The Task Before Us - Romans 15:14-22

© October 20th, 2024 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Romans

It is often interesting to learn what drives people. When you understand that, you can begin to understand why they do the things they do. Often, people don’t have a great grasp on what drives them. They may not realize their behaviors were things they learned from their parents, or the things they do are a reaction to how their parents behaved growing up. They may not realize that everything they do is driven by their own insecurity and desire to be liked and seen as significant. Or they may not understand that they have learned that playing the victim is the only way they feel they can be seen.

It often takes quite a bit of work to understand what really drives a person, simply because they usually haven’t thought much about it. Paul, however, had given great thought to what drove him. He had a focused approach to everything he did. He believed God had called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles, so that was the most important task in his life. It was what drove Paul above all else.

For the last 15 and a half chapters, we’ve seen Paul’s mind at work. He has systematically laid out the gospel message and then pointed to some practical applications of what it should look like for a believer to live in light of these truths. As we move into the closing section of the book, we get a glimpse of the writer himself. In our passage this morning, Paul tells us why he was writing and what his goal was.

While we aren’t Paul, we can learn a great deal from what he tells us about what drove him. Paul’s approach was disciplined and wise and should inform how we approach life as well.

Why Write Romans?

Paul begins by explaining why he decided to write to the Roman church, a place he had not yet visited, to begin with.

14 I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. 15 Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God’s grace, 16 I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:14-16, NLT)

It is somewhat surprising to hear Paul say that he believes the Romans are full of goodness and know all the things he has written them. If that was the case, why did he feel the need to write in the first place?

Obviously, if the Romans were indeed Christians (which we have every reason to believe they were), then they understood the gospel message at some level already. They had surely come to understand their sinfulness and need for a savior, and recognized that Jesus Christ alone was the One who could save them. So, since Paul was basically explaining the gospel message to them, it was fair to say they already knew these things. But surely, as Paul went into great depth on these truths, they were taken deeper in their understanding as well.

Paul says that even though he knew they knew these facts, he wrote boldly to them, knowing they simply needed a reminder. Don’t we sometimes find that is true? I once heard someone say that preachers need to consistently preach the gospel to their congregations, because their congregations need to keep being reminded of its truth. And preachers must also continually preach the gospel to themselves, because they also need to be reminded of its truth! We all need to be reminded of the gospel message, because it anchors us! It is foundational to everything we do. That was the reason Paul was writing the Romans; he wanted them to have a firm foundation from which to build everything else about their faith.

I love the line in the song “I Love to Tell the Story” that says, “I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.” How true this should be! Those who understand the gospel the most should also most delight in hearing it expounded again. The gospel message is simple enough for a child to understand, yet deep enough to never become old. That’s what Paul does for us in the book of Romans—he takes us deeper, challenging us to keep mining the depths of the wonderful message of salvation available through Jesus.

What Paul says at the end of v. 16, however, is interesting. He said that he preaches the good news so that he might present the Gentiles as an offering acceptable to God. In some ways, this is not surprising. Paul knew that God had called him to reach out to the Gentiles. What is somewhat surprising is the fact that Paul uses words that refer to himself as a priest in the work he carries out.

You may have noticed that Protestant Christians do not refer to their pastors as priests. That is with good reason. A priest serves as an intermediary between God and man. In the Old Testament, it was impossible for the Jewish people to come directly to God; they had to come to a priest, who could offer sacrifices to God on their behalf. Only the priests were able to approach the Lord.

Jesus changed that forever. When Jesus died, the temple curtain was torn in two. This was symbolic of what had happened. Jesus had become our Great High Priest, so that we no longer needed a human being to bridge the gap between us and God. Jesus now fulfills that role for everyone who believes. Paul understood this truth, probably better than anyone. So why did he use priestly language to describe what he was doing?

I think he was trying to appeal to the Jewish Christians. He described the Gentiles as a sacrifice pleasing to God. That whole concept would have been foreign to a Jew. Everything Gentile was unclean and unacceptable to God. But Paul was showing that through the Holy Spirit, even the Gentiles could be made holy. It was one last reminder of the new thing God was doing.

Paul’s Pride

Paul then goes on to speak about the way that he viewed his ministry at large.

17 So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God. 18 Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. 19 They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum. (Romans 15:17-19, NLT)

Paul was excited to see all the things God had done through him. God had used Paul to bring untold numbers to faith in Jesus. But Paul did not try to take credit for these things. He recognized that his success was not because of his skill or even his diligence, it was because of the work of the Holy Spirit through him.

Paul explained that he had ministered from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum. For most of us (myself included) Illyricum means nothing to us. But this is the area that used to be known as Yugoslavia, and today covers what is known as the Balkans, the area made up of Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Greece. The area Paul covered stretched over 1700 miles! Sharing the gospel across this whole area would be an impressive resume for anyone today but in Paul’s day it was a truly astounding accomplishment! And yet, Paul understood that he could not take credit for anything he saw happening.

I can’t help but think about all the blessings God has given this church and this community during the last 43 years of Dad’s ministry here. I know that Dad fully understands, however, that though he has worked hard, and he has done his best to serve the Lord faithfully, any success is a direct result of what God has done, and he cannot (and dare not) take credit. He can be proud of the work he has carried out, while recognizing that the increase is all because of God.

This is how each of us must look at the ministry God has given us. We dare not begin to take credit for the things God does through us. We should simply be grateful for the opportunity to be used by Him. We can be proud of the fact that we have served diligently but must also recognize that only God can change hearts, and only He can bring about the kind of results we hope to see.

Many pastors (and I suspect, other Christians) can fall into the trap of beginning to believe their own press clippings. Many pastors who begin to be seen as “successful” in the eyes of the world begin to believe they are responsible for that success. This can make them hard-hearted, can cause them to imagine that they are super-Christians, and can sometimes even cause them to wander from the truth, because they have become a truth unto themselves. Paul’s attitude serves as a corrective to us and reminds us of the need to humbly recognize the true source of our power. It is not us, but God working in us who accomplishes anything great.

One other aspect of this truth is that God uses our own natural abilities for His purposes. Paul was the ideal candidate for the task God had called him to. Paul was highly educated, familiar with the local customs and beliefs of various areas, and a skilled speaker. He knew how to debate with people forcefully and to explain truths boldly and clearly. As such, God used him to reach people in a wide variety of contexts. And God is still using Paul’s work to impact Christians even today! Despite this, Paul knew that his job was simply to use the gifts he had for the Lord, and then trust that the Lord could use them to accomplish His purposes.

This is the same attitude we are supposed to have. It is tempting to conclude that since we don’t have Paul’s education, knowledge, boldness, or intellect that God cannot use us. That simply isn’t true. You may not have Paul’s gifts, but God has gifted you in unique ways as well. Just as Paul was uniquely suited to the task God had given him, you are uniquely suited to the task God has given you. Sometimes we imagine that our skills are of little use. But remember, that which seems insignificant in your hands is not in the hands of the Lord. Our task is simply to be faithful in carrying out the ministry God has given to each of us, and then trust Him (and praise Him!) for the results.

Paul’s Approach

Paul gives us one more insight into his approach to ministry in verses 20-22.

20 My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. 21 I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says, “Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.” 22 In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places. (Romans 15:20-22, NLT)

Paul’s focus was to bring the gospel to places where people had never heard of Christ, as opposed to coming into a place where a church was already established and ministering there. Today, we would call Paul a pioneering missionary. Such missionaries specifically target places where the gospel has never been preached before. It takes a special person to be a pioneering missionary, because while all mission work is difficult, bringing the gospel to a place where there is no knowledge of Christ is exceptionally so.

There are still many places in the world today that have not heard the gospel message. Mission workers keep track of these places and make plans for how to reach them. Some mission work focuses specifically on ministering to these groups, much like Paul did. Organizations like New Tribes Mission or Wycliffe Bible Translators focus their efforts on bringing the gospel to those who have never heard.

So, is this the only acceptable form of ministry? I don’t believe so, and I don’t believe Paul thought so either. While Paul was the one who began the work in each of these places, he would appoint leaders to minister in each place. He sent Timothy to Ephesus specifically to lead that church and to minister to the people there. Paul often spoke of the fact that God had given people gifts to minister within the local church. Some are called to travel to other lands and share the gospel, but many are called to minister to their neighbors, co-workers, and the people with whom they regularly interact.

One important application of this principle, however, does inform the way we should approach outreach today. “Church growth” has become a buzzword in American Christianity. The focus is on increasing the number of people in your church. It borrows language from the business world and speaks of branding, market share, and target demographics. Ultimately, the focus is to increase attendance at a specific church.

Not everything about the church growth movement is bad. It is good for churches to identify their strengths and to lean into those. It is good for churches to identify the needs of their community and seek to meet those needs. The problem is that when all we focus on is the number of people at our church, we lose sight of the more important metric—the number of people in God’s kingdom!

You see, often what happens when people plant churches, launch satellite churches, or seek to revitalize an existing church, is that they simply attract people who attend other churches to attend theirs. This is not church growth at all! It’s just moving people around! When these things are done right, they focus on reaching people who aren’t being reached by other local churches, not targeting members of established churches. That’s the correct approach to building the Kingdom.

Even as an established church, this should be our focus. We should not be trying to recruit people from other churches to come to our church (even though this is obviously the best place to be!). Our goal should be to reach out to those who do not know Christ. It should be to minister to our friends and neighbors who do not have a church home. It should be to build the kingdom by bringing in new people—not by shuffling around the people who are already there.

Paul was eager to visit the Romans, but he knew he had a more important task to take care of. He was charged with bringing the gospel to those who had never heard it. And while he hoped to one day be with the Roman church in person, he was happily engaged in the ministry he knew he should be right now.

Conclusions

This passage is quite a departure from most of the rest of Romans. Most of Romans focuses on direct instruction and application. Our passage this morning gives us a glimpse into what drives Paul. But it is still instructive to us, because what drove Paul ought to drive us. The way Paul carried out ministry ought to inform the way we do as well. So let’s draw some applications from this text.

First, we have a responsibility to serve well, but success is in the Lord’s hands. Our world today measures the effectiveness of what you do by the immediate results. We assume that if we don’t see immediate results from our efforts to serve the Lord, then we have failed. That isn’t true. You never know how God may use your efforts well into the future. One of the blessings of a long-term ministry is getting to see God cause seeds to grow that you planted decades before. Remember that nothing done for the Lord is in vain. Don’t become discouraged because you don’t see immediate results. Faithful service to the Lord is always valuable; the results are up to Him.

Second, our focus should be the gospel, not gimmicks. Churches today have attempted to glean “wisdom” from the world of business. We focus on slick marketing, emotional appeals, and designing worship services to elicit responses from the people. These things have elements that are helpful and valuable, but the only thing that can save people is the gospel of Jesus Christ! Worldly methods can get results, but the results they get will be worldly! There is an old saying that what you win people with is what you win them to. In other words, if we win people with entertaining services, or glitz and glamour, that is what their faith will be in. The moment those things are gone, their “faith” will be also. If we want to see genuine change in people’s hearts, if we want see the kingdom of God grow, if we want to see people saved from their sin, there is only one solution—the gospel. We must ensure that everything we do as a church keeps the gospel at the forefront. We must ensure that everything we do as believers does the same. It is easy to get sidetracked. Remember, only the gospel can save.

Finally, we should see ourselves as missionaries wherever we are. Paul understood that his task was to reach people around him with the gospel message. He had a responsibility to build up established churches and to strive for personal holiness as well, but he remembered that the primary task before him was to make sure others had the opportunity to know about Jesus. You and I may not be apostles to the Gentiles, but we are tasked with a similar goal. We are commanded to share the gospel message with the world. Some may travel to places unknown to do that, but many of us will be called to do that right where we are. We have a responsibility not only to the Lord, but also to those around us to share the hope that is found in Jesus Christ alone. It is only when we are willing to do the work of missionaries that we will begin to see God bring about change in those around us and in our world.

Paul was driven by the understanding that he was called to carry the gospel message to Gentiles of every stripe. It was an enormous task, but Paul knew he served an enormous God. In the same way, we are called to share the message with anyone who will listen. We, like Paul, must keep the same truths at the forefront of our minds. If we do, we will faithfully use what we have to serve the Lord. And when we put those things in the Lord’s hands, it’s amazing what He can do with them. My prayer is that each of us will have the same kind of heart as Paul, because if we do, then we will get a front row seat to see God do amazing things we can only imagine.

© October 20th, 2024 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Romans