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 Pau 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 wall 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 our 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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