Servant Leadership

Well, good morning again, brethren. On trumpets up in Kansas City, we were blessed to be able to enjoy the whole day, two services. And in the afternoon, I discussed the topic of ruling with a rod of iron. That's what Christ is going to have to do initially as he intervenes in world affairs and gets everyone's attention. Yet, we also see that Jesus, in the way that he rules, the way that he is concerned about people, the description is gently leading his flock. And he not only does that today in the church as the head of the church, he is the Good Shepherd, and he is available, and he is nurturing us. But he's going to lead that way throughout the entirety of the millennium. He's got a good appointee to serve in that way over all of Israel, named David. David knows a little something about being a shepherd. And of course, all of us need to learn. We read Isaiah 40 here, and I'll read that here to begin with today. Isaiah 40, verse 10, it says, The Lord God comes with might, his arm rules for him, His rewarders with him, his recompense before him, he, in verse 11, will feed his flock. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. See, that kind of description of the feeding, the care of, the lovingly gathering the little ones, carrying them close to him and gently leading them is an important understanding that God wants all of us to be having, to be growing in, and to be using as a part of our way of life, as a part of the preparation that we're in to serve under Christ in the world that's coming. You know, it's long been taught in the Church of God as a way of life. Now, I say that because all of us are familiar with the example of Jesus in John 13. You know, every Passover we rehearse the foot-washing service that Jesus went through with his disciples. And maybe we should go to that here in John 13 to simply be reminded as he washed his disciples' feet, he then, verse 12, had put his robe on and returned to you. You know what I've done to you? He asked them a question. He wanted them not just to have gone through that. He wanted them to know what just happened here. He goes ahead to say, you call me Teacher and Lord, and you're right in verse 13, because that's what I am.

So then, if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, then you also ought to wash one another's. For I am setting you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Now, as I said, Jesus' example of serving his disciples while washing their feet was the perfect example.

And yet, what did he want them to take away from that? Were they just to, was that just to be a part of a ceremony? A part of what we do at our Passover service? Or was that to have a lot more meaning? Now, there's another reference to washing the feet of the saints over here in 1 Timothy, chapter 5. See, it's pretty obvious that Jesus directed that instruction, not just that action, but that attitude. An attitude of humility, an attitude of serving, an attitude of loving and caring for, which he obviously did for his disciples. In 1 Timothy 5, you see a group of women who exemplify this same attitude.

Paul is talking about a group starting in verse 9. A group of, what you could say at least, would be at least 60-year-old women. It says, let a widow be put on the list if she is not less than 60 years old and has been married only once. She must be well attested for her good works as one who has brought up children and shown hospitality.

Washed the saint's feet, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to doing good in every way. Now, that's a description of obviously a grouping of, in this case, ladies and ladies over 60, who fully identify with what Jesus taught and what we can describe here as being a servant, serving others. Not just washing people's feet, although that might be involved at times, but more so having the attitude that he really wanted. So, as I said, this has been taught in the Church of God for decades through the Passover service and also knowing.

Well, this is what even God describes as an attitude that he seeks people to have. So, what is your understanding of servant leadership? See, that's what Jesus was talking about. Here I am, the Teacher, and I'm washing your feet. I am serving you to the disciples, and then he points this out regarding this group of ladies who obviously identified with Jesus Christ.

They identified with what he wants from them. So, what is your understanding of servant leadership? Is it simply something we think about once a year, or that we might consider once a year as we get to Passover time? Is it only something we think about? As we're thinking about the blood of Jesus and the body of Jesus, the wine and the bread that we're taking, yes, well, I'm obligated to Jesus. See, those are all Passover-related.

Or, is our understanding of servant leadership something that is an essential attitude that every one of us seeks? That we seek by praying for, that we ask God to provide us an understanding of servant leadership, and then not only understanding it, but actually doing it? That's really what Christ is wanting to see all of us. I think when we look at the leadership qualities that Jesus had, we see that while these are the qualities that we're going to need to rule with Him and to serve other nations and peoples or cities, however He's going to organize that in the Kingdom of God, in the Millennium. And so, you see Jesus setting up this pattern of servant leadership that every one of us should identify with.

In Luke 22, you see an illustration of this. Actually, in the book of Luke, you see a couple of different accounts of this same thing, of the disciples arguing over who's the greatest, who's most important, who's significant, who's first. That's what you see. And in the chronology of what we read here in Luke 22, it appears to be just right after the Passover service, right after He's instituted.

This is what you need to do. You need to watch each other's, you need to understand. I am teaching a humble attitude of servant leadership to you. And then He gives them the bread, He gives them the wine. And then verse 24, a dispute arose among them as to which one of them was regarded as the greatest. It would appear it almost just went right over their head. And if the chronology is correct, this is what Luke followed. Matthew's pattern is different. So I'm sure there was more than one time when they were arguing over, well, and the one in Matthew, I think you see the wife of Zebedee, the mother of James and John, asking, well, how about promoting my sons?

And you don't see that here. I think it had to be a topic of discussion. Who's really the most important? Who's the greatest?

But of course, Jesus said to them, well, the kings of the Gentiles lorded over other people. And of course, He was pointing that out that, well, that's, you see that all over the globe. You see that all over our country. You see that in every state, in every county, in every little city. You see people vying for position and trying to be important and trying to, you know, are they all doing that out of a pure motive of serving others?

Now, that's, you know, they often promote it that way. And when I worked for the state, they told us we were to be public servants. But I saw a few people that weren't public servants. You know, they were, for the most part, looking out for themselves and finickling ways to make things better, not for the group and for the state, but for themselves. So Jesus said, well, the kings of the Gentiles lorded over them and those in authority. Over them are called benefactors. But He says in verse 26, That is not to be so among you.

Not to be so among you. Rather, the greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like one who serves. And so that's, you know, that again is not unfamiliar to all of you, but it's extremely important. As we think about the millennium, the rule of Christ, the type of ruler He's going to be, and the type of ruler He wants us to be, to have that same attitude, that same desire to serve.

Here in this phrase, rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest and the leader like one who serves. I'm thinking back to a number of years ago when I lived on the farm in Oklahoma, and I had two little bit younger brothers and a quite a bit younger, well, six or eight years younger sister. And of the three boys, you know, we're always arguing over who gets to ride in the front of the car, who gets to do this, who gets to do that, who's first. And since I was the oldest, often I could get to be first.

But sometimes my brother right under me, Charles, he was bigger than I was. So a lot of times he'd get to be first. But my other brother, David, I'm not going to include Jill, but my other brother David, he was again the youngest of the three boys, he'd always say, well, I'll be last. He kind of consigned himself to just being last. So I guess the argument was really between Charles and me.

But the statement that Jesus made was kind of what David was agreeing that, well, I'll just be last. That'll be okay. In verse 27, Jesus said, well, who's greater, the one who is at the table or the one who is serving? See, now what he's doing is pointing out to the disciples, well, see now, this makes sense to you and it makes sense to everybody else here in this world. They all look at this picture and say, well, whoever's in the master of the house is sitting at the table and the servants are waiting on him.

He says that's just ordinary, carnal, natural human nature to think that. But he says, I am among you. In verse 27, the last part of it, I'm among you as one who serves. So the pattern that Jesus taught and that he tells us to follow and that he exemplified, I want to go through several examples of how he exemplified that. What he really meant by servant leadership was not just to always say I'm the servant or always say I'm last, but to actually be that way, to actually do what it is his servant does.

Another example back up in chapter 9 here of Luke. Luke 9. Now this is why I think it actually seemed to be a little more of a common discussion among the disciples than we might think. Chapter 9, verse 46. Chapter 9, verse 46, an argument arose among them as to which one of them would be the greatest. It almost seems like that's what they talked about half the time. They wanted to be vying for position.

Jesus often would actually select Peter and James and John to kind of be in front. He did that. That's up to him, of course. But if they're vying for that, and the others may be feeling, well, how come we don't ever get to go? Well, that's immaterial because the Master is the one who selects. But the argument arose among them, which one of them would be the greatest. And Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, he knew what carnal, what you might say in this world is normal, human reasoning and selfish ambition was. He knew what that was.

It wasn't the way he was. But he certainly knew. That's what the disciples were struggling with. And you can see different examples of how he knew that. But it just directly says he knew what they were thinking. He knew their inner thoughts, and so he took a little child and he put it by his side.

And he said to them, whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the last among all of you is the greatest. So he's kind of a totally different description here, but he's still just pointing out, well, this little child, and the attitude that this child has, an attitude of being kind of humble, maybe meek and teachable, willing to maybe be last. That's the type of attitude that you ought to have instead of arguing over who's going to be first.

Now, I'm pointing this out as I talk about servant leadership.

Jack, that's the first thing you're supposed to write down. Servant leadership.

Jesus is the perfect example of servant leadership.

And I'd like for us to think, I mean, there are a lot of places in the Bible that you can go to see that directly, stating.

First of all, you could go to Philippians 2, and you could read the first eight verses, or read Philippians 2, verses 5-11. And I'm not going to take time to do that today. But obviously, that is the clearest explanation of his willingness to humble himself and to take on the form of a man, the form of a servant. And come to the earth and be willing to die for all of humanity. And then, of course, because of the willingness to do that for the family. See, that's what he was willing to do. He was willing to give up the glory that he had. Of course, he would later ask, Father, return me to that glory. And that, of course, is exactly what happened.

And yet he came to the earth, and he lived a life of service. He lived a life of having, leading others, certainly getting people to follow him to a degree, as the Father would draw them. But he set the perfect example of what it is to be a servant leader. Another thing we can say, if we want to be a servant leader, is that we've got to be able to follow first. If we're going to be a leader, then we've got to be able to follow first. There's a lot of different things that we could talk about here, and I'm only going to cover a few of them today. These are all things that we should discuss and think about and consider more so. But you even see this in Philippians 2, that Jesus was willing to surrender himself to the Father. He was willing to be in subjection to the will of the Father. He was willing. See, the eternal God and the eternal Word had always existed, both of them, together. But he was willing for the sake of the family. There's going to have to be order. There's going to have to be structure. And I am willing to give my life, shed my blood for all of mankind and for the future of the family. But, as I mentioned, another thing is that if we're going to be a leader and a servant leader, then we've got to be a great follower first. Now, we can see this here in John 5. I'm going to quickly read through a few verses. But it's very obvious, as Jesus makes this statement, as he was here on the earth and as he now was a human being, and he was now entering into a ministry that he knew was going to last only for a period of time, and then I'm going to be put to death. But I've got to set an example here in chapter 5. Verse 19, Jesus said, "'Verily I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but he only does what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.' See, he wasn't out to design a new plan of salvation. It was going to be through him that salvation would be offered, yes, by the Father and the Son. And yet, he said, I'm not here designing my own plan and way, I'm here to follow what the Father says.

It says in verse 20, the Father loves his Son, he shows him all that he himself is doing, and he will show him greater works than these.

If we drop down to verse 30, he says, I can do nothing. Again, he was speaking about himself simply being, at that point, limited to the human form. He had a clear connection with the Father, but he said, I can do nothing of my own, but as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek to do not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

See, that's what he said in the garden as he awaited being murdered the next day. As he awaited being crucified, he said, well, even though I know this is going to be the most difficult thing I could ever go through, I'm going to be willing to yield to your will, Father.

This is long before that. He says, I can do nothing of myself. I seek not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There's another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. See, he was pointing to the Father. He was pointing to being willing to follow, being willing to yield to the will and lead to the Father.

We jump over to chapter 7. Chapter 7, he says in verse 14, this was in the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles. Verse 14, in the middle of the Feast, Jesus went up in the temple, began to teach. The Jews were astonished, saying, how does this man have such learning?

He's never been taught, meaning by us. And then Jesus said, well, my teaching is not mine, but it's his who sent me. I'm teaching and speaking what the Father wants me to say. If we drop down, let's see, to verse 15, they were astonished. Or verse 16, yes, my teaching is from God. Here in verse 17, anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking of my own.

Those who speak of their own seek their own glory. If that's what people want, and we've gone through that many times in the church, people who want people to follow them. Now, Jesus says in verse 18, those who speak of their own seek their own glory. But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is the one who's true. There's nothing false in him. Now, that's a principle of servant leadership. Not only humility, a desire to serve an attitude and outlook, but thinking about what's good for the care and nurturing of others.

That's what Jesus thinks about. And of course, he says, I'm a great follower. I'm able to follow what the Father says here in chapter 8. Chapter 8, verse 50. They were complaining about Jesus, of course, Pharisees. But in verse 50, he says, yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he's the judge. And in verse 54, he says, if I glorify myself, then my glory is nothing.

It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, he is our God. Though you really don't know him, but I do know him. See, the fact that Jesus was able to follow empowered him to be able to lead. That's what an aspect of servant leadership that we need to have in mind.

Now, you could certainly also say that Jesus always... Let's look at John 11. This is an account of... This is an account of the resurrection of Lazarus. See, now, Lazarus was a friend of Jesus. He knew him, he knew Mary, he knew Martha. He was good friends with them. And of course, he knew. He had lingered, what it says in verse 6. He had waited around and waited for Lazarus to die. But see, in this description, we see Jesus' reaction whenever the information got to him. Lazarus is dead. What is it that he thought? Well, in verse 11, after saying this, he said, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to awaken him.

And the disciples said, Look, if he's asleep, then he'll be alright. See, that was the natural, normal, human outlook on what has happened now to Lazarus. He was sick. We knew he was sick. Now he's sleeping. And, you know, they just couldn't comprehend what Jesus was about to do. And Jesus, however, had been speaking about him dying, and so they thought that he was just referring to sleep, and Jesus told him, plainly, Lazarus is dead. I want you to understand what just happened.

And for your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there, so that you may believe. And so let's go see him. And the response of Thomas, he said to his fellow disciples, Well, let's go. Let's all die with him. You know, they had just been thrown out of there by the Jews. They were chasing Jesus. They wanted to kill him. So, well, let's go back with him. See, Jesus, as a servant leader, he looked at things from a different perspective. He looked at things through the eyes of faith. He fully understood what he was going to do and what God was doing, but he, the disciples, were going to have to grow in faith, like all of us. And yet, Jesus looked at things through the eyes of faith. So he had a different perspective.

Now, another aspect of servant leadership, I guess you could define it as understanding, if we're going to follow the example that Jesus said, understanding a sense of our destiny. See, clearly, that's what Jesus understood. We're going to look at that here in John 8. John 8, verse 14. John 8, verse 14. Jesus said, even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I came from and I know where I'm going.

See, he was telling the people who were listening, I think the Pharisees here, verse 13, he says, I know why I'm here. I know where I came from. I know where I'm going. And so I can testify of the one who sent me, and you don't really know him at all. See, that was Jesus' direct statement that I know.

See, do we really know where we came from? All of us were born humanly at some point in time in the past. We all came from the dust. We all are from the earth. We've been deceived and affected by the spirit that dominates the world.

Let's say we also know that God has provided the remedy. He's provided us a destiny that is, with the help of the Spirit of God, to be the divine children of God. See, a servant leader understands where I came from and where I'm going. That's what Jesus says. In chapter 15 here of John, he told his disciples, you need to do the same thing that I'm doing. Verse 12, this is my commandment that you love one another as I loved you. No man has greater love than this to lay down his life for his friends. See, that's what he was going to do. He knew he was going to do that. He knew that was a part of the plan.

But see, he understood that was a part of his destiny, and he told his disciples, you're going to have to do that too. So if we're going to be learning the qualities of servant leadership, one of them is going to have a sense of our own destiny. We know where we're headed. It's easy to be sidetracked. It's easy to forget that.

It's not that we don't know it, but it's easy to forget, or it's even easy to get bogged down in the difficulties, and the problems, and the trials, and the strain, and the frustrations that we have, and the weakness of our flesh. But a servant leader has a sense of his own destiny. I want us to go to Matthew 14 and think about this as an example.

Obviously, it's talking about Jesus Christ. And yet, in the first part of Matthew 14, you see the death of his cousin. The death of John the Baptist. Jesus knew who John was. John came to understand who Jesus was. Jesus had even come to John and wanted him to baptize him. And of course, John reluctantly did. At least he initially was reluctant, and he finally figured out, now I just do what he says.

And so he baptized him. And yet, after a short time then, John was imprisoned. And even though he would send his servants and say, well, I wonder if this is really the one, if this is the Messiah. And Jesus sends back with those messengers, well, look what I'm doing. Healing the sick, proclaiming the gospel, doing all of the miracles that he was doing. And he says, what do you think? That looks like that's what you're to be looking for. But see, Jesus was related to John. He was close to John. He loved John.

He has quite some commending words of John the Baptist. As far as how wonderful was the cult of repentance for all of mankind, for anyone who had listened and them to try to get people beginning on the right path, being baptized. See, they weren't receiving the Holy Spirit through the work that John did. But they were told, what you have to know, you have to learn to be repentant. You have to be baptized. And ultimately, you'll come to understand you need the Holy Spirit.

You need that Spirit that sets you completely apart. And so, Jesus was very close to John. In verse 10 here, it says, John was beheaded in prison.

And the head was brought on a platter, given to the girl, and brought it to her mother. You know, we're not going through all that. That's what happened. You know, some insane decision, something that was completely ridiculous, and completely born out of jealousy and anger and hatred toward John.

But it says in verse 12 that his disciples came, took the body and buried it.

And then they went and told Jesus.

Bad news. Not something you'd want to hear. Your cousin, your close cousin, the cousin that you greatly loved, has just been beheaded.

And so it says in verse 13, Jesus, when he heard this, he went out, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.

You know, he, in a sense, kind of moved away from the crowds and thought about, well, you know, I knew this was going to happen, or I certainly knew what John's demise would be, but whenever it happens, being as he was a compassionate and loving human being, and of course the God of all, he was broken over John's death. In a sense, you could say, John, Jesus was grieving John's death, and he was kind of trying to do that over on the side and by himself. It says he went out in a boat and he was by himself.

But when the crowds heard about it, when they heard where he was, they followed him on foot from the towns, and when he went ashore, he saw the great crowd, and he had incredible compassion for them, and he cured their sickness.

See now, you could read through that and say, well, that's just what happened. Or you could say, well, a servant leader does things that are not convenient, does things that are very inconvenient. I think Jesus would have to say the crowd was kind of inconvenient right then. He didn't say that. He just said, well, obviously they need me. Obviously, they need help. They need food. They need healing. They need what I have to give, and that's more important than me being by myself. See, I think that perhaps would be an important thing to think about, about being a servant leader. Do we do things that are convenient for us, or do we do things that actually at times seem very inconvenient? See, that's what Jesus did. Another thing we can see here in Mark 2.

Now, how was it that the servant leader, Jesus Christ, looked at other people? Here in Mark 2, it says in verse 13, Jesus went out by the sea, the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. And as he was walking along, Levi, he saw Levi sitting at the tax booth and said, follow me, and he got up and followed him. And so in that case, he was beginning to work with Levi as an apostle, or a disciple that would be later an apostle of God. And in verse 115, as he sat at dinner in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many who followed him. And when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said, well, why is he sitting with sinners and tax collectors? And when Jesus heard this, of course, he had the perfect response. And yet I simply want to focus on what it is that Jesus was willing to do. How is it that Jesus viewed other people? Did he view them, sinners and tax collectors, and even the scribes and Pharisees who were going to criticize him? Did he view all them with a basic decency of knowing that these people have been created in the image of God? Every one of them needed to be treated with respect. Now, at times, he was sharp with the Pharisees because they were always trying to pull some shenanigans. But, see, the criticism was, well, why would you be with the sinners? Why would you be with the tax collectors? Well, it's because as a servant leader, he treated others, in a sense, as equals. He treated them with a basic dignity because he knew that everyone is in the same boat. Everyone has been created in the image of God. And so, they deserve my attention. They deserve what I have to give. What it says in verse 13 was, as the crowds gathered around him, he was there to teach them. He was there to show them what they needed to know. He was there to talk about God. He was there to talk about the kingdom of God. Now, did they fully understand it? No. But he showed that he had respect. And even, you know, there's another illustration that we won't read for time's sake. But they were going through some area, and of course, you know, some of the people get on. We don't want to have anything to do with you and these people who are following you. And James and John said, we call down fire out of heaven to consume this batch of jerks over here. See, that'd be our response. I mean, that'd be the one response that some would have.

And then Jesus' response was completely different. Let him go. We'll just go on to the next place. See, his understanding as a servant leader of the basic dignity of everyone, he understood they were deceived. And like we read earlier, he knew what the disciples were thinking. He could comprehend their thoughts. He knew their nature. So, you know, there's actually a lot of other things we could go over in regard to this topic, but at least we've touched on a few. And I hope that we can see that as we are preparing to be the servant leaders that Jesus wants us to be, to be able to gently care for others like he says as the shepherd, I am going to do.

That's going to be my mode of operation, and I want my servants to function in a similar way.

And so he tells us, of course, to seek humility, to be willing to follow, to possibly even look with the eyes of faith on others, understand our destiny, and learn to treat others with a dignity that comes from an understanding of what they need and what is really good for them instead of responding and reacting to just what they happened to just say.

See, those are all things that I think you could say would be, you know, the servant leadership of Jesus Christ.

See, we read in 1 Peter 2 about Jesus setting the example. He did that through his whole life, he did that through his suffering, he did that even through his death. And again, we're familiar with that, but we want to consider how much do we really understand and apply and do? What God asked of us as servant leaders.

See, it's not just something we do once a year. It's something we do all year long, all the time, to grow in the attitude and outlook that Jesus had.

And so the second thing, Jack, you can write down, is that we're not just hearers, we want to be doers. Not hearers, but doers. We all know James 1, chapter 1, verse 22 to 25.

Talks about, is it good enough to just hear? Is it good enough to just hear and know that, well, Jesus was a servant leader and he's the one who's the perfect example and he wants us to be that way. Is it enough to know that? Not enough.

Because that's what it says here in James, chapter 1, it says in verse 22, Be doers of the Word and not hearers only, because if you're only hearers, then you're deceiving yourself.

But in verse 25, those who look in the perfect law of liberty and persevere, being not just hearers, who forget, but doers who act, they'll be blessed in their doing. See, that's a training program Jesus has designed and that God is introducing to us as we celebrate every one of the Holy Days and as we certainly go to the Feast of Tabernacles, the rulership of Jesus Christ is what we want to identify with and to become like. So don't simply be a hearer, just be a doer of what Jesus says to do.