Home Outreach Leaders Articles for Outreach & Missions I am Compelled: Setting Aside Your Rights For The Gospel

I am Compelled: Setting Aside Your Rights For The Gospel

And my question is this: What gospel are we preaching?

A gospel of personal rights and individual freedoms or a gospel of laying down one’s life for a friend?

A gospel of claiming what we feel is rightfully ours or relinquishing our claim so that others might see Jesus?

A gospel of independence and personal comfort or a gospel of humility that does nothing out of selfish ambition?

One might ask why I would use this platform, a platform dedicated to connecting generations and promoting discipleship within our communities to address this topic.

It’s pretty simple, actually. I am compelled. I am compelled like Paul to preach the gospel which is summed up by Jesus in Matthew 22 as “Love God, Love Others,” and by Paul as “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures…he was buried…The third day he rose again from the dead, according to the Scriptures…and he appeared (1 Cor. 15).

Compelled for the Next Generation

Generation Z (teenagers) and Generation Alpha (children 10 and under) are the first American generations being described as “post-Christian” (Source). The divide between generations politically, religiously, and socially has never been wider. If we want to have a platform to even begin to share the love of Jesus with the next generation, we’ve got to do as Paul did and relinquish our rights in deference for love.

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

(1 Corinthians 9:19-23)