Romans 15:14-21
I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15 Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 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.
17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 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— 19 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. 20 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. 21 Rather, as it is written:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand"
and those who have not heard will understand"
In Chapter 12 we talked about spiritual gifts and here in Chapter 15 we see Paul talking about his. I see three gifts at work in Paul's life - pastor and evangelist and Apostle. First of all - apostle. Where do I get that? I see that in the fact that he was able to do signs and wonders. Apostles were given supernatural abilities to confirm that Jesus was God.
"I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles." 2 Cor. 12:12
Next gift is evangelism. Although we are all called to evangelize, Paul had great success preaching the gospel throughout his known world and people saw, heard, and understood salvation through Christ.
Lastly he had the gift of a pastor. John says in 1John 2:27
"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you."
Paul addresses this in verse 14 as he acknowledges the truth of John's statement (which hadn't been written yet) and follows it up with "yet" in verse 15. Paul says that a pastor's job is to boldly remind people of what they know. It is like when you read something in scripture and you say, "I need to change that pattern of behavior". You give it a meager effort and then forget about it until the pastor says to you, "You better change that pattern of behavior"!, which carries a whole lot more impetus. This is all done to build on our foundation of faith so that we might be acceptable offerings to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit or as the rapper Christon Gray says, "A little less Cosby and a little more Huxtable".
So, what is the practical application for us here? Number one, exercise your gift; use it and use it to the max. Look at Paul and emulate him. He so intently evangelized that he could say in Acts that everyone in the region had heard the gospel. He was exercising his pastoral gifts to such an extent that he wrote most of the New Testament as letters to these churches. Where would the church be 2000 years later if not for Paul's zeal. The Bible says that we, when we get saved, we are all given at least one spiritual gift.
| Knowledge | |
| Leadership | |
| Mercy | |
| Evangelism | |
| Pastor/Shepherd | |
| Prophecy | |
| Giving | Serving/Ministering |
| Healing | Teaching |
| Interpretation of Tongues* | Tongues Wisdom |
This is a list that has been compiled. There are numerous ways to discover your gifts but once you do, you need to use them zealously in the power of the Spirit for the good of the body. Secondly, God made you unique. Paul, used these 3 gifts in a way that he would go to unreached people. He didn't want to build on another's foundation. Is that a model for all who have these gifts? No! But this was unique to Paul. God gives us freedom to express our gifts according to our make-up and desires. Don't feel like if you have a gift that there is a manual to follow on the proper way to use it. Follow your heart; follow your passions; be unique; enjoy!
Lord, help me not to be lazy but to use the gift that you have given me out of love for my brothers and sisters. Amen
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