Message: In Acts 9 Paul continued talking about all of his rights, and
the fact that he gave up those rights in order to reach more people. This is
what Jesus did when he came to earth and it’s the difference between being a
victim and laying aside our rights by choice. Our maturity is revealed by our
willingness to lay aside our rights.
Application: The gospel is full of scripture
urging us to give up our rights and scriptures about turning the other cheek
and giving up your robe also is easily misinterpreted to suggest that we tolerate
abuse or manipulation. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Everything that
Jesus sacrificed was for the good of the people, but not for the selfish desire
of anyone. Everything he did was according to the father’s plan and when people
came in trying to divert him he didn’t allow it. As a person with people pleasing/co-dependent
past issues I really leaned into this as I have studied God’s word. Everything changes
when you make a sacrifice for the good of someone, rather than out of a fear of
rejection. This kind of sacrifice opens doors that our Americanized views don’t
understand. We celebrate soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the
freedom of Americans. Unfortunately many
Americans claim our rights for the benefit of ourselves and don’t consider the
good of others. This is immaturity at it’s finest but there is a huge
difference in giving up your own rights, and having them taken from you. This
is the difference between being victimized and surrendering our own rights by
choice. We aren’t called to be victims. We are called to stand up maturity and
surrender our rights in situations that benefit someone else, or open an
opportunity to show someone the generosity of the gospel by living it out.