A Biblical Leader

Here is the conclusion of my kingship series.

Part 1 (Principles for a King)
Part 2 (Ignoring the Principles)
Part 3 (Our Selfish Reasons for a King)
Part 4 (The Problem with a King)

I do not want to be misconstrued as teaching that there is no such thing as leadership in the church. We see in the New Testament that God appointed elders and deacons to oversee and take care of the ministries of the church, but I think what we read in the New Testament is much different than what is experienced in most churches in America today.

We see throughout the Old Testament that God desired for His people to not have an earthly king. Nothing in the New Testament overturns this, so the style of leadership that we should see in the church should not be the top-down authoritarian leadership of a king.

The style of leadership that we are to model is the style Jesus used and taught.

In Mark 9:33-35, we see a great picture of true biblical leadership: “Then they came to Capernaum; and when the was in the house he asked them, 'What were you arguing about on the way?' But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, 'Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.'”

Not only did Jesus teach servant leadership, we see this leadership modeled by Jesus throughout the Gospels. We see it most dramatically at the time when Jesus washed the disciples' feet and at the cross. Jesus did not have to get on his hands and knees to clean the dirty feet of his followers, but that is what true biblical leadership does. He did not have to hang on the cross and sacrifice his life so that others might live, but that is what true biblical leadership does. True biblical leadership is self-sacrificing and seeks the needs of others before their own.

Kingly leadership and top-down corporate leadership is about making decisions and having people below you implement those decisions. Biblical leadership is about getting your hands and knees dirty cleaning off the filth of those around you. It is about taking on as much of the burden of a brother or sister as you can to help them through a tough situation. It is about being the least in a real, literal sense.

These leadership principles do not just apply to leadership in a church. We are all leaders in some area of our life, whether it is to our family, our community, our friends, or our neighbors. We must make sure that we do not lord things over others but sacrifice ourselves for their best interests. That is what Jesus did, and that is what we are called to do. I want to leave us with these words of Jesus. If they apply to every Christian, they definitely apply to leaders.

Matthew 16:24-26
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”