One of the things the internet boom has done for us is to raise a REALLY effective hue and cry when leaders get caught out.
Greed, corruption, sexual impropriety ... these things get brought into the open and publicised around the world now with unbelievable rapidity.
Surprisingly enough, politicians seem to get away with peccadilloes because we don't expect anything better from them, but let a Christian leader, charity worker or a teacher .... people of whom we expect better ... get caught out and that person's downfall is the stuff of internet headlines.
Instantly.
And for ages!
Public scandals as controlling, abusive and exploitative leaders in the church are found out have characterised this year ... and really, that is nothing to complain about.
These things need to be brought to the light, and churches need to learn to build a culture that addresses the roots of this problem in the wayward human heart.
And during His earthly life and ministry, Jesus Himself was often forthright and very helpful on this matter.
The problem we seem to have is that we haven't been listening to what He has to say about it, when He addresses the very root of the problem.
Jesus addresses attitudes behind leadership
Lousy attitudes to leadership lead to license and exploitation, and Jesus has got NO time for that.
His interactions with His own disciples to correct their attitudes to their role, and the way He deals with religious leaders outside His followers are quite, quite clear on this.
Looking glass leaders (the Lord says) live for appearances
Take, for example, His warning to His followers about the Pharisees:
"‘Everything they do is done for people to see:
- they make their phylacteries wide
and the tassels on their garments long; - they love the place of honour at banquets
and the most important seats in the synagogues; - they love to be greeted with respect in the market-places
and to be called “Rabbi” by others."
Matthew 23:5-7
There are 'things' then that Jesus points to and underlying attitudes accompanying them that He then warns of:
- Fancy dress
- Posh dinners
- Popular acclaim
And Jesus TACKLES those not by tackling the things in themselves ... clothes, dinners and outward titles of acclaim ... but by addressing the deep and underlying lousy attitude that characterises a bad attitude to what Christian leadership should be all about.
"The greatest among you will be your servant.
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
Matthew 23:11
When He talks about how we bear responsibility as believers, Jesus starts with our accountability to God.
Accountability NOT for what we look like on the outside, so much as for what is actually going on in our hearts.
Self-serving leadership is going to be laid bare
Do you notice, Jesus grounds all He has to say here is eschatology ... the End that God will bring everybody to ... the accounting for our deeds done in the body on the basis of what underlies these deeds in our hidden hearts.
In fact, Jesus goes straight on to call down Seven Woes on the leadership attitudes of the Pharisees and by extension on everyone else who has embodied these attitudes as they've exercised religious leadership across the ages.
The temptation to self-serving leadership is both subtle and pernicious, and the Lord is forthright in warning His disciples, and in condemnation of all self-aggrandising motivations in leadership.
The Point
Jesus didn't use His power and authority to serve Himself.
His followers surely shouldn't do so either.
Jesus waited to be raised up and glorified by God, and didn't seek to pump Himself up.
His followers need to culture the same attitude both individually and in the fellowship of His church.
The Takeaway
What do you do in God's service to be noticed? To get something 'back' ... something to tickle the lower nature out of sight?
Or how do you feel when you do something sacrificial of your own tastes or aspirations ... losing out on those things you could otherwise have easily done but for the good deed you just did ... and nobody, NOBODY notices?!
As James puts it well in James 4:10
"Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and he will lift you up."
When we try to puff ourselves up, it isn't going to work out to plan!
But when God does the raising up of a person, the job doesn't fall to the ground.
How VERY encouraging is that?
Appearances ultimately count for very little, but motives matter to the God Christians serve.
What does NOT being noticed for what we have done DO to the inner thoughts of our hearts?
Asking ourselves that question's a great to find out whether the Lord's at work changing us at the level of our hearts, and therefore whether (building on the foundation of acceptance only by grace that He's laid in our hearts) we'll end up actually being 'exalted' by God.
"The greatest among you will be your servant.
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled,
and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
Matthew 23:11-12
What SERVICE can our hearts give to God and to His people today?
It really is a very important question ... because that is the way that ultimate greatness lies.
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