Utumishi Blog

What if servant leadership flows from the nature of God and his mission…

Solomon tells it like it is:

If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.   (Ecclesiastes 5:8-9)

That’s the default leadership position for the world. The Ancient Egyptians used it, the Roman Empire, the British Empire. You could call it the extractive model. If I’m the king in this system I just want to get as much profit as I can from the land over which I rule. So I divide and conquer. I put officials under me with layers of officials under them with the job of getting as much as possible out of the powerless peasants who farm the land. In this system the arrow is basically upward – resources, revenue, respect all goes upward. What goes down are orders and domination.

The extractive model is never going to create servant leaders. The officials are not there to serve the people under them, they are there to exert power over them and get as much tax revenue as possible from them. And the official is not even a true servant of the official above them or the king himself. In fact he hates his overlord as much as the peasant – he wants his job. So you see the nature of the king and the nature of his commission defines the sort of leader you get. If the king is raw power, sucking up resources into himself like a giant leech (as Mike Reeves puts it), then the leader under him will become like him.

But there is another model. Here’s Paul giving Titus a leadership 101:

1  Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness

Notice the ‘for’ – Paul is a servant of God and sent by Jesus Christ for a particular purpose – not to tax God’s people, not to tie burdens on God’s people, not to go on a power trip and lord it over God’s people – but for their sake – to build them up in the faith, to increase their joy in Christ, to set them free with the truth. Where does this come from? It comes straight out of the heart of God himself. He is no leech. He has always been a giving, blessing, gracious, outpouring God:

² in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

Before he was a Creator or a Law-giver, God was a Lover and a Promiser. Before he made anything, let alone before he made us, and long before we’d done anything, God set his incredible love on us and promised us everything – New Creation, Glory, Joy, Christ Himself.

³ and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Saviour… ⁷ For an overseer as God’s steward…

You see again how the nature of the king and the nature of his commission defines the sort of leader you get. This model is the opposite of the extractive model. The arrow is basically down. God’s nature is essentially Saviour (it says that four times in Titus). He’s not just raw power, he’s not just up there demanding glory and praise and money. He’s fundamentally an outpouring, out-going, saving God. And if you have a God like that, a servant king who says, “I love you, I’ve saved you, I’ve promised myself to you” – then you will want to serve, secure in His grace and love. And more than that, since he’s entrusted and commanded you to take His gospel to the world you are constituted as a servant twice over – you are a servant of the king who has given you the great commission and you are also a servant of the people to whom you must preach the gospel – you are not there to dominate or tax – you have a free gift for them that has been entrusted to you – it’s not yours it’s theirs – it’s like you are a motorcycle courier delivering their gift.

This is also why servant leadership and faithful Bible teaching are so closely linked. But that’s for another post…