Last week I had the privilege of teaching the youth Sunday school class at church and I taught from the verses cited in the title for this post. There were about eight young people in the class and while about half of them seemed not to be interested at all, we teach the Word anyhow right? :)
Actually the whole lesson went well and I was pleased to have the opportunity to take my mind off of my own troubles. The lesson I presented is found at the end of these comments, but I also wanted to tell my reader(s) that I am, personally, doing well. The Lord has filled me with such peace and having my family visiting us right now has been such a blessing and an encouragement as we meditate together on His Word. What a wonderful thing it is to have family that love the Lord! Anyhow, whatever the Lord has in store for me I am confident that He will see me through any further trials and tribulations. And FYI, I am hoping that at the beginning of this coming week I will be able to know what is going to happen, for better or worse! So thanks to all of you for your prayers...please continue to pray for me and for God's will to be accomplished in all things.
Here now is the lesson:
Heritage Bible Church
Youth Sunday School Class
Romans 15:14-21
Prayer
Read Romans 15:14-21
v. 14)
In the previous section, Paul has encouraged the church to bear with one another…in other words, to put up with one another. Here, now, he turns towards giving them some encouragement. As you know from having studied the previous chapters, there have been some places in which Paul has been harsh in his letter, and this has been in order to correct false beliefs and/or behaviors in the church. Even so, Paul is finishing his letter and so he wants to make sure he himself encourages them and by example shows them that he can bear with them as they must bear with one another.
Notice what he says to them…he is confident that they can indeed admonish one another.
Read 1 Corinthians 14:3
Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17
So we understand that to admonish someone means to “encourage, warn, or advice.”
But…
Ask) Why are they able to do this?
Because they are full of goodness and knowledge!
Ask) How does being full of goodness enable the church to admonish one another?
If you are full of goodness, will you speak badly of those around you? Will you gossip about those who are struggling? Of course not? What will happen? One full of goodness will reach out in love to the one who is hurting, or in error, or who needs a word of advice.
Ask) How does being full of knowledge enable the church to admonish one another?
The best way to answer this is to re-read 2 Timothy 3:16-17...what does it say?
So…is this the responsibility only of the pastor? Or only of the elders? NO!!!! It is the responsibility of every one of us! And realize this, if we are Believers then we are a family. But we will never act like a true family until we begin to bear one another’s burdens, and yes, not until we begin to admonish one another!
v. 15-16)
Here he reminds the church that he has written quite boldly to them…and he certainly does not exaggerate does he? After all, if you can recall Romans 1:16-2:1 you know he was indeed quite harsh with them!
Notice, however, that he is quick to explain himself to them…they are his brethren and what he said to them he did out of a desire to extend grace to them…the same type of grace that he had received from God!
Ask) What do you think Paul means by this?
(Remind them of Acts 7:54-60, of Paul’s persecution in Acts 8:1, and of his conversion in Acts 9, then discuss his desire to see them turn away from sin.)
Another thing is that he explains to them that what he has written he does in order to remind them of what they should already know. This is similar to what Peter says to the church in 2 Peter 1:12 and 2 Peter 3;1
This should serve to remind US that we must never be negligent with the Word of God. In other words, just because you’ve read a passage before does not mean you should never read it again….and just because you’ve heard a sermon on a certain passage does not mean that hearing it again will not help you out.
Of this, Matthew Henry says the following:
“People commonly excuse themselves from hearing the word with this, that the minister can tell them nothing but what they knew before. If it be so, yet have they not need to know it better, and to be put in mind of it?”
So it is never bad to be reminded of that which we already know. The reading and the studying of the Word of God are never done in vain! Someone always benefits from it. And if nothing else, we who claim to love Christ as our Lord and Savior should never tire of hearing His Truth’s proclaimed!
Finally though, we see in these verses that Paul refers himself as a:
Minister of Jesus Christ
Minister to the Gentiles
Minister of the Gospel of God
Minister of Jesus Christ:
What greater identification can we possible have than to that of the Person of Jesus Christ as our Lord? None! To be known as a Christian should be our greatest desire…meaning that it is a sign of our walk with Him, if we are being sincere! :)
As we’ve touched on before, we are all ministers of Christ. We are all called to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)…and what we refer ourselves as, Christians, means “little Christ’s”! So our entire identify is tied up with that of the One whom we serve!
Minister to the Gentiles:
Paul had been told by Jesus Himself that He would send him to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21)! Furthermore, Paul acknowledges this not only in this passage but in Galatians 2:7-9!
Ask) Why should we who are gathered here in this room be thankful that Paul was commissioned by the Lord as the Apostle to the Gentiles?
Unless anyone here is Jewish…WE are Gentiles! :)
Read Galatians 3:26-29
Minister of the Gospel of God:
That Paul was sent to the Gentiles we know…that He was sent as a minister of the Gospel we should be thankful for! He was sent to bring the offering of salvation to those who were not Jews!
And now WE are a royal priesthood of God!
And just as Paul considered the conversion of the Gentiles an offering to God, WE should likewise seek the conversion of those around us…that they might be an offering to our awesome God! And here is the key…we preach Christ because we love people…yes, no doubt. But our first priority and our main reason for preaching to the lost is that we love God!! (Discuss)
v. 17-19)
To whom does Paul give the glory for all of his work?
To God!
We see here that Paul realizes that while He is called to be the minister to the Gentiles, it is God that saves!
Do you understand the importance of this?
You see, it is our calling to preach Christ…it is our calling to proclaim His Truth, but we do not do the work of the Holy Spirit! When it comes to a person coming to saving faith, this is not what we can take credit for! We can only glory in the fact that we were used to accomplish this but not that we ourselves accomplished the work! Read 1 Corinthians 1:11-15 and 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
And so Paul declares that He has preached from the center of the Jewish world, all the way to the farthest corners of the known world. And everywhere he went the work that he did was accomplished through “signs and wonders.”
What does this mean?
Miracles!
Great things were done by God in order to establish the authenticity of the messengers! As the evangelists proclaimed the Truth of God, the miracles performed through the Power of the Spirit served to show authority and power.
Why do we no longer need signs and wonders?
We now have the Word of God! The Bible is what we must turn to in order that we might test the messenger sent by God!
v. 20-21)
It is interesting that Paul says he preached the gospel in places where nobody even knew of Christ…interesting because the reason he gives is that he did not want to build on another man’s foundation. To build on another’s foundation seems to refer to taking the place of someone else or to take credit for the work of another. Also, if he was called to minister to the Gentiles, those who knew not the Lord, then it follows that wherever he went he would be the first to bring the Word of Truth.
Another thing though, is that as one who went to preach where Christ was not know, Paul was purposefully doing the most difficult of missionary work. He had to bring the name of our Lord to those that would resent him, to those that would fight him. So Paul needed to be a man of strength, a man of character, and a man of immense faith.
And we know that he often paid a high price for his devotion to Christ! Read 2 Corinthians 11:22-27
In v. 21 Paul now quotes from the prophet Isaiah and applies the words to his own ministry…emphasizing his role as minister to the Gentiles. You see, Paul’s aim was to see the gospel of Christ preached! And how marvelous a work it is to take His gospel to those who don’t know it! Likewise, every one of us is called to preach the gospel. We may not be called to be professional ministers…but regardless of what we do, we are ministers of Christ to the lost world around us. May we always be faithful to this calling!
Amen?
Close in prayer!
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