Sermon Video: Doing the right thing for the right reasons - Philemon

In his short letter to Philemon, an important member of the church at Colossae, and a slave-owner.  The Apostle Paul encourages Philemon to be merciful to his "son" Onesimus, a runaway slave whom Paul had evidently met in Rome and led to faith in Christ, and whom he is now sending back to Philemon.  Aside from Paul's bold statements of Onesimus' equality with Philemon in Christ, the letter is notable for Paul's unwillingness to utilize his authority as an Apostle to order Philemon to do what Paul clearly believed to be the right thing.  Instead, Paul appeals to Philemon on the basis of love, hoping to persuade him to view Onesimus as the spiritual brother that he now is, and for the sake of his friendship with Paul, to send him back to be Paul's helper. 
We, as a Church, often appeal to the need to be morally upright for its own sake; doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do.  And while this is true, and will be effective for some, Paul's appeal to love reveals that it is more fundamental to morality than any intellectual argument.  Does God want us to obey and choose what is right because it is the right thing?  Of course, but it cannot stop there, God ultimately desires for his people that they choose righteousness and holiness out of love for him; in the end, morality is relational.

To watch the video, click on the link below: