back to index2015-05-31 Appeal by Faith
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"Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, 00:00:23.000 |
yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you. 00:00:26.000 |
I, Paul, an old man, and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus. 00:00:29.000 |
I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. 00:00:34.000 |
Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. 00:00:39.000 |
I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 00:00:42.000 |
I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf 00:00:48.000 |
But I prefer to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, 00:00:55.000 |
For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 00:01:00.000 |
no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, 00:01:04.000 |
especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. 00:01:08.000 |
So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 00:01:12.000 |
If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 00:01:17.000 |
I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it, to say nothing of your owing me your own self. 00:01:23.000 |
Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. 00:01:27.000 |
Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 00:01:32.000 |
At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers, 00:01:38.000 |
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, 00:01:41.000 |
and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. 00:01:45.000 |
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Let's pray. 00:01:50.000 |
Heavenly Father, we entrust this time to you. 00:01:55.000 |
We pray, Father God, that your words that go forth would not be empty, 00:02:04.000 |
Judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. Renew us. 00:02:08.000 |
Remind us, Lord God, what it is that we have in Christ, 00:02:11.000 |
that our lives may simply be a reasonable response. 00:02:16.000 |
So we entrust this time to you, Lord God, asking for the power of the Holy Spirit 00:02:20.000 |
to continue to convict and renew. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 00:02:25.000 |
As we've been talking about, you know, hearing and seeing the testimony of the power of the cross, 00:02:32.000 |
it really never gets old. In fact, if it ever gets old, it already tells us something has gone wrong in us. 00:02:39.000 |
You know, we hear the testimonies of how other people became Christians 00:02:42.000 |
and how they're following Christ, even in their struggles. 00:02:45.000 |
Because whenever we hear people's testimonies, it's not just about their testimony. 00:02:50.000 |
It's a story that all of us are involved. So if we're somehow disengaged with that, 00:02:56.000 |
again, that's a warning sign that something has severely gone wrong in our hearts. 00:03:00.000 |
Philemon is a powerful testimony of what happens to people when they meet Christ. 00:03:07.000 |
To think that a former runaway slave will be restored back to his master. 00:03:14.000 |
Again, you know, we have to take time to really consider what does that mean? 00:03:18.000 |
What does it mean for Onesimus to return back to his master? 00:03:21.000 |
If this didn't go well, if Paul told Onesimus to go back and be restored to Philemon, 00:03:26.000 |
and Philemon says, "No, I can't do that." You know, think about my reputation. 00:03:30.000 |
I don't know if Philemon still owns slaves, but if I just forgive this guy, 00:03:35.000 |
what's going to prevent these other slaves from taking off? 00:03:38.000 |
What are the other people in this city going to think of me? 00:03:42.000 |
And so, I mean, you can think of all kinds of reasons why Philemon might say 00:03:46.000 |
that may not be a good idea. And if that wasn't, what would happen to this runaway slave, 00:03:51.000 |
now a Christian who's coming back with this letter? 00:03:54.000 |
You know, typically, a runaway slave who was caught, at the minimum, 00:04:01.000 |
they were brutally flogged as a punishment. They were often branded. 00:04:07.000 |
They were sold for hard labor, saying, "I can't trust you anymore." 00:04:10.000 |
So they would send him, and he would be a tainted worker, so he would only be able 00:04:14.000 |
to work in the field for hard labor as a punishment. 00:04:18.000 |
Oftentimes, they would actually be crucified. They would consider him tainted. 00:04:22.000 |
"How can I trust you over my farm or over my property if I can't trust you?" 00:04:28.000 |
So they would basically extinguish him. So oftentimes, runaway slaves were crucified 00:04:33.000 |
or thrown to the wild beast. And typically, according to historical documents, 00:04:40.000 |
that they were forced to wear iron collars, which read, "Catch me, I'm a runaway slave," 00:04:44.000 |
just in case. That you branded him, and you forced him to wear a collar, 00:04:48.000 |
and he would stand out everywhere he went. So think about the consequence of 00:04:52.000 |
this man going back. And so everyone was taking a risk. Paul was risking his 00:04:58.000 |
friendship for asking this. Philemon was risking his reputation, 00:05:02.000 |
maybe his own property. And Onesimus was risking his own life to come back. 00:05:08.000 |
I mean, think about it. He ran away from slavery to find freedom, 00:05:13.000 |
and now he's going back to the very place that could possibly ruin his life. 00:05:21.000 |
You know, as Christians, as we know and study about the testimony of Philemon 00:05:27.000 |
and what this letter represents, as we talked about before, forgiveness is at the 00:05:31.000 |
core of Christianity. Before we think about how we ought to live, and evangelizing, 00:05:38.000 |
and Great Commission, the beginning of our relationship and ongoing relationship 00:05:43.000 |
with Christ is about forgiveness. It's because you and I have been forgiven by Christ. 00:05:48.000 |
It's because God continues to forgive us in our weakness, and He will continue to 00:05:52.000 |
forgive us, to sanctify us until the end, that we are able to be here and to 00:05:56.000 |
worship God. None of us today, no matter how well you did your quiet time, no 00:06:00.000 |
matter how much scripture you read, can ever come into the presence of God by 00:06:04.000 |
our own merit. It's only because His work on the cross was permanent. So forgiveness 00:06:10.000 |
is at the core. In fact, the scripture tells us if we do not practice 00:06:14.000 |
forgiveness, there's consequences. In Mark 6, 14-15, He says, "If we want our sins 00:06:21.000 |
forgiven, when we come to God and ask for forgiveness, you must first forgive." 00:06:25.000 |
Matthew 6, 14, "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father 00:06:30.000 |
will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive other trespasses, neither will 00:06:34.000 |
your Father forgive your trespasses." I mean, you can't be more clear than that. 00:06:39.000 |
Right? Our ability to be able to come before God and ask for forgiveness is 00:06:44.000 |
contingent upon our willingness to forgive others. In fact, if we don't 00:06:50.000 |
forgive, it says our very worship will not be accepted in Matthew 5, 23. So if 00:06:55.000 |
you are offering your gift at the altar and there, remember that your brother has 00:06:59.000 |
something against you. Leave your gift there before the altar and go first be 00:07:03.000 |
reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. So He says, "Even our 00:07:07.000 |
very worship and offering that we give to God," He says, "first go and be 00:07:12.000 |
reconciled." It hinders even our prayers. Mark chapter 11, 25, "And whenever you 00:07:18.000 |
stand praying, forgive. If you have anything against anyone, so that your 00:07:22.000 |
Father also who is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses." We have all these 00:07:28.000 |
things that the Scripture commands and tells us that it is absolutely essential 00:07:32.000 |
that Christians practice forgiveness. But the fourth and final thing that the 00:07:37.000 |
Scripture gives us about forgiveness is forgiveness is ultimately, vengeance 00:07:41.000 |
ultimately is the Lord's, He says. Romans 12, 18, "If possible, so far as it depends 00:07:47.000 |
on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourself, but leave it to 00:07:52.000 |
the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the 00:07:56.000 |
Lord." So in other words, He's saying the vengeance and the carrying out of justice 00:08:01.000 |
and judgment, that's what God does. No matter how justified we believe we are, 00:08:09.000 |
He said, everything that we carry out, our justice and our desire for vengeance is 00:08:14.000 |
always tainted by our own sin. Our own selfishness, our own pride affects proper 00:08:21.000 |
judgment. That's why He says, "Vengeance is mine." On the contrary, it says in verse 00:08:25.000 |
20, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him." He's not just talking about a stranger. 00:08:30.000 |
He's talking about an enemy, somebody who has offended you, somebody who has wronged 00:08:35.000 |
you. He said, "On the contrary, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to 00:08:39.000 |
drink. For by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head." In other words, 00:08:45.000 |
win him over with your kindness. That he may desire to hurt you, but you're going 00:08:51.000 |
to reverse this curse by being kind to him. So what he means by putting burning 00:08:56.000 |
coals on his head, meaning that he just put him in a situation where he can't do 00:09:00.000 |
anything else. He said, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." 00:09:09.000 |
Paul says, he says, "As an apostle of Jesus Christ, I have the boldness to command 00:09:14.000 |
you in the name of Jesus." You know, when Paul calls himself an apostle, it's not 00:09:18.000 |
like the general meaning of the word apostle basically means a messenger. But 00:09:22.000 |
that's not how Paul uses the word. When Paul calls himself an apostle, he's 00:09:27.000 |
talking about a unique gifting, unique calling that was given to a very few 00:09:33.000 |
group of people. Now, there's a debate as to whether that's 13 to 12 plus apostle 00:09:38.000 |
Paul, or some debate maybe Barnabas was an apostle. So, whether you believe 00:09:42.000 |
there's 12 or 14 or maybe even 15, that office does not exist today. These were 00:09:49.000 |
uniquely gifted, anointed people that God used for that particular period to give 00:09:56.000 |
us revelation of the Scripture, to be the first witnesses of Christ. So, when Paul 00:10:02.000 |
says in his letters, he begins the letters by saying, "I, an apostle of Jesus 00:10:07.000 |
Christ." He's not just saying, "I'm just a messenger like everybody else." He's 00:10:11.000 |
uniquely saying, "This letter comes to you with authority." Romans, 1st, 2nd 00:10:17.000 |
Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1st, 2nd Timothy, Titus, all 00:10:21.000 |
of these letters have a stamp of his authority. And so when he starts his 00:10:26.000 |
letter he's basically saying, "You need to pay attention to this. I'm not just 00:10:30.000 |
speaking as a man. I'm not just speaking as a messenger who has a message for 00:10:34.000 |
you. I'm speaking with the authority of Jesus Christ. And you need to listen to 00:10:37.000 |
this as if Jesus Himself is speaking to you." And that's why he puts that stamp, 00:10:41.000 |
"I, an apostle of Jesus Christ." You know, today, if you were to receive a 00:10:47.000 |
letter, you know, certain letters come with more authority than others, right? 00:10:51.000 |
If you receive a letter from, you know, some clearing house, something, and you 00:10:56.000 |
won a lottery, and please contact us in the next five minutes or you're not 00:10:59.000 |
going to get it, it's like junk mail, right? Or, you know, "Oh, you're trying to 00:11:04.000 |
refinance your house? Come, contact now. The interest rate's going to go up 00:11:07.000 |
tomorrow, so contact us." Junk mail, right? But it's stamped with IRS, right? 00:11:13.000 |
IRS, Internal Revenue Service to Peter Kim. Now, that doesn't go on a junk mail, 00:11:18.000 |
right? Maybe some of you who haven't been paying taxes for a long period of 00:11:23.000 |
time, because like, "Ah, IRS, whatever." You do not mess with the IRS, right? 00:11:28.000 |
Because people go to jail for going to, messing around with the IRS. The IRS can 00:11:32.000 |
actually tap into your bank account. Did you know that? The money that you put 00:11:36.000 |
in, they can take out, like that, right? In fact, like I said, people have gone to 00:11:41.000 |
jail for not, for neglecting the IRS. So, when a letter comes with the IRS, with 00:11:45.000 |
the stamped IRS, you open it, whatever it has to say, and you pay very close 00:11:50.000 |
attention to what he said, what they say, and you have to reply to it. You say, 00:11:54.000 |
"We need these documents. We need to verify this." You don't just put that over 00:11:58.000 |
there, "Ah, whatever," right? Because behind the stamp of the IRS, the US 00:12:02.000 |
government stands behind them with all their power and authority. So, when Paul 00:12:07.000 |
calls himself an Apostle, he's not just saying, "Yeah, I get the title, I'm just a 00:12:12.000 |
messenger here." He said, "No, I'm coming to you with the authority of Jesus 00:12:17.000 |
Christ." In fact, he says in Ephesians 4:11 that the Church was founded upon the 00:12:24.000 |
Apostles. The Gospel ministry was first and foremost was given to the Apostles. 00:12:30.000 |
His authority. In fact, here he says, "I could speak to you with the authority of 00:12:38.000 |
an Apostle and command you to do this." And it's not like he hasn't before. In 00:12:43.000 |
fact, often times you see him coming with that authority, because he needed to. In 00:12:47.000 |
1 Timothy 1:20 he says, "Hand over Him and Alexander to Satan, that they may 00:12:53.000 |
learn not to blaspheme." Remember, the Apostles actually had authority to 00:12:59.000 |
raise people from the dead and actually carry out capital punishment. I mean, we 00:13:05.000 |
don't have Apostles today, so you and I are safe. I don't have that authority. 00:13:10.000 |
Nobody here has that authority. But the Apostles did. Remember Ananias and 00:13:14.000 |
Sapphira? Because they blasphemed the Holy Spirit, they lied to the Church. And 00:13:18.000 |
Apostle Peter basically carries out capital punishment right there. The 00:13:22.000 |
Apostles had that kind of authority. And that's why he says to Timothy to set 00:13:28.000 |
these guys apart. So we're going to teach them not to blaspheme. 1 Corinthians 4 00:13:31.000 |
20-21, "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you 00:13:36.000 |
wish? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and spirit of gentleness?" 00:13:42.000 |
Apostle Paul historically was known to be a short, skinny, bald guy. You know? 00:13:48.000 |
And that's why he says his letters are impressive, but his presence is weak. 00:13:52.000 |
Right? Because there's nothing intimidating about this guy. He doesn't 00:13:55.000 |
have a booming voice. He's just a small, petite guy. So when he says, "Shall I 00:14:00.000 |
come with you with a rod?" You know, it's like, "Come on, Paul. We can take you." 00:14:05.000 |
You know what I mean? It's only two minutes to take you down, put you in an 00:14:08.000 |
armbar, and tap out. You know what I mean? That's not escape. Paul is not talking 00:14:11.000 |
about his physical presence. He's not saying he's been working out and check 00:14:15.000 |
out his muscles, and I'm going to flex it on you. Right? He's talking about his 00:14:20.000 |
apostolic authority. That if I come there and you do not repent of your sins, I 00:14:26.000 |
may have to come to you with a rod. So again, it wasn't like Paul didn't flex 00:14:33.000 |
his muscles before. There are times when he did do that. In fact, the Scripture 00:14:36.000 |
gives us many examples where the Apostles tell us, "You are obligated. You 00:14:42.000 |
are obligated to be obedient to Christ. You are obligated to follow Him." In fact, 00:14:46.000 |
there's warnings. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a holy God. In 00:14:52.000 |
fact, there are, you know, encouragements of rewards. That great reward is 00:14:57.000 |
waiting. The crown of life is waiting for you if you persevere and endure. 00:15:02.000 |
Oftentimes, we're told and we're commanded to fear, to live out our 00:15:06.000 |
Christian life in fear and trembling. So, the Scripture doesn't give us just one 00:15:12.000 |
motivation. You know, some people have a tendency to think that if we're not 00:15:16.000 |
motivated by love, that everything else is legalism. That is not true. Because 00:15:22.000 |
that's what the Scripture says. There are times when Paul flexes his muscles. 00:15:26.000 |
Paul, Peter, John, they all flex their muscles and say, "You need to do this 00:15:30.000 |
whether you want to do this or not, because there are serious consequences if 00:15:33.000 |
you do not." But the primary motive, it is not the only motive, but the primary 00:15:39.000 |
motive is always love. That's why Paul describes in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, he says, 00:15:46.000 |
"I remember your response, your genuine response to the gospel. I remember your 00:15:51.000 |
work of faith, but your labor of love." Steadfastness is hope in Lord Jesus 00:15:57.000 |
Christ. He said, "Of the three virtues of Christianity, of faith, love, and hope, out 00:16:02.000 |
of these three, what is the greatest? It's love." Not only is it the greatest, he 00:16:08.000 |
says in 1 Corinthians 13, that if you have all these other things, if you give 00:16:13.000 |
your body even to be burned, even if you're martyred, he said, "If you don't 00:16:17.000 |
have love," he says, "it is nothing." It is not the only motivation, but by far it is 00:16:22.000 |
the greatest motivation. So Paul, instead of commanding him, is really giving him 00:16:29.000 |
an opportunity. He could command him, and now if Philemon doesn't obey, for the 00:16:36.000 |
sake of Onesimus, he may say, "You know what, if you're not going to obey, I'm 00:16:41.000 |
going to command you in the name of Jesus Christ. But before I need to get there, 00:16:45.000 |
I'm going to tell you, I'm going to give you an opportunity to respond in grace." 00:16:49.000 |
So how does he come out? He appeals in his weakness. Look at verse 8 and 9. He 00:16:55.000 |
said, "Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is 00:17:00.000 |
required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you, I, Paul, an old man, and 00:17:05.000 |
now a prisoner for Christ Jesus." So his first appeal is in his weakness. I'm not 00:17:11.000 |
coming to you with this great authority. I'm not coming to you with this power. 00:17:16.000 |
I'm coming to you as an old man sitting in prison and appealing to you in love. 00:17:22.000 |
Why? So that you would not respond in compulsion. In 2 Corinthians 12:10, it 00:17:28.000 |
says, "For the sake of Christ, and I am content with weakness, insults, 00:17:32.000 |
hardships, persecution, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 00:17:38.000 |
You know, if there's any one particular lesson that I have learned in ministry, 00:17:43.000 |
and I believe that Apostle Paul, at the end of his life, if there's any one 00:17:47.000 |
lesson that he probably learned over and over and over again, is that the greatest 00:17:51.000 |
obstacle in bearing fruit is always us. And we tend to think if the church is 00:17:58.000 |
this way, if the community is this way, if the organization is this way, if we 00:18:02.000 |
have more of this, more of that, but it's always us. That's why Paul, so many 00:18:08.000 |
great things were happening to him, but God deliberately slows him down. God 00:18:13.000 |
deliberately humbles him, where he's begging the Lord three separate times, 00:18:18.000 |
"Take this away from me." He says, "No. I did that on purpose to keep you 00:18:22.000 |
humble. That my grace should be sufficient for you." In other words, that 00:18:26.000 |
my grace is enough for you. It is not your ability. It is not your power. It is 00:18:30.000 |
not your backing. I mean, think about Apostle Paul. You know, humanly speaking, 00:18:35.000 |
this guy had personal connections. He had personal friends in the Sanhedrin. I 00:18:40.000 |
mean, if somebody in that position became a Christian, wouldn't you 00:18:43.000 |
automatically think, "Man, that's a great resource. You know, all of these guys, 00:18:48.000 |
you know, they're chasing us, and they're putting us in prison. Why don't you 00:18:53.000 |
talk to some of your friends?" And Paul could have said, "Okay, let me use my 00:18:57.000 |
influence." Here's a guy with a Roman citizenship. I mean, this guy, it was 00:19:02.000 |
privileged. He had family backing. He has finances. And yet God allowed him to 00:19:09.000 |
experience, you know, having plenty and not having enough. I mean, here's a guy 00:19:14.000 |
who may have already been sitting in the Sanhedrin making tents to make ends 00:19:19.000 |
And here he says, "For the sake of Christ, I am content with my insults and hardships 00:19:27.420 |
and persecutions, calamities; because it is when I am weak, He is strong. 00:19:33.600 |
It is when we are weak, when we recognize our weakness" you know, whenever somebody 00:19:37.580 |
says "I've done this and I've done this and I've done this and I experienced this and 00:19:41.520 |
I've seen this and I learned this immediately, that's the biggest obstacle in that person's 00:19:47.840 |
life, because they think that somehow they're more effective because of their past experience. 00:19:54.160 |
The greatest lesson I believe in ministry, whether it's Apostle Paul or us or myself, 00:19:59.640 |
is recognizing that I am the biggest obstacle. 00:20:02.920 |
It is when I am abiding in Christ, when I am depending upon Him, He is the greatest. 00:20:09.080 |
Paul appeals not to his authority, but to his humility. 00:20:15.560 |
I mean, if you really think about it, what attracted you to Christ? 00:20:19.680 |
And what continues to attract you to Him now? 00:20:22.360 |
How many of you became a Christian because you were walking down the street and saw the 00:20:26.040 |
magnificent of, how the mountains were so magnificent and you looked at the universe 00:20:32.400 |
and how vast it was and you looked at all of that and said, "I want to worship this 00:20:38.120 |
Some of you, maybe, I've never heard that yet before, you know, maybe some of you, I'm 00:20:44.360 |
From my personal experience and from counseling people, majority of you, and I'll be even 00:20:51.200 |
bold to say maybe all of you, were attracted to a God who humbled Himself. 00:21:00.760 |
In fact, isn't that what the Scripture says, that Jesus Christ forsook everything and He 00:21:10.040 |
He became a sympathetic high priest so that we would recognize that in His weakness, that 00:21:16.680 |
we can come to Him, that we may be able to come to the throne of grace with confidence. 00:21:28.640 |
And even to this day, what is the greatest attraction of Christ? 00:21:36.900 |
We understand that He is an all-powerful, omniscient God. 00:21:43.480 |
But what is the greatest attraction of Christianity? 00:21:52.640 |
This Almighty God who was equal with God in every way, did not consider equality with 00:21:56.600 |
God something to be grasped, and He humbled Himself and became nothing. 00:22:04.960 |
It is in His sacrifice that He reversed the curse. 00:22:09.480 |
And so Paul here appeals in his weakness that you would recognize this opportunity that 00:22:19.600 |
Secondly, he appeals as a son, as a father to the son, and as a brother to brother. 00:22:26.060 |
As a family, he doesn't just say, "Hey, here's this runaway slave that's coming to you." 00:22:33.960 |
And to see him not simply as a runaway slave, but as your brother who's being restored to 00:22:40.440 |
And that's exactly how the Bible paints the picture about the church. 00:22:45.920 |
We call it the temple, we call it the body of Christ, and all of these things are true. 00:22:52.020 |
But in the end, the picture that we are given in the church is that we are family of God. 00:22:58.640 |
And that's what Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, 5, 1 and 2. 00:23:02.760 |
Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father. 00:23:09.880 |
Treat younger men like brothers, older women like mothers, younger women like sisters, 00:23:18.520 |
If we see ourselves as a, you know, this is a church and we have so many people, and this 00:23:23.560 |
is my brother, but that person, like, you know, just brother in name. 00:23:28.320 |
Think about it in, if you were in the early church, the word brother was not created by 00:23:36.800 |
If we said, "That's a brother," we use it in various ways, right? 00:23:40.320 |
It's a, you know, a lot of times we think of it as, "Oh, Christian. 00:23:46.600 |
But in the early church, when they used the term brother, it just meant family. 00:23:49.780 |
And I think that's exactly how it was being used. 00:23:53.420 |
That my brother, my mother, my father was my other Christians. 00:23:58.580 |
Imagine if you're in a, if you're in a home and I, you know, I have four kids and my oldest 00:24:10.780 |
But these other two, they don't listen, so they're not my brother." 00:24:16.020 |
It's like, from a parent's perspective, a parent is never at peace until all of the children 00:24:27.060 |
If one is not home and he's not in bed, I'm never completely at peace. 00:24:30.380 |
And see, from God's perspective, He said, "We're his children. 00:24:36.420 |
When he says, "He's my brother," there's automatically, what he is saying is, "He's somebody that 00:24:46.180 |
You know, when I was in high school, I had various groups of friends. 00:24:49.860 |
I had some jock friends, and I had some fob friends. 00:24:57.940 |
And those, to be honest, those are the guys that I felt the closest bond to. 00:25:01.300 |
I felt culturally, I don't know what it was, but there was a connection with these guys. 00:25:07.740 |
And, you know, this is during, I was at Burbank High School at that time, and this was during 00:25:15.500 |
So Asians typically have to kind of find your little niche. 00:25:19.460 |
And that was the group that I felt the most comfortable with. 00:25:22.540 |
And so whenever I would hang out with them, you know, the other guys would say, "Hey, 00:25:29.020 |
And then usually one of my friends, one of my Hispanic friends would say, "Oh, don't 00:25:38.260 |
And I don't know if they use it the same way today, but at that time, when they said, "He's 00:25:42.940 |
a homeboy," basically it meant, "He's one of us. 00:25:48.380 |
And so when they call me homeboy, that means I can hang out with them. 00:25:53.580 |
That means if somebody causes me trouble, we're going to back this guy up. 00:25:57.940 |
And that's probably one of the reasons why I like this group. 00:26:03.700 |
I mean, basically, if somebody jumps you, he's jumping all of us. 00:26:08.900 |
They had a tight-knit community, and I was a homeboy. 00:26:15.020 |
That term, at least at that time, if you were called a homeboy, no one messed with you. 00:26:21.140 |
Because behind him, everybody else is like, "No, you don't mess with that guy. 00:26:26.180 |
The term "brother," again, we use it kind of generically. 00:26:30.140 |
Like, "Oh, everybody who's a Christian, everybody who professes to be a follower of Christ, 00:26:35.340 |
But imagine in the early church when they used that term. 00:26:43.740 |
In other words, he's using illustration as a family. 00:26:46.780 |
And that's exactly what Paul says in Philemon 15.16. 00:26:49.580 |
"For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back 00:26:54.260 |
forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, especially 00:27:00.700 |
But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord." 00:27:12.740 |
So Paul is trying to see him in a larger context and picture. 00:27:15.860 |
You're receiving something much better than what you lost. 00:27:20.900 |
Now he's going to be very useful to you in the greater work. 00:27:24.100 |
Not just to take care of your farm, but your very household. 00:27:31.100 |
You know, as a pastor, one of the things that I have to do, and as leaders in the church, 00:27:41.940 |
We have to say things that we don't want to say. 00:27:44.180 |
We have to point out sins that we don't want to, because the easiest thing to do is just 00:27:48.260 |
kind of sweep it under the rug, because I don't want to deal with it. 00:27:51.740 |
Sometimes, a lot of times people will come up to me, "Hey, this person's doing this and 00:27:57.460 |
Well, that's one of the dirty jobs of being a leader. 00:28:00.780 |
And again, this is not, it shouldn't be just a job of the leadership, but you know. 00:28:05.420 |
And so whenever that happens, I have to caution my own heart. 00:28:10.460 |
How much of this, how much of this righteousness that I feel, or this I need to carry out, 00:28:22.900 |
Would I speak of him in that way if that was my own kid? 00:28:34.620 |
That's how I measure if I am actually practicing, say, "Love your neighbor as yourself." 00:28:39.140 |
So sometimes I don't even know, you know, what's happening in my heart. 00:28:54.740 |
It's like, okay, if I'm not, then that means I need to be on my knees and pray. 00:28:58.900 |
I'm not ready to confront that person because I'm not doing it in love and grace. 00:29:05.580 |
We want to, you know, retaliate because that's our natural, you know, disposition. 00:29:11.820 |
And that's why Paul says, "I'm coming to you to see." 00:29:14.340 |
I'm not asking a slave and a former slave owner to be reconciled. 00:29:18.540 |
I'm asking a brother to be reconciled with a brother. 00:29:22.460 |
And I'm asking as a spiritual father to be gracious to my son. 00:29:27.740 |
And that's, in reality, that's how God sees all of us. 00:29:31.580 |
He's not just a person in the church or a person in our lives. 00:29:37.380 |
It's because sometimes we don't see them that way. 00:29:40.580 |
We just see them as an inconvenient person that's in our lives. 00:29:44.420 |
But it's like, "No, would I do that if that was my brother? 00:29:48.420 |
Would I do that if that was my mother or my father?" 00:29:59.420 |
The greatest appeal in the Scripture is love. 00:30:03.340 |
He says, "So that you wouldn't do this out of compulsion, but out of free will." 00:30:08.780 |
In NIV, it says, "Spontaneous and not forced." 00:30:13.140 |
And then in the ESV, it says, "For this, not under compulsion." 00:30:26.500 |
Not under compulsion, but to do it out of your desire. 00:30:30.500 |
You know, if you look in Scripture, Old Testament, there was mandatory gifts and free will gifts, 00:30:36.860 |
Mandatory offerings in the Old Testament was satisfied in Christ. 00:30:40.860 |
What is necessary for us to come to Christ was satisfied in Christ. 00:30:44.100 |
But the Old Testament also has free will offering, where you just, out of desire, say, "You 00:30:51.980 |
Best worship is always done out of our desire. 00:30:58.580 |
When we do things out of compulsion, we always just do the minimum, right? 00:31:03.140 |
If you come to worship in compulsion, you're very calculating the time. 00:31:07.820 |
You know, it's like, how long is the worship? 00:31:09.820 |
You know, start at 11, usually ends about 1230. 00:31:15.060 |
You know, we start music, so I'll show up about 12, you know, 11, 15, 11, 10. 00:31:19.140 |
I won't miss anything, as long as I get the sermon, right? 00:31:22.660 |
And then if my sermon goes a little bit long, it's usually about 45 minutes, you know, where 00:31:37.900 |
If it goes a little bit longer, you know, I hear the grumbling. 00:31:43.180 |
Because I've given you one hour and a half, and you took an hour, you know, 40 minutes. 00:31:52.300 |
When we give worship out of compulsion, it's always measured. 00:31:55.900 |
You know, I do quiet time, and it's like, "Oh, I read three verses," or I put 10 minutes, 00:31:59.740 |
or even the way we pray, you know, it's like, "Oh," I said, "I'm going to pray 10 minutes." 00:32:08.380 |
And then you say some things, and five minutes and 10 seconds, and then you say some things, 00:32:18.860 |
It's like, "How much is 10 percent of whatever?" 00:32:22.580 |
And then once you give that, it's like, "I've given. 00:32:25.820 |
I've given my, it's like, there's nothing more, and like, I've given it to you." 00:32:31.180 |
When we're doing out of compulsion, it's always just, just what you need to do. 00:32:40.620 |
When we are inspired by His sacrifice, by what He's done for us. 00:32:47.060 |
You know, I think the greatest example of that that I've seen, you know, years ago, 00:32:52.180 |
I went to Romania, because China had SARS, and we were forced to go to Romania last minute. 00:32:58.340 |
And we went to these Baptist churches to do presentations. 00:33:01.980 |
And I remember, you know, Pastor Aaron's wife, Tina, she prepared all these, like, body worship 00:33:05.860 |
skits and all this stuff, and found out that the churches in Romania were very offended 00:33:12.940 |
That they're so conservative that, you know, I remember the very first time that we did 00:33:16.260 |
the body worship presentation, I was in the back, because they didn't want me in the team. 00:33:20.980 |
So I was in the back, and they were doing all this stuff. 00:33:24.140 |
And then we saw people crying, you know, one particular lady crying in the back. 00:33:32.740 |
Then after it was over, I went to an interpreter and asked him, and he was very reluctant to 00:33:42.860 |
She was saying in Romanian, "What kind of a church is this that allowed this kind of 00:33:49.180 |
And I didn't share this with our team, because I didn't want to ruin the trip, because that 00:33:54.140 |
And then every church that we went to, we realized that they were so, like, so rigid 00:34:00.060 |
that - one time we got yelled at because we were supposed to do a special presentation 00:34:04.260 |
singing songs, and some of our guys forgot the lyrics, and they were giggling. 00:34:11.460 |
And then the pastor got so mad at us and said, "How can you be so irreverent?" 00:34:19.740 |
And I was like, "Oh my gosh, you know, I don't think we're coming back here again." 00:34:23.460 |
But I remember going through that just so discouraged. 00:34:26.540 |
These guys are so seeped in legalism that there was no true worship. 00:34:30.620 |
There's no joy in their face when they worship. 00:34:32.220 |
It was just, "You're supposed to do this, you're supposed to do this, you're supposed 00:34:38.580 |
And gypsies were kind of looked down upon, and they always kind of had the worst building 00:34:43.460 |
because they just traveled from place to place, and they just had a bad reputation. 00:34:47.780 |
And we went to a gypsy place, and they said, you know, as a pastor, they said, "Prepare 00:34:50.620 |
a sermon, you know, but the worship structure is kind of loose, and they just allow people 00:34:57.380 |
When we're ready, we'll ask you to share the message." 00:35:00.540 |
So we went in, there was a group of maybe about 30 people, and there was probably about 00:35:06.040 |
And then we're sitting there, and the pastor just started out, sang some songs, and said, 00:35:11.880 |
And so one by one, just the congregation members would share, and then they would share about 00:35:16.140 |
And because Romania's economy is so bad, you know, you don't see a lot of young men. 00:35:20.980 |
Like our church age people, you just don't see. 00:35:23.420 |
All the young men who are able to work, they're all outside the country. 00:35:26.860 |
So you had older ladies, older men, and young children everywhere we went. 00:35:31.920 |
And so one by one, these ladies would be standing up, and they were sharing, like, you know, 00:35:35.260 |
they, the husband had to leave, haven't seen him in five years, and how difficult it is, 00:35:39.460 |
and how they came to church and heard the gospel, became a Christian. 00:35:42.460 |
And so one lady would share her faith and sit down, and then another lady would stand 00:35:46.980 |
up, and she would begin to share and start weeping. 00:35:49.780 |
And so every one of them had just gut-wrenching testimonies. 00:35:53.460 |
And obviously, every one of us was being affected by this, and so, you know, our team started 00:35:57.140 |
standing up and saying, "Oh, man, we're so blessed by this. 00:36:00.580 |
And then at the end, in the context of doing this, there was a non-Christian who stood 00:36:06.020 |
I've been coming, you know, for a few weeks, and I'm hearing your testimonies, and I really 00:36:10.460 |
feel like, you know, everything that you're saying, I believe this, and I want to become 00:36:17.220 |
You know, there was no preaching, there was no altar calls. 00:36:19.460 |
It's in the context of worship and giving testimonies. 00:36:24.220 |
Every single one of us, we came out of that worship thinking like, "That's worship. 00:36:32.700 |
You know, when people were affected, you see the effects of the cross in those people, 00:36:47.140 |
The greatest motivation, the greatest appeal of Christianity is always His grace. 00:36:57.620 |
In 2 Corinthians 8, 1 and 4, Paul talks about the churches in Macedonia, and how there was 00:37:03.020 |
a famine in Jerusalem, and he was taking an offering, and these churches in Macedonia, 00:37:10.420 |
But Paul says, you know, let me just read to you what he says. 00:37:14.100 |
He says, "We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among 00:37:19.740 |
For in a sort of severe test of affliction," he's talking about them, the Macedonian church, 00:37:25.140 |
"their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity 00:37:33.820 |
They're not giving because they were blessed and they had so much left over. 00:37:37.260 |
He said, "In their severe testing of affliction, in extreme poverty," right? 00:37:44.820 |
I don't care how poor you were when you grew up. 00:37:46.620 |
I don't think there's a single person here that has ever experienced extreme poverty. 00:37:50.780 |
Extreme poverty means you can't feed your kids. 00:37:59.740 |
That's what, if you've ever traveled outside of the United States, you know what extreme 00:38:04.300 |
He says, "In their extreme poverty, they have overflowed in wealth of generosity." 00:38:11.420 |
Even though they were poor physically, they were wealthy in spirit. 00:38:15.420 |
And it says in verse 3, "For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond 00:38:27.860 |
They didn't, they weren't given a guilt trip. 00:38:29.580 |
They actually begged, he says in verse 4, "Begging us earnestly for the favor of taking 00:38:38.660 |
That's what worship looks like when it is not under compulsion. 00:38:45.460 |
I mean, some of you guys remember when you first became Christian, how eager you were 00:38:59.500 |
The very first, I mean, Andy shared that this morning, but the very first thought that I 00:39:03.500 |
had when I met Christ is like, "Man, all those people, my brothers, you know, all my 00:39:09.580 |
friends, everybody that I knew, they need to know this too." 00:39:16.140 |
This is what worship looks like when it's not under compulsion. 00:39:18.740 |
That's why Hosea 6.6, it says, "For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge 00:39:26.940 |
That's why Paul says, "I have the authority to command you, but I appeal to you as an 00:39:31.780 |
old man, as a prisoner, to consider my son in the faith, your brother in Christ. 00:39:38.460 |
You may have been calculating what it costs to lose a slave, but you're not thinking about 00:39:47.100 |
If he's a gain to me, if he's become useful to me, how much more to you?" 00:39:53.220 |
Lord in Goliath, what a testimony it would be for people to see this is what happens 00:39:59.980 |
when a curse is reversed between a slave and a slave owner, a Pharisee, a tax collector, 00:40:10.380 |
This is what it looks like when the curse is reversed and a community of people are 00:40:15.020 |
living not under compulsion, but in reasonable response. 00:40:22.780 |
We don't know what happened to Onesimus, at least not in this letter. 00:40:26.340 |
Now all of, everything we know about church history isn't 100% accurate, but there are 00:40:32.500 |
records that we can rely on that tells us what happened, at least the history behind 00:40:43.860 |
Now we don't know a whole lot more about that other than the fact that we have letters and 00:40:47.600 |
documents that claim that he was a pastor at Colossae, which is where he is, where the 00:40:54.020 |
So he became respected, he became the leader of this community in Colossae. 00:40:58.500 |
Ophelia, his wife, we have records that she was martyred for her faith. 00:41:03.500 |
So we're assuming if his wife was martyred that probably he and his son, that's mentioned 00:41:09.940 |
in the beginning of this letter, was probably martyred. 00:41:11.980 |
In fact, I mentioned this before, that many of the names that are mentioned in the New 00:41:15.780 |
Testament, we have records that they all got martyred. 00:41:22.380 |
When he encouraged them to persevere in 1 Peter through trials, I mean, it was serious. 00:41:33.500 |
Now, for some of you guys who don't know the church of Ephesus, the church of Ephesus is 00:41:37.420 |
where Paul spent most of his time when he was on his missionary journeys. 00:41:41.860 |
In fact, when he was about to go to Rome and to be captured and imprisoned, he spends all 00:41:48.700 |
And there are several letters that are written because he's concerned about the church of 00:41:52.980 |
So this was a very prominent church in the early church that was very dear to Paul's 00:41:56.820 |
heart and it says Onesimus eventually became the pastor of Ephesus and we have records 00:42:09.480 |
But sometimes we can be so removed in the way we read the scriptures, but these are 00:42:21.260 |
How did the gospel, who, you know, thousands of people throughout 2,000 years of corruption, 00:42:29.740 |
You would think with all the chaos and all the false doctrines and even within the church 00:42:35.900 |
that we know in the last 2,000 years, how did the church get here? 00:42:45.060 |
How deeply people were affected and even now being affected today. 00:42:51.580 |
Our greatest response, our greatest worship to him is always in response to what we already 00:43:05.440 |
If somebody slaps you on the left cheek, you don't naturally say yes. 00:43:11.740 |
If somebody cups you up on the freeway, you don't wave at them, say, you know, "I'm glad 00:43:19.300 |
You don't cut somebody off and then they wave it to you and say, "Hey, hey, hey." 00:43:32.020 |
What we see in Philemon, what Paul is asking Philemon to do is unnatural. 00:43:38.940 |
Christianity, by our own effort, is unnatural. 00:43:51.940 |
Only people who have been affected by Christ and his sacrifice can demonstrate this grace. 00:44:02.260 |
I pray that again, as we have examined Philemon in his life, that one that we would recognize, 00:44:15.580 |
These are my brothers, these are my sisters, that I am my brother's keeper. 00:44:20.020 |
And thirdly, that we would not be under compulsion, but by the grace of God, that we would respond 00:44:30.500 |
As we ask the praise team to come up, I'm going to ask all of us to take some time to 00:44:35.540 |
pray and come before the Lord, that the grace of God would affect us deeply. 00:44:41.020 |
If there's people in our lives that God convicts us to be reconciled with, to bring that to 00:44:49.940 |
If I've been drifting away from God, to take some time to remember what it is that you 00:44:54.140 |
Maybe some of you are sitting here so frustrated because you have some things that you want 00:45:01.160 |
But you forgot, you've taken your eyes off of Christ and forgotten what it is that you 00:45:07.180 |
So let's take some time, come before the Lord to reflect. 00:45:10.060 |
Lord, I pray that my heart may be affected by what Christ has done.