One of Jesus' most radical teachings was the suggestion that in the Kingdom of God, the first would be last and the last would be first. This grinds against everything we understand of the world. When we think about power and authority, it is always power and authority accompanied by force and aggression. Humanity is much more prone to war than to diplomacy.
Late in His ministry, Jesus washed His disciples feet as they reclined to take a the Passover meal. This act was almost offensive to the disciples. The master never washed his students' feet, for foot washing was a lowly, servile act. But what Jesus was trying to illustrate was that leaders in the Kingdom would have to be servants of all.
Jesus and the disciples had discussed this idea before the Triumphal Entry, after James and John had asked Jesus to give them positions of authority in the earthly kingdom they thought He was about to usher in. Instead Jesus says this to His disciples:
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28)
I have been in positions of authority over other people, and this passage can be hard to swallow. My natural tendency is to assert my authority over the people I'm leading, to proclaim my own importance. This is something that many pastors struggle with today; this tension between being a spiritual leader but without being the superior of his congregants. How can you maintain good leadership without reminding them who the leader is? With sacrificial service.
The Apostle Paul, minister to the Gentiles and founder of countless churches, is a near perfect template for sacrificial service. He had direct spiritual influence over the many churches he helped plant and was commissioned by Christ Himself to carry the gospel to the Gentile world. But yet in his epistles, we never observe Paul aggressively enforcing his ideas or arrogantly lording his special calling over those he is writing to.
Instead, we see him trying his best to tackle the near insurmountable task of ministering to the vast Roman world without bitterness or (much) complaint. Much of his work went thankless and without the honor due it. The question, of course, is how did Paul do it? How could he hold that much power over so many people and not turn the infant Church into the Paul of Tarsus show?
I think the answer lies in the motivation behind his actions. Paul did not minister to all those people for himself. If he was then he would probably have given up after the first time he was stoned (by an angry mob, not marijuana) if not way before. He wasn't doing it for the people. If you consider how screamingly idiotic the Corinthians must have been, he probably would have thrown his hands in the air and retired.
No, Paul was doing it for the Lord. Which is great; but why? Paul gives his answer in his first letter to Timothy (1:13, 14), a young pastor in Ephesus who was undoubtably struggling with this very issue.
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Paul's point here is that no one on earth could treat him as badly as he once treated Christ, but Christ died for his sins anyway (a public service for us all). Thus, since we first treated Christ with such contempt, it is fitting for us to sacrificially serve others as He sacrificially served us.
True leadership is found through sacrificial service, not power plays and aggression. Even if you aren't a pastor in a church, you still have the choice of lording your authority over others, or sacrificially serving them.
May it be not so with you.
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