The Lord Jesus taught about the leadership style He expects in the New Testament church and contrasted the New Testament leadership styles to the way of the world and then to the way of the Pharisees. This teaching finally makes it very clear how the ministers of Jesus in the New Testament are to lead the people of God.
Does Jesus Teach us to Adopt the World's Leadership Style in the Church?
Because we live in the world, though we are not of the world, and we are supposed to be the leader of the world, we must have attractive ways of leading the people, which will testify of our belonging to Him. This will lead to more people wanting to serve God because of the excellent leadership of the people of God. Jesus wanted the New Testament believers to know the difference between His leadership style and the leadership style of the world. The basic is teachings of Jesus about leadership style in the church are in the following passage of Scripture:
“Then came to him the mother of Zebedees children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. 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. Matthew 20:20-28
The style of leadership of the world is characterized by the following facts: 1.the leader of the world exercises authority over the people by lording over them, having an elite group who consider themselves higher than the rest because of their position.
2.The world uses domination i.e. they use controlling, manipulating and intimidation styles to lead the people who have to obey by fear for the leader.
3.The world leaders use their leadership position as an end in itself for their self glorification
4.The motives of the world are not the same as God’s, their goal in life is to achieve prestige and not necessarily serving the people the best way they can.
5.The people in the world want to be the head because they want to be like those that have already achieved it. They covet the title. Titles mean everything for them; they treat people good or bad based on their title.
It is clear that the ways of leading people in the world is based on selfish goals and Jesus wants us to be aware that we cannot do the same.
In the following section we are going to deal with another example Jesus commands not to follow: the way of the religious leaders who were hypocrites.
How does the Lord Feel About the Leadership Style of Hypocrite Religious Leaders?
Jesus wanted the New Testament believers and His called ministers to know what style they are to use in the Church by comparing the new style to the ways of the Jewish religious leaders of His time. The following passage of Scripture summarizes the teaching:
“Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” Matthew 23:2-13
First of all, this is not contrasting the New Testament leadership styles to the Old Testament leadership styles because whatever Moses taught is still good because Jesus said to the people to do what the religious leaders teach from Moses but not do what they do. This means that these religious leaders were not living what they preached. They also like to design additional rules for the people to follow but they themselves do not follow them. They actually put bondage on people instead of helping them grow spiritually to get to a point where God can use them for His purpose. They use their position as the world does, so they in fact follow the world’s way instead of being an example to the world.
The religious leaders of Jesus time like titles and use them to impose on the people. They seem to be more concerned about the outside appearance than the inward appearance. To summarize, they were hypocrites because they were not who they teach nor were doing what they preached.
These ungodly leadership styles that Jesus was teaching His disciples to avoid are being used in the Church today. So this teaching is still very relevant to help the New Testament ministers avoid the pitfalls of the Pharisees.
The Pharisees are only example for us today that we are not to follow.
New Testament Leadership that is ordained by Christ
By contrasting these two styles we learn a great deal of how the ministers of the New Testament ought to lead. Jesus said:
“But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”
By this we know that as Christian believers we have one leader, the Lord Jesus, that all our authority comes from God and not our body or appearance, education, status or titles. While the world considers the title to be a sign of greatness, Jesus teaches that the title is for service to the people. While the world or the Pharisees consider their positions as a way to have the people serve them as kings, the Lord teaches that we are to serve the people instead. We are to train them to grow to spiritual maturity. While the world or the Pharisees ways is to elevate themselves above the common people, the Lord teaches us to humble ourselves by being the servant of others. Jesus Himself gave the example by being a servant of all instead of having people serve Him and he expect His ministers to do the same and not to follow the ways of the world or of the Pharisees (which is hypocrisy). Jesus lived what He preached, therefore the New Testament ministers must live what they preach in contrast with the Pharisees way.
Concerning the styles of leading the people in the New Testament, Jesus taught,
“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.” Matthew 20: -28
Jesus forbids styles of domination, intimidation and control and commands us to be servant to others and not trying to demand that others serve us. Here also the Lord Jesus gave the example of Himself by living what He was preaching, by being a servant of all instead of seeking subjects to serve Him.
It is quite sad when we see many Christian churches using the ways of the world and of the Pharisees and not even realize that they are doing it. Some even have Scriptures that they use about the authority of the minister in the leadership position, how the people must be submitted to them without questions, however they often times ignore this teaching by Jesus Himself. No wonder why the world no longer respect the church and many of its leaders. It is because the church is trying to follow the world, but because the world is excellent in its own ways the church has nothing to offer to the people of the world. So people are turned away from becoming believers in Christ. I pray that the light shines over every church that the ways of the world and the Pharisees be completely eradicated from the church. In Jesus name Amen.
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