"i Know My Rights!"

“[Jesus] told [the disciples] a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.” For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.”’” [1]

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms lists the rights and freedoms of people in Canada. Almost every nation has a document establishing the rights of citizens of that nation. Even dictatorships will list certain rights that the government guarantees. The list of “rights” is often many and precise. Whether any nation fully protects the rights listed may be subject to question, but every nation wants to appear as a protector of the rights of individual peoples living in that country. In theory, any citizen of that country can claim his rights when they are violated.

And we Canadians are great at claiming our rights. Perhaps one could argue that we are less conscientious about exercising our responsibilities, but we are quick to claim our rights! Even we Christians are quick to claim our rights in the physical realm. But, what about claiming our rights in the realm of the spiritual? Do we have rights? Has God told us what rights we have? And if He has told us, do we exercise our rights?

If you are a Christian—not one of those pitiable creatures that is best described as a cultural Christian, but a genuine Christ-follower—you have rights not accorded to others who do not know God. God views those whom He has redeemed with favour, just as those who have never been born from above are under His wrath. We too often forget the stern statement penned in John’s Gospel. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” [JOHN 3:36]. What is stated in this verse is but an iteration of what was written a few brief sentences before, when John writes, “Whoever believes in [the Christ] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” [JOHN 3:18]. The Apostle of Love leaves no doubt concerning the divine view that the entirety of mankind is segregated into two categories—saints and ain’ts. One is either saved, or one is lost; there is no in between!

If one is saved, that individual has been granted great and precious promises given by God Himself. If you are one who follows Christ as Master over life, you have promises that are never given to those who are lost. This is made clear when the Apostle to the Jews writes, “[God’s] divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” [2 PETER 1:3-4].

The great tragedy for many, dare I say “most,” who are followers of the Christ, is that the “precious and very great promises” given to us remain unclaimed. The reason these promises are unclaimed is no reflection on God but it is due to a failure on our part. James, the half-brother of our Lord, writes, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” [JAMES 4:2-3]. Unclaimed promises! What do we leave that He has promised?

In the message this hour, I invite all who know the Saviour to explore with me the matter of prayer and your right as a follower of Christ to ask Him whatever you wish. Most Christians will appreciate teaching that informs us about prayer. We want to know what God is pledged to do. We want to know what the stated conditions are so that we can lay claim to what He has promised. Perhaps most importantly, we need to know Who is the guarantor of what has been promised. The great tragedy is that though we want to know, we struggle to put into practise what we do know. Perhaps with further instruction we will be encouraged to put into practise the great principles of prayer. That is certainly my hope in the message this day.