They're no longer united by ethnicity
or united by economics
or by subculture.
They're united by grace
into the ultimate family,
the family of God.
Again, I love the order of these letters
because it as if Philemon
is placed where it's placed
as a practical case study
of everything that's been said so far
in all of these books.
The position is,
it's just incredible.
It is a case study of two men.
Well, three men.
And I would entitle Philemon
"Forgiveness and restoration."
Philemon is the account of a personal letter
from Paul in prison
to Philemon.
The subject of the letter is Onesimus
who was Philemon's servant,
who had run away to Rome.
While he was at Rome,
he became a believer
and a dear friend and brother
of the Apostle Paul.
And the letter is
Paul's appeal to Philemon
to forgive Onesimus
and restore him.
The whole tenor of this letter
is that it is the grace
of our vertical reconciliation,
our peace with God
that produces the hope
of horizontal reconciliation,
peace with people.
Because it is the gospel
that transforms our relationship.
I don't think we talk about enough
about the transformative power
of the gospel for relationships.
You see,
Paul is arguing that at this moment,
at the moment when he writes this letter
to Philemon about Onesimus,
it's more than a guy in prison
writing a wealthy man
about a fugitive slave.
These three men
now share a deeper identity,
identity in Christ,
that by grace,
this is just so beautiful.
This wealthy man
and this fugitive
are brothers.
They're now in the same family.
They now have the same Father.
They're united to the same Christ.
They now have the deepest reason
for reconciliation, restoration, and unity
that any human being could ever have
because they're no longer united by ethnicity
or united by economics
or by subculture.
They're united by grace
into the ultimate family,
the family of God.
And so, Paul is not appealing that,
"Look, Onesimus has made a mistake
and he's really a nice guy,
and, you know, just have him back."
He's asking him
to receive this man as his brother.
Now, in order to do that,
Philemon has to reflect
on the fact that he was unworthy
and was accepted into God's family.
And because of that,
he can receive this man,
unworthy as he may be,
as his brother.
You see, new identity in Christ
- I love this, I love this, I love this -
means new potential for my relationships
because we share something.
So, we have new love,
new forgiveness,
new reconciliation,
new unity.
The transforming grace of Jesus
transforms relationships
and creates a depth of love,
a depth of brotherhood, a depth of unity
that could not be found any other way.
Christ transforms our relationships.