Laying Down Our Rights in a Rights-Obsessed Culture

0:34Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus or Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who will examine me. Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

1:07Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of his fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.

1:36Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope, and the treasure treasure in hope of sharing of the crop. If we have some spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? This is the word of God. You may be seated.

2:12On July 4th, 1776, the Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, which formalized the intention of the American people to break permanently with Great Britain. Most of us are familiar with the preamble to this declaration, but I want to put up the first line on the screen for you. 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.

2:54One of the great things about this document and about the United States of America is that we have recognized That there are certain rights that aren't granted by a government or an institution of some kind. There are certain rights that are given to us by God. There are certain rights that, as the preamble says, are unalienable. And there are many things that we could say about our country, even though we don't live these things out perfectly, we have the right ideals. But over these few hundred years as a country, our belief that every person has individual rights has sometimes morphed into the idea that our rights should and must be exercised at all times, no matter the cost to any other person.

3:40We've become selfish as a culture, pursuing our individual rights at the expense of others, and that, in many cases, has crept into the church. In AD 50, Paul traveled to Corinth. Corinth was the largest and most influential city in the Roman province of Achaia, or ancient Greece. And as was his custom, he first went to the synagogue and he preached the gospel there, and many Jews and some Gentiles were converted. They trusted in Christ for salvation.

4:13And Paul stayed there about 18 months establishing the church. Now, you have to understand, Corinth was a licentious city. The people there, especially the Gentiles, were engaged in many lifestyles and choices that were contrary to the gospel. And so many of these same people had a hard time making a clean break with their former lifestyle in order to honor Christ. And by 53 AD, there was a lot of confusion, there was division in the Corinthian church, and some part of the church had even begun to question the Apostle Paul, his calling, his teaching, his right and authority to be able to train them and correct them in certain ways. And so Paul wrote the letter that we know as 1 Corinthians to correct theological error and to call the Corinthians to repentance.

5:04And one of the main issues that he addresses in the letter is the issue of Christian liberty, which Paul specifically addresses in chapters 8 through 10. One of the main questions was, were Christians free to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols? And so Paul teaches that mature Christians should be willing to lay down their rights for the good of less mature Christians and non-Christians. In fact, Paul teaches that if we as Christians are unwilling to lay down our rights for others, we sin against them and we sin against Christ.

5:41According to Paul, love for neighbor must trump our freedom to exercise our rights. And so Paul, in this passage that we're going to look at today, is going to explain his freedom in Christ. He's going to explain why he chooses not to take advantage of his freedom. In every circumstance, and he's going to explain why we should follow his example. And what we're going to learn together today is that when we lay down our rights, God opens doors for effective ministry. So let's look at verse 1 together.

6:20Paul begins with a series of rhetorical questions. And he does so to prove a point, starting with his apostleship. Because everything that he has said or everything that he will say hinges on whether or not he is an apostle, on whether or not God truly called and sent him. So he says, Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Paul, of course, saw and spoke to the resurrected Christ. And even if the Corinthians were unconvinced that Paul had actually seen and spoken with the resurrected Christ, which in fact he had, the proof, as they say, was in the pudding. The Corinthians were the seal of his apostleship.

7:10He says, Look at yourselves. You know that I brought the gospel to you. You know the kinds of lifestyles that you were engaged in. You know whom you were worshiping before. And now look, you are the seal of my apostleship. Many of you are familiar with Steve Spurrier. He recently Retired as the head coach of South Carolina football. But before he was there, he had a long career at the University of Florida where he played many years before. He won a national championship in 1996 and six SEC titles at the University of Florida.

7:44Well, he went on to a very short and unillustrious career in the NFL. And when he decided to leave the NFL, maybe on his own accord, maybe not, he wanted to come back to coach college football again. And at the time, the position at Florida was open, and so he spoke with the athletic director. And the athletic director said to him, Well, Steve, would you like to submit a resume for the position? And he said, a resume?

8:09Look in the trophy case. His point was, I shouldn't have to send in a resume. All you have to do is look and see the fruit of what I did as a coach at the University of Florida. You either want me to coach or you don't. And in the same way, Paul could say the Corinthians were his trophies of apostleship. They had come to Christ out of pagan lifestyles or out of a Jewish lifestyle that was dedicated to dead ritual and dead religion, and their lives had been transformed through Paul's preaching.

8:45They were his seal. So his apostleship should have never been a question in any of their minds. He was called and sent by Jesus. But now Paul is going to turn and address the question of Christian liberty. Because apparently, Some people in Corinth were saying, Look, if Paul is really an apostle who preaches freedom in Christ, why doesn't he eat and drink whatever he wants? If Paul is really an apostle, why doesn't he exercise his freedom to be married?

9:13If he's really an apostle, how come he doesn't receive financial compensation like every other religious leader? And so Paul addresses these questions in turn. He says, first in verse 3, Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Of course they did. That's the whole point of chapter 8. Christians are free to eat and drink anything. He says, food won't commend us to God. We're no better off if we eat it, we're no worse off if we don't. Jesus taught the same thing. In Mark chapter 7, he declared all foods clean.

9:48He goes on and he says, Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife? Of course he did. The whole point of chapter 7 is that Christian marriage is an issue of Christian freedom. You have the freedom to be married or not. Jesus taught the same thing in his ministry. But then, beginning in verse 6, he tackles what was perhaps the biggest hang-up for all of them. If he was really an apostle, why wasn't he compensated financially?

10:18And you have to understand a bit about the context for this to make better sense. You see, in Corinth, like many cities of the day, it had religious leaders and philosophers who had passed through all of the time. And they would teach in front of large crowds and they would do so for money. And what would happen is, you'd have wealthy men or wealthy women who would pay them to say flattering things about them in front of those crowds of strangers and family members and friends. It was a little, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. And so Paul did not want there to be any confusion. He did accept financial support from other churches at other times. All you have to do is read Philippians or some of the other letters in the New Testament to clearly realize that. But he chose not to accept compensation when he was in Corinth so there would be no confusion, so that nobody could possibly say, well, he's being paid to say that stuff.

11:16He didn't want his motives to be mistaken. So Paul says here, I have the freedom to be compensated for my work. He says, what soldier serves in the military for free? What farmer doesn't eat some of his own produce? What shepherd doesn't drink some of the milk of his own flock? Furthermore, look at verse 8. These aren't just social customs. The Mosaic law says the same thing. Paul says, God's concern isn't primarily for animals, although he is concerned for animals. His concern is primarily for people. So the plowman should plow and the thresher should thresh in hope of sharing the crop. The same principle here. He says, applies to ministers of the gospel. Look at verse 11.

12:04If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? See, in Christ, Paul had the right to eat, drink, and be married. These are the jokes, people, and to receive financial compensation for his ministry. But as you'll see at the beginning of the second part of verse 12, Paul laid down these rights, and he did so willingly so that he could be more effective in ministry. Look at the second part of verse 12 with me.

12:50Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting, for necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

14:00So Paul has argued very convincingly that he and Barnabas have the right to eat, to drink, to take a wife, to receive financial compensation for ministry, and his proof is the practice of the other apostles. His proof is common social practice. His proof is the Mosaic law. And then in this section, he even points out the priests and the Levites who, from the offerings that were offered, took their food. He refers to the words of Jesus, not quoted here, but he's going back to Luke 10:7. The laborer deserves his wages. So Paul is saying he has the right to receive compensation, but he and Barnabas have chosen not to exercise that right. And he gives three reasons in this section. First, he says he did not want to put up any obstacles to the gospel of Christ.

14:56He says instead they would rather endure anything Than put a stumbling block in anyone's way. So, what did Paul and Barnabas do? They worked with their hands all day, every day, and they preached the gospel free of charge at night and on the weekends. They were bivocational because that was the best way to reach that particular culture. About 10 years ago, I met a man who was pastoring a church in a small Texas town, and he had been doing so for about 40 years. And this man was bivocational, he was a painter, and specifically, he painted the exterior of homes. And so, I want you to think about that for a minute. For 40 years, this man has worked in Texas painting the outside of people's homes. And then at night and on the weekend, he gave himself to gospel ministry, to preparing sermons, to preparing teachings, to going to the hospital and visiting with people, to counseling, to prayer, to personal study. He did all of those things. I have the greatest respect for bivocational pastors in America and around the world. It's a great example to both Christians and non-Christians of how we should lay down our rights in order to best serve others. But it's also a very difficult thing to do. It is really challenging to give your full time and energy in two different directions. And so, I want to thank you, new. Life because your generosity makes it possible for several of our pastors to be employed full-time at the church so that we don't have to have a second job in order to feed our families, but we can focus full-time on equipping you for the work of the ministry. That's a great blessing, and I think we all benefit from it.

16:51So, the Corinthians may have benefited if Paul could have devoted his full time and energy to the church, but he didn't want to put a stumbling block in their way, so he laid down his right to financial compensation. Second, he says that he was called by God to proclaim the gospel. That's why he laid down his right. He says in this section that he had a stewardship. God had appointed him to take the gospel to the Gentiles, and he took that stewardship seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he was able to exclaim, Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

17:28Through the years, people have asked me, Alan, why did you choose to go into pastoral ministry? And I often tell them it's because I couldn't do anything else. And by that, I don't mean that I didn't have any other skills. I do have a business degree from the most prestigious university in the world. So I can be the CEO of whatever I want. Obviously. But what I mean is that I believe. That God had called me to give my life to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. And therefore, I could not be obedient to him long term and do anything else. Woe to me, I would say, if I do not preach the gospel. Paul felt this way. He couldn't boast in proclaiming the gospel because necessity was laid upon him. He had a stewardship from God. He wasn't in it for the money, so he could lay down his right to financial compensation in order to reach the Corinthian people.

18:34And then, third and finally, Paul says he wasn't looking for earthly rewards, but for heavenly ones. Unlike other religious leaders of his day, Paul was not seeking fame or fortune. Sadly, many people who are preachers in churches are seeking both fame and fortune today. But that's not what Paul was after. His reward was not going to come from man in the form of financial payment. It would come from Christ, whose rewards cannot be taken away. And, friends, I want us to pause and consider that maybe the reason that we are so eager to be compensated well at our jobs, maybe the reason that we're so eager to be promoted at work or to receive awards and recognition at our jobs and elsewhere, is because we've lost sight of the reality that we will be rewarded by Christ one day.

19:30Look on the screen at Matthew chapter 6. Jesus says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. See, Paul laid down his right to receive financial compensation because he was looking not to earthly rewards, but to heavenly ones.

20:06And because he laid down his rights, God opened doors for effective ministry. What an example that Paul has left us. Left us an example to consider: what rights is God calling me to lay down in order to best reach the people in my life? Not people that live across the world, not necessarily people that you know through social media, but the people around you in your immediate spheres of influence, your neighbors, your family members, your friends, your co-workers, your classmates. And so, what Paul is going to help us do in the next section is apply this principle more broadly. How are we called to lay down our rights? What should that look like as we seek to minister? So, look with me at verse 19.

21:00For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law, though not being myself under the law, that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

21:52So, just in case we've missed the point this far, Paul is free. He doesn't have to conform to meet anyone's expectations because at the end of the day and at the end of his life, no human being is his ultimate judge. God will judge Paul for the way that he conducted himself, and that is true for all of us. We answer ultimately to God. However, Paul, just like Jesus, laid down his rights and became a servant to all. Why?

22:26To win more of them. He says, as many as possible. With the gospel. Friends, Paul limited his freedoms in order to expand his ministry opportunity as much as possible. He happily laid down his rights. And what did this look like? Because Paul was free in Christ. He was free to take advantage of his freedoms in certain situations, and he was free to limit his freedoms in other situations in order to reach those with differing convictions. He was free.

23:10He was free to take advantage of his freedoms. He was free to lay them down. True freedom is being able to decide. It's not always doing what you want to do. So Paul says, this is what it looks like. To the Jews under the law, Paul became as one under the law. You see, through faith in Christ, Christians are set free from the law. Jesus kept the law perfectly on our behalf. He did everything that was necessary. We often talk about his death, his sacrificial death, in our place and for our sins, and rightly so. Oftentimes, though, we leave out his life of obedience. And if you grew up saying, What is known as the Apostles' Creed, there's this glaring omission in this classic and wonderful Christian creed. We say in the creed that Jesus was born of a virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate. It's like that was a short life. He was born and then he died. It's like there's no mention of Jesus living a life of obedience on our behalf, but that's what he did. We are free from the law because Christ kept the law. But Paul, out of love for his Jewish brothers and sisters, willingly submitted to Jewish customs and practices so that the gospel, rather than his behavior, was the only stumbling block.

24:41And so when Paul met this young man named Timothy, who was a believer, and we're going to start studying 1 Timothy next Sunday, I'm really excited about that. When he met this young Christian named Timothy, Timothy came from a family where his mother was Jewish and his father was a Gentile. And because of that, Timothy had never been circumcised. But you have to understand that in Jewish culture, everything is traced through the mother's lineage. And as a result, he was considered Jewish by the Jewish community, but he was uncircumcised. This was going to be a major stumbling block to Jews. And so Paul circumcised Timothy. Timothy was a young man. This is commitment to the gospel. Don't tell me you're committed. Okay, don't tell me I'm not committed, Timothy. Was committed, getting circumcised as a young adult male. That is commitment. Why did Paul do that? It's because he wanted to make sure that everything that he ate, what he drank, what he said, how he dressed, the people around him were not the offense, were not the stumbling block, but that only the gospel would be the stumbling block for the Jewish people. Paul willingly laid down his rights, and his companions willingly laid down their rights in order to effectively minister to Jews.

26:03And then Paul goes on and he says, to those outside the law, that is Gentiles, Paul became as one outside the law. Now, understand, Paul is not saying that Christians are lawless. In fact, we submit to the highest law of all, which is the law of Christ. So, for example, the law says murder is sin, but Jesus helps us to understand that in God's eyes, it's not just murder that's sin. If we harbor hatred towards our brother or sister, we have murdered them in our hearts. God sees our intentions and our thoughts as sinful as well as our actions.

26:44And so, when we see the fruits of racism in others or in ourselves, we call it what it is. It's not simply dislike, it's not simply that we think one group is better, it is sin, it is murder. Murder. We are hating someone else. So we submit to the highest law of all. We are not lawless. We submit to the law of Christ. And so what this means is that when Paul was around Gentiles, he would take advantage of his freedoms so as not to give offense to them. So when he went to a party and they offered him bacon-wrapped bacon bites, he would dominate those things.

27:29That would offend Jewish people. They do not eat pork in any form. But around the Gentiles, Paul could take advantage of those freedoms and not offend them. He wasn't bound by Jewish customs. So much so that when he met Titus, another young man who had great potential for ministry and became a pastor on the island of Crete, he refused to circumcise him. He took the exact opposite approach that he took with Timothy. Why? Because most of the people on that island were Gentiles. And Paul did not want to send the message that if you want to become a Christian, you first must obey the law of Moses and be circumcised, or you can't be saved.

28:10Two completely different scenarios, two completely different sets of circumstances, two completely different situations, because Paul was free. He was free to limit his freedoms, and he was free to take advantage of them. And then he says, to the weak, that is, Jews or Gentile Christians with weak. Consciences. Paul became weak. Look at what he says in 1 Corinthians 10. If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you're disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, this has been offered in sacrifice, then do not eat it for the sake of the one who informed you and for the sake of conscience. I do not mean your conscience, but his.

29:03For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? See, the issue here is that some less mature Christians did not understand the freedom that they had in Christ, and so they felt that they had to limit what they did. And there are many modern-day examples. It's not that this died out after the first century. If you grew up in East Texas, if you grew up in the deep south, you were probably taught in many churches, drinking is a sin.

29:48Dancing is a sin. Playing cards, somebody explained that to me, is a sin. Are those things sinful inherently? Jesus drank alcohol. The apostles drank alcohol. Jesus went to parties that were so crazy that when people saw him, they said, Why is your teacher the friend of tax collectors and sinners? Why is he a glutton and a drunkard? But the reality is, less mature Christians see certain things as sinful. They don't realize their full freedom in Christ. And so they limit their own freedom.

30:31But mature Christians understand that believers have the freedom to do any of those things and others, and yet we as mature Christians adopt the same attitude as Paul. Mature Christians do not exercise their freedoms in all circumstances. Rather, we limit our freedoms for the sake of less mature Christians and for the sake of non-Christians because we don't want to offend them. In many Reformed circles, we tend to equate knowledge with maturity. So if you know a lot of Bible verses and if you've got Wayne Grudem's systematic theology memorized forwards and backwards, you must be a mature Christian. Friends, the reality is that a mature Christian is not one who has knowledge alone. A mature Christian has knowledge plus wisdom. Wisdom, and wisdom is the understanding of when to exercise freedom and when to limit freedom for the good of others. It is, as we could say, loving our neighbors as we love ourselves. An immature Christian puts himself or herself first every time.

31:50A mature believer says, I will put others first and their good. Look at 1 Corinthians 10:31 on the screen. Paul says, So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.

32:26You see, the principle is that though we are free from all, we make ourselves servants to all. Rather than demanding our rights, we lay down our rights for the good of others, to reach as many as possible. But I know of men and women who profess to be followers of Jesus, who even in certain instances are considered to be mature Christians, who refuse to lay down their rights for the good of others. Who would say, I have the right to drink what I want when I want.

33:00I have the right to spend my money as I see fit. I have the right to spend my time as I want to. And friends, when we take those kinds of stances, we have to pause and ask ourselves, what is the message that we're sending if we are unwilling to lay down our rights for the good of others? What are we communicating about what's most important? Are we really prepared to say that having a drink is more important than someone's eternal destiny? Are we really willing to say going dancing at the club is more important than setting a good example for a younger Christian who cannot handle that? I don't think so. I hope not.

33:46This is what Paul is saying. Look at Romans 14 on the screen. Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. Let me pause there and just point out one of the books that we've got in the bookstall. It's called Conscience. And if you've ever wrestled with that idea, why do some Christians feel okay about drinking and some don't? Why do some feel okay about dancing and some don't? Why do some Christians make one decision and some Christians make another decision? That's a great book for you. And it will help you to understand what God may be revealing to you and what you need to decide for yourself, as well as being open and respectful of people who come to different conclusions than you do, who are truly trying to honor God with their lives. It's a great book. Paul goes on: For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

35:29Friends, in Christ, we are free. But that means that we are free to lay down our rights for the good of others. And when we lay down those rights, God opens doors for effective ministry. Look at how Paul concludes this section in verse 24. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises. Self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified.

36:23We in America have a lot in common with Greco-Roman culture from the first century. In both of the cultures that I speak of, athletics was a huge deal. And here in Corinth, they were the host of the biennial Isthmian Games, which were kind of like the world championships on the off years of the Olympics. And so it was a huge deal. And Paul closes this whole argument with this athletic analogy. And his point is that in a race, everybody runs, but not everybody wins. So we have to run in such a way as to win the prize. Athletes in competition, as we know and we were reminded of this past summer as we watched the Olympic Games in Rio, we're reminded that they lay down their rights in order to compete and win. So they limit their freedom to eat junk food. They limit their freedom to stay up late at night. They limit their freedom to have a social life. They limit their freedoms in order to compete and to win, but they are training and competing for a crown that won't last.

37:28Paul calls it an imperishable. Wreath. It was a wreath made of leaves that they gave out to the winners of those competitions in the first century. It would only last a week or so. He says, in contrast, Christians, we discipline ourselves, we lay down our rights, we do all of these things to receive a crown from Christ that will never fade, that will never be taken away. So we discipline ourselves with that goal in mind. We don't run aimlessly, we don't box like people beating the air. We discipline ourselves and we lay down our rights because our focus is the rewards that we will receive from Jesus.

38:07And so, friends, we live in a truly remarkable country. In the United States of America, we have many rights that people across the world can only dream of. Many people live under government systems where they have few, if any, rights, and yet we live in a time period where we have unprecedented freedom. And everyone in the world, whether American citizen or not, should pray that America and its ideals would continue to go forward for many years because we were founded on what I think are biblical principles, that there are certain unalienable rights that all of us have that were given to us by God. The dark side to that is that in a culture and a country like ours, We can become so focused on our own rights that we become selfish and we become unwilling to lay down our rights in any circumstance. But Jesus showed us a different way, didn't he?

39:13He came and he laid down his rights to serve us in the most necessary way. Look on the screen at Philippians 2. Paul says, Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

39:52Jesus was completely free, the Son of God, eternal, equal with the Father. And yet he chose to lay down his rights, to limit his freedoms, to take on flesh, to serve us. People who were in desperate need of a Savior, one who could fulfill the law that we failed to fulfill, and one who would die in our place for our sins, and rise again to defeat sin and its consequence death. Jesus did this for us. And following. His teaching and example, we are called to lay down our rights for the good of others, both Christians and non-Christians. Because when we lay down our rights, God opens doors for effective ministry. Let's pray.

40:47Father, we acknowledge that we have taken advantage of our freedoms at times where we would have loved and served others much better if we had chosen to lay down our rights. We have hurt other people, we have sinned against them in some instances, and we've sinned against you by refusing to lay down our rights. And so, God, we come before you now and we ask for your help. We pray that you would give us such a great love for you, and from that, such a great love for other Christians who are less mature and people who do not yet know and follow Jesus, that we would be willing to lay down our rights anytime, anywhere for their good.

41:46God, our culture is obsessed with individual rights. And the message that we hear is that nobody, nobody has the right to call us not to exercise our freedoms. But you call us to a better way. And so we thank you for Jesus, who died for all of our failures, including our failure to limit our freedom, to lay down our rights. And we thank you for the Holy Spirit who empowers us daily for ministry, including making the hard decision of limiting our rights and our freedoms for the good of others. In Jesus' name, amen.