Understanding Church Leadership 6
By Pastor Raphael Adegoke
16Woe to you, O land whose king is a youth, and whose princes feast in the morning. 17Blessed are you, O land whose king is a son of nobles, and whose princes feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness. (Eccl 10: 16-17)
There is nothing like the presence of the Lord. Thanks to God for the grace for access into His presence today. May the joy of His presence fill our hearts in the name of Jesus! Amen. Last Tuesday,, we began to examine having the mind of Christ, which is the mind of true humility, as one of the prerequisites for true leadership. Today’s discussion shall be a continuation of that.
A leader with true heart of humility is a leader who does not attach anything more than necessary to any position he occupies. Truly, positions of authority or power come with certain rights, privileges and honour, yet these are different from who we are. We define them, they don’t define us. It is unfortunate and undeniable that change in position or status easily results in change of identity. In fact, one of the traits of false leadership is change of identity with change of positions. By learning from Jesus Christ, it will be noticed that the Jesus we knew when He started ministry was the Jesus we knew when His ministry peaked He was still the same Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and after resurrection.
The profile written of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-7) needs to be given rapt attention. “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant…..” (Phil 2:6-7). That Jesus didn’t count equality a thing to be grasped does not take anything from Him. It does not make Him less Jesus nor does it bring Him to the level of man, but rather gives Him advantage. “9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-10). In fact, the catalyst of true leadership is nothing but humility.
It is also worthy to note that Jesus emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant. The reason God cannot use us today as He would is because many of us are still full of self. Meanwhile, God’s workings in and through us cannot be effective with the presence of self in us. That leads to a serial dilution of the divine presence. Many of us desire to be great leaders that God wants us to be, but this we cannot be, not until we empty ourselves of self.
The emptying of Jesus of self can be seen in His relationship with His disciples as there was a need for somebody (Judas) to help the enemies identify Him. This is not the case today. Most times, we would rather want the difference between us and our followers to be glary to the sight of all than to conceal it. Though it is believed in the world that familiarity brings contempt, but that’s not the case in spiritual leadership, because it is through familiarity that a true leader can empty himself into his followers. “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.” (Act 4:13).
… To be continued
Pastor Raphael Adegoke is a Pastor in Christ Apostolic Church (Nigeria & Overseas) and a Lecturer in Christ Apostolic Church Theological Seminary.
