Recently I was watching a TV show with my youngest son, Aidan, when a commercial for a PC tablet came on. I then heard three words I’d never heard him say before, and I hope he never says again: “Better than Apple.” Of course he smiled after he said it, because he knows I’m an Apple fan! I’m loyal to the brand. We’re all loyal to some brands over others. Our brand loyalty can go to extremes, as when we only wear clothing from certain stores or only buy technology from certain companies. There is team loyalty, which is evidenced in clothing, makeup and emotions not often seen or heard until game time.
photo by svenic http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1237032
Loyalty is an issue and attribute of the heart. My wife and I celebrated thirteen years of marriage last month. Our anniversary is a witness to our loyalty to each other. This is also my thirteenth year in the city I’ve come to call home, as well as in the church I’m blessed to help lead and to serve. My loyalty belongs to this church. But it wasn’t always this way...
GOD IS LOYAL
Everything begins and has its origin in God, including loyalty. God is loyal. His love and faithfulness never end (Jeremiah 31:3; Hebrews 13:5). And in Jesus, we were loved to the death (John 13:3). God deserves loyalty. He is God and there is no other who can save. At His name -- at the name of Jesus -- every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance (Isaiah 45:22-23; Philippians 2:9-10). God seeks loyalty. His eyes look over the entire earth, searching for hearts loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:19). He longs to show Himself strong on their behalf! However, “Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?” (Proverbs 20:6). God gives loyalty. The Holy Spirit clothes and fills men and women with loyalty, to leaders and to others (1 Chronicles 12:18). Genuine obedience to God’s Word is, in fact, the quality of a loyal heart (1 Chronicles 29:19).
LOYALTY IS PERSONAL
Ruth had great affection for her mother-in-law, Naomi. After Naomi’s husband’s death and her son’s (Ruth’s husband) death, Ruth’s loyalty to Naomi far outweighed her desires to stay home or to start a new family (Ruth 1:6-18). Orpah’s (Naomi’s other daughter-in-law) affection did not outweigh her desire to stay home or to start a new family. And let us not blame her for that. The point is that loyalty is personal. Boaz was loyal to Ruth. Overcoming obstacles and navigating complexities, he was intent on getting her hand in marriage. Ruth’s and Naomi’s hearts were joined together. Ruth’s and Boaz’s hearts were joined together. That’s what loyalty does: it joins hearts.
Loyalty is unwavering, affectionate allegiance towards another. Therefore, loyalty is different than preference or commitment. When our preferences change or are not met, we often find a different favorite restaurant or church. But preferences are not loyalties. When our commitments shift, we might move cities or change jobs. But commitments are not necessarily loyalties. People commit to ideas, but they are loyal to people.
Jonathan was loyal to David even when his father, Saul, hated and despised David. Jonathan loved David as himself (1 Samuel 18:1-3). David, having received loyalty, gave loyalty. Anointed to be the future King of Israel, he was under threat of murder by Saul, the current King of Israel. For the sake of his life, David fled Saul’s sight. During the years David was on the run, he had opportunities to kill Saul. And why shouldn’t he? Saul hated him, had tried to kill him, and sooner or later would be replaced by David. Why wait? But David was loyal. So loyal, in fact, that while refusing another opportunity to kill Saul, he kept others accountable for their loyalty to Saul (1 Samuel 26:15-16). In David’s heart and mind, the fact that Saul’s bodyguard slept on the job and allowed David to sneak into camp and get close enough to take Saul’s water jug, was a crime punishable by death! David was loyal to his enemy, to a man that hated him and wanted him dead.
As an example, think of your workplace. You might have a boss like Saul, who mistreats you, but you are called to loyalty. And loyalty not only demands your respect, but also calls you to keep accountable those around your table at lunchtime who are ready to slander or gossip and be disloyal to your boss. If you hear someone talking bad about your spouse, your leader, your friend, etc., be loyal and keep others accountable for their loyalty. The apostle Paul was deeply loyal. He was concerned with people themselves more than he was with their possessions. He was glad to spend himself on those he loved (2 Corinthians 12:14-15). He was ready to share his life with those who had become “very dear” to him (1 Thessalonians 2:8). Unwavering, affectionate allegiance is the essence of loyalty.
People may change their commitments to ideas, but they are disloyal to people. Think of David’s son, Absalom (2 Samuel 15). He stole his father’s kingdom by stealing the people’s affection. Think of Judas, who betrayed Jesus. Judas had a crisis of love. At some point, he stopped loving Jesus, even though Jesus never stopped loving him. Only love can be loyal, and where love has ceased, disloyalty can lodge itself in and begin to widen the gap between two hearts. “A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends” (Proverbs 16:28). Loyalty is personal.
LOYALTY IS SACRIFICIAL
Ruth made an incredible sacrifice for Naomi when she left her home and family in Moab. “For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you” (Ruth 1:16-17). By comparison, when Boaz steps out of the way for the man who has the right before him to redeem Ruth and Naomi, we find that the man is unwilling to do so (Ruth 4:6). This man’s name is not given, though the Hebrew would translate it as something like, “Mr. So-and-So”. Whether he is unwilling or unable, either speaks to the greatness of the sacrifice that needs to be made in order to redeem Ruth and Naomi. This is because loyalty is sacrificial.
Like Ruth, when we are loyal to another we often end up dying to ourselves and living for another. This is the heart, life, character and power of Jesus reflecting through us as Christians: “…and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:15) To love Jesus is to love others. To serve Jesus is to serve others. To be loyal to Jesus is to be loyal to others. To live for Jesus is to live for others.
While in my second year of Bible school, Exodus 17:11-12 changed the course of my life. Having grown up as the son of missionaries in the country of Mexico, my plans seemed obvious: I would return to Mexico and work in ministry with my father. But then God spoke. In Exodus 17, we read the story of the army of the Amalekites attacking the people of Israel. During the battle and from a distance, Moses, God’s chosen leader for Israel, raised his hands. As he did this the Israelite army prevailed. But when he lowered his hands, the Amalekite army would prevail. Finally, a stone was chosen and brought to Moses for him to sit on while two men, Aaron and Hur, each stood on one side of Moses and lifted his hands over the course of an entire day. This was what I felt God was asking me to do: learn from a man what you can’t learn in Bible school and support him until the end by lifting his hands. My plans changed, a new direction was set, which would lead me to my current location and position as Associate Pastor.
What this meant for me, and what this means for loyalty, is that to be loyal one must learn to lay down his or her own desires, dreams and plans, and take up those belonging to another. This is not easy! I tried to leave several times. But the surprising, God-designed result is that God enlarges your heart through loyalty and fills it with greater love. Loyalty always leads to an enlarged heart, yet it only does so through submission, testing, refining and tempering. Throughout the last 13 years, I have been loyal to a pastor, with the incredible result that God has given me a love for my church and my city, to such an extent that I am now content and happy to never leave here. Loyalty is sacrificial.
LOYALTY IS GENERATIONAL
Ruth and Boaz left a great legacy. Their names are written in the Bible as ancestors of David and, therefore, as ancestors of Jesus Christ. Orpah was remembered, Mr. So-and-So was forgotten, but Ruth and Boaz were honored.
Ruth honored Naomi, not only as her mother-in-law, but as the generation gone before her. And Boaz honored Elimelech, one who had gone before him, whose name deserved to be remembered. For this reason, both Ruth and Boaz took their place in the royal line of loyalty. Loyalty delights to raise up, to keep alive, to perpetuate and to honor the names of those who have gone before and those who are coming after. We must commit not only to the generations past, but to both the older generation among us and to the younger generation coming after us.
Because of Boaz’s unwavering affection towards Ruth, in the end he received the right to redeem her (Ruth 4:6). There are many young men of my generation whom I have watched grow impatient with those over them. They stop making sacrifices and dying to themselves in order to lift and build the vision of another. They stop loving and start grumbling, as they are convinced the “older” generation needs to roll over now. Inevitably, disloyalty causes them to steal affection and betray those around and over them. Some leave quietly, others violently; either way, it’s a tragedy. Disloyalty will always kill a heart, a friendship, a ministry, a marriage, a family, etc. Tragedy struck both Absalom and Judas, leaving for us raw and vivid reminders. By the grace of God, I refuse to have my name added to that list. Rather, by the grace of God, as Boaz and David did, I will be loyal, and when the time comes I will receive the right to inherit what the past generation has been building. As Proverbs 25:6-7 says, “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here,’ than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” Loyalty earns the right. Loyalty receives the invitation. But even if it never does, it still remains unwavering and affectionate.
GOD’S EXTRAORDINARY WORK
Who I am is because of someone’s loyalty to me. Who I want to become is contingent upon my loyalty to others. In Naomi, Ruth and Boaz, and baby Obed, we see three generations joined together by loyalty. God’s extraordinary work is accomplished and continued on earth through the loyalty of one generation to another, through faith in Jesus Christ, and with love for one another.
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