Play

“Relationships in Christ in Philemon”

Troy Nicholson
05/25/25 - Sun PM

The following transcription is computer-generated and may not accurately reflect the contents of the audio. Please verify the content before quoting.

(Transcribed by Congregate. Always check document for possible errors and inaccuracies in automated transcriptions.)

Well, some of you may know, in about a week and a half, the adult class will begin a study of uh both Philemon and of, and get this going.

Philemon and James.

The Book of Fleeman, as we just realized, isn't very long of a book.

So it won't take us very long.

In fact, just one class really to sufficiently get through the book.

But at the same time, that doesn't mean that there aren't some concepts in the book and still need to Can you hear me now?

All right.

I think that was a thumbs up, so maybe that means you can.

There's still some concepts in the book that may not fit as well in just a classroom setting, but I'd like to take time to focus on one of those this evening.

So we will be focusing on the book of Philemon.

Now normally, if I was teaching the class, I would prefer to say this lesson for after the class and just kind of uh elaborate a little bit more on things we touch on in class.

But since I couldn't convince Alan to wait till after the class to go on vacation, I had to preach beforehand.

So we'll use it as a teaser for the class and maybe encourage you to come to the class in about a week and a half.

But this evening as we opened the book of Philemon together, we say that even in such a small book that Paul focuses on so many different relationships that there are in Christ in this book.

And so I want us to go through and notice some of those this evening and hopefully as we focus on those relationships, they can help us examine ourselves and see how well are we doing with these relationships.

Are we fulfilling these relationships when it comes to one another in Christ?

And so as we begin uh to look at the book, I want to first notice that Paul emphasizes the idea of how we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

If you look there in verse one, he begins by calling Timothy our brother.

And the book is written about Philemon or written to Philemon, and so we see Paul refers to him twice in the book as a brother.

We see that it was written about Onesimus.

And in verse 16, Paul called Onesimus a dear brother.

Now, up to this point, Philemon was simply Onesimus' slave in the flesh.

But Paul is pointing out to him that now he's his brother in the Lord.

And so we see this relationship emphasize the, the, the fact that we are brothers in the Lord and just so we don't leave the sisters out.

Paul also in verse two called Ephea, his sister.

As we think about this when he's referring to them as brothers and sisters.

We think about sometimes we may use a broader term and just say brethren and really that's what that means to my brothers and sisters in Christ.

And one of the songs that we sang earlier, Blessed be the tie.

Uh, then in verse one, it talks about the fellowship of kindred minds.

The fellowship of kindred minds, basically to be when it's talking about kindred minds, it's talking about how we're kin to each other.

We are kin in Christ.

And so we do have kindred minds as a result.

There is a fellowship that exists because of the fact that we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

We share that kinship and our relationship with one another.

And we see even Jesus, uh, making the spiritual connection, the spiritual family, especially one occasion in his life, when someone pointed out his physical family to him.

Now maybe you remember the occasion, there Matthew chapter 12.

When it says, then one said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with you.

But he answered and said to the one who told him, Who is my mother and who are my brothers?

And he stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, Here are my mother and my brothers, for whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

So not only are we talking about being brothers and sisters to one another in Christ, Christ refers to it, there's a sense in which we are his brothers in Him.

We, we share that kind of relationship even with Christ as Christians.

And we see in the proverbial writer, uh, there's several statements that helped make this point, but one is in Proverbs chapter 18 or see.

Supposed to be there I guess I, I deleted a few slides a while ago, maybe I deleted one I wasn't supposed to.

I go to um Proverbs with me for just a moment.

In Proverbs chapter 18, The wise man says in verse 24 toward the end of the verse, there's a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Now, you may look at that and think, well, he's talking about how close a friend can be, and he is, but notice how he emphasizes how close some friends can be.

To show how close a friend can stick, he uses the relationship of brothers.

There's a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

In other words, brothers stick pretty close to each other.

Along the same line, if you back up uh a chapter, go back to chapter 13 and verse 17.

A brother is born for adversity.

I only have one brother in the flesh.

And I'll be honest, we don't really talk a whole lot or text a whole lot.

But if I was to get a call or text from him right now and he needed me, you'll probably have to find somebody else to finish this sermon.

Cause I'd go and help my brother in whatever situation he's in.

And my guess is those of you here have brothers and sisters, we may fight and bicker sometimes with each other, but there's a bond that holds us together, that ties us together that's unlike anything else.

And we would help our brother and sister, physical brother and sister through any adversity that, that faces him in life.

We put ourselves maybe in financial hardship, trying to help them through a financial hardship.

We'll make all kinds of sacrifices for our brothers and sisters.

And we should feel the same way about everyone who's surrounding us here in this room tonight.

A brother is born for adversity.

We're here for each other because we all go through adversity.

We all go through difficult times.

And we need the help that we can provide one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.

But unfortunately, sometimes we joke about the bickering between physical brothers and sisters, sometimes there's bickering between spiritual brothers and sisters.

But we know it shouldn't be that way.

We go back to Abraham and even Abraham knew it shouldn't be that way.

You remember back when his herdsmen were having the quabbles with Lot's herdsmens?

Do you remember what Abraham told Lot on that occasion?

There in Genesis 13:8, Abraham said to Lot, please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsman and your herdsman.

We're brothers.

When there's some kind of disagreement that comes up between us as brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to remember this.

Don't let there be any disagreements between us.

We shouldn't be in animosity with each other.

We're born for adversity.

We're here to help each other.

Not cause problems with each other.

We're brothers.

Paul focused on that relationship when he wrote to Philemon.

And we need to always remember that relationship that we have with each other as well.

In another relationship that you got a quick glance of a while ago is the idea of being fellow workers.

Paul talks about that as well.

In fact, again, we don't even get past the first verse, and we see it refers to Fleeman as our fellow worker.

If you notice toward the end of the book, you listed several different fellow workers there in verse 24, Mark, Aristarchus, Demus, Luke.

Now, this is the ESV and some other versions refer to it as workers.

If you have a new King James, there's a different word there, says fellow laborers.

Or if you have a Homan Christian standard, I think it probably touches more on the kind of language that we would use today to reflect that language or reflect this relationship.

The Holman Christian standard says co-workers.

And that's probably a term we can relate to more than even saying fellow workers.

Most of us here either have a job or we have had a job before and we have co-workers with us at that job.

But we understand what that, what that means.

We work for a particular company and we have other people who are working with that company with us.

We're all trying to accomplish the same goal.

And so spiritually, we are co-workers.

We're co-workers for Christ.

We have a common goal that we're working toward together, and it is work.

But we have co-workers, we have fellow workers, we have fellow laborers.

We're, we're in this together as we work toward the cause of Christ.

And Paul often use this language uh throughout some of his writings referring to the fellow laborers and workers that he had.

In Romans 21, 25, he said, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, in First Thessalonians, there in chapter 23 and verse 22, he calls Timothy our fellow worker, a labor in the Gospel of Christ.

And in 212 Corinthians 23:22, he said, everyone who works in labors with us.

Now, who did he mean when he said that?

Everyone who works in labors with us.

Is he just talking about other preachers?

Is this just some bond he's talking about between those who are sharing in the ministry of the gospel, those who are actually preaching the gospel?

Well, there's another verse I think makes it clear that he's not just talking about some relationship he has with other preachers, other ministers.

If you look in Philippians chapter 27, In verse 220, Notice what Paul says here about fellow workers.

He said, and I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.

See how Paul mentions women laboring with him in the gospel?

Now don't be too quick to think up, so there's.

Paul's giving his support to women preachers.

Now what Paul's doing is giving his support to fellow helpers, fellow workers.

There, there's lots of work to be done in the cause of Christ besides just preaching.

And we don't know exactly what these women were doing.

Maybe they were helping teach some of the other women.

Maybe they were even helping with some of his cooking and clothing needs.

All a single guy, he probably needed that.

Maybe they were financially secure and so they were financially helping with what Paul was doing.

There are a lot of ways that they could be fellow workers, co-workers in the gospel without being the ones who are preaching the gospel.

Some of you may know that I work at Thompson.

A few other people here work at Thompson.

I don't see them right offhand unless they're hiding in the crowd, maybe going with the holiday weekend.

With Jason Pole.

There's gonna be estimators at Thompson.

He goes out and deals with customers, gets estimates together for them.

We also have Brian Smith who works for Thompson, but he has a different role.

He takes care of the insurance needs.

People have insurance who help pay for those kinds of things.

He goes to bat with your insurance company to make sure you get the money that, that you deserve for your, from your insurance company.

I recently moved into the office, too slow for the gutter crew they moved me inside.

So if you call, I may be the voice you have to hear.

I hope that doesn't discourage you from calling us.

But we all have different roles, different things that we do, but we're still co-workers.

We're all working under the Thompson name for the common goal.

And so as co-workers in Christ, we may have different roles, there may be different things that we do, but we're still working together.

We're all working together for the cause of Christ.

In Ephesians chapter 4, we find a verse that I believe helps make this clear, how we are co-workers, we have different roles as, as we work together with Christ.

In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 16.

Paul says from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

We all have different roles.

We have different abilities.

But we're working together.

Another one of the songs we just finished singing Room in God's Kingdom.

So there's work that we all can do.

You're not a teacher or public or teacher or preacher?

It's OK. There's other work.

Not a Bible class teacher.

It's OK. There's other work.

There are all kinds of roles that we have in working together in the cause of Christ.

All roles are important.

That's why the that's why the song says there's room in God's kingdom for each and every one of us.

We work together with different roles to accomplish the same purpose.

There is work that we all can do.

It's work.

But there's work that we all can do.

Because we're fellow laborers, we're co-workers.

If you're willing to work, Christ has something for you to do as part of his kingdom.

And the rest of us would love to have you join us side by side in trying to accomplish his work.

Along with that idea of being co-workers, we see another word, another uh description that Paul uses of our relationship in Christ.

He talks about us as partners.

He asked Philemon in verse 17, he says, if then you count me as a partner.

Receive himing Onesimus, as you would me.

Partner Maybe not a term.

We, we use a whole lot referring our relationship and that that connection we have with each other.

But it's one that Paul chose to use here, not just here.

We also see that when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said, if anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker.

Concerning you And so when we think about the idea of partner, maybe we normally think of it, maybe in a business relationship.

We, we, we come together with somebody else and we're partners in a business.

And what does that mean?

Well, that just means that we have agreed to work together for some common purpose.

And so when we become Christians, we become partners with all other Christians.

Again, we're working together, we're sharing in the work, just like in a partnership.

And there was a passage in scripture that I think illustrates what what's involved in being partners with others.

Uh, back, back during the time of Jesus in Luke chapter 51 of the occasions when Paul told Simon to let down their nets, and we see what happened as a result.

It says in Luke 5:73, and when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking.

So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.

These fishermen needed help.

Who did they turn to?

They're partners They knew their fellow fishermen would come and help them in this situation of need.

And as Christians, when we find ourselves needing help, who do we turn to?

We ought to be turning to our partners, our partners in Christ, the brothers and sisters who are sitting around us who want to help us in our time of need.

I mean, can you imagine this other boat just sitting back and watching that other boat sink?

Well, they were ready to get to work and help and help them.

Because they were partners in fishing.

And as partners in Christ, we can accomplish great things and we can help one another through our difficulties.

Remember that we're partners and we act like partners and we help each other through those difficult times.

We talked about it being work involved.

There's hard work involved sometimes as Christians.

Paul also refers to our relationship as being fellow soldiers in Christ.

Back in verse 2, he mentioned Archippus as our fellow soldier.

In Philippians, he used similar language.

When he wrote about ayphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and soldier.

What the soldiers do?

Well, he told Timothy what to do as a fellow soldier.

He said, endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

I've never been a soldier like some of y'all have.

But I've heard enough about the hardship to know it's not always easy.

And Paul told Timothy, it's not going to be easy.

But notice here when he told him to endure hardship, how he said to do it.

He said in your hardship with us.

Can you imagine you decide you want to be a soldier and so you sign up and you go to boot camp and the first day, you, you walk in and you're the only one there.

Which you may be tempted to turn around and go home.

I don't know if I want to go through boot camp alone.

I kind of like to see some others going through the same pain and misery with me.

And Paul's telling Timothy in Christ, it's gonna be hard.

You're gonna have to fight battles, but you're not gonna be alone.

We're gonna be with you.

And your hardship with us.

We're your fellow soldiers.

We're in this battle together.

And different military branches emphasize that.

No soldier left behind?

We don't leave soldiers behind because we love and care about each and every one.

We're fellow soldiers.

We're fighting together.

We're helping one another.

One of the military sites, and I've just swapped out their particular branch name for soldier, says we never leave a soldier behind.

If you see a fellow soldier who needs help, step up and step in.

And that's what we do or we better be doing as Christians.

When we see a fellow soldier who's wounded, Spirituually wounded.

We don't turn our back on the wounded and leave them behind to fend for themselves.

We come to the rescue.

We do what we can to help.

Every week, our prayer list.

Has some wounded listed at the end of it.

Some who spiritually decided to turn from God.

We don't forget them.

We list them there with ways to contact them, ways to try to encourage them.

Because we don't want to leave soldiers behind.

We want to do our best to bring all soldiers home.

That's what soldiers do.

They care about one another.

They suffer hardship with one another.

And so when we sign up To be a Christian.

We're signing up to be a soldier.

But we're signing up to be a fellow soldier with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Another relationship Paul mentioned when he wrote to uh Philemon.

It's a child-parent relationship, depending on your version, how verse 10 reads.

He said about Onesimus, I appeal to you for my son.

And the new King James, you may have noticed that the English standard says here, child.

Was he Paul's child?

Well, not in a physical way, but spiritually was.

And Paul often use this kind of language to refer to others.

Maybe we think about the relationship he had with, especially with Timothy and with Titus.

He, he often in, in his writings to Timothy reminds him of the fact that that Timothy is a son.

He calls him a faithful son in the Lord.

And in Titus 1 in verse 4, he wrote to Titus, a true son in our common faith.

And even Peter.

And 1 Peter 5:3 referred to Mark as his son.

Now when we think about that, that their sons in Christ.

We can be children in Christ.

Well, that means on the other side, if you have children, that means there must be some parents involved, right?

It's kind of hard to have a child without a parent.

So we see that language used in other passages.

Paul talking about himself in 2 Thessalonians.

Notice what he calls himself, not a father here.

But he says we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.

But in that same context, Paul also realizes the other parental role and refers to himself as a father.

We dealt with each of you as a father does his own children.

So how is it That mothers and fathers Deal with sons and daughters.

Well, verse 12 here in 1 Thessalonians 2 pretty much sums it up.

When Paul said encouraging, comforting.

And urging.

When Paul considered Onesimus, his son or his child in the faith.

Or Timothy or Titus as his sons in the faith.

He looked at them as someone who needed spiritual encouraging.

Who needed comfort.

Who needed urging?

As you look around you this evening.

Do you see any spiritual signs?

Spiritual daughters?

Or for those of you who are younger, do you see any spiritual Fathers or mothers.

Now I know about half of you you look around, you see physical fathers and Sons, We got a lot of physical relationships here.

But we need to see the spiritual relationship that's there as well.

Maybe you're younger in the faith and you need some help and encouragement.

Find some spiritual father or mother.

And go to them and ask the questions you need to ask and get the help that you need.

And if you're among the older and more mature, look around and see those who, who may be your spiritual son or your spiritual daughter, someone who could use your encouragement.

Who could use your words of exhortation.

That a lot of children recently born.

More to come.

Some of us know that's not always easy.

Maybe just a word of encouragement along that line.

There are lots of ways that we can show we care about one another and provide the encouragement and the comfort and the urging that comes by being a spiritual father, being a spiritual mother to others.

There's always someone who needs a spiritual. Father.

Who needs a spiritual mother.

Can you find somebody and provide that?

Or maybe you are that spiritual son or daughter.

Can you realize that you need that help?

And let others offer it to you?

And why is it that these relationships are important?

Why does Paul describe all of these different relationships, not just in this book, but throughout the, throughout his writings.

Well, he gives us the answer here in Philemon as well.

And essentially it's because we need refreshment.

If you look there in verse 7, he says, we have great joy and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

He tells Philemon, you've provided refreshment, and we all need that spiritually.

He goes on a few verses later.

You get down to verse 20 again, he talks about how we provide refreshment for one another.

Yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord.

Refresh my heart in the Lord.

That's what we provide for one another when we fulfill these spiritual roles and relationships that we have in Christ.

We provide the refreshments that we need to keep going.

For the cause of Christ.

And you may be here this evening, you're not receiving this refreshment because you're not in Christ and you don't share the relationships that we've talked about tonight.

So if you're not in Christ, And you're missing out on these relationships, and you're missing out on that refreshment.

Hope you're saying I want that kind of refreshment.

I want those kind of relationships.

Well, you can have them in Christ.

And you can enter into Christ tonight.

Have you heard the gospel message?

Do you believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of God?

Does your belief lead you to be willing to confess his name?

Are you willing to repay it?

Are you willing to be baptized and have your sins washed away?

You can become a Christian and enter into Christ tonight.

You can share in all the relationships we've talked about.

And you can have the refreshments that only comes in him.

If we can help you in any way tonight to gain the refreshment that can be found in Christ, and we encourage you to come as we stand and as we sing.