Twisted Leadership

Intro

In the course of my doctoral work, I had to read a book entitled, Corporate Governance and Ethics: An Aristotelian Perspective, by Alejo Sison

This book was everything you are imagining right now

Super dense academic writing

It’s a slow slog to get through it, even if you know it is good content

He does, though, offer a very simple but profound insight in the book

There is much that can be discussed about governance and leadership of an organization whether it be a small church or the federal government

He posits that there are three types of basic organizational structures

Rule by one

Rule by a few

Rule by many

Each of those three offers some strengths and some weaknesses

For example, rule by one can be efficient when you have one person making all the decisions

But it can also be really dangerous because of the potential for abuse of the intrinsic power held in that position

Rule by a few could easily be an aristocracy where the powerful few use the people underneath them, or they could faithfully represent the many

Rule by many is really inefficient but it also can help ensure that everyone’s voice will be heard

The line, for Sison, is not in “this form of governance is better than that form of governance”

But, rather… and this is his important insight… the quality of any of those depends on the moral and ethical uprightness of the leaders

The distinction between a good king and an evil tyrant is not the system of governance - but the character of the king

As we turn to our passage for today, looking at the whole second chapter of Micah, we are going to see that the small minority of leaders were oppressing the people

And we will be invited to desire for a good king to lead the people faithfully and sacrificially

Open in your Bibles with me to Micah chapter 2

Scripture Reading: Micah 2:1-13

Micah 2:1–13 ESV

Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the Lord: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster. In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly, and say, “We are utterly ruined; he changes the portion of my people; how he removes it from me! To an apostate he allots our fields.” Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the Lord. “Do not preach”—thus they preach— “one should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us.” Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Has the Lord grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? But lately my people have risen up as an enemy; you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war. The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever. Arise and go, for this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction. If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people! I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men. He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head.

Pray

Main Point

In chapter 1, Micah prophesied judgment against Samaria and then Jerusalem for their idolatry

Remember what Micah’s name means? There is no one like the Lord

But the people had abandoned the Lord and were worshipping other gods and following in the depraved ways of the nations that worshipped those fake gods

And now we come to chapter 2

It’s almost like Micah, neck on a swivel, is looking around to see who is responsible

I’ve entitled this message, Twisted Leadership, because Micah is going to zoom in his focus on the leaders of Judah who were oppressing and taking advantage of the people

And here is what I want us to see:

Twisted leaders seek to oppress and get rich off of their people and lead them all away from the Lord

But Jesus is the Good Shepherd who wards off those who would harm his people and who gives his life to protect his people

And we are invited to follow after Jesus - not the evil leaders who would use us

Twisted Leaders

So first, let’s dive in on the idea of twisted leadership

Look again at verse 1

Twisted leaders scheme wickedness

Micah 2:1 “Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand.”

Ok, before we go any further: any time a passage starts with “Woe”, we probably should be on our heels right away

Whatever follows is not going to be good!

But look at what follows: “those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds”

It’s a picture of someone lying in bed late at night rubbing their hands together and falling asleep with a smirk at the opportunity to exploit people for personal gain the next day

Then he wakes up early - at dawn - to put the mischievous and wicked scheme into action

And why? “Because it is in the power of their hand”

Twisted leaders take advantage of people because they can!

As I heard just last night listening to an audiobook during my late evening walk, “Twisted minds are enormously inventive”

And they are always scheming wickedness…

Twisted leaders exploit people

Listen to the 4 verbs in verse 2

Micah 2:2 “They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.”

Covet

Seize

Take away

Oppress

Not very positive words there

But that is what twisted leaders do: they exploit people

They see something they want and they covet it: I need to have it!

And if they need to have it, what do they do? They seize it!

They take away from others in order to add to their own spoils

And they oppress others, keeping them under their thumb to ensure power and prestige

Twisted leaders say what people want to hear, even while robbing them!

Micah 2:11 “If a man should go about and utter wind and lies, saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be the preacher for this people!”

How do you “utter wind”?

This is picture of blowing smoke

Lot of flowery sounding words without ever saying anything

He is promising good wine and strong drink… but it is all a lie

These evil leaders tickle the ears of their followers, while sticking their hands in their pockets to steal from them

Twisted leaders bring disgrace upon themselves and disaster upon those they lead

So much so that in verse 4 the people cry out - “moan bitterly” it says, “We are utterly ruined”

Listen again to verses 7-9

Micah 2:7–9 “Should this be said, O house of Jacob? Has the Lord grown impatient? Are these his deeds? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? But lately my people have risen up as an enemy; you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly with no thought of war. The women of my people you drive out from their delightful houses; from their young children you take away my splendor forever.”

The people are positioned as enemies of God

Women are driven from their delightful houses

Young children are stolen away from God’s splendor - a picture of turning people on to a path that leads to their own destruction

Verse 6 has the false preaching of “disgrace will not overtake us”

But disgrace and disaster are the consequences of disobedience and misdirection of people away from the patient and good Lord

To summarize, twisted leaders:

Scheme wickedness

Exploit people

Say what people want to hear, even while robbing them and

Bring disgrace upon themselves and disaster upon the people

The Good Shepherd

Which leads us to the 2 responses of God in this passage

Condemnation against wicked oppressors

Micah 2:1 “Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand.”

Micah 2:3 “Therefore thus says the Lord: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster.”

Do you hear the parallel structure?

While the one group is at work devising wicked and evil ways to harm and oppress others, God is devising disaster against these oppressive leaders

While in bed, they may think they are all alone

They are conniving their wicked schemes in the privacy of their own beds

But there is no one like the Lord

God hears and God knows the hearts of wicked men, even while in the seeming privacy of their own beds

And he devises disaster against them

Or, as summarized in that one word: “Woe”

For all of the darkness in this passage, look again at the last 2 verses, because it is here we see the character of God break through

Micah 2:12–13 “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob; I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men. He who opens the breach goes up before them; they break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head.”

On one side were all these leaders who were using and abusing the people

And then there is this picture of the tenderness of God to gather up the people

Like sheep that had wandered from the pen, he rounds them up and brings them back into the safety of the fence

And don’t miss even the picture of the last verse - “their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head”

God goes before his people

But why? To protect from those who would attack and seek their harm

And all of this reminds us of the words of Jesus in John 10

John 10:3–4 “To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Jesus picks up on the imagery of Micah where the Lord protects and cares for his flock by describing himself as the Good Shepherd

He knows his sheep and his sheep know him

He goes before them to protect them

And he, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, laid down his life for them

What an incredible contrast to the twisted leaders of Israel

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, wards off those who would harm his people and gives his life to protect his people

Character Matters

So we have seen in Micah the twisted leaders of Israel and Judah and the disaster they were bringing upon the people

Maybe you’re already asking, “What does this passage have to do with us? Is there anything here that speaks to our world today?”

I have a few thoughts here but they boil down to two words: Character matters

First, before we consider those around us, let us look in the mirror

Could those words of the twisted leader be used of you?

How do you use people for personal gain?

Do you devise wickedness?

Do you covet, seize, take away, or oppress?

You may or may not fashion yourself a leader in any meaningful sense

But you have influence somewhere

As a spouse, as a parent, as a friend, as an employer

Are you growing as a man or woman of integrity?

Because character matters for us as individuals

Second, let’s consider the organizational and institutional leaders around us

Both in the broader culture as well as within the church

We live in a messy, polarized, geo-political environment

And the rhetoric is only going to increase over the next month or so leading up to the mid-term elections

So I’ll say it again: character matters

In our nation, we have some responsibility for selecting our leaders

Let us do so with care and discernment to seek men and women of character

Leaders who will model themselves after the sacrificial leadership of the Good Shepherd, not the twisted leaders against whom Micah was prophesying

But this also needs to apply within the church

There are way too many stories of pastors abusing their position for personal gain

Those who treat church leadership as platform building, using their congregation to become social media stars to get the book deal or the invitation to speak at the big conference

Even for us as a small local church

The start of our membership class is the first step toward you, as a congregation, electing elders and deacons to serve in official roles as leaders in Christ’s church

When I teach on leadership, or train people for serving, or even hire a staff position, I often come back to the three C’s

Character, Competence, and Chemistry

Unfortunately, in our culture, we tend to prioritize competency so highly that we will take someone with really great skills without regard for the character of the individual (or, for that matter, their chemistry and ability to work with other people, but that is a topic for another day)

I’ve said it this way: People get hired for competence and fired for character or chemistry

But character matters: in us, in political leaders, and in church leaders

So let us become people of character and seek to follow leaders of character

But Jesus didn’t just come as a model of good leadership

He paid for our selfish, self-serving tendencies on the cross

We must allow our character to be shaped into the image of Christ by surrendering and being molded by the power of the Holy Spirit bearing fruit in our lives

Conclusion

In my introduction, I made the statement: The distinction between a good king and an evil tyrant is not the system of governance - but the character of the king

As we close this morning, hear these couple of challenges:

First, ask God to make you a man or woman of character

Confess where you need to confess and ask God to form you into a man or woman of integrity so you would not use others, but would honor those made in the image of God

This is especially important in those areas where you have been entrusted with some form or degree of leadership

Second, discern the character of those under whose leadership you sit

Again, this has both broader cultural implications as you consider the integrity of the government leaders you would elect

And it concerns those under whose spiritual leadership you find yourself

Are those leaders walking humbly in a role entrusted to them by God… or are they using those positions for personal gain?

And third, praise God that he is the good Shepherd, the good King

If the distinction between a good king and an evil tyrant is in the character of the king, then we have great assurance because Jesus, the Good King, passes on before us, the Lord at our head

Pray