Put It On Master Charge

by Ron R Ritchie



l have been intrigued recently to observe anew in my own life and in the lives of my friends that
when we come into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ we really do get a new heart new
eyes new power and a new value system In fact this is called in Scripture a new creation - if
any one is in Christ he is a new creation And within this new creation the love of God is
manifested throughout our lives We find that we really are concerned about people We reach out
toward them in love instead of manipulating them We pray for them instead of gossiping about
them We find many ways to express God's love- not on our behalf not for selfish gain but because
of his love flowing out through us Therefore we find ourselves involved with people more than
things The natural development of our life in Christ is to start seeing the value in people and simply
using things to help those people

We also find however that life becomes filled with pressure and problems because we are obeying
God And we find we get so involved with people that suddenly we become aware we have
crossed back over the line into our old ways of handling life before we met Christ and we start to
worry about them to get anxious about them and sometimes to go into a pure panic about them
Life then becomes a kind of Peyton Place existence where their growth their development their
maturity all seem to depend on us

A few weeks ago a good friend and I were talking about another couple They had come to know
Jesus Christ about a year ago They were coming here to PBC for a while and were being fed and
rejoicing in the Lord Then very quietly very subtly without our realizing it they disappeared We
forgot them until someone said Where's so-and-so Why I don't know And I got a feeling like
a rock in my stomach Wow we let them slip out of our lives We did not care we did not reach
out We became conscious of ourselves and what we were doing and suddenly they were gone I
wonder what happened to them Then the guilt feelings came and we made a lot of plans in our
heads about how to get to them Maybe send them a book or call them by phone or invite them
to dinner We have got to get something going so that they will grow and become mature In
situations like these we find ourselves fretting and becoming fearful almost to the point of panic

A mother was telling me about her daughter who was attending a college out of the state She is
very concerned for her daughter wonders about how she will find fellowship where she is going to
be fed spiritually whether she will come back the same girl who went away whether she will still
love the Lord or not A father was telling me about a son who ran away They have not heard from
him in months and he is very anxious very upset Do you ever think this way about someone you
love

These pressures are very real and they come to all of us If we allow them to persist they can cause
a troubled heart and can affect our physical mental and spiritual welfare They can prevent us from
ministering in the Spirit as God intends us to minister And as they move into our lives without our
realizing it they create what can be called spiritual tunnel vision We can get locked in to a very
narrow view of God's love care mercy and keeping

The question comes How can we avoid this How can we avoid spiritual tunnel vision How can
we get a view of God that is real and how can we apply it to our lives so that it works on our
behalf so that we are able to be the healthy new creation God wants us to be and has created us to
be and has given us the power to be all along Would you turn with meto the book of Philemon for
some insight from the apostle Paul

GREETINGS I'M A PRISONER

Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy our brother to Philemon our beloved brother and
fellow-worker and to Apphia our sister and to Archippus our fellow-soldier and to the church
in your house Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

This letter was written from prison while Paul was in Rome about A D 61 It was written to his
spiritual brother Philemon who lived over in the Roman province of Asia modern-day Turkey in a
city called Colossae a short distance from Ephesus In A D 57 after his third missionary journey
Paul decided to go back to Jerusalem against all the counsel of his brothers and against the
prompting of the Holy Spirit He wanted to go because he was excited about telling James and the
other brothers how Jesus Christ had been working among the Gentiles

When he got there the brothers were very excited about his ministry but they said Listen we have
some problems in town Some of the Jewish brothers are saying that you are not keeping the Law
of Moses and you are teaching that children do not have to be circumcised when they come of age
and that Gentile converts needn't be circumcised And Paul said You're right That's exactly what
I'm teaching Salvation is by faith and faith alone But a lot of brothers in Jerusalem were upset
about these issues for this was a transition period And so James and the council of elders asked
Paul Would you help to relieve the pressure by entering the temple with four men who have taken
the Nazarite vow and pay for their offering and identify with them to show that you are not
overthrowing all of the Law and the prophets and the temple worship Paul did that but when he
did he brought some Greeks into the temple area with him- a fantastic break with the tradition of the
Jews No Gentile of any kind unless he we-e a proselyte could come near the temple under pain
of death and there were signs posted declaring this

This created such a riot among the Jews who had come down from Asia that the whole town was
stirred up and they almost killed Paul in the tumult The Romans rushed in and one of the centurions
grabbed him saying What's the idea of causing a riot in town and he started to beat him Paul
reached in his pocket brought out his Roman passport and said Hey don't do that; I'm a Roman
citizen So they took him into the barracks and said Now what was the riot all about Paul said
I don't know I was talking about Jesus and they all got upset Every city he visited the same
thing happened - I don't know I was talking about Jesus and everybody gets upset So they
could not figure out a charge and were going to let him go

But Paul's nephew told him Listen you won't believe this but forty Jewish Zealots have taken a
vow not to eat or drink until they slay you The centurion heard about this and slipped him out of
town by night and sent him up north to Caesarea for his own safety There he met the governor
Felix and later Festus who succeeded Felix for Paul was kept in prison over a two-year period
Neither of them knew what to do with him Finally when Festus proposed ordering another hearing
in Jerusalem Paul who knew that the Jews were still plotting to kill him said I appeal to Caesar
About this time as described in the last part of Acts Paul was given a vision and he was
encouraged Be of good cheer for I want you to talk about Jesus in Rome

You can imagine Paul saying I always wanted to go to Rome but not this way not as a captive of
the Roman empire I had all those plans as to how I was going to do it had all those friends I was
going to take with me had such a heartbeat for the Roman people But I never expected I would
have to go on a prisoner ship He was told Be of good cheer you'll be my witness in Rome So
he ended up in a private house in Rome a city filled with merchants and thousands of slaves and
people from all over the entire Roman empire a city dedicated to emperor worship and all kinds of
cults He was chained to a guard night and day So he sat down and started to think things through
I have an opportunity now to write So he wrote letters to brothers in Colossae to the Ephesians
to those at Philippi and then to his personal friend Philemon

Philemon contrary to all rumors that I am a captive of Rome - it is not true I'm a prisoner of Jesus
Christ I am totally captivated by him and he has me in his chains of love And though I am
restricted in motion I am not restricted in expression So I can write to you and share with you my
heart I am resting in him trusting him casting all my cares on him because he's my Lord and my
Master Prisoner Yes - of the only person I ever want to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ I am
captivated by him locked into his life never to be released again Timothy is with me Timothy that
God-honoring one of whom Paul said He has become my beloved son and faithful fellow
worker Philemon we greet you

Philemon's name means affectionate one Apparently Philemon had come to know the Lord when
Paul was teaching in Ephesus for three years He had come down through the mountains from
Colossae about 150 miles was converted under Paul's teaching and returned to his home where
he started a church He probably was one of the elders along with others and was ministering in
that community And Paul as his spiritual father evidently meant a great deal to Philemon

Paul says Greetings to you Philemon our beloved brother in the Spirit and fellow worker in the
ministry and to Apphia your wife and our sister and to Archippus who may have been Philemon's
son and a leader in the Colossian church our fellow soldier in the spiritual warfare grace to you all
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Thus he shares with Philemon the joy
that he recognizes who God is- not only his captor but also his Father The word father to me
brings out all the qualities of protection responsibility security love care- one who gives direction
guidance who brings peace to a home Paul says From the Father our Father Philemon grace
and peace grace and shalom to you May your spirit be at rest; may your life be filled with grace
Then he continues

PRAYER THE MASTER KEY TO FREEDOM

I thank my God always making mention of you personally in my prayers because I hear
consistently of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all
the saints and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the
knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ's sake For I have come to have much
joy and comfort in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you
brother

You see Paul is in prison but he is not locked in For God has given him the master key which
allows him to leave his confinement any time he wants You can se him sitting there chained to a
guard dropping his head and quietly saying nothing to his guard for about two hours Finally he
nods his head apparently wakes up and Ralph the guard says Did you have a good nap Paul
says Oh no Ralph excuse me; I wasn't napping I've been on a trip to Israel Asia Greece and
Italy And the guard grabs his chains checks them wondering if he's the one who had the nap
Who's been sleeping and who's in charge What do you mean asks Ralph

And you can hear Paul saying Funny you should mention it You see my Father is the Father of
the universe And I'm his prisoner And he said that I can goand pray for my brothers all over the
world anytime I want just by turning my mind to him You may restrict me to this house but you
cannot restrict my mind and my spirit You see Paul was praying all the time for all the saints In
the book of Romans that is what he says I pray for you always He says the same thing in the book
of Philemon He says it in Philippians in 1 Thessalonians he says it to Timothy he says it to the
Ephesians He was always praying

You think to yourself When did he get time to do all that praying We can't in this busy twentieth
century lock ourselves away in a house for four years We can't afford that Besides the
Superbowl is on at 12 35 We've got to watch that first before we even have time to pray But you
know that was the secret to Paul's whole life the secret of his whole ministry All the churches are
my concern he said but they are not my anxiety They are my responsibility to minister to through
my spiritual gifts but they are not my burden For I cast all this on the Father All my brothers
throughout the world I keep giving back to the Father and I ask him to work in their lives

I've always been amazed by C S Lewis and even mare in recent days A dear friend of mine gave
me the new book entitled C-S Lewis Images of His World It shares the life behind the author his
real life his town and his friends And the key to his life was his long walks in the countryside alone
hour after hour after hour You finally realize where he got all his fantastic insight into the mind of
God and the way he works - he walked and he talked with God They walked in fellowship and
communicated with one another Then he went home and wrote some fifty books They are
influencing us more now than when he was living He died in 1962 Here we are being blessed
with these books- The Problem of Pain Mere Christianity which has changed so many lives the
Chronicles of Narnia series -- all these beautiful books produced because he walked with God
trusted himself to God knew God's mind and so he was at peace with God God was his master
and he was God's prisoner He spent time with God

When a man spends time with God his spiritual life is strengthened And when his spiritual life is
strengthened no matter what happens on the outside he has the power to face that pressure and
the wisdom and discernment to deal with it I may be in a cell and haven't seen you in five or six
years Philemon but good news has come to me I'm always hearing of your love and I hear of
your faith and because of your faith toward Jesus Christ your love is being manifested to all the
saints But I haven't talked with you in all this time How do you do it How come God is working
in your life without me Isn't that the pressure How could he grow without me It's beautiful to
watch how you're growing I'm excited about your life And I pray that the fellowship of your faith
may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you right now In
other words You've manifested your love and your faith toward Jesus Christ and the saints are
being blessed Now I want to take you into more knowledge There is something new I want to add
to these qualities of Christ-like behavior in your life I'm about to teach you what it means to forgive
I want to say something to you and I'm praying that God will teach you what it means to forgive
There's a whole new adventure for you and here it comes

FORGIVE USELESS

Therefore though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do that which is proper yet
for love's sake I rather appeal to you -- since I am such a person as Paul the aged and now also a
prisoner of Christ Jesus- I appeal to you for my child whom I have begotten in my imprisonment
Onesimus who formerly was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me

What had happened apparently was that Onesimus a slave whose name means useful was
useless He lived with Philemon and apparently knew Paul or had heard of him during Paul's time in
Ephesus Word had gotten back to him that Paul was in a prison in Rome For some reason he
decided to run away from Philemon And he made a journey of approximately 1 400 miles either
by ship or overland through the mountains- it seems easier by ship if you check it out on a map- to
the city of Rome He made his way through that great city hungry tired and scared all the time that
he would be caught as a runaway slave and ended up of all places in Paul's house-prison

You can hear Paul saying Onesimus it's great to see you You bring word from Philemon right
Wrong Well what are you doing here You won't believe it Paul-- I ran away You're
kidding You ran away from Philemon Do you realize what that means son Yes that's why I
came to see you I am really frightened I am really worried about what's going to happen I can't
get work There is no way I can exist the way I'm living And Paul says Sit down I want to talk
to you I want to talk to you about a master who really loved you Onesimus I want to talk to you
about a greater Master who loves you even more You will become a slave of him instead of
yourself Do you want to listen Onesimus says Where else can I go Of course I'll listen Do you
have any food So they sit down and Paul shares with him

Now Paul says Philemon Onesimus is now my son to whom I actually gave birth in my
imprisonment He was formerly useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me He is a
brand-new creation And now for the first time he is able to live up to his name - 'profitable one
useful one' It is hard to have a name and not be able to live up to it Onesimus was called
profitable one and all the time in his heart he knew he was a rascal He knew he had nothing within
himself to enable him to live up to his name Paul says All that is changed now Philemon

SENDING MY VERY HEART

And I have sent him back to you in person that is sending my very heart; whom I wished to keep
with me that on your behalf he might minister to me in my imprisonment for the gospel; but
without your consent I did not want to do anything that your goodness should not be as it were by
compulsion but of your own free will

So here is Philemon sitting on the porch one day He says to a friend Look at that guy coming
down the road He limps just like my old useless slave who ran away In fact that is my old useless
slave who ran away What in the world is he doing coming back Such arrogance Doesn't he
know what's going to happen to him Doesn't he know the punishment for runaway slaves Doesn't
he realize the pressure he's about to face What in the world would drive him back home You
see the society had not forgotten the uprising in 73 B C when Spartacus had led some 70 000
slaves in a revolt against Rome and caused all kinds of havoc and bloodshed The Romans' in order
to set an example took 6 000 of those slaves in 71 B C when they captured Spartacus and he
died and crucified them along a 130-mile stretch of road outside of Rome - one after another
6 000 men and women on crosses- - and said We will have no more uprisings And this ought to
make the point clear Very harsh Then they established laws like if a slaves kills his master if there
are up to a hundred slaves in the household all die So the Roman people who owned slaves had
the pressure of the Roman law to contend with You can feel the strain in Philemon's life What do I
do' What do I do

Onesimus comes up to Philemon you can feel the tension -- and he says Hold it I know what you
are thinking Philemon But look I have a letter from Paul- your spiritual father Would you read
that first I won't go anywhere Just read the letter first And Philemon's heart stops for a minute
I'll take care of you in a minute Let me have that letter I want to see what Paul has to say What
He sent you back in person his very heart You're Paul's heart Certainly something has
happened And he reads the letter we are now reading

Isn't that amazing' You and I are reading someone else's mail right now - a love letter Here we
are two thousand years later able to see the very heart of Paul Philemon just between you and
me I'm sending you back my heart I'd love to keep him so he could minister to me but I don't
want to do that This is a delicate situation I'm wrestling to find the best approach to it I don't
know whether to come as an apostle and order you to forgive him and love him and welcome him
back to your household or to trust you in love I prefer to trust that the love of Jesus Christ will
come through you So I'm going to rest in the expectation that you are going to do this out of love
Now Paul says

PARTED FOR AWHILE--BACK FOREVER

For perhaps he was for this reason parted from you for a while that you
should have him back forever no longer as a slave but more than a slave a
beloved brother especially to me but how much more to you both in the flesh
and in the Lord

This gives us tremendous insight into how God works in the lives of people Here is a slave who
runs away useless goes some 1 400 miles arrives in a little unknown prison cell sees the apostle
Paul for the first time in years seeks mercy and love receives it asks some questions finds out
more about Jesus Christ accepts him ministers to Paul goes 1 400 miles back to what could be his
death for running away trusting God for his life That is God's working in the hearts of men

Sometimes we get confused about how God works We think he has to do it our way I have a
friend Nancy who came to know the Lord through some of her friends And she grew spiritually I
couldn't believe how quickly she caught onto spiritual things She would go to different Bible studies
talk to her friends read come to church - she just kept growing One day she came to me right in
the middle of our home Bible class and said Ron I don't know how to tell you this but my
husband and I have been transferred to Tampa Florida Again that rock in the stomach I thought
Tampa Florida How are you going to grow spiritually in Tampa Florida Does anybody know
the Bible in Tampa Florida Are there any teachers in Florida I thought there were only alligators
in Florida What chance does she have there Soon she called me We're leaving tomorrow Can
we pray together I prayed but I didn't believe my prayer at all I knew that was the end of
Nancy It really hurt

That was a year ago I got word from a friend of hers three weeks ago - Remember Nancy I'll
never forget Nancy A strange thing happened Ron What's that Well she started to share
Jesus Christ in Tampa Florida and soon made such an impression on her community and started
to study the Word so much that Miss Johnson asked her to be the Women's Bible Study
Fellowship teaching leader for Tampa And she never called us once Amazing how God
works Then Paul says this

PUT IT ON MY CREDIT CARD

If then you regard me as a partner and you do accept him as you would me But if he has
wronged you in any way and he has l or owes you anything and I know he stole from you
charge that to my account

Lay that one on me Philemon I'll pick up the check Use my credit card but don't charge it to
him; he's my son

Isaiah 53 presents the whole picture of what Jesus Christ did for us If you read between the lines
you can hear him say Father all these people are runaway slaves from your grace and your mercy
and your love They have stolen from you and have not understood your love They have trampled
it and wasted it and mocked it But now they have come into a personal relationship with me So
Father do not judge them But if there is any judgment charge that to my account for they are now
my sons and they are in our family See what a Savior we have We are all Onesimuses We think
we are useful but we're useless without Jesus Christ We think we are profitable people but we
splurge and waste our lives because we do not understand who he is

Then Paul turns to this point in verse 19

I Paul am writing this with my own hand I will repay it lest I should mention to you that you
owe to me even your own self as well

Paul says I don't quite know how to bring this up but remember who's writing This is your father
in the faith speaking Do I have to bring it up Philemon But he is being delicate He doesn't know
where Philemon might be spiritually as he is reading this letter He hasn't seen him in a while Look
at the way he puts this though; it's so beautiful Yes brother let me benefit let me profit from you
in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ You have been refreshing all the sanits- how about me
Refresh me Love Onesimus because of me Accept him back Understand what forgiveness is
Apply it It's wonderful Philemon if you apply this grace that God has given you - the ability to
forgive those who have wronged you It will be a new step in your maturity Then he says in
closing

Having confidence in your obedience I write to you since I know that you will do even more than
what I say And at the same time also prepare me a lodging; for I hope that through your prayers
I shall be given to you

And that is exactly what happened Paul was set free from his first imprisonment We do not know
that he got back to see Philemon but he went back into his itinerant ministry and perhaps had the
opportunity Then he says

Epaphras my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus greets you as do Mark Mark I thought Mark
blew the whole ministry when Barnabas and Paul had the big argument over him some 20 years
ago I thought that he was a failure No Paul says Mark is with me again maturing growing
ministering You mean there's some hope in a guy like Mark Yes Aristarchus Demas Demas
who later went back to the world because he thought the things of the world were more
attractive But his life wasn't over yet; that was just what he did at that time and Luke my
fellow-workers The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit

So now we have come full circle and we ask the question What can we do to be set free from the
constant temptation to fall into spiritual tunnel-vision this narrow view of God's power and love and
keeping activity among men and women Do you remember that couple I mentioned earlier about
whom my friends and I worried so much We finally got in touch with them Would you believe it
They are reading the Word to each other they are praying together they are starting a
house-church witnessing to all their neighbors and business friends And they never called us
once They called on the Father; they went to the Father

Many of you have people about whom you are really concerned You have brothers and sisters in
the flesh you would love to see come to know Jesus You have husbands or wives who do not
know him and you have sons or daughters who have run away and you haven't heard from them in
a while You are all concerned about them But listen to this fantastic statement It may be that they
went away for a while so that they could come back to you forever Isn't that interesting

In 1954 I was in North Africa 3 000 miles away from home I had told my mother never to pray
for me again and I meant it I was bitter and angry I thought that if she was a Christian I wanted
nothing to do with it I ended up a year later 3 000 miles away half-drunk in a hotel room
bankrupt spiritually mentally and physically and said Jesus if you're real come into my life Do
you know what God did He not only came into my life 3 000 miles from any influence on the part
of my family or church but he gave me a roommate next door who said Hey Ron I heard you
talking to one of the guys on the elevator and it sounds as if you're a Christian I said Yes He
said So am I can we study the Word together It turned out that we started a house-church
which grew to include a couple hundred GI's 3 000 miles away from any influence except that of
the Holy Spirit

We have a lot of Onesimuses among us But do you know what we have to do We have to trust
them to God We have to put God back in charge of runaway slaves of Onesimuses of Marks of
Demases We must stop picking up the burden the anxiety and the panic which is not ours in the
new creation You see we have a Father who is able not only to love but also to keep us who will
send the Hound of Heaven after us to bring him to himself We have a Father who wants to answer
our prayers but we have to trust him for his timing in the lives of our Onesimuses Then we are free
to be prisoners of our God and Father and his Son Jesus Christ

Author's note Later in thinking through the fact that God was willing to wait for me in a little hotel
room 3 000 miles away from any apparent spiritual influence it occurred to me that he was just as
willing to wait for my 90 blind totally deaf non-English-speaking mother-in-law when she left
North Africa and came 6 000 miles to meet him in a small apartment in Walnut Creek California It
is intriguing that in the same family I had to go from America to Africa to find Christ while she had
to travel twice as far in the opposite direction It is a measure of God's mercy that he was there to
meet us both

Prayer

Our Heavenly Father you are the one who has given us the concern for others who
has given us the love for others Father we pray that we may not have such narrow
vision that we can't see that you are really still in charge Keep us from anxiety and fear
and panic on behalf of those we love For those who are running away from you for
those we are afraid aren't growing - give us the insight to continue to pray for them
always and to rest in the fact that you are Lord of Lords and King of Kings that you
love them more than we love them that you are more concerned about them than we
really are and that your heart wants them to come to know your Son and to grow in
the knowledge of him Thank you for the way you are going to work this week as we
rest and put all these things into your hands In Jesus' name Amen





Catalog No 3104
Philemon
Ron R Ritchie
January 13 1974




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