September 6, 2025

The Difficult Words of God

Derrick Scott III | Read Philemon 1:1-21

(Image by: Pixabay)

Lectionary Week

September 1–7, 2025

Scripture Overview

While God’s words may sometimes be difficult to hear, God speaks with deep honesty that is important for God’s followers to hear if they seek to grow. Jeremiah brings another warning of impending judgment. If the people will not turn to the Lord, God will break the nation and reshape it, just as a potter breaks down and reshapes clay on a wheel. The psalmist praises God for God’s intimate knowledge of each one of us. Even from the moment of conception, God knows us and has a plan for our lives. Philemon is often overlooked, but it packs a punch. A text that some have used in the past to justify slavery teaches a very different message. Paul warns Philemon not to enslave Onesimus again but to receive him back as a brother. Secular power structures have no place in God’s kingdom. In Luke, Jesus uses striking examples to teach us that the life of faith cannot be lived well with half-hearted commitment.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read Jeremiah 18:1-11. How does the image of the potter point to the Creator’s intentions of loving and shaping us?
• Read Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18. God knows you better than you know yourself, yet God has given you the ability to make your own decisions. How do you respond to God?
• Read Philemon 1:1-21. Holy pressure can encourage someone to do the right thing, but where is the balance between not enough and too much holy pressure? What examples of holy pressure do you see in the world today?
• Read Luke 14:25-33. What cost have you paid to follow Jesus? How has God uniquely moved in you to produce radical change?

Respond by posting a prayer.

¹ From Paul, who is a prisoner for the cause of Christ Jesus, and our brother Timothy. To Philemon our dearly loved coworker, ² Apphia our sister, Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church that meets in your house. ³ May the grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. ⁴ Philemon, I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers ⁵ because I’ve heard of your love and faithfulness, which you have both for the Lord Jesus and for all God’s people. ⁶ I pray that your partnership in the faith might become effective by an understanding of all that is good among us in Christ. ⁷ I have great joy and encouragement because of your love, since the hearts of God’s people are refreshed by your actions, my brother. ⁸ Therefore, though I have enough confidence in Christ to command you to do the right thing, ⁹ I would rather appeal to you through love. I, Paul—an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus ¹⁰ appeal to you for my child Onesimus. I became his father in the faith during my time in prison. ¹¹ He was useless to you before, but now he is useful to both of us. ¹² I’m sending him back to you, which is like sending you my own heart. ¹³ I considered keeping him with me so that he might serve me in your place during my time in prison because of the gospel. ¹⁴ However, I didn’t want to do anything without your consent so that your act of kindness would occur willingly and not under pressure. ¹⁵ Maybe this is the reason that Onesimus was separated from you for a while so that you might have him back forever ¹⁶ no longer as a slave but more than a slave—that is, as a dearly loved brother. He is especially a dearly loved brother to me. How much more can he become a brother to you, personally and spiritually in the Lord! ¹⁷ So, if you really consider me a partner, welcome Onesimus as if you were welcoming me. ¹⁸ If he has harmed you in any way or owes you money, charge it to my account. ¹⁹ I, Paul, will pay it back to you (I’m writing this with my own hand). Of course, I won’t mention that you owe me your life. ²⁰ Yes, brother, I want this favor from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. ²¹ I’m writing to you, confident of your obedience and knowing that you will do more than what I ask.

The power of the word of the Lord is that it speaks to us with enough room to speak beyond us into the world we live in. This passage, a short letter attributed to the apostle Paul, is a message that is, all at once, about Paul, Philemon, Onesimus, and...

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Holy Spirit, give me a heart to receive the word of the Lord that calls me to do hard things. Amen.

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