Philemon 1:3-5

Philemon 1:3-5 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; Philemon is a small book of only one chapter. When Paul was in Rome, he led a runaway slave to saving grace. The slave’s name was Onesimus. But the interesting thing was that Onesimus’ master also had been earlier led to the Lord by Paul! So as Paul began to teach Onesimus, he realized that he had wronged his master, Philemon. So Onesimus decided to make things right and go back to Philemon, his slave master! So Paul wrote this letter to Philemon to explain that Onesimus was a changed man. Onesimus was no longer just a returned slave, but Onesimus and Philemon were now both brothers in Christ! They had a brand new relationship. And that’s how we are. I may be your grandfather, but I am also your brother in Christ! My pastor may be my boss in school, but he is also my brother in Christ. So we all have new relationships in Christ. We have a totally new way of thinking. We should love each other in a brand new way. We should love each other as Jesus has loved us.