Servant Leadership

This weekend I head out for InterVarsity's annual student training conference where I'll be training over 150 small group Bible study leaders to lead for next fall. I'm giving a talk next Friday on "Servant Leadership." Here's a sound-byte, the passage we're looking at is Jesus washing his disciples feet in John 13:

There’s a “so” in John 13 that I think is just about the most ridiculous, most unlikely, most insane and crazy and non-sequitir “so” that I think anyone ever could imagine.

3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Pretend for me that you had three wishes, even the oft-prohibited wish of infinitely more wishes. Jesus has this and more. All things under his power, come from God, returning to God. That pretty much means that he’s got just about every possible thing at his disposal. For most of us if we had access to anything like this kind of power, the last thing we would have done is serve anyone.

Jesus has all power possible in the universe available to him and he chooses to wash dirty feet of clueless disciples, even the one who will betray him.

Only when we consider the preamble to the act do we understand how Jesus is able to do this. Jesus is able to serve because he is firmly rooted in a solid place. He has no insecurities about who he is, no anxieties about where he belongs.

Jesus can serve his friends because he is so deeply rooted in the love relationship he has with his Father. He is living right-side up in an upside-down world. He can serve recklessly because he is rooted securely.

In Christ, you and I have this same gift. We don’t have Jesus’ power or authority, but we are tied to the one who does have these things.

If someone falls out of a canoe it’s really hard to get them back in. The people in the canoe are trying to pull someone up onto the moving platform that they are sitting on. It’s an unstable situation that generally leads to everyone getting wet. However, if you’re standing on a rock or on land, it’s much easier to pull someone up to where you are.

All serving and all initiating is weight displacement, a shift in our center of gravity. Generally, my emotional center of gravity is firmly fixed on myself. To serve or to risk is to move my center of gravity: to serve is to step downward, to initiate is to lean forward. Either way, my center is no longer myself.

This type of weight displacement is the way of the kingdom and it cuts against every instinct in my soul. The only way anyone can stay in this posture longer than five seconds is to be firmly rooted in a safe place.

All true service comes from a position of strength and certainty, not neediness. It is impossible to serve faithfully from a position of insecurity. It will inevitably lead to self-pitying or fearful service. God knows this, so he calls us to a new place of security and freedom. He makes us children of God, co-heirs with Christ, in him we have been given all things.

And then he looks at us, his children that he loves, and he says one thing: “serve.”