The Christian Philosophy of Leadership
In the scenario described in Matthew Chapter Twenty, the mother of James and John approached Jesus to ask her children to sit with her in His Kingdom. This provided the opportunity for Jesus to introduce three key attitudes into Christian leadership: suffering, parity, and service.
Suffering
The pressures of leadership are enormous. A leader must expect to suffer, often in secret, as part of his calling.
Parity
Ministers are equal in authority within the body of Christ. They relate to each other like knights at a round table rather than ranks in an army. Biblical government consists of ministers working together, respecting each other as equals. Authoritarian hierarchies have no place in the Kingdom of God. They are worldly in conception and lead to the very things for which Jesus rebuked the two disciples in this passage.
Service
Leaders have a service instead of ruler attitude. People are the center of your ministry, not just tools for your own ambitions.
What were Santiago and Juan looking for and how did they achieve it?
They sought status and honor through manipulation. They didn’t mention anything real work to achieve, only ranges. They assumed that the Kingdom of God would be established like any other government, with Jesus as supreme ruler, followed by a series of ranks.
We can imagine them plotting, “You know, Jesus can be a little hard on us sometimes. He’s very nice to women though. Let’s see if we can get Mom to talk to Him. Maybe she can get us a good position.”
This is politicking. Such manipulation typifies world leadership. Jesus does not rebuke them for ambition because ambition is a good thing if it is for the glory of God. Instead, he warns against seeking one’s own honor.
Jesus clarifies that He is not in charge of promotions in the personnel department. The father is. They were asking the wrong person.
From this, we see a hint of the first principle of Christian leadership in the New Testament: it is a gift from God.
However, these sons of Zebedee had two praiseworthy, if seriously misdirected, qualities:
Ambition
This is a good feature if it is directed toward the glory of God rather than our own worth.
Trust
There is a self-confidence that is commendable if it is ultimately based on trust in God. Unfortunately, it was trust in themselves rather than in God. “We are available.” They considered themselves eminently able. The Garden of Gethsemane taught them otherwise. They abandoned Jesus and fled.
This brings up the first key attitude that Jesus taught them.
First key attitude: Willingness to embrace suffering
You do not know what you are asking for, Jesus told them. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink? We can, they replied. Matthew 20:22
The call to Christian leadership is a call to suffering. The suffering involved, especially in the Western world, usually takes the form of psychological pressure and unique stresses that other believers cannot bear or understand.
People often have high expectations of a leader that they cannot meet. Some Christians may look more to a pastor than to Christ. When the pastor does not live up to his expectations, he may be considered incompetent.
Some under a pastor’s care can be unsubmissive, only giving in when pushed. Sometimes the leader must hold fast to godly principles, risking misunderstanding and criticism.
Occasionally, church leaders must apply biblical discipline when it may be unpopular to do so. When it comes to such, leaders are often unable to reveal the problem to the congregation. Members with incomplete knowledge of the case may draw the wrong conclusions about the leadership’s decisions. They may imagine that leaders are too harsh or too lax in discipline. Leaders can find themselves suffering in silence. However, God has wisely arranged it so.
The titles and honors that accompany the office of leader are insufficient to offset the stress. Those who value titles or honors more than service soon find themselves disappointed.
Similarly, in his book, Brothers, we are not professionalsJohn Piper attacks the attitude of professionalism in pastoral ministry that undermines the willingness to embrace suffering.
We pastors are being killed by the professionalization of the pastoral ministry. The mentality of the professional is not… the mentality of the slave of Christ. Professionalism has nothing to do with the essence and heart of the Christian ministry… Because there is no childishness in the professional, Matthew 18:3; no professional tenderness, Ephesians 4:32; there is no professional longing for God. Psalm 42:1.
Second key attitude: Parity
Jesus called them and said: You know that the princes of the nations lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first will be your slave. Matthew 20:25-27
On the mission field, I worked with a newly ordained citizen who happened to be a doctor. He had some rough edges to his personality, independent and stubborn. Over time we became great friends and worked well together. let’s call it José.
Eventually, José moved to another city to work with a team. A missionary from that team called me and asked: Roger, I’m having trouble getting along with Jose. I noticed that they get along well and work productively together. Can you give me some hints on how to handle it?
This was my answer: Brother, first of all, stop trying to handle it. Treat him like a colleague. Call him from time to time and ask him for advice. Ask him to help you. Think of him as your equal because, after all, he has the same ordination as you. Do this and he will eat out of your hand.
The missionary paused on the phone for about twenty seconds. I don’t think I can do that answered. So I can’t help you I reached the conclusion.
Unfortunately, he could not consider a national, not even a doctor, as his equal. He saw himself on the rung of a hierarchy with the nationals in a lower rank. Treating José as an equal would have contradicted the entire vision of his leadership, inherited from his entrepreneurial business culture.
Ironically, he had used the term equal to avoid saying that he thought Jose was the better man! It never occurred to me to think of him as inferior. The relationship between the two lasted less than a year before José went elsewhere.
Word of advice: if you treat a man as an equal, assuming he’s wise, he’ll respect you in the areas where he knows you’re superior.
Authoritarianism and hierarchism support each other. It’s hard to say what the driving force is. Do authoritarian people create hierarchies? Or is it the other way around?
Authoritarianism is the product of arrogance. Authoritarian people often assume that their superior position proves that they are inherently superior as individuals. That’s why they lord over others. They assume they have a natural right to do so.
Complex hierarchies are inevitable in the world. Armies are hierarchies, with generals at the top, followed by colonels, majors, captains, sergeants, down to the privates. Likewise, corporations. The CEO is at the top, followed by vice presidents, department managers, and inventory personnel in the basement.
Hierarchies are indeed necessary in such domains. Jesus is not teaching that hierarchies are inherently wrong. He is simply saying that it is not so with you.
In Greek the phrase It’s not like that with you is literally, It will not be so between you. Jesus was speaking in Aramaic, a dialect of Hebrew. In that language, future tenses are used as imperatives. Jesus was probably saying, I categorically forbid you from putting into office people with authoritarian temperaments and attitudes.
This excludes some of the so-called natural Christian office leaders. Christian organizations often ignore this principle. A man with natural leadership traits arrives. Sure, he’s a bit arrogant. He likes to control. Maybe he’s a bit overbearing at times, but so what? He has leadership. So he acquires authority within the organization. Result: people injured. Good lost people, who refuse to be the brunt of their arrogance.
Just because a man has leadership ability doesn’t mean he should be a leader in a Christian organization. If he tends to authoritarian and controlling attitudes, he is the one. last person to rate Controllers must be controlled.
This may be what Jesus meant by, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant. Some scholars have interpreted this to mean that servant leadership is the way to be promoted in the Kingdom of God. This interpretation may be valid. However, considering the context, a ban on naming people with authoritarian attitudes seems more likely.
Point
Neither natural leadership ability, business or military experience, nor psychological profiles are sufficient indications that a man should be considered for Christian leadership. If he maintains autocratic attitudes, thinks hierarchically, or tends to use or abuse people, he is disqualified as a candidate, regardless of other attributes.
Third key attitude: Service
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 20:28
Christian leadership focuses more on helping others than bossing them around. It is a life dedicated to service.
Many who are drawn to honor end up as careless leaders, more concerned with status than the well-being of their people. They also hurt themselves.
There is a time when a man rules over others to his own detriment. Ecclesiastes 8:9
The goal of a Christian leader is to make his followers the best they can be. In fact, if he can train someone to replace him, that’s the best leadership of all.
Servant leadership is essential in the Kingdom of God because of the end product. In the business world, people are a resource for producing material goods. People give time and energy to produce products for public consumption.
The Kingdom of God uses material resources to produce sanctified people. The world considers that this is not a problem. After all, sanctification is hard to define, something only God can measure. However, sanctified people are what the ministry is all about.
From time to time businessmen say, If I ran my business like you run your church, I would go bankrupt. The answer could well be, If I ran my church like you run your business, I wouldn’t have more sanctified people than you in your business.
The title of this lesson is, Tea Christian Philosophy of Leadership, no, IN Christian philosophy of leadership. This is deliberate. Christ taught a philosophy of leadership. He didn’t say Try my suggestions and if you don’t like them, make up your own paradigm.
Conclusion:
Christian leadership involves different attitudes to worldly systems. Accepting suffering, whether psychological or physical, helps a leader put his own motives into perspective. Serving others to help them reach their full potential and treating other ministers as equals is more than the mere duties of office. It is a lifestyle.
