Priorities in Ministry

I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”
This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you. Romans 15:14-22 NIV

Paul realized he was “preaching to the choir” here, about practicing the law of love, not judging other believers, bearing the burdens of those who are weak in the faith. He knew the Roman Church understood and relied on the perfect righteousness of God and not their own human righteousness. He knew they were maturing in their doctrinal knowledge and encouraging the spiritual growth of others in the Church. He assured them of his confidence in their grace orientation and positive attitude toward God’s Word.

Yet the apostle repeated principles of doctrine and Christian conduct they already knew. Many believers become irritated with a pastor-teacher’s repetition. “Yeah, well, I already studied that. Tell us something we don’t know.” Paul is not apologizing for the repetition. “Some points” need to be refreshed in our memories, hammered home, burned into our brains; so that we will never forget! Don’t be afraid to repeat important doctrine. Humans are not nearly as smart as we think we are. The Bible itself is very repetitious. God knows we need to hear it more than once.

Paul reminded them that God made him an apostle to the Gentiles. Gentiles had no Biblical background. They had one advantage, in that they didn’t need to UNlearn a lot of meaningless ritual. They were starting fresh with the perfect Word of Truth and learning to apply it to their lives, without the Jewish religious leaders breathing down their necks. Their Jewish brethren in the Church, however, still may have had some legalistic hang-ups. They needed to get over it and move on together IN CHRIST. Paul’s duty, he said, was to bring the Gentiles into a right relationship with God through their sanctification (being set apart unto God) by the cleansing and teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. He took that duty very seriously.

The grace God gave to Paul was his apostolic authority to preach Christ to the Gentiles. God’s accomplishment through Paul was having brought the Gentiles to faith in Christ by means of “signs and wonders” to get their attention, so Paul could present the gospel to those who were willing to hear. Those who were willing to hear were saved, and Paul realized the importance of his mission.

Paul knew there were Gentiles in other regions where the gospel had not yet been presented. That’s where he intended to go, expanding his missionary work into lands and peoples where others had not already taken the gospel of Christ. He wanted to go where the fields were fresh and his message would be new to the hearers, not to intrude on another preacher's work.

He had the missionary zeal to see and hear the wonder in the faces and voices of those who were previously without hope. Through his preaching, they would see the Savior for the first time and they would understand. What a magnificent reward for the one bringing the good news to a lost and dying people!

Paul had wanted to visit Rome, and still was making plans to do so, but had these missionary priorities that hindered him from making that trip. The Church at Rome was established. His duty to them was doctrinal teaching, which he did through this epistle. The Gentile nations, however, needed to be saved, so that work would have to come first. Maybe, he thought, he could swing by Rome on his way to Spain, after delivering much needed monies and supplies to the Jerusalem Church.

But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. Romans 15:23-25

Jerusalem would bring about a major interruption in Paul’s plans. He had been warned more than once not to go there (Acts 21:4, 10-13) but was determined to go. Acts 21:13-14, Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”

God knows the end from the beginning. Paul’s plans didn’t work out as he had hoped, but God’s plans worked out exactly as they should, for the salvation and edification of many thousands of Gentile souls through the ministry of this born-again Jewish Pharisee who would preach Christ and Him crucified, no matter what his circumstances were.