SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/18/2019 10:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Prisoner of the Mystery”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
3:1-4
Message of the verses: “1 For this reason
I, Paul, the prisoner of
Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles- 2 if indeed you have heard of
the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by
revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.
4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the
mystery of Christ,”
Since
we have recently studied the book of Acts, which speaks in the last part of it
about the Apostle Paul and much about times when he was in prison, I don’t
think that we need to go over a blow by blow description of all these times he
was in prison. I will say that the book
of Acts ends with Paul in Rome in a rented house with guards guarding him. When Paul was a prisoner of the Jews he did
not think that he was their prisoner, nor when a prisoner of Rome for Paul says
that he was “the prisoner
of Christ Jesus.” He said this
because he knew that no matter where he went it was under the control of Jesus
Christ.
John
MacArthur writes what is to me a wonderful paragraph: “Perspective is all-important. How we view and react to circumstances is
more important than the circumstances themselves. If all we can see is our immediate situation,
then our circumstances control us. We
feel good when our circumstances are good but miserable when they are not. Had Paul been able to see only his
circumstances, he would quickly have given up his ministry. Had he thought that his life was ultimately
in the hands of his persecutors, his jailers, his guards, or the Roman
government, he would long since have given up in despair.”
As
we look at the life of Paul through different sections of the New Testament, we
realize that after he became a believer, that his life was turned completely
around and the things that God said about how his life would go as far as much
suffering for the cause of Christ came true. He knew that Jesus Christ was in
complete control of all the events that transpired in his life and trusted the
Lord for the outcome without complaining.
Paul wrote and knew what Romans 8:28 was all about “Moreover we know
that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything
that happens fits into a pattern for good (Philips).” James writes that no matter what is going on
in our life we as believers are to “consider it all joy.” Joy is knowing that no matter what is going
on in our lives that God has things under control. Even though Paul was in prison he knew that
God was even using his imprisonment to bring unbelievers to a saving knowledge of
Jesus Christ. “12 Now I want you to know, brethren,
that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13
so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known
throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, 14 and that
most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far
more courage to speak the word of God without fear (Phil. 1:12-14).”
Paul
says in verse one that he was imprisoned “for the sake of you Gentiles.” Jesus Christ was not crucified for His own
sake but for those who would believe in Him for salvation, and Paul was not in
prison for his own sake but for the sake of the Gentiles as he states in verse
one. Make no mistake that Paul suffered
for the cause of Christ as he writes to the Colossians in 1:24 “Now I rejoice
in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His
body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s
afflictions.” Verse 25 says “Of this
church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed
on me for your benefit, so
that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God.”
I
will finish this SD with a quote from John MacArthur and also by looking at 2
Corinthians 4:8-15: “Paul knew he was in
the ministry because he had been called by God to minster. He was not in it for his own purposes, and he
did try to carry it out in his own power.
He made the supreme sacrifices of unselfish service for the sake of
bringing other to glory (Eph. 3:13). In
2 Corinthians Paul expands our understanding of this commitment:
‘8 We are afflicted
in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but
not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about
in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over
to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in
our mortal flesh. 12 So
death works in us, but
life in you. 13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what
is written, "I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE," we also believe,
therefore we also speak, 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will
raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15 For all things are
for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people
may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have a
section in my prayer list for our Pastors that speaks of how and why Paul
ministered like he did. I wish to quote
it here as it goes along with what we are talking about here. “If
Paul is the ideal human model of one with a pastor’s heart, that is only because
he carefully patterned his pastoral ministry after that of Jesus Christ, who
perfectly modeled the pastor’s heart during His earthly ministry. He was the ultimate example of affection for
His sheep (John 10:11-16, 27-28), unselfishness for His disciples (John
13:3-17), compassion for His people (John 11:33-44; cf. Matt. 23:37-39),
protectiveness toward His lambs (John 10:2-5), delight for His church (Matt.
16:18-19), gratitude for His followers (Matt. 11:25-30), and intercession for
His beloved children (John 17:6-26).
That model of the shepherd’s heart is the divine standard for all
pastors today.” Take the time to look at
the verses used in this section to help you better understand that Paul’s
ministry was like the ministry of Jesus Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Continue to better understand Romans
12:3, and to continue to remember that truth is the important thing, not
necessarily emotions. Trust that the
Lord will give me strength to do the ministry that Jesus Christ has given to me
to do.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Cyprus”
(Acts 13:4-9).
Today’s
Bible question: “Who was the wicked king
and queen of Israel during the time of Elijah?”
Answer
in our next SD.
1/18/2019
11:40 AM
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