Paul's Philosophy of Ministry

Instructions

Will you take your Bible and turn to Romans 15:14–21? Please search the Scriptures with us. Don’t be afraid to use your index.

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Capture

Imagine we're hiring a new pastor, and you are part of the search committee, what's the first thing you'd ask?

One of the top questions that should come up is: what is your philosophy of ministry? How do you approach the ministry? What are your goals for the church?

Significance

Now imagine the Apostle Paul walking into our search committee as a candidate—if he sat before Mt. Carmel with our questions—what would he say? What kind of church would he lead? What would he insist we give ourselves to?

Paul answers in Romans 15:14–21.

Context

In Romans 15:14–21, Paul shifts from the specific conflicts in the church of Rome to reveal the heartbeat of gospel ministry itself. He lays out a three-fold calling Christ gives His church. This is our job description.

The Question

What does God expect from His church?

Bible Verse

Romans 15:14 CSB

14 My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

1. A Priestly Ministry (vv. 14–16)

A. Priests to One Another (v. 14)

Paul begins with a stunning compliment, identifying—

Three Marks of a Mature Church:

1. Goodness in Our Hearts

A Holy Spirit-shaped character bending toward mercy, patience, and holiness.

2. Knowledge in Our Heads

Not Bible trivia, but knowledge of God.

Matthew Henry calls this "a very rare and excellent conjunction; the head and heart of the new man."

Think about that.

Most believers tilt one direction.

The activists—all heart, no discernment.

The intellectuals—all theology, no compassion.

But genuine Christian maturity requires both.

Goodness without knowledge is naive sentimentality.

Knowledge without goodness is cold orthodoxy.

We need this rare combination.

Saints, don't excuse shallow discipleship by saying, "We just need to keep it simple."

The world isn't simple.

The world will attack our faith with intellectual arguments.

If all you have is goodness, you’ll crumble under intellectual arguments.

So we got to give both.

Model character. Teach doctrine.

3. Competence to Instruct One Another

That word—instruct—isn't casual advice.

It's noutheteō: to counsel about avoidance or cessation of improper conduct; to admonish, warn, instruct.

It is counsel aimed at course correction.

It is speaking courageously into each other’s lives when sin, drift, or error surfaces.

This is the priesthood of all believers in action.

This is not just the pastor correcting you.

You correcting each other.

Your maturity is proven when you can lovingly and competently instruct one another.

Christ intends all His people to be priests to one another, not passive consumers.

Members—don't silence your voice.

Robert H. Mounce, “None were so wise that they had nothing more to learn, and none were so inept that they had nothing of value to share.”

You have spiritual insight God intends someone else to receive.

So, what’s the place of the preacher?

Romans 15:15 CSB

15 Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God

Paul writes boldly "to remind you"—not to teach new things, but to press old truths deeper.

Matthew Henry wrote: “People commonly excuse themselves from hearing the word with this, that the minister can tell them nothing but what they knew before. If it be so, yet have they not need to know it better, and to be put in mind of it?”

My job isn't to tell you anything new; it's to help you know better what you already know.

B. Priests to God (vv. 15–16)

Romans 15:16 CSB

16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. God’s purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Paul elevates the imagery, describing his work as "priestly service."

Paul uses temple language.

But notice what he's sacrificing—not bulls or goats, but people.

John Chrysostom says, "My sacrificial knife is the gospel, the word of my preaching."

The altar was Paul’s ministry. The knife was Paul’s preaching. The offering was the Gentiles themselves—people won to Christ and made holy. The sanctifying fire was the Holy Spirit.

Paul's goal wasn't crowds or applause.

His goal was to offer God holy people—men and women made obedient to Christ by the Holy Spirit.

Application: Your Priestly Service

Your priestly work is helping people become living sacrifices to God.

Wherever God has placed you—your home, workplace, school—that is your altar.

The people you pray for, disciple, and witness to are offerings you should want to see sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Parents, especially, you're priests in your home.

Every time you disciple your children, you're offering them to God.

When you instruct one another in love here, when you speak truth that shapes obedience—that's priestly ministry.

Your life is altar work. Your relationships are offerings.

But priestly work is a heavy work.

None of us can convert or sanctify.

None of us can make sinners holy.

So Paul gives us a second ministry.

2. A Powerful Ministry (vv. 17–19)

Romans 15:17–19 CSB

17 Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God. 18 For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, 19 by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.

A. The Careful Qualification

Where does the power come from?

All true ministry is Christ-powered.

Notice Paul's precision.

William Hendriksen nails it: He doesn't say, "Look what I accomplished through Christ." He says, "Look what Christ accomplished through me."

Douglas Moo writes, "Christ is the active worker; Paul is simply the instrument."

So Paul refuses to speak of his own achievements.

Calvin adds, "He had nothing else in view but that all praise be transmitted to Christ."

The moment you think your success—converting a colleague or raising godly children—is due to your eloquence or skill, you've stepped into spiritual pride.

The heartbeat of all ministry is Christ does the work; we are tools in His hands.

This confronts the pride of pastors, the insecurity of members, and the discouragement of servants—

You are not the power—Christ is.

B. The Fourfold Description (vv. 18–19a)

Paul then names four channels of ministry: Word, deed, signs and wonders, and one other.

Paul preached boldly.

He lived consistently.

He performed miracles.

But watch what comes next: "by the power of God's Spirit."

Even word, deed, and miracle combined cannot regenerate a single soul without the blessed Holy Spirit.

Matthew Henry captures it: "Paul himself, with all his mighty signs and wonders, could not make one soul obedient further than the power of the Spirit accompanied his labors."

Let that settle on you.

Paul could preach the house down, live with perfect integrity, and raise the dead.

And still—no one would be saved unless the Holy Spirit came down.

The Holy Spirit is the only Person who can take a human word and confirm it with divine power in the hearer's heart.

Here’s what that means.

John Stott reminds us: "Every conversion is a power encounter, in which the Spirit through the gospel rescues and regenerates sinners."

Application: Where Real Power Lives

So our job is faithfulness to the means—Word and deed and prayer.

The Spirit's job is conversion and fruit.

This removes the sting of discouragement when we fail to see results, and the pride of success when we do.

And it’s why Paul boasts—not in his effort, but in Christ's power.

Whatever good we do, it is not we, but Christ in us.

The work is His. The strength is His.

Our ministry is truly powerful only when it's totally dependent on Christ working through us.

But Paul's philosophy doesn't end with priestly calling or powerful dependency.

He shows us the outward dimension.

3. A Pioneering Ministry (vv. 20–21)

Romans 15:19–21 CSB

19 by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. 20 My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation, 21 but, as it is written, Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.

A. The Geographical Sweep

From Jerusalem to Illyricum (modern Albania)—that’s over 1,400 miles of gospel advance.

It echoes Acts 1:8:

Acts 1:8 CSB

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Mounce calls this "trail-blazing, pioneer preaching."

B. The Strategic Vision

Paul's ministry was marked by a holy ambition: "where Christ has not been named."

Paul's calling wasn't to pastor established churches but to plant strategic churches in virgin gospel territory.

Douglas Moo's illustration is perfect: "Like early American pioneers who pulled up stakes anytime they could see smoke from another person's cabin, Paul felt 'crowded' by too many Christians."

Paul was gripped by the conviction that Christ must be named where He is not known.

C. Apostolic Uniqueness and Ongoing Pattern

There is uniqueness here.

John Stott clarifies: "Paul was quite clear that Christ calls different disciples to different tasks."

Some Christians are called to blaze trails—to cross oceans, plant churches, translate Scripture.

Others are called to stay and shepherd—to disciple the found and root them in obedience.

But all Christians are called to look beyond themselves—to have an eye toward the unreached, the uninterested, the untouched.

D. The Prophetic Fulfillment

Paul ends with Isaiah 52:15:

Isaiah 52:15 CSB

15 so he will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for they will see what had not been told them, and they will understand what they had not heard.

Paul's pioneer ministry fulfills ancient prophecy.

The Gentiles who had no knowledge of Israel's Messiah are now seeing and understanding.

Application: Your Unreached Territory

Not everyone is called to international missions. But everyone has unreached territory.

Maybe it's your workplace—your the only believer in your department.

Maybe it's your neighborhood—no gospel witness on your street.

Maybe it's your family—aunts, uncles, cousins who've never heard you speak of Christ.

The pioneering ministry for the believer is the intentional effort to take the name of Christ where it is not yet named.

Who in your circle has never heard the gospel from your lips? What space are you occupying where Christ's name is not known?

Your workplace, friend group, or extended family is pioneer ground.

Sometimes pioneering doesn't look like boarding a plane.

Sometimes it looks like walking across the street or a room and starting a conversation.

Summons: A Call to Holy Ambition

This is Paul's philosophy of ministry. And it should be ours.

A priestly ministry: helping others become living sacrifices.

A powerful ministry: Christ works through His people by the Holy Spirit.

A pioneering ministry: we look beyond ourselves to where Christ is not named.

The work of the ministry is not accomplished solely by those with ordination.

It's carried out by plumber-priests, teacher-proclaimers, and entrepreneur-pioneers, all dependent on the Holy Spirit.

Who needs your priestly ministry—your admonition, your prayers?

Where do you need to depend upon Christ's power instead your own effort?

Where is Christ not named in your world—who has never truly heard?

This is Christ's design for His church.

He is the great High Priest.

He is the power of God.

He is the pioneer who went where no one else could—into sin, death, and judgment—and rose victorious.

Now He invites us into His work.

May God make us priestly, powerful, and pioneering for the sake of His name.

Repent, Believe, and Be Baptized

If you are not a Christian, you are the one Christ is pioneering for. He came to bear the punishment that you deserve.

Spurgeon said, "Ungodly man, if thou art ever to be saved, thou must draw nigh to God in prayer. Go to him at this moment, just where thou art sitting, and confess all thy sin to him; there is no need for thee to utter a word that any of us can hear, for God can read the language of thy heart."

"Dear Jesus, I confess I'm a sinner deserving judgment. I've lived in rebellion. I cannot save myself. But I believe You died for my sins and rose to give me eternal life. Forgive me, come into my life, grant everlasting life. Help me live for You. Amen."

Baptism is the visible side of faith, the public confession of your commitment to follow Christ. To sign up, text BELIEVE to 706-525-5351 or visit www.mtcarmeldemorest.com/baptism.

A Prayer for the Church

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the privilege of being priests in Your kingdom. Forgive us for making ministry about our own effort or ambition. Lord Jesus, You are the Agent; we are the instrument. We confess that we need the Spirit's power for every word, every deed, and every conversion. Fill us with holy ambition. Make us faithful priests, dependent workers, and fearless pioneers. In Jesus' name, Amen.