Serving the Lord – Enduring Suffering and Yielding Rights
Pastor Tan Thai · Oct 24, 2019
This sermon, based on Matthew 5:39-42, explores two dimensions of serving the Lord: enduring hardship and yielding personal rights. The preacher argues that yielding—voluntarily surrendering legitimate rights for the sake of God's work—is far more difficult than suffering, and is the true mark of spiritual maturity.
The sermon opens by observing that many believers, when thinking about serving the Lord, focus only on the negative aspects such as hardship and trials, while overlooking the joy, blessing, and comfort that God provides. The preacher uses Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 and 3:7-8 to illustrate that seeing believers mature in faith is itself the deepest joy and the very life-source of anyone who sincerely serves the Lord.
The central portion of the sermon is built on Matthew 5:38-42, explaining five personal rights that followers of Christ are called to yield: the right to retaliation, the right to protect one's honor and reputation, the right to accumulate and use personal property, the right to use one's time and strength as one chooses, and the right to use one's money as one sees fit. Each right is illustrated with stories, practical examples, or biblical cases—ranging from the account of pioneer missionary Hudson Taylor in China to the example of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness.
The preacher places special emphasis on the point that yielding is harder than suffering, because it requires a person who knows they have a right to voluntarily and consciously surrender that right. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9 serves as the primary model: he had every right to receive financial support from the church and to bring a wife in ministry, yet he voluntarily surrendered all of these rights so as not to hinder the growth of God's work in any way.
The sermon concludes with the supreme example of yielding: Jesus Christ Himself. From being the Creator of the universe, He willingly became a human being, endured betrayal, abuse, humiliation, and death on the cross to redeem sinners. Philippians 2:5-8 is quoted as a direct call for believers to adopt the same mindset as Christ—not looking to their own interests but to the interests of others, willing to humble themselves and surrender their rights out of love and for His name's sake.