PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST

By Hayley Boud

Ephesians 3:1

What is a prisoner?

A person just like you and me. They are people who have no rights, no freedom, no material possessions. They have to follow the rules of the prison and they must respect the prison guards, they must follow the schedule. The prisoner is someone who has no choice at all, they don’t even get to choose what food they will eat or what clothes they will wear. Some prisoners are only given one hour per day to leave their cell and they don’t have a choice where they will go, they are told, “have a shower” and “eat” and “go outside” and that is it. They get visitors only once per week and only if the prison guards allow it and there must be supervision at all times with no touching. There is no freedom at all. They must wear a uniform so everybody will know who is the prisoner.

How is it possible that Paul is a prisoner while the bible says the truth will set us free?  (John 8:32)

What are we free from? Sin, death, satan, addictions, and because of this we are no longer prisoners of death, or prisoners of satan but we are now prisoners of Jesus Christ.

Luke 14:33, “any of you who wants to become My disciples must give up everything”.

Galations 2:20, “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me”

We have to follow God’s rules, we have to obey Jesus and respect Him and follow God’s schedules and remember that He is watching us in the same way the prison guards have to be obeyed and respected and they are watching. We have to wear the uniform that comes from God, people should know we are Christians in the same way the bright orange uniform alarms people, we should also be like an alarm for others. When people are around us and they know we are there, they shouldn’t feel free to make course or improper jokes or gossip because they will see our orange suit and remember we are Christians.

Prison guards are to be feared because there are consequences to actions and this is the same with Jesus, we have to fear Him and know that our actions will bring about consequences, so we must be disciplined.

Why are we to prisoners of Jesus?


Eph 3:1, “for the sake of you Gentiles”

We have to behave as prisoners of Jesus so as not to be a stumbling block for those around us. I don’t drink alcohol because I don’t want to stumble anyone. When I was 16 years old I made a conscious decision that I would never drink alcohol, not even a sip so that I wouldn’t be the reason for someone else drinking. I knew that if someone saw me take a sip, it would give them reason to take a sip and maybe they would like it and maybe they would continue to enjoy it and after a few months, they could end up addicted to alcohol all because I took one small sip.

How else can we be a stumbling block to those around us?

With our mouths, we can cause others to gossip by ourselves gossiping. We can cause people to judge others by talking about others. We can cause people to be offended and even turned off God by our tone of voice, by talking rudely or impatiently. Eating too much, watching too much tv, watching the wrong movies, sleeping too much. Especially those of us who have children watching us.  There are many ways we can stumble someone and although we are free, we have to be careful not to use our freedom to cause someone else to be led down a wrong path.

Prisoner of God (part III)

By Odon Bulamba (summary only)

We have to humble ourselves to obey God’s rules.


WHAT IS A PRISONER OF CHRIST LIKE?

A. RESPECT THOSE WHO WORK AMONG YOU

1 Thessalonians 5:12
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;

This is the first condition to be called a prisoner of Christ: respect those who work among you, those given by the Lord the charge of teaching and leading you.
Wherever you go in the world, you must absolutely obey the people God has placed on your path to build you up spiritually. Watch out: to obey them is different from becoming their slaves. You must obey and respect them for God’ glory.

B. ESTEEM AND LOVE THOSE WHO WORK AMONG YOU

1 Thessalonians 5:13
And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.
And be at peace among yourselves.

It is telling us here about “esteem and love” them. We must love each other and esteem each other for the Lord’s glory and also appreciate the work each one is doing.
And what is love?
The Bible tells us that love is not something just limited to our lips.
1 John 3:16-18
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

Amen! I insist on verse 18. Love is not a speech of nice words, but our actions will speak for themselves. When I see Ange, my actions towards her will testify whether I truly love her or not, and this must be without hypocrisy. Some people are expert in hypocrisy: they can talk to you nicely and as soon as you turn your back, they threaten you. Christians must have perfect love. People in the world love each other with such a great love, but among us Christians, there is always division.
Is there a Christian somewhere who claims he is one and doesn’t know about love?
The Bible says in Hebrews that you can’t love God if you can’t love your neighbour. How will you say…?
- I love God,
When at the same time you say:
- When I see Brenda… No, Brenda… talk about someone else but not her. I can’t forget what she did to me 3 years ago. I don’t like her because she did this or that.
- Are you sure you are a Christian? The Bible commands you to love and love forgives, love is patient and love forgets everything that happened.
And this is another rule God gives us: as His prisoner we must have love.

C. BE GRATEFUL

There are ungrateful people in this world: you can serve them all their life but they will never acknowledge the fruit of your work. They will never say:
- I got something so good from that person!
They will just take everything for granted, they think it’s their right to get it.


D. LIVE AT PEACE WITH EVERYONE

The Bible also says we must live at peace with everyone. If you don’t have peace in your house, this is time to find it. If you have a problem with your husband, child or brother, it is time to sort it out.

Christians must enlighten the world and this comes from our tongue, what we say and the way we say it. Try to choose your words carefully, and find the right time to speak to the person. Don’t speak just to speak because God Himself is against rebellion. You can’t fight at home and then go and pray to God. It’s impossible. God will tell you to go back home and fix your problem first.
There is an example in the Bible: someone wanted to give God their offering and Jesus told them:
- Leave your offering here. Go back home to fix your problem and then, come back here.
So God will reject even an offering if you have not fixed up your problem. So we must know how to live at peace with everyone. And peace comes from our mouth.

E. ABOUT LAZINESS

1 Thessalonians 5:14
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.

Verse 14 says that we must warn lazy people. Some brothers or sisters are lazy. The verse 14 is not telling us about not doing our regular work. Here it’s talking about someone who does not have time to meditate the Word of God, pray to God or concentrate to keep in touch with their God. We must visit those people and help them. And how can we help? Never say: “You, lazy person!” otherwise you are judging them, as if you poked your finger in their eye, the person will hate you. Although it is the truth, you can be sure that the person will hate you. So, try to find a way to talk to this person: “Brother or sister, could we make a time to read the Bible together once or twice a week to share together?” They will find it’s a good idea. In that way, you have helped them without telling them they were lazy.

The Lord's Prisoner (part II)

By Odon Bulamba (summary only)

TWO PRISONS: THE DEVIL’S AND GOD’S

Most people today are in the devil’s prison. This includes ¾ of Christians: they have one foot in Christianity and one foot in the world and through their actions we know in which one they are. But YOU Christians what are you doing there? There is no room for you there! Your place is in the Lord’s prison and not in the devil’s prison.

Those in the devil’s prison obey him without discussion.
- Oscar, time to drink beer. Let’s get drunk!
- Yes, that’s right. I am thirsty, time to have a break, enough studying. Let’s go.
No discussion. But imagine God saying to Oscar:
- Oscar, stop drinking.
- I can’t bear 2 days without drinking. It’s not possible.
He will check right and left and if no one is around he will say to himself,
- Let me just have one glass, only one for today.
And after one glass, he will take another one.
So you will see that we easily respect the devil’s commands, but not what God asks us to do.

The Bible tells us not to lie. And a situation comes up:
- Ah, to keep this, I must lie. God will understand because this is a tough situation. God will understand.
And the person lies. But ask the same person to come back and confess their lie, there will be a problem.

In His prison, God gets tough with us, He will push, urge you to confess.

I remember the story of a murderer, somewhere. After the crime, his life turned ugly, tough and deep in his heart, his conscience was urging him to confess. He went to God and cried before God and God told him this crime hadn’t been done against Him:
- Go and tell the person you have murdered.
- How can I go and tell someone from that family? It’s impossible.
And he was in a problem. When he killed, it was not difficult; he had just done it for money but now, confessing was impossible.
It’s like lighting a match to burn a house, it just takes 1 minute to start the fire, but putting it out when the whole house is on fire is a serious problem. Although men know that confessing a crime is like paying something dear, they still do the wrong thing. And God calls it pride. We do know God’s laws, He has told us clearly what to do and what not to do and because we are His prisoners we must respect all His laws.

What is this prisoner who will say no to the prison’s rules?
What is this prisoner who will say even though I was condemned I reject my condemnation?
What is this prisoner who will be stubborn to resist the law?
So why don’t we respect the Law God gave us?

THE LORD’S PRISONER

By Odon Bulamba (summary only - 17th Nove, 00)

Philemon verse 1. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow labourer,

Today, we are going to talk about “Paul, prisoner of Jesus Christ” and we will replace ‘Paul’ by my name, or your name. Each one of us must ask themselves: “Am I a prisoner of Christ or not?”


1. WHO IS A PRISONER?

In the world, a prisoner is a normal person like you and me, they can be educated or not educated, of any race, with or without disability, and who is arrested and put in jail. There are reasons why this person is jailed. Often, a judgment comes first and after they are given their sentence, they are sent to jail for a specific period of time.

2. LIFE IN PRISON

Life in prison is really tough. It’s nothing like prisons here in NZ: they are good places to be where you can relax. If you tell me that I am a prisoner here in NZ I will be happy; I will have a bed, a TV, and I can even study. But if you want to know what a prison is ask Asians, a South Americans, people from some countries in Africa or Europe.

When someone is arrested, the very first thing they do is to remove their clothes and put on a uniform. Whether you like it or not, you must wear that, and in Africa for example they make sure there are lice in them. Prisoners are not allowed to kill them; they will bite your body everywhere. This is just the beginning, a little taste of what is to come. These uniforms are filthy and you might spew up just looking at them. But prisoners have no choice, they must wear them.

Sometimes, people with long hair are shaved with a piece of glass, it’s not a blade or scissors, and you will feel how sore it is. If you wear a beard, they will pull it and you will feel how painful it is.

Afterwards you will enter a house where the conditions of life are extremely bad, depending of your file. Some prisoners have committed a small offence, but others are serious offenders, like murderers, and they will be taken to a place without light, toilet, food, get 10 lashes each morning and each night and do hard labours.

I remember once, the toilets were blocked in a prison somewhere, and this prisoner was asked to unblock them, without any tools. He was told: “You have hands to help you.” He started his work, and although he was absolutely disgusted, he had no choice just because he was a prisoner. After finishing, they brought him eggs for dinner: these eggs hadn’t hatched after the hen sat on them because they were rotten. The smell of these eggs added to the repulsive smell of his job and a filthy body made it impossible to eat. But he was forced to eat them anyway.

Also, you know that a prison is a locked place, so prisoners can get out. You are not allowed to move around, or to buy or sell as you please.

In Kenya, where we were, in a semi-desert area, they would give prisoners 500 ml of water to bath, once a month. But because the sun was so heavy, people would lose weight at high speed and some would die due to very hard work and the appalling conditions of life.

Why do I say that? Because some people forget that a prison is a place of suffering. If you were a general in the army, you would be stripped of your honour once jail, and someone of less rank might do it to humiliate you.

3. PRISON OF GOD

For us, Christians, God has prepared a prison. God said He gave us freedom so that we will be free forever. We are free not to sin, and when we have this freedom from sin we enter the Lord’s prison. In that place, every morning at 4:00am He will knock at your door and tell you:
- Wake up! Prisoner! Time to exercise. Time to work hard.
And if the prisoner falls asleep, be sure you will be whipped, no matter your body’s condition, sick or healthy, you must do it. Things are starting to get hard. When someone is saved and starts a new life, God tries to change this person’s life and teach them how He is the Master, the Lord.
In God’s prison, if God says not to steal, you MUST not steal. You must know your limits and if God says so, I don’t have the right to touch what is there, I must not do it. And if I do it, I will be in trouble with God.

In a country somewhere, prisoners pay their rent. If you are arrested today and your sentence is 5 years, every month you will pay $20 for example. How much does that add up after 5 years? And if you don’t pay, you will be added further time for that.
I’ve thought about the meaning of it with God’s prison. When God puts you in His jail, you MUST not sin anymore, if you do, you will be punished one way or another and you will pay dearly.

SUMMARY
-We are prisoners of God
-We must follow God's rules and obey Him
-We must not sin anymore

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