3 Leadership Lessons From The Life Of Jesus
Regardless of whether you believe Jesus is who he claimed to be and was/is God himself who came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, was killed and then resurrected three days later, what can't be argued is his ability to lead.
After all, he started the biggest and most inexplicable movement in the history of the world. So there is a lot we can learn from him in many areas of our lives, but in this post, I want to share three things in particular we can learn about how he lead.
1. Busyness is a choice
In our culture today, "busy" is our way of, intentionally or not, validating our self-worth. Everyone is busy, and its the perfect excuse to get out of things you want to do. After all, who can argue with the trump card that is busy?
And yet, busyness is not a badge of honor. Yes, we all have a lot going on. But busyness is a choice. Few people have to be busy, most of us just use it as an excuse not to have to be better with our time and how we live.
Let me prove it. There's a good chance in the settings of your phone you can check how much screen time (i.e. how much you have used your phone) you have used today. If you would be embarrassed to share that number publicly, busyness is not the problem. Say nothing about how many of us could talk for hours recapping our favorite shows we are watching.
I'm not saying those are bad things, it just goes to show that our "busyness" is often a choice we make.
And then there's Jesus. If there is one guy who could play the "busy" card, it's him. And yet we don't get even a hint of that anywhere in the Bible.
Instead, we often find him rising early to pray, or leaving large crowds of people who are following him around to spend time in prayer and solitude with God the Father. In fact, Jesus (God in flesh himself) waited 30 years to begin his public ministry!
And we know that when we are in a hurry, we are never as kind, compassionate, and loving to others as we could be.
We all know people who make us feel like we are the most important person to them in the moments we spend time with them. Aren't you always so encouraged when you are around those type of people?
Full transparency here: I'm a terrible offender of feeling hurried and rushed, but I want to change that.
In fact, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer has been really helpful for me. Give it a read if this is a struggle for you too.
Jesus wasn't "busy" and he lead a movement that changed the world. We don't have to be either.
2. Love for others is more important than your freedom
This year at New City Church where I pastor, we have spent the majority of our year preaching through book of 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians we see example after example where Paul, the author of the letter, is showing the Corinthians what it means to love others and desire the good of others over doing whatever makes us happy.
This, of course, is all rooted in following the example of Christ. "Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross." (Philippians 2:5-8).
It's a completely counter-cultural mindset in the climate in which we live today that tells us to do whatever makes you happy, no matter what others may think.
Jesus himself, out of love for us, chose to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. Not because God needs us, but simply because he loves us. Jesus laid aside his rights and freedoms for our good and he invites us to do the same as we trust and follow in him.
Yes, resurrecting from the dead gives people a really good reason to follow you. But we all know that if Jesus was a jerk, no one would have wanted to follow him. And yet we see countless examples of people in the early church gladly suffering and even losing their lives to follow Jesus.
When we chose love for others over the freedom to do what we may even have the right to do, we become leaders worth following.
3. The bar you set determines the leaders you create
Whether your a church leader, business leader, teacher, volunteer coordinator, or in any position that needs leaders, the tendency is to set the bar low in the hopes that people will come.
That's not what Jesus did.
In fact, look at what Jesus said himself:
"Now great crowds were traveling with him. So [Jesus] turned and said to them: '"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.'" (Luke 14:25-27)
For clarity's sake, the word translated as "hate" gives the connotation that Jesus is saying we shouldn't like our family. That's not what he is saying.
Jesus is saying that if you want to follow me, then I must come first. He is saying that we should follow and include him in the details of our lives. And as we love God we show our love for him by loving others.
But the point is that Jesus set the bar pretty high. Like "I'm the most important thing" high. So high, in fact, that he told Peter (the leader among his disciples) that one day in the future he was going to die because of his commitment to him (read John 21 if you don't believe me).
And what happened? All of Jesus 12 closest disciples, according to tradition other than Judas who betrayed him, were killed for claiming to have seen Jesus after he rose from the dead and believing he was God (except for John, who was eventually sent to live in exile for the rest of his life which isn't much better).
Now whether you believe Jesus is who he said he is a different matter, but you cannot argue with his ability to lead people to an important and common goal. And he did that by calling his early followers to a high standard.
Remember:
- Busyness is a choice
- Love is more important than freedom
- The bar you set determines the leaders you create
That's how Jesus lead.