#7 in Proverbs / Loyal Love of a Friend

15 uNo longer do I call you servants,1 for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for xall that I have heard from my Father yI have made known to you.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, ibut how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Intro: Ruth’s Loyalty

Many weddings include the quotation, “Where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will ldoge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried” (Ruth 1:16). Of note is that these words were spoken by a woman to her mother-in-law. This loyalty was not borne of romance, but friendship.

Prov 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times.” True, loyal friendship (FCF) is not as common as it should be. It’s opposite, self-interest, is very common. (THESIS) But because God is loyal to us in Christ, we should value the right kind of loyalty: loyalty to friends.

CAVEAT: Obviously we are to love our enemies. The call to be loyal to friends is not permission to ignore everyone else. But there is a loyalty that we should have towards our friends, and God tells us as much in His Word.

(Transition) I want to briefly describe loyalty, and then explain why you should foster the quality of loyalty in your own life.

Loyalty Defined

Loyal friendship is love at all times.

Consistent

Persistent

Allegiance

Especially during difficulties.

Illustration: love for a sports team.

We’re talking about loyalty. The Bible calls it loyal love.

Illustration: marriage

God has “loyal love” towards His people. Another word we use is “faithful.”

(Transition) We’ve looked at what loyalty is, but are there any good reasons to practice loyalty?

Reasons to be loyal

Others need you.

You need others.

Ecc 4:9-12

Illustration: Joseph Stalin was very paranoid. (You would be, too, if you’d been personally responsible for between 20-60 million deaths.) He had a rule: no one comes into his bedchamber unless he invites them. He once tested his guards by screaming in agony as if he needed help. After they burst in to render aid, he had them executed. In his final days, he had a stroke in his room and really needed help. But no one would go in without an invitation.

Principle: “We all need somebody to lean on.” Don’t hold everyone at arms length.

(Transition) So we’ve looked at what loyalty is and some reason to practice loyalty. Let’s examine some ways we can do that.

Applications

Husbands and Wives

Men and men

Women and women

Loyalty to God above all

Loyal Friendship and the Gospel

God loved us at the point of our greatest difficulty.

He didn’t kick s when we were down; He reached down and picked us up.

“I have called you friends” (John 15:15). And Jesus’ loyalty to His friends will never end.

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