Our Vision: What kind of leaders?
Luke 22:14-27
Warren Bennis teaches and writes and is a keen observer of American culture. Over a decade ago, he wrote, "Leadership is a word on everyone’s lips. The young fight against it. Police seek it. Experts claim it. Artists spurn it. Scholars want it. Bureaucrats pretend to have it and politicians wish they could find it. [But] everyone agrees on…one fact. There is less of it today than there used to be."
Most Christians would agree on something else. There’s a leadership crisis in the American Church. I want to talk with you about the fundamental aspect of leading like Jesus in His Church. We’re in our 3rd week of four that we’re spending on our vision. I’ve told you how we arrived at the short sentence that gets printed weekly on the front of your bulletin. Trinity leaders spent over two years, praying, studying, discussing and identifying the key focus God has for us. That sentence is a distilled version. Our vision is to grow a body of authentic, passionate Christians intent on loving and impacting Lincoln with Christ’s gospel.
Three strategies stand behind the statement. We spent the last two weeks talking about the one that’s foundational: if you ignore the foundation, obviously what you build on it won’t last. We recognize that our foundation is passion for Jesus Christ -- we want God to grow us into a community of authentic and passionate Christians. Neither Christ nor our culture are in need more churches or more Christians who play games and remain content with anemic, pathetic Christianity. There’s a plague of "playing church" in our time -- that’s not what we are going to be about. After all, if you and I don’t follow Jesus Christ and buy into His agenda, what is the point? So authenticity and passion are the objective.
Next time, we’ll talk about the kind of impact God wants us to have in our community. Today our issue is one that’s not easy to see in the vision statement -- it’s developing reproductive leaders. We want to grow leaders, many leaders, who will in turn grow others toward leadership. The Church always needs leaders -- but there’s a distinctive variety of leader we ought to be growing -- the variety Jesus described. According to Jesus, for His purpose, for His kingdom, there’s really just one sort of leader that will do -- that’s a serving leader.
Would you open your Bible again to the passage Josh read for us? The Bible is our source -- if you don’t have yours, find one nearby in a chair. We’re primarily thinking about Jesus’ words in Luke chapter 22. I also want to give you some verses from the same scene in John’s gospel. Josh read verses 14-27; we want to focus on just the last couple of verses. You know it’s at this point in time when Jesus and the disciples celebrated for the last time the Passover. In the context, Jesus tells them how much He’d wanted to celebrate it with them; He informs them, this will be the last time until they are in His kingdom.
Then Jesus initiated something we still practice as the Church -- it was a new kind of celebration, He said, one that would stir up our memory of Him and His sacrifice -- that bread and wine He passed to them that night took on a whole new meaning. They’re in that borrowed room, what’s called an "upper room". You’ve seen some of those paintings of this scene by Masters like Leonardo da Vinci. Those art works might make you think Jesus and the guys sat formally, behind a rough wood dining
table. Somebody said, the da Vinci portrait looks as if somebody was there with a camera and said, "Okay, guys, now for the picture, everyone move to that side of the table and look this way!"
Jesus and His men actually sort of laid around a very low table. It was low enough that you could reach the top by lying on one side -- it was likely U-shaped, so they could see each other, and they sort of half laid and rested on one elbow, and ate with the other hand. This is the setting, John‘s gospel tells us, where Jesus did something absolutely incredible. During the dinner, Jesus, Lord and Master and Teacher, washed the disciples’ feet. In the culture, people would have bathed at a Roman bath, where there was often both hot and cold running water. Some city baths even had comforts like saunas. Before going to someone’s home, especially for a meal, you’d take a bath. But then, there was for most people just one form of transportation -- their two feet. That meant the disciples came into that house and upper room in their dirty sandaled feet, having walked from Bethany on dirt roads and streets.
So the custom was then, guests would get their dusty dirty feet washed before dinner -- it was done by a servant -- usually it fell to the lowest servant in the home. In that borrowed room, there was no servant, just Jesus and the 12. No one was available or no one had been arranged, to do the foot washing. And nobody among the 12 was even contemplating doing the job.
No secret as to why -- they were playing a game they’d played on more than one occasion -- it was called, "mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the greatest of us all?" And so, here’s the real setting -- in contrast to da Vinci’s picture -- they were neither sitting in chairs, all on one side, nor did they have sweet angelic looks on their faces. The reality we have is 12 insecure men, comparing themselves with each other, each one looking for recognition. It was 24 dirty feet and a senseless argument.
Here’s where I have a hard time. Jesus is hours from the cross -- He’d spelled it out to them -- He’s said, "guys, this is our last trip to Jerusalem!He’s come to this Passover, saying, "I have longed to celebrate it with you!" These are His closest friends and He so wanted to celebrate this meal which in point after point indicated that H e was God’s Pascal Lamb. And the men He’ll commission to preach His message argue and lie there with dirty feet.
How would you respond? I’d probably say, "Guys, you just don’t get it!! Can you not grasp the huge moment to which we’ve come? We’ve had three years together -- I’m here, hours from dying willingly for you, for your sins, and you’re consumed with yourselves! You thick-head, selfish prigs! Now -- men -- who will volunteer for this act of serving? Who’s it going to be? Who’s going to be a man and step up -- more accurately kneel down and wash our feet? Come on! Anyone? Anyone? What a bunch of
turkeys!That’s how I’d respond. It irritates me to no end when there’s a situation that’s serious and people can’t or won’t grasp it. Or when someone’s hurting and in need and people just conveniently look the other way! That’s not how Jesus responds. John 13 says, Jesus rose, He took off his outer garment, took up a towel, and he literally then, crawled around, behind each man, to each set of dirty feet on that floor, and washed every one. Now no rabbi would have ever done such a thing. In any other teacher-disciple relationship, a teacher getting to his hands and knees would have shocked everyone.
First Jesus acted -- that created a teachable moment -- then He taught the Truth of His actions to these arguing men He so loved. Verses 25 and 26 -- these words coming against two backdrops. One is the argument they’d just had -- the other, is Jesus’ action. The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called "benefactors".
But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant.
Jesus, the Servant (Mark 10:45)
That’s what Jesus exhibited and that’s what He explained as this revolutionary approach with His people. The whole approach has changed. Jesus stooped Philippians tells us and He took up the role and the character and the lifestyle of a slave. That upper room wasn’t the first time -- that was the whole character of His ministry. Someone wrote, "Rome’s symbol of authority was the sword, Greece’s was the pen. Jesus’ symbol for those who want to lead? The basin and the towel!"
Here’s the puzzle! Jesus is the only figure in history Who could rightly say, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. But you cannot point to a single time when Jesus pulled rank or insisted on His own way; He never said to His men or anyone else -- "Me first!"-- He never demanded that His needs be met before others’. Scripture describes Him as the visible and precise image of the invisible God, the One in Whom all the fullness of Deity lives, but every day, again and again -- while He walked the earth, He consciously and consistently laid aside every right He could have exercised and He submitted absolutely to His Father, for the sake of others!
In NT language, Jesus "preferred" others -- that word means He put their needs in front of His own. He didn’t parade around Israel with His held high, demanding to be treated as God and that people pay homage to Him. He did the exact opposite; Mark 10:45 says, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
And that’s what a servant leader is -- their whole purpose and lifestyle is giving and serving -- it’s furthering someone else, it’s seeking other peoples’ good, it’s encouraging their growth, putting up with faults, it’s gentleness and humility; it’s doing for others what God’s Son did for us. Jesus calls would-be leaders to humility, to dying to self and to meeting needs as a lifestyle.
Let me make four observations and draw out some lessons for all of us.
1. Christ’s call to leaders is the call to serve. (Luke 22:26)
He says in verse 26, the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. (Luke 22:26) Now -- 1st century leadership models weren’t much different than many of ours. Leadership meant command -- control -- and it meant perks and privileges. There was also a patronage relationship Jesus refers to with that term benefactors -- that meant an authority figure expected undying gratitude for the simplest act of kindness shown to an underling.
Jesus didn’t say or do what we often do in leadership discussions today: He didn’t pick up a secular form of leadership and put His spin on it; He turned things completely on their head. His concept was something completely different. There’s a reason -- Jesus’ authority comes from another source, so His leadership and leadership under Him were to be drastically different. The world -- in the military or business -- simply places people over others in hierarchies. Jesus said, then,
secular leaders "lord it over" others. Authority is defined as the "right to require obedience, the power to enforce rules and give orders." And that can certainly be necessary and appropriate in secular contexts, because of the fall. Because of man’s natural rebellion and the ruthless nature of sin, the world wouldn’t function in every situation unless there was a clear command structure and decision-making.
But Jesus simply said, it will not be so among you. Leadership in His Church was to be very different than in the world -- primarily because no leader is not greater than the Master. Any leadership we exercise simply must reflect His. So, suddenly, the measure of our leadership becomes -- not how many people we’re over -- but how many we serve, and how well we serve them.
Leading in God’s kingdom means, you get off your pedestal and you jettison any concept of a power trip. The appropriate place for Christ-like leaders isn’t on a pedestal it’s on our knees. He’s called us to serve; and serving isn’t just the occasional act we do,
2. Serving is primary in following Christ. (Luke 6:40; John 13:14, 15)
Jesus gave His men a principle in Luke 6:40 a disciple isn’t above his teacher. When a disciple is fully trained he will be like his teacher. (Luke 6:4) What Jesus was saying, is don’t ever forget, in your following, in your discipleship relationship, the point is you must begin to take on the character and nature and priorities and practices of the One you follow. If that’s not happening, you’re missing it.
See, the Church is never to be a religious organization, where leaders earn their way up ranks and then sit back and let others do the work that needs to be done. I sat in an elder’s meeting in a church one time and I nearly said something I’d regret. The discussion was helping in AWANA with the kids and the great need that existed. When someone suggested that the elders might want to get involved one long-term elder said, "we did that when we were younger!"
Would you hear with your heart how Jesus put it in John 13 after He did the work that nobody else was willing to stoop and do? He said, Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. John 13:14-16
The point is, you never get too old to do the dirty work. And if you ever want to be a leader, understand Jesus’ word -- you cannot build into others what you do not possess. That’s why servant leadership is both a character and lifestyle issue -- this isn’t some little thing we do when we have to or when people are watching. As a matter of fact, we could make a great case from the NT that serving behind the scenes is more essential, and more revealing than serving in public.
Servant leaders are content to serve, without the hoopla or notice. The leaders Jesus described walk into a situation and want to be the center of attention. Servants walk into a situation and look to meet needs. They don’t have to have to be made much of -- they can do ministry where no one sees. I watch how this happens at Trinity. There’s the man who mows the lawn when nobody signed up. There are the couple or three women and men who you can always find cleaning up after a potluck while
everyone else talks or heads home. There’s the leader who drops some cash into someone’s mailbox -- visits people in the hospital...what an encouraging sort they are!
3. Servant leadership always implies personal cost. (John 13:1-4)
Let me read you John’s description of the events in the upper room that evening: now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. (John 13:1-4)
You can’t watch the Son of God without noticing -- knowing what He knew, His hour was near, Judas would betray Him, knowing how the Father loved Him and soon would give the rule of the universe again into His hand -- He chose to pay the price. The foot washing was just the beginning. He’d choose to go the garden where He’d be arrested. He chose not to call a legion of angels to His defense. He chose, as John says, to love His own, love His people to the end. That describes an enormous personal price. Christ-like leaders never graduate out of serving and paying the price to lead. In the world, you "move up" and the privileges and perks commensurate with that move up are added to you. In Christ’s economy, you move on in leadership -- and the price will climb. That argument the boys had right there over dinner was evidence that they wanted the
significance and security and reward of greatness. Jesus redefined the concept. You become great by giving, by pouring out, by cleaning up, by helping My people grow in Me, by teaching and loving and urging and paying the price.
4. Servant leaders stir others to serve. (1 Peter 5:1-3)
We talked about Peter last time. He was the dominant one among the twelve -- seemed like he always had something to say -- he moved out, led, talked for the others. It’s likely that Peter engaged in that heated discussion on who was the greatest! But you remember from last time that Peter would go on that night to fail miserably -- he’d desert Jesus, then deny He even knew Him. And one thing that spurred him on to be like his Lord was the fact of that failure. Jesus restored Peter with a call to -- again -- feed and nourish and tend to other believers.
And Jesus washing the disciples feet also wasn’t lost on Peter. Listen to what restored and mature Peter wrote to Christians maybe 30 years later. He said, To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder...Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care...not because you must, but because you are willing...not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (1 Pet 5:1-3 NIV).
Jesus, the One Who came to serve and not be served, developed a generation of servant leaders. They didn’t act like it that night, but that’s what they became as they followed on. If you’re a servant, and sometimes you think, "it never makes any difference" -- let me encourage you -- it will. Paul wrote to the Galatians, don’t lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary (Galatians 6:9). He said to the Thessalonians, do not grow weary in doing good. (2 Thessalonians 3:13). Let me encourage you -- if you serve, keep at it.
Steps I will take
I said at the beginning, most Christians would agree that there’s a leadership crisis in the American Church. Ray Pritchard puts it another way. He says, "We don’t have a leadership crisis. What we have is a servanthood crisis. We have too many people who want to be first, who want to lead the parade, who want to be on top of the heap, who want the big office, the title, the power, the perks and the prestige. We don’t have enough people who are willing to work behind the scenes. We don’t
have enough people who really want to wash dirty feet.
The question is not "where are the leaders?" The question is much simpler: "Where are the servants?" Will you be one?
