You Owe Me!

Romans 13:8-10 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

I looked at the National Debt clock this morning. It is over $20 trillion. We, as Americans, are used to living in debt. Credit cards, 90 day same as cash, car loans, home loans, student loans.

But it’s not only the money we owe on our credit cards, our car loans, or our mortgage, we live with a debt of love and thanks to those who have poured the riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into our lives.

I hate debt. I don’t like the feeling of an unresolved or unpayable obligation to another. I don’t like financial debt or material debt. We especially dislike interpersonal debt—the debt of a favor. Debt offends our pride, our ego, our self-sufficiency. But we have to acknowledge the reality: we live in debt.

Paul appealed to Philemon about his debt. Philemon’s slave, Onesimus, appears to have run away. He may have also stolen from Philemon.

Paul had known Onesimus, the “profitable one,” through his repeated visits to Philemon’s house, probably in Colosse. There, Paul had shared with Philemon the life of Jesus Christ, and Philemon had embraced Jesus as His Savior and Lord. Philemon owed His very life and soul to Paul, his father in the Gospel.

It appears that Onesimus had fled slavery from Philemon’s house. Somewhere along the way, Onesimus had encountered Paul. Perhaps they were imprisoned together. Paul had a serendipitous moment of realization that he knew this slave, Onesimus. Utilizing his influence and relationship, Paul led Onesimus to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and began to disciple him into a life in Christ.

But a wrong had to be made right. Perhaps Paul kept Onesimus with him in a Roman prison just long enough to test the genuineness of his repentance and conversion. Perhaps Paul was all too aware of the ability of a con to con. Nevertheless, Onesimus had fled his believing owner, Philemon. Philemon still owned Onesimus. Onesimus remained a slave. Restitution must be made.

So, Paul wrote a letter to Philemon. The message of his letter? “You owe me.” Paul appealed to Philemon’s obligation to Paul. Paul addressed Philemon’s obligation to his Lord Jesus, to the Church, and also, his duty to a fellow believer, his slave, Onesimus.

“You owe me.”

This narrative set me to thinking earlier this week about my indebtedness. I owe a debt to my “Paul,” my spiritual father or mother in the Gospel. Paul appealed to Philemon’s indebtedness to the himself. A master had complete authority over his slave. Forgiveness and restoration were not automatic responses in the first century Mediterranean world. Philemon was a first generation convert, and a relatively new believer at that. Paul was requesting Philemon to respond as a Christian, all the while teaching him what a Christian response looked like. Philemon had no Christian script to follow, only the secular text of the master-slave relationship. And Paul says to him, “You owe me.”

I owe a debt to my parents, Eldon and Agnes Neihof. They delivered the Gospel to me. I owe a debt to Lela G. McConnell, a woman of vision, faith, and sacrifice, who established the home mission work of Mount Carmel High School and Kentucky Mountain Bible College, my spiritual cradle. I owe a debt to Hugh Munson, Ralph Enlow, Tony Buchanan, Randy Bell, Phil Speas, Tom Lorimer, James Howard, John Stumbo and others, who taught me how to serve as an academic administrator.

I owe a debt to my Onesimus, the ones God put in my path as the raw material from which disciples are made. When Paul referred the decision of what to do with Onesimus to Philemon, he also included the church that met in Philemon’s house to whom the letter was also to be read. Paul was mobilizing the church, his disciples all, to be inclined to show Onesimus favor.

The Onesimus in your life has given you the opportunity to fulfill Christ’s command to make disciples. Your Onesimus is God’s gift to you. We owe a debt.

We owe a debt to our Lord Jesus. When we partner with Jesus in making the unprofitable profitable, we are paying a debt of love and worship to our Lord. In Matthew 25, Jesus says, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” As we serve Onesimus, we serve Jesus Christ, and put ourselves in a role so as to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Sometimes, I am put off by the heavy handedness of the demands of debt, obligation, and duty. Paul did not fear wielding this loving persuasive method. He reminded Philemon of his debt.

To whom are you in debt? To whom do you owe your faith and spiritual life? Parents, church, mentor, school, students in our classes, Trustees, supporters, prayer warriors… our Lord Jesus? Say “Thank you.” We live with great debt. Make another payment.