Rev Edmund Chan: What will it take to stay loyal to our King?
Rev Edmund Chan // May 4, 2019, 10:21 am
"Until and unless we come back with that sense of the love for the lost, we don’t understand true discipleship," says Rev Edmund Chan. Photo courtesy of LoveSingapore.
Loyalty might be old school. But this is one defining character trait that mighty men had: They were loyal to the king.
We come to ask the Lord – “Lord, give us that loyalty” – because in that loyalty, we will come together. In the loyalty, we will be dedicated. In the loyalty, we will be moved. The loyalty will be the impetus of our soul!
I want to share with you that loyalty means at least three things. Three practical things we must put in our lives, our ministry, our leadership:
1. Loyalty to our King means we are devoted to our King.
We have a King, greater than king David – His name is Jesus and the loyalty to our King means we are devoted to our King.
That devotion is the starting point for everything. If we lose that devotion, we lose the reason for doing what we do.
2. Loyalty to the king means we are dedicated to His cause.
If we are devoted to our king, we must be dedicated to His cause. And His cause is to seek and save the the lost.
3. Loyalty means we must be determined to eradicate anything that stands in the way of our devotion and our dedication.
There are four things we must eradicate:
i. We must eradicate our ego – our ego cannot stand in the way!
If we are truly devoted and dedicated to God, we must remove every distraction that stands in the way.
The three mighty men of David (2 Samuel 23:8-17) didn’t compare themselves with each other – who is mightier, whose exploit is greater, who has the ear of the king, who is loved by the king. They didn’t care about that!
Their ego did not get in the way when they fought side by side that day because, together, they were loyal to the king. We have to let go of our ego, we have repent of our ego.
ii. We must eradicate our insecurities. Our insecurities are two-fold: Either we are intimidated by the tasks and the obstacles and we say it cannot be done. Or our insecurities cause us to compare, to compete: Who brings more people, who contributes more. I pray that because of our loyalty to the King. we will contribute as part of our devotion, as part of our dedication to the cause of the King.
iii. We must eradicate our distractions. Sometimes, if you’re not careful, our innocent distractions become defilements of the soul. If we are truly devoted and dedicated to Him, we’ve got to remove every distraction that stands in the way.
We say to the enemy: You come against one of us, you come against all of us.
iv. We must eradicate divisiveness. Man, left to himself, becomes divisive; institutions left to themselves become self-protective and divisive. Because when organisations get more complex, we want to control, we have our own agendas, we have our own alignment, we have our own will, our own direction.
But, once and for all by God’s grace, because of the loyalty to the King, we come in the name of Jesus, as one.
We say to the enemy: You come against one of us, you come against all of us. Because we come under the banner of a King greater than David.
May we exhibit that one quality that defined the three mighty men, not their exploits, but their loyalty to their king.
Rev Edmund Chan: What will it take to stay loyal to our King?
This is Part 2 of a devotional shared by Ps Edmund Chan on April 30, 2019, at a Celebration of Hope pastors’ gathering. Click here to read Part 1. Celebration of Hope is a three-day evangelistic event on May 17-19 at the National Stadium. Visit celebrationofhope.sg for more information.
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