Tag Archives: Jesus view on leadership

Sunday – January 6, 2013

Posted on by
Reply

January 6, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

James & John Make Their Pitch and Strike Out from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Jesus did not choose His disciples because they were more qualified or more compassionate than others. Human nature has not changed over the years and the gospel has not eliminated pride and selfish ambition from the people of God. You will still find people in the church put meeting their ego needs before meeting their obligations as a disciple. Somewhere along the way, we have taken the cross out of discipleship and replaced it with a purpose that meets material and egotistical needs and thus produces fruit of selfishness and materialism in the church.
The church cannot thrive when the people in the pews are competing with one another for positions of power. Too often we look to the world of business for role models when we should be looking to Jesus. The life and teaching of Jesus Christ turns the world’s understanding of what is great on its head. The greatest work ever done was accomplished by One who gave His life for others. It is not as the world judges great things but through self-dying service that greatness is recognized by God. Only those who give of themselves for others will be recognized by God as great in His Kingdom.
Join us tomorrow as we explore Mark 10 verses 32-52 and See”James & John Make Their Pitch and Strike Out”.

Word On Worship – January 6, 2012 Download / Print

 Mark 10:35-38
“James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.”

Once again the disciples are competing for first place, looking for ways to outmaneuver their brothers for power and advantage. They are interested in dominion not humility and service. They want a Messiah who is beyond suffering and will offer them their heart’s desires. But no one can understand Jesus Christ without understanding His suffering and the cross. It is the cross that distinguishes Jesus as Messiah and ours as disciples. To know Jesus as Messiah is to accept Him as One who dies for others and accept that destiny for ourselves.

Jesus did not choose His disciples because they were more qualified or more compassionate than others. Human nature has not changed over the years and the gospel has not eliminated pride and selfish ambition from the people of God. You will still find people in the church put meeting their ego needs before meeting their obligations as a disciple. Somewhere along the way, we have taken the cross out of discipleship and replaced it with a purpose that meets material and egotistical needs and thus produces fruit of selfishness and materialism in the church.

The church cannot thrive when the people in the pews are competing with one another for positions of power. Too often we look to the world of business for role models when we should be looking to Jesus. The life and teaching of Jesus Christ turns the world’s understanding of what is great on its head. The greatest work ever done was accomplished by One who gave His life for others. It is not as the world judges great things but through self-dying service that greatness is recognized by God. Only those who give of themselves for others will be recognized by God as great in His Kingdom.

We cannot forget that Jesus holds Himself up as the example to be followed. He does not explain atonement as much as He shows the disciples the way of atoning life. The only way the disciples, and ourselves as well, can live up to the demands of Jesus is to realize He has gone before us, broken through and cleared the way for others to follow. We can either look to Jesus as our example, or James and John. Hopefully, looking at James and John in this passage will be like looking in a mirror where we see the reflection of our own selfish and foolish thoughts.

Sunday – December 2, 2012

Posted on by
Reply

December 2, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

Leading Jesus Style from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Christ’s humility was evident from His perfect obedience to authority and will of His Father. Anyone can claim to be a servant, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was treated as one and never complained about it. Jesus Christ, the most powerful man to ever walk the face of the earth, was also the most humble man who ever lived. His agenda was never to promote Himself, but to please His Father by loving and serving others. For all who seek to follow in His example, our first call is to imitate His humility. In order to do that we are going to need to learn to lead Jesus way. Join us this Sunday as we return to Mark 9 verses 30 to 50 and find application for Jesus leadership style in our lives today.

Word On Worship – December 2, 2012 Download / Print

Mark 9:35-37
“Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

Woody Allen once said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” The corollary to that statement would be, “If you want to make God laugh louder, tell Him what you know.” Just because it is true does not make it any easier to accept. It is hard to admit we do not know as much as we think we know and we certainly are not in control as much as we would like to think. It is humbling to recognize God is more responsible for the achievements in our lives than we are. Our achievements are not our possession; they are gifts from God for which we will give an account for what we have been given.

Everything in us strains against this because to accept this as fact is to be humbled.  And humility leads to submission. We don’t want to admit God is the giver of every good gift because that would mean that we have to yield to his agenda. Humility and submission are two sides of the same coin. Humility is certainly not natural, so this is another reason we need to learn from the Scriptures. It is only from the Word of God that we gain insight to become the kind of leaders God desires and our world so desperately needs.

The best example of humility is our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus never clung to the outer manifestation of His divinity. Instead, He took the form of a servant. A servant is often taken for granted, overlooked and unnoticed. Our culture has trained us well in the art of assertiveness. On the contrary, humility comes from a disciplined strength which gives us the ability to serve others rather than manipulate them to have our needs met. Because of our identify in Christ, we can serve without being noticed by human eyes, knowing the One we serve always sees and has promised our reward in eternity.

Christ’s humility was evident from His perfect obedience to the authority and will of His Father. Anyone can claim to be a servant, but Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was treated as a servant and never complained about it. Jesus Christ, the most powerful man to ever walk the face of the earth, was also the most humble man who ever lived. His agenda was never to promote Himself, but to please His Father by loving and serving others. For all who seek to follow in His example, our first call is to imitate His humility.

Sunday – November 25, 2012

Posted on by
Reply

November 25, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

Can We Franchise the Church? from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

The disciples, as do many church leaders today, have an over inflated view of leadership. They want to lead so others will serve them. So as the disciples argue with the teachers of the law over their failure to cast out a demon earlier, they have no problem chastising another who is successfully casting out demons in Jesus name because he was not one of them. They want to control the rights to Jesus name, as if they held exclusive rights to the franchise. This elitist worldview has continued down the centuries and infected generation after generation with pettiness and politics. If Jesus were to ask the leaders of the Church today the same question about which we are arguing, would the silence be any louder than it was with the twelve? Join this week as we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark in the first part of Mark 9 verses 30 to 50.

Word On Worship – November 25, 2012 Download / Print

Mark 9:30-31
“From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.”

The ministry of Jesus at this point in Mark’s gospel now shifts from public ministry to a time of intensive training of the twelve. Jesus was never swayed by the adoration of the masses, but now as He turns to Jerusalem one final time, His focus is on these few who will carry the gospel forward to the world. Jesus tells them again His destiny is to be rejected by men who will kill Him but he will be resurrected on the third day. It is here Jesus adds a new detail to His previous statement of suffering: He will be betrayed by one of His own into the hands of men.

They should have been worried about who it will be among them who will betray the Lord of Glory, but instead it becomes a catalyst to debate about who is the greatest. It will continue as they argue with the successful exorcist because he does not follow them. Their need for recognition will also be an issue at the Last Supper as Peter will argue that he will be more faithful than the rest. The picture we are given by Mark is showing Jesus walking ahead to Jerusalem to be sacrificed as the disciples push and shove to establish the order of the procession behind Him.

The disciples, as do many church leaders today, have an over-inflated view of leadership. They want to lead so others will serve them. So as the disciples argue with the teachers of the law over their failure to cast out a demon earlier, they have no problem chastising another who is successfully casting out demons in the name of Jesus because he was not one of them. They want to control the rights to His name, as if they held exclusive rights to the franchise. This elitist worldview has continued down the centuries and infected generation after generation with pettiness and politics. If Jesus were to ask the leaders of the Church today the same question about which we are arguing, would the silence be any louder than it was with the twelve?

The “cult of personality” is alive and well in the church today as it was with the twelve on the road to Jerusalem. How often is the pastor given top billing above Jesus, just as members of the local body seek for their name in the bulletin or church newsletter for their service? Yet our Lord demonstrated His definition of leadership by the cross of Calvary. When leadership is defined by sacrifice, the cross makes sense. The cross is God’s view of leadership. This is the definition of leadership established by Jesus, which He followed to His death. Therefore, any who seek to be leaders must follow Him to the cross to die themselves.