I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb

Music and Lyrics: Ray Boltz

Arranged by Camp Kirkland

This is a great song for a patriotic service, missions service, or any other time. The song parallels the act of pledging allegiance to our country to that of pledging allegiance to our Savior and Lord. The song describes the fate of Christians that were given a chance to spare their lives by renouncing God, but "one by one they chose to die; the Son of God they would not deny."

Read II Corinthians 6:1-10.

From the time we were very young children, we have been taught about and experienced pledging our allegiance. In kindergarten, we began to learn the Pledge of Allegiance to our country. We found sometimes fickle devotion to certain friends on the playground and pledged an undying allegiance to our best friend that would often times see us through thick and thin. We pledge our allegiance through faithfulness in marriage, and we have put the full weight of our devotion and loyalty behind a cause that we believe in. As we grow and progress in our allegiance experiences, we discover that allegiance is not an intangible concept merely given to words. It is a tangible, living event that can bring great risk and sacrifice but also builds great character and brings great blessing. And never do we see this more clearly than in an allegiance to Christ.

Christ is the author of the allegiance relationship. In fact, He aligned Himself with us before the creation of the world by loving us so much as to make centuries of preparations for His death on our behalf. He risked His life by willingly taking human form, living a human existence, and dying a human death that would separate Him from His Father. And in doing so, He taught us that allegiance isn't about picking the right team or choosing a particular friend or even appreciating your country. He taught us that allegiance is about commitment, perseverance, obedience, and above all, unity of mind and spirit with the object of our allegiance. And if the object of our allegiance is our Savior, then the loyalties of our lives become clear, and our decisions and choices evidence unity with Christ.

Servanthood is the automatic result of total allegiance to Christ. And Christ's role for His servants is to minister to the world, just as He Himself did not come to us to be served but to serve. In like-minded allegiance to our Savior, we are to go out into the world, serving those who hate us and who hate our Ally. And like our Savior, we may face much of the hardship, risk, and sacrifice that He endured out of allegiance to His love for us. II Corinthians 6:6 says we are to minister amongst the hatred with purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, love, and truth. This is the test of my unity with Him, of the strength of my allegiance — to sacrifice even unto death for the sake of the One who gave up all that He was, just to form an alliance with me.

So when we face the tyrants of our lives who would have us renounce our Savior, let us boldly state our own pledge of allegiance to our most precious Lamb:

I pledge allegiance to the Lamb of the united triune God-head…and to the principles for which He stands…One Spirit in our God, indivisible…with truth and righteousness for all.

Food for Thought:

Read II Corinthians 6:3-13. In light of the experiences we may face in servanthood to Christ and the manner in which we are to face them, list the characteristics we are to develop, and indicate how the Lord might have you develop them.

Read II Corinthians 1:21-22, II Corinthians 4:17-18, Ephesians 6:19-20, and Philippians 1:29-30. What benefits do you see for those who have pledged to a united life in Christ?

What particular characteristic will you work on this week?

Cross References:

I Samuel 2:30…Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, "I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever; but now the Lord declares, 'Far be it from Me — for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.’”

Matthew 20:28…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Acts 4:31…And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

I Corinthians 16:13…Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

II Corinthians 1:21-22…Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

II Corinthians 4:17-18…For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

II Corinthians 5:5…Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.

II Corinthians 6:3-13…giving no cause for offense in anything, in order that the ministry be not discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known; as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

Ephesians 6:19-20…and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Philippians 1:29-30…For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me.

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