Romans 15:16 (NKJV)

“…ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”

The end goal of ministering the gospel of God, is that man will return again to his original estate and his original position with God. The purpose of ministering the gospel of God is to bring man again to a place with God that he is accepted and acceptable. The reason for the gospel of God is to make a pathway for atonement to remove the curse of sin, for redemption to integrate atonement into human reality and for sanctification by the Holy Spirit to perfect the work of atonement and redemption. These are the fruit of the gospel of God.

God longs for man to again return home. God longs for humanity to come to grips with her lostness and therefore embrace the gospel of God that works the work of God in man. No level of personal human morality can ever replace the work of the gospel of God, because no human moral effort can be accepted by God without the prior work of the cross and the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. We are called therefore never to lean on our personal human behavior as the basis for God’s approval, but on the sanctifying work that must proceed from God. What makes the gospel of God a work of God is that the gospel of God originates from God, it’s sustained by God and produces a result that only God can produce. Correct human behavior that God approves must be the fruit of a divine labor. As workers together with God, we need to always be conscious of our human limitations in the formation of men; laboring with God but conscious that only God can do the work of God.

“Lord, I cannot do Your work. I cannot sanctify myself or sanctify another man. This is a divine labor and completely outside the circumference of my abilities. I know my limitations. With eyes lifted up to You, I pray that the full benefits of the gospel of God should be manifested in my life, and in the lives of those to whom I share this gospel. In Jesus name. Amen.”