Back in the early 1700's, there was a great deal of friction between the colonies in America, and her mother country, England. Incompetent governors had been appointed by England who would quarrel with the colonies; the king would, from across the sea, veto acts of the colonial legislatures--often for selfish reasons; colonial officers and soldiers were treated poorly by the British regulars; and the British government seemed to take no real interest in the colonies except to restrain or to punish them. All these things and more created a growing desire for independence among the colonies. But the last straw came in 1765, when parliament passed a tax on the colonies, called the Stamp Act, to help support a small army in America. By imposing that tax, the colonists felt that the British Parliament had taken away one of their most precious rights: that of voting on their own taxes (Muzzey, David, American History, Ginn and Company, Boston, 1911, p111-115)--and so the colonists began to cry out for their rights. In fact, it wasn't too many years hence that the colonists would adopt a document that described what they felt were "certain unalienable rights"--in the Declaration of Independence. A right is a privilege; it is to have the authority to do something. The colonists felt that these rights were God-given, so no man could take them away.
But this was not the first time men had cried out in this way; long before this, in the year 1215, because of the excesses of King John, a group of barons and churchmen had gathered to force the King to sign a document outlining their rights. This document was what the Magna Carta--one of the great documents of history dealing with human rights--was based upon (Churchill, Winston, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1956, p254).
I'm convinced that really, from the beginning of time, people have cried out for what they perceive as their rights; yet, in some ways, it seems as if we live in a period of time in which, more than any other, we are flooded with calls for us to fight for our rights--particularly in this nation. While I understand these calls to arms, at least to some degree, yet this attitude has bred a readiness for us to fight for almost any cause--whether it may be justified or not. If someone does something we don't like, suddenly one of our rights has been trampled upon! But is this the attitude that we read of in scripture? Is this the attitude that the disciple of Christ is called to have?
The God of Heaven is certainly just, and He expects His children to behave justly as well. He demands that we be fair in our dealings with others. For instance, when we sell someone 50 pounds of grain, we should deliver 50 pound of grain. In Prov 11:1, we read, "A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight." So we must be honest; but the sad truth is that even if we behave honestly, not everyone else will.
This appears to have been the case at Corinth. Apparently, some of the Christians there felt wronged in some way and were taking their brethren to court and suing them. In 1 Cor 6, Paul reminds them that they ought to have been able to judge the case themselves, rather than going before an unbelieving spirit; but he continues in v7, "...it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren." You see, there are times when we ought to forgo our rights; times when we ought to allow ourselves to suffer wrong or be defrauded. One of these times would be when it is for the good of others.
Now, when would it be better for others if I give up my rights? Wouldn't it be best if we could all just get along, and we all had the same rights? Paul points out several situations when this is not the case.
One of the hurdles that a gentile convert might have to overcome would be that of idolatry; they would be turning from the worship of idols to serving Christ. Idol worship often included animal sacrifice; and meat sold in the market at times came from these sacrifices. Some of those converts were concerned about eating that meat. "Wouldn't you be having some part in the sin of idolatry if you ate it", they wondered? In 1 Cor 8, Paul lays down the principle that although a particular activity may not be wrong in and of itself--and so we have the right to do it--yet we should forgo that right so that we don't cause our brother to sin. He wrote beginning v 9, "But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols?" If we eat the meat, our brother who thought it was sin might follow our example and do it also--even though he would be going against his conscience. Because he went against his conscience, he sinned, and we would have led him to it. As we read in Rom 14:23, "But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin." Paul concludes in 1 Cor 8:13, "...if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble." Just as the apostle, we should be willing to limit our liberties if it could lead someone else into sin.
The church in Thessalonica had some issues as well--but in their case, there were some "leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies" (2 Thess 3:11). This being the case, Paul described how he had lived while he was with them, and why he did so: "...we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example." As a preacher of the Gospel caring for some of their spiritual needs, he had the right for them to care for his physical needs; but he was willing to forgo his rights to provide an example to them of hard work.
Paul also refrained from using this right with the Corinthians, but for a different reason: in 1 Cor 9, he wrote that he had the right to be supported, but in v12, "...Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ." Continuing on in the chapter, it seems that he didn't want to give the impression that he was preaching the Gospel simply to gain material things. He was willing to forgo his rights also so that he might not give the wrong impression.
In each of these cases--to avoid leading another into sin, to be a good example, and to avoid giving the wrong impression--Paul gave up his rights for the good of others.
In scripture, though, rights were not always simply "given up". Often, those rights were taken away. How should the Christian behave in that case?
Jesus answered that question himself in Luke 6:27-31: "But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back." It sounds to me like some of those things we think of as basic rights would have been violated, but Jesus didn't advocate getting even, and certainly not getting one up on them. Actually, He closed the passage by saying, "Treat others the same way you want them to treat you." Notice that he didn't qualify it with, "as long as you are treated fairly"; it was simply to treat others the way you want to be treated, no matter how they have treated you. In fact, it's written in 1 Thess 5:15, we are to, "See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people."
"Well, why in the world would I do that," you might think to yourself. Jesus answered that question in Lk 6:32,33, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same." He concludes the thought in v36: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." By always repaying evil with good, we are more like our God.
You may say, "that makes no sense! Since when would God allow His rights to be trampled on?" You know the answer: Jesus Christ--God made flesh--provided that perfect example for us himself. Read with me in 1 Pet 2:20-23--"For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously..."
May we be able to say, as did David to King Saul after Saul had hunted him unmercifully, "May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you." (1 Sam 24:12)
There are some rights given by God to those who seek Him, though--rights that can never be taken away by any man on Earth. We read of one in the first chapter of John verse 12: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name..." If we believe Jesus is the Christ, we can become a child of God, by being baptized into Christ (Gal 3:27) so that our sins will be washed away (Acts 22:16).
Then, as faithful Christians, we find another right: "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city." (Rev 22:14) We can have eternal life in Heaven with our God.
In the scriptures, we don't see Christians constantly arguing about, and fighting for, their rights, staging sit-ins, or waging war; but rather we see a pattern of them foregoing their rights for the good of others, in order to receive an even greater blessing--the right to be with God in Heaven. Their earthly rights may have been given up, or trampled on and taken away; yet they knew that they would "...obtain an inheritance which [was] imperishable and undefiled and [would] not fade away, reserved in heaven for [them]" (1 Pet 1:4). You see, as we read in Phil 3:20, their citizenship wasn't merely an earthly one--it was in Heaven.
Some would say that the only way to keep some semblance of morality in society is for Christians to fight for their rights. Now, while as Christians we can work within the laws to change the laws, consider this: there is a saying, "Convince a man against his will; he's of the same opinion still." We can't force the society around us to become moral; the only way to bring about such a fundamental change in society is to convert it to Christ--and brothers and sisters, we don't convert sinners by constantly fighting with them for our rights. Let's not be so concerned with fighting for our earthly rights all the time, but rather busy ourselves in fighting against Satan, and winning individual souls. Then, and only then, will we see that fundamental change in society.
