What is My Mission?
Sermon Notes
Romans 15:8-33
Our family has been on a bit of a Mission Impossible kick recently. Our kids have never seen them and apparently there is a new movie coming out this year…I hope Tom Cruise can do as good of job as he did in the Top Gun sequel. It’ll be hard to beat! When you watch them back to back you realize they are all exactly the same: a villain, a girl, a mission, and a lot of ridiculous stunts and fighting. And there’s always that iconic scene where Ethan Hunt gets handed a flash drive or pair of sunglasses or camera that contains his mission. “You’re mission, should you choose to accept it….” And then, of course, the message self-destructs in 5 seconds. Which, by the way, what happens if he doesn’t accept the mission? Just once he should refuse. But he can’t, because then he wouldn’t be the hero.
Today I want to give you the chance to accept a mission…and hopefully I won’t self-destruct afterwards! We’re picking up in Romans 15 today, so if you’re have your Bible you can go ahead and turn there. If not, the scripture will be on the screen, and we can give you a Bible before you leave today if you don’t have one. Just see me afterwards. In Romans 15, the apostle Paul talks a lot about his personal mission. It really kind of helps us see why he chose to write this letter to the Romans in the first place. Even though he’s speaking a lot about his own life, there are some key takeaways we can get for ourselves from what he says. Here’s the big idea: Jesus doesn’t just want to transform your life. He wants to transform others through your life.
Last week we looked at Romans 14 and the first few verses of ch. 15 and the focus was on unity in the Church. We learned that there are issues that we have to agree on as Christians (the majors)…some matters of doctrine and theology… and then are minor issues where we have freedom to disagree…also some doctrine and then issues of personal preference or conviction. The goal is that we remain united by the Gospel in the majors and allow freedom for differences in the minors. Romans 15:5-7 sum up this idea:
Romans 15:5-7
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Live in harmony and glorify God with one voice (as a worship leader I appreciate Paul’s musical language here). Not many churches have a big choir anymore, but there’s something powerful and awe-inspiring about hearing a really strong choir sing, as all the different parts layer together to create something more beautiful and complex than any one voice could ever produce on it’s own. Paul’s saying the church should be like that….we should be able to bring our different parts together and create something beautiful that other people see and want to be a part of….that we could welcome them in to join the song for the glory of God.
Jesus prayed for this in John 17 just hours before his arrest and crucifixion. 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. We see here why this matters; it’s because our unity is key to our mission! Jesus left his church with a very specific mission. I’ll summarize it in 3 parts.
The Mission of the Church
Ministry to God (worship)
Ministry to Believers (nurture)
Ministry to the World (evangelism)
This should seem somewhat congruent with what we see over here on our Next Steps banner…Discover, Deepen, Display. Those aren’t just catchy words that we chose to put up there. They reflect the mission of the church as well as the individual transformation of our lives (show graphic). But as you can see these all tend to overlap and don’t exist necessarily as sequential steps. What we want to do as a church is to make sure there is a balance of each area of the overall mission. If you picture these as wheels turning, we want to make sure each wheel is turning at a similar speed. That being said, today our focus is primarily on that third wheel of Display.
You may be familiar with Jesus’ command to his disciples in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
In Acts 1:8 he said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
For our context in Romans, remember a lot of what Paul is addressing is that the Gospel is not just for the Jews but also for the Gentiles…that would be Samaria and the ends of the earth from Acts 1. He comes down hard on this point here in Romans 15.
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs (he came for the Jews), 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. Notice in these following quotes Paul pulls in quotes from every major era of Old Testament history and authority to back his case.
As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.” (King David)
10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” (Moses)
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.” (Psalm 117)
12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse (Jesus) will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.” (Isaiah)
Paul’s just rapid firing these quotes from all the religious heroes to prove that saving Gentiles has always been part of God’s plan. Then I love this next verse, 13:
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
I don’t know about you, but I interpret that with a little bit of southern attitude…”I hope you can feel good about getting on board with this idea so that Holy Spirit is able to use you to keep reaching ALL people for Jesus.”
That’s part of the mission of the church…to take the good news of Jesus to the world and they have to be on board with that. Now, it’s not all rebuke for the Romans. We’ve seen the Mission of the Church, and now we’re going to get a glimpse of the Measure of the Church.
14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.
Paul gives a little bit of a performance evaluation for the church here. Everybody hates performance evaluations, right? But there are some good things happening at the church in Rome.
First, they are full of goodness. This refers to their moral character. Apparently they are known for having good, Godly character. According to Micah 6:8 goodness is defined as acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. As Christians, and as a church, we want to be known as good people who live in a way that reflects what we say we believe.
Secondly he says they are filled with knowledge. This means they know Scripture and show theological discernment. This is extremely important for a church. That doesn’t mean everyone has to be scholarly and be able to debate theology, but we, as the body of Christ should be confident in what we believe and why we believe it. We should also be able to recognize false teaching. I believe this is more important than ever. I’m sure many of you have seen some of the issues being pushed with Artificial Intelligence. There’s been discussions at the World Economic Forum suggesting that they use AI to rewrite the Bible so that it’s “actually correct.” Recently a church in Germany allowed AI to craft and lead an entire church service including the message. Our need for discernment is escalating exponentially. Many Christians and churches will be led astray in the future, and it will be due in large part to a neglect of Scripture and not being filled with knowledge.
The last measure that Paul points out is the church’s ability to instruct one another. This means that the members of the church shared both a transparency and maturity to be able to speak into each other’s lives. The pastors are the primary teachers in a church, but teaching from the platform can only go so deep. We need to have relationships with other people that have a maturity we can trust and respect so that we can instruct one another. That doesn’t happen in churches where people just slip in and slip out. That doesn’t happen when members aren’t committed to their own growth or the growth of the body.
Paul has been blunt about their attitude towards the Gentiles, but he is offering genuine praise for these other characteristics. There are a lot of other measures we could dive into in evaluating the health of a church. We could devote an entire series to that. But, like most churches there were some good things happening in Rome and some areas where they needed to grow in order to keep all those wheels of the mission spinning.
If you’re visiting our church today or any church, we encourage you to do a serious evaluation, and let that go beyond how good or bad the coffee is, or how nice the first time guest gift is, or how hip the music is, or any of those things that can create a great first-time experience but that may not necessarily lead to long-term growth. We don’t have it all figured out here at City Awakening, and there are a lot of areas we need and want to grow in, but we try really hard to maintain the mission of the church as Jesus gave it. And there are other churches out there doing the same.
As most of you know, I had the privilege of taking some extended time off for rest and renewal over the past month, and each Sunday me and my family visited a different church. We don’t get to go to church together…ever really, and so we made sure we prioritized that. I will say, it was not real easy to find a church that I could be confident in attending. However, we went to 4 different churches, some out of state, some local, and it was encouraging and refreshing to have 4 very different experiences but to be a part of 4 Gospel-centered churches. There were things that I liked and disliked about each one, but it was a reminder that there are many methods we can choose but we are united by one message, and that is Jesus as our only hope in life and death. Be a part of a church that keeps that central!
As we move into verse 15, Paul turns the focus onto himself and tells us this is not just the message and mission of the church, this was the message of his life. Look at verse 15:
15 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
These verses introduce us to a doctrine we call the Priesthood of the Believers, which means all Christians have been given a priestly role as ministers of the Gospel. 1 Peter 2:5 says, “you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We all serve as ministers of the gospel.
The word minister in verse 16 is the greek work Leitourgos and it refers to priestly service. It’s where we get our word liturgy, which can be used in many ways, but always has to do a with a way of worshipping God. Essentially Paul is saying that he believes God has shown him grace so that he can in turn lead the Gentiles in the worship of Jesus, so that their lives will become a living sacrifice as well. Notice the parallelism…at the beginning of the chapter Paul says the goal of the church is to glorify God with one voice. Here he says the goal of his life is to glorify God among the Gentiles. That should be the goal of our lives too! Look at verse 17:
17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. 18 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ;
This seems kind of bold. Most of us wouldn’t stand up say that we’re proud of ourselves for something, much less our work for God. But if we look closer we see that Paul is not boasting in himself, he says he won’t speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through him. We looked at the measure of the church, now, using Paul’s example, we see the measure of our lives.
If I were to ask you how you measure your life, how do you measure your success, what would you say? You might instinctively talk about your education, your job, your children…because that’s how the world tells us we should measure our lives. Go to the best school you can get into, get the highest paying job you can, marry the most attractive person you can, buy the biggest house you can, give your kids the best stuff and experiences that you can, build your 401k as fast as you can, retire as early as you can, travel the world, and play as much golf as you possibly can. It’s the secret to happiness.
Paul says, “No! I’m only going to talk about what Jesus has done through me.” That all he cares about. And it’s not prideful boasting. He knows that it’s divine enablement not self-developed skill that’s accomplished these things. His power and ability came from the Holy Spirit living and working through him. In fact, he usually referred to himself as slave…He saw himself as a slave of Christ, and that’s what he was proud of; that by his incredible grace God chose to use someone like Paul to carry the good news of the Kingdom to a lost world.
That makes me evaluate my life. What am I pursuing? What do I take pride in? Whose kingdom am I building? It makes me think of the Casting Crowns song,
And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy
I don’t care if they remember me
Only Jesus
And I, I’ve only got one life to live
I’ll let every second point to Him
Only Jesus
That was the measure of Paul’s life and that should be the measure of my life as well! Jesus.
20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation, 21 but as it is written,
“Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”
This was Paul’s calling. He was dedicated to taking the gospel to those who didn’t have it. It was a very specific mission that he had. That was not the case for all the apostles during this time. For instance, Peter stayed local and oversaw the church in Jerusalem, and his letters were written to the Jewish believers that were dispersed throughout the surrounding areas, encouraging them in their faith. That was Peter’s calling. These two guys ministries worked hand in hand. This tells me that while our overall goal as Christians is the same - to glorify God and make disciples of all nations - our individual calling will be different.
The idea of a calling can be kind of vague and elusive, but it’s found throughout the Bible. God called Noah to build an ark. God called Abraham to leave his home and go start a new nation. God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. I could list so many more: Samuel, David, Esther, Naomi, Isaiah, Hosea, John the Baptist, the disciples,… God called these people to join his mission in a specific way, and I believe God calls us in a similar way.
I admit, it’d be great if an angel of the Lord would show up at our house like he did for some of these people in the Bible, and just tell us what to do. I’ve prayed for something like that many times. But I think sometimes we try to make our mission to complicated. We don’t need a temple rattling, blinding experience to hear from God. In fact, Paul was saved by a blinding light, but his calling comes straight from Scripture. Here in Ch. 15 he quotes Isaiah 52:15 as his support for taking the Gospel to the Gentiles. He doesn’t mention anything about a special visitation or experience. I think he read the Scriptures, looked at his own life, and said “yes” to what that inner voice of the Holy Spirit was prompting him to do.
“God’s call includes (yet is not limited to) the particularities of our life, our heritage, our personality, our foibles, our passions and deepest orientation, and even our current life situation. Being called by God is one of the most essentially spiritual experiences of human existence, because it is a place where God’s presence intersects with a human life.” - Ruth Haley Barton
God knows who you are, he knows your personality, your life situation, your capacity, your skill set, and he, according to Ephesians, created good works just for you.
I can speak to this in my own life. I was about 2 1/2 years into college when I was riding my bike one day and the Lord very clearly brought to my mind Jesus’ call of the disciples. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” I knew then that he was calling me to give up the career path that I had planned since I was in about the 10th grade and to give my life to serving the church. And, it wasn’t until 4 years later that I really began to see how that calling would unfold, but I said yes. That wasn’t any supernatural experience, I didn’t hear the audible voice of God, but when I listened to that prompting and weighed it against Scripture, as well as my life experiences and what I was passionate about, it just made sense.
Here’s the things, everybody is different, but nobody is exempt. If you have placed your trust in Jesus, then you are called to be a part of his mission. There are no Green Beret Christians set aside for ministry while everyone else enjoys the comforts of home.
The question is what’s your mission? What is God calling you to? Maybe he’s called you to be more open with your faith at work. It could be to care for a neighbor. It could be reprioritize your time or your family schedule so you can be present at home (which is a mission field). Maybe it is to get a job in the 10/40 window to serve as a missionary oversees. Maybe it’s a call to become a foster parent or to adopt. Maybe God is calling you into a leadership role in the church. We would love to develop you as a leader here at City Awakening. We want to see people step up and move from just serving once a month to leading others. We want to train and develop future church planters! All of these things can be powerful ways Jesus can transform you, but also transform others through you. We are not called to sit on the sidelines and just wait for Jesus to return. That would be easier, but that’s not why God has given you this day.
What’s your mission? I want to give you some time to reflect and pray about that. I don’t expect anyone to walk away today as resolved as Paul in their specific calling. But I think the point is for us to be attentive and ready…so that when you get that special prompting from the Holy Spirit…. “your mission should you choose to accept it….,” you’re ready to say yes.
When we step back and look at Romans 15, we see that it is really about taking all the doctrine and theology that Paul has laid out in the previous chapters and letting that give us a holy ambition to take the good news to the world. It’s about the church, and each of us as a part of the church, taking on the charge of evangelism. And there is an urgency in this because time is running out. Theologian Carl Henry said, “The Gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.” Jesus doesn’t just want to transform your life. He wants to transform others through your life. What’s your mission?
