Philemon and Semi-Pro Football

Pastor Scott Smith- May 10, 2026

This message introduces the book of Philemon by highlighting the power of relationships, teamwork, and shared mission within the church. Through Paul’s short but deeply personal letter, we see a picture of grace, reconciliation, and restoration unfolding between real people who are living out their faith together. The message emphasizes that ministry was never meant to be carried by one person alone, but through people reaching people—families, friends, coworkers, and entire communities working together to help others know and follow Jesus.

This message also challenges believers to recognize that everyone has value and a role to play in God’s kingdom, regardless of their past, abilities, or insecurities. By pointing to Onesimus’ transformation from “useless” to “useful,” the message reminds us that no one is beyond God’s ability to redeem and use for His purposes. Ultimately, this message calls the church to stop living faith in isolation and instead actively participate in the mission of Jesus—serving, sharing faith, building community, and helping carry the gospel further together.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

So Philemon is a letter written by a man named Paul to a man named Philemon. In its original language, this letter has 335 words. It is the shortest letter of its kind in your Bible. And although it doesn't say much by way of quantity, it says a lot by way of faith growth. And so what we're going to do is I figured we would just actually read this letter. My son help me pack this in here. And we're going to open Philemon's mail together and read this as we endeavor to learn from the shortest letter in the Bible. You ready? Here we go. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, our and our Tim and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Aphia, our sister, and Archipis, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, 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. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though, I am bold enough in Christ to command you, though I would be to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you. I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. So I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. 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, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion, but on your own accord. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bond servant, 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. So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge it to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. To say nothing of your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refres my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. 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. Epiphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends his greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. It's the shortest letter that was ever written in the New Testament of your Bible. Only 335 words in its original language, but there is more here to be learned from than is often given credit. I also want to congratulate everybody in the room or watching online. If you've been wanting to read more of the Bible this year as we've encouraged everyone to get into God's Word, you just officially read an entire book of the Bible. Way to go. That is awesome. You got more to go, and there's plenty there to read, and we're going to do more like this on the back half of the year as well, as we dig into God's word together. But although it says so little by way of quantity of words, it says so much by way of quality of instruction. And Philemon is a very unique letter and a very personal letter. Paul writes, and as he writes, he is exemplifying a gratitude for this man Philemon, a man who we believe was a man of means and influence in his area. Not just by way of the fact that he could host a church in his house. So whatever his estate looked like, he had people who worked for him and his household. That yes, he was a man of means and he had influence in his community, but he also had influence within the church because he hosted the church. And what Paul is making note of here in a way to probably exhort, or the word would be encourage Philemon as he's receiving this letter, is he is telling him, hey, your love, your faith, the work you're doing as you live out your faith is making an impact, not only in my life, but in the lives of the saints, it's making an impact of the people who experience it. It's an incredibly personal letter. But there are things in this letter that you have to dig out of it. And some of them are so obvious you miss them. Have you ever had anything happen where it was so right in front of your face that you couldn't see it? Has that ever happened to you? Like the other day, I was um I was in the kitchen and I was, well, I was grating cheese because I I live an adventurous life on the edge, and my life's really exciting. And so I was spending my Saturday afternoon uh grating cheese because we're we're a bunch of cheese eaters in the Smith family. And because it's a fairly boring, tedious task, I did what a lot of people do. I pulled up my phone and I put on a show to watch on my phone while I was grating cheese, and of course, funnily enough, it was the Andy Griffith Show. And so I'm watching the Andy Griffith Show in my kitchen while I'm grading cheese. And I had a question for Robin, and she wasn't home, and I needed to text her, but I'm you know, I'm grating cheese. I got cheese all over my hands and stuff, and I was like, man, I need to I need to text her. And you know what I thought? I said, I need to, I don't know where my phone is. So our house is one one story, and so I knew that if I yell loud enough, one of my kids will come to my rescue. And so I was grating cheese, and I just hollered and I was like, Hope, hope! She's like, Yeah, I was like, come here. So she comes into the kitchen, and I'm grating cheese. I was like, hey, um, I need to text your mom. Can you can you find my phone? As the Andy Griffith show plays on my phone, eye level. She doesn't even speak to me. She just goes, uh one of those moments. It's like trying to find your glasses when they're on top of your head. Philemon is, if you're not careful, you're gonna get caught in that watching a video on your phone cheese grating moment, and you're gonna miss something that is so powerful and it's so obvious, but because it's so short, we can just read right through it and miss it. And here's what it is Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, what? And Timothy, our brother. To Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Aphia, our sister, and Archipus, our fellow soldier. Do you notice a word there that's written four times? Our. Oh you are. Paul is communicating a plurality here, and it the very introductory greeting of his letter. We see Paul mention four other people. You get to the end of it and you bookend this letter and the final salutation: Epiphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke. Five more. What do we learn here? It's so obvious you'll miss it if we don't notice it intentionally. You know what Paul's doing here? Paul is highlighting the importance of teamwork. Paul is known for writing a third of the New Testament of the Bible. He is a father of early Christian faith. In fact, most people would coin him the father of church planting. And Paul, as many accolades as he can receive inside of Christendom, modeled and taught something profound. And that is this. The value of teamwork in the Christian faith must not be overlooked by the Christian. Here is Paul and Timothy. You notice he's writing with Timothy. Because at the end he says, Paul, I write this with my own hand. Why? He had a scribe, he had couriers, he had people. There were a people, a part of the process. We tend to have this impression of ministry success or ministry effectiveness. Because make no mistake, Paul says very clearly that everything is happening for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the gospel. He is imprisoned for the sake of the gospel. He is putting forth efforts for the sake of the gospel. He's encouraging Philemon and others for the sake of the gospel. The church's mission is to what? Say it with me. Help people know and follow Jesus for the sake of the gospel, because Jesus changes everything. Paul knows this, and as he writes this, he is putting weight behind his words. Letting Philemon know. We're all in this together, brother. This is meant to be a team effort. But if we're not careful, in our modern church minds, here's what we do: we measure efficacy and success by ways that God doesn't. And we assume that ministry success and ministry effectiveness is only accomplished by a certain set of doing things. Well, it has to be this type of person or these type of people with these type of talents, funneled through this type of program, achieving the objective of this many people having gone to said program. But Paul highlights something here that is absolutely profound for every single one of us in the room. Paul highlights the most effective ministry strategy that has ever been given. And so if we're not careful, we'll miss it because we will assume that ministry success is only attainable if we have a certain set of skills, a certain type of personality, implement a certain type of program, and achieve a certain level of attendance. And therefore, our effectiveness hinges on a select group of individuals to accomplish that success. Paul highlights this truth: that ministry effectiveness is best accomplished when people reach people. Paul knows this. That's why he writes to Philemon, to Aphia, and to Archipus. Most scholars believe that Archipis is Philemon's son and Athia is Philemon's wife. We don't know this with certainty, but in contextualization and our understanding of history, we deduce that it is likely this was his family. For a few reasons. Paul wanted to honor the family unit, so as he writes to Philemon, for him to include those members had to be with purpose. And usually it was because the recipient of a letter, if they were surrounded by people, and the author of the letter knew they were surrounded by people, the author of the letter would address the additional recipients. You would especially do this in a matter of a family unit because you wanted to honor the family. This week, we got a letter in the mail from some friends in Virginia because their daughter is graduating from high school. And so they sent us a notification to celebrate her high school graduation. And the letter was not addressed to Scott Smith, the letter was addressed to the Smith family. Why? Because our friends know we're a team, we're a unit. We are in this together. See, Paul highlights the ministry of teamwork, but also the ministry of family. Because Paul knew that people reaching people is the most effective ministry strategy that has ever been given. Consider the Great Commission Jesus gave his disciples. Jesus did not give the Great Commission to teach people and reach people for the sake of the gospel to one of his disciples. The Great Commission was not given to disciple, it was given to disciples. Why? Not a person, but to people. Why? It has always been there. God reaching people through people. Paul's ministry was done with people. It's never meant to be done in isolation. It is always a team effort. And so Paul, as he writes to who we believe is Philemon and his family, as she is called our sister and our fellow soldier, highlights this. And it's profound. And not only that, but we also see something, if I can just kind of make a side note here, for families in the room and watching online, of the importance of the ministry of family. One of the reasons that we assume that Archipis is Philemon's son is because in the book of Colossians, another letter written to a different church, Archipis is actually addressed in Colossians chapter 4, and he is told to consider the weight to recognize the ministry that he has been given to complete. And so the assumption is that much like a father would retire and leave the family business to a son, that a father would host a church in his house and leave that ministry work to his son. So again, there's some contextualization here that we would understand by putting the pieces together. And Paul is highlighting something, whether he's doing it on purpose or we just have access to it because we can recognize what's going on here. He's highlighting the ministry of family. When I was in graduate school, I read a book and one of the quotes I've never forgotten said, families are factories for mankind. Families are factories for mankind. It's why we do some of the things we do here as a church. If you're newer to Sunrise, maybe you aren't as familiar with some of the highlights and celebrations that we've shared, but if you've been coming here for any length of time, you've heard us share praise reports of opportunities we get, students sharing their faith on local school campuses. And opportunities we get to take the gospel message and hey, come to Youth Night where you know it's just it's it's so full of life, and students are connecting and growing in their faith, and they're they're engaged in small groups, they're worshiping together, they're learning. We're at the point now where as a church, it isn't it is beautiful, but it's also a responsibility for us. We're at the point now we're reaching students whose families aren't believers. And those students are courageous enough and bold enough to take steps and grow in their faith. And so we are praying for their families and prayerfully uh going to be able to partner with these families to build bridges to minister to the entire family because we know the importance of it. Recently they've been doing a bunch of studies of basically this uh demographic of young adults who seem to have been finding their way back to church. And most believe it's because, you know, people are looking for truth, structure, order, foundation, and uh obviously, you know, quote, religion offers a lot of that. And so you're seeing a lot of younger folks make their way uh back to church, and as a result, some other research has been unearthed, things that have been observed over the last 10 to 20 years. And one of the things that's been observed in research, and um a lot of evidence to point to this, is the greatest predictor of a person coming to faith in their adulthood or pursuing Christ, uh pursuing a life of faith as a young adult or into their adulthood, the greatest predictor of whether or not that happens is the investment made in that person between the ages of five and 17. Meaning the greatest indicator of whether or not a person as an adult will choose to follow Jesus, continue following Jesus, can be based on looking at what investment was made in their life from the ages five to seventeen. That is why we say all the time the wave starts in the student section, and the next generation of ministry here is so important. We value it so much. That's why we've put efforts into this. That's why we say that there is life change on the other side of your generosity. We heard in a prayer meeting this morning of a young man at a local school who has been coming to church for the last month. His family does not go to church, but he made the decision this last week to put his faith in Jesus Christ. We're able to offer that as a church and minister to the next generation because people step up and they give and they serve. There are small group leaders, there are people who serve in our youth ministry. We see this because the ministry of family is incredibly important. I will tell you this if I can cast a little bit of vision with us this morning. We're going to be putting uh efforts like that into our kids' ministry, introducing that into the back half of this year, where we are going to put some efforts into offering environments and experiences for our kids so that more families in our community desire to jump in and grow in their faith together here at Sunrise. Why do we do that? Because the greatest predictor of someone pursuing Jesus when they're not told what to do in their life anymore is the investment that happens between those ages of five and seventeen. See, we understand that as we do research in our modern American culture. Paul understood it a couple thousand years ago because Paul knew families are factories for mankind. He knew the value of working with people, that the purpose and mission that they were given as Christians was meant to be accomplished together. It was meant to move them in a direction together, to be unified. He knew there was power in working with people. He knew the ministry of teamwork. And he knew the ministry of family. And you know what he also points out here? None of these people are the same. Timothy is a protege. He's a young man, Paul's training up, he's getting coached. Philemon is likely a wealthy, influential man in his community. Here's his family. Luke's a doctor. Aristarchus is a guy who was in prison with Paul because he stepped up when a riot broke out. I don't think Aristarchus was. You know, he was one of those friends. You got that friend who you're like, ugh, don't answer the phone on speakerphone when you call this person. Like you don't know what they were gonna say. Riot breaks out, people come after Paul. Aristarchus is like, let's get it. He was that person. You got that person who still has that in them, right? There is a this is a a diverse group of people. And Paul Paul highlights something. Again, it's like that cheese grater phone story. You'll miss it if you don't see it. Paul highlights something very important here, and it's this. A successful team is unified in its purpose and its values. But it is diverse in its talents and abilities. Case in point, the man whom he writes about, Onesimus. Onesimus, he is sending this man back to Philemon, who was essentially his employer. Onesimus was a bondservant. We'll talk about that next week. But as he sends Onesimus back to Philemon, he makes a comment here, and Paul inserts a very funny pun in Greek, but none of us laughed at it when I read it in English because we don't understand it. But he says this to Philemon. He says, Look, I'm sending him back Onesimus, who's, when he says, my father, I became his father, meaning we assume that Paul led Onesimus to Christ. And in verse 11, he says, Formerly he was what? Useless to you. But now he is indeed useful to you and me. Here's why that's funny, but you don't know it's funny. Onesimus, as names mean something, in the Greek, Onesimus, that name means profitable, beneficial, or useful. And Paul writes to Philemon, look, formerly useful was useless. It's like going to the gym and seeing that guy who's just jacked. And you introduce yourself and he's like, hi, my name's Tiny. It's like that. He says, formerly, useful was useless, but now he's useful to you and me. You know what he's doing there? Not only is Paul kind of making a pun here, he's saying this, and somebody needs to hear this. Because I know how this works. I know how this works. Scott, I get it. I get it. But I'm not built for this, this, and this. So I know you want everybody to contribute because the power of teamwork, and I've heard the acronym. Together, everyone achieves more. I get it. I even have it on a shirt because I went to a sports camp when I was a kid. Okay. I know you're probably going to push for everybody to serve. You're right. I am going to push for everybody to serve. I'm also going to push for everybody to give and for everybody to share their faith and for everybody to live out their faith. And also, I'm not going to stop doing that. I'll tell you when I'll stop doing that. In a few weeks, Andy Thorne is going to kick off our Psalm series, and I won't be up here, so I won't say it then. But don't worry, Andy's got you covered. You know what he's saying? He's talking back to the feelings of, I don't have anything to give. Onesimus formerly was useless, but he's useful now. Because here's what we do. Here's what we do. I don't offer anything to the team. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. No, you don't know my past. Doesn't matter. Everybody's got a past. Welcome to the club. No, the team doesn't need me. There's a lot of people on the team. The team needs you. There's people you can reach that others of us can't reach. We just mentioned lunch clubs. They ask me often, Scott, will you come share at the lunch club? And I'll do it sometimes, but most of the time I say no. And here's why I say no. I'm just shooting straight with you. You know why? Because when I walk onto a school campus, no one looks at me and says, Oh, who's that cool pastor guy showed up? You know what they say? Dude, who got in trouble? Whose dad's here to pick them up? See, there are people who can reach people that I can't reach. There are students who share their faith on school camp because I can't reach. There's people in your workspaces, in your relational spheres that the people next to you won't be able to reach because they don't have proximity to them. And so you know what Paul does by making this pun? Hey, useful was useless, but now he's useful. This is what he says. Nobody is useless in the kingdom of God. Everyone has value. You know that's a marker of the Christian church. The Big Sea Church, this global group, this movement of Jesus followers that is locally expressed in these worship gatherings and bodies of believers we call local churches, has always been designed as a team by Jesus to be unified in its purpose and its values, but diverse in its talents and abilities because the greatest ministry strategy, the most effective way to take the gospel to the world is people reaching people. The Christian responding to the gospel and living it out in context of community. The Christian life is never meant to be done in isolation. The Christian life is meant to be lived in communion with God, in participation with others. So if you're one who says, there's nothing I can offer, there is something you can offer. If you're one who says the team doesn't need me, the team needs you. No, no, no, no. I don't feel like I have certain skills. Great. We shouldn't all have the same skills. If everyone did the same thing, not much would get done. We understand that. If the Kansas City Chiefs are all Patrick Mahomes, that guy's getting sacked a lot more than he already does. But uh, yes. It's a jab. See, we need everyone. You might say, I don't have much. You know what you do have? Everybody do this. Look at me, look at me, and then I want you to do this with me. And I really want you to. Because some of you are not looking at me because you're like, no, he's gonna make me interact with him. Yeah, I am. And I'm gonna stare at you until you look at me. You ready? Here it is. Do this. You know what you all just did? Offered something to the Christian community we call sunrise. You know why? A smile goes a long way. You're like, did I just sign up for the greeting team? Yes, you did. Way to go. Scan that QR code. We'll follow up with you this week. Love it. Yes. Philemon, listen, useful was useless, but he's useful now. No one is useless in the kingdom of God. There is power in working with people, and teamwork has always been God's design. Always. So ask yourself: if I'm on the team, if I claim to be a Christian, am I participating? Am I in the game? Am I contributing? Am I actively growing in my relationship with God? Am I actively growing in my faith? Am I praying? Am I reading God's word? Am I worshiping regularly with a body of believers? Am I serving? Am I giving to the mission of the gospel through my local church, through my local Christian community that exists to help people know and follow Jesus so we can continue to celebrate the life change we see on the other side of generosity? Am I sharing my faith with others? Am I inviting people to church? Am I doing these things? There is an assumption of the early Christian church that has become a suggestion of the modern Christian church. And I do this. I encourage you to do what? Hey, live out your faith. Share your faith with people, invite people to church. And you know what we're hoping? We're hoping that if you start coming to sunrise, that within 12 to 18 months you will follow this spiritual pathway of discipleship called show up, jump in, and live out. And eventually you'll get to the place where you're serving, you're giving, and you're sharing your faith. And hopefully you'll take the suggestion seriously because I bug you about it enough to finally share your faith and invite people. Do you know the early church did not see it as a suggestion? It was an assumption. Paul writes to Philemon, and as you're sharing your faith, he doesn't say, and I hope after you've given this enough time and you really like the music and you really like this and all this stuff, then you'll start sharing your faith. He doesn't say that. See, it was assumed for the Christian. You know why? Jesus changed everything for them. When something is good in your life, you want to share it with others, don't you? Are you in the game? If you're on the team, get in the game. When I was in high school, my uncle took us to a semi-pro football game in Lynchburg, Virginia, which is exciting as it sounds. Does anybody watch hockey? Okay, why do you go to a hockey game? Be honest. You want to see a fight. Yep, that's exactly right. Okay. So I'll tell you this Lynchburg, Virginia, 1998, semi-pro football game, you were gonna see a fight. We saw two before halftime. One of them, they were on the same team. Two linemen on one of the teams got to fighting each other in the middle of a play. It was wild. So it's halftime, third quarter starts. My brother and I are sitting there with my uncle. We're watching this game. It's about three or four minutes into the third quarter. And we look over, and the the local team, the Lynchburg Storm, as they were called, were uh on offense, and so the other team was on defense, and we look over, and the other team's quarterback is in line at the concession stand. I'm not making this up. We look over. He's got his helmet off and he's holding it and he's in line. Can you imagine being in front of him and just being like, oh, what are you gonna get? I don't know. What are you? Wait a minute. Dude, aren't you supposed to be playing? No, we're on defense. It's good. He gets up, we watch this guy. He orders a hot dog, a Mountain Dew, and Skittles. We can see it. And he shoves it in his helmet and he goes back and he sits down on the bench and he starts eating it. And my brother and I are like, what is happening? Well, then it's a turnover, and he's back on offense. So his coach comes up to him and he's like, You can see it, but you can't hear it because it's far away, but you can see it. And he's like, Let's go, let's go. And you see this guy do this? All my food. Second string quarterback had to go in the game because the starting quarterback sat there and was just like, I'm gonna eat this chili dog and eat these Skittles, so leave me alone. In the middle of a game. Semi pro football, 1998, Lynchburg, Virginia. You had to be there. How many of us treat our Christian faith like that quarterback in line at concession stand? Hey, I know we got a purpose and I know we got a mission. Let me do my own thing for a little bit, though. Let me eat these Skittles. No, let me have my mountain dew. No, no, no. Y'all go do it. Y'all go do it. That is not what we see in Philemon. Paul, a prisoner for Christ, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Apia, our sister, and Archipus, our fellow soldier. Epiphras, fellow prisoner. Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke. What is Paul saying? Get in the game. Eternity hangs in the balance for everyone. No one's promised tomorrow. But we're all promised a purpose. If we have put our faith in Jesus, we are given this purpose to glorify God, to follow the teachings of his son Jesus, and help others do the same. Paul wrote like this because he knew what his purpose was, and he knew what their mission was. See, we have a mission as a church because we have a purpose as a Christian. Our purpose to know God, to make him known, to be right with God, to follow his son Jesus, and to help others do the same. That purpose we have been given as a follower of Jesus is why we have a mission as a people of Jesus, as a church. And both this purpose and mission were given to people, not just a person. I heard a quote once that said this if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together. Church, we go further when we go together. And we grow more when we grow together. So take advantage of this letter we get to eavesdrop on with this cheese grating Andy Griffith show watching on your phone items that are so obvious you'll miss them. The church has always been a team of people reaching people. Take that with you this week. Dump them Skittles out your helmet and get in the game. Let's pray. God, thank you again for another day. I pray that you're honored by what we've said, done, everything we've been singing, everything we've celebrated. And God, ultimately, this is for you. As we just read, for the sake of Christ. So, God, I pray that those of us who are in the game, those of us who are contributing, that you would encourage us that we are a part of this greater purpose and this greater mission that we get to see the fruits of. And God, maybe for some of us who need that nudge, that it's time for us to put the helmet down, take the Skittles out, and get in the game. God, in any case, I pray that you're honored by this time and that it helps us grow in our faith together. It's in your name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 37:03

Thank you so much for joining us today at Sunrise Church. We hope this message encouraged you and blessed you. If one of the ways that you choose to worship with us here at Sunrise is by giving online, there's a link right here that you can follow and it'll take you to that payment point. Everything that you donate helps not only go towards reaching people in the greater San Diego area, but also all around the world. If you want to get further connected with her in person or online, you can email this email right here and either myself or some of our team members be there to answer it and help me get connected in any way to answer.