Leadership is the highest form of stewardship that imposes the greatest call to personal submission.Power closely relates to sin and sin feeds on self. Self awareness was the first change that happened in Adam and Eve after they ate of the tree of knowledge. It is the crux of all temptation and has been used by Satan to draw us away from God into deviant purposes. Self-knowledge is a key consideration of the tenth Commandment: “Do not covet”.
It is no coincidence that the grand prize in Satan’s temptation of Jesus, was to get Him to displace His Father’s authority and rule in His own right. That was completely against the grain for Jesus, but it reflects the soul of self-awareness: the instinct to advance ourselves. Whilst I am all in favor of self-development and self-respect, the insidious spirit of self-centeredness relates directly to original sin: the rebellion of Satan against God’s throne.
We tacitly align ourselves with that rebellion when we promote self over the kingdom, for in so doing, we effectively subvert the throne and authority of God. Indeed, whether self-awareness manifests as pride or debasement, as overt or covert behavior, it still detracts from the glory of God, diminishes the power of the kingdom and makes us an unwitting channel for Satan’s subversion of God’s purposes.
Self is a key factor of the power struggle between leaders and followers. Both parties struggle within themselves for mastery and recognition and the issues compete with the healthy attributes of leadership. Most leaders would agree that laying ourselves down to serve the greater cause, in cooperation with leaders, significantly reflects spiritual maturity. I agree and I also adopt the bible’s bias towards leaders. Even imperfect leadership is better than no leadership and taking the law into our own hands is perverse, for leadership represents the whole and the whole is always more than any one individual.
But for submission to be relevant at any level it must be relevant at all levels. Leaders must also be subject to authority and if not they have no right to require submission from their followers, for the essence of all leadership is stewardship of the mandates entrusted to us. If we lose touch with that principle and strike out on our own independent agenda, we will also place ourselves beyond the limits of God’s authority.
It is no wonder that the bible calls “Rebellion, the sin of witchcraft” (1 Samuel 15:23), for it is the heart of corruption, insurrection, conflict, wickedness, vice, malice and lawlessness.
For a leader to give full effect to their own submission, they must take deliberate steps into the context of authority. They must respect that the principle of authority is independent of the person, but dependent on God. This is not just about being accountable to other leaders: we must start with submission to God and His Word.
Now this is where the rub comes. When leaders misinterpret leadership as something sacrosanct, an imposed right of way, they miss the raison d’etre of their calling: which is all about God entrusting His Kingdom and His purposes to our frailty. Indeed, it is about a whole (the kingdom) that precedes us and will outlive us, but nonetheless extends to us (individuals) the privilege of participation.
The reason that Abel and Jacob found favor with God over their brothers, was because they brought back to God what God first entrusted to them. Their brothers tried to impress with the labors of their hands and the originality of their thinking. But Abel and Jacob feared God in the spirit of true stewardship. Abel despised sweat capital and only laid before God a lamb that was first entrusted to his shepherd heart: it was a costly part of his own heritage and the sacrifice was sensitive to the heart of God (he offered a lamb without being told that such a sacrifice would be a recurring symbol of godliness).
Abel brought to God what God wanted, but Cain brought what he wanted. Jacob, on the other hand, showed profound regard for the legacy handed down from Abel through succeeding generations, whilst his foolish brother was willing to trade that legacy for some stew (you could stew for popularity, power, position, symbols or reputation).
Our legacy, the Kingdom of God, has a six thousand year heritage established through faithful hearts, whom God sustained through enormous personal sacrifices. How dare we assume that what we have inherited is our fiefdom or an expression of our own original thinking? Moses would have raised his rod over this generation, saying “He called us only to implement the patterns shown on the mount”.
It is a fearful and noble thing to be called to steward something of such priceless value and we must needs do so with fearful, faithful hearts. Like Joshua we need to apply great attention to detail in handling the wonders of God. That implies personal discipline, submission to the Word, holy living, accountability for our conduct and respect for the pillars of divine governance: the prophetic, the priesthood and ruler-ship.
In closing, may I hint at the next chapter in this discourse. The wise leader needs to realize that when biblical principles are applied to their leadership, it will enhance their ability to lead effectively. It is incumbent on all good leaders to study divine patterns and principles in the knowledge that real authority is independent of their personality, personal power, charisma, original thinking, vision or any other humanistic concepts of leadership. Real authority relates to what we steward, not who stewards it.
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