Paul’s Role As An Apostle

Transcript

GR 1406
10/18/09
Paul's Role as an Apostle
Romans1:8-15
Gil Rugh

We recently began a study in the book of Romans and we invite you to turn to Romans 1 in your Bibles. The first 7 verses which really form what is sometimes called the salutation where Paul introduced himself as the writer and told those that he was writing to with this letter. In verse 1 he identified himself as Paul and then further particularly focusing on his role as an apostle. Then down in verse 87he said he was writing to those in Rome, to those who are beloved of God in Rome. He's writing to the believers in Rome. In verses 2-6 he has elaborated more fully on the gospel that God has given that has been entrusted to Paul to carry to the Gentiles. That becomes the basic thrust of these opening 15 verses, if you will, and that would include verses 16-17 and we'll be talking about them in a future study. His role as an apostle, why he needs to come to Rome, why he is obligated to come to Rome, why he has wanted to come to Rome many times but has been prevented thus far. But his anticipation is he will still be able to come to Rome because as an apostle he has a ministry that he must carry out there. They are Gentile believers in Rome, he wants to bring the gospel to them, perhaps with a fuller understanding and clarity than they have had before. He sees an opportunity to strengthen them as a church and also to grow together as believers.

We'll pick up with verse 8 and verses 8-15 Paul continues these introductory remarks which are foundational to the rest of the letter because they establish something of his position and authority as an apostle, even in Rome, even though he has not been to Rome. Yet the ministry that God has given him as an apostle focusing on bringing the gospel to Gentiles means that the Romans are part of the scope of his ministry because they are Gentile. And through his ministry of the gospel they will grow.

He turns attention to some personal matters here, his prayer for them. He wants to talk about I pray for you regularly. That helps see how he sees them as part of his life and ministry. You are part of my prayer life, you are part of my prayer life regularly. Some of you I don't have much personal contact with, but occasionally from time to time people say I pray for you regularly. We share the ministry together because of prayer. And that's what Paul is going to make clear to them. They've been part of his prayer life for some time. Then in verses 11-13 he'll talk about the fact that he wants to serve them. God has given him a gift from which they will benefit. And he wants to share with them. And God has placed him under obligation to them in verses 14-15. This is something he doesn't have a choice about. God has said this is something you are obligated to do, you are in debt to them. So Paul says I am going to do all I can to fulfill that obligation by coming to Rome and ministering the gospel to you.

Look at verse 8, he's going to talk about his prayers for them. First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. My prayer life is a life of thanks for you. When he says first there is no second, as you look through and say I'd like to pick up his next point. He doesn't say now second or third. First, this is priority, this where I want to start, but it's not the development of a numbered sequence. I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all. I have a great appreciation to you, I offer my thanks to God, my God. You know Paul could have said I give thanks to our God because these are believers. He's going to talk about their faith in a moment, but there is a personal aspect to this that Paul never lost sight of. Certainly He is your God as a believer as well, but Paul sees it consistently with that personal dimension. He is my God.

Back up to Acts 27, and Paul is in the midst of a storm and an impending shipwreck and note what he says in verse 23. For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong. That personalness. Now here these are ungodly men on this ship, but still Paul always coming to these men. Here he is tossed into the sea. He doesn't say, does God know me. No, it's the God to whom I belong, He's the One whom I serve. That's how Paul saw it, He's a personal being, its God and me. And even if I am with many, many other believers I appreciate that God is your God, too. But He is my God. In our family there were four children, three boys and a girl. But we boys came to understand that the girl was always the favorite. But he was still my dad and I see him as that personally. We could say, he's our dad. But that's my dad because there is a personalness to it. That's how Paul viewed God, there is that intimacy with God. I thank my God.

Come back to Romans 1. You know Paul establishes here or sets down here what is his practice normally in his letters. He begins with an expression of thanks to his God for the believers that he is writing to.

Turn over to Philippians 1. Note how he begins the letter to the Philippians. He is in prison when he writes this letter, he's a prisoner in Rome. He starts in verse 3, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all. Here Paul says I am filled with gratitude to God for you. He doesn't start out about his problems, those who have made life difficult for him, those who have even done things to try to make his imprisonment more unbearable. I have to start out telling God how much I appreciate Him. I thank my God.

Turn over to Colossians 1:3, we give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard of our faith. I just have to thank God for you and your faith in Christ. What a rich blessing. Look over in I Thessalonians 1:2, we give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers. Go to II Thessalonians 1:3, we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting. And goes on. Starts out the letter to the Corinthians that way, the Corinthians, the church that caused him so much grief and problem. He starts out God's grace has been at work in their lives.

You know it would make a difference in our relationships if we start out this way. I mean, what I can thank God for in these believers. It's easy to become irritated with believers, disappointed, frustrated. But you know there are always things to be thankful for as the result of the work of the grace of God in a life. There may be disappointments, you may sometimes feel like you've been let down. But think about it, the fact that God's grace worked in your life to bring you to Himself, to cleanse you from your sin, make you new. That's a marvelous thing that you have a testimony that your faith is in Christ, that you love Him, that you desire to serve Him and honor Him. If we start out that way thinking of fellow believers in that light, if we start out our prayer life, I'm going to make a point of praying for them and thanking God for them, I think we'd get into perspective. We're going to find out this characterizes all of Paul's comments in Romans 1:8-15. Paul is taken up with the Romans and how grateful to God he is for them and then how excited he would be to minister the Word to them and the obligation he has to them. And the focus is not on himself but it's upon the work that God has done in the lives of these.

Come back to Romans 1. First I thank my God, verse 8, through Jesus Christ for you all. The prayer is offered through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to offer prayer, there are no other prayers acceptable to God. Based on the work Christ did on the cross, based on His ongoing work as our High Priest as is so fully developed in the book of Hebrews. The One who, according to Hebrews 7, ever lives to make intercession for us. Our prayers are offered to God the Father through God the Son. That's the consistent pattern of the New Testament. Our prayers are addressed to God the Father but they are on the basis of the work of God the Son, Jesus Christ. In fact there is no access to God except on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ as the High Priest that God has provided.

We are sometime thought as unkind to talk about other people's religion and so on. But you understand this matter of prayer is important. You know what the Old Testament says? For a person who rejects the Word of God, even their prayers are an abomination to God. The prayers of the person who has not submitted himself to the Word of God, when he prays his prayers are an abomination, something that God hates. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me. There is only one High Priest, Jesus Christ. No one comes into God's presence apart from Jesus Christ. But we as God's people, here Paul says, I come to my God. But because I'm the Apostle Paul I just don't come, I come through Jesus Christ. The basis of that, He is my Savior. On the basis of the fact He is my high priest and represents me today in heaven. Father, I come because Your Son loved me and died for me and now He acts on my behalf in your presence and I am acceptable. Paul says I thank my God through Christ Jesus for you all.

Why? What is his prayer about? Because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Rome is the capital of the world, Rome dominates the world, it’s the Roman Empire. Somehow the gospel has been brought to Rome and people have believed the gospel and it has made such a life-changing impact on them as the gospel always does, that it has become known that they now are followers of Jesus Christ. Their loyalty is to Him, they have a testimony for Him in Rome. Now this doesn't mean everywhere throughout the empire people are talking about the faith of the Romans, but I take it that it does mean in the churches and among believers in other parts of the world they are talking about because there was constant traffic through Rome. When we get to chapter 16 Paul has never been to Rome, but he has a long list of people to greet that he knows in Rome, those he has met in other places, ministered with in other places. Now word is out, there are believers in Rome standing for the Lord Jesus Christ in the center of the empire. We see something of the life-changing impact of the gospel. Jesus Christ did not call people to become His followers in a secret hidden way. I mean, this is well known that these have become believers and now there is a church in Rome that is faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's being proclaimed. That's a word of commendation. I thank my God that you have a testimony for Him and that testimony is being spread throughout the world to other places. Believers in the church at Philippi would have heard that there has been a church established in Rome, there are people who now are following Christ and being faithful to Him in Rome. And the other churches in other parts of the empire.

Verse 9, Paul continues, for God whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the Gospel of My Son is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you. Always in my prayers making request if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. Paul wants to drive home the place they have in his heart here. So he says God is my witness, verse 9. He uses that expression on other occasions. The seriousness of this. I'm not just saying this to try to butter you up, try to get you to think more warmly of me or something like that. God is my witness. When I say that it's true. I mean, He examines our hearts, He knows us as we are. And I call Him as my witness in this that I am telling the truth. This is the God that I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the Gospel. I serve in my spirit, in the inner person, in the inside. This is not just the motions I go through. God whom I serve in my spirit. We might say in my heart, with what I am inside. I serve God.

The word serve here is different than in verse 1. We had the fact that he was a bond servant, a slave, a dulos. Here he serves, he uses a different word, a word that was used in the Old Testament when they translated it into Greek a couple hundred years before Christ. The Jews made a translation of the Old Testament Hebrew into Greek. They used this word to refer to the service of the priests in the Old Testament. So it comes to be used of worship, priestly service, our ministry, if you will, as God's people. You could translate it our worship, whom I worship in my spirit. But it's the idea of serving. But his service is a spiritual service and my service of worship in my spirit because here is what God has entrusted Paul to do. He has given him a portion of His grace in gifting him as an apostle to carry out a realm of ministry. In doing that, that's part of Paul's religious service to God, his worship, if you will. We can easily think of this as our worship service, and it is a time when we come together as a family of believers to join as one group in worshiping God. But you know our life is a life of worship. The end of the book of Hebrews the writer to the Hebrews talks about offering the calves of our lips as a sacrifice to God. Our lips are viewed as sacrificial animals, the words that come out of them are part of our spiritual service of worship. So Paul says in carrying out my ministry as an apostle, that is part of my worship.

What is worship? It is honoring God, giving Him glory, praise, acknowledging Him as God, the One to whom we submit. What is it when you are functioning with the gifts God has given you by grace? That is acknowledging that He is your God, that I am serving Him, that I am honoring Him, that I am bringing Him glory. That's what Paul is talking about.

I serve Him in my spirit. It comes from the heart. Turn over to Colossians 3:17, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Come down to verse 23, here he is addressing slaves. Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. That's the perspective that Paul had.

Stop at II Corinthians 2:17, we are not like the many, peddling the Word of God. But as from sincerity, as from God, we speak in Christ, note this, in the sight of God. Paul says I serve Him in my spirit. And the ministry he has is a ministry carried on in the sight of God who not only is looking at the fact that Paul is speaking the Word of God, but looking at the heart of Paul, at his spirit, at the inner condition. So it's how we carry on our service for the Lord. And it's acceptable when it comes from a heart of obedience and submission to Him. Other than it is mere form, ritualism, which is offensive to God. He only desires that which comes from our hearts in obedience to Him.

Back in Romans 1:9, for God whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son. Because that's the responsibility He has entrusted to me. Is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you. He goes on in verse 10, always. We see these words, unceasingly I make mention of you. Doesn't mean he doesn't do anything but pray for the Romans, obviously he did other things. But it was a regular part of his life to include the Romans in his prayers. Always in my prayers making requests. So not only in his prayer did he offer thanks to God for them, their testimony, evidencing the genuineness of a faith that has transformed them and made them new, but he is always praying that if at last, now, maybe by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.

Paul had a desire to come to Rome. He desired to do that for some time, as he'll say. Come back to Romans 15. Here is Paul's plan. Verse 22, for this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you. Because he was carrying the gospel to places that had never heard it, and that took priority. Those in Rome had heard the gospel and believed it, so there is a church established there, there are believers there. So every time I thought I could come, another opportunity to take the gospel to a place that hadn't heard the gospel came up. So verse 22, I have been prevented. But now with no further place for me in these regions, since I have for many years a longing to come to you. This has gone on in his heart for years to be able to come to Rome and minister the gospel. Whenever I go to Spain, for I hope to see you in passing, to be helped on my way there by you when I have first enjoyed your company for a while. But now I have to go to Jerusalem, because I have an offering for the saints there.

You see something of the pattern and the desire of Paul. Down in verse 32, he's desiring to come to you enjoined by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. Paul had plans, he had a desire. This desire has been unfulfilled for years. Things kept coming up to prevent him from coming to Rome. But perhaps now at last by the will of God, Romans 1:10, I may succeed in coming to you. What he is planning on is according to his call, is to go to Spain because they haven't heard the gospel yet. But on his way to Spain he'll be able to stop at Rome and spend some time there in ministry and fellowship and it will be great. That's Paul's plan. You know, he submits his plan to the will of God. If perhaps by the will of God I may succeed. You know what? God's will is for him to go to Rome, God's will is not for him to go to Rome on his way to Spain. Paul is going to get his prayer answered but not the way he anticipated. You know how he's going to Rome, he's going to Rome as a prisoner. It's going to be a long, difficult trip, it's going to involved shipwreck. We read just a portion about that in the verse we read in Acts 27. When he finally arrives in Rome he's not going to be free to travel around and meet with believers. They're going to have to come to him because he's going to be under house arrest in the presence of a Roman guard.

But you know the test comes. Lord, this is what I bring before you, this is the desire of my heart and I come if it's your will I ask you to do this. The test comes when He doesn't do it or He doesn't do it the way we want. Was Paul frustrated? Lord, I don't even have freedom here, now I'm confined to one house. What kind of ministry is this? Lord, I ............ No, I submitted myself to the will of the Lord. I'm not going to Spain, at least not on this trip, and this trip will take years, by the time he is arrested to evidently the time he was freed. I want to come. You'll get there, Paul. When you come it will be as a prisoner of Rome. He'll be able to minister the gospel there but the people will have to come to your house and hear you there because you won't be free to travel throughout Rome and preach the gospel. And you won't be on your way to Spain because you'll be on trial. But God's will is right.

So you can see here Paul is explaining to them because there may have been some criticism that came up that Paul said he was going to come, he told you he hoped to come, word has been passed on by perhaps some of the people he mentioned in chapter 16 that Paul told us he is planning on coming to Rome. But he doesn't come. Paul endured this criticism at other places. He's not a man of his word because he said he was planning on coming and then he didn't come. Well Paul's plans are Paul's plans and the Lord's plans are the Lord's plans. Sometimes they go together and sometimes they are different. Paul says I am prevented. You know it takes the pressure off our lives because sometimes we pray to God about something, then it doesn't work out and we're frustrated. We're more than frustrated, we're irritated. We're more than irritated, we're upset with God because we told Him. Wait a minute, we don't tell God. We are privileged to come to Him with our requests and He is also pleased to honor them, but we must always come with if it's Your will. Lord, these are brought to you whether I express it or not. You know what the characteristic of the man of the flesh is, according to James, it's a man who plans tomorrow I'm going to this city and I'm going to do this or that. You know what James says, that's sin. If the Lord wills I will do this or that. It's not just a matter of putting those words on because I can put those words on and still have my mind made up. But it's having that submissive spirit. Lord, tomorrow I plan to do this. If it's your will I will be going here, whether I say the words in my heart, all my plans are subject to His will. When I have that as the true attitude of my heart it takes some of the frustration out of my life because then when my plans are frustrated or prevented I can say Lord, I'm thankful to know you have different plans for me and your plans are always better and they always overrule mine. And I am the Lord's servant, He is not my servant. So Paul's attitude here is reflective of that.

At last if perhaps by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you. Verse 11, why? Well, I want to come and serve you, minister to you. For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you so that you may be established. I want to have a ministry to you. You know Paul's perspective is all what I will do for you, how I can serve you. That puts things in perspective. I long to see you. It's been his desire to see them. That I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established. Paul is an apostle. Through him the Spirit of God bestowed gifts. That helped solidify the church under apostolic authority. That may be what he's talking about when we get to Romans 12:3, he'll begin to talk about spiritual gifts and the use of spiritual gifts. He may be preparing them for the additional gifts that he'll bring to them and bestow upon them as a church. He wrote to Timothy in II Timothy 1:6 and talked about the fact that Timothy had a gift that had been bestowed by Paul laying hands on Timothy. Timothy was responsible to exercise that gift. So that could be part of what he is talking about.

In the context here the particular focus he will move on to is the ministry of the gospel, bringing to them a further, fuller, clearer understanding of God's truth. Remember these truths had been revealed to and through the Apostle Paul, the mystery of a Jew and a Gentile being made one together in Christ in the body of Christ, the church, in Ephesians 2-3. Paul says that was a mystery revealed to me. So even though the Romans had heard the gospel and believed the gospel and been saved, Paul could bring to them a fullness of understanding and a clarity that they have not yet been able to enjoy.

So down in verse 15 he'll say, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also in Rome. So bring to them perhaps special gifts of the Spirit and bring to them in particular that gift that is his as an apostle, enabling them to understand in a fuller and greater way the gospel. And that's the burden of this letter. He's writing the fullest, most complete unfolding of the message of the gospel that had been given and has been given.

What he wants to happen is that they would be established, a word that means to be strengthened, that they would become even more firm, stronger in their faith and in their testimony. The growth process goes on. Now it's not just a one-way street. Paul says I will benefit from a fellowship with you in ministry. So he says in verse 12, that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine. So as Paul looks at it and it's going to be the burden of what he can come and do to serve them, it's not a one-way street. He'll benefit and be blessed by that. I mean, when you minister to another believer or other believers, then you'll go away refreshed and blessed. That just happens, its part of the way God works. This word encouraged in verse 12, that we may be encouraged together, you're familiar with it, it's a Greek word. The Greek word is paraclete, remember from the ministry of the Holy Spirit in John 14-16. I'll send another Comforter to you, someone called alongside to give aid, support, help, comfort. It's the ministry of the Holy Spirit and it's a ministry of believers as instruments of the Holy Spirit to one another, mutual encouragement. So I'm coming knowing with the gift that God has given me you will be strengthened. But I know in ministry with you I will be encouraged and you will be encouraged, each of us by the other's faith. How refreshing it is to be with believers, how refreshing it is to encourage one another as believers. You are strengthened, we are encouraged together as believers.

Turn over to 1 Thessalonians 3. Paul uses these two words together in writing to the Thessalonians. Paul says, we sent Timothy our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith. Same two things—strengthen and encourage. Paul said that's what is going to be going on when I come to Rome. You'll be strengthened, we'll be encouraged. I sent Timothy to Thessalonica to strengthen and encourage these people regarding their faith.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:16, now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace. Note verse 17, comfort and strengthen your hearts. There is our word, comfort, encourage and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word. We need to be strengthened, established, comforted, encouraged together. That's something that goes on as we minister together, and you'll note verse 16, may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and god our Father comfort and strengthen your hearts. You see the way He does that is through our involvement together in ministry as His people. And through that interaction in ministry and service together, we are strengthened, we are encouraged. That doesn't mean it's not going to be labor, it's not going to be difficult, trying. But that's how the strengthening, encouraging is to go on.

Come back to Romans 1. So while Paul's focus will be on the ministry he wants to have to them, he does tell them he is looking forward to the encouragement that will come to him. We saw in chapter 15, it talks about the rest he will enjoy with them, it will be refreshing to him as well.

Look at verse 12, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I have often planned to come to you. We read in chapter 15, this has been the desire of his heart for years and has been prevented so far. So that I may obtain some fruit among you also eve as among the rest of the Gentiles. I'm looking forward to a fruitful ministry, obtain some fruit among you as among the rest of the Gentiles. This is a Gentile church, Paul is the apostle to the Gentiles. He is reminding them, I am carrying out the commission God has given me. That's where he is going to go in a moment in verses 14-15. I want to obtain some fruit as I minister the gospel. More people will get saved, as I minister the gospel you will grow in your faith, and be more strengthened and established. That's part of my ministry, that's part of the fruit.

Turn over to Philippians 1:21, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Verse 22, but if I am to live on in the flesh this will mean fruitful labor for me. And I don't know which to choose. As excited as I am about going to heaven, every day given me on this earth enable me to continue to serve Christ, resulting in fruit. Fruitful labor and work. Its toil but it is fruitful. And you know I appreciate every day I can serve my Lord. For while I have the desire to depart and be with Him in the glories of heaven, which would be far better, I appreciate the privilege and honor of having the time for labor which is fruitful. And I don't know which to choose. I think it is a privilege to serve Him now, another day what a privilege going to heaven. It can't get any better than that. These are unique times, these are the only times we have to produce this kind of fruit and serve in this way. And Paul says I appreciate every day. So I can appreciate the privilege of staying. You see things are seen all in light of his relationship to God and His service for Him.

That's where we are back in Romans 1. I would love to come, I have been prevented. Why do I want to come? Fruitful service, obtaining some fruit among you, seeing more Gentiles saved, seeing you believing Gentiles more strengthened in your faith, more effective, more fruitful in your service. And so he comes to verses 14-15. The reason I'm coming is quite frankly I'm under obligation, I'm a debtor to you. What a way Paul had to look at things. He had come to these people and the people that caused him so much trouble, could be such a grief, could be such a disappointment, could be such a frustration. Well, I owe you a debt, I'm in your debt, I'm obligated to you.

Verse 14, for I am under obligation. It carries out here in rather an abrupt way from verse 13 where I want to come and obtain some fruit among you as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation, I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So for my part I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. You know easy to slide into the pattern, it often happens after we've been believers for a while, what people owe us. I mean, they ought to appreciate me more, they ought to do for me, they ought to pay more attention to me, they ought to be more concerned about me. Paul doesn't slide into that. I've come to Rome. Why? I'm a debtor to you, I have an obligation to fulfill to you. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and foolish. In that world in that time the Greeks were the cultivated, the cultured people. If you didn't speak Greek and had not adopted the Hellenistic ways, even though we have the Roman Empire, you were a barbarian. The wise would be the Greeks in the parallel here and the foolish would be the barbarians. Paul is not putting down people, he's just saying it doesn't matter what your strata, what your condition. Those things are irrelevant. Are you a Gentile? Then you are part of the obligation that has been placed upon me to carry the gospel to. Doesn't matter whether you are considered a barbarian, a fool, the foolish or you are one of the Greeks and considered wise. All the Gentiles, I have an obligation to them. God appointed me, called me an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, and as we saw in the opening parts of this chapter, as the apostle to the Gentiles. Do you know what that makes me? A debtor to all the Gentiles, wherever they are, whatever their strata in life, at the top or the bottom. Doesn't matter. Paul had a ministry to masters, he had a ministry to slaves; ministry to the educated, ministry to the uneducated. Same gospel. I'm a debtor. You know, to see himself in that way and you see he is preparing them for the letter and for when he arrives. His apostleship as we have seen includes the Romans. So really these first 17 verses, looking at the first 15 at this point, Paul has prepared them that his apostleship includes them.

So the letter he is writing is a letter from God to them. When he comes he comes as God's servant carrying out the will of God. He doesn't come primarily for the glory that will come from a ministry at Rome, perhaps the prestige of having ministered in the capital, the contacts he would have and the type of people he could minister to. No. You understand, I come as a slave. My master has obligated me, placed me in your debt and I must fulfill that. I must come and minister to you.

What a difference if we put ourselves in that perspective in the exercising of our gifts. Am I looking to exercise my gift so I can be appreciated and honored .......... It's about what? I'm a debtor. You understand you are. You have received the same grace Paul did in salvation, if you are a believer, that has made you new. You've received a portion of God's grace that has gifted you so that you might serve Him in the way that He has ordained. That puts you in debt to other people, puts me in debt to others. I don't feel like it. Well, that's too bad. Slaves don't serve when they feel like it, they serve at the bidding of their master. And Paul said, I am a slave of Christ Jesus. That's how we started out. Now I put my apostleship in that context and the realm of my apostleship is ministering the gospel to Gentiles. So I carry it out, I'm a debtor. I'm coming to Rome, and then he turns it around, I have an obligation to you, I come to fulfill a debt to you. People come to church and say, I want to see what I get out of it. We ought to look to be in a church where the Word of God is ministered. We come as a fellowship of believers to what? I'm a debtor. I mean, God has gifted me in His grace to serve you. You don't have a choice, you are a slave, but a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has bestowed in His grace a gift so that you might serve others. That makes you their debtor. Now I need to be about doing it. It's hard, it's unpleasant, these people get on my nerves and under my skin. Welcome to the family of God. I mean, didn't the Corinthians get on Paul's nerves? Didn't they cause him more grief than you could expect? But he starts out, I thank my God.

Come to I Corinthians 1:4, I thank my God always concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. That doesn't mean I don't have some problems with things you do, but I can never stop thanking God always for the grace of God which was given you in Christ, that in everything you were enriched in Him. Even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, and on he goes. That appreciation.

Turn over to 1 Corinthians 9. Paul gives you the perspective on the ministry. Remember Jesus told His followers, when you have done everything you have been told to do, say at best we are unprofitable servants, unprofitable slaves, we only did what we were commanded to do by our master. Now Paul picks up on that idea. He talks about the rights he has as an apostle, then he comes down, verse 14, he says, the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. Verse 15, but I have used none of these things. I didn't use all my rights. Now I have to do everything my master has told me to do. But Paul basically says, I want to do everything He has told me to do and more because that's what I can be rewarded for. Verse 16, for if I preach the gospel I have nothing to boast of for I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. You know what Paul says? I don't have any choice, I have to preach the gospel. I am under compulsion. Woe is me if I don't do it. I have to give an account to my Master. If I do this voluntarily, I have a reward, if against my will I have a stewardship. I have to do it when I want to and when I don't want to. Well, what is my reward? Verse 18, that when I preach the gospel I may offer the gospel without charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. You know what? I have the responsibility to preach the gospel, I don't have a choice, my Master said I must. But He also says I have the right to be paid for preaching the gospel. You know what? I choose not to use that right. I have to preach the gospel but I didn't take money from you. That's my reward, I went beyond what Christ said I had to do in that context.

You have to go to Corinth to preach the gospel to those miserable people and you have to preach the gospel to that church after they have become believers that still fights against you. You don't have any choice. And you can be paid for it, Paul. They have a responsibility to support you. But I didn't take anything from you in support. That's my reward. You see Paul's attitude? I have an obligation. You exercise your spiritual gift you have to, you have to serve other believers with that. But you can go beyond what is required in the exercising of that gift. That's what pleases the Master and brings rewards. It's like your children, you tell them what they have to do but it pleases you when you find out they not only did what you told them, they went beyond that. When you get over the shock you say, you did more than I told you and often you say there is a special reward for that. For an obligation there's no particular reward. I cleaned my room, what do I get? It's what you get if you didn't do what you were told. But when they clean their room and went over and cleaned their brother or sister's room, then ......... You went beyond what was required. So you see how Paul puts his ministry in its context.

Come back to Romans 1. So for my part I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. I am eager to do it. I'm under obligation, I want to fulfill that debt. The responsibility God placed on me, I feel the burden in my heart, I know I should come to Rome but God has not given me the time yet. And when God sends him to Rome it won't be the way he wanted. But that's all right, he still has the same responsibility—preach the gospel in Rome.

Three questions we might take from the Apostle Paul and look at ourselves. Do we pray regularly for other believers? And our prayer for them is not Lord, change them. Lord, I can't stand it any longer if you don't do something with them. If they are believers, Lord, your grace has worked in their lives. Thank God for the grace that has been manifested in bringing about the change in their lives that they should be called children of God. Thanking God regularly for other believers. Do we have a desire to serve them so that they can be strengthened and together we can be encouraged? I'm part of this church, it's not about me. I don't sit here wondering, is anyone going to notice what I've done. No, it's about serving others, serving them so that they can be strengthened and we can be encouraged together in that way. Do you really see yourself as a debtor to other believers? I've an obligation to other believers, I mean, God has placed me in their debt. He has given me a gift which is a stewardship of a portion of His grace to enable me to serve Him and others in my serving Him. Is that how I look at using my gift? I am eager to serve others to fulfill the obligation that my Master has placed on me. And by His grace I hope I can do more than just what is required in the stewardship of my gift. Maybe not exercising all the rights that would be mine that He has given to me so that I might go beyond even what is required and thus be pleasing to Him.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your love for us, a grace that took hold of us in our wretched, miserable rebellious condition and turned us from our sin to your Son through faith in the One who loved us and died for us, was raised from the dead. We have been washed clean and raised in newness of life. We have become slaves of the One who loved us and died for us. Our will is not our own will but we belong to you. Thank you, Lord, for the gifts that we have received by grace and the privilege of serving you with these gifts. And we serve you with the exercising of these gifts and abilities by serving others. Lord, we would do it in a way that is pleasing to you, pouring all of our energies, all that we are with the desire to be pleasing to you, fulfill the responsibility that has been placed upon us and go beyond that you might be honored. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.