2020 First Allegiance

This is a sermon series our church did in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. It was very helpful and I had a lot of good takeaways.

First Allegiance Commitments

Sermon series corresponds with these, so sermon notes are embedded in the below list.

  1. Worship - I commit my allegiance to King Jesus over all other idols and ideologies - (Ex 20:2-3; Psalm 115:1-8, Phil 2:9-11)

    • Reconciliation of all things. We should be participating in politics. Politics does not fall outside the scope of the gospel.
    • We all have places in our lives where we fall into the trap of prioritizing our political vision over our love of Christ
    • When Jesus was tempted - he was offered a good end by bad means - to be king of the world by worshipping Satan. Jesus' response: "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only" - Worship was the real issue in this temptation
    • How do we know if our ideology has become an idol?
      • Problem emotions - pay attention to shifts in mood, what causes us to feel anxious, angry, depressed, etc
      • bodily reactions - racing heart, spinning mind, tightening gut
      • sinful behaviors - what brings out the worst in us?
      • relational circles - who are we surrounded by? who can I not imagine having as a friend?

  2. Love of Neighbor - I commit to participating in civic life as a means of loving and serving my neighbor rather than just serving my own interests - (Phil 2:1-11, Matt. 22:34-40)

  3. Image of God - I commit to honoring the image of God in all people by treating them with respect and abstaining from dehumanizing caricatures - (Gen 1:26, James 3:9)

  4. Biblical Wisdom - I commit to having my views challenged by the Biblical Story rather than using the Bible to proof-text my predetermined positions - (Psalm 119; 2 Tim 3:16)

  5. Fruitful Speech - I commit to engaging in political discourse with speech that's marked by the fruit of the Spirit–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control - (Gal 5:22-23, James 3)

  6. Humble Learning - I commit to being quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger as I seek to learn from the varied perspectives within the body of Christ - (James 1:19, 1 Cor 12:12-26)

  7. Remove the Log - I commit to giving more attention to critiquing the potential flaws in my own political leanings, conduct, and sin than I give to scrutinizing others - (Mt 7:1-5)

  8. Biblical Justice - I commit to understanding and pursuing justice as I engage in civic life, not minimizing scripture's repeated call to seek justice and allowing scripture to critique popular conceptions of justice in our culture - (Is 1:17; Micah 6:8, Mt 23:23)

  9. Peacemaking - I commit to face-to-face conflict resolution rather than arguments on social media - (Mt 18:15-17, Rom 12:17-21)

  10. Loving Enemies - I commit to loving and praying for my so-called political "enemies," especially those whom I have the hardest time loving and praying for. This includes a commitment to pray for our government leaders regardless of who wins the election - (Mt 5:43-44, 1 Tim 2:1-4)