23 Jan

9/16/18    PHILEMON 1:21    “FORGIVING STARTS WITH JESUS”

Today we are going to talk about something that none of you want to talk about but I would guess that all of you want to hear about it.  We are going to talk forgiveness.  People will pay attention to a sermon on forgiveness more than any other subject so I know you think this is important even if you don’t admit it.  In a minute we will see that all forgiveness begins with Jesus Christ.  This is an important concept because Jesus is the answer to all things.  Unfortunately, we try and try to do things ourselves and we only find failure.  You may think you have to go to the other person or they have to come to you for forgiveness and this might a good thing to do.  However, before you can even begin there, you must first go to Jesus for direction.  Jesus has a way of forgiveness for all situations including people you will never see again, who you don’t even know their location and even for people who have died.  The way of Jesus is always, always the right way.

Today we will look at Philemon the shortest book in the Bible.  It has no chapters but only verses and not very many of them either.  But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t very much there.  There are a variety of lessons to be learned here but we will concentrate on only one area, and that area is forgiveness.  Maybe today we can learn why this is plus just how we can go about forgiving others.

Tony Hillerman tells a true story of forgiveness that he learned in his childhood.  He was 14 and lived in Sacred Heart, Okla., with the population of 38.  Finally I find a town smaller than Humboldt where I grew up.  Anyway, his neighbor, Mr. Ingram, came over one day and needed some help mowing an alfalfa field.  At this point I could tell you of my love/hate relationships with alfalfa fields around Humboldt and there wasn’t a lot of love.  Anyway, Tony went to work for his sharecropper neighbor for 12 cents an hour in 1939.

Mr. Ingram liked how he worked so well that he hired him to stay on and help with a few other chores.  One day they found an old truck mired in the soft sandy soil of the melon patch.  Apparently, someone loaded the truck too heavily with melons that they had intended to steal.

Mr. Ingram told Tony that the truck owner would be back soon and that he wanted him to watch and learn.  It wasn’t too long before a local man with a terrible reputation for fighting and stealing showed up with his two full grown sons.  And all three of them looked angry.

Calmly Mr. Ingram said, “Well, I see you was a wantin to buy some watermelons.”  There was a long silence before the man answered, “Yeah, I guess so.  What are you getting for em?”

“Twenty five cents each.”

“Well, I guess that would be fair enough if you help me get my truck out of here.”

That turned out to be their biggest sale of the summer and it also avoided a nasty, perhaps violent incident.  After they left Mr. Ingram turned to Tony and said, “Son, if you don’t forgive your enemies, you’re going to run out of friends.”  Think about that one a little bit.

As we read this morning, Paul will never run out of friends.  He is writing from prison to his brother in Christ, Philemon.  Please notice that Paul almost always has this wonderful beginning and ending to his letters.  He loves these people to whom he is writing and it shows.

Paul is addressing the very ticklish problem of a runaway slave.  First of all, we need to realize that slaves in those days were not for the most part treated as bad as we treated slaves in this country in the early 1800’s.  Generally, people would sell themselves into slavery for a period of seven years so that they could exist.  Usually they were sort of domestic servants.  This was a part of their economic system, a minor part.  They also made slaves of their enemies who they had captured, but that is a whole different topic.

Onesimus was the slave of Philemon and he had run away to Rome.  It also sounds like Onesimus had stolen some money.  Either one of these charges by themselves would be enough for Onesimus to get the death penalty.  Whatever the punishment that was given out would be determined by the slave owner, in this case Philemon.

In our world today we really don’t have much of a problem of runaway slaves.  However, we do have a lot of people who are slaves and don’t even know it.  A prime example is the use of credit or credit cards in this country.  We sometimes get ourselves so deeply into debt that we become a slave to our creditors.  We owe money here and we owe money there.  Pretty soon all we can do is work and work some more as it is the only way out.

We also have a tendency to become enslaved to our habits.  Take a look at the drug culture right here in our own communities.  I like to call them addicts and I think that the same principle is involved.  We have people that take meth and very soon that is all they can think about.  They are hooked and become a slave to the drug.  The same can be said of other drugs.  The truly sad part of all this is that now we are trying to legalize marijuana.  Marijuana is the leading entry drug in this country.  Why in the world would we legalize something that causes so much harm?

Or take a look how alcohol sneaks up on people.  There is not an alcoholic alive that didn’t start by taking that first drink.  Some people can handle it and others can’t.  I’ve said this before.  I can go into bars in this area and I will find some of the same people sitting there that were there 20 to 30 years ago.  If these people aren’t addicted, if these people aren’t enslaved to alcohol, then I don’t know what is!  I’m sure that you can think of many other enslavements around us as they are all over.

So how do we get away from this?  Onesimus had run away about 1000 miles to Rome and had found Paul.  He was probably the luckiest man in the world the day he found Paul, because through his dealings with Paul, Onesimus had become a Christian.  Paul knew what the situation was and took this runaway slave under his wing and tutored him about Jesus Christ.  According to Paul’s writing, Onesimus was a useless slave.  But since he had come to know Christ his life had been changed.

That, my friends, is what Jesus Christ will do for you today.  As we talked last week Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.  All we have to do is accept His grace and ask Him into our hearts to live, and we can change our useless lives into lives that really matter.  And I maintain that any life lived outside of Jesus is a life that isn’t even close to its potential.  I, like so many other people, am living proof of this.  I lived a useless life until I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.  Please ask Jesus into your heart today.

Now we have got part of the equation fixed.  Onesimus has been saved.  However, he is still a runaway slave that is in trouble with his master.  Just because God has forgiven his sins doesn’t mean that his owner has forgiven his sins.  And this is what Paul is addressing in this letter.  It sounds to me like Paul could have ordered Philemon to take Onesimus back.  But he doesn’t.  Just like the man in our opening story could have confronted the thieves as thieves.  Instead he confronts them as customers.

Paul confronts Philemon as a brother in Christ.  He tells him that Onesimus is also a brother in Christ.  He is a changed man and Paul asks that he take him back because he is a far better man than the one who ran away.  Paul goes so far as to say that whatever the amount that he stole, Paul will make it good.  It doesn’t make any difference what the amount was, Paul would make it good.

This isn’t any different than what Jesus did for us on the cross.  Some of you may not realize it, but it doesn’t make any difference what sins you have committed or what you have done that is wrong, Jesus will make it good.  He will stand in your place.  He will go before God on your behalf.  That is a promise.  That is a promise that you can and should hang onto it tightly.

Just a few minutes ago I mentioned our enslavement to credit card companies.  When was the last time one of these companies took someone back and forgave them of their debt?  It doesn’t happen very often that people take back meth addicts and restore them to their old positions.  It isn’t often that an alcoholic can be forgiven of everything that he has done to get a drink.

But Jesus will forgive all of these people and more and he will forget the sin ever happened.  We are a different story however.  How many of you have not forgiven someone or yourself?  I would guess that some of you have done some forgiving in life and you know what a relief that is.  But we have all been put in the position of needing to forgive someone at some time.  I’m a stubborn Norwegian so you can imagine the trouble I can get into with this.  But I have learned and you should learn that forgiveness is very important to our mental health.

The first step to forgiveness is in our heart.  We have to feel deep down inside that we forgive someone.  Or at least that we want to forgive someone.  We do this by asking Jesus for help.  This is why I say that all forgiveness begins with Jesus.  Now comes the time when all that time you should be spending in prayer every day will pay off.  It is only through Him that you can begin to take the edges off of your hurt.  It is only after your heart is ready that you can go and ask for forgiveness.

And sometimes you can’t physically ask.  What happens if someone wrongs you, moves to some faraway place and you don’t have a clue where they are?  You simply can’t ask them.  In cases where contact is impossible, then you have to do the next best thing.  And that is to make sure that Jesus knows that you have forgiven them in your heart.  If your heart is ok, then it will be ok.

Forgiveness is not easy and sometimes it takes time.  We have to allow for that.  Dr. Lewis Smedes tells of some of the things that forgiveness is not.  When you forgive doesn’t mean that you will be healed immediately.  We just talked about that.  Also, when you forgive, it doesn’t mean that you will be buddy/buddy with that person.  When we forgive, it doesn’t mean that we will trust that person.  Trust always takes more time but it can be rebuilt through Jesus Christ.  And always remember that when we forgive, we are not avoiding pain, rather we are opening the door to healing.  When we are forgiving, we are on a journey.  The deeper the hurt you have, generally, the longer the journey.

And that journey is not something that the world understands.  Have you ever noticed how people and especially the news media will wonder how someone can ever forgive a drunk driver?  Or how can someone forgive a cheating spouse?  They don’t understand because they don’t know Jesus.  Most of this country doesn’t know Jesus even if they claim they do.  Jesus commands us to forgive those who trespass against us.  Jesus commands us to do things because they are good for us.  He only wants what is the very best for us.

And the very best today is to get rid of the hurtful garbage that you carry around.  I’ve started something new and I’m going to continue it periodically as I would like to give you another assignment for next week.  Most of us carry something around with us, some sort of baggage.  I would like you to think of someone that needs your forgiveness.  And then I would like you to pray to Jesus about it.  You don’t have to go and do anything about it except to pray to Jesus.  Talk to Jesus and then tell me how you feel next week.  And if you can’t think of someone to forgive, then think of an area in your life where you may need a little help and pray about that.  And can’t guarantee much but I will guarantee that something will happen.

Do you remember last week we talked about starting something today?  I hope that you have, and I would like to hear about that.  Forgiveness is something that you can start today.  When you start this today, then you can begin the healing that Jesus will help you with.  It may take a while so start today.

Corrie Ten Boom puts it like this.  “When we confess our sins, God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever.  Then he places a sign out there that says, ‘No fishing allowed.’”  When you confess your sins today, they will be gone in God’s eyes.  Give your hurt to Jesus.  Give Him your heart as you begin the healing process.  God loves us so much that He gave us Jesus to bear our sins.  Thank you, God.  Thank you.  Thank you.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.