{"id":5280,"date":"2025-10-24T19:34:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/?p=5280"},"modified":"2025-10-24T19:34:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:34:14","slug":"unprofitable-profitable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/october\/unprofitable-profitable\/","title":{"rendered":"Unprofitable, profitable"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The transitioning:<\/h3>\n

The story of Philemon and Onesimus is one about trust, friendship, and betrayal. It is a story that depicts the restoration that is found in Christ Jesus. Onesimus ran away from his home, where he was a slave, because of wrongdoing. He became an unprofitable servant. Some say that Onesimus ran away from his master because he was caught stealing. Sinful behaviors are the trademarks of an unprofitable servant. Unprofitable servants are like salt that loses its savor, which, according to the scriptures, is only good to be stepped on (Mt 5:13).  Just like the servant in the parable of the ten talents, where the one who received one became slothful and buried it. His slothfulness marked him as unprofitable (Mt 25:30). To be unprofitable means to be useless. It applies to actions or individuals. To be profitable in Christ means to be interested in the increase of all that involves his kingdom. A change in the relationship between Christian slaves and their masters was about to begin. Philemon was a faithful minister who had a church in his house in Colossians. He was a devoted Christian who lived up to the expectations of his faith. <\/p>\n

Philemon 1:10-15<\/p>\n

10 <\/sup>I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:<\/span>11 <\/sup>Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me: <\/span>12 <\/sup>Whom I have sent again: thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels:<\/span>13 <\/sup>Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel:<\/span><\/p>\n

14 <\/sup>But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.<\/span>15 <\/sup>For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever;<\/span><\/p>\n

Onesimus, who ran away from this God-filled home, was in a useless state with nowhere to go. The unprofitable state of a person when they come to Christ changes them to being profitable. The Bible mentions a woman who was an adulteress. She encountered Jesus near the well. As they spoke, he revealed to her all the things she had done with men (Jh 4:39-42).  The way she responded to her experience with Christ was that of a profitable servant. She told her experience with Christ to everyone in her community. The demon-possessed man from the land of the Gadarenes in Mark 5, Jesus released him and became a profitable servant in God’s kingdom (Mk 5:18-20). In the parable of the ten talents, the rich man rewards the faithful ones for their efforts to increase what had been given to them (Mt 25:21). Onesimus came to Jesus Christ; he went from being unprofitable to very profitable. In fact, he became as profitable as his master. Paul labels him as a faithful brother (Col 4:9). <\/p>\n

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Matthew 5:13<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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13 <\/sup>Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.<\/p>\n

Matthew 25:30<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

30 <\/sup>And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

John 4:39-42<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

39 <\/sup>And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did. <\/span>40 <\/sup>So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. <\/span>41 <\/sup>And many more believed because of his own word; <\/span>42 <\/sup>And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mark 5:18-20<\/u><\/b><\/span><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

18 <\/sup>And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. <\/span>19 <\/sup>Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. <\/span>20 <\/sup>And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 25:21<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

21 <\/sup>His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.<\/p>\n

Colossians 4:9<\/u><\/b><\/p>\n

9 <\/sup>With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Spanish<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The transitioning: The story of Philemon and Onesimus is one about trust, friendship, and betrayal. It is a story that depicts the restoration that is found in Christ Jesus. Onesimus ran away from his home, where he was a slave, because of wrongdoing. He became an unprofitable servant. Some say that Onesimus ran away from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-october"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5280"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5282,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5280\/revisions\/5282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.log.ambassadorsofchrist.info\/aoc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}