The Heart of a Servant Leader

1 Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 10-11; Philippians 2 

“Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders…’How would you advise me to answer these people?’ he asked. They replied, ‘If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.’”

1 Kings 12:6, 7

“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon…I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.”

Philippians 2:19-21

The counsel given by the elders to young king Rehoboam was to serve his people in humility, and then they would in turn serve him.

Where do we find leaders with that kind of motivation?

Paul said he was sending Timothy to the Philippians because he was the only leader travelling with him who had a genuine concern for the welfare of the Church. For Paul, looking to the interests of Christ and serving with genuine concern for the welfare of the Church were synonymous. When Saul was persecuting the early Christians, Jesus confronted him on the Damascus Road and asked Saul, ‘Why are you persecuting me?’ To love and serve the Church is to love and serve the Body of Christ. There is no other way to lead in the kingdom of God.

Are we looking out for our own interests, or those of Christ and his Body - his Bride?

“Lord Jesus, I humble myself before you and ask you to renew my love for your Church and those you have called me to serve, for your glory.”