Martin Luther said, “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.”
Christian freedom is one of the many paradoxes of the Christian faith. Paul explained it this way,
“You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’ – but not everything is good for you. You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’ – but not everything is beneficial. Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.”  1 Corinthians 11:23-24
Paul further added, “Decide to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.”  Romans 14:13

The Greek word for “stumble” gives the sense of stubbing our toes. As Christians we are forbidden to do anything that may cause another person to stub their toe as it can cause a person to fall in the spiritual sense, or to damage or weaken their faith. Jesus had some strong words to say about our impact on little children, “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause any one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.”  Matthew 18:5-6

An example for Sue and me occurred when we accepted a call to serve in a church as Pastor for Youth and Young Adults. Prior to our arrival at this church, we had a discussion about having the right not to exercise our rights regarding any issue that might cause any youth or young adult to stumble. One issue we decided upon was to abstain from drinking any alcoholic drinks although this was not required of us. We did not want to be the reason why young people would stub their toe and fall by saying, “if it is good enough for the pastor, then it is good enough for me.”

Other issues we were aware of were the way we drove our cars, the quality of our humour, our choices of entertainment, our attitude toward the marginalised, senior people, and those in authority, our stewardship of money and the way we looked after our bodies to mention a few. However, the right not to exercise our rights should not relate to issues where a Christian tries to stop another Christian from doing something merely because they don’t like it.

Paul tells us to enjoy our freedom in Christ, but along with that freedom comes the responsibility to protect those around us and to ensure that Jesus Christ is glorified in all we do and say.
Remember, we have the right not to exercise our rights.

P.S.  A word to leaders. A good definition of leadership is ‘influence’. In other words, leaders are role models, whether they want to be or not and they have a role in developing the culture of their organisation. So, all the more leaders need to take to heart the words of Paul, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 11:1
Don’t be like the leader who woke up with a fright because he had dreamt all his followers had become just like him.