Romans 15:14-22 (NIV)
I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the prestly 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 miracles, through the power of the Spirit. 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.
Paul’s exposition is now complete, and he turns his attention to the Church more generally, as well as to his part in it. Paul, from the very beginning, was set apart as an apostle to the gentiles (Acts 9:15-16), and he had been faithful in that calling.
Paul’s goal in every gentile contact and in every gentile Church is that the gentiles would be brought in, cleansed from their sins, purified from their iniquity and unrighteousness, and thus be made an acceptable offering to God, set aside by the Holy Spirit, powerful and effective at spreading the good news. It is for this reason that he had written this significant letter to the Roman Church, as well as the reason that he planned to visit them in the near future.
Paul’s ministry as he has worked obediently, had been authenticated by a great harvest of souls among the gentiles (for which he gives due credit to Christ working through him), and by great signs and wonders (many of which are documented in the book of Acts), worked through him by the Holy Spirit. Paul was humble, and he realized that, even though many would like to put him on a pedestal, he was only an instrument in God’s hands to accomplish the work God had assigned to him. The only thing that was to his own credit was that he worked diligently and obeyed God completely.
Now Paul was setting his sights on his next goal. There were still many places in Europe that were unreached, to the west and north of Rome, and Paul was intent on taking the light of God’s word into those areas, breaking fresh soil to produce a harvest of souls in what was now a spiritual untamed wilderness.
Father, Paul was indeed diligent, with a passion for his work that puts me to shame. He was always engaged, always looking for the next opportunity wherever it might come. And he was always reliant on You, never trying to accomplish things in his own strength or to figure out problems through his own considerable intelligence. He was Your man, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet, at Your service every hour of every day. And, as a consequence, he was powerful and effective in his work for Your kingdom. Lord, we need people like that today. I myself need to be like Paul in that passion, commitment, power and effectiveness, so that your kingdom can grow stronger, broader, deeper and more powerful, so that our nation and the world can find the wholeness and healing that can only come through a complete surrender to Your and to Your gospel. Amen.