God, God's Kingdom, and God's People First

As followers of Jesus, our first love and priority commitment in all of life must be directed toward God Himself, His Kingdom, and His People, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Consider the following passages:

“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” (Matthew 22:37–38) 

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:33) 

“Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:10)

It is relatively easy to accept this teaching when we contrast our loyalty to these things with our loyalty to bad things, things of the world, our fleshly desires, our greed and selfishness, etc. It may not be quite so easy to follow through with these things, but at least it is easy to understand why we are called to put our love for God, His Kingdom, and His People in front of these things. But it can easily rub us the wrong way when we apply this truth to other loyalties in our life, loyalties we normally think of as healthy and positive—our loyalty toward our family, our community, or our nation. Yet Scripture has some very specific things to say to us about putting our loyalty toward these things in front of our loyalty to God, His Kingdom, and His People.

Let’s think first about family. Now it’s true that God places us in families and instructs us to love, honor, and take care of our family members. The following passages come to mind:

“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12) 

“In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.” (Ephesians 5:28–29) 

“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged.” (Colossians 3:18–20) 

“Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God.” (1 Timothy 5:3–4) 

“But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.” (1 Timothy 5:8) 

“If a woman who is a believer has relatives who are widows, she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the church can care for the widows who are truly alone.” (1 Timothy 5:16)

So, lest anyone understand differently, I am NOT suggesting we should not obey these verses about loving, honoring, and taking care of our families.

However, there is another series of passages that warn us against placing our loyalty and devotion toward our family above our loyalty and devotion for God, God’s Kingdom, and God’s People. Consider the following:

"While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, ‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Matthew 12:46–50) 

“Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they couldn’t get to him because of the crowd. Someone told Jesus, ‘Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you.’ Jesus replied, ‘My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.’” (Luke 8:19–21) 

“As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.’ He said to another person, ‘Come, follow me.’ The man agreed, but he said, ‘Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.’ Another said, ‘Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:57–62) 

“If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.” (Matthew 10:37) 

“If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26)

Without a doubt, these are very difficult passages to swallow. But with respect to putting obedience to God above our love for our families, the Bible is even more radical yet, as we see in that most radical of passages, that passage in Genesis 22 that tells us of God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Even though other parts of Scripture make plain that God did not intend for Abraham to ultimately follow through with His command to sacrifice Isaac, the implication is very clear that God tried Abraham’s faith in order to make sure he was willing to do so and that Abraham did not put his love for his son in front of his supreme love and loyalty toward Him.

Let’s think a bit now about national loyalty. Once again, even though it is perhaps not quite as explicit as it is with respect to the command to love, honor, and take care of our families, the Bible has a few things to say that commend a healthy love and respect for one’s own community and nation, along with its leaders.

“And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:7) 

“Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” (Matthew 22:21b) 

“Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.” (Romans 13:1) 

“Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority.” (Romans 13:7) 

“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.” (1 Timothy 2:1–2) 

“Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.” (1 Peter 2:17)

There are also various passages, especially in the Old Testament, that speak positively of the patriotic love that God’s Old Testament people, the people of Israel, had for their nation. From a New Testament perspective, though, these passages apply more for us as followers of Christ with respect to the special love we are to have toward the New Testament people of God, the Church, than toward the specific country of which we are citizens on earth. There are a whole set of other New Testament passages, however, that make very clear that our ultimate allegiance is not to be toward nations here on earth but toward God’s Kingdom and toward God’s people who transcend the nations of our earthly citizenship:

“Jesus answered, ‘My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.’” (John 18:36) 

“But Peter and the apostles replied, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority.’” (Acts 5:29) 

“But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.” (Philippians 3:20) 

“All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:13–16) 

“For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.” (Hebrews 13:14) 

“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.’ Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.’ Dear friends, I warn you as ‘temporary residents and foreigners’ to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.” (1 Peter 2:9–11) 

“And they sang a new song with these words: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9–10)

What’s more, there are also a few passages that appear to imply that the entire collective of earthly nations and their rulers will one day unite in opposition to God, God’s Kingdom, and God’s People, yet will ultimately be defeated by Jesus and His followers. Consider the following passages:

“In your vision, Your Majesty, you saw standing before you a huge, shining statue of a man. It was a frightening sight. The head of the statue was made of fine gold. Its chest and arms were silver, its belly and thighs were bronze, its legs were iron, and its feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits. The whole statue was crushed into small pieces of iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold. Then the wind blew them away without a trace, like chaff on a threshing floor. But the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:31–35) 

“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever. That is the meaning of the rock cut from the mountain, though not by human hands, that crushed to pieces the statue of iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God was showing the king what will happen in the future. The dream is true, and its meaning is certain.” (Daniel 2:44–45) 

“One of the seven angels who had poured out the seven bowls came over and spoke to me. ‘Come with me,’ he said, ‘and I will show you the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who rules over many waters. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.’” (Revelation 17:1–2)

“A mysterious name was written on her forehead: ‘Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.’ I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement.” (Revelation 17:5–6) 

“And this woman you saw in your vision represents the great city that rules over the kings of the world.” (Revelation 17:18) 

“After all this I saw another angel come down from heaven with great authority, and the earth grew bright with his splendor. He gave a mighty shout: ‘Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen! She has become a home for demons. She is a hideout for every foul spirit, a hideout for every foul vulture and every foul and dreadful animal. For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of her passionate immorality. The kings of the world have committed adultery with her. Because of her desires for extravagant luxury, the merchants of the world have grown rich.” (Revelation 18:1–3) 

“Then I saw the beast and the kings of the world and their armies gathered together to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. Their entire army was killed by the sharp sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the white horse. And the vultures all gorged themselves on the dead bodies.” (Revelation 19:19–21)

Are you beginning to see a pattern here? There is indeed a place for love and loyalty to our families and to our countries; but we had better be extra specially careful to never let our love and loyalty for family and country surpass the love and loyalty we are to have toward God, God’s Kingdom, and God’s People.

Indeed, I would say that God gives us our families and communities (or nations) as a stewardship through which we are given the opportunity to demonstrate our supreme love toward Him in practical ways.

As parents, we are called to be God’s priests for our families in order to intercede for them and to guide them in God’s ways. As husband and wife, we are joint heirs together of the gift of life and are called to help each other grow more and more like Christ. As children, we demonstrate our ultimate submission to God’s authority as we submit to the authority He delegates to our parents. Indeed, when we truly love God first, we are able to love our families better.

As Christian citizens, we are ambassadors of Christ, called to represent the values of God’s Kingdom among the various human institutions in our midst, even though during this already-but-not-yet time while we await Jesus’ return when He will establish His earthly reign from the New Jerusalem we are not led to expect anything beyond outsider and immigrant status. Yet, we are to love our neighbors, and we are to love them well.

So as followers of Christ, in order to truly keep God, His Kingdom, and His People in their proper place in our hearts, we must be aware of the other things that compete for our allegiance, the other things that may well end up becoming idols in our life.

For some of us, it may at times be something as mundane as our fandom for our favorite sports team. Now there’s nothing wrong with being a loyal sports fan. But there should never be any doubt as to where our true loyalties lie. Simple enough.

For some of us, it may be a political party, or our cultural tribe, or our team or side in the culture wars. Once again, there may not be anything wrong in and of itself with party affiliation or joining forces with likeminded people to advocate for certain moral or cultural causes. But we must always be on guard to make sure our loyalty toward these things never replaces the place in our heart we are to keep reserved for God, His Kingdom, and His People alone.

We may feel a special love toward our people group, whether that be defined ethnically, racially, or nationally. We may have a special love for our city. Some of this is natural. And there are positive ways we can channel this special love for our own people into an effective way of showing God’s special love for each of the people groups of the earth. Our hearts may ache for the wounds of our people and we may seek to see those wounds healed by God’s grace and love. But we must always remember that our ultimate allegiance is to lie with the entire People of God, made up of individuals called out from among every tribe, language, people, and nation.

Finally, we are called to lay down our lives in sacrificial love for our families. There is no doubt about it—this is not an option, but a mandate from God. But this deep, heartfelt love we are to have for our families is, nevertheless, to look like hate when we lay it side by side and compare it to the supreme love and loyalty we are to render uniquely to God, His Kingdom, and His People.

* All Scripture quotations from the New Living Translation