Lesson 33: The Example of Christ – 15:1-7
 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.

We continue in this lesson to see how Jesus wants us to work with others. We have already learned we are not to judge them, and we are not to make them stumble in anything. Those are both things we should NOT do, so now Jesus tells us what we SHOULD do for people around us.

Verse 1 says we are to bear with their failings. This means we must not become impatient with them.

The verse continues that we are not to please ourselves.

Both of these statements are the opposite of how we usually treat people. Since we understand something, we think they should as well. Since something gives us joy, we think they should receive joy also. When they cannot, we become impatient, forgetting how long it took us to learn these kinds of lessons in our own lives.


Jesus never scolded anyone but the religious leaders of His day – and these He scolded because He knew they understood the Truth and rejected it anyway. You and I do not have the ability to read someone else’s heart and mind, so we do not have the right to scold anyone for not believing or not trusting Jesus more than we do.

God says (in Verse 5) that we are to encourage others instead of scolding, so we together, as we both learn from Him, can bring glory to Him.

Learning to think of others first, before we think of what we want or what we think should be, is the greatest act of love we can offer anyone else – and it is the beginning of transforming our minds to be like Jesus.

*Think of a time you helped someone else learn something about Jesus as you did your best to understand what they were feeling at that time. What happened?