Proposition:  A new relationship with Christ changes our human relationships.

 I.  PAUL HAS A NEW SON

A.  Begotten by the gospel
B.  Born from above
C.  Brought into the Christian family

A.  They share the same mentor Paul.
B.  They share the same task Evangelism.
C.  They share the same bond Love.
D.  They share the same faith in God.

A.  God takes priority over the old master.
B.  He does not eliminate the old relationship.
C.  He puts new light on the old relationship.
D.  He adds a new dimension to the old relationship.

    Prince Philip is known everywhere as the handsome husband of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.  He was born a prince of Greece, though no Greek blood flows through his veins.  He is, instead, of German and Danish ancestry.  As a baby, he was smuggled out of Greece in a crate made from an orange box.  That hardly befits a prince!  Later, he took the last name of his English uncle, Mountbatten.  Now he is known as the consort of his wife, Queen Elizabeth II.  You talk about an identity problem!  We all have identity problems.  We have spiritual identity problems.  Revelation, chapter one, says God has made
us kings and priests, yet the Gospels and the epistles say we are servants and slaves. We are paupers who are heirs of the world!  We are peasants who shall someday rule the world!
 

    Few pictures are more quickly recognized than the picture of that magnificent Swiss mountain, the Matterhorn.  The classic view is taken from Zermatt, a small Alpine village.  That classic view can be seen only from the steps of the church in Zermatt!  So the church gives us the best viewpoint of life, the clearest picture of who we are and what we are meant to be.
 

    Darius, with his Persian Empire, was threatened by the conquering armies of Alexander the Great.  He offered a truce.  He offered to give Alexander one third of his empire, his daughter in marriage, and three hundred million dollars!  Alexander's trusted adviser, Parmenion, said, "Were I Alexander, I would accept."  Said Alexander, "So would I, were I Parmenion," and he refused.  Our decisions are governed by our sense of identity.  Do you know what and who you are?
 

    We do not understand the slavery of the New Testament.  We see it only in terms of Uncle Tom's Cabin.  It was a different kind of bondage.  It was more economic thanphysical.  Slaves were often teachers and thinkers.  ln many cities, the most educated people in town were slaves.  To understand this helps us to see how Paul could urge Onesimus to go back into slavery under Philemon.  Paul could accept the economic order of his day if it were leavened by the spirit and influence of Christian love.  And always, Paul saw in the economic order an illustration of the spiritual order of things Christ our Master, we His willing subjects and bond servants.