Lewis Paul Lehman, who is the composer of that
hymn, went to glory just about a month ago during
the Christmas Eve service in their church. Let's
open our Bibles together, please, to the book
of Ephesians, where we begin today looking at
the first 13 verses. Ephesians chapter 3. God
created mankind to have a purpose in life. People
need a direction in which to go. People must
have a goal to strive for. That is innately a
part of the makeup of the human being. We observe
in the world around us many different kinds of
goals and purposes. There are those who live
for money or politics or philanthropy, even crime.
There are some who have set as their goal corporate
power. Others, political revolution. Some, a
happy family. Others wish to be a star. And there
are those who sadly have as their goal in life
getting that next high. Those of us who know
the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior have an eternal
purpose in life, not one that is merely for the
few years that we spend in this world, but one
that starts now and reaches on into the forever
that is to come. And we can see that purpose
realized not for our own sakes, but for the glory
of God. We are able, by grace, to be willingly
used of God as his servants, his instruments,
in carrying out his sovereign and divine purpose
in human history. And we have before us today
in our text an example of a person like that
too, and that is the Apostle Paul. He says, For
this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus,
for the sake of you Gentiles, If indeed you have
heard of the stewardship of God's grace which
was given to me for you, that by revelation there
was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before
in brief. And by referring to this, when you
read, you can understand my insight into the
mystery of Christ. Then down to verse 7, where
he speaks of the gospel of which I was made a
minister. according to the gift of God's grace
which was given to me, according to the working
of his power. The paragraph that we have before
us in all 13 verses deals with a marvelous mystery
which God has revealed to mankind. There are
three aspects of the mystery that are unveiled
for us in these verses. First, he talks about
the messenger of the mystery, the Apostle Paul.
And then he talks about the meaning of the mystery.
What is this mystery that God has revealed? And
thirdly, he explains to us something of the mission
of the mystery. Those three topics will be our
subjects for this Sunday and the next two that
we have together. Today we want to talk about
the messenger. of the mystery of Christ. When
it came to revealing the heart of his redemptive
plan, that is, a body of redeemed people made
up of Jew and Gentile, all united to Jesus Christ,
when it came to revealing, I say, the heart of
that plan, God chose to employ a particular vessel,
Saul of Tarsus. It was a remarkable choice any
way you look at it. This man was intensely opposed
to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps
of all the people in that generation, he was
the most unlikely person that one might have
picked to be the preacher and the proclaimer
of the mystery of Christ. But he was God's choice.
Paul, as he came to be called, was God's man
to be, the messenger of the mystery. May I say
that you today, you are God's person too. You
have been chosen by God to be one to proclaim
the glories of him who has called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. That is not
an accident, my friend. any more than Paul's
conversion and call to ministry was an accident.
Before you were born, God laid his eyes of love
and election upon you and chose you for himself.
And he has called you, as he called Paul in that
foundational generation, to be a messenger of
the mystery. Now Paul was a messenger in a unique
sense. as we shall discover this morning. And
yet all of us share the joy of being messengers
too. As we see how Paul viewed himself in both
his privilege and his role as the messenger of
the ministry, we can see applications for our
own lives and our service for Christ. In the
first place, Paul saw his privilege as a messenger
of the ministry. as involving a special relationship
to the Gentiles. And corresponding to that privilege,
he saw his role as that of a prisoner. So do
you understand how Paul saw himself first? First
he saw his privilege as including a special relationship
to the Gentiles, resulting in his being a prisoner.
What do we mean by prisoner? Well, obviously
a prisoner is one whose freedom has been restrained.
He is one who is in custody or in captivity.
And that's how Paul saw himself in verse 1 when
he says, I, Paul, the prisoner. Paul saw his
liberty as being confined. Now that was true
literally, of course, because as Paul wrote this
epistle, he was in prison. that is, under house
arrest in Rome, waiting to be heard before Caesar.
A period of time that lasted perhaps two years.
Most Bible scholars believe that Paul had actually
two imprisonments, the latter one ending in his
execution, but this being the former one. He
was released from this time of imprisonment and
allowed to minister again before being arrested
for the final time. As he pens these words to
the Ephesian believers whom he loves so dearly,
he writes as a literal prisoner. He is a legal
prisoner of Rome. But there are other kinds of
prisoners than legal prisoners. For example,
there are prisoners of love, and I think here
of marriage. You say, well, that sort of describes
my marriage. No, listen. Listen to what I want
to say about it. God didn't intend for marriage
to be a miserable prison. If marriage is that
way, then something needs to happen to make it
the kind of marriage God wants it to be. And
something can happen to it if both husband and
wife give themselves to the Lord and let the
Lord work in that marriage. But there is something
imprisoning about marriage because marriage does
restrict liberty. I have talked to a few young
men in my time who have failed to realize that
early enough. They have felt that after marrying
they could continue their sports four times a
week. And you can't do that. Because you see,
when one enters into marriage, there is a certain
confinement that is involved, a confinement of
love. One desires to restrict activity so as
to focus on the object of his love and devotion.
Someone has said the marriage ring is a tourniquet
that cuts off circulation. Exactly. Exactly.
That's the point here. And it doesn't do that
out of... a legal requirement, but it does it
rather out of love and devotion to the wife,
to the husband. Love causes limitations. To be
a joy, however, a pleasure. And why is that?
Because those limitations are for the good of
the one, the benefit of the one who is loved.
There is a desire to please and not to hurt.
Now, although Paul was a legal prisoner, to be
sure, I want you to notice that he did not call
himself Paul the prisoner of Rome. You see that?
He doesn't even call himself Paul the prisoner
of the Gentiles. He says it's for the sake of
the Gentiles, but he calls himself Paul the prisoner
of Jesus Christ. I want to tell you that's significant.
It's important for you and me to get a hold of
that kind of an imprisonment. It is an imprisonment
that comes from love and devotion to Jesus Christ.
As far as Paul was concerned, there was nothing
that was too much for him to give up for the
Lord Jesus Christ. He says this another way back
in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Barry puts it this
way in verse 14. For the love of Christ controls
us. The love of Christ constrains us. The love
of Christ holds us together. Having concluded
this, that one died for all, therefore all died,
and he died for all, that they who live should
no longer live for themselves. That is, that
we who live as his children, we who live because
of his death, burial, and resurrection, that
we who live should no longer live for the advantage
of ourselves, but rather for the advantage of
him who died and rose again on our behalf. What
is Paul saying? He is saying that the love of
Jesus Christ controls us. It becomes a prison
of love. because of our devotion to him, because
of his love for us, we are willing to say, Lord,
whatever the cost, Lord, whatever the confinement,
Lord, whatever the cell may be, I am willing
to experience that because I am your prisoner.
Notice that he was a prisoner, though, for the
sake of the Gentiles, and that again was literal.
It was Paul's insistence upon the gospel to the
Gentiles that got him into the jam in Jerusalem
that ended up in his being in Rome in this incarceration.
You can read about that in Acts 20 and 21. It
was literally for the sake of the Gentiles. Paul
had another thought that went parallel with this.
It was his faithful service to Jesus Christ.
It was his devotion to the will of God that caused
him to be in this prison for the sake of the
Gentiles. That was his special commission. You
can read about it as early as Acts chapter 9.
When Ananias was told to go and minister to Paul,
God said to Ananias, it's because he is my chosen
instrument to minister to the Gentiles. Now there
in that account of his conversion in Acts 9,
We have very little said about what Paul heard
on the road to Damascus. But over in the 26th
chapter of Acts, he tells us more of what Jesus
said to him there on the road to Damascus. And
among the things made clear to Paul right there
from the very first, the first few minutes of
his conversion, was that God was going to send
him to the Gentiles in his service for Christ
as the messenger of the mystery. Paul saw his
privilege as involving a special relationship
to the Gentiles, so much so that he calls himself
the Apostle of the Gentiles, Romans 11, 13. In
Galatians 2, verses 7 -9, he says Peter was especially
sent to the Jews, but he says, I am especially
sent to the Gentiles. And Paul loved the Gentiles.
He boasted of his ministry to them. Back in the
15th chapter of the book of Romans, he writes
to the people in the very city where he was held
prisoner at the time that he writes Ephesians.
And he says in verse 15 of Romans 15, I have
written very boldly to you on some points so
as to remind you again, because of the grace
that was given to me from God, to be a minister
of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. ministering
as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering
of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified
by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in Christ Jesus
I found reason for boasting in things pertaining
to God. Paul is saying, I boast in my special
relationship to the Gentiles. He has sent me
to proclaim his gospel to them. And he says,
now I offer them as a priest unto God. the Holy
Spirit sanctifying the Gentiles as I offer them
up, he says. Because of that special relationship
that he had, he saw himself as well as a prisoner.
Because of his love and devotion to Christ, Paul
was content to do the will of Christ, and he
found in the will of Christ the greatest possible
fulfillment, even though it meant an earthly
prison cell. Are you a prisoner of Jesus Christ?
Every one of us today is a prisoner of something
or someone if you really stop to think about
it. Perhaps those who are in the greatest prison
are those who think that they are complete liberty.
There are those who are imprisoned to their own
lusts, to the gratifying of their own selfish
desires. There are those who are imprisoned to
the world system. There are those who are imprisoned
to the peer group pressure around them. They
easily conform themselves to their friends, even
though those friends may be ungodly. Because
they're in prison, you see. They're the prisoner
of the peer group. The prisoner of their own
lusts. The prisoner of the world. And so I ask,
who is it that holds the key to your cell? If
it is the Lord Jesus Christ, then what are the
restrictions which you have gladly accepted,
On your liberty so that you might be as prisoner.
How has your life been confined as a prisoner?
You can't be a prisoner without it being confined
and limited in some way. All of us are prisoners
of something or someone. I tell you the greatest
liberty, the greatest fulfillment in life Is
knowing oneself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
ask the Apostle Paul. But that too brings confinement.
How has that confinement with him as your Lord
been expressed, as your liberty has been restricted?
It's a practical question. Another way that we
can ask that perhaps with some application is,
to whom has God especially sent you? As Christ's
prisoner, Paul was sent to the Gentiles. And
that had tremendous ramifications in his life.
Think of the suffering, think of the persecution
that he went through because he was especially
sent to that group, us, our ancestors. Then to
whom have you been sent as the prisoner of Jesus
Christ? Is it to that person that's been on your
heart for the last few weeks that you want to
witness to there in the office, in the neighborhood?
Are you a prisoner of Jesus Christ for your classroom,
for your classmates in your high school, your
junior high campus, your college campus? Are
you a prisoner of Jesus Christ allowing your
own liberty to be restricted for his sake and
for the sake of that person, that group? Are
you willing to allow yourself to be the prisoner
of Jesus Christ for some tribe in some far -off
country that has yet to hear the gospel of Christ?
This is a very practical picture of what we are
to be, as was Paul, a prisoner. Paul saw that
his privilege as the messenger of Christ involved
his having a special relationship to the Gentiles
and being a prisoner of the Lord. That was the
role. But secondly, he saw that as the messenger
of the mystery of Christ, he had the privilege
of having a special revelation from God. And
out of that flowed... a sense of his being a
steward. That's the role, you see. The privilege,
his having, rather, a special revelation from
God. And the role that came from that, a steward.
One who is charged with a responsibility related
to that revelation. What is a revelation? A revelation
is an unveiling. It's to take the wraps off of
something. The creation around us is said to
be a revelation of God. His eternal deity and
power are exposed by the facts of nature. Therefore,
it's called natural revelation. We have in our
hands or our laps today a special revelation
from God written in ink on paper. It reveals
what God is like. It is the Bible. This is revelation
to us. Now there was other revelation given in
the early days of this age. We mentioned the
prophets last week who were given direct revelation
from God to speak to specific situations, local
situations in their day. That was revelation
from God, but it was not intended to be written
down and recorded for all of time. For that purpose,
God chose people like Paul and Peter and Luke
and Matthew and Mark and John so that they might
write for all of time by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, revelation of God, an unveiling
of what God is like. That's what we have here.
Now Paul here in this book writes for us about
the mystery. The mystery of Christ. It was a
new truth from God. It was not something which
he concocted and put together. But it was given
to him. And that's why he says what he does in
verse 4. He says, by referring to this, the fact
that it's a mystery, you can understand my insight.
He says, it's not that I thought it up, but it
is that God gave it to me. Now he reiterates
this in Galatians. I'd like you to turn just
back a few pages to chapter 1 of Galatians and
look to see what Paul says in the first chapter
in the 11th verse. He says, I would have you
know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
by me is not according to man. For I neither
received it from man nor was I taught it. But
I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now Paul is saying and claiming that the message
that he preached did not come from him. It did
not come from any other human being. But he got
it directly from Christ. He says more about that
at the end of verse 16. He says, I did not immediately
consult with flesh and blood. That is after his
conversion. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those
who were apostles before me, Peter and the gang.
He said, but I went away to Arabia and returned
once more to Damascus. Then three years later,
I went up to Jerusalem. You say, when was it
that Paul got this special new truth from God,
this mystery? Well, it was sometime, probably,
while he was in Arabia. As you look at the chronology
of his life, that seems to be the most logical
place to fit it in. After he was converted into
Damascus, Paul went away. He left people. He
left civilization and went off into Arabia, as
much as we know, into the desert, into the wilderness,
and was there for a period of time. And it was
that during those weeks and months that he was
there, that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to Paul
insight and understanding, which he calls here
the mystery. We'll get more into the meaning
of it next week. But please understand, he did
not get this from Peter or any of the other apostles.
He did not create this message himself. He got
it from Christ. It is a special revelation from
God to Paul. and from Paul then to all of us
in this age. Paul looked upon this mystery given
to him as a stewardship of God's grace. That's
what he says in chapter 3 and verse 2 of Ephesians.
That word stewardship is an interesting word.
It's oikonomia. It's the putting together of
two words, oikos and noma, house, law. What it
was used to refer to was the law or the management
or the administration of a household. And so
a man of wealth in that day would hire a faithful
person to be his steward. What he did was called
his stewardship. It was his management of that
household. Now what Paul says here is that God
gave to him this message. called the mystery,
so that he might manage it in its distribution.
He personally was responsible as a steward to
God for getting this message out. Now, please
understand that this message was not given solely
to Paul, but it was given especially to Paul
and more fully to Paul, that he might make it
known to the Gentiles. as well as of the Jews,
and that he might write it by inspiration in
the book of Ephesians so that on this day in
1987 you and I might look at this text and understand
what he heard 2 ,000 years ago from Jesus Christ
personally. Now as a steward, and that was the
role that he saw himself in, Paul knew that he
needed to serve the Lord in a certain way. You
see, a steward was not just anybody. To be a
steward meant to have an exalted position. I
suppose in some sense we might call the CEO today,
the chief executive officer. That's what Paul
was regarding the mystery of Christ. Now if we
go back to the book of 1 Corinthians, we can
see how Paul understood his responsibility as
the CEO. or the steward. First in 1 Corinthians
chapter 4, in verse 1, he says, Let a man regard
us, himself and his party, he says, in this manner,
as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
of God. Notice that phrase. In this case, moreover,
it is required of stewards that one be found
trustworthy. As a steward, Paul sought to serve
the Lord, first of all, faithfully. What does
it mean to serve the Lord faithfully? To be faithful
means to have a right heart attitude toward one's
assigned duty. That's faithfulness. To have a
right heart attitude toward one's assignment.
All of us have been disappointed this week to
read of the... gentleman from St. Paul who at
least has been accused of being a spy in the
Soviet Union, passing on secrets of our government
to KGB agents. If in fact that is true regarding
him, and I guess time will tell, then he is a
man who has been unfaithful. His hard attitude
was not right regarding our government and regarding
his duty, and it led to unfaithful actions. So
faithfulness begins as an attitude. Faithfulness
is a right heart attitude towards my duty to
Jesus Christ as his steward. Now in the same
chapter, in the 21st verse, the apostle gives
us another word that describes a steward. He
says, what do you desire? He's writing now, remember,
to a church that was disobedient, childish, immature,
carnal. He says, shall I come to you with a rod
or with love and a spirit of gentleness? So I
say to you that Paul not only strived for faithfulness,
but in his stewardship he strived for gentleness.
What is gentleness? I would like to define it
today as a right heart attitude toward people.
Paul did not see himself as an overlord or as
a bully, as a steward. I think some of the CEOs
of our land would be better off if they could
understand the heart of what it means to be a
CEO biblically. It does not mean to push people
around, to step on them, crunch them, but it
means to treat them gently. Paul wrote to the
Thessalonians and he said, but we were among
you as gentle as a nursing mother. There is not
a more beautiful picture of gentleness than that.
And Paul says, we, as we served the Lord, as
we were his stewards, we were gentle, as gentle
as a mother who is nursing her baby. A steward
must be gentle. And then if you turn with me
to chapter 9, we see another way that he would
describe his stewardship. Faithfulness, gentleness,
thirdly, willingness. He says in verse 16 of
chapter 9, If I preach the gospel, I have nothing
to boast of, for I am under compulsion. For woe
is me if I do not preach the gospel. If I do
this voluntarily, I have a reward. If against
my will, I still have a stewardship entrusted
to me. Paul says I can either serve the Lord
reluctantly, stubbornly, against my will, and
just fulfill my duty. or I can do it willingly.
And he says, if I do it willingly, I get reward.
So as we serve the Lord today as stewards, it
means to serve the Lord with faithfulness, with
gentleness, with willingness. You say, what is
willingness? I would define that as a right heart
attitude toward God. Willingness. Say in our
hearts, Lord, whatever you say, I'll do it. I'm
your steward. You just tell me. I'll do it, Lord.
I'll be your man. I'll be your woman. Lord, you've
entrusted to me a great message. I'm responsible
for it, Lord, in my day. Lord, I seek to be faithful.
I seek to be gentle. Faithful to the message.
Gentle in dealing with people. I seek to be willing.
wholeheartedly in serving you. You say, well,
am I really a steward? Yes. Yes, you are. So
am I. 1 Peter 4 .10 says that all of us are stewards
of the manifold grace of God, and therefore we
are to employ our gifts, he says accordingly.
You see what I'm trying to say this morning?
As surely as Paul was a prisoner, so are we prisoners
of something or someone. Would to God it was
Jesus Christ. Paul saw himself as a steward.
We are stewards also. Just as Paul was a steward
of the mysteries of Christ, we too follow in
his train and have the joy of proclaiming that
message. We are stewards of the mystery. Thirdly,
Paul saw... in his role as a messenger of the
mysteries of Christ. His privilege is that involving
a special responsibility for the gospel, for
the gospel message itself. Go back to Ephesians
with me and look again in chapter 3 at verse
7. He mentions the gospel in verse 6, and then
he says, of which I was made a deacon. He's not
talking here about the office of deacon in the
church, but he's talking in a more generic, broad
sense. He says, I am a deacon, a servant of the
gospel. Paul saw that he had a two -fold responsibility
as one who was a servant, a deacon of the gospel.
That was his special responsibility. It's twofold.
First of all, it is to proclaim the gospel. Secondly,
it is to protect the gospel. Would you write
that down in your mind? Because you see, that
is our responsibility today as the servants of
the gospel of God. We ought to proclaim it, and
we ought to protect it. Paul says here in Ephesians
3, To me the very least of all saints this grace
was given, to preach. To preach the good news
to the Gentiles. The unsearchable, unfathomable
riches of Christ. To bring the light. That's
what we're about, folks. That's why we're here
as a church. That's why we witness to people.
That's why we build bridges into people's lives.
So that we might proclaim Christ. That's why
we invest in missionaries and send them overseas.
We are here to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is our responsibility as servants, as servants
of the gospel. I'd like for you to turn just
quickly back to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 because
there's some important principles here that I
want us to look at. As we proclaim the gospel
of Christ, Paul tells us how to do it. He tells
us, for example, here in verses 20 and 21. I'll
just read verse 20 for time's sake. He says,
To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win
the Jews, to those who are under the law as under
the law. Then verse 21, he says, To those who
are without the law as without the law, though
not being without the law of God, but under the
law of Christ, that I may win those who are without
law. What is Paul saying here? He is saying,
I am to proclaim the gospel of Christ without
respect of persons. Those under the law, the
Jews. Those without the law, the Gentiles. He
says it makes no difference. Be it Jew or Gentile,
the weak or the strong, I am to proclaim the
gospel of Christ. We may say it today, be it
rich or poor. Be it English speaking or non -English
speaking. Be it black or white or yellow. or
read, without respect of persons, that's the
key phrase, we are to proclaim the gospel. Secondly,
he says here in this chapter, in verse 18, we
are to proclaim the gospel without selfish motives.
He says, what then is my reward? That when I
preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without
charge. Paul had a right to ask of them support,
financial support, because of his ministry. He
says, I refuse that because I don't want you
to be confused. He says, I am preaching the gospel
to you without any selfish motive whatsoever
witness to this fact, he says. I've claimed no
salary, no support from you. As you and I preach
the gospel of Christ, we must examine our motives.
Why are we doing what we're doing? Is it to fill
out some report for an organization? As we share
our faith, is it so that people will know that
we're real soul winners? Our own reputation?
Paul says, I preach the gospel of Christ to you
and there is no hidden motive. Nothing selfish
about it. We're to proclaim the gospel without
respect of persons, without selfish motive. and
thirdly, with a spirit of accommodation. Look
at verse 22. He continues to say, To the weak
I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have
become all things to all men, that I may by all
means save some. First of all, Paul is not saying
there that he was willing to compromise his message.
That is something that cannot be compromised,
and Paul would never do that. Nor was Paul saying
that he was compromising with sin. You don't
have to read much of Paul's writings to know
that he was never in a mood for compromise with
sin. But there were some things that Paul would
compromise on. That's not always a dirty word.
Paul was willing to accommodate himself to groups
of people in his lifestyle. in his approach,
his methods, so that he might build bridges instead
of barriers. I want to tell you that's an important
principle in our proclamation of the gospel as
a church and as individuals. We are not here
to build up barriers, to make ourselves a fortress,
as it were, to keep ourselves away from people.
We are here to get a job done without respect
of persons, without selfish purposes, and with
accommodation. That is, on the non -essentials,
being willing to accommodate ourselves so that
we can build bridges into the lives of people
and proclaim the gospel to them. What I'm saying
is that we do not want to make issues out of
non -essentials. Keep the non -essentials on
the side. And keep the essentials in focus. And
don't ever compromise on the essentials. Paul
said, I have a responsibility to the gospel.
I am a servant. I must proclaim it. He says,
secondly, I must protect it. That was Paul's
heart. I'm not going to take the time, but I
would encourage you to read Galatians 1 and 2
with that in mind. That's largely autobiographical.
Paul tells there of his concern, first of all,
to protect the gospel from being distorted by
false teaching. He says if somebody comes to
you and claims to be an angel from God, and they
deliver to you a message that is different than
I've delivered to you, let him be cursed. That's
pretty strong language. Paul was concerned to
protect the gospel against the infiltration of
false teaching that is forever a challenge to
us. We must protect the integrity of the gospel
and not allow it to be watered down or added
to, but just kept pure and unadulterated. But
he was also concerned in chapter 2 of Galatians,
regarding the danger of the gospel being compromised
by false living. And lo and behold, his great
example is none other than Peter. Peter came
to visit Paul, and everything was just fine,
and Peter was comfortable eating with the Gentiles
and partying and having a good time with the
Gentiles, until some fellows from Jerusalem came
who knew Peter and who were very strict Jews.
And all of a sudden, Peter withdrew from the
Gentiles. And Paul confronted him to his face
and called him a hypocrite because what Peter
was doing was compromising the message of the
gospel by his false living, being two -faced,
one way with the Gentiles and another way with
the Jews. I want to tell you, there's nothing
that's more devastating to the gospel, apart
from false teaching, than false living. On the
part of a person who's proclaiming it. If you
want to see the gospel curdle and sour in the
mouth of a person, it will do so instantly when
it's given by a person whose life doesn't back
it up. Paul says, I have a special responsibility
to the gospel, I must proclaim it. I must also
protect it. The mysteries of Christ have messengers
today. We are those messengers. We who will serve
the Lord by proclaiming and protecting the integrity
of the gospel. We who will be faithful, gentle,
and willing stewards of our gifts, serving the
Lord as stewards. We who will declare the prisoners
of love to Jesus Christ. My brother and sister
in Christ, is your life today possessed by a
purpose that is bigger than you? So often we
disguise our life's purpose as being the will
of God. Well, the Lord is leading. But if actually
we would strip away the veneer of all of that
and look at control central, we wouldn't see
the Lord. We would see a big S for self. We try
to masquerade that. And we say, well, this is
the will of God. I've prayed about it. But all
the time, it's what we want. That's dangerous.
It's a dangerous way to live. Are you possessed
by a purpose that's bigger than you, yourself?
Are you a prisoner of Jesus Christ? Are you plugged
in to God's design for your being here? He does
have a design, you know. One that stretches from
now into eternity to come. Are you plugged into
that? You say, well, I'm not sure. How can one
be plugged into that? Four brief answers. Number
one, be sure you're saved. I don't want you to
confuse what I'm talking about now with salvation.
One can never know the will of God, the design
of God for his life fully without being a Christian.
Are you truly, genuinely saved? Most important
question of life. But secondly, if you're saved,
You can plug into God's purpose for your life
by presenting yourself as a living sacrifice.
Romans 12, 1 and 2. And all of your capacities
and your gifts and your potential, giving it
to God and say, God, I am a living sacrifice.
I put myself on the altar. And I'm willing to
do whatever you want me to do. Whatever you say
to me. Lord, I'm dying to myself. And I'm living.
to you. Thirdly, by obeying Christ in every area
of life as much as you know how to do. Here I'm
talking about Lordship. By obeying Him in every
area of life as much as you know how to do. But
fourthly, by walking in the Spirit. By relying
on the enablement of the Holy Spirit in all that
I've talked about above. You can be plugged into
God's purpose in your life if you will rely upon
the Holy Spirit, not yourself. God has created
all people to live with purpose. How sad that
the unregenerate do not and cannot know. The
bigger design of God for them. But we know Christ
can plug into that. Will you today? Are you living
where God wants you to live? Discovering his
purpose? Being his prisoner? Let's pray. Lord,
I pray that you will take these words and the
word. and apply them to our lives as you alone
can see how they need to be. And as we see Paul's
example and his understanding of himself, so
may we bring into our own lives that example
and follow him as he followed Christ. So that
whatever you're saying to us today, we will do
it. In Jesus' name, amen.