Paul's Memo to Philemon

From: Paul, a prisoner...locked away in Ephesus for preaching Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To: Philemon our dear friend and Fellow-worker
To: Apphia our Sister
To: Archippus our Fellow-soldier,
And, by the way I’ve taken the liberty to CC this letter on to the church in your house… all those who see you as an upstanding and respected member of your community

Grace to you all and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

When I remember you all in my prayers, I always thank God for the love that you, Philemon, have for all the saints… every last Christian… new convert or Apostle… and your faith toward the Lord Jesus.
         I pray this: that this partnership, our fellowship in the faith, may have its powerful effect because you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ… even things that may seem strange and even unfavorable to you. Believe me, when I say your love has brought deep joy and comfort to me. My brother, you have refreshed the hearts of the saints… yes, sending Onesimus to relieve our burdens here in prison was a deeply kind, brotherly, thing you did for us prisoners for the gospel.

Because of all this, I could be bold, using the authority I have in Christ to command you to do your duty… but I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love.

Yes, I, Paul, an old man, imprisoned for the sake of Jesus Christ… I appear to you about my son, this child I fathered here in Prison, a convert, a new member of our family… I’m talking about Onesimus, “Mr. Useful.” There was a time when he was useless to you, but now he lives up to his name and is useful, both to you and to me.

I’m sending him back to you, but it is like sending my own heart. I’d like to keep him here with me… it’s a hard thing to let go of him… as I’m sure you’ll agree… You see, I’d like him to be here, continuing to serve me while I’m imprisoned for the Gospel, and beyond. But I don’t want to do anything unexpected without your consent, that way when you do what is right, you’ll do it voluntarily, instead of being forced to do the right thing.

Look at things this way, perhaps you’ve been separated from him for this time in order that you could receive him back forever… no longer as a slave working off his debt and waiting every moment for the full repayment so he can leave you, but as more than a slave, as a beloved brother…
         I love him deeply! How much more might you love him as a brother, both a brother in the flesh and in the Lord!

So, if you see me as a partner in your work for the Gospel—and everything you’ve done so far indicates you do—welcome him back as you would welcome me.

For that matter, if he’s wronged you, and if he owes you anything… which he does… charge it to my account.

I’m serious, take this letter as a promissory note, signed and everything! I will pay you anything he owes (and far be it from me to remind you that you owe me your very self… just like Onesimus currently owes you his self in service… I’d never mention that debt you owe me).

My brother, I want to get some use from you in the Lord, that would truly refresh my heart in Christ.

As I write this I am confident that you’ll do what I say, heck, you’ll do even more than I say—Onesimus will have that good of a homecoming.

Speaking of which… get a guest room ready for me, as well. I’m hoping that through your ongoing prayers for me, I’ll shortly be free, and will arrive at your place, wouldn’t that be great? Everyone will see how you welcome me and compare it to how you welcomed Onesimus!

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit,

Paul

PS My fellow prisoner Epaphras, as well as my fellow workers Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, all know the contents of this letter… also, they say hi.

Sermon: Worst Dinner Party Ever!

Worst Dinner Party Ever!

         Let me tell you, it was the worst dinner party ever.

         There was this guy there…

This guy! He had no manners…

he acted like he was raised in a barn…

or at least born in one.

He was unconcerned with how he made all of us feel, he didn’t know the right fork to use for each course…

he coarsely called in a stray man from the street,

called out the guests for our seating arrangements

called out the host for his guest list.

Then he all but disinvited us to the cosmic banquet…

Let us pray.

         As I said, no manners, this man.

         Most of us knew Jesus could be trouble, he’d picked arguments before about the Sabbath at meals, and last night was no exception.

         We were all just finished milling about and had begun to recline

—the appetizers had just arrived, Jalapeno Poppers and IKEA style Meatballs… the poppers were good,

the meatballs… not good, but  addicting… I don’t’ know how they do that…

         Then, out of no where, a man, malformed bulging watery hands and feet—they looked like fleshy water balloons…

He fell down beside Jesus, right there as I was popping another Meatball into my mouth!

         And Jesus picked his usual fight with the other Pharisees, “if it is permissible on the Sabbath to act to save little things, children and animals—shouldn’t it be permissible to heal this man with Dropsy?”

         I mean, who brings something like that up as a dinner conversation?

For that matter, who brings such an uninvited, unappetizing visitor into the midst of someone else’s soiree?

         He healed the man, gross sounds of water giving way and…

all of that…

really took down the ambiance a notch!

         Then things kinda settled down,

we finished the first course, and soon enough the unpleasantness with the healing and argument was forgotten.

         As the main course, Salmon and Chicken Parm with grilled green beans sopped in butter, slid onto our tables… he was at it again… this Jesus.

         He slid off his couch and came to the center of the room

—the table I was at, in fact! (Not to brag or anything)

         There he asked us if we’d read Proverbs.

         We of course said yes, so he responded:

 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.

But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.

For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

         I suppose that is A reading of Proverbs 25, though I’d point out that was about being at a king’s court, not applicable at ALL! to our situation if you ask me.

         I, of course, understand humility is important…

in fact, I’m probably the most humble person I know and you’ll ever meet!

         But to get right in our faces

—the faces of us in the good seats,

the rightful center of attention,

it’s embarrassing, that carpenter calling to task his betters…

         That would have been bad enough, but then he blindsided the host:

 “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

         Rrriightt! Jesus—like that’s practical…

the whole point of get togethers it to get one over on someone else…

to make contacts,

to touch the live wire of influence and flaunt what you got so you can get some more.

We weren’t eating chicken last night, we were eating each other and washing it down with quid pro quo… that’s life man!

         Not even the extremely religious at the table were buying what Jesus was selling, one of those desert dwellers quoted from Qumran saying, “No man with a physical handicap—crippled, lame, blind, deaf, dumb, blemished, or a doddering old man,” can eat with us.

         After all, how would this kind of hospitality Jesus was talking about work?

I mean, think of all the logistical things a host would have to do!

 They’d have to be a saint wouldn’t they?

Extra work for no repayment? Madness!

        

         Speaking of madness, think of how his two commandments here about eating together sort of

short circuit each other,

or at least make everything all backwards.

-If everyone is a beggar, who gets the central seat?

-Who gets to be honored if everyone who is dishonored by our society is invited in?

         Imagine what it would be like

—surrounded by people who all know they are vulnerable,

that they got in through no fault of their own,

fed simply because feeding people is what happens at a meal!

No pretenses,

no ulterior motives,

just being together,

basking in a bountiful meal provided by a gracious host!

         Sickening, am I right?

         Well, we talked Jesus down and got back to the business of polishing off our main course. Belts were loosened, belches were shared, and in came the dessert! Tiramisu and Cheesecake,

coffee cups clinking,

caffeine cleansing our minds of Jesus’ insult…

         Alas, there was a third course of Jesus at this meal too.

Someone set him off about the “Kingdom of God” and he told this story about all the self-assured people like us being invited to a banquet, and all RSVPing NO!

Then a second time he went on about “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” …

It’s like an obsession with him or something…

and he told us that they all were invited, since the first flight of people

—the upper crust,

the better half

—wouldn’t come.

Then even strangers were brought to that strange feast,

it was filled up with all those undesirables,

Then there was his kicker,

all of us who said no on the RSVPs were disinvited!

         The gall of that man. I was so offended I couldn’t even finish my Tiramisu.

He allows in an uninvited, unappetizing, visitor for the appetizer,

insults both the guest and the host during the main course,

and suggests we will receive our just desserts during dessert.

As I said before, “Worst Dinner Party Ever!”

A+A

A Sermon on Justice

Justice?

          As we reach this, the third and final question from the pews, the end of this summer sermon series, we reach a question heavy with history and packed with political import even today.

          The question is: “What is God’s justice? Is God concerned with Justice? How should we act to be in accord with God’s justice?”

          The short answer is, God’s justice is about making all things right. God is deeply concerned with Justice, in fact, it is mentioned explicitly in scripture 173 times and words related to it are mentioned nearly 2,000 times! Finally, we ought to act with justice.

          In order to get a sense of what justice might mean to God, and to us, it is worth looking at the broad scope of scripture and how justice is expressed therein. So, take a peek at what Justice looks like in the Torah, Prophets, and Writings of the Old Testament and how Justice is found in Jesus. Then we’ll think for a moment what that means for God, and for human beings.

Prayer

          In the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah, we find God’s people newly freed from slavery

—one of the ultimate acts of injustice,

and shaping their society with an eye toward justice. Making right that which is wrong.

But what does that look like?

1. Impartiality,

2. fair distribution of land and forgiveness of debt,

3. and all of this is done in an expansive way.

          Justice looked like impartiality on the part of those in power. Courts and kings and everyone else was to govern fairly, treating everyone equally,

especially those who had the least power,

widows, orphans, and the like.

Now, you could rightly say, “hold up there Pastor” Equally and especially, don’t go together

—either you treat everyone the same, or not… ...but as we read in our first lesson today, the author of Exodus was well aware that

the least of these are least likely to get a fair shake,

most likely to loose a lawsuit because the deck is stacked against them,

most likely to bear the brunt of bribery and corruption.

So, justice involves the rules of society to be fair for all, but especially for the least of us.

          One of the most radical aspects of Israelite society, one that some scholars think was so impractical that it was never actually practiced, was the idea of a Jubilee year. A year when everything, especially land, reverted back to its original owner…

          This is a strange proposition when you think of it, simultaneously leftist and reactionary!

The idea is every 49 years everyone returns to the land that their tribe received from God as laid out in the Torah and the book of Joshua.

          Think of it!

You’re from the tribe of Dan in the north, but you’ve lived down south in Judah your whole life and prospered well, you’ve accrued a bunch of land and wealth, and then year 49 hits. All of a sudden you’ve got to take your family and move north to Dan, and live on a tiny plot of land there, giving up all you own to the members of the tribe of Judah who have ancestral right to it.

          Think if this was the case today, where did your family originally settle? Imagine having to leave everything you have and trek back there with your family and start over again.

          The Jubilee year recognized that over time power and wealth accrue to some families more than to others,

and if you’re one of the others,

dug into a hole,

digging out becomes harder the longer you are down there…

and so, every 49 years there was a reset button—like the one for the router of your wireless, you poke a pen tip into it and boom,

debts forgiven,

slaves freed,

land restored.

          Finally, we see in the Torah that the promise of justice is not solely for citizens of the Land, but also for those passing through the land or immigrating to the land.

Justice, for sojourners and immigrants,

resident aliens and even enemies!

Justice, for all!

         

          In the Torah the community that came out of slavery in Egypt is encouraged to be just by being fair, especially to the least of these,

by resetting social standing every generation,

and expanding out this sense of justice beyond those within its immediate borders.

          This understanding of Justice swells in the books of the Prophets.

Prophets look around at their society and recognize that so often the ideals of the Exodus have been abandoned,

that Justice is for just us,

that debts have been accrued so much that the poor go without footwear and coats on cold nights,

that simple ideas of equal treatment aren’t practiced anywhere.

If all that wasn’t bad enough, the people try to cover up all of their societal sins with religious ritual

—look, I made a burnt offering, I even did it in a big way

—our country is so very religious!

          To which the prophets of every age reply, “do justice! Love kindness! Walk humbly with your God!”

         

          As for the Writings, the focus is on how a Just society creates individual good, they explored how Justice created what Philosophers might call the good life.

If you act unjustly it is unwise and leads to death.

If you act Justly you also act wisely, in a life giving way.

          As for the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, listen to Jesus’ mission statement:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
     to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’

          Jesus embodies God’s justice. His presence among us is good news, especially for the poor, captive, blind, oppressed, he is proclaiming a Jubilee year for them all

—a new start for them,

for all of us!

          Yes, God showing up in Jesus is an example of justice

—that same type of Justice God has been about since the exodus.

Justice for all, but especially for the least of these.

A leveling—think of Mary’s Song in which thrones are thrown down and the lowly are lifted up.

An expansion of those who fall under the Reign of God—the citizenship among the saints is expanded, most noticeably in Paul’s mission to the Gentiles.

          So, what does this all mean for God and for us humans?

          Judging from the descriptions of God’s concerns found in scripture, we can be assured God is concerned about Justice and that part of God making all things right involves the 3-fold pattern of justices I’ve described.

          How should we act…there is the rub, right?

          We cling to the Just and Merciful acts of God, and then act as if we don’t just believe them in our head and heart, but with our hands and our whole self as well.

Working in our own selves to make it true, and among our whole society to make it so.

          It is a right and Christian thing to call for fairness and focus on those who bear the brunt of injustice.

          There was a Christian movement back in the year 2000 to make it a Jubilee year in which the richest countries in the world forgave the debts of the poorest countries in the world—you might remember the musician Bono of U2 heading it up this effort—this was faithful to the original intent of the Jubilee year.

          Christianity ought to always be peeking through the cracks that our culture creates so that we might see those left out, and invite them in and act in such a way that their full dignity might be upheld.

A+A

Why is sin so easy and being a Christian so hard?

Today’s question, the 2^nd one in our 3 week sermon series “Questions from the Pews” is this: “Why sin is so easy and being a Christian so hard?”

          There is a lot packed into this singular question.

What is sin? For example, are we talking little s—foibles and folly, or big S, a controlling power?

What does it mean to be a human being? Are we inclined to evil, made that way, corrupted, or what?

What does it mean, as well, to be a Christian? Are we talking about being polite—“That was a right Christian thing you did today.” Or about community values, or about a relationship with Christ?

          But, before I venture too far off into the weeds with all this, I’ll give a simple answer to the question “Why is sin so easy and being a Christian so hard?”

Sin is easy because we’re mortals / infected by Sin.

Being Christian is both impossible and easy.

Prayer

Sin is easy because we’re mortals

 infected by Sin.

          We’re mortal.

          This has two very practical implications. 1. We’re afraid of death. 2. We have a limited understanding of the world around us.

          We’re afraid of death—not always obviously, but so much of what we do is a denial of this firm reality. Everything from…

societal obsession with youth culture

to the way we talk euphemistically about funerals

to the general disregard we show for those generations who will live after we ourselves are dead.

          The shadow of death that looms over our lives clouds our judgment, and makes us more closed fisted than we ought to be, more concerned about self and self-preservation than is sane for a species such as our own.

          Death, also, is the ultimate blinder.

Our limited nature

—that we can only experience and know so much

—makes all of our choices unsteady and ambiguous.

Our viewpoint, both as individuals and as a species, is so limited that when the Unlimited One showed up,

when Jesus showed up,

we crucified him.

We were unable to recognize the one who recognized us from before we were born, from before creation was created!

 It is as Jesus says from the cross, “They know not what they do.”

         

We’re infected by sin.

          Sin isn’t simply individual accidents,

or bad habits,

or even sins plural,

instead it is a force, a power that controls us

—Sin,

singular

with a capital S.

          As Paul writes in Romans, Sin has captured us, and not only us, but the Law itself. The Law of God, a good thing, is used to a bad end.

So too we, good and beautiful creatures created in the image of God, are used to a bad end.

Think of it:

Cowardice overshoots courage and becomes rashness.

Selfishness overshoots love and becomes enabling.

          Paul describes this situation we’re in as being captured,

being sold into slavery,

so we can’t do the very thing we wish to do, because our vile master, Sin, has control over us.

          Or, thinking of a more up-to-date description

—Sin is an addiction we can not break.

          Or as I like to think of it, Sin is an infection

—a disease that has overcome us all,

a cancer that has transformed good cells into destructive ones

—using the best as the worst.

Our individual sinful actions are simply symptoms of the wider disease,

a contagion raging through the whole world to such an extent that we don’t even notice we’re all infected.

A parasite plugged into each one of us that will not let go.

          Why can’t I quit sin, because it’s inside of me

… just as an infected person can’t simply stop infecting, because it is inside of them. More than that, it has infected the whole earth and holds it in its sway.

          Yes, Sin is easy because we’re mortals, blinded and made stingy by death.

          Yes, Sin is easy because we’re infected by Sin, captured and surrounded by its power.

          Being Christian is both impossible and easy.

          If being Christian is about being good,

about healing ourselves from the infection of sin,

of freeing ourselves from the slaver sin,

or becoming a dry drunk by not acting on our addictions and at the same time not dealing with the underlying problems

—treating symptoms but not diseases

—then Christianity is impossible.

          If being a Christian is an action, a disposition, something we do and we are…

synonymous with nice,

or clean,

or some other virtue,

some symptom of church attendance or something

—the little c christian to balance out the little s-plural sins,

then it is impossible,

for we can neither will ourselves to be Christ-like,

 nor push past sin,

nor barrel-roll away from death.

          But, if being Christian is about God acting for us, then it is not impossible, nor even hard, it is easy.

Think of Samson who we encountered last week—a schmuck among schmucks, yet God was faithful, being a person of faith was easy because God stuck with him.

          Or look at Paul in Romans… he reaches a breaking point—the impossibility of this life of sin we live:

 “I delight in the Law of God—but I make war against myself!

          “I battle sin on the outside, but am already captured by sin on the inside!

          “Who will save a wretch like me?

          “Who can rescue one such as me? I, in whom death dwells?”

          To which he responds with this glorious affirmation, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

          He throws his hands up in despair at the impossibility of it all, but then flips his palms up in a posture of praise!

It was that simple,

that easy

—Christ Jesus did it for him.

          In the face of death,

the curdling of our generosity,

Christ opens his hands to all from the cross.

          In the face of death and the way it blinds us,

Christ intercedes with his father, “They don’t know what they’re doing, forgive them!”

          Enslaved by Sin,

Christ pays our debt and frees us.

          Addicted to Sin,

Christ walks with us and digs deep, dealing with symptom and disease.

          Infected by Sin,

Christ destroys that parasite and frees us to be who we are.

A+A

Sermon: Why is Samson in the bible in the book of “Hebrews” as a man of faith?

Why is Samson in the bible in the book of “Hebrews” as a man of faith?

 

         So, let me tell you about a guy! A real emblem of faith…

         The Philistines had conquered the Israelites, and they needed someone to protect them from this new threat…

so God sent an angel to Samson’s barren parents,

who promised them a child,

and made them swear an oath,

that Samson would never cut his hair, or be ritually impure, or drink strong drink.

         This man, Samson, starts his ministry by marrying a…

Philistine…

you know, the people he was supposed to protect the Israelites from…

         And he’s wandering to his bachelor party, and along the way he has a run in with a lion and rips it in half.

         Once at the bachelor party, he picks a fight with his future brother-in-laws, and kills a bunch of them.

         His would-be father-in-law thinks this means the marriage is off,

and marries Samson’s bride-to-be to the best man…

 and then we come to today’s story about the flaming foxes.

         By this point, Samson’s own people have decided he’s a little funny, and a danger to himself and others…

so they turn him over to the Philistine authorities….

Once arrested he kills, and kills, and kills, and kills, until the Philistine forces are all gone and God offers him a cool drink of water.

         Thirst satiated, he finds himself a prostitute in the city, and when his love shack is surrounded by an angry mob he hides out until midnight and then beats a hasty retreat,

carrying the city gates themselves off with him, for the fun of it.

         Then he falls in love with Delilah, another Philistine, who he famously lies to about the source of his strength a couple of times, before he tells the truth,

which gets him shorn and captured and blinded and bound.

         Then, in the final act, he’s put between pillars of a house where sacrifices to the Philistine god Dagon were taking place

—all the leaders of the Philistines are giving thanks to Dagon for allowing them to capture Samson,

and Samson goes from weakness to strength and strains and pushes those pillars down

—killing everyone, including himself

—3,000 in all.

 

         And that gets me to the first question in our 3-week sermon series “Questions from the Pews.”

Today’s question is:

“Why is Samson in the bible in the book of “Hebrews” as a man of faith?”

         Let us pray

 

         “Why is Samson in the bible in the book of “Hebrews” as a man of faith?”

         Now, to begin with, we have to come to grips with the fact that the Bible is a collection of books

—the bible is a library of books we believe point to the God we know in Jesus Christ.

         Stating the obvious,

not all books say the same thing,

they have different focuses and different points.

And today, at least to some extent, we’re looking at two books of the Bible that are working at cross-purposes.

 

         One of the main point of the book of Judges is that the system for ruling God’s people after the death of Moses and Joshua, was ineffective—it worked very poorly.

Essentially, you had 12 tribes living side-by-side, but separate, other than when bad things happened,

at which point they would cry to God and a Judge

—a charismatic ruler

—would arise and unite the tribes and stop whatever bad thing had befallen them.

         The problem was, with the exception of Deborah and a few barely mentioned Judges, most of these judges were deeply, and I mean DEEPLY, flawed individuals

—Jephthah sacrificed his own daughter because he made a dumb oath,

Barak was a coward,

Gideon and Micah made idols,

AbiMelek slaughtered his own brothers,

tribes warred against one another, culminating in the near genocide of the tribe of Benjamin…

and as we see today, we also have hyped-up, sexed-up, erratic, frat-boy Samson.

         The point the book of Judges is making, is that the system is messed up; a Davidic king is needed…

 

         This is, however, not the point of Hebrews.

Hebrews is a sermon focused on giving hope to early Christians facing persecution;

preaching to a Christian community where there are people falling away,

because being Christian involves sacrifice

—the preacher is telling us that, in the face of persecution, we need to trust in the unseen things of God, just like the faithful who came before did. Though it doesn’t always seem like it…

God is in relationship with us,

God has made a promise to us,

and we ought to trust in that promise,

just as God was in relationship with folk throughout the bible.

 

         So, on one hand the book of Judges goes out of its way to show that many of the Judges are flawed,

on the other, Hebrews points to their faithfulness.

        

         And that’s where the preacher is going—he is giving concrete examples of people living out their faith in times of trouble, so that his listeners can do the same.

         He mentions Samson in this list of people—and it is a little unclear why.

Is it because he his parents “obtained promises” from God through his birth?

Is it because he “shuts the mouth of lions” by tearing one to shreds?

Is it because he “won strength out of weakness” there at the end of his story?

 

         Or, maybe, the list the preacher gives, is of people both succeeding and failing,

sinners and saints

—faithful in so far as God has been faithful to them.

Yes, enduring as best they can, but ultimately relying on God, relying on the ongoing relationship God has with them.

         Relying on the reality that even an Idol maker like Gideon,

a Coward like Barak,

a Shmuck like Samson,

a fool like Jephthah,

and ALL the rest

—relying on the reality that even THEY found a gracious God,

a faithful God,

a God who kept faith with them even at their ugliest.

         So, “why is Samson in the bible in the book of “Hebrews” as a man of faith?”

Because God is faithful.

God walked with him of all people

and

God walks with us even on our darkest and dumbest day.

         We can’t always see that, like the early Christians the Preacher of Hebrews is preaching to,

we can be so put down by the things we can see,

that we sacrifice our hope in the invisible Grace of God,

and we can fall away.

         So, let me remind you, if God can be faithful to Samson,

gracious to Samson,

in relationship with Samson

—he surely is with you all of your days,

generously,

graciously,

faithfully. A+A