The Example of Christ
15:1 We 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.” 4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
Christ the Hope of Jews and Gentiles
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”
10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Paul the Minister to the Gentiles
14 I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. 15 But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. 18 For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, 19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; 20 and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, 21 but as it is written,
“Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”
Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome
22 This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. 23 But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, 24 I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. 25 At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27 For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. 28 When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. 29 I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
30 I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, 31 that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. 33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. (ESV)
Lord, this is my prayer to You today for all True North students and families: Ro 15:5-6 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank you for the endurance we get from Your Spirit and the encouragement of Your Word with all it’s promises! Let us all respond to please You today with the joy of Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving all rolled into one, today and everyday!
13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
What an amazing verse! The key to having joy and peace is putting your full trust in God. He is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, faithful and omnipresent. There is nothing that He can not do and that He does not know. When we rely fully on Him for all things in our lives we know that there is no need to fear, but instead we can have joy and hope. Any hope we have as Christians comes from God and is given by the Holy Spirit. The next time you lack joy or hope ask yourself if you are truly trusting God for all things. If not, repent, and trust to receive His joy and peace!
I love in this chapter how Paul sets yet another great example for us to apply to everyday life. We need to be glorifying God in everything we do, even when it is something God uses us for, we cannot take the credit, we have to give all glory to God!!
20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
Paul always had the ambition to preach the Gospel in all circumstances, every moment he got, he always included the Gospel in his answers like at the Sanhedrin and just was Gospel Crazy. Paul knew that the Gospel was the power saving message that people needed, that it had the power for people to turn to Christ in salvation, who is the only way to salvation! We should be having this ambition to preach the Gospel to people and just tell them about Christ.
This is a great chapter about Christians bonding together and helping each other through tough times and glorifying God through it.
30I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me
The biggest way we can help our fellow believers is by praying for them. We need to make sure we are being faithful in this.
1We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
We should always encourage our other brothers and sisters in Christ. We should also encourage those that are not and stop bring them down. We should please others not just to make us feel good but to comfort them.(HOPE ALL HAD A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!)
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With an undivided heart we may glorify our God. If anyone went to true north untited I hope that we are all still working on this daily! But in verse 5, how blessed are we that our God gives us endurance through tough situations and encourages us throughout our lives! What a blessing!!!! And now that we know we are co-heirs with Christ, our fellow believers are our brothers and sisters! And as we grow and follow Christ together, God will give us a spirit of unity! We must encourage and help our brothers and sisters in Christ as they follow Christ and His example!
30I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
I agree with Nacho that the biggest way we can help our fellow believers is by praying for them and praying continually, not just once or twice. We should devote some time to pray for others Chirstians that they may represent God boldly in this broken world.
20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
22This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
Paul made spreading the Gospel his main priority in life. He was always eager to preach the Word to those who had not yet heard it, and he was willing to sacrifice whatever it took to ensure that he remained steadfast in his commitment. One of the things that he sacrificed was friends; numerous times throughout his letters, he mentions how much he wants to go see the people to whom he is writing, but he cannot because he needs to keep spreading the Gospel to the unsaved in other parts of the world. How much are we willing to sacrifice so that others can hear about Christ’s payment for their sins? Are we willing to do whatever it takes, or do we keep silent because we don’t want to risk losing friends or being ridiculed? Instead of holding back from fear, we need to unite as a church body (verse 5) with one mission: to bring the Gospel to every student at every high school in Orange County, no matter what sacrifices we will have to make.
20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
22This is why I have often been hindered from coming to you.
i really like this verse, paul was always preaching the gospel where ever he went, he had the mind set to do that, and he gave up alot of things to preach the gospel. paul shared the gospel every open door he had, like kyle said he knew that was the power saving message people needed to hear!!
18I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—
Notice here in this verse Paul’s goal for the ministry: he wanted the Gentiles to obey! He didn’t just want them to hear him preach or pray a prayer or improve. He wanted their lives to be changed as they did what God commanded. This is a them in the book of Romans. Paul mentions it at the beginning in Romans 1:5. And then he brings it up again in Romans 6:17. This is a great reminder for me as a pastor and for all of us at True North. The goal of our ministry is for high school student to obey what Christ has commanded so they can go and teach others to do the same!
Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
Just like this letter built up the believers in Rome we can build others up by sharing the truth, teaching it, instructing others, and living a life that others can follow as an example.
1. We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
Paul identifies himself with the strong Christians, those who personal convictions allow them more freedom than the weak.
2. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
Not that Christians shouldn’t please themselves, but we should not insist on doing what we want without regard of other Christians.
3. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
Christ did not please himself! he came to do the will of his Father, not his own will. ( see John 4:34).
4. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Here, Paul defend his application of Ps 69:9 to Christ. In so doing, he states and awesome truth concerning the purpose of Scripture. Scripture was written for our instruction, so that as we wait patiently we might be encouraged to hold fast our hope in Christ.
7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Being Christian we have to love with an unconditional love and be willing to accpet anyone just as Christ did. Strong christians should not look down on a Christian with weaker faith, but instead he should accept him. We as Christians should never deny another believer no matter what sins he has done, we need to love one another and come together as a whole (Romans 15:6) and worship our God. I immensely struggle with this, I constantly condemn others whose faith is weaker than mine instead of accepting them as a fellow Christian. I pray to God that I will overcome my self-righteousness and that I will love just as Jesus did, with unconditional love. I hope that we all learn to love unconditionally and judge with love and do everything we do to please God.
7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Yes, this is a really good chapter! And I must say there’s a really good point to this verse. If Jesus, who is perfect, is willing to bring us sinful people into God’s family, shouldn’t we be willing to accept each other?! Why do we have issues and fights and drama when we all have a relationship with God?! We should be encouraging one another daily and should never have a bad relationship with a fellow being. We should have no enemies because that can cause others to stumble. I was just thinking about that when I read this. God is what keeps us close and He encourages us to fellowship with one another daily. We should all have the same love that God has shown us, and if you see someone down, pick them up! And hey, they’re your brother or sister in Christ! :D
Great comment Beth!
13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I also liked this verse. To have full joy and peace, you must be trusting in God for everything! This is so important to do! Putting your trust elsewhere brings the opposite of joy and peace.
30 I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
paul shows his humility by proving that he isn’t afraid to ask for help. he trusts in God to help him overcome. prayer is the expression of our dependence on God, and we need to constantly be praying for each other, and asking for prayer requests as brothers and sisters in Christ! Let us trust in His mighty power and bring our requests before Him! :D
5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
This verse really stood out to me because it talks about where endurance and encouragement come from. God is the source of those two things, He gives to us and as we continue to have endurance in following Him and live encouraged and building each other up we will have unity all together, the unity of following Christ Jesus. What an awesome prayer!
7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
This verse has huge implications to our lives. We are to accept everyone as Christ accepted us. Christ accepted and died for us as sinners who in no way deserved anything. Likewise we should accept all Christians and consider nobody an outsider. Christians should be characterized by acceptance for one another. When we display unity, despite our differences, it brings glory to God.
7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
This is a great verse to memorize. A lot of “Christians” that I talk to at my school use the phrase “accepting Jesus into my heart” this is the perfect verse to use. To show that we do not accept Jesus he accepts us.
20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
it is so important that we are spreading the Word of God on our campuses. we need to be telling people who havent heard, because if we dont, who will? i also like how in this verse Paul says so that he will not be building on someone else’s foundation. Paul is humble and doesnt want to take credit for someone else’s work. this verse reminds us how imperative evangelizing and telling others about Christ is.
(v2) Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
We need to encourage, edify, build up and strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ. Encouragement is very helpful to Christians, because it strengthens them in their walk and helps them stay on the right path if they are feeling down or discouraged.
(v3) For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
Jesus’ ultimate goal was to please God the Father, not man. He didn’t conform to this world to make others like Him. He did the Fathers will, because all that matters in this life is pleasing God. We are to carry out God’s commands, even if the world looks down upon them.
A great example is obeying our parents. The world looks down on listening to your parents. Consider your secular friends and how they treat their parents. We get looked down upon if we obey once they command us to do something. Keep in mind that God knows all and sees all. We are rewarded for obeying Gods word. So do what God wants, not what the world wants.
6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
A lot of the time people are crossed in who to serve (God or money). One heart and one mouth. We should be undivided in our hearts and choose who we truly do serve. You are either 100% for Christ or you aren’t truly for him. Even when we may sit down to worship or pray we might have something else on our mind that keeps us from staying completely focused. This is a good verse for us to think about as we go about our activities each and every day.
19 by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
Paul makes it so clear that it is not any of his work that has proclaimed the Gospel. It is all thru the power of Christ and the Holy Spirit that he can even preach and have people listen and repent! We must have this same approach when we evangelize. We need to be fully relying on the Power of God working within us if we want to see fruit and ultimately people repent and be saved thru our efforts in the power of Christ. We got to remember that it is God who does the saving work, and we need to rely on Him to do what He has promised :)
30I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.
I think that it is amazing that every time he is done he asks for prayer. He asks not only just for the prayer, but for them to join him and help him.
18I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—
19by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. 20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
i love how Paul was so passionite about Christ, like in the verses he was wanting to speak of nothing but what Christ had done, and spread it everywhere so people could hear the Gospel. It was his ambition to preach it where it wasn’t known.
This really made me think of how to step it up of envangilizing out of my comfort zone. talking to people who already know about Christ is good, But also talking to more people who have no idea who Christ is. They need to hear the Word of God, inviting them to Church. It can lead them to God, helping more people get saved! Paul is a great example of spreading the Lord’s name.
5May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,
This should be something we pray for daily. There needs to be unity among us because if all the Christians are arguing constantly then we can’t get anything one. We all have the main thing in common though and that is our relationship with God, and that should be our top priority.
2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
We should all do this. Instead of bringing your friends down with hurtful words, bring them up with praises. Like if they didn’t do well on a test, say that they’ll do better next time instead of saying “well you should have studied harder”. We all try our best but sometimes we have off days.
2Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
We need to be supportive to others. In sports people are always first to criticize then to build up with things that they did positive. We all should be more positive and look on the positive side.
14I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
The first few verses made me feel sorry for those that constantly make short jokes toward people…I’m just sayin…
I so like the first 6 verses though in respect to building one another up, covering for each others weaknesses and praising God as one unified body of followers of Christ. This gives me a new respect for those in the church who appear to be struggling or who are just not getting it. Rather than ignoring that, it’s my responsibility to build up and encourage these people with scripture which has been given to us for teaching. I should hope that the same thing happens towards me. If I am off a bit or am not getting a particular teaching or command, I hope that one of my Christian brothers or sisters comes along side me to help me so that we can be unified and like minded in serving our God.
20 It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
Paul made Christ the number one priority in his life. He took Jesus’ great commission to heart and made many disciples throughout his life. We should also make it a priority to tell others about the good news. We can’t falter in spreading the gospel. I pray that the campus lunches next week provide us many opportunities to share the gospel.
2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
We need to be encouraging one another and spurring one another on! We should not be tearing someone down in anyway! Love others as Christ loved us! What you say to a person can either build them up, or destroy them. So, we need to make sure that what we say is encouraging. The smallest thing can make a person’s day, such as letting them know that you are praying for them!
7Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
This is a good one for us to act out at church. We need to not just stay with our normal friends and not welcome new people that we might not know. We need to be accepting other christians no matter what they look like or are interested in.
verse 13 really applies to my life!
I find myself doing this and I didn’t even know it is a verse in the bible!
Anyways many times I find myself having a bad day, for whatever reason things don’t go so well… But then a thought always seems to pop in my head and that is…. Why am I so sad? I have Jesus Christ on my side and with Him I have everything! Whenever I think that I am immeadiatly filled with hope and my whole mood changes for the better!
2 Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
Even Christ(who is God) didn’t please hmiself. Although He didn’t see others more important than himself(of course) He still did things for our good and not His. He was mocked, he was tempted, he was beaten, he was crucified, he took the full wrath of God apon himself, and he died for you and me. Thats true love. And you can’t forget his domination over death after he rose again.
20It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation.
we are supposed to “go forth, and make disciples.” although in some cases, it is easier said than done. missionaries risk their lives going to countries that persecute Christianity. if we evangelized, we’d be helping in our own way.
Pray for the Mui Family that they can convert more Chinese into Christians.
4For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
I love this verse! It states that everything in the bible is written to TEACH us. It shows that it’s not just a book, its a way to discover a new kind of life. To Teach us that to get what you want,you have to EARN IT. That when we read the scriptures, and when we sing these songs, and when we ACTUALLY read the bible that we will be encouraged and be “throttled” to learn more!
3For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”
Whenever someone insults a christian it hurts God. and i love to think of it that way because i would never want to hurt God, therefore i should always be loving to others!
Sorry i havent been commenting, ive been in San Diego all weekend!