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There was once a Wall Street broker named Benny who had fallen in love with a young woman named Sophia. The couple met at a social event through mutual clients. They had only dated for almost a year, but the wealthy businessman believed she was “the one.” Yet, Benny didn’t want to marry someone who was only into him because of his money. He needed to know about Sophia’s character – not just the person she was presenting herself to be during their dates, but her outside reputation, her true allegiances, and inward affections. So, Benny hired a private detective to find out everything there was to discover about Sophia. And in case Sophia interacted with the detective to reveal Benny’s plan, he had tasked one of his associates to simply hire a detective to investigate her for an unknown business plan. Benny loved Sophia, but he didn’t want her to think he didn’t trust her.

Over the course of three months, the investigator followed Sophia. He scrutinized her travel patterns, studied her friend groups, evaluated her spending habits, examined her work ethic and lifestyle choices. The investigator created a full report and shared the findings to Benny’s associate. The report read: “Sophia is a woman of noble character. She’s intelligent with a good education from a prestigious school. Her family and upbringing has a good reputation among neighbors. The majority of her friends are upstanding citizens. She has a healthy lifestyle with good eating habits. She’s prudent with her spending and careful not to waste. She’s also kind and generous with many charitable organizations. By all accounts, Sophia would be a highly recommended individual to align your business partnership.” Benny was ecstatic and his heart skipped a beat as his dreams were coming true that he was hoping to marry the love of his life. However, he flipped to the last page of the report, which also read, “Sophia has a glowing record minus one potential and alarming threat. Sophia spends a good amount of time in the company of a young broker whose dishonest business practices and devious personal principles are well known.”^[1]

Character is crucial. This is true whether you’re looking for a spouse to spend “until death do us part”, or a business practice to align bank accounts, or a simple relationship to be associated. Character matters.

Today we want to remind ourselves the value of character by reflecting on the dangers of one’s downfall.

EXAMINE    1 Kings 10-11 A Leader’s Downfall

1Ki 9 ¹ As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, ² the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time,
The first time God appeared to Solomon was when he began as king. God granted Solomon the desires of his heart. And Solomon asked for wisdom. So, God granted that request and blessed with prosperity too. The LORD’s appearing to Solomon a second time indicates the kindness of God to continue caring and being involved with His people.

Likewise, God’s appearing through the incarnation was a blessing. But God’s continued care for us is visible through the Holy Spirit. God never forsakes us, never quits, never fails.

as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³ And the Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer

God hears and answers every prayer: yes, no, or hold on.

and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
⁴ And as for you, if you will walk before me,

Walk = live; life is a journey.

as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, ⁵ then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ ⁶ But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, ⁷ then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ⁸ And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ ⁹ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Leadership understands the consequences.

Solomon’s received the title as king because of his father, David, but he earned the respect of the position based upon his prayerfulness and his performance. Solomon prayed for wisdom to obey God and discern how to lead the people. He prayed and obeyed God by building a temple for the glory of God, and not his own.

Solomon’s leadership has achieved all the performance marks as a great king. Yet, God reminded Solomon leadership is more than performance – it’s about principles. Solomon could build beautiful temples, attractive cities, and a formidable military, but if his principles before God were neglected then his downfall was certain. God warned Solomon not to neglect his faith and or worship idols.

Leadership is more than performance, it’s about principles

But many leaders and organizations value performance over principles. They don’t voice this value with their lips, but they reveal it with their life actions. Our world is attracted to personality and power. They want to see productivity and they will ignore private integrity. But God sees the heart, and character is a matter of consequence to God.

Leaders understand consequences by creating

• Personal Accountability
• Defining culture to become normal

–> Corporately: We need leaders who understand and uphold consequences of actions.

–> Personally: What ethical principles, moral boundaries and cultural values do you have in place?

¹⁰ At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house, ¹¹ and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹² But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. ¹³ Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul to this day. ¹⁴ Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold. …. ¹⁶ (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife; So Solomon rebuilt Gezer

It becomes clear that all is not well in Solomon’s relationship with Hiram, his key ally and trade partner to the north. Solomon is also aligned with his in-laws in Egypt, which we know that relationship never worked out for Israel’s history.^[2]

The magnetism of wealth, the minefield of military and political alliances, the strategy of sustaining a kingdom is an overwhelming experience that results in questionable decisions for Solomon – and every other king in these books. Thus, even the wisest king (Solomon) longs for a truer and better king.

1 Kings 10 ¹ Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. ² She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. ³ And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. ⁴ And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵ the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath in her. ⁶ And she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom, ⁷ but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard.

Leadership is a stewardship.

The queen of Sheba is from modern day Yemen, or possibly Ethiopia. She travels by foot about 1,500 miles. She’s fascinated by Solomon’s wealth & wisdom, which she acknowledges comes from the LORD (10:1). The last example of a Gentile testifying to the work of Yahweh was Rahab the harlot in the book of Joshua.

Therefore, this becomes the fulfillment of God’s promise: Israel becoming a blessing and light to the Gentiles.[3] And notice the purpose of God’s blessing:

⁸ Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”

Solomon’s leadership is a stewardship to bless others with the blessings he has received from God. Israel is to shine its light in the dim and dark corners of the world. And godly leaders are called to extend justice upon the unrighteous, and compassion to a needy world.

Ultimately, the Queen of Sheba is an example and indictment to us to research the word of God and reflect on the ways of God. It takes investment of time to get up early or stay up late; to travel and participate on Sunday AM; to take notes and ask questions; to relate and spend time with others – all in effort to grow in your understanding of the LORD, and experience the riches of God’s grace (Eph 1:7) and discover the hidden treasure of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3).

–> Who has been like Solomon, sharing godly wisdom to you?

–> Are you looking for queens/kings to share godly words?

–> If you’re not yet a Christian, what investments are you making to learn and ask questions?

1 Kings 11 ¹ Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ² from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³ He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴ For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁵ For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷ Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸ And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods. ⁹ And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice ¹⁰ and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. ¹¹ Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. ¹² Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. ¹³ However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.” ¹⁴ And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon… ⁴¹ Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? ⁴² And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³ And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father.

Leadership failure has unforeseen destruction.

Solomon’s discontented looks started as a slight dent in the armor of his character. His self-confident attitude and prideful actions became gaps in the protective wall around his integrity. And Solomon’s depraved passions and idolatrous heart ruptured the defenses of his faith. Sin was crouching at his door (Genesis 4:7), with his desires conceiving and giving birth to sin, which grew fully to death – even the death of a nation (James 1:14-15). All of us need to be mindful that our sin spirals and will find you out (Numbers 32:23).  

When an individual falls, there is personal devastation, but when a leader falls, there is public and surplus wreckage.[4] Like a crowd standing too close to the curb on a rainy day, everyone gets drenched with the devastation and shame sprays across a community.

When an individual falls, there is personal devastation, but when a leader falls, there is public and surplus wreckage. By the grace of God, we are left to grieve, grow, and keep going.

So, how should we respond when a person, a friend, or a leader falls?

1) Grieve.

Sin injures and causes untold sadness and suffering. Just like the Holy Spirit, Christians should grieve sin choices (Isa 63:10; Ac 2:38; Ep 4:30). And our grief leads us to speak truth in love, pleading with others for the kindness of God to lead them to repentance.   
“godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation” (2Cor 7:10)

2) Grow.

Sin is always unpleasant, but it is also an unexpected teacher. Spiritual growth occurs when we become self-aware to our weaknesses, learn from our mistakes, and exercise self-discipline. Perhaps, there are ways that we have unintentionally contributed to a leader’s sin through our silence and not speaking up, or by overrating their opinion and elevating them on a pedestal. Overall, we can learn from one another’s faults and failures, and grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus.

Heb 12:11 “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
 

3) Keep Going.

There is a temptation to allow a person’s wrongdoing and sins to frustrate and shipwreck your faith. We need to remember there is only one person who was perfect. Everyone sins – including ourselves. Don’t miss the Savior because you’re focused on Solomon. Don’t misjudge Jesus because you’re focused on Judas.

Heb 12:1-2 “let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Don’t miss the Savior because you’re focused on Solomon. Don’t misjudge Jesus because you’re focused on Judas.

APPLY/TAKEAWAY

–> What is turning your heart away from wholly obeying God?
Realize, the LORD will raise up adversaries and adversity against you – not to pay you back but to bring you back. Repent and renew your faith obedience, today.

–> God doesn’t destroy the nation of Israel, but leaves a remnant of the house of David. Eventually, one from David’s line will be born and establish His kingdom forever.
And so… we can sing [5}
What gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer
There is no more for heaven now to give
He is my joy, my righteousness, my freedom
My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace
To this I hold my hope is only Jesus
For my life is wholly bound to His
Oh how strange and divine I can sing, all is mine, Yet not I but through Christ in me.

---

^[1] Adapted from Tony Evans Book of Illustrations: “character” p. 33.

^[2] J. Gary Millar, “1-2 Kings,” in 1 Samuel–2 Chronicles, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, vol. III, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019), 585.

[3] See Deuteronomy 4:6; Genesis 12:1-2; Isaiah 49:6; Luke 2:25-32; Acts 13:44-49.

[4] Some thoughts inspired from https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/eldership-reset/

[5] “Yet, Not I But Christ In Me” by City Alight