Servant Leadership is what?

“Servant leadership” is a term bandied around.  What do you picture when you hear it?  One genuflected and spineless or better stated genuflected because they are spineless?

Servant leadership in the home, marketplace or church is not wimpish and certainly is not devoid of authority.  What is absent is the drive for pomp and prestige, the willingness to scramble up the “ladder” on the heads, hearts and hands of others.  For sure servant leaders exercise authority, but they do so for the good of those they lead even if such leadership requires sacrifice on their part.

Jesus said this about leadershp:

25 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. 26 It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20:25-28 ESV)

Keeping watch for the master of the house (Mark 13)

There is a boat-load of intriguing details in Mark 13 regarding the end of the age that we will not address here.  Let me for now focus your attention on the warning Jesus gives his followers to be on their guard against false christs, prophets and miracle workers (v. 21-22).  Implicit in this is a clear indication that Jesus considers himself as the true Christ, prophet and miracle worker.  A little bit later, in talking about the time following the great tribulation, Jesus refers to the ‘Son of Man’ coming in the clouds with great glory and power.  On one level the phrase ‘son of man’ is a third person way of referring to oneself.  On another level it is an allusion to the exalted figure in the prophet Daniel’s vision (see Dan 7:13-14).  Either way it is another indication the Jesus is not just a carpenter from Nazareth, but someone of great significance, who will be appointed to gather the elect of God at the end of the age.  He is the Son who will, at an unknown hour, return to the house as master, desiring to find the servants alert and at work (see vv. 32-37).

How do you understand this?  What does it mean to be alert and at work?

Don’t ask the wrong question!

“Whose side are you on?” I have used that question with varying degrees of import. Lately it’s a line I try to sell when I just passed the basketball to the other team.

Joshua uses it in a situation with far greater significance. He is preparing to lead his people into battle; before him stands a “man” with sword drawn. Joshua approaches asking whether the “man” is friend or foe. “Neither” is the man’s response.

That caught my attention. But after reading the whole account it makes sense. The “man” is the commander of the Lord’s army. His allegiance is to the Lord, neither to Joshua nor to Joshua’s enemies. The real question that needs to be answered is “Whose side is Joshua on?” The Lord’s?

Don’t we face the same dynamic? We are preparing to face a challenge (in the family, at work, wherever) and we would like to know if God is on our side. Wrong question! Much better to ask ourselves whether we are on God’s side. Tougher but better.