Supreme Loyalty to God

Exodus 20:3-6; Joshua 24:16, 22-24; Luke 14:25-27

GOLDEN TEXT: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”—Matthew 6:24

ONE of the outstanding facts concerning Jehovah, our Heavenly Father, is that he is a covenant-keeping God. In contrast to his faithfulness is the tragic record of failure on the part of so many of his professed people. Unfaithfulness, backsliding and rebellion is the sordid background of nearly all the experiences of typical Israel. The apostle cites this object lesson as a warning to spiritual Israel, but how few there have been among the professed followers of Jesus who have profited by the example of fleshly Israel’s failure as much as they should!

A firm resolution of purpose is essential to success along any line of endeavor, but to resolve to follow a certain course is not in itself all that is required. Performance and endurance are also essential. The failure of typical Israel was not because the people did not resolve and promise to obey the Lord, for over and over again they affirmed their intention of being faithful to him, but they did not carry through. They would be faithful for a time, then lapse into sin and idolatry. Seemingly they lacked the quality of endurance.

But there is another reason which enters into the failures of God’s people to continue faithful to him, and that is the element of insincerity. Outward professions alone do not prove that there is a firm resolution of the heart. The prophet indicates the possibility of drawing near to the Lord with the lips, while the heart is far from him. (Isa. 29:13; Matt. 15:7,8) We are also told that the Lord shows himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward him. (II Chron. 16:9) Without God’s help none could continue to be faithful in the doing of his will. So when we put these thoughts together it becomes apparent that there was some measure of insincerity on the part of Israel when making those affirmations of love and devotion to God, else the people would not so quickly have turned away from him.

But the failure of Israel to keep the statutes of the Lord which applied particularly to the Jewish age did not lead to the making of an easier code of laws for spiritual Israel. On the other hand, with the coming of the antitypical Moses, there was introduced for God’s people of the Gospel age a rule of life far more exacting than was the Mosaic law. Jesus refers to it as a “narrow way.” “Strait is the gate,” he said, “and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”—Matt. 7:14

An example of this “strait gate” and “narrow way” is brought to our attention by Jesus in today’s lesson. To the multitude that was following him, he explained that if they desired to be his true disciples it would be necessary for them to “hate” their relatives and friends, yes, even their own lives, and be willing to take up their cross and follow him.

Jesus, of course, did not mean that his followers should harbor animosity in their hearts toward their relatives. The thought is, rather, that their love for God and for their Master would be so supreme and all-pervading that the desires and plans of all others, even those ordinarily as dear to them as their parents, or their husbands or wives, or children, would not be considered if they interfered with the doing of the divine will. Indeed, they would need to reach the point where they would be willing to sacrifice life itself in order to prove their devotion to God and to Jesus.

The principle involved in such a complete devotion to the Master is set forth clearly in our Golden Text. “No man can serve two masters,” Jesus said, and then explained why: “For either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” Here again the Master uses the term “hate,” but evidently not with the meaning of animosity. Certainly one could serve two masters without having animosity in his heart for one of them.

But one cannot serve two masters faithfully when the requirements of each run counter to the wishes of the other. In such a case the servant must decide which master he will endeavor to please. It is this one, in Jesus’ lesson, whom the servant “loves,” and it is the other one whom he “hates,” or loves less. (Matt. 10:37-39) The servant “holds” to or obeys the master he loves; while he “despises;” or ignores, the wishes of the other.

Well did Jesus advise that those who consider becoming his disciples should first of all sit down and count the cost. They should indeed consider well and carefully what is involved in taking up their cross and following in the footsteps of Jesus.

This invitation to “consider” implies the importance of counting the cost. But this should not be done merely with the thought of how much one might be called upon to sacrifice. The cost should be counted with the ear inclined; that is, with a recognition of who it is that is extending the invitation and the great privilege that is offered of being associated with the “King”—Jehovah—and with the “King’s Son”—Christ Jesus, in the heavenly phase of the kingdom. It is a glorious prospect!

QUESTIONS:

What is one of the primary essentials to success in serving God?

Are outward professions always a true index of the heart?

In what spirit should prospective disciples of Jesus count the cost of discipleship?

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