Read John 13:1-17 & Mark 9:33-35.

This morning we start a new sermon series on leadership.
The River Church is moving into a new phase, growing, developing, becoming. As we grow we will need more leaders – Elders, Deacons, Small Group leaders, and so on.
As He builds His Church, the Lord will gift, call, and anoint people for these tasks.
So what sort of person is the Lord looking for ?

If you believe you are leadership material and should be a leader soon…….….then you are probably a long way off being one.
If you’re sitting there thinking, ‘not me, I couldn’t be a leader’……….…then you’re a lot closer than you think.

I would not generally make anyone a leader who really wanted it. At least not until they have begun dying to self and the desire to be a leader.
Experience can be helpful,…gifting God can give,… but essentially I would be looking for two things in a possible leader – God’s call and direction, and CHARACTER.
The sort of things we’re going to be looking at in the coming weeks - Integrity, Honesty, Trust, Commitment, Love, and so on. Someone who loves Jesus and wants to give their all in His service.

If you want to be first, …to be a leader in the Church, then Jesus says become the servant of all. A leader is primarily a servant. Someone who dies to self, and lives for Jesus, and as a result lives for others too.

You may not think of yourself as a leader in any way, but there are many kinds of leadership, not just Church leadership.
If you are a mother, you are a leader of your children, if you are a father and husband, you are a leader to your children and wife. At work or college if you have responsibility for others, or are someone others look to in some way, then you are a leader. Perhaps you play a role in a community organisation. Most people are leaders of some kind at some point in their life. And even if you’re not, the principles and characteristics of leadership are important for all of us. For example today we’re looking at humility and servant-hood. And they’re important for anyone who would follow Jesus.
Galatians 5:13 says, ‘You were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love’.

So what is leadership ?

There are very wide views in the world about leadership and how to lead. Some we may think of as more positive role models than others.

Is leadership about power, about a title someone is given, about their status among others ?
Is it telling others what to do, getting them to do what you want ?

The sort of leadership God wants from you, in marriage, in family, at church, at work, is NOT about telling other people what to do. It’s not about pushing yourself forwards, and others around. God hates arrogance, oppression, and people lording it over others.
That’s why when the Lord says that husbands are the head of their wives, He doesn’t say so make sure you tell them what you want them to do, and make sure they do it………He tells them to love their wives as Christ loves the Church and gave Himself for her. Husbands are you giving yourself for your wives, sacrificing yourselves for them.

Godly leadership is a giving of self to another. Loving someone, wanting the very best for them and working towards it.
That’s not always easy. The best for someone sometimes may be discipline.
A parent to a child for example. Paul when having someone put out of the Church for immorality, says that it is for that person’s good (1 Corinthians 5:5).
Leading others means dying to ourselves, to our wants and desires. And often walking a very costly path.
You certainly need to do that in marriage and parenthood, but it’s the same in any form of leadership.
Jesus said to be a leader, you are primarily a servant, and He showed us what He meant by that, both by His life and His death.

A leader has vision, goals, determination, passion, yes….but they are not for self elevation or selfish ambition. The motivation must be love, and God’s best for others.
His agenda, not our own.
‘Unless the Lord builds the house, it’s builders labour in vain’ – Psalm 127:1.
Jesus, the Son of God, prays ‘ not my will, but yours be done’. This is our example.
To listen to the Father and to do HIS will.

Jesus came into the world because He loves us……that was His motivation.
His vision was our salvation and reconciliation to God.
His goals : to teach us and show us God’s Way, and to die on the cross for our sins.
In other words selfless. He served His Father, and He served us.
That’s servant-hood, that’s leadership God’s way.

Read Philippians 2:1-13.

Is that your attitude ?
Do you consider others better than yourself ? Really.
Or do you think you can do better than them ?
Your attitude should be like that of Christ. Love, obedience, sacrifice, service, giving.
It’s His Spirit within the believer, who is working that out in you.
- If indeed you have been filled with the Spirit, and are co-operating with Him.

Think of some of the people God chose and their reaction when God called them.
Moses, Gideon, Isaiah, Peter.

Humility, recognising what and who we are before a mighty and holy God, is vital to being the sort of leader God wants you to become, and the person God wants you to be generally.
Recognise who God is, and that in His universe we are like a grain of sand, dust in comparison, in fact that’s what we’re make of, dust… (and a splosh of water).

I am nothing without God, I wouldn’t exist without God, I wouldn’t be alive now unless He aloud it, I wouldn’t be in relationship with Him if it wasn’t for what He has done through Jesus’ death and resurrection. I can’t be fruitful for Him without His Word and Spirit.
I am completely dependant on God. God is God. He is Lord.
That’s humility.…if we believe it and mean it.

Anyone who would be a leader, anyone who would follow Christ, needs to recognise who He is…..and your complete dependence on Him….’Trust in the Lord with all your heart’.
You are serving Jesus, the all powerful, risen Lord of all, King of the Universe.
‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord’

There is a principle that runs through the Bible that we would do well to heed.
‘Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought’ – Romans 12:3.
‘Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall’ – Proverbs 16:18.
The Lord hates pride and arrogance.
If you are proud, ….arrogant, ….self centred, you will be humbled and brought down. And that can be very painful.
But if we humble ourselves before Him and others, then God will raise us up.

Recognising how small you are, and how big….and loving….God is.
Humility like this brings peace, contentment, security, because of who we put our trust in.

The disciples during their three years with Jesus argued on several occasions as to who was the best, who was most important. But Jesus challenged them, then look how God used them after Pentecost. When they had died to self and been filled with the Spirit….then the Lord used them powerfully…..and in leadership.

Choose the way of service, the way of humility, the way of Jesus, and obedience to the Father. And see what GOD will do in you and through you.