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Sermon Notes
Philemon (Part Two) – The Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Corin. 5:11-21)
Recap:
· Epaphras establishes a church In Colossae following Paul’s 3rd missionary journey – Acts 19
· Paul writes to the church in Colossae in response to the presence of false teaching and a personal letter to Philemon concerning a runaway slave called Onesimus whilst under house arrest in Rome (Acts 28:16) following his appeal to be tried before Caesar (Acts 25:10-11). Tychicus carries the letters to Colossae and Onesimus is sent with him.
· Philemon was converted under Paul’s ministry at this time; he hosts the church in Colossae (Philemon 2) and has a reputation for his ‘love and faith toward … the Lord Jesus and all the saints’ (Philemon 5)
· Onesimus was a slave/bondservant who had runaway to Rome from Colossae and Philemon, but through God’s providence he had encountered the gospel in the ministry of Paul
· Paul’s letter to Philemon is a picture of the gospel and a practical working out of the ministry of reconciliation that Paul had previously described in his second letter to the believers in Corinth (Cor. 5:11-12)
It is this application of the transforming nature of God’s saving grace made real to us through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ that we consider here using a framework ‘borrowed’ from Mark Dever’s introductory sermon to Philemon.
In his letter to Philemon Paul identifies the opportunity to:
· Offer forgiveness
· Receive forgiveness
· Encourage others to forgive
The opportunity to offer forgiveness
Philemon had been wronged by the actions of Onesimus, and Paul appeals for their reconciliation, not as Master and slave, but as ‘beloved brothers’ in Christ.
· To forgive can be costly even to the point of choosing to forsake justice, though this is not the case in all circumstances. Examples of this would be the Truth and Reconciliation applied in post-Apartheid South Africa, and the work of Colin and Wendy Parry, parents of 12-year-old Tim Parry who was killed in the Warrington bombing in 1993.
· To forgive does not guarantee that the forgiveness offered will be received.
· To forgive can offend others who see it as letting someone off and will result in no change in a person’s behaviour.
The opportunity to receive forgiveness
Onesimus, may have become a Christian, but he still owes a debt to Philemon. Paul reminds him of this as he chooses to send him back with Tychicus to Philemon
· Receiving forgiveness starts with acknowledging that we have done something that has caused loss or pain to another. The act may have been innocent, well intended, but not had the effect hoped for, this may offend our sense of justice, but reconciliation, especially amongst fellow believers lies at the heart of the gospel – see Psalm 133.
· Receiving forgiveness may require our forgiving ourselves first! This requires a real encounter with God’s grace experienced through the saving work of Jesus Christ.
The opportunity to encourage forgiveness
As Jesus stood in the gap between the Father who is sinned against and us in our sin, so Paul stood in the gap between Philemon who had been sinned against and Onesimus in his sin and advocated for reconciliation between the 2 parties. This is where all Christians stand because of Jesus.
· It is not a comfortable place to stand – confronting believers and non-believers with the reality of their sin, not by condemnation, but the placing the beauty and glory of Christ before them
· It is the perfectly loving thing to do – unless a sinner is reconciled to God through the saving work of Christ, they will be separated from him in their sin for all eternity
Paul provides help for us about standing in the gap in his second letter to the believers in Corinth:
Through Christ we have been reconciled to the Father:
· Sin separated us from God
· Jesus stood in the gap – his incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection, ascension
· He took the blows from both sides – God’s righteous judgement for sin; our sin placed upon him
‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation’ (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)
We are all called to this ministry of reconciliation:
· In the church – following the example of Paul with Philemon and Onesimus – standing in the gap and not taking sides
· In the world – as ambassadors of Christ standing in the gap between a holy God and those separated from him by sin by sharing the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit
The ministry of reconciliation is rarely easy, it requires stepping into turbulent waters, but it is the task we are given and equipped to fulfil.
We are to be actively praying and alert for:
· Opportunities to offer forgiveness for we have been forgiven by the Father
· Opportunities to receive forgiveness for we have received forgiveness from the Father
· Opportunities to encourage forgiveness for we have been called to the ministry of reconciliation in a fractured world
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