Servant Leadership

I have been alive long enough to witness many kinds of leadership styles. I have seen the leaders with what seem to be surgically attached suits, neatly coiffed hair, toting a briefcase and having the ever-present smile and handshake. I have seen the ones who bark out orders. I have witnessed the ones who try and satisfy everyone and "keep the peace." I have been around the ones who take a "hands-off" approach, allowing those they lead much leverage to do as they see fit. I have heard about, or read about, all kinds of approaches, styles, principles, and experiences for all kinds of situations.

One principle that I believe never changes: A God-led leader is a servant.

Take a look at 1 Kings 12, excerpts taken from The Message. When the new king, Reheboam, heard from the people about the work-loads and lightening up on them in comparison with his father, Solomon, he sought the advice of his father's experienced advisors. They told him, "If you will be a servant to this people, be considerate of their needs and respond with compassion, work things out with them, they'll end up doing anything for you" (verse 7).

He didn't like that. He grew up in Solomon's household. He liked the stuff those workloads resulted in. So, he went to his friends. They told him, "Tell them this: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. If you think life under my father was hard, you haven't seen the half of it. My father thrashed you with whips; I'll beat you bloody with chains'" (verse 11).

Reheboam followed the advice of the latter and instantly lost the 4/5 of the kingdom he inherited from Solomon. Eight tribes wound up under Jereboam's control, a man whom Solomon tried to assassinate. But Reheboam, rather than follow the advise of the prophet who addressed him in 1 Kings 11, took an equally selfish tact as Reheboam from a different angle. He thought to himself, "It won't be long before the kingdom is reunited under David. As soon as these people resume worship at the Temple of God in Jerusalem, they'll start thinking of Reheboam king of Judah as their ruler. Then they'll kill me and go back to Reheboam" (verses 26-27). Jereboam wound up building two golden calves, telling the people that these were the gods that led them out of Egypt. He built shrines, and designed festivals to replace those God had required people to follow in Jerusalem.

Two leadership styles were on display, while only one was advised by God: (1) Autocratic, intimidating leadership; and (3) God-led, servant leadership. Two are self-absorbed, while the third is self-less. Two view leadership as ownership or manipulation, while the third sees leadership as stewardship.

Servant leaders have the best interests of people in mind. They see their responsibilities as stewards of whatever God has given them leadership over. They put a God-given vision before people and serve people to help them accomplish it. They respond to people, and they are compassionate. They work things out rather than tell people what to do. People love to work with a servant leader because they know that a servant leader has their back.

My desire is to be a servant leader. I know there are hiccups along the way, because there will always be that foolish advisor in the back of my head telling me to do it differently. I feel it is crucial for servant leaders to thus surround themselves with others who hold them accountable to God's vision for their leadership and to being a servant. My ultimate goal as a servant leader is to be led by God to serve as Christ served people.

Lead by self-ambition, intimidation, or placation, reap rebellion. Lead by serving, lead to God, and reap peace and prosperity that builds up people and honors God.

War!

A day that will "live in infamy"--December 7, 1942, the day that the Empire of Japan bombed the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Such an act was unmistakeable. This was war!

September 11, 2001--the day in my lifetime that I have vivid memories of that will also "live in infamy." It was a declaration of a different type of war, and really a war that had been ongoing and remains ongoing.

In war, there is very little middle-ground. Oh sure, there will always be countries who remain "neutral," even in a "World" war that may directly affect them. We get the phrase, "I'm Switzerland here," during conflicts as a testament to determined neutrality.

There are times, however, when taking a stand, and taking a side, becomes necessary. Jesus speaks to this in Matthew 12. Take a look, from The Message, at Verse 30: "This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse."

The acts and the teachings of Jesus in Matthew very much revolve around the Kingdom of God. As such, Jesus's very living presence in the world was an invasion, a frontal attack on the enemy, Satan, on his "home turf." His weapons were very non-conventional:

• Teaching people
• Healing people
• Casting out demons
• Decreeing justice and hope.

Where people stumbled in the ignorance of Satan's devising, Jesus taught the truth, lifting the veil of ignorance. Where people suffered under the results of sin--sickness, injustice, hopelessness--Jesus fought with healing and decreeing justice, giving hope where there was none. Where Satan controlled people, inhabiting and torturing them, Jesus cast him and his legions out, freeing them from unimaginable oppression.

This was His Father's will. "I've placed my Spirit on him; he'll decree justice to the nations... Before you know it, his justice will triumph; the mere sound of his name will signal hope, even among far-off unbelievers" (from verses 15-21).

When you choose the side of Jesus--and remember, being a non-combatant is not an option--he even calls you family. "Obedience is thicker than blood," he says in verse 50.

Christ has declared war on the enemy of souls. He calls on us to join his side, to even fight with him. Here's the good news: The enemy may still fight, but he is defeated. Even a dead snake can bite you, but... he's dead! You can only be bitten by a dead snake if you put yourself under his nose.

Christ teaches us... do the will of the Father. Teach people of the character of our God of love and His desire to have us in His family. Extend the touch of Jesus, believing that He works through us as we do this. Speak love, hope, and justice into someone's life and do what you can to deliver these things. 

The defeated enemy fights and wants you to share in his defeat. The victor fights and wants you in His eternal family. Seems like the choice is clear.

Success: What you want? Or what God intends?

"You can be anything you want!"

"Hard work pays!"

"Go after the church/lifestyle/home you want!"

Some of that sounds good, doesn't it? We pump our kids full of messages of success and how success is achieved all during their growing years. We encourage hard work and determination. We build up a limitless bank of opportunities available to them.

I sometimes wonder if the messages we send to our children are the kinds of messages Solomon received. He was raised a prince, a future king. He was given wisdom beyond what any other human would ever experience. He could, literally, do whatever he wanted. He knew that he was going to be the king one day, inheriting a fabulous monarchy established by his father, David.

It all seemed to be going well. He was sought after for his wisdom, admired for his wealth and his unique ability to obtain it. Dignitaries sought him for his counsel and knowledge in many areas. By all accounts, he had it made and was blessed!

Then comes 1 Kings 11. I think of a couple of overused cliches. "The higher they climb, the further they fall," for instance. Solomon was "obsessed with women." He married women from all the nations surrounding Israel, nations who worshipped false gods, nations God expressly commanded Israel to have little to do with (or even to destroy, originally). God's own Name was to be protected, and Israel was to bless by showing the true God to be different than these false deities that required horrific things of their worshippers. He was to be attractive for His goodness and love, for the value of human dignity and His creation, and for the promise of redeeming the world in a way no other god was able.

But Solomon fell. God said to him, "I'm going to rip the kingdom from you and hand it to someone else. But out of respect for your father David I won't do it in your lifetime."

To the one to whom 10 of the tribes was to be given, Jereboam, was given the promise that was very similar to what was given to David and to Solomon: "If you listen to what I tell you and live the way I show you and do what pleases me, following directions and obeying orders as my servant David did, I'll stick with you no matter what. I'll build you a kingdom as solid as the one I built for David. Israel will be yours! I am bringing pain and trouble on David's descendants, but the trials won't last forever."

Assimilation to surrounding influences outside of God's directives and community is a dangerous game to play. Playing political games and relenting to personal desires, and using one's power to do it, yields disastrous compromise. With great influence comes great responsibility: The intent of Godly influence should be to bless the world as God desires, and to make God known.

Solomon used his power to consolidate his power, work for political gain, and satisfy his lusts, and it led him away from God and caused him to drag God's great Name through the muck.

Whatever influence you may have, what is the intention of using it? Is it Godly? Is it driven by His mission to save humanity, by Christ's commission to make disciples? Anything less than this, including using it to satisfy one's own preferences for "appropriate worship" of God, or to realize the "Great American Dream," or anything else with self and the building up of self as the primary focus, falls short and leads down a path with a bad end.

May the unfortunately lesson of Solomon lead us to something different and God-honoring. Godly intent with God-given influence leads to Godly success.

The Hero We Need

Hollywood has made a killing off our ideal hero-image. For years, this hero was hyper-masculine, cartoonishly muscular, uniquely-abled, good-looking, had an extreme sense of morality, and wore underwear on the outside of his pants (not really sure what that was about). The consummate hero-image was Superman when I was growing up.

More recently, heroes have started to seem a lot different. Heroes are much more diverse. They have a "moral-compass," but are flawed. The strongest ones may be men or women. They embody something we want more of in ourselves, but with humanity that previous generation's heroes seemed to stand above. The consummate hero today is far more complex, and far more difficult to pin down. Captain America + Black Panther + Wonder Woman + Iron Man + Hulk + Captain Marvel + ... Even Superman is no longer portrayed as someone of near-perfection.

Regardless of the generation, humanity creates its own heroes based on what seems to be best at the time. What if the hero we need doesn't look anything like the hero we wanted? Actually, that's kind of why I like the hero-depictions today a little more. They can do the very best thing possible to save people from certain doom, and people may still reject them. Case-in-point, the Avengers save the world time after time, but a popular mass turns on them because they didn't save enough people, or their actions to "save" caused destruction, and what makes them any better than the villains anyhow?

Reminds me of the consummate hero.

John 5 depicts Jesus saving one person from suffering. He is the hero that the man at the Pool of Bethesda needed, but not the one he initially wanted. The man would have been happy with a Jesus that tossed him into the pool first before someone else got the healing the rippling waters were supposed to bring. Jesus showed Himself more powerful than any myth, or any false god or demon that day, healing the man with a simple command: "Take up your bed and walk home." He wasn't the hero that was wanted (at least initially), but He was the hero that was needed.

He also wasn't the hero that was wanted by the popular "hero-watchers" of His day. He healed on the Sabbath, commanding the man to do something on Sabbath that He wasn't really supposed to do. Then Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, doing what the Father told Him to do. He told them that to believe that He was the Son of God was to have eternal life. He told them He was there to save them. He told them that His works confirmed His identity. He told them the Scriptures were always talking about Him.

They wanted to kill Him. He was the hero they needed, but not the hero they wanted.

Here's the formula for the consummate Biblical hero: God's Word + Jesus's Action = Jesus's true identity as Messiah. And with the "formula" comes a challenge for each of us. We must prove Christ for ourselves based on who He claims to be, not on who we want Him to be.

He is not the hero who will just give us what we want when we want it. He is not the hero that is here to please those with a cookie-cutter image of who they think he needs to be. He is not properly defined on our terms: "Nice Jesus," "Warring Jesus," "European/Asian/African/American Jesus," etc. He can only be properly defined on His own terms--what the Word teaches Him to be.

God help us if Jesus is just who we want Him to be. Superman can't save us from what we need saving from. The totality of the Avengers/Defenders/Justice League/X-men can't save us from what we need saving from. They form the "saviors" we think fit our time and needs, but will never save us from the absolute worst villian. Only Jesus can do that.

But when He is right in front of you, don't miss out because He doesn't look like what you thought He'd look like, or do what you thought He'd do. Don't play the Pharisee game we are so tempted to play with today's heroes.

Prove Christ for Who He claims to be, based on the Word He claims as proof.

"Word plus action prove the worth of any claim. Look for Messiah of your own making, miss the Messiah you need. Accept the Messiah of the Word's making, receive the life you need." (A Proverb, by me, based on today's reading).

The Idol in the Mirror

You've been around them, probably. The ones who are constantly talking about themselves. Drives you crazy, doesn't it? Me too.

Saturday Night Live had a series of skits with Kristen Wiig starring as "Penelope," the girl that had to one-up everyone's stories. If she overheard you talking about your uncle, the astronaut, she'd butt in with her story about her trip to Mars. It was fairly entertaining, as most of us have been around "that person" before.

I think there is a narcissist inside all of us, however, wanting out. Left unchecked, with nothing to remind us that are real successes and failures, advantages and disadvantages, triumphs and tragedies outside of ourselves, most (if not all) of us have a tendency to admire ourselves for our "greatness," or we do the really weird thing and grant ourselves points for how much worse off we have had it.

Genesis 11 tells the story of the Tower of Babel. The way Eugene Peterson puts in The Message is interesting:

"Then they said, 'Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let's make ourselves famous so we won't be scattered here and there across the Earth.'"

People build cities for a sense of community. Jerry Seinfeld jokes about all the land surrounding New York City, and yet everyone crams themselves into that city because they'd rather literally live on top of each other. That's not wrong on its own.

The tower reaching Heaven? Without some idea of why they were building it, it's hard to judge it as wrong. We're still doing things like that now all the time.

It's the "Let's make ourselves famous..." part that is problematic. "Fame" is to be well-known and talked about for ones notable achievements. Now, this is odd. When I read this passage, it occurs to me that everyone is pretty much still living in the same place. They are all pretty much starting to work on, more or less, the same thing. It almost seems like they wanted something to congratulate themselves on, to unify around their own creations. They wanted to be able to talk about how great they were and how foolish it would be to disperse.

Here's the thing. According to God, they'd never stop doing this. They'd keep achieving, keep patting themselves on the back, and keep building themselves up as great until they'd see no need for Him.

We have a narcissist in us that would love to get out. He'd love to look in the mirror and congratulate himself for his work, even his "work for the Lord." She'd love to be able to see how much better she is than the other girl at work, or at church. He'd smile over how "sinless" he has become, and how he is helping God make the decision to "come sooner."

That narcissist sees herself in her own skin and compares herself to others, judging them as clearly inferior and less-desirable. He may even think to himself, "My world would be perfect if '______' wasn't in it."

You see the fingerprints of narcissism--self-idolization--in all kinds of things: racism, sexism, and abuse, addictions, but maybe even in overachievement, workaholism, and rehearsing the good things you've done for others.

So learn the lesson of the inhabitants of Shinar. The idol's gotta go! My fame is nothing. God's fame is everything. Lift your eyes and thoughts above the mirror and spend time looking at God. Look at Christ Himself, the best "image" of God you'll ever see. Take regular note--write it down on the mirror if you must--of what He has done. He must increase. We must decrease. When Christ is who we witness, we become our true, and our best, selves.

Declaring War

When it comes to Jesus, there is little that irks me more than the idea of a tame, nice Jesus. It may surprise some to know this, but the authors of the Gospels hardly saw Jesus as tame. In fact, much of what He did, and how they portrayed what He did, would have come across as a declaration of war against Satan and the powers of the world he controlled.

Kingdoms are at war with whatever threatens their sovereignty. Satan, from the very beginning, waged war against God. His lone victory was in getting humanity of this world to give over control to him. This world being God's creation, it was a threat to the Kingdom.

Matthew 8, when you read it with this in mind, takes on different meanings than we might otherwise apply.

From Verses 1-4...

"Then a leper appeared and went to his knees before Jesus, praying, 'Master, if you want to, you can heal my body.'

"Jesus reached out and touched him, saying, 'I want to. Be clean...'"

From Verses 10-12

"'I've yet to come across this kind of simple trust in all of Israel... This man is the vanguard of many outsiders who will soon be coming from all directions... Then those who "grew up in the faith" but had no faith will find themselves out in the cold, outsiders to grace...'"

Verse 22: "'Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life.'"

Verse 26: "'Why are you such cowards, such faint-hearts?'"

Verse 27: "'Wind and sea come to heel at his command!'"

Verses 28-34 spell this out. Jesus and His disciples had been through an amazing night. Jesus calmed wind and waves at a single command before they came to shore at a region called "Gadarenes" (Garasenes). The very word, in Greek, meant "Those who come from pilgrimage or fight." They were in Gentile territory, a culturally Greek place likely filled with Hellenistic Jews. They worshipped the Greek and Roman gods, such as Zeus and Jupiter, at their temples. In their worship, it was expected that pigs would be used in sacrifices.

This was about as anti-God a place as it comes. It should not surprise us that demons inhabited people here. Satan was in full control, toying with these people and their superstitions.

Why would Jesus land here? May I suggest that this was bringing the fight to the enemy? 

The word itself... to come from a fight... is interesting. Satan fought for control of this world and won when Adam and Eve sinned. Jesus came to take control away, and went to the very places Satan was most in control.

He defeated sickness. He defeated unbelief. He defeated death. He defeated Satan and his use of the very forces of nature.

And in this land of idol worship and sacrifice, He sent the demons into the objects of the sacrifice and over the cliff. A full frontal assault on the enemy of souls.

The Gospel teaches us that Jesus wins. He restores us from the fall. He went to war for us!

May your day be full of confidence and simple trust in Jesus. May you fight with the winning and bold warrior today!

Remember Who We Are

On my list of Scriptures to read when I am looking for hope, for good reading, for a dose of "umph" in my day... Genesis 10 is not on there. It is not easy beach-reading. It does make for good material when you're trying to get to sleep perhaps. So, when I sat down to read today and saw that this was going to be my reading, I sighed and read through the chapter, highlighting some of the following texts...

This is the family tree of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth...

"The sons of Japheth... the sons of Javan... the seafaring peoples developed from these, each in its own place by family, each with its own language. (Seriously, that's about the most interesting thing about them)." - From Verses 1-5.

Interestingly, Moses' pattern in many of his writings is to get the "lesser information" out of the way first, so it is not surprising that little is said of them since Moses's own people of his day didn't have much in the way of encounters with any of Japheth's sons.

So, on to Ham.

"The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, Canaan" (verse 6). So there are some fairly familiar names... names that the Children of Israel would've been a lot more concerned about.

"Cush also had Nimrod. He was the first great warrior on Earth. He was a great hunter before GOD. There was a saying, "Like Nimrod, a great hunter before GOD." His kingdom got its start with Babel, then Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the country of Shinar. From there he went up to Asshur and built Nineveh..." (From verses 8-12).

There are some that think Moses was complimentary of Nimrod. I don't think so. He also wrote about the men of renown before the flood, giants known for great evil, setting themselves up as superior, giants of arrogance. If you just go further into Scripture, Nimrod's towns don't have a good reputation. Nineveh was later going to be destroyed if Jonah didn't preach. Babel--Babylon--would be a town throughout Scripture that was used to illustrate nations, systems, or governments that set themselves up as their own god, in defiance of the true God, or not in need of God. Babel--I'm getting ahead of myself, but--Babel would build itself up to reach the heavens on its own, a tribute to its own greatness. Babylon--Nebuchadnezzar, in Daniel 4, would strut around bragging about "this great Babylon that I have built..." The whore of Revelation that goes by that name sets itself up in opposition to God and His people.

That's a lot of words to say that, in my opinion, Moses thought of Nimrod as an arrogant oppressor... like in the last century of our time saying, almost tongue-in-cheek, "That great leader, Stalin."

Going on... "Egypt was the ancestor to the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, the Naphtuhim, the Pathrusim, the casluhim (the origin of the Philistines), and the Kaphtorim" (verses 13-14).

"Canaan had Sidon his firstborn, Heth, the Jebusites" (the origins of Jerusalem come from them)" the Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites... Later the Canaanites spread out, going from Sidon toward Gerar, as far south as Gaza, and then east all the way over to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and on to Lasha" (from verses 15-19).

So, as we read of the sons of Ham, we see a lot of nations there that would become infamous as enemies to the Children of Israel, people in direct opposition to Yahweh.

Moses writes that "Shem... was ancestor to all the children of Eber." It is commonly thought that it is from "Eber" where the name "Hebrew" may have come. We read of Peleg, so named because the human race was divided in his day (spoiler alert for Genesis 11). I've heard some suggest that "Jobab" may have been Job. (Verses 21-31).

Finally, he finishes with "This is the family tree of the sons of Noah as they developed into nations. From them nations developed all across the Earth after the flood" (verse 32).

As much of a struggle it was to concentrate on Genesis 10 without the temptation to fill in the blanks, here are a few of my thoughts on this mostly-read-quickly chapter that is, nonetheless, part of God's Word.

1. People are quick to forget God. Nimrod was Noah's great-grandson who established cities known throughout the history of Scripture as being in direct opposition to the purposes of God. One has to wonder if his attitude--and that of his related clans--was one of resentment for the curse handed down to their father, Ham, in Genesis 9:24-27. But really, how different are we? We don't have to be directly fighting God to forget Him. Blissfully going about our lives as if He isn't there is not too far removed from being in opposition.
• The Gospel teaches us that Jesus Christ was the very image of the Father. He told Philip, in John 14:9, "... anyone who has seen me has seen the Father..." The Bible teaches us that humanity is made in God's image, so every human being we look at is an opportunity to remember God, and remember that Jesus Christ came to save every person (every child of God/Adam/Noah) and restore the image of God in them.
2. People are quick to forget their common ancestry. We all share fathers. 1st God, 2nd Adam, 3rd Noah. We owe our existence, regardless of our culture of origin, to God's action through Noah to protect humanity, made in His image. When Moses wrote Genesis 10, it could be that he was pointing out that their "enemies" were also their "brothers."
• The Gospel teaches us that Jesus Christ was an even "better Noah." He came to a world not dissimilar to the pre-flood world. He came to rescue people who would be rescued from the flood of sin we are surrounded by. He came to rescue everyone... not just people who look like us, or speak like us. We owe our eternal existence to God's action in Jesus Christ.
3. Moses was concerned with Israel's identity... and such is our concern. He pointed out their ancestry. He pointed out how their ancestry was different than that of their oppressors and opponents.
• Our first identity, as followers of Jesus, is "Followers of Jesus." He is our identity. He is our nation. We are a "chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9). Regardless of your origin with Shem, Ham, or Japheth, Jesus came for you! He came and won the victory at the cross, giving Him the right to restore His identity and image in us!

Remember who you are today. Accept the gift of Jesus' death on the cross, and accept the greatest ancestor we could ever have. In Jesus, even Genesis 10 comes to life!