Like Jesus - Servant Leadership

Introduction

Here’s what I believe. Now, this may sound contradictory, but hang with me. Here’s what I believe.

Everyone here is called to be a leader.

Everyone here is called to be a servant.

Now, for some of us this sounds contradictory. How can someone be a leader and a servant at the same time. Others of you have probably heard the term servant leader before.

Today, we are going to talk about servant leadership and here’s my main point today:

Christians Lead Through Serving

Christianity is not a top-down heirarchy, but a different type of leadership altogether. Christianity is a leadership marked not by dictatorial commands, but by relationship and servanthood.

Welcome and thank you for joining us today. We are in a series called “Like Jesus” where we are looking at the person and work of Jesus Christ and asking the question, how can I become like Him?

Today we are looking at how becoming a servant leader makes us more like Jesus. Turn with me to John 13. I have loaded notes in your app.

Main Text

John 13:1–17 ESV

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

Today we are jumping into the end of the gospel of John and this is the beginning of what is called the Upper Room discourse. This is generally accepted as the things that Jesus said and did the week before he was betrayed.

In our passage today, Jesus famously washes the feet of the disciples. For a bit of background, during this time period, people mainly wore sandals and being this is in the middle east, their feet got dirty as they walked from place to place.

During that time it was customary to have a basin of water and a towel by the door, so as people entered the house, if it was a poor home, you would wash your own feet, or if it was a well-to-do family, they would have a servant wash your feet for you. So Jesus doing this as the honored guest, is very much abnormal for the time period.

We can learn several biblical ideas from this passage.

We learn no one is below being served.

We learn that no one is above serving.

We see an example of true servant leadership.

So let’s kick this off with the first statement I made as we started today…

You Are Called To Be A Leader!

Now, I want us to understand here that Jesus isn’t getting rid of what we would call leadership. In fact, the passage starts with the phrase that Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, in other words, Jesus had all authority. This is similar to the phrase at the end of Matthew, all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me.

Jesus understood the value of leadership. He wasn’t trying to eliminate leadership in the world. Instead, Jesus promotes leadership in this passage. He says very clearly in this passage, “you call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.”

In other words, I am a leader, I’m not denouncing leaders. He says you are right to call me Teacher and Lord. Jesus accepts a leadership title and was ok with.

Now some people don’t see themselves as leaders, but I love the way leadership guru John Maxwell defines leadership. He defines it as influence. All of us in this room have influence. Now, the breadth of our influence might be different, but all of us have influence.

Here are the major areas of influence:

Family

Friends

Work

Church

All of these areas are areas in your life that you have influence and God is calling for you to use that influence for his kingdom. He is asking you to be a leader.

In the church particularly, our church needs leaders. We need people who will “do the work of the ministry,” Ephesians 4:12.

Now, some of you grew up in a church where the pastor was the only leader in the church. Others of you grew up in churches that were run by a deacon board. And sometimes, the biggest problem this creates is that people believe that those people, whoever those are, those people are the leaders and the rest of us are the servants.

Jesus throws that thought process on its head! We are in this series called “Like Jesus” and the point of the series is that Jesus sets our example. He is the greatest leader to ever live.

We are to be like Him. We are to emulate Him in his leadership. How did Jesus lead? By becoming a servant to all. And guess what?

You Are Called To Be A Servant!

Jesus takes on the role of a servant in this passage. He takes off his outer garments, takes a towel and wraps it around his waist (the look of a servant), and he grabs a basin and washes the disciples feet.

Jesus leads by serving. He shows us what a strong leaders actually looks like and it’s not what we see on TV and in the movies. It doesn’t look like the Fortune 500 list of top leaders. It doesn’t look like Time’s Person of the Year. It looks like a man serving his brothers to lead them into a place of greater understanding.

Servant

When Jesus came in the form of a servant, he was not disguising who God is. He was revealing who God is.

John Ortberg

This passage is a bit tricky because we might be tempted to think this is the only time Jesus showed us how to be servants. But that is not the case. Throughout the Bible, God reveals himself in this way. In fact, Jesus was prophesied to be the “suffering servant” in Isaiah 53.

God reveals himself to us as a servant. He shows us what he is like and he is the God who humbles himself before his people. And he does this to point us to the better way.

Jesus’ disciples didn’t understand this and in Matthew 20, the mother of James and John come to him and ask that they be given positions of power and influence. She wanted them seated at his right and left hand.

Jesus says that’s not how the kingdom works. It’s not about getting into the high positions, but instead it’s a lifestyle of serving others.

Matthew 20:25–28 ESV

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus tells us what God is truly looking for...

God Is Looking For Servant-Leaders!

God desires for his people to lead by serving. If you want to be a great leader in the kingdom, you will serve others.

When I was younger, serving in the ministry in my early 20s, the example I saw was that everyone in the ministry served. At bible college, we raked leaves, cleaned up trash, painted, served in the soup kitchen, it was part of the culture I grew up in.

When I was serving as a youth pastor, I carried that with me. I mowed the pastor’s grass, I helped him fix things around his house. I cleaned the church, took out the trash, did everything I could to serve both the man of God and the house of God.

Serving is in my DNA. I’ve actually had a harder time trying to find the balance of actually leading. I don’t like titles, so people have asked, do I need to call you Pastor Brian and I answer, jokingly, just don’t call me late for dinner.

But, there’s something in this, because when we give honor to others, it does something to us. Paul was clear that we should Romans 12:10 “…Outdo one another in showing honor.” There’s something that happened in me when I showed honor to the elders and deacons and pastors that I worked with. There was something that happened in me when I humbled myself, grabbed a rag and started truly leading, by serving others.

Christians Lead Through Serving

Servant leadership is required precisely because servanthood is the basic stance of all truly Christian behavior, modeled as it was by the “Servant King” himself.

Gordon Fee

That’s the culture I want to have at our church; a culture where we honor one another. That we serve one another because this is how Jesus modeled leadership for us. Servant leadership is not something that is optional in the kingdom of God.

I believe servant leadership can affect all areas of our life - work, friends & neighbors and church, but it most certainly starts in the home. Men, we are called to be the chief servant leader in our families. I did not always think this way.

HOME

Many years ago, I was challenged by my friend Bruce King, some of you know Bruce, but Bruce challenged me and said, “don’t let your wife out serve you.” Now, if you know my wife, that is quite the challenge. She’s got a servants heart.

And so, slowly over the years, I have been steady trying to serve my wife more. I’m not the best at it. When I do it right though, it makes all the difference in the world in our house.

Now, this whole idea flies in the face as to how a lot of people in Clayton live. Many people here have bought into the 1950s style of home. Husband works, wife stays home. Wife serves, husband puts his feet up. While this may sound good to most of the husbands in this room, it’s not biblical.

God calls husbands to serve their wives. He also calls wives to serve their husbands. It’s meant to be a mutual serving. In other words, if your house is out of balance here, you should work to fix it.

WORK

This is also an attitude we should adopt at work. Christians in the marketplace should be known as servants. If we are to lead people to Christ, lets make sure our lives look like His.

In the marketplace, especially if you are in a leadership position, you should be modeling this type of leadership in your company. If you say you love Jesus, but you act like a mini-dictator at work, there’s a disconnect somewhere. When we get a new heart, we should not continue to live like the world does. That means we should look different at work.

FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS

When it comes to serving others, we should most certainly serve our neighbor and our friends. This means being available to help those that need help in your sphere of influence.

We show our love for God by loving our neighbor well and that means we should seek the lowly place. We should humble ourselves and seek to serve. Whatever that may look like. You may need to mow someone’s lawn. You may need to put their trash out at the street. Serving may look like many different things.

CHURCH

One of the primary places God asks every Christian to serve is in His Body. Paul spends several chapters in Corinthians discussing the need for every Christian to participate in body ministry. He says that we all have a gift and that we should use that gift for the body, to build it up.

There is no one that is exempt from this. No matter how small, tall or old. You have a gift. God expects you to use it.

Remember what Jesus says in this passage. I’ve given you an example that you also should do just as I have done to you. In other words, you don’t need permission to serve now. You have been released to serve others.

Don’t think you have nothing to offer. Don’t get caught up in your own affairs. Do as you have seen Jesus do today. If you don’t know where to serve in the church, let me know. I will find you a place to serve.

As we move to close our service today, I do want to give you some things to pray about and seek the Lord on. I’m listing two questions, but perhaps God is already speaking to you about your neighbors or your work. Listen to what he says and obey Him. Here are some prompts to help you, if you need it.

Christians Lead Through Serving

Prayer & Journaling Points

Prayer & Journaling Points

1. Father, in what ways can I better serve my spouse?

2. Lord, where are you asking me to serve your body?

Now, we have a lot of people who have served in our church this past year and certainly more of you will serve in the future. Today we are going to honor those who have served with a lunch.

We have lots of volunteers in this church and it would be impossible for our church to function at the level it does without you. You are incredibly import to us. I hope you will plan to stay and eat with us and fellowship today. Let’s pray a blessing over the food.