Humble ambition

Yes, the title is a bit of an oxymoron from a human perspective, but Jesus himself tells us to seek this out. In today's quiet time passage (Mark 9:30-41) Jesus is teaching His disciples that, ambition for power and authority should be replaced for a passion for humble servant-hood. That is where true leadership lives.

Are leaders born or made?

Is leadership a gift or a learned characteristic? 

I think it's a combination of both. 

I wouldn't consider myself a natural-born leader, but I enjoy learning and studying the idea of leadership. I can lead just fine, in English in the USA, in my comfort zone. In Chile, leadership is more difficult, I am learning it all over again, in a new language, a new culture, and fighting feelings of anxiety that I have never felt before in my life. I know that out of our missionary staff, I'm the new guy, and that's okay, because I didn't come to be the leader, we came to serve. And if 17 years of ministry has taught me anything, it is that: wherever you are, you can serve. In any role or position, if you're at the bottom of the chain of command, you serve, if you're in the middle, you still serve. But our world teaches us that the higher you climb on the chain, the more money you make, the more important you are, the more people you are in charge of, the more popular you are, the more you feel important, the more you will be served by others...

It's normal and natural to want to lead, to work closer to your leader. The view looks better up there and the communication is more accessible. It's also normal to try to figure out where you stand in the chain of command; who's next, who's next in line to lead. 

The disciples were distracted by this very concept. They were curious about their individual position and importance in the group. Jesus had just predicted his own death and they were confused by that, but they decided that they needed to figure out who will be the next leader of the cause. Who's the Vice-Jesus, who's the next leader? Who's the next alpha male? They needed to figure out the chain of command and make it clear who would take over when Jesus dies. Who inherits the kingdom. Who will be next in line to sit on the throne. But they weren't just curious, they were fighting, arguing...

Mark 9:33-35 NLT After they arrived at Capernaum and settled in a house, Jesus asked his disciples,“What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said,“Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.”

In this passage, Jesus teaches us that the value of a leader is not in his capacity to manage people or wield power and authority, it is not in his natural-born personality or in their measure of personal ambition for greatness. Jesus flips the script on leadership from everything they had seen modeled to them from their authorities in the church and from Rome. What exactly was Jesus teaching about the new nature of leadership?

• the value of a leader is in his capacity to serve others. 

• the value of a leader is in his capacity to put others first. 

In fact,

Anyone can lead because anyone can serve.

I originally posted about this awhile back. Go to post.

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Bonus: As I have recently been progressing in my Spanish language learning. I documented my first Bible Study (100% in Spanish) on this very subject that I shared with a College and Career group at our local church. Here is that video...