Sermons 2025

Video

Text: Philemon 1-21
Theme: Useless to Useful

Outline
1.    Onesimus Useful as slave
2.    Now more useful as a Brother in Christ because found by Paul
3.    Found by Christ, makes us useful to others!

Sermon

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Epistle lesson of Philemon verses one through twenty-one.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Do you enjoy being be helpers? Maybe you help mom and dad around the house, cleaning up your rooms, taking out the trash, putting the dirty dishes in the sink, helping with your brothers and sisters. I know many of you enjoy being big helpers around the house, at school, and at church. In our text for today, we hear about a guy named Onesimus. He was a slave to a man named Philemon. Saint Paul says that Onesimus was useful as a slave but now is more useful as a fellow brother in Christ. How does Christ make us more useful to those around us? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    Onesimus Useful as slave

Our text for today is a beautiful short letter written by Saint Paul to a man named Philemon. Philemon helped to found the church in Colossae who was well known for his hospitality, especially since the church met in his home. Philemon has a problem though. One of his slaves, a man by the name of Onesimus, whose name means Useful, has run away. Onesimus was a pagan. He was on the outskirts of society, as well as the home. He was on the outside looking in as the church met in Philemon’s home. 

Onesimus was very useful to Philemon as a slave. In the Graeco-Roman world, owning slaves was not limited to the rich; many households included at least one slave. The Greeks and Romans both employed a system in which slaves could own property, earn money, and buy their freedom.  Slavery provided labor for large portions of agriculture and handicraft. Those who wanted skilled workers often used slaves rather than free men. Thus, many slaves were more economically secure than many free wage-laborers.

Aristotle presents slavery as a part of the natural order: “It is manifest therefore that … some are free men and others are slaves by nature” (Pol. 1255a1–2). However, this was not the only view of slavery in the Graeco-Roman world. Philo, for example, differentiates between bodily and moral slavery and states about conventional slaves that they “rank lower in fortune, but can lay claim to the same nature as their masters” (On the Special Laws 3.137). On the other hand, in his view moral slavery is ordained by God and such slaves are better off as conventional slaves, controlled by an owner. Others declared that it was slavery itself that was against nature (Florentinus, Dig. 1.5.4.1). 

We are not told why Onesimus ran away. Some scholars say he was a runaway slave who had stolen money, others say he was in a dispute with Philemon and wanted a friend of the master to intervene. The majority hold that Onesimus was a runaway slave, a fugitive that if caught could be killed. All we know for sure is that he had time with Paul during Paul’s time of imprisonment. It was through the time spent with Paul that the Spirit brought Onesimus to faith in Christ. 

2.    Now more useful as a Brother in Christ because found by Paul

That faith is Paul’s reason for writing this letter to encourage Philemon to receive Onesimus back into the household. Paul desires κοινωνία “sharing” better translated as fellowship. This does not mean that Philemon and Onesimus are going to go grab a cup of coffee together on Onesimus’ return and talk about how life is going for each other. Kοινωνία is the idea that, in Christ, Christians belong to one another. More than that, Christians identify with fellow Christians. Thus, we rejoice when others rejoice and we weep with those who are going through troubled times. The main idea is that there is a “sharing” or “mutual participation” in and of the faith. Reconciliation, or the lack thereof, has ramifications that extend beyond the immediate parties involved.  It can affect the entirety of the church as well.

Thus, why Paul encourages Philemon to receive Onesimus back, no longer as a pagan slave, but as a beloved brother in Christ. Though Paul, Onesimus has come to faith in Jesus Christ, the same faith as the church that met in Philemon’s own house believed. Paul desires a willing and joyous reunion of fellow believers rather than one of an angry and harsh master towards a runaway slave.

Paul points Philemon to Jesus. He opens with Christian identity, thanking God for the love and faith that Philemon has for the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. A love and faith that shows itself in the life of the believer. Paul ends the letter by stating that he knows Philemon will do even more than Paul is asking.

interpreters to question whether Paul asks—implicitly or directly—Philemon to grant Onesimus manumission, the act of freeing or liberating a slave. If Paul is requesting for Philemon to release Onesimus, then the letter marks a radical movement toward enacting within society the egalitarian view reflected in Gal 3:28 and Col 3:11. Even if Paul was not requesting manumission, his exhortation for Philemon to forgive Onesimus and treat him “as a brother” (Phlm 16) is notable since it makes Christian identity, and not cultural norms, the basis of ethical behavior. 

3.    Found by Christ, makes us useful to others!

In this Christian identity as the basis of ethical behavior, we found how it applies to us today. The same as Paul, Philemon, and Onesimus, we have been freed from the massive debt that we owned to God. Because of Adam’s fall, we were in slavery. In chains to our sinful nature with all of its lusts and passions. We were powerless under the power of the devil, falling into temptation again and again, slaves with nothing to look forward to but everlasting death itself in the fires of Hell. 

We have been freed! The iron fetters bound have been undone forever! Freed because of God Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life, freeing us from the harsh requirements of the Law. As Saint Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus bore our sins, nailing them to the cross. There, He bled and died, covering your sins with His holy and precious blood, enduring the full wrath of God in your place. Rising again from the dead, Jesus gives you newness of slavery. Slavery not to sin, devil, or death, but as His dear and beloved child.

It is the love of Christ that shapes your very identity and actions as Christians. Just as pagan Onesimus was watching the church from the sidelines, so too people are watch us as the church as well. How would Philemon react once Onesimus returned? Would he forgive or hold a grudge? As Christians we are called to reconcile and forgive, to show each other the same forgiveness and love that Jesus Christ showed to us. Having been forgiven by Jesus, we are useful as we show His love in action as we are reconciled to each other. 

We are useful, showing our faith in our lives as we live in this world because the world is watching. As we just sang, “How clear is our vocation Lord, when one we heed your call: to live according to Your Word and daily learn, refreshed, restored, that You are Lord of all and will not let us fall.” Pagans and those of other faiths are watching how we act while we are around our family, friends, neighbors, and others. They are listening to the words that are coming out of our mouths and what tone we are using. I pray that our thoughts, words, and deeds proclaim the Holy Spirit living within us as we joyfully proclaim Jesus’ death and resurrection for the reconciliation and healing of a broken and fallen world. 

Reconciliation and forgiveness are not easy. They mean defying our sinful nature, not letting bitterness and anger fester, but letting love in Christ reign. Philemon could have very easily held a grudge. He would have been within His right as a master to harm Onesimus severely. Yet, Philemon and Onesimus reconciled. Philemon then released Onesimus for a time to Paul for service in his mission work (see Col 4:7–9). It is also a possibility that this same Onesimus went on to become bishop of Ephesus in the early second century at the age of 70. None of this would have been possible without the forgiveness and love shown to them, and us, in Jesus Christ.
 

Dear brothers and sisters, let us always live in Jesus Christ, a life that shows  κοινωνία, fellowship, love, and, forgiveness to those who have harmed or hurt us, as our lives show the love of Christ for us, and for the world at large.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.