“Philemon and Onesimus: Brothers in Christ”

Now, I want us to begin by thinking about all the different

kinds of relationships that you've had throughout your life.

OK, Maybe when you were younger, the first relationships that

you've had was with your parents and with your siblings.

And then over time, you start to have relationships with your

friends from school, right? And other classmates and your

teachers, and then over time with your coworkers and then

your bosses who are above you and your subordinates who work

under you. And then over time, maybe you

have relationships with your spouse and over time with your

children. And then you can go on and on,

right? You know, all of us here, we may

have different kinds of relationships, but we all have

them. And after all this time, what

have we learned about relationships?

They're easier than we thought, right?

I'm just kidding. I'm just making sure that you

guys are paying attention, OK? Relationships are not easy.

They are hard. And even the best relationships,

we learn over time that they can become complicated.

You know, misunderstandings can still happen.

Expectations can be unmet. People can disappoint us and

then us in return, we disappoint others as well.

And then now when it comes to the church, you know, we kind of

expect things to be a bit different, right?

Because isn't the church where love is preach, where we're

supposed to care for one another as brothers and sisters in

Christ? So you'd expect that

relationships here in the church should be simpler and cleaner

and less painful, right? But the more time that we spend

together as brothers and sisters, the more that you open

up to each other and be vulnerable, the more that you

realize that actually that's not the case.

That even brothers and sisters in Christ who've committed to

live together in the same local church, even they can disappoint

one another and hurt each other deeply.

It's a relationship in the church, including my church and

your church. It can get messy.

But brothers and sisters, praise the Lord that his word for us

today speaks into this messiness of our relationships.

So church, the one thing for us today is this, when brothers and

sisters hurt each other greatly, we have the opportunity to love

each other deeply. So now please turn your Bibles

to Philemon 1 to 25. We'll be taking a look at the

entire letter. It is quite short, but it is

very meaningful. So for context, this letter was

written by Apostle Paul. He wrote this while he was in

prison at the time. And this letter is primarily

going to be about two people. OK, you have Philemon and you

have Onisimus. Now Philemon, you know, you can

think of him as the model church member.

He's a faithful brother in Christ.

He loves Jesus, He loves his fellow Christians as well.

And he even hosts a local church gathering in his house.

And then you have Onisimus. And Onisimus is Philemon's

bondservant or slave. So then legally speaking, he

refer to appeal to you. I'm in law and this is where

things get a little bit messy. OK, we don't know exactly what

happened, but based on the content of the letter, we can

kind of put the pieces together. And it seems like Onissimus, he

ran away from his master of Philemon.

And it's even possible that he stole money or some or some sort

of property from him. But then sometime afterwards,

Onissimus, he, he met Paul while he was in prison and he came to

repent of his sins and put his faith in Christ.

So then praise the Lord for that.

But then, now the question is this, Well then, what's next for

the two of them? How is a Christian master and a

Christian slave who ran away from him and wronged him?

How are they supposed to relate with each other now?

And so then Paul writes this letter in order to give guidance

to Philemon. And I think it's going to be

great guidance for us today as well.

So let me read it for us. This is Paul's letter to

Philemon. Paul So first let's look down at

the introduction in verses one to three, because if you take a

look, there's actually something quite interesting here.

And you see that, you know, Paul is not only addressing Philemon,

but then he's also addressing Aphia an archopus.

And then notice who does he address?

The local church that gathers in his house.

Now this is interesting because this is not what we usually

think about when we think of a personal letter, right?

Usually it's just to one person. But then what this tells us is

that even though this letter is primarily for Philemon, yes, but

then after Philemon reads it, he's not meant to just hide it

or store it in a cupboard or under the bed, but he's to share

it with the entire church. So then when Paul was writing

this letter, he also had the local church in mind.

So now that let's look at the Thanksgiving portion, let's look

at verses 4 to 5. So notice how Paul's

Thanksgiving, it also has the context of the local church in

mind. Take a look.

You know, Paul's not just saying thank you God that Philemon

loves Christ, period. Now he says thank you that

Philemon loves Christ and all the Saints, his brothers and

sisters in Christ. And so really what what Paul is

thanking God for is that Philemon's Christian life was

not live in isolation, but it was live together with fellow

brothers and sisters in a church community that he loves the

whole church. That's why Paul's thanking God.

You know that phrase, all the Saints?

You know, when we read that, it can sound a bit generic, right?

Just all the Saints. But imagine if you know, for

Philemon, you know, these were specific faces.

This is very personal for him. These are the faces that he

would see week in and week out in his home as they, as they

gather, you know, people whom he shared joys and struggles and

worries and concerns with, you know, very much like, you know,

you guys as a church. Let's look at verse 6.

It's not surprising to us then that Paul's prayer for Philemon

is also going to involve the church community as a context.

Paul prays. I pray that the sharing of your

faith may become effective. Now the word sharing there, OK,

sharing in the original Greek language, the word that was used

is Koinonia, which means fellowship or partnership or

relationship. And so verse 6 actually reads

more like this. I pray that the Koinonia, I pray

that the fellowship of your faith may become effective.

So then Paul's prayer here is that Philemon would continue to

be effective or, or continue to be active in the fellowship with

other Christians. And so then now you may be

asking yourself, well, OK, well why is this Paul's prayer?

Let's continue reading verse 6. And it says, well, so that

Philemon would gain a fuller understanding of every good

thing that we have for the sake of Christ.

So what are the good things that we have in Jesus Christ?

You know a lot of things, right? Love, grace, mercy, unity.

Well, the how can we have a fuller understanding of those

things? Well, it's through living life

on life with other believers. Because if we think about it,

you know, you don't just learn love by reading books, right?

You learn love by loving real people.

You know. A Christian who's not part of a

local church may learn truth about God and his people, OK,

spending time reading the Word, reading articles, going online.

They may learn a lot about church and God and how his

people are supposed to be like. But they'd be missing out on

something so vital and important as Christians.

Because love grows when it is tested in a real environment,

when you have to forgive, when you have to serve, when you have

to care, when you have to reconcile with one another.

And so Paul assumes here that Christian growth, that it

happens in church community. So then, friend, if you are here

today and you profess faith in Jesus Christ, but you're not yet

a member of local church, please consider being a member of a

church, either this church or another gospel proclaiming

church, where you'd be able to practice and to grow in your

love for all the Saints. And for brothers and sisters who

are already members of this church, including, you know, the

four new members that just joined this church this morning.

Congratulations. You know, I'd want you, brothers

and sisters, to be prepared for something that may happen in the

future. There may be a time in the

future when you start to question whether it'd just be

easier to not be a part of this church.

You'll be tempted to think, you know what?

Want to be easier for me to just worship God on my own, just to

listen to sermons online. I can listen to the songs that I

want, and I don't have to deal with all the drama with these

people who are kind of bothering me.

And you know, if ever you ask yourself that question, to be

honest with you, the answer is going to be yes.

Yes, it's going to be much easier for you.

But let me warn you, what Scripture teaches us is that

easier doesn't mean that's going to be helpful for you and your

spiritual growth. I think it's going to be quite

the opposite, actually. It's going to be harmful for you

because just think about someone who is isolated from church

fellowship. Think about what they're

thinking about. You know, they're thinking about

my worship, my time with the Lord, my righteousness, my love

for Jesus, my, my, my, you know, ironically, you know, your

worship can easily become self-centered.

And brothers and sisters, you have to ask yourself, is that

what the Bible teaches about love and fellowship?

You know, I, I think we all have this genuine desire to grow in

our love for God and, and, and, and grow in our love for one

another. But just like a fish matures in

water, a Christian matures in church.

That is the context that God has wonderfully designed for his

people. Church is where his people can

express and grow in their love for him and for one another.

So now look at verse 7. You know, Paul is so encouraged

that Philemon, you know, loves his whole church and he did he's

he's doing so tangibly. You know, people can see that

he's opening up his entire home for them.

So Paul's encouraged and he says to Philemon, man, Philemon, the

hearts of the Saints have been refreshed through you.

You know that that this makes me ask myself, you know, what would

other church members say that about me?

You know, that I think that's something that we can ask

ourselves. You know, would my brothers and

sisters, when they think of me, would they consider me as

someone who's refreshing for their hearts?

You know, what I trust is that God has been using the members

of this church to refresh one another in your followership of

Christ. And perhaps that's what you've

observed, and I hope that's encouraging for you.

Hopefully what you've observed is that members have been loving

one another, not just theoretically, but then

practically and visibly. And members are are lovingly

serving your church and serving one another with their time,

with their skills, with their talent, energy and treasures.

And perhaps you're seeing that members are initiating Bible

study with one another. Members are opening up their

homes and having meals together. And perhaps not just, you know,

older members that you already know, but then inviting newer

members as well. You know, these are the kinds of

things that are happening in your church that would be so

refreshing to hear about because these are signs of spiritual

life and growth. So members of Grace Baptist

Church Tangara just want to encourage you to continue to

show love and hospitality tangibly to one another.

So even right now or even today after Sunday celebration,

there's something that you can do right away.

If you see a newer member or a visitor, please don't just

ignore, ignore them. But you can practice love and

hospitality by reaching out to them.

Or perhaps not a new member, but an existing member, but you just

haven't talked to them in a while.

It would be a good opportunity for you to reach out to someone

that you don't normally talk to and really just foster

friendship with one another in this church.

So may you continue to do that GBCT to love your whole church,

tangibly refreshing one other's hearts as you live in

fellowship. OK, so first, loving the whole

church and then second, loving a specific brother.

And you know, Paul is going to get more specific here, OK.

And I think this is going to be so helpful for us, right?

Because I think we would all say, you know what, I love the

church. You know, none of us would say I

am not sure if I love the church.

I think we would say I love the church.

That love is going to be tested when it all comes down to a face

to a name, to a specific member, right?

Because maybe we can say, you know, we love the church in

general, but then that one brother or sister, I'm not so

sure. OK, so now, you know, Paul gets

specific and he now gets into the matter at hand is this

complicated relationship between Philemon and Onissimus.

Now to help us follow along in this part, think of this second

part as being as unfolding in three movements, OK.

And in each movement, in each movement, Paul's going to give

us a clearer picture of what he wants Philemon to do.

All right, So 3 movements, first movement, verses 8 to 14.

Please look down at your at your Bibles in verses 8 to 9, Paul

clarifies that even though he is bold enough to command Philemon

to do what is required, which is to forgive Onissimus, but he

doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to command him

to do that. Instead, he prefers to appeal to

him to encourage him to do that out of his own accord.

Take a look in verse 14, he repeats the same idea.

He doesn't want finally men to do anything out of obligation,

but out of his own accord. So, you know, you have to ask

yourself, why is this repeated? Why is Paul trying to make this

explicitly clear? He doesn't want to command, and

he says the reason in verse 9, for the sake of love, for the

sake of love. He doesn't want to just merely

command Philemon. He wants Philemon to obey the

Lord out of his own volition. You know, Paul knows that he

could have just forced Philemon to receive Onessimus back.

You know, that's how life was like in the Roman Empire.

You know, obedience is valued. You simply have to obey the

order of a superior officer. They tell you to jump.

You say you know how high, and they just jump.

Doesn't matter whether you want to do it or not.

But imagine how this would have looked like.

OK, Imagine Philemon just obeying Paul's command.

OK, Paul, I obey you. Fine.

I'll, I'll, I'll receive honestness.

You know, I I'll at least pretend like everything's OK.

But then inside there's still this bitterness towards this

fellow brother in Christ. Now, can that really be called

love? Now, would it be really loving

for Paul if all that he cared about was the end result, right.

As long as everything looks OK in this church, then you know

what? That's, that's all that we care

about. No, you know, Paul's not OK with

that. You know, that's not the kind of

culture of love that God's family is supposed to have.

As if we can just hide everything under the rugs, all

the messy bits. But what Paul understands here

is something crucial that you cannot force love, you know,

obedience that comes from pressure.

It may look right on the outside, right?

You it, it looks OK, but it does not produce Christ like hearts

and genuine love for one another.

You know, Paul doesn't want mere compliance.

He wants real spiritual fruit. And so then instead of asserting

his authority, Paul presents himself humbly.

You know, I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for

Christ Jesus. So notice intentionally he's not

playing the power card as an apostle, which he could have,

but he's appealing as a brother. Why?

Because he knows that God looks deeper at the heart, not just

what's on the outside. And ultimately, you know, Paul

wants to please God. He's a prisoner for Christ

Jesus, imprisoned for the sake of the gospel.

And so then for the sake of love, for the sake to please his

Lord Jesus, Paul lays down his authority so that Philemon can

have this wonderful opportunity as a Christian to love a fellow

brother, to please his Lord Jesus, to love his brother

genuinely. You know, brothers and sisters,

this is something that we can keep in mind as well, you know,

in the in the messiness of relationships in church.

You know, sometimes we may not be the one to be in conflict,

but maybe kind of like Paul here, maybe, you know, a couple

of brothers and sisters who are in conflict.

Well, then if that's the case, you know, your role is not to

be, you know, on this person's team or that person's team.

You're not trying to fire up one side or, or to hate on the other

side, but you are team Jesus, OK?

You're not just trying to get to the end results as fast as

possible. Because, man, to be honest, it's

so uncomfortable watching, you know, two people be in conflict.

Can you guys just make up? It's trying to make me

uncomfortable, you know. But yes, we want, we want to see

that. But more than just the mere

appearance of peace, what we want is reconciliation and

spiritual growth for our brothers and sisters.

That's what we want. And yeah, that's that's going to

be harder, is going to take more patience, more energy, more

effort, especially if it's if it's taking a longer time than

we'd like. But what we want is to help them

to see for themselves, you know, what it would look like to

please Jesus out of their own free will.

That is the culture of disciple that I know you're trying to

cultivate here in this church, that lovingly you care enough

for your brother and sister that you want to help them in their

followership of Christ more than you.

You want to feel comfortable. You want to see spiritual growth

for them. And so I think the question on

our minds now may be, well, how can we do that?

How can we help our brother and sister during this time?

Well, let's see what Paul does here.

This is going to be our second movement.

OK, look down at verses 15 to 17.

Like a good brother, Paul points Philemon to the Lord's

sovereignty and to his goods purpose, verses 15 to 16.

For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while,

that you might have him back forever, no longer as a

bondservant, but more than a bondservant as a beloved

brother. So notice that Paul is not

minimizing the pain here. He's not saying, Philemon, this

wasn't that bad, you know, just get over it, you know?

Instead, he tells Philemon, Lift up your gaze, Philemon, Look at

eternity, you know, ask yourself, Philemon, what if God

was at work even in the loss? Philemon, what if this painful

separation led to eternal brotherhood in heaven?

You know, in the eyes of the world, Onissimus may still be a

slave. That's his status.

But in Jesus Christ, he's now family.

You know, the world may still label their relationship as

master and slave, owner and property, victim and offender.

That's not what God sees. What God sees is Philemon and

Onissimus, brothers in Christ, equal in spiritual status and

both children of the living God. And so then Paul, you know, he's

not asking Philemon to forgive Onissimus because he deserves

it, but because Christ has completely redefined who both of

them are. And by the way, you know, this

would have been completely insane and unheard of during

this time because at this time, you know, as much as 1/3 of the

Roman Empire was consisted of slaves.

So you can imagine, you know, they really don't want nearly

1/3 of the population even having the thought of running

away or even worse, rebelling against the empire.

So then what? What do they do when they catch

a slave who was trying to run away?

They would brutally beat them and some would even be crucified

and killed. And for some, they would brand

on their forehead with the hot iron the letter F in Latin,

which stands for fugitive. And it'd be a mark of shame for

their, for this runaway slave for the rest of their life.

So if Onissimus's master was not a Christian, that's what he can

expect if he returns to his master.

So to have a slave master, you know, receive his runaway slave

without beating them, that'd be, that'd be unheard of.

And to have them be then treated as equal in status and part of

the family, that's completely insane.

You know, that that would have completely overturned the entire

Roman Empire upside down. So is that really what Paul is

telling Philemon to do here? Look at verse 17.

Just in case Philemon's questioning it, Paul makes it

very, very clear, verse 17. So if you consider me your

partner, receive him as you would receive me.

Philemon Think of the friendship that we have.

Think of how much we care for for one another deeply.

Philemon Count that towards this other person.

Treat this person who's wrong you as you would treat me.

When he comes back, imagine it's me returning to you.

You know what that means is that they're just they're not meant

to just politely tolerate each other.

Right? As in, OK, you're a brother, but

I'm not going to talk to you and I'm not going to be praying for

you. I'm just going to be OK being in

the same room with you. No, this is more than that.

OK, So what Paul has in mind here is full reception.

Paul is saying treat Onissimus the way that you would treat a

fellow worker, friend and a beloved brother.

So imagine having to do that for someone who's stolen from you.

You know, I'm not saying that that's going to be easy.

What's going to be easier is just to say that you've forgiven

them, at least from a distance. You know, I've, I've forgiven

this person, but then only from a distance.

But brothers and sisters, the the gospel doesn't just remove

guilt from far away, it restores relationships in an intimate

way. So then, you know, what does

that mean for us today? Well, this means that in Jesus

Christ there is hope of reconciliation, even with fellow

brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters in Christ

who you think, no, that it's too much, that there's no way that

we can get back together. We, we've, we've done each other

too much wrong. Even then, reconciliation is

possible in Jesus. We trust that the God who made

us a family will sustain us as a family, that the Holy Spirit is

working in our hearts, sanctifying us, shaping us to be

more like Christ. And so members of this church,

you know, ask yourselves, who is your onesimus?

You know, is there a brother or sister who God is placing in

your hearts whom you need to forgive and to receive as a

fellow brother or sister in Christ?

Perhaps the Holy Spirit is putting a name or a face in your

heart right now. Or maybe you thought that you

already forgiven this other person, but then now God's Word

is challenging us to reassess what true forgiveness looks

like. Again, not just tolerating A

fellow church member without speaking to them or without

further interacting with them, but receiving them as if you're

receiving a dear friend. You know, that's not what the

world is going to teach you. What the world teaches you is

it'd be easier to just forget about that person, you know,

move on. They're making your life harder

anyways. Just seek the relationships that

are beneficial to you. But God's Word today challenges

us to do some, to do something different.

And so in the same way, we can ask ourselves a, a second

question as well. Who is your Philemon?

You know, is there someone who whom you've actually wronged

that you need to seek forgiveness from?

You know, if there is, then this text today also challenges us to

humble ourselves to ask that person for forgiveness.

And then when you do, brother or sister, don't feel like you are

entitled, as if you deserve their forgiveness because you

technically don't. But in Christ there is

reconciliation. So give that other brother,

sister even time to reflect and to respond to you if that is

needed. Now let's take a look at the

final movement. OK, verses 18 to 28.

So Paul says something bold here to Philemon verse 18.

If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that

to my account. So verse 19, Paul is personally

guaranteeing this, you know, up to this point in the letter, you

know, maybe Timothy or another brother may be the one who's

writing down this letter as Paul is telling them what to write.

But then at this point, Paul himself is taking the pen with

stylus and he's writing this in his handwriting.

I, Paul, write this with my own hand.

I will repay it. You have that guarantee for me,

you know. Paul then makes a note that

Philemon himself, technically he owes a debt to Paul because the

eternal life that he has in Jesus, that was partly due to

Paul's ministry. So then, you know, what Paul's

doing here is that Paul is reminding Philemon of the

eternal debt that he himself used to owe to God.

And this is a debt that we all owe as sinners.

You know, the truth is that we had, we have a debt that we

could never pay back because how can you pay back countless sins

and wrongdoings against a holy God?

You know, no amount of money or good works would ever be enough

to cover that debt. I think as Philemon's being

reminded of this, I imagine that he's being reminded of the

gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus was the one who looked at

our sins and said, charge that to my account, I will repay it.

And Christ died on the cross for the sins of his people, paying

that debt that we never could with his blood, so that now

anyone who would believe in Him would not gain eternity in hell,

but would gain eternity in heaven with God our Heavenly

Father, and with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as well.

So then for Anissimus, this should have reminded him that

Jesus has already. For, for Philemon, sorry, this

should have. This should have reminded him

that Jesus has already paid an infinitely greater debt than the

one that Anissimus could have owed him.

You know, when he thinks about that, how could it not soften

his heart? So, brothers and sisters, does

the gospel still soften your hearts?

Doesn't the gospel remind us that the church member who

wronged you is the one whom Christ already died for?

You know, doesn't that convict us to forgive that person as

Christ has already forgiven them?

And you know what? Perhaps you want to.

Perhaps what you're thinking is I know that I should and I want

to, but it's just really hard and I just can't.

And I think that's why it's difficult.

I think it's because our tendency when we, when we want

to try to forgive someone is we actually try to reason on why

this person should be forgiven. You know, we're really trying to

convince ourselves, right? So then maybe we're trying to

weigh the pros and the cons. Let me just think about this.

Maybe I should actually forgive this person.

But then as you list all the pros and the cons, you know what

your conclusion probably is. No, you know what?

This person does not deserve forgiveness.

So many more cons. But you know what?

That's the thing. Forgiveness is unfair.

The kind of forgiveness that the Bible teaches us is unfair.

Because what's fair is for that person to be punished right for,

for, for hurting you and and causing serious harm to you.

They, they don't deserve your grace and mercy.

What they deserve is some sort of penalty from you.

But then what you're choosing to do is not to punish them, but

then to show them mercy, to extend grace to them, to love

them, to receive them. As a brother, you know that's

not fair. But even as I'm describing that,

how close does that sound to the gospel of God's grace and mercy

that he's poured out on us, not treating us the way that we

deserved, but extending grace and mercy.

You know, that's the beautiful thing.

Each time that we choose to forgive and to show grace and

mercy to a fellow brother or sister, we are replaying, we are

displaying the gospel of Jesus to one another, a picture of a

relationship that was broken, but then healed and reconciled

through the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit in our

hearts. What's what is going to require

us is for us to take up our cross and to die to self because

what we personally desire is going to be revenge.

But then we're not choosing to satisfy our own flesh, but what

we're choosing to do is, yes, something that is unfair, but

something that is loving to the other person.

We're choosing to glorify God in our decision making.

So then when a brother or sister hurts you greatly, you have an

opportunity to love them deeply and to proclaim the gospel

boldly. Look at verse 21.

You know, Paul is confident that Philemon would do even more than

what Paul is asking him to do here.

So we're not told exactly what that what that means, but if we

look down at verse 22, you know Paul is hoping to visit Philemon

again and to stay at his house. So imagine with me how that

would look like. OK, how amazing would it be for

Paul to arrive at his house and then when the door opens up for

him, he is greeted by Philemon and Onissimus hand to hand,

welcoming him together side by side with smiles on their faces.

How amazing would that be? You know, I'm also imagining all

of us together in heaven, standing side by side with Paul

and Philemon and Onissimus and worshipping God together.

You know, in heaven, we're not going to be relating with one

another as master and slave, victim and offender, but as

brothers and sisters in Christ, as one family of God.

So church, as we conclude, I just want to point us back to

verse 6. Take a look at verse 6, please.

You know, Paul prayed that through Philemon's fellowship

Koinonia in the church that he would have a deeper and fuller

understanding of every good thing that we have for the sake

of Christ. And what I pray for is the same

thing for this church, that yes, the more that you invest in

friendships with one another, the more that you'll probably

hurt one another. OK, to be honest, that's how it

is. But may that provide you with

more opportunities for reconciliation, for forgiveness,

for grace and mercy, and this and the showcasing of the

gospel. So Church, Please remember the

one thing from Philemon, when brothers and sisters hurt each

other greatly, We have the opportunity to love each other

deeply. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, Lord, you are great, You are gracious, you are

merciful. Lord, we are sinners.

We, we have disobeyed your commands, we have wronged you.

We owe you such a huge debt that we could never pay back.

But Lord, we, we thank you that you did not relate with us as

victim and offender. But Lord you, you decide to show

mercy and grace to your people and Jesus Christ, you came from

heaven to earth to die on the cross for our sins, to take our

debt to to die for our debt, to pay it so that we wouldn't have

to, so that in the future, those who believe in you will not be

in hell, but in heaven for eternity with fellow Saints as

well. Lord, we pray for this church,

Grace Baptist Church, Tangarang, that they'd be able to live out

your word in Philemon, that just as we've wronged you greatly,

You've shown us deep love. Lord, may this church, even in

moments when they hurt each other greatly, help them, Lord,

to love each other deeply. And may the gospel be proclaimed

through the relationships in this church, both through the

older members and the newer members who just joined as well.

Lord, we lift up this this prayer into your hands.

We surrender this church into your sovereignty.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. As we remain seated, let's take

a moment church to reflect personally on God's word that

was just preached to us by our brother.

Such profound, simple, deep truth that we can gain from

Paul's appeal to Philemon here. And so I want us to think about

what have we learned about ourselves this morning through

this, this preaching about how, yeah, maybe we even in this

church, in the context of this church, maybe we are pleasant

with one another. But maybe there's still

unresolved things in our hearts that we just refuse to let go

because it's so hard. Because maybe as we run down the

pros and the cons as we don't think it's worth it or that

person don't deserve our forgiveness, maybe we are on the

other side. Maybe we have wrong others and

we just think we are oath forgiveness.

Or we assume that it's OK without actually coming to that

person and being reconciled and asking, have we prayed that the

sharing of our faith may become effective for the full knowledge

of every good thing that is in US for the sake of Christ, just

like Paul says here. And then let's think about what

we learn about God again, how just as Paul says here, you

know, let it be charged to my account that Christ had done the

same for us. And that is the basis of which

we can learn to be forgiving and be reconciled to other people

because Christ has forgiven our debts.

And so let let our church be this morning after this

preaching Lord be be more and more conformed to to the picture

that that that the Lord has for us here to how would life and

relationships we play out differently among us here this

morning If you really believe this truth of God's word.

So as we remain seated and you have your Bible open in front of

you. Let's just take a few moments to

reflect on this truth and after a few minutes, we'll continue in

our response together by singing a song together as a as a church

family. Let's do that together now.