Romans 15:1-3 - Bearing with the Weak

Romans 15:1-3 - ¹We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ² Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ³ For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

Message: Pleasing my neighbor

Time: Written in AD 57 from Greece, to the Christians, both Gentile and Jewish in Rome

What the Lord is Saying:

It's funny. In my post on the previous verse, from Chapter 14, I made mention that Paul chose to close that chapter not with verse 22, but with verse 23, and yet, reading this first verse reminds me that Paul was just writing, verse divisions and chapter divisions came much later. 

So here I am looking at a new set of verses, even though, I will call it a new chapter. What was said in the previous verses: 

• Remember the weak in faith and do not quarrel over opinions. 
• People have different convictions. Respect those differences. Let God be the judge. 
• If you have a conviction, be fully convinced. 
• If you have a conviction, honor the Lord and give thanks to Him. 
• Make sure your acts in response to your conviction don't cause other brothers to stumble or hinder their walk. 
• Don't let what you call as good be called evil by someone else.
• The goal in all of this is peace. 
• Everything is clean, but that doesn't mean partaking of everything is correct. Look at your motives. 
• Be careful, what is good may in fact be sin if it is done with the wrong motives. 

This is quite interesting, Paul goes from don't quarrel to don't judge to honor the Lord to not causing your brother to stumble to spreading peace to right motives. The bottom line is a message that I see throughout scripture and that is, be careful.  

Thus, verse 1 of chapter 15, looks for like a conclusion. This is something Paul does often. He restates something he has said earlier. Yet, he is a little clearer here. It is those that are strong that must be sensitive to those who are weak. I think he is talking about maturity levels and young versus more mature Christians. 

At time, the young Christian has the freedom of Christ and so thinks that this freedom allows them to do what they want. The last thing that young Christian wants to see is their new faith be a long list of do's and do not's. And yet this is often what they see and in seeing that, they often turn away. The mature Christian needs to be careful in how he approaches the weaker one. Verse 1 says it great, "We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves." The goal isn't self-gratification for the Christian. It isn't supposed to be about me. I am my brother's keeper. 

Further, verse 2, "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." The reason we don't get baptized and go down and never get raised is because my life is about not me, but my brother. We are selfish creatures. We go to church thinking it is about us and getting our needs met. It is about the other person. That doesn't mean that every message is for someone else, because I can take personal application, but the music, preaching, church government, it's not about me. I am to please my neighbor. 

And what better example do we have than Christ? Verse 3, "For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”" Christ took on the sins of all. All the sins of mankind fell on him. He is our royal ambassador that my walk is about other people. 

I need this reminder daily. Selfishness and pleasing yourself is slammed into us day after day.  

Promise: I can hold onto the promise that I am serving God and my goal is to please Him and not myself, so I can look past my personal comfort and instead, focus on my brother or sister in Christ.