Even Christ Didn’t Please Himself

At Christmas, churches everywhere are full of joy and delight in having been saved. But Jesus, who came to atone for sin, lived each day knowing the day he would bear the cross had already been set, and along that road he was pelted with stones and mocked.

Those who are strong in faith must carry the weaknesses of the weak as their own burden, and instead of trying to lecture them or looking down on them, they must live it out in front of them. Yet even when love is given, it may bear no fruit if the weak do not make the effort as well, so the strong must not try to gather that result with their own hands but must look to God alone.

The sermon said that the problems of the church in Rome, where Jews and Gentiles, masters and slaves worshiped together, are resolved by knowing Scripture. It went on to say that the salvation of the Gentiles was God’s plan from the beginning, and that the strong living out their faith with joy is itself the wisdom that shows the weak an easy way to heaven.