Philemon 1:1-3 "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow labourer, (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."
We begin a study of the little book of Philemon. Though it only has one
chapter, there are many rich thoughts contained within this book. The first
thought comes in the first few words of the first verse: "Paul, a prisoner
of Jesus Christ". The word, prisoner, does not always bring nice thoughts
to our minds; yet in this context it carries a wonderful thought. I am a
prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please do not think that Paul wrote
this in a negative context.
We sometimes place ourselves in the prisons of the world. We allow emotions to
be the motivation for our conduct. We allow habits to encase us and drive us
from day to day. All these things do carry that negative thought because they
cause us to do things that are negative and derogatory to our well-being. But
human nature's weakness is such that habits, addictions, sin can place us in
the prison of life.
The idea of being "a prisoner of Jesus Christ" is not one that
promotes imprisonment as we know it; rather, we are set free in Christ Jesus.
"If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
He sets us free from the prisons of this world that drag us down. He sets us
free from the habits that we cannot seem to shake. He sets us free from addictions
that the mind wraps around and we cannot handle.
So to be a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that we have been bound
to Christ by a covenant, a promise, that was made through the unconditional
grace of God. The Lord entered into that promise in order to keep us in Him and
to promote within us the desire to stay close to Him.
My question this morning is this: What is my prison? To whom, or to what, am I
imprisoned? If I cannot answer that I am the prisoner of the Lord Jesus
Christ, then I truly need to stop and seek my Lord that I might walk in the
liberty wherewith He has made me free. He stands with open arms saying to you
and to me this morning, "Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden
and I will give you rest." You see the prisons of the world weigh us
down. Christ sets us free of those weights.