Rehoboam was about to be crowned king after the death of his father, Solomon, but he failed the divine test for leadership. It’s an easy test to fail, I suppose we all fail it at times. I know I surely do. But the test for Rehoboam ripped 10 of 12 tribes from his kingdom and gave them to Jeroboam.
The people asked for relief from Solomon’s heavy taxation program and Rehoboam took three days to think it over and get advice. He rejected the advice of the elders and followed the advice of his young friends who were feeling their oats. He said in 1 Kings 12:11, “My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier.”
He failed the test by not taking the advice of the elders who told him, 1 Kings 12:7, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer they will always be your loyal subjects.” Instead he viewed them as existing to serve him, rather than his role being to serve them. I will always remember the famous line in “Braveheart,” were Mel Gibson (William Wallace) says to Robert the Bruce. “You Nobles think the people exist to provide you position and wealth. The truth is you exist to serve them. Your position exists to provide freedom for the people. If you would just lead them to freedom, they’d follow you.”
Leadership is service. Jesus said that the greatest “must become the servant of all.”
Biblical leadership is always “servant leadership.” Jesus, the greatest leader of all, said, “I did not come to be served, but to serve and to offer myself as a ransom for all.”
Chuck
“Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.” Colossians 3:9-10