Leadership - Will You Lead? 4

Subject - Leading Wherever You Are

by Rick Welbourne

I. Leading Like Jesus by Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges

A. The most persistent barrier to leading like Jesus is a heart motivated by self interest.

Phil 2:1-4 (NIV)

1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,

2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.

4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Quote: Blanchard and Hodges: "A heart motivated by self-interest looks at the world as a ‘give a little, take a lot’ proposition. People with hearts motivated by self-interest put their own agenda, safety, status, and gratification ahead of those affected by their thoughts and actions."

B. Another factor that needs to be considered is whether we are driven people or called people...

C. Are you a self- serving leader or a servant leader?

Quote: Blanchard and Hodges: Three distinctive patterns of behavior mark the difference between self-serving leaders and servant leaders: how you handle feedback, how you handle successor planning, and your perspective of who you think leads and who follows.

How do you handle feedback?

1. Self-serving leaders spend most of their time protecting or promoting the things

in which they have invested their self worth and security, such as their public image, their reputation, their competitive performance, their position, their possessions, or their personal fulfillment in their intimate relationships.

2. Whenever they sense a threat to the things they cherish, they are likely to react in a fearful, defensive way.

3. This is especially true when they receive negative feedback. They think that negative feedback means that people do not want them to lead anymore. That is their worst nightmare.

4. The biggest fear of self-serving leaders is not failure; it is the fear of losing their

power and position—the very things in which they have placed their self-worth and security.

5. Because servant leaders believe their position and influence are on loan to those whom they serve, they are more prone to see feedback as a gift rather than a threat.

6. Even when feedback may be hurtful or given in a negative way, a servant leader grounded in God’s unconditional love can get beyond initial negative emotions and seek to find any truth and value for improving their leadership.

7. Which of the following words best describes your usual reaction to negative feedback? Is it fear, anger, denial, sadness, curiosity, or gratitude?

8. It may take a while for some of us but I hope in the end that we are thankful for the feedback because, most of the time, there is a measure of truth to all criticism.

How do you plan for Successors?

1. One aspect of a job well done as a servant leader is how well we have prepared others to carry on after our season of leadership influence is complete.

–What we all hope to hear from the Lord :

Matt 25:21 (NKJV)

21 "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

2. Our leadership legacy is not just limited to what we have accomplished, but it includes what we leave behind in the hearts and minds of those with whom we had a chance to teach and work.

3. It is unlikely that anyone leading involved in the promotion and protection of self is going to spend much time training and developing their potential successor.

4. Just as avoiding honest feedback is a mark of an EGO (Edging God Out) driven leader, so is failure to develop someone to take your place.

5. During His time on earth, Jesus modeled sacrificial passion for ensuring that His followers were equipped to carry on the cause of the Kingdom.

6. Jesus lived His legacy in intimate relationship with those He empowered by His

words and example.

Quote: Leighton Ford in his book Transforming Leadership says:

"Long before modern managers, Jesus was busy preparing people for the future. He wasn’t aiming to pick a crown prince, but to create a successor generation. When the time came for Him to leave, He did not put in a crash program of leadership development...the curriculum had been taught for three years in a living classroom." 

7. A good way to gauge your progress in leading like Jesus is to ask yourself the following questions:

–How well am I doing in preparing others to take my place when the time comes?

–Do I consider them a threat or an investment in the future?

–Am I willing to share what I know and provide opportunities to learn and grow for those who will come after me? If not, why not?

8. A few moments of brutal honesty regarding your motives as a leader are worth years of self-deception.

9. Jesus modeled the heart of a true servant leader by investing most of His ministry time training and equipping the disciples for leadership. Near the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus told His disciples:

John 15:15 (NKJV)

15 "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

10. Jesus also set a goal for His disciples that every leader should hear well and heed to:

John 14:12-13 (NKJV)

12 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

13 "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

11. We want those who come after us to do even greater exploits than we have!

Who leads and who follows?

1. The term ‘leader’ is only mentioned six times in the King James Version of the Bible, while the term servant is mentioned more than nine hundred times.

2. This fact highlights the third distinction between a self-serving leader and a servant leader: who leads and who follows?

3. Self-serving leaders think they should lead and others should follow.

4. Servant leaders, on the other hand, seek to respect the wishes of those who have entrusted them with a season of influence and responsibility.

5. Key - Throughout His life and leadership, Jesus affirmed that God is not looking for leaders but for servants who will let Him be the Leader and who will focus first on the Kingdom of God.

–When God came to Abraham, God had the plan and Abraham was instructed to carry it out according to God’s promise. God is on mission...He wants us to join Him.

–When God came to Moses, God provided leadership for this shy, retiring man.

–When God came to Mary, she surrendered to God’s will and undertook the role of a servant leader with her infant Son.

–When God came to Paul, God had a plan that this passionate man spend the rest of his life fulfilling thru leadership and witness to the Gentiles.

–When God was the leader and these faithful people were servants, His plan was effectively accomplished.

6. On the other hand, when we become the leader and try to make God the servant, things don’t work out.

Quote: Blanchard and Hodges: "If you want your life to be significant, then you have to recognize that it’s all about God, not about you. As the old Yiddish saying goes, ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans’.

7. Jesus was pretty emphatic about who leads and who follows:

Matt 16:24-25 (NKJV)

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

25 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

–Jesus tells His disciples of His suffering and His eventual death - their response:

Mark 10:35-41 (NKJV) 

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."

36 And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?" 

37 They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."

38 But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"

39 They said to Him, "We are able." So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized;

40 but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."

41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.

1. Jesus, the servant leader, lets His disciple learners know what is about to happen to Him!

–Servant leaders are transparent and always teaching...I will be betrayed, condemned to die, be delivered to the Gentiles, be mocked, scourged, and killed...3rd day I will rise.

2. James and John, selfish leader wanna-bees, have a desire to be in leadership.

–Their first problem is that they are not even listening to Jesus...only thinking of what is best for them...to sit on the right and left...did not hear of Jesus suffering.

3. Jesus, the servant leader, wants His followers to understand the cost.

–He asked James and John were they able to go thru what He was about to go thru...

Remember they were not listening so they had no clue...yes...thinking of themselves.

–Not every position or place of ministry is for just anyone...I love Jesus answer...it is for those for whom it is prepared."

–Don’t be hurt if the position or ministry you sign up for is not prepared for you...servant leaders submit to direction and wisdom...wanting position causes division.

–We do not become leaders to lord over people but to be servants...Peggy Icker.

Matthew 23:10-12 (NKJV) 

10 And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. 

11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 

12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

4. Jesus, the servant leader, wants His followers to know that leadership is all about laying our lives down for Him and them.

Mark 10:42-45 (NKJV) 

42 But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.

43 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.

44 And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. 

45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

–Servant leaders motto: We did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give our lives a ransom for many.