Servant Leadership

A great deal has been written about the subject of “servant leadership.”  Jesus said that His followers will not pattern themselves after the world’s forms of leadership, which too often involve domineering and the reliance on compulsion to get their way.  Dictators rise to power because the world respects their ability to get things done, without questioning the leader’s methods.  Successful executives climb the corporate ladder, they say, on the backs of others, and are applauded for their effectiveness.

In these verses, Jesus describes servant discipleship – not only in matters of leadership but every way in which we follow Christ, including taking time for children in His name.  It’s true that these words shape Christian leadership, but we can also rejoice that they shape Christian parenting, Christian education, Christian fellowship, Christian charity, Christian worship and every other facet of following Christ.

We need this gentle instruction from our Lord and Master.  Christ’s Twelve were not unusual when they speculated about greatness.  Being great, being first, is the dream of every human heart.  You see it in the struggles in marriage.  It rears its ugly head among school children.  Church workers far too often resemble the Twelve too.  Whether our positions require us to lead or to follow, our Master wants us to serve.  What is a great disciple?  One who serves.

How can it be otherwise?  Jesus came as “One who serves” (Luke 22:27).  He served us by taking our place on the cross.  What could be more humbling for the eternal Son of glory than to be unjustly wronged, and suffer for sins He didn’t commit?  He who is our Leader and Master before everything else is also our Savior who served our need.


The joy of serving Jesus is the freedom you gain when you drop your own agenda and pay attention to His.  The neighbor who uses his rent money for drugs and asks for a Christian’s help doesn’t get an automatic handout nor a cold refusal.  What serves Jesus?  How can we serve our neighbor for his eternal good, not just for the coming month?  Serving is not easy.  Servants are often blamed, misunderstood.  But a true servant is diligent about serving his master.  Our Master took “foolish” children in His arms and asks us to serve Him by serving them.  Children of God, what is your Lord’s agenda for you?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Justified in Jesus

Image
Matthew 27:27–31 27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. 29 They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, knelt in front of him, and mocked him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spit on him, took the staff, and hit him repeatedly on his head. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. 1) Jesus on cross picture. We are still in the five hundredth anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. With the Reformation, the Lord of the Church allowed His truth to be retold through the writings of Martin Luther. But, God also used artists to visually portray this gospel to the minds of His people. If we wanted to “picture” the Reformation in our mind’s eye, there is no better “picture” than The Weimar Altarpiece . In thi
Read more

Water into blood and water into wine

Image
Here are some thoughts that didn’t make it into Sunday’s sermon. The Old Testament lesson for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany is the account of Moses turning the water of the Nile River into blood. The first of the ten plagues God used to get the Israelites out of Egypt. Exodus 7:14-24 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. 16 Then say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. 17 This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not
Read more

Jesus has prepared a place for you - A funeral sermon for Jim Hermann

Image
John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.  2  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.  4  You know the way to the place where I am going.” “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Did you catch the difference between what I read just now and what I read in the Gospel lesson? The Gospel lesson was from the NIV. The second verse I read was from the King James Version. If you’re older than 50, that’s the version of the Bible that you heard in church and learned in catechism class. But, even if you’re older younger than 50, you know about the mansions. “The mansions of heaven” is a term Christians use pretty often. Preachers say it, poets write it, people
Read more