A Standard for All

Acts 28:11-16

As a prisoner of Christ, and you may say Bob, I have never been in prison, nor am I a prisoner of anyone, and if that is where you find yourself, you are in good company, for most of those who go by the name of Christian are in agreement with you.  So what does the apostle Paul mean when he shares with us that he is a prisoner of Christ?  It may be of some help to look at the word “Bondservant” and this is what Scripture states: Galatians 1:10, “For is it man's favor or God's that I aspire to? Or am I seeking to please men? If I were still a man-pleaser, I should not be Christ's bondservant.”  Often in the times of Christ a person would be required to become someone’s slave for a set time to pay back a debt, and sometime after that time they would choose to become a bondservant.

Oswald Chambers wrote in “My Utmost for His Highest” the following on what it meant to be a bondservant of Christ: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . . — Galatians 2:20

“These words mean the breaking and collapse of my independence brought about by my own hands, and the surrendering of my life to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me I must do it myself. God may bring me up to this point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot push me through it. It means breaking the hard outer layer of my individual independence from God, and the liberating of myself and my nature into oneness with Him; not following my own ideas, but choosing absolute loyalty to Jesus.”  Chambers goes on to state that few do this, and that would include this writer.
Paul refers to himself as not only a bondservant but a prisoner of Christ, and he was content to be dead to all things, do you understand that Saul was not that kind of man, but God gave him a new heart and a new name and Paul’s heart desire was to be crucified with Christ and live no longer for self. 
So I often wonder did Paul have bad days, days where he just let his feeler get him discouraged?  I’m sure that he did, but we also know that God sent His disciples to encourage Paul as we find in verses 13-16, “      And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.”
Jan, my wife of 47 years, often tells me I need to be patient and content, and guess what she is 100% correct and Paul was giving the same message to the followers of Christ in Philippi, we find it in Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

A great man of God, Charles Spurgeon, said it this way: “Be content to be nothing, for that is what you are.  When your own emptiness is painfully forced upon your consciousness, chide yourself that you ever dreamed of being full, except in the Lord.”  It has become painfully clear that it is my choice to be content to be nothing, and in so doing, to have Christ as my life.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice