A RADICAL APPROACH

Although Jesus was not a revolutionary in the political sense, many of His teachings were startling and revolutionary, and none more so than leadership. In the contemporary world, the term servant has a very lowly connotation, but that was not so as Jesus used it. He elevated it, equating it with greatness, and that was certainly a revolutionary concept. Most of us would have no objection to being masters, but servanthood holds little attraction.

Christ’s view of His Kingdom was that of a community of members serving one another -- mutual service. Paul advocates the same idea. “Through love serve one another.” (Galatians 5:13) And of course our loving service is to spread to the needy world around us. But in the life of the church today, it is usually the few who serve the many.

Jesus well knew that such an other-worldly concept would not be welcomed by a self-pleasing world… But nothing less than that was what He required of those who desired to rise to leadership in His Kingdom.

The contrast between the world’s idea of leadership and that of Christ is brought into sharp focus in Mark 10:42-43: “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not [to be] this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.” 

-- J. Oswald Sanders in “Spiritual Leadership”

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