Loyalty

Loyalty to Jesus is the final battle. This shouldn't be surprising, since loyalty to God was the first temptation and the first failure. Adam and Eve's rebellion brought to earth the rebellion that had already erupted in heaven. Satan was creation's first rebel. The Bible tells us the nature of satan's fall:


Ezekiel 28:13-18 You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned; Therefore I cast you as a profane thing Out of the mountain of God; And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones. “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, That they might gaze at you. “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.


This is a powerful passage, filled with insight into the origin and cost of rebellion.


“By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, And you sinned"


Satan became filled with "inner violence"... turmoil within his inner self... by the abundance of his "trading." What did satan trade? According to this passage, satan started trading "inside" which led to trading "outside." It started with trading God's definition of him for satan's own definition of himself, and then the other angel's definition of him. He traded the truth of who He was, the perfectly created covering cherub made to lead worship in the great assembly with great honor and beauty, for a lie about who He was: equal to God. This "inner trading" of who satan was grew out of him and affected his relationship with the other angels:


Revelation 12:4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.


Satan's trading of the truth of who He was led Him to start trading outside of his own mind in order to establish himself in his new identity. He convinced 1/3 of the angels to rebel against God by trading loyalty to him for power in his new kingdom. He told 1/3 of the created angels that if they would give their loyalty to him, he would elevate them in his new kingdom of rebellion.


Because of His commitment to love, God gives everyone what they want. When satan began trading power for loyalty, God did not stop him! He let the angels choose who they would be loyal to, and then God let them have the fullness of that choice. Look at what God said happened:


Ezekiel 28:18 “You defiled your sanctuaries By the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you.


God simply let satan have what he wanted. God gave satan over to himself and the fire of corrupt thinking, jealousy, greed, and pride...the inner violence that was stirring in his heart...was allowed to overtake him. Satan has been consumed by his own rebellion. He will live in a lake of fire forever because it is fire that came out of his own heart and consumed him.


This is the nature of rebellion. Loyalty to Jesus is the opposite of rebellion. When Adam and Eve followed satan into rebellion, their spirit...the place where the Holy Spirit dwelled, died right away. The Holy Spirit left their frame when sin came into it. Their loyalty to God's definition of who they were was broken. Jesus paid the price for that sin, and, if we will have him, offered us a way to put our loyalty back in Him...back on God. What a blessed creation man is, that God would do this for us!


Once we are rejoined to God through trust in Jesus' payment for our rebellion, we still have to decide who to live loyal to in our heart each day. Mankind was made...wired...to receive definition of who we are from the most influential and powerful person we can see. This is why leaders, celebrities...those who carry any sort of influence or power are surrounded by people just trying to get close to them. People want the influential and powerful to define them. The closer we get to them, the more tempted we are to rely on their validation. Even in the church, powerful or charismatic leaders are often surrounded with people that want recognition...definition...meaning...from someone who "matters". People want someone powerful to define them.


Before Adam and Eve rebelled against God, God himself was the most influential One...the most powerful One...they could see with their eyes. We were created to seek our purpose, meaning, and definition of value from God. God was the one who's opinion Adam and Eve were made to rely on for the definition of who they were. Up until the fall, God defined them and let them know they were accepted, approved, right, and good. He spent time with them face to face. They were perfectly at peace as long as they were drawing on God to tell them who they were! When they fell, their definition of who they were was broken. Shame entered in:


Genesis 3:7-8 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.


After the fall, God withdrew for love. His bright holiness was too dangerous for mankind's fallen frame to be near. Since the fall we need to "fight" our eyes and minds to keep our hearts loyal to Jesus. We need to live by faith and not eyesight. If we want to live in right assurance of who we are, we must receive that assurance from the one who made us.


In Psalm 33, the Bible says that God individually fashioned each person's heart. God made me with certain qualities in my heart only He knows about. I have certain strengths, tendencies, and qualities about me that no one else...not even me...sees. God is the only one with the right information to tell me who I am.


The lazy and easiest way for me to be defined is to let my eyes and mind connect me to those who seem most influential. It is easy to let other people tell me who I am. But, this is disloyalty to Jesus. This is actually rebellion. Since Jesus made me, He should be the only one who gets the right to define me. Giving that right to anyone else is actually taking it from him.


Jesus is serious about us not giving to others what only should belong to Him. The reason He is so passionate about this is because He loves us and cares about the safety of our heart. If He is the source of the definition of who I am, and His recognition is the reward of what I do, no corruption can enter in from the enemy. The enemies lies meant to take me away from God can’t touch me if I allow only God to define and reward me. If I rely on others to define me and reward me with their recognition, I am open to all sort of corruption and confusion from the enemy of God. Satan wants me to be consumed by inner violence just like he was. Keeping a fixed gaze on God is sure to prevent this. God gives us what we want!


As the intensity of this generation increases, this will be the great center of division: loyalty to Jesus (fear of God), or loyalty to other people and what they think of me (fear of man). I want to spend time now, when it is easy, to train my heart to only let Jesus define and reward me. It will only be harder to do tomorrow as the costs for loyalty increase:

Matthew 10:34-39 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.