Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good Evening

I pray that you all had a blessed Easter weekend and that each of you took time, not just while you were in church but on your own, to reflect on the power of the resurrection and what that actually means in your life.

What does it mean to live in the power of the resurrection?

What was the point of the resurrection?

The immediate point and purpose was to conquer death - but was there a greater purpose for Christ’s resurrection?

How should this fact impact our daily lives?

Do you recognize that it is a fact?

Do you still recognize it as the most amazing, awesome act in human history?

Or has the resurrection, like many things in the Bible often can, become just one more event that we look at with familiarity but don’t really see it?

As a young man, I lived in western upstate New York.

We lived really close to Niagara Falls so whenever visitors would come we would always take them up to see the Falls.

After a while it just became routine for me - millions of gallons of water cascading over the same cliffs - but for them it was magical and majestic.

Has the resurrection just become commonplace - something that we celebrate to be sure - but maybe with a little less luster than we did as new believers?

Keith and Krysten Getty have a song called “Don’t Let Me Lose My Wonder” - and I wonder if maybe some of us have lost our wonder at what has been accomplished for us.

We look at our world today and are tempted to be mesmerized by the depravity and seeming lack of hope and then our familiarity with the events that should spur us to greater hope and confidence don’t anymore.

We may have lost our wonder at the cross and the resurrection.

The things we profess to believe are of such a nature that we cannot be lukewarm without practically denying them.

Better be cold, be frozen.

Better abandon all profession of interest in sacred things than to pretend to believe them and sing about them, and yet be lukewarm.

We work far more harm to our age by tepid character than by open denial of Christ.

G. Campbell Morgan

I was humbled this past weekend when one of you came up to me and mentioned that I spend a lot of time emphasizing the cross and don’t really emphasize the resurrection.

One of the reasons is that I see both events as two sides of the same coin - that by speaking of the cross I mean the entire event - the crucifixion and resurrection together

Another is that the cross is the main event - the place where sin was expiated

But as I mulled it over I realized that there was truth in your statement - that without the resurrection the cross just provides one more dead leader of a religious system and so we should highlight and have hope in both the cross and the resurrection.

I’m sure you’re wondering what does this have to do with the last five verses of Philemon?

Well it’s safe to say that Paul never suffered from this malady - for him the cross and resurrection were his source of confidence and his optimistic outlook on life even while chained to a Roman soldier on house arrest

Paul has written this letter to Philemon as a way to smooth reunification with his runaway slave Onesimus.

So far we’ve seen Paul highlight Philemon’s character as one who had a faith that refreshes.

Then we looked at the power of a faith that forgives.

Tonight we’re going to see Paul shift his focus to a faith that prepares.

We’re going to see Paul’s confidence in verse 21, Paul’s optimism in verse 22, Paul’s community in verses 23 and 24 and then we’ll see the reason for each of these in verse 25.

Open your Bibles with me to Philemon and we’ll read verses 21-25.

Read Philemon 21-25

Pray

Paul’s Confidence

Philemon 21; Philemon 4-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 4:1-3; Galatians 5:10; Philippians 1:6; 2 Timothy 1:12

Paul doesn’t mince words with Philemon - he just says that I am confident that you’re going to be obedient to what I’ve requested of you

Paul bases his confidence in Philemon on two levels - the first is Philemon’s proven Godly character and the second is Philemon’s Godly submission - which really is more about the source of Philemon’s strength than it is about Philemon’s submission

Philemon’s Godly Character

Paul has already highlighted Philemon’s character in this letter

In verses 4-7 he commends Philemon for his love and care for the saints

Philemon’s growth as a Christian reveals the Godly character that is being developed in him

Conduct is what we do; character is what we are.

Conduct is the outward life.

Character is the life unseen, hidden within, yet evidenced by that which is seen.

Conduct is external, seen from without; character is internal—operating within.

In the economy of grace, conduct is the offspring of character.

Character is the state of the heart, conduct its outward expression.

Character is the root of the tree, conduct, the fruit it bears.

E. M. Bounds

Philemon’s conduct toward the saints and even here in his forgiveness of Onesimus’ sin against him reveals to all the genuineness of his conversion and the genuine character change that takes place within the Christian as a result of the Spirit’s work in his life

Philemon has demonstrated a maturity that Paul knows he can count on to do what is right - without external intervention or oversight

Contrast this to the admonition in Philippians 4:1-3

In Philippi he has to enlist the outside help of the “true companion” to help these two women get along - now this is not to say that these women were not maturing because it takes a lot of faith in their maturity just to call them out by name - but whatever the situation was outside intervention was required to mitigate it

In Philemon’s case Paul is confident that no outside mediator would be necessary - and that would have been awkward as the elder in Colossae was most probably Philemon’s son Archippus

Can you imagine that meeting - Onesimus on one side of the table, Philemon on the other and Archippus

I think if it were me my chair would be scooted just a bit toward my dad’s side of the table

but here Paul merely assumes Philemon’s obedience will happen - a great testament to Philemon’s maturity

But there’s more to Paul’s confidence than simply confidence in the flesh of a man

Philemon’s Godly Submission

Paul’s confidence is in the One who had grabbed hold of Philemon’s life and was daily sanctifying him

Paul’s confidence for the change or steadfastness of individual’s was always in Christ

In Galatians 5:10 Paul is writing to a church under attack by false teachers who were telling the church in Galatia that they had to submit to the Law in order to be Christians

Now here’s the interesting thing - and it’s something that we must grasp in each of our Christian lives - Christ did not come to abolish our responsibility to the Law

Hear me out here....Christ said that He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it

I am not saying that we should be keeping every law in Scripture - there are some that have been superceded by New Testament revelation

But it is the Word of God that determines which laws still apply and which don’t - not our own opinions or feelings

What Christ came to do was to redefine our relationship to God - so that we no longer define our relationship to God by keeping all the Laws that He commanded, but we define our relationship to God through our relationship to His Son

The false teachers in Galatia were attempting to define the Galatian’s relationship to God through Christ AND the Law…which is not the Gospel and is not Christianity

We do not define our relationship to God through either our keeping of the law or our freedom from the Law - through legalism or anti-nomianism - because either way we’re trying to define our relationship to God through the Law

We define our relationship to God through Christ

In Galatians 5:10 Paul writes

What he is saying is that his confidence in the Galatians is not in their ability to keep the view that he had preached to them but instead it is in the power of the Holy Spirit working in them to help them keep the correct Gospel in view

He also understands the same Spirit that is at work in the Galatians is at work in Philemon to enable him to do what Paul has asked him to do

I am satisfied that the almighty power which sustains the stars in their orbits is equally necessary to carry me with safety, honor, and comfort through the smoothest day of my life.

JOHN NEWTON

It is almost ludicrous to think that we could do this in our flesh - even when unbelievers forgive it is almost always with strings attached

But Paul here not only has confidence that Philemon will forgive but that he will go beyond simple forgiveness and also have reconciliation and more than that that he will partner with Onesimus in ministry

Where does that belief come from - it comes from confidence in the One who effects these changes on our lives

The obvious question here is do I exhibit this kind of sanctification in my life that my character has been transformed and others can have confidence in my actions - that they will be Godly and edifying to the body?

We may not all receive grand commands or opportunities from a spiritual giant like Paul but in our church are we exhibiting this kind of spiritual growth that if it became necessary the request could be made with full confidence that whatever is asked would be carried out?

Paul’s Optimism

Philemon 22; 2 Corinthians 11:28; Colossians 1:28; Galatians 4:19; Philippians 1:19;

Paul shifts gears quickly now telling Philemon to prepare a room for him

Paul’s plans had changed in prison.

Originally his plans after visiting Rome had been to continue on to Spain to preach the Gospel there (Romans 15:24, 28) but it seems that now he intends to return to the churches he had planted and followup with them.

A reason for this shift in plans can be found in the purposes of all three of the prison epistles.

Colossians, the epistle which would accompany this letter, was written to fortify it against false teachers who might try to impose strict rules about eating and drinking and religious festivals.

Philippians was written for many of the same reasons as well as to promote unity within that church.

Ephesians was written to demonstrate the beauty of God’s eternal plan for humanity.

The last three chapters of that epistle demonstrate the practical implications of God’s plan for humanity in the church, families and individuals.

It climaxes in the passage to take up the armor of God - you only need armor if you’re going into battle.

So it was probably Paul’s intention to return to the churches to continue the work started by his letters to them - shoring up their faith in the face of persecution.

Paul’s deepest concern was for the sanctification of the people in the churches he had planted

This is the mandate of the pastor - to ensure that the people we preach to are delivered to God sanctified

This is not to say that we are the Holy Spirit or that I can cause you to grow - but there is a tension in the pastor to see the people of Christ grow and develop - and it is this tension that drives Paul to write these letters and to travel back to see the saints that he “fathered” in the faith

There is also something subtle here - Paul lets Philemon know that he will be coming for a visit

Commenting on this verse J.B. Lightfoot wrote: