He pleased not Himself

Romans 15:3-6

“For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Psalm 69:9

“For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.”

The Lord Jesus is our example of how we should treat one another, for Jesus did not please Himself when dealing with a weaker brother.  Of course there are principle doctrines we should never compromise, but there are lesser issues by which we could crush and destroy the faith of a weaker brother.  I remember one person who truly believed that drinking coffee was a sin.  Seeing us drink coffee closed the door for him.  He could not hear anything we said, for he saw us in great sin, openly and in the church building.  In our liberty we had closed the door of faith for him. 

Paul’s point is that if Jesus could give His life to save a soul, it should be easy for a believer to sacrifice some, meat, or coffee or any other liberty in Christ that we enjoy, that might cause someone to stumble. 

Paul appealed to Psalm 69:9 for an example of these principles from the Old Testament that applied to the Christian fellowship today.  The Psalmist feared that the attacks upon him may prove detrimental to some of his fellow believers who hope in the Lord God.  Thus, He felt responsibility for how the reproaches would affect them.  He may have not been overly touched, because of His strong faith, but he felt their reproaches as His own.  It was as “you scorn God you scorn me, and you scorn my weaker brothers you scorn me.”  This Old Testament poem, Psalm 69, was written for our learning too (v.4). 

We are reminded not to please ourselves, but to truly care for these weaker and new believers

and instead be comforted by the Scriptures (v.4) and prayer (v.5) so that we all have hope.  So we are to “be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus” not fight over petty issues, but “with one mind and one mouth glorify God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Churches rarely divide over major doctrinal issues.  It is usually over personal preferences which we feel is OK whether others agree or not.

Verse 5 should be our prayer, too.  Revival is not a good feelings, but good actions which will be seen by those who are not yet saved, as truly Christ-like.  That will attract them toward salvation for their broken lives need that kind of patience and love.  By this we glorify God.