5/5/80 David
A. Introduction.
1. There are two categories of loyalty.
a. Loyalty as a virtue is loyalty to Bible doctrine, including perception, spiritual growth, and the fulfillment of the royal family honor code.
b. Loyalty as an evil is involvement in the cosmic system and reversionism.
2. The difference between the two is the difference between honor and dishonor.
3. Integrity from Bible doctrine plus loyalty in the perception of doctrine equals honor.
4. Integrity plus evil loyalty equals dishonor. This is what caused David to fail the Absalom test. The Absalom test was being manipulated to undermine legitimate authority. 5. Every Christian at some time will be attracted to a pleasing personality, whose function is manipulation, undermining of authority and exploitation for evil.
6. The believer with maximum Bible doctrine in the soul has developed the norms and standards which provide discernment to become loyal against an evil cause, and to reject the manipulation of pleasing personality. But sometimes even believers are drawn into conspiracy.
B. Application.
1. Joab flunked this test when he obeyed David’s order to assassinate Uriah the Hittite.
2. The people on Mt. Carmel flunked this test when they obeyed the order of Elijah to kill the prophets of Baal.
3. Aaron flunked this test when he obeyed the orders of the people to manufacture the golden calf.
4. Joab flunked this test when he wrote the drama of the woman of Tekoa, which restored Absalom to a place of prominence in Israel.
5. Thousands of Jewish citizens flunked the test when they succumbed to the pleasing personality of Absalom or to the fifty couriers who were hardcore revolutionists. 6. Areas in which believers might face this test:
a. In the local church, you may follow someone who seeks to undermine the authority of the pastor.
b. In business, you may follow the pleasing personality who leads you to undermine the authority of management.
c. In social life, you may follow an attractive person who leads you into a clique which undermines the authority of parents, or which attacks others.
d. In the military, police or fire departments, evil loyalty undermines the commander.
e. As a believer, you will have to face the Absalom test in every facet of your life, just as you will face the injustice test. The injustice test comes from authority. The Absalom test comes from a pleasing personality with no authority. The passing of this test is part of your mental growth as a human being and your spiritual growth as a believer. You cannot advance to maturity without facing a number of these tests.
7. The Absalom test will come first as a teenager, then in the local church, and then as you grow, it will come in every facet of your life.
C. Integrity plus virtue-loyalty equals honor.
1. Integrity for the believer is Bible doctrine.
2. Integrity for the unbeliever is establishment truth.
3. The fulfillment of the principle is for both believer and unbeliever, and results in a stabilized society.
4. The unbeliever’s integrity is loyalty to establishment principles. The believer’s integrity is loyalty to doctrine.
5. This equation also involves the basic ingredients for humility. The unbeliever’s humility is his loyalty to establishment. The believer’s humility is his loyalty to doctrine. Doctrine is more important than he himself.
6. No one has honor apart from humility. You cannot be loyal to doctrine and be arrogant. Loyalty to doctrine supercedes loyalty to self. Our distraction is loyalty to self.
D. Integrity versus loyalty equals dishonor.
1. Integrity is doctrine for the believer or establishment truth for the believer or unbeliever.
2. Loyalty to a demagogue or a pleasing personality supercedes loyalty to doctrine, establishment, or both. Therefore, this equation involves arrogance.
3. If you are loyal to some person instead of to doctrine or establishment, you are arrogant as well as dishonorable.
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© 1989, by R. B. Thieme, Jr. All rights reserved.
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