Now we who are strong have an obligation to bear the weaknesses of those without strength, and not to please ourselves. (Romans 15:1)
When the Bible speaks about the church one of the things that we see is that the Church consists of both Jew and Greek (Rom. 11:17-24; 1 Pet. 2:9-10) who have been united by Christ into one body by God (Eph. 4:4-6), one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13), and one baptism (Eph. 4:5) with Christ as its head (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23). Because of all that Jesus has done, the Church must not be a place where people compete, dominate, or neglect others. The question is for what reason? Why should we not seek our own benefit? Why should we not seek our own advantage?
What Paul says in Romans 15:2 is that each person in this redeemed family of God has been given a responsibility to please his neighbor and to build up one another. The other focused life of a believer is not required because it’s just a good thing to do. The reason that Christians are to function with others in well-being in mind is because that’s what we see about our God. Romans 15:3 says, “For even Christ did not please himself.” In other words, our Lord decided to look upon helpless and “weak” people, and if we will bear the name of Jesus we have to live like Jesus. If Jesus bore our burdens, then he’s also empowers us to bear with other’s burdens as well.