Of course, Paul was an example of a believer, of a student, and as a worshiper. To the pastor or the missionary, he was a specialized example as well. I don’t know if Paul would approve of my outline for this evening, but I think that he would. I’ve come up with six things about his ministry gleaned from his words in this scripture: His ministry was worthless without Christ, but powerful through the Spirit. It was widespread by design and missionary by nature. His ministry was Biblical in motivation and gospel at heart.
When gospel ministers employ the sales tactics of the world in order to build their churches, are the results still being wrought by Christ and the Holy Spirit? When James says that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God,” doesn’t it imply that to use the methods of the world makes God angry? Even if it is with an attempt to glorify the Lord? James calls those people “adulterers.” “Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” I don’t think that the Lord gets upset when the minister tries to get people excited about serving God, but does the absence of promotions, contests, dares and fleshly challenges in God’s Word teach us that God approves them or forbids them? There is nothing wrong with evangelizing people in coffee shops, and I don’t think that there is anything wrong with serving coffee before or after church services, but isn’t turning the Lord’s house into a coffee house a regression into worldliness? Why not go all the way and turn it into a sports bar in order to attract the lost?
And this brings us back to the subject of music. There is no question that God loves to use good music, and approves of its use in His worship. But it’s a mistake to think that God doesn’t care about the style of music which is used in his worship. Although some of the details do not apply, what God told Israel about being different from the world is a principle which does still apply. Music is one of several ways that we can draw a line of distinction between us and the lost world.
Paul said, “I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient.” Some people think that whatever means we might use to help the Gentile become obedient to the gospel are perfectly acceptable with God. But if Paul is to be seen as an example, and if his words mean anything right here, that is not correct. Other than those occasions when God worked special signs and wonders, Paul confined his ministry to teaching and preaching the Word of God – publically and privately. I challenge anyone to find any worldly method coming from Paul in order to give his ministry more success. He said, “I durst not,” “I dare not” even mention anything in my ministry which has not been the Lord Jesus Himself working.
If there is something done for Christ, but not by Christ through us, then it is eternally worthless.
I believe in signs and wonders – that is I believe in miracles. I believe that God hasn’t lost any of his strength or authority over every aspect of creation. I believe that He could instantly give every one of us perfect health at this very moment. But I also believe that the Bible teaches that it is not His will to do that. However, in Paul’s day that power was granted from time to time with spectacular results. And yet, moving from the beginning of the Book of Acts and moving towards the end and the ministries of the various Apostles and preachers, we see less and less and less miraculous signs and wonders. I believe that I Corinthians 13 teaches that towards the completion of the Word of God, the necessity of miracles became less, until with the last of the Apostles they became obsolete. I am not convinced that God ever works miracles in these last days. If people will not hear Moses and the prophets, that is, the Word of the Lord, “neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
Having said that, I am still convinced that without the power of the Holy Spirit in less spectacular ways, there will never be a positive ministry of the Lord. As I said this morning, the only way that God’s word can be understood to any important degree is through the direct ministry of the Spirit. Sinners cannot be taught what it is to repent and believe on Christ through human words and logic; these things require the work of the Holy Spirit. If one of the Lord’s churches grows in a slow and godly fashion, it will be because of the power of the Spirit of God.
This is one of the things for which we need to pray every day and every week. “Oh God, pour out your Spirit on our church.” That doesn’t simply mean – bless the pastor as he preaches next Sunday. We need the Lord to rip open hearts and to pour in the salt of the Word. We need to experience the power of the Almighty for victory over our sins, our ignorance and our unbelief. If we only knew, we’d probably learn that we need the Holy Spirit more than we need our breakfast.
By the grace of God, Paul’s ministry did know these blessings.
I have experienced good Baptist pastors, who had their particular opinion about missions. It wasn’t a matter of Baptist doctrine – about Eschatology or Ecclesiology, but about Missiology. It wasn’t about the doctrines of missions per se, but more about the practice of missions. And woe to the missionary who came by that church, looking at missions differently than that pastor.
But the truth is that every mission-field is different from every other mission-field, and every missionary personality is different as well. We see that Paul had a general pattern that he followed as he went from place to place, but at the same time not in every place. Some missionaries prefer to travel back into the hills, working with remote and tiny tribes of eternal souls, while others head straight to the capital city where millions live. Some missionaries focus all their attention on the community in which they reside, while others establish a base and then work their way out from there in a spiraling motion. As far as I am concerned, as long as the gospel is being preached and there is a desire to establish indigenous churches, that missionary should be left to his own understanding of the will of his Master.
As far as Paul was concerned, he felt lead of the Lord to travel as far and as fast as a thorough job would permit. Even though his ministry began in Damascus, and then recommenced in the Syrian Antioch, he perceived it at beginning in Jerusalem, where his Saviour began the first church – a Baptistic church. By the time of this epistle, Paul had preached the gospel in the Middle East where others had preached. But then also on several eastern Mediterranean Islands which were at the time unevangelized. He had broken new ground in the interior of Turkey and up and down the Aegean Sea. He had been throughout Macedonia and Achaia – what we call Greece. But without any details given to us, he had also been toward the west coast of Greece and traveled up the Adriatic Sea taking the gospel to Illyricum (Il-lyr-i-cum), Yugoslavia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, Bosnia and the rest of the Baltic Coast.
In other words Paul’s ministry was truly MISSIONARY by nature.
“Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation.”
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the ministry of an Apollos. This man came apparently from an Alexandrian church, traveling through some of the places where Paul had already broken ground. He may have been called a “missionary” or perhaps it might have been better to call him an “evangelist.” Paul didn’t butt heads with him, and there is no reason to think of him as a false prophet, but his ministry was different from Paul’s.
Paul, particularly enjoyed taking the gospel to places where the name of Jesus was either unknown or actually hated. He didn’t mind preaching Christ to the Jews, who hated Him, but he particularly sought out the opportunity of dealing with the heathen or the gentile who knew next to nothing about Christ, monotheism, righteousness or even about sin. Even though Apollos’ ministry could have been called “missionary,” Paul’s was “pioneer missionary” work.
It seems as though the United States State Department has the mission of taking democracy to the world. Not only is democracy a disaster in this country, in many other places which have never known anything but dictatorship and tyranny, mob rule is even more a disaster. Similarly, but sadly, there are missionaries who seem to think that it is their job to Americanize the people with whom they are working. God’s missionaries should not embroil themselves in local politics and culture, except where the gospel and the Lord’s righteousness intersect with that culture. The missionary’s responsibility lies in the preaching of the Gospel – the good news about Christ.
And once again, what is that gospel? Paul the missionary described it in I Corinthians 15 – “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” The gospel necessarily begins with our sins, but it ends in the glorious resurrection of the Saviour. When that African, Indian, Asian or American becomes impressed by the Holy Spirit about his sin; when he is converted by the power of God and he puts his faith in Christ repenting of his sins, the corruptions of that society can be addressed. But it is the gospel on which the missionary must be primarily focused. Paul most definitely is the pattern that the missionary must follow.
The last thing that Paul says about his ministry provides us with one other incidental point…
Many missionaries have scriptures that they use as their theme or their focus. Those scriptures are often printed on their prayer cards and in the letterhead on their prayer letters. “The gospel must first be published among all nations.” “Preaching the whole counsel of God.” “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with this people.” “Every tribe, tongue, people and nation.” “How shall they hear without a preacher.” There are hundreds of verses worthy as mottos.
I’m not going to say that Isaiah 52:15 was Paul’s missionary motto, but he paraphrased it right here. “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.” Paul was not a rogue missionary, a maverick, an independent. He was a church sponsored and sent missionary. And he had been called of God to the ministry in which he eventually died. Only the Lord now knows what scriptures he used to urge and motivate Paul, but apparently at least one of them was here. Paul’s was a Biblically motivated ministry.
Once again, the six points gleaned from this scripture are: He considered his ministry was worthless without Christ, but it was in fact powerful through the Holy Spirit. It was widespread by design and missionary by nature. His ministry was Biblical in motivation and it had the gospel at its heart.