Not so with you

Have you read a good book on management lately? They all say the General George S. Patton, Juniors, of the corporate world are dinosaurs not about to be cloned anytime soon.

Have you read Luke-Acts lately? They say there's no room for four-star generals in the kingdom of heaven either, only servants.

The despot role model was readily available in Jesus' day. Examples abounded. The Romans had Tiberius, who used his power of capital punishment so routinely that Suetonius records this contemporary satire (Life of Tiberius, 59):

    He does not thirst for neat wine
    As he was thirsty then,
    But warms him up a tastier cup:
    The blood of murdered men.

The Jews also had these kinds of leaders; look at Annas and Caiaphas. But Jesus says, "Not so with you," and proceeds to paint a radically different portrait of leadership, based on servanthood, with the greatest being "servant of all." Jesus then offers himself as the premier example of this kind of leadership: "I am among you as One who serves" (Luke 22:27).

The apostles got the message. Time and again they chose participatory leadership when critical decisions had to be made (see Acts 6:2-6; 8:4; 15:6, 22). Result? As new leadership developed, the church flourished (see Acts 6:7; 8:4; 9:31; 15:31).

Whatever is your sphere of leadership--elder, deacon, preacher, teacher, husband, wife, older child--demonstrate the beauty and utility of Christ's servant-leader model. It belongs to Calvary Road just as much as on Main Street.

—Steve Singleton
DeeperStudy.com

Want to go deeper?

The Greek nouns doulos ("slave, bondservant"), douleia ("slavery"), and the related verb douloō "enslave, make a slave" passive: "be a slave, be bound") are quite common in the New Testament.

Of the 126 times doulos appears, many literally refer to slaves, as in Mark 14:47 and many of Jesus' parables. Jesus calls his disciples "slaves" (e.g., John 13:16; 15:20), probably summoning up the Old Covenant tradition of calling a prophet obed adonai (slave of the LORD, e.g., Josh. 12:6; cf. 2 Kings 17:13, 23).

In calling His disciples to humble themselves, Jesus announced, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all" (Mark 10:43-44).

Although Paul occasionally identified himself as an apostle, he also employed the self-designation of doulos of Christ Jesus (e.g., Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1), and referred to others as co-slaves (e.g., Col. 1:7; 4:7). He did not regard this as an honorary title, for he speaks of all Christians as not belonging to themselves, having been "bought at a price" (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

greenleaf_servantRecommended to purchase:

Robert K. Greenleaf. Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness (2002).

Servant Leadership is a classic work on leadership for business men and women, government leaders and all persons in positions of authority. The phrase Servant leadership was coined by the author and refers to a practical philosophy that replaces traditional autocratic leadership with a holistic, ethical approach.

Recommended for online reading:

James M. Wilson. "Mutual Service," sermon 17 (218-226) in his Some Contributions to the Religious Thought of Our Time (1888).