Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, ‘I will be king.”
– 1 Kings 1:5 – 

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be added to you.
– Matthew 6:33 –

There is nothing wrong with seeking the kingdom of God, or in seeking a place in that kingdom. In fact, it is absolutely right. Yet, with every good intention, there is the possibility to go astray, to take something good and to seek it badly. And for this reason, it is not sufficient to seek the kingdom. We must seek the kingdom and his righteousness.

In other words, seeking God’s kingdom is not the whole command. We must seek God’s kingdom righteously, which is to say, we must seek to be righteous in God’s kingdom. And this is the point that I want to pursue here and in the next two blogposts.

Unfortunately, too many followers of Christ have seen ministers who have sought the kingdom without righteousness. Likewise, too many who are now serving the Lord can reflect on the ways (multiple ways?) we have pursued ministry for vain reasons or with wrong motivations.

For instance, I learned of pastor last fall whose church had served as a money laundering front for his financial dealings. Clearly, he was seeking a kingdom, but not the Lord’s. Yet, as he stood in the pulpit each week, his vain pursuits were not seen. It took years for his self-interest to come to light. As Paul writes to Timothy, “The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later” (1 Tim. 5:24).

So too, the fruit of ministry takes time to discover. Sometimes what looks like good fruit is not genuine. Similarly, for every ministry aspiration that is good, there are other aspirations that are corroded by pride, selfish ambition, and vain glory. As Paul David Tripp declared, ministry is A Dangerous Calling. How dangerous? So dangerous that three of the men who endorsed his book are no longer in ministry.

Accordingly, we should both be slow in seeking ministry (James 3:1). And we should be slow to affirm the ministries of others (1 Tim. 5:22). At the same time, we should be quick to learn from Scripture, what God says about seeking the ministry and a place of service in his kingdom. And to help us, I want to return to the book of 1 Kings and the story of Adonijah, the self-promoting son of David. For in him, and in comparison to Solomon, we can learn much about ministry.

Two Kinds of Kings

In 1 Kings 1–2, we are given two kings—Adonijah and Solomon. And more than that, we are given two types of kings. There is the type of king who crowns himself and there is the type of king who waits to be crowned. In other words, there is the type of king who sought the kingdom for himself unrighteously and the type of king who received the kingdom righteously—that is, he waited for the kingdom to be given to him.

Indeed, these two types of kings follow a pattern in Scripture. From the contrast in Genesis 14 between the King of Sodom (Bera) and the King of Salem (Melchizedek) to the contrast between Saul and David in 1 Samuel, there exists in the Old Testament a clear divide between two kinds of kings. On one hand, there is an unrighteous, self-serving king, the type described in 1 Samuel 8—a king who will take from the people all the wealth of the land and spend it on himself. And on the other hand, there is a generous, self-sacrificing king, the type who embodied the name Melchizedek—a ‘king of righteousness.’ Ultimately, righteous kings in Israel’s history would prepare the way for Jesus Christ, the only true Melchizedek. Yet, before his coming, and filling out an expectation of his messianic kingship, there is the story of Adonijah and Solomon.

And from this story, we can learn at least six lessons of true kingship and seeking a place of service in God’s kingdom. Here’s the list of lessons.

1. We should not seek positions in ministry; we should seek the righteousness to receive such a place of service. Instead, . . .
2. We should abide by the word, and wait for an invitation to serve.
3. If kings exalt themselves, their self-promotion serves as a warning.
4. Whenever false kings exalt themselves, we should seek the true King.
5. We should embrace obscurity and wait upon the Lord.
6. In waiting for the Lord we should serve in God’s house.

Today, I will offer the first two of these lessons. Next week, I will return with two other blogposts that outline the others.

Two Lessons on Kingdom Service

First, we should not seek positions in ministry; we should seek the righteousness to receive such a place of service

In 1 Kings 1:5 we hear the troubling report that “Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, ‘I will be king.” Now, I say this is a “troubling report,” only because of what the rest of the Bible says about his self-exaltation.

If you have spent any time reading the Bible, you quickly discover that Christ did not exalt himself, but took the form of a servant (Phil. 2:5–8). Accordingly, he is honored by his Father, refusing to grasping for the throne. Instead, he humbled himself to die on a cross, the lowest form of execution known to the Roman world.

Similarly, our Lord instructed his disciples that the greatest among them would be servants. When the twelve debated who was the greatest (Mark 10:37–42), some even asking to be seated at his right hand (v. 37), Jesus responded with this rebuke, which contrasted the kings of this earth with the heirs of God’s kingdom.

You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:42–45).

Jesus is true model of service, the perfectly humble man who would receive the right to sit on God’s throne, not because he exalted himself but because he humbled himself. Indeed, those who will sit with Christ in glory are those who humble themselves. This means that on earth they refuse to exalt themselves.

Yet, this is exactly what Adonijah did. When he saw his father about to die (1 Kgs. 1:1–4), he saw the glory of a vacant throne and he claimed it as his own. But in so doing, he proved that he was not qualified to be king. Instead, he proved the opposite. Only, many around him did not see it. But we should.

Proverbs 25:6–7 instruct us: “Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.” Applied today, this proverb warns against seeking a position of honor, leadership, or authority. Jesus himself made the same point in his parable about the kingdom (Luke 14:8–11). Accordingly, we learn that the path of Christ does not promote self. Instead, we wait, with eyes fixed on Christ, for the king to call us into service.

Too often, however, people see those speaking, writing, leading, or preaching, and they want that position. Yet, they do not know what it takes to be used of the Lord in that way and in a way that pleases God. Again, many are the conference speakers who have exalted themselves, and others think they can do the same. Yet, the story of Adonijah warns against that pursuit. And read in the context of the whole Bible, it teaches us to seek righteousness, not a position of leadership that will destroy you without requisite righteousness.

So, to repeat: we should not seek positions in ministry; we should seek the righteousness to receive such a place of service.

Second, we should abide by the word, and wait for an invitation to serve.

When Adonijah exalted himself to be king (1:5), he knew what he was doing. As the story unfolds, we learn that David, God’s anointed king, had declared Solomon, not Adonijah, to be the next ruler in Israel. In fact, the drama of the whole chapter turns on this question: Who will sit on the throne (“throne” is used in 1:13, 17, 20, 24, 26, 30, 35, 40)? Until Solomon receives the kingdom promised to him, the whole nation is upset. But important for us to see, this turmoil is caused by Adonijah taking advantage of his father’s feeble condition.

As the chapter begins (1:1–4), David is not well. He is soon to die. And so, Adonijah inserts himself into the spotlight, even though David had previously declared who would be king. As we learn in verse 13, when Bathsheba receives instructions from Nathan the Prophet, “Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then is Adonijah king?’”

The text makes it plain: David had given word for Solomon to be king. And this word was in keeping with the word of the Lord. Indeed, every true king, priest, and prophet in the Old Testament received their position; none of them asserted themselves. If you want to see what happens when priests assert themselves to stand at the altar, look at Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10). If you want to see what happens when a prophet claims the mantle of God without authorization, listen to the words of Jeremiah 23:31–32.

Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

And if you want to see what God does when a king usurps the throne, look at 1 Kings 1–2. Violating the Word of God, Adonijah stands against God himself, even as he claims to be God’s king. Yet, by the time these chapters are over, his demise is sealed. He broke God’s Word and invited God’s judgment, as the rest of the story tells (see 1 Kgs. 2:24–25).

Today, Christians can make the same mistake. Seeing an opportunity to advance themselves, they can insert themselves without receiving an invitation, or they can take up residence in a place of ministry without proper instruction. More troubling, this self-assertion is usually couched in terms of filling a genuine need or exercising a specific gift. In Adonijah’s case, he could claim a right to the throne, because he was David’s son. Yet, his claim melted in thin air, because it was authorized by his own words, not the word of God.

Indeed, Scripture is the governor for all genuine ministries today. There are objective standards for pastors who will serve. And there are character qualities (e.g., love, humility, obedience, etc.) that are needed for all members of God’s church. Self-willed ministry, even when coupled with great sincerity or skill, is not the same thing as waiting for the church to recognize a person’s calling.

In Acts, the apostles could go nowhere until they received the Spirit (see Acts 1–2). And specific missions, like that of Barnabas and Saul, they could not commence until the Spirit and the church commended them for service (see Acts 13:1–3). Today, spiritual entrepreneurs abound,  and when they are catechized by a culture that says ‘follow your heart,’ many think that a recognized need and a deep-seated desire to serve is sufficient authorization for service. Yet, if the Lord has given the keys to the kingdom and appointed elders in the church to lead the church, then self-appointment never has a place. Instead, eager disciples should abide in the Word of God and abide by the Word of God. They should wait on the Lord, obey the one another’s, and prayerfully wait for the Lord to recognize them through the means of the local church.

Yes, this means elders should be equipping the saints and encouraging saints to serve. But those saints must also learn to wait on the Lord, by waiting on the church. Too many have soured service in the church, because they have run ahead of God’s Word by running ahead of God’s church. One of the ways that God grows his saints is by making them wait. Moses waited 40 years in the wilderness. David wandered for years, waiting for Saul to die. And Paul too had to wait fourteen years between his conversion and first mission trip. One of the greatest ways God protects his servants from premature service and his church from unprepared servants is by making his people wait.

This is what Adonijah did not do. And it resulted in disaster—for him and for others. In reading his story, we are given a cautionary tale. And one that teaches us to abide by God’s Word and to wait for an invitation to serve.

Soli Deo Gloria, ds

Photo by Mike Bird on Pexels.com