Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Servant Leadership
Last Sunday. Mark Daniels posted his sermon on servant leadership. It's a great one.
The first is service to the wrong thing. I have a pastor acquaintance that works harder than any pastor I have ever known - far more hours "on the job" than should be expected from anyone - truly a serving attitude. But he does so much that he micromanages his good volunteers, driving some of them off. He serves so much that he fails to lead. A leader will breed other leaders, and a true servant leader will breed servant leaders - a servant leader serving the wrong master will drive other leaders off.
The second trap is, or course, pride. "I have to be this kind of servant because no one else will do the job correctly" - ever heard that one? I've said it more than once. That's a kind of pride
I like the way Mark talks about servanthood not as work so much, but as sacrifice, Christ's sacrifice of His very life - and his marvelous example of the woman in mourning that gave up her car for the church.
Being a servant leader is an attitude, not an action.
Related Tags: servant leadership, attitude
But, filled with religious triumphalism and delusions of grandeur, James and John ask Jesus for places of privilege in His kingdom. Jesus tells them (and us) that He can't promise anybody special privileges. But He does promise that if we follow Him, we'll drink the same cup and experience the same baptism He experienced.I couldn't help thinking when I read it about two "traps" in learning to be a servant.
Jesus' cup, of course, was the experience of death. It was the very cup He asked God the Father to prevent Him from drinking during His night of agonized prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, even as He submitted to the Father's will.
The first is service to the wrong thing. I have a pastor acquaintance that works harder than any pastor I have ever known - far more hours "on the job" than should be expected from anyone - truly a serving attitude. But he does so much that he micromanages his good volunteers, driving some of them off. He serves so much that he fails to lead. A leader will breed other leaders, and a true servant leader will breed servant leaders - a servant leader serving the wrong master will drive other leaders off.
The second trap is, or course, pride. "I have to be this kind of servant because no one else will do the job correctly" - ever heard that one? I've said it more than once. That's a kind of pride
I like the way Mark talks about servanthood not as work so much, but as sacrifice, Christ's sacrifice of His very life - and his marvelous example of the woman in mourning that gave up her car for the church.
Being a servant leader is an attitude, not an action.
Related Tags: servant leadership, attitude
