Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book, The Cost Of Discipleship, points out that in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus calls His disciples, the twelve, out from the great crowd that was gathered to hear Him. He then began to speak to the them first, those Beatitudes that are so lofty and profound. He writes that it was because of the call of Jesus on the life of the twelve that they were able to leave all things behind and follow Jesus exclusively. They would be the first embodiment of the attitudes and Godly characteristics of the Sermon on the Mount. This triggered some thoughts in my mind that have been challenging to be sure, yet also liberating.
When a person becomes a follower of Jesus Christ, he becomes one who has an entirely new devotion and allegiance. No longer are we devoted to the world, society, ourselves or to anyone else primarily. Our allegiance is to Jesus Christ above all else. Our families are still important to us for sure. Our nation is as well, and we can and should still have a healthy view of ourselves as people, but as children of God through faith in Jesus and forgiveness of sin. But these loves and allegiances are subordinate to our devotion to Christ. He is all things to us and for us, nothing and no one will usurp His place as Lord in our lives. This sounds acceptable to us, but in practice is a very radical and demanding call from the Savior and Lord.
Just as Jesus called the twelve out of the crowd to Himself, He calls us out from the rest of humanity to Himself alone. Yet it is just this call that frees us to love the important things in life in the right way. We are separate from our nation because of our allegiance to Christ. But we love it for Christ's sake. We are separate even from our family, yet we love them for the sake of Jesus. We deny ourselves daily, but in doing so we find true and proper fulfillment.
Never in the history of America, except perhaps in it's very founding, has our nation needed the church to be devoted to our Lord. This time is the time for us to realize that the Kingdom of God of which Jesus is Lord will endure and be triumphant regardless of America's rising or falling. Our allegiance is to Christ. Our ultimate victory is not here but there. This is true liberty.
Now we are free indeed. That is why the insults and persecutions of the world have no hindrance to our mission. The lack of worldly goods only increases our longing for the Kingdom. When the world ostracizes us because of Christ it only confirms for us where our true allegiance rests, secure and unassailable. Not only are we free, but Jesus said to the twelve that they were blessed to be such a people. Strange "blessings" indeed, but it is the call of Jesus that we should be this way for the sake of a broken and confused world and nation. The subversion against our nation at this time only underscores the broken souls of people and the weakness of human systems to which they give birth. To trust in these systems is to sorely misplace that trust.
The calling of Jesus Christ brings us out from it all, good and bad, yet sends us back into it with the light of Christ and the sure hope of salvation and the ultimate vindication of righteousness. May our allegiance to Him be true in our lives so that our lives might be effective in the lives of others, for Jesus's sake.
