Dead people have no rights
Living a life of surrender to Christ and the cross…
Perhaps one of the greatest songs of the rock and roll era is Me and Bobby McGee. Written by Kris Kristofferson for country music singer Roger Miller, it was covered by Janis Joplin shortly before her death in 1970. Joplin just infused this song with a vibe that gave it that special something. You can give it listen here…
Kristofferson, who along with Marijohn Wilkin also wrote One Day at a Time, was an incredible wordsmith when it came to music. He often touched on themes directly related to Christianity and faith. But it’s in Me and Bobby McGee that he hits us with a line that while not overtly Christian, gets at the heart and soul of what I believe our faith is all about.
“Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”
Let me put it another way for us…
“I have been crucified with Christ and no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
Or…
“I count it all a loss compared to the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider those things rubbish, that I may gain Christ.’
Those two verses, from Galatians and Philippians respectively, coupled with Kristofferson’s lyrics, give us a powerful reminder of what our attitudes as followers of Jesus, should be. They push us to consider, or at least they should, how we need to be thinking about our hopes, our desires and even our rights.
This is especially true when it comes to mission and ministry.
A while back I met Rod Fry, a fellow missionary with years of experience hosting short-term mission teams as part of his ministry in Mexico City. Rod developed a cross cultural covenant for people who wanted to be part of his church planting network. I loved the entire covenant, but this part, which includes the following section really made an impression on me.
It starts with the following words.
I give up my right to…
- A comfortable bed
- Determine my schedule
- Worry
- Be offended
- Be right or correct
There were more of course, but you get the point.
What Rod was asking people to do was live out Paul’s words. What he was asking people to do was to give up their wants, wishes, desires and even rights, to serve the Kingdom. Because as people who’ve decided to follow Jesus, we have been crucified with him on the cross, and thus no longer live for ourselves, but for the Christ who died sacrificially for us at Calvary.
This is hard stuff. Radical stuff, because it forces us to really think about our faith and how we prioritize the things we believe are important in our lives.
I owe a lot to missiologist Tim Dearborn for a phrase that literally pushes me almost everyday. I was at a conference in Los Angeles and he was leading a workshop on the proper attitude people should have if they call themselves followers of Christ. He talked a lot about denying ourselves and living for others and then, going deeper, he pushed us to the following…
Dead people have no rights.
Take a moment and let that sink in. Those five words haunt me. Because they are so true.
When we come to Jesus, as Paul explains, we die to ourselves, our worlds, our wants and our desires. We make a conscious decision to give up our rights and live as aliens in our land so we can have citizenship in another place, the Kingdom of God. Literally, in the words of Paul, we put ourselves in bondage to Christ.
If we are truly seeking after Jesus, his desires become our desires. Then, all that other stuff we’ve always dreamed of having, or being, becomes the rubbish we give up to gain his fullness. And most of all, that includes our rights and our freedoms, because they are so dear and central to us.
When I get on a plane to head to Mexico, I do so with the understanding that my rights as an American end at the US/Mexico border. As a visitor in Mexico, all of the rights I had when I got on that plane mean nothing once we land. Legally speaking, I have no right to counsel, no right against self incrimination, no right to have court proceedings translated into English, nothing.
I literally enter Mexico having given up all of my rights as an American.
Paul tells us in his writings that it is only when we really decide to give up our earthly rights, that we are able to truly be free in Christ. Or as Joplin sings, become people with “nothing left to lose.”
“I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them [my wants, wishes, desires and even rights] garbage, that I may gain Christ… I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.“
Those words are from Paul in his letter to the Philippians.
They are perhaps the most radical distillation of his philosophy of what would become the Christian life. Paul had internalized the truth of our faith in such a deep way that he was able to count everything other than his faith in Jesus a complete loss. Paul lived not in bondage to the life he once had, or even desirous of the rights that were clearly his birthright, but in a freedom that only comes from uniting with Christ in his death on the cross. And then he challenges us with this…
“All of us, then, who are mature [in our faith] should take such a view of things.“
Stop and think about that for a moment. Then ask yourself if you are there yet, on the road, or still at the station waiting for the outbound train to arrive.
Because your answer just might explain if you’ve been able to internalize and live the truth that both Kristofferson and Paul wrote about.
Dave Miller is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Adventures in Life Ministry. Since 1992 he has been leading and receiving short term ministry teams across Mexico. Having come to Adventures from the business world where he managed for Carl’s Jr, Miller’s Outpost and Mervyn’s Department Stores, Dave brings a unique real world take on faith, missions and the Christian life.