Jesus' Leadership Style

During the leadership course I asked participants to list 10 of the most important leaders the world has seen. They suggested Napoleon Bonaparte, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Genghis Kahn, Mao Tse Tung, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Braveheart and Adolf Hitler.

That is not true! Let me tell you what really happened. 11 people responded and between them listed 38 different people. All 11 named Jesus! We must be doing something right as a church! The others who got more than one nomination were: Nelson Mandela and Winston Churchill with 7 votes each, Martin Luther King Jr with 6 votes, the Apostle Paul, Billy Graham and Queen Elizabeth II with 4 nominations each. Mother Teresa got 3. The following people all got 2: C.S. Lewis, Jacinda Ardern, Julius Caesar, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

In the first list I focused on big, bold, brash, often military leaders - the heroic, powerful leader rallying the troops with a passionate and rousing speech. But look at the real list; great leaders are often those who have sought peace and justice: Jesus, Mandela, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Gandhi.

A good number are known as Christians who were living out their faith: Jesus, Paul, Martin Luther King, Billy Graham, Queen Elizabeth, Mother Teresa, C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther.

Leaders are not always the extroverted, loud, bigger-than-life people. How did Jesus lead? What was His leadership style? Jesus was the greatest leader of all time. He had very clear objectives and He was successful. He got to the end of His life and was able to say, “I’ve done it! It is finished!”. His movement continues with billions of followers. What made Jesus a great and successful leader?

One thing stands out, I think: He won people. All He had at the end of His life was a group of devoted followers. He didn’t have an organisation. He didn’t have a lot of assets. He had a group of people who were devoted to Him and to His vision. He had won people’s allegiance. How?

1. They were committed to the cause

Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God and He demonstrated the Kingdom of God and it captured people’s imaginations. We have already talked about that. Their message was the gospel of the Kingdom. Their hope was the coming of the Kingdom. They would proclaim the Kingdom and they would die for the Kingdom.

2. They were committed to the person

If they were committed to the kingdom, they were also committed to the King. How had Jesus won that sort of allegiance? How had He won the hearts of people? Did He win them through flattery? Or by promising riches? In other words, why did people, and why do people, follow Jesus?

a.     He loved them

Love? Is love a characteristic of great leaders? With many leaders it is not the first word that comes to mind, but it is the first word that comes to mind as we think of Jesus.

John 13:1b

Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

That love was apparent in numerous ways – not just for the Twelve but for so many people. He befriended the rejected. Think of Zacchaeus, or the Samaritan woman at the well, and the tax collectors and prostitutes whom everyone else despised. He healed the sick and broken. Even when He needed rest, He delayed that so as to minister to people. He touched people no one else would touch. He forgave people and wiped away their sins. Think of the woman caught in adultery. He had time for children and blessed them when others simply wanted to shoo them away. He understood the grieving and comforted them. He had time for people.

He died on the cross. No greater love has anyone than this, that he lays down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)

It is probably no surprise that we talk of Jesus’ love. But can you lead by loving? Maybe the impression is that to get things done, leaders have to be more cut-throat and hard nosed. Jesus led by loving and He won the devotion of those who knew they had been loved.

But it wasn’t just that. What did people say about Jesus?

b.     They saw God in Him

One night Nicodemus met with Jesus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee. He was a teacher. He had authority. So why did he turn to this self-proclaimed teacher from Galilee? He tells us. He said to Jesus…

John 3:2

“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Many people followed Jesus because of the miracles. We have said before that many simply wanted to witness the spectacle or perhaps receive a miracle themselves. Many followed for selfish reasons. Jesus had got their attention but He had not won their hearts. They were still self-centred. But others saw the miracles and saw the presence of God. Nicodemus recognised the significance of the miracles: Jesus was different. Jesus had come from God and God was with Him. He was a man of God.

c.      Jesus had moral authority

He could give commands to the wind and the waves and they had to obey. He could command demons to leave people. He had authority over illness. He had authority to forgive sins.

But He had another sort of authority as well. He had moral authority.

Matthew 7:28-29

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Somehow the people detected something very different about this man. He was not like their other teachers. Other teachers gave their opinions or quoted other sources. When Jesus spoke it was apparent that He was talking about things He knew and what He said had the ring of truth.

People responded because this man was worth following. God was with Him. He spoke with authority. He was clearly different. In other words, Jesus won the hearts of some because He spoke truth. And that included hard truths. Jesus did not win followers simply because He was gentle and accommodating.

Jesus was not particularly gentle with Nicodemus. He criticised him for not understanding the concept of being born again. “You are Israel’s teacher and you do not understand these things?... I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly thing?” (John 3:10, 12). And yet, later we find Nicodemus defending Jesus amongst the Pharisees and coming with Joseph of Arimathea to bury Jesus’ body.

Jesus was not always gentle with the disciples. He confronted them and questioned them, but they recognised His authority and His love. They knew He loved them.

He was very clear about the cost of following. It would not be easy. In John 6 a large crowd was following Jesus but when He challenged them, they turned back and no longer followed Him. Jesus asked the Twelve if they too wanted to leave. Peter replied, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”.

That one statement says: Jesus, You speak truth. You are from God and what You have is of supreme value – the pearl of great price. Many did not follow but some did because they recognised those things in Jesus – truth, the presence of God and the value of what He offered.

Jesus also had a moral authority because of His integrity. Even His enemies acknowledged His integrity.

Matthew 22:15-17

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

Jesus spoke the truth – the way of God – without being swayed by others. He didn’t compromise His message to suit a particular audience. As a person of integrity, He spoke only the truth.

Not caring what other people are saying also indicates courage. I spend a certain percentage of my life worrying about what people think of me and trying to present myself in the best light. That shows my lack of integrity and courage.

Some people, when they see Jesus’ courageous integrity, are going to say, “I will follow simply out of respect. This man is worthy of my life.”

3. Jesus taught, and modelled, servant leadership

There was a time when James and John asked if they could sit at Jesus’ right and left sides in His glory.

Mark 10:41-45

When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. [In other words, they were also hoping for those spots!] 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus taught a very different style of leadership. James and John (and the others) wanted prestige and honour. Jesus rebuked them. Gentile leaders use power and authority to control people, but that is not how it is in the Kingdom of God. If you want to be a leader; if you want to be truly great in God’s eyes, be a servant. Follow Jesus’ example. He came to serve and to lay down His life for others.

People followed Jesus because He loved them. They followed Him because He was a godly man. He had authority but He didn’t use that authority to control people; He used it to help people. He did not twist the truth to serve Himself; He was a man of integrity, even if that cost Him His life. It was all about other people; it was about being a servant. Yes, he had clear objectives and, yes, He achieved those objectives, but He did it by serving. That is what is surprising; He did it by serving.

The classic demonstration of servanthood was washing the disciples’ feet, and He very explicitly said that we are to follow that example.

John 13:12-17

…“Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

If we surveyed what people thought were the characteristics of a great leader, they might not come up with that list of words: loving, godly, having moral authority because of integrity and a commitment to truth, courageous, selfless, a servant. But leadership in the Kingdom is very different from leadership in the world. In Jesus – and in some other great leaders who have been people of character – we see what Kingdom leadership looks like.

Christian leadership is about vision and objectives but success comes not from having power but from having character. Some great leaders have had positions and power: Queen Elizabeth, Abraham Lincoln but their greatness did not stem from their position but from their character. Others had no lofty position or recognised power. Their authority came from the fact that they cared about people, that they were godly people of integrity who chose to serve. People followed because they were good people.

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