Loyalty is defined as, "A strong feeling of support or
allegiance."[1] Ancient
Christians had to be loyal to one another; due to the fact that they suffered
such intense persecution. Jews saw Christians as a cult and the Romans saw
Christianity as an illegal religion. Jesus said this:
Matthew 10:17-22 17Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the
local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. 18On my account you will be
brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19But
when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that
time you will be given what to say, 20for it will not be you speaking, but the
Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21"Brother will betray brother
to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and
have them put to death. 22You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the
one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Matthew 24:9 9"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and
put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
In the West (the United States and Europe) we do not face persecution
of this sort. I theorize that this is one reason for the lack of loyalty of
Christians to one another. We have developed a mentality in the Church of,
“every man for himself.”
What has contributed to this thought process is a teaching that I have
seen creep into the church for about the last 20 years. It goes something like
this, “the people that were good for you at one level may not go with you to
the next level; and thus, you may have to let some people go.” That sounds
arrogant at the least and divisive at the extreme.
Then, in the last 15 years, there has been so much talk about “haters.”
Could it be that haters are only responding to the treatment that they have
been given (being kicked to the curb)? The Bible lets us know how we are to
treat one another:
Luke 6:31 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.
I bring up this subject, because my observation is that the body of
Christ should be more committed to one another than what I am seeing. Yes, we
are to be committed to God; but as a body we are to be connected and
interdependent on one another.
·
Pastors should not be stressed out to the point of taking their own lives;
because they lack a support system in the Church.
·
Older leaders should not be “kicked to the curb” by younger generations who
would jockey for their offices in the body of Christ.
·
Older ministers should nurture and commission the next generation; not “kill”
their influence or career.
·
No one should ever have to leave the Church or Christianity as a whole; because
they have never been accepted by cliques in churches.
·
Christians should not “blast” each other on social media; while the world sits
back, observes and laughs at us.
The Bible says that a lack of commitment and loyalty is going to be one
of the signs of the last days:
Matthew 24:12. 12 Evil will spread and cause many people to stop
loving others.
2 Timothy 3:1-5. 1 You can be certain that in the last days there
will be some very hard times. 2 People will love only themselves and
money. They will be proud, stuck-up, rude, and disobedient to their parents.
They will also be ungrateful, godless, 3 heartless, and hateful. Their
words will be cruel, and they will have no self-control or pity. These people
will hate everything that is good. 4 They will be sneaky, reckless, and
puffed up with pride. Instead of loving God, they will love pleasure. 5 Even
though they will make a show of being religious, their religion won’t be real.
Don’t have anything to do with such people.
Again, we should never fail in our commitment to God. However, the Church
needs to do much better in our commitment to one another. I close with the Words
of Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church:
John 13:34-35. 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As
I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will
know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Jesus declared that the world would know that we were His disciples by the love we show to each other. The first century church did not pass out tracts: they saw about one another and shared the gospel as part of their everyday practical living. And the Lord added DAILY to the church such as should be saved.
ReplyDeleteSaints need to realize that other saints are our "own company" (Acts Chapter 4), and not the world!
Awesome word. Thank you, Bishop Hankerson.
@Thank God for Jesus. Yes, if the saints cannot depend on each other; we are in big trouble!
ReplyDeleteYes sir
ReplyDelete@Dwight Reed Praying that God restores the loyalty
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