Loyalty

 

Mark 12:30 NIV

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'

What Is Your Top Priority?

I was either nineteen or twenty.  I did drive and had my own car and although I lived at home I had the freedom to do pretty much whatever I wanted to do as long as I did not make things tough on my parents.  A friend invited me to her house for her party.   I had a great time dancing and meeting new people.  The music was loud and the lights were dim and the adventure of pursuing a romance that evening electrified the moment.  My faith in Christ was developing rapidly and I was committed to following Him so I wasn’t exactly a wild partier…I was not even a partier at all but this was my opportunity to start.  The smell of marijuana floated about and there were coolers filled with a variety of alcoholic beverages.  Never before had I even tasted a beer so I was walking about in a new territory.  Because everyone else was drinking, I grabbed a beer, popped the top and took a sip.  About ten minutes later I took another sip.  As I mingled through the room, I held my beer with a ferocious tenacity, refusing to let go of it but dumbfounded by its presence.  Now you must realize that I did not have any strong opinions about drinking at the time, did not know of any Scriptures that condemned it, was not certain if the Bible was in favor of drinking or not and had never been warned by my parents about the dangers of alcohol.  Although I had grandparents who died from alcoholism, I was not aware of it at the time.  Yet as I danced and visited with girls and guys I was just meeting, a gnawing certainty came over me that this was an important moment in my life.  Somehow, without any mystical or supernatural form of communique, I knew that a line had been drawn in the sand for me.  God was setting before me a call to loyalty and the point of determination was the beer in my hand.  Would I drink or would I walk with Him.  Of course I know this sounds absurd and I did not have a single clear explanation for why God might be calling me to this life-long standard but as the evening went along, I was certain God was demanding this of me.  Give up alcohol and be His disciple.  With a room full of people who barely knew me, the Lord had pulled me into a corner and asked me who would I serve and who would rule my heart.  With no pastor to guide me and not a single friend to counsel me, I had a decision to make on the outskirts of a dimly lit dance floor.

It is funny how few people are even aware of what Jesus meant when He invited Peter and His brother Andrew to “Come follow me…”  (Matthew 4: 19 NIV)  Perhaps He used the same phrasing to call the other disciples and many more even to go with Him but we can’t say because much is left out of the Scriptures regarding particulars.  We know of at least one other person who was also asked by Jesus to come and follow Him but that man turned away and decided he wouldn’t…at least for the moment.  This does not mean that the famously labeled “rich young ruler” did not have salvation but he did decide not to have the sort of life God offered him.  You can decide to not “follow Christ” and still have eternal life.  You can be as rough and self-driven as you wish and the blood of Christ will wash away all your sin if you take Jesus at His word and put your hope in Him for salvation.  Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  (Romans 10:13)  The question before you today is not whether or not you will have eternal life but rather one much simpler and searching.  Will you follow Jesus?

Joshua asked a question similar to this of the Hebrew people as he came to the end of his earthly days.  A world of promise and opportunity rose before God’s people.  They had just conquered many parts of the Promised Land and were settling into their new homes.  All around them were pagan people who lived however they pleased.  Their morality and values were not taken from God and the Ten Commandments were not sacred to them.  The Israelites could live like their international neighbors or be different from them.  It was up to them.  God would not force His own values upon them.  Generations who followed would be impacted by the decision they were about to make though and the direction they headed spiritually could impact the course of history.  Joshua stood before the fledgling nation and spoke for God.  "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.” (Joshua 24:14-15 NIV)  If that was you standing in the crowd and you had to give an answer to this challenge, how would you reply?  Joshua made it clear where he stood on this.  “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

(Joshua 24:15 NIV)  God does not demand this of you that you serve Him.  It is up to you what you choose to do with this life!

We have in the New Testament a fascinating peek into the personality of God.  As a great number of followers of Jesus decided to walk away from Him, Jesus asked Peter and the other eleven or so who were standing around what they wanted to do.  “Are you going to give up on me too?”  For any of the rest of us that are broken by sin, His question might hint at a tinge of insecurity.  He wasn’t quite sure where He stood with them.  But Jesus, who was pure in His intentions and clear in His thoughts about Himself, asked them so they could decide if they would remain loyal to God or abandon Him.  Peter was certain of what He was going to do.  Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."  (John 6:68 NIV)  How would you have responded to Jesus’ question?

The last great king of Judah is best known for his tragic decision to take his army and fight against the Egyptians who were on their way to do battle with the Babylonians.  Before that however, Josiah made the most important determination of his life.  Josiah’s father, King Amon reigned only two years but during that time he followed in the footsteps of his father Manasseh who was probably the most wicked and dishonorable king Judah ever had.  

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done.  He (Amon) walked in all the ways of his father; he worshiped the idols his father had worshiped, and bowed down to them.  He forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of the Lord.  Amon's officials conspired against him and assassinated the king in his palace.  (2 Kings 21:20-23 NIV)  Not many move away from the patterns established by their parents and grandparents but Josiah did.  By age twenty-four, Josiah was actively pursuing Godliness and trying his best to re-establish worship of God in his country.  His first major project was to clean out the Temple of God in Jerusalem and make it fit to worship the Lord there once more.  During the renovations, a copy of the Old Testament was found and for the first time in decades, the people understood what God wanted of His people.  The Law was rediscovered and Josiah had to decide if he would follow it or comfortably ignore it.  There was a line for him to cross regardless if any of the people he ruled chose to go with him.  All eyes were on Josiah to see what he would do about the Word of God.  Josiah called all the leaders of Judah together and had the Scriptures read publically at the temple of the Lord.  The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord-to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.  (2 Kings 23:3 NIV)  Josiah chose to pledge his loyalty to God and follow Him wherever the Lord took him.  Clearly, based upon the record, Josiah was rare among his ancestors and those who followed him as king to choose God as Lord.  How would you have responded to the scriptural call to absolute loyalty to God?

The Apostle Paul made a statement that is nearly always viewed from God’s perspective but never from Paul’s.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38-39 NIV)  God of course will not let His people be kept from Him.  When Christ died on the Cross, God’s salvation became irrevocable and unassailable.  Nothing could stop His forgiveness of Sin or the salvation He provides from reaching those who turn to Him.  Jesus made certain this was understood when He declared, I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.  (John 10:28-29 NIV)

Turn the statement around in Paul’s direction.  Is he also proclaiming that nothing can keep him away from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?  Demons, angels, height, depth, what is happening now or what might happen in the future are all not going to stop Paul or others like him from having the love of God in his life.  It is perhaps too odd to consider this passage this way but could it not be so?  Might it also be that Paul would not let anything stand between him and God?  Consider all Paul suffered following Christ!  Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without…  (2 Corinthians 11:24-27 NIV)  He went through all this for one reason.  Paul refused to let anything stand in the way of him living for Christ.   Do you have that same loyalty?

The question is not whether or not you have eternal life.  Nor is it, “Are your sins forgiven?”  Salvation is settled for you by what Jesus did when He took your sins from you on the Cross.  Many Christians never go any further than this.  They never want anything more from God than the knowledge that they have a home waiting for them after they die.  Some though want to live with Christ now.  They cannot bear to dishonor God by how they live.  They are hungry for God, thirsty for Christ, they crave more and greater intimacy with the Holy Spirit.  Is that you?  Are you all in?  Will you go with God regardless of what others do.  Are you, like the Apostle Paul, “not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile”?  (Romans 1:16 NIV)  Are you willing to declare your absolute loyalty to Christ as the Lord of your life?  Take your stand with millions of other Christians across the ages and state before God that you will follow Him wherever He leads you and go with Him loyally wherever He takes you.

Do You Need Help?

Exodus 2:23 NIV

During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

If You Needed Help, Would You Ask?

A few weeks ago I went to an office supply store needing to order business cards.  I went to the copy center and a very nice person asked me, “How can I help you?”  Normally I would rather robotically just answer the question the way it was intended to be answered.  But this time something went wrong within my brain and I started thinking about all the various ways I could use help.  “Yes, I have a problem with a skin tag on my eyelid.  Do you have any suggestions?”  “Sure, how can I get my daughter to keep her room clean?”  “Do you know what I should do about the sermon I need to deliver next week?”  “How can I get affordable housing in Fremont?”   “What should I do about my arthritic knees?”  Fortunately for those waiting in line behind me, I only told the clerk about my need for business cards.  Yet it would have been nice if she could have helped me with the other matters too!

If God asked you directly, “How can I help you”, how would you respond?  Would you take the question seriously?  Would you tell Him about your real concerns or just give a few trivial problems to solve?  Do you want help from God or are you pretty satisfied with how everything is going?    Would you consider the Lord your lifeline when nothing else works or are you dependent upon Him to help you with even the smallest of issues?  What part does God play in solving the problems you face?

Nothing is quite as certain as this!  If you are not struggling with something too big for you now, eventually you will.  When you find yourself in such a predicament, you will fall into one of two camps.  You will either ask God for help or you won’t.  It is interesting but considering that the Bible is a religious book mostly about God, you can find in it plenty of accounts of those who show no interest in getting help from God.  The Pharisees were one of the most religious people of their time.  They studied the Old Testament.  They carefully kept as many religious laws as they deemed possible.   They even made up laws just to be careful to keep God happy with them.  But when Jesus Christ, God in flesh appeared, they did not want to have anything to do with Him.  They often tested Jesus to see if they could find flaws in His Bible knowledge.  They never though asked Him for help.  Of all the miracles of Christ, it does not seem that the Pharisees ever found a problem they needed Him to solve.

Imagine if you knew of a man who had been born blind, was blind through childhood and into adulthood and that man had been miraculously healed by someone.  What would have been your reaction?  Would you have thought of things this person could do for you?  Would you bring your needs to Him?  The Pharisees certainly did care about the miracle but they did not seem interested in getting His help with their own problems.  They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.  Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath.  Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."  Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."  But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided. (John 9:13-16 NIV)

It is striking the total disregard the Pharisees had for the good Jesus could do.  They clearly did not care about finding out how Jesus could help them also!  Yet one of the Pharisees, Nicodemus came at night wanting Jesus to help him with the questions he had.  The priests who ran the Temple were Sadducees, another religious group that was much less interested in what the Bible had to say than the Pharisees and they did not have any confidence in God’s ability to do anything miraculous.  Despite all the miracles happening in Jerusalem and the greatest of all the miracles, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, the priests did not want Jesus’ help either.  In fact when they heard about what happened with Lazarus, they wanted both Lazarus and Jesus dead.  Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.  "What are we accomplishing?" they asked. "Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."  Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, "You know nothing at all!  You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish…. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well…  (John 11:47-50, 12: 10 NIV)

When the Roman governor of Judea finally met Jesus, having heard the reports of all the good things Jesus had done, he struggled with the insistence of the Jewish priests that Jesus needed to be executed.  Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"  "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.  When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.  Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?"  But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge — to the great amazement of the governor. (Matthew 27:11-14 NIV)  Pilate, who certainly had plenty of needs himself given all we know about the problem Pilate had with his supervisors in Rome as well as the Jewish people he was supposed to govern, did not look for any help from Jesus for anything.  Pilate’s wife ironically did have a need.  She begged her husband to not harm Jesus because “…I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him." (Matthew 27:19 NIV)

One of the strangest of all the accounts of the humiliations and beatings Jesus suffered before He was crucified involved Herod, Jewish king who ruled over the Galilean region.  When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. (Luke 23:8-9 NIV)  Herod Antipas had plenty of problems, including an impending war with his former father-in-law yet he saw no need of help from Jesus.  He had heard of Jesus’ great miracles and thought of Christ as a trick pony instead of the one who could make his life right.  Rather than ask Jesus to save him, which is what he needed, he had Jesus beaten and joined with others in the court mocking Christ.  Yet interestingly enough the manager of his household was married and his wife humbly came to Jesus for help. …and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Cuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (Luke 8: 2-3 NIV)

Consider carefully what Jesus announced at the Temple during one of the great Jewish feasts.  On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."  By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39 NIV)  The entrance of the Holy Spirit into a life only happens when someone wants Him.  You must come to Christ on your own if you are to have the Holy Spirit.  God does not force Himself upon you.  He says that if you are thirsty, come to Him.  You must need God and know you need Him before He will do anything of substance with you.  If you want the Holy Spirit flowing in and out of you, clearing up your mind, straightening out the way you think, impacting those around you and giving them through you the taste of Christ, then you must ask Christ for this.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 NIV)  Are you poor in spirit?  Do you want God filling your life more than anything?  Have you become so in need of God that you crave Him like an infant craves her mother’s milk?  Try this little experiment.  Pick out someone you care about and pray for that person thirty days in a row. Ask for Christ to be that person’s blessing.  Put his or her name on your mirror and pray for Christ to bless that soul.  See what God does in you as you pray: how the Holy Spirit joins with you in your praying.  Give your worries about yourself a break and put your concentration on the Holy Spirit praying through you for the one you have been given to bless in prayer.  Out of you will flow streams of living water.  Take the thirty day challenge.  I wonder what might happen when God works through thirty people committed completely to being vessels of God’s goodness and grace for thirty days.