Loyalty to Christ

Loyalty to Christ Loyalty To Christ
Hugo McCordd The Lord, knowing what is in man, was not flattered when “there went with him great multitudes.” He knew many would not be really loyal to him. Instead of letting them keep on until they found out for themselves, he turned and told them exactly what loyalty to him meant:

"If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, doth not first sit down and count the cost, whether he have wherewith to complete it? Lest haply, when he hath laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all that behold begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. Or what king, as he goeth to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an am- bassage, and asketh conditions of peace. So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:25-33).

I. True Loyalty Exemplified.
A dog’s master was taken to a hospital. The faithful dog followed as far as he could. When the ambulance bed carried his master in the hospital’s front door, he peered through the screen. Day after day he sat there, waiting for his master. The loyal pet did not know his master died and his body was removed by the back door. Week after week the dog lingered, finally dying. When Orpah kissed Naomi, her mother-in-law, and departed, Ruth’s loyalty could not be so soon cut. Her beautiful words of devotion, a treasure of millenniums, were:

"Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me."(Rth_1:16-17). And just as steadfast as Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi was Jonathan’s attachment to David. “The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” “Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.” It was an unnatural loyalty that would make Jonathan be willing to die for one not of his family, and that at the risk of angering his own father. Notwithstanding, “Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he (David) be slain? what hath he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.”

II. The express image of his person.
If a dog is loyal, if a daughter-in-law can have filial devotion, if a friend will lay down his life in sacrifice, what should we be willing to do for him in whom the very fulness of God dwelt? (Colossians 1:19) for him who was the Word become flesh? for him the only Begotten, full of grace and truth? for him who dwelleth in the bosom of the Father? (John 1:14; John 1:18). for him who made the worlds, is the heir of all things, and is the brightness of his glory and the very image of his sub-stance? (Hebrews 1:1-3). Wouldn’t you be loyal to one who had the nerve to drive temple thieves from his Father’s house and had the love to pick up little children in his arms and bless them? Wouldn’t you be loyal to one who scorched hypocrisy in abrasive language and who showed such feelings of mercy toward the multitudes, for they fainted and were as sheep without a shepherd? Wouldn’t you be loyal all the way to him who announced:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be contorted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Come, follow me,” he invited, but he warned, everyone to sit down and count the cost, which cost was:

III. Renounce all you have. (Luke 14:33).
Such is easy to say. Four particular things it means hearts was the faith more precious than gold that perishes.

1. Christ comes before a house and a bed (Luke 9:57-58). He promises his disciples food, and houses a hundredfold, with persecutions, but if a man makes a house and bread a condition of following him, he cannot be his disciple. Early Christians were so loyal they of choice became refugees (Acts 8:1-4) rather than give up the faith.

2. Christ comes before blood kin (Luke 9:59-60). "Let the dead bury their dead.” Was he harsh? Disrespectful? No, no! See him on the cross, not thinking of his own suffering, but thinking of his mother? and telling John, “"You take care of her”? What did he mean, “Let the dead bury their dead* Hate your ow n father and mother”? Just this, “Love them, care tenderly for them, but you must love me more" (Luke 10:37). Paul ever loved his “kinsmen according to the flesh.” his “bretnren,” loved them so much he could wish himself accursed if it would help them, but he loved Christ more, and obeyed the gospel, going against his own people.

3. Christ comes before Caesar. Disciples are not loyal if they try to rebel against a government, and they must be subject to “every ordinance of man, for the Lord’s sake” (1 Peter 2:13); but if a conflict ever arises between man’s law and Christ’s law, their loyalty is with Christ. They must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29), When Hirohito drafts men under banner of the Rising Sun to attack innocent Americans or Chinese, every Christian Japanese will respectfully refuse such draft. He may have to go to jail, may have to die, but he refuses to do what Christ would not do.

4. Christ comes before self. Paul’s physical man did not like lashes laid across his naked back. Personal desires would have prompted him to evade them. "But necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake” (2 Corinthians 12:10). “I live, yet not I” (Galatians 2:20). What do you mean, Paul? Aren’t you alive? No, he had given himself, body and soul, to Jesus. Therefore: “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, I am bought; I, Paul, am dead, and my life is hidden with Christ in God; everything I do, it is Christ doing it; I have denied myself.” Are these actions hard? Yes, for the half-converted. A boy walking down one side of a creek has no trouble, but when he tries both sides at the same time, he is pretty awkward and unsuccessful. A man trying to walk with Christ and with the world at the same time will find Christ’s demands hard. But everyone, really given to him, finds his yoke easy and his burden not hard to bear. “His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). Though a Christian is offered upon the altar of service and sacrifice, he joys and rejoices (Php_2:17). “Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice.” A joy by day and a happiness by night is the life of every truly converted soul.

We can demonstrate our loyalty to Christ by our obedience to the Gospel. We can show our loyalty to Christ by our Faith. We can show our loyalty to Christ by our worshiping Him "In Spirit and in Truth," and by "Contending Earnestly for the Faith of the Gospel" which was once and fo all delivered unto the saints. Put it this way---He has shown us what is good and "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do (wallk) justly in His sight," and to "love mercy," and to "Walk humbly with thy God." This passage from Micah 6:8 represents the entire spectrum of what is necessary for us to be loyal to Christ.