17 Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient— 19 in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation, 21 but as it is written: "To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand." ~ Romans 15:17-21
Today, we return to our study of Romans 15 wherein the Apostle Paul is instructing us on the priorities of the servant of Christ. As we have mentioned since Romans 3:21, it is the grace of God that causes us to desire to be the servants of the Lord. In light of all that He has done for us, particularly rescuing us from the clutches of hell, choosing to be His servant is the least we can do. In fact, it is a joy to be the servant of the Lord.
In today's passage we learn that God has a calling on all of our lives. The particulars will always be different but the message will always be the same. The message is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel includes man's hopelessness and the hope that we gained as a result of believing that God remedied our sin problem by sending the Lord Jesus to go to the cross to bridge the gap that our sin had created between us and God.
In today's passage, we learn the utter importance of being defined by God's culture so that we are positioned to fulfill the calling God has placed on our individual lives. In today's passage the Apostle Paul pulls the curtain back on two principles that governed his ministry to the Gentile world:
The utter necessity of rejoicing in Christ's work in our lives, and the power of God that enables any servant to realize God's call on his life.
In v.17-18 of today's passage we read, "17 Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient."
The principle that governed Paul's ministry was to rejoice in the fact that God was at work through him in the lives of gentiles. The Apostle wrote, "Therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus." Like you and I, Paul was confronted with a lot of darkness in the world in which he ministered. This is why he wrote in v.18, "For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me." It is God's designed to do His ministry through our yielded lives. If our lives aren't yielded, we will not realize the ministry God wants to accomplish in and through us. God does not expect us to produce the ministry! He does that. We must be diligent to walk with Him and to follow Him. As He includes us in on what He is doing in the lives of others that "we minister to," He produces the harvest.
In v.19-20 of today's passage we read, "19 In mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation."
The second principle that the Apostle Paul accentuates in today's passage about his ministry is: It is the power of God that enabled Paul to do the ministry that God called him to. The signs and wonders that Paul wrote of here authenticated the message of Christ's gospel and Paul's ministry. These signs and wonders were the marks of an apostle, and only apostles
did these things. Today we do not need any more apostles; we have the
original ones, and their writings are available to us. What we have is
what Paul mentions, the power of the Spirit, and His impact on human
lives.
In 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 the Apostle wrote, "1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
The message of the gospel of God is what the signs and miracles were designed to highlight. The same is true for you and me today. And, the power of God is best released through our yielded and broken lives. In 2 Corinthians 12:8 Paul writes that he asked the Lord three times to take the thorn from him. The Greek word translated three times is a Greek idiom meaning he asked over and over and over. The Apostle Paul was fixated on the thorn. But that was not the design of the thorn. The design of the thorn was that he would be fixated upon the Lord Jesus. This is why we have trials, so that we will be dependent upon the Lord Jesus. And this is where His power is discovered. We must be diligent today to be yielded to Him, expecting and watching His power change lives all around us.
In v.21 of today's passage we read, "But as it is written: 'To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand.'"
This verse is an adaptation of Isaiah 52:15 which is a Messianic prophecy. It's very close to the Septuagint version which is the Greek translation of Isaiah which was originally written in Hebrew. The context of Isaiah 52 is all about the Servant of the Lord, who is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And the context of Isaiah 52 reveals a day when the Messiah will bring all nations to Himself and they will see His glory. And those who have never heard about Him will hear about Him. And those who have never understood the truth will know. The fullness of this Messianic prophecy will come at the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus which will happen seven years after the rapture of the church.
The Apostle Paul was a servant of the Lord who continually offered himself as a sacrifice to God. And, as such, he jumped at every opportunity to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to whomever would listen. This is the ultimate calling of the servant of the Lord. The more God's grace arrests our souls the more we will be aware of the utter necessity of sharing the gospel with a deceived world who unknowingly are headed to an eternity in hell. When we share the gospel with anyone who has yet to believe in the Lord Jesus, we are a part of the fulfillment of this prophecy given in Isaiah 52. I would say that is awesome! And, eternity will only bear forth the wonders of what God can do through our yielded servant lives.
