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ps the stourtyiue tribune lanity otcmatt 24 w57 i burning of trees on twelfth christians on the last day of a night is an outgrowth of the twelveday celebration of the special observance by early feast of the nativity of christ sunday school lesson lesson for december 29 i brothers thbolgh christ philemon golden text above ail these things put on love which is the bond of perfect- ness vol 314 asv the lessox as a whole approach to the lesson it was late 63 or early 61 the apostle paul had spent nearly two years in his own hired house in rome which was nevertheless his prison and where he had never been out of sight of his roman guard there had been a good deal of coming and going for there were no restrictions in regard to the visitors whom he might receive many strange characters had doubtless visited him in his lodg ing and now as a glimmer of hope began to appear that his imprisonment might soon term inate he received another strange visitor a runaway slave from colosse the slaves mas ter philemon had some years earlier been led to christ by the apostle paul iphilem 19 now his slave onesimus in making a dash for his freedom had apparently also robbed his master v 18 what brought onesimus to the house of paul we are not told perhaps he had come in contact with some christians and his troubled soul sought out the apostle as his masters friend at any rate paul led him to the lord v 10 an ethical question now arose as a christian what was his duty to his master whom he had wronged and from whom he had fled in the mind of the apostle paul there was no doubt onesimus must return to his master even though he him self would have liked to retain him as a servant he could not however send him back with out seeking a means of recon ciliation so the runaway slave returned to his master armed with this gem of a letter of en treaty from the apostle it is the only example we have of pauls private corres pondence and it indicates that if only we had the complete private correspondence of the great apostle it would be a trea sure without equal in all the world of epistolary literature even plinys letter to sabin- ianus written for a similar purpose is a poor second to pauls letter to philemon but we can be thankful for this one which has been preserved in the canon of scripture verse by verse philemon 1 paul unto philemon note not a prisoner of rome but of christ jesus philemon means friend this is a completely personal letter not like those to timothy and titus which are pastoral verse 2 apphia and archippus the church in thy house apphia is doubtless the wife of philemon and arch- ippus probably their son who held a responsible position in the church col 417 verse 3 grace and peace from the father as source and from the lord jesus as mediator this is not a com pletely trinitarian benediction like 2 corinthians 1314 verse 4 i thank my god in my prayers thanksgiving and prayers go hand in hand with paul especially in inter cessions for the saints he was quick to see things in people for which to give thanks verse 5 thy love and faith toward the lord jesus and toward all saints the strange order combines the two inside phrases faith to ward or in the lord jesus and the two outside phrases love toward the saints verse 6 communica tion effectual every good thing which is in you in christ jesus the phasing is difficult the thought is that philemons good character and works are so apparent that they are effective in helping along the fellowship of faith in christ verse 7 great joy and consolation in thy love the bowels of the saints are re freshed for bowels read hearts it is a joy to paul to see so much good coming to the saints through the gracious ministries of philemon notice how paul gives full recognition to these things in philemon be fore he broaches the difficult subject at hand verse s i might be much void in christ to enjoin thee pauls boldness in i christ springs from his apos tolic office as well as from the fact that he was philemons spiritual father v 19 verse 9 yet for loves sake i rather beseech paul the aged a prisoner of jesus christ pauls age and his suf ferings for christs sake make the appeal to love all the more powerful a command might secure outward compliance but the appeal of iove reaches the heart verse 10 my son onesi mus begotten in my bonds onesimus means profitable son here signifies born one scot tish bairn a very tender touch especially connected with pauls bonds verse 11 unprofitable but now profitable a play upon the meaning of the name onesimus although a different ford for profitable is used eu- chrestos most profitable as over against achrestos not profitable see how paul plays up what onesimus is to him verse 12 whom i have sent therefore receive him mine own bowels again for bowels read heart al though some believe it ought to be translated here son car rying out the figure of parent hood verse 13 i would have retained might have min istered unto me once more paul dwells on what onesimus means to him but now links him with philemon as a sort of ambassador to paul verse 14 but without thy mind not of necessity but willingly but any such re lation must be with philemons consent not thrust on him by force of circumstance verse 13 departed for a season receive him for ever here the appeal is to the overruling providence of god there can be no thought of rejection in the face of the won derful works of god verse 16 above a serv ant a brother beloved in the flesh and in the lord onesimus wu probably a ehm of a slave family connected with the family of philemon hecce the phrase in the flesh the heart of the lesson salvation cancels all the debt of our sin toward god but it does not release us from our obligations to men what wrongs we have done to our fel low men in our unregenerate days we are bound to undo in so far as it is possible when we have been redeemed by the blood of chrisr restitution- is a law of the christian life we cannot wash our hands of those obligations under pretext that everything is under the blood so it came to pass that when onesimus the runaway slave came to the knowledge of christ through the ministry of the apostle paul in rome he was under obligation to return to his master submitting to him and righting as far as possible the wrong that he had done his salvation did not make him free to remain in rome at his own pleasure on the other hand salvation lays new responsibility upon christians toward those who have wronged them and es pecially toward those who hav ing wronged them become con scious of their sin and seek for giveness the spirit of revenge can have no place in the life of one who has known the mer cy of god philemon therefore while having just cause for an ger and good reason to punish his slave is called upon by the apostle paul to exercise a spirit of forgiveness and reconcilia tion beyond anything that can be expected of a man of the world notice how the apostle paul urges his plea with philemon he refuses to base it on author ity which as an apostle he might very well do but rather he bases the whole plea on love vs 8 9 then he introduces onesi mus in an entirely new rela tionship my son he calls him that is exactly what phile mon himself was a spiritual son of the apostle that made a common bond which it would be difficult for philemon to over look again paul calls onesi mus mine oati bowels v 12 or as we would say my own heart if it were like tearing out his own heart to part with onesimus certainly philemon must treat the young man with such affection as the apostle himself had heaped upon him j- t mm reasons best wishes i and may you count this christmas among your t very happiest may its spirit long dwell in your home and your heart by f l rowley mr owens is extremely pop ular in hillcrest he owns a big barn where the stock shows play each summer he even serves coffee and sandwiches to his guests when they drop in to watch one of the shows the truth is that mr owens is a lonely old man who likes to surround himself with happy people several years ago today when christmas cheer abounded and glowing parlor windows warm ed the hearts of passersby mr j owens was lonelier than usual he had not even set up a tree that year what good was a tree without someone tn admire it christmas eve and mr ow ens strolled down main street alone peering into the few shop windows that were still lighted in front of the tencent store he saw young jim harder jim was watching the lights go out with an expression of dismay on his freckled face it cant be that bad my boy the old man said kindly jim tried to smile when he saw mr owens its bad en ough ill sure catch it from mom when i get home she sent me out to buy some christ mas tree ornaments tree ornaments at this hour yes sir last summer we had a fire in the woodshed ex plained jim nothing serious but dur christmas stuff was de stroyed we forgot all about it until we set the tree up this morning and you waited until now to buy ornaments thats just it groaned jim i left home over an hour ago its just that well ive been looking in store windows and problem solved i understand said mr ow ens with a twinkle in his eye used to do the same thing when i was a lad never could figure out why clocks were in vented say ive got an idea i have some old ornaments you have cried jim eager ly on second thought mr ow ens went on i dont think they wpuld do too old most of them with cracked sides and hairpins stuck in their tops had one box of good ones but i stepped on it jim didnt smile he looked l e oneill furniture stouffviue ontario mr owens pulled out drawer to reveal several dozen brightly colored balls miserable wait cried mr owens lay ing a hand on the boys shoul der ive got it youll have your christmastree ornaments yet with jim harder striding hopefully beside him mr ow ens set off at a brisk trot that belied his years a happy smile played upon the wrinkled face he was doing someone a favor at christmas he was part of the scene he joined jim in a chorus of white christmas hiding place when they reached his place he surprised jim by taking the path that led to the barn the boy followed once inside he groped around until he located an old lantern after squeezing between dusty props they reached a huge chest mr owens pulled out a drawer to reveal several dozen brightly colored balls wow theyre perfect cried jim what are they mr owens laughed lets see now those plastic ones are plums and those pressedpaper ones are oranges this other drawer is full of stars its all part of the scenery i do hope youll bring them back after the holidays i sure will promised jim with a big grin it was outside church the next morning that jim approached him breathlessly we got tur key and youre going to get a drumstick mr owens me now jim you need nt mrs harder came up i asked jim to invite you to din ner she explained besides you must see our beautiful or ange covered christm- tree or would you rather spend christ mas day in that big lonely house of your mr owens couldnt think of a single reason for not going i i reckon i would like to see the tree he admitted the little metal tnrarp jes orjting christmas tree dab from early danish custom of blowing in the yule with loia hymns representing the foul comer of the world wed wee to fcelp brighten your holidays with out sincere thanks for the privilege of serv- ing yon and our warmest wishes fv every happiness ida drug store stouffviue ontario hwtii loa ovtii tommw we hope you have a very delightful christmas surrounded by devoted family and frlenda and also a happy new year harolds grill open christmas new year stouffviue ontario hendricks hardware cec hendricks stewart stouffer howard doner rav fleury norm hendricks stouffviue ontario