Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Philemon (Part 2) - The Conclusion to Philemon

Transcript

Philemon (Part 2) - The Conclusion to Philemon · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: How doy there, faithful listeners, Welcome to the Book of Philemen.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: We are in the second portion of phi Lemen today
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: and we're going to finish up the Book of Philemen.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Actually I kind of suspected we do three episodes in Philemen,
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: but now I don't think we will.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I think we'll get through all of it today.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: It is a short little book, so we'll be diving
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: into the second part of Philemen in just one moment.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: All right, as.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Usual, here is a sponsored ad for you guys, and
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: then we'll get right into the episode. All right, let's
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: go ahead and dive into the Book of phi Lemen.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: If you did not listen to the first portion, I
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: do highly recommend that you do that because context is
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: very important when reading through a very small book of
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: the Bible like this, So check out Tuesday's episode if
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: you haven't gotten a chance yet. But let's go ahead
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: and read Phileman the entire thing. As always, I'll be
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: reading from the web. But faithful listener, grab a delicious
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: cup of coffee to share with me this morning as
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: we discuss this lovely little book, and also your Bible
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: out of the version that you prefer, but as usual
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: I'll be reading from the Web or the World English Bible. Paul,
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Phi Lehman, our beloved fellow worker, and to the beloved Apea,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: to Archipas and our fellow soldier, and to the assembly
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: in your house. Grace to you and peace from God,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: God always making mention of you in my prayers, hearing
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: of your love and of the faith which you have
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: towards the Lord Jesus and toward all the Saints, that
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: the fellowship of your faith may become effective in the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: knowledge of every good thing which is in us in
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Christ Jesus. For we have much joy and comfort in
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: your love, because the hearts of the saints have been
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: refreshed through you.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Brother.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Therefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to command
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: you that which is appropriate, yet for love's sake, I
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: rather appeal to you, being such a one as Paul
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: appeal to you from my child Onisimus, whom I have
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: become the father of in my chains, who once was
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: useless to you, but now is useful to you and
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: to me. I am sending him back. Therefore, receive him,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: that is my own heart, whom I desired to keep
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: with me, that on your behalf, he might serve me
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: in my chains for the good news. But I was
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: willing to do nothing without your consent, that your goodness
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: would not be as of necessity, but of free will.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: that you would have him forever, no longer as a slave,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: but how much rather to you, both in the flesh
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: and in the Lord. If then you count me a partner,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: receive him as you would receive me. But if he
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, put
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: that to my account. I Paul write this with my
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: own hand, and I will repay it, not to mention
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: to you that you owe to me, even your own self. Besides, yes, brother,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: my heart in the Lord. Having confidence in your obedience,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: I write to you, knowing that you will do even
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: beyond what I say. Also, prepare a guest room for
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: me for I hope that through your prayers, I will
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: be restored to you. Epiphrats, my fellow prisoner in Jesus
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Christ greets you, as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demus, and Luke,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: my fellow workers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: be with your spirit.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: When I was first reading the Bible for myself, I
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: was going through the New Testament. So I went through
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: you know, first and second Thessalonians by myself, and First
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: and Tewod, Timothy and Titus, and then I get to
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: the Book of Philemen, and after reading it, which took
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: me about you know, two minutes, I was like, why
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: is this here? Why did the Book of Philemin get
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: canonized in scripture? You know, because when you read through it,
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: it's like a letter to just some random guy about
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: how he should treat his runaway slave, and it doesn't
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: really feel like it applies to the modern person. Whereas
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: you know, the books of First and two, Timothy and
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: Titus that we just covered, those definitely feel like they
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: apply to the modern age because it's talking about church
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: leadership and elders and just how the Christian should live.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: But we don't have slaves in America right now. But
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: now reading through this, I love the Book of Philiman,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: and I think there is so so much that we
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: can learn from this, So don't forget. As we talked
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: about on Tuesday, Paul wrote this while he was in prison,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: most likely during his first imprisonment, while he was under
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: house arrest. And even though he was under house arrest,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: he did have some modicum of freedom. You know, he
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: wasn't really allowed to go out anywhere, but he was
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: allowed to receive visitors. And one of the visitors he
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: ends up receiving at some point in time is named Onisimus,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: and Onissimus was a runaway slave. But what's really weird
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: is that Paul actually knew Onissimus's master, whose name was
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: phi Leman. In fact, he met phi Leman when he
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: was in the area of Ephesus. We know that Paul
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: stayed in Ephesus for a very long period of time,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: longer than any other missionary journey that he took. He
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: stayed there for about three years, and that was likely
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: when he ended up meeting phi Leman. So we talked
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: about all of that on Tuesday. But now we're going
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: to get into verses eight through sixteen. Today and talk
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: about these a little bit more in depth. Now, obviously,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Paul is writing to phi Leman, and he's writing specifically
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: on behalf of Onisimus, saying, phi Leman, I met Onissimus.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: He is here with me. He was a useless slave
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: to you, but now he is very useful to you
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: because Onissimus has become a Christian. He is now following
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: the Way, which was the first name of Christianity before
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: the word Christian even came into existence. Christian came about
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: later on when I think the Romans were making fun
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: of people that followed the Way because Christian means little Christ.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: And then the followers of the Way ended up coining
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: that for themselves and calling themselves Christians because we are
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: supposed to be like Christ, we are supposed to follow
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: after him. Even though it started out as an insult,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: it became the actual word for the movement of the Way,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: which is kind of funny. So now Onissimus has become
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: a follower of the Way, or a Christian, and that's
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: why Paul says in verse eleven, he was once useless
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: to you, but now he is useful to you and
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: to me. Now the reason that phrase is actually kind
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: of funny is because Paul was doing a little play
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: on words here, because the name Onisimus actually means the
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: useful one. But Paul's like, before he was not Onisimus,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: he was not the useful one. He was the useless one.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: But now he truly is Onissimus. And he says in
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: verse twelve, I am sending him back. Therefore receive him.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: That is my own heart. And he continues in verse thirteen,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: whom I desired to keep with me, that on your behalf,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: he might serve me in my chains for the good news.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: But I was willing to do nothing without your consent,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: that your goodness would not be as of necessity but
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: of free will. So basically Paul is hinting very strongly.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: He's like, hey, Phileman, I really really want Onissimus to
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: stay with me. He has become my child in the faith.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I love him, he is a friend of mine. He
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: has been so helpful to me while I've been in
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: my chains. I absolutely love having him around. But the
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: right thing to do is to send him back to you.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: And at this point you might be like, Jen, how
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: was it right for Paul to send Onissimus back to Phileman?
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: How is that right, because that is a slave going
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: back to a slave owner. Well, the reason it was
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: the right thing to do is because Onissimus had done
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: something seriously wrong, as we find out later on in
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: this letter. It says in verse eighteen, if he has
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: wronged you at all, or owes you anything, put that
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: I will repay it. So not only had a Nissimus
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: just run away from Philemen, but he had actually stolen
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: something from Phileman as well. This was a capital punishment
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: back in Paul's day, and a slave could be legally
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: crucified for something a lot less than that. But it
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: was wrong for Onissimus to do that. It was wrong
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: for him to steal from Philemen. And here's the other
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: reason why Paul sends Onisimus back. Because Paul is appealing
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: to Philemen to deal gently with Onisimus. Here's what he
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: says in verse twelve, I am sending him back. Therefore,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: or receive him, that is my own heart. So basically
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Paul is asking his good friend Phileman to accept Onisimus
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: back the same way he would accept Paul, not as
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: a slave, but as a friend. And that's actually what
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Paul says in verse fifteen of this letter as well.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: For perhaps he was therefore separated from you for a while,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: that you would have him forever, no longer as a slave,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: but how much rather to you, both in the flesh
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: and in the Lord. That phrase, right there was one
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: of the most counter cultural phrases Paul could have ever
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: said in regards to slavery at the time, that a
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: slave could become a brother of a rich man. And
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: this is something that Paul has said actually multiple times
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: as well in the New Testament. I mean, what's the
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: famous verse where he says, there is no longer slave
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: or free, There is no longer Jew or gentile, male
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: or female, because everybody is equal under the eyes of God.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: You know. The world says all the time that there's inequalities,
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: that certain ethnicities are above another ethnicity, that men are
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: above women, or women are above men, or Jews are
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: better than gentiles, or vice versa. The world has all
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: of these inequalities and plays favorites with people all the time.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: But God never plays favorites. And that is what Paul
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: is saying right here that Phileman accept Onissimus back not
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: as a slave, but rather as a brother. This was
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: so countercultural when it comes to slavery that actually US
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: slave owners would not teach the Gospel to their slaves,
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: at least a lot of them wouldn't because they didn't
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: want their slaves understanding that they had equality with them,
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: so they would refuse to allow the slaves to learn
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: how to read, especially the Book of Philemen. Because of
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: what Paul is saying here. This completely flipped the whole
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: narrative of slavery on its back. That people are equal
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: with one another under the eyes of God. That because
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Onisimus is now a brother in Christ and Philemen, a
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: slave owner, is now a brother in Christ, these two
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: men are completely equal. They are brothers with one another.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Really amazing stuff. And I've mentioned this before on the podcast,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: but abolitionists were Christians. The people who wanted to get
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: rid of slavery were the Christians, and you can look
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: those stats up because of passages like this, and this
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: is why the Book of Philemen is so important and
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: why it's been canonized in scripture, because it shows that
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: nobody is underneath anybody else. In the eyes of God,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: everybody is equal to God. God does not play favorites.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: He doesn't love Phileman more than Onissimus just because Phileman
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: is wealthy and a free man. God doesn't love Onissimus
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: anymore because Onissimus is a victim, because he's a slave.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: God loves them both and considers them both his children
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: and considers them brothers with each other. This book should
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: really make us look at our fellow human beings very
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: differently that us Christians are not better than any other
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: member of Christ. You know, the person that comes through
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: your church doors that just recently got saved and is
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: still in a really hard place in life and doesn't
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: understand the Bible. If they have accepted Christ, they are
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: a brother or a sister to you. They are equal
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: to you in the eyes of God. God doesn't play favorites.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: And that's a really, really good thing. I'm sure a
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: lot of you, you know, grew up in households where
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: your parents favored one of your siblings. But you know
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: how unfair life can be when your parents play favorites.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: It's just not fair. It's no fun and makes things miserable.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: And I've known kids that have grown up in families
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: like that, where these kids grow up to be broken
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: adults because they know that their parents didn't love them
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: as much as their sibling. We are all equal in
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: the eyes of God. He loves us all so so much,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: and that's the same thing here with Onisimus. So Paul
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: is appealing to Philemen. He says, Philemen, I'm not going
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: to command you to treat Onissimus well, even though I
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: do believe that that's the right thing to do here.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: That's what he says. In verse eight.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: He says, therefore, though I have all boldness in Christ
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: to command you that which is appropriate, yet for love's sake,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: I rather appeal to you, being such a one as
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Paul the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: he says, I appeal to you from my child Onissimus,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: who I have become the father of in my chains.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: Paul knew that the right thing to do for Philemen
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: was to treat Onismus well and possibly free him. But
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Paul was not going to command Phileman to do that, because,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: first and foremost, I actually do think that would have
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: been less effective for Paul to do that for Paul
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: to be like, I command you phi Leman, to forgive
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Onnissimus for all that money that he stole from you,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: because that's the right thing for you to do, especially
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: when you know Roman law told phi Lemen that he
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: had property rights over Onissimus and that he could choose
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: to beat Onissimus or crucify him even for what Onismus
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: had done. You know, I really don't think Paul would
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: have been as effective if he would have commanded Phileman
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: to do this. So instead he appeals as a brother
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: in Christ, as a friend to Phileman, and he says, Philemen,
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: I know that this is the right thing for you
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: to do, but I have appeal to you, and I
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: make an argument for my son, Onisimus, who I hope
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: can become your brother. And that's the thing. You know,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Paul was clearly against slavery. You can see that throughout
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: all of his letters. But Paul was not somebody who
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: was going to go against the institution of slavery because
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: it was so deeply widespread in Roman culture. If Paul
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: would have protested and beat people up over it, he
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: would have been forgotten to history. It wouldn't have mattered.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Paul understood that the best way to get rid of
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: this deep wound of slavery was to change hearts one
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: at a time, and man, it was effective, because that's
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: actually what caused people to end the institution of slavery
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: was the Christian movement. Paul understood that changing hearts was
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: the way to get rid of the hatred and the
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: inequalities that was going on in Roman culture. And man,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: isn't that the same nowadays? You know, we could talk
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: to somebody till we're lou in the face trying to
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: convince them of our arguments about how they shouldn't be
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: racist or sexist or against abortion or something like that.
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: But if we don't help them have a heart change,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: if we don't point them to the gospel message, they're
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: never going to see things the way that we do.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: They're not going to see it. Because Paul is appealing
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: to his friend to do the right thing, not forcing him,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: not commanding him, but appealing to him and also telling Onisimus,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: you know, Onismus, though you were a slave, you did
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: something wrong, you stole from a friend of mine, and
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: you need to make it right. So just because Onisimus
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: was a slave, just because he was a victim doesn't
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: mean that he just gets off Scott free for the
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: sins that he does. Either, he needed to return to
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Fi Lehman and make things right, and that's why Paul
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: sends a letter back with Onissimus, and then in verse
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: seventeen it says, if then you count me a partner,
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: receive him as you would receive me. But if he
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: has wronged you at all or owes you anything, put
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: that to my account. I Paul write this with my
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: own hand. I will repay it. Not to mention to
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: you that you owe to me, even your own self. Besides, yes, brother,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: my heart in the Lord. Now, Philemen clearly looked up
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: to Paul. We can see that because of this little
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: thing that Paul says in verse nineteen, he says, not
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: to mention to you that you owe to me, even
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: your own self. Besides, it's pretty clear that Phileman became
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: a Christian because of Paul, and Paul's like, I'm not
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: really gonna mention that to you. I'm gonna kind of
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: mention it to you. Just Just remember, Phileman, that you
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: do owe a lot to me based upon the fact
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: that you were once in darkness, but because of the
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: gospel message that I presented to you, because of the
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: discipleship that I showed you, and the friendship that I
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: showed you, you do kind of owe me for that.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: But I don't want anything from you. I want you
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: to pay me back by being friendly and kind to Onismus,
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: by treating him the way I treated you as a
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: friend and a brother. He says, yes, brother, let me
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: in the Lord. Notice here that Paul again uses the
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: word refreshment in verses four through seven. We talked about
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: this on Tuesday. Paul said to Philemen, you know, one
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: of the things you're really good at, Phileman, is refreshing
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: the brothers because of your generosity. You are so kind
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: and generous, and so again in verse twenty, he says,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: refresh me, refresh my heart.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: In the Lord.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: You refresh all of these other saints' hearts, so do
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: the same for me. And again I think Paul is
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: hinting that he wants Onisimus to stay. But don't forget,
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Paul was not going to force Phileman to do anything
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: he says in verse twenty one, I have confidence in
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: your obedience. I write to you knowing that you will
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: do even beyond what I say verse twenty two, also
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: pay a guest room for me, for I hope that
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: through your prayers I will be restored to you. Now
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: that first is evidence that Paul was writing this during
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: his first Roman imprisonment, because you can kind of tell,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: based upon Paul's other letters when he was in Rome
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: the first time, that he had a lot of hope
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: that he was going to get out of prison. And
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: again right here he has hope that he's going to
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: get out of prison, which is why he tells Philemen.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: He's like, hey, please prepare a guest room for me.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: So it could be that while Paul was in Ephesus
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: he actually did stay with Philem in a handful of times,
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: because if Paul is comfortable enough to ask for this,
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: that means that Phileman hosted Paul on a handful occasions before.
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: And then he gives a few greetings to conclude from
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: a couple other men that were surrounding him at this time.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: He says, epifrass, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus greets
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: you as you mark Aristarchus, Demus and Luke, my fellow workers.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Now the name Demus here might ring some bells for you,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: because we talked about Demus a little bit, and I
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: believe the Book of Two Timothy at the very end,
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: when Paul was about to be killed, he actually said
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: that everybody abandoned him except for Luke, and he called
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Demus out by name. He said, my friend Demus has
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: abandoned me because he loved the things of this world.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: That's a really sad verse because Demus right here in
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Phi Lehman is mentioned as being a good friend, a
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: fellow worker of Paul's. I think this is a warning
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: to all of us. No matter how strong you might
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: be in the Gospel, the world can always pull you away.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: It's a warning that we need to be careful not
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: to allow that to happen to us any It can
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: happen to any of us. It could happen to you,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: It could happen to me. You know. The cares of
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: this world might take precedent and we go off the
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: wrong path for a while. Even Jesus talked about this
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: in the Parable of the Sowers. You know, he said,
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: some seeds fall on rocky soil, some seeds fall in
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: good soil, some seeds fall in the thorn bushes. And
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: Jesus said that the ones that fall in the thorn
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: bushes are the ones that spring up. In other words,
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: they hear the gospel message and they spring up, but
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: the thorns choke them out after a while. And the
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: thorns represent the cares of this world. And that's what
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: happened to Demus. He sprang up. He was a fellow
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: worker of Paul's, but when persecution happened, or when something
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: else came up in life, he abandoned Paul and the
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: gospel message for the cares of this world and left.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: We need to make sure that we are not seeds
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: that fall among the thorn bushes, but that we're seeds
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: that fall among the good soil, where we sprout up
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: and we produce a lot of fruit. Now that's not
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: to say that Demas wasn't saved by the way, or
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: that he lost his salvation. I don't believe that, because
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Jesus did say in that parable that the Gospel message
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: was effective you know, they sprang up when they heard it.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: But if you allow the world to take precedent over
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: the Gospel message in your life, you will not have
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: the same reward from Jesus when you eventually see him.
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: So you have to be very careful of that. It's
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: kind of a scary thought, I suppose. But Paul concludes
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: the letter by saying, the grace of our Lord Jesus
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: Christ be with your spirit.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Amen.
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: Right after this ad, I'm going to share a little
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: bit more about the canonization of the Book of Philamen
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: because I really like the story. So take a listen
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: to this ad and I'll be back right after that.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: So in the one tens a d there was a
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: bishop named Onissimus in Ephesus. A bishop was a church
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: leader of sorts, and church history says that this same
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Onissimus of Ephesus was very likely the same Onismus found
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: here in the Book of Philemon. And it makes some
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: sense because if Onisimus was a young man when he
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: ran away when this book was written about sixty four eighty,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: he would have been in his seventies or eighties at
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: the time of the bishop Onisimus in Ephesus in the
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: year like one ten eighty. So that's kind of cool
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: to think about that Phileman very likely listened to the
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: words of Paul.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: You know, Paul said.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: That he had a faith that Phileman was going to
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: go above and beyond. He says, I have confidence in
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: your obedience. I write to you, Phileman, knowing that you
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: will do even beyond what I say, And Philemen very
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: likely did, which is probably one of the reasons why
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: this little letter was canonized. It could be that Onisimus himself, actually,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: when he became a bishop in Ephesus, brought forth this
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: letter himself and was like, look, this was my letter
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: of freedom. So a lot of people say that Onisimus
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: was the one who actually saved this letter and especially
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: brought it forward when he was bishop in Ephesus. So
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: it's kind of a neat little conclusion to the story
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: that Onisimus could have become a church leader in his
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: old age, which was very common actually in these days
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: for bishops or elders or church leaders to be older men.
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: Just a neat little conclusion. So I loved the Book
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: of Philehman. I hope you guys enjoyed studying this book
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: with me, like I said it was short, and we're
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: done with it, so we are moving into the Book
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: of Hebrews, and man, I am so so excited to
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: go through the Book of Hebrews with you guys. It
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: is my favorite New Testament book by a long shot.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: I love the Book of Hebrews. My favorite Old Testament
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: book is the Book of Judges. I've talked about that before.
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: But Hebrews, Man, I love it. I absolutely love Hebrews.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: So we're going to get into Hebrews next week. I
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: hope you guys tune in on Tuesday as we discussed
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: the first chapter of Hebrews, and we're going to spend
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: some time in Hebrews. I am certainly not going to
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: rush it because I think there's a lot to know.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's a fantastic book. I think every single
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: person in the world can benefit from the Book of Hebrews.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: So I'm certainly looking forward to presenting that to all
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: of you guys and studying it with all of you
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: faithful listeners. But anyway, guys, I hope you have a
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: fantastic and wonderful weekend. I will see all of you
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: on Monday. If I don't see you, guys, tomorrow. Don't
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: forget tomorrow is for the members. We are going through
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: the Book of Psalms right now over on the Bible
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: Explained on Fridays. You're not going to gain access to
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: the Bible Explained on Fridays unless you become a member,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: So that's what you gotta do. Click the link in
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: the description that says Kofi and I'll hopefully see all
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: of you faithful members tomorrow on the podcast. But if not,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: I hope you have a fantastic and wonderful weekend. Happy listening,
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: faithful listeners, and God bless. I just want to take
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: In fact, if you go to lifeaudio dot com you.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Will find dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: They've got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.