12 Marks of Gospel Ministry

Introduction

I just recently came across of list of “hill-billy wisdom”. Here’s a couple:

“Always drink upstream from the herd.”

“Lettin the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.”

That is both metaphorically and literally true.

“If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.”

And then there is this one.

“Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.”

And the premise is that you should live a life that you won’t regret. That at the end of your life you’d be able to look back and enjoy thinking about what you did.

And this morning as we look at how Paul begins to end his letter to the church in Rome we see that Paul is speaking about his plans for how he will spend his life in pursuit of ministry.

And my goal this morning is for you and I to be resolved that we will not get to the end of our lives and regret the ministry we didn’t do. So I want to amend the “hill-billy wisdom” a little bit.

“Live a gospel ministry centered life. So that if you get older you can think back and enjoy it a second time.”

Let me highlight the differences here. Friends, let us live a life that is characterized by bringing glory to God.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

When God saves us—he calls us into the family business—we all have ministry to do in the spheres of influence that he has given us. And we want to build our lives around glorifying God with our lives. Being God centered as we determine the action of our lives.

And secondly, if we get older we want to be able to look back at our lives and enjoy it a second time. IF.

None of us are guaranteed to grow old, to see tomorrow, or even the next hour.

And my goal isn’t to make you fear, but to realize that there is a certain amount of time that you have in your life—your days are finite—and so we should spend them well.

Our passage this morning is Romans 15:14-33. To help us in our goal of living our lives in a gospel ministry centered way we see 12 Marks of Gospel Ministry in our passage this morning. Number one.

1. Gospel Ministry Replicates

At the end of our passage last week Paul said “I want you to abound in hope and joy—I want you to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

And then as we begin our passage today Paul says in v.14

Romans 15:14 “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.”

Paul is satisfied with the spiritual growth of the Roman church—to whom he has been a disciple-maker.

The question is: why is Paul satisfied?

Paul says I’m satisfied about you brothers and sisters because you are full of goodness, full of knowledge, and you are able to instruct one another.

Paul is satisfied with the believers in Rome because they are able to replicate the faith that they have been taught.

Paul should not consider his ministry as fruitful if all the pepole he preached the gospel to and all the people he taught were—in turn—were lacking goodness. Had little godly knowledge. And were unable to instruct one another in how to follow Christ.

And you and I—as we think about the ministry of our lives—also should have it as our goal to have a ministry that can replicate. And this has everything to do with how you are shepherding your disciples.

And you might be thinking, “Well pastor I don’t have any disciples.”

If you are a parent you have disciples. Parents your first ministry is in your home. And it is an important ministry.

When I was in seminary I was warned over and over again not to lose my family to the ministry. Because the generation before me had left their family in the wake of their ministry.

Outside of the home they had flourishing ministries while inside the home their own wives and children were left picking at the scraps of what was left. If you are raising children—whether they are yours or not—you have tiny disciples in your home. nd you might be thinking, “Well pastor I don’t have any disciples.”

If you are a parent you have disciples. Parents your first ministry is in your home. And it is an important ministry.

When I was in seminary I was warned over and over again not to lose my family to the ministry. Because the generation before me had left their family in the wake of their ministry.

Outside of the home they had flourishing ministries while inside the home their own wives and children were left picking at the scraps of what was left. If you are raising children—whether they are yours or not—you have tiny disciples in your home.

If you don’t have kids then you have lost friends—or neighbors—or co-workers and they need to know the gospel.

And I guarantee that if you pray for God to use you to save people and you are faithful to share the gospel that God will use you to save people.

And when they get saved they need to be discipled.

If we want to have a gospel ministry it will be a ministry that replicates. Those we disciple will know the gospel, know the Bible, and be able to, in turn, teach others.

Any other ministry—no matter how big—how flashy—that fails to produce disciples that can disciple others is a failing ministry.

2. Gospel Ministry Reminds

Paul continues in the passage and says you are able to replicate and you are able to teach one another but...

Romans 15:15 “But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder...

Gospel ministry boldly reminds one another of the truth.

Friends—you and I will never make a disciple that will not need to be course corrected.

Friends—you and I are disciples that need to be course corrected.

Why do you think Paul is writing this letter? Because the church in Rome needed some godly, bold encouragement to continue to follow Christ.

If you and I are going to have a gospel ministry that we can look back on with pleasure then we must be in the business of being bold.

Now what does that mean?

Remember boldness is not bereft of humility, of gentleness, of patience.

Boldness is not a license to be a jerk.

Boldness is having the courage to correct someone when correction needs to be done.

It is not an attitude—a look—or anything else. The mose unassuming, introverted, physically unimpressive person can be bold.

In Galatians 2 Peter is treating the gentile Christians differently when the Jewish Christians are around. He was embarrassed of his brothers and sisters in the Lord and showed favoritism—which James says is a sin.

And in Galatians 2:11 Paul says “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.”

Don’t miss the significance of this—we often think of Paul as a really big deal—but Peter came before Paul and Peter walked with Jesus and Peter was on the mount of transfiguration. In the early church Peter was a big deal—and Paul was one unnaturally born— a former persecutor of the church.

But Peter, Paul’s brother was in sin and Paul was bold enough—and loving enough to remind him of it.

If we are going to have gospel ministries then we must be willing to not only make disciples, but also boldly remind them to stay the course from time to time.

And we do this—knowing that boldness is an attitude of the heart—and a willingness to be uncomfortable rather than a physical action or a license to be unloving.

Transition: Gospel ministry replicates and gospel ministry reminds. Also...

3. Gospel Ministry is Grace

Romans 15:15 “But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God”

Paul considered his ministry to be grace from God. Listen to what Paul writes here in 2 Corinthians 11:25-27

“Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”

Friends, Paul wrote Romans after he wrote to the Corinthians. So all of this happens to him and Paul says my ministry is a grace given to me by God.

Do you consider the gosple work God has given you a grace? Do you consider the people God has given you to love in your life a grace? Do you consider suffering in pursuit of God as a grace?

Jesus told us to pick up our crosses and follow Him—church where do you think he was going with that cross?

He wasn’t going to get a massage!

He was going to die!

If you and I believe the lie that a blessed life and a God honoring life is comfortable and easy then we will run in the opposite direction of the ministry that he calls us to do.

When we our children need us to minister to them we’ll run away.

When our difficult co-worker presents us an opportunity to move the gospel conversation forward we’ll neglect it.

When we are faced with the own opportunity to fight our own sins—to repent in the face of our own failures—instead we’ll lash out at others around us and miss the opportunity to model what it means to grasp and truly believe the gospel. To fall down into the dirt and grasp the hand of the savior and proclaim again I know that the gospel is true and I have been forgiven.

The ministry that God gives us is not a burden to us, but a grace. That we may taste and see that the Lord is good as we put our hand to the work he has given us.

Number 4

4. Gospel Ministry is Service that Worships

Romans 15:16 “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God...

Paul says that his work is priestly service.

And the Bible says elsewhere that you and I are in the priestly service as well. Look at 1 Peter 2:9

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

As you and I live our lives out proclaiming the excellencies of the one who saved us we are giving service to our God. We are worshipping Him.

We often view worship as the time that we gather here together—we think of corporate worship as the worship of our lives.

But friends—every moment belongs to God.

Every moment is meant to be an act of worship.

The problem is that many times we don’t view our morning routines—our work—or the endless activities of the day as an opportunity to serve God and to worship God. But this is exactly what God says our days are about.

Deuteronomy 6:7-9 “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Our lives are to be holy and set apart. They are to be characterized as worship and service to our God. The world should see us and know that we and all we are belong to our good God.

That by God’s grace they would be drawn to know more about this God who is worthy of our lives.

Transition: The fifth characteristic of gospel ministry...

5. Gospel Ministry Rescues People

What does a life spent living in worship of God result in?

Let’s read verses 15 and 16 together so we don’t lose the picture.

Romans 15:15-16 “But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”

Why is ministry a grace? Becasue by it God uses it to save others.

Through your life spent pursuing God and working where he has given you work to do other people are made acceptable and are sanctified.

This is what the gospel does. By the righteous life of Jesus and his saving blood people are made acceptable to a holy God.

Our sins are paid for—the guil of our rebellion is undone by Jesus on the cross and Jesus rising in the tomb.

And you and I with the testimony of our lives and the testimony of our lips proclaim this truth…and what happens?

God brings people from death in sin to life in Christ just like he did us.

Friends, you and your ministry—to your children—to your family—to your peers is God’s plan to rescue people from the judgement of God’s wrath against all unrighteousness.

Don’t ever think that you and your part are unimportant. There are people who will greet you in glory because of the faithfulness of your life here.

Number 6

6. Gospel Ministry is God Dependent

Romans 15:17-19 “In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God...

We talked about this recently at our Tuesday night study. One of the problems with ministry is that we can do an awful lot of it in our own power.

Meaning we can be busy in the ministry—doing lots of stuff—and the whole time we can be relying on ourselves for it to be “successful”.

And we measure success by how many people attend—or how good it looked—or some other combination of self-driven parameters of success.

But if we truly want to do ministry. If successful ministry in our minds is what God says it is in His word. A ministry where people are rescued and hearts are changed. If we want that ministry friends

Then we must know that it is dependent on God. It is by His power that we will see the kingdom of God built.

Paul says, “In Christ Jesus, I can be proud of my work..I won’t speak of anything except what Christ accomplished…every word and deed, every powerful sign and wonder…it was all done by the power of the Spirit of God.

Friends let us not confuse the busyness of human action with the power of the living God.

We should be seeking God and waiting on God. We should be drawing near to God knowing that ministry success has nothing to do with expertly executed checklists and everything to do with abiding in the presence of our good God waiting on Him to move.

Transition: Number 7

7. Gospel Ministry Follows the Plan of God

Romans 15:19-21 “so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.””

Gospel ministry moves according to God’s plan. It goes where God sends when God sends it.

Everybody, but especially the young people in the room please hear me.

The best thing you can do with your life is pour it out for God.

That list of mishaps in 2 Corinthians we read. Beatings and ship wrecks. None of that would have happened if Paul had pursued his own plans for his life.

If Paul had pursued his plans then he would have missed out on being a part of seeing God move in mighty ways. Paul regretted not one step of obedience in his life.

And when eternity comes not one of us will wish that we had done less in service to our God. We will only wish we had done more.

My wife is a school teacher and for the most part—Christian young people are not seeking how God would have them spend their lives. They are working hard at their plan.

And I don’t think this is an outright rejection of God. I think in the arrogance of our hearts we assume that our good plan is God’s good plan.

Gospel ministry that glorifies God and moves in power will follow God as He leads.

Number 8.

8. Gospel Ministry is a Priority

Romans 15:22-24 “This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.”

Paul says, “I have often been hindered from coming to you.” Paul wanted many times to visit his friends in Rome.

But his goal to preach Christ where he has not been preached. His goal to plant churches and make disciples often kept him from coming.

Gospel Ministry is a priority.

We should not expect that God is going to move through us if being used by Him for His glory is of little importance to us.

Paul wanted to visit Rome but many times he was kept from doing what he wanted to go instead where God was leading.

In your life—who calls the shots? Are you willing to make God and his mission the priority of your life? Are you willing to go without something you want in order for God to be glorified?

This was Paul’s practice and notice what he says, “But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions...”

A life given to God can accomplish much. This doesn’t mean that there was no ministry left to be done in these regions, but that all the ministry Paul could do was done. God uses a willing life mightily for His glory.

Number 9.

9. Gospel Ministry is Practical

Romans 15:25-27 “At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings.”

James 2:15-17 “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Gospel Ministry is practical.

Paul says the churches in Macedonia and Achaea have contributed money for the poor saints in Jerusalem. They were giving to the practical needs of the people.

And we see this in the ministry of Christ. He came healing and feeding. He came to save us and mend broken hearts but while he did it he also filled stomachs.

Know that your practical care and love toward those made in God’s image is ministry. And it is gospel ministry if you use these opportunities to share the gospel.

God did not only call us to fill empty stomachs. Bread will only last for a little while but Jesus, the bread of life will last an eternity.

But also—if people are starving in front of us and we have the means to feed them we should not only offer them the gospel. Throw some bread in there too.

This giving of our resources Paul says is right. The Macedonians and the Acachains benefitted spiritually from the ministry that came from the church in Jerusalem. And so it is right that they would share of their physical resources with those in need.

Gospel ministry will seek to serve the whole person like Christ did.

10. Gospel Ministry is Group Ministry

Romans 15:28-29 “When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.”

Paul plans to leave for his new work in Spain by the help of the church in Rome.

Gospel ministry is group ministry.

You can not do the work that God has called you to do by yourself.

Paul looked for help to accomplish what God called him to do. And if that is not convicting...

Jesus as an example to us—received help as he accomplished the work that he was called to do.

The body of Christ works together to see ministry done in multiple places.

Do not rely on yourself to do what God has planned for you to do in community.

Towards this point...

11. Gospel Ministry Strives in Prayer

We hinted on this earlier when we saw that Gospel Ministry is done in the power of God.

Romans 15:30-32 “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.”

Gospel ministry is a ministry that prays together.

You and I need prayer. We need to go to God in prayer on a regular basis—spending time with Him. Depending on Him in prayer to move in power in our lives.

Jesus constantly withdrew in prayer. And what do we see his people doing in Acts?

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

What would it look like for your life to be devoted to prayer?

For many people prayer is a reaction to a bad situation—or a ritual to check off of the daily list—but instead God calls you to pray that you may spend time with Him and by your faithful praying see Him move.

12. Gospel Ministry Brings Peace

Romans 15:33 “May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.”

May the peace of God be with you.

Friends the gospel of Jesus Christ brings peace to all those who believe and follow Christ. And this is the most amazing truth of all.

God’s righteous judgement—His holy justice is satisfied in the perfect life and death of Jesus.

You and I—if we were to be judged by our lives would receive Hell because the standard that God means for us to meet is perfection. We if we are to earn our way to God are to keep the law of God perfectly.

But all of us have fallen short—all of us have sinned.

But Jesus didn’t. He lived on behalf of all those who would come to Him and he died for all those that God would draw to Him.

And the result is that for everyone who will believe and follow Jesus they have peace as one who has kept the law of God perfectly.

Jesus brings peace to the world. And the gospel ministry is all about proclaiming the work of Christ to bring people from death in their sin to life in Christ.

Conclusion

There are a lot of ways that you and I could spend our lives. But there is only one course we can be if we want to look back with satisfaction on the way we spent our lives.

We must take up the mantle of gospel ministry that God has called us to. We must embrace our holy mission to be a holy priesthood. We must take responsibility for where God has placed and the people he has placed us with.

As we close I want to encourage you with this: a list of 12 Marks of Gospel Ministry can be overwhelming. Pick one or two things this morning. Wherever the Holy Spirit pricked your attention and implement more that Mark. And when that one is a fixed habit and you are relying on God there move to the next one.

And don’t forget that all of this is in the power of God. Let’s pray.