The Challenge of Community

I preached on Philemon last week. It is Paul's shortest letter - and his only letter that is addressed to a single person instead of a church. It is a valuable glimpse into how the early church navigated the challenge of applying the gospel to the mess of community. What happens when an escaped slave becomes a follower of Christ and then returns to his Christ-following slave master? It gets messy.

Community was a mess for them and it is a mess for us. In Colossae, in the church that met at Philemon's house, you had men and women, laborers and wealthy land owners, slaves and slave-masters sitting side by side worshiping the same God. And, amazingly, they didn't kill each other. They didn't implode into infighting and bitterness or explode into a hundred different affinity groups.

They united together around the person and work of Jesus. And if they could do it, so can we.

Most of Paul's letters are a combination of lesson and lab. They teach and apply. Philemon is no different, but the clear emphasis is on the lab. How do we live in the reality and power of the gospel in the middle of our mess - our personal prejudices, our resentments and bitterness toward others, and the challenge of forgiveness.

So - here is a link to my sermon. If you want to download it to listen on your mp3 player, go here and right click it to save it to your computer.

Let me know what you thought!

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