To the Ends of the Earth

A sermon preached by Ps Phil Hunt from Romans 15:22-33

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Please take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 15. Romans chapter 15, with God’s Word open before you. I want to direct your attention to the text that Robson just read for us. I want to speak to you this morning on this subject: To the Ends of the Earth — Action Steps for Fulfilling God’s Mission.

Last Sunday, I had the privilege of preaching for Pastor Gideon Mpeni, one of our former elders here whom we have sent to Tanzania. I had the privilege of preaching at Oasis Baptist Church there in the heart of Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam is a city of, I’m told, about 8.5 million people — it’s massive. And right there in the center of the city is Oasis Baptist Church.

That church had dwindled in membership to nine people — only nine members, and about 19 people attending on a Sunday. And then God, in His providence, called Gideon and Shiletzo to leave us here and go there in an effort to serve that church in revitalization. And I am so happy that over the past eight months, it’s very, very clear that God is at work.

There is a feeling of joy and eagerness and excitement. Recently they had a baptism service, and they also added, I think, 14 members or so to their membership. Last Sunday, the chairs that they had set up in their auditorium — they have an old building that’s been there for a long time — probably seated 100 to 125, and most of those chairs were full of people last Sunday. It was a great joy.

After the service, we enjoyed what Pastor Gideon calls “swallowship” — fellowship and “swallowship.” I said, I think I need to adopt that and bring it back to Zambia — we need to do more swallowship at Kitwe Church! We met together; everyone was encouraged to stay after the service, and we shared a simple meal together in a time of wonderful fellowship.

During that time, I met a lady. I had seen her as I was preaching — she came in through the side middle door and sat down. And I could tell, by the way she was dressed, that she was not a Christian.

Tanzania is about 70% Muslim and about 30% Christian, but the majority of those Christians are Roman Catholic. So the number of evangelical people in Tanzania is very, very small — in the low single digits. This lady came in and sat down, and after the service, during swallowship, I was invited to sit and have a little chat with her. I’ll call her Nadia — that’s not her real name — but I sat and chatted with this lady, Nadia. She had been invited to church by her sister.

Her sister, coming from a fully Muslim family, had some time ago come to know Christ as Savior and is now a member of Oasis Baptist Church. She had been reaching out to Nadia, who traveled in from a distant place, taking the bus. There’s actually a bus stop right in front of the church, which is perfect — any bus going through Dar es Salaam passes through that spot, so you can get there on one bus from anywhere, which is tremendous. So Nadia took the bus and came to the service, and she’s now involved with Shiletzo — they’re meeting together, looking at Scripture, and explaining the gospel. The Lord knows what her real name is, but if you pray for Nadia, the Lord knows, and we pray that this lady will come to know Christ as her Savior.

That’s what we’re talking about, and that’s what Paul is really talking about here in our text — action steps for God’s mission, taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Now, I want to remind you what we have seen in this letter of Paul to the Romans. Let me bring you up to speed, because I think it helps to anchor what we want to talk about this morning. This letter is about being justified by faith, and sometimes Paul refers to justification by faith with the term “the righteousness of God.” In fact, we’ve given this as the theme of this study: the provision of justification by faith through the gospel for all sinners.

We had a testimony this morning from one of our gospel workers whom we have sent from this place, Brother Ryan. He talked about a group of people who are very, very antagonistic and hardened toward anything to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I want to remind you that justification by faith through the gospel is for all sinners.

In our study, as we come toward the conclusion of this letter, we saw in chapters 1 through 3 why people need to be justified by faith — that every person needs to be justified, or declared righteous, by faith in Jesus, because they are under the divine wrath of a holy God. Then in chapters 4 and 5, we answered the question with Paul: how are we justified by faith? How do we receive this justification? Paul makes it very clear in chapters 4 and 5 that we are justified through faith alone. It is through faith that a man or woman is declared righteous.

Then in chapters 6 through 8, Paul begins to show the changes that take place in the life of a man or woman who has been justified by faith — that they are radically transformed, a new creation in Christ Jesus. Paul walks us through what that transformation looks like.

In chapters 9 and 10, we saw that, in some mystery of God, God is sovereign in His work of justification, but man is also responsible to receive it. God is sovereign; man is responsible. That was chapters 9 through 10.

And now in chapters 12 through 16, Paul is laying out for us how we are to live after we have been justified by faith. We’ve looked at unity — people who are very different culturally, from very different backgrounds, priority scales, and even language groups, coming together in Christ, unified in Christ and around Christ. And we’ve seen that this means we look out for the weaker brother — we don’t use or misuse our liberties in Christ to cause a weaker brother or sister to stumble into sin.

This morning I want us to see that one of the results of justification by faith is a burden, a focus on the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Action without understanding the mission of God is often disastrous. Such activity leads to delay in carrying out that mission, or discouragement, or even being diverted from God’s mission altogether. In the end, the mission itself can be lost.

Let me give you one example. We have this banner up here, and the announcement — or in the prayer we prayed — about the Rise and Build offering that’s going to be taken next Sunday. We’re already accepting it, so I hope you’re already putting money into the building account. You can do that any day this week — all that information is in the bulletin.

But just a reminder: the reason we’ve acquired property, the reason we have an approved building plan, and the reason we want to raise four million kwacha to build this church building, is not so that we have a new building or a better place for us to worship together. I want to remind you that this is not an end in itself.

Our purpose for that property is that God will use that place — and the accessibility of that place, no stairs, right? — so that the handicapped and the elderly can join us in worship instead of having to be online. And we have classroom space, which we don’t have right now, to help us expand in our Christian education. For what purpose? For the purpose of reaching our city, the lost of Kitwe, with the true gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s our goal — to use that facility as a launching pad for the gospel into Kitwe in ways we have not yet been able to do.

It is a gospel-centered, gospel-fueled mission. It is for the proclamation of the gospel. It is for the discipling of all who believe in Jesus. It is for the raising up of leaders through the local church, so that we can send more Ryans and more Gideons and more Lazaruses to the peoples who have yet to hear of our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That is what this offering is about. That is what this mission is about.

I pray that God is moving upon every single person in this auditorium to pray, to seek God’s wisdom, and to give sacrificially, that God may, in a wonderful way, meet this need so we can move forward with our building project. I pray that you’re going to be involved, that you’re praying.

But we must not lose sight of the mission. Whatever action we are called to take begins with a clear understanding of the unchanging nature of God’s mission. This mission of God originated in the mind of God — in other words, God’s mission belongs to God. This mission was actualized in Jesus Christ, is empowered by the Holy Spirit, is executed or carried out by the local church, and extends to all peoples everywhere. This is the mission of God that Paul has been unlocking for us in the book of Romans — this work of God in reconciling sinful people to Himself.

This is why we have a missions program here at Kitwe Church. This is why we give intentionally to missions. This is why 12% of everything that comes in our offering goes toward missions — to get the gospel out to those who have not yet heard of Jesus Christ. That’s missions.

It’s the plan of committed believers to accomplish the mission by sending gospel workers, missionaries, to carry out God’s mission in places where the gospel has not yet been proclaimed. And then, of course, the missionary is the sent one — the gospel worker we send as an ambassador of Christ’s kingdom from one culture to another. We send them to do the same thing we are commissioned to do here in Kitwe: proclaim the gospel and nurture new believers into gospel-centered, reproducing churches. That’s the mission.

The mission in Kitwe is the same as the mission in Dar es Salaam. It’s the same as the mission among the Somali in Kenya. Now, they don’t look the same — the timeline’s not the same, the people involved are not the same — but the mission is the same.

That is the mission that Paul has given his entire life to carry out. This mission of God flows from God’s very character and nature. We’ve seen that in chapters 9, 10, and 11 — this mission of God to reconcile sinful humanity to Himself through the finished work of Jesus Christ upon the cross, the blood that was shed for our redemption.

There are implications to that. Because this mission flows from the character and nature of God, we as the church cannot ignore this mission. We also understand that because this mission flows from the character and nature of God, He will equip people for the task. And as we carry out that task, we are under the sovereign rule, the sovereign authority of God. We carry out His mission for His glory, not our own.

And it implies sacrifice. This mission is worth living for, and if need be, dying for. Paul would later say to the Ephesian elders, as he’s on his way to Jerusalem, when they warn him, “When you get there, they’re going to arrest you,” “I am ready both to be arrested and to die, if need be, for the sake of the gospel.” You see, this is that deep-seated passion for God’s mission that He requires of every child of God — that “I am going to give my entire life in abandoned pursuit of God and His fame and His glory amongst my circle of influence. My number one priority is going to match God’s number one priority.”

It’s not going to be business, and it’s not going to be family, and it’s not going to be other very good things — things God puts into our lives, don’t misunderstand me — but it’s not the main thing. The main thing is the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is the reason why, the moment you were justified by faith, God didn’t just snatch you off planet earth and put you in heaven. Because ultimately, you were recreated in the image of Christ — recreated to enjoy the pleasure of God’s presence as new creations in Jesus. That is our ultimate purpose — to be with Him, to find our satisfaction and ultimate joy in the very face and presence of Jesus. So why not accept Christ and be taken immediately to be with Him? Because you have a mission to carry out. A mission. And this is the mission that Paul has given his entire life to.

So let’s look at it. What can we learn from Paul this morning? Look, please, at verses 22, 23, and the beginning of 24. Where do we go from here? What do we learn from the Apostle Paul? If we are to carry out the mission of God, if we are to live for His glorious purposes, if we are to abandon ourselves in following Him — where do we go? What do we do? What action must be taken?

We’ll notice three things in this text.

Number one: you must plan.

Do you see it? Look at chapter 15, verse 22: “And for this reason…” What reason, Paul? Well, if you go back to verse 20: “Thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation.” This is the reason why I’ve been so — so, number one, we must have a plan.

Paul had a clear vision of God’s calling upon his life. He understood, in verse 21, his purpose: “But as it is written, those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.” Paul had a clear picture of what God and His purposes entailed for the nations. He had a clear vision for the planting of churches among these peoples.

Back in Titus chapter 1, verse 5, he says this: “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained in order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” You see, Paul had a clear vision of God’s mission, and therefore he had a strategy. We must develop a strategy for carrying out God’s mission based on a clear idea of what God is calling us to do.

Paul understood that his specific calling, in the context of God’s mission, was to be an apostle to the Gentiles. And so everything — his plans, the decisions he made — were all based upon that clear understanding of what God was calling him to do.

We honor the work of faithful pastors and faithful ministry leaders, and we acknowledge thriving churches in challenging places. But I would suggest to you that when mission work falters, it often stems from poor ecclesiology rather than just local challenges. Success in missions demands more than good intentions — it requires biblical strategies rooted firmly in solid theological foundations. And this is what we see Paul demonstrating to us.

God gives us His vision for the outcome of this mission He has called us to. Revelation 5:9–10, listen to this: “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign upon the earth.'”

So we must have a plan. Paul’s plan began with a clear vision of God’s mission. Secondly, Paul understood his specific call within God’s mission. Look back at verse 16: “The grace of God given to me by God, to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” So Paul understood what God had specifically called and gifted him to do — he was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

Verse 20, we read it already — he had an ambition to preach the gospel where it had never yet been preached.

Thirdly, Paul was unrelenting in pursuing God’s purpose for his life. Look again at verse 22: “And for this reason I have been hindered many times from coming to you.” You see, Paul understood God’s call upon his life. He understood clearly the mission that God had entrusted to the church, and specifically what God had asked him to do — and so he did not pursue other good things.

When two good opportunities presented themselves — one to visit and encourage the brothers in Rome, and the other to proclaim the gospel in places like Thessalonica and the regions of Macedonia and Achaia, where Gentile people had never heard the gospel — he chose to proclaim the gospel in those regions instead of visiting the believers in Rome. He says, “I’ve been hindered many times. I’ve wanted to come and see you, but I have not yet been able to do that.” He was unrelenting in pursuing God’s purpose for his life.

Listen, Christian friends, we must continually evaluate our lives in order to keep the main thing the main thing. Paul postponed his personal desires, his personal ambitions. Not only that, but in verse 23, look what he says: “But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions…”

Because he had a clear understanding of God’s mission, and a clear understanding of how God had called him to participate in that mission — not only did he not pursue other good things, not only did he postpone his personal ambitions, but number three, he identified when his task was complete.

Paul’s purpose was to preach the gospel where Jesus had not been named, per verse 20. Now, that’s not true for everyone. Barnabas, in Acts 11:25, was called to come alongside and build on Paul’s foundation and the foundation others had laid. Paul said, “My calling is not to build on anybody’s foundation.” Barnabas shows up and says, “My call is to build on somebody else’s foundation.”

And then there’s the example of Timothy. For Timothy, it was to step into a newly established mission church like Ephesus and build the body into a reproducing congregation. It’s very likely that the majority of the churches listed in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 — those seven churches — were planted out of the city of Ephesus. Paul planted the church in Ephesus, called Timothy, and sent Timothy there to build the church, build upon the foundation of the gospel after the church planter had gone into virgin territory and planted a church. Timothy comes and begins to build on that gospel foundation, and that church became so strong and so influential that it ended up planting all these other churches throughout the region.

Let me ask you a question. What is your God-given purpose in God’s mission? “To share the gospel” — I understand, we all have that. But what has God gifted you specifically? Where does God want you to personally be involved in this church, in this congregation, for the purpose of furthering His mission, both in Kitwe and to the ends of the earth?

Because you see, the local church was never designed to be a spectator sport. The local church was designed to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So what ministry is God equipping you for? And do you see the connection between how God has gifted and called you, and the part God wants you to play in the gospel going to the ends of the earth?

Christian friend, listen — if you’re all bound up, excited, and involved in a lot of other good things, but at the very core of your being — if you scrape it all away and dig down to the very center — and at the very center is not the gospel mission of Jesus, you’re not fulfilling the purpose for which you are redeemed.

Paul was single-minded. What is your God-given purpose in His mission? Some of you will answer that question, evaluate it, and realize, “You know what, I’m right where God wants me to be — I just need to keep doing what I’m doing.” But others of you, as you evaluate, may realize, “God is calling me, in some area of my life, to step outside of my comfort zone and engage in more intentional gospel effort — locally, through my local church, or maybe even out there.”

What is God calling you to do? So here’s the application: you must plan. Make a plan. Pray, think, and prepare. That’s what Paul was doing.

Number two: execute the plan. 

Do something. Don’t just hear a message like this. Don’t just listen, see Paul’s example, feel stirred in your spirit for a few minutes — and then finally get in your car, go home, and think, “Okay, wow, that must have just been indigestion. I really felt something, but now I’m okay again.”

Make a plan, execute the plan, and then be willing for God to change the plan. He’s talking here about, “I’m going to come to you, and then I’m going to go to Spain” — that’s the next frontier for the gospel. But Scripture makes it quite clear that Paul never actually made it to Spain. He was planning to go there, but he never made it. He got arrested, taken to Rome, and executed. In fact, church history tells us it would be the third century before gospel witness reached Spain.

But he had a plan. He knew what his calling was, he knew what his gifting was, and he was all in. If we’re to carry out the mission of God, we must have a plan.

Number two: we must partner.

Look at verse 24. Remember, he’s never actually physically seen these people. He says, “I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my way there by you, once I’ve enjoyed your company for a while.” You see, partnership.

“At present, I am going to Jerusalem. I have an offering that I need to deliver to the poor saints there.” Look down at verse 28: “I will leave for Spain by way of you, when I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected.”

So partnership is a natural part of body life — we function together for a common purpose. This mission that God has called us to as believers and members of Kitwe Church requires partnership. Why? Because all of us bring different gifts, different abilities, different contributions, and each contribution is desperately needed. I don’t have time to go into it fully, but 1 Corinthians 12:12–28 speaks of the body — meaning the local church. Not everybody is the same member of that body, but all the members are needed in order to fulfill the mission.

Partnership involves fellowship. Look at verse 24 again: “Once I have enjoyed your company, or your fellowship, for a while.” This speaks of encouragement — the encouragement of others headed in the same direction, sharing the same mission.

God spare us, God deliver us, from a spirit of competition in the work of God. We are not in competition with one another in the body of Christ. We are not in competition with any other church in this city. We are not in competition with any other ministry. God bless them all — “the servant to his own master will stand or fall.” That has nothing to do with us. We’re going to cheer them on. Every Sunday we pray for a church in Southern Africa — we want to pray for them, cheer them, help them wherever we can — but we need to be about our Father’s business right here in Kitwe.

This fellowship is not only encouragement, it’s edification. We sharpen and strengthen one another as we serve each other within the body and carry out the mission. And then there’s enjoyment — “I’m going to enjoy your company, the fellowship, the camaraderie I can experience with you.”

Then, at the end of verse 24, notice that this partnership involves material and financial commitment. In verses 24 and 28, Paul tells these believers — whom he’s never personally met — that he’s coming to them with the expectation of material partnership: “I want to be helped on my way to Spain by you.” This speaks of material and logistical support.

This is why we give sacrificially, beyond our tithes and offerings here at Kitwe Church — we encourage you to participate in the extra giving toward missions. This partnership is a right thing.

The church at Philippi, desperately poor and oppressed, is acknowledged by Paul for their sacrificial partnership. Listen to Philippians 4:15: “You Philippians yourselves know that at the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I desire a gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment, and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gift you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

We like that verse 19, don’t we? “My God shall supply all of your needs” — that’s my life verse, I quote that verse.

But wait a minute — do you know that verse is a promise given to those who, in the midst of their deep poverty — the churches of Macedonia, of which Philippi was one — insisted on giving sacrificially to the very offering that Paul is now, in this text, taking to deliver to the saints at Jerusalem? Paul says, “Not only that, but you have given to me once and again as I took the gospel to Thessalonica.” There’s a church in Thessalonica now, and the Philippians were part of that — they gave sacrificially, even in the midst of their deep poverty. And Paul says, “I want you to know something, church at Philippi: my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus.”

So unless you’re giving sacrificially to advance the cause and mission of God, you have no claim on Philippians 4:19. You have no claim.

Paul is reminding us that partnership does involve fellowship, but it also involves material and financial commitment. Partnership is the natural expression of a shared mission. It involves intentional commitment. It requires sacrifice. And this partnership Paul is asking for is not manipulation or extortion.

So — three things. Let me give you the last one, and I’m finished. You must plan, you must partner — number three, you must pray.

Number three: you must pray

Look at verses 30 to 32. Notice what he says. Verse 30: “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.” And then he gives three things to pray for: number one, that he may be delivered from unbelievers; number two, that his service will be acceptable to the saints; and number three, that he might come to them with joy and be refreshed. So we must pray. If we are to fulfill the mission of God, we must pray.

This is a prayer for deliverance — “that I might be delivered from those who do not believe.” This is a prayer for deliverance from satanic attack. In 1 Corinthians 16, Paul says, “For a wide door of effective work has been opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” He’s calling these believers in Rome to “strive together” — this is a military term, an athletic term; it literally means to agonize. Paul is calling us to labor alongside him in agonizing prayer. Why? Because the gospel has enemies, and those who are enemies of the gospel are, we understand from Scripture, energized by Satan himself.

2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us Satan is the god of this world — he has theological authority, and he has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. John 12:31 tells us Satan is the prince of this world — he has political authority; “now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” And he’s also the prince of the power of the air — he has spiritual authority. Ephesians 2:2: “According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience.” Paul is inviting this church, saying, “Listen, I’m advancing with the gospel into hostile territory — people who have never heard of Jesus and who are not neutral; they’re actually against Him, energized by Satan himself. And I’m asking you to pray.”

Not only that, but he asks for prayer for favor with God’s people, verse 31: “Pray that I find favor” — when he gets to Jerusalem and meets those Christians in that church, pray that he finds favor with these coworkers. That’s a prayer for our church too, isn’t it — that we find favor with one another, that we find unity with one another, that we reject conflict and disagreement and disunity in the family of God. Pray for favor with God’s people. Pray for Gideon and the team there, that they will find favor with local Christians in Tanzania and with leaders. Pray that we will learn to listen and understand, and for wisdom for these men to apply the unchanging truth of Scripture to a changing culture.

Pray for deliverance, pray for favor — number three, pray for success and refreshment in the mission, verse 32. This is a prayer made to the Father, grounded in the Son, and in the love of the Holy Spirit, submitted to the will of God. Look at verse 31: “That I may be delivered from unbelievers, that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints”; verse 32: “So that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company.” Pray for success and refreshment in the mission.

Five times in Paul’s writings, he speaks of ministers and missionaries being refreshed. He says, “I want to come to you people. I want to spend time with you, because I want to be encouraged by your faith and your steadfastness, and I want to be refreshed in my spirit. And then I want you to come alongside me. I want you to partner with me, and I want you to send me to Spain, because nobody over on the western side of Europe has even heard about Jesus yet.”

So let me ask you this question: What action is God asking you to take in order to fulfill His mission? What step, what action will you take this week to engage in this glorious mission of God? What sacrifice — what sacrifice — will you personally make, so that God’s mission, the gospel, can move forward this month? Where will you sacrifice personally to advance the gospel? What’s the next step, Christian, that God is calling you to take?

And as I ask you that, for some of you it may be very, very clear this morning — there’s a clear step of obedience to God’s Word that God has been asking you to say yes to and do. As I ask you what step you will take in obedience to God, right away you may know exactly what God wants you to do.

What is God’s purpose for you in relation to His mission of gospel advance? Will you plan? Will you partner? And will you pray?

Prayer:

Father, as we look at the Apostle Paul giving his plans and his itinerary, we see his heart. We see in the Apostle Paul a clear understanding of the reason each one of us has been justified by faith — to participate in the proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth. We thank You that in Paul’s example, we have three actions we can watch and hear from him.

We must plan. God, help us to plan individually. Help us to plan corporately as a church.

We must partner. We can’t do this work alone — You never intended for us to do it alone. This is a corporate effort, empowered by Your Holy Spirit. May we join hands together as a church to reach our city. We thank You for the property You’ve given us, and we pray that You might give us the facilities that will fuel many opportunities to reach the lost and teach the saints.

And we must pray. God, make us a church that prays — that we would pray specifically for our missionaries who have gone from this place: for Mohammed up in Sudan, for Ryan and Sam over in Nairobi, for the Impenis in Dar es Salaam, for the Chandas in Kasama, for the Domingos in Angola. And may we pray for those who are coming up through our midst, whom one day You may ask us to send to some other place that needs to hear the gospel of Jesus.

Help us to see our lives and our church in terms of Your glorious purposes, that one day, with Paul, we might be able to say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Empower us, strengthen us, Lord, we pray, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

If you are here and God is working in your heart — something you would like to counsel about, or would like to pray about together — please see me or one of the elders. And if you are here and you do not know Jesus, if you do not yet fully understand this gospel that Paul preached, we would love to meet with you today or this week and share that gospel with you. So please, before you leave today, reach out to us — we would love to do that. God bless you.