Philemon
ILLUSTRATION:
Cicero's (106 - 43 BC) was one of the most powerfully, persuasive people of his day. He had this to say about the public in 1st Century BC, Rome.
The poor: work and work,
The rich: exploit the poor,
The soldier: protects both,
The taxpayer: pays for all three,
The wanderer: rests for all four,
The drunk: drinks for all five,
The banker: robs all six,
The lawyer: misleads all seven,
The doctor: kills all eight,
The undertaker: buries all nine,
AND FINALLY
The Politician: lives happily on the account of all ten.
Andrew Young, a Senator in the US said it like this:
"Influence is like a savings account. The less you use it, the more you've got."
President Clinton once said in a speech at Galesburg, III, "Running a country is a lot like running a cemetery; you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening.
In any non-profit organization, especially like a church, you have to persuade people, either to invest time in the church or to do something that is right, or change an area that they might have chosen. Paul gives a beautiful letter of persuasion. It is only one chapter.
The Setting: Paul and Onesimus
Apparently, Paul led Philemon to a faith in Christ. It is implied in some of the things he says. He also had something to do with a young man named, Onesimus. Somehow, when Paul was in prison, Onesimus became a fellow-worker with Paul. And we do not know the details, but at some point, Onesimus is having a discussion with Paul. He has come to Christ in Paul's ministry, and in their discussion, he makes a confession.
He says, "Brother Paul, I am a run-away slave. I used to be a servant. It is illegal for me to be a run-away slave and I might even be killed."
May be he was noticed, and someone recognized him. He used to be Philemon's slave. So how does Paul deal with the whole issue? According to Roman law, slaves did not have any rights. They were thought of as property. Slavery is kind of like an employer-employee relationship.
I have read different documents, and some say 1/3rd to ½ of everybody in Rome were slaves! This was the common way of just getting by. You are caught in a debt, you become a slave, maybe for seven years or so, until you pay it off. Many today are in debt and maybe we are slaves to the company that we owe money to. The debtor becomes a slave to the lender.
So, Paul is writing to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus. Paul sends Onesimus back to Philemon, and says to Philemon, "I am sending your slave back to you, and I am hoping that you would set him free, so that he could come back and work together in the ministry. That is the context of this letter.
From this letter, we can learn 5 important lessons:
1. Base your persuasion on Relationship, not authority.
2. Let integrity begin with you.
3. Be the first to give.
4. Be personally present.
5. Appeal to people's best.
1. Never force someone to do what is right (Base your persuasion on Relationship, not authority) - Philemon Vs. 8-14
Honor the freedom of the other person. Never manipulate someone to do something simply because you think it is right, instead; give that person a genuine, completely free choice. If he chooses against your will, he will stand before God and give an account. If he chooses what is right, he will enjoy the full reward of the freely-made, right choice. By the blessing of freedom, I mean, the freedom to do the right thing freely, without being forced to do it. The person who does that receives an extra-ordinary reward in giving. There is joy and spiritual reward when you do the right thing, freely.
Encouraging the Corinthian church to follow the example of generosity of the church in Macedonia, Paul writes: 2 Cor.8:8.
So Paul says, I am not commanding you or forcing you, but I am just saying, demonstrate the generosity inspired in you by the Holy Spirit, and inspired by the generosity of Jesus Himself.
2. Let integrity begin with you. (spelled "me")
Paul had the spiritual right to demand of Philemon the services of his run-away slave. He had brought Philemon up in the love and knowledge of God. Onesimus was a free man before God. In what Paul writes, he treats Onesimus as equal with himself. And he wants Philemon to receive him, as if he were receiving Paul. In Christ, there is no slave and free, we are all equal and one.
Spiritually speaking Philemon owed Paul a debt, and Paul could make a demand, but Paul chose to abide by the law of the day, and to do the right thing as far as that law was concerned. He sent Onesimus back, gave him back to his master, and asked.
READ vs.12-16
Notice Paul's integrity. He could have kept Onesimus, but instead he wanted Onesimus to do what was required by the law. If Onesimus is released by his master to be free, then legally, he would be free. Paul is doing the honorable and the legal thing.
ILLUSTRATION
Abraham Lincoln, when he was an attorney, was approached by a wealthy man who passionately insisted on bringing a suit for $2.50 against an impoverished debtor.
Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on restitution. When he saw that the man would not change his mind, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the plaintiff paid. Lincoln then gave half the money to the defendant, who willingly confessed to the debt and paid the $2.50
Where is our integrity? Can we still maintain our integrity when someone wrongs us? How do we handle situations like that?
3. Be the first to give.
Generosity is best motivated by example. Paul is asking Philemon to be very generous. In Jewish tradition, a slave price was 30 pieces of silver. The house rent for a year was 12 pieces of silver. A slave price in the first-century Roman Empire was about 500 denarii, which was equal to 500 days wages. That was a lot of money! Slaves were thought of as property in that day.
Paul is asking Philemon to give Onesimus back. For Philemon that represented a very large financial investment, and he is going to be losing that. Not only does Paul send Onesimus back to Philemon, he goes the extra mile by offering to pay for any losses incurred because of the errant slave's behavior.
READ vs. 4-6; 18,19
Paul gave spiritually to Philemon through his consistent prayers on his behalf.
ILLUSTRATION
We had a pastor who was visiting, Edward Francis. He was talking about how he prays. There was one politician in the city that owns a large part of Manipal. And he went to his office, and the man would not even sit down. He was standing there and he did not offer the Pastor a seat, and he asked, "What can I do for you?"
He said, "I like to rent the top floor of this building that you've built."
To which the politician said, "That would be very expensive! About one lakh per month. Can you pay that much?"
And he said, "Well Sir, we are a non-profit organization."
And the other man said, "Well, I am a for-profit organization. And so, you need to understand my situation."
And so he thanked him and started walking. Then he turned around and said, "Do you know, since you were boarded into your office, for the last 12 years I have been praying for you, everyday."
To that he said, "Would you like to have a seat?" He invited him to sit down and offered him some tea and talked with him for another 45 minutes, and ended up offering that top floor for a much lower price. His church has a very nice place to meet.
So you see that is a pastor who has already invested. He has invested spiritually into the lives of somebody else. How do you place a monetary value on somebody who is praying for you every day?
Vs. 18, 19
What Paul is saying is Paul had given Philemon the good news of the Gospel, bringing him life in Christ-the greatest gift. How do you place a value on that? And then Paul also makes an offer, he says, he will make good anything that might have been a loss. It looked like he owed something to Philemon.
Does this remind you of another story that Jesus told? The story of the Good Samaritan. The man was left beaten to death, and it was the Samaritan who came by. He gave the innkeeper some money, and he said, "If there is any more I have to pay, when I come back, I will take care of it."
Paul is the first to give. If you are asking someone else to be generous, you need to be the one to give first. Any time I go to a church and I hear that the people are not giving enough I have to wonder how much the pastor is giving! That is my first thought -- I do not mean to be judgmental, but I wonder if the pastor is setting the standard for generosity.
4. Be Personally Present
If you want to be persuasive, you need to be personally present.
READ vs. 17, 22
In a sense, Paul is saying he was present in Onesimus, that Onesimus was a friend and close enough companion that he wanted Philemon to view him as being at the same level as Paul. He has elevated this slave to the level of the Apostle. Philemon would never again be able to look at Onesimus without thinking of/seeing Paul.
If you want to persuade someone to do something difficult, there is no replacement for personal involvement and presence, or even the possibility (threat) of personal presence. It is difficult to process how Paul, a prisoner, had any serious expectation of seeing Philemon any time soon, yet he makes the prospect seem very real.
5. Appeal to people's best
If you want to be persuasive with people, appeal to people's best. Sometimes we want people to do what we want them to do, and we insult them or are rude or abusive, that is not the best way at all. Paul does not demean Philemon for having a slave, but he does ask him to receive Onesimus as a brother.
READ vs.20-21
Sometimes, we are tempted to look at the worst in people and focus on that. The truth is, if you look at anybody, you can find something to criticize. Paul had a choice with what to focus on with Philemon. He chose to focus on the positive.
ILLUSTRATION:
There is something that happened about 30 years ago in US politics, where Richard Nixon was guilty of abusing his power. There was a whole scandal, because there was a group of republican representatives, who were at an apartment complex called the Water Gate. They broke into the democratic national committee place, so that they could place surveillance equipment there. Whether or not Richard Nixon knew about it, at some point later when he found out about it, he tried to cover up. And so he was the only president in the US history to resign from his position to avoid impeachment, knowing the threat was there.
He was sitting in a hospital, terribly depressed. And we find out later from some of the biographers that he actually contemplated suicide. And a nurse came in and said, "Sir, can I open the drapes?" He said, "Sure." And so she opened the drapes, and there was an airplane, outside the hospital. It had a message pulling behind it. And the message said, "God loves you, Mr. Nixon." And as he saw it, he was very encouraged, and that was the turning point in his life.
It was Ruth Graham, who hired the pilot to drive that plane. It was just a word of encouragement. The truth is most people at that time spoke only negatively of Richard Nixon. Now as you look back, he is one of the great presidents of the 20th century. I even remember growing up as a teenager, that only negative comments were made of him, some were crude jokes. But somebody decided to focus on his best, to give him a word of encouragement. And I think if we want to be persuasive with people, we have to have that kind of attitude.
