Grace and Apostleship

Key Verse 1:5 

Romans 1:1-7

Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

Today we would like to think about the Apostle Paul’s vision to share the gospel with all peoples on earth. 

No one among us can claim the title “apostle” and say “I am an apostle sent by God. Listen to me!” But inasmuch as Jesus commanded his disciples to make disciples of all nations, we too can think about the example of the Apostle Paul, and by learning of his example, we can participate in the Lord’s world mission work. 

First, a servant’s attitude

Look at verse 1. “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus…” This is the first point we need to consider in serving the Lord’s world mission purpose. Paul was a man of great learning. If he lived here in the U.S. in our day, he could have easily earned many Ph.D’s. Most importantly he was an apostle.

But he does not refer to himself in that way. He first calls himself a “servant” of Christ Jesus. In those days servants belonged to the slave class. A slave did not have any personal rights. He owned nothing for himself. He just worked and all his work was for his master, and when his usefulness was gone, he just died, and that was it. Because a servant belonged to the slave class, the master did not have to give him any kind of reward. Naturally, the Apostle Paul did not demand the church to pay him. For the most part, particularly during the early days of his missionary life, he lived as a self supporting man. Living as a tent maker, he earned a living for himself. And yet his first priority was always to serve the Lord by preaching the gospel to all people on earth. 

From a human perspective it may sound too much for one to live as a servant of someone else. But, it is not so with the life of a man who lives as a servant of Jesus Christ. In fact the life that lives as a servant of Jesus Christ is the most blessed life. Why? Before answering the question, we need to ask questions like: “Who am I serving?” Or “Who is my boss?” This question is relevant to all of us, because believe it or not, each person is serving someone. In my case on many occasions I end up serving myself, so I myself am the master over myself. And each time I try to serve myself, I have to admit that I am really not a good master over myself. Rather I am a master who is forgetful, lazy, stupid, and full of a lot of other bad traits as well. But it is not so with Jesus Christ. He is the most graceful master. He is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Most importantly in one of the recent daily Bible passages, Jesus said, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad.” Jesus is the good Lord. So as we serve Jesus, Jesus will make us to be good people. Then out of his goodness, we can bear lots of good fruit, and we can do that even without ourselves knowing it.

Second, a sense of calling

In verse 1, Paul says that he was “called” to be an apostle. Let us consider the word “called”.

On many occasions we wonder how come the Lord God was able to use the Apostle Paul so powerfully. Was it because of Paul’s super-intellect, or because of his super-human zeal? No. In my opinion, here is one of the secrets, that is, Paul had a clear sense of calling. 

When you think about it, not all people who are called have a sense of calling. The Apostle Peter is an example. Being one of the Twelve, he did receive calling from Jesus. Yet, later, he ended up denying Jesus three times. Why? Obviously he forgot the purpose of the calling. Later however, Jesus visited him and reminded him of the calling. Thanks to Jesus’ labor of love, Peter reconfirmed God’s calling upon him. And the Lord God used him powerfully. Remembering his past failures, then, Peter encouraged the early Christians undergoing persecutions, by saying, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall…” 2 Peter 1:10

Practically however it is not easy to remember God’s calling upon our lives. On many occasions we easily think and say to ourselves, “Look! God called him, but not me.” Usually we say like this because we think about ourselves particularly our failures too much. And the more we think about ourselves, the more we despair. But we must remember that God even called a man like Abraham. Who was Abraham? First of all he was a senior citizen and an idol worshipper. And God called him not because of him but because of God’s grace. 

Every once in a while a pastor I know gets criticized by people some of whom are close to him. Each time this kind of event hit him the pastor used to entertain negative thoughts about his calling. Then he ends up losing all power to do God’s work. This happened to him just three days ago. Then, entertaining dark thoughts about himself, he turned on the radio. On the radio a pastor was preaching. The sermon was truly boring. So he was about to turn off the radio. But as he was about to turn it off, the pastor said, “Even Lazarus was dead, and yet Jesus called him. So what is your problem?” This struck him. He repented. And he started working on his message. 

Third, a clear understanding of the work we are called to do  

A third reason why Paul was fruitful in serving the Lord’s world mission purpose was that he had a clear sense of the work he was called to do: that is to preach the gospel. Look at verses 1-3 again. Here he says that the Lord God set him apart for the gospel, which is about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on a tree for our sins, and was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

In this world there are a lot of good messages we can talk about. But compared with the gospel, all these messages, no matter how good they may sound, are sheer garbage. Why? It is because it is only the gospel of Jesus that can help man overcome the power of sin and death. 

For this reason, the Apostle Paul said, 1 Cor. 2:2, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Of course Paul knew and talked a lot of other things. But his point is that what sinners need is the gospel, not a bunch of do’s or don’ts. 

We must be very careful about this for living inside of the Christian community, it is so easy for us to demonize others with what we think is right. Christians demonize Muslims, Muslims demonize Christians. And legalism creeps into our life ever so subtly. A pastor I know is still struggling with this problem, namely legalism. Through many struggles, he came back to his senses, to know that he is the worst kind of sinner. Then, through studying this passage he repented again: he decided not to talk about anything but the gospel, in associating himself with others. 

Another point we can consider here is that while we should not neglect all other duties such as relief mission, or the need to heal people, we must never forget that the main focus is to preach the gospel. The Apostle Paul was able to heal, and help the poor, but he devoted himself mostly to serving the gospel. 

Fourth, a thankful heart for the mission to serve 

The fourth reason why Paul was very fruitful in serving the Lord’s purpose is that [in my humble opinion] he had a very thankful heart, for he was thankful for God’s grace and for the work he was called to do. 

Look at verse 5 again. “Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” 

Here, Paul put “grace and apostleship” side by side.  This indicates that Paul regards both grace and apostleship as equally important to his life. This also indicates that he deeply “appreciated” not just the value of the grace but also of the work he was called to do. And a thankful heart stems from an appreciative heart. 

So let us stop for a moment and think about grace and apostleship. 

(1) Grace

In the Bible (NIV), the word "grace" appears 131 times. We see it a lot less in the Old Testament (8 times), and a lot more repeated in the New Testament (123 times). 

We love grace. The word grace itself is graceful. Each time we hear the word grace we feel good. In a month or so a pastor I know is expecting a granddaughter. He wants to call her Grace. But his son is concerned that there are too many "Graces" in U.B.F. The pastor understood, so he suggested his son to use Grace as a middle name. 

But what does “grace” mean? We can find an answer to this question in Genesis 15:1-6. Let us open the Bible and read this passage. Verse 5 says, “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness.” Suppose there was a man named Mr. Incredibly Rich. Suppose there was another man named Mr. Totally Broke. Assume further that out of compassion Mr. Incredibly Rich approached Mr. Totally Broke and said, “I’ll give you one billion dollars for free. Please go to Bank of America, the Downey Branch, and open a bank account, secure a free check book, and give me the following information: your full name, the account number, and the routing number.” Suppose that Mr. Totally Broke believed in Mr. Incredibly Rich, and complied with what Mr. Incredibly Rich asked him to do. Supposed Mr. Incredibly Rich indeed got the money wire-transferred from his own account to Mr. Totally Broke’s account. Mr. Totally Broke is no longer broke. He too joined the millionaire’s club. And the transaction that transpired, especially the exalted standing of Mr. Broke is called “grace”, for he did not “earn” the rich standing by his efforts, but through the “gift” which came to him all thanks to the compassionate heart of Mr. Incredibly Rich. 

The Bible teaches us that man is truly poor, not merely because he is poor financially but mainly because he is poor spiritually, and then morally, ethically, and so on. Romans 3:23 explains this concept by saying, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

But faith, Jesus changes the standing. It makes the unrighteous to be righteous, all by God’s grace. In Romans 4:16-5:2 the Apostle Paul explains the changed status of each believer, which came by grace. Let us read this passage. Romans 5:1-2 reads, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” 

The equation must be balanced. On the one side of the equation there is God. On the other side there is a believer, a man who believes in God who promises to make him justified, upon himself demonstrating his faith in the Savior Jesus Christ. God is an incredibly rich person, rich in every meaning of the word rich. We however are all broke. So there is no balance. But faith makes the equation balance. And this balancing act of faith is called “grace.” 

(2) Apostleship (or for our own purpose, “the mission to serve” 

The word "apostleship" is kind of scary. But apparently it was not so with Paul. So let us stop being scared and think about it particularly its blessedness. 

When we examine the life of the Apostle Paul based on the book of Acts and his epistles, we see that Paul deeply appreciated the value of the work Jesus asked him to do. 

Here in verse 5 we find another example of him appreciating the full value of the work he was called to do. 

But not all people who have received God’s grace are faithful to serving the work God called them to do. Why? Most likely one of the major reasons is that while people appreciate the value of grace, they do not fully appreciate the work they have been given to do. A Christian I know used to think that way. He used to think that the work itself is a great “burden”. But we must remember one thing: that is, just as the grace of salvation is a gift from God, but also the work to do itself is a great gift from God. 

Say, “Work is a blessing”.  The Bible abounds with passages describing this truth. Prominent among them is Matthew 20:1-16 (the parable of the workers in the vineyard). There we see the owner of a vineyard going out to the streets and hiring workers at different hours: very early in the morning like 6 a.m.; then 9 a.m.; then, 3:00 p.m.; and then 5:00 p.m. At the end of the day, the owner gave all the workers the same wage. The ones who got hired first complained saying that the owner was unfair. But the owner said, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you.” Why? The answer is obvious. In the Lord’s vineyard, the opportunity to work for him itself is a “reward”. 

A pastor I know kept learning that this is really true through his struggles to take up many of the crosses he was called to bear, particularly the cross to teach the Bible. On many occasions he wanted to do his own thing. For example instead of going out and having a Bible study with someone, he wanted to goof around and do yard work. So he secretly wanted his sheep to cancel the Bible study appointments. But, reluctantly he goes out and keeps the appointment. Then, it was he who was blessed by the Bible study first. So nowadays if anyone asks him for a Bible study, he drops everything he does, and goes for it. 

One word: grace and apostleship   

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