Leading the Pack

FYI - If you are looking for the video for this week's small group lesson, please scroll down to the previous blog entry titled "Flat-Line Faith."

Well, last week we looked at how we can be transformed in our ministry: serving as Jesus served. That leads perfectly into what I want to discuss this week: transformed influence - leading as Jesus led. The word that is best used to describe Jesus' leadership style is "example." His leadership was his way of life. There are many facets that may characterize Jesus' way of life, but a couple that I want to focus on are humility, submission, and obedience.

Perhaps it is odd to use these traits to speak of leadership, but it will make better sense as we break it down. Humility was at the core of Christ's leadership. As we examine Philippians 2:1-11, we see how humility was exactly what Christ exemplified. Verse three says not to do anything out of selfish ambition, but to consider others better than yourself. That is such a huge part of humility and service. You can't lead someone if you want them to serve you; you must be willing to serve them in order to lead them. That's point number one.

Submission may seem a bit out of place here, but let's think about this. Jesus had a mission. His mission was to bear the sins of the world and take the wrath of God in our place. Honestly, we so often reflect on the fact that Christ would come to earth to dwell with men, but maybe we lose sight of the whole reason he came. He was on a mission to save the world, as reflected in his very name: the Hebrew Yeshua means salvation or He saves.  But think about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying for another way to accomplish this. He was exemplifying a very important aspect of Christian leadership - submitting to the will of the Father. If you want to lead people to follow, you have to follow yourself.

So what about obedience? Isn't obedience just submission carried out? Yes, but there is a point to this. As Bill Hull points out, Jesus was obedient to death and calls us to be obedient to death as well. Our faith is only displayed as we die to ourselves and allow Christ to live through us. That is our "mission" so to speak. The beauty of this whole idea is that if we allow Christ to live through us, we are also submitting to the Father and living humbly. So obedience is a huge part of leadership.

Is it odd to you that we are not talking about being decisive and charismatic? Should we spend more time talking about how to exercise authority over others without being arrogant? Maybe the answer to this is the answer to the question, "Was Jesus like that?" What do you think? It is good to talk about humility, suffering, obedience, and submission because in those attitudes or lifestyles we find ourselves being the example of Christianity for others, and that is what leadership is about.

So, that being said, are you leading? Better yet, are you leading the way Jesus led? If not, don't fret. Most of us are not. But we are being transformed in our influence to lead that way. What we must understand is that it is our mission to have that influence on others, so we must grow in our discipleship in order to lead others. It really is a cycle. Jesus started it by being himself and showing others how to be like him. Now we are continuing that cycle as best we can to be like him and influence others to be like him as well. That's what this life is all about. Grow in him and infect as many people as you can to follow that example!