The Gospel in Prison
Ephesians 3:1
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Sermon Summary As Paul begins a new section of his letter, he draws on his identity as a prisoner. To human eyes, Paul's imprisonment may seem like a horrible thing, but God's sovereign hand was at work for his good, and the same holds true for us. |
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Ephesians 3:1
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—
Before we get into our text, let me make one quick comment on the structure of our passage. This will, perhaps, help you see why we are only taking one verse this morning. Paul starts chapter 3 by mentioning that he is a prisoner of Jesus Christ. What you find is that this is an incomplete sentence. In verse 2, Paul begins a digression and he starts talking about his calling as an apostle.
It’s like this: Paul says, “I’m a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles - oh wait, do you know that I’m the apostle to the Gentiles? Let me take a second and tell you what that means.” And from verse 2 all the way down to verse 13, he talks about God’s plan to redeem the Gentiles.
Here’s another way to look at it. In verse one Paul says, “For this reason.” Then in verse 14 he says, “For this reason.” You can tell he is ending his digression and getting back to his original point.
That may be helpful to see. I know that sometimes it’s a little difficult to follow Paul’s line of thought. Hopefully this will help you orient yourself.
It might be a little interesting to find out that at the time he wrote this epistle, Paul is a prisoner. It is likely that he has been a prisoner for 4-5 years. We read about this in the book of Acts. He was arrested in Jerusalem. The Jews had been after him for a while. But on this occasion, they accused him of having brought a Gentile into the temple.
He was taken into custody, and he was put in a prison cell for two years. This was during the time when Festus and Felix were in charge. Due to the miscarriage of justice, he appealed to Caesar, and for the next three years, he remained under house arrest as he traveled to Rome and waited for his case to be heard.
It is likely that during that time in Rome, he penned these words. From what we have read, you might not have known that Paul was currently in chains. Paul’s tone and tenor have been so upbeat. This letter has been full of excitement and enthusiasm. It has focused on the rich benefits of our salvation. It doesn’t sound like something that has come from someone who has lost their liberties and been unfairly detained for 4-5 years.
It is also funny to think that this is just a fragment of a sentence. It is an incomplete sentence. Yet despite the fact that it is missing a verb and does not present a complete thought, it communicates a substantial amount of divine truth.
We learn that Paul is a prisoner, and not just any prisoner. He’s a prisoner of Christ Jesus. And he’s in prison as a result of or on the behalf of these Gentiles. You might say that some of the fault for his chains lies at the feet of these Gentiles.
But you see there are three pieces to this incomplete sentence. There’s the imprisonment, there’s the Lord Jesus, and there is the occasion for his imprisonment (the Gentiles). I’d like to take a few minutes today to dwell on these three things. I’d like us to hear what the Spirit says regarding Paul’s incarceration.
So this morning, I’d like us to think about the grief, grace, and glory of Paul’s imprisonment. Let’s begin by talking about the grief of his imprisonment.
I. The grief of Paul’s imprisonment
I would like us to think about how pain, injustice, and suffering are realities that we can face. I want us to take a moment and be brutally honest about what kind of things we may experience as a result of being Christians. I want us to be forthright about how sorrow, difficulty, and trouble are not just real, but maybe even frequent or prolonged realities in our lives.
There can be no doubt that Paul mentions his imprisonment in order to show some solidarity with these Ephesians. I’ve mentioned before that the Ephesians were likely faced with various difficulties: pressures from family, oppression from the civil authorities. The overall culture around them was not friendly to them due to their having rejected the pagan religious system.
A lot of them were likely suffering. They had physical pains, such as being impoverished. They had emotional pain due to their relationships that had been disrupted. Life was difficult. Add to that the tension in the church; remember the Jew and Gentile mix. You’d hope that you’d have some relief when you went to church, but you’re faced with these people that you might not readily want to associate with. Life wasn’t all that wonderful, and it might have seemed that Jesus was the cause of it all.
Paul now says that he’s very much in the same boat. He’s been dealing with similar pains and sorrows. He’s not a stranger to the grief and hardship they themselves are experiencing. His liberties are being restricted. He’s been wrongfully accused and hasn’t been able to enjoy the comforts of his own home for several years. Also, he had come into this imprisonment as a result of his own countrymen.
By mentioning his being in prison, Paul helps these Ephesians to see that the Christian life is not necessarily one that will be free of trials and tribulations.
Paul is dispelling the deception that has faced the church all through her ages. It’s this belief that God is supposed to make your life better. It’s this misconception that all your problems get whisked away once you come to Jesus.
This is one of the greatest misconceptions of Christianity even today. Last year, the Barna Group did a major study which revealed something of how prevalent this is. The study found that the most popular worldview in America today is what is called “fake Christianity.” It is the worldview known as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”
This worldview is called fake Christianity because it is often confused with Christianity. In other words, these are people who are not opposed to Christianity in any real way. As a matter of fact, most of the people who affirm Moralistic Therapeutic Deism would call themselves Christian. However, their worldview is anything but Christian.
They believe you should be good to other people. They believe that good people will go to heaven. They themselves believe they are basically good. And they also believe that the Bible is basically wrong. They don’t believe that the Bible is an inerrant book or a reliable communication of God’s revelation.
One of their chief beliefs is that the universal purpose of life is being happy and feeling good about oneself. That’s the therapeutic part. You can see how this can be pawned off as Christianity. God is supposed to make you feel good. He’s supposed to be the answer to all your problems. He is supposed to give you a sense of euphoria and create a little utopia for you to live in. That’s what God is supposed to do, so they say, and anything that doesn’t make you happy must be wrong.
You understand why this is fake Christianity. It has nothing to do with Christ. It is all about you. It’s about how you feel. It’s about how happy you are. God is supposed to be your servant in that he makes your life better.
Paul wants to make it clear that God’s chief end is not to wave a wand and make all your hardships disappear. He’s not the genie in the lamp who will grant you the three wishes that will make your life happy.
The fact of the matter is that Christ may very well be the cause of many of your problems in life. This world can be filled with trials because it is so adverse to God, to the gospel, and to the Christian way of life.
That’s why you have to have the right kind of models ever before you. Just as Paul was setting himself forward as a fellow sufferer, you need to keep in mind the saints who have gone before you who have had to endure hardship as a result of their commitment to Christ.
You’ll need to think about guys like Martin Luther, who was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church for saying that we are saved by faith alone.
John Knox was made a galley slave. For almost two years he was forced to be one of the men who sat in the bowels of a ship and pulled the oars for hours on end.
You have to think about guys like Jonathan Edwards who, despite being one of the single greatest theologians that this continent has produced, was kicked out of his church. The congregation among whom he labored for over 20 years turned on him and spat him out.
All these men will be helps to you. They will remind you that serving the Lord Jesus is a cause of grief, and this is our lot in this world. Just as Jesus our Lord suffered, those who hold to Christ may find themselves immersed in a world of grief and hardship. We should not be finding our encouragement in life from hoping that God will change our circumstances and make everyone our friend. Our encouragement comes from others who have gone before, men and women who have endured the same kind of hardships.
Paul bears this grief. He does not shy away from the fact that he is a prisoner because he wants us to know that our lives will not always be filled with smiles. We are all united in faith and in our suffering.
Secondly, I’d like you to notice the grace of Paul’s imprisonment.
II. The grace of Paul’s imprisonment
Look at the passage again. You’ll notice that Paul hints at exactly why he is in prison. He says, “For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles.”
Why was Paul a prisoner? Was it because he had committed a crime? Had he stolen anything? Was he being held in bonds because he committed a murder? No; he was in prison as a result of or on behalf of these Gentiles. His bonds were for the high treason of preaching to Gentiles. And it wasn’t just that he was preaching to the Gentiles, it was what he was preaching to the Gentiles. He was preaching that they could come into God’s family by God’s grace.
The Jews were outraged at him. They were angered that Paul was preaching to these Gentiles that they could be saved without having to be circumcised or come under the law of Moses.
To put it another way, the congregation in Ephesus was to look at Paul’s chains and understand that God freely pardons sinners. Paul’s bondage was a reminder that the gospel is not about what we can do for God or what we can to to gain salvation. It is about how gracious God is.
You see, the Jews had made the age old mistake of saying that in order to be saved, you have to get to a certain level. Once you get yourself cleaned up enough, then God will accept you. In other words, God only loves a certain kind of sinner - a good one.
It’s kind of like a zipline that I went on years ago. We were at a family camp in Michigan and they had a super long zipline. It was about the length of a football field. You could really get some good speed going down that thing. The only thing about it is that the launch was about 30-40 feet up, and you had to climb up a series of ladders and stairs to get to the zipline launch.
That’s the way a lot of people view salvation. Sure, God will take you across the gulf of hell and zipline you into heaven. But before he does that, you have to make it up the ladder. Morally, you have to get to a certain level. You have to do a few things and climb up on your own first. Once you get to a certain point, then God will find you acceptable and then he will take you.
That’s the way the Jews were painting things. These Gentiles needed to get up to the level of being a good Jew. Once they did that, then God would be gracious to them.
That’s still a common thought today. You have to be good enough for God. Muslims have this same belief. If their good works outweigh their bad works and if Allah gives them favor, then they can have God’s pardon. That is to say, if they can just reach that platform (and if Allah is in a good mood), then they will be safe.
For a lot of people in our day, it might be slightly different. Most people in our day don’t really care about climbing that ladder. They already think that they are on the platform. Their thinking goes like this: “I’m relatively good. I’ve not done anything too terribly bad. So sure, I should be one who he would save. There’s no reason for him to condemn me.” You see, that’s just as much based in works as thinking you have to do something. It’s just that you think you’ve already done it.
But each of those mindsets is exactly in opposition to the way God operates. The reality is that God doesn’t use a platform. Even if he did, not one of us could reach it if we tried. As a matter of fact, we are all standing on the edge of hell. Whatever sins we may have committed, that is enough to damn us. And those sins (whatever they may be) are treasonous in the eyes of God.
The good news of the gospel is that God saves us where we are. He saves us by his grace through Christ and what He has done.
That’s what Paul is trying to communicate when he says he’s a prisoner on behalf of you Gentiles. He’s reiterating the graciousness of God. He’s reminding us that it isn’t about how many laws we can follow or how much good we can do in God’s eyes. It’s not about us at all. It’s about God. It’s about how our Lord is willing to overlook the multitude of our sins. That’s the grace of Paul’s imprisonment.
Thirdly, l want you to notice the glory of Paul’s imprisonment.
III. The glory of Paul’s imprisonment
What can be glorious about being in prison? Well, as with much of life, your circumstances depend on your perspective. Do you know that how you look at what has happened is (more often than not) of greater importance than what has actually happened? Your perspective has the ability to radically alter your life.
Certainly that’s what we see in Paul. Paul’s perspective made his situation much better than it might have been otherwise.
Look again at what he says. Notice the language he uses. Notice his perspective. He says he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
John MacArthur, in his commentary, makes a note on the grammar here. He says that it is a genitive of origin. So Paul is saying that the source (or the cause) of his imprisonment is not owing to the Jews or the Romans. He’s not a prisoner of Caesar or of the Jewish high priest. He’s a prisoner of Christ. In other words, Christ is the one who put him there. Christ is the one who has him under house arrest.
Paul understands that it is the Lord Jesus who is in control of all things. His life is being governed by God’s almighty hand. And he knows that if God willed it, the doors could fly open, the guards could be paralyzed, and he could walk right out of there.
But at this moment, he is under arrest. It is not because any human has willed it. It is because God himself has every bit of intention that he be there.
Through this imprisonment, we came to have the book of Ephesians. During this imprisonment Paul would also write Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. You might say that Christ put him under arrest in order to allow us to have these precious epistles. Had Paul not been in these chains, we would likely be missing some of the greatest portions of the New Testament. We would never have had an opportunity to gain the blessing of what God has revealed in these books.
You might say that Paul wears this imprisonment as a badge. He is not ashamed that he is under lock and key. There is a sense in which Paul revels in his bondage, for he knows that, in the ultimate sense of things, men do not control his life. He is ever at the disposal of Almighty God and he trusts that his life is directed by God’s sovereign hand.
The Ephesians may take the same comfort. While enduring their trials, they may recognize that nothing comes upon them that the Lord himself did not superintend. No matter how evil it may seem, no matter how dire their circumstances may become, they may rest in knowing that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
Should they be put in prison or should they find themselves suffering grief upon grief, they too can take satisfaction that no man rules their life. They will be prisoners of Jesus Christ. If they be stripped of life’s goods, they may trust that Christ has not abandoned them. The only guard who watches over their life is Jesus himself.
It may do us some good too, whatever our circumstances may be. We may recognize that the perspective we have should rule and overrule the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Oftentimes things are not as bad as we often conclude, if we first look at them from the right angle.
When we take the perspective that our lot in life is being directed by God’s supreme wisdom, then we may rest assured that the Lord’s will is being done. What his plans are we may not know, but we can be assured that no man rules us.
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—
Before we get into our text, let me make one quick comment on the structure of our passage. This will, perhaps, help you see why we are only taking one verse this morning. Paul starts chapter 3 by mentioning that he is a prisoner of Jesus Christ. What you find is that this is an incomplete sentence. In verse 2, Paul begins a digression and he starts talking about his calling as an apostle.
It’s like this: Paul says, “I’m a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles - oh wait, do you know that I’m the apostle to the Gentiles? Let me take a second and tell you what that means.” And from verse 2 all the way down to verse 13, he talks about God’s plan to redeem the Gentiles.
Here’s another way to look at it. In verse one Paul says, “For this reason.” Then in verse 14 he says, “For this reason.” You can tell he is ending his digression and getting back to his original point.
That may be helpful to see. I know that sometimes it’s a little difficult to follow Paul’s line of thought. Hopefully this will help you orient yourself.
It might be a little interesting to find out that at the time he wrote this epistle, Paul is a prisoner. It is likely that he has been a prisoner for 4-5 years. We read about this in the book of Acts. He was arrested in Jerusalem. The Jews had been after him for a while. But on this occasion, they accused him of having brought a Gentile into the temple.
He was taken into custody, and he was put in a prison cell for two years. This was during the time when Festus and Felix were in charge. Due to the miscarriage of justice, he appealed to Caesar, and for the next three years, he remained under house arrest as he traveled to Rome and waited for his case to be heard.
It is likely that during that time in Rome, he penned these words. From what we have read, you might not have known that Paul was currently in chains. Paul’s tone and tenor have been so upbeat. This letter has been full of excitement and enthusiasm. It has focused on the rich benefits of our salvation. It doesn’t sound like something that has come from someone who has lost their liberties and been unfairly detained for 4-5 years.
It is also funny to think that this is just a fragment of a sentence. It is an incomplete sentence. Yet despite the fact that it is missing a verb and does not present a complete thought, it communicates a substantial amount of divine truth.
We learn that Paul is a prisoner, and not just any prisoner. He’s a prisoner of Christ Jesus. And he’s in prison as a result of or on the behalf of these Gentiles. You might say that some of the fault for his chains lies at the feet of these Gentiles.
But you see there are three pieces to this incomplete sentence. There’s the imprisonment, there’s the Lord Jesus, and there is the occasion for his imprisonment (the Gentiles). I’d like to take a few minutes today to dwell on these three things. I’d like us to hear what the Spirit says regarding Paul’s incarceration.
So this morning, I’d like us to think about the grief, grace, and glory of Paul’s imprisonment. Let’s begin by talking about the grief of his imprisonment.
I. The grief of Paul’s imprisonment
I would like us to think about how pain, injustice, and suffering are realities that we can face. I want us to take a moment and be brutally honest about what kind of things we may experience as a result of being Christians. I want us to be forthright about how sorrow, difficulty, and trouble are not just real, but maybe even frequent or prolonged realities in our lives.
There can be no doubt that Paul mentions his imprisonment in order to show some solidarity with these Ephesians. I’ve mentioned before that the Ephesians were likely faced with various difficulties: pressures from family, oppression from the civil authorities. The overall culture around them was not friendly to them due to their having rejected the pagan religious system.
A lot of them were likely suffering. They had physical pains, such as being impoverished. They had emotional pain due to their relationships that had been disrupted. Life was difficult. Add to that the tension in the church; remember the Jew and Gentile mix. You’d hope that you’d have some relief when you went to church, but you’re faced with these people that you might not readily want to associate with. Life wasn’t all that wonderful, and it might have seemed that Jesus was the cause of it all.
Paul now says that he’s very much in the same boat. He’s been dealing with similar pains and sorrows. He’s not a stranger to the grief and hardship they themselves are experiencing. His liberties are being restricted. He’s been wrongfully accused and hasn’t been able to enjoy the comforts of his own home for several years. Also, he had come into this imprisonment as a result of his own countrymen.
By mentioning his being in prison, Paul helps these Ephesians to see that the Christian life is not necessarily one that will be free of trials and tribulations.
Paul is dispelling the deception that has faced the church all through her ages. It’s this belief that God is supposed to make your life better. It’s this misconception that all your problems get whisked away once you come to Jesus.
This is one of the greatest misconceptions of Christianity even today. Last year, the Barna Group did a major study which revealed something of how prevalent this is. The study found that the most popular worldview in America today is what is called “fake Christianity.” It is the worldview known as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”
This worldview is called fake Christianity because it is often confused with Christianity. In other words, these are people who are not opposed to Christianity in any real way. As a matter of fact, most of the people who affirm Moralistic Therapeutic Deism would call themselves Christian. However, their worldview is anything but Christian.
They believe you should be good to other people. They believe that good people will go to heaven. They themselves believe they are basically good. And they also believe that the Bible is basically wrong. They don’t believe that the Bible is an inerrant book or a reliable communication of God’s revelation.
One of their chief beliefs is that the universal purpose of life is being happy and feeling good about oneself. That’s the therapeutic part. You can see how this can be pawned off as Christianity. God is supposed to make you feel good. He’s supposed to be the answer to all your problems. He is supposed to give you a sense of euphoria and create a little utopia for you to live in. That’s what God is supposed to do, so they say, and anything that doesn’t make you happy must be wrong.
You understand why this is fake Christianity. It has nothing to do with Christ. It is all about you. It’s about how you feel. It’s about how happy you are. God is supposed to be your servant in that he makes your life better.
Paul wants to make it clear that God’s chief end is not to wave a wand and make all your hardships disappear. He’s not the genie in the lamp who will grant you the three wishes that will make your life happy.
The fact of the matter is that Christ may very well be the cause of many of your problems in life. This world can be filled with trials because it is so adverse to God, to the gospel, and to the Christian way of life.
That’s why you have to have the right kind of models ever before you. Just as Paul was setting himself forward as a fellow sufferer, you need to keep in mind the saints who have gone before you who have had to endure hardship as a result of their commitment to Christ.
You’ll need to think about guys like Martin Luther, who was excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church for saying that we are saved by faith alone.
John Knox was made a galley slave. For almost two years he was forced to be one of the men who sat in the bowels of a ship and pulled the oars for hours on end.
You have to think about guys like Jonathan Edwards who, despite being one of the single greatest theologians that this continent has produced, was kicked out of his church. The congregation among whom he labored for over 20 years turned on him and spat him out.
All these men will be helps to you. They will remind you that serving the Lord Jesus is a cause of grief, and this is our lot in this world. Just as Jesus our Lord suffered, those who hold to Christ may find themselves immersed in a world of grief and hardship. We should not be finding our encouragement in life from hoping that God will change our circumstances and make everyone our friend. Our encouragement comes from others who have gone before, men and women who have endured the same kind of hardships.
Paul bears this grief. He does not shy away from the fact that he is a prisoner because he wants us to know that our lives will not always be filled with smiles. We are all united in faith and in our suffering.
Secondly, I’d like you to notice the grace of Paul’s imprisonment.
II. The grace of Paul’s imprisonment
Look at the passage again. You’ll notice that Paul hints at exactly why he is in prison. He says, “For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles.”
Why was Paul a prisoner? Was it because he had committed a crime? Had he stolen anything? Was he being held in bonds because he committed a murder? No; he was in prison as a result of or on behalf of these Gentiles. His bonds were for the high treason of preaching to Gentiles. And it wasn’t just that he was preaching to the Gentiles, it was what he was preaching to the Gentiles. He was preaching that they could come into God’s family by God’s grace.
The Jews were outraged at him. They were angered that Paul was preaching to these Gentiles that they could be saved without having to be circumcised or come under the law of Moses.
To put it another way, the congregation in Ephesus was to look at Paul’s chains and understand that God freely pardons sinners. Paul’s bondage was a reminder that the gospel is not about what we can do for God or what we can to to gain salvation. It is about how gracious God is.
You see, the Jews had made the age old mistake of saying that in order to be saved, you have to get to a certain level. Once you get yourself cleaned up enough, then God will accept you. In other words, God only loves a certain kind of sinner - a good one.
It’s kind of like a zipline that I went on years ago. We were at a family camp in Michigan and they had a super long zipline. It was about the length of a football field. You could really get some good speed going down that thing. The only thing about it is that the launch was about 30-40 feet up, and you had to climb up a series of ladders and stairs to get to the zipline launch.
That’s the way a lot of people view salvation. Sure, God will take you across the gulf of hell and zipline you into heaven. But before he does that, you have to make it up the ladder. Morally, you have to get to a certain level. You have to do a few things and climb up on your own first. Once you get to a certain point, then God will find you acceptable and then he will take you.
That’s the way the Jews were painting things. These Gentiles needed to get up to the level of being a good Jew. Once they did that, then God would be gracious to them.
That’s still a common thought today. You have to be good enough for God. Muslims have this same belief. If their good works outweigh their bad works and if Allah gives them favor, then they can have God’s pardon. That is to say, if they can just reach that platform (and if Allah is in a good mood), then they will be safe.
For a lot of people in our day, it might be slightly different. Most people in our day don’t really care about climbing that ladder. They already think that they are on the platform. Their thinking goes like this: “I’m relatively good. I’ve not done anything too terribly bad. So sure, I should be one who he would save. There’s no reason for him to condemn me.” You see, that’s just as much based in works as thinking you have to do something. It’s just that you think you’ve already done it.
But each of those mindsets is exactly in opposition to the way God operates. The reality is that God doesn’t use a platform. Even if he did, not one of us could reach it if we tried. As a matter of fact, we are all standing on the edge of hell. Whatever sins we may have committed, that is enough to damn us. And those sins (whatever they may be) are treasonous in the eyes of God.
The good news of the gospel is that God saves us where we are. He saves us by his grace through Christ and what He has done.
That’s what Paul is trying to communicate when he says he’s a prisoner on behalf of you Gentiles. He’s reiterating the graciousness of God. He’s reminding us that it isn’t about how many laws we can follow or how much good we can do in God’s eyes. It’s not about us at all. It’s about God. It’s about how our Lord is willing to overlook the multitude of our sins. That’s the grace of Paul’s imprisonment.
Thirdly, l want you to notice the glory of Paul’s imprisonment.
III. The glory of Paul’s imprisonment
What can be glorious about being in prison? Well, as with much of life, your circumstances depend on your perspective. Do you know that how you look at what has happened is (more often than not) of greater importance than what has actually happened? Your perspective has the ability to radically alter your life.
Certainly that’s what we see in Paul. Paul’s perspective made his situation much better than it might have been otherwise.
Look again at what he says. Notice the language he uses. Notice his perspective. He says he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
John MacArthur, in his commentary, makes a note on the grammar here. He says that it is a genitive of origin. So Paul is saying that the source (or the cause) of his imprisonment is not owing to the Jews or the Romans. He’s not a prisoner of Caesar or of the Jewish high priest. He’s a prisoner of Christ. In other words, Christ is the one who put him there. Christ is the one who has him under house arrest.
Paul understands that it is the Lord Jesus who is in control of all things. His life is being governed by God’s almighty hand. And he knows that if God willed it, the doors could fly open, the guards could be paralyzed, and he could walk right out of there.
But at this moment, he is under arrest. It is not because any human has willed it. It is because God himself has every bit of intention that he be there.
Through this imprisonment, we came to have the book of Ephesians. During this imprisonment Paul would also write Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. You might say that Christ put him under arrest in order to allow us to have these precious epistles. Had Paul not been in these chains, we would likely be missing some of the greatest portions of the New Testament. We would never have had an opportunity to gain the blessing of what God has revealed in these books.
You might say that Paul wears this imprisonment as a badge. He is not ashamed that he is under lock and key. There is a sense in which Paul revels in his bondage, for he knows that, in the ultimate sense of things, men do not control his life. He is ever at the disposal of Almighty God and he trusts that his life is directed by God’s sovereign hand.
The Ephesians may take the same comfort. While enduring their trials, they may recognize that nothing comes upon them that the Lord himself did not superintend. No matter how evil it may seem, no matter how dire their circumstances may become, they may rest in knowing that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
Should they be put in prison or should they find themselves suffering grief upon grief, they too can take satisfaction that no man rules their life. They will be prisoners of Jesus Christ. If they be stripped of life’s goods, they may trust that Christ has not abandoned them. The only guard who watches over their life is Jesus himself.
It may do us some good too, whatever our circumstances may be. We may recognize that the perspective we have should rule and overrule the circumstances we find ourselves in.
Oftentimes things are not as bad as we often conclude, if we first look at them from the right angle.
When we take the perspective that our lot in life is being directed by God’s supreme wisdom, then we may rest assured that the Lord’s will is being done. What his plans are we may not know, but we can be assured that no man rules us.