Looking For A Stallion...Finding A Donkey

For almost 15 years I worked in an industry where I witnessed a lot of jockeying for authority, a lot of abuses of power, and a lot of lust for recognition and importance.  A lot of self-righteous superiority and inordinate concern about who was greatest or most in charge.  And although I am describing my experience as a Petroleum Landman in the oil and gas industry, I could just as easily be describing the church.  Just as much now as I did then, do I see many people looking for stallions to ride around on when we should be looking for a donkey.

The church has lost its vision of what true leadership and authority are supposed to look like.  Authority, leadership and headship have become idols in the church because we live in a culture that idolizes power, authority, influence, and recognition.

Zechariah gives a portrait of what righteous leadership looks like according to God:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
     Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
     righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
     on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech 9:9)

Donkeys are beasts of burden.  They are used to carry heavy loads

They are docile and humble. 
They are unassuming-- they are not pretentious and arrogant, but humble and meek. 
They are secure and un-bothered by their status as servant.

They seek out people to serve, not people to follow behind them.

They are essential to get the work done, but they are often overlooked and taken for granted. 

Yet it was a donkey that Jesus rode upon when He entered Jerusalem as king (Mark 11:1-11).

The Apostles argued among themselves as to who was greatest on more than one occasion.  Luke Chapter 9 tells us that when they began to argue, Christ-- knowing what was in their heart-- took a child next to His side and said, "..for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great" (Luke 9:48).  The parallel account at Matthew 18 gives us an additional record of Christ's words, "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 18:4).

At Luke 22, we are told again that a dispute arose among the Apostles as to which of them would be considered the greatest and Jesus corrected them and said, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.' But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant." (Luke 22:25,26).  The word translated as "Benefactors" is the Greek word EUERGETAI (yoo-erg-et-eye), which was a perfunctory title of honor conferred upon someone who was considered to be doing a service, which in this case that "service" was lording authority over a group of people.  It was a title for those seeking a title.  It was a label for someone who coveted importance and recognition.  In Jesus' teaching to the Apostles, He contrasts those who seek authority, recognition, and leadership, with those who are humble and whose service is often obscure and menial. 

When Jesus tells them that "the greatest among you must become like the youngest," He is telling them that they must take the lowest rank.  The culture that Jesus was dealing with ranked authority according to age.  Elders were highly respected and their age-accumulated wisdom was highly valued and honored.  Those who were the least respected or valued and those with the least influence or power, were the youngest.

Jesus goes on at Luke 22:27, "For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves."  What Jesus does here is point out worldly assumptions and juxtaposes them against heavenly realities.  He asks them, who do they generally regard as more important, the one who is served or the one who serves?  Then He answers His own question with what is typically assumed according to our worldly reason, and then points out the incorrectness of that worldly assumption by saying, "Yet here I am, the greatest of the great, in the role of a servant and without a superficial title.  What do you make of that?"

When we read of Jesus' life, we read nothing of worldly glory or honor, we read nothing of bravado, machismo, or swagger.  When we read Isaiah's prophecy of the Heavenly King that would come to earth, we read words and phrases like:  no stately form or majesty, despised, forsaken, man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, no esteem, stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, chastened, scourged, oppressed, slaughtered, cut off, anguish, poured out unto death, bearing the sin of many (Isaiah 53:1-12).  This is the picture we are given of authority and leadership in God's kingdom.

Likewise, when we read of Jesus' birth, we read nothing of what the world would consider a grand entrance or dignified procession.  Instead of blaring a royal trumpet, the angel simply says of the Savior of the world, "You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feed trough." (Luke 2:12).  According to heaven, the throne of God looks like a manger.  Do you get what I'm saying here?  The throne that God placed His Son upon was  a wooden trough used to feed animals. 

The embodiment of the glory of heaven and earth, the ultimate in authority and leadership was enthroned in a barn and His reign announced upon the back of a donkey.  Yet, in the church, we far too often emulate the Apostles and their concern about who should be in charge or who should be over whom more than we emulate Christ and His willingness to get on His knees and clean some nasty feet.  Far too often we seek to be greater than our Master (John 13:16).  Far too often we seek a stallion to ride around upon, when we should be looking for a donkey.

If you had asked any of those men that I once worked with in the oil and gas industry if they were humble, every single one of them would have told you, "Yes."  That type of self-deception and self-righteousness is the reality of our wretched condition.  The church is eat up with it.  In the church, we've coined the term "servant leader", but that term isn't given to us in scripture.  I think that term makes us more comfortable because, like the Apostles, we don't wanna let go of our idolatry of leadership, headship, and authority.  So we attach "leadership" to "servant" to make us feel better, but Jesus just left it at servant.  And when we just leave it at servant, it more accurately describes what Jesus was trying to communicate.

"If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:14-17)

"Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at the table'? Won't he rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" (Luke 17:7-10)

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to cling to, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place, and gave Him the Name above all names, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil 2:3-11)

"Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matt 11:29)