OPEN: You’ll notice up on stage here we have a Christian and an American flag. According to my research, the American flag on church stages became a prominent feature somewhere around WWI. And it especially came into prominence during WWII when (according to a Catholic resource) the flag was flown on stage to help people remember those who died in the war.
What I want you to do this morning is to stand with me and recite the pledge of allegiance.
“I Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation, under God, indivisible.
With liberty and justice for all.”
(See note #1 at the end of the sermon)
To pledge Allegiance is to make a Declaration of Loyalty to someone or something.
A few years back John Rigle (a previous preacher here) wrote an interesting pledge of allegiance:
“I pledge allegiance to the Lamb, the only begotten Son of God.
He is the Messiah, the Lord of Lords, the King of Kings.
He is Immanuel, God with us. He is Jesus.
He is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent and yet He is in my heart.
He is the Lion and the Lamb.
I pledge allegiance to my Savior, Jesus. The great I AM.”
I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.
That is where my loyalty lies.
Jesus is my Lord and King…
And more than that, He’s my Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
Now, you can be a Christian not be an American. You did know that didn’t you?
You can be from Australia, South Africa, France – any number of nations across the globe – and still be a Christian.
And you can be an American and not say the pledge of allegiance to the flag.
(That annoys me a lot when folks refuse to do that… but they DON’T have to).
So you can be a Christian not be an American.
And you can still be an American and not say the pledge of allegiance.
But you cannot be a Christian if you do NOT pledge your allegiance to Jesus.
If your loyalty is not with Jesus… you’re not a Christian.
Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME.” John 14:6
If Jesus is NOT our Lord and King we could go to church all day long, every day of the week, and I would seriously question your salvation.
And, when Jesus comes again, it will be as THE King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Revelation 19:16 tells us “On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Now, what does it mean that is King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
Well, let’s start with defining what it means for Jesus to be our King.
What does a King do?
A King RULES.
He COMMANDS.
He is to be OBEYED.
In John 14:23 Jesus said “If anyone loves me, he will KEEP MY WORD, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
And in 1 John 3:24 we’re told “Whoever KEEPS HIS COMMANDMENTS abides in him, and he in them...”
In John 3:36 we read:
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever DOES NOT OBEY the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
So – because Jesus is King - He has the right to command our obedience.
• If we keep his commands we show that we love Him.
• If we keep His commands He promises to abide in us.
• BUT if we do not obey the commands of our King… we will not see life.
That’s pretty serious stuff.
So what are these commands of our king?
Well the first command is pretty obvious: Give your life to Him!
If you don’t belong to Jesus, everything else is kind of pointless!
1. Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God
2. Repent of your sins – turn away from your past way of life
3. Confess Jesus as your Lord (we’ll talk about that next)
4. Be buried in the waters of baptism and rise us a new creature in Christ
5. Live the rest of your life to honor Him
BUT once we’ve “signed the contract” to belong to the Kingdom of Christ is that all we have to do?
No. there’s more that Christ expects of us. There are several commands Jesus makes of us, but there’s ONE COMMAND that Jesus makes that takes precedence over all the rest that Jesus expects of us.
What is that one command? Is that command that we should live a Holy and pure life?
Well, is that commandment important? Yes it is!
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 tells us “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” But as critical as that commandment is… that’s not THE command.
Is the main command that we should hold keep our doctrine pure and undefiled?
Well, yes that is a highly important command from Jesus isn’t it?
1 Timothy 4:16 “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” But again – that is not THE command.
BUT… there is ONE command that undergirds all the rest!
James calls it the ROYAL LAW of the Kingdom.
It’s the command that is repeated over and over and over again thru out Scripture and yet it is the most overlooked command of all.
Do you know what it is?
In John 15:12 Jesus said: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
Now, there is one only one commandment that is greater than this one.
That commandment is that we love the Lord our God with all hearts, souls and minds.
When a Scribe asked Jesus what the greatest command in Scripture was do you remember what Jesus said?
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Now there are church goers who don’t do that.
There are church goers who are bitter, hateful and rude. They never forget a slight or an insult.
You don’t want to go there.
It really ANGERS God when supposed Christians slander and say hateful things about others. And when they can’t find it in themselves to forgive others.
Ephesians 4:30-32 says it this way
“… do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption
(THIS IS NOT A SUGGESTION. THIS IS A WARNING!!!).
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
This is so serious that Jesus drives it home in the Lord’s Prayer
Repeat it with me: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and (pause) forgive us our debts AS we forgive our debtors…”
Did you catch that? We’re to ask God to forgive our sins in the same way we forgive others when they sin against us. And right after Jesus taught His disciples this prayer – just in case they missed what He’d just said in the prayer - we’re told this:
“… if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14-15
This is not optional… it is THE command of your King.
Without loving one another - living a good life is nothing better than being a good pagan. Pagans can live “decent lives” too.
And without loving one another – good doctrine is nothing more than being a good Pharisee.
Pharisees had their doctrine down pat and yet Jesus condemned them.
So, loving one another lies at the heart of what it means that Jesus is our King and He has the right to be obeyed in this.
But what does it mean that Jesus is LORD?
Romans 10:9-10 “… if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Part of the deal in being saved/becoming a Christian = is to confess that Jesus Is Lord. But what does that mean?
Well, it means He owns you. In the days of Jesus, when you called someone your Lord… it meant they owned you. You were the slave, they were the master. Did a slave own anything? (Of course not)
He didn’t own his home/ bed/ food. He didn’t even own the clothes on his back.
The Master owned him… and everything that he had.
When we come to Christ, and we call Him LORD, that’s what we declare. He owns us.
(Take Out Wallet)
When I talk to people who want to become Christians I’ll often pull out my wallet and explain this concept of Lordship. I explain that when I became a Christian, everything I had in that wallet immediately became His. And everything in my bank account, and 401K. I gave Him my house, my car, the clothes I wear… etc. That means they are His to use at His discretion. And if the house burns down, the car is totaled, the clothes get torn – they were all His to begin with.
And he owns my kids. Long ago I gave my children to God. That meant I was responsible for raising them His way. To not only love them and care for them, but also to discipline them in a way that would point faith and obedience to God.
ILLUS: I first learned this principle when I listened to a speaker years ago. This speaker called it the “principle of ownership”. He pointed out where he believed Paul referred to it in his writings. This verse was so powerful that we someone even put in a hymn we’ve sung in the past:
Sing it with me if you know it:
“I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for His own.”
AND THE CHORUS SAYS THIS:
“But ‘I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day.’”
(II Timothy 1:12)
Do you see those “quote marks” in the chorus there?
That tells you that this was a direct quote from the KJV – II Timothy 1:12.
Paul was saying that Jesus was his LORD and that he trusted his LORD with everything he owned, including his salvation. WHY? Because – he was persuaded that Christ was able to keep everything he’d committed unto Him against that day.
(See note #2 at the end of the sermon)
So, this speaker was teaching about making Jesus the owner of your life….and then he told his story. He said that - when he was younger, he was a struggling youth minister and he’d go from church to church and give “chalk talks”. He didn’t own much… even the car he owned wasn’t much to write home about
One wintry night he was returning home from one of these chalk talks… and the car died. It was kind of a dark and isolated stretch of road (no cell phones at that time) and so he turned on his blinkers and prayed that someone would stop.
Sure enough – over the crest of the hill came a car. He could see the lights as they came closer and closer and closer… and it suddenly occurred to him that that driver didn’t see him. And that the other car was going to run into his. So, he quickly laid down across the front seat and prayed and waited for the impact.
Sure enough, the other car hit his square on… and totaled it.
He said he remembered getting out of his car and looking over the damage. Then he looked up to heaven and said “Well God. That was your car. If you wanted to wreck it I guess that was your business.” And he went home… and slept like a baby.
But now, he didn’t have a car. Over the next few weeks, friends would drive him to chalk talks and he shared his story of how God had protected him in the car wreck.
THEN one day, someone gave him a car.
A few days later, someone else gave him another vehicle.
And a few days later, another person donated their vehicle to the ministry.
He says, he remembers one night, sitting at his dining room table and holding titles to about 6 vehicles and realizing the truth of the concept of Lordship that Paul talked about:
“I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day” II Timothy 1:12
But, you can only trust that promise when you have made Jesus the Lord/Owner of your life.
One more thing – Jesus is KING of Kings and LORD of Lords.
We’ve talked about Him being your King.
We’ve talked about Him being your Lord.
But what does it mean that He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
This is the cool part. It means Jesus has absolute authority over every THING and every ONE. There is no King, there is no Ruler, there is no power that is greater than He is. He is the KING of all kings and the LORD of all lords.
When Jesus comes back He alone will reign supreme as King and Lord over ALL the earth.
ILLUS: Billy Graham was once on a late night show with Johnny Carson, and Carson said to him
"You know what Billy, I bet if Jesus ever came back to earth, I bet we'd do him in again!"
Billy Graham leaned forward in his seat, and said, "In the Bible we read that Jesus predicted that He would return to earth again. But the first time He came in love, the next time, He'll come in power -no one will DO Him in!”
Philippians 2 says it this way: “… Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:5-11
What does that mean? It means that when Jesus comes back… no one will be able to stand against Him. He will be the “alpha dog”.
CLOSE: Back when I was a boy my family had a dog named Trixie. Trixie was a cute little white terrier with a brown saddle and brown markings around his head and tail. She was a gentle and loving dog… but she had one person she feared: Dad. Dad refused to allow Trixie in the house. She could be downstairs in the basement, but if she came upstairs she was punished.
One night there was a fearsome storm. Mom and dad were in bed on the main floor and my brother and sisters and I were upstairs in bed in our rooms. The lightning flashed, the thunder boomed and at one point the house literally shook. It was about then that dad said he felt something plop onto the bed and curl up under his arm. It was Trixie. She was frightened of the storm.
But Trixie hadn’t jumped into bed with me or brother or sisters, and he hadn’t jumped up beside mom. She had chosen Dad. Why? Because he was the alpha dog. As far as Trixie was concerned the storm was scary, but Dad could protect her and she sought the shelter of his side.
That’s what it means to have Jesus as our Lord of Lords and King of Kings. No matter how scary the world can get, He is the one is capable of protecting us.
But you can’t have that promise if you don’t first belong to Him.
INVITATION
Note #1: One person told me they were not comfortable with my asking folks to say the Pledge of Allegiance in church (there is a reluctance to mixing patriotism and faith from the pulpit). But my purpose in using this pledge was the same as any other opening illustration I use in sermons - I use something people can identify with to set up the rest of the message. My intent was not to make Christianity and Americanism equal, but to use a well known and loved pledge to explain our allegiance to Jesus.
Note #2: Someone noted that the II Timothy 1:12 "I am persuaded that he is able..." passage was written by Paul to address his ministry to Jesus - not the entrusting of possessions and loved ones to Christ. Technically that is correct. Two things however - first, this was how the speaker used that verse. And 2nd, if I can trust Jesus with my salvation and my ministry I can certainly trust Him with my possessions and loved ones. One such application can be found in the book of Job, where that righteous man lost everything he had... and God restored it to him in his lifetime. That is not to say that life will be rosy and exciting and that everything will have a fairy-tale ending in this life, but it does point to the truth of what that speaker had illustrated.
