“Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, 2 And to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: 3 Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Let me draw your attention back to the very first part of the first verse that says “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” Notice, Paul doesn’t say that he’s a prisoner of Nero, or a prisoner of Roman. And though Paul technically was a prisoner, he only recognizes that he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Now how many of you would rather be a prisoner of Jesus Christ rather than Nero?
Now, if you hold your place right there and go back with me to II Timothy, chapter 2, and I’m going to show you somebody else you could be a prisoner to. In verse 25 Paul says, “25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” That is a description of someone that is a prisoner of Satan.
I’m glad that I am saved to the uttermost this morning and I am no longer a captive to Satan. AMEN? Folks, I’m just saying that I am not a prisoner of Satan and I have no desire to be held captive to Satan. Now there’s a lot of people I wouldn’t want to be a prisoner of:
- I wouldn’t want to be a prisoner to the Russian Army
- I wouldn’t want to be a prisoner of the Chinese Army
- I wouldn’t want to be a prisoner of ISIS or the Taliban
But more importantly than all those, I would not want to be a prisoner to Satan at all. And the Bible is clear that people can be taken into Satan’s snare at any time – not at their will, but at his will.
But thank God, like Paul, you and I can be prisoners of the LORD Jesus Christ. Now, by way of introduction, Paul, in II Corinthians 11 said that “he was in prisons often,” frequently. You might say Paul was a jailbird! This is something Paul knew something about. For the most part, but being in prison is not a good thing. But in this passage, Paul’s mention of being a prisoner to Jesus Christ doesn’t seem like a bad thing at all. In Fact, I would even say that he was happy about it. He’s not bitter about it, he’s happy!
- Joseph in the Old Testament – he spent time in prison.
- The prophet Jeremiah – he spent some time in prison.
- All 12 of the disciples were in prison.
- Paul spent time in prison.
- Silas spent time in prison.
- Aristarchus and Marcus spent time in prison.
- Jesus Christ Himself was a prisoner.
How many of you in here this morning are glad that you never had to spend a day in prison for Jesus Christ? That you’ve never had to suffer in prison for being a Christian – cause folks, there’s a lot of people who have.
So, Paul makes it very clear that he is not a prisoner of Nero, or Ceasar, or Roman, but he is a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 3:1, “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,”
Ephesians 4:1 “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,”
So, Paul is claiming to be a prisoner – not of Nero, not of Roman, But of Jesus Christ. So, from the very offset of this letter Paul pens to Philemon, he starts by saying, “Philemon, I want you to know I am a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Geneva Convention of 1909 states that a prisoner must be given food, clothing, correspondence and quarters.” But now that was about the limit of it. Outside of those things, prisoners of war, for the most part were dealt with very harshly.
PAUL HAD A HUMBLE MINDSET
I remember very vividly back when I was a little boy and down the road from our house was the “chain-gang.” We’d often see those prisoners working in the fields, chained together, they had quarters in a big old open bay old WWII barracks building, they had food, they had clothes, and I’m sure they had correspondence. In fact, every Sunday afternoon, they had family visitation at the Chain gang. But I think I can say without reservation there was not one person that was happy to be a part of that chain gang. Of course, our society got rid of the chain gangs because they didn’t want to embarrass the convicts – all I will say to that is that if you didn’t want to be embarrass – don’t commit the crime!
Just a few weeks ago, Kim and I saw a car pulled over, there were about 5 police cars around that car. They had the driver out facing the car and they were putting handcuffs on the person. Now folks, this was in the middle of the day on John B White BLVD. How embarrassing that must of been for that person to be in bonds in front of everyone.
So, I think that for Paul to refer to himself as a prisoner, tells us that he didn’t think more highly of himself than he should have, but he humbled himself before the Lord Jesus Christ. “I’m not the statesman. I’m not the head of the Church. He was simply a prisoner to the one Who is the head of the church!
Can I say this morning, it will be a good day when you and I learn to develop a humble heart and give Jesus the Glory and Honor that He and He alone deserves.
Paul says, “I’m just a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” And I think that plays well for him in the book of Philemon.
PAUL HAD A SERVANTS HEART (Eph. 3:1)
Paul wasn’t a prisoner to be served, but to serve. I have known a few people that spent time in maximum security prisons. What I learned from them is that while they were there, they didn’t just sit around in a cell, but they were assigned different trades. Some worked as mechanics, some worked in metal shops, some were taught how to make leather products. They were taught a trade, they were taught to serve!
So, as a good prisoner, Paul is saying here that he is here not only as a prisoner OF Jesus Christ, but he is also a prisoner FOR you – the gentiles.
And folks, I’ll tell you right now, a church that is here – not to get what they can – but to give what they can – THAT’S THE CHURCH YOU WANT TO BE A PART OF!
The idea that “I am not here to gain for myself, but I am here to give to others,” that’s what being a servant is.
Paul said, “I’m a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and I am here to serve you – I am on work detail.”
I read a story years ago about D.L. Moody, the founder of Moody Bible Institute. He was having a revival at the college and had several preachers coming in. D.L. Moody asked one of the students if he would shine the shoes of all the preachers that were speaking. That student replied, “I’m not going to shine the shoes of those preachers. I didn’t come here to shine shoes, I came here to learn how to preach.” So DL Moody stayed up all night and personally shined the shoes of all those preachers and then placed them at their doors for them.
You asked, “Well what happened to that student?” I don’t know. I don’t anything about him or what happened to him. BUT IT KNOW WHO D.L. Moody is!”
I can tell you right now that the thing that sets Rally Point Biker Church apart from every other church around here is that we have a group of people that come here every Sunday with the attitude of service, not an attitude to be served.
PAUL WAS TOTALLY DEPENDENT UPON WHAT JESUS CHRIST DETERMINES FOR HIS LIFE
I remember when I was getting ready to finish High School, and my dad refused to pay for me to go to college, because I wasn’t acting like I wanted to go to college. So, I decided I was going to join the Army let them pay for my college. I wasn’t going to let my daddy tell me what to do anymore – and instead, I joined the Army so about 400 other people could tell me what to do! Let me tell you what I learned when I got to Basic Infantry Training:
- I learned that somebody was going to tell me what I had to wear
- Somebody was going to tell me what I could eat and how long I had to eat it;
- Somebody was going to tell me how to keep my hair.
- Somebody was going to tell me when I could take a shower.
- Somebody was going to tell me when I had to go to bed and when I had to get up.
- Somebody was going to tell me when to exercise and how long I was going to exercise.
- If I went somewhere, somebody was telling me how I was going to get there, the route I would take and how long I had to get there.
EVERY FACET OF MY LIFE WAS DIRECTED BY SOMEBODY ELSE! I WAS COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON MY LEADERSHIP.
I think that is the message Paul was conveying here In Philemon 1, “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer, 2 and to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier, and to the church in thy house: 3 grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
I think Paul was saying “Lord, thank you for waking me up today. I know every area of my life is directed by You. LORD, I am completely dependent on you. LORD, direct my path.”
Fighting for My Pea Patch 