Chapter Four

True Leaders are Servants

By Dr. Lester Hutson

Matthew 20:25-28

"But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

There can be absolutely no doubt that service in a leader greatly enhances his leadership. Our Lord said so in Matthew 20:25-27,

"Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant."

Learning to give in service and overcoming the fleshly will to get and be served is one of the most valuable lessons any pastor or any other church leader can learn. "Give and it shall be given unto you,", Jesus said in Luke 6:38.

The Lord said unto his serving servant, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," in Matthew 25:21. "By love, serve one another," Galatians 5:13 instructs us. Paul said, "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake," in II Corinthians 4:5. Jesus said, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet," in John 13:14.

Let a pastor, deacon, teacher, or other church leader throw his heart and hands into doing things that help the church, and help the individuals personally who make up the church. You'll see people start rallying behind that leader. Nothing builds support and confidence and trust like service. Churches are thirsty for leadership that does, not just says. And, like kids growing up in a home, churches are going to pay more attention to what its leaders do than to what they say.

Dorcas in Acts 9:36-39 had a life of far superior service, and you will see that she had automatically become a great and respected leader of those around her.

Seizing vs. Serving

Anybody who thinks he can seize leadership has missed the mark. True leadership should come spontaneously. In a church, you can't make people follow you, and you shouldn't try. They must follow only because they choose to do so. Remember that Jesus said in Matthew 20:25 that in the heathen world, men seize power and try to lead by force. He said that's wrong.

Church leaders are to lead by winning people, not forcing them. Peter teaches church leaders, "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not be constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." (I Peter 5:2) Note well, "Not be constraint, but willingly."

As Jesus said in Matthew 20:26-27, once you start to serve like you should, you'll automatically rally many people to you. He that will be great, let him minister, and he that would be chief, let him serve. I am amazed at the large number of pastors, staff, teachers and other church officers who think they should be highly respected and followed just because they hold the office, in spite of the fact that they do almost nothing for the people. The fact is, respect and allegiance must be earned primarily through service. Yet come the cries, "It's not my job to lock the building. I shouldn't have to see that this place is cleaned. I'm not going to waste my life in a print ship. I can't drop what I'm doing to visit sick people or the disgruntles." What is service but meeting the needs of others? Yes, a leader may and must delegate, and get others to hold up his hands in doing many of these things, but as the chief servant, he's ultimately responsible, and as a good servant, he'll say, "Yes, the buck stops here. I'll see that it's done."

I know a pastor who went to a serving church some years ago. The church was serving in many ways, meeting the needs of the people by many ministries or service vehicles, which is all a ministry is anyway. The church had a good music ministry, youth ministry and printing ministry. It's visitation was well-organized and efficient as was its bus ministry. It's missions ministry was widespread, and it had a good ladies organization. There was a structure for keeping the buildings clean and in a good state of repair. Advanced planning was being done. There were good communication publications. The Sunday school was well-organized, the nursery was clean and efficient, visitors were being treated well, and the services were well ordered and inspiring. Finances were well-accounted and strong. The new pastor told a friend as he was called, "Well, I guess I'll go down there and ride their fat backs for awhile." He arrived and promptly told the leaders, "I don't mind you having all these programs. I think they're good, but you'll have to take care of them and make them go. I'm not the kind to get involved with things like this."

I'm talking about the epitome of a slothful, unfaithful, serviceless servant. Without service by the chief leader, every service ministry began to lose momentum. Second-lined servants began to fade and drop by the wayside. Within two years, nearly all the service organizations of the church lay in shambles, it was serving or meeting the needs of no one, and masses of the people were gone.

Leaders must serve, not wear empty titles. Leaders must serve, not stand back and watch others do it. Finally, leaders cannot just take a little time, have a meeting or two and get a program going, then stand back and leave it alone. No, service is a "hands on" business. Those who are true servants get service programs going, enlist the necessary help, and constantly watch, supervise, evaluate, correct and inspire those programs once they're going. I am inspired by the great example of service by a preacher friend of mine who pastors a church with more than 1500 in Sunday school. He has lots of people serving with him, but nobody serves more than he does. He'll do anything that needs doing to meet the needs. He won't ask a soul to do anything he won't do. He'll roll up his sleeves and clean out a stopped up commode. He'll take the mop to a stinking restroom. He's not "too good" to serve. He's not "up here" with most of the real service "down there" below him. Service, my brothers and sisters - every true church leader is a servant at heart. Service! It's one of those remarkable ingredients which God can miraculously use to transform a church full of not so spiritual people who are divided, full of apathy and fruitless into a church of not so spiritual people who are excited and working together to get the job done. In the process, some of them even grow more spiritual.

Jesus - The True Servant

The greatest leader who ever lived was the greatest servant who ever lived. No one ever gave as much a Jesus. He came to serve, not to be served. He came to give, not get. That's the reason Matthew 20:28 says, "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life in ransom for many." He had it all, and he gave it all for us. It was not easy. He suffered agony. He was wounded, beaten and rejected. Yet, he kept on giving for us and serving. Listen to God's Word describe the greatest example of service you'll ever hear in Philippians 2:3-8:

"Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

No wonder God the Father could cry out, "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen: my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased," in Matthew 12:18. There is no greater servant than Jesus, but there is no greater leader than Jesus. The two go together, service and leadership. True leaders must serve. The same passage describing the great service of Jesus also gives the results. The passage in Philippians 2:9-11 says,

"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Psalms 8:4 asks, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the Son of man, that thou visitest him?" Hebrews 2:7-13 answers this passage.

"Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me."

You talk about a leader, Jesus Christ is a leader. Just how did He bring so many unto Himself in glory? The answer is, He went to the cross in their stead as the suffering servant. And as their servant, He became their Savior. What does our great and glorious leader say in His scriptures to all of us, especially those who lead His churches? He says in Philippians 2:5, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." What mind was that? It was a mind of service. Without it, no one can ever be an adequate church leader.

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"