Philemon

How many of you have ever heard a sermon on Philemon. I am sure at some point many of us may have heard a reference or two in a given sermon but I am not so sure that we see a whole lot of people have preached on this book. This belief was reinforced when I realized how few markings I have in this book in my own bible. I am as guilty as anyone else when it comes to studying this book to find the wonderful truths that God has in store for us there. As I have learned a little more about this book I think I might have some ideas about why we do not hear anything from this book.

I think one reason the western church may have backed away from this book is because of how it was used during the struggle over slavery. This book was used by both sides to justify their position. I suspect that this particular controversy has had a trickle down affect on today's church. We tend to be people of habit and if one generation does not use a particular book of the people then the subsequent generation is likely to avoid it as well. I believe that over time people have simply forgotten about the book.

Another reason we do not hear much about this book could be its size. It is the smallest of all the Pauline letters and it does have kind of a weird name.

None of these reasons are good reasons to have forgotten this book. It is Scripture just like any other part of the Bible. I am hoping to spend some time in this book personally over the next couple days in the hopes of gleaning some new insights into God and my relationship with Him. I would encourage you to do the same and hopefully we can learn something together.