Lesson 25 – Serving with Accountability, part 5 (Philemon 1:1-25)
Read Philemon 1 - www.bible.com/bible/59/phm.1.esv
As we saw very early in this study of our stability as a believer, the importance of our relationships with Christ and with others, so now we end this study by returning to that very subject.
No Christian life can ever truly be stable if our relationships are not honoring to God. For example, in 1 Peter 3:7, we see that friction between a husband and wife will hinder the prayer life of that couple. In Philippians 4:2-3 an argument between 2 women in this church was becoming a hindrance to the ministry of the entire church.
Here in this letter to Philemon, Paul is telling his friend that forgiving this man who had wronged him, and had stolen from him, was more important than being right in what he was legally allowed to do to restore what had been taken.
Another issue here is social status. Here were two men – one a free man with high social status, and the other a run-away servant who should have been sentenced to death. Yet, in God’s eyes they were equal – and Paul asked both of them to treat each other that way.
Jesus told a story in in Matthew 20 about a land-owner who hired men to work in his business early in the morning, then again mid-morning, again in the afternoon, and again an hour before closing time. The men hired had all contracted for a certain wage for the day. The landowner paid the ones who’d worked only an hour the same wage for which he’d contracted the earlier workers, and those earlier workers became angry because they thought they deserved more. Jesus told the story to say that in His kingdom everyone is equal. Everyone gets eternal life.
Do we treat people that way?
A better question might be – can we treat people this way? The answer, if we are honest, is that we probably can’t. But as with all things in this lesson, it is not our effort that counts or that makes us stable – it is God’s work in us. Our part is always to be yielded to the things God asks us to be so He can do the work in us of making us more like Him. Will we reach our goal of a completely stable life here on earth? No, we are like Paul who said in Philippians 3:14 – he continued to reach for the goal.
Never give up reaching for the goal of Christ’s call on your life. The prize is worth more than you can imagine.