Paul was the consummate minister because the focus of his ministry was where it should have been. This daily devotional looks at on Whom the focus of our ministry should be.
Nuggets
- We are ministers for Jesus and God, so we should not boast of ourselves.
- The focus of the ministry is the Plan of Salvation that God designed and carried out through Jesus’ sacrifice.
- It was Paul’s mission to go where no one had ever gone before to preach the gospel of Christ.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Transformed to Perfection series
Devotions in the On Being a Minister series
Paul was a devoted minister. He took his call from God very seriously. He spoke about it in Romans 15. Let’s take a look.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
The Reason to Boast
“Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God” (Rom. 15: 17 CSB)
We are ministers for Jesus and God, so we should not boast of ourselves.
Bunting noted that “The gospel is called the gospel of God, and of Christ, both in reference to its Divine authority, and in reference to its subject: it is of God, and it speaks concerning God.”
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Yeah. There is no us included in there.
Oh, we have a part. We are the object of the gospel.
Okay. I did the define function in Word to make sure object was the right word to use. Some of the synonyms it gave me were whatchamacallit and doodah.
After I stopped laughing, I got down to it is the point or the intent.
We tend to think we are the reason for the gospel. We think we are the purpose or the motivation behind the Plan of Salvation.
God designed the Plan of Salvation because He wants back what Satan took away from Him. He wants us back so we can worship Him again in spirit and in truth. “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4: 24 ESV).
Some may think I am nitpicking there, but I don’t think so. God is the focus. He always is the focus. Spiritual things are also the priority.
Paul knew it wasn’t about him being a great evangelist or missionary. He knew it wasn’t about him meeting the needs of others.
It was about telling others that God had sent His Son to die on a cross so that His blood might be shed to pay the price to redeem us from our sins.
The True Focus
“For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through me by word and deed for the obedience of the Gentiles, by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, and by the power of God’s Spirit. As a result, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum” (Rom. 15: 18-19 CSB)
The focus of the ministry is the Plan of Salvation that God designed and carried out through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Paul did not toot his own horn. He didn’t draw attention to himself.
Instead, Paul kept the focus on God and what Jesus did on the cross. He kept it on what the gospel is all about.
There was a good reason for this. Paul knew we would gain nothing by knowing who he was.
We gain everything by knowing — and believing — who Jesus is. Knowing isn’t enough. We have to make a conscious decision to believe He is our Savior and has secured the forgiveness for our sins by His death and resurrection.
Paul acknowledged that whatever he accomplished was done through the power of God. God sent His Spirit to fill Paul with power. He took that power and was obedient in speaking and displaying signs and wonders for the Gentiles.
Are you wondering what signs and wonders those were? It is salvation itself.
What better sign of God’s power and wonder than His restoring us to Himself?
But in a way, Satan tries to use signs and wonders against us. Irons wrote, “One of Satan’s artifices is to induce men to attempt to reduce the gospel to a mere system within the reach of human intellect; and in this attempt they have gone far to deny and reject everything supernatural.”
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Can’t you hear it? [Insert whiny voice] “But I don’t understand, and it’s supposed to be all about me!”
The me part is faith. Faith is the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives.
The me part is submitting. Submitting to God is actions by humans that obey God and keep His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, follow His purpose for us, and do not follow Satan’s promptings. In a nutshell, submitting means committing to live a sin-free life.
Jones mentioned that Paul preached the whole gospel. He didn’t leave out any of it.
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We can’t say, “Oh, we like where murder is a sin, but we don’t like where homosexuality is, too.” We don’t get to pick and choose what is a sin or what isn’t. We don’t get to choose what we will follow or what we won’t.
Brown brought up a point that kind of slammed home with me. When did Paul start his ministry?
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Let’s do some digging in Acts.
“Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. And after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time. Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: ‘He is the Son of God’” (Ac. 9: 17-20 CSB).
Paul started immediately. I know many will argue that Paul had a good foundation in his previous life to prepare him for being God’s Energizer Bunny.
Our ministry is about us sharing our story. Whatever experiences we have encountered, God will use them to prepare us for the ministry He has for us.
I didn’t catch the significance of the reference of “… from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum” (Rom. 15: 19 CSB). Bunting said the province of Illyricum was 1,000 miles away from Jerusalem.
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In Paul’s day, you probably could have equated it to a trip to Mars for most people. There weren’t planes, trains, and automobiles for fast transportation. Most probably didn’t even have horses.
Walking would have taken forever.
It is a descriptive way of Paul’s saying I did what the angel said. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Ac. 1: 8 CSB).
But then again, Paul probably didn’t start out for Illyricum from Jerusalem. Maybe it was from Ephesus. It was probably when he was touring Macedonia.
Whenever, whatever. The goal was always the same — obedience for the Gentiles. Obedience means salvation. It means faith.
Blazing New Trails
“My aim is to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I will not build on someone else’s foundation, but, as it is written, Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand” (Rom. 15: 20-21 CSB)
It was Paul’s mission to go where no one had ever gone before to preach the gospel of Christ.
Paul wasn’t interested in the low-hanging fruit. Beecher stressed he took the hard work.
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Paul had to lay a foundation by introducing who God was, why we need God, and what God did for us. Then he had to bring Jesus into the picture.
Haldane wrote that Paul’s ministry had its purpose. He wrote, “This ambition of the apostle was the means of fulfilling a prophecy with respect to the spread of the gospel in heathen countries. Thus it is that God fulfils His predictions and His purposes.”
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We want to do God’s Will. God will use us to further His kingdom.
Making the Connections
Paul could have gone on and on about the hardships of ministry. We all know he suffered a lot.
But to Paul, it was an honor to be a minister for God. He was all in. He took the hard in stride.
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How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
We need to listen to what God is calling us to do, where He says go. It may be “… from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum” (Rom. 15: 19 CSB). We need to get on our horse and ride.
Paul took his ministry very seriously because he knew the lives of the people he taught depended on their acceptance of the message he gave. When people do not accept God’s gift of salvation, they will spend eternity in the torment of hell.
To read a devotion in the Hell Does Have Fury series, click on the appropriate button below.
We need to take our ministry seriously, also. Those we share God’s message with need to accept it just as much as those in Paul’s day did.
We need to keep our focus on God.
Father God. We need Your salvation. We commit to serving You in whatever ways You call us. We will take Your Plan of Salvation to those who need it. We will focus on You. Amen.
What do you think?
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