Paul states here that the call of God is to preach the gospel. But
remember what Paul means by “the gospel,” namely, the reality of
redemption in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are inclined to make
sanctification the goal of our preaching. Paul refers to personal
experiences only by way of illustration, never as the end of the matter.
We are not commissioned to preach salvation or sanctification— we are
commissioned to lift up Jesus Christ (see John 12:32).
It is an injustice to say that Jesus Christ labored in redemption to
make me a saint. Jesus Christ labored in redemption to redeem the whole
world and to place it perfectly whole and restored before the throne of
God. The fact that we can experience redemption illustrates the power of
its reality, but that experience is a byproduct and not the goal of
redemption. If God were human, how sick and tired He would be of the
constant requests we make for our salvation and for our sanctification.
We burden His energies from morning till night asking for things for
ourselves or for something from which we want to be delivered! When we
finally touch the underlying foundation of the reality of the gospel of
God, we will never bother Him anymore with little personal complaints.
The one passion of Paul’s life was to proclaim the gospel of God. He
welcomed heartbreak, disillusionment, and tribulation for only one
reason— these things kept him unmovable in his devotion to the gospel of
God.
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