Lord, I swear there's no pain I know there's no danger In that bright world to which I go Welcome to this podcast from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. Faith Bible Church is a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching ministry dedicated to bringing the Good News of the Gospel to the whole world. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And now, for this week's message from Pastor Alan Battle. Romans 15, 1-6. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me. 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. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another and accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may, with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. This is the word of God. On November 19, 1863, after the most costly battle in the history of the United States, where almost 51,000 American men died and countless more were wounded near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln gave the most famous speech in American history, in which he called his fellow Americans to be dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead, we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That phrase, the last full measure of devotion, is one of the most powerful descriptions of the nature of bravery and sacrifice that I can think of. Soldiers on both sides of the Civil War fully gave their lives for causes that they believed in. They sacrifice their personal comfort and their desires for the greater good of their respective homelands. Throughout history, there have been many heroes who have given their lives, who have given their all. One such hero was portrayed in a film that came out just last month with the title, The Last Full Measure. It's based on the story of William Pitsenbarger. He was a para-rescue man who flew helicopter rescue missions in Vietnam. He personally saved over 60 men in over 250 missions. On April 11th in 1966, Pitts, as he was called, gave up his day off to go and help retrieve several guys who were pinned down in a firefight in the jungle. He was able to get nine guys into the rescue cages and up into the helicopter. When it was his time to leave with the chopper, he decided to stay on the ground and help the rest of the soldiers in the fight. A sniper's bullet ended his life, his short life at age 22, because he denied himself the pleasure of his rightful day off in order to serve his fellow soldiers who were in trouble. This week in Romans, Paul is going to call on all of us to give up our own pleasure in service of others. So will we respond with It's my pleasure. Don't mess with my pleasure. Or will we say, it's my pleasure to serve. Our passage today, Paul presents us with a choice of whom we are going to please. Will it be ourselves, or others, or God? Since the 60s, Our culture has embarked on a great experiment in focusing on the needs of the individual in favor of the needs of the community. Modern man's highest priority is to obey Shakespeare's dictum, to thine own self be true. Here's one from a modern motivational author trying to sound profound by using Shakespearean language. She said, never seek to please anyone. Seek to evolve thyself. Many baby boomers. bought into this philosophy and became known as the me generation, which was characterized by terms like self-fulfillment and self-actualization, the key word being self. It was reflected in the music of the era, songs like the Isley Brothers. It's your thing, do what you want to do. I can't tell you who to sock it to. Or Ricky Nelson's garden party. Well, you can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself. Or the Beatles. Please please me, oh yeah, like I please you. So listen to the late Steve Jobs, the developer of the iPhone, one of the most influential baby boomers. He said, Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. The most important, and most important, have the courage to follow your heart. Well, how did that philosophy work for Steve Jobs? Well, he and his girlfriend had a daughter when they were in their early 20s. He left them and refused to support them. He refused to acknowledge his daughter at all until the state forced him to take a DNA test. He rarely saw his daughter for the first seven years of her life. And when he did have time with her, he would often say and do incredibly cruel things. He wasn't just cruel to his family. He was notorious for regularly cursing and berating his employees, his business associates, and even perfect strangers. Maybe he was happy living that way. I doubt it. But those around him certainly were not happy. The me generation also spawned the sexual revolution, whose battle cry was, if it feels good, do it. 2 Timothy 3.4 says that in the last days, people will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. And based on what we see in our culture today, I think we may be getting near the end. Such selfishness is disastrous for a culture and for individuals. The results of that sexual revolution have cursed our nation. The desire to live for one's own gratification has led to skyrocketing divorce rates with all of its associated ills, like high levels of crime and drug abuse among fatherless boys and promiscuity and abortion among the girls. And it's not getting any better. A few years ago, Time Magazine, a publication that's far from being conservative, had a cover story about the millennials. They titled it, The Me, Me, Me Generation. And it was epitomized by this young lady taking a selfie. This self-centeredness is tearing our society apart. It's at the core of the LGBTQ movement and the modern appeal of socialism to young people. And what a contrast this is to the greatest generation who went through the Great Depression and World War II. I'm afraid if we face such crises today, our country would melt away like snowflakes. So what caused such a radical change? It was the abandonment of a biblical worldview. It was turning from God and his word to our own wisdom and guidance. We often hear the advice to follow our hearts, especially from Hollywood, but that's not godly wisdom. That is worldly wisdom. Listen to Jeremiah 17 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can understand it. Only the Lord can understand our hearts and the only way to overcome the deceitfulness of our hearts is to trust in him. And Jeremiah says, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. Steve Jobs called this being trapped by dogma, but it is actually living according to the truth revealed by the one who created us and who understands our deepest needs. The philosophy that launched the me generation is the exact opposite of the passage that we're looking at today in Romans. Look at verse one. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. We have an obligation. It means we owe a debt. We owe allegiance to one another because we belong to one another. We, the church, are inextricably bound together in the family of God. You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your relatives, and we are related. And what are we obligated to do? It says to bear with the failings of the weak. One Bible dictionary defines failings this way, it is error arising from weakness of mind. Wow, does that sound condescending to you? Those poor benighted weaker brothers. Well, it's not condescending if we put ourself in that category. Last week I said that I'm convinced that Paul is teaching that we should all behave as if we were the stronger brother when it comes to conflict over non-essential issues. The flip side of that is that we should also consider that we might be the weaker brother in certain areas. None of us have arrived at perfection yet. So, we're obligated to bear with each other's failings. This doesn't mean just to put up with. It means we're to help. It literally means to help carry something. Paul uses the same word in Galatians 6, verses 2 and 3. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. You remember what the law of Christ is? It's the new commandment that Christians should love one another. And it goes on, for if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. We're all weak. We all have failings. And we all have blind spots. to bear one another's burdens means that we are not condescending and judgmental. We are not putting ourselves above one another. We're not impatiently saying, why don't you just grow up? We are being respectful and accepting of the other's point of view, knowing that we ourselves don't have it all together. The key here is to please others before pleasing ourselves. So verse two says, let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. But I thought it was wrong to please men. The same apostle says in Galatians 1.10 that he did not seek to please men. And in Ephesians 6.6, he says that we should not act as men pleasers. So what's the difference? The difference is the motive. You know, the Pharisees, they did good deeds in order to be seen by men. They were men-pleasers. They wanted the praise of men. This kind of man-pleaser is in it for what he can get. They do it for themselves. That's not what Paul's talking about here. Look at the verse. It is for the good of others to build them up. It's the opposite of what we saw in the passage last week of destroying them. We're building them up. And who is it that has this obligation to build up their brother? Well, it's every one of us. It says, let each of us please his neighbor. Again, Paul wants us all to behave as if we're the strong one. And this requires dedication and self-sacrifice. Like the greatest generation of World War II, we must sacrifice for the war effort against the enemy. It means putting our own desires on the back burner in order that we might meet the needs of others. And this is the key to any healthy relationship. My favorite passage for weddings is in Philippians chapter 2, and I put it in every wedding card that Gina and I give, and I preach it in every wedding ceremony that I conduct. But it's not primarily about marriage. It's about the Christian life. So check it out. Philippians 2 verse 3. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Jesus gave the last full measure of his devotion to us by dying on that cross. And here in Philippians, as in our passage in Romans today, Paul appeals to our allegiance to Christ as the primary inspiration for us to behave with that same kind of selfishness, selflessness. Look at verse three in Romans. For Christ did not please himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. What's he talking about there? It's a quote from Psalm 69. It's a messianic psalm that predicts the sufferings of Jesus on our behalf. Every one of the gospels, when describing Jesus as he hung on the cross, quotes from verse 21 of the psalm. They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst. Another part of his suffering portrayed in the psalm was the ridicule and the false accusations that people hurled against him. It says he was attacked with lies and he was dishonored. Yet the dishonor was really an attack on God. The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. When we love Christ, it brings conviction on people, and they criticize us for it. It might be members of our own family who do it. It might be brothers and sisters in the church who don't understand. And it might be the very weak ones that we are attempting to please. But don't let it stop you. Jesus went all the way to the end. He gave the last full measure of his devotion, and we should do the same. Of course, this kind of sacrifice is only possible if we rely on God for the power to accomplish it. Let this verse from Philippians be your constant conviction. Philippians 4.13 says, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. The Philippians 2 passage we just read says that we have the mind of Christ. It's who we are. This identification with Christ is the key to living the Christian life. This section of Romans is all about how to live out our faith in everyday life. But it's not simply a list of do's and don'ts that we must adhere to by sheer willpower. It doesn't work that way. Remember how we got to this part of the book. We had to come first through Paul's careful explanation of the gospel. We had to learn that salvation is a free gift from God, that justification is by faith and not by works, that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and that we have the additional gift of the Holy Spirit who enfolds us into the family of God, making us adopted sons and daughters. Without those truths, the do's and don'ts are just moralism, and it wouldn't be any different than any man-made religion. But without the total forgiveness of sin and the new life that Christ puts in our hearts, all of our own righteousness is as filthy rags, the scripture says, indelibly contaminated by sin. It's only through faith that we can please God. And in the context of this passage, it is only through faith that we can please our brethren. Now in using this illustration from Psalms, the apostle wants to remind us of the power and the purpose of scripture in this process. So verse four says, 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. Living a self-denying life can only be done through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. And the fuel that the Spirit uses to energize our souls is His Word. Paul's talking about the Hebrew Bible here, the Old Testament. At the time of the writing of this letter, that was the Bible. For the most part, it was the only scripture available when he wrote this in 2 Timothy 3.16-17. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. There's some today who are calling for the church to, quote, untether ourselves from the Old Testament. They say it's too confusing and too harsh for modern ears. This is coming from so-called progressive Christians. And it's the same rationale that people used back at the turn of the last century to get rid of the authority of the Bible. The liberals of that day said it was too embarrassing to teach creationism now that evolution had been discovered. They said, how can we believe in virgin births and walking on water in this modern age? They said, we just need to stick to the morality of the Bible, but we don't need to believe in miracles anymore. But of course, it wasn't long before they abandoned both the miracles and the morality of the Bible. The Bible without its miracles might help people live better, more moral lives, but it can certainly never lead them to salvation. For without the central miracle portrayed in both the Old and New Testaments, the miracle of the resurrection of the Messiah, there wouldn't be a solution for the problem, the fundamental problem of mankind, the problem of sin. The only way to overcome sin is to be first born again through trusting Christ to pay for our sin, and then by growing in sanctification, conquering sin through the teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness of the scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. This is the only way that you can be equipped to love your neighbor as yourself and to please him instead of pleasing yourself. And I'm not saying it's an easy thing to do. It takes courage. It requires bravery. It means having true grit for you John Wayne fans. But the scripture helps us with this too. Let's read verses four and five together this time. For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through encouragement of scripture, we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus. The scripture gives us endurance and encouragement because God is a God of endurance and encouragement. You can run this race, you can stay in this fight, and you can endure hardships. You can endure because God is encouraging you, God himself. He's like a coach that is telling you you can do it. He's like a father who's cheering you from the sidelines. And we know that we're in this race when it says, as it says in the last half of verse five, when we are living in harmony with our brothers and sisters. That's when we know we're on the right track. And when we're doing that, we are shining as lights in the world. Look at our final verse, Romans 15, six. That together you may, with one voice, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. What's to glorify? To glorify something is to shine a light on it. When we get this unity and harmony thing right, we glorify God. And when we're glorifying him, we're pleasing him. And pleasing him is the greatest joy that a believer can experience. So don't let the devil tell you that if you do this, your life is gonna be nothing but misery, that as long as you're seeking to please God and others, you're just gonna be a terrible, you're gonna be constantly disappointed and just struggling through life. On the contrary, if we get the order right in whom we seek to please, then we will experience the ultimate pleasure for ourselves as well. I came across this acrostic in preparing the sermon this week, and I don't ever remember seeing it before. You may have, but it is a powerful reminder of our priorities in whom we choose to please. The acrostic is joy. Jesus, others, yourself. Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. If you get this order right, then you will have joy. And you'll truly be able to say, it's my pleasure to serve you. William Pitsenbarger eventually received recognition, the recognition that was due him for giving that last full measure of devotion. His commanding officer recommended that he be awarded the Medal of Honor, but it didn't happen until 30 years later when finally his friends and family led a campaign to have his bravery acknowledged. justice was finally served, and honor was finally given where honor was due. That's not always the case in this life. There have been countless unsung heroes in the history of this world, and the same is true in the church. There have been untold millions since the birth of the church who've imitated Christ, put the needs of others before their own, and their sacrifice will not go unrewarded. One day everything, everything done in this life will come to light and we will celebrate one another's dedication and bravery. things that we've done in the service of our Lord. 1 Corinthians 15, 58 says, Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Your labor will be manifest on that day when Jesus returns and takes his bride, and then we will reap in joy the harvest of the souls that have been prepared for an eternity with God and with each other. And that will truly be the ultimate pleasure. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that your wisdom is not the wisdom of the world, and it goes so contrary to the world. But Lord, we do trust you. We do believe you that by putting you and others first, that you give us our greatest pleasure, our greatest fulfillment. Father, help us to put this into practice every day. Lord, help us to drink deeply from the well of your scripture and to be encouraged and to endure until you return. We ask it all in the name of Jesus. Thank you for listening to the preaching of God's Word from Faith Bible Church in Reno, Nevada. We hope that it has been an encouragement to you and that the Word of God will fill your hearts and minds as you walk through this world. If you have been blessed by this ministry and would like to make a small donation to help defray the costs of this podcast, just click on the green support button at the top of the webpage. Thank you.