Authentic Servant Leadership

Robert Wurtz II

“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. Then he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.” (Mark 3:1–6)

Jesus came into the world, among other reasons, to reveal the Father. Over 1300 years of teaching the law of Moses hadn’t done it; instead, they gave rise to competing sects within Judaism that jockeyed for glory and power. The competing parties of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians shared one thing in common; they all hated Jesus and were the exact opposite of God in many ways. They were children of the devil, who was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44). So we shouldn’t be surprised when they attacked Jesus when he healed a man. They didn’t care about people; they craved the glory that belonged solely to God (Isaiah 42:8). This event is one of the rare examples of Jesus clearly being angry, from the Greek word orge that the KJV nearly always translates as wrath.

Pride and Servant Leadership

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“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18 ESV)

“Those of a haughty spirit think of themselves above what is meet, and look with contempt upon others that with their pride affront God and disquiet others, will be brought down, either by repentance or by ruin.” (Matthew Henry)

We typically think of this verse as meaning that the proud person will be the recipient of destruction, but the verse implies more than that. A proud person leaves destruction in their wake. It follows after them. The time would fail to list people who have destroyed parts of the world, intoxicated with pride. Families have broken up, churches wrecked, and friendships ended because of pride.

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The key attribute of Satan is pride, and it is found abundantly in his children, too. Self-assertion originated with Satan, who had only known submission to God until “iniquity was found in him” (Ezekiel 28:15). Pride is a stench in the nostrils of God, and He will not tolerate it in His presence (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). Of all the things that God hates, pride is number one (Proverbs 6:16-17). Pride has caused more destruction in the world than anything else.

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We are 2000 years removed from the advent of Jesus, and pride is still destroying families, churches, and society itself. His teachings and example haven’t penetrated, generally. His life of utter humility was an example to the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, but they rejected it with hostility. He endeavored to end this invisible plague of humankind with the antidote of humility. Until all humanity is willing to humble themselves before God and their fellow man, destruction will continue unthwarted. The same can be said for leaders in the churches of God.

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Power Hungry Pride

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Scholars have pointed out that the Pharisees were so power-hungry that they expected Jesus to ask permission from them to heal a man. But that doesn’t go far enough. Common sense reveals that no one has the power to heal anyone, and that only God can and will do so. So, challenging what Jesus was doing meant challenging God the Father as well. They attributed the power to Satan, but he would never relieve suffering unless he could be advantaged by doing so (Matthew 12:26; 2 Thess. 2:9). When conceit reaches the point where it says “anyone who challenges us is of Satan,” pride has fully blinded the person.

Moreover, since when does Jesus or anyone else need permission to do good? Only when you’re dealing with children of the devil. Rather than glorifying God for the presence of a healer, they wanted to control Him and obstruct what He was doing. They wouldn’t be controlled by anyone else, but they tried to control others. Consider the implications of that.

Only in the kingdom of darkness does anyone need permission to do good. This is the devilish and self-serving world that the religious leaders had built for themselves. They loved the “chief seats” at the pinnacle with everyone else underneath. These “religious” leaders were contrary to all men. If they didn’t receive the glory and honor, they resisted and fought it. They believed they deserved the people’s honor. Notice that they were religious leaders, not spiritual leaders. Jesus said that they strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel (Matthew 23:24). Why? Because when you’re power-hungry, your actions only make sense to you.

Pride in Leadership

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Why would anyone get in the way of God just to make sure their name or position is honored? This is pride run amok. It was an outrage then, and it’s an outrage today. In an era when sermon after sermon and book after book are written to encourage submission to leaders, we need to pause and reflect on authentic servant leadership. We must reject the voices of people who lead with statements like “I’m here to serve you” when the opposite is true. Words and actions must match. No one can sanitize their pride by labeling themselves as a servant. An authentic servant leader instinctively helps people attain their full potential for God and doesn’t view them as a threat to be targeted and diminished.

Understand that the religious leaders didn’t care about people’s needs or God’s will; they only cared about control. So we might say that they were “controlling” or had a “controlling spirit.” As today, so then, people who refused their control were labeled rebels by these twisted leaders. Yet the religious leaders’ hypocrisy gave rise to a profound truth that we might not otherwise have known: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). Mark alone has this profound saying, which subordinates the Sabbath to man’s real welfare (A.T. Robertson).

God delivered the Sabbath to man and not the man to the Sabbath. Yet, these leaders subjected the people to the precept of “Sabbath-keeping” to “lord over the people” and control them. So long as people believed that man was made for the Sabbath, these leaders could continue their deception. In doing so, they arrogated to themselves the authority and honor that belonged solely to God.