Ephesians 3.1-7 (1)
Pray Psalm 142.5-7.
I cried out to You, O LORD:
I said, “You are my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.
Attend to my cry,
For I am brought very low;
Deliver me from my persecutors,
For they are stronger than I.
Bring my soul out of prison,
That I may praise Your name;
The righteous shall surround me,
For You shall deal bountifully with me.”
Sing Psalm 142.5-7.
(Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth)
Out of prison lead me, LORD; thanks and praise to You shall be.
Righteous men armed with Your Word will Your grace bestow on me.
Refrain vv. 5, 6
LORD, You are my Refuge strong! O receive my plaintive song!
Read Ephesians 3.1-7; meditate on verse 1.
How did Paul describe himself? Why? What does that suggest?
Preparation
1. What “reason” did Paul have in mind for what he was about to write (Eph. 2.19-22)?
2. Why was he a prisoner of Christ Jesus?
Meditation
Perhaps you remember one of the most-loved compositions of American pop song artist, Carole King:
Chains! My baby’s got me locked up in chains,
And they ain’t the kind that you can see.
Oh oh, these chains of love got a hold on me.
The essence of her song is, faced with a temptation to be untrue, the love her beloved has for her, and she for him, keep her from giving in. She was locked up in chains of love; and so was the apostle Paul, and not just at the time of his writing the book of Ephesians.
Paul was a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and no amount of distraction, temptation, weariness, opposition, persecution, or other hardship could cause him to want to be free of those chains. Paul was under house arrest in Rome as he wrote these words, and in so doing, he scoffed at his Roman imprisonment and set his situation into a larger, more glorious and eternal setting.
We are all prisoners to someone or something that has a hold on our soul—our thoughts, desires, longings, values, and priorities. And that’s just the way it ought to be when we are prisoners of Christ. Any other form of imprisonment is idolatry and sin; you won’t find any strength there to resist the devil or to know a full and abundant life in the Lord. Whose prisoner are you?
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Paul defined himself as a prisoner: a person held in custody, captivity, or a condition of forcible restraint; one deprived of freedom of expression or action; one who is confined in a prison.
And in many respects, he fulfilled each of those criteria.
He was being held under house arrest in Rome. He was gloriously deprived of the freedom to sin, now that he belonged to Christ. And he was confined under the care of God. Had he not been under house arrest, the other two would have remained a constant.
“And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6.18).
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8.2).
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12.1, 2).
No one who thought he was a “free agent” would have been able to write those words.
Our bodies can be cruelly locked up by enemies, against our will; but our spirits we willingly lock up in the care of Christ—and hope He throws away the key. We never desire to be free from Him, always wanting to be within His sphere of tender loving care.
“Great are Your tender mercies, O LORD…” (Ps. 119.156).
“Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, for they are from of old” (Ps. 25.6).
“Through the tender mercy of our God,
with which The Dayspring from on high has visited us;
to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Lk. 1.78, 79).
That Dayspring, Jesus, our Supreme example, gave us a vision of how we should see this idea.
When standing before Pilate, who had said to Him,
“Do you not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?”
Jesus’ response was thus:
“You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above” (Jn. 19.10, 11).
And Joseph, probably one of the most successful prisoners of the Old Testament (Gen. 39.20-23),
in summation of the situation said: “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good,
in order to bring it about as it is today, to save many people alive” (Gen. 50.20).
True Freedom can only be found in our relationship with Christ Jesus—as His prisoner.
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…
Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (Jn. 8.32, 36).
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free,
and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5.1).
We, like Paul, should choose to be “the prisoner of Christ Jesus” to be His show of grace to those in our Personal Mission Field (our Gentiles) who are still in bondage to the enemy of their souls (1 Pet. 5.8).
“For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise His own people who are prisoners” (Ps. 69.33 ESV).
A prisoner through and through—safe and secure—when those chains of love get a hold on you!
Reflection
1. How would other people know that you are a prisoner of Jesus Christ?
2. Why do you think many people don’t find being a prisoner of Christ an attractive idea?
3. As prisoners of Christ, we are truly free. Free of what? Free unto what?
Who can, without trembling, reflect upon the misery of a person, separated for ever from the people of God, cut off from the body of Christ, fallen from the covenant of promise, having no hope, no Savior, and without any God but a God of vengeance, to all eternity? Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Ephesians 2.11, 12
Pray Psalm 142.1-6.
What troubles are besetting you? What trials or challenges lie ahead? Thank the Lord that He sees, He will guide your steps, and He is your refuge.
Sing Psalm 142.1-6.
(Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth)
With my voice, O LORD, I cry—hear my plea for mercy, LORD!
My complaint mounts up on high, bringing You my troubled word:
Refrain vv. 5, 6
LORD, You are my Refuge strong! O receive my plaintive song!
When my spirit faints away, You my falt’ring pathway know;
where I take my journey they traps have hidden to my woe.
Refrain
LORD, look to my right and see: None takes notice of my plight.
Is there refuge left for me? Is my soul out of Your sight?
Refrain
Hear my cry, LORD, I am low! They are strong who seek my soul.
Jesus frees from every foe; He will keep and make me whole!
Refrain
T. M. and Susie Moore
Jesus also has the devil locked up in chains, but they aren’t chains of love; they’re chains of wrath, and he’s not happy about it. Learn more about the devil’s defeat and imprisonment in our book, Satan Bound.
Other columns of interest this week: In our ReVision series on “The Kingdom Economy” we continue looking at ways the Law of God applies to our lives. This week our Read Moore podcast wraps up our consideration of the question, What in Heaven Is Jesus Doing on Earth?; and our Crosfigell teaching letter continues our study of the life of Brigit, a contemporary of Brendan. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
