Do Christians Have "Rights" They Should Cling To? Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: May 22, 2014

Date Preached: May 25, 2014

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Series Title: A Series in 1 Corinthians

Sermon Title: Do Christians have ‘rights’ to cling to?

Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 [ESV]

TEXT:

Essence of the Text: Paul challenged the believers in Corinth to resist seeking worldly judgment for beleiver conflict.

Essence of the Sermon: We too are challenged to resist seeking worldly judgment for any beleiver conflict as well.

Applicable Objective of the Sermon: The hearers will:

Know the difference between worldly and Christian counsel

Know the godly manner in which to handle conflict between belivers

Know why Paul uses so many examples of sin to drive home his point

Introduction:

Before I begin this morning, I am going to apologize in advance for the length of my introduction, but I believe it is imperative that we understand the context of what Paul is speaking to here in these 11 verses, so bear with me for a few extra minutes…

“You are violating my rights!” This is the cry of so many people today over what many of us would see as the most trivial of matters. So many people in this country and in our world today see themselves as the victim of someone else taking advantage of them…

Today we live in a society obsessed with their own personal rights and the fear of other people violating those rights! I do not believe that there a day that goes by when I don’t read or hear a news story, news article, email, twitter post, or see something on Facebook where someone somewhere is screaming about his/her rights have been violated!

Somebody has ‘done me wrong!’ is the battle cry from these people and they are constantly disturbed and upset about what they percieve is a violation of their rights… Likewise always seem to be conspiring some sort of action because they feel that their personal rights have priority over any ‘greater’ good.

Now here is where I go from preaching to meddling… Do you know that this SAME attitude is alive and well IN the lives of believers within the church today?

We see it all the time, but I believe we DON’T pay attention to it because our senses have been ‘dulled’ to its presence in our lives! After all, is there anything ‘wrong’ about wanting what is ‘rightfully’ yours?

When we look at our nation and how it was founded we see a LOT of this focus… we see it in the Bill of Rights where as a nation we have stated that these things are RIGHTS that cannot be taken from us!

This “Bill of Rights” or what people interpret the Bill of Rights to means is what MANY people use when the cry out that their rights are being violated…

Now I want to go on record RIGHT now and let you ALL know that I am a red-blooded, dyed-in-the-wool, ‘don’t tread on me’ American!

I believe in the founding principles of our nation… I believe in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence… I believe that the ForeFathers of this nation were visionary and set up a gov’t that has been a wonderful blessing to millions of people here in the United States!

With that being said, I want us to ALSO understand another principle that MOST if not ALL of us want to ignore! When you become part of something bigger than you are, you are choosing to give up some of your ‘inalienable’ rights!

Let me explain… recently in the NFL a young man was drafted in the 7th round, but before the draft he had ‘come out of the closet’ and had proclaimed that he was a proud homosexual athlete.

Several players in the NFL were offended by all the media attention this young man received and some of them actually spoke out against what he stood for…

One player was fined and then ordered by his team to NOT return to the practice facility until he attended sensitivity training. Many believed this was wrong—that this man had every right to speak out in opposition.

However, here is the principle at play here… when you sign up to be a part of something LARGER than yourself, you give away some or all of who you are as an individual.

The same principle is true in our United States Military. We DO have freedom of speech in our country, but when you sign up to serve in the military, you set aside that right and you subject yourself to the orders of those appointed over you and you are expected to keep your opinions quiet!

Preacher…what does this have to do with the sermon? Well, I believe that we have come to the point in the church where we truly believe that it (serving God) is all about US! What WE want or desire! What WE believe to be the right thing or right way to do something! And when we don’t get things ‘our way’ we have a tendency to get upset and strike out!