Pledge Allegiance to the King

Date: 2022-03-20

Audience: Grass Valley Corps ONLINE

Title: Pledge Allegiance to the King

Text: Matthew 7:7-29

Proposition: This is how to live as if God is our King

Purpose: Model your choices on Jesus’ teaching

Grace and peace

Jesus has been teaching a crowd from a flat place on a hillside above the lake known as the Sea of Galilee. What was he teaching? He was teaching that God’s Kingdom, which they had been waiting for the Messiah to come and re-establish for them, was already present. He said it was their responsibility, if they accepted God as King, to begin to live as if they were a part of that Kingdom.

To do otherwise, he told them, was to continue to live in rebellion, refusing to accept God as King and Lord over them.

He began by telling them about the kind of people who would accept his invitation.

We found that we are that kind of people.

He continued by teaching them how we can live together and how we can live with God present in our lives.

We found that these teachings apply to us just as well now as they did to those who listened to him then.

He taught them a form of prayer they could use to examine whether they were staying inside the will of their King or not. And again, we found that it works for us today just as well.

He talked about the importance of our motives matching our actions – how we often do things to try to get personal gain, either physical or social or spiritual, and how often that is a stumbling block for us every bit as much as it was for those who came before us.

Then, last week, having shown us how to reflect on where we stand, Jesus took steps to counter our tendency to measure others instead of looking at ourselves. He reminded us that we are barely able to understand and judge ourselves, so why do we think we could ever judge someone else? God meets us each where we are at and our job is to follow our King, not to tell others that they aren’t following him the way we think they should.

Again, this doesn’t mean we can’t help and guide people, but it does mean that our job as agents of the Creator’s Kingdom is to represent HIM, not to force people to follow him the way we want to think we do.

There’s an idea that has run all throughout this Sermon on the Mount, and it’s one that is central to everything Jesus taught and lived out. It is the idea of pledging our allegiance to the King of Heaven and him alone. We are not intended to be servants of any other earthly or supernatural power. We are either living as children of the Most High God or we are living in rebellion against him.

And in a handful of short, pithy instructions and ideas, Jesus is going to try to bring that home for us.

If you haven’t already, turn to Matthew Chapter 7, where we’ll take up where he’s speaking in verse 7.

By the way, I’m using the New Living Translation today, because I like the way its use of English resonates with your spirit in these passages. There may be some words I nitpick, but it’s a great translation for simple, understandable language.

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. [1]

Remember how a few verses back Jesus had said:

33 “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” [2]?

This is the same thing, said in a slightly different way.

That’s a good teaching tool, and Jesus is a good teacher.

If you were part of a kingdom, subject to the rulers of that place, it was expected that you would serve them, but also that they would care for you.

The king was viewed as being like the father of his subjects.

And here, where we’re being told to ask, seek, and knock, the impression you should be getting is that of a child approaching a parent to ask for what they want or need.

“Daddy [knock knock knock], let me in, it’s cold out here!” and he opens the door for you.

“Daddy, where are you, I need you!” and he comes and says, “Here I am!”

“Daddy, can I have a large chocolate shake with every meal?” and he relies, “No, Child, but I’ll make sure you have plenty of good things to eat and drink when you need them.”

Yeah, sorry to break it to you, but the LORD doesn’t exist to fulfil your whims like a replicator on Star Trek. Like any good parent, he helps us with what we need, but sometimes what we want is WAY outside of what we need, isn’t it?

But what we need is there. Jesus explains it this way:

9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10 Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him. [3]

I sometimes hear people say, “I never pray for anything for myself.” I don’t get that. God is clear: he wants us to ask for what we need. I bet he even likes to hear us ask for what we want. He always gives us an abundance, blessing us with his care. That means you might be able to live on bread and water, but when you follow the LORD and ask him for what you need, you will find that you always have more than that bare minimum required.

When you’re hungry, he’s not giving you a rock to chew on or a snake to chew on you. He’s going to give you good things, even when they may not be exactly the things you asked for.

By the way, this is another one of those passages which describes Jesus as being a funny guy. The crowd was probably rolling as they heard of a father giving his kid a rock to bite or as they thought about getting a can of eel, only to have snakes leap out to startle everyone. Then he pulls out, “And if malicious demented demons like yourselves know better than to do mean things to your kids, what makes you think God’s going to do that to you?” And then he hits them with the whole point of this; this is what it means to live in allegiance to our King.

12 “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. [4]

And this is just a bit different than what they had heard before. It’s not a Karma Wheel idea and it takes away any setting of a bar that people would need to clear for you to care about them. And the whole concept of judging someone while you follow this rule is pretty unthinkable!

He just said that it’s our job to go first.

No matter what the other person may have struck at us with.

No matter whether they were kind or unkind.

No matter who they were, where they came from, what they believed, or how they acted, this thing that Jesus just said can only happen if we allow it to dominate and control our thoughts and actions.

Do to others what we wish they would do to us.

What does that do to the idea of a violent response to violence?

“You hit my friend, so I’m going to punch you in the head!” But if that’s what we do, then we obviously want that person to punch US in the head in response, right?

Jesus doesn’t give us the choice to only help those who will respond in kind. We need to go first and act towards them the way we want them to act towards us.

If they don’t, that’s on them, not on us. And if they don’t, it isn’t our place to STOP doing what we wish they would.

This is a 24/7 command!

This is how we need to live if we are going to live as if God is our King. This is the essence, the point, of everything that came before, all of the covenant rules, all of the prophets coming to teach, all of EVERYTHING. Do to others what you want them to do to you. Forget everything else and simply live this out, the way Jesus does.

It doesn’t matter how or if they reciprocate. We aren’t living to control how others act. We aren’t living to get rewards or praise or repayment from others. We are living to serve God as agent representing his Kingdom, which means we do to others what we want them to do to us.

Hard to do? It can be, and Jesus acknowledges that next.

13 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. [5]

Or, as my mother and millions of others have said over the years, “If Timmy jumps of a bridge, are you going to do the same? Do the right thing instead!”

There is a hard truth here too. This won’t win you many friends. People who have made up their mind that they don’t want to do this will go to great lengths to justify their choices to themselves and they don’t want to think they are wrong. No one likes to have been wrong. Of course, I don’t want someone harping on how I was wrong or making fun of me for having been wrong, so – following the principle of doing to others what I want others to do to me – I’m not going to allow myself to do that.

But, when people get embarrassed or upset, they often lash out or try to convince you or others that they were in the right. Or even say that Jesus might have said what he said, but he certainly didn’t mean it.

Which bring us to the next thing the Master taught his followers.

15 “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. [6]

What’s the fruit in this case?

How each person lives out their role as an agent of God’s Kingdom.

Are they demonstrating what it means to only do what they wish others would do to them?

Or are they just paying lip service to the LORD and continuing to live out their own rebellion against his ways?

21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ [7]

What did we say a few weeks ago? Motives matter.

Calling Jesus “Lord” is nice, but it’s meaningless if you don’t live as if he is Lord.

Doing things in his name, even amazing, miraculous things, is great too. But the things you do don’t earn you a place in the Kingdom.

Jesus has already offered you a place in God’s Kingdom.

If you accepted that place, you’re already living in it.

Which means you are living according to the will of God.

Doing to others what you wish they were doing to you.

Not responding to them with violence.

Not treating them as less valuable or less important or less meaningful than you because they don’t conform to your expectations.

Not turning them away because of their skin color or ethnicity or language or needs or national origin or gender or orientation or height or weight or tendency to listen to music you dislike, but treating them exactly the way you want to be treated – as a beloved child of God.

As if they were part of the Kingdom.

Because Jesus has offered them a place there, just like he did for you.

Your job is to represent the Kingdom and your King so that others will be able to know him through you.

Your job is NOT to make them acceptable to God.

They are already acceptable to God. Just like you. And me.

Your job is not to change them for God.

God will change them as he sees fit, when he sees fit, how he sees fit. The same Holy Spirit that is working in you, encouraging you, advising you, leading you closer to God through the experiences of your life and the choices you make will be there, helping them, working in them, leading them through the same metamorphosis that you are going through, even if their process is completely different.

Your job is to represent the Kingdom by living in allegiance to the King.

The only way to do that is by modelling your life on the teaching of Jesus. To do anything else is foolish. How do I know that? Because the Bible told me so. Or, more specifically, Jesus did, at the end of this passage.

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” [8]

This is the Sermon on the Mount in a nutshell: Jesus said, “This is how to live as if God is your King.” We need to decide if we believe him. If we do, we need to model our lives on his teaching, even when it is uncomfortable to do so. We can’t say that he is Lord and go our own way.

I guess the question I have is this: Do you believe what Jesus taught?

I’m not asking if you like it or if you find it valuable or interesting. Everyone who’s ever heard him, back in the day, right up to today, has found his teaching to be something special. Look how people responded to him!

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law. [9]

As I said earlier, Jesus was a great teacher.

But do you believe what he was teaching?

If so, I urge you to live it out.

Pledge your allegiance to the King.

Model your life on the teachings of Jesus.

And do it now.

There is no better time and not time to wait or waste. There are people looking for you to be their witness about what it means to live in the Kingdom of God. But you can’t do that if you don’t move in yourself! So I urge you, do it now, today. Jesus has made a place for you and invited you in. All you need to do is accept and trust.

Not sure?

Try asking God. Seek to find the truth. Knock on his door and don’t stop until he answers.

Pray with me.

[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 7:7–8. [2] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 6:33. [3] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 7:9–11. [4] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 7:12. [5] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 7:13–14. [6] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 7:15–20. [7] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 7:21–23. [8] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 7:24–27. [9] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Mt 7:28–29.