False Allegiances - Guide 4

Leader Read:

“Jesus was saying, “Trust me. You’ve found yourself on the wrong side; hear what I’m telling you. Repent and believe. Give me your allegiance.” Allegiance is at the core of the invitation of Jesus, and it is also at the heart of our crisis. Within our challenge is our unseen story, the ghosts wooing our allegiances without our permission. Behind every question of allegiance is the presence of the other allegiances that have often been left unnamed in our lives. We follow Jesus in a culture that has shaped our allegiances from birth. If you follow Jesus, I believe you have given him a sincere yes. The more people I meet, the more I find our challenges don’t stem from a counterfeit faith. But what you need to see is all of the other “yeses” you didn’t know you were giving. In our yes to Jesus, we’ve also given our yes to curating our image and the life we dream of having. We’ve become indoctrinated by a culture that tells us visibility is success, so we only feel valuable when we are seen how we long to be seen. We no longer take identity from the conviction of what Jesus speaks over us but from the emotions we experience. We self-create and self-imagine and self-determine our journeys and wrestle with a Jesus that calls us to self-denial. We often see those as struggles, but they are far more than that. They are allegiances.” (51). Yet again, the words of Jesus are actually inviting us to allegiance. When Jesus said repent and believe, he wasn’t simply talking about confessing sin and coming into intellectual agreement with Jesus (though I don’t dismiss how those play central elements in our faith). He was using a cultural phrase that was calling us to recognize we had given our allegiance to the wrong things, but Jesus was offering a new way. 

SCRIPTURE: Mark 1:14-15, Matthew: 28 -30 (Just summarize- don’t read entirety)

DISCUSSION (10-15 minutes: Allow each group member to choose one of the these questions to respond to)

  1.  When you hear the phrase “Kingdom of God what does it make you think it is?

  2. When you consider your own life and repentance how do you feel?  Do you see repentance as a good thing? Bad thing? Complicated thing?

  3. When you access your life, have you picked up any other yokes that you are carrying alongside the yoke of Jesus?

PRAYER RESPONSE (As a whole group, or in smaller groups, take time to share anywhere you feel the effect of multiple allegiances in your own heart. Here are a few specifics to consider)

  1. If you find yourself discouraged, take time and pray hope over one another.

  2.  If you find yourself weary, take time to come to Jesus and ask him for rest. 

  3.  If you have named any false allegiances or “other yokes” that you have been carrying, name them. Repent, and offer them to Jesus and offer him your full yes.

  4.   Be honest about any places of anxiety and pain in your own life. Talk through how you are going to take them to Jesus and minister the comfort of the Holy Spirit one to another.