Rescuing Ambition

The Summit of Our Salvation

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

July 20, 2025

Rescuing Ambition

Let’s turn to Rom. 15 and we’re going to pick up in verse 14. As Paul nears the end of this letter he opens his heart and shares more personally about his own ministry and ambition in life.

¹⁴ I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. ¹⁵ Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷ Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. ¹⁸ I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. ²⁰ It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. ²¹ Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

²² This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

For Paul, ministry was always about the good news that Jesus came to save us from our sins and to restore loving relationship with God. God had called him specifically to preach that good news to Gentiles and he shares with them that it has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.

Paul had an ambition in life. It was to preach Christ where people had never heard about Jesus before. Paul didn’t want to build on anyone else’s foundation, he wanted to do his own excavation and pouring of the foundation. That’s not everyone’s ambition. Some people are meant to build on the foundation others have laid and there’s nothing wrong with that. Paul acknowledges that in 1 Cor. 3:

¹⁰ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else

is building on it. But each one should build with care. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3:10-11

God doesn’t mean for everyone to have the same ambition but I believe God wants us all to have an ambition to do our part to build on that one foundation which is Jesus Christ.

I’ve titled this message Rescuing Ambition. That’s not original with me. Dave Harvey wrote a book by that title. But it underlines the fact that ambition in itself isn’t a bad thing, in fact it can be a good thing. God gave Paul an ambition to reach people who no one had yet reached and that drove him (in a good way) to keep pressing on towards the goal.

Ambition can be a bad thing. James warns us that selfish ambition results in discord and all kinds of evil things. The problem with selfish ambition is the first word: selfish. Selfish ambition is driven by a desire to promote self even if it’s at the cost of people around us. Selfish ambition sees people as a means to an end, just another rung to be stepped on as we make our way up the ladder.

But that’s not what God intended ambition to be. Ambition is meant to cause us to aspire to greater heights. To make our lives count for something bigger than ourselves, for something that lasts. And the good news is we don’t need a Paul-sized ministry to qualify for ambition. God has a custom-built ambition that fits you and me right where we are and for who are. Whether you’re a teacher, a police officer, a bricklayer, a homemaker or a salesclerk, whether you’re single or married, a parent or not, young or old it, introvert or extrovert, God has custom-fitted kingdom ministry for you.

Rescuing ambition means we avoid either extreme. We don’t want selfish ambition but we also don’t want no ambition. Ambition is the drive to swim against the current rather than let the current take us wherever it takes us. Ambition guards us from mailing it in, just trying to make it through another day. Godly ambition stirs a desire to see our lives bring glory to God. Even if that means trouble and sacrifice.

British preacher John Henry Jowett puts it eloquently:

It is possible to evade a multitude of sorrows through the cultivation of an insignificant life. Indeed, if a man's ambition is to avoid the troubles of life, the recipe is simple: shed your ambitions in every direction, cut the wings of every soaring purpose, and seek a life with the fewest contacts and relations. If you want to get through the world with the smallest trouble, you must reduce yourself to the smallest compass. Tiny souls can dodge through life; bigger souls are blocked on every side. As soon as a man begins to enlarge his life, his resistances are multiplied. Let a man remove his petty selfish purposes and enthrone Christ, and his sufferings will be increased on every side.

1. Let’s make it our ambition to build up not tear down

I am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Vs. 14

Paul had never been to Rome but he takes the time to verbalize his feelings to them. He feels affection for them: my brothers and sisters. And he has confidence in them – I am convinced… you are full of goodness, knowledge, and you’re able to teach each other. It’s important to Paul to take the time to say this.

I have an old friend on Long Island named Andy. We used to landscape together and often we’d find ourselves having friendly debates about bible doctrine or another. But every once in a while I’d make a point and Andy would say, “well, that goes without saying.” And I’d say, “no Andy, that doesn’t go without saying. It needs to be said!”

Paul could have said to himself, of course I love them and believe in them. It goes without saying. But he took the time to say it! Take the time to say words that build others up. We hear so many words that tear down and deflate – you never know how telling someone you care about them and believe in them might give them the encouragement they need in that moment.

This is a function of love. Don’t lie. Don’t flatter. But do build up. Paul tells us earlier in this chapter to please others for their good to build them up. Ephesians 4 says not to let unwholesome talk come out of our mouth but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.

Take the time to say words that build the people in your life up according to their need.

2. Let’s make it our ambition to glory in Christ rather than ourselves

¹⁵ Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷ Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. ¹⁸ I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 

Paul experienced incredible success in ministry. He saw many lost souls give their hearts to Jesus. He preached the gospel and planted churches from Jerusalem to Illyricum. Illyricum was the furthest point of Paul’s missionary journeys deep into unreached Gentile territory. The power of the Holy Spirit had done signs and wonders through Paul. God was blessing Paul with tremendous success in ministry…and that’s where ambition can go wrong.

Sin turns our gaze inwardly. There’s a Latin phrase, in curvitus se that means the inward curve of sin. When we turn ambition inwardly, ambition becomes climbing the ladder, making more money, looking important, impressing people.

Dave Harvey writes in his book, “We love glory…We were created to look for it and to love it when we find it.” The problem is selfish ambition seeks glory for ourselves. We want the credit. We want the applause. We are hungry for glory because we think that receiving glory will give our lives meaning and purpose. Ironically however the more glory we get, the emptier we feel. The Bible has a word for that. It’s called “vain-glory”. Empty glory.

Paul writes in verse 17 therefore (because of all this success) I glory in Christ Jesus in my service for God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me…

He turns his ambition outward and upward towards Christ. When he boasts, he boasts in Christ not himself. He gives Jesus the glory and the credit. Heb. 1:3 says Christ is the radiance of the glory of God. Let’s look for our glory in Christ, and love it when we find it.

3. Let’s make it our ambition to value the relationships God has given us

²⁰ It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. ²¹ Rather, as it is written:

“Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”

²² This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.

²³ But now that there is no more place for me to work in these regions, and since I have been longing for many years to visit you, ²⁴ I plan to do so when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there, after I have enjoyed your company for a while. Rom. 15:20-24

We’ve talked about Paul’s ambition to preach where no one had preached and build where no one had built, but what I want to point out is that as successful and expansive and demanding as Paul’s ministry was, he didn’t fall into the trap of valuing ministry and forgetting people.

Maybe the believers in Rome wondered why Paul never came to visit them. Paul tells them – I wanted to, I’ve longed to for years, but I was hindered until now because there were places and people who had never heard the good news of Jesus and I needed to go there. I love you but you’ve heard and trusted in Jesus – my ambition is to share Jesus with those who’ve never heard. But I’m able to come now and enjoy being with you.

Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that ultimately ministry isn’t about having a title or launching a program or big budgets or large crowds. It’s about people. It’s about relationships. Ministry begins in our home. It begins in our church. It begins with our friends. Let’s make it our ambition to value the relationships God has already given us and look forward to the relationships God is going to give us.

And let’s make sure that we bring Jesus into every relationship we have. But that goes without saying.