The Christian’s Dual Allegiance
This is a sermon with two texts.
One text is from the Old Testament, the other from the New. One comes from the prophet Jeremiah, the other from the apostle Paul. Our two texts might seem contradictory, but taken together, they summarize the whole of the Christian’s life in the world.
The first is this: “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace” (Jer. 29:7).
These words are instruction for life in exile. The Jews, inheritors of the promises to Abraham, should have continued in the land God gave them, but repeated sins led to judgment. The Egyptians deposed one king from David’s throne, and the Babylonians deported two more as prisoners along with many of their people.
Finally, Zedekiah sat on the throne, last to reign in Jerusalem. He swore by his God to submit to Nebuchadnezzar but broke his promise and ignored Jeremiah’s calls to repentance. God determined to execute His wrath upon the faithless king.
A few years into Zedekiah’s reign, several self-proclaimed prophets began to preach that the captivity would be short. Within two years Babylon would fall and the exiles would return. Their counsel led the captives to resist the will of God. Jeremiah opposed them. When Zedekiah sent emissaries to Babylon, the prophet added his own message, the letter that contains our text. By the hand of the prophet, the God of Israel told His people how they should live in Babylon:
Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace (Jer. 29:5-7).
The captivity would be long: seventy years, the life of a man. Exile would end, but not yet. “Pack your bags — prepare for departure,” say the false prophets. “Not so,” says Jeremiah; “it is life as usual in Babylon. Carry on in exile just as you did at home.”
The message is a practical one. Living now in a foreign city, the Jews were to make that city their own. Refusing to follow the Lord’s command would mean wasting seventy years. They should make the most of their stay.
The message is for the Lord’s people today. Exiles, strangers, pilgrims, we are far from our own country, yet we are to live as though at home. God has placed us in a world where few follow the true religion, in nations having their own gods, among people who want us to live like themselves. Still the Lord says to us: “Seek the peace of the city … and pray unto the LORD for it.”
While we know we need to pray, we may find the command, “seek the peace,” troublesome. A false holiness tempts us to withdraw from the world so far as to be no good in it. Instead of seeking its peace, we might merely wait for its destruction. It is true there are evil things in the world, and, like Daniel in Babylon, we must guard ourselves from them. Nevertheless, as much as possible, Christians should promote the good of their communities.
“Build ye houses, and dwell in them.” Settle down in that country; take up residence among its people; live with them. The fact that you are believers and they are not does not mean that you may go off on your own.
“Plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.” Ensure a healthy life for yourselves and your families. To whatever extent that necessitates that you take part in the local economy, do so.
“Take ye wives …” Instead of waiting until you come back to Jerusalem to marry and begin another generation, start your family in Babylon. Rear your children in the culture you are in. Yes, protect them from the world’s unhealthy influences, but teach them to be good citizens and to participate in the city’s life.
“And seek the peace of the city.” Life is more than houses and food and families. If you are in a trade, business, or politics, work for your neighbors’ good. If you make art, literature, or music, create beauty to benefit all. God wants us to live responsibly in society.
Christianity is not about taking you out of the world; Paul says that in 1 Cor. 5:9-10. God’s plan is that you should live among ungodly people, joining with them in human culture and society as far as you can appropriately do so. You ought to promote that society’s welfare. You yourself will benefit if you live in a safe, prosperous country — “in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” For yourself and others, you should do whatever you can to build a better country.
Yet for all our activity in this world, we realize that we are not at home. As strangers sojourning in a far country, we may mourn with the Jews: “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept: when we remembered thee, O Sion …” (Ps. 137:1, BCP).
Now consider our second text: “Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb. 13:14).
This sentence appears in the context of an exhortation to follow Jesus away from the ritual of the Jewish religion and to lay hold on the holiness that comes by grace. It tells us the attitude we should have in the present world.
The epistle develops the idea at length: the stories of men and women who lived as pilgrims in the earth (Heb. 11) remind us that life in this world is not permanent. There are aspects of human society that last; not everything done in this world is worthless, and John speaks of the nations bringing their “glory and honour” into the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:26). But the world as we now know it will suffer destruction. It will last only so long, and then it will be gone.
The Jews in Babylon knew that they had seventy years. We do not know how long we have. But just as their captivity ended and they returned to Jerusalem, so our captivity in the world will end and we will enter the heavenly Jerusalem.
We sense a tension between the command to “seek the peace of the city” and the reminder that “here we have no continuing city.” We should promote the good of the community around us yet at the same time look for a city that comes to replace it. How should Christians resolve the contradiction?
Remember that the greatest commandment is the commandment to love God. The second is really the same, to love people (Matt. 22:37-40). John shows us (e.g., 1 John 4:21) that we love God by loving other people, especially but by no means only Christian people.
The danger Jeremiah confronts is withdrawal from the surrounding community. That is a sin against love for our neighbors. The danger confronted by our second text is the temptation to become so caught up in the world that we forget God. That is a sin against love for God.
When you sin against God by becoming just like the world, you are not loving the people in the world too much. You are loving yourself: you are trying to make yourself comfortable. On the other hand, when you pull away from the world with a mistaken desire to protect yourself and your family, you are not loving God too much. You are loving yourself: you do not want to give yourself for the people who live around you.
If your attitude is love, the love that lays down its life for others, then there is no tension between your relationships to the two cities. Pilgrims with no permanent connection to their society can faithfully serve both God and man. Your life can contribute to raising human culture to a higher level yet show that you do not really belong here. Your life in the world will be distinct: seeking to make God’s world a better place while always proclaiming the gospel of another kingdom.
Sir Cecil Spring Rice gives poignant voice to the Christian’s dual allegiance:
I vow to thee, my country — all earthly things above —
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love.
This is the love that offers itself up, totally, unreservedly, a willing sacrifice poured out for mankind. It corresponds to the land of our captivity, a land we learn to love during the days of our sojourn.
As for that other country, “her fortress,” the poet sings, “is a faithful heart.” It is a heart filled with longing for its true home, patient in suffering and constant in hope. It brings the ways of heaven to earth, thereby leading other pilgrims (“soul by soul and silently”) along the path to heaven.
This article was edited and revised from a sermon originally preached at Courtenay, British Columbia, December 30, 2018.
Brendon Johnson is the administrative assistant to the associate dean of the School of Religion at Bob Jones University.