We all want to be respected, held in honor and considered
important. I am sure you will recall the question of who would be the greatest in kingdom of God was hotly
debated among the disciples of Christ.
James and John even attempted to obtain a firm commitment
from Christ to designate them as second and third in authority under Him in the
kingdom of God (Mark 10:37).
Note what Christ said in verses 42 through 44. How can one be the greatest of all and yet be
a servant to all at the same time? How
can we apply this instruction of Christ to our lives today?
We live an age of organizations. They function in most aspects of our lives,
from the economic to the spiritual. Each
organization has leaders. They are the
“greatest” in the organization. An
organizational chart represents their relationship to others in the
organization. It shows who is over whom
in authority.
To view leadership in an organization from the perspective
that Christ taught, however, we need to make a change in the orientation of the
organization chart. We need to turn it
upside down.
Instead of the having a pyramid structure in which the head
stone is sitting on top of and being carried by all the stones under it, we
rather have a structure in the form of a tree.
The one in authority is the trunk, which supports and provides
nourishment to all those under his authority.
Compare this with Christ’s statement in John 15:5: “I am the
vine, you are the branches.”
Turing the chart upside down does not do away with
authority. Every organization needs
authority to function. The fact that
Christ considers Himself the vine and we the branches does not diminish His
authority over us. It rather gives an
example of how to properly perceive and execute godly authority.
Consider the human body.
Is the purpose of the body merely to carry the head around? No.
The body’s purpose is to work, create, build, and produce something of
value to others. But it is the head that
make each individual member effective in doing its part in the overall work of
the body.
The head directs and coordinates. The other members do the work. However, the other members are effective only
if they have the direction of the head.
The head does more than sit on top of the body. It makes the body function effectively.
The head is, in reality, a servant to the whole body. This is the lesson of leadership we need to
learn.
A position of leadership in an organization, be it a family,
a business, etc... is much like the function of the head. The leader has a responsibility to make those
under him effective.
Authority can be thought of as the power to exercise one’s
responsibility to others, to supply what they need to produce the results
expected of them. Isn’t this how Christ
exercises His authority over us?
How do we apply this principle?
If we are given a leadership role of an activity at school, church, etc...do we
glory that we are in charge? That we can
now command and it will be done according to our wishes? Do we attempt to make a name for
ourselves? Or do we see it as our
responsibility to make those under us effective by supplying organization,
direction, motivation, money or other needs so that they can make the activity
a success, so that it can be enjoyable and profitable for the maximum number of
people? Are we servants to both those
under us and to those who will enjoy the activity?
Let us once again consider the original question: Who will be the greatest in the world
tomorrow? The answer is the ones who
serves the most.
Today we are training to be leaders in the world
tomorrow. To qualify for leadership
positions, we must learn to serve those under our authority.
However, we do not need to have an extensive group of people
under our authority at this time to learn this lesson. What we do is to develop a serving attitude,
not blindly responding to all question for help but wisely judging where we can
best apply our time, money and talents to do the most good.
If we practice making our resources and opportunities serve
the most individuals in the best way possible, we will be on the road that
leads to true greatness, irrespective of how great or how limited our resources
and opportunities may be now.
