Jesus spoke directly on the topic of leadership. From His words those that call themselves “Christian” are taught what to seek what is important within someone that wishes to be a leader. Not just of fellow Christians, but of all.
Mark 10:42 – So Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 43 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:25 – But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. 26 But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. 28 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
“Whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else.”
“Whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.”
This is a statement of an overall leadership role. Whoever wants to be first.
In the KJV of the Bible the verses come out this way:
“42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. 43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: 44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
“25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: 28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
The reason I mention the KJV is that it is the closest English version to the original Greek text available. This allows the reader to research the true meaning of the words more easily. That is what I desire to examine here today.
“Whosoever will be great among you”
Whosoever – hos & ean
Hos – who, which, what, that.
Ean – if
Will – thelo – I will, wish, desire, am willing, intend, design.
Be – ginomai – I come into being, am born, become, come about, happen.
Great – megas – large, great, in the widest sense
Among – en – in, on, among
You – humin – you
Who if wishes happens to be great among you
Chiefest – protos – first, before, principal, most important
Chief – protos
“Shall be servant of all”
Servant – doulos – (a) (as adj.) enslaved, (b) (as noun) a (male) slave
Of all – pas – all, the whole, every kind of.
“Let him be your servant”
Servant – doulos
Let him be – esto – be
Most important be slave to all.
Slave – A person who works very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.
Enslaved – Cause (someone) to lose their freedom of choice or action
Now there are several elements that need to be noted in these definitions.
The first I wish to look at is this phrase: “without proper remuneration.”
These means they are not in this job to get wealth or even live wealthy. For their goal is not for their enrichment finically but the enrichment, not necessarily finically, of those they seek to serve. Yet for as long as man has formed governments, except for a short time in the early years of the nation when men seeking to be leaders did not gain wealth or even leave the office wealthy.
From 1789 till 1854 the salary for congresspersons was $6 to $7 annually.
This began to change in 1885 till the present. Going from $3000 starting that year to the present salary of $174000 per year as of 2014 in congress.
How can someone seek to truly be a servant, a slave if they make more than those they are pledge to represent?
They cannot.
They are not enslaved to those that they are to care for. They are enslaved to money.
Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
Up until the early 1800s which is not very long, people knew the real understanding of the term “servant leader.”
Not just those that wished to serve but those that were being served as well.
Now most are ignorant of these crucial facts that Jesus Christ tried to impress upon us.
He even went so far as to show how He, the Son of God, was a servant to us humans.
The Son of God a slave, which is truly demonstrated by the fact that He died upon the cross a slave to our sins.
What is glorious about this, is that three day later He exited the tomb alive.
So changed that He walked with men that had seen Him before and were fleeing Jerusalem. However they didn’t even recognize Him till late into their conversation with Him.
Now for the next point. When someone, of their free will, chooses to be our slave as our leader. They as the definition states “lose their freedom of choice or action.”
They can no longer do anything for their own good, reward or glory, but are enslaved to their commit and obligation to seek after what is best for the people above all else even to the point of death, as Christ Himself willingly did.
Yet if you look around do you even see any truly fulfill this commitment?
However this is what is required by the person that is seeking to be the chief.
Now a point that many don’t even try to see.
“All.”
Now note how Christ starts this teaching unto the disciples. He starts by directly mentioning how the rulers of the world behave. Then just before He goes on to mention Himself being a slave to humanity He states that the person seeking to lead is to lead all.
“All” as shown above is the word “pas,” which means “all, the whole, every kind of.”
The whole.
Every kind of.
It does not say those within the Body of Christ. For that ultimate leader is Jesus Christ Himself. His point is for those that seek to be leaders of people, of groups, of nations.
Christ was showing His foreknowledge of a time when people could rise up out of the masses to be a leader of a nation, for at the time He walked amongst us that was not the case. Yet still He laid the foundation for servant leaders to follow that truly placed themselves as a child of God through Christ. This is pointed out because He showed how those in power of the nations behaved at that time. They were haughty, arrogant and most used their powers to belittle and demean their subjects. To think they knew better than those they controlled. So when taken in the correct perspective we see that true leaders that call themselves “Christian,” are to adhere to the instructions given in these verses by Christ Himself.
What also needs to be indicated though is that this is also the instruction of those that call themselves “Christian,” in what they are to look for in a leader so that this can be accomplished.
If they choose not to do so they are showing their rejection of the teachings of Christ and in so doing rejecting God Himself.
This is the behavior that the tribes of Israel did many times to their sorrow and regret. However, those that call themselves “Christian” now do the exact same rejection and they wonder why everything is going wrong, not only in the United States, but throughout the world as well.
So a servant leader must make of themselves a slave to the people they wish to lead, be it a church or a nation. If they do not seek this, but seek after their own glory, their own rewards, and their own goals. Then they should be rejected, either before they come to power, or once they do come to power; removed within the laws of the nation or church in question. For no leader comes to power without the blessing of God, even if the results of them coming to power results in the deaths of millions.
However, since we are commanded to follow the laws set forth by humans as long as these laws do not act against the Bible and thus of Christ and His Father. Than we are to follow them to the best of our abilities.
On the other hand, if they do act against the Bible and thus God, they must be removed, but in a way that does not violate the teaching of Christ as best can be done.