Rom. 15:1-7 Pleasing Our Neighbor As Christ Has Pleased Us

SPEAKER 01 : 0:05

So Paul carries over his thoughts about being thoughtful towards those who are weak in faith and not entering into disputes with them. He carries over this theme into chapter 15. And there he says, “…we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.” For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s chapter 15, verses 1 to 6. So we’re encouraged to, those of us who are strong in our faith, to bear witness with the scruples of the weak. And not only that, rather to bear with the scruples of the weak. And not only that, but also to help the weak and the wounded. I have noticed that when I withhold what I can to help somebody else, the spirit strikes me pretty strongly with a negative feeling. And it’s a shameful thing that I do that, if I do it from time to time. And it makes me realize that the most beautiful thing that we can enjoy as men and women who are men and women of faith is to help somebody else, to give them support, to uplift them. And of course, you know, if it’s our means, our monetary means, sometimes that gets quite scary because we are at the end of ourselves. We’re at our limits. We can’t do much more. And yet somebody is in need. And so we help them, but at great risk seemingly to ourselves. And we have to believe ourselves. that God will replenish, God will help us. We are mere conduits from God to the one in need. The supply passes from God through us to the person who needs that help. That’s how we ought to see ourselves. And when we do, we realize how joyful it is to be helpful to somebody else, and how miserable it is to just serve ourselves. You see, this is what he says here, let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification. And Paul, of course, reminds us that Jesus is our example, for even Christ did not please himself. Even Christ. Why does he say even Christ? Because Christ is the King of kings. It should be people serving him. And yet he comes down to the earth and serves others, washes the feet of the disciples and serves them. How amazing. And serves them with his whole life, of course, even to his death. It’s a standard that we can’t meet, isn’t it? We never do meet it, but we seek to copy it in little ways. And the church throughout the ages, the people of God have taken that role upon them to serve others. And that is why there are so many hospitals and caring facilities throughout the world, because they were originated by Christian people a century or so ago, two centuries ago. For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. Now, why does he quote that? That doesn’t seem to fit, does it? But it does, really, when you think about it. Jesus chose to allow God’s disfavor, that is, the disfavor towards God that human beings have, to fall upon him. You know, God is ridiculed in many places of the world and in this country, belittled and demeaned and ignored. And Jesus took that role of allowing himself to be belittled and demeaned and ignored. And that is what Christians do today if they’re walking with God. We are willing to be sneered at, to be belittled because of the name of Jesus, because we believe that Jesus rose from the dead and broke the power of death. To assert that in a public arena, and especially an atheistic or secular public arena, is going to invite ridicule. But we choose to invite, we decide we will invite ridicule, because the reproaches of those who reproach you, dear God, fall upon me, the Christian. Now why does he then come up with this statement? For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Well, I think he’s putting that in there precisely because we need to keep following the Scriptures and reading the Scriptures in order to remind ourselves of our role in the world. If you forget Scripture, you forget your role ultimately, and you just become one of the crowd. But in Christ, and when you look at all the Old Testament, and remember, he’s talking about the Old Testament, of course, here, because there was not Scripture written at this particular time. Well, not a lot of it anyway. But he’s talking mainly about the Old Testament, the stories of Abraham rescuing Lot and David caring for his people, and all the things that Samson did on behalf of God. These are for our… learning and our encouragement. And notice, he says, they are written for our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. You see, the word patience there means long endurance, having the ability to endure and to be comforted by Scripture. And And as we are helped by Scripture, comforted by it, and given patience through it, that enables us to have a hope. that then spills over to our friends and neighbors and loved ones. As we read Scripture, it has an effect upon our lives and we become the helpers in the community. There’s a quiet inward strength about us that enables us to serve others the weak in faith, or those in need, and people wonder, well, why are those Christians doing that? Well, we’re doing it because we have internalized the hope and the comfort that Scripture gives us. We have a secret weapon. It is the Bible. It is Scripture. And if you’re not reading it on a regular basis, you’re not taking advantage of the inner strength that that weapon provides. Now, may the God of patience, verse 5, and comfort grant you to be like-minded towards one another according to Christ Jesus. I love that. I would have missed that in my legalistic days. What’s that? The God of patience and comfort. I’m not concerned about that. I’m just concerned about getting the commandments right. Oh, no, don’t miss this. This is the core. When we know Jesus Christ, when we know that he is our sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world, when we know that we are reconciled to the Father through him, when we know that his righteousness is imputed to us, when we know that the cross has taken the judgment of all our wrongdoing, past, present, and future, we are comforted. The God of patience and comfort grants you to be like-minded towards other people. Because you say, well, they also have had their sins remitted. A total stranger to God, who knows nothing about Scripture, has had his sins remitted. That is the message of the Gospel. God declares innocent, justifies the wicked. That’s Romans verse 4. And it is our responsibility to do our best as we can to let them know that, you see. What a tremendously interesting and beautiful and fetching mission we have. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, of course, unfortunately, we have not had one mind and one mouth. There are denominations, multiple, hundreds of denominations, Christian denominations throughout the world. There are loads of disagreements between Catholics and Protestants. We do our best, though, to emphasize that Jesus is our atoning sacrifice, is the one who brings us to God, who died for our sins, who rose again. And as long as we keep emphasizing the major truths of the Scripture, then we will not fall trap to the minors The major versus the minor, you see. The minor issues that have led to so many fragmentations in the Christian community. So, therefore, Paul says, receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God. We receive other people even though we don’t know them. I have to confess that I’m weak at this. I don’t have the social connections that I used to have years ago as an older man now. But hopefully through this broadcast, I can receive you as you have received Jesus Christ and as I has received Jesus Christ. When I think of how God has had mercy upon me throughout all my life, when I think of all the incredibly difficult struggles I have had with sin, and yet the Lord Jesus has not rejected me, but has constantly called me towards believing in him and trusting in him, I think to myself, how can he possibly reject anybody if he didn’t reject me? That’s how we see things. We receive others because Christ received us. think of your conversion. How did it come about? Did it come about because you were a righteous person, because you were seeking him so faithfully when others were ignoring him? Or was it God seeking you? Was there a call that you felt within your life and you couldn’t explain it or understand it until somebody opened the scripture to you and then you realized, oh, this is the voice of God calling me in Jesus and through Jesus Christ. You see, it is God who is calling us. It is not we who are searching for God. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God, Paul says in Romans 3, quoting from the Old Testament in verse 11 and 12. It’s incredible. We think we’re searching for God. But the truth is that we are simply trying to relieve our guilt and shame and fear. It is God who has to search for us so that we know him through what he does for us, not for what we do for him. Well, contemplate these verses, Romans chapter 15, verses 1 through 7, and you’ll get a fresh outlook on your neighbor and your community. Well, thanks for listening, everyone. Today, Colin Cook here and How It Happens. You’ve been listening to this broadcast, which you can hear any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download a free app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com, and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. You can also hear it on the radio, by the way, 10 o’clock in the evening, repeated at 4 in the morning on KLTT AM 670 in the Colorado area. If you’d like to make a donation, please do so. 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