The Most Untapped Resource in Christianity: Romans 15:14-21

so we're in Romans 15 starting in verse 14 tonight and I want to talk to you about to start off with what I think is the most underused untapped resource in the body of Christ and I don't mean to exaggerate when I say that I really mean it the most untapped resource in the body of Christ and it's right here in Romans 5 14 15 14 excuse me Romans 15 verse 14 thank you thank you Kirk it says now I myself am confident concerning you my brethren so it's his confidence about something about them the ones he's writing to that you also are full of goodness filled with all knowledge able also to admonish one another the the untapped potential is the untapped potential of the body of Christ of the people in the church the the members of the body of Jesus we're the untapped potential we are and I think that that's what Romans 15 14 is talking about but first let's talk about what what probably jumps out to you because we're full of goodness and filled with all knowledge is what it says anybody feel like that describes you in fact you could be like I'm full of goodness but yet the scripture says no one is good but God Jesus himself he said no one is good but God this is where the Atheist jumps in it goes contradiction and then quickly jumps away before you know I don't want to think about the passage that's supposedly contradicting but rather will try to understand it so how how am i full of goodness and filled with all knowledge well there's two things to add here I think that this is in a corporate sense not an individual sense and I think it's referencing the Holy Spirit not just referencing referencing you and your skills and your amazingness you're not full of goodness and knowledge but rather the Holy Spirit obviously is the Holy Spirit is full of goodness and full of knowledge and who are you filled with the Holy Spirit so you functioning in the body under the influence of the Holy Spirit will bring to the body the of goodness and knowledge as the Holy Spirit uses you to minister to other people one of the mistakes that I think we make in our churches and maybe in our modern Christianity is well let me put this way I'll ask you a trivial question how many real ministry type positions are there different kinds of ministry positions right there's like pastors other terms for pastors elders no no when you and your mind think of the church and you think about different ways that people can do ministry in the church for a lot of us the default is to just think of what I call pulpit ministries or stage ministries where you get up in front of a group of people and you try to minister to them usually with teaching or exhortation and that sort of thing but when the scripture talks about our gifts it doesn't talk about it in this very limited sense where there's just there's pastors and teachers and there's everyone else this is this is what happened in church history when they started separating the church into clergy and laity and clergy we know it's this is a reference to those who are ministers oh you're the it's not just that you're spiritually elite rather you are spiritually equipped to minister to everyone else you're the clergy laity comes from the word layoffs which means people so clergy and people and I don't think it's an insult to the clergy I think it's an insult to the people now scripture seems to indicate that the church is separated into these categories clergy and clergy and that I have a different gift set than someone else which is why I happen to be doing this particular ministry of teaching and exhortation and the different things that I do in ministry that often times have me standing in front of a microphone or in front of an audience but you have a whole gift set that is unique not only to you but it sometimes unique just to the situation just in that particular situation you got a word of knowledge in that particular situation you had something to share some way to minister to somebody to give of the goods that you have of the talents that you have of the time you have whatever and so you're the clergy of the church you're the body of Christ feeding the body of Christ the things of the Holy Spirit full of goodness and knowledge do we really think of ourselves this way because I think we should all right we already know we're losers and scumbags right we read Romans three okay so this is not about puffing ourselves up this isn't about like kind of where you take blind sort of egomania and you throw it at the church in the name of Jesus right about how amazing you are and how great you are isn't like that but rather in relation to you being filled with the spirit there really is a goodness and a knowledge and equipping and enabling that's in you from the Holy Spirit meant for other people so let's look at some scriptures related to this like Romans 7:18 we went over this earlier but it says for I know that in me that is in my flesh nothing good dwells for the will is present with me but how to perform what is good I do not find so Paul is just saying like I'm a I'm a loser I know I can't like serve God in this flesh I'm limited by me I mean I can only do what I can do and it ain't good but with the Holy Spirit this changes in Romans eight we start really talking about walking excuse me walking in the spirit we're actually walking in this life in the spirit so romans 8:4 literally uses that phrase walking in the spirit then it talks about how walking in the spirit also is is a way of living right I'm walking as a lifestyle that's how you live how's your walk we usually think my someone says how's your walk we usually mean how's your relationship with God but the term walk in scripture usually talks about the way you're living your lifestyle it's interesting your habits your the time you spend doing what your pursuits all that sort of thing we also see in Romans 8:15 that we fellowship with the God through the Holy Spirit that by the Spirit we cry out Abba Father so I'm in a connection with God relationship with God and Romans 12 really hits at home when it says that according to the giving of the Holy Spirit in our lives we have gifts that are unique to us and whatever those gifts are Romans 12 gives you this this sort of admonition figure out what your gifts are and go use them whatever gifts you have go use it so if you remember back 16 years ago when we were in Romans 12 and we talked about this that was the that was the main thrust that was kind of the main point of the passage was they like whatever your giftings are go use them go it do something with those gifts now this doesn't have to be part of the regular Church services like you don't have to open the church bulletin find one of the lists of things going on at the church and use your gift in that context you may you may not it's just use your gifts just use your gifts however use your gifts when you're at work you know Paulie we're talking about your mom using her gifts while she's just at her work sharing with people ministering to them so just saying lord I believe that you've you've empowered me this isn't faith in me this is faith in you and I'm gonna step out to try to serve and bless others you may be one of the untapped resources in the church so he gives a specific application in Romans 15 14 after saying that we're full of goodness and filled with all knowledge he says able also to admonish one another so any now he says it's not just to teachers but to everybody you're all able to admonish one another you can admonish each other now that word admonish it means to instruct to teach to warn it can mean any of those things and I think it does mean any of those things in this context it's just you can instruct people you could give them instructions in the Lord and you could it you could teach them you could warn them now sometimes there's a lack of this because what happens is when someone around us is in error or you feel like they need some help or encouragement we often will just hold back because of the awkwardness of that moment of me like saying something out loud to you about maybe how I could try to help you or something like that and I even feel it too you know I'm I'm like perfectly happy when someone comes up to me hey Mike you know can you help me with it I'm like great I'm gonna try to help but sometimes when I just see a problem how eager am I to go and confront the person who has an issue and get into their face not really that eager I'm a little bit shy about those things sometimes myself and sometimes what happens is we wait until we're irritated and then we're gonna come we're gonna set him straight and so the admonishing in the church sometimes tends to be at all or out of irritation and and this is not probably the right way to do it it's almost like I'm glad that it even out of irritation that at least sits happen and you know like at least something's happening cuz maybe they really needed to hear that maybe you know maybe you didn't have good character when you did it but still at least something happened what I think we need we need to look for is admonished other where you have like a commitment to the person in their future and in their life you're still committed to them even as you tell them something that might be a little hard for them to hear do you know what I mean the difference with them it's like I'm still with you in this I still care about you and in fact it's because of that that I come to you now I have hope for your future and I think that that can sometimes be missing so admonishing implies that you care we don't do drive-by admonishments you know although well some people do actually do that some people do that I remember somebody walked a friend of mine he was in church and he had a hat on and somebody came up to him and it was I don't even know who came up to him he never told me but somebody came up to him and they were just like you should take the hat off in church and then they stormed off and then he felt really bothered by that like the way it was communicated just the fact that the guy just said it and took off and he was like I didn't know something was wrong I had and and so he like struggle with this and he came to me afterwards and he was like trying to wrestle through and everything but like how much different would have would it have been if the guy said hey man I see that you're walking with the Lord and I just want to encourage you that um you're an example to others and some people they get a little bit weirded out when they see hats in church so maybe consider not wearing that to bless them like how different would it have been instead of like the drive-by like Hat demon and then that runs away like like how how much better would it have been than that but so often it's like we get upset with someone and we put them in a separate category now I like the disapproved and I think that admonishing requires us to care about people it's also possible to be spiritually arrogant in life and this verse maybe corrects that because it says hey if you're an untapped resource in the church then guess what the person next to you is they're also a resource in the church if you're capable of admonishing other Christians then guess what other Chris are capable of doing to you and it gets rid of that arrogance because there are some who they think they're so spiritual like let's be honest like there's some here's like man I study the word and I know the Word of God really well and I think that that means that I can pretty much off-the-cuff come up with really good plumbing solutions I think that that means sort of like without researching or or having any sort of real real careful thought I feel like I could solve the problems of the world because I'm spiritual and I'm just thinking like that's not spiritual that's not what it means to be spiritual spiritual is about your character it's not about you being able to say like oh gosh you know there's an electrical fire over there well I know exactly how to handle this because I was reading John today no that's not what that means when it comes to plumbing or when it comes to electricity I don't even mess with electrical stuff like I know I will die or kill someone else like this is not like this brain does not compute working on electronics or doing wiring in my home like I will kill everyone on accident like not on purpose it's not a threat right that's just a warning so we hire someone to do that for us I get help from someone else like I'm just like sometimes I'm like I forgot to turn the light off like Allison can you go we turn the light off I'm afraid I'll blow something up I just don't understand electricity very well and and here in California black is ground sometimes right the black wires to ground watch sometimes other times it's not and at that point I said I forget I give up I give up I'd rather study Greek actually I really would rather stay in Crete yeah so we we have to learn then the difference I think this is just honestly this is what I'm gonna call pastoral thoughts my pastoral thoughts about admonishing one another and one is right don't be arrogant don't think you know everything just stick to what you actually can discern and the wisdom in fact if you have discernment without wisdom don't say anything if you have discernment like you see something a problem and you have wisdom on how to handle it go for it now you should open up your mouth but if all you have is discernment there are some people who walk around with oceans of discernment but they're a desert when it comes to and so then they used their discernment to just hack people down and hurt and harm people and I learned a long time ago for my own self if I have discernment without wisdom I just keep my mouth shut until that wisdom comes along but there's another thought is that there's a difference between my gut and the Holy Spirit so I'm encouraging you to admonish people so I'm gonna encourage you to do so with courage but without foolishness or being foolhardy about it just know there's the difference between my gut in the Holy Spirit there's a lot of people who think they have the gift of discernment out there because they look at people without knowing anything about them they've already decided exactly the kind of person that person is and maybe you do have discernment and maybe it's your gut here's the question can you tell the difference and if you go yes I really can and I have a track record that says I can then good then share then you know go for it but if you're going my gut the Holy Spirit I can't really tell well then just be a little slower to do it be safer in your admonishments that we might my challenge but it shouldn't stop us we are as as the body of Christ we are meant to be feeding the body of Christ and ministering to the body of Christ so we'll talk more about that in a second but but I just want to say this the potential for every believer is very high it's very high and the potential for your usefulness within the body of Christ which is not to say the church service the gathering on Wednesday or Sunday or whatever but your potential for usefulness by the Holy Spirit is radically high higher than you probably realize and so is the person next to you but if we treat each other with the awareness of that potential then it helps to draw it out of people there's this really interesting proverb it says it says that counsel in the heart of man is like deep waters or a deep well but a man with understanding will draw it out I think it really I always wonder about that proverb there's different ways of translating it and stuff and but I wonder if it means that there's somebody over here next to you who's got really good counsel but it's like a well that's deep so you got to really work to get that counsel out of them to get them to give you the thing that they've got for you and the same thing maybe in the body of Christ sometimes there's people who they really could help they really could assist and they really could bless and I just say go for it you know filter the flesh out of it but then go for it go for it rib err on the side of going for it if you're gonna make a mistake rather have you moving forward than nothing right so the clay that the clergy laity distinction I think is really harmful to the church we should just see leaders and pastors as having a certain gift set but we should see every believer is having some kind of gift set and hopefully they're learning to do those things figure out your gifts the shortcut to figuring out your gifts doesn't exist you just you just step out and you just keep doing things for Jesus and you find your gifts because you start to learn what you're good at I don't know another way to do it unless maybe you have like a magic 8-ball for gifts words of wisdom there's my kid play sorry try again later so look okay look at Ephesians turn to Ephesians 4 and let's look at this before we move on to another topic here in Romans Ephesians 4 verse 15 this speaks read this verse in the context of not a church just a church gathering but a body of Christ like here's the local body each person is there for a purpose God's sovereignty in their in in their existence and in their placement and where they're out and all that Ephesians 4:15 it says but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head Christ and here's where it's about you from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love so this is a complex sentence right the conclusion is that the body will edify itself in love well we're the body and if I means build up so we're gonna build ourselves up in love there's this mutual like interchange of building ourselves up in love we're so structured together the joints that are mentioned there every joint that's us we're the joints and what is every joint supplying well that's you just doing your your little things here and there in the body of Christ that's it so let's read it again Isis from whom the whole body joined and knit together what joins us what knits us together what every joint supplies that's you doing your part your spiritual gifts just stepping out and serving according to the effective working by which every part does its share so now if you're like me you never feel like you're doing enough for the Lord so I don't want to feed that I don't want to cause someone to feel like you're never doing enough for the Lord but that's the emotional side of things step away from the emotional like how do I feel and just ask yourself like am I just stepping into the giftings am I just trying to serve the Lord in some capacity with those around me am I trying to be a blessing to those around me is that the is the goal of my life outward and seeking to minister to others in whatever way I can then you're doing that and you will build up the body and the body will be knit together but the more the body represents a few individuals ministering to everyone else and everyone else is just a consumer okay so like right now you're a consumer fine I'm teaching this is my gifting hopefully I hope and I'm hopefully blessing administering to you but the second we're done here that's over and now everybody's ministering to everybody again you see that's that's what has to happen but sometimes churches can become theirs the pastor who does the teaching there's another person who does some kind of ministry and that's it everybody else just scatters and that's that's what we stagnating but we just kind of fail and die but I don't want that I know I don't want that and that's not what God once so admonish others let others admonish you and that was the setup because now Paul is he set you up by telling you how you could admonish others well that means that guess what guess what Paul can do he can admonish you and so listen so let's get into verse 15 so Romans 15 15 nevertheless brethren I've written more boldly to you on some points as reminding you because of the grace given to me by God that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles ministering the gospel of God that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable sanctified by the Holy Spirit there's a ton of stuff that I want to notice in this first Sony just mentioned a couple things really quick whenever Paul talks about God's grace to him he frequently is referencing his ministry not just his salvation but his ministry calling so this passage is one of those passages because of the grace of God given given to me by God that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles there's another point he has a very specific ministry calling Paul was called to minister to Gentiles that's really interesting isn't it Peter was an apostle to the Jews Paul to the Gentiles I wonder who you're called to minister to I'm not saying that we should assume that there's like a small group of people it but there may well be specific situations or individuals that you're better at ministering to who you can reach out to more easily who respond more when you do and who you since are calling and if you look when Paul tries to go to the Jews he keeps getting driven to the Gentiles throughout the book of Acts maybe there's someone you're trying to minister to and it's like no you should be over here where they're listening to you or whether they're actually open to you it might be somebody who's particularly gifted to minister to people in a certain kind of industry or a certain type of situation in the world or in business or something like that I think that that applies but I think it's biblical the concept also it says in verse 16 that he ministers the gospel of God what's interesting here is he goes I'm Minister the gospel to the Gentiles but he did more than just preach the gospel the simple gospel message right I mean he would preach the gospel but then he would he gets them into Christ and then he grows them up in Christ he actually did more than that so Paul would would consider giving the gospel to people as also having a requirement to do some discipleship with them as well I think that's an interesting thing to point out and then the point is that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable sanctified by the Holy Spirit okay now catch this see if you can follow my logic here and if not then maybe I'm wrong but he says oh you you're full of goodness and knowledge you could admonish one another but I write you anyways because I too have a ministry calling and I'm called a minister God's gospel to the Gentiles that they might be sanctified by the Holy Spirit so Paul's doing his ministry in writing like like Romans right-side-up there we go Romans is him writing to the people in Rome that he would do his ministry the Gentiles to them so catch this he's performing his ministry through this written text do you catch that does that make sense does that follow in the passage and then and then he mentioned that his ministry the gospel to the Gentiles will result in that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable sanctified by the Holy Spirit so that means that this writing will not only communicate the simple Gospel message but it will work sanctification into the life for the one who reads it now this might be like duh I already believe that about the Bible but I think it's important that the Bible actually says the things that you already believe about the Bible or else how do you establish that those things are true and so so yes the the actual written word is something that sanctifies us this sets us apart to be sanctified you know set apart I'm for a holy purpose like that worship song we did tonight that was stole my heart today was really blessed song you know like Lord here I stand arms open wide you know all my life is yours I give it all surrender to your name I just love the idea of I want to serve God with everything I have it seems an honor and privilege it doesn't feel like a sacrifice does it it feels like this incredible honor in fact that's how he Paul describes it was Timothy he says the Timothy like if you cleanse yourself from these latter things these these icky things right of the world you'll be a vessel sanctified ready for the Masters use and I've really and like you I really want to do that I want to be that festival ready for the Lord you know and that's one of the things that motivates me did want to live a sanctified and holy life which can come through the reading and studying of the Word of God so let's continue verse 17 he says therefore I have reason to glory in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God as a really interesting concept Paul's glorying he's in a sense boasting he's glorying I mean and and he'll talk about what he glories in in Christ Jesus in the things which pertain to God for I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word and to make the Gentiles obedient in mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so they're from Jerusalem and roundabout to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ so in a sense Paul is saying I am boasting I'm glorying my rejoicing my glory is in all the stuff that Jesus did through me and I might sound kind of arrogant but not if you read it carefully and thoughtfully because that's really not how he said it but before we talk about the glorying let me mention this in verse 19 Paul mentions mighty signs and wonders there are groups nowadays that are they're so focused on signs and wonders that it makes the rest of us like not even want to think about signs and wonders and they're focused on it in a weird way like when I see Benny Hinn swing his jacket and turn knock down like a row of old ladies like I Eve I then don't want to talk about signs and wonders as a reaction to this but Paul boasts about the signs and wonders that were they were accompanying him and it was even some stuff that would seem a little odd to us you know there every one he goes every one there gets healed his handkerchief at one point now he didn't sell it remember this when you see handkerchief for sale on TBN just want to punch right through the screen sometimes no that's that's the counterfeit not the real but God was doing some amazing stuff through through Peter and through Paul now I didn't seem to extend through every member of the church like that I mean as you read through the book of Acts it seems like I was sitting around a few individual people as you sharing the gospel here here here God was confirming the gospel with signs and wonders and he does glory in that so I don't want to discount signs and wonders because some people are weird I want to have wisdom about it and be balanced and the end result was that the Gentiles would be obedience not notice this not just professions of faith Paul did not go around collecting professions of faith and there's a certain danger in that you ever get that feeling when you hear like say Harvest Crusade which I love I love Harvest Crusade I love what they're doing I want them to continue but they always report how many professions of faith there were and that can be a little bit and that's why they go we had this many professions like they try to be clear about it they're just trying to say look we've we've tried to accomplish something we're trying to show you what results there were but Paul isn't stop it questions he's talking about being obedient being obedient in verse 18 he goes I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me in word indeed to make the Gentiles obedient so he's not interested in just a profession he's like interested in people who were following Jesus in their lives and that was Paul's method of ministry he didn't just come in and do like a giant stadium altar call and then leave and they and they try not to do that they try to plug those people in with local churches and I give them I support Harvest Crusade so I don't want just to sound like criticism against them but I but I want us to just recognize that the job's not done after I've said amen and pray with this person they need to be discipled they need to be plugged into a church they need to become obedient to the Lord and so we've got to move beyond just that profession so what those ministries do Billy Graham would do as well as Harvest Crusade Greg lorries they'll try to connect with churches and go like they need to be obedient here's all these cards we got all the information from the people that came down call him up and invite him to your church sadly we do that we make those calls but only a fraction of them actually ever come and and so God knows their fate we're not saying that's not saved or something I don't know but yeah the profession is of course obviously not an accurate number for who got saved especially since several people go down every Harvest Crusade same people professing over and over again for various reasons so so we we don't judge by that number but now we talked about his glorying and if you look carefully he doesn't glory in what he did he specifically says I glory in what Jesus did through me and that is a great thing to rejoice about because you could step back and look at it be like Lord that wasn't me I know in me nothing good dwells but wow there's a fullness of knowledge and an goodness from the Holy Spirit in my life and look what you did through me and you could stand back and look at that and rejoice in that and glory in that in fact that's you're literally rewarded for that in the future in heaven and you'll be like you'll see those treasures and you're literally looking at what Jesus did through you not just what you did and so of course you can glory in that the the thing about glorying is it reveals your priorities as a kid I had various different priorities than I do today remember when you're a kid and you would glory in being able to show people how old you were how old are you I'm that old and they'd be like wow good job like right now how old are you mind yeah nobody's excited about how old I am you know I I don't even have enough fingers and toes I'll just pluck out a handful of hair be like that's perfect so obviously you glory in some silly things when you're a little kid you know my winner I would visit my dad and he would he'd be like I'm gonna get you new pair of shoes or something like this has happened a couple of times then he'd put the I'd put the shoes on and he'd be like running them and I'd run he go run over there and he go wow you're faster really and he was yeah watch run as fast as you can fast as I could you know and I come back and he be like yeah you're faster and I just remember thinking like I couldn't tell I was faster but okay and these are the kind of silly things we glory in as a kid and then it starts to move into things that you get a little bit older and I started glorying in Super Mario Brothers you guys remember that game Super Mario Brothers I glory didn't you know why cuz I could go from level one all the way through level eight world four or eight for level four whatever it's called anymore I don't play anymore but I could do without dying one life that's right thank you thank you thank you very much I felt really good about that now imagine if this was my boast I feel bad cuz somebody watching this right now is thinking like hey but but that's a game like that's not you might even get money for playing a game but I don't see why you would glory in it like I don't see why this would be the thing you'd glory and yes there are actually unfortunately but as an adult what do you glory like is it your sports team you glory in your just enjoy them you glory in them I remember when it was who was it the was it the Raiders they had some sort of big victory and you know was was it the Lakers and everybody got out on the curbs all over the city do you guys remember this a few years back oh my goodness I drove around after the game and there were literally people just standing on the corners of streets I think was the Lakers and they want some championship thing and they're standing on the corners of streets just like in Lakers outfits and with purple and stuff on and I was like going like what if Christians just did that Street witnessing like we just all went out onto the corners and everywhere you went on one day all the Christians left the church and just that Sunday it went right to the corners and just started proclaiming Christ we should do that we should have like an international like Street witnessing Sunday or we all I mean the Lakers can make people do it and Jesus should be able to do that right somebody get on that make that happen but what do you glory and do you glory in your position or your job do you glory in your children because that's very easy to do and I don't even know that it's entirely wrong to have some sense of glory and your children I mean the grandchildren are in a sense the glory of the old old man I mean that's not what scripture says there's a sense of that but there's a greater sense there's a greater sense in which whatever Jesus does in my life is my greatest glory and if that's your focus then you're right on as a Christian and you're gonna have your focus right you're gonna serve the Lord right because given all of the many opportunities in life you'll pick the one that glorifies God because you glory in his glory in your life verse 20 as we keep reading here so he says um so I've made it my aim his his aim his goal to preach the gospel not where Christ was named lest I should build on another man's foundation but as it is written to whom he was not announced they shall see and those who have not heard shall understand so Paul is really interesting here if you get behind the scenes in Paul's ministry for a second he actually had to make ministry decisions about whether to preach here or preach there and he did he made that decision based upon not how many people were in that City maybe he factored that in but he said has anyone gone there with the gospel yet and if the answer was no Paul was like that's where we're going so that was his aim he goes at my I'm here to preach the gospel the Gentiles so I guess what they've already heard they haven't that's where I'm going I think that's really interesting so again if you know you're calling if you know what you're more geared towards then you know what decision to make in life you're like I'm more gifted here I'm more gifted there okay now when I have a split decision I go I'm gonna decide the one that glory glorifies God more that fits the giftings he's given me that sort of thing now if you don't know your gifts again you just start serving and they've become more manifest the more you serve it becomes more obvious so then then we get to the the Old Testament quote in verse 21 which i think is actually really impressive this is probably the last thing I'll get to share with you guys is this Old Testament stuff today I hope you don't mind a more Old Testament I know how much it bothers you just kidding okay so verse 21 he says but as it is written to whom he was not announced they shall see and those who have not heard shall understand now look at the way he quotes this because Paul is basically saying I'm fulfilling that verse right wherever they haven't heard I'll go why because as it is written those who haven't heard are gonna hear to whom it was not told they are not announced they shall see and those who have not heard shall understand he's seeing his ministry as something of a fulfillment of that why well let's go to that passage Isaiah 52 are you familiar with that chapter and I'll bet you are Isaiah 52 Isaiah 52 and we will it's actually in verse 15 but let's back up to verse 14 so you can just get a little bit of context because this is what I think's impressive about this particular quote or Paul quotes Isaiah it's really beautiful in Isaiah 52 verse 14 it says just as many were astonished at you so his visage was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men so shall he sprinkle many nations Kings shall shut their mouths at him for what had not been told them they shall see and what they had not heard they shall consider so Jesus did the first part the sacrifice sprinkling many nations that's that's a now if you were Jewish right that you know exactly what this is sprinkling nations man you're making a blood atonement bring for them you're cleansing them with sacrificial blood many nations not just Jews many nations and that's what Jesus did he's the suffering servant of Isaiah the the sin offering and then Paul says and I'm doing this what had not been told them they shall see him what they had not heard they shall consider so Jesus - the first part now I'm spreading the gospel I think that's beautiful there are actually skeptics who I've encountered in the past I don't know how widespread this is but who said if Isaiah 53 is so important why isn't it quoted in the Bible referencing Jesus if it's so clear that Isaiah 53 is about Jesus then why isn't it quoted in the New Testament by the New Testament authors this is a skepticism but so often these kinds of skepticism is the funny thing about them is they're not true their assumptions or things that maybe the skeptic has overheard but they've never double-checked they don't fact-check they just repeat college professors are the worst at this to be honest the college professors are having incredible not every professor obviously but so many of them have a terrible track record of just quoting every skepticism they hear about the Bible they don't have to vet anything they just if it's negative about the Bible that's automatically true right but if it's something in their actual field where they study they want to probably learn it before they teach it so here is isaiah 52:14 and 15 and that continues through 53 quoted by paul referencing not only jesus but him then preaching the gospel afterwards but may I mention Jesus also quoted Isaiah 53 as if he was the one to fulfill it so Luke 22 37 Jesus says for I say to you that this which was written must still be accomplished in me and he was numbered with the transgressors for the things concerning me have an end he quoted check this out he quotes Isaiah 53 and quotes it and says it's about him and that he's going to do it there you go skeptic just in case you're out there also it's quoted in John 12 38 also is quoted in 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 21 through 25 also in Acts chapter 8 Philip in the meets the Ethiopian eunuch who's in what passage of scripture Isaiah 53 and he's like what's this about and Philip explains it the guy gets saved and gives his life to Jesus the the problem again in this particular case with this skeptic which is often huh not always but often happens to skeptics is that they believe any negative report about the Bible without vetting it the same way that they accuse Christians of believing any positive thing about Jesus without vetting it and so they end up becoming sort of a self-fulfilling like inverted mirror version of what they mocked Christians for being did that make sense that made sense in my head like I pictured this whole thing this word picture in my brain that I just showed so yeah so I'll just add it when you hear a skeptic before you try to answer their claim first find out if it's even true just see if the claims even true because very often it is not and that will that will really save you a lot of time because it skeptics sometimes will throw out 10 20 different claims and you spend the next three days chasing them all down find out they're all not true I think you find out he doesn't care cuz he'll just throw out ten or twenty other ones and really your heart should break for someone who is so deceived and so sort of taking it on blind faith the lack of faith on blind faith and I'm yeah but the application for us I think in Romans 15 is this get to serving find your niche try to continue to seek to figure out what some of your giftings are even if they seem unconventional even if they seem like they don't fit the normal cookie cutter you know ministries we do we do a disservice sometimes because what happens is a pastor or say--let like here I step into this ministry and I'm serving and I'm leading and and I do in a particular way and ministry start to take on the flavor of whoever's leading them and then someone else comes in and they're supposed to have the same gift set and do it the same way and that's not even possible they're not the same person they don't have the same gifts so then what happens is the body looks up and they see a certain number of ministry leaders in that body and they figure these are the gifts these are the ministry positions I don't fit one of those where do I fit in and that's totally not true the whole body is clergy like you're already fitting in is just how do you express that and and hopefully just to continue to be thinking don't worry about positions just try to think of how you can serve in what little ways that you help in fact it's probably stuff that some so natural to you you barely even notice it it's just so easy and so saying you're like wait that's ministry but that's easy it doesn't have to be hard you know to be industry to people it can be what comes super natural to you super natural on that note okay before we pray I just I just want to say it's just reminder next week and for the next few weeks I'll say it for the people for the online audience as well for the next few weeks it's every other week I'll put out a video for the for the Romans study will be finishing Romans real soon we're gonna tackle some some controversial stuff coming up in the next couple weeks and then I'm praying about what to do after Romans my little update is this I don't think I want to commit to an entire series on Jesus in the Old Testament Genesis all the way through Malachi that would take a very long time to do the whole thing it'd be worthwhile but I don't know if I want to commit to that length of time so I thought we might do is like just Jesus in Genesis and then break off and do something else then we'll come back to Jesus and Exodus at a later date and kind of like intersperse it and I feel like that's a little bit feels like less of a marathon for for everybody and a little more refreshing so that's a current idea we'll see alright let's pray father God we pray Lord in light of the study in this message we pray that you'd help us to do a few things one is we wanted glory in the things Jesus does through us and part of that is Lord show us the things that Jesus does through us help us to have eyes to see the ministries that you've called us to the particular giftings and enablement that we have from you Lord let us just see it may make others even come up to tell us what those things are so we could be more aware so that we could target those ministries target those opportunities we also pray Lord don't just give us eyes to see where we're gifted give us eyes to see where other people are gifted so we could be more readily receiving from them more eager to to listen or to allow them to bless us Lord we pray that your body would be knit together in love edified built up in Christ through the things that every joint supplies and that's so we pray for the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our local fellowship and we pray that your body would be stronger and would be filled with clergy in Jesus name Amen [Music]

Channel: Mike Winger

Views: 11,524

Rating: 4.9247651 out of 5

Keywords: Romans 15, Romans 15 explained, Romans 15:14-21, what are my gifts, Romans 15:14 explained, the most untapped resource in Christianity, untapped resource in Christianity, how does the body edify itself, glory in Christ Jesus, every Christian has a ministry, what is my ministry, how to serve in the church, how to do ministry, serving in the ministry, am I called to ministry, Mike Winger, Bible study, BibleThinker, ministry, calling, giftings, serving

Id: rIHxoawHN1c

Length: 42min 43sec (2563 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 26 2018