Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lesson selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the message version relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

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Here's today's reading.

Today we're reading from the book of Philemon.

From the New Testament, the entire book.

It's from the Message version.

I, Paul, am a prisoner for the sake of Christ.

Here with my brother Timothy, I write this letter to you Philemon, my good friend and companion in this work.

Also to our sister Afia, to Archipelas, a real trooper and to the church that meets in your house.

God's best to you.

Christ's blessings on you.

Every time your name comes up in my prayers, I say, oh thank you God.

I keep hearing of the love and faith you have for the Master Jesus, which brims over to all believers.

And I keep praying that this faith will hold in that we hold in common, keep showing up in the good things we do and that people recognize Christ and all of it.

Friend, you have no idea how good your love makes me feel.

Doubly so when I see your hospitality to fellow believers to call the slave your friend.

In line with all this, I ask a favor of you as Christ Ambassador, now a prisoner for him.

I wouldn't hesitate to command this if I thought it necessary, but I'd rather make it a personal request.

While here in jail, I fathered a child, so to speak.

And here he is, hand carrying this letter.

Onesimus.

He was useless to you before.

Now he's useful to both of us.

I'm sending him back to you, but it feels like I'm cutting off my right arm and doing so.

I wanted him the worst way to keep him here as your stand in to help out while I'm in jail for the message.

But I didn't want to do anything behind your back, make you do a good deed that you hadn't willingly agreed to.

Maybe it's all for the best that you lost him for a while.

You're getting him back now for good.

And no mere slave this time, but a true Christian brother.

That's what he was to me.

He'll be ever more than that to you.

So if you still consider me a comrade at arms, welcome him back as you would me.

If he damages anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account.

This is my personal signature, Paul, and I stand behind it.

I don't need to remind you, do I, that you owe your very life to me.

Do me this big favor, friend.

You'll be doing it for Christ.

But it will also do do my heart good.

I know you well enough to know you will.

You probably go far beyond what I've written.

By the way, get.

Get a room ready for me.

Because of your prayers, I fully expect to be your guest again.

Epaphras, my cellmate in the cause of Christ says hello.

Also my co workers, Mark, Aristocus, Dimas and Luke.

All the best to you from the master, Jesus Christ.

Well, that ends this reading of the book of Philemon.

Let's talk here about Paul's radical letter about brotherhood.

And so I just want you to spend a few minutes with me here and settle in because we're look at this book, this shortest letter Paul ever wrote, and in some ways the most subversive.

And we read here the entire book of Philemon.

The whole thing is only 25 verses.

But don't let the brevity fool you.

This letter packs a big punch.

Here's the setup.

Paul is in prison and a man named Onesimus who was enslaved by a Christian leader named Phila Philemon has somehow ended with Paul, ended up with Paul.

Maybe he ran away, maybe he was sent on an errand, never came back.

We don't know the details.

What we do know is that Onesimus has become a believer.

Now Paul is sending him back to Philemon with this letter.

So that's what I want to share with you.

And now let's get a little deeper.

It's not.

Let's get into some points to ponder today.

Then we'll land on something practical point to ponder.

Number one.

The Gospel redefines relationships across every social divide.

Paul doesn't write to Philemon saying be a nicer slave owner.

He fundamentally redefines that relationship.

No mere slave this time, but a true Christian brother, he says in that one sentence, Paul dismantles the hierarchy that society had constructed.

This is what the Gospel does.

It doesn't just tweak our existing relationships.

It transforms them at the root.

When we truly see someone as a sibling in Christ, we can't unsee it.

The old categories stop working.

Been married for 34 years.

My wife and I have watched our relationships evolve through every season.

Dating newlyweds, exhausted parents, empty nesters, and now grandparents laughing at our granddaughters.

And each stage requires us to see each other differently.

So let the relationship grow into something new.

But the gospel asks even more.

It asks us to see every person as family, especially those our society tells us they are.

The other point to ponder number two.

True transformation creates accountability, not just feelings.

Here's what I love about Paul's approach.

He doesn't just say, onesimus is your brother now.

Good luck with that.

He puts skin in the game.

Listen to this.

If he damaged anything or owes you anything, chalk it up to my account.

This is my personal signature.

Paul and I stand behind it.

Do you get that?

Paul is willing to pay the cost of reconciliation.

He's not asking Philema to do something he wouldn't participate in himself.

That's what real advocacy looks like.

Not just holding good opinions, but absorbing some of the cost.

In my work with cancer folks at in my cancer podcast, I talk with people walking through unimaginably hard seasons.

And here's what I've learned.

The friends who matter most aren't the ones who say, let me know if you need anything.

They're the ones who show up with groceries or who sit in the waiting rooms or put their own comfort on the line.

That's what Paul's doing here.

He's not offering thoughts and prayers.

He has his signature on a debt point to ponder number three.

Paul uses his influence to elevate someone without power.

Notice what Paul is doing structurally here.

He has authority.

He even admits that he could command Philemon.

But he doesn't.

Instead, he uses his relational capital to advocate for Onesimus, who has no power in his own situation whatsoever.

That's how privilege should function.

Not to accumulate more privilege, but to create space for those who have none.

Paul leverages his relationship with Philemon for the benefit of somebody society considered disposable.

I think about this when I watch the teams I like to follow.

The Colts, the Pacers, the Fever.

Indiana football.

Indiana University football.

When a veteran player uses their status to mentor a rookie or to advocate for them, to help them find their footing, that's kind of what Paul is talking about here.

He is modeling it.

He's not threatened by any of his growth he's investing in it.

The question for us is who do we have an influence with in our lives and who has no voice in that space?

And those two answers should shape our advocacy.

So let's talk about an action step.

Let's make this practical.

Would you think about one relationship where you hold more social power for whatever reason?

Maybe it's at work, maybe you're the boss.

Maybe it's in the neighborhood or church, wherever.

And ask yourself, is there someone in that space whose voice isn't being heard that you could do something about to help them be heard?

Your action step is simple.

Use your influence on their behalf.

Speak their name in a meeting.

Advocate for their idea.

Open a door that's closed for them.

Yeah, you can't fix everything, but you can make an impact on at least one person.

Do what Paul did.

Put your name behind someone who needs it.

We'll come back with a closing prayer here in just a minute, but before we do, just want to let you know that we have a great resource for you called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study method.

Please head over to our website, voiceofgodddaily.com that's where you pick it up.

Let's pray.

God of the prisoner and the free, the powerful and the powerless, we come to you grateful.

This strange little letter that sneaks past our defenses and ask hard questions.

Forgive us for the relationships we've kept in their old boxes because that was easier.

Forgive us for the times when we've had influence and used it only for ourselves.

Forgive us for seeing categories when we should see children.

Give us Paul's courage to put our names behind people who need advocates.

Give us eyes to see siblings who were once strangers.

Help us leverage whatever small influence we have to those who have none.

Lord, when we are the ones without power, remind us that we are never without worth.

We are yours in the name of Jesus who emptied himself of privilege and calls us to do the same.

Amen.

My friend, I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up.

It's created new every morning.