Loyalty Without Limits

Introduction:

So many stories of loyalty and faithfulness could be shared. Let me share one with you that inspired me this week…

[SLIDE] Sarah Andrews (Picture)

- Born in 1893

- When she was a teenager she dreamed of moving to Japan to be a missionary.

[SLIDE] “If God permit, I expect to care for the sick, give to the poor, help the heavy ladened, weary and oppressed…in fact, do anything by which some may come to the knowledge of the truth. Is there a better way of teaching humanity than by becoming a servant to all? True happiness comes through helping others. In Japan alone there are forty millions who have never heard of Christ as the Savior of mankind.”

- On Christmas day 1915, she set sail for Japan

- 22 years old (only financial support was from her parents)

When the war broke out

- Most of the American missionaries went back to the States

- She stayed, saying, “I’m just as near heaven in Japan as in the United States.”

- She nearly starved to death during the war

[SLIDE] “I have never experienced hunger until I was caught in the throes of war and famine as an enemy national during this war.  My weight reached the low ebb of seventy-five pounds…In desperation I boiled leaves from the trees for food, boiled and used water from cornstalks for sugar, used sea water for salt, and after months of meatless days I relished grasshoppers for meat, wishing I could have the same dish often.”

After the war

- she came back to the States for a short period

- but then quickly returned to Japan

- to teach Jesus and care for the widows, whose sons and husbands had been killed in the war

You don’t have to move to Japan to be loyal to Jesus

But stories like this help me

They help put things in perspective

Evaluate my level of commitment and loyalty to Jesus

What is your current level of loyalty?

For many of us…

We want to be loyal to Jesus

But our loyalty has limits/conditions

Maybe it sounds something like, “I’ll follow Jesus, as long as…”

it doesn’t make me look foolish

I don’t have to give up my favorite…

I don’t have to change my lifestyle

I can still do what I want

Probably not explicitly, put practically…

Biblical Text:

Luke 14

Luke 14:25–26 ESV

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

There is a difference between

being in the crowd accompanying Jesus

and being a “disciple” (committed follower) of Jesus

“Hate”

By comparison

But don’t dilute this too much

Jesus is eliminating the limits they would naturally put on their loyalty to him…

as long as my father and mother sign off on it

as long as my spouse is ok with it

as long as my siblings and kids don’t have a problem with it

In Jesus’ world

NOTHING was more important than family

Jesus is saying, “I am…I am far more important than family.”

What would this sound like in today’s world?

If anyone comes to me and does not HATE his…

career

alma mater

country

state

football

No more: “As long as following Jesus doesn’t mess with any of these things.”

Luke 14:27 ESV

27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Not every follower of Jesus would be crucified, but every one needed to accept the possibility

shame

humiliation

suffering

death

We need to accept that today:

I will follow Jesus

even if I am humiliated, I suffer, I’m killed

Luke 14:28–30 ESV

28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’

Don’t commit before you count the cost.

Deciding to follow Jesus is like…

deciding to get married

immigrating to a new country and renouncing your old citizenship

Luke 14:31–32 ESV

31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.

Don’t commit before you count the cost.

Too often we skip over this…

We need to be patient with people while they count the cost

Don’t rush (yourself or others) into becoming a disciple of Jesus

Luke 14:33 ESV

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Renounce

“leave”

“say goodbye to”

Loyalty means

everything but Jesus

is EXPENDABLE

Luke 9

Luke 9:24 ESV

24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

As long as you say, “I’ll follow Jesus, as long as I don’t have to give up this…”

You can’t really follow him

You can’t experience what he wants to give you

AND he wants to GIVE you EVERYTHING!!!

Application:

When you’re willing to give limitless loyalty, you’re able to experience limitless life.

Jesus offers to give

abundant life

eternal life

life in him

life with him

limitless joy, grace, peace…NOW and FOREVER

But when you limit what you’re willing to give to Jesus

you’re limiting what you’re able to experience

you’re limiting what you’re able to receive

Invitation:

We’ve said something like this each week this year…

Maybe you’ve been counting the cost and you’re ready to commit yourself to this life

In essence, baptism was a loyalty oath and a message to the demonic powers (as well as any people present) of just whose side you were on in the spiritual war.

Michael S. Heiser

Or maybe you need to recommit your loyalty to Christ

Or just stop placing limitations on your loyalty

“I’ll go where you ask me to go.”

“I’ll do what you ask me to do.”

“Here am I, Lord, send me.”