How NOT to Lead: 2 Samuel 15:1-12

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome to the Bible guys. Hey, do you know what we're celebrating today? Oh? What is today? Episode? Oh? That's okay? What five three four? Man? Don't mess this one up today. That's a big day. Don't mess this one up, which basically which. Basically means every day is a big day. Every day's a big day. That's right, that's what we're saying. Well, listen, listeners, we're going to give you the privilege, nay, the the what I should I should have said something and then said nay, the privilege started. I messed it up. I was gonna say the honor, nay, the privilege. What an introduction to this next segment. I blew it. I'm hanging I'm hanging on the just every word now. Okay, I have to explain myself since I blew it so badly. Have you seen Knight's Tale with Yes, you know what I'm talking about? What's his name? Who asked away? Uh? Huh batman joker anyway? Uh he uh? That that that line is from that movie where he says, he says, he says. I give you the honor, nay, the privilege. Which is why I messed up in my mind, right honored name that privilege. Yes, you want to try it again. Yes, we're gonna get, ladies and gentlemen. The honor nay, the privilege of hearing from Jeff. Because Desiree has asked this question. What made Jeff mad this week? Okay, oh this was and it's amazing. Yes, because when we walked in the studio, which for you was what four days ago for our listeners, yes, for us, it was like two hours ago. We walked in the studio, we were talking with our our our inestimable I mean, our fabulous, incredible producer director. What is he? What is he? Our technic technical director? Yes? Is that Josh? Yes? Yes, so Josh behind the scenes. You never get to see him. But Josh is the one who does all the cuts and makes the sound sound good, all that kind of stuff. We were talking with him about a technical install recently speakers, all this kind of stuff. Tons of money spent, Yes, and I was complaining about the fact that the installers, not Josh. Josh is the one who fixed the problem because he's a flipping genius, right. But the installers come in. There's a thing when you install a big sound system into a special room. Then you come in, you set up some special microphones, and then the computer will pay attention to it and go ooh, change this, change that, realign this, do these things with the EQ all this kind of stuff so that you get the best sound you can get in the room. It's not perfect at that point, but he gets it super close. Then the geniuses with the golden ears go in make a few tweaks. It's better. Well, they install this expensive thing and we're like, this. Is horrible, horrible. Now, the equipment's fabulous. What we invested in was great, but the install was bad, so we were really struggling with it. We get back in behind the scenes and realize they literally took the computer's recommendations, went nah and tried to do their own thing, and every single speaker they installed was eqed wrong, every one of them, every one of them, every single one. In fact, I would venture to say, maybe the worst sound experience. You know, when you stand in different parts of the room. The inconsistency was so different in different parts of the room. It's the worst as far as that goes. It's the worst that I've ever personally exerce. And I wound up walking you down the island going this is ye first speaker because it's a six speaker in array, right, and I keep saying that, look how bad that is. Now let's step fifteen more feet and now listen. You listen to next week and it's different, radically different. It was horrible. So what makes me mad is when when you have the technology in front of you, or you have the expertise in front of you, and then you throw off that and go, nah, I'm better than that. That always makes everything worse. I've never had a time when somebody took what was clearly in front of them as the best advice and they get rid of the best advice and just do their own thing. I've never seen anything turn out better because some guy thinks he's better than the advice. Right, And the Bible says there's wisdom and a multitude of counselors. Counseling is what you need. You need, you need a group of people who are giving you a good idea. Did you just turn what this guy Jeff mad? This week into a sermon? Well, what made me mad this week? It just makes me mad when the guy had everything he needed to succeed, yeah, and threw it off. Okay, I wouldn't and then made everything bad for us when we paid for good customers. I wouldn't have gone that route on that story. I would have just said they're terrible at equeuing. Well, all I'm saying is there's a better way, and that is take to take good advice. Gave good advice, takeo advice. That's what I was trying to say. But you know I can't help it. Then I'm a Bible guy and it just oozes from me. Ye right? Does does that make sense? Yes? Yes? But I'll also be honest with see in your. Blood, I am not sermonized everything. I am not so and I just give a little Bible verse just to chat about that. You're the sermonizer, But I would say I'm also not as good at this. What made Jeff mad this week? Yes you are. You're like a pro at it well, and I feel like I stumbled through it. I feel like I stumbled through and then failed at the What made Jeff mad this Week's. No, No, No, you just turned it into a lesson. I know. I didn't know that. It was like, it's like it's like the parents. I didn't feel like there's any rules. Do you guys need to coach me up on it? Do you ever have a kid who uh has the mom or the dad who turns everything into a Bible lesson? Yeah, my kids have that dad. Yeah, I'm afraid they do. Yeah. You know the Bible says. Yeah, well that's uh, that's that could be good sometimes, but I've not seen that work out too well. I don't teach them, I don't preach with them, but when they ask for advice, I'll say, well, here's what the Bible says. Well, no, that's that's good. That's always good if they ask, right. But it's like it's like I've met people though, and this isn't necessarily you, but I've I've met people who, uh, they'll see anything and it'll be like, oh, look, opinion on the ground. You know, the Bible says there's hidden treasures, you know whatever, And I'm just like, oh my gosh, not everything is a sermon man. So half the Bible guys doesn't like it when other people quote the Bible is that what I heard. Let me tell you another thing that made Jeff mad this week. I think I think you hear what you want to hear, because that's not what I heard. By the way Heath led. Your Yeah you got I thought I thought of that name too, was sitting there. Yeah. So I'm sorry that I failed at that. What made Jeff made this? Well? My goodness, I never said failed. Well it felt like it. No, you had an opportunity to say, good good effort, Jeff, wait to try. Hey, I I am I'll do what you have done for me in the past. Okay, I am one hundred percent with you on this one because that Sometimes i'll give it what made mad and you say, okay, good job, you're mad for the world. And then sometimes I'll give it and you're like, I'm with you in this one. I'm with you in this one. Well, I am one hundred percent with you in this one. Well, it doesn't take much to get you mad. Everything. I just got an other thing to be mad about. Thank you, Chris. Your support means the world to me. Well, so I will say this. I will say this. You can't necessarily blame somebody for trying if they try their best, right, right, So that's not what I what? What the thing to be mad about here? Right? What? What you what you can sort of be mad about is hey, pay us for something that has promised you, and then thank you for the money. Now we're not going to do. I'm a pro. I'm going to take a tremendous amount of money for me, but I'm not going to pay attention to the technology or the advice I have in front of me. Right oops, I can't fix it, see you, but thank you for the pay thank you for a tremendous amount of money. And then I walk in and will I don't get paid tremendous amount of money to do those things. I'm a musician, so I have some ears I can hear, and I'm like, well, that's not right, And thank god for guys like Josh you step in and go I know how to fix it. Yeah, I know. How to fix it. So thanks for nothing. We have to fix the problem that you created that you promised wouldn't. Be a problem. That's right. That's all that makes me mad, okay, right there? Well hey, that was that was fascinating, riveting, but we have to move on. We took eight well, we only. Have a few verses to read today, and oh yeah, the consequences of everything that we've been talking and we've been really setting this up for a while. David abdicating his responsibility to be a mentor to his son, David abdicating his responsibility to correct his other son for behavior that David also had in his own life. But it repented from David's failure to raise his sons to have God first place in their life and God's ways. It all finally comes to a head. And then David refusing to engage with his son when his son's trying to come back to his dad. It's refusing. There was this moment, there's this little window of time that things could have been fixed, and instead, here's what it says in Second Samuel, chapter fifteen, verse one. After this this is you know, member David briting back gave him a half hearted kiss, yep. Or at least after this, Absolull, So did Absolom? I think it didn't make things better? After this, Absolom bought a chariot and horses, and he hired fifty bodyguards to run ahead of him. He got up early every morning and went out to the gate of the city. When people brought a case to the king for judgment, Absolom would ask where in Israel they were from, and they would tell him their tribe. Then Abslom would say, you've really got a strong case here. It's too bad the king doesn't have anyone to hear it. I wish I were the judge. Then everyone could bring their cases to me for judgment. I could give him justice. When people tried to bow before him, Absolom wouldn't let them. Instead, he took them by the hand and kissed them. Absolom did this with everyone who came to the king for judgment, and so he stole the hearts of all the people of Israel. After four years, Absolom said to the King, let me go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice to the Lord and fulfill a vow I made to him, For while your servant was at Geesher and Aram, I promised the sacrifice to the Lord in Hebron. If you bring me back to Jerusalem, all right, The King told him, go and fulfill your vow. So Absolom went to Hebron. But while he was there he sent secret messengers to all the tribes of Israel to stir up a rebellion against the king. As soon as you hear the rams horn, his message said, you are to say Absalom has been crowned king in Hebron. He took two hundred men from Jerusalem with him as guests, but they knew nothing of his intentions. While Absolom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for a Hithafel, one of David's counselors who lived in Guilo. Soon many others joined Absalom, and the conspiracy gained momentum. So we're really not we're not reading the actual incidents. Well, there's more coming, but this is where he rises up. You want me to keep going. There's a part of me that really wants to. There's a lot more verses for the story. Though, Yeah, there's a bunch of it. Maybe that's the reason why we're gonna save that for a whole episode. Yeah, the way you and I tell the story, we can get it done in twenty five minutes. But the way that it's written here is there's a lot of writing about this. Yeah, right, look at a couple of songs David wrote during this time too. There's a lot of stuff we'll cover here. Yeah. So, so there's a note in the Life Application Study Bible, and it says about diverse number two. It says the city gate was like was like city Hall and the shopping center combined. Because Jerusalem was the nation's capital, both local and national leaders met there daily to transact business and conduct government affairs. The city gate was the perfect spot for this because the government and business transaction needed witnesses to legitimate, and any to be legitimate, and anyone entering or leading the city had to enter through the gates. Merchants set up their tent shops near the gate for the same reason. So Absolently therefore went to the city gate to win the hearts of Israel's leaders as well as those of the common people. So that gives us a little insight. That's kind of a cool picture, because after all, you wonder, like, how, you know, where would he where would he pop esture himself to gain that much influence in here that you know that many cases and and but so the city gates makes sense. So you think about the patients that Absolom has already demonstrated by waiting two years to take revenge on eminen, so we know that he's a cunning, patient person. And then two years for his dad to bring him home. Yeah, two years for dad to bring him home. And then wasn't it two? Was it two or three? No? It was two. There's two, and then it says four years. Four years. He did this for four years. So he actually decided to, uh, you know, wait for the right time. In other words, he has is a lot of cunningness and a very good sense of when is the right time to pull off a plan? Apparently right, So he's decided like, hey, how how long until I feel like if we pulled off this plan people would back him? And so I mean for years trying to show compassion, win the hearts of people, and then basically turn everybody's heard against his father. Right man, that is how cool are you? For one? Yeah, you have your own release. He goes and buys like a Corvette chariot. Right, and with the five pounds hair. Fifty bodyguards out in front of him. Fifty dude, that's the size to get fifty people. That's twenty five people running side by side, right, twenty five lines side by side out in front. Is that in his chariot? Would have been like the size of a school bus. Yeah, cruising through on those narrow streets, right, we think of boy, a school bus would make a big production driving down the road if you had it all fixed up, you know, something that that big and that long on our roads which are wide and big, but there inside of a walled city, right, everybody would have had to get off the street. Which in order for this and order for this procession, he literally hired himself a parade every single day. And here's which begs the question, how could David still not know what's going on with Absolom? Well, because at this point now David's living like a king. But this is what you do if the opulence, the fanciness, he's he's kind of walked away from the every guy thing now, right. The fact that he thought that bringing Apselom back and just give him a fancy house next to Joe Apps was going to be enough meant that David's thought David's priorities had shifted. Yeah, right right, I'm going to show my love through your stuff, through status and stuff. Yeah. And so the fact that Appslom already has long hair, he's a little bit of a peacock anyways, looking at you, just by himself a Lamborghini. So on my way here today to the studio, this guy came ripping out of a parking lot right next to me. And you know, I drive a pickup truck, so it's pretty big. But this guy comes flying out a parking lot in a Lamborghini blue Lamborghini Wow. And so I'm trying not to make eye contact, but I can't quite looking at it, and it's like, and he's trying to get around me. He's trying to get around the cars around us. But you know where we're at, where we live on Hall Road, him fifty nine is a very busy road, so there's a lot of traffic and all that kind of stuff. But everybody was looking at him. Everybody was looking. Every car around me, everybody was looking at him. And I just was struck by the fact that this guy's peacocking and frustrated that because he's a peacock, everybody's looking, which makes everybody drive slower, which is frustrating him because he wants to get around them, right right, right, everybody's driving slower because they were looking at his car. But you know, I don't know his story. I'm guessing he's pretty rich. His car costs much of my house, right, right, so I'm guessing he's pretty rich. This is what people would have done. It's everybode went wow. Nobody was mad at this guy. Everybody was looking at his Lamborghini. Wow, how cool is he? I wonder what he does for a living? Right, that's what you start doing. Man. I wish I was him, and so Abslom did it, and his dad goes hah. Abslom is a peacock. Look at his long hair. Look at his fancy chariot. He's got these fifty guys out in front of him. But whatever, Hey, as long as he's staying out of my hair, as long as he's not causing me trouble, and then it's not unreasonable. The city gates were also the marketplace. This is where you'd go shopping. This is where you go hang out, This is where all the action was. You've been in the Middle East before, where there's where there's gates and stuff, right, So so many times, I've been in so many places where it's where everything happens. There's somebody cooking some food, a few different little restaurants, there's people selling trinkets. There's you can buy shoes and clothes and soccer balls, and then there's people standing around. Clearly the old man are doing business. That's what's happening. So it's not unreasonable that he would go there. Because David now is doing all his business in the palace. He's not down with the people. But it's not unreasonable that. You know, if you have a fancy car, you're going to drive it where people can see it. And that's what Absom does. The whole thing made sense to David because he wasn't paying attention. Yeah, and so think about how cunning he is. It says that he refused to anybody bow to him and and he oh he oh, I just I think you have such a good case. And he said he did this with all the people. Tribe you from? Right? What tribe you from? Yeah, he's developing constituencies right right, Oh, that's a good tribe. One of my favorite tell me about how are your daughters doing? Yeah? Yeah, what do I tribe you from? Wow? How's How's how's a little billy man? I wish I wish my dad cared about you as much as I do. I just wish there's something I could do about that. Yes, that's what he's doing. And so listen again. I said this a couple of podcasts ago, and I said, I was impressed with the patience of Absolom, you know, exacting his revenge, which is a terrible thing, but like, I just have to admire somebody who, like holy Cow, he wants to overthrow his dad, and he puts a plan in motion and took four years to cultivate that plan. Give it up for this guy. If he had used those so he's outrageously talented and incredibly intelligent. He's very savvy. If again, his dad had taken him on a similar journey of personal development and walking with God, those talents and those skills would have taken Israel way beyond where David could take it. That's right, because he's standing on the shoulders of a great man. But instead he's using his gifts for himself. And so often that's what we do, is we use our gifts for ourselves instead of for God in God's plan. And so here you go, David is kind of asleep at the wheel. He's left his everyman personality and his everyman persona. I guess where before he was one of the people. He was a champion of the people. You know, he was a warrior for the people. He was setting the people free. Now all the enemies are vanquished. He has hardly any enemies. He's at peace now. And so now he's pulled everything into the palace. He's not out among the people. He's not really paying attention, and he's kind of asleep at the wheel, just indulging and enjoying his life. And his son is running this secret thing behind him, and David just doesn't see it coming. And so this train wreck is going to get worse and worse and worse. Yeah. So another good sermon that can come out of here is that, you know, Absolom obviously has charisma, he obviously has you know, personality, he's very cunning. He has WO you know, WU is right, winning others over. He has that ability. I know people who have WU do you Yeah? Yeah, really, Son of a Gun. It's number five out of my top five. So it's not number one, but I. Oh, it's incredible. What incredible gift the idea. So somebody who will winning others over in strengths finders. If you don't know that people with that gift which Chris has. Man, they can walk through a crowd and touch one hundred and fifty people and everybody feels like a million bucks and just Chris, I want more, tell me more, I want to know you better. And they just tend to love being with people so much, and everybody feels like they love being with them, right, And so there's a great gift in that. So on the good side, the way you use it and the way that you express that, I think is brilliant. The other side of it, there's always a dangerous side of every talent and for Absolum, he used it the wrong way. Yeah. And strengths finders it says that every strength is either going to be a balcony, which is the top of it, or a basement right right, right right. And so the balcony is you help connect people and make people feel really solid and they want to hear more of the message, they want to engage more, they want to be connected, and they feel connected and loved. The balcony or the basement end of it is it's manipulative to pull people in for your own bidding and your own doings, right right, And that's what Absolom did, yeah. Right, And sometimes the downside of having WU is this is the way they explain it in the book. By the way, they said, the guy can walk around the party and he can meet everybody, can meet all one hundred people at the party and be like, hey, what's up, and then he'll go back to the same person and meet the same person again with out realizing it's that person. Right, that's the danger. So anyway, here's what I was going to say, is that it teaches us that you shouldn't choose your leader based on what you feel about their personality. Right, it's like, oh, they're so sweet though, Yeah, that's a nice one. That's a nice one. There's so they're so kindly smile, right. They told me everything I wanted to hear. Yeah, he told a story about a puppy, right, and it's like, oh, I'm going to be. To give me what I need. He's offering to give me justice in my town. Yes, And it's like, guess what, let's not choose our leaders by those kinds of things. We're going to choose our leader. Yeah, those things do matter. I mean, you know, charisma does matter, Personality matters, character matters. Those are observed through this that. With regard to governing, only with regard to bringing people along with you. Yes, yeah, that's that's so if you want to execuate person to govern, you need to look at their policies, right, that's exactly right. Now, so he ought no substance, right, he brought fluff and sugar. He literally brought cotton candy to the people. He went, let's vote for him. Look at his hair, look at his look at his Corvette chariot. And this guy's impressed. And he asked me about Billy, Yes, and he and he loves me. Yeah, you wants your vote, right, that's exactly right. Yeah, so a lot of people vote for cotton candy instead of real substance, no meat. Yeah, And so that's that's that's what happens here. It's how he pulls pulls off this coup. Yeah yeah. And the cow is about to come and so okay, that looks like it's our time, and so we can't wait to get into the big story of what happens. And hopefully we'll see you there next time on the Bible. Guys,