Rights

Proverbs 14: 29

James 1: 19-20

Matthew 5: 38-42

Rights

Mark Twain once said this about the Bible: "I have no problem with those parts of the Bible I don't understand. It's those parts of the Bible I do understand that gives me fits." The passage that we are going to study certainly fits into that category.

This passage illustrates something I bet most of you have never thought about before. One of the easiest things in the world to do is to become a Christian. It is ridiculously easy. All you have to do is confess you are a sinner, repent of your sin, believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin and was raised from the dead, and surrender your life to Him as your Lord and Savior; and you become a Christian immediately and instantaneously. There is not an easier thing in the world than to become a Christian. But at the same time, one of the most difficult things in the world is to be a Christian, and you're going to see that illustrated this morning.

What Jesus says is totally antithetical to the typical attitude in America. Rights are considered as American as apple pie. This is a country where citizens have rights. The best known part of the Constitution is the Bill of Rights. I'm all for the right kind of rights, but today rights don't so much protect the innocent as they promote the guilty. If you're going to be a real Christian you're going to have to give up some rights.

Bill Walton learned that to play basketball for John Wooden you had to give up some rights. Coach Wooden had a rule against facial hair. If you played for him no facial hair was allowed. After a ten day break from school, Bill Walton came to practice wearing a beard. Coach Wooden walked up to him and said, "Bill, have you forgotten something?" Walton replied, "Coach, if you mean the beard, I think I should be allowed to wear it, it's my right."

Coach Wooden said, "Do you really believe in that?" He said, "Yes, I do, very much." Coach Wooden looked at him and said, "Bill, I have great respect for individuals who stand up for those things in which they believe. I really do. If you believe that is your right, I would die for your right to defend that right." Bill Walton said, "Thank you, Coach." Then Wooden said, "I just want you to know the team is really going to miss you."

We've all heard the expression, "Do your duty." Jesus once again tells us something that no human likes to hear. He is tells us, "Do what is not your duty," and "Do more than your duty." That is going the second mile. What does this mean?

First, it means we must be willing to get worse than we deserve in this life. That is very unfair in our way of thinking, but think about the life of Jesus. Think of his death. Think of how he was treated. Fair?  And remember his words to us, “If any person wants to follow me, he must say 'No' to the things he wants. That person must accept the cross that is given to him, and he must follow me.”  It means giving up our rights to God.

Following Jesus does not always get us what seems fair or what we deserve in this life. For Jesus' true followers, the cross is not a piece of jewelry or even a symbol; it is a lifestyle. It is the willingness to follow Jesus in every way -- including the way of the cross if necessary. For us to do that, we must surrender our selves and be willing to give our lives for the needs of others. We must have unflinching loyalty to God no matter the cost. More than just a burden to bear, "our cross to bear" is a total buy in to the life, character, and way of Jesus. That is not easy, and all of us will fail at that often.

To do more than duty is to give more than asked, go further than required, grant all that is needed. When we look at what Jesus willingly did for us, we come to realize that there are no acceptable minimums when it comes to serving God. Jesus gave his all, and God asks for our all as well.  He gives us our lives. We owe our live to him, not out of duty, but out of gratitude.

We do have the right to turn away from God. We have that free choice. But if we choose to follow Christ, we choose to give up all rights. There can be no middle ground. Jesus makes that clear, and that is what Mark Twain was referring to. Jesus makes it clearly understood we must give up all rights to God. To gain our life we must lose it for him.

Shortly after the battles that ended the American Revolution, but before the peace had been negotiated, George Washington was with his troops in Newburgh, New York. But they began to grow very restless because they hadn't been paid. Washington had begged the Continental Congress to do what they said they would do and pay the soldiers, but they refused.

Some of the officers began to organize a rebellion. They talked about marching on Philadelphia, which was at that time the seat of the reigning national government, and overthrowing that government and letting the army rule the nation.

With the fate of America in the balance, George Washington made a surprise appearance before these officers. After praising them for their service and thanking them for their sacrifice, he pulled from his pocket a copy of a speech that he wished to read. But then he fumbled with a paper and finally reached for a set of reading glasses-glasses those men had never seen him wear before. Washington made this simple statement: "I have already grown grey in the service of my country, and now I am going blind."

Historian Richard Norton Smith wrote: "Instantly rebellion melted into tears. It was a galvanizing moment, and the rebellion ended.”

The rebellion was put down because they had seen before them a second miler. Becoming a Christian is one thing; being a Christian is another one. Every chance you get for the glory of Jesus, for the goodness of others, and because of the grace of God, give up your rights to govern your own life, and go the second mile.

Amen