Pondering Proverbs - Leadership (9)

 

 

“Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and he who speaks right is loved.” Proverbs 16:13.

 

I have a friend whose name is Alethea; Alethea means “truth” in Greek. I wonder what it is like to live with a name like that – is it a blessing or a burden? With my friend, since she knows our Lord Jesus, I trust it is a blessing – I trust that it is a reminder of who our Lord Jesus is and who she is in Him. I trust that it is a reminder of her calling in Christ – to allow the Truth to live within her and through her, to be the Truth in Christ to others.

 

In Ephesians 4:15 Paul writes that a characteristic and dynamic of the Body of Christ is that we ought to be “speaking the truth in love” to one another. Then in Ephesians 4:25 he again writes, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.”

 

What hope do we have that we’ll speak the truth to the world, to those who don’t know Jesus, if we will not speak the truth within the Body of Christ – within that Body to whom we are organically joined? If our destiny is that transparent City of Light (Rev. chapters 21 – 22), ought we not to live in that City today?

 

Whether in the professing church, or in the world, how often do we see those in authority value righteous lips – lips that tell the truth and that are validated with lives that live the truth? How often do those in authority demonstrate their approval toward those who are truthful?

 

Men and women who tell the truth are not likely to last long in our vicious society – they will be devoured by one or more factions. And here is a principle that is true from generation to generation, those who tell the truth must be willing to lose for the truth – after all, the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life was crucified – are we better than He is?

 

How many people would invest in a firm that promised to always tell the truth?

 

How many boards of directors would stand by a CEO who promised to always tell the truth?

 

How many religious institutions would still be with us today if their hierarchies and leadership were transparent and truthful and accountable?

 

And for citizens of the United Sates, do we really care more about the truth than about seeing this side or that side winning the next election?

 

Are righteous lips really the delight of kings? Do those in authority really love men and women who speak right things?

 

Well, we know that righteous lips are the delight of our Lord Jesus – and He is the One who should matter to us, for our lives are in His hands. We know that Jesus loves those who obey Him (John 14:23 – 24; 15:10 -11).

 

I was once with a firm who had a very difficult client, we’ll call him Hector. Hector was not only wealthy, his family produced products that are household names around the world – which is to say that he was accustomed to not only wealth, but also power – to getting his own way one way or another. Because Hector was so demanding, his was a difficult account to service – he was detailed oriented and never forgot anything anyone said to him or wrote to him, he had an amazing mind and a driving will, he was exceptionally aggressive.

 

A time came when his account manager with our firm could no longer work with him, he was too much for the manager to work with – I can’t say whether he was unreasonable or not because I wasn’t close to the situation at that time, but I can say that he had high expectations and that he was not about to coddle anyone. I can also say that the account was not performing well financially, which means that there was high pressure to perform. (Isn’t there always pressure to perform?)

 

Our firm’s regional director asked someone else to service the account, we’ll call him Frank. Because I was close to Frank, I had a front row seat at what transpired with Hector and Frank, I also participated in meetings between the two men.

 

The pressure continued, Hector’s personality and approach didn’t change – he was unrelenting. However, Frank and Hector not only had a good relationship, the account stabilized and began to turn around, meeting the goals of Hector and his family. This was one of the most amazing turnarounds I witnessed in all my years in the property management industry. The reasons for this were many, including new local leadership which Frank recruited and encouraged, but the reason I’m telling this story is because of something Hector said about Frank, which I think was the foundation of their relationship and of Hector’s trust in Frank – without which there would have been no turnaround, without which the firm would likely have lost this important account.

 

One day I was in a meeting with Hector, Frank, our regional director, the president of our firm, and a few others. At one point Hector looked across the conference room table at our president and said, “Frank will always tell me the truth. If I ask him something that he doesn’t know, he will tell me that he doesn’t know and then he will find the answer. He will never make things up. He will always tell me the truth.”

 

At that moment I realized the key to Frank’s success with Hector, it was based on Frank telling the truth. Now obviously Frank had to perform, he had to provide Hector with sound advice, he had to manage the assets of Hector’s family in a responsible fashion, he had to make good decisions – but all of this had to be based on the truth. Frank had to tell Hector the good news and the bad news, the potential dangers as well as the upsides, Frank had to warn as well as encourage. Telling the truth carried with it always doing the right thing and saying the right thing – legally, ethically, and morally – Frank had to be this way with Hector, with Hector’s customers, with Hector’s employees, with government agencies…it had to be Frank’s way of life.

 

Looking back, I imagine that because of Hector’s experience in business and politics, that because of his wealth, that he knew that people often told him what they thought he wanted to hear rather than the truth, that others often caved into his strong personality and let him intimidate them, Hector was used to getting his way. On the other hand, Hector valued the truth even when it was not good news, he wanted to know facts so he could base decisions on them – and he respected Frank because Frank told him the truth.

 

Hector was a king who valued “righteous lips,” and while I don’t know that Hector loved Frank in the sense of Proverbs 16:13, he obviously appreciated him and honored him, giving him honor before our firm’s executives and within Hector’s own family.

 

I should also tell you that Frank’s life was rooted in Jesus Christ – the Way, the Truth, and the Life. For Frank, to tell Hector a lie would be to deny Jesus Christ. For Frank, telling Hector the truth, always the truth, was serving Christ and testifying to Christ.

 

When I read of the false accusation against Joseph by Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39, I believe the reason Potiphar had Joseph jailed rather than executed is because he knew that Jospeh was telling the truth and that his own wife was lying to him. Like Hector, Potiphar was a man in power and authority, like Hector, Potiphar knew the difference between truthtellers and liars, and Potiphar knew that Jospeh was a truthteller and that his own wife was a liar.

 

When professing Christians lie, we drink the up of Satan, we imbibe evil and wickedness, for God is light and in Him is no darkness at all, and Satan is the father of lies (1 Cor. 10:21; 2 Cor. 6:14 – 7:1; 1 John 1:5; John 8:44).

 

When we endorse liars we become partakers with them of their demonic activity, drinking with them of the devil’s cup.

 

The very idea that professing Christians should worship idols of lesser evils than those of perceived greater evils is akin to teaching that it is better that spouses should commit adultery with one or two or three other people rather than with twenty or thirty people – adultery is adultery.

 

John wrote, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.” (1 Jn. 2:21).

 

Could he write this to us today? Do we understand that “no lie is of the truth”?

 

John also wrote, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” (1 John 5:19). When the Holy Spirit writes, “the whole world,” does He really mean “the whole world”? (See also 1 John 2:15 – 17).

 

John concludes his first letter with, “Little children, guard yourself from idols.” (1 John 5:21).

 

Idols are served by lies…in religion, in business, in politics, in education, in some branches of purported “science” – especially what passes for social science, in sports, everywhere.

 

Jesus Christ is served by the truth, always served and worshiped by and in the truth (John 4:23 – 24; 8:12).

 

Are our lips the delight of the one king who truly matters, our Lord Jesus Christ?