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Sermon preached on 1 Kings 4:20-34, 11:1-13 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 09/07/2025 in Petaluma, CA.
Sermon Manuscript
Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
Today I want to speak about fallen leaders. We’ve recently seen more well-known Christian pastors who have fallen in great sin, sin that disqualifies them from office and usually involves great injury on others. It certainly affects the church-at-large in many ways. I don’t even want to say examples by name because it is so heartbreaking. It would seem prudent to think about this topic and consider what insight’s God’s Word would have for us. I thought the life and ministry of King Solomon would be a helpful case study to begin to direct our reflection on this topic. I will have us first consider the glorious leadership of Solomon and then secondly his sad fall. Lastly, I’ll have us reflect on how to respond when a leader falls.
Let’s begin then with the glorious leadership of Solomon. King Solomon was son of the great King David who himself is an example of a godly leader who had a great moral failing. God had established a mighty kingdom through David and gave David a covenant promise that the Messiah would come from his descendants. This promised Messiah would be a majestic king over a glorious, everlasting kingdom. David’s son Solomon then succeeds him to reign over this kingdom. At first, people may have thought Solomon was the fulfillment of that Davidic covenant because for a long time he majestically presided over a glorious kingdom.
We see this glory in many ways. In 1 Kings 4:29, it spoke of how during Solomon’s day the Israelites were as many as the sand of the sea and that Solomon’s reign extended all the way to the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines to the border of Egypt. In other word’s God’s promise to the patriarchs of a people and a place seem to be fully realized in Solomon’s kingdom. Solomon enjoyed widespread peace and the nations brought tribute to Solomon and served him. Solomon also built the temple in Jerusalem, firmly fixing Mt. Zion as the place where God’s name and presence was among his people. He dedicated the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles which was a feast about God settling the people into the Promised Land. The temple dedication was the final piece of Israel being fully settled into the Land. Thus, Solomon’s reign presided over the culmination of God’s promises to settle the people as a holy nation in the Promised Land. For all the old covenant history, this was arguably the closest thing to a golden age they would ever have.
Solomon himself seemed to be a model king. His rule began with the humility to request from God wisdom instead of riches. God responded by giving him both. He was exceedingly wealthy, lacking nothing. But more importantly, Solomon was endowed with wisdom beyond measure, 4:29. He wrote some 3,000 proverbs. He also wrote more than a 1,000 songs. He showed himself to be like a second Adam in 4:34 when it remarks of all his knowledge of trees and animals, remembering how Adam named all the creatures in his exercise of dominion. His kingdom held international honor, with people of all nations coming to him to experience his wisdom, 4:34. His spiritual leadership was seen in his prayer to dedicate the temple, rightly discerning that God’s glory was bigger than any mere earthly temple could contain.
Think of how good this would have been if you were an Israelite in those days. The kingdom was glorious. Your king was glorious. In chapter 10, the Queen of Sheba visits Solomon and makes this point. She exclaims how happy and blessed Solomon’s people must be, because of his wisdom and the justice and righteousness he executes for the people. Yet, this does make things all the more difficult when a cherished leader then fails you. If that leader had brought much blessing and great fruit, how difficult their fall would be to you. Maybe you have felt that when a cherished leader that you looked up to has fallen.
So then, before Solomon’s fall, he must have looked like the answer to all God’s promises. God had promised to Adam in Genesis 3 to raise up a redeemer for humanity. God later promised a people and a place to Abraham. God later promised to David an everlasting king from his line to reign over a glorious kingdom. Surely, many might have thought for a time that Solomon was the one everyone had been waiting for.
But sadly, chapter 11 shows that he was not, which leads us now to our second point to consider Solomon’s fall. Deuteronomy 17 provides important background for Solomon’s reign. There it describes the things that any future king of Israel must make sure to not do. The list includes several specific things that Solomon went on to do. Deuteronomy 17 says that a king must not acquire many horses, but 4:26 states how great of a number he acquired. Deuteronomy 17 also says he must not acquire excessive silver and gold but he did that too. Deuteronomy 17 also says he must not exalt himself above the other Israelites, but according to chapter 12, Solomon had laid a heavy burden of hard service upon the people, essentially treating them as if they were his slaves. Of particular note for chapter 11, Deuteronomy 17 says the king must not acquire many wives lest they turn his heart away. That is exactly what we see here happening in verse 17. Sadly, not only does he have many wives, but they are foreign wives, meaning they were pagan unbelievers. These wives worshipped false gods and they got Solomon to worship their false gods.
The text describes this in 11:4 when it says that Solomon turned away his heart after other gods. This is a first commandment violation because he has other gods before the real God. Then 11:4 goes on to say that Solomon’s heart was not wholly true to the LORD. That describes this as a violation of that greatest command to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is terribly sad, in general, that any Israelite would go astray like this. But this is a king of Israel, and not just any king, but a king of grand renown and prominence. It had seemed like Israel had never had a better king, yet what a terrible fall. The prominence of a leader surely increases the shame this brings to God’s people. Today, when some nationally known pastor has a major failing, the effects are widespread, not only on how many Christians are affected by it, but it is more likely for the world to malign the church because of it.
Now there is hope that Solomon ultimately repented. He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes and that seems to describe a later in life recognition of his sin and a turning back to God. But even if he did repent, there were serious ramifications that came from his fall. Starting in 11:9, we see God’s anger toward Solomon for his unfaithfulness, despite how much God had blessed him. God declared that the kingdom of Israel would divide after him, with most of it being torn away from the house of David. Then, immediately after that, starting in verse 14, the LORD raised up adversaries against Solomon. Solomon’s kingdom had known such peace and blessing, but now would know conflict and trouble, and it would be Solomon’s failing as a leader to blame. This chastening of Solomon would culminate after his death when the kingdom was ripped away from his son, led by a rebel named Jeroboam. Israel became split in a sort of civil war, dividing north and south, and they were both weaker because of it. So then, God’s chastening of Solomon would bring trouble on the whole church as a side effect. When a church leader falters today, it surely is going to bring trouble on the church too.
With this brief consideration of Solomon’s successes and failings, let us now turn to spend some time in application. Let us reflect on how to react and respond when leaders in the church today fail and fall. First, when a leader falls, we need to remember that our hope and trust must not be in any mere human leader. Our hope and trust must be in Jesus. Psalm 146:3 counsels us to not put our trust in princes in whom there is no salvation. All Bible leaders throughout history have shown that they have fallen short of being the long-awaited Messiah, except Jesus. Jesus finally arrived. He is the second Adam and the promised seed of David. In Jesus is salvation. Whenever a human leader falls, we need to remind ourselves that church leaders are at most under shepherds. But the Great Shepherd of the Sheep is Jesus. He will never fail you. Even, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself (2 Tim 2:13). Now before Jesus came, people were still waiting for the Messiah. It’s understandable why people would be looking at a leader and hoping he is the one, and how disappointing it would be when you realized he wasn’t. But now that Jesus is come, we don’t have to wonder or guess anymore. We have a clear human leader we can completely trust, the God-man Jesus. Indeed, he’s the only one we can put such trust into. I know this is saying something so very obvious, yet it is a real temptation for people to fall into a sort of hero worship where we elevate in our minds certain so-called “celebrity pastors”. The more we elevate them, the more exaggerated the risk should they fall. The remedy is to never elevate any leader but put your trust in Jesus. Jesus alone is the righteous one, no one else will be a perfect model. Jesus alone is our savior, your pastor doesn’t save you. The best pastor is one who points you to Christ alone.
A second reflection on a fallen leader is that we must not reject the church or the truth because of this. Sadly, that happened in Solomon’s history. When Jeroboam led that rebellion that split Israel, many people turned and put their hope in Jeroboam. Jeroboam led the people to declare, “What portion do we have in David? To your tents, O Israel!” But God had already given the Davidic Covenant that swore to raise up the Messiah from David’s lineage. After Jeroboam had them reject the house of David, he then had them reject Mt. Zion, requiring the people to worship golden calves at Bethel and Dan. But God had already put his name in Jerusalem at the temple as the right place of worship at that time. Because of a fallen leader, Israel foolishly rejected the house from which God promised to raise up Jesus and the temple at Zion where God met with his people. Let us not respond in a similar way when a leader fails the church. How many times we have heard someone say they have given up on organized religion, often because of the failure of clergy? Likewise, people can point to “abuse in the church” as a reason to reject church. Yet, abuse can happen anywhere, including in places like family where we should think it should be a safe space. That is not to excuse such evil, but to recognize it’s why we need Christ’s church, because human hearts are deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, Jeremiah 17:9. In Jesus’ wisdom, he ordains fallible human leaders to serve him, even with their weaknesses and the risk of major moral failing. But Jesus has said the gates of hades will not prevail against his church. So, we need to look beyond the human leader to Jesus and the means of grace they administer. Instead of rejecting the church when one leader falls, let us instead be recommitted to pray for the remaining church leaders to remain faithful.
That leads us to a third reflection about a fallen leader. When this happens, we need to pray. Pray that God would heal the hurt that fallen leader has caused. Pray that God would also heal the fallen leader, that he would confess his sin, that he would really understand the gravity of his sin, and mourn over it, and look to turn from it. I think of how Jesus prayed for Peter in Luke 22:32 that after his three-fold denial, that Peter would repent and be restored. Now, depending on the gravity of his sin, a fallen leader might never be a candidate for leadership again, but we should be still concerned for the salvation of his soul.
A fourth reflection about a fallen leader is that there needs to be church discipline. Now, if you aren’t a member of a church court, you won’t be the one deciding what that looks like. But when a leader falls in some significant way, the church needs to act in official discipline. Depending on the gravity sin, the leader at a minimum will be verbally censured by the church, as 1 Timothy 5:20 requires. The leader very well may also be either suspended or deposed from their ordained office. They might additionally face personal discipline where they are suspended or excommunicated from church membership. Church discipline in such cases brings glory to God when the church publicly declares evil as evil. That can begin to address some of the shame that the fallen leader has brought on the church in their sin. Such discipline also protects the flock from the leavening effect that sin can bring to the church. We need to support such discipline when it comes, knowing God has called the church to this.
A fifth response to a leader falling is to see how this promotes watchfulness. This will remind the other leaders of their call to watchfulness. In 1 Timothy 4:16, Paul tells Pastor Timothy he needs to, “Keep a close watch over himself.” In Acts 20:28, Paul tells the Ephesian elders they need to pay careful attention not only to the flock but to themselves. The elders of a local church need to especially watch out for each other to help them from falling into grievous sin. God surely is using this leader’s failings to awaken the other leaders to this important duty of spiritual watchfulness, starting with themselves. But this should also call every lay Christian to watchfulness. If a leader in the church can fall, then we should not assume we are immune to that. God calls us all to watch and pray and examine our souls. Galatian 6:1 speaks about this in the context of us catching someone else in a transgression. It says we should look to help them repent and seek to be restored. But it goes on to warn us to keep a watch on ourselves, lest we too fall into similar temptations.
A sixth response to a leader falling is to recognize that this doesn’t necessarily negate all the fruit of their past ministry. If you learned God’s Word from that leader, his later fall doesn’t nullify what you learned. I think of even the extreme example of how in Philippians 1, Paul spoke about people who were preaching from wrong motives. While he acknowledged that their motives were wrong, but he still was thankful that the Word of God was going forth. In other words, the ministry of the Word is about the Word not the minister. It’s not like they thought they needed to tear down the temple just because Solomon built it and then fell away. If you found that you grew spiritually under a leader who later fell, you don’t need to doubt your growth. God can work even through the failings of men. The fruit of ministry is not about the man but about how the Holy Spirit works through the means of grace to bless and build up those who by faith receive them.
As a seventh and final response to a fallen leader, let us consider how Romans 8:28 might be in effect. Romans 8:28 tells us that God is working all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes. That is true even when a church leader falls terribly. How might God be working all things together for good? Maybe this is God’s way of exposing a wolf among the sheep? Or maybe this is God’s way of getting the attention of a leader who has been struggling, so God can awaken their heart unto salvation. Maybe God is teaching you or others some important lessons through this trial. Maybe God is calling you or others to some action or service that is needed at that time. Maybe God will use this to bring about some needed change. Maybe God will use this for some ultimate evangelistic purpose. Likely God is doing many of these things all at once through this ordeal. But let us trust that God uses even such things to continue to work his good plans for us.
Trinity Presbyterian Church, in conclusion, may God strengthen our faith even through a leader’s failings. I will give three final encouragements to our faith to summarize and conclude our message. One, fallen leaders are why we need to behold afresh the only fully Faithful King, our Lord Jesus Christ. He will never fail us. Two, fallen leaders also remind us of God’s faithfulness to save us from our sins. In the past, fallen leader caused God’s people to yet look for the true coming Messiah. Now, fallen leaders remind us that our Messiah has already come. Jesus has come and he alone saves us from our sins. Three, fallen leaders point us to glory. Solomon’s golden age was not the ultimate golden age. His failing showed this. Every failing of a leader today reminds us that is still the case. But a day is coming, when that Faithful and Righteous King Jesus will return to usher us into a kingdom that will truly be golden. It will be an everlasting golden age and none us will ever falter and fail, unto eternity. Praise be to God!
Copyright © 2025 Rev. W. Reid Hankins, M.Div.
All Rights Reserved.
