And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in Him and in Moses His servant. —Exodus 14:31
One of our core principles is servant leadership. As we consider the call of a servant leader we must acknowledge something different about how and why we lead. The behaviour, motivation, and character of a Servant Leader is quite different from every other leadership role. We as servant leaders are both individually and collectively accountable to God. That accountability to God defines the how, why and where we lead. If we are, as we say, a ministry – our primary order of business as a leader is to lean everything we do, everything we think, everything we decide, toward God. We are to be diligent in seeking God’s counsel, wisdom and discernment. That’s so much more than simply praying for God’s blessing on what we’re going to do anyway. It means we must be in His presence, in prayer, seeking the wise counsel of other servant leaders and submitting the work of our hands as our ‘acceptable act of worship’ (Rom 12:2). A true servant leader can only lead out of a deep and intimate relationship with God.
The idea of ‘ministry’ for a servant leader is not an airy fairy – abstract quantity – it is not something we ‘do’, but someone we are. “Ministry” becomes a definitive quality that is seen and experienced, not simply a label.
As Servant Leaders we must chose to conduct ourselves in a manner that the people we lead are pointed toward God as first source. Subsequently, they can put their trust in us, as servants of God.
This is not an easy task with easy answers. It’s not a copping out in confronting difficult realities. Servant Leadership is the most difficult and challenging of all leadership models because it begins with an ongoing death. A death to self and the personal desires of power, control and honour. We only need to look to the leadership challenges that Moses confronted. How many times have we read: the people grumbled, the people rebelled, the people cried out, the people were afraid. How many times did Moses turn to God and fall with his face to the ground and cry out to God: “What am I to do with these stubborn and stiff necked people?”
A particular incident stands out. A few days into the Exodus the people are dying of thirst in the desert.
1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." (Now there’s a leadership problem: 1.2 mil people and all their animals needing water.) Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?" (The issue here is the people were questioning the fact that God was truly leading them.)
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" 4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."
God had already given them bread from heaven and yet here they were, already saying they preferred the slavery of Egypt.
5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
I see a couple of key issues here:
a) Servant Leadership isn’t easy, it is dangerous and tough. But we are to do it anyway not based on our own feelings and agenda, but on God’s truth and purpose.
b) “Moses cried out” – God answered. Moses sees God as the source of provision. Bring the problem before God – falling on our knees and crying out – it’s a part of servant leadership
c) “Walk ahead of the people” – be the visible example of servant leadership in integrity and faith
d) “Take other key leaders” with you – we don’t have to it alone. God doesn’t want us to be a lone ranger. Servant Leadership is so tough we need others to walk along with us – as encouragers.
e) “I will stand before you” – which means I must be willing to stand ‘behind God’
f) “Take the staff” – A stick that Moses had with him when God encountered him. It was
his work, -- it was a tool he was very familiar with Psalm 23 “thy rod and they staff they protect and comfort me”. It was a plain, ordinary, earthly tool of the trade. Herding sheep is tougher than it looks. The practical stick was both a stabilizer and support for tough terrain and weariness. But it was also a guiding stick, not to beat sheep, but to lightly tap to correct direction from danger to safety. But God takes that earthy and acquired tool and by His presence makes it sacred. God uses something that Moses has had in his hands for years. Now the stick was for spiritual support and weariness, and for guiding and leading a nation.
g) “Strike the rock”- God at times works an improbable solution– in Moses’ case, an unlikely place to get water. Some state that Moses essentially got lucky and hit an underground spring. I say who cares – for me the exact place of where to hit a specific rock
in a massive dessert to uncover a natural spring is every bit as miraculous.
h) And the people’s real need was met, and God used Moses and used that incident to build trust in Him with the people.
Now let’s jump ahead 40 years. The role of servant leader never ends.
1 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Sin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. (Same problem – back at the same place, but now missing a trusted friend, advisor, sister)
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! 4 Why did you bring the LORD's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!" (Comparison of the complaints – all associated with lack of comforts and luxuries – the perception that the Egypt fantasy had become more powerful than the reality. (“ya, remember when we were slaves, that was awesome”).
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell face down, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 The LORD said to Moses, 8 "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock (40 years ago God told him to ‘strike’ the rock) before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
Moses attitude is different this time. His view of the people he is leading changes. He now sees leadership as ‘his’ problem and responsibility. He has lost the vision of ‘servant leader’ He is ticked, he’s tired, he is frustrated and annoyed with the weight of leadership and although he starts well “with prayer”, he leaves that prayer time and clear answer and takes matters into his own hands – even though God told him what to do. He wasn’t fully listening. So this means that the staff became a tool of manipulation used in the name of God. Moses fell into the trap of ‘what works’ - and by doing so, Moses bypassed God – or worse, supplants him.
9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock (the Lord is not before the rock this time, Moses takes that spot ) and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
A couple of key issues from the second encounter with a similar problem:
It is interesting that although Moses misused and misrepresented God - God still moved – He met the needs of the people, but there was a heavy cost to Moses and Aaron.
How easy it is to acknowledge God then promptly forget him, to seek his direction and then take matters into our own hands.
What changes does God want to bring? What is the route of servant leadership in this situation?
We need to listen to how God wants it to be, not just what has worked before. Each issue needs to be fresh and rely on the presence and direction of God. It may require a different emphasis and approach but also needs to focus on the person and nature of God.
We must never fall into leadership as a routine that relies on our own skill, knowledge – or even past experience. We must constantly evaluate: “How is standing in front of the people?”
Prayer of St. Anselm 11 century
O Lord my God,
Teach my heart his day where and how to see you,
Where and how to find you.
You have made me and remade me,
And you have bestowed on me all the good things I possess,
And still, I do not know you.
I have not yet done that for which I was made.
Teach me to seek you,
For I cannot seek you, unless you teach me,
Or find you, unless You show Yourself to me.
Anyway I was just thinking…
Neil Cudney
One of our core principles is servant leadership. As we consider the call of a servant leader we must acknowledge something different about how and why we lead. The behaviour, motivation, and character of a Servant Leader is quite different from every other leadership role. We as servant leaders are both individually and collectively accountable to God. That accountability to God defines the how, why and where we lead. If we are, as we say, a ministry – our primary order of business as a leader is to lean everything we do, everything we think, everything we decide, toward God. We are to be diligent in seeking God’s counsel, wisdom and discernment. That’s so much more than simply praying for God’s blessing on what we’re going to do anyway. It means we must be in His presence, in prayer, seeking the wise counsel of other servant leaders and submitting the work of our hands as our ‘acceptable act of worship’ (Rom 12:2). A true servant leader can only lead out of a deep and intimate relationship with God.
The idea of ‘ministry’ for a servant leader is not an airy fairy – abstract quantity – it is not something we ‘do’, but someone we are. “Ministry” becomes a definitive quality that is seen and experienced, not simply a label.
As Servant Leaders we must chose to conduct ourselves in a manner that the people we lead are pointed toward God as first source. Subsequently, they can put their trust in us, as servants of God.
This is not an easy task with easy answers. It’s not a copping out in confronting difficult realities. Servant Leadership is the most difficult and challenging of all leadership models because it begins with an ongoing death. A death to self and the personal desires of power, control and honour. We only need to look to the leadership challenges that Moses confronted. How many times have we read: the people grumbled, the people rebelled, the people cried out, the people were afraid. How many times did Moses turn to God and fall with his face to the ground and cry out to God: “What am I to do with these stubborn and stiff necked people?”
A particular incident stands out. A few days into the Exodus the people are dying of thirst in the desert.
1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." (Now there’s a leadership problem: 1.2 mil people and all their animals needing water.) Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?" (The issue here is the people were questioning the fact that God was truly leading them.)
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" 4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."
God had already given them bread from heaven and yet here they were, already saying they preferred the slavery of Egypt.
5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
I see a couple of key issues here:
a) Servant Leadership isn’t easy, it is dangerous and tough. But we are to do it anyway not based on our own feelings and agenda, but on God’s truth and purpose.
b) “Moses cried out” – God answered. Moses sees God as the source of provision. Bring the problem before God – falling on our knees and crying out – it’s a part of servant leadership
c) “Walk ahead of the people” – be the visible example of servant leadership in integrity and faith
d) “Take other key leaders” with you – we don’t have to it alone. God doesn’t want us to be a lone ranger. Servant Leadership is so tough we need others to walk along with us – as encouragers.
e) “I will stand before you” – which means I must be willing to stand ‘behind God’
f) “Take the staff” – A stick that Moses had with him when God encountered him. It was
his work, -- it was a tool he was very familiar with Psalm 23 “thy rod and they staff they protect and comfort me”. It was a plain, ordinary, earthly tool of the trade. Herding sheep is tougher than it looks. The practical stick was both a stabilizer and support for tough terrain and weariness. But it was also a guiding stick, not to beat sheep, but to lightly tap to correct direction from danger to safety. But God takes that earthy and acquired tool and by His presence makes it sacred. God uses something that Moses has had in his hands for years. Now the stick was for spiritual support and weariness, and for guiding and leading a nation.
g) “Strike the rock”- God at times works an improbable solution– in Moses’ case, an unlikely place to get water. Some state that Moses essentially got lucky and hit an underground spring. I say who cares – for me the exact place of where to hit a specific rock
in a massive dessert to uncover a natural spring is every bit as miraculous.
h) And the people’s real need was met, and God used Moses and used that incident to build trust in Him with the people.
Now let’s jump ahead 40 years. The role of servant leader never ends.
1 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Sin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. (Same problem – back at the same place, but now missing a trusted friend, advisor, sister)
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! 4 Why did you bring the LORD's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!" (Comparison of the complaints – all associated with lack of comforts and luxuries – the perception that the Egypt fantasy had become more powerful than the reality. (“ya, remember when we were slaves, that was awesome”).
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and fell face down, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 The LORD said to Moses, 8 "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock (40 years ago God told him to ‘strike’ the rock) before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
Moses attitude is different this time. His view of the people he is leading changes. He now sees leadership as ‘his’ problem and responsibility. He has lost the vision of ‘servant leader’ He is ticked, he’s tired, he is frustrated and annoyed with the weight of leadership and although he starts well “with prayer”, he leaves that prayer time and clear answer and takes matters into his own hands – even though God told him what to do. He wasn’t fully listening. So this means that the staff became a tool of manipulation used in the name of God. Moses fell into the trap of ‘what works’ - and by doing so, Moses bypassed God – or worse, supplants him.
9 So Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock (the Lord is not before the rock this time, Moses takes that spot ) and Moses said to them, "Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
A couple of key issues from the second encounter with a similar problem:
It is interesting that although Moses misused and misrepresented God - God still moved – He met the needs of the people, but there was a heavy cost to Moses and Aaron.
How easy it is to acknowledge God then promptly forget him, to seek his direction and then take matters into our own hands.
What changes does God want to bring? What is the route of servant leadership in this situation?
We need to listen to how God wants it to be, not just what has worked before. Each issue needs to be fresh and rely on the presence and direction of God. It may require a different emphasis and approach but also needs to focus on the person and nature of God.
We must never fall into leadership as a routine that relies on our own skill, knowledge – or even past experience. We must constantly evaluate: “How is standing in front of the people?”
Prayer of St. Anselm 11 century
O Lord my God,
Teach my heart his day where and how to see you,
Where and how to find you.
You have made me and remade me,
And you have bestowed on me all the good things I possess,
And still, I do not know you.
I have not yet done that for which I was made.
Teach me to seek you,
For I cannot seek you, unless you teach me,
Or find you, unless You show Yourself to me.
Anyway I was just thinking…
Neil Cudney
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