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(upbeat music) - Welcome to our look at Romans chapter 15 together and daily
drive time devotions. This is day three. We're looking at verses eight to 16
today.

And as we begin our look at these verses, we are beginning with a look at the
ministry of Jesus to the Gentiles. Paul has been speaking of accepting one
another and then he immediately begins to talk about the Jew and the Gentile.
Now that makes sense because the Jew and the Gentile had been unaccepting of
each other and Paul is telling them you're in the church together now, you're
fellow believers in Jesus Christ and so you need to accept one another.

And in verses eight to 13 he clearly lays out the fact that Jesus served the
Jews first in order to give the Gentiles and most of those in Rome to whom he
was writing were Gentiles. He's saying in order to give you hope, realize what
Jesus did, he said. He came to serve the Gentiles in order that you could have
hope.

And what he's saying here as he talks about accepting one another and comes to
the end of that passage in our unity in Christ, what he's saying is there is a
purpose for all of this. We are together a part of God's plan. In fact, in
verses eight to 13, he quotes no less than four verses from the Old Testament to
show that this is true, that God has always had a plan and we're living out,
enjoying that plan.

Let me read those verses, Romans 15, eight to 13. "For I tell you that Christ
has become a servant "of the Jews on behalf of God's truth "to confirm the
promises made to the patriarchs "so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his
mercy "as it is written. "Therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles.

"I will sing hymns to your name. "Again," it says, "rejoice, O Gentiles, with
his people. "Again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, "and sing praises to him,
all you peoples.

"Again," Isaiah says, "the root of Jesse will spring up, "one who will arise to
rule over the nations "and the Gentiles will hope in him. " Four verses, he
says, all of them showing again and again and again that this is part of God's
plan. Then in verse 13, he says, "May the God of hope "fill you with all joy and
peace as you trust in him "so that you may overflow with hope "by the power of
the Holy Spirit.

" Paul's talk about Christ here is the talk of Jesus as being our servant, and
the difference, the impact that he made because he served us. And that prompts
him in verse 14 to begin talking about the fact that he's also been called to be
a servant, a servant of Jesus Christ. In fact, these verses, verses eight to 16,
are all about serving.

Paul uses no less than three different Greek words for ministry, for serving in
this chapter. In verses eight, 25, and 31, he uses the simple word for servant
or service. It's the word that we get our English word deacon from, and it
simply means to be somebody who serves another.

In verses 16 and 27, he uses the word for service in a public office or a
temple, the idea of the regular duties of service. And then in verse 16, he uses
a word that's used nowhere else in the New Testament. He uses a word that has
the idea of performing the sacred duties of a servant in terms of making
sacrifices, of a priestly service before God, of giving offerings before him.

And we'll see, as we walk through this passage, the kind of offering that Paul
is talking about here might be different than you think. As Paul talks about
serving, you get an insight into the heart of Paul. You get an insight into the
heart of Paul's ministry.

The apostle Paul may very well be the most used of all God's human servants that
ever walked this earth. And when you think of the opportunities he had because
of the unique place that God put him, and the fact that he was willing to offer
himself as a servant in such a way that he could be used in these ways, getting
an insight into his heart is an incredible opportunity. And you get an insight
into Paul's heart.

In fact, we're going to start a look at the heart of Paul's ministry today, and
we're going to finish it tomorrow because as you walk through the following verses
in Romans chapter 15, you see really 11 qualities built on words that you see in
these verses that show the heart of the apostle Paul, the heart of his ministry.
And that's the kind of heart that I want to have because it's the kind of heart
that glorifies God. The first word that you see is in verse 14, and it's the
word convinced.

If you want to know Paul's heart, you have to understand the word convinced. He
says in verse 14, "I myself am convinced, my brothers, "that you are full of
goodness, complete in knowledge, "and competent to instruct one another. " And
in verse 15, he says, "I have written you quite boldly on some points "as to
remind you of them again "because of the grace that God gave me.

" So first you see that word convinced. Paul says, "I am convinced. " I'm
convinced that you're able to help one another, that you're full of goodness,
that you can grow, that you have the knowledge to serve Christ yourselves.

When Paul talks about serving, he doesn't talk about serving those who are
helpless. He talks about serving those who have been gifted by God to serve one
another. Whenever serving Christ becomes all about me meeting somebody else's
need and they need me, and it's almost like I see them as a baby or a
preschooler, and they're going to need me the rest of their lives.

And I like that because I like being needed. Whenever you allow Christian
service to become that kind of service, you've gone down the wrong path because
the Bible says the body's supposed to build up the body, we're supposed to serve
one another. And one of the reasons that Paul was able to be so incredibly used
of God is that he trusted the Holy Spirit's work in the lives of other
believers.

He didn't feel like he had to spoon feed people the rest of their spiritual
lives. He didn't feel like he had to diaper them spiritually until they died. He
sensed strongly that he was able to trust the Holy Spirit because he was
convinced.

He was convinced, not because of who they were, but because of who Jesus is and
who the Holy Spirit is, that they were filled with goodness, that they were
complete in knowledge, that they were competent to instruct one another. No
matter how somebody is acting, those things are true if they're a believer. And
when you're convinced of that and you begin to treat them that way, they begin
to live out that truth.

So Paul says convinced. That's one of the things that's behind my heart for
ministry. In verse 15, the word boldly is another indication of Paul's heart for
ministry.

I have written boldly. If you've read any of Paul's letters or read much of
them, you know that he is quite bold many times. He does not pull any punches.

Now my question is, how do you speak with that kind of boldness? Because
sometimes when I try to speak with that kind of boldness, it puts people off. It
chases people away rather than inviting people to make a positive decision in
their life.

Well, in Paul, you see what works. Sometimes you do have to speak with boldness.
Sometimes you do have to speak with frank honesty.

But in Paul, you see the example of not doing it for his sake, but he did it for
their sake. Sometimes, let's just be honest, when you speak boldly, it's for
your sake. Sometimes, I'll be honest, bold words come out of irritation.

I feel irritated with the circumstance. I want to move on to the next thing. And
so I speak quite boldly.

Let's move on to the next thing. But it's really because I'm irritated. It's for
my sake, not their sake.

When Paul spoke with boldness, people always had the sense, this isn't about
him, this is about me. Now, they may have blamed him in it. They may even have
gotten angry at him in it.

It didn't always go well. But they always knew that his heart was that their
life might be changed. That his bold words always were born out of love and not
irritation or anger.

And so he's able to say, that's part of my heart for ministry. I'm bold. That's
why God used him in such incredible ways.

And then there is this third word in verse 15 that indicates the heart behind
the ministry of Paul. He says, it's because of the grace that God gave me. Again
and again and again and again in the Bible, Paul points to God's grace as the
motivation for his ministry.

One of the reasons I believe that God was able to use him in such a great way is
that he had the heart that never forgot grace. He never forgot his need for
grace. Even after years of ministry, even after all the successes he'd had in
planting churches all over the world, he still tells Timothy in his letter that
he considered himself the chief of sinners.

He never forgot his need for grace. Now, he didn't condemn himself the rest of
his life. He believed in Romans 8.

1. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He didn't believe
in guilt.

He did believe in grace. So he was able to be honest about himself, honest about
his past and grateful for God's grace. You know what grace does?

When I realize that it's all because of grace, then everything I do in ministry
is a grateful response to his grace. Whenever you find yourself beginning to
think I deserve this in ministry or a sense of ownership over this in ministry
or a sense of right over this in ministry or that worst of words, a sense of
entitlement in this area of ministry, whenever you feel those feelings start to
creep in, grace is the answer. Because when I remember grace, I realize it's all
just a response, a grateful response to what Jesus has done for me.

Let's thank him for his grace. Jesus, your grace, Ephesians reminds us, has been
lavishly poured out on us. We didn't deserve it, he gave it to us.

And today, in this moment, as we prepare to think about you, to serve you, we
remind ourselves of your grace. And remind ourselves that except for you, we
would have nothing at all. Nothing that really matters.

We wouldn't have a relationship with God. We wouldn't have forgiveness. We
wouldn't have the sense of usefulness and significance that can come only from
you.

And that's just on this planet. As we look forward to eternity, we would be
separated from God forever without you. That is grace.

And so we put those words together in our heart right now, grace and
gratefulness. We pray specifically that you help us to live today in grateful
response to the grace that you've given us. We pray at Jesus in your name, amen.