1996 SINGLE SERMONS
LOYALTY
DR. JIM DIXON
APRIL 14, 1996
MATTHEW 26:30-35; PROVERBS 20:6
Tuesday night on ABC’s Nightline with Ted Koppel, the focus was on the subject of loyalty. Apparently, there was a growing concern that, in this culture, loyalty is being discarded by this generation. The Denver Post has recently run a five-part series on the subject of loyalty. According to the Denver Post, loyalty in America is going the way of the dodo bird. It is rapidly becoming extinct. From marriage to the marketplace, men and women are not as loyal as once they were. Our subject this morning is loyalty, and we want to examine this subject from the perspective of scripture. We want to examine this subject in three contexts.
First of all, we’ll look at loyalty to Christ. What does it mean to be loyal to Jesus Christ? Now, there are 51 countries on the continent of Africa. It’s hard to keep track of these countries because their names are constantly changing. Their boundaries are constantly changing. Even their number is constantly changing. But one of the oldest countries in Africa is the country of Ethiopia, which sometimes has been called Abyssinia. Now, the founder of Ethiopia was a man named Menelik I. Menelik I, according to tradition, was the offspring of the biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. This tradition is highly doubtful, and historians admit that they don’t really know much about Menelik I because he lived so long ago. But they know a great deal about Menelik II. You see, it was Menelik II who is regarded as the founder of modern-day Ethiopia. It was Menelik II who expanded the boundaries of Ethiopia and united the people of Ethiopia.
Menelik II came to power in 1889. In 1896, he drove out the invading Italian armies. He made Addis Ababa the capital of the country and he became renowned in his time. Now, historians tell us that Menelik II was a professing Christian and he had a very high view of the Bible. In fact, he had a supernatural view of the Bible. He believed that the Bible physically contained power, and he knew that the Bible recorded many miracles. In the Old Testament there were the miracles of Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, and in the New Testament there were the miracles of Christ and the apostles.
He believed that the Bible itself was capable of miracles. He believed that the Bible had curative powers. So, when Menelik II (historians tell us) was sick (when he had a cold, or when he had a sore throat, or even when he just felt a cold coming on), he would do a strange thing. He would go to his library and get a Bible. He would open it up. He would take a page and he’d rip it out of the Bible. He’d put it in his mouth. He’d chew it and he’d swallow it because he believed the Bible had curative qualities. He had many Bibles in his library because he was sick often.
Now, things went fairly well for Menelik II until the year 1913, when historians tell us he had a small stroke. Now, he recovered completely from that stroke. But when he recovered, he was panicked. Thinking that death might be imminent, he really felt like he was in need of a powerful medicine. He went into his library, and he got a Bible, and he ate the entire books of First and Second Kings. And it was said that he died of an intestinal obstruction.
Now, that story is allegedly true, and it is totally bizarre. I’m sure there are none of you this morning who have such a bizarre view of scripture. None of you probably have a magical, occultic view of the Bible. I’m sure none of you holds such a view, but I would ask you this: what is your view of the Bible? God wants you to understand that you cannot be loyal to His Son, you cannot be loyal to Jesus Christ, unless you believe the Bible is the Word of God. You can’t be loyal to Christ unless you believe the Bible is the Word of God.
Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” Now, where do you find His commandments if you don’t believe the Bible is the Word of God? Jesus said, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you to do?” But how do you find out what He’s told you to do if you don’t believe the Bible is the Word of God? Jesus said, “Be faithful unto death and I’ll give you the crown of life.” But how do you find out what faithfulness requires unless you believe the Bible is the Word of God?
Now, the Bible is under attack in our culture, and it has been attacked most viciously by an organization called The Jesus Seminar. The Jesus Seminar consists of 75 people who, for 10 years, have examined what they have called the historical Jesus. They have concluded that, of all the statements attributed to Christ in the Bible, Jesus actually only said 18% of them. This is the proclamation, this is the conclusion, of The Jesus Seminar. Their conclusion has been quoted throughout America at colleges and universities and institutions of higher learning. Their conclusions have been quoted in newspapers and magazines the world over.
But who are these people? Who are these 75 people who comprise this organization called The Jesus Seminar? How were they selected? They were not selected on the basis of their scholarship. They were selected on the basis of their ideology. They were selected on the basis of their presuppositions. For instance, Paul Verhoeven, who is the Hollywood director who directed the Hollywood movie Showgirls, is one of the 75 people. And these 75 people all believed that Jesus Christ was not divine. They believed that Jesus Christ never spoke of salvation and had no interest in the subject of salvation. They believe that He never spoke prophetically, that He never spoke of a coming apocalypse. They believe He never predicted the eschaton or the last things.
So when they go to the Bible, whenever Jesus ascribes deity to Himself they just discard it. Whenever Jesus speaks prophetically, they just discard it. Whenever Jesus Christ predicts the future, they just discard it. Whenever He speaks of salvation and what salvation requires, they just discard it. Now, they do not remove these passages on the basis of scholarship. They’re not basing their decisions on the basis of evidence. They’re removing these passages on the basis of their ideologies—on the basis of their presuppositions and on the basis of their prejudice. They remove these passages arbitrarily, capriciously, and prejudicially.
And so you see, the Bible has not been discredited. It is not discredited and never will be discredited, because the Bible is the Word of God. The Bible tells us that “In the last days, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” The Bible says, “The time is coming when people will no longer endure sound teaching but will having itching ears. They will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own liking. They’ll turn away from listening to the truth, and they will wander into myth.” Jesus Christ said, “My Word is truth.” He said, “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My Word will not pass away.” Would you be loyal to Christ? If you would be loyal to Christ, you must believe that He has spoken in this book. The Bible is the Word of God, and you must submit your life day by day to what He has said in His Word.
Now, secondly, I want us to examine loyalty in the context of country. What does it mean for us as Christians? What does it mean biblically to be loyal to country? Nathan Hale was a pretty smart guy. He graduated from Yale University in 1773 at the age of 18. Two years later, in 1775, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the continental army. The following year, in the fall of 1776, the Revolutionary War was in full bloom. George Washington was looking for a few good men. He was looking for a few men who would volunteer to go behind enemy lines for an assignment that involved great personal risk. Only one man volunteered. Only one man stepped forward, and that man was Nathan Hale. He went behind enemy lines, where he was apprehended by the British. He was interrogated. And on September 22nd, 1776, he was executed.
Now, allegedly, his final words were, “My only regret is that I have but one life to give for my country.” Now, those words are a matter of historical debate, but nobody debates this: nobody doubts that Nathan Hale was loyal to his country. He was faithful unto death. And throughout this nation’s history, many men and women have been faithful unto death in times of war. Millions of additional men and women have been faithful unto death in a context outside of the military context. Many men and women have been faithful to this country, faithful to this nation, not so much in war but simply by serving this country all the days of their lives. They’ve tried to be faithful citizens of this country. And indeed, the Bible tells us in Romans chapter 13:1-7, in Titus 3:1, in the book of 1 Peter 2:13-16, and in other passages such as these that as Christians we are to be loyal to our country.
We are to serve our country. Whatever country we live in, we’re to be loyal to that country. I’d like to read to you a prayer that was prayed in January of this year at a meeting of the Kansas House of Representatives: “Heavenly Father, we come before You today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe unto those who call evil good,’ But that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that we ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism. We have worshiped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it alternative lifestyles. We have exploited the poor and called it lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We’ve neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbors’ possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We’ve ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, oh God. Know our hearts today. Try us. See if there be some wicked way in us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free.”
If you believe there’s any truth in that prayer, then you must be concerned about this country. And if you’re concerned about this country, you need to become faithful and loyal in your citizenship. This is critical for us as Christians. A lot of people think, “Well, if I just pay my taxes, that’s all God requires.” But that’s a small part of loyalty to country. Some people think, “Well, if I just pray for the governing authorities, that’ll satisfy God. That’ll satisfy loyalty to country.” But that’s a small part of loyalty to country, particularly when we live in a democracy.
The word democracy comes from the Greek word demos, which means “people,” and the word cratos, which means “power, rule, or authority.” Democracy means “rule of the people” or “rule by the people.” It’s a privilege to live in a democracy where the people actually are entitled to govern the country. When you live in a democracy, it’s your responsibility, if you’re a loyal citizen, to be involved in the governing of the country. This means that at least in some sense you have to become political. You see, politics by definition simply means the formation of policies. If you would be a Christian and if you would be involved in the governing of this nation as we’re privileged to do in a democracy, then you must be involved in the formation of this country’s policies. That’s what it means to be political: to be involved in the formation of policies. As a Christian, what a privilege that is and what a responsibility that is.
That doesn’t simply mean that we cast our vote. That’s important. It means we need to be informed, and it means we need to be involved in dialogue in the marketplace and in the neighborhood regarding the issues that face our nation. It might mean we need to sign a petition or two. It might mean we need to march in a rally somewhere. It might mean that we need to write a letter to a congressperson. This is what it means to be loyal to a country, particularly when you live in a democracy or you’re privileged to be involved in governing.
I want to read you just one other little quote from a man named Ron Sider, who is the publisher of Prism Magazine. It’s very short. It’s one paragraph, but I’d really encourage you to listen. “Too many Christians have uncritically adopted left-wing or right-wing politics. The result has been a sub-Christian religious right that correctly championed the family and the sanctity human life but neglected economic justice for the poor, uncritically endorsed American nationalism, ignored environmental concern for God’s creation, and neglected to struggle against racism. Now, equally sub-Christian has been a religious left that rightly defended justice, peace, and the integrity of creation, but largely forgot the importance of the family and sexual integrity, uncritically endorsed liberationism, the sexual revolution and gay rights, and failed to defend our most vulnerable—the unborn and the very old.”
I don’t know how you feel about that quote, but I do know that you can’t afford—we can’t afford—to have our policies (our views, our beliefs) as Christians shaped by the left or the right. I mean, it’s okay to serve your country in the Republican Party or to serve your country in the Democratic Party, but your ideas shouldn’t be formed by them. You shouldn’t allow the Republican Party to shape your ideology or the Democratic Party to shape your ideology. It must come from God. It must come from above—not from the left or from the right, but from above. That way, what you believe and what you stand for comes from holy scripture. And then, as a person loyal to Christ and loyal to country, you seek to serve Christ and your country in ways that harmonize with the teaching of God’s Word.
Well, finally, I’d just like to make a couple of brief comments regarding loyalty to church. There’s loyalty to Christ and loyalty to country, and then finally there’s loyalty to church. The Bible says that the church of Jesus Christ is the bride of Christ. The Bible tells us that the church of Jesus Christ is married to Christ. And of course, we live in a world, a culture, where people are not always so faithful in marriage. I recently read the story of a very wealthy man who was married to a beautiful young woman, and he began to be worried. He began to be concerned that perhaps she only loved him because of his money. So he went to her one day and he said, “If I lost all of my money, would you still love me?” She said, “Don’t be silly. Of course I would still love you. I’d miss you, but I’d still love you!”
Well, we live in a country where certainly people are not always as loyal or as faithful as they need to be. Certainly this is sometimes true in marriage. Now, the church is married to Christ and called to be faithful and loyal to Christ, but the church cannot be loyal to Christ unless Christians are loyal to the church. I hope you understand that when you became a Christian you were not simply called to Christ, but you are called to His church. It’s not possible to be called to Christ and not be called to His church. When you become a Christian, Christ calls you into a community of fellowship, into a community of believers. He calls you to His body, which is called the church.
There’s not a lot of loyalty with regard to commitment to the local church these days. Barb and I were at a conference fairly recently and we ran into two other couples there from Colorado. We knew them to be Christians and we had dinner with them one night. I asked one couple how they were enjoying Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church. I knew they were members there. They said, “Oh, we no longer go to Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church. We’re going to Mission Hills Baptist Church now.” I said, “Well, how are you liking that?” And they said, “Well, we’re still checking it out. We’re still, you know, trying to decide how we feel about it.”
I asked the other couple how they were enjoying Greenwood Community Church, which is of course our mission church and sister church where Tom Melton is pastor. They said, “Oh, we’re no longer members at Greenwood Community Church. We’ve gone to an inner-city church. We feel like you really can’t find vibrant worship in a suburb.”
Now, we know these couples. Both of these couples believe in Jesus Christ and are good people, but you know, it’s so typical of what’s going on in our culture, so typical of what’s going on in America. People just aren’t as committed to the local church as once they were. You see people church shopping and church hopping. You see people going to a variety of churches at the same time, using one ministry from one church, and another ministry from another church, and yet another ministry from yet another church. And you see people committing to a church but then very rapidly changing that commitment and going to another church. And there’s kind of a consumer mentality across this country, and it’s affecting people’s behaviors with regard to the local church.
When I go to conferences for pastors, almost inevitably they bring up the subject of how to close the back door of your church. It’s a great concern for pastors here in America (how to close or shrink the back door) because so many people are leaving the local church and going to some other church. They’ve said you can’t close the back door through preaching. You can’t close the back door even through music. They say even strong children’s programs won’t close the back door. It might shrink the back door, but it isn’t going to close it.
For a long period of time, they thought that the answer was small groups. If you could get people committed to small groups, that would close the back door. If people could come into fellowship with a few other Christians and bond with them and find friendship with them, that would enable them to make a commitment to the local church and keep them from walking out the back door. But now they found that even small groups really don’t solve the problem of loyalty. In fact, what they found is that Christians across this country when they get into a small group stay in the group but leave the church. So a small group that started out with all the members from one church pretty soon becomes a small group with five churches represented. I mean, they just stay in a small group, but they begin to hop churches. And this is typical of what’s happening today.
The reality is you can’t close the back door. The reality is the problem isn’t with the church. The problem is with our culture. The problem is with society. And the truth is, churches have never offered more diversity of ministry and more diversity of programs than they offer today. The truth is, pastors are just as committed, staffs of churches are just as committed, today as ever they’ve been. But there’s a consumer mentality in the culture and all churches can do is try as hard as they can to minister to people who come in the front door. You can’t close the back door. All you can do is try to minister as faithfully as you can to people who come in the front door.
I hope you understand that my concern this morning is not Cherry Hills Community Church. If you’re coming here and you’re also going to two or three other churches, my prayer for you is you just find a church where you can be loyal. I want you to just find a church where you can be committed. It doesn’t have to be this church. Maybe God’s leading you to Greenwood Community Church. Maybe God’s leading you to New Community Church, where Lou Angone is the pastor. Maybe God’s leading you to Colorado Community Church, where Mark Brewer is the pastor. Maybe he’s leading you to Mission Hills Baptist or Cherry Creek Presbyterian. My prayer for you is that you would find an evangelical church and experience what it means to be committed to a body of Christians, what it means to be loyal to the body of Jesus Christ. My hope is that through your commitment, wherever it is, the kingdom of Christ would prosper. That’s God’s will for you.
There’s a problem in this culture. There’s a problem in this nation. It has to do with an erosion of loyalty in our time. There’s a call of God to the people of Christ to learn faithfulness and commitment to the local church. And that commitment is so important. It’s so important.
Mount Vesuvius (with this we’ll close) erupted in 79 AD, and it destroyed the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Herculaneum was buried under a sea of lava a hundred feet deep. Pompeii was buried under a shower of volcanic ash and cinder. Now, both of those cities—Herculaneum and Pompeii—have been partially excavated. In Pompeii, archeologists have found literally thousands of bodies, people who were trapped in the holocaust of that volcanic eruption. Thousands of bodies were found, each body encased in volcanic ash. And the volcanic ash has, in encasing the body, become a kind of mold. You see, the body inside the encasement has decayed, but the volcanic ash retains the shape of the body that was in it.
Archeologists and scientists have been able to pour plaster into the volcanic ash encasements and recreate the forms of the people who died, down to the very expression on their face when they drew their last breath. It’s unbelievable. They’ve found bodies down in the basements of some of the homes where people sought to escape the falling volcanic ash and cinder. But they died of the poisonous gases that were in the air. They found bodies up in high places where people went thinking that there would be a great lava flow. They found the bodies of people who were trying to flee the city. They found bodies where people seemingly died in full stride trying to run out of the city of Pompeii.
They found bodies of people that were reaching for jewelry in a drawer in their bedroom in the moment of death. Most amazingly, they found the body of a military guard whose responsibility was to guard the gates of the city. They found his body right by the gates of the city. Seemingly, he died still standing at attention. When they poured the plaster into the volcanic ash mold and recreated his appearance, the expression on his face at the moment of death was rigid determination. They portrayed his body in an archeological journal with the caption “Faithful unto death.”
Faithful under death. They might just as well have put the caption “Stupid unto death,” because, you see, his loyalty really served no purpose. And isn’t it like that? I mean, there are misguided loyalties in this world. There’s no question of that. His loyalty really served no purpose. You cannot guard against a lava flow. You cannot guard against falling volcanic ash. But God wants you to understand today that there’s no loyalty more productive, meaningful, or purposeful than the loyalty to Christ and loyalty to His church.
If you would be loyal to Christ, loyal to country, and loyal to the church of Christ, there’s no limit to what God could do through you. If you would be loyal to His church, there’s no limit to what God can do through the church. Without your loyalty, we’ll never be able to impact kids, never have a strong Sunday school. Without your loyalty, people will never see the love of Christ, never experience His compassion. Without your loyalty, we’ll never be able to take the gospel to the nation, never be able to help the inner city. We’ll never be able to come alongside another hurting human being without your loyalty, without your willingness to commit to a local expression of the body of Christ. So here’s a call of God today, a call to loyalty. It’s a call to loyalty to Christ, recognizing that you can’t be loyal to Christ unless you believe the Bible is the Word of God. We learn submission to it —no matter how tough it is—in a world that’s fallen. We have loyalty to country, making sure that we are faithful in our citizenship, willing to enter into the shaping of policy in a democracy, receiving our values not from the right or from the left—not from the Republican or Democratic Party—but from above, from the Word of God. And we are faithful to the church in order that the church of Jesus Christ might minister in power. Let’s close with a word of prayer.
Lord Jesus, thank You for this time together. Lord, it’s felt like a difficult subject for me. I don’t know why that is, but Lord, I do trust and believe that You’ve led me to this subject. And Lord, You want us all to learn what it means to be more loyal. I pray, Lord Jesus, that You would help us to be more loyal to You and more loyal to Your Word. Lord, in a society where Judeo-Christian values are eroding, we pray that that we would stand on Your Word even though it’s not popular. And Lord, help us to be loyal to our country in the best sense, that we might be salt and light in this culture, that we might be willing to get involved politically (but lovingly and guided by Your Word). And Lord, help us to be loyal to Your church. Help us to learn commitment to a body of people, a body of Christians. Help us learn commitment to the local church. Lord, I’d pray that by Your Holy Spirit You’d call men and women to commitment to this church that we might be all that You want us to be, that we might serve You mightily. We pray these things, Lord Jesus, in Your great name. Amen.