Four Rights Jesus Gave Up

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A world obsessed with winning, suing, and asserting runs on the fuel of rights. We went another way today, opening Philippians 2 and tracing how Jesus willingly laid down four divine rights—living like God, acting with unrestrained power, appearing in obvious glory, and being treated as a king—to give us something we could never earn: the right to become children of God.

We begin with the cultural mirror: headlines about lawsuits and entitlement that make humility feel foreign. Then we move into the gospel’s counterintuitive center, where the Son “emptied Himself.” Not of deity, but of the independent use of it. The hands that formed the cosmos took up tools in a carpenter’s shop. The One who could command angels borrowed beds, boats, a room, and even a tomb. Isaiah’s portrait reminds us He didn’t arrive with royal sheen; He came as an ordinary man whom many missed, and some despised.

Finally, we face the cross—a punishment designed to humiliate. Before Pilate, Jesus chose silence over self-defense. He accepted injustice without calling down fire, because love had already chosen the path to our rescue. That voluntary surrender reframes Christmas and our lives. Adoption into God’s family is the right that outlasts every claim and counters every insecurity. Worship, then, is not coerced; it’s the fitting response to a King who came low so we could be lifted.

If this message moved you, share it with a friend who needs hope, subscribe for more gospel-centered teaching, and leave a review to help others find the show. And if you’re ready to respond, take a quiet moment and tell Him so—He still welcomes those who come.

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Stephen's latest book, The Disciples Prayer, is available now. https://www.wisdomonline.org/store/view/the-disciples-prayer-hardback