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I. The apostle Paul’s perfect example and high standard in announcing the gospel:
А. Chosen to be a vessel — not a carrier but a vessel to contain Christ — Acts 9:15.
B. Appointed to be a minister and a witness of Christ — 26:16.
C. Given to be a steward of the grace of God — Eph. 3:2.
D. Separated unto the gospel of God — Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:15-16.
E. Commissioned as a herald — 1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11.
F. Sent by God, the highest authority, as His ambassador to the sinners to speak in boldness the mystery of the gospel — Eph. 6:19-20.
G. Laboring as a priest of the gospel to offer the believing sinners to God — Rom. 15:16.
H. To announce:
1. Christ as the objective Savior and the subjective indwelling Life-imparter — 1 Tim. 1:15; Gal. 1:15-16.
2. The unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel — Eph. 3:8.
3. The mystery of Christ — v. 4.
4. The mystery of the gospel — 6:19.
I. To beget the believers through the gospel — 1 Cor. 4:15.
J. For the building up of the Body of Christ — Eph. 4:11-12.
K. Burdened:
1. To bear fruit among all the Gentiles — Rom. 1:13.
2. To pay his debt of the gospel as a debtor to all kinds of people — v. 14.
3. To announce the gospel to the Romans, being not ashamed of it, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes — vv. 15-16.
4. To stress the beauty of the one who announces the gospel as the news of good things — 10:14-15.
5. To enslave himself to all that he might gain the more and to become all things to all men that he might by all means save some, doing all things for the sake of the gospel; otherwise, it would be a woe to him, for he was entrusted with a stewardship that would bring him a reward as an incentive — 1 Cor. 9:16-23.
6. To charge his young co-worker Timothy to proclaim the word in season and out of season while he was ready to receive his martyrdom — 2 Tim. 4:2, 6.
7. To have the saints as his partners in the gospel, striving for the gospel — Phil. 1:5, 27.
8. To fully preach the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum — Rom. 15:19; cf. 2 Cor. 10:15-16.
In this chapter we come to another point of the crystallization-study. This point is the announcing of the gospel. According to the Greek text, we prefer to use announcing instead of preaching. It is not just a matter of preaching but a matter of announcing. The announcing of the gospel is not a simple thing; it is not a small matter.
The New Testament revelation concerning the announcing of the gospel gives us a very high standard and a perfect example in the apostle Paul.
First, this announcer was chosen by God to be a vessel — not a carrier but a vessel to contain Christ (Acts 9:15). When you go out to contact people with the intention of announcing the gospel, you must realize that you are a vessel. Christ cannot be carried by you as something outward. Christ must be contained within you as your contents. Then you, the vessel, become one with the contents. When you go to contact people, that is Christ going. You are His vessel to convey Him to people.
Paul was appointed to be a minister and a witness of Christ (26:16). A minister is one who serves others. If you are going to announce the gospel, you must be a servant to serve others with Christ. A waiter in a restaurant is a minister. He ministers the food of the restaurant. As a rule, every waiter must also be a witness of the food. If a waiter can tell a customer that he has tasted a certain dish and that it is very nourishing and delicious, the customer will want it. We need to serve people with the Christ whom we have tasted. Then we become His witnesses.
In Ephesians 3:2 Paul says that he had the stewardship of the grace of God. A steward is different from a waiter. According to the ancient custom, a steward was a general servant who directed everything. A steward of a rich man knew everything concerning the rich man’s house. God made Paul a steward of the grace of God. Here the grace equals the gospel. The gospel is the grace. Paul was made a steward to take care of God’s grace, God’s gospel.
Romans 1:1 says that Paul was separated unto the gospel of God. Galatians 1:15 and 16 say that he was set apart by God for the gospel from the womb of his mother, before he was born. When he grew up, he became a strong Judaizer, persecuting Christ and devastating the churches. One day while he was going to Damascus to arrest the callers of Jesus, he fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14). A goad on a plow is a sharp pointed stick used to subdue and prod an ox yoked to the plow. The Lord’s word here signifies that Saul was already yoked to the plow and had no choice but to take the Lord’s yoke obediently for the carrying out of the Lord’s commission. It was as if the Lord was saying to Paul, “You think you are free. Actually, you are yoked to My plow. I have set you apart already from your mother’s womb.”
I do not think that many of us have ever considered that God has set us apart from our mother’s womb. We all need to realize that we were set apart from our mother’s womb to announce Christ as the gospel. I was like Paul on the road to Damascus. When I was nineteen years old, I was endeavoring to advance myself by getting the proper education. One afternoon I heard the gospel, and I was caught by the Lord. I gave up my expectation to get a high education. I told the Lord, “Lord, from today I want to be a poor preacher, carrying the Bible to travel through the villages and announce Christ. I am willing to eat the roots of the trees and to drink the water from the hills.” To announce the gospel is not a light thing but something very special.
Paul says that he was commissioned as a herald (1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11). A herald is an official reporter. Paul was such an official reporter of God’s New Testament economy.
God is the highest authority in the universe; God sent Paul as His ambassador to the sinners to speak in boldness the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 6:19-20). An ambassador always represents a higher authority to contact and deal with others. God sent Paul as His ambassador to deal with the sinners, to speak in boldness the mystery of the gospel. If someone rejects you when you are announcing the gospel, you may say, “Sir, I am an ambassador of God sent by Him to you. You should not reject me.” We can be bold because we are God’s ambassadors.
We must speak in boldness the mystery of the gospel. The gospel actually is the good news of God’s economy. In God’s economy there are five big mysteries: (1) the Triune God; (2) the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ; (3) the consummated, compounded, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, and sevenfold intensified Spirit; (4) the Body of Christ; and (5) the New Jerusalem. We should even have the boldness to preach the gospel by telling people about the New Jerusalem. We need to be able to speak with boldness concerning the highest peak of God’s revelation, telling people that God became a man in order that man may become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. This kind of preaching works. We should not be afraid and timid when we go out to announce the gospel. This will cause people to reject us. We must go out as God’s ambassadors.
In Romans 15:16 Paul says that he was a laboring priest of the gospel to offer the Gentiles to God. The Old Testament priests offered the sacrifices, which typify Christ. But today we, the New Testament priests, offer to God the saved sinners who have been converted into Christ’s members. We are not announcing the gospel for soul-winning. That is too low. Instead, we want to convert sinners into members of Christ and offer them to God as sacrifices. This is the work of a laboring priest of the gospel.
We must announce the contents of God’s economy. This means that we announce God’s incarnation to be a man, His living on the earth for thirty-three and a half years, and His going to the cross to die an all-inclusive death. On the negative side, He terminated everything of the old creation. He also terminated Satan, sin, the world, and the flesh. On the positive side, through His death, He released the divine life within Him into His believers to germinate them with the divine life. Then through resurrection and in ascension, He poured out the Spirit, and the church came into being. The church is the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is the house of God, the kingdom of God, and Christ’s bride. This will consummate in the New Jerusalem. We need to speak these marvelous things. We should not be very concerned about whether or not others fully understand this. Sometimes they understand much, and they will still not believe. Sometimes they do not understand much, but they want to believe. We must change our way. Do not take the old way. Take the new way.
We must announce Christ as the objective Savior and the subjective indwelling Life-imparter. First Timothy 1:15 says that the faithful word is that Christ came into the world to save sinners. This is Christ as the objective Savior of the sinners. Then Paul tells us in Galatians 1:15-16 that God was happy to reveal Christ in him that he might preach Him to others. This is not the outward Savior but the inward, indwelling, Life-imparter. Paul announced Christ as the indwelling One to others.
The gospel preached today by Christianity is altogether too shallow, simple, and poor. Paul announced the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8).
In Ephesians 3:4 Paul speaks of the mystery of Christ. We have to learn all these deeper, higher things to speak to others. This is the higher gospel.
In Ephesians 6:19 Paul says, “For me, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known in boldness the mystery of the gospel.” The mystery of the gospel is Christ and the church for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose (5:32).
Paul told the Corinthians that he begot them through the gospel (1 Cor. 4:15). This is not to win souls but to beget children.
We go to beget people, to regenerate people, not that they may go to heaven but that they may be the material to build up the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12).
The name Paul means “little.” He was a little man, but he had a big heart. He wanted to bear fruit among all the Gentiles (Rom. 1:13). Because we are so narrow, we may be happy with getting one person saved a year. It is better if we aspire to gain ten yearly, in following Paul’s example. If there is a will, there is a way.
Paul says, “I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish” (v. 14). Paul owed people the gospel. To announce the gospel to them was to pay off his debt.
In announcing the gospel to the Romans, Paul says that he was not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes (vv. 15-16).
Paul says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the news of good things” (10:15). When you go out to announce the gospel, you must have the realization that your feet are beautiful. If you were going to the theater, you would say, “How ugly are my feet.” But when you go to visit people, you say, “Hallelujah, how beautiful are my feet!”
Paul was free. He was not a slave to anyone, but he enslaved himself to all men that he might gain the more. He became all things to all men. To the Gentiles, he became a Gentile; to the Jews, he became a Jew; to the people under the law, he became one under the law; to the people without the law, he became a person without the law. This was so that he might by all means save some, doing all things for the sake of the gospel; otherwise, it would be a woe to him (1 Cor. 9:16-23). Paul says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (v. 16). This is because he was entrusted with a stewardship that would bring him a reward as an incentive.
Paul told Timothy, “Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). We often excuse ourselves by saying that it is not the right day or time to announce the gospel. But we need to be ready in season and out of season. This means that we should proclaim the word whether the opportunity is convenient or inconvenient, whether we are welcome or unwelcome. Paul charged his co-worker to do this while he was ready to receive martyrdom (v. 6).
The saints in Philippi were Paul’s partners in the gospel, striving for the gospel (Phil. 1:5, 27). The Philippians joined Paul’s move in the announcing of the gospel.
Paul was burdened to fully preach the gospel of Christ from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum (Rom. 15:19; cf. 2 Cor. 10:15-16). Illyricum was a remote region located northwest of Macedonia. Paul, with his co-workers, started preaching from Jerusalem. This shows that Paul preached extensively. At his time he nearly exhausted all the places where he could preach the gospel. If we compare Paul with ourselves, we can see that his standard is very high and his example is excellent and perfect in announcing the gospel. When we consider Paul’s pattern, we have no excuse for not going to announce the gospel.
