Main Idea: A believer’s absolute allegiance is to be given to the person of Jesus Christ.

As we begin this message this morning I want us to stand and offer what we call 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."

Those words, which we as Americans cherish, were originally written by a Baptist pastor named Frances Bellamy for a children’s magazine on September 7, 1892. Through the years they became a way to declare an American citizen’s devotion and commitment to the ideals upon which our nation was founded: representative government, unity, faith, freedom and equality. It is interesting to remember that the words "under God" were not part of Bellamy’s original pledge but were added in the 1950’s. They were added after President Dwight Eisenhower heard a sermon on Abraham Lincoln’s use of the phrase "under God" in The Gettysburg Address. He was so moved that he joined an initiative already in Congress to draft a resolution to incorporate the words "under God" into The Pledge of Allegiance. That resolution was signed into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.

Those words, "under God," incorporated into a pledge of allegiance to the flag and the government of the United States of America, reflect an issue that has been part of our national debate for over two hundred years. It raises the question of how much of God is to be in our government and how much of government is to be allowed to interfere in our worship of God. The first part of that question is one that began literally at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, in 1775. An Episcopal priest was invited to read a psalm before the day’s deliberations began. The words from the psalm seemingly justified the Founder’s ideas of independence from England. The question continues right up until today as we debate the assaults on the wall of separation between church and state or whether there is a wall at all. It is a question we continue to struggle with as Christians and as Baptists.

The second part to that question, how much of government is to be allowed to interfere in our worship, should never be in doubt as Baptists. My worship of God without the interference of government is a cherished freedom for which Baptists have long believed, suffered, died and protected. John Leland, a Virginian and Baptist evangelist who was very influential in securing the guarantee of freedom of religion in the constitution said in 1791: Government has no more to do with the religious opinions of men than it has to do with the principles of mathematics. Let every man speak freely without fear, maintain the principles that he believes, worship according to his own faith, either one God, three Gods, no God or twenty Gods; and let government protect him in doing so, i.e., see that he meets no personal abuse or loss of property, for his religious opinions…If his doctrine is false, it will be confuted, and if it is true, (though ever so novel) let others credit it.

For Baptists, a foundational doctrine upon which we are grounded is the belief that no mortal entity has the right to come between our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone. We call that "soul freedom," which is a God-given freedom of conscience that is the expression of our basic humanity. It is our belief in "soul freedom" that dictates our belief that no mortal power rules over my soul, my faith or my church. Soul freedom is based on the words of Jesus when he said, "The most important commandment is this: You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." (Mark 12:30) Those words tell us that as a Christian our absolute allegiance is to be given only to the person of Jesus Christ. Whenever any mortal force seeks to claim what is ultimately his, it is imperative that as individual followers of Jesus Christ and as Baptists we affirm our decision for Christ and Christ alone.

Making the decision to give your ultimate and absolute allegiance to God is one that must be continually affirmed. This message that I have brought once a year for the last ten years as we celebrate our nation’s freedom may seem to some a waste of a good hour. However, the reason I do it is because whenever and wherever there is indecision regarding our liberty of conscience, it is there that other forces, both good and evil, will seek to steal the allegiance that solely belongs to Christ. That indecision was what Elijah was battling in our text for this morning. Elijah calls for the people to make a choice to whom they were going to give their absolute allegiance: Would it be the Lord or a false god? They were challenged to make a decision and so are we.

Today I want us to affirm that a believer’s absolute allegiance is to be given only to the person of Jesus Christ. While we honor the blood that has been spilled to preserve our freedom and our liberty, we cannot forget that the blood of the Son of God has purchased for us freedom and liberty that no human life can secure. Therefore, it is imperative that we remember that once the Cross of Christ has claimed you for itself then there is only one ultimate allegiance that is to be pledged and that is to Christ and Christ alone. The Son of God will never tolerate rivals to his rule. Derek Webb said in a song called "A King and a Kingdom", "my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man. my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood it's to a king & a kingdom" May we be so bold as we affirm that our ultimate allegiance is to our King, Jesus Christ, and His Kingdom.

Let’s begin by looking back on the events that brought Elijah to this point of confrontation between himself and Ahab. (I Kings 17:1-18:18). In I Kings 17:1 we saw how God had commanded Elijah to pronounce divine judgment on the kingdom in the form of a drought because of the horrible idolatry that was being committed by both King Ahab and the people. Immediately after that God tells him to go out by a brook and hide himself in order for God to train him for the plans and purpose that awaited him. (I Kings 17:2-24) When those lessons were complete God spoke to him again and told him to go and present himself before King Ahab. (I Kings 18:1)

Now by this time it had been three years since Ahab had seen Elijah’s face but in obedience to God he begins the journey to confront Ahab. Since Elijah’s first announcement of the drought the results of that pronouncement had become devastating to Ahab, the people and the land. Verse 2 says, "The famine had become very severe in Samaria." We read that and have little understanding of the tragic effects of drought. Modern day areas of drought in places like Sudan have literally changed the landscape and the lifestyle of the people in that region of Africa. Death, disease, poverty and despair are just some of the horrors of drought. The words "very severe" are really an understatement.

What is sad about this whole matter is that Ahab was really unmoved by this spiritually. When Elijah and Ahab see each other again after three years Ahab’s words are clearly placing blame on Elijah. Ahab said, "So it's you, is it—Israel's troublemaker?" (1 Kings 18:17) Rather than owning his role as the cause of the judgment of God he instead blames the messenger of God! Elijah doesn’t back down and tells Ahab, "I have made no trouble for Israel…You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead." (I Kings 18:18). Isn’t it amazing that when Elijah dares to speak for God that he is seen as the source of the problem rather than the one who exposes the real problem?

That same reality is true today when a person dares to speak for God. When a person dares to be God’s voice they may be seen as the source of the problem rather than the one who exposes the real problem! In our day it has become so common for persons who are Baptist to blend their politics and their worship that to raise the question of the practice seems like a traitor to faith.

Calling into question the intrusion of government into our expression of religious freedom is sometimes an unpopular position. When Baptists felt threatened by the intrusion of government in this nation’s early days they were seen as disruptive and troublemakers. For that they were often beaten, jailed and identified as criminals. Today, when there is such a strong trend to blend both God and government in our Baptist churches, to raise a warning of caution is seen as being unchristian and unpatriotic. The issue isn’t that the messenger is the problem; the issue is that the messenger is exposing the real problem!

Elijah perceived God leading him to force a showdown between himself and all the prophets of the god Baal. (I Kings 18:19-21) In order to set up the showdown he calls for all the prophets of Baal and the Asherah to gather for this moment (v. 19). There were four hundred fifty who were aligned with Baal and 400 with the Asherah. What the text tells us is that they were all on Queen Jezebel’s payroll because all 850 ate at the queen’s table—at the king’s expense. These prophets were the promoters of idolatry in Israel. While they were all gathered the upcoming challenge was directed specifically toward the prophets of Baal.

Ahab calls for all the sons of Israel (v. 20) to come together for this massive demonstration of power. These simply were Elijah’s countrymen who worshiped the idols of Baal and the Asherah. The plan by Elijah was to get the people to make up their minds as to which—Baal or Jehovah—was actually God. They were "wavering between two opinions." The plan was for the benefit of the people rather than the priests, whose minds were already firm. His appeal was to force them to define their allegiance so he says, "If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him"(v. 21). The time had come for the people to choose between allegiance to God or to the idols of man. I want you to notice the response of the people, "…the people were completely silent."

Silence for a believer is never an option when your allegiance to Jesus Christ is being threatened. We can make the mistake of going so far in the area of separation of church and state that we assume that all expression of faith is to be driven from the public square, that it has no place at all in our public lives. Part of the fabric of religious freedom is the freedom to identify ourselves publicly with our faith. At the same time we can make the mistake of using government as the tool to aid us in the proclamation of that faith. Our voices can never be silent nor must we allow them to be silenced in our desire to give our absolute allegiance to the person of Jesus Christ.

With the deafening silence echoing in his ears, Elijah claims that he will go it alone and as God’s only prophet represented, declared war against the 450 prophets of Baal. He makes a proposition that they cut up two oxen to sacrifice. So two oxen were found and the prophets of Baal were to have first choice of the animal they wanted to "cut up" for the challenge. The meat was to be placed upon wood, unaccompanied by fire. Elijah in turn would do precisely the same. The prophets of Baal were then to call on Baal’s name in order for him to ignite a fire under their sacrifice. Again, Elijah would also do the same—he would call upon his God, Jehovah. The one who answered by fire would be recognized as God. The people accepted the proposition. (vv. 22-24)

The prophets began doing all they could to get Baal to respond. From morning until noon they called to their god, "O Baal, answer us." By noon there was no response. "There was no reply of any kind" (v. 26). Elijah begins to be more and more confident as he began mocking the prophets who, hard at work, failed to arouse their god. He tells them, "You'll have to shout louder…for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or he is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or he is asleep and needs to be wakened!" (v. 27) Their appeal only intensified. The volume in their voices increased and they "cut themselves" until the time of the evening sacrifice. Still…they were met with silence; "no reply, no voice, no answer" (v. 29). How painful and humiliating this must have been for the ones who held the power both spiritually and politically.

With the prophets off to the side—some bleeding, all exhausted—Elijah stepped forward and called the people to himself. With twelve stones (representing the tribes of Jacob) he built his altar "in the name of the Lord" (v. 32), surrounded by a trench. With his sacrifice on top of the wood, he ordered four pitchers of water to be poured over the sacrifice, wood, and stones. This was done three times. The run-off water lay in the encircling trench. The prophet stepped up to the altar without the display that characterized the other prophets and said, "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself." (v. 36-37). What was the result? The fire of the Lord fell. The wood, sacrifice, stones, and dust were consumed in flame; even the water in the trench was "licked up." God had responded to Elijah’s fearless demonstration of faith. The people responded with total repentance and said, "And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried out, "The Lord is God! The Lord is God!" (v. 39)

What are the key ideas that I want us to leave with today? While I have focused on the issue government intruding on our allegiance to Jesus Christ there are many forces that can attempt to claim our souls for their own. Paul said that we are to always be alert to the forces that battle for our souls. He called them the "strategies and tricks of the Devil." "For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 6:11-12). Satan will stop at nothing to try to persuade us to give our allegiance to anything but the cross of Jesus Christ. If he can achieve the goal of diffusing our allegiance to be nothing more than a weak, shallow, tepid, affiliation to a religious tradition rather than a bold, clear, vibrant obedience to the call of Christ to follow him regardless of the cost, then he has won. We can get to a place, as Derek Webb said in a song called "I Repent," "of "trading truth for false unity," "confusing peace and idolatry," "caring more of what they think than what I know of what we need" and "by domesticating you until you look just like me." For that we should repent and affirm our personal allegiance to Jesus Christ!

I believe that there are four things that this passage gives us as we affirm our personal allegiance to Jesus Christ:

The first one is this: The most courageous decision we make is giving our absolute allegiance only to Jesus Christ. Elijah was totally fearless in this showdown with the prophets and that gave him courage to be in complete command. Jesus never hesitated to call on us to give him absolute allegiance. He said, "If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me" (Luke 14:26-27). The reason for this stern warning was not just to clarify a follower’s allegiance but to also fuel their courage. Once that issue is settled then it matters not what other threats may come to us because we are infused with a boldness that cannot be denied.

The second idea that flows from this passage is: The most dangerous decision we can make is to fail to give our absolute allegiance to Jesus Christ. Elijah knew that divided allegiance was as wrong as open idolatry. That is why he asked the people, "How long are you going to waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him" (verse 21) Jesus said, "Don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28). We may want to be afraid of the cost of our discipleship but failing to choose at all is far worse.

Another principle that comes to us from this text is: The most effective tools for preserving that allegiance are based in faith. Elijah didn’t try to manipulate God through any other means than by using the tools of faith. It is tempting for us in our struggle to maintain and secure our freedom spiritually to seek to use only secular tools of manipulation and influence. Jesus said, "Those who use the sword will be killed by the sword." (Matthew 26:52) By that he meant that if you choose secular methods to accomplish God’s purpose than we can expect those methods to be used against us. When it comes to the struggle of preserving our religious freedom we must and should use every tool that pleases God. Yet we must also remember that the most effective are those that do not have their source in human political agendas but those that come from having our faces before a Holy God!

The final thought is this: The most effective force to empower others to give allegiance to Jesus Christ is a fully devoted life. Elijah was one man against one corrupt king and 850 vile prophets yet he dared to challenge God’s people to make a choice. When God answered they cried out with their absolute allegiance! We must never underestimate the power of one person devoted to Jesus Christ. It was one Moses before Pharaoh. It was one Esther before Xerxes. It was one Jesus before Pilate. It was one Paul before Caesar. It was one Martin Luther before the pope. So it will be your one life so fully devoted that can cause others to choose Christ. We just never know how effective our witness can be.

Dietrich Bonhoffer said that, "When Christ calls a man he bids him come and die." Never let it be questioned by any mortal where your ultimate allegiance lies. The Cross of Christ has claimed you and that is an allegiance that will always be challenged and one you must you must always pledge!

Sunday, July 2, 2006

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org