The Servant Leader

Jesus was the ultimate servant leader. From getting down to wash people’s feet to dying for people’s sin. He gave his life for others. When he saw people who were hurting he was moved with compassion. Read this account from Jesus’ last night with his friends as recorded in John 13 & Luke 22:

Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron.

Then he said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do. I’m only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn’t give orders to the employer. If you understand what I’m telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life.

Within minutes they were bickering over who of them would end up the greatest. But Jesus intervened: “Kings like to throw their weight around and people in authority like to give themselves fancy titles. It’s not going to be that way with you. Let the senior among you become like the junior; let the leader act the part of the servant.

“Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You’d rather eat and be served, right? But I’ve taken my place among you as the one who serves. And you’ve stuck with me through thick and thin. Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God’s people.

God’s plan was that Jesus’ life and ministry, marked by service and compassion for people, would live on through the church. I don’t know what you’re view of church is, but our hope is that the love you have received from someone will be what you think about when you think about church. The church was established by Jesus to be a community where people who have received the love of God could come together share it with others. Our hope is that you become an essential part of this movement that God calls the church.