The INTRODUCTION TO PRISON EPISTLES
03/10/2013

Today we begin a lengthy study on Sunday morning of the Prison Epistles of the apostle Paul. What we see in these epistles (as in the rest of Scripture), is that the content of these letters are:

1. God centered
2. Christ exalting
3. Spirit filled documents that are given to us by God Himself with the purpose of producing.

God centered, Christ exalting, Spirit filled churches, marriages, families, saints and children.

The ultimate practical purpose for these letters is to reveal what God has done for us in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ, and by believing in Him, be filled with The Spirit to live lives that bring glory and honor toGod.

• 1Co 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

What are the Prison Epistles?
Let me give them to you in the order that we will be studying them.
Colossians, Philippians, Philemon and lastly, the letter to the Ephesians. Each of these letters was written by Paul from Rome.

It has been said, tongue in cheek, that we need to be careful what we pray for. Paul had a deep desire to go to Rome. Not as a tourist to snap photos, but as a witness for Jesus Christ. Paul was a man who was constrained by the love of Christ who desired to see people come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ by the preaching of the gospel as well as see the body of Christ grow in the grace and knowledge of The Lord.
Anyways, God in His providence answered Paul’s prayer to go to Rome in a most remarkable way. After being apprehended by Roman authorities because he caused a riot preaching about Jesus Christ and taught that through him, there would be the resurrection from the dead, we read in Acts 25.9-11 that Paul made an appeal to stand before Ceasar Augustus. To stand before Ceasar, God would either bring Ceasar to wherever Paul was, or God would bring Paul to Rome. God chose to bring Paul to Rome, and you can read about all of the ministry that took place on this amazing boat ride and stop on the island of Melita enroute to Rome in Acts 27 & 28.

Thus, the human reason for Paul being sent to Rome was the crime of preaching that Jesus Christ was The Son of God, Who was foretold by the OT prophets, Who dies for our sins according to the Scripture, was buried, but rose again from the dead on the 3rd day.
The divine reason for Paul going to Rome was that it was the sovereign, providential will of God for the purpose of the furtherance of the gospel in Europe.

Brief background about Roman Society
Rome was the world power at the time of the writing of these epistles. There are some very striking similarities between ancient Rome and USA.

1. They prided themselves on their military might.
2. They prided themselves in their athletic abilities to the point where the star athletes were nearly worshipped as gods incarnate.
3. They prided themselves in theatre and drama, and many of the actors and actresses were looked up to by society as being “special people.”  
4. They took pride in their educational institutions and universities.
5. They were extremely liberal in their religious beliefs. Spiritually speaking, they were a polytheistic society that embraced the philosophy that all religions are basically the same and all roads of spirituality lead to God.
6. They were very liberal morally. Any and every type of sexual expression was accepted as long as it was between consenting adults.
7. Their global goal was to colonize the then known world with their form of government, religious beliefs etc.
8. Later on in the first century, a custom developed where any Roman citizen was required to burn a pinch of incense and proclaim that Ceasar is Lord…..the implications for a Christian is obvious.
9. The message of Paul to the Christian man or woman was that in response to the grace, mercy and love of Christ, they were to walk in newness of life, not being conformed to the philosophies and mores of Roman culture, but to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ by the power of the Indwelling Holy Spirit.

When were these epistles written?
The majority of manuscript scholars tell us that these epistles were written during Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, between the years 61-65 A.D.
In Acts 28.16-29, we learn that this imprisonment was more like a house arrest, where Paul was able to conduct a limited amount of ministry.
It has been estimated that Paul was saved around 3 years after Jesus ascended up into heaven around the year of 37 A.D., which would mean that Paul wrote these letters around 25-30 years after his conversion to Christ.

For those of you who may be new to the faith, you can read about the conversion of the apostle Paul (formerly Saul the Pharisee) in Acts 9, 22 & 26.
In these 3 accounts of Paul’s being apprehended by the risen Lord Jesus, he was told by Jesus that he would be:

1. A chosen vessel. We too are chosen by God.
2. He would receive revelation knowledge of God’s will and purposes. We too have been given that revelation in The Bible.
3. He would see The Just One, Jesus Christ. We too are able by faith to see Him Who is invisible, and one day, we will see our glorious King face to face.
4. He would be His witness of Christ before kings, Israel and the Gentiles. We too are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ wherever we live, wherever we work, wherever we go to school.

It is recorded in Acts 9 that Paul was told that he would suffer many things for His Names sake. As we open up these epistles, we learn that Paul was very much aware of God’s divine purpose for those sufferings, and the blessings that the church would receive as a result of the revelations that he was given during this time.

Paul’s perspective while in prison (cp. Joseph from OT).
It will be noted in Acts 23.18, 25.27 & 28.17, that Paul is identified as “the prisoner”, “a prisoner” and “the prisoner from Jerusalem.”
But did Paul see himself as being a prisoner on Rome?

• Eph 3:1 ¶ For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
• Eph 4:1 ¶ I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, {of the Lord: or, in the Lord}
• Phm 1:1 Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,
• Phm 1:9 Yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
• Remember the 3 points that I gave to you about the content of these epistles? They are all God centered, Christ exalting and Spirit filled theology.
• Beloved, your theology (what you believe about God) will affect your perspective in life. It will affect how to respond to situations in your life.
• While it is true that Paul requests prayer for deliverance from prison if it is God’s will, he is completely convinced that as long as he is in that prison cell, he is there according to the good, perfect and acceptable will of God and instead of moaning and crying and complaining, he is:
• Abiding in Christ and looking for ways to bring glory to him as long as he is there.
• He is found concerned for others and praying for others.Seeking to minister to others in the prison and encourage his brothers and sisters in Christ outside of those prison walls who are under the attack of false teachings.
• When Paul writes, all the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household (Php 4.22), it is widely accepted that Paul was used by God to lead many soldiers to Christ while in prison (cp. Acts 16.23-34).
• In fact, the epistle to the Philippians has been called over the years “the epistle of joy.” Time does not permit me this morning to go into great depth about the vast difference between our joy which is something that is deep within our souls, and only found in a living relationship and fellowship The Lord Jesus Christ and happiness, which is all external, and depends upon the chances and changes in life, be it our health, our finances, our weather, our team loses the game etc.
• Beloved, I must tell you in the Name of Jesus Christ that there is a “happiness” heresy that has entered the human bloodstream of the body of Christ and it not born of The Spirit of God.  
• Because of a false man centered, me centered “gospel”, where the itching ears message is that God’s supreme plan for your life is to be happy, many people (not all of course) are walking out of the covenant of marriage, walking out of churches, moving to other states, and so on and so forth because they are no longer happy where they are…..beloved, nowhere in Scripture does God say that Jesus came to make us happy. Christ came to make us holy. Jesus didn’t die on the cross to do our bidding and pleasure, Jesus died on the cross that we might live for His pleasure and glory.
• Blessed, oh how happy, are those people whose God is The Lord…..the blessed man, the blessed woman is the man or woman who trusts in The Lord and can praise Him and serve Him, and worship Him wherever the providence of God places him, whatever their marital state or even if you live in the state of New York!

I apologize for forgetting the website that I read this from while on my sabbatical, but it echoes what I am talking about here about the importance of having a God centered, Christ exalting, Spirit filled divine perspective in life:

• WE WOULD EXPECT a prisoner to say something like this: "I am poor and miserable!" BUT PAUL SAID to the Ephesians, "I am rich and blessed with more blessings than I can even count" (Ephesians 1:3). This is the message of EPHESIANS.
• WE WOULD EXPECT a prisoner to say something like this: "I am the most unhappy and discontented person in the whole world!" BUT PAUL SAID to the Philippians, "I can rejoice at all times and I can be content in whatsoever state I am in, even when I am in prison" (Philippians 4:4,11). This is the message of PHILIPPIANS.
  
  WE WOULD EXPECT a prisoner to say something like this: "I am in desperate need. Life is terrible!" BUT PAUL SAID to the Colossians, "Christ is everything I need! Christ is my Life!" (Colossians 2:10; 3:3). This is the message of COLOSSIANS.
  
  WE WOULD EXPECT that if a Christian were thrown into jail he might say, "Lord, I need to get out of here so that I can start serving the Lord again!" BUT PAUL SERVED THE LORD even during his time in prison. He even preached the gospel to a runaway slave named Onesimus and this man was saved. This is the message of Philemon.

Some of the doctrines and topics that we will be covering

1. The deity of Jesus Christ.
2. The Supremacy of Christ in His creation and in His church.
3. The mystery of the church.
4. Spiritual warfare.
5. The progressive sanctification of the saints.
6. God’s design for marriage.
7. Christian work ethics.
8. Paul’s prayers.

• Walking in love and forgiveness within the body of Christ.
• Last, but certainly not least, the absolute sufficiency of the atoning sacrifice and bodily resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ from the dead as full payment for our sins. Salvation is a gift from God that is unconditional, undeserved and it granted to sinners by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

We will be looking at the enemies of the gospel that are alive and well on planet earth today.

1. Legalism- Jesus plus ritual or good works=salvation
2. Mysticism- Jesus plus an esoteric or spiritual experience= salvation.
3. Gnosticism-Jesus plus “special revelation” knowledge=salvation.
4. Asceticism-Jesus plus the denial of things=salvation.

Beloved, any “ism” be it a form of godliness, a spiritual experience, a system of theology inevitably becomes the focus of a persons faith rather than Jesus alone. Jesus plus anything else is an ism.

No religious ordinance can add to the all sufficient atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
No spiritual experience can eclipse the precious intimacy that a child of God can have with The Lord Jesus Christ.
No system of theology on ANY end of the spectrum can ever describe the fullness of the character and majesty of God and the depths of His love for us that is expressed in His Beloved Son Jesus Christ.

Paul, who will write about all of these doctrines, summed up his practical theology this way….follow me as I follow Christ.

Here is Christianity according to Jesus:

1. Come unto Me.
2. Follow Me.
3. Learn of Me.
4. Abide in Me.
5. Seek Me.
6. Obey Me.
7. Serve Me. Occupy til I come.
8. Look unto Me.
9. Remember Me.

Beloved, the one “cure” for sin and all of the ails and pains and sorrows that come along with it is the glorious, life changing, transforming gospel of The Lord Jesus Christ.
He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came for the broken hearted and weary. He died on the cross for sinners, for those who are ungodly, for those who are His enemies.
Jesus Christ came to be our Shepherd to guide us throughout our lives, our High Priest for us to confide in times of failure and falling, Our Refuge and Strong Tower in times of trouble, Our Healer in times of pain, Our Comforter in times of sorrow and loss.
The gospel is not try harder, do better, be stronger…it is trust Christ! You an trust Him today, for today is the day of salvation…if The Spirit of God is stirring your heart to embrace the Lordship of Jesus today, we would love to pray for you.