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Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Now Hear Me Out with Pastor Ryan Braley
Have you ever considered how the faith of early Christians might challenge today's social norms? Join me, Pastor Ryan, as we close our You Pick series with a deep exploration of the book of Philemon. I share amusing and eye-opening stories from my recent trip to Tanzania, including the quirks of driving on the left side of the road and navigating squatty potties, to set the stage for a profound discussion on cultural shifts and the gospel’s transformative power.
Imagine living in ancient Rome and suddenly committing to a faith that demands a complete overhaul of your daily life. We'll uncover how Paul's letter to Philemon disrupted the entrenched social norms of his time. By examining the story of Onesimus, a runaway slave, and his reconciliation with his master, Philemon, we'll draw parallels to the radical changes early Christians embraced. The gospel not only called for personal transformation but also for new ways of relating to each other, challenging societal structures head-on.
Wrapping up our conversation, we delve into the profound themes of reconciliation and redemption that Paul champions in his letter. With insights from NT Wright, we explore how Paul's appeal to Philemon transcends manipulation and embodies genuine faith. The concept of koinonia, or mutual partnership, teaches us that faith isn't just a private affair—it's a community endeavor. Let's consider how we, too, can live out the hope and healing of Christ in our daily lives, building bridges and mending relationships as Paul did.
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Good morning everyone. How are we doing? Excellent, my name is Ryan, I'm the pastor here and it's awesome to be with you. We're going to jump right in because this morning at the 830, I was like, oh, I don't have as much time as I thought I did, so I better get going early. But, hey, wonderful to be with you guys. This morning we're kind of wrapping up our you Pick series. We've got a couple more and this is like always a sign of the unofficial end of summer Our YouPick series wrapping up and, of course, the state fair. So this is how you know summer is kind of coming to an end is when we start wrapping things up like this.
Speaker 1:This morning I want to talk to you about the book of Philemon and the sermon's called. Okay, now hear me out. And the question was this Somebody asked me her name is Roberta Toccoli. If you know Roberta, she's awesome. She's like, hey, why is the book of Philemon in the Bible? It's so short and it's obscure, why is it even in there? She actually asked me about three books, so I might do a little two-part series on why is that book in the Bible One this morning on Philemon and one next week on either Titus or Jude. I haven't figured it out just yet. But tune in, we'll see next week. But Philemon, we'll talk about that book this morning. It's a short one, so actually open your Bibles, if you don't mind, to Philemon, it's on page 970. And I'm going to have you just have it open so you can kind of see what we're doing, where we're going. It's not long. I almost had Sarah read the entire book because it's only 25 verses, but I did not do that. But open it up and I want you to have it there In the meantime.
Speaker 1:I think I told you, but I was in Tanzania a couple of weeks ago. Did I tell you that already? And, if you can indulge me, I want to just tell you one or two more stories about my time in Tanzania. It was an incredible time. Jeremiah was over there with me and any other Tanzanian traveler. I know the Nordmeyers were over there.
Speaker 1:But here's the thing, and this may sound obvious to you, but when I went to Tanzania and whenever you travel out of the United States, things are a little bit different. Did you know this? A lot different, in fact. Now we got there, I noticed a few things right away. One they drive on the wrong side of the street in Tanzania. They call it the left side, but I call it the wrong side. Of course, in America we drive on the right side, the correct side, but you've got to get used to it because you cannot drive on the right side, you have to drive on the correct side, which is the left side. I also noticed almost right away that when we made a couple bathroom stops and the bathrooms of these gas stations are not in the gas station, they're outside the gas station and, believe it or not, you'll know if you've been to Tanzania or other places they don't have toilets in a lot of these gas station bathrooms, or a lot of bathrooms in general, they have instead what you call a squatty potty.
Speaker 1:Anyone ever use a squatty potty before? Oh, you're missing out. Yeah, okay, a couple. Yeah, I was in Thailand a long time ago with my wife for about a month and it's the same deal. So not to indulge too much, but here's how these things work. There's no toilet, it's just really a hole in the ground with a place for your feet. So you kind of squat down and you do your thing and you get a bucket of water, you throw some water at it and then you're done. You kind of wash your hands and you're all done. So I'll let your imagination do what it will with that. Now, usually in homes or in the hotels we had toilets, but you have to get used to using a squatty potty and actually it's better for you and sort of your insides, because it lines everything up, and that's all I'm going to say about that. But it's better for you, it's a little bit easier if you can imagine these squatty potties. Another difference I noticed is that when you go and Jeremiah was telling me this because he's from Tanzania, but they're like hey, Ryan, in African culture, whenever you visit somebody, it's important and polite to share a meal with them. Anytime, no matter what time of day, where you are, you either have coffee, tea, a meal, a snack, something to kind of share around the table. I'm like great, I mean, I love food, asked Jeremiah. He was there. I'm like I love me some food, so I'm fine with this.
Speaker 1:One day we went to go visit like five schools. We would visit schools and visit their wells and see what the things we've been doing over there and the kids, and it was awesome. And our guide, pastor Seth. He was like our tour guide, not tour guide, but he was our contact that day. You know, pastor Seth. He's like, hey, ryan, we're going to have lunch at the third school. And I'm like, oh great, no problem. Well, after the first school we get there like we're getting culture. We have to share a meal with them before we go. I'm like a meal. He's like, well, no, no, don't worry about it, it's not lunch, it's just a snack. I'm like, okay, cool.
Speaker 1:So I'm thinking like something small. You might be imagining a snack, a small thing. No, it was not small. They come out like eight bowls of like chicken and salad and baked vegetables and potatoes and bread and butter and all kinds of fresh fruit and then coffee and tea. And I was like yo, I told the team, I go team, hey, just so you know. The pastor says they're going to bring out a small snack and we're going to share it with them and we'll get out of here Maybe a hard-boiled egg and some tea. They're looking at me like Ryan, this is not a small snack, sorry guys. So that day I had about five meals, I think it was. I was like this is great, man, because we were walking around a ton.
Speaker 1:So, just so you know, when you go anywhere in Africa and I don't know if it's the whole continent, but at least in Tanzania, where we were in these regions too I actually went to Jeremiah's house. I'm like Jeremiah, we're rolling in late to his house. The last night we were there and he's like dinner, breakfast the next morning, the whole spread, so the whole nine they just rolled out. So it was awesome. I'm like great. So that was incredibly surprising and wonderful.
Speaker 1:The other thing that I noticed and this is my favorite, that's why I wanted to bring some to show you this morning is this how you drink coffee in Tanzania is a bit different. Now, in America you have like a drip coffee machine. I'm sure they have these in Tanzania, but coffee machine I'm sure they have these in Tanzania, but I never saw a single one. Instead and just bear with me on this one they have instant coffee. Now I know at first glance you're like, oh my gosh, instant coffee. It's not as good, ryan, it's not as good. But I'm telling you this coffee is awesome.
Speaker 1:Now it's not just any instant coffee. This is called Afrocafe. I know Helena likes it too. Yeah. So I'm like Jeremiah, I need to go to the store. I'm going to get some of this to bring home, because everywhere we'd go they'd have this Africa cafe. It's like it's instant coffee and you would get to be like a jar of it. And I remember the first time I tried it they had it in all the hotel rooms Like hey, take a small, like a teaspoon of this stuff and put it in my drink. I'm like I'm a grown man, it's not a kiddie cup. And the lady goes no, no, no, no, it's very strong and I drank it. It was strong and good. So I'm like this is incredible.
Speaker 1:So here's how you make instant Afrikafe. It's actually quite easy and that's my daughter, because every morning I'd get up in the morning and I would make myself some Afrikafe. So this is actually. These are packets that have the Afrikafe coffee in it and some sugar and cream all in one packet. So it's like super easy.
Speaker 1:Just dump it in there and I like to add to my own. I get some butter and some some collagen powder and some creatine powder in there, just for my memory. And then you just take some hot water. You get a lot. There's like a little kettle, pour some water in there and I'm already halfway done. Stir it up.
Speaker 1:Now here's the deal. I promised the 830. Nobody took me up on it, strangely enough. If you want to try this, yeah, okay, Robin does. Yeah, come see me afterwards. Now I'm going to try some myself to make sure it tastes good.
Speaker 1:So, as long as you don't mind sharing a coffee with me, but this is it, here we go. Oh, that's perfect, perfect. So there you go. That's Africa. Now here's the deal. Everywhere we went, we had coffee like this, because it was how you do it. We're in Tanzania.
Speaker 1:And when you're in Tanzania if I were to stay there a little bit longer than just a couple of weeks you have to begin to adopt all these ways of sort of being in the world, like, because you know to be in Tanzania, you have to sort of shape the way you do things, so you can't drive on the right side of the road, you have to drive on the left side of the road. When you use the bathroom, you're probably going to encounter a squatty potty and you have to learn how to use it, Otherwise I don't know what you're going to do. And when you're in Africa, when you're visiting people, you have to share a meal. That's just how you do it over there. The way you operate and function and move in the world is different because you're in Tanzania, and if I wanted to become a Tanzanian citizen, I'm sure there'd be like legal steps to take. I have to get a new passport and go to the, you know, the embassy or the cons or whatever, and get all the legal document filled out and maybe take a test and do all the things. But more than that, I'd begin to function and operate like a Tanzanian. Are you with me so far?
Speaker 1:This is how things were in the ancient world when it came to the first followers of Jesus. For them, being a follower of Jesus meant a lot of things, but it meant, hey, this movement was a radical underground movement and it was actually a way of being in the world For the first followers of Jesus. It wasn't just, hey, we believe in these 10 doctrinal statements or we think these things are true with our brains. Rather, it's like, hey, we believe that Jesus was resurrected, but because we believe that it changes everything how we behave and live and move in the world. So, because we believe that Jesus rose from the dead, it changes how we treat our neighbor and because Jesus rose from the dead, it changes how I view my enemies. And because Jesus rose from the dead and I believe it with all my being, because he did, it changes how I interact with my co-workers and people I'm in school with. It changes the very way I behave in my day-to-day life. Does that make sense To one person? Okay, great, thank you. Everyone else, I guess you're out of luck. But being a follower of Jesus, especially in the ancient world, meant that your very way of being, your way of operating and functioning under the nose of the Roman Empire, by the way, which often operated in a counter sort of a counter-cultural way than the early followers did that it would change how you lived, which was quite dangerous for them, many of them because they lived this counter-cultural way, sort of against the stream of culture and society and people and their neighbors, even family members. They pushed against that because they were followers of Jesus. It wasn't just that they believed certain things with their brains or thought things were true. Their very actions, their behaviors were all different because of their belief in Jesus and the resurrected Jesus. It changed everything, even how they drank their AfriCafe.
Speaker 1:Now Paul writes this letter to a guy called Philemon. Philemon's this dude. He's a Roman citizen living in Colossae. Paul, meanwhile, is in prison and he writes a couple of letters. In fact, he sends this letter to Philemon along with another letter called Colossians. You might have heard of this book too. So this is an incredible moment in history. Here you have this letter being sent to Philemon At the same time. The letter to the church in Colossians is going at the same time together. So this guy called Tychius is carrying this other letter, but these two dudes are carrying these two letters back towards Colossae. And Paul is writing from prison.
Speaker 1:And this letter it's short. It's only 335 words long. So Sarah could have done it, it would have been just fine. In fact, I said in my Awaken email this week. I said, hey, it's a short letter. In fact it's not really a letter, it's more of a postcard. You could put Philemon on a postcard and no joke.
Speaker 1:This morning I come into church and taped to the front door is a postcard. Somebody printed Philemon on the back of it. How awesome is that? Was anybody in here that did this? Nobody will admit to it. I think this is great. I'm keeping this forever. I love it. But somebody put the entire book of Philemon on the back of a postcard. It's that short and it's really short.
Speaker 1:But even though it's so short, this is an explosive letter and it undermines the very fabric of the social order in the Roman Empire. It's incredibly controversial. This letter See Paul's writing a letter from prison to Philemon about a guy called Onesimus. Everyone say Onesimus Great. So it's a letter from Paul to a guy called Philemon about a third guy called Onesimus, and it really instructs each of us how our social relationships ought to be. And so, in that way, this book that's actually quite old, is really timeless. He's addressing the ways in which the people of God ought to live and move in the world.
Speaker 1:Roberta asks the question why is Philemon in the Bible? And I'll give you the answer right now, and you can zone out and take a nap if you want to. But here's the answer. Philemon, like other books, but in a total unique way, puts on display the gospel of Jesus. It's incredibly beautiful how he does it, it's awesome. And so, as I'm sharing about this book, I want you to look for the gospel, because here's what it means. You have to know what is the gospel and, as I've already alluded, I don't believe the gospel is just like a series of 10 things you have to believe. It's maybe part of that, but it incorporates every part and facet of your life and changes the way that you and I are in the world. So, as I'm talking about Philemon, listen and notice the gospel message, because it's in there and it's put on display in this short little, timeless book.
Speaker 1:Now Paul writes this letter to Philemon about Onesimus and it's an entirely personal letter. Right, this is just to Philemon about Onesimus and it's about like a sort of a sensitive topic. But here's the funny or awkward thing when Paul writes it, he means for it to be addressed, or it's addressed to Philemon, but he wants the entire church to read it. See, philemon at this point has converted to Christianity and he's a friend of Paul's. Paul actually converts him or leads him to his faith, and then he writes this letter because Philemon is sort of the leader of this house church in Colossae. So Paul's like I'm going to address this letter to Philemon, but I want everyone to read it in the house church. I mean, imagine if Pastor Paul wrote a letter to me about my good friend Carol Grier and was like hey, but I want you to read it in front of everybody, but it's about you and Carol and me. It's a little bit awkward, and I'm standing up here with this letter and it's kind of awkward, right. This is what Paul's doing. He's like, hey, read this letter to everybody. And here's why Because it doesn't just concern Philemon and Onesimus and Paul, it does those three guys. This is a family matter. This sensitive topic that's about to be broached here, that Paul's writing about, why he's addressing this letter in the first place. It's about the entire thing. It's a family matter that implicates everybody. Everyone is somehow indirectly or even directly involved in this conflict, and so Paul's like I gotta address this with everybody. So he wants them to read it out loud.
Speaker 1:Now, philemon's this well-to-do Roman citizen who lives in Colossae. He's wealthy, has some means and like most people in the Roman Empire, like Philemon, who's a man of wealth and power, he owns slaves. That's just kind of how it worked back then. And slavery, by the way, if you picture slavery, you probably picture maybe modern-day American slavery or something like that. It wasn't quite that way back in the ancient world, in the Roman Empire Doesn't mean it's okay. Slavery in every facet or every iteration is condemnable and it's not a good thing, and so we reject those things. Of course. But it was different back then, and one-third of all Roman citizens were slaves. Imagine if one-third of all Americans were slaves. I mean, slavery was a part of, like the very fabric of the Roman social order, its economic system. Everything rose and fell on slavery. The economy itself was somehow tied to, directly or not, to slavery. There were so many slaves, and slavery was ubiquitous in the ancient world, especially in the Roman Empire. And so Philemon, of course, owns slaves, and one of them is Onesimus.
Speaker 1:Now here's what happens Onesimus is living in Philemon's house as Philemon's slave and somewhere along the way before the letter is written, onesimus does something to wrong Philemon's slave. And somewhere along the way before the letter is written, onesimus does something to wrong Philemon, and then, rather than kind of hanging out and waiting to see what happens, he splits and runs away. Now this is doubly bad. One, he wronged Philemon, and two, he runs away and runaway slaves. That was a punishment, or that was a crime punishable by, you know, by whippings or beatings. Actually, it was a capital crime as well. You could kill your slave if they ran away. There were rewards offered to people who found runaway slaves and brought them back.
Speaker 1:So Onesimus runs away and he's looking for a safe harbor and he finds it in Paul and he meets Paul. So now all three of these guys just coincidentally or not they know each other now, kind of because Paul helped convert Philemon. And now Onesimus, who was Philemon's slave, finds Paul and he asks Paul for help. And so Paul and Onesimus begin this relationship and, lo and behold, onesimus begins to kind of like help Paul. Paul mentors Onesimus, and then Onesimus converts to the faith.
Speaker 1:Now imagine what's going on. All three of these guys are followers of Jesus who, in this day and age, are meant to be living in a different way in the world. They're to operate according to the cross of Jesus, not the Roman Empire or the rules of the world. They're to live in a countercultural way in the world. The way they behave, because Jesus is resurrected, is different. So now what do they do? Paul knows that, hey, onesimus, there's this rift between Onesimus and Philemon. He's got to figure it out. And so Paul says, hey, look.
Speaker 1:So, onesimus, the elephant in the room is that Onesimus has run away. He owes Philemon a debt, not just his absence, but all the work that wasn't being done and whatever he did to wrong him. He's got to make it right. There has to be reconciliation. There's a rift in the family. Now it's the family of God. Paul calls Onesimus. He's like my dear son. When he's writing the letter he calls Onesimus his dear son, because now they're all a part of the family of God.
Speaker 1:Onesimus needs his help and again, if anybody finds Onesimus, they can return him for a great reward or he'll get punished in this most grievous way. There was this ancient manuscript from 1643 BCE that said if a slave runs away, you should punish them by locking them away and whipping them. Good, that's how it was handled when you had a runaway slave. And Onesimus knows this, paul knows this and, of course, philemon knows this. What's Paul going to do?
Speaker 1:Well, paul has this brilliant idea to send Onesimus back, to which Onesimus replies what are you talking about, willis? I'm not going back. There's no way I'm going back. Why would he go back? It's certain death, or maybe not quite that bad, but it's certain beatings. He's going to be in severe trouble. Why would Onesimus go back? He's free and now he's converted. Everything's different now. But Paul's like no, no, you have to go back because there's this great rift in the family, this relational rift in the family. We've got to figure it out. So Paul's like okay, but also, you shouldn't be a slave any longer In the kingdom of God, in the ordering.
Speaker 1:The way that we do things here in the kingdom of God it's different than the Roman empire. Our movement, this underground radical movement that was like counter-cultural in almost every way. It doesn't operate like the Roman empire. By the way, if you haven't noticed, you might find that your own values, your morals, your ways of living bump up against our world and our culture regularly in today's world and that creates a problem, a bit of a tension. How am I going to function? Am I going to just go along with the culture or my neighbors or the stream that I live in? It's so fast and look, I wouldn't blame you, it's just easier to go along. But Jesus rose from the dead and I think I want to live in that way.
Speaker 1:There's a tension there and Paul's like, hey, you can't be a slave. So he writes to Philemon. He says, hey, I want you to accept Onesimus back and not only forgive his debt but welcome him back, not as a slave, like don't just take him back and forgive the debt and now you can be my slave again, it's fine. No, no, I want you to welcome him back as a brother, as a part of your family, to which Philemon was like what are you talking about, willis? What are you talking about? There's no way. This undermines the very fabric of society.
Speaker 1:If everybody did this, if we all let our slaves go in the Roman Empire, the whole thing could grind to a halt. Remember, everything is tied to slavery. It's just how it works. It's so ubiquitous. It's like owning a slave is like owning a computer or a phone or using electricity, and if I stood up here and was like hey, you guys, central, you need to stop using electricity from here on out, you'd be like you're crazy, that's crazy. That's what it's like, though To sort of remove slavery in this ancient story from the Roman Empire would have ground the entire thing to a halt.
Speaker 1:How could Paul ask this and also not just welcome him back, not as a slave, not just forgive him, but welcome him back as a brother, as one of your own family? This is a scandalous request of Paul, and it's scandalous. It's more than just kindness. Kindness would be like oh, just come on back and maybe be passive, aggressive towards him, but make him stay a slave. This is actually not that. It's way more than kindness. This is unheard of. It's revolutionary. It's a scandalous thing for Paul to ask. Yet there it is. So here's how he does it. You can look in the Bible here yourself. There's like three sections there's a greeting from Paul. Paul always gives a nice greeting. Three sections there's a greeting from Paul. Paul always gives a nice greeting. Then there's this prayer Paul tees up this extremely dangerous, scandalous ask with a prayer, like sometimes Christians do you know, like I want to just soften the blow a little bit here.
Speaker 1:One time me and Katie were going to Mexico for like four weeks or seven weeks and I just bought this PlayStation 2. At the time it was the pinnacle of all gaming systems. You know what I'm talking about and my buddy knew we were leaving for like two months. He wanted to borrow this gaming system. So he says to me he's like hey, ryan, because again we're working on this Christian bubble called YWAM. He says, ryan, when you go, I want you to pray and ask God if he would let you borrow me your PlayStation 2. To which I go. Oh, no, no, no, the answer is no. I don't need to pray about that. Justin, the answer is no, he goes. Well, you got to pray about it. No, no, I'm not praying about it. The answer is no.
Speaker 1:Is that what Paul's doing? Is he just like trying to grease the wheels here for Philemon, like, oh, philemon. I think actually what he's doing is not manipulating the situation. Rather, he's calling out of Philemon his faith, trying to make it active in the real world. Like Philemon, I know you've got this faith in you. The resurrected Christ is in you. I'm going to appeal to that and call it into action, specifically around what I'm going to ask you next. So he's awakening within Philemon. Hey, you are a follower of Jesus. So am I. So is Onesimus, my son, in the faith.
Speaker 1:I'm going to set the stage here and portray something here. I want you to then use this framework for how to answer what I'm going to ask you next, because your faith, philemon, should change everything. Listen, if the gospel is just about memorizing these 10 things and believing they're true. And look, I memorized the catechism when I did my studies at Luther and I've got the book of Concord in my office with all the confessional stuff in there as Lutherans and we ascribe to all of it for sure, 100%. But listen, if that's all our faith is and doesn't make any real difference in our lives, then it's a moot point. Paul doesn't need to ask him to have Onesimus welcomed home as a brother, because who cares? Who cares if we own slaves? We can say in here hey, we all believe in Jesus, but we can go on about our lives and live as though it's not really true.
Speaker 1:I think, unfortunately, many Christians do this. We say, oh, we believe in these things and that's what makes us a Christian, but meanwhile we behave in a certain kind of way that like that's not really probably true, because you're acting like it's not really true. What if, instead, our faith wasn't about us, like naming and declaring online or other places like the five things we believe in and that we reject over here, and then we kind of live our lives more just like everybody else. What if, instead of that, what if our lives like no, because Jesus rose from the dead, I'm going to treat my neighbors differently and my enemies differently, those I don't like? It changes that, how I spend my money and where I volunteer and how I behave during election season Careful Braylee, careful Right or how I behave in traffic that's a hard one for a lot of us or how I respond to authority, or how I respond to the culture around me. What if my faith impacted all of those things?
Speaker 1:If the gospel impacts our behavior, how we live and move in the world, how we make our coffee, if it impacts all of that, then Paul has every right to ask him that, hey, dude, because of the faith, because of the resurrected Christ, I need you to invite him back into your home, not demand a payment, and welcome him back, not as a slave but as a brother, because the gospel changes everything. Are you with me, paul? In verse 6, notice this. He says this in verse 6. Paul says I pray. Here's his prayer. He's using the prayer to try to paint a picture of the gospel for Philemon I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you receive the good news that we may do for Christ.
Speaker 1:Now here's the deal. When he says I pray that the sharing of your faith, he uses the Greek word koinonia. Everyone say koinonia and this is a word repeated a lot in this little, short, little book. In some versions it says the partnership. He's describing a partnership. Hey, philemon, we have this partnership of sharing in the faith, and also I have it with Onesimus, and that means that you and Onesimus have this sharing of the faith, this koinonia, together.
Speaker 1:Now, koinonia is a mutual partnership that we all share together. Look, we gather in this room and it's kind of awkward. We're singing songs and maybe you don't like to sing or pray out loud and you're like kind of looking at your neighbor, I don't really know you, I don't know you behind me. But here's the deal we do share in this receiving of God's grace when you come into this room. So, because we all receive from the grace of God, the love of God in this time and place for an hour or so, that makes us partners. You may not know the guy behind you or the woman in front of you or the kid next to you screaming or playing with their Hot Wheels car, fine, fair enough. But somehow, because we're all sharing this mutual reception of God's goodness and love and presence, we're somehow in this together. We're partners. It's koinonia. And koinonia doesn't mean that you think these five things are true. That doesn't really matter. I mean maybe, I guess it does, but only insofar as it affects how you behave with each other. Philemon, we're partners, you and I. And guess what? Me and Onesimus, and now you and Onesimus, we're all partners. I pray this partnership, this mutual sharing of the reception of God's goodness and grace, will impact how we think about this and Onesimus as a slave. It's relationships.
Speaker 1:And then Paul's like hey look, I could demand that you just receive Onesimus back. I could do that. I could just tell you, because Paul's like a mentor to Philemon Listen, dude, you better accept him back, and Philemon would have to probably do that to honor him and as a mentor. But Paul's like I don't want to do that. That isn't the gospel. I'm just going to tell you you running around shouting others down about how they should behave and what they should do doesn't usually work. For this reason, it never works. It isn't the gospel.
Speaker 1:The gospel is like this ground up, like this bubbling of love that slowly begins to take over people's lives. I love it. And Paul's like I'm going to appeal. Instead of demanding that you behave a certain way, I'm going to paint a picture for you and, out of love, I'm going to appeal to your sense of faith in the resurrected Christ and ask you to think about this. I mean, imagine if our evangelism was like that, you know, not approaching folks like hey, you better change, but rather like, hey, here's the gospel. As I see it, man, this story is so good you ought to hear it and appeal to folks based out of love. I'm not saying, don't take sin seriously. Of course Paul took this seriously, this crime that happened and all these things. But he appeals to him on the basis of love, Describing a new way of being human in the kingdom of God Because of our mutual sharing of God's goodness and grace and love, describing a new way of being human in the kingdom of God Because of our mutual sharing of God's goodness and grace and love. It changes how we behave as humans.
Speaker 1:I was at a baseball game this was years ago with a mentor, friend of mine, some other friends, and when I was younger I used to love to talk trash to people, probably an Achilles heel of mine. Now I talk love and I'm a preacher now. So I kind of flipped it over and it's hey. But we were at this baseball game and this guy was like jawing back and forth with me at this baseball game and I was like and I'm a Christian at this point too, but I started jawing back at this game. Yeah, I don't remember what I said. You know something dumb and Well, no, sir, it's not. Thank you for reminding me, because our faith ought to make a difference in our lives and someone ought to at least ask you hey, dude, is that how? Not you dummy? What are you? No, but like. Is that how we want to live in the world? Is that how the kingdom of God is that? You know, that was all it took, man, because Paul's introducing for all of us a new way of being a human.
Speaker 1:The gospel is not just how to get saved and go to heaven when you die. It's not what it's about. It's probably part of that, I guess. But it's living in tune with Jesus in the real world. That impacts real lives and real people as they make real difficult decisions in life. We call this ethics. This is what the gospel is. How does it impact how you live and move and breathe and make decisions at every level? So there's a couple of folks in this room who are engaged in politics, and you know who you are, and I've told them privately. Hey, do your thing and always think how might the gospel flush itself out in this arena that I'm in? It's a tough arena. Man, we should be praying for our friends who are in politics, and thanks for their service. But how does it impact how you make decisions? And it should at least have the question be asked, you know, or teachers, or lawyers, or any of us how does it impact our real lives? How can I find the gospel in action? Well, in Paul's case, it's reconciling these two guys, philemon to Onesimus. That's the gospel for Paul.
Speaker 1:Look in 2 Corinthians and I'm trying to get out of here as quick as I can, but he writes this that God was reconciling the world. This is the gospel To himself. There was a fissure, a fracture between God and the world in some way, and humans each other. So God reconciles the world to himself in Christ, not counting their sins against them. So there's that, and he commits us to that message of reconciliation. So God wants to bring about reconciliation. And guess who he wants to use? Most often you, you knucklehead. God's always looking for partners. So he calls God, sends Jesus to reconcile, and then he's like okay, now you guys, as Christ followers, you're going to also be reconcilers. And then he's like okay, now you guys, as Christ followers, you're going to also be reconcilers In real life. And this is costly, my friends. It costs you something. Philemon owes or, excuse me, onesimus owes Philemon. He ran away, he wronged him. There's a breaking there, a fracturing of relationship, and he owes him something Because reconciliation, healing of relationships, it's costly, it's not easy.
Speaker 1:Have you ever tried to say sorry to somebody and be the first one to say you're sorry? How easy is it to say I'm sorry? It's hard, you don't want to do it because it's costly. But maybe try going first. How easy is it to offer forgiveness? It's hard. I'm not saying it's easy to follow Jesus. It's hard, it's hard. I'm not saying it's easy to follow Jesus. It's hard, it's costly. It costs you something, it costs everybody something. Relationships are hard. It's easy to run and hide. It's harder to seek reconciliation and forgiveness and healing. It's costly.
Speaker 1:And this, my friends, is what the cross is all about. So paul stands in the place of jesus on the cross and he tells philemon philemon, whatever he owes you, because he owes you. I know only supposed to owe you, I know it. I know he owes you for running away, he owes you for the work he's done. He owes you for whatever you wronged. I know he owes you. You probably got a tally sheet of all things. You charge it to me, I'll pay it. Somebody has to pay it, right, and it's not just a legal transaction. Oh, he owes you $10. Here's $10.
Speaker 1:Koinonia is about relationships. So Paul stands in between Onesimus and Philemon in the place of Jesus on the cross, trying to reconcile these two brothers and help fix this broken relationship. And it will cost, and in this case Paul's like, I'll take it. Who does that sound like? And he takes the cost, he absorbs it in the place of these two men. This is what Koinonia is about, because Paul knows this.
Speaker 1:At the foot of the cross there's no more slave-master relationship. It's gone. At the foot of the cross, the ground is level. So when you come to the cross and you're rich or poor, male or female, republican or Democrat, a teacher or a lawyer or a thief or a criminal, the ground's level. Or pastor, put pastor in there. I'm just telling you. The ground beneath the cross is level. This is the gospel. These men are to be family. Colossians 3 says it this way. Paul says here there's no more Gentile or Jew, circumcised or not, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all. Imagine that next time you have a conflict with somebody, hey, what would it look like if I just met them at the foot of the cross, where the ground is equal and level.
Speaker 1:By the way, paul never mentions Jesus' death and resurrection in this book. It's the only book that Paul writes where he never talks about the cross, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Why he doesn't have to. He's showing it to them. This is what the death and resurrection and the goodness and the hope and the cross looks like in action, because the cross is not just a thing we believe in with our brains. Rather, it's a thing that shapes our very lives and how we treat others, slaves and free, and people we don't like, and so on and so forth. It shapes who we are as people. We're called to a new humanity and Paul puts it on display. I'll end with these two quotes.
Speaker 1:Nt Wright says this he doesn't mention the cross, rather he applies it. On the cross, jesus hung with arms out stretched between heaven and earth, making a bridge upwards and downwards, between God and humans, from side to side, between all the warring factions on earth. And Paul has grasped the truth that many have missed that his achievement, gods, of reconciliation is put into effect when his people follow the same pattern. We're called to pattern the cross. When people allow the cross to shape their very lives, the love of God is set free to change and heal in ways that we cannot at the moment even imagine.
Speaker 1:And Paul or NT writes this. It says Paul will represent them to each other. He stands in the middle. He will substitute for Onesimus. He'll pay Philemon what Onesimus owes, reminding Philemon by not reminding him that he too owes him his very life, as Paul led Philemon to the Lord. So like hey, I mentored you, dude, you owe me something too, right? He will stand in the place of risk and pain, with arms outstretched towards the slave and the owner. He will stand at one of the pressure points of the human race. From that day until very recently, he will close the gap, not just between Philemon and Onesimus, but between the two sides of a great divide that ran through and, in some places, still run through life of this world.
Speaker 1:That's what reconciliation looks like in practice, guys, we don't need more division. We don't need it. I don't care if you disagree, disagree, and that's great. But we need people who will reconcile, who can stand in the middle and hold things in tension and paint a picture of the gospel, of the hope and the healing of Christ on the cross and bear the cost of that, because it's not easy. But if nobody does it, we'll have business as usual, and I don't want that. Central Lutheran Church.
Speaker 1:May you know the gospel that God has reconciled us, healed us. May we live in tune with his healing in the world. May we not cut each other out of our lives and run and hide, but may we engage in the healing of our relationships. May we not cut each other out of our lives and run and hide. May we engage in the healing of our relationships. May we build bridges and try to hold two things that oppose their intention with each other. May we bear the cost for our friends and our neighbors and our workplaces, and may we live the gospel. May we believe that Jesus rose from the dead, but, friends, may we live like Jesus rose from the dead, amen.
