A Challenge to Everyone Who Leads
Photo by Nick Abrams on Unsplash
With the upcoming presidential election, I have been thinking a lot about leadership. Specifically, how so very few of the people we willingly put in power over us, regardless of party affiliation or level of governance, seem to lead with little regard to our best interests. The predominant motivation for leadership on most levels is power and self-enrichment, not service. It's hard to argue against this.
Maybe we shouldn't be surprised at this in our elected officials and even in the leadership of secular organizations. (Of course, the pain comes when we see this dynamic at work in church or ministry leaders.) But I can't help but think of the Christian ethic of leadership we see espoused in Scripture, and simply put, what a better way it is.
What does leadership that aligns with God's Kingdom values look like? What does God value when it comes to leadership?
Scripture is unequivocally clear: God is on record as choosing to work through the humble and the small. This truth is evident from the Old Testament to the New Testament. It's impossible to miss.
When God chose Israel, He said in Deuteronomy 7:7 that He did so not because they were more numerous than other nations but because they were few.
Do you remember Samuel choosing David to be the king of Israel? Samuel had Jesse parade his sons in front of him, starting with the oldest, who looked like king material. God told Samuel "no" every time until Jesse sent for his youngest, smallest son, who was tending sheep in the field. This was who God would choose to rule His people.
Think about how Jesus, God Himself, chose to reveal Himself to the world. God's long-awaited Messiah, the Savior, who would deliver humankind. Did He come in a lightning bolt to the steps of the Roman empire? No, He was born as an actual baby to a poor, virtually anonymous Jewish girl in Bethlehem, of all places, a backwater outpost of no distinction.
Speaking of Jesus, who was the birth announcement made to? World leaders? Nobles? Religious leaders? No, shepherds, blue-collar guys who occupied one of the lowest rungs on the Jewish social ladder.
Who experienced Jesus' first miracle? At a rural wedding, Jesus turned water into wine. The first witnesses? Servants.
God doesn’t only value the weak, the small, and the humble, but He is on record for shaping the working of His will through them.
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek." In Matthew 20, He said, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve."
Paul articulates this so incredibly clearly in Philippians 2:3–8
[3] Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. [5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The challenge for anyone who leads in any capacity is to resist the lure of worldly leadership and its obsession with power and prestige and embrace leading from a posture that is in line with God's Kingdom values, a place of humility, a place that recognizes God’s sovereignty and us as conduits for His will.
If we are interested in leading from a posture in line with God's Kingdom values, we must lead with the heart of a servant, remembering the call to serve others that lies at the very heart of the Gospel message.
If we are interested in leading from a posture in line with God's Kingdom values, we must lead from a place that says not only can we NOT do what needs to be done without the empowering work of the Spirit in our lives, but that we wouldn’t WANT to.
So many people are blessed with significant influence. Our challenge is that we would use the influence we’ve been given in a way that honors God and furthers His Kingdom.
Is this too much to expect from our elected officials? Maybe, maybe not. Past results imply it would be, at best, unrealistic. But let us look at ourselves first. Let us each endeavor to embrace God's Kingdom ethic of humble, sacrificial leadership everywhere we have influence: in our homes, our places of work, our community, and our churches. After all, that's how we, the people of God, advance the Kingdom of God.
This article originally appeared in Volume 35 of my free newsletter, Good For You.
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