Serving is what we do

Jesus often spoke about humility and servanthood.  In Matthew 18 he says;

18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, 3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  5 And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Here is that familiar call of Jesus to humility.  Greatness in the kingdom of God will always be measured in terms of our servant's heart, our humility of heart.  As a leader I've struggled with this; I desire to be a servant at heart because this is what we do.  Jesus said, "I've come to serve and not be served."  But at the same time, I'm not convinced that my leadership is one and the same with serving.  I often hear Christian leaders say that their platform ministry is one and the same with serving others.  Even in the secular world we hear politicians called public servants.  But serving seems to be something we do personally for others out of our humility.  Jesus speaks of receiving a child and nothing is more servant like than caring for a child.  Platform ministries are rarely personal and instead of lowering ourselves to serve the least, those ministries often elevate us to positions of great praise.  The larger the platform ministry, the greater the praise, power and position that usually follows.

Now I don't mean to imply that leaders can't be servants.  Indeed they can be and should be but service isn't seen so much in the platform ministry but in the heart of that leader outside of that large ministry.  Does that leader serve the least of these personally?  Is their heart of humility seen in how they treat others outside the popular large ministry?  Does that leader have time to talk to and encourage the young, the unknown, the one with no power?

Dr. Al Moyler represents the leader who is both powerful and humble.  Though I don't know him personally, he is the president of Southern Seminary, prolific author and speaker, but I listen to his daily briefing and on the weekend he takes questions from people.  His humility and his desire to serve the least is evident in how he answers their questions.  He is kind.  He is encouraging.  He is never self ingratiating.  I believe he'd always have time for the young ones, whether they were the children around him or the young in faith.

I desire to be the best leader I can be.  I want to be strong and assertive.  I want to be inspiring and challenging.  But above all those things I long to be a servant.  I want to be humble, a man under authority and one who serves Jesus but a leader who also sees serving Jesus as lived out in serving even children.  Jesus told us that to receive the children is to receive him.  Never grow to the point that you are too big, too powerful, too important to have time to serve the least of those around us.  Personally serving the little ones is what we do.