Mindset Matters - Intro to Pauline Epistles

Good morning family, thank you all for the kindness of allowing me to become your pastor. I want to thank you with honoring me and my family by voting us in.

Before we begin let us invite Jesus into the conversation

Our reading will begin in Acts 9; beginning today through the next several weeks, I want to begin a series about how our mindset matters. We will learn in Acts 9 that God calls the apostle Paul to a ministry of suffering. Paul, like many other apostles, will spend a lot of time in jail, being beaten, and his freedom will be taken from him when he leaves Ephesus going to Jerusalem for Passover.

When Paul leaves for Jerusalem, as we will learn in a moment, a man named Agabus will prophesy to Paul that when he comes to Jerusalem, he will be bound and led to prison. This series about our mindset matters we will learn how Paul responds to these trials, his wrongful imprisonment, and how Paul understands all of this is in God’s plan and purpose for his life so Paul’s concentration is on the furtherance of the Gospel, not his current life situation and circumstance.

While reading about Paul, what we are going to do is begin studying the Pauline Prison Epistles to the different churches Paul wrote to while in prison: Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians. Paul also wrote Philemon and 2 Timothy from prison, but I want to focus our attention on the churches.

When reading from these different epistles, what I want us to notice is the question Paul never ask. While being in prison Paul never ask people to pray God release him from prison. Instead; while in prison, Paul is consistently urging others to continue to fight a good fight of faith regardless of their life situation and circumstance. Paul wants them to remember the faithfulness of Jesus, and continue to follow Jesus regardless of the cost. Each letter that Paul writes is about a defense for the Gospel, and the main reason Paul writes these epistles is to remind the church, our mindset matters.

Turn with me Acts 9:15

Acts chapter 9 introduces us to a man named Saul who changed His name of Paul.

The bible teaches us in Acts 9 that Jesus meets Saul on the road to Damascus, and Jesus confronts Saul about him persecuting the church. When Jesus confronts Saul about this persecution, Saul is convicted of his sins, and repents. Jesus blinds Saul, with some type of scales over his eyes, and later on Jesus sends a man named Ananias to baptize Saul. When Ananias baptizes Saul, the Bible teaches us that Saul is filled with the Holy Spirit and he gets his site back when the scales falls of his eyes.

When Saul is able to work again, he begins preach Jesus Christ saves, and since Saul is well known for persecuting the church, many people have doubts about his sincerity.

I do not want to spend our time talking all about Paul’s ministry, except to realize when God calls Paul to ministry, he knew his ministry would be filled with suffering. Paul knew that he would endure a life of suffering for the Gospel of Jesus.

Turn with me Acts 9:15 (this is Jesus speaking with Ananias) - But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

God is calling Paul to a specific ministry of suffering for the glory of the His Kingdom

I wanted to show everyone how the ministry of Paul is going to be very specific.

Turn with me to Acts 20

Allow me to share with you all a thought I have about Paul’s suffering. I do not believe God is a God of retribution. God does not call Paul to a life of suffering as the result of Paul killing others who shared the Gospel. When God forgives us our sins, that forgiveness means God does not hold our past against us. Whatever God has planned for our lives has nothing to do with the life we previously had.

With that said, I would imagine God knew if He could work with Paul’s heart, knowing that he is a Roman citizen, as well as a master of theology, then God could use Paul’s Roman citizenship as way to pay it forward for others who are not Roman.

What I mean by that is in Roman law, if you persecute a Roman Citizen without a legal right, then whoever punishes that Roman will be given the same punishment. Paul is going to suffer a lot for the sake of the Gospel, yet he never makes his citizenship known till after the punishment. This way, the local lawmakers will be forced to think twice before punishing others for sharing Jesus in the open public.

God is using Paul’s citizenship in a unique way for the furtherance of the Gospel. God is not punishing Paul for his past sins.

Because I want to spend our time this morning introducing us to the prison epistles, we are going to fast forward in the book of Acts and begin with him sharing some last words with the elders of Ephesus, then being arrested in Jerusalem, and follow this prison time to the end of his life.

Acts 20: 17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. 18 And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, 19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; 20 how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

— 22 And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. 24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Before Paul gets to Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit has already prepared Paul for whats to come. This is very important to realize, because in a moment, a prophet named Agabus is going to affirm what the Holy Spirit already spoke with Paul about.

Acts 21: 8 On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. 10 And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ”

When Paul arrives in Jerusalem, he meets with James and the Elders of the Jerusalem church, then he begins does the purification process, and goes to the temple to worship God. All seems to be going well until some Jews who had known Paul in Ephesus recognize him in the temple. They imagine (incorrectly) that Paul has brought Trophimus the Ephesian into the temple, thus defiling it.

A riot ensues. Someone is defiling the temple? Kill him! They drag Paul from the temple and begin to beat him to death. The city is in an uproar.

The Romans, who are charged with keeping the peace in the political powder-keg that is Jerusalem, immediately send a detachment of soldiers into the crowd to stop the riot. They arrest Paul, chaining him with two chains, and then carry him back to the soldiers' barracks to interrogate him while they try to quell the riot. Meanwhile, the soldiers are followed by a crowd shouting, "Away with him!"

When Paul is alone with the guards, Jesus speaks to him, and gives him the assurance that he is making the right decisions, and God is with him. Jesus is telling him he will get to Rome alive.

Acts 23:11 But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.”

God is going to eventually put Paul in the Roman Court, in the palace of Rome, and the purpose is to further the Gospel in such a way that without being in prison, the Gospel would never get there.

When the Roman Guards get involved, this is the beginning of Pauls imprisonment, and the beginning of the prison epistles.

For the next two years (57-59 AD), Paul is kept under guard in Herod's palace in Caesarea (Acts 23:34-35) as the politicians -- Roman governors and Jewish kings -- seek to use Paul to gain political advantage with the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. His imprisonment isn't about justice, but about preventing discontent from turning into open rebellion among the Jews. So Paul is neither formally charged nor released.

The two years Paul is under house arrest, under the control of Governor Felix and Governor Festus.

During this two year period, Paul writes to the church in Ephesus.

I share the thought, one of the key reasons Paul writes to the Ephesian church is to encourage them to keep fighting a good fight of faith, and not allow his current disposition to dissuade them. He is trying to mitigate satanic and demonic strongholds from taking root in their hearts because Paul is in prison for sharing the Gospel.

After his two years in Caesarea, Paul makes his appeal to Ceasar in Acts 25, and he has a final hearing with King Agrippa and Bernice, they are the highest authority in Judea. A very interesting statement is made from King Agrippa.

This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment... This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar." (Acts 26:31-32)

We need to remember though, there are two reasons Paul is in prison right now. First, he refused to Bribe Felix and Festus, and second the Jewish leaders are trying to assassinate him. Paul is in prison because of life preservation in all reality. God is using prison to keep him alive so he can share the Gospel in Rome.

When Paul arrives in Rome, in Acts 28, he is allowed to rent his own house, have people come and go as they please, and he is allowed to share the Gospel freely. Acts ends with Paul being able to ministry without any inconveniences.

During this 2 year period, this is when Paul is writing to Colossae. When Paul writes the church of Colossae, he is trying to encourage them of God’s preeminence, God is sovereign and always in control of the outcome.