Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20071021.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Philemon: A Godly Response To Institutional Evils
Part IV: Maintaining Personal Contact To Maximize Our Godly Influence
(Philemon 22-25)
  1. Introduction
    1. Certain evils may be deeply embedded in certain human institutions due to centuries of abuses where individuals involved are defensive and unwilling to back away from an errant stance toward a solution.
    2. Consequently, the one seeking to disciple those in the institution may be tempted to "quit" keeping his personal presence with those involved: many pastors have resigned from churches or missionaries left a field or Sunday School teachers given up their classes in frustration over embedded evils they faced.
    3. Yet, if a discipler withdraws his presence from people affected by an institution embedded with an evil, he lessens his influence to counter the evil itself! Paul realized this, and in Philemon 22-25, he focussed on keeping up personal contact between effective disciplers and the ones affected by the institutional evil:
  2. Maintaining Personal Contact To Maximize Our Godly Influence, Philemon 22-25.
    1. Paul's letter to Philemon aimed to motivate him to take back his runaway slave and new brother in Christ without killing him, the usual discipline for such a crime, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV , 1978 ed., p. 1727.
    2. Hence, as we have learned in previous lessons in this series, Paul had taken extensive steps in his epistle to Philemon to counter this institutional evil (as follows), Philemon 1-21:
      1. In Philemon 1-7, we recall Paul had worked hard to nurture in Philemon a gracious outlook toward other believers so that he could more effectively be persuaded to treat his returning runaway slave well.
      2. Then, in Philemon 8-17, we recall Paul made an extensive appeal for Philemon to treat Onesimus well.
      3. In our last lesson out of Philemon 18-21, we learned that Paul had gone above his calling as an apostle to offer to pay Philemon for whatever damages Onesimus had incurred in his flight from his master.
    3. However, not content just to begin such an extensive appeal by his epistle, Paul worked to follow up this letter by announcing to Philemon his hope of visiting him upon his release from prison, Philemon 22b. Paul thus asked Philemon to make plans for him to lodge with Philemon, Philemon 22a.
    4. This announcement worked to provide even greater influence to get Philemon to receive Onesimus: J. B. Lightfoot's classic commentary on Saint Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon (Zondervan Publishing House, 1974, p. 345) noted: "There is a gentle compulsion in this mention of a personal visit to Colossae. The Apostle would thus be able to see for himself that Philemon had not disappointed his expectations" of seeing Philemon take back Onesimus in Christian brotherly love without executing him!
    5. Then, Paul sent greetings by other believers further to persuade Philemon to receive Onesimus in love:
      1. Paul sent greetings from Epaphras who had presumably evangelized Philemon's household at Colossae and who had thus sided with Paul regarding the matter of Onesimus, Phm. 1-2, 23; Col. 1:7-8; 4:17!
      2. Paul also sent greetings from Mark (Phm. 24a), the same (John) Mark who had once abandoned Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey due to trials in the ministry (cf. Acts 15:36-38 with Acts 13:13) only later to overcome that unfaithfulness and become a useful coworker to Paul, 2 Timothy 4:11. Mark's greetings to Philemon would motivate him to be an "overcomer" of the temptation not to receive Onesimus due to the hardship involved just as John Mark had been an overcomer in his life.
      3. Paul sent greetings from Aristarchus (Phm. 24b), a believer Philemon recalled had been threatened with death by a mob for God at Ephesus, the key city of the region from which the gospel had spread via Paul's ministry there to Colossae (Acts 19:10, 29, 34; Zon. Pict. Enc. of the Bib., v. One, p. 913). Recalling Aristarchus' dedication would encourage Philemon to decide to receive Onesimus in love.
      4. Paul sent greetings from coworkers, Luke and Demas as an added stimulus for Philemon to heed his appeal about Onesimus, for they would also agree with Paul in the matter of this appeal, Phm. 24c,d.
Lesson: To get him to overcome his temptation to perform a common institutional evil, Paul worked to SUSTAIN PERSONAL CONTACT between appropriate Christian DISCIPLERS and PHILEMON.

Application: May we RESIST the lure to WITHDRAW CONTACT with people due to discouragement in facing their embedded evil, for KEEPING in CONTACT BEST equips us to AFFECT them for God!