Boast in Christ Alone | Romans 15:14-33

Paul reminds the Roman Christians that, filled with God's goodness and knowledge, they are ministers of the gospel called to serve one another in word and deed. From his own priestly service to the Gentiles to his plans to visit Rome on his way to Spain, Paul shows what it looks like to boast in Christ alone and make the gospel our life's ambition. Milwaukee Avenue Church of Christ 3814 Milwaukee Ave, Lubbock, TX 79407 (806) 799-6813 Sunday Classes: 9:30am | Sunday Worship: 10:30am & 5pm Wednesday Classes: 7pm Website: https://www.machurch.org/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/MilwaukeeAveChurch Instagram: https://instagram.com/milwaukee_ave/ 

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SPEAKER_00 1:17

Because what we're talking about is the gospel, being ministers of the gospel. We're me at Romans 15 and we're gonna finish Romans 15, and we're gonna look at the second half of Romans 15. Throughout Romans 14 and the first half of Romans 15, we looked at this morning. We were looking at our brothers and sisters, and there are issues that can divide us and personal opinions that we might have. There are scruples. And Paul says, no. Paul says, I don't want you to divide over those things. Instead, he wants mutual upbuilding. That's what we kind of talked about this morning. He wants each other to build each other up in spirit, uh spiritual uh strength and in growth and to be in harmony with one another. That was the idea. That was the painting that he pictured, uh the picture that he painted for us. But in Romans 15, he builds off that unity and he reminds us of the service that we should have. That we are all ministers of the gospel. And so a common thread here in these last couple chapters have been the gospel and being ministers to Christ, ministers of the gospel. And so that's how Paul identifies himself, and it's how Paul identifies us as well as Christians. We are ministers, we are servants. You can see as the language has kind of been progressing that way. Romans 14, he's told us not to pass judgment on your brothers, right? Who are also fellow servants in Romans 14. Uh, Romans 14, 20, do not, for the sake of food, destroy what? The work of God. So there's work to be done. We are working for God. He's telling us in Romans 15, verse 8, that Jesus became a servant, and so we should follow in line and be servants as well. Bear the burdens of the weak. And then he starts off in Romans 15, verse 14, that we're going to look at. And he starts off by saying, you know, giving us some comfort, that he's satisfied in us. Romans 15, verse 14. I myself, he says, am satisfied about you. I'm satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. We're gonna go through this text and we're just gonna go through, and I just want to encourage you to be better servants, to look at the example of Paul and ask, how can I be a better minister of the gospel? Right now, he's looking at the church here in Rome. He's saying, You are full of two things. You are full of goodness and you are full of knowledge. Wait a second. I thought Jesus said, No one is good but God. And that is correct. But when we look at ourselves and we see ourselves as Christians and we look at our brothers and sisters as also as Christians, we're filled with who? We're filled with the Holy Spirit. We're filled with God. These last few Sundays, we've been talking about, again, opinions, doubts, convictions, scruples. We've been talking about these things, and we have different opinions for sure. And if we take that context and we apply it here to Romans 15, verse 14, sometimes when people have a different opinion than ourselves, it's easy to think of them as almost evil, right? Like they're a villain. Like, how could they be that way? Like, I don't understand, especially when we were just told that we have to bear with them. That's really bad, right? Then we can look at them as almost like a slave driver. Like, how would you force me to bear with you? But that's not how Paul is seeing it. That's not how we should view our brothers and sisters. That's not how we should view our family. We should view them as actually filled with the fullness of goodness and full of knowledge and full of God, as God-filled people. There are brothers and sisters, strong, weak, Jew, Gentile. I know that you are full of goodness and you are full of knowledge. When we start seeing our brothers and sisters that way, we start realizing that, okay, maybe actually they're they're filled with goodness, and it changes our view of them, and they're actually working and serving alongside me for my good. And that's a good thing. Maybe they are also fellow servants of the gospel, and that should teach us something. Maybe they have something to teach us to instruct to us. So we should realize that God, in his goodness and in his knowledge, really is equipping us for service. That's really the key here. I think this is why Paul is able to say, I want you now to instruct one another, he says in verse 14. If you remember this morning we looked at an example of how we can grow spiritually, right? What was that example? It was that we were allowing ourselves to be instructed by the scriptures. And now, here he gives us a second example of how we can grow spiritually. And that is, we can also be instructed by each other, allowing ourselves to be instructed, he says, by those that are filled with goodness, those that are filled with knowledge. I can imagine that that goodness and that knowledge is coming from a place though. It's coming from God, it's it's coming from God's word as well. I can tell you, I wish that when I studied the scriptures, I could open it up and I could just take that text and I could download it into my brain like a PDF and just have all the right answers, right? Kind of like the Matrix, right? I I know Kung Fu. That's we know that's not how it works, right? It's not, unfortunately. But if we can be humble enough to know that I need others to instruct me and know that I can instruct others, then maybe we can grow together. Because with God, we are full of goodness and we are full of knowledge. I think that's why Paul earlier in the book says things like in Romans 7 verse 18. In Romans 7, verse 18, he says, For I know that nothing good dwells in me. Sounds like a contradiction, right? But look at the context. That is, in my flesh. What does he need? He needs God, for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability, not the strength to carry it out. Paul's saying, I can't do this on my own willpower. I need God, I need others who are filled with God. If you keep going in Romans 8, verses 4 through 5, he'll tell us, and I'm paraphrasing that we need to what? Live according not to the flesh, but according to spirit, to walk according to the spirit, to walk with God, to think and act and live according to the spirit. He says all of this, reminding us that look, we are ministers of Christ and we are in service of the gospel. And so Paul wants Christians to be in relation with God. Romans 15, let's continue in our text. Look at verses 15 through 16. You see, he says, but on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, right? He has instructed them, he set the example because of the grace given me by God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles and the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. These two verses here should give it's my favorite part of the whole section, but they should give a nod. We should be thinking of Romans 12. I'm going to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. And then later on he says, I'm a minister, and you have gifts because of God's grace. And here he's kind of saying the same thing. We need to view our work here as a gift, a privilege to serve Christ because of what he did. It's a privilege that we get to serve our brothers and sisters. And so Paul is saying here, look, I am and you are a minister of Christ because of God's grace. And the same is true for all of us. Now he says, My focus in this ministry is the Gentiles. We're told this in Galatians chapter 2, verses 7 through 9, that Paul is to preach and minister to the Gentiles and Peter to minister to the Jews. So there's different groups that they're ministering to. Not to say that we each have different groups that we're ministering to, but it is a good way for us to reflect for a second in our own ministry and in our own service and ask, well, are there people that I just minister to better? And it's possible. Right? Sam Brown probably ministers to the people in prison better than I do, right? I'd like to try, but he probably does. And it's okay to know that. It's okay. It's just an easy example to show that, well, we're all gifted in different areas. We're all different people. It's good in our ministry to examine ourselves, to look at ourselves, to look at our background, to look at our experience and our expertise, and to take those things, those things, and then here's the here's the thing we often don't do to then buy in, to jump in with both feet, to go all in into God's kingdom. Because the failure that people often make is waiting for God to tell them what their ministry is, and that's really the wrong view. That that's not the case. By God's grace, he says here, you are a minister of the gospel. You are a minister, you are serving Christ. Take the gospel to those in need. Be, he's saying, an active participant in the body. And the more active you become, you'll find your niche, you'll find what you're good at, and you'll discover that more naturally. Don't, and this is the thing, don't just sit on your hands waiting. Okay, well, maybe it'll come to me, jump in, and be an active part of the body. Because what is life-changing to you, what's life-changing to your brothers and sisters, is your active participation in the body of Christ. Notice what Paul says here in verse 16. Notice what he says about his ministry to the Gentiles. It is his priestly service of the gospel of God. I love that. Imagine for a second you are a Levite, you're a priest in the Old Testament. What are you doing? Right? I imagine you're probably pretty busy. You're participating, you're active. Your entire life belongs to God. Everything revolves around the temple and God and worship, and you're running around and you're helping people in their worship. You're helping people and participating in sacrifices, you're you're cleaning utensils, you're spreading incense, you're praying, you're reading scripture, all of these things, right? That's the devotion that you need. That's the the quote, busyness, the that's the heart. That's what you should have as priests in God's temple today, which is what? It's church. That's how we should see ourselves. You are priests, and this is your priestly service to people. Your priestly service is to people. For Paul, it was to Gentiles. Look at verse 16 again. So that what that they be an acceptable offering to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, right? Set apart, sanctified as set apart and holy. And that's wonderful. I want to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him. I think that's the beauty of the gospel at work and in people's lives, is that it actually sets it sets us apart for God's work. We can look at the things that we do in the church and we can see it as special. We can see it as a privilege. And I want you to listen and to take that in as you are a member of Christ's body. That what you're doing is a privilege and it's special. And it's rewarding to see your brothers and sisters grow in their faith. And we should be, it should be our ambition, and we should be doing as much as possible to make that happen. That's why. Look at the next verse, Romans 15, verse 17. In Christ Jesus, then I have reason to be proud of my work for God. Remember, Romans 14, verse 20. Don't let food hinder the work of God. Don't let that be a problem. No. He says, but you should have something to be proud about in your work for God. Through the power of God, we have reason to be proud that we are working for God. It is sanctified, it is set apart, and it's something to be proud of. I think often, though, sometimes we can we could do great things and we can make the mistake of thinking I did a great thing. And that's why it's so important to remember God's grace, or we can be like Nebuchadnezzar and think, oh, look how great my kingdom is, and make that same mistake. That's not the case. If we see ourselves in the right view, as Paul saw himself, I am a minister by God's grace. It's a gift that I get to do what I do. And all glory goes to God. Romans 15, verse 18. He says, This 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. Notice that there, right? By obedience, the Gentiles. Well, what was his service to the Gentiles? That they be they be what? An acceptable offering. How are we an acceptable offering then? By obedience and word and deed. What Christ has accomplished through you is remarkable. Right? That's what he says there. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. Do you know what Christ has accomplished through you? If you don't know, then I think it's probably good that you sit down this week. You sit down and you reflect and you think, you open up your Bible and you write down what Christ has accomplished for you. Because it's important that you know that. It really is. He has saved you from your sins, he has cleansed you of that, he has made you new, and he has provided for you an opportunity to work in his kingdom. Right? That's just a few things. But reflect and think about what Christ has done through you. And then ask, how can I bring that to the world in word and deed? Because Paul wants to see these Gentiles be obedient to the gospel, obedient to Christ. That's my goal. I hope it's yours as well. It should be. It's Paul's goal. There are a lot of things that I know we're proud of, right? In life. There's a lot of things that I'm proud of, that you're proud of, right? I'm proud of my kids. You're proud of your kids. I see it on Facebook all the time. I see pictures of everyone's family and what they're doing and their sports and their achievements. And that's great. I love that. And I'm I'm so eager to show people pictures of my kids and what they did. Like, look, look, she's taking steps now, right? Do you see what I'm doing? I'm proud. And because of because of that, because I'm proud of that, I'm what? Sharing. I'm talking about it. I'm telling people about it. We tell people about the things we're proud of. It is. People see the things that we are proud of. And there's there's big things and then there's small things, right? I'll give you an example of a small thing. I'm pretty proud of my chess ranking, okay? I'm a nerd. I'm a nerd. But I want you to see that also there's a priority that they see as well. There's big things and there's small things. And people see where your priorities are by what you boast in, by what you're proud in. And what I want people to see in me, and I hope see in you, and what we're all about is the greatest thing we can boast in life is that I boast in Christ. I boast in the cross of Christ crucified, the gospel of Christ. And that's how Paul even starts off the book of Romans, talking about the gospel and the power of the gospel. And it's wonderful when you see God's church planted throughout the whole world, cities on a hill, light to the world, outposts in this dark world, boasting in Christ. It's beautiful. And so whatever Jesus has done in my life, whatever Jesus has done in your life, it should be her greatest joy. And people should see that. Romans 15, look at verses 19 through 20. Romans 15, 19 through 20, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ, and thus I have I make it my what? My ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, but I build on something, someone else's foundation. Lest I build on someone else's foundation. He wants to go where no one else has been named. Paul is saying, look, the gospel is for everyone. And you are a minister of the gospel of Christ. And that service can go anywhere. It can go at the local church where it's definitely needed. It can go to France, where we see Nate and Angie. It can go to Mexico, where I know Sam and Nathan are going not too long ago. Or very soon. And Paul's done that. He showed us that example. And he's fulfilled. He says, I fulfilled this ministry in these regions, but my ambition is to preach the gospel. Now we may not be gifted, and you may look at your ministry in the church and think, well, I'm not gifted to to preach or to speak, and that's okay. What does our ambition need to be? Our ambition needs to be the gospel and the gospel message, which we can see both in word but also in deed. Your service as priest may not be preaching specifically, but it is something else. And you need to know that it's to serve, serve the body, to serve the kingdom, to serve the gospel, serve Christ. That is our ambition. Because in life, again, there's a lot of things that we might be passionate about. And the things that we're passionate about, we're willing to share and tell other people about. When I think about something that has changed the world, when I think about something that has changed my life, and I hope it's changed your life, it's the message of Christ. And it becomes what I want to tell everyone about, both again in word and deed. And this is what Paul is all about, right? We just went through a sermon series in the book of Acts, and I love looking at Paul and him trying to make decisions. Do I go to this city or do I go to this city or this region or that region? Who needs the gospel? And you can see he's definitely spirit-led, but he's always going to where the gospel hasn't been preached. Oh, they haven't heard the gospel? I'm going over there. Look at verse 21. What is his ambition? My ambition is to preach the gospel. It's the gospel. Where Christ has not already been named. And he takes that view and he backs it by scripture. If you look at Romans 15, look at verse 21. But as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. Right? He's quoting Isaiah 52. Turn over to Isaiah 52. This is pretty neat. Isaiah 52, you can flip back and forth and kind of compare the two. But I want you to see something in this verse. This is Isaiah 52, verse 15, the last verse of this chapter, right before the big one, Isaiah 52, talking about the suffering servant. But I want you to notice what he says in the first half of 15. Isaiah 52. 15. So shall he, talking about Jesus in a prophetic way, sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, because he's going to be king. He is king. For that which, and this is where Paul picks up the quote for that which has not been told, them they see, and that which they have not heard, they understand. So it's cool that Paul quotes the second half of that verse, but I want you to see the first half. That first half of the sprinkling of many nations. That's what Jesus did. That's Jesus' half. And our job is the second half, to fulfill the second half. Yo, you haven't heard the gospel? I'm going there. Because I am a gospel minister. And so are you. Paul wants, I want you to see the heart of Paul here. He wants the far reaches of the world to know the gospel. And this is when he begins, if we turn back over to Romans 15, he begins to express his desire to go to Spain. At this point in the text, it becomes very narrative, but there's still some things that we can pull out of the text here. Romans 15, look at verses 22 through 29 or 24, 22 through 24. This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you, right? Because you've already heard the gospel and I had other work to do. Verse 23, but now since I am no longer, 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, as I go to a place that hasn't heard the gospel to be helped on my journey there by you. Once I have enjoyed your company for a while. I love this. We have brothers and sisters helping each other out. Now you might be wondering, did Paul go to Spain? You kind of have to address that. And the answer to that is we don't know. And so he does go to Rome, imprisoned. We do have a second generation Christian, Clement of Rome, saying in his letter, uh, first Clement, that Paul reached, quote, the extreme limit of the West. So that could be Spain. Some people think it is. And that was written around AD 96, so pretty early. But there is no archaeological or biblical evidence of him going to Spain. So we just don't know. It's possible, but we don't know. But I want us to look at the heart of Paul here. His passion. His passion for ministry and for service and for people and the gospel. So many people would say, look, I fulfilled as he did there. Look, I've verse 22, I fulfilled my work here in these regions. And they would say, Okay, I'm all done. I fulfilled the work. But that's not the case. That's really not the case. The gospel is not something that we retire from. Our ministry is our life. We are priests. It's our service to Christ. It's not a business where we're trying to make money. It's about connecting with God. It's about connecting with others. It's about winning souls to Christ and helping them become acceptable, offering to God, become obedient to the gospel. And Paul sees it that way. Look at verse 25. Verse 25 of Romans 15, where he says, 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 have 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, right? The Christians out of Jerusalem have done so much for the regions, the Gentile regions, he says they ought also to be of service, to minister to them in material blessings. 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. There's a lot that we can unpack in these verses. You look at verse 26, Paul is keeping his promise that he made to the apostles in the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter 2, verse 10, where he says to the apostles, I will not neglect the poor in Jerusalem. You also look at verse 27. There's a principle here, a principle of exchanging spiritual blessings for material blessings. This is used often as a principle, along with many other verses, of why you might pay a minister, but it's also a verse that has been used by prosperity preachers to abuse others. And so I'm aware of those things, but we want to keep the main thing, the main thing, and see what is Paul saying about serving Christ, being gospel servants. That last bit there, I want you to look at that last bit in verse 29. What does he say when he says, I'm gonna come to you? I'm gonna come to you, he says, with the fullness of the blessing of Christ. What did he tell us back in verse 14? They are full of goodness and full of knowledge, and then he says, When I'm come to you, I'm gonna come to you and bless you with Christ. When we think about our ministry to each other, it's often more of a blessing than we realize. And we can take for granted the spiritual blessings that we receive from each other. Our service to one another is a blessing to each other. And it can be a blessing to the churches that, as you see from Paul, that he's going to visit and that we visit. And yet Paul begs them, I want you to pray with me, share in these blessings. Look as we finish this chapter, Romans 15, look at verses 30 through 33, where he says, I appeal to you, brothers, by the Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God and on my behalf, that I may be delivered. So he does, he asks for three things. One, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints. That's the second. And third, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. The first thing I notice from here is that how willing Paul is to share some prayer requests. He's very open about that. This is what I want you to pray for. I don't think it's a bad thing to tell people, this is what I need you to pray for. But Paul is someone who leads by example. He doesn't just tell us in other places in the New Testament, I want you to be constant in prayer and be devoted in prayer and then not do that himself. He's saying what here? He's saying, look, I want you to strive with me. Pray with me on my behalf. Because prayer is powerful. And Paul asked for three things: deliverance, help in his service, and that he may see them in joy. Just consider for a second, right? Consider for a second what might have happened historically as they prayed this out, and then he was delivered into Rome imprisoned. Think about this prayer within that context, right? That he actually wasn't delivered, he was put in chains. His prayer was not answered, maybe in the way that he thought. And that happens sometimes. It happens in our ministry. And as he's been known to preach and minister to the Gentiles, you can see that there's a concern here in his ministry to the saints in Jerusalem, which is understandable. I get that. He's concerned. That's also something we can relate to. And then you get to that third one and you realize if you went to Rome in prison here, imprisoned, was he full of joy? Something to consider that sometimes those two things aren't mutually exclusive. Prayer is so important to our ministry. Even though we don't know how things are going to turn out, we bend and we change the God's will. And we pray. Paul thought it important to pray. He told them to pray. We pray to God. It's essential to our ministry as ministers of the gospel so that we can refresh others, as he says here in his prayer, and we can be filled with joy as gospel ministers. I hope that you can look at these verses and you can see Paul's heart. His heart for people, his heart for the gospel, to follow the king, to tell people like we are priests, and I want you to be an acceptable offering, to be obedient to the gospel. I want you to be lights, to go and boast and tell people about it, and to know what Christ has done through you. But if you don't know what Christ has done through you, because He He hasn't, you haven't accepted Him, He's not your King, and you want to be a part of a family, now's the time to accept His offer. Now's the time to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, to come out new and to be a part of His family. If that's what you want this evening, you can come forward now as we stand and we sing.