The Hope of Forgiveness | Philemon 10-22
What is your favorite cookie? I am almost equal opportunity when it comes to cookies: I love sugar cookies, snickerdoodle, oatmeal-raisin, but my favorite cookie of all is chocolate chip. A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to make them from scratch. I wanted to surprise my wife and kids with my baking skills. So, I got a recipe and put the ingredients together and made cookies. They came out of the oven looking so good. I was so proud of myself, and I took them to April and said, “Try these.” She took a bite, she said they were “good, (made a face) but was missing something.” Do you know what they were missing? It seemed so counter-intuitive, but so important. The one missing ingredient in making the best chocolate chip cookies is SALT. When it comes to your life, the one missing ingredient may be reconciliation with someone by either forgiving or being forgiven. If you don’t follow God’s recipe for reconciliation step by step you will miss out on God’s best for your life. The book of Philemon gives us the recipe for reconciliation and forgiveness.
The book of Philemon is a personal letter written by Paul while in prison in Rome around 60-61 AD; it was sent with the letter to the Colossians to deal with a personal maMer between two men. It is one of the shortest books of the Bible (335 words) and oWen overlooked and under-appreciated, yet it teaches us the theology of conflict resolution and forgiveness. Paul never uses the word, “forgive” but it is found all over. Philemon is a test case on the transforming power of the gospel to deal with those who have wronged us and how to deal with those we have wronged. This book teaches us: why we can forgive, how we can forgive and the hope of forgiveness. The hope of forgiveness is reconciliation that leads to restoration. The three ingredients for reconciliation are truth, repentance, and forgiveness.