A Bible Preaching Baptist Church in the Waterloo Region

Once Unprofitable

October 29, 2026 · Pastor Jerry A. Burns

“Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:” Philemon 1:11

Philemon is the shortest letter Paul wrote, and it is about one man: a runaway servant named Onesimus. He had run from his master Philemon, and somewhere along the way he met Paul and met the Lord.

Now Paul sends him back with a letter, and he makes a play on words that I love. The name Onesimus means "profitable." Paul writes that he "in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me." The man who had not lived up to his name was not the same man anymore. Christ had changed him.

Then Paul does something wonderful. He asks Philemon to receive Onesimus "Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved." And if Onesimus owed anything, Paul says, "put that on mine account." Paul offered to pay the debt himself.

That is the gospel in a few lines. I was unprofitable, I had run from God, and I owed a debt I could never pay. The Lord Jesus took my debt on His account and welcomed me into the family. The same is true of every one of us who has trusted Him.

I am thankful God does not see me only as what I used to be. In Christ, the unprofitable can be made profitable. I have watched the Lord do that with people nobody expected much from, and it never gets old.