Philemon 1:1-3 "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, (2) And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: (3) Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
We use the same verses that were in our previous devotion. There is much to be
said about these verses. We saw Paul being bound unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
His bonds were that of mercy and grace and the unconditional love bestowed upon
him by the Lord. Today, we address the person to whom the letter is written.
His name is Philemon. Apparently Philemon was a man of means who owned slaves.
One of his slaves, by the name of Onesimus, had run away. After his escape from
the bonds of Philemon, Onesimus had been placed in the bonds of Christ. The
Lord had reached down and touched his heart. Paul is writing this letter on
behalf of this once run away slave. We will look at that later.
Today, Paul begins speaking to Philemon and addressing him with respect and
regard concerning their common salvation in the Lord. He acknowledges Philemon
to be "dearly beloved and fellowlabourer." Then Paul speaks of
"the church in thy house." This phrase has always fascinated me.
There are several possibilities that might apply to this phrase. In that day
and time, many congregations met in individual houses of the people of that
congregation. It could be that folks met in the house of Philemon on a
regular basis to worship the Lord.
I want to look at it from a somewhat different point of view. I want to believe
that Philemon was a dedicated saint of God who would gather his family together
for worship. I'm not certain as to how common it was for people to have
access to the Word of God; so, I'm not sure that they would read the Word of
God (Bible) or if he would gather them to talk about the goodness of God and
pray with his family. I definitely believe this man, Philemon, was a dedicated
servant of the Lord and taught his family in the ways of God.
We hear a lot about a desire for prayer to be returned in the school. That is a
noble thought and a wonderful thing to desire. My question this morning
is concerning this issue of prayer. We desire prayer to be in the
schools, but do we take time to offer prayer on a regular basis in our
homes? Do we maintain "the church in (our) house"? The
basic teaching concerning the Lord must begin in the home. May the Lord bless
us to step up and maintain a level of worship and praise inside the four walls
of our homes. We have much for which to be thankful. May our hearts be
turned to the Lord.