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The Two Types of Loyalty

Worldly vs. Godly Loyalty

-a strong feeling of support or allegiance.
Loyalty is allegiance or support to another person or institution. But I think there are two types of loyalties in life based on differing motivations.

Worldly loyalty is toward colleagues and friends and is based on desire to gain something in return, this allegiance is cheap and humanistic. This feeling of support is linked closely to hierarchy and is valuable within institutions and in most functioning societies (governments, companies and religious institutions.) If you want to get ahead then be loyal and learn how to display it often.

Any leader or institution that requires and thrives on this first type of loyalty must become divisive. I say that because he must exalt those who are loyal and oppress (or at least disregard) those who are disloyal (to one degree or another) in order to keep things orderly and under themselves.

There is also a Godly loyalty between people based upon love. This love binds the kingdom of God together. It makes healthy society work. It is misunderstood by most and is sometimes seen as weak and small. Loyalty based on love makes groups of people function effortlessly. Real love comes from another realm altogether and is a key feature of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Ask yourself a few questions:

  1. Are you loyal to people?
  2. Why are you loyal to the institutions or people that you are loyal to?
  3. Take away whatever benefit you are receiving (or hope to receive from it) and will it go away?

When all those benefits are stripped away all that will be left is loyalty based on love. Jesus Christ is the only source of love.

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Godless Caste System

Zeal and Promotion

When I was a younger man I believed in working very hard with zeal and in order to gain the favor of certain people in church leadership. I believed that I would be promoted to higher status and responsibility within my church. This promotion would give me access to the pastor, to his pulpit once in a while and friendships with others in the inner circle. All it required was hard work, an attitude of service and my tithes; which I was giving anyhow. I was in what can be compared to a caste system.

And the lukewarm people who wouldn’t work like us would just remain in their lukewarm lower class state.

It is like a caste system yet one can move to the higher caste with trying very hard and ‘obedience’.

I remember one time during this time in my life a friend of ours mocked our class system. At the time I had thought that she was lukewarm. I was politely offended, and I blew her off. I thought to myself that she had an attitude problem. I’d say to myself ‘what is she doing at church anyhow? nothing!’ So I had a right, so I felt, to disregard her and not listen to her critique.

Looking back I think Jesus himself was displeased with my line of thinking. He was expressing himself through her in her displeasure at our little upper class church-club mentality. I think he was with her and not with me in that exchange. It was I who had the wrong attitude toward what she was saying.

Godless Caste System of Classes

During my time at this church I had jumped into a Godless caste-like system with both feet. I think it appealed to my legalistic tendencies. I use the strong term ‘Godless’ only because Jesus Christ has not authored that system. Jesus Christ does not approve of that system, especially within groups which call themselves church. His absence alone makes a system or an institution Godless.

Any system or institution that Jesus Christ is not absolute Lord over and has not himself instituted is Godless.

Jesus’ people have no upper and lower classes. There is no promotion within the body of Christ based on performance and/or behavior with money.

The ecclesia that Jesus Christ is building is like a human body. It is not like a caste system of hard work and promotions. All members equally take commands from the head. There are no upper and lower class members within a human body. All have a specific function and all take orders equally from the head. There is not hierarchy and delegation and separation from the head. All members care for one another equally with differing roles and abilities.

I’ve come to believe that it is the duty of every member of Christ to lovingly reject Godless systems. Systems which attempt to replace the rule and will of Jesus Christ…will not succeed long term.

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An Effective Strategy Against Jesus Christ – Hierarchies

Many Christians from the early church were brutalized, persecuted and murdered, Jesus and his followers had brutal enemies. Despite this the body of Christ grew quickly, in fact growth still typically happens where Christians are persecuted. It did not take long however for the enemy of Jesus to find a more effective strategy against him – position within powerful and wealthy hierarchies.

hi·er·ar·chy

ˈhī(ə)ˌrärkē/

noun: hierarchy; plural noun: hierarchies

  1. a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.

Rather than attacking and killing Christians, a better strategy against Jesus’ influence and expansion was to put the church on top of or given a place at the table of a highly influential hierarchy in exchange for surrender and cooperation. But that cooperation would directly challenge the Lordship of Jesus Christ among his people.

This strategy seems to have repeated itself even up to today. How many modern young Christians who feel called to ministry strive to create and climb to the top of powerful hierarchical organizations? Most. Whether we try to control massive governments or climb through the ranks of wealthy denominations or build massive individual “mega-churches“. We love hierarchies and when we reach out ambitious goals we say “look at the growth, God must be blessing us, God is doing it.”

But we cannot look at numbers and popularity and assume success in God’s eyes or his blessing or his approval.

Jesus was offered great power and wealth and a great place of headship over kingdoms of this world, but he quickly and sternly turned it all down. I am not sure there is another person on the planet that would have easily turned down that offer from the devil.

“Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if you fall down and worship Me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan…” – Matthew 4:9-10

Later when his disciples began to plan their own hierarchy of greatness (“who will be greatest” read Matt 20), He quickly told his disciples “it is not this way among you.”

“But Jesus called them to himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you…” – Matthew 20:25-26

Regarding hierarchies among Christians, are we saying in response to Jesus “yes it is this way among us, its always been this way, this is our church, and I have (or so and so has) been put as its head, I (he) deserve it, I (he) was chosen.”? Are we not then intentionally refusing Jesus’ direction.

A group of Christians only becomes church in its relation to its surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Lets all together abandon hierarchy and lording it over one another, as Christians we are all directly connected to Jesus through the Spirit. He is able to lead us all directly and together as a cohesive family.

Hierarchies are ineffective and archaic and will eventually be obsoleted, firstly and especially within the church. Allow the Lord to begin to transition you away from worldly forms of organizing and gathering based on hierarchy, there is a much better way.

More to come, please reach out to me with questions or comments.

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