What is your definition of a Biblical leader?

Let’s glance at the umbrella topic of a philosophy of Biblical leadership by defining Biblical leadership.

OUR EXAMPLE

Biblical leadership is defined by Jesus and the Bible. Biblical leadership is servant-leadership.

In the last session, we touched on Jesus as our example and the Bible as our leadership manual. We looked at Matthew 20:25-28 as Jesus teaches about leading, authority, and service. Jesus-like leadership is radically different from the world. Leading and authority and service in the Kingdom of God is about submission and service. Submission and service. Therefore, we connect servant to leader as servant-leader.

Servant-leader is exemplified in John 13:2-17 (NIV): The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so, he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not everyone was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 13:14-15 is especially powerful for me. In the NASB, it says, “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.” Jesus, the ultimate servant-leader, demonstrated leadership by humbling and humiliating service.

Humbling and humiliating are not words we like, but they describe Jesus’ service in John 13. Let’s wrap ourselves with the towel of slavery and servitude. Let’s dress ourselves in humble service.

Humbling and humiliating service. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords served others like a slave of his kingdom instead of the king. Let’s prepare and do the act of service no one else wants to do. The disciples had dirty feet and needed to be cleaned. See and need, fulfill a need. Look around for what needs to be done and do it. Leaders serve. Leaders get it done. Servant-leaders get the worst of the worst duties done from the position of kneeling. Service.

Biblical leadership is servant-leadership.

DEFINING BIBLICAL LEADERSHIP

What is leadership, and what is Biblical leadership? Biblical leadership is (1) serving others (2) from a place of selflessness and sacrifice (3) that points to God.

Biblical leadership is about (1) serving others. Leadership is not about position, privilege, or power. Positional, privilege, and power leadership can be identified when a leader does not get their agenda pushed forward, their project highlighted, or their ministry funded. This secular, divisive, and competitiveness is the opposite of Biblical leadership. Biblical leadership is not about self, but about others. A Biblical leader asks how others can be serviced, how their needs can be met, how others can be lifted. Service is about seeing a need and meeting a need. It is personal. It is giving. It is other-oriented.

Biblical leadership is about (2) selflessness and sacrifice. Attitude and motivation influences everything and every action, seen and unseen. The Biblical leader’s core attitude and motivation are selflessness and sacrifice. If it is selfish or self-serving, it is rejected. How to tell if something is selfless and sacrificial? It is selfless and sacrificial if it costs the leader and benefits others. If it costs you and aids others, it may come from an attitude and motivation of selflessness and sacrifice.

Biblical leadership is about (3) pointing to God. Leaders make decisions and if the decision might be questionable, ask if the decision, choice, or action points toward God. That is the goal. The goal is to point people to God. The lost need God and pointed to God for the gospel of Jesus Christ. They need the salvation, forgiveness, and acceptance in Jesus. The saved, Christians, need God and pointed to God for the Lordship of Jesus, surrendering to Jesus’ leadership, submitting to God’s commands, principles, and holiness. If we are not pointing to God, should we bother doing it?

QUALIFICATIONS

The core requirements to be a Biblical leader within the church are character and calling.

A Biblical leader must be saved, baptized, and surrendered in Jesus. A Biblical leader must live godliness in the power of the Holy Spirit. Character is about applied godliness in thinking, speaking, and lifestyle. We suffer in our culture because of church leaders who lack godly character, and the enemy uses such disgraces to drive seekers away from our holy God. Character counts a lot. When we talk about character, it is about lifestyle, choices, actions, and speech. It’s about public and private godliness. It looks like service, generosity, spiritual healthiness of the leader and their family. It’s about reputation within the church and the greater community. It is big. It is complicated. It is holistic. And we need to take it more serious than we tend too, as all the church scandals indicate. Let’s have godly integrity – personally, within our households, as leaders, as teams, as a church.

Does divine calling to specific tasks, ministries, and position apply to everyone, even those who are not pastors/elders/oversees and deacons/servants? I think it does. Personally, I don’t want someone in nursery ministry holding, rocking, singing, and changing diapers on my infant if God has not called and thereby equipped them for it. Let’s commit personally and as leaders to strive to be in God’s will in all things. Be in the center of God’s will for where you live, where you work, who you marry, who are your friends, and your service to God in and out of the church. God’s calling and God’s will are intermixed. God’s calling is about the Holy Spirit selecting the person to the mission, responsibility, and accountability of Biblical leadership within the church. Calling is spiritual and involves the person hearing the call and involves others discerning and affirming the call like the seven deacons of Acts 6 and Saul in Acts 9. It is better for a position to remain open, vacant, and desperate, waiting for God’s person to show up, then to fill a slot for manning and have the wrong person doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Let’s re-examine and re-affirm God’s calling and God’s will for each of us as Biblical leaders.

If a leader in the church lacks godly character in private and public and/or lacks divine calling to the position and ministry, they are disqualified. Ideally, the disqualified leader would under the prompting of the Holy Spirit and knowing the truth gracefully step back and out of the position. But the Bible and church history show they do not because of the very lack of character. So, they stay and passively or intentionally cause impotence or harm. God protect us from such a nightmare and give us insight and boldness to do the right thing, do the best for God’s kingdom.

POWER OF THREE

A Biblical leader’s task involves training up the next generation leaders. A servant-leader tries to replace themselves because eventually a leader moves on, moves away, or moves up. In Bible terms, this is discipleship. Jesus did it to the twelve and the seventy-two. Paul did it to Timothy and John Mark. Following Jesus’ example and commands about discipleship with his application from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 by sending out pairs in Luke 10, the principle of discipleship applies to leaders: mentee-me-mentor.

Each of us needs a wiser, godlier mentor. A Biblical leader will have a more mature servant-leader as their mentor, guide, advisor, accountability-partner, and prayer-partner. Someone ahead of them on the spiritual journey of godliness and service. Prayer for a mentor and actively search for one. When you find a mentor, have that conversation, and ask them to mentor you, pray with you, and hold you accountable. Most Biblical servant-leaders when asked will say yes. And then maintain that relationship. Keep it because it is precious and can be more powerful with time. Who is your mentor? Without a mentor, you are weaker and more vulnerable than necessary. Let’s do it.

We also need to be a Paul and have a mentor. An aspect of leading is replacing ourselves by investing in the next generation. Each of us needs a mentee or protégé or leader-in-training. A Biblical leader will have a less mature leader-in-training to mentor, guide, advise, train, teach, and co-labor with. Someone behind them preparing to replace them. Think of it as on-the-job training or continual education/certification. Pray for discernment and act upon the people who God points at. Have a conversation and explain the ideas. Let them have time to pray and consult and think about it. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. Invest time in the relationship, let them watch you, talk about what you do, answer questions, give them opportunities to do it, provide feedback and evaluation, and train them up to replace you and extend your ministry beyond yourself.

Therefore, no servant-leader works without a guide ahead of them, and no servant-leader works alone without walking together with the future leader. Who is your mentor? Who is your mentee?

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

Reflecting the idea of moving from passive to active, let’s be active learners in development. Take a few minutes and think about your answers to the following reflective questions:

1.          How are your ministry and leadership responsibilities serving others, selfless, sacrificial, and pointing to Jesus?

2.          What is your calling? Why are you serving?

3.          How are you in a discipleship relationship with your mentor and your mentee?

CONCLUSION

We have glanced at the meaning of Biblical leadership as a starting place for leadership training. Let us serve.