1st Thought

"Loyalty is a Choice"

B.D. StreetPriest

Loy·al·ty

noun

1. the quality of being loyal to someone or something.

"her loyalty to her husband of 34 years"

• a strong feeling of support or allegiance.

plural noun: loyalties

"fights with in-laws are distressing because they cause divided loyalties"

Deuteronomy 30:15-19 New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁵ “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. ¹⁶ For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.¹⁷ “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, ¹⁸ then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.¹⁹ “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

What does this mean to you?

Joshua 24:12-15 New Living Translation (NLT)

¹² And I sent terror ahead of you to drive out the two kings of the Amorites. It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory. ¹³ I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build—the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them.¹⁴ “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. ¹⁵ But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”

Could you make a decision like that?

What would it take?

We must draw (go) close to God

James 4:8 New Living Translation (NLT) 

⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners;

purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.

Can we do that… Well what stops us?

James 4:1-10 New Living Translation (NLT) 

Drawing Close to God

¹ What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? ² You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. ³ And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.⁴ You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. ⁵ Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. ⁶ And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”⁷ So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸ Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.⁹ Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

What must we do?

Follow: (Verses 7-10) But Why?

Because our loyalty is divided... When things are going good we are loyal to people but when all goes wrong we try to be loyal to God. We won't know how to serve God loyally unless we know who He is and believe He is a rewarder of them who seek Him. When our loyalty is divided, we become doubled minded and what does the Bible say about a double minded person?

James 1:5-8 New International Version (NIV)

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

James 1:5-8 New Living Translation (NLT) 

⁵ If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. ⁶ But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

James 1:19-25 New Living Translation (NLT) 

Listening and Doing

¹⁹ Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.²⁰ Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.²¹ So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.²² But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. ²³ For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. ²⁴ You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.

Then you may find yourself to be guilty by association.

²⁵ But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. 

Who wants to be blessed? 

Who feels blessed in here?

How many of you are here because of the people you hang with? 

This is why it is so important that your loyalty be to God and not man, so that you are not found guilty by association!