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Dear David, let us pray. Surely our Father, one of the ways in which you startle us into wakefulness and thrill us with the faith and light our hearts with your love, is by the witness of others. There is a special charm in the witness of the young, and we thank thee for this word

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of witness, spoken in some. And we pray now that thou wilt bless us as we seek to find truth from thy word. May this witness, too, be acceptable in thy sight. We pray it in Jesus' name.

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Amen. Once there was a man named Philemon, and he lived in a town called Laodicea, and he owned slaves. And one of the slaves was named Onesimus.

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Now Onesimus escaped his master. And if you know anything at all about slavery in the first century, you could understand why he wanted to do so. A Jewish master could do anything he wished with his slave except slay him.

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Amongst the Romans, even slaying of slaves was considered to be acceptable. So Onesimus had a chance to run for it, and he did. And there is some suggestion that when he ran for it, he stole something from his master, this man named Philemon.

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At least in the letter to Philemon, which we have, the letter written to him by Paul, Paul makes reference to the fact that he will do anything that Philemon requires to get him to accept Onesimus as his slave again without punishment. And he says specifically, "You may charge anything to me," which rather implies that

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Onesimus, in making his escape, took some of his master's possessions. And Paul says, "You can put that on my account." In any case, Onesimus makes his escape, and he flees to Rome, which was a natural place to go.

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In those days, Rome had about three million citizens, and it was easy to become lost in the crowd. But somehow or other, Onesimus came across Paul. Now Paul was at that time a prisoner in Rome.

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He was under house arrest, not in a jail, but in a home where he was confined. And Onesimus comes to Paul. Now it might have been just by God's happy providence that Onesimus found Paul. Or it might have been that Onesimus had come to know Paul in the home of Philemon, his

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master. Paul had visited in that home before, and maybe Onesimus came to know of him there, and knowing that Paul was in Rome, when he got to Rome, sought him out. Perhaps when he sought Paul out, he didn't tell him that he was a runaway slave.

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We don't know about that. But whether he told him or not, eventually Paul found it out. He might have discovered it because Onesimus later told him the whole story. Or he might have found out when the pastor of the church back there in Laodicea, a man

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named Epaphras whom we talked about a few weeks ago, came to visit Paul in Rome and told him the story. In any case, Paul came to know that Onesimus was in fact a runaway. And Paul seeks to minister to Onesimus.

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Now, first of all, he wins Onesimus to Christ. We know that because Paul uses a very interesting phrase to describe Onesimus. He describes him as one that he has begat. Now in the language of St. Paul, to refer to someone as someone that you have begotten

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means that you are the spiritual father or mother of that person. You have introduced them to the faith. So Onesimus came to his Christian faith through the ministry of Paul. And Paul refers to him then as his spiritual son.

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And Paul then goes on to minister to this runaway Onesimus. And he says to him three things. Three things which I think are very important for all of us who are tempted to run. The first thing he says to Onesimus is this, "Don't run.

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Stand and face your problems." You see, Paul sends Onesimus back to his owner Philemon. Now this does not mean that Paul approves of slavery. We know from a study of Paul's words that Paul fully expected slavery to collapse of

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its own weight. As the gospel would spread, so slavery would gradually be eliminated. And that is exactly what happened in the course of history. But what Paul is saying when he sends Onesimus back is this, "If you face your problems honestly,

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you will be making the first step in defeating them." You see, Christianity is never a route of escape. It is quite to the contrary a way to win. And it would be a wonderful thing if more Christians would learn that.

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This afternoon I preached at the 200th anniversary of the first church that I ever served. And as we were worshiping up on the riverbank in McKeesport, they had the 200th anniversary service in exactly the same spot where the first service had been held on the side of the riverbank there in McKeesport.

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A woman came up to see me. And when she saw me and I saw her, I thought of what I'd be sharing with you tonight. Her husband was a great big man, stood about 62 inches tall, weighed, I would imagine, in excess of 250 pounds.

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He came to me on one occasion when I was pastoring there and said that he had a particular concern and he wished I would pray about it. He did not identify the concern. That often happens.

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And so I gave myself to prayer for Larry. At about that same time, or a few weeks thereafter, I preached a sermon on the conquest of fear. And in that sermon I labored to point out that one of the things we must do in defeating our fears is to face up to the reality of them, not to run, but to confront them head

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on. And he came up after the service and thanked me for that sermon, which was an unusual thing for him to do. I distinctly remember how enthusiastic he was about it.

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Unfortunately, his enthusiasm was a matter of word only. What we didn't find out until some months later was that this man had a deep concern about his own health. He knew that things were not working right within him.

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Within a few short months it was discovered that he had cancer and it was so widely spread that there was nothing that could be done about it. He died about six months later, blind and weighing only about 60 pounds. And you know, the whole time that I was pastoring him, I kept thinking to myself, "Larry, if

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only you had, when you begin to have these problems, faced up to them." He had never gone to a doctor. He even avoided the physical examinations that his company required. He figured out a way to get around them.

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He was afraid they might find something. And because he ran, he died. I don't know, none of us can know, if it would have been in time had he made the necessary steps, but at least there would have been a chance.

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Or I think of a fellow tonight who was a young up-and-coming electrical engineer with the Disney organization out in Southern California. The electrical engineering branch of the Disney organization is called Retlaw, which if you think about it for a while is Walter spelled backwards, Walter Disney, you get the idea.

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And he worked with Retlaw and got into some personality conflicts within the Disney organization, which is unusual because it's a very close and a very harmonious group. He came to see me and talked about this. I asked him if he talked with any of the individuals.

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No. Have you talked with any of your superiors about the situation? No. He'd come to talk to me, he'd talk to his wife, he'd talk to others, but he'd never

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faced up to the problem. He'd never confronted the people with whom he was having the difficulties. When he took the time to do that, the situation changed itself. The first thing Paul says to people who want to run in whatever way they want to run is

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this, don't run. Get the facts. Face the situation that confronts you. But he doesn't stop there.

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Paul then goes on to say to Onesimus and to all those who want to run this, having stopped, stand with Christ and with other Christians. You're not to stand alone. You are to stand with Christ and with other Christians.

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You see, Jesus Christ can change the past. It was Paul Tillich, the rather controversial theologian of our century, who said that, that Christ can change the past, and by that he meant not that the events of the past can actually be changed insofar as the circumstances are concerned, but that when the result of

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a circumstance is transformed, the meaning of the circumstance is transformed. You may think, for example, of a number of years ago, there was a football team in Colorado that was to play an away game, and they all got on an airplane to fly away for this game, and they had one young player on the team who had broken his leg the week before, and

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he was unable to make the trip. And he loudly lamented the fact that this was going to be the most exciting trip of the season, a plane journey and all of the rest of it, and he didn't get to make the trip.

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And if you remember the story, you remember that the plane crashed and every single member of that team and all of its coaches were killed, and the only member of the team that remained was the boy who thought himself so unfortunate in being able to go. Now what had been, you see, initially something that was very unfortunate to him turned out

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to be something that was in fact very fortunate. The result changed the value of the circumstance. Now so it is when we stand with Christ. There are circumstances in our lives which are many times incredibly defeating, and we

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find ourselves so overwhelmed by them that we come to the place where we believe ourselves to be utterly without hope in this world. And it's at just such a time that a liaison with Christ, that standing in unity with Him, not running but confronting the difficulty with Him, can begin to change the circumstances

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so that what looked bad might become the prelude to some of the most beautiful days in our existence. Onesimus was on the run, terrified, a fugitive in a big city, but he was won by Christ through Paul there, and his whole life was transformed as a result of that.

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Now notice that Paul not only says we're to stand with Christ, but we are to stand with other Christians, and he demonstrates that. When he sends Onesimus back to his owner Philemon, he doesn't send him alone. He sends with him a letter, our letter of Philemon in the New Testament, a letter in

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which he asks Philemon, who was his spiritual son also, Paul had won Philemon to Christ, he says to him, "I want you to receive this runaway, in spite of what he has done, I want you to receive him not as your returning slave, but as your brother." And then Paul sends the local pastor back, Epaphras, and he says, "I want you to minister

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in this situation also." And in another one of his letters, Paul enlists the help of a man named Archippus, who was from the same church, and says, "I want you to help with this situation as well." And I've already mentioned that Paul offered to pay Onesimus' IOUs, whatever they happened

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to be. And finally, Paul insists that Philemon, the owner, become involved in the healing process for Onesimus. He says to Philemon, "You will gain more of Christ as you act and give in Christ's name."

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You see, Paul immediately pools around Onesimus a web of Christian concern and caring. He doesn't say, "Just stand with Christ." He says, "Stand with Christ and stand with those who are in Christ." And out of this comes the transformation.

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You've all heard that fairy story about the beautiful princess who bent down and kissed a frog and he was turned into a handsome young prince. And I'm sure you've heard the Christian application of that. That Christians are people who kiss frogs.

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Christians are people who take the ugly, unwanted, largely ignored, fugitive people of life and kiss them and love them and encourage them so that they become beautiful again. In this sense, the Christian church is very much like Alcoholics Anonymous. You know, you don't go to Alcoholics Anonymous only for yourself.

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When you belong to Alcoholics Anonymous, you are committed not only to your own behavior but also to encouraging and supporting the behavior of every other person who is a part of the group. You are committed to every one of them.

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In this sense, every church is to be like an AA fellowship. It is not surprising that AA grew out of the Christian church. The Reformation was built upon three cardinal doctrines. The first doctrine was the centrality and exclusivity of Scripture.

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The second was that we are saved by grace through faith. And the third one was that we are to be priests for one another. And priests for one another means that we not only have direct access to God ourselves, but we are to be acting as ministers between God and those who are about us.

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Let's face the fact that the world is oft times not very kind to losers. And losers are not very kind to themselves. They're very hard on themselves. They need supporting love from others.

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So what Paul says to those who are running is this, "Don't run, stand fast, but don't stand alone, stand with Christ and become a part of a caring Christian fellowship." And the last thing that Paul says to Onesimus is, "Having so stood, keep on standing." That is persevere.

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Once you've started, do not fall away. Now you've heard the line, "There are no atheists in foxholes." There are individuals who when they get into deep and troubled times suddenly go running to God in prayer and as soon as things are well, well, they forget about God.

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This last Tuesday morning I was in the airport in Pittsburgh here waiting for a friend who was to arrive at 627. Well as you know it was very foggy and no planes got in. And I was sitting there for a while.

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We thought the fog might lift quickly but it didn't. And there was a father and a little girl there. And the father was trying to keep control of the little girl but she completely ignored him.

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He would say, "Don't play with that" on the floor and she would play with it. He told her to keep her hands out of the ashtrays and she put her hands in the ashtrays and he let her do it. There was nobody else there, just two or three of us sitting in this vast waiting room hoping

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for the fog to go away. And she kept on doing whatever she wanted and then climbing up on one of the chairs he said to her, "Now be careful you don't fall." And she kept right on climbing and fell right off the back of the chair onto her head.

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And you know, as soon as she fell on the back of her head, what do you think she did? She jumped up crying and ran right to her daddy. All the counsel, all the direction, all the loving instruction ignored. But when she was in trouble, she climbed right up into her father's lap.

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Now Paul says when you're in trouble you ought to climb up into your father's lap through Christ and other Christians. But stay there. Stay there.

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Don't go away. Persevere. Paul uses an interesting word to Onesimus. He says you are to be a brother in the faith.

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In other words, it's a family relationship. You can change your friends but you can't change the members of your family. Your brother is your brother. Your sister is your sister.

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It's to be a permanent continuing relationship. And you're not to waffle in it. I don't know if you've ever heard this before but one of my favorite illustrations out of French history happened in the early part of the 19th century when Napoleon escaped

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from Elba and was coming toward Paris. On March the 9th, the headlines of the leading Parisian newspaper read, "The monster has escaped his den." On March the 11th, the headlines read, "The tiger has arrived at Gap."

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On March the 12th, the headlines read, "The fiend has slept at Grenoble." On March the 18th, the headlines read, "Bonaparte is just 60 leagues from the capital." On March the 20th, the headlines read, "Tomorrow Napoleon will enter our city." On March the 21st, the headlines in that same newspaper read, "The emperor is at Fontainebleau."

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And on March the 22nd, the day that Napoleon entered the capital city, the front page of that paper read, "His imperial and royal majesty yesterday evening arrived at the Tuileries amid the joyful enthusiasms of his devoted and faithful subjects." Well, that's the way we are many times.

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We're great until the challenge comes. And the closer the challenge, the closer the temptation, the closer the anxiety, the closer the enemy comes, the more we tend not to stand but to run, to sacrifice our convictions, our commitments, whatever.

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And Paul says, "Don't do that. Stand, stand with Christ, stand with Christians, and keep on standing." Now we don't know for a fact whether Onesimus kept on standing. There are two facts, however, which I would leave you with which kind of suggest that

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he did. Fifty years after all of this happened, a great Christian of that period named Ignatius wrote a letter to the Christians in the city of Ephesus, which was part of Laodicea. And in that letter, he praised the bishop of that church.

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And the bishop's name was Onesimus. And interestingly enough, when Ignatius wrote this letter, he made a pun on Onesimus' name. Onesimus means useful or beneficial or profitable. And he says, "Onesimus is profitable in name," that's what his name meant, "and also in nature."

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And Paul used exactly that same pun in the letter to Philemon in the New Testament. And it may be that Ignatius used that same pun because he was talking about the same man. And there's another shred of evidence which leads us to think that this was the original

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Onesimus, and that's this. Our Bible consists of 66 books. There are 27 in the New Testament. Out of those 27 in the New Testament, there is only one book which concerns one tiny personal

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problem considered in detail. It's the most personal letter in all of the New Testament. And it's this letter to Philemon about Onesimus. Now why is it included?

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You see, the books that make up the New Testament were collected in Ephesus, and they were collected there at the time when the bishop of Ephesus was Onesimus. And it is believed, you see, that Onesimus, ruling the church in that area at that time, insisted that this little letter of Paul be included in the New Testament because Onesimus

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wanted Christians to know that when you're tempted to run, you need to stand fast, to hold tight to Christ and other Christians, and to keep standing always. For it is the one who endures to the end who will be saved. Let us pray.

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O Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word. We thank Thee for this man who was merely mentioned. And we thank Thee for whatever Thy Spirit might make of these poor words concerning him uttered in this place tonight.

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We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. We have a little song with which we conclude each week, and I think you have the words on that little piece of paper.

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And why don't we stand and sing them as David leads us from the piano. May the Lord, mighty God, bless and keep you forever. Grant you peace, perfect peace, courage in every endeavor. Lift up your eyes and see His face and His grace forever.

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May the Lord, mighty God, bless and keep you forever. Thank you. Good night. God who justifies.

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term.