Wednesday, April 20, 2011

What Type of Leader Are You Anyway?

By: Min. Angela Lee Price
What type of leader are you anyway? Many of us say we have authority to do what Jesus did, particularly when it comes to casting out demons and performing miracles, but too many times our walk does match our talk. If you are going to lead like Jesus, teach like Jesus, and love like Jesus, you must begin by serving like Jesus. Jesus was the perfect servant-leader. The Scriptures tell us that being a true servant-leader is how one receives the abundant blessing that so many people magically "claim" nowadays (in the name of Jesus, of course), only there is nothing magical about servant-leadership. It takes hard work, compassion, and commitment.

In John 13, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. He does this just before the Passover Celebration. It was the very night that Jesus instituted the ordinance of the Lord's Supper at the Passover Meal. There, He gave an object-lesson on servant-leadership and humility. Scripture says he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and pour water in a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with his towel (vs. 4-5). In verses 14-17 He says, “And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. How true it is that a servant is not greater than the master. Nor or messengers more important than the one who sends them. You know these things-now do them! That is the path to blessing” (NLT).

Contrast the false and self-serving leadership style of the so-called “shepherds” in Ezekiel chapter 34 who scattered their flocks, trampled over and abused, and even devoured them, with the words of Jesus in John 10:11 where Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” In verse 14 He says, “I am the good shepherd, I know my own sheep, and they know me” (NLT).

What type of leader are you? Is foot washing beneath you? Do you scatter the sheep or gather the sheep? Do you care for the people in your congregation, or are they just a means to an end, a way for you to make money? Destruction is certain for those shepherds who feed themselves at the expense of the flock (Ezekiel 34:2). Whatever you do for the people under your care do it in love, for Jesus says in John 15:12, "I command you to love each other in the same way that I have loved you."

It is not Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, nor New Age that saves. Jesus saves!

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