Romans 15:2

Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying.

These two verses exhibit the positive and negative statements: (1) we should not please ourselves; (2) we should please our neighbor. However, there is a limitation upon the meaning of pleasing neighbors, for Paul wrote:

If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10).

Therefore, it is not right that the Christian should always defer to the whims and wishes of others, not even of believers, the critical issue always being the matter of the weak brother's conscience; and, even when deferring to him upon that basis, the requirement is that such a yielding to his scruples should be practiced not merely for the purpose of confirming him in them, but for the purpose of teaching him out of them. The last two words here, "unto edifying," provide exactly the guidelines that are needed. As Greathouse wrote:

The neighbor may be pleased to his hurt, so Paul adds that he must be pleased for his "good to edification." To afford him pleasure that does not build him up is not for his good.[2]

One may safely follow the rule Paul observed himself in this situation. He wrote:

I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved. Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:33; 11:1).