1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,560 Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:14,240 with your hosts, Ben and Spencer. Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,880 the powerful lens of love. In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,000 fresh insights and gaining deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,360 in practical ways. So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love in the 6 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:33,480 context of the Bible intersect to transform our lives. 7 00:00:33,480 --> 00:00:41,880 We welcome everyone on that note. And I'm not redoing that you have to leave that in. 8 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:48,640 Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Today we're in our little book, big message, little book, 9 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:54,440 big message. And we're going to be talking about file. You know, file Eman or as he likes 10 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:59,080 to call, call the book Flea Man. Flea Man. Yes. Every time we've been trying to text 11 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:04,840 back and forth, Siri keeps calling a flea man. So a little, little historical context 12 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:12,200 on this book. It's a letter Paul is writing when he's in jail. And it's written to a guy 13 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:18,120 by the name of Fleeman. He's actually in Colossae. And so when Paul had gone through here originally 14 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:24,320 and they set up the church, Fleeman had responded to the gospel and he was a wealthy person 15 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:28,700 in this area, opened up his house. He had a church in his house. Like most of the wealthy 16 00:01:28,700 --> 00:01:33,120 aristocrats in that area. Yeah. He also had slaves. Yes. Because you're, you're dealing 17 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:36,920 with a Roman culture. We were actually going to talk about that a little bit today, but 18 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:46,520 not quite yet. And the story of this book is that Fleeman has this one slave that works 19 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:54,120 for him and his name is, depending on how you decide, I'm going to say, uh, uh, uh, 20 00:01:54,120 --> 00:02:01,480 Osimius. Yeah. What do you think? Sure. We'll go with it. Yeah. Um, I've always, I've always 21 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:06,520 heard on this, like on this mess or something like that. I don't, I don't really fully know. 22 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,680 So he has, he has a every time I read it, I always say ominous, which I know that's 23 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:15,740 not right. So he has a sleeve name, uh, on this mess and on this mess, we're not really 24 00:02:15,740 --> 00:02:19,880 clear on what happened, but at some point he did something. Uh, maybe he stole from 25 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,400 finally men. Maybe he, uh, like broke the rules of Fleeman, but he does, he actually 26 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:31,080 fled and he ran away from, uh, colossi and he actually ended up coming and finding Paul 27 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:34,560 while he was in prison. And through that whole circumstance actually became a follower of 28 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,120 the way and became entrusted by Paul and the people who are working with Paul. And so then 29 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:43,120 Paul is actually going to write this letter back to finally men on his behalf, uh, to 30 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,080 talk about this. And it's a very small book, but it's actually got a really, really powerful 31 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:51,400 message about what it means to actually be the church and to administer justice and to 32 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:58,240 put an equal playing field for everybody in the, yeah. Yeah. So with that, why don't we 33 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:02,960 just, uh, we'll just jump in. It's, it's, uh, it is literally 25 verses. So that's one 34 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,360 of the things about little book, big messages that none of these books are big. Yeah. Yeah. 35 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:12,100 This is a letter from Paul, a prisoner for preaching the good news about Jesus Christ 36 00:03:12,100 --> 00:03:18,440 and from our brother, Timothy, I'm writing to Philemon, our beloved coworker and, and 37 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:25,720 our sister, Afania, Afania, Afana killing it with these names and our fellow soldier. 38 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:34,200 Oh, Arca pus Arca Arca pus actually is what it looks like. And I'm just not going to lie 39 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,320 to you. If you are, uh, if you're listening to this podcast and you are pregnant with 40 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:42,040 a child and you've been trying to figure out a name, I'm just going to propose archipelago. 41 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:47,280 I'm just saying like one of the pastors that like mentored me when I was in church ministry 42 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,560 and he said, if he can't pronounce the name, just go wrong and strong and it works every 43 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,200 time. And sure enough, he would do it all the time. And I was like, oh yeah, nobody 44 00:03:55,200 --> 00:04:00,700 knew. So, uh, I know one, one of our, one of our, uh, good regular, uh, invitees and 45 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:06,560 also regular listener, uh, pastor Nick, you're preaching with him on a backache and, uh, 46 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:11,480 he said that name, I think three, 13 different ways during his Sunday sermon. And I could 47 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:18,960 be like, have backache. If he was like, have a backpack, like, yeah, no bro. All right. 48 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:24,160 And to the church and to the church that meets in your house, may God, our father and the 49 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,800 Lord Jesus Christ give, give you grace and peace. 50 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:33,560 Excellent. So I was, I always loved like just right off the bat, Paul, he's like, Paul, 51 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:39,600 a prisoner of Christ Jesus. Like he's like, I am, I am literally in chains right now in 52 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:44,400 service of God. He's going to lay it on thick early on in this letter. Yeah. Well, it does 53 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,960 a couple of different things in this clears up a couple of misconceptions about this letter. 54 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:52,720 It's not just Paul. This letter is also from Timothy, correct? From Paul and Timothy. And 55 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:58,360 it's not written to just find Lehman. It's also written to, uh, it says our sister and 56 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:03,900 our fellow soldiers. So there's three people listed that is listened to by, by, by Lehman 57 00:05:03,900 --> 00:05:08,080 and the two other people. What are the names again? You go for it. And also to the church 58 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:12,600 that meets in his house. Right. So let's go on in verse four. It says, I always thank 59 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,800 God when I mentioned you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and your faith toward 60 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:22,840 the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, all the saints, I pray that your participation 61 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:27,560 in the faith may become effective through knowing every good thing that is in us for 62 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,400 the glory of Christ, for I have great joy and encouragement from your love because the 63 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:38,040 hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother. So Paul is, uh, he's, uh, he's 64 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,840 I mean, I don't think he's stating anything that's not true because everything from every 65 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:47,520 indication a family man is actually a pretty legit nice guy. Um, he has a church meeting 66 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:52,720 in his house. He's, um, upstanding member of his community. And, uh, and once again, 67 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,600 we're going to talk about slavery in a minute, but, uh, slavery in Rome is not the same as 68 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:01,760 slavery when we talk trans transatlantic slave trade that had took place in America. Well, 69 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:06,640 the same thing at all. And you'll see us throughout this letter to Paul's tone is a little different 70 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:11,520 than in other letters. Yeah. Like his tone is as if he's talking to someone he loves 71 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:16,080 and respects dearly. Correct. Right. Where like, I'm not saying that he doesn't talk 72 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,960 that way in his letters to other people, but like you contrast that with like, say Galatians 73 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:26,480 were like pretty quick off the bat. Paul's like, you idiots. Yeah. You foolish Galatians. 74 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:30,760 Right. Why did you do this? You contrast that with that or you contrast that with first 75 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:36,600 Corinthians where he's like, okay, maybe don't let him sleep with his stepmom. Right. Right. 76 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:40,800 Like maybe draw a line there. You know, you contrast that with some of the other things 77 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:45,800 he's addressing. This letter actually starts off with Paul being like, I am so thankful 78 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:50,840 for you. I'm so grateful for you. And I appreciate all the good things you do. Yeah. Right. And 79 00:06:50,840 --> 00:06:54,360 in the next verse, he actually, he, because of this relationship, he actually speaks in 80 00:06:54,360 --> 00:07:00,280 this, he says, for this reason, because I know you are a person who is an integrity, 81 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:04,000 I love you. I've worked with you, all these different things for this reason. Although 82 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,080 I, uh, although I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do for this reason, sorry, 83 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:14,600 I'm reading this verse eight. Yeah. I'll, although I have great boldness to command 84 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:18,100 you to do what is right. So even though I have the right to tell you what to do, I appeal 85 00:07:18,100 --> 00:07:25,120 instead on the basis of love. I love that statement. I have every right to tell you 86 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:30,840 what to do, but I'm actually going to talk to you on a basis of love. Again, it comes 87 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:39,000 back to he's writing to someone he respects dearly. Right. I, Paul, as an elderly man 88 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:46,360 and now as a prisoner of Christ Jesus, appeal to you, uh, for my child, whom I fathered 89 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:51,560 while in chains, on, on, on isomus, but we're just going to pronounce it a lot of different 90 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:56,360 ways. Just deal with it. Once he was useless to you, but now he is useful to both you and 91 00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:01,160 me. I am sending him a part of myself back to you. Now, one of the things that's interesting 92 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:05,520 about the name on isomus is that it actually means useful or helpful. And he's like, once 93 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:10,680 he was useless, but now he is useful. Like there's a little play on words with his actual 94 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:17,800 name there. Um, I love this, uh, you know, that, uh, he actually calls on a Smith's actually 95 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,680 like his child, like he is literally his child and he's like, and I'm sending him to you 96 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:29,000 a part of me. Yeah. A part of me. Some bold words and Paul. Yeah. Well, and it speaks 97 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:34,840 to the church though, too. Like when we send someone out to who we have discipled, who we've 98 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:40,840 mentored, who, who we've had the privilege of pouring into and we send them elsewhere, 99 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:44,640 like we are sending a part of who we are. That comes back to this whole idea. Like we 100 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,960 were talking about commissioning, laying on hands that in the litical system, you lay 101 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:52,120 on hands on the sacrifice to, and you cast your identity onto the sacrifice so that the 102 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:56,720 blood is drawn near. Yeah. And when we send people out, we commission them, we place our 103 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:03,880 identity, we place our, our, um, our trust, our, our hope, the things behind them. Right. 104 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:07,480 And uh, and like, this is just Paul continuing this pattern that we've seen throughout the 105 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:15,220 Bible is that he's not just sending him with like, Oh, you know, some snacks for the people 106 00:09:15,220 --> 00:09:19,040 that they might like him. He's like, no, no, you're actually going with my actual intention. 107 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:23,200 Now, interestingly enough, if you actually read the letter to the Colossians, he actually 108 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:30,120 sends on this CS to the Colossians to explain his letter to them. So, uh, he actually treats 109 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,880 him like an apostle. Yeah. He treats him like somebody who has the authority to interpret 110 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:41,360 what Paul said, which is a big deal. Yeah. And you see this idea of Paul's respect for 111 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:47,360 Philemon continue in verse 13, where it says, I wanted to keep him here with me while, uh, 112 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:53,360 while I am here in chains for preaching the good news. And he would have been, and he 113 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:59,920 would have helped me on your behalf, but I didn't want to do anything without your consent. 114 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:08,600 I wanted you to help because you are willing, not because you were forced. Yeah. Right. 115 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,560 Like you have this where Paul's where Paul say, like, I understand there is a situation 116 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:17,720 between you and him. We're both followers of Jesus now. And so I don't want to do something 117 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,680 behind your back. Right. Right. Like, I don't want you to do this and have you look back 118 00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:27,000 on me and be like, Hey, come on, man. Like it comes, it comes back to this idea of like 119 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:31,440 we as brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to be talking to each other and have respect 120 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:39,040 to love and dignity for one another. So that when we do move in a direction that we're 121 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:43,640 not doing in a way that's harming each other. Yeah. And it's interesting. He actually says, 122 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:46,920 I want you to be able to do this of your own free will. Yeah. Uh, you know who doesn't 123 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:51,760 get to operate in their own free will very often slaves slaves. Yeah. And, uh, kind of 124 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:56,560 taking this point is like, I'm not going to make a slave of you. Yeah. I'm going to ask 125 00:10:56,560 --> 00:11:02,160 you out of your compassion and love to actually do this of your own free will. Yeah. And moving 126 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:08,000 on in verse 15, it says, it seems you lost in this mist for a little while so that you 127 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:14,000 could have him back forever. Like that verse right there, like it's an echo to me, it's 128 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,080 the, it's an echo of the gospel, right? Yeah. Where it's lost for a little while. So that 129 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:22,320 when you returned, you are there forever. Like there, um, and anybody who's following 130 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,480 Jesus would see that. Right. Especially, especially when you, you tie it with 19 where he says, 131 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:33,000 mm hmm. No longer as a slave. Yep. But more than a slave. Yeah. As a dearly loved brother. 132 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:37,880 Yeah. He is no, yeah. He is no longer slave to you. He is more than a slave for his beloved 133 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:44,560 brother, especially to me. Now he will mean much more to you, both as a man and a brother 134 00:11:44,560 --> 00:11:53,680 in the Lord. So if you consider me as your partner, welcome him, welcome him as you welcomed 135 00:11:53,680 --> 00:12:02,040 me. Uh, if he has wronged you in any ways, uh, or owes you anything and he gets a verse 136 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:08,360 19. And I love this cause it's like all caps and it's I, Paul, write this in my own hand. 137 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:14,920 I will repay it. Which that right there, like the gospel is the gospel. Yeah. It's also 138 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:19,160 a little comical cause he's in prison. Yeah. Right. Right. There's, there's that, that 139 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:26,560 too is like, I will repay it. And I won't mention that you owe me your very soul. Hmm. 140 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:31,680 There is, there is this, um, there's some connection with the teaching of Jesus on the 141 00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:37,840 parable of the unmerciful servant. Yeah. Right. Where this guy racks up a bill that's astronomical. 142 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:43,080 Yeah. And he, and the master calls in the debts and he owns like a sum that is like 143 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:48,160 some ridiculous sum and be like us wrecking up a bill, like $450 million. Mm hmm. Like 144 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:54,800 it's a lot of money. I'm not sure how you do that. Except the master forgets the debt. 145 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:59,800 He closes the book, but then the servant goes and finds somebody owes him like 10 bucks 146 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,400 and he's like, Hey, you gotta pay me everything you own. And he's like, Oh man, I'm so sorry. 147 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:06,520 And he's like, Nope, you're going to prison until you pay me everything you owe me. Right. 148 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:10,920 And then the, the, the parable actually closes with this idea that God says, uh, the master 149 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:14,800 says you're going to go into a prison and you're going to stay there until you're willing 150 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:20,160 to give that what you've received. Like there's this, in this invitation that there is this 151 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:26,340 lock to a door that you have the key to. You have to pour out mercy in order for your mercy 152 00:13:26,340 --> 00:13:32,080 to be received. And, uh, and I think we've talked about the before on the podcast, but 153 00:13:32,080 --> 00:13:36,800 then you have this same idea where Paul is coming in there. He says, I am, uh, um, sorry, 154 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:42,000 I gotta find it again. If he's wronged you in any way, or he owes you anything, charge 155 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:46,160 it to my account. I Paul write this with my own hand. I'll repay it. Not to mention that 156 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:53,040 you owe me even your own self. I'm going to pay it even though you owe me everything because 157 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:59,960 that's what love does. It is extravagant in its sacrifice. Yeah. 158 00:13:59,960 --> 00:14:06,480 We get into verse 20 and there's verse 20 through 22. There's some really, really powerful 159 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:11,920 things happening here. Yes, my brother, please do me this favor for the Lord's sake. Give 160 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:17,440 me this encouragement in Christ. So pause, pause right there for a second. Do me this 161 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:22,520 favor. Give me this encouragement. Like the encouragement we get for helping restore people 162 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:29,280 onto one another is huge because we get to see the work of God at display. Right. It's 163 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:34,920 not just, it's not just the returning to the Lord, which is the big part, but it's also 164 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:41,200 we get to be encouraged by that. Yeah. Right. Right. I've heard some, I've heard some people 165 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:45,760 speculate that Paul in this time was actually going through a moment of discouragement in 166 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,040 his life, which I was like, that's a pretty far speculation, but I can see where they 167 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:55,440 get the tie in of like he needs needs that encouragement too. Right. Like the apostle 168 00:14:55,440 --> 00:15:02,560 Paul needs to see that encouragement happen. And then he goes on says, I can't, I am confident 169 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:08,960 as I write this letter to you that you will do what I ask even more. You'll do what I 170 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:15,320 ask even more. Right. Well, and there's this, and it's cause like he's asking, actually 171 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:19,120 let's, let's finish out the letter here real quick. Meanwhile, also prepare a guest room 172 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:23,080 for me even though I'm in jail for, I hope that through your prayers, I will be restored 173 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:32,160 to you. So do even more also pray for me because I'm tired of being in jail. Right. Epiphras, 174 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:38,360 my fellow prisoner in crisis is greets you. And so do Mark Aristocas and Deimos and Luke, 175 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:42,800 my coworkers, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. By the way, Epiphras 176 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:49,320 is also the guy who originally was one of the early church people in Colossus. Colossi. 177 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:59,160 Colossus is a X-Men. Colossi is an area. So he has this, he has this conversation and 178 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:05,800 he says, he's like, Philemon, here's the deal. I understand you were wronged in the past, 179 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:13,600 but he's also your brother. Yeah. And you need to have your love supersede what you think 180 00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:19,640 is right. Yes. Right. It has to supersede what you think is justice. And so if you have 181 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:22,800 the injustice to you, like you, I actually want you to treat him like a brother. So I 182 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:26,400 want you to bring him home, but not as your slave. I want you to bring him home as your 183 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:34,480 brother. Yeah. You guys are now co-laborers in the kingdom. Yeah. All right. So the big, 184 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,920 we're going to kind of just toss a stone across it because I think that we actually, it would 185 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:42,680 be better for us to devote a full episode to it. But the slavery of the Roman culture 186 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,800 and the Israelite culture is not the same as slavery of what we dealt with America over 187 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:51,540 the last 500 years. And I'm just using the area, right? Not obviously the country because 188 00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:57,240 of the number of years. Yeah. Because we've talked about this in the past in Torah is 189 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:03,800 that if you were struggling in economic times, you could sell yourself into slavery, but 190 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:08,000 for the purpose of coming out of economic difficulty or somebody had a lot of resources, 191 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,840 they could take care of you. A lot of times it was voluntary or it was like somebody came 192 00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:18,440 in and they conquered and they, and they had a forced servitude, but Israel itself had 193 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:23,480 rules that said every seven years you have to free them. And then every 50 years, everybody 194 00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:28,000 has to go free. That's the year of Jubilee. Now there's no indication that the Israelites 195 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:32,600 were really good at following that, but they did have the rules. Yeah. Additionally, when 196 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:37,640 you're talking about pursuing justice in Deuteronomy, if you actually look in the rules, it says 197 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:42,560 that if you actually have a slave that escapes from another country and they come to your 198 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:46,760 country, you need to let them live as free people there. Don't return them. Yeah. So 199 00:17:46,760 --> 00:17:52,880 God has always been about the abolition of subrogation of people. And I want to just 200 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,920 go ahead and knock that right out of the park because I think that we tend to read this 201 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,440 through our own experience as a nation and not actually as God redeeming all people and 202 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:06,880 freeing all people. Yeah. Right. In fact, it is, we quoted from Galatians earlier, God 203 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:15,560 actually Paul says in Christ, there is not neither June or Greek, male nor female freed 204 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,520 or slave. Yeah. But we're all one, which is the point that he's actually getting back 205 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:27,480 to Flaman is, is that he's no longer your servant. He's your brother. Yeah. Absolutely. 206 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:34,280 And how do we treat our brothers? Exactly. We welcome them. Yeah. And it's, it's a, it 207 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:41,520 is a, if you take out the, the quote unquote, if you call it a hot button issue, I don't 208 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:44,960 think it's really that hot button when you actually interpret flamen correctly. But if 209 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:51,840 you take out that and you just have this idea of if you are wronged as a Christian by somebody 210 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:57,160 and then they recognize the other ways they're, they're met by God, they, whatever it is, 211 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:03,200 they're not going to be able to forgive you. So what is your response to that? Is your 212 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:11,040 response going to be to love them or to welcome them back into the family to, to as the father 213 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:15,080 does when he sees the son a long way off, he runs out to them. Yeah. Right. To put the 214 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:20,440 gospel on display. Yeah. There's actually like some really interesting ideas. If you 215 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,920 want to, if you are a person who really focuses on penal substitutionary atonement, those 216 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:31,280 where one person steps in on behalf of another, Paul does this for a, a, an isomis. He steps, 217 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:36,720 he says, if you have a debt, I'll step in and I'll pay it. Don't hold it against him. 218 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:44,400 You can hold it against me, but FYI, you owe me everything. Yeah. So yeah, it's a cool 219 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:52,360 book. It is. And like the biggest takeaway that I have from this book is just treat your 220 00:19:52,360 --> 00:19:57,060 brothers well, like treat your brothers and sisters in Christ. Well, like you're not going 221 00:19:57,060 --> 00:20:02,240 to agree with every single one of them on every topic. Yeah. Right. We've, we've disagreed 222 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,480 plenty. We actually had one episode where someone was like, I really liked it when you 223 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:09,400 have been arguing and on the podcast. And I was like, and we were like, we were arguing 224 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:15,080 clearly, clearly they've never actually heard us argue. I was like, I'm pretty sure we like 225 00:20:15,080 --> 00:20:20,320 disagreed, but, but if I couldn't get along with people I disagree with, man, I wouldn't 226 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:26,160 get along with anybody. And so like there's going to be brothers and sisters you disagree 227 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:30,720 with. And the reality is, is we still have to welcome them in. Right. I think there's 228 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:37,740 also this invitation. Like I think sometimes like, okay, well, Philemon is like, he opens 229 00:20:37,740 --> 00:20:44,840 up his church, his house for the church. He is wealthy. He's got all the, you know, these 230 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:50,080 different things, but you don't have special basis with God based on your wealth or your 231 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:54,200 achievement or any of these things. Yeah. And I think sometimes we struggle with that 232 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,320 because we're like, uh, I was, remember we were talking with pastor Nick once and he's 233 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:01,040 like, you know, people think, Oh, my friend is sick. And so I got to get the pastor to 234 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:06,380 go pray with him because their prayers are better. Well, no, God wants to work through 235 00:21:06,380 --> 00:21:12,800 you to do things like your pastor is meant to equip you. Like that's his job. Yeah. And 236 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:17,400 uh, I was like, but the invitation is actually for us to all be involved in your pastor is 237 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:22,880 not, um, more sanctified than you. Yeah. He's just called you something different. And so 238 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:27,280 we work together. We're all in the same playing field when it comes to pursuing God and we 239 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:32,560 all do it together for each other, with each other, bearing with each other. Yeah. And 240 00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:39,440 as much as we can not keeping a record of wrongs. That's what we got for you guys. Yeah. 241 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:44,360 Short book. Great book. Uh, next week, I think we're going to be getting into second John. 242 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:50,160 Yeah. So much fun till next time. 243 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,400 And that's a wrap for today's episode of love and context. We hope you enjoyed this engaging 244 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:59,080 conversation and gain valuable insights into the powerful message of love within the Bible. 245 00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:03,160 We'd love to hear from you and continue the conversation. Connect with us by sending us 246 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:09,040 your questions, thoughts, and suggestions to love and context at gmail.com. We greatly 247 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:14,480 appreciate your feedback and ideas for future episodes. Stay connected with us on social 248 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:18,880 media for updates, behind the scenes content and additional resources. You can find us 249 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:23,880 on Instagram, tick tock, YouTube and Facebook at love and context. Don't forget to hit that 250 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:28,400 follow button to stay up to date with the latest episodes and join our growing community. 251 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:32,360 Thank you for being part of the love and context family. Remember love is at the heart of it 252 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:38,040 all until next time. Keep seeking wisdom, embracing love and living out your faith in 253 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:39,520 the context of today's world.