My 16 year old son and I were talking about rules of the road. He hopes to get his license soon and has been studying the rules. I was trying to explain the process of going through an unmarked intersection in a residential neighborhood. He understood the part about yielding to vehicles on the right but had difficulty with vehicles possibly not yielding to him. I tried to explain that just because you have the "right" there is no guarantee that you will be granted that "right." I explained to him the belief I hold that if you have a focus of safety and staying alive you won’t take for granted your rights. Instead you will understand that there are always others who will take your rights away from you. So, our talk took a philosophical direction as this same rule will follow you (us) into most areas of your life. Asserting our "rights" can be the wrong decision. Neglecting our "rights" can also bring about the wrong decision. Weighing out consequences is important in this world where we reside.
Consequences themselves are usually thought about in negative ways. If you do this, you will be stuck with that. Rarely do we hear ourselves or anyone else saying "If you do this, wonderful things will happen." Our society isn’t focused that way. And as a result, consequences remain focused on in the negative. Just as the title of the book states; "It’s always my choice." As a result I choose the consequences in my life. Sometimes my choices also inflict the consequences in others’ lives as well. If I choose to assert my rights then I may have as a result an accident wherein someone else is affected. Positive consequences can also be seen in the Christians life. We don’t know the battle or the plan of God down the road. Something set up months or years ago to benefit us may or may not come about when the time is right. This is all about choice. You and I control the choice. If you and I choose to submit to God’s desire, his protection will result.
Submission is also a loaded term. Very few like to submit and yet that is the very basis for the foundation of Christianity and a relationship with God. Should I submit to the world instead of God, I sin. Should I submit to God, I don’t sin. This concept is simple and yet, we have rationalized and justified in order to make something which is wrong right and that which is right wrong. Yet, God never changes. His love towards us is always the same. His Word never changes. Salvation still is a result of our acknowledging our sin and asking for forgiveness and asking Jesus to take over our sinful life and our self-centered world. Submission to the choice of God’s will is always the right thing to do. Unfortunately, the world sometimes sees our choice as an assault on the world order. As Peter said, "we need to obey God and not man." When he was told to not preach about Jesus. He chose what God decreed rather than sin. Good choice!
So, here we are. Another crossroad to cross and do we use our "right" to proceed or do we submit to others to avoid consequences caused by another person? I’m sure there are those on both sides of the argument. One only needs to look at the greater Baptist church. There are 201 different kinds of Baptist churches. Why? Because they couldn’t agree that God is first. They couldn’t put aside their assertion long enough to do what God wanted. In all fairness we are able to see this in other denominations as well. This doesn’t mean that the Gospel isn’t being preached in those churches. The trend of reinterpreting the Word of God to meet our wants is at full speed in the world. What’s wrong is right to be politically correct. What’s wrong is right to be accepting of another living in sin. Embracing wrong to show how inclusive we are goes against everything the Bible says. God instructed mankind to be intolerant of those who do not obey God. The Bible is full of examples and verses where we are called (Christians) to be apart or away from the non-believer. But we don’t. Instead, we compromise the Gospel and it’s meaning in our lives so that we can include the sinner. Sometimes we even join in the sin so that (we argue) they won’t feel badly. We’re supposed to feel badly when we sin!!!
Wow! This whole rights versus submission topic has taken on a life of its own. What can we do that will make sense of all of the conflicts in our lives? Isn’t there anything that will take the responsibility off our backs for the choices we make? There is but we don’t really want that choice either. However, here it is. We, as believers, have God’s wisdom to call upon. Yep, that’s right the answers to all our dilemmas are as close as the God who walks beside us. God’s wisdom is always right. That means that his wisdom is never wrong. If we should desire to really believe our faith, the Word and wisdom of God, then we can live a satisfied and full life. The roads won’t always be level. The challenges to us will continue. In fact the attacks of the world on our lives and the lives of those we are responsible for will increase every time we take the offensive and do what God wants. Satan hates that. God loves that. Satan wants my soul. God has my soul. Game over. Whenever I choose to do that which is against God, I rebel against God. James in chapter 4 says that "if you do that which you know you should not do, you sin." Quite simple. Ask yourself this question: "When is it ever okay for me to disobey God?" Never. How can the wisdom of God ever be wrong? That is a rhetorical question. God is never wrong.
There is the presupposition that we have rights and we have the directive to be submissive. How far do we go? We don’t have a list of items we can check off each day. The problem with our rights comes when we demand our rights. Remember that if you belong to Jesus you shouldn’t demand rights. How about submission? To be submissive and yet obey the Word of God shouldn’t be a tricky task. Yet the Christian wrestles with that each and every day. Just like rights; submission is not black and white. Both terms come loaded with responsibility and much needed wisdom. While all actions of the Christian may be permissible, not all actions should be exercised. An example would be drinking of alcoholic beverages. While the Bible doesn’t prohibit drinking, the situation may prohibit drinking. I wouldn’t drink around a recovering alcoholic. Wisdom says we need to not be a stumbling block to anyone. There are many other examples of this. This is exactly where submission to God and circumstances is paramount to sharing the Gospel with others. Yet, many Christians do not practice this, much less drinking in excess. We, for the most of us, have either been or seen Christian drinking gone too far. Being drunk is not okay and the Bible tells us that. Nor would I go to a Weight Watchers meeting with a pepperoni pizza. You wouldn’t bring anything meat to a Seventh Day Adventist gathering (nor coffee).
This balance of rights and submission is a many sided issue. Perhaps we can put some perspective on the practice of being a Christian guided by the Spirit of God. If our focus is on God and if we belong to Him, and if we obey Him, then what comes out of us is the Gospel. Notice the 3 "ifs" in the sentence. Let’s reword the sentence. Should our focus be on God, should we belong to Him, and should we obey Him, then what comes out of us is the Gospel. Doesn’t really change the concept does it. Perhaps if we change the wording yet again we might be able to be Christ to our world. With our submitted lives to God practicing submission to His will, we demonstrate our Christian love to others. That’s better but something is still missing. We’re missing consistency. How about my example of my having the right to drink? What if we took the next step and just removed the potential problem. No one would be able to say to me "Well, you drink." We could substitute other words as well. It’s a matter of conscious and consistency while doing what God wants us to do. If we are truly happy with being a Christian and are fully committed to doing His will instead of mine; "rights" and "submission" do not become issues. Whatever takes my eyes off of being an ambassador for Jesus doesn’t need to be in my part of my life. That is a tough pill to swallow. Think about it. What is the focus of your life as a Christian?
When I first gave my life to Jesus I gave him all of it. He was my first love. While I still have a first love for Jesus; that same experience in the beginning now seems somewhat laddened with the cares of the world. I guess in some ways that I’ve taken my rights over the years and lost sight of my first love. We are a sinful people who are stubborn and stiff necked. At least I am. You may have the perfect relationship with Jesus. Kudos to you. It’s not where I have gone and am. Real life brings real dilemmas. Choices once thought to be no brainers have brought complexity to our lives. Here is an example. When I’m on the highway I drive about 8 miles per hour faster than the posted speed limit. That is breaking the letter of the law. I drink milk out of the carton and put it back in the fridge when I’m done. I exercise the 5 second rule when something falls to the floor. I try to not lie and sometimes just don’t tell all the truth. In each of these circumstances I have reasons to justify my choosing everything but God’s will. You might be thinking that God doesn’t care whether I drink milk from the carton or not. You may even have a point when the 5 second rule is used. However, all of these "little" choices erode the Spirit of God in me and rob Him of my Christian witness to the world around me. By the way, these examples were all things I would have avoided when I first came to Jesus.
We have a church today that doesn’t practice Christianity. What the churches today do is make up the rules as they go along. Have a pastor that cheats on his wife? We have an exception in the church rules that answers that. Big money giver doesn’t want to be remembered as a tyrant. We have a rule for that. We’ve taken sin and made exclusions the rule. When we do this, we assert our rights to make up the rules of what is sin and what is not. What makes us think this is alright with God? Yet, we see churches that have done everything they could to be inclusive of everyone and every circumstance. The Gospel is neither preached nor lived in those circumstances. Here is an example. While pastoring a small rural church I learned that one of the prominent families in the church had an adult child who was on the church membership and was living with his girlfriend. The Bible was clear (Matthew 18) on how to address the issue. I went through those steps with our church chairman. At one point we were to bring this issue to the elders. So we did. The head deacon and the rest of the board heard the issue, was asked to remove the young man from membership (he never responded to any correspondence). The head deacon said, "In this case we must disobey God." My heart broke as did the church chairman and others in the group. The Spirit of God left the church. The very presence of God could be felt leaving. God was grieved. Instead of doing the right thing, they wrote another rule. The person in question became an associate member instead of full member. The rights and submission of the church members and individuals as well was, is and will be the hallmark of whether a church belongs to God or man. What was done was sin.
Now hear me, I’m not without sin. You may be thinking that this is a pious example of someone else’s wrong. Deflecting the truth of what someone else’s life has become does nothing to right the wrong. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Jesus said that. "If you know what to do but do not do it, you sin." James (Jesus’s half-brother) said that under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Yes, we do have the right to be whomever we want wherever we want. Yes, we can choose to use worldly wisdom and ignore Godly wisdom. Yes, in this world the rule is do as you please. Yes, you can refuse to be submissive to God and be accepted as a member in good standing with many churches. Yes, if you don’t believe you can spend eternity in hell. It’s always your choice.
As the commercial says, "But wait, there’s more!" The way we exercise our rights and submission is being watched. Sometimes, the saying goes, "your actions are the only Bible some people read." What is your witness regarding your rights? What is your witness regarding your submission? Both testify loudly to the amount of Godly wisdom in your life. What does your life testify to others about? Are you known for your generosity? Do you have time for others and their problems? Are you the husband or wife that treat each other with Godly love? Are your children examples of your disciplined life? Do your neighbors make changes in their lives based on what they like because they see that in your life? When you are at home, work, school, or anywhere else do people ask you what the reason for your happiness is? When you are gone from this earth will people be sad or glad? What will your legacy be? Will you, once in the presence of Jesus, be able to tell him you left a legacy in your kids, the neighborhood or your extended world? These might be biting questions to you. They are to me. Evaluating your own life is important. Making decisions that reflect the love of God in your life is important. Being a witness to others regarding salvation is important. Do these areas need improvement in your life? They certainly do in my life. I suspect these needed improvements will continue until I go home.
As the Desiderata says, "You have a right to be here." James tells us that our wisdom is manifest when we are submissive. Both depend on our willingness to abandon ourselves for God. Earthly rights are corrupt and sinful. The world is full of "worldly" Christians. Many a church today has a pastor who obviously doesn’t know Christ as their tolerance and respect for sin is more important than standing for Jesus. Will they be counted with the "little flock" that Jesus welcomes into heaven? I don’t know. There are many who attend church believing they are Christian and they are not. How can the blind lead the blind? Yes, you have a right to be here and exercise worldly wisdom submitting only where you want. Yes, you have a right to spend eternity in hell. It was always my choice. It was always your choice. Tomorrow you can rewrite that statement and say, "Today my choice is Jesus." "Today my choice is submission to Jesus and to give up my rights to him."
Are we willing to take an inventory of what is important in our lives? If we are not willing there is definitely something wrong in our lives. What is more important than Jesus? Perhaps you would rather spend time in front of a big screen TV watching sports than going to church with the family. Maybe you have reserved the right to drop in at the bar of your choice instead of going home to your family after a day at work. You possibly could be devoting income to toys of your choosing and not paying off that debt or providing the essentials for your family. What is stopping you from being all out for Jesus? Now don’t go blaming anyone for your choices. I probably have made all of your excuses and a few more over my life. My "witness" was miserably lacking for many years of my life while I professed being a Christian. The grace of God was the only move I could make to bring me back from the brink. Without grace, all of us would be damned to hell.
Just a couple of last questions. Are you willing and ready to see your children go to hell? How about your wife, mom, dad, other relative. Your neighbor who loves your "kind" of Christianity. Are you willing to be responsible for his NOT accepting Jesus and spending eternity in hell? Are you and I willing to give up our rights, engage in Godly wisdom and submit to the wisdom of God?
It was always my choice. Did I choose to live for God?
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