HIStory 101:

Freedom!

Your Story

• As we approach HIStory we start with YOUR story.

• Every one is separated from God because of the fall into sin.

• There is only 2 religions in the world?

• Every other religion is about what we do to TO WORK OUR WAY TO GOD…

Bible tells us this in Gen 3

• St Paul reiterates this in Romans 5 and 6• Romans 5: 8 but God shows his love for us

in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

• Your Story and MY Story begin with our need to be reconciled with the Creator of all things.

• So do we have the responsibility to appease an angry God or???

OR….

• Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces

character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

So we are justified by faith…

• Your Story and My Story become OUR Story because of HIStory.

• This is why we are studying the Letter of St. Paul to Philemon.

• We are the slave “Onesimus.” We have nothing right in us, nothing that can make us “right” with God…

• But the Gospel or Good-news is that…

Emmanuel

• God with us… HIStory is about God coming to us, seeking us, calling us, filling us and ultimately freeing us!

• Romans 615 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,[c] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which

leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So what is a “slave” in the 1st Century?

• If you were a “slave” in Roman times: “you were regarded, in the culture and by secular law, as an animated tool, a piece of property” (Lutheran Study Bible)

• You could win your freedom and it was Christians and Jews who held that we are made in God’s image that believed in Freedom from Slavery…

Slavery in ancient Rome played an important role in society and the economy. Besides manual labor, slaves performed many domestic services, and might be employed at highly skilled jobs and professions. Teachers, accountants, and physicians were often slaves and many led lives of relative comfort, even being seen as part of "the family", with a possibility of gaining their own freedom through reward or from their own savings. Greek slaves in particular might be highly educated. Those condemned to slavery as punishment or used purely for labor, such as those slaves who worked on the huge mass production farms (Latifundia), in the provincial mines, and at the great mills, often lived under brutal conditions and had a high early death rate.

A freed slave was the libertus of his former master, who became his patron (patronus). The two had mutual obligations to each other.As a social class, former slaves were libertini. Men could vote and participate in politics, with some limitations. They could not run for office, nor be admitted to the senatorial class. The children of former slaves enjoyed the full privileges of Roman citizenship without restrictions. The Latin poet Horace was the son of a freedman, and an officer in the army of Marcus BrutusSome freedmen became very powerful. Many freedmen had important roles in the Roman government. Freedmen of the Imperial families often were the main functionaries in the Imperial administration. Other freedmen became wealthy. A freedman designed the amphitheater in Pompeii.

So we are “Onesimus” but in Christ we are also Philemon. We are fellow citizens and

brothers and sisters in Christ. St. Paul was a Citizen of the

Roman Empire by birth…

Who is Philemon? Colossae…

• Letter Written by St. Paul in Rome 60 AD

• Purpose: To reconcile Philemon to his runaway slave Onesimus, who had become a Christian and was like a son to Paul in Prison…10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus,[b] whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.)

Paul appeals to Philemon

• He calls him a “our beloved fellow worker”

• He acknowledges him as a leader of the “church in your house” (Pastor)

• He reminds Philemon that as believers in Christ they are both children of God..

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

Paul shares praise • 4 I thank my God always when I remember

you in my prayers, 5 because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 6 and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.[a] 7 For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Then St. Paul does what Christ does for us…

• He intercedes for Onesimus….• 8 Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ

to command you to do what is required, 9 yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— 10 I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus,[b] whose father I became in my imprisonment. 11 (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) 12 I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

13 I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. 15 For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a bondservant[c] but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

17 So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. 18 If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 22 At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.

So what happened that St. Paul could do this?

• He could speak to Philemon, who had been wronged and deserved justice from a place of a “beloved fellow worker,” “a partner,” as a “Beloved BROTHER”.

• He believed that because Philemon was acquainted with your and my story, and had believed in Christ, was justified and part of our story because HE KNEW HIStory….

So what is HIStory1. We are a covenant people

2. The King gives us our identity in HIS name as we are adopted in Christ Jesus…Romans 53 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

3 We are then called to live a life of obedience because of who we are not in order to appease an angry God.Romans 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Covenant relationship

• Covenant Relationship:

• UP: Father: John 3:16 (BELONG)

•   IN: Identity (BELIEVE)

• OUT: Obedience (BECOME)

HIStory 101: Freedom• Freedom is never FREE..

• Christ won our Freedom on the Cross and proved it in the empty tomb…

• Now we understand what Jesus was saying when HE said: John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave[b] to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

We are FREE..

• What are we going to do with our Freedom?

• St. Paul had confidence in Philemon’s faith and obedience so that he says “Refresh my heart in Christ”

• May our lives be lives of covenant people obedient, holy and pleasing to God, not because we have to but because we want to live as citizens and children of God…