MPC 6th August 2006.August 6 - Romans 15:14-33 - "Gospel Ambition"
Phil Campbell MPC 6th August 2006.
If you're looking for a new hundred thousand dollar a year executive appointment, as I know most of us are, you need ambition.
Not just ambition in the normal sense. But Ambition, the employment agency. That's what they're called.
So if you're looking for a job as a financial accounting manager with a growing retailer that pays around $110,000 a year plus benefits, you need to call Ambition on 02 9249 5053 and ask for Sandra.
But I guess you should only call Ambition. If you've got ambition. At least of a certain kind.
Of course, you might have other kind of ambition. Maybe to settle somewhere quietly in the bush. Away from the city. A sea-change. Or these days, if it's rural, they're called a tree-change.
For most people, their ambitions rotate around either making themselves significant. Or making themselves comfortable. However you want to define that to be. To make their families secure; with the right sort of lifestyle.
Maybe if you've got your own ambitions in your mind, you could take a moment this morning to compare them with the ambitions of the apostle Paul.
We're getting close to the end of Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome. He's rounding it off. He's telling them his travel plans. But the key thing he wants to remind them of as he gets near the end of his scroll, is his ambition. His central motivation. Because he wants them to share it.
You'll see it there in verse 20 of chapter 15, and here's what he says. "It has always been my ambition," says Paul, to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so I wouldn't be building on someone else's foundation." The thing I've always wanted to do, he says, the thing I've given my life to - is taking the news of Jesus… to places where they've never heard of him before. He says I've always wanted to be a pioneer. To preach Christ. Where Christ was not known. The market places. The pubs. The towns and cities that had never before heard this message that was sweeping the world.
Paul's ambition is a gospel ambition. It's the gospel that he's been talking about right since Romans chapter 1. It's the gospel that he wants people to understand. That this Jesus of Nazareth has become king of the world. Through his remarkable death and resurrection. That this long promised Jewish Messiah… is lord of every nation.
A message which actually then impels him to strategise. To plan. To travel. To bring the claim of Jesus into contact with the people who need to hear it. And again, it's a big ambition.
When Bill Clinton was a school boy, he had a teacher; a teacher who filled his class with huge ambitions. He said to the kids in the class you can be just whatever you want to be. Aim high. If you want to do it, you can even become president of the United States. Bill Clinton believed him. And now that's exactly what he is. And not only that, apparently there were six other kids in the class, who are all famous cause they've reached the top of their professions.
Of course, that means there were still 25 or 30 other kids who didn't. But as someone else once said, If you aim for moon and hit the fence, at least you've hit the fence.
Well, let me tell you, Paul's thinking big. He's aiming for the moon. Because Paul wants to change the world. And as he writes here about his strategy, he's gone a long way towards changing the world already. He's made the snowball, and he's set it rolling. And it's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger.
Pick it up in verse 17. And I want you to notice in what he's saying here, Paul's not big-noting himself. He's not being arrogant or proud. As he looks back on probably 20 years of his work of telling people the gospel, he's big noting Jesus.
Read what he says. Verse 17. "Therefore, I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done - by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the spirit. So from Jerusalem," he says, "all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ."
The Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit has empowered the apostle Paul in incredible ways. To the point where he can say for that whole arc around the map from Jerusalem to the North of Greece, he's done the job. Of proclaiming the gospel of Christ.
By which he means he's told them everything they need to know about Jesus… to be self sufficient. That he's started brand new churches. In all the key centres. And the plan is, the new Christians in the churches he's planted are left behind to carry on the work. And fan the gospel out all round them. And start more new churches in every new place they can.
Which you'll notice is exactly what's happened in Rome as well. Through the preaching of somebody else. That's what he says back in verse 14: "I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another."
It's a bit like growing strawberry plants. Plant a strawberry. And it shoots out a runner. And the runner takes root. And then that one shoots out runners. That take root. And you've got all these little new plants that are spreading out. And bearing fruit. Which is terrific if you like strawberries. And even more terrific if you like the sound of fruitful churches.
Paul's been planting little strawberry runners everywhere. Pioneering the gospel by preaching Christ; starting new churches. And leaving the gospel there to keep doing its work, of spreading and growing and spreading and growing.
In a way that was ever-so-slowly changing the world. That of course continues today. Or is meant to. With implications even for us here on the north side of Brisbane.
And he can look back and say, he's covered the ground from Jerusalem all the way round to Illyricum.
As he does that, you'll notice Paul is also building a network of support. That these churches don't all exist in isolation. But are connected in love for one another. Even over a large distance. And what was back then a huge cultural gap.
Paul's explaining his travel plans. And his plans to ultimately get to Rome to see them. But first, he's on another mission. Which he explains in verse 25 to 27. He's on his way from Greece to Jerusalem. With a pile of money from a collection he's made for starving Jewish Christians. There's a famine. You can actually read more about his collection in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Here are these brand new Christians in brand new churches in Greece. And they're concerned for their brothers and sisters back in Jerusalem. As they've come to faith in Christ, as they've been included with the original Jewish Christians, they've actually become part of something bigger than just their own local church. They're part of a caring network.
Verse 25. Paul says, eventually, I'm going to come and see you. But "now however, I'm on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the saints there. For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem."
"They were pleased to do it," verse 27, "and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings." These Gentiles… they've been joined in to God's plan to bless the world through the descendants of Abraham. Which Paul's explained back in chapter 4. And chapter 9 to 11. So they're grateful for the privilege. And they care about their Christian brothers and sisters back in Jerusalem. All the old antagonisms between Jews and Gentiles turned aside. As paul of course is hoping they will be in the church in Rome as well.
Back in 1953, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck starred in the Romantic comedy Roman Holiday. Which is rated as one of the top movies of all time. In a kind of tongue in cheek way, we've used Roman holiday as the title for our Romans series.
Tongue in cheek for one thing because Romans is considered one of the most complex letters in the New Testament. And hard work. Rather than a holiday. At least for the preachers, if not for the listeners.
Tongue in cheek as well because when you get to these details at the end of the letter, Paul's planning his own long awaited Roman holiday. And it's not actually going to be a holiday at all.
Because Paul's ambition is never about his holiday destinations. It's always about where to next. With the gospel of Jesus.
So he says, after I've been to Jerusalem, I'll visit you in Rome. But from there, it's onwards again. To Spain.
Look what he says in verse 23 and 24. He says "But now there's no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I've been longing for many years to see you, I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to visit you while passing through, and have you assist me on my journey there, after I've enjoyed your company for a while."
He says it again in verse 28. When I've delivered the money in Jerusalem, I'll drop in. On my way through. "So after I've completed this task and have made sure that they have received this fruit, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way. I know that when I come to you, verse 29, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.
Here's a guy who's burning with ambition. And his ambition is not for a Roman holiday, where they've heard about Jesus already. His ambition is to preach the gospel most especially where Christ is not known. To lay a foundation. Plant the strawberries. And let the gospel grow.
And I can tell you, it worked. And it still is working. I gather it was great at the Women's Teaching Weekend yesterday to hear first hand how some of you became Christians. Take a moment and think back on that for yourself. Who it was who first told you the gospel; then imagine you asked the person who taught you about Jesus, who it was who told them the gospel. And if you followed the line all the way back… you'd actually end up with a family tree that went all the way back to the time of Paul. Whose only ambition was to preach the gospel to gentiles like us. Whose whole life and whole energy was devoted to taking the gospel to places where it hadn't been heard. And calling on people to follow Jesus.
I don't want to say much more today, except to ask you again. What are your big ambitions? And where does the gospel fit in them? Where does changing your little bit of the world with the good news of Jesus fit on the scale of things?
I mean, you don't have to be a traveling missionary like Paul. You can stay right here. Because all around us, there are still people who haven't grasped the gospel. Or seen it lived out in a loving church community. Because nobody's ever taken the time to explain to them how good it is. To be reconciled to God and his people.
You know, as we've been talking about the possibility of a new congregation near Eatons Hill, I realize in a way it's a big ask to expect anyone to go there and be part of the team that's going to be the heart of it. When everything in one way is ticking over so smoothly here at MPC. To maybe have to set up chairs in a school room; when the chairs are already so comfortable here. To put together a kidzbiz program that you might actually have to get involved in helping with yourself. Whereas here at MPC it all just happens for you.
Why would you do it?
The reason, of course, is because you've got at least a little bit of the same sort of ambition as the Apostle Paul. To make Christ known. To plant new and accessible church communities that are going to be like salt and light.
I don't know if you realize how much we live in a post Christian Australia. The days of just assuming everyone's a Christian are long gone. If you're someone who loves the Presbyterian Church and you look back to the glory days, let me tell you, the bad news is the glory days are gone.
I mean, while the overall population of Queensland grew last year I think more than any other state in Australia, the average Presbyterian church was shrinking. By on average two people per congregation per year. Which doesn't sound like much. Until you remember that half our congregations have got less than 60 members to start off with.
All the more reason to keep planting healthy, growing strawberry plants. It's only going to be the growing churches like MPC that can grow more growing churches. By making it our ambition to start more loving church communities. Where the message of Jesus is clear.
All the more reason instead of just being comfortable… to do our best to spread.
Now I know we've been talking about this idea for a while. And you've probably picked up on the fact that we're trying to organize a couple of trials in the next month or two. And in a sense, it all stems from exactly the same ambition that's driving the apostle Paul. The same desire to see a growing network of loving, caring churches committed to serving Christ.
But I'm aware there are still people who aren't quite clear. In fact, maybe you're new since we started talking about the whole idea late last year; or you haven't picked up on it at all. And so I want to start from square one. And quickly run through what I think are some frequently asked questions.
Here's the first one.
Q. Why would we want to start
a new congregation when everything is going fine here at MPC?
A. Because we're ambitious
about spreading the news of Jesus Christ by spreading growing
churches. (It's the same ambition Paul
had.)
Q. Why Eatons Hill?
A. Because it's the most
distant area within our mpc boundary. And we already have a cluster
of people living there
Q. Will going mean we lose the
benefits of being part of MPC?
A. No. You'll be part of a
caring network, sharing staff and resources
Q. Why run trials?
A. To see what it will be like. To try out venues. To see if we have a large
enough core group.
Q. Where will we meet?
A. Eatons Hill School OSH Room
on Aug 20. Albany Creek High Drama Room
on Sept 17.
Q. Who should come?
A. Anyone in the target area
who might join the core congregation. We are looking for 30-40
adults.
Q. What is the impact on
MPC?
A. Less people at one site,
more at another. The cost of a new (part-time)
pastor at Latechurch.
Q. What if it doesn't work
out?
A. That's okay! Come back to
MPC!
There's one more question.
You know, even if you're not part of the Eatons Hill target zone, or if you're not able to be part of that group of pioneers… Paul's very aware that the Christians he's writing to aren't on the front line with him either. Which doesn't mean they're not involved.
Paul says in verse 30, the Romans are hundreds of kilometres away; they can still help him on his way to Spain. Financially, and in every other way.
And they can still pray. Look what he says to them. He says "I urge you brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me."
So let me ask you, what's our prayer?
Q. What's Our Prayer?
I know praying's hard. Particularly when it comes to getting beyond our own little routine prayers like praying for a pay rise - so you can pay the extra quarter point percentage rise on that house that's way bigger than you needed in the first place. Or praying that that job you've applied for through ambition executive placements comes through.
But you know, Paul says if you share his gospel ambitions, you can actually join in the struggle. By praying. Pray specifically for our front line potential church planters; pray for our goal of nurturing a network of Christ centred churches. Paul's target was the Mediterranean, all the way from Jerusalem around to Spain. Ours is the north side of Brisbane.
So pray particularly at this point that God will add people to our core group from the wider community; especially as people come to faith in Christ.
I was reading about a crazy couple called Mark and Katie Thompson; they were corporate high-flyers in Melbourne. And they gave up their career ambitions for the goal of riding horses down the entire length of The Great dividing Range. That was a few years ago now. I'm not sure if they made it.
But this morning, let me call you to a bigger ambition than that. Think big. I mean, what could we do with the gospel if every one of us followed Paul's ambition. And made it our ambition to spread that good news about Jesus. Wherever we can. However we can.