Leadership

The greatest example of a leader of all time is the Lord Jesus Christ, bar none! There is no perhaps, buts or maybes about it. If you want to be a great leader, then follow The Example. What makes Jesus such a Great Leader? Here are just few reasons, and of course, they are not all the reasons.

“But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do” (John 14:31,KJV). Jesus loves the Father, and because of His love for the Father, He surrendered everything to Him, including His very life. Before going any further with this example, consider the following, Jesus holds three positions: God the Son, Son of God, and Son of Man. As the God the Son, He is the express Image of the Father, and all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things consist (see John 1:1-4; Philippians 2:5-6; Colossians 1:15-19, 2:9-10; Hebrews 1:2-8; Psalm 102:25-27). By the Resurrection, He is declared the Son of God, by Whom we obtain the resurrection unto eternal life. He represents God to man, and extends His Kingdom to the earth through the Holy Spirit (see Romans 1:3-5; John 5:21, 25-26; Romans 3-11). As the Son of man, He stands in as our peer. As our peer, He died on the cross in our stead, and will return to judge the world as the Son of man, not the Son of God (see John 5:27). On earth, as the Son of man, He has authority to forgive sin (see Matthew 9:4-5). He represents man to God and is also know as the Son of David, and the second Adam (see Matthew 9:27; 1Corinthians 15:45-47). Through Adam, sin and death entered into the world, and by Jesus, justification unto life to those who receive Him (Romans 5:12-21). Jesus said, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17-18, KJV). We in read in Philippians 2: 5-8,

“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” (KJV).

True leadership begins with love, just as Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15 [see also verses 21-24]). If love is our motivation, everything we do will be a joy. Love leads!

The second reason ties in with the first: Jesus humbled Himself. Humility leads to authority. Here is a very simple principle we must understand if we are going walk in authority: in order to have authority, one must be under authority. Jesus Himself said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (John 5:19, KJV). Even the centurion who came to Jesus understood this principle: For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it” (Matthew 8:9, KJV). Our authority comes from above, regardless of our position. Even if you are the CEO of a company or an owner of a business, you have an Authority Who is over you. If you want your business to be truly successful, you need to do things on His terms. Indeed, if any of us want to be successful in any area of our lives, we need to do things on His terms. Humility is a key to authority!

And he (Jesus) said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth (Luke 22:25-27, KJV)

The third reason interconnects with the other two given: Jesus is the Greatest Leader because He is the Greatest Servant of all time. When it gets down it, God serves us everyday. Think about it. The God of the universe does things for us because we simply ask. He sees the desires of our hearts and He gives them to us. He serves us in so many capacities we cannot enumerate them. Because He is God, He could demand that we serve Him, but doesn’t. In fact, He asks us to obey Him. He gives us decisions and choices to freely make. We’ve all heard the saying, “Don’t ask anyone to do anything that you yourself would not do.” Jesus asked us to lay our lives down for Him. Before He asked, He laid His life down first. Leaders serve!

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