The Test of Allegiance

Welcome

Good morning, Lifepoint! If we haven’t met yet, my name is Dan and I serve here as the Teaching Pastor for the Worthington Campus. I’m really grateful you’re here with us today!

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Introduction

Well, we are starting a new teaching series this morning, going through the New Testament book of James; which I am really looking forward to!

Series Introduction

Broadly, James is a book about faith; what it looks like, how it works, how it shows up in the everyday, ordinary moments of our lives. Which is why we’re calling it Everyday Faith.

And I’ll say this from the beginning, I recognize that probably feels a little bland…like of course we would talk about faith at church…because what else would we talk about?

But I actually think that what we tend to think of as “faith” and what James means by faith are, as Mark Twain would say, about as far apart from each other as lighting is from a lightening bug!

You see, in the modern era, we have taken this word faith, baptized it, and clothed it in all of this religious garb - and seated firmly within the category of “religious” ideas…as we use it today, faith is about what you believe - generally what you believe about God.

And yet, in the first century, when this letter was written, “faith” didn’t describe a private belief, it had very little to do with intellectual agreement…it was actually a political word! It was a declaration of loyalty…of allegiance. Under the Roman empire, Caesar demanded faith from his subject…and yet the first followers of Jesus - largely under the leadership of James, made a dangerously subversive claim: Jesus is the one True King!

See, the book of James was written into an explosive word, a powder-keg of Roman oppression and Jewish revolutionary fervor. And faced with the choice between violent revolt or passive compromise with the Empire, James offers a radical, “Third Way.” He presents a vision for a different kind of kingdom - the church - the live as colony of heaven on earth.

And so in this series, we will explore how this active, rugged allegiance to King Jesus transforms every corner of our everyday lives. We’ll explore a kind of “faith” not proven by what we say we believe, but by how we treat the poor, reject worldly status, control our speech, seek God’s wisdom, and patiently endure. We will discover how James’ ancient call to an undivided loyalty provides a powerful critique of our own modern idols, challenging us to live a loyal citizens of the Kingdom of God in everything we do!

Friends, I believe God has something to say to us through this series - and some of that will confront and challenge us in ways that are not at all convenient or comfortable…and yet I also believe that as we take James’ call seriously, we will awaken to see the Kingdom of God and our, often unseen, role in it.

So if you have a bible with you, meet me in the book of James - chapter 1. James 1 and we’ll be in the first few verses this morning.

I’ll pray, and then we’ll get started.

PRAY

Background of James

Alright, let’s get started.

Today, we’re going to be hitting some more of the background of James - which I think is absolutely CRUCIAL for us as we move through this series. I promise it will pay-off even if it feels like we’re in the weeds a bit.

Author, Audiance, and Date

Look with me at v. 1.

James 1:1 ESV

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.

Here’s what we know so far, the book of James is a letter, written by…wait for it…James. He was one of the prominent leaders of the early church; primarily functioning as the pastor over the earliest church in Jerusalem. There are a couple different people in the New Testament named James…but what we get through church history is that this James was the one named in the book of Acts as the leader of the Jerusalem Church.

And he’s addresses this letter to the Twelve Tribes of the Dispersion - which is a bit cryptic, but the general idea is that he’s writing to God’s people; focusing on Jewish followers of Jesus.

We also know based on some external evidence from the first century historian, Josephus, that James was killed by the religious leaders in 62 A.D. which means he wrote somewhere between 55-62 A.D…ballpark.

Occassion

Now that info is all good and fun, but here’s where I think things get really interesting with this book.

We need to remember, none of the New Testament documents were written in an historical vacuum. All of them have specific situations playing out around them and James is no different!

And to really understand the nuance of this book, we kinda need to know what was going on in and around Jerusalem at this time - that’s where his church is. And know it’s going to feel like a history class for a few minutes…but I think seeing what was actually going on will actually help us make much more sense of what James is talking about and what he wants us to walk away with today.

So…bare with me and let’s zoom out for a second.

Maccabean Revolt

160 BC, Israel experienced one of the most significant moments in their national story - the Maccabean Revolt. A small group rose up from the Israelites, gathered together a guerrilla army and successfully overthrew the Greek empire’s oppressive rule over the Jewish people. It resulted in about 100 years of freedom from any other kind of foreign rule over them.

And to understand just how significant this was for them, you have to think about it like this: the American Revolution is to the American Story as the Maccabean Revolt is to the Jewish story.

And this kind of lore developed that you can see fueling every future rebellion in Israel: That God blesses a righteous rebellion.

Rome Arrives

63 B.C. and the Roman Empire shows up - and the Roman General Pompey the Great takes Jerusalem, marches right into to the Temple, the place the Jews believed to be the most sacred spot on earth…and declares that Rome is now in charge…and in that single moment, reignites the revolutionary fervor.

Herod the Great

37 BC and Rome installs Herod the Great under the title, King of the Jews…largely a hated figure by the Jewish people because of how vividly he represented the actual Roman oppression.

Revolt after Herod

Things get to such a boiling point, that shortly after Herod’s death a leader name Judah, leads an uprising in the power vacuum resulting in the the Romans taking all 2000 rebels and crucifies them…which, as you can imagine, only add more fuel.

The Zealots (Part 1)

This revolutionary fire just keeps growing. In 6 AD, a man named Judas of Galilee leads a massive tax revolt, arguing that paying taxes to Caesar is treason against God. This is the birth of the Zealots, a radical party with a simple motto: 'No King but God!

Messiah

Around 30 AD, a carpenter gathers a group of 12 individuals, speaks to thousands and generates a following that primarily challenges the status quo of the religious institutions of the day - a man who is eventually captured, and executed very publicly in Jerusalem.

As a small caveat, many of his followers, including James, claim that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, was in actually resurrected from the dead and was, in fact, the TRUE Son of God, the KING of Kings.

Caligula and the Temple

40 AD the Roman Emperor Caligula declares himself a god…orders a statue of himself built in Temple in Jerusalem…the Jews refuse and brace for mass slaughter that the expect at the hands of Romans…a event that is only averted at the last moment when Caligula is assassinated in Rome.

The Zealots (Part 2)

And to push back against this in the wake of Caligula’s death, in 50 AD, the Zealots begin a campaign of very public assassination of high ranking Roman officials and prominent Jews they see as collaborators with the Empire.

In a series of protests, around 60 AD, result in the Roman Officials in conjunction with the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem to squash what’s going on through retaliatory executions - interestingly enough, this is how James, the author, is murdered…

And just so we have the full picture… After James’ assassination, the Roman officials who’ve finally had enough, march on Jerusalem, engage in a four year siege war leading to the horrific deaths and executions of countless Jews in the city and end the campaign in 70 AD by sacking Jerusalem, destroying the Temple, and forever changing the Jewish world.

The resounding message through Roman occupation and after the destruction, is that there is one king…there is one ruler: Caesar.

Your allegiance…your loyalty…your faith…was to be in him and him alone.

Friends, this is the powder keg into which James writes his letter.

James and the “Third Way”

And here he is, pastoring a church in this volatile, explosive context of Jerusalem…navigating a split cultural moment in which people on both sides of every issues are confident and bold.

Does any of that sound remotely familiar?

PAUSE

On the one hand, there’s a group of people (some of whom would have undoubtedly been apart of his church) who are ready for war. The Romans have pushed and pushed and pushed, and now is the time to stand and fight.

And drawing on the story of the Maccabean Revolt - they want to join the line of revolutionary heroes who have been able to throw off foreign occupation in the past…and if God was with them then, certainly he’d do it again! In someways, they are demanded a kind of faith in the national story.

On the other hand, there’s a group of people who have had enough of the rebellion business. As best they can tell, it’s never really worked out for them in the long run…and on top of that…life under Roman rule is not all that bad…there are plenty of perks if you just “play the game.” And instead of revolution, they simply want compliance with Rome. And for them, all they’re asking for is a kind of faith in Rome - the very thing Rome wants of them!

James has both groups…he believes the good news of Jesus is for both groups…but he also argues that the binary options of this way or that way…is not all that’s available. In fact, through this course of this letter, he’s arguing that there is a third way forward. It’s not the way of revolt and it’s not the way of compromise.

Faith as Allegiance

For James, the way forward is the way of Allegiance.

Let me show you what I mean.

Look with me starting at v. 2.

James 1:2–4 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Look closely at v. 3 and the word “faith.”

In the original language, which is Greek, not English, it is the word πίστις.

This is the key word through the whole letter - James uses it 16 times which is a lot for a relatively short letter!

Now, like I said earlier, when we hear that word today - it is firmly a religious word. Faith has to do what what you believe or maybe what you think. And while that is certainly apart of it, when the New Testament uses this word, it was far more jarring…it would have sounded political and actually treasonous.

All of James’ audiance would have been very familiar with the requirement of faith…πίστις…in Caesar.

In fact, we have inscriptions of the exact oaths people swore. An oath from a Greek province to Emperor Augustus in 3 B.C. required citizens to pledge...

"I will be loyal (pistis) to Caesar... I will not value my life or that of my children more highly than my loyalty to him."

This same idea was on the monuments and coins…all over the place!

Not only “faith in Caesar” but by the first Century, there was entire system in which Caesar was worshiped as a the Son of God…the Savior…all under the motto: Caesar is Lord.

And what becomes clear is that in this context, faith is not so much a matter of belief…right like there wasn’t simply an expectation that people believe in Caesar…it’s a matter of loyalty…allegiance.

We still kind of see this today when when talk about someone who has been unfaithful in a relationship, right? We don’t mean that the unfaithful person has stopped “believing” in their spouse…we mean that something has broken the loyalty…do you see what I mean?

And so…back to our passage…let’s plug in the word “Allegiance” and see what happens.

James 1:2–4 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your ALLEGIANCE produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

That hits a little different, doesn’t it?

I think what happens is that all of a sudden, these background elements of revolts, the compromises, the imperial expectations all come into sharp focus as James, very pointed asks the question who or what has your allegiance?

Do you see that?

I think James has his eye on the chaos of the world he’s living in as he talks about “trials of various kinds”- the waring factions breaking out in his community, around his church…and these factions all have competing visions for what we should be doing with our lives…what we should be giving ourselves to!

And as I think about it…the parallels to our current cultural moment are, frankly, astounding.

Like, in the same way, we find ourselves in a cultural moment (as many generations in the past have) with warring sides and loud voices all vying for our attention and frankly our allegiance.

They want us to voice our loyalty!

We find ourselves in a cultural moment, even within the broader christian community with a growing sense of suspicion of the “agenda” of others with some demanding cultural compromise and others the sword.

The whole thing is often disorienting - and I think if we’re honest - sometimes left exhausted from trying to figure what is right - what is true…

And yet, it’s into this chaotic wave of competing voices and agendas, saber-rattling and diplomacy, that James offers us an alternative.

James 1:2–4 ESV

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your ALLEGIANCE produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

You see, rather than our allegiance belonging to a faction…James will over and over again say in different ways, that our allegiance…our loyalty…our faithfulness…is to Jesus.

And I don’t mean to offer this as an overly simplistic solution - and as we continue to move through this letter we will work out with more and more specificity what that allegiance looks like - which is a major theme in the letter.

But as we are getting started, I think it is crucial for us to see that at the center of this letter is James putting forward a third way forward…the way of Allegiance to Jesus as the one true and right King.

You see, to that you believe in Jesus, for James, it’s not a matter of you acknowledging his existence…nor is it ONLY a matter of holding to a set of theological truths about Jesus.

The way of allegiance to Jesus is the very real and powerful declaration that all of me…every facet of who I am…my vocation…my will…my identity…all of me is under the RULE and REIGN of Jesus as the TRUE KING. The only one WORTHY of our full allegiance and loyalty…the only one worth giving our whole selves to…because of all the other things demanding our allegiance, it is only Jesus who has first given himself fully for us!

And how did he give himself for us? This is the most crucial part of the story. He didn't just offer us a better philosophy or a new set of rules. He confronted the powers of this world head-on.

Think about it. The two powers demanding allegiance in James’s world were Rome and the Revolutionaries. One wielded the power of the imperial cross, the other the power of the rebel's sword. And what did Jesus do? He stood between them and absorbed the full force of both.

The revolutionary spirit and the religious collaborators demanded his death, and the Roman Empire carried it out. The crucifixion was the moment when the powers of this world did their absolute worst to the Son of God. On the cross, Jesus took the violence, the injustice, and the treason of a world that gives its allegiance to other kings, and he exhausted it in his own body.

But that’s not where the story ends. Three days later, God overturned the verdict of the world. The resurrection was God the Father's thunderous declaration to the universe that Caesar is not Lord, violence is not the answer, and death does not get the final word. The resurrection was the enthronement of Jesus as King. It was God announcing, 'This is my Son. This is the world's true ruler. The one you killed is now in charge.'

That is why our allegiance belongs to him. He is the only King who has faced the worst the world has to offer and conquered it. He is the only one worthy of our trust because he is the only King who has defeated death itself.

EXPAND

You see, the promise of James 1 here is that as we face the trials of many kinds…we don’t have to do this in drudgery or exhaustion…we can do this in JOY…knowing that what God is doing here, in testing and sharpening our allegiance is produces something in us! Producing a steadfastness…an endurance in and through the test! [MOVE]

So What

Okay - so what do we do with this?

So what do we do with this? We've just spent this time seeing that the world of James was torn between two bad options: the way of violent revolt, and the way of worldly compromise.

And so are we, every single day. And what happens is that an instinct rises up in our hearts—it’s almost always one of these two paths. The way of REVOLT or the way of COMPROMISE.

The Way of Revolt today is the path of anger, control, and anxious self-reliance. It's that voice inside that says, "This is all on me. If I just fight harder, worry more, and seize control of this situation, I can fix it." It’s the instinct to meet chaos with our own force. In those moments, we are giving our functional allegiance to our own strength.

The Way of Compromise today is often the path of comfort, ease, and avoidance. It’s the voice that whispers, "This is too hard. It’s not worth the fight. Just check out, numb the anxiety, give in, take the easy way out." It’s the instinct to meet chaos with apathy. In those moments, we are giving our functional allegiance to our own comfort.

One path says, "I will be my own king." The other path says, "I will serve my own comfort as king." Both are dead ends.

But James, and the good news of Jesus, offers the Third Way. The Way of Allegiance.

It’s looking squarely at the trial—at the chaos—and saying, "My King is on his throne. I don't have to seize control, and I don't have to run and hide. I can stand firm and trust him right here in the middle of it." It is giving our allegiance to King Jesus.

So what does that look like this week? As we leave here, I’m not going to give you a five-step plan. The application is much simpler. It's just to notice. I want to challenge you this week to become a student of your own heart. As you go about your life, when you meet those "trials of various kinds"—the stress at work, the tension at home, the anxiety about the future, the anger you feel scrolling online—I want you to pause and ask yourself two simple, diagnostic questions:

First: What is this situation demanding my allegiance to? Is it demanding my loyalty to my fear? To my reputation? To my political tribe? To my need to be right?

And second: What is my default reaction? Am I defaulting to the Way of Revolt—trying to get angry and control it? Or am I defaulting to the Way of Compromise—trying to check out and find comfort?

Friends, just identifying those two paths is the first crucial step.

Then remember the King who went to the cross and rose from the grave for you.

And right there…in that moment…in a quiet, defiant prayer, offer up:

‘King Jesus, I feel the pull to take control here, but right now, I give my allegiance to you. I feel the temptation to just give in, but right now, I give my loyalty to you. Help me to trust you in this.'

That, right there, is the beginning of Everyday Faith. Not a complicated program, but a simple, repeated choice, in the ordinary moments of your life, to declare that Jesus—and not our strength, not our comfort, not our fear—is the one true King.

Let's pray.