These words are taken straight from the U.S. Constitution and are the unalienable rights of every U.S. citizen. We are all created equal regardless of economic status or skin color. We were created equal by God our Creator. We all have a right to live. We have to right to live in freedom. We also have the right to pursue happiness.
These are our rights. We deserve the right to live out our days in long and peaceful living. We have the right to live in freedom from oppressive government, from enemies foreign and domestic and from terrorism. We also have the right to pursue happiness. Whether that happiness be found in the simple pleasures of a meal, or a good time with family and friends, or in indulging in recreation and entertainment.
Our constitution guarantees us these rights as citizens of the sovereign nation of these United States of America. Hold up a minute. Those may be our rights as citizens but many of us also have our citizenship in Heaven. We live under a different code of conduct and a different system of rights. 1 Peter 2:9-11 (NASB)
9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.
In essence, those redeemed by the blood of Jesus are aliens in this world. We are strangers here. As the old hymn goes, "This world is not my home I am just passing through, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue."
As followers of Jesus what are our rights? Do we still have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not according to scripture. Our only right is the right to deserve the wrath of God for all eternity for our sins. We deserve death. We deserve bondage for all eternity in hell. We deserve eternal torment and misery for everlasting time. Those are our rights and deservedly so.
O but Jesus rescued me and you. We did not deserve it. We could never in a thousand life times have earned it. He dealt with us in mercy. He brought us out of darkness into His marvelous light. When we experienced that our rights changed.
Paul put it this way.
Galatians 6:14 (NASB)
14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Because of what Jesus did on the cross for us, our boasting and exulting should forever be in the cross. On that cross we know Jesus nailed our sins. We are also called to nail our lives to the cross in surrender and submission to His will and purposes. DEAD MEN AND WOMEN NO LONGER HAVE ANY RIGHTS. We are people of God's own possession. When you possess something you can do whatever you please with it.
20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
What are our rights in Christ. We have the right to be crucified with Him. We have the right to surrender our wills to His, our desires to His and our futures to Him. Jesus has the right and authority to do anything in our lives and anything with our lives as He desires without having to ask our permission first.
Matthew 16:24 (NASB)
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "
We have the right to deny ourselves even the smallest pleasures. He has the right to call us away from food for periods of fasting. He has the right to call us away from sleep for praying. He has the right to call us away from prosperity into a life of sacrifice.
We also have the right to take up our cross. That might call for a little suffering along life's way. Just ask Adoniram Judson, William Carey and Hudson Taylor. Ask Joni Erickson Tada. Ask David Brainerd. Ask Charles Spurgeon and Charles Simeon. Ask Amy Carmichael. As Charles Simeon once said, "We must not mind a little suffering for Christ's sake."
We also have the right to follow Christ's leadership wherever He calls us to follow Him. On any
given day and at any given hour the call of Christ might come for each of us to drop what we are dong and to follow Him. That is our right. To hold all our plans loosely in favor of His is not only our right, but our responsibility.
It is so easy for us to lose this perspective thinking we are entitled to certain things. My entitlements were nailed to the cross and in their place I received the grace and mercy of Jesus. My rights and allegiance are yielded to Him to do with me as He pleases. The same is true for every child of God.
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