Where Is Your Allegiance?
On August 18, 1948, in a little
one-room country school house, just 8 days after my fifth birthday I stood with
the teacher and 47 other students and spoke these words for the first time:
"I pledge
allegiance to the Flag of the
At that tender age
I’m sure that I did not understand the meaning of most of the words that we
learned to recite. However being brought
up by parents and taught by others who had just gone through a World War and
who would be called into another conflict within a year or two we were taught
the meaning of that word allegiance.
We were taught first of all that we
were pledging our loyalty to the symbol of our country, our government. Then secondly we were taught that this word
allegiance could be used in other ways to indicate loyalty or devotion to some
person, group, cause, idea or such like.
In this short study this evening we want to ask where is our allegiance,
where is our loyalty and devotion?
Self
Is our primary allegiance in this
life to that unholy trinity, that which we shall call “me”, “myself” and
“I”? Is self, the satisfaction of self, the
pursuit of our own pleasures, wants, whims and desires the central focus of our
lives? Oh, for many people it is. And God tells us that mankind in general will
be this way:
II Timothy 3:2 “For
men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,”
But in His word he
warns us as well:
Proverbs 12:15 “The
way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth
unto counsel is wise.”
Proverbs 26:12 “Seest
thou a man wise in his own conceit? there
is more hope of a fool than of
him.”
Galatians 6:2-3 “Bear
ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think
himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”
Not only is the
person that lives only to self a fool, worse than a fool, deceiving themselves
but there can be only one ultimate end:
Proverbs 14:12 “There
is
Things
Is our primary allegiance in this
life to things, material wealth, the accumulation of “stuff”? Do we not realize that all of this “stuff”
will be disposed of, sold or thrown out when we leave it or go up in a puff of
smoke when the Lord returns to claim his own?
Again we turn to the wisdom of God:
Proverbs 11:4 “Riches
profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.”
Again we find that
the allegiance to wealth, material things, riches even though they may be
paltry compared to the accumulations of others around us is equated with death,
spiritual death.
Proverbs
11:28 “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but
the righteous shall flourish as a branch.”
An allegiance to
the material wealth of this world, to the accumulation of stuff over our
spiritual welfare, and the work of the Lord, can choke out our allegiance to
God and will if we allow it. Hear the
words of the master teacher:
Matthew 13:22 “He
also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the
care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he
becometh unfruitful.”
And we’ve seen that
happen.
Matthew 6:19-20 “Lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt,
and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Jesus warns all
mankind several times over concerning this love of things, material wealth or
those things that will either perish, that we will leave behind.
Luke
12:16-21 “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The
ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17And he
thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits? 18And he said, This will I do: I will pull down
my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my
goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid
up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20But
God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required
of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21So
is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is
not rich toward God.”
Jesus called the man a fool that
laid up treasures on this earth and was not rich toward God or rich in the ways
of God.
God
Or, is your life focused on the
rewards of eternity and your allegiance to God?
Jesus said:
Matthew 6:33-34 “But
seek ye first the
The psalmist David
writing as directed by the Holy Spirit records this for our consideration:
“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psalms
37:25
Oh, God did not
promise us tents of ease and lives of leisure.
We will not escape the curse of Adam and not need to earn our livelihood
as he was told in Genesis 3:19 “IN
THE SWEAT OF THY FACE SHALT THOU EAT BREAD…”
But there is a much greater reason
to pledge our allegiance to God, to God first and always:
“In
my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so,
I would have told you. I go to prepare
Is your allegiance to God? Or is your allegiance to something else? Take that mirror of self inspection, look at
your life, make sure your allegiance is to that which will assure you one of
those mansions that Jesus promised for make the changes that are necessary. First you must be a child of God. Invitation