Romans 15:1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
Christianity is an upside down belief. It makes claims of its followers that are simply unreasonable. It purposefully makes obedient followers sound and act differently from those in the surrounding culture, so that they become easy targets of ridicule and misunderstanding. It calls on it followers to do what is best for those around them, rather than making sure their own needs are met. That just doesn’t make sense!
Being a full-on Christian does go counter-cultural. There has never been, and never will be, a human driven culture that mimics Christianity. Leaders who called on the populace to think first of their neighbors and serve them, would never last. We are by nature a selfish creature, wanting to meet our own needs first.
About the only time we see some semblance of selflessness is with newborn babies. Parents will stay up, deprive themselves of sleep, food, normalcy, all in the attempt to meet the needs of the most vulnerable people. If you have had kids, you know what I am talking about. When that child cries out, we respond.
Our text today continues the train of thought from the previous chapter, that the Holy Spirit guides and directs the process of cleaning up our lives. There are people who live by rules that no longer have relevance for the Jesus-follower. They mirror an old way of life from which we have all been freed.
“Accept the one whose faith is weak without quarreling over disputable matters.” This is how the previous chapter began, and Paul picks up the theme of the weak believers again and advances his discussion. In short, we need to do what the weak members need, so as not to cause them to fall from the faith.
Paul enjoins us to not please ourselves. We have a responsibility to our Christian neighbors, those among whom we live, play, work, and fellowship. We must be mindful of them as we live out our faith. We need to live lives of encouragement.
Now this is not self-encouragement, it is the encouragement of others. For Paul, who has endured untold hardships in his journey to be obedient to the mission given to him by Christ Himself, it isn’t about him. He has taken a back seat to the Gospel. The needs of others have a higher priority in his life than his own needs.
Now those words sound so foreign to those of us who live in the West. We are a culture of me and mine. But the Gospel calls us to think of the needs of others first, and work to meet those needs ahead of meeting our own needs. Christianity is an “other first” faith.
Jesus thought of us first, rather than of Himself. He went to the Cross, not because it met a need of His, but because it meet our need. His was a life of service to others, just as our life is to be, if we actively follow Him.
This is an upside down way of thinking. How will our needs be met, if we don’t look after number one? Won’t I just end up with nothing, if I am always working to meet the needs of others?
These questions betray our selfishness and our limited understanding of the power of God to work in the lives of believers, and it ignores the promises of the powerful God to meet the needs of His children, that is us. So if we serve ourselves first, then we are not trusting Him to meet our needs. By serving others and their needs, we are actively trusting Him to meet our needs.
The Arnold Journey 