and no hope who came to faith in a desperate moment as he was a fugitive and thief.

      2. The only thing that can unite these men is the gospel of Jesus Christ. (SLIDE 6b) The only foundation on which they can construct a whole new relationship is their new identity as blood-bought children of God.

      3. KEY: (SLIDE 6c) Paul is giving Philemon an invitation to deepen his understanding of the gospel by putting the gospel into practice.

2. ILLUST — Let me tell you an example of this in my own life. I want to tell you a story about a man I know named Wes Tuttle.

   1. Wes was a former drug addict who had a massive stroke in middle age and was confined to the wheelchair and basically unable to talk.

   2. He had come to Christ during this desperate time of crisis and began attending our church in Berkeley, California, where I was serving as an associate pastor.

   3. He continued to struggle occasionally with drugs and alcohol. He was also in and out of housing and was sometimes on the streets at night.

   4. Let’s just say, he was often a heavy burden on us. It was hard to open my heart to him, seeing his poor choices, and I often struggled to know how to help him.

   5. One Sunday morning at church someone came running up to me during the service. Wes had been drinking and had fallen out of his wheelchair in the parking lot. I went out to find him laying on the ground with vomit all over him and all over his backpack and wheelchair. I looked around and there was no one around to help. Just me.

   6. The Lord simply said to me, “I want you to clean him up.” Really Lord? Ok.

   7. I did my best and I got him cleaned up, got him some water, and got him back in his wheelchair. I made sure he got home and then went back to church where everyone was already done with the service and gone.

   8. This was a difficult moment to process. It was hard not to be upset. It was hard not to wonder whether Wes was worth it.

   9. The next time Wes came to church we were celebrating communion. He couldn’t get up to the front to receive the elements because of his wheelchair. I felt the Lord prompting me to get the bread and juice and bring it to him.

   10. So I brought him communion and I’ll never forget the look in his eyes. He literally couldn’t speak because of his stroke, but I knew exactly what he was saying. With tears in his eyes, his glance simply asked for forgiveness, said thank you, and communicated a desperation for the grace and mercy of God.

   11. It was at that moment that I realized I am just as needy for Jesus as Wes. Jesus had found me in a pool of my own filth. My sins are like those filthy rags that I used to mop up Wes in the parking lot. Wes and I are both the humble recipients of a gift: We are forgiven by the same body and blood, received as sons by the same Savior, welcomed into God’s presence, washed clean and made holy by the work of Christ on our behalf.

   12. From that moment, Wes and I never had to exchange a word. I would always go up front to get Communion for him. And we would just look at each other with gratitude for God’s grace.

3. Friends, in the Body of Christ we all have an invitation to deepen our understanding of every good thing we share in the gospel. As we come together in a fellowship, extending mutual care and love, we will put the gospel into practice and bring joy and comfort that only comes from being united by the mercy and grace we all share at the foot of the cross.