Romans 14:15
But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
To grieve a brother with food is to distress him over differences about what may be eaten, and to eat in a way that grieves him is to stop acting in love, so no one should force conscience or cause disunion over food. To destroy him is to ruin his faith and drive him away, losing for Christ one He died to save, while Christian work must build up and strengthen faith instead. Every person is one for whom Christ died, and Heaven gave its infinite price in God's dear Son shed on Calvary to ransom them, making each soul precious and of eternal worth. That love must govern all dealings with one another, leaving no place for superiority, contempt, harsh judgment, or words that grieve those who love God. Therefore believers must cause no sorrow, pain, or stumbling by word or act, but come close to the erring with tender sympathy to help them escape temptation, trust God, and be saved.
Meat and Charitable Walk
To grieve a brother with food is to distress and harm him over differences about what is eaten. Eating in a way that grieves him is not acting in love. Food choices must not be made a cause of disunion, and each person is to be left to follow conscience without being forced to conform to another. No one is to be destroyed by another's eating, for Christ died for him, and to neglect one for whom He died is a serious wrong and not a matter unworthy of notice.
To walk charitably is to live in humility with growing love for fellow believers and a holy influence upon both believers and unbelievers. It is to let no soul stumble over oneself to destruction, to lay no obstacle in another's way, and to injure no one outside. It forbids censuring and wounding unjustly and forbids making faith repulsive by blurting out truth anywhere and everywhere in an unacceptable manner from impulse rather than from sound judgment and reason. It forbids dwelling on fragments of God's Word that are not of vital importance and holding them up as though they were the faith of the body. When unjust words have been spoken they are to be taken back and a new beginning made, rather than wounding the cause of God by exalted, inconsistent, unwise moves.
To destroy is to weaken, confuse and ruin faith, to drive a soul away and lose for Christ one He died to save. Christ died to save every brother at infinite price as ransom, so no one must be left to ruin faith and every effort is to be made to save him. Christian labor is therefore to build up, restore and strengthen faith rather than weaken, confuse or destroy it. Dealing with human minds is delicate work that calls for the meekness, simplicity, love and tender compassion of Jesus to break down every barrier. Believers are to come close to brethren and to the afflicted soul with a heart full of love, softening hearts and leading them away from the enemy's ground and Satan's temptations rather than driving them there by harsh, stiff dealing. Without countenancing wrong in any instance they are to show they long to cooperate with Christ in saving those lives, letting His love into the heart and then out again in tender words and acts of love, and seeking God for wisdom to do this work.
Infinite Worth of Souls
Every human being is one for whom Christ died, including those brought low by poverty, intemperance, or sin, whose misery is to be met with sympathy and compassionate, self-sacrificing care. He died for the poor, the afflicted, and the suffering, who stand under the heavenly blessing as the poor in spirit and as those that mourn who shall be comforted, and despising them through pride, self-esteem, and selfishness violates charity. He died for suffering men in body as well as soul, giving them eternal value, so that those who serve them must bless both body and soul, joining divine wisdom with skill and effort to bring relief while watching for souls as those who must give an account, copying His humility and meekness. He died for the poor who suffer from cold and hunger and have little even of the cheapest clothing, so money spent in large sums on dress to satisfy fashion ought instead to feed and clothe them. All are therefore to be esteemed, and in healing and missionary work this is lived out by seeking to help one another, planting institutions in many places, exerting a decided influence for temperance and for every point of truth, denying self, making individual pleasure secondary, and moving on broader lines in mercy, love, and benevolence at great cost to self.
The price paid was infinite, for Heaven gave God's dear Son to ransom them, and His blood shed on the cross of Calvary purchased even one soul and makes every other interest secondary to that soul's worth. That death gives souls great value and calls for deep interest in them and love toward them, forbidding work against them and against God for personal gain, suing and robbing one of God's institutions, betraying the cause into enemies' hands, and bringing reproach, injury, and confusion on the work. Souls ransomed at such a price must have their faith built up, restored, and strengthened by Christian labor rather than weakened, confused, or destroyed by another's conduct. Dealing with minds is therefore delicate work requiring great care, fear and trembling, and perfect self-control, lest impatience or the effort to maintain undue dignity and supremacy destroy influence and lose one He gave His life to save, and injudicious management warp the minds of youth beyond full recovery.
That death makes each soul precious, cherished, sacred in worth, and of eternal value, never to be treated as expendable or as less important than personal interests. Selfishness that turns people from Christ's love leaves such souls perishing, so earnest efforts must be made to help them, including correcting the wrongs and neglects that harm them. When a profitable bargain or other personal project is considered, the person must care unselfishly for those Christ died for rather than pursue self-interest without regard for them. Every soul is precious and to be loved, worth spending strength and even life itself in self-sacrificing labor to serve and save.
Because their salvation is of immeasurable importance, seeking them is the highest work, and believers are to cooperate with Christ by working for others wherever opportunity and duty arise. Every soul has infinite worth because He gave His life for them and therefore must be sought, reached, and enlightened by laborers as God's agents for work that will endure as long as eternity, accepting God's plans and timing instead of choosing their own time, watching for opportunities to reach perishing souls, and laboring with active energy at all times, in season and out of season. Every soul is precious and worth pleading for and working to save, which calls for meeting difficulties and overcoming prejudices and customs, asking more of God and moving faster rather than slowly, and pressing forward by faith in the fear of God with prayer and constant dependence on God rather than on human effort alone, knowing obstacles will be removed. Those for whom He died are souls who need to hear the good news of salvation, and the work of saving them must not be deprived of what it needs, while using entrusted means to help bring them salvation is a worthy use of those resources.
Having Christ enshrined in the heart produces love for all those He died for and doing all that can be done to save them. Failing to value a fellow believer's soul reflects lack of genuine love for neighbor, since each person is a soul valued by God. Love for the Saviour means loving those souls, acting as their guardians and keeping the way of the Lord.
Love Governs All Conduct
Christian love must govern how believers treat one another, because Christ died for those they might harm, and that love must extend even to all for whom He died, with kindness that avoids any conduct that grieves or harms another person. Without this love Christian fellowship and love for them cannot endure, and Christian fellowship itself cannot exist. A life in Christ bears holiness and love, so it does not disregard another person but strengthens the good purposes of those it meets, including regard for those for whom Christ died.
That love gives no place to a spirit of superiority or contempt toward others, for unkind judgment and treatment of them contradicts Christlike love. The gospel rejects class prejudice and harsh judgment, and Christ's religion does not make its followers unkind in thought or feeling toward others, so those for whom Christ died must not be treated with unkindness. No one must feel superior to brethren, criticize them, or speak words that grieve those who love God and keep His commandments as conscientiously as possible, since Christ died to save brethren as surely as He died to save anyone else. The work is one the world over, with the ministry fully as essential as medical missionary work, so there must be no alienation or separation between workers but working in perfect harmony, with the love of Jesus Christ pervading the soul, being pitiful and courteous. Attitude must soften and the spirit manifested toward brethren who are not in a position to be honored and exalted must change, lest honor become a snare.
Because Christ died for others, they are to receive kindly, unselfish care, and those who receive God's blessings should share them with everyone they meet, not just a favored few, offering sympathy and practical kindness freely. Blessings kept selfishly are removed by the Holy Spirit. Acting without love toward someone for whom Christ died can harm that person and contradicts Christ's self-giving love, so no one should be excluded, treated as less valuable, or denied care because of nationality, caste, or skin color, since each soul is precious to Christ. People for whom Christ died must not be harmed or manipulated by selfishness or human control, for love for others rules out treating their conscience as subject to another person's arbitrary authority.
Refusing to Harm Others
Believers must not by word or action cause one of God's little ones sorrow, grief, pain, or disappointment, nor harm, discourage, endanger, or destroy through unwise, unloving conduct one for whom Christ died. Those entrusted with caring for souls must watch and pray so their conduct does not harm them, for they are accountable for how their actions affect those souls. The verse calls for loving care, brotherly love, pity, and courtesy rather than faultfinding, because Christ's sacrifice makes these souls precious and shows the value of souls He died to save. As not even a sparrow without a soul can fall to the ground without the notice of the heavenly Father, much more does He notice His people, and God will judge those who cause such pain to those for whom Christ gave His life. Anything that helps bring about their destruction works against the purpose of the gospel, since Christ died for the very people whose destruction Satan seeks.
Hasty words spoken in strong feeling can wound and ruin people for whom Christ died and lead others onto a wrong course, and pride can keep a person from retracting them after reconsideration. Criticism and condemnation must not be used to treat unkindly or harm those for whom Christ died, for Christian conduct toward them should be charitable and not focused on exposing their faults. The remedy is gentle, loving words spoken at the right time, so as not to impress such a person unfavorably or act or speak in a way that harms someone for whom Christ died. The warning applies to speech and decisions whose harmful effects fall on others as well as on the speaker.
Harsh, stiff, imprudent, unkind, or condemnatory treatment must not destroy the brother Christ died to save, nor must standing aloof from him or driving him away. Acting without love can push tempted and struggling souls into stronger temptation or leave them exposed to Satan without help, destroying faith instead of drawing them toward heaven onto firm ground and leading them toward safety. Dealing with human minds is delicate work requiring the meekness, simplicity, love, and tender compassion of Jesus breaking down every barrier, with hearts full of love softening hearts and leading them away from the enemy's battleground and Satan's temptations rather than driving them there. Those who are spiritual must come close to the erring with prayer and tenderest love and true sympathy, and as a physician restore him in the spirit of meekness, working carefully for his soul to save him from death while wrongs can still be righted, especially when in passion he is in danger of ending his own life, longing without countenancing wrong to cooperate with Christ and seeking God for wisdom to do this work. Helping a person escape temptation and trust in God honors the price Christ paid for that soul, for their worth makes it wrong to act in a way that harms their faith.
A soul for whom Christ died is worth more than property or other personal interests, for even one soul purchased by Christ's blood makes every other interest secondary. When considering a profitable bargain or other personal project, a person must care unselfishly for those for whom Christ died rather than pursue self-interest without regard for them, and putting selfish concerns or wants ahead of their welfare harms souls and brings reproach on the truth. Taking advantage of another person, even in small matters allowed by worldly custom, is contrary to Christian love because that person is someone for whom Christ died, as applied to a physician's duty to reject unjust conduct toward a brother or anyone else. Those for whom Christ died must not be treated as expendable, for selfishness that turns people from Christ's love leaves souls perishing, and souls and bodies matter so that those who know the dangers of harmful practices should warn and guide them toward righteous habits. Because men and women who look upon the professed believer have infinite worth through Christ's death, the believer as a spectacle unto the world, to angels, and to men must live a blameless life filled with self-denial and good works weaned from love of this world and its treasures, for a close, penurious, selfish, worldly-minded life denies the professed faith as a pilgrim seeking a heavenly country and waiting for Christ, fails to lead those for whom Christ died to glorify the Father in heaven, and destroys confidence in the truth of the near coming of Christ.
Christ died on the cross of Calvary on behalf of souls, and that death gives their souls great value calling for deep interest in them and love toward them. That value forbids doing work against them and against God for personal gain, suing and robbing one of God's institutions, betraying the cause of God into the hands of its enemies, and bringing reproach, injury, and confusion on the work. Everyone Christ died to save must be loved with Christlike love, not with sentimentalism or base affection. That love shows itself in carefully carrying the burden for souls so that no occasion is given for the young or the mature to stumble or be turned out of the way and no channel is opened for an impure thought, but a clean atmosphere is created where the soul can stay open and pure before God, free from the corrupting, soul-defiling sin of licentiousness.
Seeking to Save Souls
Because Christ died for them, brothers and sisters must be helped to be saved and not left to ruin faith, and every effort should be made to save them. Helping a person escape temptation and trust in God honors the price paid for that soul, and Christian conduct must seek the salvation of others because they are souls for whom He died. Their worth makes it wrong to act in a way that harms their faith, so they must be treated with care.
Those who are spiritual must come close to the erring with prayer and tenderest love and true sympathy, with pity and courtesy, and as a physician restore them in the spirit of meekness. The work must be done carefully while wrongs can still be righted, drawing them toward heaven onto firm ground and leading them away from the enemy's battleground and Satan's temptations rather than driving them there. Dealing with human minds is delicate work requiring the meekness, simplicity, love, and tender compassion of Jesus to break down every barrier, soften hearts, and follow Christ's example of loving the erring and impenitent. Without countenancing wrongdoing in any instance, believers must show they long to cooperate with Christ in saving those lives, letting His love into the heart and then out again in tender words and offices of love, and seeking God for wisdom to do this work. This loving care is especially urgent when passion puts life itself in danger, even the danger of ending one's own life.
Their misery calls for sympathy and compassionate, self-sacrificing care, for every person including those brought low by poverty, intemperance, or sin is precious because Christ died for them. Those who receive God's blessings should share them with everyone they meet, not just a favored few, offering sympathy and practical kindness freely, since blessings kept selfishly are removed by the Holy Spirit. This includes standing by a brother who has moved unwisely into a close place of debt and obligation, helping him recover and get on his feet again and be made to feel where he made mistakes. Mercy and compassion require granting the practical help that lets him meet his obligations, rather than tying up his hands, withholding the means to work, closing up every avenue for recovery, and ruining him.
Because souls and bodies matter and Christ died for both, giving suffering men eternal value in body as well as soul, those who serve them must bless both body and soul. Those who know the dangers of harmful practices should warn and guide others toward righteous habits and not harm them through selfish conduct. Physicians in particular must care for patients with compassion and use their opportunities to offer comfort and Christian counsel, not act in ways that harm those entrusted to them. Those who are intelligent in regard to the evils of indulged appetite, animal passion, and defiling practices, and who know the perils of this time, must fill important positions in health institutions and carry a day and night burden to warn the unwarned, enlighten the youth, and teach self-denial, self-control, and righteous habits in contrast with the practices of this age for the saving of souls and bodies. In all this they join divine wisdom with skill and effort to bring relief to suffering humanity while watching for souls as those who must give an account, copying Christ's humility and meekness to represent Jesus to all connected with them.
Callings and Daily Practice
Dealing with minds is delicate work that demands great care, fear and trembling, and perfect self-control, because every person cost heaven the infinite price of God's dear Son given for redemption. Ministers, teachers, and parents must therefore be controlled by Christ's self-denial, universal kindness, and long-suffering love, with His example rebuking impatience and lack of appreciation for souls bought with His life. To destroy influence over a soul through impatience or to maintain undue dignity and supremacy is a terrible mistake that may lose for Christ one for whom He gave His life, and injudicious management can warp the minds of youth so the injury is never entirely overcome. This solemn, serious care applies to parents teaching children not to lavish affection on the things of this world nor waste time and labor on what is worth less than nothing, training them with patience and forbearance for the government of God and the family of heaven, since scolding and passionate reproof never work reforms and giving way to temper trains children to give way to temper, which is a grievous sin. Mothers must be learners in the school of Christ and spend much time in prayer to educate children aright. Teachers who lack love for God and for the children Christ died for, or who act impatiently, show partiality, or discourage them, risk the loss of precious souls, and this is especially true for impressionable children and youth who come to school with defective inherited characters and without proper home training, whose worth demands charity from teachers who have deep, earnest love for God and for them and who keep themselves under discipline. To set over them young teachers without that love, who are easily impatient and irritated, is to walk uncharitably and to destroy those for whom Christ died, resulting in the loss of many souls.
Physicians must care for patients with compassion and use their opportunities to offer comfort and Christian counsel, because Christ's death gives every soul great worth and calls for deep love toward those He died for, with serious care for the soul's interests and warning against acting in ways that harm those entrusted to them. All are to be esteemed because Christ died for all, and the true missionary spirit lives this out in sanitarium work by workers seeking to help one another while plants are made in many places and a decided influence for temperance and for all points of truth is exerted. Sanitarium workers should recognize that people are perishing in ignorance and transgression and reveal through character what knowing the truth has done for them, since those they serve are precious souls.
Those who minister the Word must speak from hearts melted in tenderness and treat those blinded by erroneous opinions with gentleness, laboring faithfully to undeceive minds by repeating saving truth over and over, patiently reproving wrong with meekness and gentleness yet with firmness that cannot be misinterpreted, teaching professed believers to adorn the doctrine of Christ our Saviour, and never allowing deception to be practiced upon human minds, for unfaithfulness in dealing with souls for whom Christ died will be met in the record of the judgment. Gentle, loving words spoken at the right time are required so as not to act or speak in a way that harms someone for whom Christ died or impresses such a person unfavorably. Ministers must also plan and counsel with love and care for each person for whom Christ died, allowing hearts to be softened and drawn together rather than apart instead of harming or endangering through unloving conduct. Christ died to save brethren as surely as He died to save anyone else, so no one must feel superior, criticize, or speak words that grieve those who conscientiously love God and keep His commandments, and ministry is fully as essential as medical missionary work, one work the world over with no alienation or separation, requiring perfect harmony, love of Jesus pervading the soul, pity and courtesy, softened attitude, and changed spirit toward brethren not in position to be honored and exalted, lest honor become a snare.
Work concerning the salvation of precious souls must be entrusted to people who understand heavenly things and cooperate with God, not to unsanctified hands and minds acting contrary to His will, since those souls must not be treated as objects of careless or unwise action. Christian charity and sympathy toward the tempted, because Christ died for them, calls Christians to separate from popular customs and evils that harm others, with tobacco use perverting appetite and encouraging desire for stronger stimulants, while clergy who use it or oppose temperance damage the cause. Believers must not put their own wants ahead of the welfare of people for whom Christ died, so money spent in large sums on unnecessary fashion and dress to satisfy its demands ought instead to feed the hungry, clothe the needy and poorly clad suffering from cold and hunger, and support the work of sharing the truth. Canvassers are to learn through practice how to reach souls of great worth for whom Christ died.