"Perhaps the reason he (Onesimus) was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back for good- no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord." -- vs. 15, 16

         One day, a wealthy man in the church at Colosse received a letter in the mail, a letter that just may have changed his life. This letter to Philemon is in the New Testament, and we are not always sure why it was included. It is a puzzle to read. David Garland writes, "Reading Philemon is like coming into the middle of a movie and having to catch up on who the characters are and what has already happened in the plot, and then having to leave before the end."

         What is clear is that Paul asks Philemon to receive back his slave, Onesimus, as a brother in Christ. Onesimus has been with Paul for some time, and there in prison came to receive Christ in faith. He seems to have been in some trouble with Philemon, or perhaps he had run away. How he met up with Paul is not clear. But in reading this letter, which is written in such a tactful way that it is difficult to quite get the point, we can discern some underlying messages. Philemon is being called to value the work of another person, named Onesimus, which means "useful." He is being called to view this formerly "useless" person, a slave, a person he had no regard for, now as a "useful" person, a brother in Christ.

         And the usefulness of Onesimus is not that he can return to working for Philemon at no pay, so that he can enrich Philemon with his free labor, but his usefulness is to the kingdom of God. Philemon is being asked to value not just the work of another, but the person who works, as a brother in Christ. Philemon is being asked to set this slave free, so that he will be useful in the kingdom of God. Beyond that, I believe the letter puts into Philemon's heart the thought that he ought to live without slaves. That means submitting his earthly work to the Kingdom of God.

         Early in the story of the Old Testament, we come to see that God, who values people, also values their work. In Exodus, we read that God sees the work that his people in slavery are doing, that he hears their cries for help, and he saves them. In the Ten Commandments, he gives them the gift of the Sabbath, and this gift is recorded in two places: in Exodus 20, where the reason for Sabbath is to imitate God, who rested on the seventh day; and in Deuteronomy 5, where the reason for Sabbath is to give rest to your children, servants and work animals, in remembrance that you were once slaves, and God set you free. God is mindful of the work we do, and he sets people free from slavery.

         Later, in the account of the kings, we see that God refuses to allow people to compartmentalize their work. David is portrayed in his roles as warrior, administrative leader, poet, shepherd, husband and father. We see very clearly that he failed in his closest family relationships, and that he paid dearly for his neglect. God did not allow him to compartmentalize his life work; God held him accountable for the whole. His physical, relational, administrative and creative work was all to be done as unto the Lord.

         Jesus worked hard as a tekton, often translated "carpenter." Now many understand that word to refer to day laborers, usually workers in stone, men who did the heavy grunt work of Herod's massive building projects. Jesus knew the meaning of hard labor, and he was a teacher, and healer, and one who gave himself to relationships with individuals, even with sinners. He said his food was to do God's will, and I think that is also how he viewed his work. The work of Jesus was valued by God, all of it, including his work on the cross. When the voice from heaven says, "This is my son in whom I am well-pleased," it is clear that the Father is pleased with the whole of Jesus: the tekton, the teacher, the healer, the friend of sinners, and the savior.

         On Labor Day, it is good to think about our work in God's eyes. God values our work, all of it -- that which is paid and that which is unpaid. We are not slaves in his eyes, like the view of people taken by the Greek gods, mere beasts of burden to do their bidding. God values people, cares about our work, cares about oppression, cares about justice and mercy. Our work is to do God's will. God sees the work we do, he judges our work, and he gives grace to all our work. Finally we read in I Corinthians 15:58, "our labor in the Lord is not in vain."

         Paul prays that Philemon will be active in sharing his faith. I think he means that Philemon will understand his labor in the Lord is not in vain, and that his work life and his spiritual life are not two separate spheres. I want to believe that Philemon came to be a man whose understanding of his life work changed because he was in Christ. I want to believe that Philemon came to confront the reality that he owned slaves and he was in the church, and he had to change something. He needed to find a way to live without slaves, so he could be fully active in sharing his faith.

         The change in his life came about by Paul drawing his attention to one slave, and calling him to accept this man as a brother in Christ. In freeing that one slave, and accepting him fully into the church, Philemon came to consider a new kind of life for himself. That new life may have cost him dearly financially or in his social status. The other slave owners may have been upset with him. All of this is speculation. I want to believe that God really got a hold of Philemon, and so he began to value his own work in Gods eyes, and he began to value the work of others in God's eyes, and he began to see people in a new way. I want to believe that he came to question a widely held cultural practice in the ancient world, and then stop participating in it.

         Our life in Christ causes us to put kingdom values first, to see people in a new way, and to consider what it might mean for us to live without slaves. What I mean is that when we see our lives whole before God, we begin to question some of the advantages we have in life, and we begin to change some patterns of behavior because our values change.

         We live in a new global economy in which we have seen many manufacturing and agricultural jobs go overseas. We worry about that. We also are aware of low-price goods that are available to us. We may begin to wonder how we could buy things so cheaply, and what kind of wages people receive who make these goods in countries like China or Bangladesh or India. Do they work for almost nothing? What is our moral responsibility to them? How are we to be Christian in this new global economy?

         A related issue is the concern about large numbers of people who need to leave their homes to find work in large cities. This causes great hardship, and often this affects people in places where we have had missionary relationships over the years, like southern Mexico and northeastern Thailand. In that area of Thailand, there is tremendous pressure put on young people to leave home and go to Bangkok, since there is no work where they live. But because they are rural people, with a different dialect, they are looked down upon and made to work in the lowest paying jobs, or forced into prostitution. They are not valued.

         So, the Covenant Church has both a center in Bangkok to receive them and help them, and also is developing cottage industries to allow them to stay in their rural homeland. We are now seeing some handbags and other items that are hand sewn, and Kathy has started buying some. In addition, missionary Doug and Carolyn Johnson are getting a cross-stitch business going. But they need some new designs. So here is an opportunity for some of you art majors to put your education to work, and come up with some designs that we will send to Doug and Carolyn. This sounds very small, but there are thousands of these projects that Missions groups and World Relief and others are finding possible, to value people, and to value work, for the sake of the kingdom of God.

         All of this has to do with seeing the Onesimuses of the world, and giving value to them. It has to do with valuing both our own work and the work of others. It means making a commitment to live without slaves, and doing what we can to move away from complicity with injustice, and instead value people for the sake of the kingdom of God.

         "I pray that you will be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."

         Amen.