A couple of weeks ago I went through some rarely opened cabinets and drawers in my office. I knew they were full, but I was a little surprised by some of the items I found in them. I repeatedly found myself saying something like, “I forgot that was there…I’ve not used that or thought of it in ten years…I’ll never use that again…” And into the trash bag(s) the item would go.
My cabinets that were full of useless items. They no longer had value and they no longer had any reasonable function and use. (And now the landfill has about 10-12 bags/boxes of my useless items.)
It is sometimes tempting to think that way of certain people as well. Someone repeatedly fails to do a task adequately — “he’s useless.” Someone engages in continual patterns of moral failure and sin — “she’s useless.” Someone is implored over and over to change — and they don’t — so, “he’s so useless…”
With that word, like my 20-year-old cassette tapes, we think that there is no redeeming these people so that they will be spiritually profitable or even contribute well to our culture through meaningful work.
But God redeems useless people.
Consider the story of Onesimus. You know the story. Onesimus was a slave in Colossae, mastered by a wealthy man named Philemon who also happened to be an elder in the Colossian church. The church even met for worship in his home. We don’t know this with certainty, but it’s possible that Onesimus was born while his mother was a slave for Philemon and if so, his name is interesting — because the name Onesimus means “useful.”
And it appears that for a season at least, Onesimus was useful. And then he wasn’t. From what Paul says in the brief letter to Philemon, it appears that Onesimus not only ran away from Philemon, but that he wronged and stole from Philemon so that he had a debt to repay (Philemon 18).
Onesimus’ departure was so severe that even Paul acknowledged that Onesimus “was useless to you…” (Philemon 11). “Useful” became “useless.”
Reading those words, one can readily identify with them. We have been harmed and sinned against by others in ways that are persistent and even malicious. We have said of others, “He’s useless.”
And it is in just such a circumstance that the power of the gospel is most effective.
Onesimus ran from Colossae, from his master and owner Philemon, and went to Rome to hide himself in the crowd of citizens there. And he met this man named Paul and became friends with him — not knowing that Paul was integrally connected to the Colossian church and a personal friend of Philemon. Such irony. Such gracious providence overwhelming the story.
Out of the overflow of his relationship with Paul, Onesimus trusted Christ and cared for and became a brother to Paul. His service was so grace-filled that Paul said of him, “[he] was formerly useless to you, but now is useful to you and to me” (Philemon 11).
Useless became useful.
It was the gospel’s power and the redeeming and transforming work of Christ that changed Onesimus. It is notable that the word Paul uses for useful appears only three times in the NT. Once is in this story. A second time is in the story of another man who was useless, this time to Paul, but was similarly changed. John Mark left the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:13); in fact Luke later says that Mark “deserted” the journey (Acts 15:38), so that Paul refused to let him go on the second journey. That decision led to a conflict with Barnabas so that it appears that Paul and Barnabas never served in ministry together again.
But at the end of Paul’s life, it is evident that a dramatic change had happened. In his final imprisonment, with martyrdom appearing to be soon, Paul wrote to Timothy, “Pick up Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service” (a second appearance of the word). Useless became useful by the power of reconciliation and the gospel.
The gospel saves, sanctifies, redeems, and makes useless people useful, as Paul writes, “if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and useful to the Master…” (the third use of the word).
The gospel, sanctification, and reconciliation make useless people useful.
Who are the “useless” people in your life? Or are you the useless person in someone else’s life? There is hope. God saves. God sanctifies. God transforms. And God uses useless people (like you and me) to accomplish His useful purposes.
“untitled (trash bags on a NYC sidewalk presided over by the Addam’s Family)” by Tyler Merbler is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Words of Grace 