I know you're probably thinking the same thing the youth group was thinking this past Wednesday night. How in the world could anything that amazing come out of a book with only 25 verses? Well, I'm glad you asked!
The book of Philemon is written by the Apostle Paul to a slave master named, Philemon, who we are going to call "Phil." Paul is writing on behalf of his new-found friend, Onesimus(who we are going to call Onesi). Now Onesi is a runaway slave of Phil and had stolen some of Phil's posessions when he ran away. So Phil is probably, if he's anything like me, pretty upset with Onesi and during these days could have had him killed with no problem whatsoever.
Then comes in the Apostle Paul stating that Onesi has now become a Christian and a "brother beloved" in the faith. He then continues to intercede on Onesi's behalf and asks Phil to forgive him, and not only forgive him, but to restore him ABOVE his previous position as a slave (vs. 16). Sounding wonderful yet? If not, keep reading.
Let's say Onesi, the slave, represents all of mankind and Phil represents God. Because of what Onesi did (stealing and running away), there is now a breach in their relationship and Onesi DESERVES death. Going back to the analogy, mankind committed sin against God placing an unobtainable distance between us and God. But someone, like Paul, interceded on our behalf...Jesus Christ. And if we accept Him as our Savior, our relationship with God is mended, our sins are forgiven, and we are no longer servants to sin but sons and daughters of God. Isn't that good? Now do you understand why Philemon is a wonderful story? :-)
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