This morning we come to the closing thoughts of the book of Romans, and in our passage today, Paul turns back to the theme he introduced at the beginning of the book. His desire, in writing to the Roman church, was to find some common cause with them through the Gospel of Jesus, and that he might gain their support, both as a base of operation and partner in his mission into Europe. In our passage today, Paul reveals his heart for missions. It is the heart that we should have to reach the lost, being willing to give and go to the ends of the earth. Consider our passage from Rom. 15:14-21. From this text we see three points: the purpose of missions, the pride of missions, and the priority of missions.
First, let’s consider the purpose of missions from verses 14-16. Paul says something here that we can easily miss, so to make sure we get it, let’s do a little Bible exercise. Remember, last time we talked about the ways Christ fulfills the promises of God and shows mercy to the Gentiles. I reminded you last week of God’s covenant with Abraham, in which he promised that he would bless the whole world through him. That promise began its fulfillment in Jesus’s death and resurrection. But, the promise is still being fulfilled. You see, there is an interesting pattern that we find in the New Testament, and it can be understood in a simple saying: “What is true of Jesus is true of us.” In other words, if you are in Jesus Christ through faith, you are being made to be like him through the presence of His Holy Spirit. So, because Jesus is righteous, you are righteous. Because Jesus is the Son of God, you are now a child of God. Because Jesus has all power, you now have his resurrection power through his Spirit. Because he was the witness of God, you now are a witness of God. Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God, and now we live it out day by day. Jesus opened the door for the Gentiles to come to faith, and now we are bringing them in by taking that Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth.
So, Paul says, in verse 16, that he is a minister to the Gentiles as though he were priest bringing an offering of thanksgiving. In saying this, Paul is explicitly claiming the fulfillment of prophecy. In Isaiah 66:20, Isaiah promises that one day “they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord… just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.” So, herein lies the purpose of missions: we take the Gospel of Christ to places where it has not been heard because we want to glorify God. Missions is ultimately an act of worship. When lost people of any stripe come to faith in Christ, it glorifies God and testifies to his greatness. It is like an offering that the Israelites would give to God in praise.
The second point I want you to see is the pride of missions, from v. 17-19. Paul says that if he has anything to be proud of, it is in the fact that God has used him to reach the Gentiles with the Gospel. Now, this is an interesting way to talk about pride. Typically, when we talk about being proud, we mean to say that we place great value on an ability or insight that we have. It’s a way of pointing out something good that we did or some talent that we have. But, that’s not the way Paul means it here. Instead, what he means is that he is proud that God would use him to accomplish his work. He is not boasting in his preaching ability or his logical arguments. He is boasting that God would include him in his grand plan to bring glory to himself.
The same should be true of our pride. Too often, church members expect recognition for something they’ve done or given to the church. They want the recognition, not so they can bring glory to God, but so that they might gain glory from it. Jesus warns against this type of pride in Matt. 6:1 – “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your father who is in heaven.” Instead, we should be proud when God gains the glory through what we do for his church. We should be proud when we see children being discipled in Sunday School, knowing that our faithful giving keeps the lights on and buys the materials to make that happen. We should be proud when new faces come to our fall festival, knowing that our help in collecting candy or setting up a trunk or baking a cake helped point them to the Lord. We should be proud when we raise over $9000 for international missions, knowing that we gave of our blessings so that the gospel would go out to those who’ve never heard.
Finally, we find the priority of missions in verses 20-21. Paul states his priority for missions both negatively. First, he says, “my ambition is to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation.” Now, whenever I talk about missions, inevitably someone will say, “preacher, I don’t know why we send money over the those foreign countries when there is plenty of work to be done around here.” I certainly understand that there are lost people right here in Butler County but guess what: they have you! You can’t throw a rock up in the air anywhere in this county without the risk of it breaking a stained glass window. The foundation for the Gospel has long been laid here, and that means this area is not a priority for missions. I say that because lost people here are without excuse. The Word of God is readily available here. There are churches on every corner to testify to the Gospel. The lost cannot escape their Christian friends, co-workers and neighbors. But here me… let this sink in… there are places in this world where the name of Jesus has never even been heard! There are places in this world where the Word of God is unintelligible because it has not been translated into their language. There are places in this world where people are condemned to Hell, not because they drove by a church every day for 70 years and never went in, but because there are no Christians within 500 miles of their town.
So, Paul states his priority positively by quoting Isaiah 52:15, which prophesies of a day when all nations believe the Gospel. Brothers and sisters, understand that we should care about missions, we should give to missions, we should be willing to go on mission because it is the priority of God to reach the nations for his glory! This isn’t something we do as a philanthropic, feel-good initiative. This is life-and-death, heaven-and-hell stuff! And, it is a beautiful act of worship that we would take the name of Jesus to those who haven’t heard.
It is my deepest passion, as your pastor, to see this church on fire for the mission of God. It is my deepest passion to see us give sacrificially so that people around this world can know Jesus. It is my deepest passion to see us organizing and going on short-term mission trips to support efforts in foreign lands. It is my deepest passion to raise up young men and women who would devote their lives as missionaries. This must be the priority of our church, not because the SBC says so or because it’s just something we are supposed to do, but because we want to see God glorified where his name is not known.
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