The Ephesians Story (Part 1)

Paul is chained to a guard, but he has a house he’s rented. The church meets, and people come into his home; he talks to them. I think this is a beautiful, beautiful story. It really gives the flavor of the heart of God’s people. And all those folks in Romans 16, they’re all there. What a reunion. Folks from all the gentile churches, including Priscilla and Aquila, as well as about half of the young workers.  And I think Acts closes by saying, it closes with Paul there in that house prison. Probably closed because someone knocked on Luke’s door, arrested him, took him out, and killed him. That’s about as far as you got the book written. But here’s the rest of the story.

Our friend Epaphras, who got saved in Ephesus, goes home. The same town Philemon is from, and Onesimus is there. And Epaphras, who really is my second favorite Christian in all the New Testament, I love this brother. He goes home to this jerkwater town, and he raises up the church. It’s a brand-new church, meeting in Philemon’s home, and Onesimus is sitting over there in the back. I want to describe Onesimus to you. You’ve met him. He’s a person who never says a word, but he is always looking and always thinking. He’s waiting on Philemon. He’s looking, and nobody knows what’s smoldering inside of him.

Well, Epaphras does a great job raising up this church, and then he goes over to Hierapolis and preaches the gospel, and the church is raised up there, and then he goes over to Laodicea. Now, don’t pick on Laodicea yet; you can do that later. Right now, it’s a well-to-do town, like Warrenton, and he preaches the gospel there, and a group of Christians is there, and he does what every young man does: he runs out of soap. And he’s also telling them about Paul, and he’s telling them about how the church in Ephesus was born, and somebody in the meeting says, “Well, why don’t you go to Rome and see if Paul got there safely and how he’s doing, and bring back a report. Maybe Paul can give you some more help so you can take us on further. Well, maybe he can send one of those young men up there to come back here and help us.”

Saints, this is not a story. What it is, it’s what should become our story. This is the way of it. Epaphras takes off to Rome, and his trail leads him right through one of the most beautiful churches in the first century, and that’s the church in Philippi. We have a book called Philippians. And he gets to Philippi, and he talks to those people. He preaches to them, and they love him, and Lydia just falls in love with him. She’s kind of in charge of the church in Philippi. Don’t ever think differently. And they help him get to Rome. They send him on. This is the most giving of all the churches. This is what they do. They give and they send him on his way, and they really want him to come back through on his way home. What nobody knows is that Onesimus – profitable – on the day Epaphras left, he sneaks out the window, steals some money from Philemon, and he follows Epaphras. And when Epaphras finally arrives in Rome, lo and behold, here’s Onesimus.

Now, Paul listens to Epaphras and puts him to work. I don’t know what he does, but I want you to know that I think Paul sees an Epaphras, more than anybody else, the next generation. He puts that brother to work in Rome, and he leads Onesimus to Jesus Christ, and Onesimus really gets saved well, and he waits on Paul’s hand and foot. He is there; he is eager; he starts talking. He starts praising the Lord, and he becomes something that Paul just grows to totally depend on him.

Epaphras says, “Would you please write the saints in Colossae, Hierapolis, and Laodicea a letter?” So, he sits down, he writes the letter, and it’s called the book of Colossians. He writes it to the Colossians. Then he’s going to send the Epaphras and Onesimus home, all the way from Rome, through Philippi, back down to Colossae in Asia Minor. And then he writes another letter, and I’m going to tell you the name of it. It’s called 2nd Colossians, and it did not get the name Ephesians until about 400 AD. And the reason he got that is because he did not write out “to the church in Colossae number two.” He just said to the church in and left it blank. He said, “Now, Epaphras, when you get back home, make copies of this and send it over to Hierapolis and Laodicea along with a copy of the letter I’ve written to Colossae.” And it remained blank; it was a circuit letter. And somewhere along the way, it was very poorly and tragically called the Ephesians letter. It was not. It was written to a new church that had never seen its face.

So, Paul takes these two letters, wraps them up in leather and wax, and then Epaphras gets deathly ill. Now, it’s my opinion that he was probably planning on sending Tychicus with Epaphras, and Tychicus was going to Paul’s place to strengthen those churches and help mature them. Now, Epaphras is sick, and remember where Tychicus came from? He’s from Asia Minor himself. Actually, from the city of Ephesus. He’s a reasonable person sent down there. Probably knows the Colossae dialect. So, he says, “Tychicus, I hate to do this to you, but Epaphras is about to die, and pass through Philippi and take these letters and read them to the church.” Oh, by the way, Tychicus, I want you to do something else for me. I want you to deliver a letter to my good friend Philemon. And it’s the funniest letter in all the Bible. I’m going to read it to you. You want to hear it? This is so funny.

Now, here it is. Onesimus is scared to death that he’s going to get whipped or killed. Now Paul led Philemon to the Lord. Onesimus has been in Rome with the church; he’s a Christian, and he’s just become the servant of Paul of Tarsus. And now Tychicus is taking this slave back home. The slave is scared. Tychicus is a little nervous, Paul’s a little nervous. And if you want to get some insight into the cunning of this Jew, then just listen to this. This is the funniest thing in the world.

Now you’re Philemon. You have been led to Christ by Paul, and here’s your slave, come back saved, and on fire for the Lord. And I’m going to paraphrase this thing. Paul, a prisoner, by the way, I’m in prison, Philemon, and Timothy is with me, and my beloved brother and fellow worker Philemon, I want to talk to you a little bit about this and, uh, grace to you, and so I thank God, always making mention of you in my prayers. Gee whiz, that’s really wonderful, Paul prays for me, that’s nice, dear beloved ancient Paul, because I hear of your love: you’re a very loving brother. Add of your faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus Christ and toward ALL of the holy ones. That would probably include ALL of the holy ones.

And I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become productive through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake. I’m appealing to the deepest instincts of your being here, Philemon. For I have come to have much joy and comfort in you, in your love, because the hearts of all the holy ones have been refreshed through you, brother. I have no idea what that means, but I have the notion that Philemon has probably been a very great help to Paul’s ministry somewhere along the way and to others in need.

Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do that which is proper, I’m not going to order you to do it. Philemon says, “What? Do what? Order me? What were you going to order me to do here? But you’re not going to do it. I have that right, that place, to order you to do that, which is proper. What are you talking about? What’s proper here?” Philemon must be a nitwit. Yet for love’s sake, not to order you, but for love’s sake, which I’ve already mentioned three or four times in this letter, for love’s sake, I would rather appeal to you. Okay, thank you, Paul. What are you appealing to me for? Since I am such a person as Paul, the aged in prison and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I appeal to you that, for my child…I got a child, the only kid I ever had. I have a little kid here. He’s my own child. And Philemon, I’m appealing to you. This is my little, my little child. My child. He has made Onesimus his own. I appeal to you for my child. I’m pleading with you, who owns my child, okay, now listen to this. Whom I have begotten; I gave birth. I may be a male, but this is my child, and I gave birth to him while I was in prison. I speak to you of “Profitable”, who formerly was useless and unprofitable…this is a play on words…to you. Who wasn’t any good to you anyway. But now he has become profitable. He has become Onesimus, finally, to me and to you.

And now this is where it starts really getting good. And I have sent him back to you in person. No, I didn’t send him back to you. What I’m sending to you is my heart. I’m sending you, brother, my child, love, not going to order you, appeal to you, in love, my child begotten in prison; now, I’m sending back my heart to you, sending my son to you. I wanted to keep him right here in Rome to help me, and I really needed him, and I knew that you really wouldn’t care if I did that, for he is helping me for my being in prison for the gospel’s sake, but I couldn’t do it without your consent. Then I did not want to do anything that was not out of your goodness, and not compulsion. I want you to do whatever you’re going to do out of your own free will. I wouldn’t pressure you for nothing. Perhaps it is for this reason that he is parted from you for a while, that you should have him back forever, as no longer a slave.