I’m always a little skeptical of broad, sweeping statements, but I’m just going to put this out there: our world has an authority problem. As the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer report puts it, there’s “an urgent desire for change.” But maybe the bad news could also be a little bit encouraging – the problem and the solution are nothing new.
Let’s go back to 1st century Jerusalem. Some of you will remember the story. Two brothers, both disciples of Jesus, had asked for places of honor in Jesus’ kingdom. In fact, they asked to sit at his right and left hand, which in the Ancient Near East were the highest places of honor. The kings of the ANE had long claimed to be gods and usually ruled in a way that displayed their power. The Romans weren’t any better.
So here’s Jesus, and He’s like, “Dudes, you don’t even know what you’re asking. Can you do what I’m here to do? Because it involves me dying for you, because my kingdom’s the opposite of what you’re thinking it is.”
And then He says, as Mark 10:45 captures,
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. Mark 10:45, NIV
Whoah. He just called himself a servant. And even despite the fact that Jewish law made provision for treating slaves humanely, you know what everyone thought of them. And it’s not like we don’t have class warfare, right?
To make it more confusing, when Jesus identified Him this way, He was identifying Himself with the suffering servant in Isaiah 53. We now have the benefit of hindsight, realizing that Isaiah was identifying the promised future Messiah, but back then it wasn’t so clear to them. Jesus was again turning their expectations upside down.
Sadly, the idea of servant leadership is still found all too rarely. No wonder we have issues with authority, because we have issues with trust. Even more sadly, even inside the church we seek secular solutions to what are spiritual issues. Surely the answer must be found in electing the right president or passing some legislation about the environment or making sure more people have a good education or whatever, right?
Those things aren’t wrong, of course. But the essence of connectorship isn’t what we do “out there,” it’s what we do “in here.” And the most powerful thing you can do in being servant leader is being…being trustworthy. Not making a promise you can’t keep. Keeping your word. Even when it hurts.
I realize that we all fail at that sometimes. But remember this:
Christmas was a promise kept. The resurrection was a promise kept. And another promise kept is that Jesus said He’d send the Holy Spirit to both comfort and counsel. And whether you’ve accepted the gift of Jesus’ sacrificial leadership on your behalf or not, remember that there’s a difference between condemnation and conviction.
Condemnation is what we face from the Accuser, the Enemy, the Father of Lies. And it’s not like sometimes he doesn’t have a point – sometimes condemnation is what we face as a result of sin. What he always leaves out, though, is the offer of grace, restored relationship.
The difference between condemnation and the conviction of the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit’s voice invites you into relationship or back into relationship. The Holy Spirit reminds you that Jesus loved you before you loved Him. The Holy Spirit says, “Come home.” It’s another promise He will keep.
And that’s what we do as connectors in partnership with God. You have a purpose. You are uniquely wired with a voice and a story to be a minister of reconciliation. To point people to the only person ever who was perfectly trustworthy.
As Os Guiness puts it, “God's truth requires God's art to serve God's ends.” And connectorship, if we follow Jesus’ lead to serve rather than be served, is just as radical today as it was for Jesus.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in communications, an award-winning author and speaker, and a passionately bad guitarist. ForTheHope equips on-the-go professionals with biblical principles to engage marketplace relationships with competent humility. On Twitter can follow him @RogerCourville and/or his podcast @JoinForTheHope, or get all updates by email subscription at www.forthehope.org.