Paul’s Perspective on Ministry

Transcript

GR 2269
03/28/21
Paul’s Perspective on Ministry
Romans 15:14-21
Gil Rugh

We’re going to be looking into Romans 15. We’ve come through the first fifteen chapters of Romans, up to chapter 15 through verse 13; that’s what we would call the body of the letter. With chapter 15 verse 14 we come to Paul’s closing comments which will be somewhat extensive because they cover the rest of chapter 15 and all of chapter 16. But the theological development of the gospel has been unfolded. That is the fullest, most complete, thorough explanation of the gospel that we have anywhere in Scripture. So we want to be students of the book of Romans because if we don’t understand the gospel clearly, everything else will become fuzzy. So we appreciate what God provided for us in that portion of His Word. But now Paul, as he moves to wrap up… Remember he’s never been to Rome, he’s never visited the church at Rome. Whether he ever visited Rome before he was a believer we have no way of knowing. But in his ministry of the gospel he’s anticipating the opportunity to come to Rome, and what a letter he wrote to them! You wonder, is spending that much time unfolding the gospel… You might think, well, he’s concerned, there are things there that may trouble him. Remember he wrote to the Corinthian church where he had ministered and he had established that church, and he said the things I’ve heard are not good and I’m concerned for you. But it’s just the opposite with the Romans, and so he’s going to move into these closing remarks by expressing to them the confidence he has regarding them and their spiritual maturity. He doesn’t want them to think that the Apostle Paul, as we would anticipate his coming to see us in the future, he’s not very pleased with what he hears.

But it’s just the opposite, and he picks up with verse 14, “And concerning you, my brethren,” there’s this warmth of identifying with them, “I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another. But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God.” So you see there’s a warmth as he’s wrapping this up. He’s going to reveal something of his own personal character, his own personal ministry. What an encouraging ending to this letter, to have the Apostle Paul write such a great letter and then tell them that I want you to know I am fully convinced of your spiritual maturity. So I haven’t written to you because I didn’t think you were able to admonish one another, but I’ve written you because God’s given me a gift in His grace and I want to share my life and the gift God’s given me with you. We want to take that as we look into this portion of the Word -- we are involved in one another’s lives, and God uses us in one another’s lives because we are differently gifted and not because one of us is more superior to the other. We just want to help one another in our growth together.

So I am convinced, “concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced.” In the Greek, that’s in the perfect tense, that verb ‘I am convinced’. The perfect tense in Greek talks about something that took place in the past and continues in the present, so this is Paul’s rather settled conviction regarding them. It’s not just a hope that I have regarding you, it’s not something new that’s come up that’s given me confidence, but I have a settled confidence, a conviction regarding you, that you are full of goodness. And again, that word ‘goodness’ denotes uprightness of life. One person, a Greek commentator said, “It includes things like uprightness, kindness, beneficence of heart and life.” These are godly people. He didn’t say you have goodness, he said you’re “full of goodness.” These qualities, these characteristics that mark you as spiritually mature, these are things that are manifested in your life and relationship together. So even though Paul hasn’t been there, obviously the church of Rome is a significant church. We don’t even know how it was brought into existence, but God has used Paul to write to them this most significant letter regarding the gospel. But I know you as being spiritually mature.

Come over to Galatians 5, you look into the fruit of the Spirit and verse 22 of Galatians 5, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,” and here’s our word, “goodness.” You say they’re “full of goodness.” You see, the Spirit is richly working in their lives and they are responding and manifesting it in their relationship to one another and in their conduct, because the Spirit produces the fruit that He does. Paul picks out this one particularly right now, goodness. To say they’re full of goodness is an indication the Spirit of God is at work in their lives, and they’re responding with a submissiveness to the Spirit, so good things are going on there.

Come back to Romans 15, you are “filled with all knowledge,” they’re mature in their knowledge. So again, Paul didn’t write to them because they needed to learn more about the gospel. You’re filled with all knowledge. I mean, it’s almost like he’s going out of his way to express his confidence in them and their spiritual maturity. Think if this letter was written to our church, a church in Lincoln here, our local church, wouldn’t it be encouraging if Paul wrote a letter and said that we’re full of goodness, you’re filled with knowledge? These are qualities we want. They’re mature in their knowledge and understanding. That doesn’t mean they know everything, but what he’s leading to is you can carry out the kind of ministry I’ve carried out, so I’m not writing because I didn’t think you were capable -- you’re very capable. I’m writing to reinforce you and encourage you. So you’re full of all knowledge.

Now he goes and says at the end of verse 14, you’re “able also to admonish one another.” There comes a word that has a breadth of meaning, go to a dictionary, ‘admonish,’ warn, instruct, it could involve making corrections when they’re necessary, it involves instructing and giving further… It has that breadth of meaning. A while back, a certain counseling movement was called nouthetic counseling, and it was on the basis of this Greek word which is just translated over into English on that account. But it has that breadth. You can be involved and you can be used in one another’s lives and you are, so you have that ability. So I haven’t written because I didn’t think you were capable. But obviously, what he brings to them, anything from God and the riches of His word, enhances our spiritual life. Again, it’s the confidence. We’re never so mature we outgrow our need for the Word, so mature that we don’t need to be admonished, challenged, warned of dangers that may be coming our way, further instructed. Those kind of things are just part of the ongoing ministry of a healthy church, a spiritually mature church. You see what goes on, “full of goodness, filled with all knowledge,” not knowing everything but they have a good, sound grasp, and this is a Gentile church (there would have been believing Jews in it, we’ve seen that as we’ve gone through it). But they’ve had to grow.

Remember, they didn’t all have their own copies like we do. You think of when Paul wrote this to the Romans he’d write it on parchment and have it sent to them… I mean, that’s a long letter! Here they have the knowledge. We saw how he used the Old Testament and it’s foundational to what he’s saying and it presupposed a certain knowledge of the Old Testament. He used examples of Old Testament characters, Jacob and Esau. Somebody sitting in the congregation, who are Jacob and Esau, have you met them? They were expected to know that. Paul said they were filled with all knowledge, they’ve been a diligent church. These Gentiles coming out of pagan backgrounds had to have been diligent and been instructed and learned. It’s that filled with all goodness and with all knowledge that puts us into a position to admonish one another, they go together. The full of goodness, that quality of life and character, together with a knowledge of the Word enables us to be used by God in one another’s lives, admonishing one another, instructing, warning, correcting. It all goes on all the time because remember, we’re God’s family in this place. And that’s like the ongoing thing in our physical family, there’s a variety of maturity and growth and all of that. We want to be used that way.

Come over to Colossians, a similar letter to what we are studying in Ephesians -- Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, those prison letters of the Apostle Paul… In Colossians chapter 1, Paul talks about what he is doing, verse 28, “We proclaim Him,” Christ, and that involves admonishing, there’s our word, “admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” So that’s what we’re involved in, Paul said the Roman church was involved in that, and he’s involved in that; that’s our ministry together. “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” We do this not because of anything exceptional about us, but because of the work of the Spirit of God in us and through us in one another’s lives. It doesn’t just go one way, I minister to you but in so many ways you minister to me. I was reminded of that just recently again, in the word a person shares and I said boy, you know, it just sort of lifted me out of the doldrums as we would say. Sometimes the way the Lord works… That’s what Paul says, that’s what we do, and this includes everyone; verse 28 while we’re here, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man,” everyone, this is to be going on all the time with everyone, the variety of ways in the Word that’s brought there.

You’re in Colossians, come over to chapter 3, look at verse 16. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another.” And that includes what we do with our hymns and our singing. The words again that were proclaimed in song this evening, the rich ministry we have with the music ministry God’s provided, and the truth that’s proclaimed in that ministry, and we join together. That’s all part of communicating. It’s not limited to one way and one time. I see my ministry is providing a context, a foundation from which all the other ministries develop, and that’s true of the other teaching that goes on. But it’s not just a school, that it’s all just about teaching. It’s a breadth of ministry, and God uses us in a variety of ways. So admonishing is a key thing. Sometimes it’ll have to do with correcting. That is a key part of the flavor of this word often. As we would expect in a family, no matter how close it is, how well it’s doing, there are times when correction needs to be done. No matter how great your kids are, there are times when they need to be corrected, and we do.

We appreciate when people will come… I’ve had people admonish me and say well, you need to be careful, it’s important, you need to watch out for this. Those kind of things are part of our ministry. I won’t take you through… I have half a dozen references here in addition where this word is used. It is a part of our body together. We want to be careful we don’t take offense if someone does admonish us and it’s a correction. I take that it comes from a concern. I was reading a letter before I came in because I was looking for some things in my file, and it was a long, two-page letter that was written many years ago. The person is in the presence of the Lord now, but it was to correct me. As I read it, 40 years, 35 years later, I was reminded, yeah, that came with the right attitude. It was a letter that should make me, even if I don’t agree, that person wrote with a concern and saw something there, the need of that. And you appreciate people that take the concern, who want to speak to you if there’s a concern, or warn about a danger that they may see. I think you ought to consider, is this the best-thing-for-you kind of thing. I don’t say, well, mind your own business -- you are my business, I am your business, and we are in this together, we’re a family. You don’t tell your own family to neb-out, but maybe you do, but I mean, we want to understand it’s important to do this.

Alright, come back to Romans 15:15, now Paul says, “But I have written very boldly to you on some points.” He doesn’t pull back, I’ve written boldly, and I intended to write to you boldly, so again it’s the proper balance. Because I’m superior to you and you need to listen to me. No, “I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again.” And there’s what he’s doing, I’m not saying you didn’t know everything I wrote you, but you know it’s good to be reminded again, that’s what he is doing, and it comes from “because of the grace that was given me from God.” That grace was his gift. He started out Romans talking about what God had gifted him to do, and he wanted to come to Rome so he could share the word of God and the gift that God had given to them. That’s the proper use of our gift, right? The gift is what enables us to be in the body in a fitting way. Just like all the parts of our body, they have something to contribute, and sometimes we don’t realize and appreciate a part of our physical body that makes such an important contribution until something goes wrong with that part of the body and then you realize how important it is. Sometimes we take one another for granted and fail to appreciate how important every part in the body is. Some are more visible—obviously in my position I get a lot of recognition, but really the body is not one part; it’s many parts. If it’s only one part, it’s not a very good body and not a very effective body.

So he’s writing because of the grace. That’s how you want to see your gift. It’s grace. It’s not because I’m an apostle and that gives me a superior position. In some ways, his gift is superior, and it comes with an authority, but he talks about it as a grace, it was a grace given to me. So he’s not puffing himself up. I spoke boldly but because God’s grace has been given to me. It’s from God so in my boldness it is just God’s grace and what He’s done for me to enable me to minister to you. And remember he started out in chapter 1, I’m looking forward to coming and ministering to you and having you minister to me, as I paraphrase it. There’s a richness in it. If you’ve been here very long, you know one of my gifts is reminding. So as we keep going through this stuff, and some of you will tell me I had the notes from that when you did that in… You know, I don’t have anything new. It is just really… and for many of you that have sat under it so much and you teach it and you carry it out and you study it -- but we all need to be reminded, I need to be reminded. We’ve gone through the book of Romans and we can look back to when we did it last and how many times we did it and former notes. We say, you know, it’s good to do it again and again and again. That’s why we never want to drift to the point where we say we don’t need to go through this anymore. Will I ever be to the point I know I need to be in here, in this Word, the word of God?

Come over to 2 Peter. I’ve picked out a couple of verses on reminding. All the way almost to the book of Revelation, a few small books there at the end. Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verse 12. And he’s just gone over some things that you say, well, that’s pretty similar to what we’re talking about in Ephesians, and it’s not new material. Peter says in verse 12, “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you.” You already know them, you’ve been firmly grounded there, it’s established in you. “I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling,” this physical body, “to stir you up by way of reminder.” And how many times have we been just given a boost, you know, like somebody shakes you and a passage, boy, just what I needed? Sometimes I’m reading a portion of the Word and I know I’ve been through it before because I have it all marked and everything, but I say, boy, you know, I’ve just forgotten how great that is, how important that is, or how relevant it is right now. That’s what Peter says, I’m not writing to you because I’m telling you something… I can’t wait to see what new… Remember the Athenians, they were always looking for some new thing. People say, well, if you go to Indian Hills you’ll get new things. No, you’ll get the old things, the old paths, as the prophet talked about. If you’ve been a believer long, you’ll just be reminded.

While you’re in 2 Peter, come over to chapter 3, verse 1, “This is now, beloved,” there’s the word. Remember Paul in Ephesians 1 referred to us as God’s beloved, because of our connection to Christ we too are beloved, and now one another. We view it that way, if God loves you and He loves me, we ought to be loving one another. So Peter’s writing, “This is now, beloved,” loved ones, “the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.” Why’d you bother writing the second letter, Peter? I think you covered it pretty well in the first letter. Because “I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.” And it becomes important. “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come.” You know what we need as we look at what’s going on in the world and in our own country and we see things that concern us? We need to be more stirred up with the word of God. If difficulties are going to come, additional pressures, even persecutions, we better have a firm grasp on the Word. Everything else around us may begin to unravel, but God’s word is forever settled in heaven, it’s unchanging, and the truth that binds us together, so be reminded, be reminded.

While you’re here, you might as well go to Jude, you’re close enough, just go through the epistles of John and there and you’ll come to Jude. Jude’s concern… what’s happened? Pressures coming, false teachers infiltrating among believers. The battles come in the evangelical world and the evangelical church from within, most of the damage is done from within. It’s not done primarily by the Moslems, the Hindus, those… It’s those who profess to be part and who get in among and they begin to spread error, that’s what Jude was concerned about. Remember we studied it, verse 4, For certain persons have crept in unnoticed… who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord.” How do they get in? They deny our only Lord and Master Jesus Christ, and they’ve infiltrated among believers. You’d think they’d stand out, but the devil makes good counterfeits. So what does he say the solution is? “Now I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all.” When there’s particular dangers for your children, it’s a time when you remind them and they say, I know, you’ve told me that before, I know, I know, I know what you’re going to say. I know, but you’re going to hear it again -- because you know how important it is. The real danger is they’ll have a lapse, and then they’ll be caught unprepared and unexpectedly, and then they could be in serious trouble. That’s where the church is. I know you know this, but my concern is it won’t be fresh in our mind. Now how often something happens and we look back and say, you know, I don’t know what I was thinking, I knew better. Those kinds of things happen to the church theologically; how does this kind of error… So that reminder.

Come down to verse 7, “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, as exhibited as an example in undergoing punishment of eternal fire.” We understand what the seriousness of the issues is. These aren’t just stories that are good for people in their immaturity. These are things we come to account and see how they apply to us and where we are, and the seriousness of the issues we’re dealing with, and the need to be alert. Paul’s warned them in Romans as well, so we’re constantly being reminded.

Come back to Romans 15. If I find myself… I’ll use myself as an example since you know I get paid to study the Word; you know, if I find myself thinking, well, you know, I know those things, I don’t need to go back over it. I usually have to stop and think, Gil, you may not know as much as you think you do. The issue comes, it’s not that I wouldn’t know it, the facts about it, but I may be losing the sense of how important it is for me to be aware of it and how it is applicable to me in the situation going on. God is never out-of-date, God is never irrelevant, that’s true from the beginning of this book to the end. Some things seem more pertinent to something particularly happening at this time, but sometimes it’s the things that aren’t directly addressing that that become so helpful to me. That’s what false teachers are infiltrating among believers -- what does that have to do with having to be reminded about the situation about Sodom and Gomorrah? Well, the Spirit of God through Jude says that’s relevant. That is an example for you to be aware of things. So sometimes it’s not the immediate connection where it’s good for us to think upon the Word, to meditate upon the Word, to roll it over so it is fresh and alive.

Come back into chapter 15, verse 16, the grace that was given to Paul from God was “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” Boy, Paul puts his spiritual gift… You can see why he was driven; I have such an important responsibility entrusted to me. When God in His grace gifted you, whatever that gift is, that is an awesome, serious, important responsibility that the God of heaven, in His grace, bestows on you, a gift to enable you to be used in a way that will bring glory to Him. You say, well, I don’t think what I have is that important. But it’s important because Who is doing it in you? The One who gifted you, the One who poured His grace out upon you. That’s why at the end of verse 15, it’s “because of the grace that was given me from God.” We’re talking about this in Ephesians. You just can’t get away from it, it’s God’s grace. And what was God’s grace for Paul? “To be a minister of Christ Jesus,” he was an apostle to the Gentiles, entrusted with the responsibility to carry the gospel primarily to Gentiles, so for Paul this consumes him.

This is true for our gift and it’s why so many of you pour your life in so many important ways into the ministry of us as a body, because God gifted you. Sometimes people say, boy, you’ve got a lot of people that you see in so many ways and yeah, that’s how our church functions. Why? Because individual people take seriously that God has gifted them and they delight in being used of God in exercising that gift. The Spirit of God is using them. Sometimes it seems like you go through times where you say, I don’t know if I’m really accomplishing anything; but I’m doing what God has gifted me to do, and He’s accomplishing. Some things we won’t know if they’re accomplished until we get to glory, then we’ll say, as we’re being at the Bema, boy, if I’d known that, I’d have put a lot more into it, if I had known that was what God was doing. Well, that’s what he’s telling us, that’s what Paul said, His grace was given to me, I can’t waste it, I can’t hit the pause button, I’m not on hold.

It’s unto God I’m to be a minister of Christ Jesus, and that word ‘minister,’ we get the word ‘liturgy’ from it, just transliterate it into English basically. It’s a spiritual ministry. It’s often used in the Scripture when you’re talking about worshiping God and the elements that go into that and so on. He is “a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles,” we say, well, that’s important. But what is God’s grace given to us? It’s to be a minister of Christ Jesus, it may not be apostles, but it’s to be able to minister on behalf of Christ. He’s the head of the body, He’s directing each of us. Think of the importance of each individual part of the body, it comes from the ministry of Christ, who is the head of the body (which we’re going to in Ephesians). He’s a minister of Christ Jesus, his was to the Gentiles, so I am “ministering as a priest the gospel of God,” he’s carrying out a priestly ministry, he’s acting as God’s representative, acting on God’s behalf. That’s true for every one of His believers. Believer-priests, right? We talk about the priesthood of the believer. Well, that involves your spiritual gift and the results of that gift. In some ways Paul’s ministry… we know it and read it as a great success. He’s going to end up being executed, he spent significant portions of his life in prison, in some ways you look at it as he couldn’t get the job done.

Sometimes you don’t know the impact until two thousand years later. Did he have any idea that the church would be going on in two thousand years and what he was doing, what he was writing would be having such impact? All he had to do was be careful to give it everything, using all the grace of God that was given to him and then God determines the outcome. How will we know? We stand before Him and say here’s the grace that was bestowed upon me. Understand, I’m ministering as a priest -- it looks like I’m cleaning the building, I’m working with kids -- I’m ministering as a priest, I’m acting as a go-between, if I can put it that way, that’s what a priest did, stood between God and man. That’s why we are believer-priests, we go directly to God and now we’re being directly used by God in the exercising of our gifts. Paul’s was an apostle, he was “ministering as a priest the gospel of God,” preparing an offering to be given to God, “so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” Now we’re back to the Holy Spirit. It is amazing. We as believers get mired down when we lose sight of what God has done.

That’s why I was talking this morning about we need to keep our focus on sound theology. Not just so we know more but so that the knowledge that we grow in flows through our life. That the operation of a spiritual gift… for Paul it was carrying the gospel to Gentiles and that becomes an offering. Remember Paul told the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 (verse 14-16b) that he was a savor, when he gave off the gospel it was a savor, a pleasing fragrance. Like when the Old Testament priests offered the sacrifice, it said the aroma was a pleasing fragrance. Paul says my ministry of the gospel is pleasing to God both in those who are being saved and those who are perishing. So the number one thing for Paul was not to keep a count of everyone, but he is burdened that people get saved. But he realized only the Spirit of God could do that. My part is to give it everything I have, enabled by God’s grace in the ministry of the Spirit. That’s what Paul will be judged on. That’s true with our spiritual gifts. We may say it doesn’t look like I’m accomplishing that much but I’m being faithful with the gift God has given me and using the abilities He has given me to do the best job I can exercising that gift. That will be what I’m judged on. I can’t change other people, you can’t change other people, whatever your gift; it’s only the Spirit of God. So I can’t be judged that I do what only the Spirit of God can do, no, but did I do everything I could with the enabling power of the Spirit and the gift He gave me.

So that’s what Paul is talking about here, I’m concerned to be faithful as a priest. If the Gentiles get saved they will be the offering that I give to God. But the real offering goes beyond that, 2 Corinthians 2 makes that clear, I’m giving off the knowledge of Jesus Christ and that’s the pleasing fragrance even when people aren’t saved. So you’re faithful with your gift in ministering in whatever way and it doesn’t seem it’s accomplishing much. “Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth or fame,” we sing that truth. That’s what it is, I realize what makes it important is that God is using me, His grace has been given to me. Does it get any more important than that? I’d rather be doing that than be the president. Does it get any better than this?

“Therefore,” there’s more that could be said on that. At the end of verse 16, it becomes acceptable, the ministry of our gift. I ought to say this “become(s) acceptable, it is sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” So you see that? It’s the Holy Spirit taking what Paul is doing in exercising his gift and it’s His work that sanctifies it so it is acceptable to God, that’s the process. You think about it, you are in business with God (maybe not the best term). It’s more than that, it’s a life-giving, life-changing work and the Spirit of God in that sense is limited through your gifts. If Paul didn’t carry the gospel to the Gentiles like he was gifted to do, maybe God would have brought someone else. The most important thing is, Lord, I want to do as much as I can with what You have gifted me in grace to do. The Spirit of God takes that and does with it what only He can, that makes it acceptable to You. To be joined with God in ministry doesn’t get any more important than that. Every single believer is in that position. I say that because I don’t want you to just think Paul has a unique ministry. It was unique but every one of us is unique and in the position God has appointed for us.

Look at verse 17, “Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.” Not boasting about me. Earlier this evening you had this emphasis in the quote from Jeremiah (9:23-24 paraphrased), “Let not him who boasts, boast in all the things of the earth, but let him boast that he knows Me.” Here, “boasting in things pertaining to God. For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed.” I want to boast about God. It is amazing God took Paul. The reason Paul is so unique and important is because God took hold of Paul… What was Paul? He was a rebellious, God-hating Pharisee. In his letter to Timothy he says, you know I wasn’t worthy, I persecuted the church. But God took him and made him an instrument that He would use. Anyone of us, what are we, what were you before God got ahold of your life, what would we have been if He didn’t intervene? We’re back to the sovereignty of Ephesians 1. We had it in Romans. That’s why he says, I don’t want to talk about me, I want to talk about what God is doing in me. That’s amazing! You know, every one of you as a believer could share what God is doing, working in and through you. He has chosen to use me, it doesn’t look like it’s that big and important; when God is using you that makes it big and important. So I don’t “presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me.” It’s been removed from what I’ve done. It’s Christ working through me and that has resulted in salvation. When we see ourselves as servants and slaves of Christ Jesus, that’s the thing. We’re working, we’re applying ourselves, we’re toiling, but it’s His doing something that only He can do.

Verse 19, it was “in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.” What was he called to do? Preach it and give you the account of how many he’s lead to Christ in every place. But I’m going to be in every place I can among the Gentiles. And every place I go, I have to give out the gospel because I don’t want to get there and there be less that came to know Christ because I did less than I could have done. I don’t want to push that in the wrong way, but we want to put our life back in perspective. The danger to the church is success and comfort and ease, and pretty soon some of the world begins to infect us and then our expectations become conditioned by the world. The world looks forward to this, and this is the way… And pretty soon I deserve… What do I expect out of the world? Nothing, I’m just a stranger and pilgrim here. Well, yes, but I think God would want me… He’ll provide His peace -- Paul says, I’ve learned to be content in every situation, and he was in prison when he wrote that.

I get concerned that the church has gotten weaker at the time when it looks like the world is going to need the truth more importantly than ever. Our country, where will they turn for the truth if the church has turned into mush? That’s what Paul… I poured my life into using the gift. He did other things to support himself, he was a leather maker, tentmaker as we call it, if there was no money available. Many of you are full-time as we would call it. You have jobs to do. We’re not saying you give that up because I’m going to be full-time as we know it but you never lose sight of the fact I’m the best worker I can be at the job I have. Even the slaves were doing that because they are doing it unto the Lord. Our life is put into a new context. God used him in a great way.

Illyricum, that’s northwest of Greece, what was Yugoslavia. They gave it another name, didn’t they, but at any rate it’s across the Adriatic Sea. If you’re across from Italy you’d be in Illyricum, northwest, not down in the boot but going up you get into that realm. That’s about as far west as Paul got he says -- I’m trying to get to the Gentile world -- that’s as far as he got. He didn’t get across into Rome but he’s going. He’s going to tell us the reason I didn’t get there, you are already saved, there’s a church there to get the job done; I’m called to get it to people who hadn’t heard yet.

Verse 20, “Thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation.” That’s consistent with scripture. Isaiah 52 here leads into Isaiah 53. The end of 52 is part of that great section prophetic of Christ. They who had no news of Him shall see. They who have not heard shall understand (verse 15b paraphrased). He said that’s what I see my job, it wasn’t a direct prophecy about Paul, but there’s an example. That portion of scripture was a motivation to me in light of the gift God gave me, you take the gospel where it’s not been taken before. Obviously that’s not the gift God gave me, my gift is staying with the same people and believers, but I want to carry the gospel to those who haven’t heard. But I don’t have the same gifts as Paul, you don’t have that same gift, and we have varieties of gifts. The point here is the same with the Roman church and their maturity, they are full of goodness, full of knowledge, so they were functioning as they should, the body grows. We should get stronger, but there will be battles from within. That’s why he had to tell the Ephesian elders, remember (Acts 20:30), “from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things.” So we stay grounded in the truth and then however God’s gifted us we put ourselves about doing it. For most of you, you support yourself with a job like Paul did as a tentmaker, that provides the enablement. We never want to lose that we are going to be the best at our job. If I was going to buy some leather material I’d have been glad to buy it from Paul because I know he would have done the best that he could have done because he was doing it unto the Lord. Just like he told the slaves, you be the best slave because your service is to the Lord.

And our whole life is put into proper perspective. We’ll break there. We want to have those aspirations, to be like him because that motivates and helps keep us on track as we are reminded. Now we can encourage one another and be thrilled to pour ourselves into whatever God has called us to do and do it well.

Let’s have a word of prayer and then I want to talk to you about some other things. Thank you, Lord, for Your Word. Lord, the only kind of service that is fitting for those of us who are Your servants is full, complete service. Lord, our whole heart is in it. We may not see the results we would like. Sometimes it seems where you’ve put us and what we’re doing… What am I doing here? We are reminded that in Your sovereignty that You’ve appointed and we’re doing it the best we can because we want our life to be a testimony as a person who serves the living God. Thank you for bringing us together as a body. We can be encouraged, challenged, and strengthened together which then enables us to be stronger testimonies for You as we spread out into the world, wherever we are, doing whatever You appoint for us to do. We give You praise in Christ’s name, amen.

I want to make some comments about the doctrine of election and how foreknowledge fits into that because we are talking about the doctrine of election. I didn’t go on the side of explaining foreknowledge because we have some passages of Scripture that say that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. I just pulled out of my file a couple of quotes from a good man, so I don’t pick them out from… in fact this is from a man who ministered here in past years, he is now with the Lord. This was his understanding of the doctrine of election. He says, he quotes from the reference in Peter (1 Peter 1:2), that election is according to the foreknowledge of God. “This means that election is a special standing before God that comes to the individual on the basis of divine foreknowledge. God foreknows, He sees in advance, that we will accept Christ as personal Savior and become His children. He therefore elects us on the basis of our faith already having been exercised in Christ.” So you see it’s not God taking the initiative. It’s God looking ahead into the future and He sees what you will do and since He sees that when you hear the gospel you believe it then He choses you. That puts the initiative on you. God had the initiative, He brought the gospel to you, but everybody is in the same condition. The problem is once you go that way with the doctrine of salvation it spreads to every other area.

Here’s another article that the same person wrote. The person is asking him the question, “if God is in control of His universe and every aspect of it to the extent that nothing can happen that He does not allow,” he’s answering the the question here. Maybe I ought to tell you the question, this has to do with the election of leaders, and this goes back beyond our past elections so it’s not it, but it’s the same kind of issues that come up. The person said in effect if this is true that God appoints leaders, “then He put the present president and vice-president” and he names them here but I won’t do that, “because God’s in control of everything.” Now here’s his answer, “God is in control of His universe and every aspect of it to the extent that nothing can happen that He does not allow.” And the ‘allow’ is given emphasis here. “He is not however the active,” and that word ‘active’ is given emphasis, “cause behind all that happens. If that were the case then we would have to blame God for all the evil. God no more specifically chose the present president and vice-president than He did Adolph Hitler.” Further down, “far from being God’s choice as some claim our present president and vice-president were the choice of ten million of Americans. In actual fact the minority of the American people,” and then he goes on to explain how the election really happened because some people drained votes from one.

Well, where’s the sovereignty of God in this then? God just looking ahead into the future and He saw Adolph Hitler because God didn’t appoint Adolph Hitler to rule so it just happened in the way of events. So, you see once you give up sovereignty in an area it’s like you open the gate and you can’t get it closed again. Now the rulers, and our present rulers, well, what about… We looked in Romans chapter 13, the rulers that be are those appointed by God. But they weren’t appointed. He just looked ahead and saw who was going to be there, then everything is going… I think it’s a misunderstanding of the Word but in reality it doesn’t solve what they are trying to do because here is where we live. If before the creation God looked ahead and saw everything that was going to happen and then He made it a part of His plan, it is still settled today, right? This person would have to agree it’s the plan God is working because you can’t get away from the scriptures that says it was done before the foundation of the world. So he says God looked ahead in His foreknowledge and saw what would happen so He decided, He allowed it to happen, and then He created the plan. The plan was just what? Putting a stamp of approval on what happened. But the fact is nothing is going to change. So if that’s your reason for saying, well, there’s no motivation to share the gospel if men aren’t free, well, it’s already been settled because even if He did it by foreknowledge, unless His foreknowledge was wrong, what He settled by His foreknowledge is still settled, right? The person who is going to be saved is going to be saved, the person who is not, is not. Foreknowledge doesn’t help with that issue because this is where we are today and this is why it gets carried to another step.

In the evangelical world today there’s a movement that’s had more impact than it should. It says God is omniscient and they define omniscience that He knows everything that can be known but the decisions that you’re going to make tomorrow, God can’t know that because you haven’t made that decision yet. Now we’re going beyond foreknowledge. He’s just waiting to see what happens. And their explanation is it shows how powerful it is. He is constantly making adjustments to bring it to where He wants. He has appointed the ultimate end but He’s constantly adjusting everything because every day new decisions are made and that shows how powerful He is, He just adjusts perfectly. I don’t find this kind of doctrine in the Bible. This is why I said this morning if we’re not careful, here’s what the Bible says, that leaves me with some gaps, so since God hasn’t filled in the gaps I will fill them in. So we move over here and we have subtly moved away from the foundation of the Word and we’re over to our logical thinking. Then we begin to try to build our theology on our logical thinking and we’re on sinking sand.

God is absolutely sovereign. That leaves me with some unanswered questions. But I want to take seriously what Paul said in Romans 9 (verse 20), “who are you, O man, that answers back to God?” In other words, when God says it, that settles it, now I adjust. Do I have an explanation why He chose some and not others? No, not that would satisfy our wanting to have everything. It’s because it pleased Him in His grace and love to select some.

What about the word ‘foreknowledge? Well, it comes out of the Old Testament. Remember Adam knew his wife Eve. It doesn’t mean he knew her like we would say he had some knowledge about her. It showed sexual intimacy, he knew his wife Eve and she conceived, it denotes an intimacy, a love, in that context sexual intimacy. It’s just not information. He knew her from creation because soon as God created her He brought her to him and he recognized her, she is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, and he named her. He ‘knew’ her and that word is used that way through the Old Testament.

It’s used in some other passages, I’ve got to select a few out of here. Come to Exodus chapter 2, Exodus chapter 2, we will look at verse 25. This is Israel in slavery in Egypt. Verse 24 said, “God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Obviously when He said He remembered it didn’t mean He had forgotten; it means now in His time He’s going to act. “God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them,” and you note in your margin if you’re using the New American Standard, the little number 1 in front of the word ‘took’ and you go over to 25 and it says “literally knew them,” that’s the word ‘to know.’ God saw the sons of Israel, God knew them. What is he saying? He’s ready to act and put His favor on them, draw them out of their bondage, meet their need. It denotes putting your favor on someone, now I’m going to act for their good., I’m going to rescue them from slavery.

Amos chapter 3, we’ve got other verses but we don’t have time for those, Hosea, Joel, Amos. And you’re familiar with it, you could probably quote it, God says to Israel, verse 1, “Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt.” Remember when He remembered and knew them? That’s what he’s talking about here. He says in verse 2, “you only have I,” we have the word ‘chosen,’ but you have that little number 1 in front of it if you go to the margin because it’s the word ‘know.’ “You only have I ‘known’ among all the families of the earth.” Well, God’s omniscient, He knew about the Egyptians, He knew about the Assyrians, He knew about Greeks, He knew about the Romans, Whatever nation ever existed He knew them as far as facts about them. But Israel is the only nation and that’s why they translated it with the word ‘chosen,’ It’s not just had information, you’re the only ones I know. Oh, I didn’t know about Egypt? Of course He did! He brought them out of the land of Egypt. That’s what He just said in the previous verse. You’re the only nation I have put My favor on, My personal love, My choice. Israel was unique.

Let me scan here quickly what other verse to bring to your attention. Go to Peter, 1 Peter, and this I pulled out because this starts out with foreknowledge. We see it here in verse 1, Peter is writing, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 1, he’s writing to those who “reside as aliens,” and they are scattered through all these regions, and they “are chosen.” The exact rendering of this if we just translated the Greek, you may have it written in your Bible from before, “to the elect sojourners of the diaspora.” When they translated this they didn’t help; they translated it they “reside as aliens.” They are sojourners and chosen, at the end of the verse, so they have broken this up, maybe to help it. What they have said is fine except you lose something. He’s writing to the elect and that word ‘chosen’ again is the word ‘elect,’ same one we were talking about in Ephesians. Sojourners because they reside as aliens of the diaspora. That’s where he gets “scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia…” What was the diaspora? It was a technical term in the gospel of John in its other use when Jesus said about the people that they couldn’t go where He was going, will He go to the diaspora? Diaspora is a compound word, dia- and –spora; spora, scatter seed and dia, through. The Jews of the diaspora were the Jews scattered outside the homeland of Israel. Down to today that would be a term, diaspora.

So he’s writing to believing Jews scattered through these Gentile regions. They are the elect sojourners of the diaspora. They are elect, verse 2, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” That’s where they will say, see election is on the basis of God’s foreknowledge. I have no problem with that. But you have to correctly define foreknowledge. Well, God looked ahead to the future to see who would believe. That’s not what He says, He doesn’t say the foreknowledge of them believing. It was God’s foreknowledge of them. You come down into the chapter to verse 20. He talks about their redemption and “you were not redeemed with… silver or gold,” verse 18, “from your empty way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world.” Now we’re getting into a problem here. Did God just look ahead in the future and see that His Son would come to earth and even if He sent Him, that they would crucify Him, so He included that in His plan? If that’s the way you’re going to define foreknowledge, God looked ahead in the future to see what the decisions would be and then made it part of His plan.

You see what happens here? God’s no longer sovereign. So just to quote a verse and then give a definition when you’re talking about the foreknowledge of a human being, that’s all it can mean. May know something ahead of time. I know what I’m going to do tomorrow, Lord willing. That’s even conditioned but I have made plans for tomorrow. In that sense I have foreknowledge of it. Unless something intervenes I know what I’ll be doing and there’s a good chance I will be doing it. But there’s a chance God will intervene. Foreknowledge used of the human being has no supernatural aspect but here when you talk about the foreknowledge of God, He’s the creator, He did this “before the foundation of the world,” verse 20. If you’re going to use one definition of foreknowledge in verse 2 and then a different one, all of a sudden where are we? He placed His favor, it was His choice, and His decision that Christ would leave the throne of glory, be born into the human race, and be crucified on the cross.

The Old Testament prophecies settled that. Isaiah 53, even that He would be buried in a rich man’s tomb. God didn’t just look ahead in the future and see what men were going to do. All of a sudden we have a God who is just an observer. You can see why open theism, as it’s called, God not sovereignly controlling the future comes into existence. He wasn’t even in control of Christ’s being crucified, yet Acts chapter 2 (verse 23) said it was the predestined plan of God. According to the predestined foreknowledge and predestination Christ was crucified, it goes together. I just want to bring that to your attention.

I have the list of the words but we don’t have the time. We’ve done it, we have the booklet, “Election – Whose Choice?” You can look at it there and the verses would be there. We have the studies we have done more in detail. We want to be careful that our theology fits. We want to look at…, if we had the time, we have done whole studies on it, foreknowledge when it’s used of human beings in the scripture, it’s not used that many time, you can look it up and check it. Then foreknowledge when it’s used of God. Those five times when it’s used of God has to be able to be consistent. I can’t change the definition. When foreknowledge is used of God there will be a consistent use like in the Old Testament God knew Israel, you’re the only nation I have known. Well, what would it mean? They are the only nation He chose; He put His special choosing love upon them that they would belong to Him. That carries the concept of choosing, ordaining something to happen, ‘foreordination’ I believe is the word used in Acts chapter 2 in connection with foreknowledge.

Let’s have a word of prayer. Thank you, Lord, for Your word. Lord it is a clear word but it is a word that we must apply ourselves with diligence. We are to be diligent students of Your Word, handling it accurately, correctly. Thank you for the presence of Your Spirit in our lives and Lord we are still imperfect in our understanding, but we thank You for the grace that enables us to understand Your Word and grow together in our understanding. Lord, we will continue to grow and through all eternity, as hard as it is for us in our finite condition to grasp, we will not exhaust the knowledge of You, the infinite God. Thank you for Your grace, the grace that includes Your patience and Your love. Bless us this week as we serve You wherever we are, that whatever we are doing first and foremost we are about Your work as Your servants. We praise You in Christ’s name. Amen.