Stewardship of the Gospel

The Apostle Paul's account of his salvation experience is truly unique and amazing.  Amazing in that God would save a murderer and persecutor of His church!  Unique, in that the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a blinding light from heaven and spoke directly to him!  The Lord Jesus told Saul (Paul) Who He was and the reason for His appearing to him - namely, to appoint him as a minister and witness to the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.  This is what qualified Paul as an apostle of Jesus Christ.  But the story doesn't end with Paul's conversion.     




What we see in the remainder of the book of Acts (from the middle of Chapter 9 throughout the remainder of the book), along with his many epistles, or letters, is his living out the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, kings, and the Jews.  Spending and being spent, he suffered over and over in the ministry that the Lord called him to; and he viewed himself as a servant or steward of the Gospel for the sake of the church.  For example, in Ephesians 3:1-2, he says:

"For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles - If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you."

And in Colossians 1:25, he says:

"Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God."

Paul viewed his salvation, or the application of the Gospel to his life, not as the end, but as a means to a further or greater end - that is, for the benefit of the church - those to whom he was sent (the Gentiles, kings and the Jews) who responded in faith.

This is a very humbling concept - unworthy sinners who believe the Gospel are saved; then they are entrusted with that same Gospel to share it with others.  We can praise God with the Apostle Paul - Oh, the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are His judgements and unfathomable His ways!

Now, before we go further - let us stop to consider how the Gospel came to us.  We may not have murdered or persecuted anyone, but just like Saul, we were an enemy of God, born in sin, deserving nothing but the just wages of our sin - the wrath of God. Then the Lord used a parent, a preacher, a steward of His Gospel to proclaim that good news to you.  By God's doing, at some point we believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).   

So now let's apply the principle of stewardship to our lives.  Does our story end with our salvation?  If so, why? Could it be that the current condition of our lives, our churches, our nation, and our world reflects our view of our stewardship of the Gospel, or any other gift for that matter?  Do we believe that our salvation is the end of the matter?  The witness of Scripture is - No.  Jesus charged His disciples after His resurrection and before His ascension that they would be His witnesses and, by way of application, so should we.  It is not ultimately about us - it is all for the glory of God.

So what are we to do?  We can pray that the Lord would forgive us for being selfish with His Gospel.  We can ask the Lord to give us a genuine concern for the lost and pray that He would by His Spirit use us as vessels for delivering the Gospel.  Just as the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well in John 4 - she left her water pot at the well, but became the vessel that brought back news of the living water to her town.