Day Eleven: Servant-Leadership, Part One: Christ’s Example

^“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”  John 13:3-5

Hey all! Now, we are going to look at the relationship between servanthood and leadership, particularly as it was modeled in life of Jesus.

Western culture’s understanding of leadership has been greatly influenced by its pluralistic and democratic roots. Leaders are to hear and respect all viewpoints and lead by the consent of the followers. If followers are displeased with the leader’s practice, they find a way to get a new leader through pressure, elections, unions, or just plain quitting. Because followers have so much power in our western understanding of leadership, leaders have to go out of their way to please their followers.

At some point in leadership’s quest to make everyone happy, the term servant-leadership jumped from the church vernacular to strategic leadership language. However, like people pleasing, most understandings of servant-leadership are not about serving, but about keeping the followers happy, so you can lead. It is the appearance of godliness, but lacking the power thereof.

When Jesus introduced the concept of servant-leadership to his disciples, they had a very different understanding of leadership. Leadership was a top-down system with all the power resting in the hands of the governor, not the governed. A leader could by right do whatever he wanted with and to his followers.

Jesus modeled a completely different concept of leadership.  As God and Lord, Jesus had more than ample right to sit back and give orders. But he chose to serve. At the last supper, Jesus gave the ultimate demonstrate of what he expected from leaders among his disciples.

            When Jesus was here, one of his greatest acts of service was to wash the disciples’ feet as we all know.  John 13 starts by explaining that Christ knew exactly who he was, and that all things were under him, “so he took a towel…” So? So! So means the natural conclusion of the matter, so means that what has been said already makes what is about to be said true. So! Jesus is God and Lord of all, so He serves.

Shouldn’t it be “despite” or “even though” something that would tell us these two don’t belong together? But it isn’t. It’s “so.” It is because Jesus is so great that Jesus serves, not in spite of it. In God’s reality, service is that natural expression of greatness. There is no contradiction between the two. C.S. Lewis said that, “the higher something is, the lower it can go,” meaning that only the greatest could rescue the least, and only the most holy could save the most deprived. Because of Jesus’ never ending knowledge and power, because of His holiness and unimaginable love, because He is the Great I Am, the One who simply is, He served man.

“Whoever wants to be greatest among you must be your servant” implies true service with nothing in return. Servant-leadership as a means to an end has become very popular. People do it for all kinds of reason: get to feel good about themselves, look better than everyone else, the job done faster. The question is if you were guaranteed that none of those would happen would we still do it?

Christ was our ultimate example, and he had “no reputation,” “set aside his glory,” “became obedient,” and “was despised and rejected by man.” Servant-leadership was not meant to be easy; it was meant to be service. Pure, un-expectant slavery to a cause that every ounce of human wisdom says is totally insane.