Principles of Servant Leadership

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Matthew 23:11

But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

NKJV

The Pharisees and religious leaders of the time of Christ liked to flaunt their position and the power it afforded them.  They would walk around portraying an aurora of their positional greatness and chosen status with God creating a perception of their supposed greatness in the coming Kingdom of God.  With his statement in Matthew 23:11, Jesus is putting the religious leaders of his time in their place and teaching his followers that the path to greatness is a path of servitude. 

Jesus did not just say this, he went on to demonstrate it at the last supper (John 13:2-5) and in His greatest demonstration of servitude, died on a cross for our sins.  Jesus abandoned the glory of heaven and became one of us, living in this sinful world, suffering pain just as we do even though he did nothing to deserve it (Hebrews 4:14-15).  There is no doubt that Jesus Christ gives us the greatest example of a servant leader.  Let us take a moment to look at the principles of servant leadership and see how Jesus demonstrated these principles in his ministry. 

In an article on changingminds.org entitled Servant Leadership, the following principles of servant leadership are mentioned.

1)      Transformation – Jesus transformed the world around him.  When the disciples of John asked Jesus if he was the messiah, Jesus told them to report what they had seen.  What they had seen was the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel, or good news, preached to them (Matthew 11:2-5).  In other words, our servant leader, Jesus Christ, transformed the world around him to the benefit of those he met. 

2)      Personal growth – Jesus took a group of poor, rough fishermen, tax collectors, and not the elite religious leaders of the day and molded them into men who would have it said later that they turned their world upside down (Acts 17:6).

3)      Enabling environments – When Jesus left this earth and ascended to heaven he did not leave His disciples, or us, powerless but sent the Holy Spirit to empower and enable them, and us, to spread the Gospel around the earth (John 14:26). 

4)      Service – During Jesus ministry on earth he was the tireless servant going about doing good demonstrating the power of God over sickness, death, and poverty (Matthew 11:5).

5)      Trusting relationships – When Jesus came to His disciples walking on the water, Peter thought nothing of stepping out of the boat and was able to walk on the water.  That was until he took his eyes off the Lord.  However, even when he began to sink, he cried out for help and the Lord rescued him (Matthew 14:25-31).

6)      Creating commitment – Even though Jesus disciples would abandon him when he was crucified, they later would serve him, and all but John would suffer death for their faith.  Jesus created an aura of commitment by forgiving his disciples sin of abandoning him and demonstrating he was the Son of God by rising from the dead. 

7)      Community building – Jesus began with 12 disciples but as he continued to minister and teach with demonstrations of signs and wonders, he created a community.  This community abandoned him for the most part after his death but as he showed himself to them after rising from the dead, he created a community that would spread the Gospel around the known world.  We still feel the impact of this community as the Church of Jesus Christ continues to grow in spite of attempts to stop it.

8)      Nurturing the spirit – Jesus ministered to those hurting and wanting in the world.  He demonstrated the love and power of God to them by healing the sick, casting out demons, feeding them, and dying for their sins on the cross.  (1)

Jesus is unique in that he is the Son of God and we will not find an earthly servant leader that perfectly demonstrates these principles as Jesus did.  However, we should use these principles as a guideline as we select the next President of the United States in 2016.  In this time of need in our country and the world, we desperately need leaders not interested in their own advancement or the advancement of some political agenda but we need leaders that demonstrate the qualities of a servant leader. 

1. Changingminds.org. Servant Leadership. changingminds.org. [Online] [Cited: November 30, 2014.] http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/servant_leadership.htm.