Gateway Church's Podcast
The Reward for Being Loyal
(Applause) Thank you. (Applause) Thank you so much. (Applause) You guys are going to make it really hard to speak. (Laughter) I really appreciate you. Thank you for welcoming me home. I noticed when I drove on all the signs and I said, "Wow, that's really nice of them to do the welcome home I mean, I looked up here, welcome home." (Laughter) Then someone told me this was week four of a series. I went, "Oh." (Laughter) But I didn't have to tell me that. (Laughter) Well, it's good to be back in Texas. I tell you, I know you guys saw the video I sent a few weeks ago about being in front of Pike's Peak. And that was all photoshopped in. It's really not that pretty there. (Laughter) It really is. But it's good to be back in Dallas. I was just thinking back, I was looking across the crowd and seeing all the faces that I know and friends here and people that walk with for six and a half years. And I'm just so grateful to be back in front of you and I sure love you. I sure miss you. Think about you a lot. Think about you almost daily. I pray for you daily. I appreciate the cards and the notes that you sent my way and the prayers that you prayed for me and for my family. It was a pretty big assignment we took in Colorado Springs. But just to give you a great report, last year was the one year anniversary of one of the most significant church scandals in recent memory. But here we are a year later at New Life Church. Church has grown by about 1,500 new people. And just the last two months, church is alive. The services are full. People are excited. And what we're witnessing in Colorado Springs is a real miracle. It's a testimony that God really loved the church. (Applause) It is good things are happening there. And obviously good things are happening here too. I saw the new campus yesterday. It's gorgeous. Wow, it's going to be great. For those of you that will be attending it over in North Richmond Hills. That is a beautiful campus. And it's just good to see it come to fruition. I was here when we were looking at it schematically and on Blueprints. It's great to kind of walk in now and see it come to life. So it's going to be fun things. So let's turn into our Bibles. Let's open the Word today. I just want to get right into the message because I believe the Word has given me just a real simple message for you today. It's going to mean something to you personally. So open your Bible to Luke 15. I actually did know I was going to be a part of this series. So I want to take you to the end of the story in Luke 15. It's a part of our Welcome Home series. And I want to speak to you this morning on the reward for being loyal. There is a reward in heaven and on the earth for being loyal. And this is an often overlooked term because the idea of loyalty is often missed among our culture and our society. So while you're turning to Luke 15, I want to read a passage out of 2 Chronicles 16. And this is a passage that many of you are familiar with. 2 Chronicles 16 verse 9 says, "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong." Now, are you catching that God is looking for a reason to show himself strong to people? Now, I don't know about you, but I'd like for God to show himself strong for me. Not to just be some distant God that I talk about and think about, but for God to actually come to the earth on my behalf to show himself strong to me, I think that would be pretty exciting. And that's something I want. So he says that he runs his eyes look throughout the earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him. In other words, God's just looking for committed people. God must believe and think that loyalty is pretty important. In other words, if you want God to come to the earth and show himself strong to you and your family and whatever situation you're in, God says, "I'm coming to the earth looking for people whose heart is loyal to me. And once I find that person, I will come to the earth and make myself strong on their behalf just for them." Isn't that a great passage of Scripture? Loyalty is important to God. But loyalty is something that I believe is missing in our culture and our society and sometimes even in our churches. Because, you know, hometown teams are not loyal to players anymore, to athletes, and obviously athletes are not loyal to hometown teams. You know, when they say it's not about the money, it's always about the money. You know, in companies are not loyal to employees. Employees are not loyal to companies. You know, my granddad and my great granddad in their day and time, it was very common to find a company and to work there 20 to 30 years. Today, the average length of stay for most employment is less than two years. And very rarely do you hear of someone who's worked for a company for one company over 20 to 30 years. Because that idea is gone from our culture. We're all about what we can get for ourselves. Companies do that to employees and employees do it to companies. But I have good news. There is a segment of our society who is demonstrating loyalty. And I just want to give them some kudos this morning and that's NASCAR fans. (Laughter) You know this, if you follow advertising, whatever is on the hood of the car, they're the most intensely loyal followers of any group of people I've ever met. Now, I'm going to give you a little quiz. Now, I gave this quiz to the people in Colorado and they failed it miserably, but they're not a NASCAR town, okay? This is a NASCAR town. So, I'm going to give you a little quiz. This is very deep theology I'm sharing with you right now, okay? So, stay with me. Let me give you a little quiz. Who drives the Lowe's number 48 car? Jimmy Johnson, okay, it's okay to say that in church. Or you can say it a little louder. Jimmy Johnson, right? Who drives the Home Depot number 20 car? Tony Stewart, right, okay. So, you have the Lowe's car driven by Jimmy Johnson, the Home Depot car driven by Tony Stewart. Now, here's why. This is when I discovered this loyalty, and I thought I was just missing in our culture for good. But I have a friend who is a huge Tony Stewart fan, and he will drive past three Lowe's to go to a Home Depot to buy a $10 park for his -- for anything, but he will not shop at Lowe's. And I said, "Why, you got a Lowe's right by your house?" He goes, "I wouldn't be caught dead in a Lowe's." I said, "What do you mean, because that's not my driver that's sponsored by Home Depot?" I said, "Your driver?" [ Laughter ] So, I just want to tell you, thank you, NASCAR fans, for keeping loyalty alive here in Dallas, Fort Worth. I'm so encouraged by that. That is possible. The loyalty is normally gone. Dad, let me just give you a quick definition of loyalty. That loyalty is simply genuine authentic commitment to something that's genuine and authentic. I want you to really hear that, because loyalty -- I mean, the Nazis were loyal. So, loyalty in itself is not a good thing. Genuine, authentic commitment to something that's genuine and authentic is what loyalty is, biblically. That's a biblical definition. And I'm telling you that as a people, we have to learn this idea of loyalty. We need to catch this in our heart, because the Bible is full of stories about loyal people. And I'm going to share one with you in just a moment out of the book of Ruth. But you know, David had his mighty men. If you read the story of David when he had those mighty men, he had three, and he had 30, and then he had 300. And these men were intensely loyal to David, and David was intensely loyal to them in the good times and in the bad times. I mean, Joshua was intensely loyal to Moses. Throughout the Bible, this idea of people being loyal to one another is repeated over and over again. Jesus, when he looked at Peter, said, "Peter, on this rock, I'll build my church." And when you return to me, he says later, in other words, he said, "Peter, I know you're going to abandon me. I know you're going to be disloyal to me, but you will come back." And when you return, strengthen your brethren. Jesus was intensely loyal to his disciples, and the disciples in the last years of their life were intensely loyal to Christ. There was loyalty among those men and among those women. All right, so let's look at Luke chapter 15. Obviously, this is the fourth week you've heard the story. So I guess you understand the context of it. It is a parable. This did not really happen. It was a story that Jesus used. But if you know why, you know why Jesus used this parable? Because the Pharisees were upset with Jesus for hanging around sinners. The whole idea of this story, the Pharisees were upset that Jesus was hanging around the worst part of society. And so he tells his story to tell them his heart for the worst people in the culture. So let's read the end of this story. Verse 25 says, "Now his older son was in the field, and if he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing." So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, "Your brother has come." Now at that point, he should have run over the servant trying to get to the house to see his younger brother. My younger brother is here. He should have not asked for any other explanation. He should have run to the house to see his younger brother. But he has a totally different reaction. He says, "Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf." By the way, if you're a calf in those days, you kind of want to be skinny. I've noticed that the fatted ones are killed. Verse 28, "Very deep theology I'm getting here. I'm taking you to places you've never seen in this passage." Verse 28, "But he was angry and would not go in." Angry for what? His brother was home. And he said, "Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him." So he answered and said to his father, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you, and I never transgressed your commandment at any time." Okay, line number one. If your child ever comes to you and tells you this, please refrain from, well, whatever. Because every child, no one can say this about their moms and dads. I don't care how good a kid you were, you broke the rules occasionally. He had the high opinion of himself, "I never disobeyed you. Lo, these many years I've been serving you." Anyway, and yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as the son of yours came, he didn't even call him my brother. He says, "This son of yours came. Who has devoured your livelihood with harlots?" Now, according to the story, how did he know that? The son just returned. How did he know they had been devouring his livelihood with harlots? Have they been receiving emails or something? I mean, had a spy following him? But he says, "I know all about him. I think it was an assumption. I just think he has such a low opinion of his brother that he just assumed that's probably what he was doing." And then he says, "You killed the Fat of Cat." Verse 31, "And he said to him, "Son, you're always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad. For your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found. Why in the world are you reacting this way?" Remember Jesus is telling the stories in front of a group of Pharisees who wanted nothing to do with Jesus hanging out with the worst part of society. Because the Pharisees had this self-righteous opinion about themselves and they felt, "Listen, we are Pharisees. Why in the world should we be hanging out with the worst part of our society?" Let me tell you why, because those are your brothers. Those are people you should be loving. Those are people you should be rooting for. Where is your loyalty to each other? I mean, the Pharisees were the people from Israel. The people Jesus was hanging out with were people from Israel. They were an oppressed nation. Why are you not bonding together? Why are you not being loyal to one another? Why are you walking away from the very people you should be standing next to right now? This is an important concept for us to catch. This is extremely important for the body of Christ right now to understand what God means about loyalty. So I want to share a couple of things that I've learned about loyalty and I'm learning them more and more. And I am grateful that Gateway has been so loyal to me in this transition and I'm learning the value of loyalty by watching the people at New Life Church who have hung in there and been strong and courageous this past year and have not left the church but stood there in the face of great adversity at New Life and made sure that the church survived. They were loyal to the cause of Christ there and I'm learning something by watching them. And here's what I'm learning. Number one is that loyalty is proven in adversity. Loyalty is proven only in adversity because there are a lot of people who will tell you that they're there for you. They'll stand with you. You can count on me in sickness and in hell. Good times and bad times until death do us part. All those vows people will make until you get sick, until you get poor, and until things go bad, then you find out who your real friends are. Listen, you can make any claim you want about being someone's friend but it's not proven until your friend goes to a very difficult time. And when your friends go through the dark days, it's those people that stand beside you that really meant what they said. Now I'm going to say something that might be a little misunderstood at first but I want you to hear my heart. I love people and I have a lot of people I hang out with but I'm very careful who I call my friend. And it's not because I'm unfriendly. It's because when I call someone my friend, I mean it. I'm not quick to say I'm going to be your friend because to me, when I say I'm your friend, it means for life. It's forever. I'm with you. Heart and soul, you can count on me. And I'm grateful for people who are cautious about calling me friend because once they call me a friend, I want to be there with them. I'm committed to their life. Proverbs 17-17 says, "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity." Now he's talking literally about family and brothers. I do believe that. But he also said a friend. People outside your home, your family. So a friend is there all times and a brother is born for adversity. Now I have a younger brother. We're about two years apart. My brother Dave. And so growing up, he was always two grades behind me. So when I was in the seventh grade, he was in the fifth grade. We lived in East Texas and we had to take a 20 minute bus ride every morning to school. And when we got on the bus, I had to sit in the seat right behind the school bus driver. Do you know why I had to sit in the seat right behind the school bus driver? Because that seat is assigned for troublemakers. And that's where I had to sit because I was always in trouble on the bus and I would get on the bus and go, "Brady, right here, right here, right here, right behind me, right here." So that seat was never taken. It was mine. Well, my brother Dave, now growing up, I was small for my size, but I didn't mind a good scrap. So bullies didn't bother me more than once because I wasn't working with trouble because I would fight back. Now I would get beat up, but I would fight back. So bullies didn't bother me so much. Now my brother growing up was more passive, kind of laid back guy. And so, especially in fifth grade, he was kind of sit by himself, like to be left alone. Well, he was a big target for bullies. Now I'm sitting right behind the school bus driver. My brother is sitting several seats back. And on the bus ride that morning, I happened to turn my head and I saw a boy named Sammy Bass hitting my brother. Now Sammy Bass may go to Gateway now. I don't know where he is, and I hope he's doing well. I hope Sammy is doing really well as a man. But in sixth grade, he was not off to a good start. And I hope he's rebounded nicely, but he was a classic bully growing up. Now there were two rules that I lived by growing up with my brother. Rule number one, I could hit my brother anytime. He was my personal punching bag. Rule number two, though, was no one else could hit my brother. So those are the two rules. Now when I turned and saw Sammy Bass punching my brother, I didn't have to sit and think about what I was going to do. I got out of that seat and I fell upon Sammy Bass like David fell upon the Philistines. And I pummeled him and he never bothered my brother ever again. That's the good news. The bad news is the school bus driver saw the whole thing. And so that day we got sent into the principal's office, and that was back during the day where, you know, when you got in trouble on the bus, you were taken immediately to the principal's office, and he was judge, jury, and executioner. And this guy would spend his summer vacations designing new paddles, techniques. And this particular one had a fiberglass thing that he had drilled holes in and put duct tape around the handle. I think he worked out during the summer just to get ready for me. That was back in the day. I mean, telling you, it was the fear of God. It was the fear of Mr. Keith, actually, is what it was. So I got a paddling, and I deserved a paddling. I was fighting on the bus. Sammy Bass got a paddling, and he needed a paddling every day, and he deserved it. The tragedy of this is my brother also got a paddling because apparently at this school it was against the rules to get beat up. He did nothing wrong, but he got a paddling. And I can tell you a hundred stories like that about my brother. Growing up, we were always in fights together, and there was adversity that we walked through together. Now, I'm 40, and he's 38. And we still walk through adverse times together. But I know this. When times get difficult, when I need a friend, I can count on my brother, and he can count on me. Because a brother is born for adversity. You can't call someone a friend or a brother until you're willing to walk through the dark days with him. And we just honored our veterans, and I'm so grateful. I live in a military town now. We have Air Force Academy right across from the church. We have two military bases within 20 miles of our church. So lots of military. And I've talked to a lot of them already. We have generals in my congregation, colonels majors, a lot of enlisted men, a lot of cadets from the Air Force Academy come in their dress blues every Sunday and sit out there. And I love seeing them. But you know, there's something unique that happens with men and women who are in battle together. If you've ever been in a military battle, conflict, where shots were fired, where bombs exploded, where people's lives were being lost, something happens between those people who go through battles together. There's nothing that bonds people together more than a common enemy. And they come back from their military time. They come back from those battles, and something has happened between them that can never be broken. A bond has been created. Because when you go through adversity together, when you go through a battle together, when you fight together, something welds your heart together. And it's never broken. I mean, 50 years later, they're still meeting, still having anniversaries and reunions to commemorate the time that they survive the battle together. Let me ask you a question. Who can you depend on in a battle? Let me ask you another question. Can you be dependent on in a battle? Who are the people in your life that if they go through the darkest days of their life, who is it that can depend on you? And who can you depend upon? It might be just a small circle of friends. And by the way, it probably will be a small circle of people. If it's more than two or three, you're very fortunate. But are you one of those people? Do you have a loyal heart? Will you call someone a friend? Do you mean it? This is what I'm discovering about myself. This is the kind of man I want to be. I want to be a man that can be dependent upon, and I want to be a man who can have people that I can depend upon. Martin Luther King said that in the end, we will not remember the words of our enemies, but we will remember the silence of our friends. And I believe that we need to be a body of people that when times get tough, we're not silent. We're the ones -- that's what church is all about, by the way. That's the essence of church. When people go through difficult times, their phone should be ringing off the wall from people who sincerely care about them. And you should be the one calling, hey, how can I help you? I know you're going through the worst days of your life right now. What can I do to help you? How can I ease your burden? How can I lessen your load? Are you that person who makes the call? Are you the one can you receive any of those calls? Don't be a silent friend because loyalty is proven only in adversity. Here's the second thing I'm learning is that loyalty is rewarded with favor. And I turn to the book of Ruth, and I'm going to share just the first two chapters real quickly this morning through the book of Ruth. We're going to do it about seven or eight minutes, believe it or not. But in the book of Ruth, let me set up the story for you. There's a lady named Naomi, and her and her husband were from Bethlehem in Israel. And there was a drought that came over the land, and they had to go to Moab in order to survive. So they took their two sons to Moab because they had food there. There was rain there, and they had food. So they left their hometown of Bethlehem. They go to Moab. While they're in Moab, their two sons married Moabite women. And that was a violation of the law because you were not supposed to allow your sons to marry pagan women. But in this case, their sons married two pagan women. One was named Ruth, and the other one was named Orpa, okay, Ruth and Orpa. And then something very tragic happened to Naomi. Her husband died, and both of her sons died. And so she's left alone in a foreign land with two daughter-in-laws who are pagans. Pagan Moabites who worshiped the pagan god. And she realized that her best chance of survival was to return back to her hometown of Bethlehem, and to get the help of her family there. That was her only chance. So she was older in life. She did not have a chance to remarry. She could not bear any more children. So she decided, I am going back to Bethlehem. To her surprise, both of her daughter-in-laws wanted to return with her. And that's a miracle happening right there. Daughter-in-laws and mother-in-laws actually wanting to live together. This is one of the greatest miracles in the Bible that's completely overlooked. And so she packs her belongings and starts walking back toward Bethlehem to her hometown. And Ruth and Orpa are trying to come with her. And she turns and says, look, stay here among your own people. You're still very young. You can get remarried. You can have children and your life can go on. Well, Orpa had very exceptional television skills. And she knew that she had a future of the talk show host. So Orpa stayed behind. And you know the rest of that story. It turned out very well for her. Ruth, however, did not have the television skills that Orpa had. And so Ruth says, this is very important to know this, okay? Ruth chapter one. Now look at verse 16 of Ruth one. And this is what Ruth says to her mother-in-law. But Ruth replied, don't urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. I want you to see the loyalty, the commitment, the vow. This is an intense vow that she's making. One of the most intense, most repeated vowels in the Bible. And it says, your people will be my people and your God, capital G, my God. And where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. And may the Lord deal with me be it ever so severely. If anything but death separates you and me. And when Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. Now Ruth made a covenant vow to follow her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem. Now they arrive back in Bethlehem and they are still both widows. They have no home to live in. They have no food. They have no jobs. They have no husbands. They have no means to support themselves. And one day Ruth looks at her mother-in-law and says, you know what? Our best chance right now is for me to go to the harvest fields. It goes right in the middle of the barley harvest, and the wheat harvest. My best chance is just to go to just pick out a field, follow behind the harvesters, and to glean as much grain as I can every day so that you and I can survive. Because if not, we're going to starve to death. So there was a Jewish law of gleaning. Now the law of gleaning said that in the harvest time, as the harvesters are walking down the field, that they were required to let some grain fall behind them, and the poor of the city were allowed to follow along behind the harvesters and pick up as much grain as they could. But that was a Jewish law. That was how they took care of the poor among themselves. And so she said, I'm just going to pick out a field randomly. I'm going to follow along behind the harvesters and pick up as much grain as I can. Well it turns out she picks a pretty good field. It turns out to be the field of Boaz, a relative of Naomi, who happens to need a wife. Now this is by chance. She just ended up in his field. Now I want you to look now at chapter 2 verse 5, because Boaz comes back from a trip, looks out at his harvesters. Now Ruth is not the only girl following behind the harvesters, but he happens to notice her. Now I don't know, the Bible says, and the book of Ruth, the Bible says nothing about whether or not Ruth was good looking or not. But I don't think she was hard to look at. I mean, I think she was easy to look at because Boaz did notice her among all the other women. Obviously it could have been just God's favor or whatever. Alright verse 5, if you want to be spiritual about it. Alright verse 5, Boaz asked the foreman of his harvesters, whose young woman is that? And the foreman replied, "She's the Moabitis who came back from Moab with Naomi." And she said, "Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters." She went into the field and has worked steadily from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter. So Boaz said to Ruth, "My daughter, listen to me. Don't go and glean in another field. And don't go away from here. Stay here with my servant girls. Watch the field where the men are harvesting and follow along after the girls. I have told the men not to touch you. And whenever you are thirsty, listen, it's very important to catch this. Whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink of water from the water jars the men have filled. You understand that that was normally a job for the slave girls. And Ruth was told, "You make sure you stay here. There will be plenty of grain on the ground for you." And you can go drink from the water jars that the men have filled. She was given a social status. She went up about 10 notches on the social ladder with Boaz telling her that. This is very important, born to understand culturally what was just said to her. You go drink out of the water jars that the men filled up. And she looked at this, she bowed down with her face to the ground and she exclaimed, "Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me a foreigner?" Verse 11, "Boaz replied, 'I've been told all about what you've done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband. How you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with the people you did not know before. May the Lord repay you.'" This is an amazing blessing that he's about to speak over her for what you've done. "May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge." Now, verse 3, chapter 3 and chapter 4 is the love part of it. It's kind of romantic. I won't get into all that today. But you can read it on your own, okay? Let me tell you what happens. They have Mary's Ruth and they have a little boy named Obed. Now, when Obed grows up, he gets married and he has a little boy named Jesse. Jesse gets married, they have a little boy named David, who became king. And years later, from the same family in the same town, Joseph marries Mary and they have a little boy named Jesus. Now, here's a pagan Moabite widow who, for most of her life, worshipped a cultish God. But at some point in her relationship with Naomi, she discovered that Naomi was genuine, that there was something real about Naomi and there was something genuine and real about the God that Naomi served. And Ruth made a critical decision. I'm going to make a genuine commitment to something that's genuine. I'm going to make an authentic commitment to something that I know is real and I am not going to walk away from it. And when God saw that loyalty in her heart, the favor of God came to her life. Let me ask you a question. Are you living right now in the favor of God? Do you feel that God's favor is on you and on your family and everything you're doing? If not, could it be that you're not a loyal person? Is there a relationship that God placed in your life that you're not being loyal to right now? And could that be the reason that God's favor is not with you? Or would it be said about you? Would you say about yourself? Would others say about you with God say something about you, that you're a loyal person? That when you say something, you mean it and you're able to carry it through because you're loyal, because you're faithful. I'm discovering that this is very important to God. That loyalty, faithfulness, commitment to God is very important. And when God finds someone who has a faithful heart, a loyal heart, someone who, when they make a vow, when they make a pledge, when they decide to do something, they can be counted on. When God finds a person like that, he comes to the earth and he shows himself strong on their behalf. Are you a loyal person? It's a question I've been asking because I'm suddenly pastoring. This is the second church I've gotten to be a pastor at, that's very loyal. Gateway Church is a group of loyal people. I love you. I think this is one of the most committed, loyal groups of people I've ever met. And I'm pastoring a church now that's just proven their loyalty through a very adverse time. You know why God's favor is on Gateway? Because you have a loyal heart. You're committed to him and committed to people. Simple as that. You know why God's favor is on new life? Because they're committed to God and they're committed to one another. I want to ask you a question. Are you a loyal person? Is there a relationship that you need to repair because you made a commitment to them and you need to return to your loyalty? Would you close your eyes this morning, let me pray for you.