“the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God”
[Romans 15:16-21]
Apostle Paul thanked God for putting him into service (1 Tim. 1:12).
The reason was because he knew that it was God’s grace for him to be put into service (Rom. 15:15).
Paul was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor (1 Tim. 1:13)
who persecuted the church of God (1 Cor. 15:9).
But by the grace of God, he became a apostle to the Gentiles (Rom. 1:5; 11:13). Isn’t this God’s grace?
That was why Paul confessed ‘I am what I am because of God’s grace’ (1 Cor. 15:10).
Apostle Paul said because of the grace that was given him from God,
he became a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles (Rom. 15:15-16).
In other words, what Paul said about Father God’s grace is that he who persecuted the church
that the Head of the Church Jesus Christ (Acts 9:4, 5) became the minister of Christ Jesus
to the Gentiles by God’s total grace (Rom. 15:15-16).
As a minister of the Son Jesus,
Paul fulfilled his priestly duty proclaiming the gospel of God to the Gentiles.
Here his priestly duty refers to proclaiming the gospel to the Gentiles
so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God (v. 16).
Here, the gospel of God (1:1) that he proclaimed to the Gentiles is regarding his Son
who was promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures (vv. 2-3).
And the Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David,
and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God
by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord (vv. 3-4).
The purpose why the Father God sent Apostle Paul to preach the gospel of God to the Gentiles
as the minister of Christ Jesus is so that the Gentiles might become the offering acceptable to God
(Rom. 15:16). This means that the purpose was “to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (1:5).
And this is for them to believe in Jesus Christ by hearing the gospel of the Father God
and of the Son Jesus Christ and be obedient to the Lord (v. 5; 15:18),
that is being “sanctified by the Holy Spirit” (15:16)
so that they might offer their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God –
that is their spiritual act of worship (12:1).
The Son Jesus worked through Apostle Paul so that the Gentiles might obey God
by what he had said and done (15:18).
Apostle Paul gloried in Christ Jesus in his service to God (v. 17) because he wouldn’t presume
to speak of anything except what Christ had accomplished through him (v. 18).
As a result of the work of the Son Jesus, the Gentile became obedient (v. 18)
in the power of the Spirit (v. 19).
Here, “the power of the Spirit” means the Spirit of God enabled the Gentiles
to believe in Jesus Christ and to obey Him in the power of signs and wonders (vv. 18-19),
in things pertaining to God (v. 17).
Eventually, Apostle Paul, who became the minister of the Son Jesus Christ by the Father God’s grace, ministering as the priest the gospel of God, in the power of God the Spirit,
offered the Gentiles to whom he proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of God
so that he might offer them as holy and living sacrifices to God.
We also serve as priests and ministers of the Son Jesus Christ by Father God’s grace
who go out into the world and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Then the power of God the Spirit appears that our gospel doesn’t come to them in word only,
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction (1 Thess. 1:5).
They will believe in Jesus and obey Him (Rom. 1:5) and will accept the word of God
not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God (1 Thess. 2:13).
They will receive the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit
and will become imitators of the Lord (1:6).
[This is summary of the sermon preached by our church retired pastor on February 10, 2019.]