Today we begin a series that I am really excited about because we are going to talk about how we can lead like Jesus, and I do mean WE- all of us. We are all leaders. YOU are a leader. You might not see yourself as a leader, you might not think you have any leadership skills or abilities, but if you are a follower of Jesus you are a leader because Jesus was a leader. If we are going to follow Jesus, then we need to own and grow into our role as leaders.
When I talk about being a leader, I want to be clear that I am not talking about a specific position. Leadership is not a title we get in the organizational chart. Leadership is really all about influence and we all have influence in the lives of others. If you are a parent - you are a leader and honestly, today you need to be the best leader you can be for your children. When so many of the leaders we see around us in the world are failing, we need to show our children what being a true leader is all about. If you are a grandparent - you are a leader. Today it is often grandparents who are the primary caregivers before and after school, or while parents are working, and you have great influence. While she wasn’t a caregiver before or after school, I did spend huge amounts of time with my grandmother during the summer, and she was one of the most influential people in my life. So grandparents, you are leaders.
If you have been a coach (or if you are one now), you are a leader. Children and youth will look up to you in ways they won’t look to anyone else, so your influence is powerful. For those of you who are coaching today at any level, I want to encourage you to be great leaders because I hear people talk about their coaches with great admiration. For example, John Wetzler and Bucky Quici have been coaches here in Centre County for a long time and not only do I hear people keep calling them coach, but they sing their praises for the influence they have had in their lives. Coaches, you are leaders.
Employers have influence over their staff and communities, and employees have influence over other employees and the general population. Volunteers have influence in how they serve others in and through their organizations. We all have influence, which means we are all leaders and so we are going to take these next few weeks to learn how to be the best leaders we can be by looking at Jesus who was the best leader ever. In fact, there is no one who even comes in at a close second.
Think about this. The Roman Empire in the days of Jesus was a powerful world empire. It had authority over everything and to this day it is one of the strongest empires there has ever been in the world. At the same time, the influence of Jesus and his followers was pretty insignificant, but whose influence has been stronger? Clearly it is Jesus. Today people still name their children after the followers of Jesus; Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Mary, and we name our cats and dogs after the leaders of Rome, Caesar and Nero.
The world needs great leaders. Everywhere we look, the world needs great leaders and we are being called to be those leaders. This month we are going to learn how to lead like Jesus and all leadership really flows from one place, the heart. Some have said that there are only two motivations for leadership and the first is Reward - we lead to get the rewards. We give our all to leadership because we want to move up in the company. We want the position. We want the power. We want the corner office, high salary, stock options, and a great pension program. We want the recognition and accolades that come with being the leader. The reason many people work hard to be a leader is to get the rewards.
There is a second motivation for becoming a great leader - Responsibility. Many people want to lead because they feel a responsibility to care for and help others. They want to lift others up, make their lives better, and bring them more power, peace, or prosperity. Reward or Responsibility? What should motivate us as leaders? What kind of leader was Jesus?
The answer is clearly responsibility. In fact, at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, He was given a clear choice of being a leader for the rewards He might get in this world - and Jesus turned it down, every time.
Before Jesus started his public ministry, He went off into the wilderness and met Satan who offered Him all the rewards the world had to offer. This is from Matthew 4:2-3. After fasting forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Satan was telling Jesus that as the leader, He could use His power to meet all of His own needs, and to provide for Himself at every turn. Jesus did not do it.
Next Satan took Jesus to the highest point of the Temple, which would have been the highest point in all of Jerusalem, and said, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Matthew 4:6. In other words, Jesus, as the leader you can have the entire world serve you and you alone, and once again, Jesus said no.
A third time Satan offered Jesus all the rewards of this world. He took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and said to Him, “All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8.
Here Jesus was offered all the wealth, fame, riches, and glory of being a leader in this world, and Jesus turned it down.
Instead of being a leader looking for the rewards, Jesus led because He had a responsibility as the Son of God to love and care for others, and to save the children of God. Jesus knew His responsibility was to seek and save the lost, to forgive and redeem all of humanity, and to proclaim and model what life in the kingdom of God is all about. Jesus was not motivated by reward but responsibility, and He called his followers to do the same.
James and John were two of the followers to whom Jesus specifically said, don’t look for the rewards in leadership. James and John were brothers who had been with Jesus from the very beginning and they had emerged as leaders among the disciples. As they looked at being leaders with Jesus, they wanted the rewards of leadership so they did what all good leaders do, they asked their mommy to ask Jesus to make it happen. Matthew 20:20-21
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
After three years of trying to model for His disciples responsibility based leadership and a servant’s heart, here comes two of the best pupils Jesus had asking for the rewards of leadership. They want position, power, glory, and authority. Jesus’ response is clear. Matthew 20:25-26a. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you.
Other people look for the rewards of leadership, Jesus said. They want authority over others and the perks that go along with leadership, not so with you! As my followers you are not going to seek rewards, or authority, or power, instead you are going to make an even greater influence by being a true servant leader.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26b-28
To lead like Jesus means we need to develop a true servant’s heart. Now this may not be news to you, most of us have heard about the humility of Jesus and the willingness of Jesus to love and sacrifice for others. We also know that Jesus called his followers to be servants. This isn’t new, but it also isn’t easy. Like James and John, we can watch Jesus and hear His call to be servants, and yet still struggle to have a servant’s heart and not seek the rewards of this world. Because it is not easy, we need to guard our heart and daily work to align our heart with the heart of Jesus.
Let’s look at three ways we can not only evaluate the motives or our leadership, but work to realign our hearts at the same time:
1. Make Others Look Good. If we are always trying to make ourselves look, then we are motivated by rewards not responsibility. We are serving ourselves and not others. So how can we make our lives about helping others look good? Jesus did it by inviting others to be part of what He was doing and putting them out front.
One of the greatest miracles Jesus did was to feed over 5,000 people, and while He could have made it all about Himself, He invited His disciples to actually take part in the miracle with Him. First Jesus said to them, you feed them. He wanted His followers to trust Jesus enough to do the miracle and be the heroes. They struggled to do this, so Jesus asked them to give them all the food they had, which was 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Jesus then blessed the food and gave it back to the disciples to pass out to the people. So now the disciples are the ones feeding the people and they are watching as 5 loaves and 2 fish feed over 5,000 people. They are at the forefront of the miracle. They are heroes of the day - with Jesus.
In this story, Jesus is not only a hero, but He is a hero-maker. Jesus is inviting His followers to not lead for position or power but to care for and serve others. As followers of Jesus, we need to make others look good, we need to be hero-makers. There is a great book that many in the church have read called Hero-makers and I would highly recommend it. This is one way we lead like Jesus.
2. Seek God’s Approval. As we think about how we live and lead, are we looking for the approval of people or the approval of God? Reward based leadership looks for approval from those around us because when others are looking up to us, it makes them feel important, but this kind of approval is fleeting. It will never last.
The approval of others lasts only as long as we do a good job, or do what others want us to do. If we make a mistake, or if we don’t do what people want us to do, the approval fades away and our sense of value disappears. Instead of trying to live for the approval of the world around us, let us seek the approval of God alone. Let’s live for an audience of ONE (God).
Living for God’s approval means we first have to know God well and feel guided by God’s Spirit. That only comes with a daily surrender to God’s word and will, and a daily willingness to listen for the promptings of God’s Holy Spirit. Consistent prayer, Bible study, and serving others is what helps us live for God and God alone. It is this kind of daily devotion that shapes a servant’s heart.
3. Welcome difficult and honest feedback. True servant leaders are willing to consider difficult and honest feedback because they know it will help them become stronger leaders, but this is not easy. If honest feedback tears us apart, then chances are we are still seeking the approval of others. If we can humbly take what others have to offer us and pray about it, consider it, think through it, and learn from it, then we are truly open to being a better leader.
The truth is that none of us can grow in leadership on our own. We need to be challenged by one another, encouraged by one another, and learn from one another. We need others to speak into our lives and encourage us to be more than we ever thought we could be. Next week, Justin is going to talk more about the importance of teamwork, but clearly one of the values of teamwork is that when we respect others, and work together as a team, it is easier for us to accept the feedback given to us.
Jesus was always giving His team honest, and at times difficult feedback. When James and John asked for positions of power, Jesus gave them difficult and yet honest feedback saying, that’s how other people lead - it will not be that way with you. I’m sure that was difficult to hear - but they heard it, took it to heart, and became better leaders.
A true servant’s heart, like Jesus’, works to make others look good, seeks the approval of God alone, and is willing to learn from honest and difficult feedback in order to be more effective. A true servant’s heart also seeks to serve in every situation. It’s not good enough to serve at home, but then not at work. Or serve others at school, but then not in the community. Or during the week, but then not on weekends. A true servant's heart is looking for opportunities to lift others up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The world needs better leaders and we are the leaders God is calling to influence others and change the world around us. We don’t lead for the earthly rewards we might get, we lead because Jesus has loved and served us, and it is now our responsibility to love and serve others.
Next Steps
Lead Like Jesus - Heart
What leaders have made a positive and lasting influence in your life? If you have a chance, thank them for their leadership this week.
How has the influence of Jesus changed our world?
There are 2 primary motivations for leading: Reward and Responsibility. From Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, how does Jesus reject reward and embrace responsibility. Matthew 4:1-11
Jesus called His followers to reject rewards and embrace responsibility. Matthew 20:20-28. What can this look like in your life?
Three questions to test our leadership motivation:
● Do I want to look good or am I trying to make others look good?
○ What does it mean to be a hero-maker and not always a hero?
○ How can you be a hero-maker this week?
● Do I want the approval of others or the approval of God?
○ Why is seeking the approval of others so unstable?
○ How can you live for an Audience of One this week?
● Do I welcome honest and difficult feedback?
○ Why is good feedback important in our lives?
○ Who can you invite to speak into areas of your life so you can be a more faithful follower of Jesus? Whose wisdom might make you a better leader? Ask them to help you this week.
