My name is Philemon and God has commissioned me to speak at your church today. It is always nice to preach in a small church in a farming town. I am from a small farming town myself, the town of Colosse. In the past Colosse had been a leading city in our province, an important trade stop on the east-west trade route leading from the Aegean seaport of Ephesus all the way to the Euphrates River. Merchandise of every description from all over the Mediterranean floated through Colosse on the Lycus River to the great Euphrates River where it continued all the way to Babylon and even beyond.

But in recent years, many of our residents moved their businesses to bigger cities like Laodicea and Heirapolis to make more money. The hot springs in those cities make them premier spa and tourist destinations. As those cities continue to grow, Colosse continues to get smaller. People always seem to think “bigger is better,” but not me.

My wife Apphia and I like it here. It has been a good place to raise our family and we have done pretty well as sheep farmers. Our deep red dyed wool has become famous all over the world (they call it Colossinium). People use it to make beautiful blankets and clothing. Another reason I love Colosse is because of our church. I had never been much for religion, but my life changed when I heard about Jesus Christ.

Encounter with Paul

A number of years ago, my family and our good friend and neighbor Epaphrus, were all in Ephesus for business when we ran into a Jewish fellow named Paul. We were amazed to see him perform miracles of healing and we listened to him preach about a man named Jesus, who was supposedly crucified and resurrected. After he told us that he was from some place called Tarsus, he went on to tell us how he had become a Christian. He told us about how he had been a Pharisee (I guess it was some strict Jewish religious group) and he hated this group of freaks who called themselves Christians. He hated them because their religion was beginning to compete with his. He thought that they betrayed God’s word because they insisted that Jesus of Nazareth was God and had been crucified and resurrected.

He hated these Christians so much that he made it his life mission to wipe them off the face of the earth. He was responsible for murdering many of them in Jerusalem. He told us about a Christian named Stephen that made him so angry that they stoned him to death.

But when he was on his way to Damascus to kill more Christians, a great light appeared in the sky and blinded him. He heard Jesus’ voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” From that moment, Paul believed that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and he became a Christian. It is amazing to think about how his life mission changed from trying to eradicate Christianity from the face of the earth to spreading it all over the earth.

Well, when Paul told us about Jesus, we were immediately convinced that he was telling the truth. We believed this Jesus was indeed God in human flesh and that his death on the cross atoned for our sins and his resurrection brought us new life. I will never forget threat moment when I put my faith in Jesus Christ. It felt so good to know that my sins were forgiven and my place in heaven had been secured.

The Church at Colosse

We stayed with Paul for a few months to learn more about our new found faith, but eventually we had to return to Colosse. We asked Paul to come with us, but he said he needed to go to Macedonia and then start making his way back to Jerusalem. He encouraged us to share the gospel with our family and friends in Colosse. He said that we could start a church just like he had all over the world.

When we got home, we went right to work at establishing a church. My wife and I did our part, but Epaphrus is really the one who deserves the credit. He shared the good news about Jesus with everyone and he was a great teacher. Once the church was up and running, the whole congregation voted unanimously to make him our pastor. They made me one of the elders and the church met in our home because it was one of the largest in town. I suppose our church wasn’t the largest one in the world, but it was making a difference in our community. Many people became Christians through the ministry of our church and we were all growing in our faith through our worship and fellowship together. You can see why we never want to leave Colosse.

Problems in Colosse

Just when everything seemed to be going well, we started having some problems on the farm and in the church. You know what they say, “When it rain, it pours!” One of my farm hands, a man by the name of Onisimus, ran away. One morning we woke up to tend the sheep and he was gone. We couldn’t find him anywhere. Not only that, but I later found out that he stole a large sum of money from me to finance his escape.

I have to admit, I never cared for Onesimus very much. He was one of those people who was lazy and yet bragged about how hard he worked. I used to hear him say to the other hands, “Do you know what my name means? Onesimus means “useful.” What kind of person brags about their usefulness? I used to think that if I had been his father I would have named him “Ridiculous” instead of “Onesimus!” I was good to him, but shouldn’t have been surprised that he stole and ran away from me. That’s just the way he was: a lying, stealing, conniving, no good, rotten, you know what! On a farm like mine, even one lazy man gone makes it pretty difficult for everyone else.

Well, it was just about the time Onesimus took off that we also started having problems in the church. A group of traveling preachers came through Colosse and introduced some false teaching into our community. They were going around telling people that Jesus wasn’t really God and they didn’t really need him. They promoted knowledge and strict morality as the true spirituality. They even told our people that they were supposed to worship angels.

Well, I can’t tell you how many church meetings we had to discuss this problem, but none of us seemed to have the answer. This concerned Epaphras so much that he wanted to travel all the way to Rome to see Paul, who was imprisoned there, to get some advice on how to combat this heresy. After much deliberation, the church decided that it was in the best interest of the church to allow Epaphras to make the 1300 mile journey to Rome. The church also decided that my son, Archippus, would take over as pastor until he returned.

Tychicus’ Delivery

Many months had gone by and we hadn’t heard anything from Epaphras. We wondered if he ever made it to Rome or if he had met with Paul. Our church got together and prayed for him every day, but we were about to give up hope.

Then one Sunday evening when we were worshipping together, we heard a knock on the door. We all held our breath as we wondered if it could be Epaphras. We were so disappointed when we opened the door and it was someone else. The man introduced himself as Tychicus. He told us that Paul had sent him all the way from Rome to tell us how he was doing and to deliver two letters from Paul, one for the church and one for me personally. We immediately inquired about our dear friend Epaphras. He told us that Epaphras had gotten arrested and was with Paul under house arrest. In spite of this, Epaphras was doing well. He and Paul had quite a ministry with the probation officers at the Rome Department of Corrections. That is just like them, sharing their faith wherever they are!

Just as we were about to invite Tychicus in to worship with us, his face got very serious and told us that someone else was with him. We all wondered who it could be. When he stepped in from around the corner, I couldn’t believe it. It was my runaway farm hand Onesimus. I looked at him and my blood began to boil with anger. As I thought about how he had abandoned me and stole from me, I had a notion to call the authorities right there.

Reunion with Onesimus

Tychicus told us that when Epaphras arrived in Rome he found Onesimus, living there and helping Paul. He said that he had become a Christian under Paul’s ministry and he was changed. He said that he was planning to work off all that he owed me, but I didn’t believe a word of it. I had heard this sort of thing before. It seems like every time someone gets in trouble with the law, they claim that they are Christians now. I raised my voice when I said, “I don’t believe a word of this, I’m getting the authorities!”

That is when Tychicus stepped in and said, “Philemon, before you do that, please read this letter from Paul!” He handed me this scroll and I began to read it. Let me read it for you now!

Paul’s Request

Not wanting to have Onesimus show up unannounced at my house, Paul wrote a letter of introduction for him, taking the view that as a Christian brother Onesimus was a new creation, a man I had to become acquainted with as if for the first time.

Now the purpose of Paul’s letter was clear. For the first time he mentioned Onesimus, and in doing so turned his name into a clever play on words. You see, in our language Onesimus means useful. In effect Paul was saying that while as a pagan slave Onesimus hadn’t lived up to his name for me, but as a brother in Christ he was now doing so for both of us.

Paul was sending Onesimus back to me, but not as a slave. He expected me to receive Onesimus as an equal, a brother in the Lord. He even implied that maybe God had orchestrated the whole incident just for this purpose. Onesimus did get saved in the process, and was now helping Paul in ways that perhaps I should have been doing. But even so, this great man would never dream of just keeping him, at least not without my permission. I was beginning to feel some pressure.

Now he was asking me to receive Onesimus as if it was Paul himself standing at my door. And what’s more he was offering to personally make restitution for my financial loss, and agreeing to take the blame for my slave’s behavior. As if I would ever ask him to! And here’s another one of Paul’s plays on words. When said he wished that he would have some benefit from me, he used a form of my slave’s name, in effect asking me to be his Onesimus. Finally he hinted that he’ll come around someday to see if I’ve followed through on his request.

I’m sure my mouth was hanging open and my face turning all shades of red as I read and re-read Paul’s letter. What an audacious request to make! Onesimus was a thief and a runaway slave. He needed to pay the penalty for such behavior. If I were to forgive him just like that, without any punishment, what kind of example would that be setting for my other slaves? Why the whole system could break down and slaves could be running away all over the place. Besides, what had Onesimus ever done to deserve such a favor, and most of all what made Paul think he could ask this of me? The nerve!

Philemon’s Forgiveness

And then it dawned on me, just like Paul knew it would, and when it did it knocked the breath right out of me. With tears flowing down my cheeks I suddenly realized that Paul was only asking me to do for Onesimus what our Lord Jesus had asked His Father to do for me! I too was a thief and a runaway and much more. I too deserved to pay the penalty for my behavior. I too deserved to die. But God had forgiven me without prejudice and now called me “son” just because Jesus asked Him to, having paid all my debts and taken all the blame due me. And now I was being given the incredible privilege of returning the unmerited favor that God had shown me.

I turned to Onesimus who’d been standing timidly behind Tychicus and welcomed him into my arms and into my family, begging him to forgive me just as I had been forgiven.

I’m not exactly sure why God wanted me to come and tell my story at your church today. I wonder if anyone here today is struggling with forgiving someone like I did. Is there someone in your life that you have a difficult time forgiving? Has someone abandoned you? Has someone stolen from you? Has someone betrayed your trust? Is there someone who has hurt you so deeply that you don’t think you could ever forgive them?

I know how you feel! That is the way I felt about Onesimus! It wasn’t until I thought about Jesus Christ that I was able to forgive him. I realized that I was guilty of abandoning God, stealing from God, and betraying God’s trust, and therefore, I was no better than Onesimus. And if God, through the sacrifice of his son, could forgive me for all of my sins, what right do I have to withhold forgiveness from others.

As Christians, just as God forgives us for our sins against him, he wants us to extend forgiveness and grace toward those who sin against us!