In our text today, the Apostle Paul calls himself "a prisoner for the Lord." The Greek word the Apostle uses for prisoner is "desmios" which was also used of Barabbas in Matthew 27:16. Paul likened himself to someone like Barabbas, like the Lord Jesus did, who took the place of Barabbas.
You will remember that Ephesians was written from Rome where Paul was a prisoner of Rome. Yet, he saw beyond the Roman chains to the One to whom he truly was a prisoner, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul became the Lord’s prisoner on the road to Damascus and never sought to be free of that divine imprisonment. This imprisonment is what defined him most after coming into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
The Apostle Paul saw behind the visible things to the invisible things. He knew that the Lord either allowed his imprisonment or caused it. He knew that he was in the middle of the Father's will for his life and he rested in that. As Paul teaches in Galatians 5, we either feed the flesh amid our trials or we feed the Spirit of God who has made us alive to God.
In God's kingdom there are different rules by which He governs. God doesn't treat us all the very same way. We are all different, with different callings. Yet, God has certain rules by which He deals with us. He TAYLORS His kingdom to each of us.
We are all His prisoners by choice. Some of us may end up in literal prison, like Paul. But, most of us will not. Yet, we are all, as believers in Jesus Christ, prisoners of the Lord. What this means is He defines us. And, if He doesn't define us, something else will.
We are prisoners because of our position in Christ. This position is perfect. In fact, in Christ, we are viewed as perfect in the eyes of God. From the security of this position, we live our lives. You see, our values aren't God's values. His may be ours, but He will never value our values if they are different than Him.
We think God is not fair, and we are right. He is just. He operates out of His justice. And, we want our expectations filled. At this point, we compare our taylor-made calling with that of other believers. This explains why we struggle at being prisoners of the Lord.
When the Apostle wrote, "live a life worthy of the calling you have received," he is not compelling us to earn or maintain our worthiness before God. He couldn't say this because we never earned God's favor in the first place. What he meant was: "live your life out of your worthiness in Christ."
When we find our security in the person and worth of the Lord Jesus, our motivation for walking in God's way is changed from selfishness to selflessness. We obey for the sake of God and others.
The calling of which Paul writes in v.1 is spelled out in the first three chapters of this letter. The first three chapters describe what we have in Christ, as compared with our former condition as enemies of God.
Our calling is to declare the work of Jesus Christ. We are to talk about the reality of a life-changing encounter with the living Christ, and to demonstrate that change by an unselfish love-filled life. This is what this life is all about. This is why Paul writes it the way he does ... "As a prisoner for the Lord."
Our calling is to declare the work of Jesus Christ. We are to talk about the reality of a life-changing encounter with the living Christ, and to demonstrate that change by an unselfish love-filled life. This is what this life is all about. This is why Paul writes it the way he does ... "As a prisoner for the Lord."
