"For even Christ pleased not Himself; but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on Me." Romans 15v3
Paul now brings before us the supreme example of living for the interests of others; "even Christ pleased not Himself." The force of this is very far reaching. The title "Christ" means "the anointed One." If anyone had a right to please Himself it was Christ, because he is God, as is stated in Romans 9v5 "Christ who is over all, God blessed forever." As such, He can do what He pleases at any time (Psalm 115v3;Psalm 135v6). Being who He is, He has a right to do everything in His own interest, but the amazing fact is this, that He did not use that right. We live in a day of the assertion of human rights, when everyone feels that when their rights are being violated, they demand their rights be met. The Lord Jesus Christ did not assert His rights, and Christians should follow His example. "He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty might become rich." 2nd Corinthians 8v9 In Philippians chapter 2 Paul speaks of the mind of Christ "Look not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2,4 & 5). What is this? He was in the form of God, He became a man and took the form of a servant. He did that in the interests of the human race. In 2nd Corinthians 5v21 Paul says that Christ was sinless "He knew no sin, but He became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him". He became what He never was and never could be in order that we helpless human beings could become what we never were and never could be. The supreme example of Jesus Christ who gave up every right in the interest of others! Until we Christians learn the truth of this and in some small way put our own rights aside and our own interests to become secondary, we shall never truly represent Christ in this world. Says Paul, the least you can do is start with your brethren who are weak in the faith. Stop asserting your rights and start to consider the needs of others.
Paul now refers to Psalm 69v9 as an example of what is in his mind, "As it is written the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on Me." Reproach is criticism, blame, finger pointing, social opposition. Jesus, as predicted by David one thousand years before, suffered reproach at the hands of kings, governors, priests, religious leaders, and the common people. He became the object of scorn in this world. The reality is that God, who should be the most adored, the most venerated person in the universe, is in fact the most maligned, the most criticized, the most misunderstood and the most hated being in existence. Because Jesus came into this world to reveal God to the world, He thus took upon Himself all the reproaches from the world that fell on God. This is because the truth of God cuts across our way of life and we tend to find reasons to blame God for everything. In Hebrews chapter 12v3 we are pointed to this aspect of the suffering of Christ, of whom it is written "for consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself." Every day of His public life, from all directions, the reproach came. If we read again Psalm 69v9 the writer places alongside this predicted reproach "the zeal of thine house has eaten me up." The reality is that anyone who comes with a zeal to pronounce the truth of God will suffer reproach, criticism, condemnation. There was no one who had a zeal for the things of God, or the house of God greater than Christ. His entire life was to bring to us the truth of God with such passion that it became his life obsession, in order that we might know the truth. For this He suffered the reproaches of men.
Christ pleased not Himself; He bore with patience the ignorance, the blindness, the erroneous views and the falsely ambitious projects of those who sought to follow Him. He showed kindness when He knew the were in error, He was not censorious, when they were filled with unrealistic ambitions. He did not chide them when they perverted His words, or were dull of understanding. With incredible grace, He bore their weaknesses, suffered their misunderstandings, in order that in their quiet moments of reflection the Holy Spirit would reveal within them the truth of God. This is what Christianity is all about and we are being asked to follow this supreme example.
Not everyone has the same understanding, not everyone has the same perspective and we do well to demonstrate the same level of patience and grace with each other, as Christ demonstrated while He was here. As already stated, all this is to enhance the global preaching of the grace of God as we are called to do.
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