Text: Philemon 1-25
The slave, Onesimus, has run away from his owner Philemon. As the providence of God would have it, Onesimus crosses paths with Paul. He gets converted. By Roman law and by Christian integrity, Paul must send Onesimus back to Philemon, whom Paul also had converted. Paul petitions Philemon, for his sake, to deal kindly with Onesimus and to release him of his bondage to come and serve with Paul. Because of this being such a tense situation, Paul chooses wisely his words to Philemon. Just because Paul is the great Apostle to the Gentiles and could forcefully usurp his authority, he does not, but in love tries to lead and not to lord.
1 Peter 5:1-3 “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.”
In the church, there are Preachers, teachers, Pastors, deacons, etc, but there are no Rulers or Lords.
The most dangerous place in the church is in the pulpit. Religion can be toxic in its ability to control. We must be careful in leading and not lording over the flock.
I must preface this sermon by saying that I have high regard and respect for the men of God that I have been privileged to serve with in the ministry. These men are those who have integrity and have the kingdom of God at heart and those with great dedication in ministering to the flock.
In this text, Paul shows us how not to take advantage of those committed hearts!
Man-of-God, some may feel indebted, thankful, grateful to you as you might to someone else for what they mean to you! The purpose of this message is to encourage our hearts to continue to pastor and preach with the flock at heart.
We should not be building our own kingdoms and pushing our own agenda.
Paul in this letter has set for us a model/example of the Christian preacher. He shows common courtesy, understanding, humility, integrity, and honesty in his dealings with Philemon.
Paul assumes nothing. He could have said, “I am an apostle and I know best.” “This guy owes me.” or “Who is going to miss one slave.” “We are hundreds of miles away.”
Paul did not use preaching as a spiritual tool in fleshly hands.
All good preachers are Christians first. This is to be evident in the pulpit.
Paul gives us an example of how to conduct ourselves when dealing with God’s people in questionable matters that are not clear in the scriptures
- DON’T OVERLOOK THEIR LABORS(Philemon 1-6)
- DON’T OVERPOWER THEIR LOVE (Philemon 7)
- DON’T OVERLORD THEIR LIBERTIES (Philemon 8-14)
- Liberties of Christ (Philemon 8)
- Liberties of Conscience (Philemon 14)
- DON’T OVERCOAT THEIR LOSSES (Philemon 18-19)
- DON’T OVERSHADOW THEIR LORD (Philemon 20, 25)
Fellow laborers