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We have three more Sunday mornings to feed on this great epistle of Romans. As I said before, Paul has a hard time saying goodbye because he has so much to tell these Romans, whom he has never seen. In our passage this morning he is giving them a window into his own ministry. He was delighted that God had used him so effectively in spreading the gospel from Jerusalem out to the west, and now he is planning to come to them on his way to Spain. So, we have something of a journal of Paul’s plans and purposes.
I think we could all agree that Paul’s life ever since that amazing conversion on the Damascus Road had been a fruitful ministry in the gospel, so that’s how I want to look at this passage this morning. Surely, we all want our lives to count for Christ. Jesus called us to bear fruit, more fruit, and much fruit in John 15. Let’s get started. Paul highlights six marks of what I’m calling a fruitful, productive ministry.
GRACE-DRIVEN BOLDNESS
Romans 15:15-17, But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore in Christ Jesus I have found reason for boasting in things pertaining to God.
Being bold for God was a high priority for Paul. He wrote boldly, spoke boldly and he saw no virtue in apologizing for God’s message, equivocating, fudging, beating around the bush, or vacillating. The gospel of God is not up for debate but is to be proclaimed with authority. The gospel is the good news straight from God explaining how sinners can get to God. God says the only way to Him is through His Son Jesus Christ, so speak it with confidence. There is no question about the facts of the gospel. In Titus 2:15 Paul describes the grace of God in the gospel and then exhorts Titus, “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority.” Paul already told the Romans, “I’m not ashamed of the gospel, because it’s the power of God to save everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
So, fruitfulness for God means letting people know beyond the shadow of a doubt exactly who Christ was and what He accomplished on that cross and how He defeated sin and death by rising from the dead and ascending to heaven. The gospel isn’t a suggestion, it is the greatest truth in all human history and needs to be proclaimed clearly. But notice, Paul didn’t come up with this message on his own, like Sigmund Freud and Carl Rogers or an anthropologist or sociologist. God gave Paul grace to function as a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. That motivating grace (vs.15) was a huge part of the fruitfulness of Paul’s ministry. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul said, “By the grace of God I am what I am.” In 2 Corinthians 12:9 Christ told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in your weakness.” Paul responded, “Most gladly will I glory in my weakness, that the power of Chrit may dwell in me.”
Notice how Paul describes himself as a priest of the gospel bringing the Gentiles as an offering to God, acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (vs. 16). Paul isn’t talking about being a priest like you find in the Roman Catholic church. Not long after the first century came the rise of the papacy and priestcraft in Rome, and that church required people to go through a priest to get to God. This is called sacerdotalism. Those priests supposedly had special powers to forgive sins at confession and they set up an altar and developed the blasphemy of sacrificing Christ over and over in the Lord’s Table. They claimed power to turn the bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Christ, called transubstantiation. Paul is not talking about this kind of priest. God tells us we have one high priest, Jesus, according to the order of Melchizedek. Every believer is a priest in Christ. Paul pictured his gospel ministry like a priest offering up these believers to God, regenerated by the Spirit, justified through their faith in Christ alone, and set apart from the world by the Spirit of God. This is the fruit of the gospel. These Gentiles were accepted by God only through faith in Christ alone and all He accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection. This is the only way anyone can be accepted by God.
In verse 16 Paul calls it God’s gospel, not man’s. So, get it right and proclaim it with authority. The gospel is the most sacred and precious message on this planet. And here Paul sees himself as preaching Christ to all these Gentiles, with the Spirit of God sovereignly applying the gospel message to their hearts. And Paul looked forward to standing before God presenting these Gentile believers, his life work, as an offering to God. This was his “glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:20).
That’s the picture of a fruitful ministry. Boldly, confidently standing for Christ in your world, influencing people in your life, pointing people to Christ as much as possible. You are in this world to represent Christ as the one and only way of salvation. Talk to God and pray for more boldness. Seize opportunities to talk to people as much as possible about your Savior. Give them the gospel or at least inviting them to church. Our focus must always be on the gospel, boldly proclaiming Christ, and trusting in the power of the Spirit to do the heart work no man can do. May God by His grace give us a continuing and even greater fruitful ministry for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
GIVE CHRIST ALL THE GLORY
Romans 15:18-21, For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, 19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; 21 but as it is written, “THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND.”
Paul is thinking about how God used him for the good of the gospel, seeing all these Gentiles submit their hearts in obedience to Christ. What a thought, “what Christ has accomplished through me.” This is just amazing. I think of how Christ worked through so many through the centuries, people like John Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Knox, those godly Puritans, Whitefield and Wesley, and Spurgeon. And now how Christ is working through so many in our own day. Many of you are teaching children here in our church, having Bible studies with acquaintances, leading your family, and submitting your hearts to Him to use you as He wills! Fruitful ministry means giving all the glory to Christ. It is always what Christ has accomplished through His people. Trusting God to work through His Word in the lives of people is a mark of a fruitful ministry.
In verse 19 Paul speaks as an apostle and had gifts we don’t have today – signs and wonders. You can read about them in Acts. Remember when that snake bit him in Malta and he didn’t die? Don’t try it. He was an apostle. But we are involved in even greater miracles, the miracle of regeneration, of salvation when the gospel comes into a person’s life resulting in obedience to the will of God. James Boice wrote, “The miracles that need to be done today are not healing the sick or raising the dead but bringing dead souls to life to believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and then be changed by Him.” God’s not using us to turn water to wine, but He is turning swearers to praisers, gossips and slanderers to self-less servers, fornicators and adulterers to morally faithful men and women, drunkards to joyful worshippers of Christ, homosexuals to heterosexuals, thieves and swindlers to givers, self-loving people to Christ-loving people. We don’t have apostolic powers, but we do have the authority of the New Testament and the promise that the Spirit of God will call sinners to Himself through the power of the gospel. For this we give God all the glory!
Notice how Paul just kept going with the gospel, from Jerusalem up through Asia Minor, over into Macedonia and Greece and here he includes even Illyricum, a Romans province on the western side of the Greek peninsula facing the Adriatic Sea, modern Montenegro, and Albania. We don’t hear anything of this in Acts, but if Paul says it, he somehow got there. Paul was very careful not to go where God hadn’t called him. He was content with whatever realm God gave him. Here we are. We need to be faithful to our realm, to the people God placed next to us. God has put us here and may God get all the glory for any fruitfulness of ministry! How will Christ work through us in the next five or ten years?
Paul quotes Isaiah 52:15, assured God would get the message out to the Gentiles. God calls some into areas where people never heard the true gospel. You don’t have to go far. Even here in American inner cities people are ignorant of Christ and the true gospel, or what they do know is skewed by false teaching. And as our godless culture is sandblasting all biblical references from the public domain and certainly in schools, more and more America will be a place where Christ is not named. We need to pray for all these lost people, including lost people in our families.
KEEP GOING FORWARD FOR CHRIST
Romans 15:22-24, For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you; 23 but now, with no further place for me in these regions, and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you 24 whenever I go to Spain–for I hope to see you in passing, and to be helped on my way there by you, when I have first enjoyed your company for a while–
Grass never grew under Paul’s feet. He was a man on the go. And he found great joy in serving his Lord and here he lets us know his plans for the future. He was always going forward for Christ. In the 1800s the English missionary David Livingston was asked where he would like to go as a missionary. Livingston replied, “Anywhere as long as it is forward!” He invested his missionary labors in Africa. Missionary Mr. Moffat told him about northern Africa, “On a clear morning I can see the smoke of a thousand villages, and no missionary has ever been.” That fired up Livingston and he made a point of heading into the interior of Africa. He died at the age of 60. Local Africans found him dead in the posture of prayer in 1873. They buried his heart in Africa and sent his body back to England.
Moving forward. That’s the apostle Paul. He was always looking forward, considering “Where does God want me to go next?” He had laid the foundation of the church throughout Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece. His goal was to take the gospel to Spain. We don’t know if he ever made it to Spain. And he wanted to go to Rome on the way to Spain. He had never been to Rome, either, as far as we know. It had been on his gospel bucket list for a long time (“for many years”). And he’ll get there, only not as he thought. But his fruitful ministry was motivated by this determination to keep going, not to quit, not to turn back – forward! He laid out his plans. James 4 tells us to make our plans, but always submit them God for any changes He pleases. God certainly changed Paul’s plans, but Paul was confident his God would lead him by His good providence. Fruitful ministry keeps going forward, making plans, submitting them to God, trusting God all the way. Paul had said in Romans 1:13, “Often I have planned to come to you and have been prevented so far so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.” Paul was always looking forward to how he could serve God tomorrow and the next day. He kept going forward for Christ. And so should we – let us aggressively go forward for Christ. Is there a “forward” aspect in your Christian life? Pray more, study more, read more, listen more, serve more. Always forward.
DELIGHTING IN THE GENEROSITY OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Romans 15:25-28, but now, I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. 27 Yes, they were pleased to do so, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things. 28 Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.
The generosity of God’s people is one part of the fruit of the gospel. Wiersbe notes, “When the life of the Spirit flows through a church, giving is no problem.” Amen. Don’t give till it hurts – give till it feels good! People in Thessalonia and Corinth and other cities had given an offering to help the Jewish brethren in Jerusalem. Paul told them God loves a cheerful giver! God had saved these Gentiles, and they were pleased to make this contribution (v.26). The Jews had told the Gentiles about Jesus, so they were eager to open their wallets and dig deep. This is a fruit of ministry! God’s people are happy to help where there’s a need. “Sure, I’ll be happy to help.” Happy givers. No pressure needed. Just the work of the Spirit in hearts, in your hearts, and you’re pleased to give, too.
So, Paul is taking a large offering from Greece and Asia Minor back to Jerusalem. His plan was to visit Rome, but first he goes from Corinth (where he wrote Romans) and heads back to Jerusalem, about 1000 miles in the opposite direction from Rome! (Side note: I Googled the distance from Corinth to Jerusalem. 7000 miles! Then noticed that Corinth was a town in Texas!) Paul had no idea how God was going to bring him to Rome. This is one of the exciting things about the Christian life. Your life is in God’s hands. You may plan to do one thing, then God in His great providence may take you on a route you never thought you’d take.
So, while Paul intends to go to Rome, he makes a trip all the way back to Jerusalem from Corinth, where he wrote this letter to the Romans. Paul probably wanted to take this significant offering himself to the Jews to overcome any prejudice the Jewish believers in Jerusalem and Judea might still have felt toward the Gentiles, and to show that the Gentiles had no antisemitic spirit among them.
In Acts 19:21 Paul was in Ephesus, “Now after these things were finished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying, ‘After I have been there, I must also see Rome.’” That’s exactly what we have here in Romans 15:26. He says in verse 28 that when he had completed this mission, he would head out for Spain, stopping by Rome first!
Little did Paul know how God would get him to Rome. He was arrested in Jerusalem, imprisoned in Caesarea with several opportunities to preach the gospel to local rulers like Felix and Agrippa, put on a boat to head for Rome, shipwrecked on the island of Malta where Paul was bit by a poisonous snake and had the opportunity to heal a leading man of the island, and finally set off for Rome on an Alexandrian ship, met up with believers at the Market of Appius and the Three Inns. He was a prisoner but allowed lots of freedom to gather Jews to preach the gospel to them. We don’t know how long he was in Rome the first time. We do know that he was released for a time until he was brought back to Rome where he wrote 2 Timothy, and finally signed off from planet earth by laying his head on a Roman chopping block. What a fruitful life he lived.
DESIRE TO BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS
Romans 15:28-29, Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain. 29 I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
This is a fruitful life and ministry – always desiring to be a blessing, a spiritual encouragement wherever he went. Here he says he will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. What does he mean? He came to build up these believers in Christ, in the fullness of the joy and knowledge of Christ, to rejoice with them in the goodness of the gospel. Blessing means an exceptional degree of happiness. Boice challenges us, “I encourage you to think of your life as a means by which God might be able to impart spiritual blessings to other people.” That’s a fruitful ministry! That Christ will use you and me to be a spiritual blessing to everyone we meet. “Make me a blessing…out of my life may Jesus shine. Make me a blessing to someone today!”
DEPENDS ON THE PRAYERS OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Romans 15:30-33, Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; 32 so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Look how Paul covets their prayers. Strive together means agonize together. Christ is our Lord, the Spirit is God’s love poured into our hearts, and the effect is that we strive or agonize in our prayers. Paul gave three requests: that he would be rescued from people who meant harm for him, that the believers in Jerusalem would accept the offering from the Gentiles, and that God would indeed bring him to Rome to find refreshing in their fellowship.
Paul constantly coveted and depended on the believers’ prayers.
Philippians 1:19, I know this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 6:19, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel…
Praying people show a fruitful ministry. We can’t imagine a church without prayer. We all depend on the prayers of one another. We have a prayer meeting tonight. We’d love to have you join us. There’s a prayer meeting here every Friday night. We pray for one another in small groups. Couples and families are praying. Do your children hear you praying?
Paul ends his journal entry on this sweet note in verse 33. Here he writes a prayer for them, that they might know inwardly the peace that only God can give. If you have peace with God through your faith in Christ bringing you justification, then you have the peace of God and the God of peace with you. That’s what we want!
SO WHAT?
A fruitful ministry displays grace-driven boldness. Give Christ all the glory. Keep going forward for Christ. Delight in the generosity of God’s people. Desire to be a blessing to God’s people. Depend on the prayers of God’s people. May God make us a fruitful people as Christ said, bearing fruit, more fruit, and much fruit.