FOLLOW THE LEADERfrom His heavenly exalted position as the Second Person of the eternal
Godhead. He stepped down from heaven to earth...from God to man...
from man to a servant...from a servant to a criminal’s death! That’s true
downward servant leadership from total exaltation to total humiliation!
Principle:
“Since all progress in Christ is measured downward,
humility and servanthood is the mark of spiritual
maturity.”In the world, the followers serve the leader. But in the Kingdom of God,
the leader serves the follower. This is not natural leadership – but rather
supernatural leadership. Living for others is not natural to our sinful, self-
seeking, self-serving prideful egos. In our fallen spiritual condition, we
all want others to serve us, rather than us serve them. That sad fact is
seen in the eternal “war between the sexes” in marriage...political strife
in nations...racial, tribal and ethnic strife among people...student-
teacher conflict in schools ...employer-employee conflict in business...
management-labor conflict in industry...pastor-parish conflicts in the
church.
Oswald Sanders poignantly writes about this difference in leadership
style between the world and the body of Christ:
True greatness, true leadership, is achieved not by reducing men to
one’s service but in giving oneself in selfless service to them. And
that is never done without cost. It involves drinking a bitter
cup and experiencing a painful baptism of suffering. The true
spiritual leader is concerned infinitely more with the service he can
render God and his fellow men than with the benefits and pleasures
he can extract from life. He aims to put more into life than he takes
out of it.^7Authentic spiritual leadership is recognized by a people-focus in general,
and a servant-people-focus in particular. In the world, leadership is oriented
around position and power. In the Kingdom of God, leadership revolves
around people. Worldly leadership often uses and abuses people for the
purpose of the leader. They manipulate and intimidate the follower for the