Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

1 Timothy 3:1-7, Matthew 20:25-28

This spring we are taking two months to reflect on a book titled Lead Like Jesus. It is co-authored by Ken Blanchard, one of our church members. In fact, Ken will be preaching a message in the middle of this series of sermons. Early in the book Ken clarifies his definition of leadership, “Leadership is the process of influence.”

By this definition we are all leaders in some arena. A mother influences her children. Our friends influence us and we influence them. When we smile at a cashier and wish her a good day, we are a positive influence. When we want to sell a product to a customer we are attempting to influence that person. We are constantly in situations where we influence others.

Leadership is much broader than those who carry official leadership titles. We don’t have to be President of the United States to be a leader. You and I are influencing people all the time. The question is how are we doing with our influence? Are we influencing others for good or bad? Do our lives influence others to build loving relationships?

Erwin McManus has a helpful insight about influence. He points out that the middle of the word influence is the word flu. Just as the flu virus is contagious and gets passed unintentionally from person to person through such ordinary means as shaking hands, so people become influential in other’s lives in simple unintentional ways. People catch our values in the midst of our ordinary activities. Let’s explore how Jesus modeled influence.

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

A group of associate pastors were standing around telling jokes about their Head of Staff Pastors. “Did you hear the one about the Head of Staff who…” Just then a Head of Staff Pastor who used to be a fellow associate pastor joined their group. The joke teller started his joke over. “Did you hear the one about the Head of Staff who…” The new arrival stopped the joke and said, “Wait a minute. I’m a Head of Staff now!” The joke teller responded, “Oh, yeah, I forgot.” He began the joke again. (slowing down very deliberately) “Did… you… hear… the… one… about…?”

Why are leaders such an easy target when it comes to jokes? I suspect it is because leaders are often perceived as those who climbed the success ladder by purposely stepping on others. Leadership in some circles has a bad name.

I hear some of our next generation saying, “I don’t want to be a leader.” Why? Leading requires too much hard work. If we become a leader others will question our motives. Some leaders use others for their own selfish for their own gain. Too many leaders are ambitious to get glory for themselves. If these are the connotations of leadership, no wonder some people do not want to be known as leaders.

Before we become critical of those who shun leadership, let’s pause to realize this struggle with tyrannical leadership is not unique to our modern world. Jesus’ words remind us that many in the ancient world struggled with these same assumptions about leaders. Jesus needed to start his teachings about leadership by countering the common attitudes toward leaders. “Leaders of the Gentiles lord it over their people… they are tyrants….” He knew that many of his listeners would think of the Roman generals and political priests when he used the word “Leader.” So he began by clarifying that when he invites us into leadership he does not expect us to be like the world’s leaders. “Not so with you!”

Jesus taught that leadership was serving rather than controlling people. He described his own calling by saying that he came “to serve not to be served.” He encourages us to care for others in such a way that they grow to trust us. We become influential not because we decided, “I’m going to influence that person.” We become influential because our lifestyles of service and love are contagious.

I’m thinking of a UPS driver named Dave. Dave’s job required him to be friendly and polite, but also to move quickly from delivery to delivery. While Dave enjoyed friendships, he did not have time at each stop to develop them. He needed to keep moving to maintain his schedule. This was no problem at most stops, but at one location in town he always ran into Ron, a gas station attendant.

Ron liked to talk. Dave would make the delivery while Ron followed him around. Ron talked while Dave was filling out his paperwork. Dave’s responses were polite, civil, but not particularly encouraging. “Um huh.” “Yeah.” Whenever he was making a delivery within a block of the gas station, Ron would come seek him out to talk. Ron kept talking all the way up until Dave was actually pressing on the gas to depart. “See you next time,” Ron would call as Dave drove away.

This continued over several months, then one day Ron handed Dave an invitation attend to his upcoming wedding. Dave gave one of those polite, non-committal replies, “I’ll check my calendar.” For the next few weeks Dave began to dread deliveries in that part of town, knowing that every time he was within a half block, Ron would seek him out and ask if he would be attending the wedding. Dave needed a good excuse not to go. Then the excuse came. Dave’s church was holding a weekend leadership seminar. Dave, as a leader in his local church now had the perfect excuse.

Dave was ready that day when Ron approached. “Are you coming to my wedding?” Then something happened. The Holy Spirit nudged Dave and he found himself answering in the affirmative, that he would be there.

The day of the wedding, Dave realized he had no gift for the newly weds, so he decided to take his video camera and give them a video copy of their wedding as his gift. He arrived at the church and was seated on the groom’s side of the aisle. The bride’s side filled up with guests, but not the groom’s side. Pretty soon the bride was coming down the aisle, and then the vows. When the wedding service ended he was packing up his equipment to leave, when Ron checked in to be sure Dave was coming to the reception. Two more hours with people he did not know and would never see again? He was ready to decline, when again he felt the urging of the Holy Spirit.

Dave took his video camera to the reception and wandered around the room filming the toasts and dedications. Then the groom stood to give his toast. Dave zoomed the camera in on Ron to catch this moment. Ron explained to the guests that he was so happy to be marrying the love of his life. Then he looked directly into Dave’s camera and said, “I want to take this moment to thank my best friend for being a part of this wedding.” He pointed to Dave and said, “I’d like you to meet my best friend, Dave.”

Think about the irony of that moment. Dave skipped a leadership seminar at his church, but he was actually practicing the power of influence. Through ordinary friendship moments he had become influential in Ron’s life.

We are all contagious. We are carrying either good viral agents of joy and friendship, nurture and love, or bad agents of distrust, arrogance, and fear. We are infecting people all around us without knowing it. Jesus modeled leadership by being contagious with God’s love.

I love the introduction to the book Lead Like Jesus with a word from Ken Blanchard. Ken comments that when he became a follower of Jesus, his phrase is “suited up for the Lord’s team,” he read the gospels to learn more about Jesus as a leader. He was intrigued to discover that the business leadership materials he had been teaching over the years were actually embodied in the life of Jesus. The most recent management research was simply confirming the very things Jesus had done two thousand years ago. We have the latest studies on successful leadership and influence, only to discover it is all personified in Jesus.

I am reminded of that moment several years ago when Ken Blanchard was asked to give a leadership talk to a group of pastors at Willow Creek church near Chicago. Ken’s presentation immediately followed a very controversial interview of the current President, Bill Clinton, by the head pastor, Bill Hybels. It was just months after President Clinton had been publicly embarrassed regarding his moral failures. Pastor Hybels asked President Clinton how he responded when people expressed their doubts that carrying his Bible to church each week was merely a show. The President responded that if it was a show he had been doing it consistently for forty years. Then Pastor Hybels reflected on the fact that Bill Clinton had wanted to be President since childhood. Since this was a pastor’s conference on leadership, what were the President’s models for leadership. President Clinton responded that his models of leadership included Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Kennedys of Massachusetts. There was a great deal of tension in the air as conservative pastors reflected in their body language that they did not think this interview with a morally failed President was appropriate for a clergy conference. No sooner had the President left than Ken was brought to the platform. Ken took the podium and commented to the pastors. “We just heard the President tell us that his leadership models included Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Kennedys of Massachusetts. Why didn’t President Clinton include Jesus of Nazareth as one of his models of leadership?”

The pastors’ faces lit up as they expected Ken to proceed to bash the President for his moral failures. Then Ken nailed them. “The President grew up in church. He is a sharp person. If anyone had held up Jesus as a leadership model he would have picked up on it. What have you pastors been doing?” His talk that day challenged the pastors on their failure to hold up the leadership model of Jesus for their people. Then he finished his speech with these ringing words. “How would the presidency of William Jefferson Clinton have been different if his number one leadership role model had been Jesus of Nazareth instead of Kennedy of Massachusetts?”

Let me finish with our definition of leadership. “Leadership is the process of influence.” You don’t have to be a president of the United States to be a person who influences others. We all have our realm of influence. The question then is this: In our realm of influence, would we let Jesus be our role model?