Talking about Ephesians, Chapter 1

Those crazy Facebook quizzes annoy me. 

     “What Mexican food are you?” 

     “What Twilight character do you resemble?” 

     “What’s your real age?” 

     “What would be your prison stereotype?” Okay, for the sake of this post I took that one. Results were that I would be a prison leader. Fantastic.

     “What prison sentence would you get?” Life sentence. Well, that’s just great.

Maybe I should create a quiz. 

     “If you were in jail what would you do with all your spare time?”

The apostle Paul spent quite a bit of time in jail. What a great example, huh? Well, actually, yea, he is. Because, he was thrown in jail for preaching about Jesus. But before all that, Saul (the pre-Paul) actually was a Jesus-hater who ran around throwing Jesus-followers in prison (Acts 8:1-3). Then Jesus got hold of him; shined a bright light in his eyes which blinded him, told him to knock it off, healed him, and gave him a new purpose in life (Acts 9:1-22). See, most of the Jews thought Jesus was dead and gone and was no longer a threat to their religious way of life. Then Saul/Paul jumped the fence and preached about Jesus. And the Jews didn’t like that very much (Acts 13:44-52).

Nothing scared Paul. Not shipwrecks (Acts 29), or snake bites (28:1-6), politicians or wealthy people, being beaten or stoned (14:19-20; 21:27-32), being thrown in jail (Acts 16), or even dying for his faith in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 4:6-8; 16-18). You can read Paul’s own words about all that crazy stuff in 2 Corinthians 11:21-30; 12:9-10.

Jails in the first century weren’t very comfy; dark, dirty, and smelly are fitting descriptions. So, what did Paul do with all his spare time while chained in jail cells?

                -Had hymn sings Acts 16:25

                -Kept talking about Jesus Acts 16:31-32

                -Wrote letters to churches that he had visited on his travels. 

                  Ephesus, Acts chapters 19-20

The New Testament books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are called Paul’s “prison epistles” (letters) because he wrote them while he was in jail, and there were probably many more letters that never survived. Most likely he had a lot of time to think and pray, and the Holy Spirit taught him a lot about Jesus, too. Paul was then able to pass on that knowledge to those first Christians through his writings. And to us!

The beginning of his letter to the church in Ephesus contains rich words of praise and blessing for who God is and what he has done in and through Jesus Christ vs 3-10; how God has blessings for everyone who believes in Jesus v 11-14; and praise and  thanksgiving for the believers in that church vs 15-23. It is an amazing way to start a letter!

You see, Paul wasn’t sitting in his cell pouting about his circumstances (Philippians 4:11-13)! No dank jail cell or thick iron bars were going to stop him from his unending commitment of spreading the good news of Jesus Christ (Acts 28:30-31)! Paul wrote that he was “in chains for Christ” (Philippians 1:13) and a “prisoner of Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 3:1). That was his purpose, his calling, and his goal until his dying day. Church tradition taught that Paul was beheaded in Rome in the mid to late 60’s AD. 

Killed because he wouldn’t stop talkin’ ‘bout Jesus.

So. What’s my/our problem?

What are my current circumstances? I’m not in jail; I live rather comfortably.

What do you do with all your spare time?

What do I consider more important than Jesus Christ? Popularity? My future? My job (wait that doesn’t count ‘cause I’m a pastor)? 

Are we willing to take risks so that the Gospel of the Good News of Jesus Christ will be shared with the people we are with every day? Or anyone we happen to meet?

Is there anything that keeps me from saying, “I, Deb, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you youth…”

I hope not. Jesus might have to shine a blinding bright light in MY eyes to straighten me up.