TRINITYSPEAKS

Luke 22:24-27

Luke 22:26-27

When I was in college, I was profoundly impressed by a book called
Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and
Greatness. In this book, published in 1977, Robert K. Greenleaf advocated
leadership based on serving others. He was responsible for popularizing the
concept of “servant leadership.”

Four years earlier, another book anticipated Greenleaf’s notions of leadership. The
Velvet Covered Brick: Christian Leadership in an Age of Rebellion may not
have used the phrase “servant leadership,” but it promoted this notion of
leadership, grounding it in the very nature of God. Howard E. Butt, Jr., author of The Velvet
Covered Brick and founder of Laity Lodge, called leaders to serve others in
the way of Jesus.

For over fifty years, even before he wrote The Velvet Covered Brick,
Howard Butt has been a passionate advocate of servant leadership based on the
triune character of God. During this time, he has written and spoken on the
theme hundreds of times. My colleague at The High Calling, Dan Roloff, helped me gather some
quotations on servant leadership by Howard and others. I’d like to share them
with you here.

“The Trinity is three persons in relationship, not
one person in relationship with two others. The Trinity exists in relationship.
Similarly, we find our identities within relationship. We have no leadership apart from relationships because we have
no identity without relationships.”

“When talking about leadership, it is easy to think we’re talking
about other leaders, bigger leaders, more influential leaders. But the challenge
is not out there. It’s inside us.”

“The concept of servant leadership, which is a
biblical concept, has two perils. One is that the servanthood of the leader renders him
passive and impotent. On the other hand, leadership can become authoritarian,
insensitive, and tyrannical. The challenge is to find the balance between strong leadership and servant leadership.
No one leads until someone serves.”

“Servant leadership can become an opportunity to
abdicate responsibility. People don’t know when to claim their leadership. The
internal conversation sounds like this, ‘I know I’m the best suited to lead in
this instance, but if nobody asks me I’ll just serve everybody by practicing
servant leadership.’ That’s one of my favorite internal conversations. When
individual leaders refuse to lead, the group suffers. We don’t serve anyone by
denying our leadership responsibilities.”

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: As you think about putting
servant leadership into practice, what are some of the challenges you face? Have
you ever worked for or with someone you would consider a servant leader? What
did you learn from this person?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, thank you for those who have modeled
servant leadership in my life, beginning with my parents and continuing to the
present day as I imitate the example of Howard Butt. Thank you also,for those
who have thought deeply about servant leadership, not just in the abstract, but
also in the practical demands of real-life situations.

Help me, dear Lord, not to dismiss your teaching on servant leadership
because it is hard or unpopular. Rather, may I embrace your call, and with wise
elders to guide me, live my life as a servant leader.

All praise be to you, Lord Jesus, because you not only taught about servant
leadership, but also demonstrated its essence through your death on the cross.
Amen.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/reflections-servant-leadership-howard-e-butt-jr-0

Luke 22:24-27

Luke 22:26-27

Last week, I focused my reflections on Luke
22:24-27, a passage in which Jesus teaches us how to not to be—and how to
be—leaders in his kingdom. (You can find last week’s reflections here: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.) On Friday, I considered the curious statement of
Jesus, “I am among you as one who serves.” We saw that this statement pointed to
Jesus’ imminent death, his ultimate act of servanthood as the
Suffering Servant of God prefigured in Isaiah 52-53.

If the death of Jesus shows us the essence of true
servanthood, then we can begin to make
sense of his notion of servant leadership. Jesus is not thinking in terms of
giving and receiving orders. He’s not asking leaders to stop exercising their
authority and to do whatever others want them to do. Remember, Jesus went to the
cross even though his disciples thought it was folly. And he certainly didn’t
shape his teaching to suit their preferences. No, Jesus taught as one with
unusual authority, and he acted according to his convictions about what was
right. He was not governed by surveys and popular opinion. As Howard E. Butt,
Jr., the founder of Laity Lodge, observes, “Jesus had perfect
humility, but he was absolutely bedrock-sure of his leadership. Jesus exhibited
both the spirit of a follower and the spirit of a leader.”

In exercising his power and authority, Jesus chose to serve people. He did
this throughout the Gospels by healing the sick, casting out demons, and feeding
the hungry. He did this by sharing the good news of the kingdom, not just with
the elites, but with the masses as well. Ultimately, Jesus did what none of his
followers wanted him to do, sacrificing his life. In this action, Jesus served
them in ways they could not imagine.

Servant leaders exercise their authority to do what is best for those whom
they lead. They do not seek their own greatness, but rather the greatness of
their followers. They do not “lord it over” those whom they lead, but rather act
so as to empower them. There will be times, of course, when servant leaders are
required to do what their followers don’t want, as in the case of Jesus and his
death. Yet they seek what is right in order to do what’s best for those in their
charge.

One of my very first experiences of genuine servant leadership came when my
son, Nathan, was about ten months old. He and I had been out running some
errands. When we arrived at home, we were both famished. Nathan was crying and I
felt like joining him. When I sat him down in the kitchen, my first thought was
to make something for myself. After all, that’s what I had done for the past
thirty-six years of my life. But I realized that I needed to attend to Nathan’s
needs first. I remember thinking about how strange it was to so utterly choose
to serve someone else, even when I had the power to put my needs first. Yet, as
Nathan’s leader, I was called to be his servant. (When I later told my wife
about this incident, she was less than impressed because, of course, she had
been Nathan’s servant leader night and day for the previous ten months!)

Tomorrow, I want to share some wise reflections on servant leadership from
Howard Butt. For now, I’d encourage you to consider the following questions.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: In what contexts of life
are you a leader? Where do you have authority over people? What might it mean
for you to imitate Jesus’ self-giving sacrifice in those
relationships?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, it’s easy for me to feel thankful for
your sacrificial death. How grateful I am for the salvation you have bought for
me at such a high cost! Yet, when I consider the fact that I am called to
imitate your servanthood, I pause. This is not easy! Of
course, you know that, Lord. But I will admit that a part of me is not thrilled
with this servant leadership idea. Your notion of a servant is a tough one.

Nevertheless, I receive your call and ask for your help. Show me how to serve
those around me, especially those for whom I am a leader. Give me eyes to see
their needs. Help me to be willing to give of myself, to be inconvenienced for
their sake. May I learn to be a leader like you, Lord Jesus.
Amen.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/how-lead-kingdom-god-part-3

Psalm 92:1-15

Psalm 92:2

I wonder what would happen if you were to take Psalm 92:2 very literally.
What difference might it make in your life if the first thing you did when you
got up in the morning was to proclaim God’s unfailing love, and the last thing
you did was to proclaim his faithfulness?

I realize Psalm 92:2 doesn’t say exactly this. It speaks of morning and
evening more generally, not “the first thing” and “the last thing.”
But my question remains more or less the same. What difference might it make in
your life if you actually framed your day with professions of God’s love and
faithfulness?

I don’t know about you, but I find it easy to begin and end my day by
focusing on things other than God’s goodness. Often, my first thoughts in the
morning have to do with the demands of the day. My last thoughts might rehearse
the events of the day or lingering concerns. I try to give these to the Lord,
but sometimes they stick around to keep me up for a while. Perhaps I should try
something different. Perhaps you should too.

Let me propose an experiment. If you’re willing, join me in putting Psalm
92:2 into practice this week. Let’s start our day with proclaiming God’s
unfailing love. Plus, right before our heads hit the pillow, let’s proclaim
God’s faithfulness. We might think of how God has been faithful in that very
day, thanking him for all he’s done to bless and use us. If you’re looking for
biblical passages to guide your morning and evening reflections, let me suggest
a few options. Psalm 36:5-7, 57:8-11, Psalm 100:5, and Lamentations 3:22-24
would work wonderfully both morning and evening. Of course, there are many
others from which to choose. When it comes to celebrating God’s love, Romans
8:35-39 is unsurpassed.

If you participate in this experiment, I’d be most
interested in what you experience throughout the week. Please feel free to email
me and share your results. Or, if you wish to share your experiences with
others, you can add your comments to the archived version of this reflection at
the High Calling website. Here’s the link.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: How might your life be
different if you began your day proclaiming God’s love and ended your day
confessing his faithfulness? Are you willing to try doing this for a
week?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, how I thank you for the fact that you
love me with an unfailing love. I can’t even imagine what I’d be like apart from
the assurance and encouragement of your love. Thank you for making your love
known to me, in Scripture, in my experience, in the gathering of your people,
and most of all in Jesus Christ.

Thank you also, Lord, for your faithfulness and reliability. Though I can be
faithless, you are always there, always solid, always reliable. You never fail.
Your faithfulness is the foundation of my life.

Help me, I pray, to frame each day this week with the proclamation of your
love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. In the process, may I come
to a deeper understanding and experience of who you are.

All praise be to you, O God, because you are loving and faithful.
Amen.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/heres-experiment-frame-your-day-gods-love-and-faithfulness

Psalm 91:1-16

Psalm 91:1

When I was a boy, I loved playing “Hide and Seek.” Little made me happier
than when I found the perfect hiding place, a secure enclave where no “seeker”
would ever find me.

In a way, Psalm 91 envisions such a hiding place. Our translation reads,
“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of
the Almighty.” The word translated here as
“shelter” (seter in Hebrew) is sometimes used in the
Bible when people are literally hiding. For example, when King Saul tells his
son Jonathan that he plans to kill David (Jonathan’s friend), Jonathan warns
David, “Tomorrow morning…you must find a hiding [seter] place out in the fields.”
Psalm 91, therefore, begins by envisioning God as a hiding place, a place of
safety and security, a place hidden from danger and harm.

Life is filled with challenges and dangers, with failures and tragedies. We
who live this life in relationship with God are not immune to suffering. I
think, for example, of friends who have recently lost loved ones. They are
grieving even in the midst of their gladness for what their friends and family
members now experience with the Lord. Yet my friends are able to take their
grief to God, to share it with him in the safety of his presence. They find
reassurance, not only in the fact of God’s protection, but also in the reality
of his comfort and love. In him they find rest for their souls. They are,
indeed, hiding in God.

QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER REFLECTION: Have there been times in
your life when you have hidden in God? When? How did it feel? What helps you to
find shelter in God’s presence? What makes it hard to believe that God is a
hiding place for you?

PRAYER: Gracious God, how I thank you for being my hiding
place, my place of safety and security. In you I find rest, even in the midst of
life’s turmoils and troubles.

Yet, sometimes I fail to hide in you, Lord, preferring to put confidence in
my own strength and cleverness. Inevitably, though, I experience my own
inadequacy. Forgive me, Lord, when I try to make it through life on my own.

Help me to turn to you in all times and situations, especially when I feel
threatened or sorrowful.

Help me to trust you more, to experience your safety and comfort.

Today, Lord, I want to pray especially for those who need your shelter. So
hear my prayers for…

All praise be to you, Most High God, my shelter, my hiding place.
Amen.

http://www.thehighcalling.org/reflection/hiding-god-2