“Good leaders must first become good servants.” Robert Greenleaf

Leaders serve. It’s that simple. We can’t love God without loving people and we can’t love people without serving people. Scripture is clear that there is a correlation between loving God and esteeming people (1 John 4:20).

In John 13:1-17, Jesus is coming to the end of his journey here on earth. He’s spent three years teaching and equipping his disciples to become world changers. But before he departs, he wants to be sure they get this principle. He quietly kneels down, and in an unprecedented scene of humility and condescension, begins to wipe the feet of his disciples… feet soiled with dirt, grime, and manure, undoubtedly ripe of detestable odor.

This was an uncommon picture for the disciples – a teacher of this caliber deigning himself to serve his students. When Jesus got to Peter, he was met with resistance. Peter a rugged outdoorsman and commercial fisherman, likely had the foulest hoofs of the herd. Maybe he was embarrassed. But moreover, he didn’t think his Master, Jesus, should stoop to serve him.

Jesus wanted this future leader of the church to get a timeless principle: leaders are to serve others in humility. Period. There are no alternatives. Humility isn’t something we can delegate, or pass off to someone under our managerial authority. Humility is what we are called to imitate in Christ and demonstrate in service to others.

“It is not the lot of the leader to be served but rather his/her privilege to serve” Neuschel

Jesus told Peter, if you don’t let me do this, you have no share with me (John 13:8). The word ‘share’ comes from the Greek meros, meaning a part due or assigned to one; a lot, or destiny. Jesus made sure his disciples understood that he had given them an example they should follow. No servant is greater than his master, and if the master came to serve, his servants must do the same.

Here are five reasons why we need more servants in the Body of Christ:

1. It fosters unity in what GOD is doing; this UNITY gives the Gospel its necessary credibility. In 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Paul had to remind a church divided by spiritual chaos, grave immorality, and religious posturing, why we are here. As the people divided themselves into groups (denominational sects) or labels; of Paul-followers and Apollos-followers, he brought them back to the notion that we are all servants of Christ. Neither he who plants or waters is anything. It’s God who gives the increase. According to John 13:35, it’s love that gives the Church its credibility, not our denominational creeds or faith statements. Loves is the motivation for service. When we have it, it makes our message more plausible to a lost world.

2. It moves you from being a fan of Jesus to being a follower of Jesus. In the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), the priest and the Levite were fans of God, but they were either above serving others or just too preoccupied with religious activity. It was the Good Sam who followed God in true humility. He served. We have a lot of fans of Jesus today who love to attend religious services everywhere but belong nowhere. Serving gives us a place to belong, not just attend. It moves us from fanmanship to true service in the kingdom.

3. Serving moves us from religious posturing to spiritual humility; conforming us to the image Christ. In Mark 10:35-45, there was much religious posturing going on as Jesus and his clan moved toward Jerusalem. Some of his disciples believed Jesus would overthrow the Roman Empire, and they wanted power, political prestige, and positional authority, once the coup went down. James and John requested power. Jesus reproved their ambition and brought them back to the purpose of ministry and leadership: serving in true humility.

4. It moves us from contemplation to obedience; making our faith practical and our message relevant. It’s cheap and easy to say we love God. But doing is real. Jesus’ actions in John 13 could certainly be interpreted, “If you’re not willing to get dirty for me, you have no share with me.” We live in a culture today that wants to rethink, re-imagine, and re-write everything from the Scriptures. People want to sit around debating theology and blog their arguments rather than put on the gloves and get dirty serving others. Perhaps we just need to move from contemplation to obedience. We need to put into practice what we already know, but struggle with doing; serving people in humility.

5. It values people Jesus died for. So many people today have lost their dignity. People need to know they are valued. And there is no better way to do that than to serve them. Our sermons may be packed with truth, but words alone don’t value people. Our tracts, books, and literature may portray the Gospel, but they aren’t capable of being the hands and feet of Jesus in a sin-torn world. Jesus said the greatest love you can show is to give your life away for others (John 15:13). This is true, biblical, leadership.

We would do well to experience a good old-fashioned love revolution in the church today; a SERVOLUTION. One that fosters unity in the body, demonstrates Christ-like humility, and moves us to value people by serving them the way our Master served them.

It’s a dirty world, leaders, put your gloves on!