Jesus Life as a Servant Leader - Essay Example

Jesus Life as a Servant Leader

Introduction

Jesus Christ has been considered as the father of servant leadership which has become the most influential form of leadership in the Christian community. Many publications from Christian publications have been produced to guide people on servant leadership, guiding people to live and lead like Jesus did. The practice is also adopted by some cooperate institutions although it is believed to be more spiritual. Servant leadership is focusing on development of those led to flourish plus attain their full potential and later the potential of the organization. The main concern for servant leaders is service to their subjects. The model of servant leadership is well explained through the examples of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ in the four gospels. To become a servant leader, one must have love for God to understand his will on the people and love for the people to impact the love of God on them. The paper will explore servant leadership through the example of Jesus Christ as shown in the four gospels.

The Servant of God

Jesus was the son of God sent to impact his will and shoe his unconditional love for his people through death on the cross (Truls, 2015). His teachings have provided the Christian community with a model that guides leaders on how to serve people from a Christian perspective. First, Jesus teaching of being God’s servant first that one may lead the people like he did. To become God’s servant, one must be obedient and love him. Obedience is observing and living the will of God for his glory. The gospel of Luke portrays Jesus as a servant of God, the one anointed to proclaim his goods news to the Jews. God’s will was to grant freedom, good health, and salvation to his people through his servant Jesus. Jesus was a willing, obedient, and enduring servant of God who paid the cost of allegiance to his father. Jesus was a perfect representation of God’s will on his people. During creations, Adam was created to become God’s servant to subdue and fill the earth through obedience, fellowship and communion with God, and loving him (Christopher, 2016). However, sin destroyed this relationship and Christ restored it trough his redemption work that calls us to preserve it through acts of obedience. For leaders to achieve this calling, they must know what God’s will is, master it, and have faith to pursue it.

To know the will of God means giving oneself to the pursuit of understanding God’s will (Truls, 2015). It will enable a leader to make the right decisions that will positively impact their followers. Then, understanding oneself is imperative in doing the will of God. It can be achieved by understanding and acknowledging the earthly pleasures and control them through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A servant leader must be slow to anger, mortifies their will, and embrace sincerity of the heart as taught in the beatitudes by Jesus Christ. Faith is demonstrated through doing God’s will as a leader. Faith is believing and relying on God for providence (Truls, 2015). God is pleased by those who believe in Him even though he is not visible physically to us. Without faith, God is not happy with his people. Servant leaders embrace what God guides them to do and believe that it is the right thing to do for his people despite what people do or think about it. Jesus says in Luke 6: 23 that there will be a great reward in heaven for those who do the will of God and receive hardships doing so. The greatest of the virtue is love; love towards God and towards his creation.

The Servant of the People

Loving and trusting in God to do his will enable people to become servant leaders. Biblical servant leadership teaches on expressing the love for God through serving people. A leader can serve people well only if they have love for them. Loving people involves embracing the virtues of humility, prudence, patience, and endurance because God’s people are difficult and unwilling to be led in the right way (Joshua, 2018). Humility enhances the view of others and self as vessels to do God’s will here on earth. It enables leaders to understand people to begin where they are and elevate them to where God wants them to be. Understanding that people are weak, sinful, and blind is important to approach then from that perspective and show them light. It requires patience to achieve it and bring the best out of them. To deal with diversity among people, leaders should embrace their pace. In the gospels, Jesus rebukes Peter several times to make him understand what he was teaching. Jesus did not give up on him, and as such, leaders should not give up on their subject even when their understanding is limited (Joshua, 2018).

Endurance gives servant leaders the grace to continue serving people amidst all external forces against it (Christopher, 2016). Endurance enables leaders to achieve their goals. Jesus endured temptations to the tree of the cross to achieve his objective of saving mankind. Leaders should follow the same example because people will be against their pursuits. However, their willingness to learn and understand their subjects enables them to trust in God to guide them on how to approach people. Jesus understood his disciples and was able to identify his betrayer and the one who would deny him three times. Although this is divine, it is right to say that when leaders understand their subjects, they are able to know their motives, whether good or bad.

The Biblical View of Oneself as a Servant Leader

Jesus viewed himself as an instrument of God’s love for his people. He dedicated himself to teach people that they may know God and to save them that they may have a personal relationship with him. His mission was service. He healed the sick, drove away demons, fed the poor, and became the greatest teacher. In John 13: 1-17, Jesus portrays humility in leadership when he washes his disciples’ feet after the Passover. From this context, servant leaders must have unconditional love for their subjects. Despite experiencing his power as the master, the disciples experienced Jesus as a servant leader too because his mission was service, not ruling. Therefore, leaders should understand their mission first to enable them implement it in humility irrespective of how senior they might be (Christopher, 2016). Additionally, servant leadership is voluntary and leaders should expect nothing in return. Fulfillment is achieved in knowing that the mission is complete. The interests of the people are the priority and the power bestowed on leaders should be used to serve others through love and authority.

Conclusion

Servant leadership is more inclusive plus appropriate when leaders adopts understanding of Gods will and impact it on his people. Leadership comes with power and authority. As we see in the gospels, Jesus taught with power and authority without fear because his aim was to instill knowledge and understanding of God on the people. Therefore, leaders’ attitudes, objectives, as well as actions towards others must be guided by faith and love in God to become his servant and represent Christ teachings on his people. Therefore, it is an obligation that servant leaders must fulfill to bring the best out of people. Jesus chose simple people, such as fishermen, tax collectors, and farmers to become his followers. Being a leader does not discriminate, but rather empowers and enlightens people from all walks of live to realize the greatness in them. Therefore, servant leaders represent God by loving people and serving them through humility, patience, plus endurance.