9 Bible Verses about Authority, Responsibilities Of

But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the heathen lord it over them, and their great men tyrannize over them. It is not to be so among you, but whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to hold the first place among you must be your slave,read more.
just as the Son of Man has come not to be waited on, but to wait on other people, and to give his life to ransom many others."

And Jesus called them to him, and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule the heathen lord it over them, and their great men tyrannize over them; but it is not to be so among you. Whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to hold the first place among you must be everybody's slave.read more.
For the Son of Man himself has not come to be waited on, but to wait on other people, and to give his life to free many others."

rose from the table, took off his outer clothing, and fastened a towel about his waist. Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, wiping them with the towel that was about his waist. So he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, "Master, are you going to wash my feet?"read more.
Jesus answered, "You cannot understand now what I am doing, but you will learn by and by." Peter said to him, "I will never let you wash my feet!" Jesus answered, "You will have no share with me unless I wash you." Simon Peter said to him, "Master, wash not only my feet but my hands and my face too!" Jesus said to him, "Anyone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed to be altogether clean. And you are already clean??hough not all of you." For he knew who was going to betray him; that was why he said, "You are not all of you clean." When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes and taken his place, he said to them again, "Do you understand what I have been doing to you? You call me Teacher and Master, and you are right, for that is what I am. If I then, your Master and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet too. For I have set you an example, in order that you may do what I have done to you.

For suppose I do boast a little too much of my authority??hich the Lord gave me to build you up, not to pull you down?? will not have to blush for it.

That is why I write this while I am away from you, so that when I come, I may not have to be harsh in my use of the authority the Lord has given me, for it was to build you up, not to pull you down.

Have we not a right to our food and drink? Have we not a right to take a Christian wife about with us, like the rest of the apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I that have no right to give up working for a living?read more.
What soldier ever pays his expenses out of his own pay? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of the grapes? Who tends a flock and does not get any of the milk? Am I saying only what men say? Does not the Law say so too? For in the Law of Moses it reads, "You shall not muzzle an ox that is treading out the grain." Is it about the oxen that God is concerned? Is he not clearly speaking in our interests? Of course this law was written in our interests, because the plowman ought to plow, and the thresher to thresh, in the expectation of sharing in the crop. If it was we who sowed the spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap material benefits from you? If others enjoy such rights over you, have we not a still better claim? But, you say, we have never availed ourselves of this right. No, we will stand anything rather than put any hindrance in the way of the good news of the Christ. Do you not know that those who do the work about the Temple get their living from the Temple, and those who attend to the altar divide the sacrifices with the altar? In just that way the Lord directed that those who preach the good news should get their living from it. But I have not availed myself of any of these rights. And I am not writing this now so that I may become an illustration of this; I had rather die than do that. No one shall deprive me of this boast of mine. As far as preaching the good news is concerned, that is nothing for me to boast of, for I cannot help doing it. For I am ruined if I do not preach. For if I do it of my own accord, I have my pay, but if I do it because I must, it is still a responsibility that I am charged with. What pay then do I get? Why, that in my preaching I can offer the good news without cost, and so not take full advantage of my rights as a preacher.

When one of you has a disagreement with his neighbor, does he dare to bring the matter before a heathen court, instead of laying it before his Christian brothers? Do you not know that the Christians are to be the judges of the world? And if the world is to come before you for judgment, are you unfit to decide the most trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to be the judges of angels, to say nothing of ordinary matters?read more.
If then you have ordinary matters to be settled, will you submit them for judgment to men who are nothing in the church? I ask it to shame you. Has it come to this, that there is not a single wise man among you who could settle a disagreement between one brother and another, but one Christian has to go to law with another, and before unbelievers too? Having lawsuits with one another at all means your utter failure, to begin with. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be robbed?

But food is not going to affect our standing with God. We are none the worse if we do not eat it, and none the better if we do. But you must take care that this right of yours does not prove a hindrance to the overscrupulous. For if somebody sees you, who are intelligent about this matter, attending a dinner in an idol's temple, will not he, with his sensitive conscience, be led to eat meat that is offered to idols?read more.
For this overscrupulous brother, for whom Christ died, is ruined by what you call your knowledge. But in sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their too scrupulous consciences, you are really sinning against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat makes my brother fall, I will never eat meat again, rather than make my brother fall.

We are free to do anything, but not everything is good for us. We are free to do anything, but not everything builds up character. No one should look after his own advantage but after that of his neighbor.