Key Verse: Verse 17 - “If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.”
Key Words: a partner
Philemon was no ordinary person – he held church services in his house.
He evidently was well off. He had servants.
He had a forgiving spirit.
He, according to Paul, was a partner in the ministry, no doubt working with and helping aid Paul financially.
Paul writes to Philemon on behalf of a run-away servant named Onesimus. Paul requests Philemon to forgive him and restore him back into his old position – not an easy thing to do, to restore one who has run away.
Author and teacher, Dr. Howard Hendricks, tells the story of a young man who strayed from the Lord but was finally brought back by the help of a friend who really loved him. When there was full repentance and restoration, Dr. Hendricks asked this Christian how it felt away from the Lord. The young man said it seemed like he was out at sea, in deep water, deep trouble, and all his friends were on the shore hurling Biblical accusations at him about justice, penalty, and wrong. “But, there was one Christian brother who actually swam out to get me and would not let me go. I fought him, but he pushed aside my fighting, grasped me, put a life jacket around me, and took me to shore. By the grace of God, he was the reason I was restored. He would not let me go.”
The thing that made Philemon extraordinary was his willingness to restore Onesimus. May God grant us that same Spirit!!
What to do:
✞ Don’t be ordinary; be extraordinary by being a restorer of the brethren.
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