Freedom is a beautiful gift. but it was stolen from the Apostle Paul when the Romans detained him for more than two years.
So, how did Paul respond?
Well, he transformed his house arrest into a ministry headquarters. He turned the Roman guards into Christian converts. He inspired believers across the empire. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl invites us to look at Paul's letter to the Philippians to discover four game-changing attitudes that can transform your toughest seasons into your most effective ones. Chuck titled his message, Arrested, Confined, But Still Effective.
If we go back to Philippians, I find three results of living above his circumstances. And all three are applicable to our lives. Number one, when we live above our circumstances, the progress of the gospel is accelerated. It's never delayed. That's verse 12.
I want you to know, brethren, my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress. of the gospel. Here's the second. When you live above your circumstances, verse thirteen. The edge of the message is sharpened, never dulled.
Verse 13: So that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ. Has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else.
Well, we don't have Praetorian Guards today.
So that's an unfamiliar description of a group of soldiers who were the Praetorian Guards. One man writes, they were the Imperial Guard of Rome. They had been instituted by Augustus. and were a body of 10,000 picked troops. Augustus kept them dispersed throughout Rome in neighboring towns.
Tiberius. Had concentrated them in Rome in a specially built fortified camp. And then Vitellius had increased their number to 16,000. They served their term for 12 years and then later for 16 years. And at the close of the term, they received citizenship and a grant of a large amount of money, and they really became very nearly the emperor's private bodyguard.
Guess what? Those were the very men chained to Paul's side. I love it. You talk about a preacher having a captive audience. Paul had an audience that couldn't escape, even when they wanted.
I'm getting out of here. No, you can't go. You're chained to me all day. I've got a few more things I want to say. And before long, listening to his conversation with visitors, listening to him talk about the forgiveness of a slave who had run away, listening to him witness for Christ, making Christ known, listening to the truth and practicality of his theology, these soldiers began to fall one by one into the grip of Christ, one after another.
And they'd go back to the barracks and would say things like, You cannot believe, you're on duty tomorrow. Hey, you don't know what you've got in store. You won't let man get a hold of you. I'm not going to listen. Oh, yeah, you'll listen.
Believe me, you'll listen. You'll be there all day long listening. The Praetorian Guard, of all people, the people closest to the emperor heard of Christ. The edge was sharpened. That'll happen with you.
You will be amazed when you live above your circumstances, the people whose lives you will touch, and then in turn, who they will touch with the message of Christ. It's remarkable. Our own Praetorian Guard will make a difference. even in the ranks of those who move about the White House. It's just remarkable.
How that happens. And there's a third benefit when we live above our circumstances. Not only is the progress of the gospel accelerated, not only is the edge of the message sharpened. but the courage of others. is strengthened.
never weakened. That's verse 14. Look at how he puts it. And that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far. More courage to speak the word of God.
without fear. Is that a great statement? Because of my imprisonment, Others who have come, met me, and been impacted by the message. Have been strengthened in their faith, and they have a greater courage to speak of me when they are away from me. That happens to me every time I'm around Johnny Erickson Tata.
I become increasingly more courageous. in my walk. Why? because of her model. It happens to me when I meet an individual who is suffering from some dread disease, but you can't take the smile off his face.
You can't change the attitude to negative in her life. Because of the difference in how they view their circumstances, my courage is increased, it's strengthened, it's intensified. It happened to Paul in his day, and it happens to this day. By the way, it wasn't just the imprisonment, it was how he looked upon. His imprisonment.
Trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, they have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. How could he do it? Turn the page, chapter 4, verse 13. Here's the answer: I can do ALL. All things through Christ.
who keeps on pouring his power into me.
Now, folks, it's a good time for me to pause and make this painfully personal.
Okay? Hang on. It's interesting when you ask people these days how they're doing, they will usually tell you their troubles. They will describe their circumstance. They will explain to you in some time it is borderline tragic.
Yeah. Uh most of us would not want to change places with anybody. Certainly, in our own troubles, we don't need more. But how rarely will you hear someone say, you know what, in spite of all of that, let me tell you the great things that God is doing. Let me describe to you the difference that it's made because I have been brought to my knees to trust him as never before.
I think it is a wonderful moment for me to say this is a good habit for us to learn. This is a good time for us to learn it. This is the right season of the year. for us to begin to implement it. To help you with some more specifics, I find it significant that in some of the very letters Paul wrote.
He describes Some specific attitudinal differences. Right here in Philippians, there are three of them, and in Colossians is a fourth one. I want to show you these four altogether. You're right here in the right book.
So look at chapter 2, verse 3. And again, you might want to write it down. These are four attitudes worth working on in your own life as you learn how to live above your circumstances. Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit.
Now that's a lifetime project right there. But with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. He's writing from his house arrest. Remember, do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. I don't find one occasion where Paul says to one of his visitors, you know what?
I need you to do me a favor. When you get around on those top dogs around the emperor, have him get me out of here. You know, I need to get released. I shouldn't be here in the first place. And I've been here for one year and seven months, and four days, and five hours, and nine minutes.
I've been here long enough. doesn't do that. Why? Because he's a man of unselfish humility. That's the first attitude, and that's one worth working on.
In our day, where it seems as though all of the arrows point back to ourselves. where our resume must look the most impressive. where our image is the most important. Where how we look seems far more important than how we live. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live a life that's free of empty conceit and with humility of mind regarding the person next to us as more important than ourselves?
Unselfish humility. It's what the Lord Jesus demonstrated, verse 5. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Meaning what? When he was in the glories of the Father in heaven, before he came to this earth, And the plan was that he come and redeem us from our sins.
There was no argument. There was no fight, there was no wrestling, there was no reluctance. Why? Because he looked out for the needs of others. He gave up his own personal comforts and circumstances in order to come and to live among us, to be around us.
Unselfish humility is a wonderful place to start. Start with your family. Start with one of your neighbors. Start with that person you haven't met, even though he's lived across the street from you for the last seven months. Moved in seven months ago and you still haven't met him.
It's a good time to start there. And by the way, if you're in a practice, it might be nice for you to take a personal interest in the person that we call your patient. or your client. Begin to care. I know that your role is a professional role, and I know that you can't give that kind of attention to everyone.
Start with one. Start with just one. Unselfish humility. Look at verse 14. Here's the next attitude.
Okay. Chapter 2, verse 14. When I was a teenager, I cut this verse out of my Bible. But now that I'm adult, I have to... I have to leave that one in there.
Do all things. A-L-L, there it is again. Do all things without grumbling, disputing. This attitude is joyful acceptance. We move from unselfish humility to joyful acceptance.
Hmm. Knock off all the grumbling and all the disputing. Just knock it off. We don't need to hear your grousing. We don't need to hear your complaints.
It'd be so much easier for your family. If you did that. It is so much better. I said that in the first service, and a woman down front goes, Amen. Or maybe it's the wife.
Maybe you're the one that's a grouse to be around. Oh, it's unattractive. It's really unappealing. No wonder he works late. Yeah.
All things. The man writes that. From house arrest. He says, so that you will prove yourselves blameless and innocent. Children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
My mentor. Yeah. Ray Stedman used to say, we live in a world of crooks and perverts. As a result of reading that verse, but even they, have a head that turns. when you live a life that's free of grumbling and disputing.
Come on. What a great attitude to have. There's a third one. Chapter 3, verse 13. Look at this.
I love this about Paul. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. I haven't arrived. I haven't come to the place of perfection, but. One thing I do.
Look closely, folks. This is how to live, forgetting what lies behind. And reaching forward to what lies ahead, it's the picture of a runner. Running for the tape, and he's at the end of the race, and he's leaning forward, leaning toward the tape, reaching for what lies ahead. I press.
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. He wrote that from house arrest. chain to a guard. You know what the attitude is? Strong determination.
I will not focus on what was. I will live in anticipation of what will be. And in the meantime, count on me. I'm not going to slack off. I press on.
I was reading to Cynthia from Sports Illustrated the latest issue of a 90-year-old scout that still does scouting work for the Detroit Pistons. 90 years old. He still gets on a plane, checks these kids out that are maybe going to play for the Pistons. I love it. He said, why should I retire?
I'm having too much fun. Mean Who even thinks about it? Maybe five, six, eight, ten years from now, I might think about it 90 years old. I was encouraged when I read, We wonder at the anatomical perfection of a da Vinci painting. But we forget that Leonardo da Vinci on one occasion drew a thousand hands.
Determination. Thomas Edison came up with the incandescent light after a thousand failures. I read about a man who worked for him, and when they reached 780 and every experiment had failed, he went in to see Edison and said, I quit. Edison said, Why? He said 780 experiments had failed.
That's it. Edison said, no. That means now we're closer than ever. We know 780 things that won't work. Strong determination, Yasha Haifetz.
The greatest violinist of this century began playing the violin at age three. And early began to practice four hours every day until his death at age 75. When he had long been the greatest in the world. still practiced. Four hours a day, that's some 102,000 hours of practice.
Maybe you may have heard of Paderewski. One woman was fawning all over him for his ability on the keyboard, and he said, Madam, before I was a genius, I was a drudge. Stay at it. There's something about diligence that keeps us positive and contagious in enthusiasm. Don't tell me the troubles.
Don't get lost in the grumblings. Because if you do, you're going to find someone whose situation is worse than yours. And he's living under that. The Apostle says, I have learned to live above. These things.
There's one more I have to mention this one. Chapter 4 of Colossians. Go skip over there. It's the next book. Chapter four Verse 2.
Colossians 4:2 again from the house arrest, devote yourselves to prayer. keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. An attitude of thanksgiving. I will call this prayerful thanksgiving. Prayerful thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well.
Look at it, anticipating that God will open to us, open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been imprisoned, that I might make it clear in the way I ought to speak. That I might make it clear. Here's a man in his 60s who's been preaching for these number of years, asking for prayer that he might make it clear. Clear, and he's got this attitude of gratitude. Is there anything more exciting to be around?
I began this message by talking about other people who make a difference. Not celebrities, not award-winning. Trophy earning, or even money-making famous people, they don't make a difference in your life. We talked about people who have made a difference in your life. Let's turn it around and look at it from the other way.
How about your making a difference in someone else's life? You have you have a nephew or niece? You have a grandson or Or a daughter. Her son. How about one of the students at school?
You're a teacher. How about somebody at work who you know Could experience a whole series of changes if you just took a little time. Little Unselfish humility. The stopping of all grumbling and complaining, the determination to press on. Yep.
Okay. prayerful sense of gratitude. Let me tell you how you can do that. You start. by refusing to let your situation determine your attitude.
You learn to have the attitude dictate to your situation. It's transforming. And Paul tells us how to do it. We do it through Christ who strengthens us. I had a hard time knowing how to conclude this message, and I was telling Cynthia about it, and while we were talking, It occurred to me I had a book in my library I hadn't read for a couple of years, and I went up and Pulled it from the shelf.
It's a book by. David Aikman. No can. He wrote it in 1998. David Aikman is a foreign correspondent who looked back over the century.
The 20th. in search of six who changed the century. Six individuals who changed the 20th century. It's a fascinating book. 388 pages that keeps you sort of on the edge of your seat.
As he writes about people like Billy Graham and Nelson Mandela. and Mother Teresa and three others.
Solcha Nitsyn, of course, was another. Six who changed the century. I opened the book and I fell upon this statement. Perfect. His words.
What has struck me as a reporter For most of my adult life, Is the capacity of individual human beings again and again. to rise above their times and their circumstances. to change the direction. of the human tide. After he finishes his century study, looking over the lives of those who had impacted it the most, in his opinion.
He said, I find this remarkable capacity to rise again and again above their times. and their circumstances. You know what occurred to me? That is what drew me. to my mentors.
It was, of course, partly their interest in my life, but The better I got to know them and learn something of their background, my appreciation only intensified. when I learned what they had been through or were going through at the time. One of my sweetest mentors, dearest friends. Had a struggle in his family that I wasn't even aware of. And when I became aware of it, my heart went out to him even more.
when I knew that he had lived above the dregs. of one heartache after another after another after another. And so it will be for you. And so it will be when Christ is given the controls. of our minds.
So that he journeys into our experience and blocks us from all. embitterness All bitterness, All blame. All self-pity. Changes us to be like unto himself. Model?
The Apostle Paul. One of the most remarkable men who ever lived. I'd like us to bow our heads and just for a few moments. find some comfort with her closed eyes. You bring nothing to the table more important than your relationship with Christ, especially if that relationship.
has changed your attitude. That is the single most important thing you bring to the table in the influence of others. They cannot get around the fact that you're different. Leading them to the Savior is one of the simplest experiences you'll ever have. They are disarmed, they are drawn.
like a magnet. That's why they came to Christ as they did. Perhaps you've never come to know the Lord Jesus, and you find yourself in a setting where you would love to know this kind of joy. You'd love to know how to forgive an enemy rather than Uh keep close accounts and find a way to get back or get even. You'd love to know how to get control of your anger.
your uh negative responses. your habitual complaining. Your short-sightedness, you're living in the past. You'd love to know how to grow older graciously. It begins with being forgiven.
And that happens only in one place. And that's by faith alone in Christ. Alone. You're surrounded by people who are loving life as they never loved it before because they've come to the cross. And having come, they've surrendered themselves to the only one who can change them.
I invite you to do that today.
Now, Father, we do thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you for loving us. Even though you know us so well. For forgiving us and removing not only our sin but our shame. Even though you know all the details, like no one on this earth knows.
I thank you, Father, for the strength to deliver. what proved to be a challenging message for me. Thank you for helping me get it across. We are all dependent on you, Lord, even for the breath in our lungs, the beat in our heart. Thank you for the joy of worship.
for the privilege of knowing one who has all things under control, and for the peace. in knowing that in trusting you You will never take advantage. or lead us. incorrectly.
Now, Lord, I pray that you will dismiss us with the pleasure of your presence. presence. The reminder that you are in full control. and therefore nothing is out of control. and to him who is able to guard us from stumbling.
and to present us faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. To you, our God, our only wise Savior, be glory and majesty. dominion and power.
Now. and forever. Through Christ. And everyone said, Amen. Amen.
You're listening to Insight for Living and our Bible teacher, Chuck Swindahl. He titled today's message Arrested, Confined, But Still Effective.
Well, on this Friday edition of Insight for Living, as we wrap up another week of studies, I want to remind you about a companion book that Chuck authored. It's a classic biography about Paul that's written in narrative fashion. Many people tell us how much they enjoy Chuck's story telling because biblical characters come to life when we recognize their human frailties and the way in which God redeems them. I know you will love this biography. It's called Paul, a Man of Grace and Grit.
To purchase a copy, give us a call at eight hundred seven seven two eighty eight eighty eight, or go to insight dot org slash offer. If you want to get the most from Chuck's book, you'll also want to own the Bible study that goes along with it. It's part of our Searching the Scriptures Bible Studies. And this spiral-bound Bible study workbook is designed to leave room for your thoughts and observations. Right now, we're offering this one for Paul in a bundle that includes Chuck's biography of Paul and a CD that contains favorite messages from this series.
This bundle is perfect for pastors, teachers, and even beginning Bible students. Chuck's study on the life of Paul concludes this coming Wednesday, so be sure to reach out soon. Before we go, I want to say a word of thanks to those who consistently support Chuck's teaching ministry, which is now available on the radio, YouTube, our website, our mobile app, and all the digital platforms that are so popular these days. We couldn't provide these resources without your support. To send a donation in the mail, write to us at Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000.
Frisco, Texas, 75034. To make a donation online, go to insight.org/slash donate. or call us at 800-772-8888. I'm Bill Meyer, inviting you to join us when Chuck Swindahl resumes his study of Paul, a man of grace and grit. Monday on Insight for Living.
The preceding message, arrested, confined, but still effective, was copyrighted in 2001, 2003, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
