Sunday School at 9 am | worship at 10 am

The Right Way to Think about Rights

You can probably quote this sentence from the US Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

An “inalienable right” is a right that can’t be taken away. And yet, as history as shown, it is not that simple. Even inalienable rights have been taken away. So it is that on Memorial Day, the USA remembers those who gave away their rights to life and liberty, so that others could enjoy those rights.

We have been talking about generosity in the past few sermons. It may be that this is the essence of generosity: to give up my rights for the benefit of others. Maybe it means giving up the right to money that I have earned, or my right to time or energy that belongs to me. No one has any right to take these things from me. No one is entitled to my generosity. I am within my rights to keep what belongs to me.

But, the gospel shows us a different way. Jesus said, “No one takes [My life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:18a) We have no right to God’s forgiveness, and we certainly have no right to the atonement for sin that comes at the cost of the broken body and shed blood of the only begotten Son of God! God would be within His rights to leave us to the consequences of our sin. But He didn’t. He freely offers salvation as a gift of grace—a gift of generosity.

We cannot receive such generous grace without being changed. The gospel calls us to walk in the same way Christ walked, so that we display Christ not only in our words, but in the way we treat one another. That’s what 1 Corinthians 9 is all about.

There are some difficulties with this passage. Some verses are tricky to interpret. Some verses deal with sensitive and often misunderstood teaching about financial compensation for gospel ministers. But the main point is that Paul is calling the Corinthian church to lay down their rights and freedoms for the sake of one another. Paul is not just teaching them with words, but by example.

If you go through life demanding what’s coming to you, I’m not sure you understand the gospel. You may find that, on the Last Day, you do in fact get what’s coming to you. The gospel tells us that Christ took what was coming to us, so that we might share the inheritance that belongs to Him. “Freely you have received; freely give.” (Matthew 10:8)