Author's Note: All previous volumes of this series are here. The first 56 volumes are compiled into the book "Bible Study For Those Who Don't Read The Bible." "Part Two," featuring volumes 57-113, was published in December 2022.
As always, thanks for joining our study. Today, we conclude the two-part series “What the Bible Says About Leadership. If you missed last week’s featuring the Old Testament leadership, take five minutes and read it now. While the rest of us wait, we can stay energized listening to a classic song with a title in the headlines. Now that everyone is awake, let’s proceed.
Leadership in the New Testament is about Jesus. Through His interactions with the lowly and the powerful, He perfected leadership’s highest qualities and wrote “the manual” about how leaders should comport themselves.
Last week, we studied the Old Testament’s four great rulers — Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon — chosen by Almighty God to lead His people to fulfill His greater plan. All four sinned and had flaws because they were human, but Jesus was without sin since He was divine, albeit also human.
His divinity explains why Jesus was the greatest leader who ever walked the earth with indisputable lasting influence. However, He never led a military conquest, expanded territory, or ruled God’s people. Jesus came to serve those same people and made that clear when He said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).
Jesus was sent to serve, not as a conquering hero who led the way, but Jesus was “The Way” — along with “the truth and the life.” And He was the gateway to Heaven — “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Recommended
Instead of freeing the Jews from Roman oppression (as His people expected of the Messiah), Jesus conquered death and died for our sins. Through that conquest, those who believe in Him will have eternal life in His heavenly kingdom, where He reigns forever and ever.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated the best human leadership qualities — love, compassion, integrity, and caring for others.
The phrase “servant leadership” is often associated with Jesus because He said:
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). (For more about the “Son of Man,” see Vol. 53.)
What does servant leadership mean to us? Two words come to mind: Service and humility. Jesus said to His disciples:
“The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12).
To lead like Jesus means the needs of others will take precedence over your own. Greatness comes to leaders who show great compassion. Leaders also lead by lifting their people. This famous passage illustrates the lesson of servant leadership:
“When he [Jesus] had finished washing their [disciples] feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.
‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me “Teacher” and “Lord,” and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them’” (John 13:12-17).
Continuing that servant leadership theme, St. Paul wrote about Jesus:
“Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2: 6-8).
Another way that Jesus showed leadership was through His authority from The Father. After Jesus taught the parable of the “Wise and Foolish Builders,” it was recorded:
“When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matthew 7:28-29).
However, leading with authority can be both positive and negative. Humans can best lead with authority if they are devoted to living according to His Word and whose actions inspire others to do the same. Leaders can inspire underlings to be the best version of themselves through love and compassion.
Conversely, authoritative leaders have been known to rule in ungodly ways. They have often served personal or nationalistic goals through violence, fear, lies, and trepidation.
No humans are capable of Jesus-like leadership authority (and beware of those who say they are leading that way.) Yet, leaders (and all of us) can strive to be Christ-like role models through faith in Him and how we serve others.
Jesus never used or flaunted His power for nationalistic or material gain, and most importantly, Jesus sacrificed Himself in service to humankind. He showed his humanity when He was about to endure great physical suffering, asking God:
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
Jesus showed sacrificial leadership through His death on the cross, showing us why the following passage is so powerful:
“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’” (Luke 23:39).
A modern example of sacrificial leadership was Saint Maximillian Kolbe. He was a Polish priest martyred at the Auschwitz death camp in 1941 after volunteering to take the place of a family man who was to be executed. (I have seen his Auschwitz cell.)
Jesus’s sacrificial leadership influenced Kolbe when Jesus the Good Shepherd said:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). And another relevant and famous verse from Jesus is:
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
There is much more that you can learn from Jesus about leadership. I hope this topic has inspired you to pursue further study and be a leader for the greater good of others.
Myra Kahn Adams is a conservative political and religious writer with numerous national credits. Her book, "Bible Study For Those Who Don't Read The Bible," reprints the first 56 volumes of this popular study. "Part 2,” with the same title, reprints Vols. 57-113. Order it here.
She is also the Executive Director of the National Shroud of Turin Exhibit, dedicated to building a future permanent Shroud of Turin exhibit in Washington, D.C. In July, The National Shroud of Turin Exhibit hosted a four-day exhibit (with a VIP guest) at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, IN. Contact: <MyraAdams01@gmail.com>
Join the conversation as a VIP Member