Opening illustration: In today’s celebrity-obsessed culture, it isn’t surprising that entrepreneurs are marketing “celebrities as products … allowing them to sell their personal time and attention.” Vauhini Vara’s article in The New Yorker noted that for $15,000, you can have a personal meeting with singer Shakira, while $12,000 will give you and eleven guests lunch with celebrity chef Michael Chiarello at his estate.
In 2007 a classmate of mine and a bunch of other folks were getting ordained at his church in one of the southern states and a celebrity tele-evangelist was invited at the mega church to do the honors for $49,000. In fact, celebrity pastors were paid to speak for 20-30 minutes for a whooping price of $10,000 - $15,000 at any convention or important event in the same year.
Is this the type of glory Jesus manifested or even talked about in His leadership? Let us turn to Mark 10 and see what Jesus has to say about the glory of Christian leadership.
Introduction: Many people treated Jesus like a celebrity as they followed Him from place to place, listened to His teaching, observed His miracles, and sought healing from His touch. Yet Jesus was never self-important or aloof, but available to all. When His followers James and John were privately jockeying for position in His coming kingdom, Jesus reminded all His disciples, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:43–44).
In this text, Jesus expounds on His upside-down kingdom leadership paradigm.
What is worldly leadership but not godly (biblical) leadership?
(a) Verse 42: Jesus uses the word “you” three times. His goal is to contrast the world’s leadership principles with God’s leadership principles. Jesus describes how the world operates (10:42) and then contrast God’s kingdom with the world’s system (10:43–44). The world demands respect through pride, power, and pressure. The follower of Jesus is unassuming and seeks to exercise humility, grace, and service. In the world’s economy, the higher up you get, the more you are served. But in God’s economy, the higher up you get, the more you serve others. “The lowliest will be the loftiest. Those who give up most will get most.” The first is last and the last is first. Basically, Jesus pulls out the rug from underneath His disciples feet and deflates their plans of glory with the phrase found in verse 43, “Not so with you.” Jesus proposes an alternate model of leadership (vv.43-45) – Servant leadership!
What is the Glory of Christian Leadership?
1. SERVANT-HOOD (v. 43)
Jesus uses a subjunctive mood for “wish” (thele) which indicates that some will and some will not wish to be great or first. The term is also in the present tense indicating an ongoing desire or ambition. God’s goal is for you and me to wish to be great in His kingdom. Jesus makes a distinction between “servant” and “slave.” The word “servant” (diakonos) originally meant to heap dust because a good servant moved so fast that dust flew around him. Then it was used for the boys who carried the towels in the bath houses. In the religious sense, it took on the idea of one who ministered or rendered a service to another.
(i) Seek to “out-serve” others: Today needs to mark your commitment to have a “service contest” and out-serve your spouse, children, neighbors, coworkers, and church members. Of course, the best place to begin is in the home. Seek to make dinner, take care of the kids, do the dishes, sweep the kitchen floor, or clean the bathrooms. If some husbands and wives would start having a contest like this, we would see some wounded marriages start to heal. The reason is that in most troubled marriages, the problem is either one or two selfish people who want their own way. But when one person seeks to out-serve the other, God can move in a powerful way. Pray today that you will adopt an attitude of servanthood. And, remember, you can tell whether you are becoming a servant by how you act when people treat you like one. Climb down the ladder to greatness. (What could you do at Elim house or in our ministry?)
(ii) Serve in some small way: We are raised with a mindset of getting the most “bang for our buck.” You may want to make a splash in ministry. However, what impresses earth doesn’t typically impress heaven. Try serving God in little things. It’s wonderful to accomplish great things for Christ, but sometimes our greatest works are in the little things. Encourage a servant who is serving behind the scenes in your church (e.g., nursery, pastoral visitation, prayer ministry, facilities/grounds). Ask a servant/leader what you can do to serve her or him. Take the initiative to pick up garbage in the parking lot, take items to the lost and found, reorganize the pew Bibles, etc. Serving behind the scenes in small ways facilitates humility and ensures purity of heart. These acts are most likely to lead to great eternal rewards.
(iii) Serve in the church: The local church is the bride of Christ and she needs you. Thus, it is critical that you serve in at least one area of ministry. Ideally, it should be in an area of ministry in keeping with your spiritual gift(s) and passion. Regardless though find a ministry niche and serve as if your church is depending upon you … because it is! Make a difference. If you are a leader, stop and recognize that a good leader is a good servant. Only the one who serves is qualified to lead. When you serve, you are walking in the sandals of Jesus, who served and gave His life as a ransom for many.
2. SLAVE-HOOD (v. 44)
There is a vast difference between a servant and a slave. A servant works for their master and then they go home. The master does not own a servant. They pay them for their work but a slave has no pay. They have no rights.
Slaves were indentured and could be bought and sold. A slave, in Greek times, was totally at the master's disposal and even expendable. The message that doulos gives, what Jesus taught and modeled, is about the love slave theme of Deuteronomy 15, obedience out of mutual love. We have been bought. What should hit home with us is our price tag, which should be the means to understanding our indebtedness and fill us with gratitude so that we are in total, surrendered devotion. This is the theme for us in Christ that the disciple of the Lord has a will that has been sacrificed to God's will and thus is totally at the disposal of our Lord (Galatians 1:15; 2:20).
Being excited about who you are in Christ is an essential aspect of attracting people and motivating them for service to and leadership for Christ. We can see the call and the example in the Bible. We can also say well, I am no Paul; who is? But, what he modeled and taught is for every man, every person, for you and for me. Consider that new Christians bring in most of the new converts because they are excited and are energized. Even though new Christians may be ignorant on matters of theological understanding and apologetically, they are bringing people in versus people who have been Christians for many years who tend to lose their excitement, and thus, may rarely bring people into the church. As slaves for Christ, He is our excitement, our mission!
Paul, Peter, and James, as well as many other Bible characters taught and modeled being a slave for Jesus; this was for our benefit, protection, and growth and to help us to remember who we are, who Jesus is, and to be humble. We glorify God with humility when we endure with our faith and character-no matter what we might face or experience. The chief purpose for Christians, above all else, is to glorify God.
Remember, Christ is our great example for respect and endurance; He endured and suffered for you, He took your place in God's wrath, and as a sinless, innocent person, went to the cross for us all. We then follow in His steps-not for our salvation, as it has already been given to the Christian, but to show another picture to those who are watching us. We exemplify Him by being a good example! Why? He has healed and saved us, so we need to trust Him out of our gratitude, and allow Him to be our Shepherd, Guardian, and Lord over all.
The “slave” (doulos), however, was one who did not have the right to refuse. The slave’s entire life was at the disposal of the master. This is Christ’s expectation of His disciples. May we climb down the ladder to greatness.
3. SELFLESS-HOOD (v. 45)
The Lord will only give us his cross, that which unites us completely to him, if we have with all our strength and for love of him sought to receive cheerfully the sufferings, cares, and disappointments of our human lives. For the cross that Christ carried can crush us to death. Therefore, we carry our own crosses for that sake. So how is it possible for us to give of our lives for others?
In today’s gospel, I believe Jesus is speaking in literal terms when He says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” However, I think that those words can be thought of in different ways also. In fact, I think we lay down our lives for our friends a lot more than we realize.
God is a friend to all of us and whenever we choose to serve Him instead of serving ourselves, that is a way of laying down our lives for a friend. Similarly, God is present in all human beings and so anytime we serve another human instead of serving ourselves, we are laying down our lives for a friend.
I like to think of marriage as a way of laying down one’s life for a friend. In front of God, family and friends, a bride and groom vow many things to each other. The popular phrases are “to have and to hold, for better, for worse, in richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” I think an unofficial and implied vow is sharing my whole life with my spouse. To share my whole life with my spouse requires sacrifice – no marriage can continue to grow through the years without it. To share my life with my spouse is to sacrifice my life for my friend. To dedicate ourselves to living a Christ-filled and Christ-centered marriage requires sacrifice.
Illustration: Example of Mother Teresa. How can we pour our lives for others?
Application: Follow Jesus’s example: Reach out to others in need.
