Page 39 - Empowering Missional Artists - Jim Mills.pdf
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models who exhibits this characteristic in society. Artists in our contemporary western
societies most often model ‘getting rather than giving.’ And giving is at the heart of true
servanthood.
It is interesting that Jesus Himself, made a challenging and paradoxical statement
regarding leadership in the midst of one of his public discourses in Matthew. He said simply “do
not be called leaders” (Matthew 23:10) As Phillip Greenslade points out in his book, Leadership,
Jesus’ challenge here is a “shot across the bow” (Greenslade 1984, 1) of all books which have
been written on the theme. However, Jesus, in this direct discourse on leadership, does not stop
with this statement, rather He merely opens up the theme and then adds “for one is your leader,
even Christ; and the greatest among you shall be your servant.” (Matthew 23:11) Of course, He
is referring to Himself in this passage. He is the greatest One in our midst and He is the Servant
of servants. He certainly was not challenging the validity of leadership; but rather he was
establishing a revolutionary new standard for leadership. He lived that standard and invested it
in the lives of his disciples.
Throughout history in God’s dealings with man, He has always taken a risk, in a way, when
He utilizes our own vocabulary in explaining or revealing something to us. One brief example is
when Jesus spoke to Francis of Assisi, “Go rebuild my church.” In the beginning of his service,
Francis went about literally rebuilding the physical structures. He realizes our limitations with
language, yet still He will use our own words and then teach us what those words truly mean. In
His infinite merciful capacity, He even uses the weakness of our languages to emphasize what
he means. Jesus knew that the Greek word used here for leader, was an abhorrent word, one
that the Pharisees did not even use. In this text, a more correct cultural rendering of the Greek
word in English is master. This word in the Greek meant really only one thing: one who was
above all and basically untouchable. Jesus is saying literally, true leaders are not the
