THE LEADER BECOMES INSENSITIVE TO OTHER PEOPLE.
The guy who is a model for this is a guy named Rehoboam. Rehoboam had such a poor understanding of people. He was a real klutz. He was Solomon's son. He was so unsympathetic. He only thought of himself. When he became king, he brought some advisers in and said, "What do you think I ought to do?" and the old men said, "Love the people, serve the people, honor the people. Put the people's interests ahead of your own and they will honor you." Then some other punks came along and said, "No. Be hard on them. Say you thought my father was hard? I'm going to be twice as hard. You watch what I'm going to do. We're going to raise the taxes, make it tougher. You're going to serve me." (How to win friends and influence people ?!?) In 1 Kings 12:4-11 is the whole story. Rehoboam said, “They said to Rehoboam, `If you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.' But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him. v. 17 They all deserted him except for the tribe of Judah." That's where the kingdom, which had been united under David and under Solomon, split. It split because the leader was insensitive to the people. And the tribes split. Deserted him.
Proverbs 28:13 "A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful but if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance." If you've hurt people in your ministry, if you've bruised people by being insensitive to them, you need to go to them and confess it.
What's the antidote to becoming insensitive to people in your ministry? The antidote is never stop listening to others. Learn to listen to people. Encourage the people in your ministry and the people you're serving to talk to you. Let them tell you about your problems and their troubles and their fears and their aspirations and their dreams and their hurts and the things that are personal to them. Stay open and look for other perspectives in your ministry. Don't just try to see it your way. Be sensitive to people.
"Get all the advice you can and you will succeed. Without it you will fail." If you want to succeed, you're going to need advice. "Pay attention to what you're taught and you'll be successful." "Get good advice and you will succeed. Don't go charging into battle without a plan."
When you contrast Rehoboam with David (2 Samuel 9:1) after all of David's victories he didn't just say, "I'm just going to seat back and let everybody serve me." He said, "Is there anybody still left in the house of Saul that I could show kindness to for Jonathan's sake?" and he found a young man by the name of Mephibosheth, a relative, and said, let me show kindness to this guy – the exact opposite of his grandson – showing sensitivity to people. This verse might be a good way to start. James 1:19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
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