Romans 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2  Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
3  For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

As we begin chapter 15, the apostle Paul was directed by God to continue to speak on relationships among born again Christians. There is a stark contrast here to the attitude the saints in Corinth had. Paul needed to publicly rebuke them for their schisms.
Here Paul talked about the strong. The strong person is the one who is more confident in his faith in God. It would be the saved person who has walked with God for a time and has learned that God is faithful in all things. However, as we see here, the strong person can also be weak. He should be bearing the infirmities of the weak. Yet there is the danger that the strong person might desire to please himself. The strong person always has room to grow.
Christians do not need their names in the lime light. Christians do not act based on what benefit they might get from their actions. I know I have been scoffed at because I chose to help younger Christians who wanted to learn, rather than show favouritism to those who had been saved for a longer period of time. The accusation made against me was that I was trying to get the younger Christians on my side to win against the “stronger” Christians. For me, that was not the issue at all. I was not in a tug-of-war. I never have been. My master is God. I will help any person that is wanting help. I have poured hours into people’s lives because who said they wanted help. Later on they left and don’t want to show their faces. That is between them and God. My duty is to help people know the truth.
The stronger Christian is not a stubborn Christian. A stubborn Christian is not strong at all. He is selfish and will not listen to the truth. There are professing strong Christians who refuse to accept the Bible as their only and final authority. They are far too “educated” to accept that one Book can have superiority to all other books. They judge truth by the popularity of it. That cancels out the Bible. That cancels out God.
In verse 2 we see that we need to please our neighbour for his good to edification. We are not being told to be good “politicians” who know how to butter people up in order to get their votes. No, this is talking about seeking to help a neighbour for his good. Flattery is never for any person’s good. True Christians want to help other Christians grow in the Lord. That is what it is all about. A stronger brother wants to help the weaker brother grow and be able to give an answer for the reason of the hope that is in him.
Paul was directed to point to the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not come to please Himself. That is rather obvious. He was born in a stable and placed in a manger. He did not come into this world in a palace. He was tempted for forty days and forty nights as He began His public ministry. It did not take long after He began His public ministry that people came to try to trap Him in His words. The Pharisees developed a real hatred for Him. They had their friends who were happy to join them in trying to discredit Jesus in any way they could. Pilate did not care about Jesus. He was a true politician. His big concern was being seen in a good light by Herod.
Jesus prayed to His Father and asked if the cup He was about to drink, could be removed from Him. He sweat as it were sweat drops of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.
No, Jesus certainly did not come to please the flesh. He knew His death and shed blood were necessary for anyone to be able to be saved. Paul quoted from Psalm 69:9. The Psalmist wrote about what Jesus Christ would do. Jesus Christ was willing to suffer the cruelty put upon Him during His three and one half years of public ministry. He was willing to suffer the slander cast at Him at His trial. He was willing to go to the cross and be mocked there. He shed His blood and died on that cross, making it possible for you and I to be saved. He did not stay on that cross. He was buried and three days later He rose again, victorious over sin and death.
Jesus Christ is our example. We cannot die for anyone’s sin. We certainly can and we must die to self and be willing to help some weaker brother to grow stronger in the Lord. We do not wait until they are as strong as we think we are before we will help them. We ask God to guide and direct us so that we can be a help to others in need.
In verse 4 we are reminded that the things written before were written for our learning. It is all profitable for us.
We need patience. We need to work with other saints that God brings our way. We need to be willing to help them to grow in the Lord as well. We are not called to have a “baby sitting” service. We are called upon to work with other saints to help them to grow. We learn patience as we read the Scriptures. We also find comfort in the Scriptures. We can see how gracious and patient God has been with us. We can see how Jesus dealt with the disciples. He needed to rebuke them at times, but He never abandoned them. Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus heard all three of those denials. Jesus heard the cock crow and He looked over at Peter. He did not need to say anything. He did not need to scowl at Peter. Peter knew he had sinned. He went out and wept bitterly. Jesus reached out to Peter after His resurrection. He told the women to tell Peter and the other disciples that He was risen from the dead. Later, Jesus spoke directly to Peter on the sea shore. Peter felt terrible for what he had done to His Lord and Master. Jesus did not white wash that. Peter was forgiven and he was given an assignment. He needed to stop trying to compare himself with others and just follow Jesus.
We can take comfort in the truth of God’s Word if we are truly saved. We can see how He works with His children and shows them the importance of obeying Him.
We do not need to accept the lies that people should be bogged down with sins for 5, 10, 15 or more years. We can see them gain the victory over sin and we can see them becoming stronger in the Lord.
As we look at the Christian life in the light of God’s Word we find hope. We know that while the challenges of following Jesus are real, we also know there are blessings that we can expect today just as Paul received them in his time on earth. God never changes. His Word never changes. What is needed is for those who are saved, to walk humbly with the Lord and learn from His Word. He wants to bless us. We need to be ready to receive the blessings He has for us. We will miss out if we doubt Him after we are saved. If we submit to Him, we will find great blessing.
Pastor Bartel