Episode 962: What Is True Leadership

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 962 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] Sean Adhami: My name is Seun Adhami. I'm a Christian financial advisor. I'm the host of the dollar savvy podcast, and I challenge you to invest in yourself. Invest in others, develop your influence, impact the world by using your time, your talents and your treasures to live out your calling.

[00:00:27] Find your path to financial. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to my friend, Scott Mader, the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:42] Scott Maderer: We all recognize it. And we began to get cynical about it and we began to push back against it. And the change number one is harder. Number two takes longer. And number three, doesn't actually last. But when we recognize that the leader truly does have our best [00:01:00] interests at heart. Then we begin to recognize that change and resonate with it, and it becomes easier.

[00:01:07] It moves quicker. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:39] And today's spiritual foundation episode about investing in others. I talk with you about Matthew chapter 20 verses 25 through 28. I also share what it means to serve first. And I talk with you about how service first creates change. Let's talk about [00:02:00] Matthew chapter 20 verses 25 through 28 in this conversation.

[00:02:05] There's a conversation going on. Between Jesus and the mother of two of his disciples. And in this section it says, but Jesus called to him and said, this is one of the disciples. You know, that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and their great ones, exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be yourself.

[00:02:35] Even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many notice, a couple of things in this, and we're going to break down this passage as we talk about what it means to serve first, first off, Jesus didn't yell at them or correct them for wanting to be first or wanting to have greatness or wanting to be leaders.

[00:02:57] In fact, this desire to achieve, to [00:03:00] do well to Excel is natural. It's a God given desire. And I think Jesus recognized that, but Jesus then says the road to greatness is through servanthood and look at these statements. The first thing that Jesus points out is that great servants and great leaders. Don't try to control others.

[00:03:24] You know that the rulers in this world, Lord it over there. You know that others Lord over them, this idea of lording over others, having a desire to control others through guilt or fear or shame or just power is not the kind of leadership that's being called out next. Jesus says great servants and great leaders.

[00:03:49] Don't misuse their influence. He says, you know, that the officials flaunt their authority over those under them, that somebody who's put into a position of power [00:04:00] and then uses that stature and that power and that official title to take control of others. Is it really leading? And then he turns things on their head and says that great leaders.

[00:04:15] Differently, but among you, it will be different because great leaders want to influence. Whoever wants to be a leader among you. Again, pointing out it's not wrong to want leadership. It's not want wrong to desire to be great. It's wrong to do it in the wrong way. And then he says, whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.

[00:04:43] They must put themselves second. They must put others first and God, even before those, the great servant is somebody who is willing to have the attitude of servant to others. [00:05:00] It's not necessarily a term of dishonor, either recognize it. It's a term. That means somebody who serves others who takes care of others.

[00:05:11] It's a noble sacrifice that we're talking about here. And then it says that great servants and great leaders see themselves even as slaves. The first among you must be your slave here. An even lower title, a lower word is used somebody who is owned by someone else, someone who does not even belong to themselves, but belongs to their master is the role you must take.

[00:05:40] And I think Jesus is pointing out here that we have a master to in God, in Christ that we must serve and we must be willing to do anything and sacrifice any. For that master, we have the humble position of being a slave to cry. And in fact, if you [00:06:00] think about it, this is giving us an example of how to have leadership, because it means we must serve first.

[00:06:10] We must always look to others first. We must think about what it is that others need before we think about what we need. Godly servants we'll have that kind of, cause that kind of servanthood, that kind of mentality because service first creates true and lasting change. People are cynical about people in leadership.

[00:06:42] I have that feeling myself at times. There are times that I see leaders making decisions and I recognize that the decisions are made out of selfless. And then there are other times where I see leaders making decisions. And I believe that the leader is making that [00:07:00] decision from a selfish mentality from a me first mentality, not from an others first mentality.

[00:07:09] And when that happens, We all recognize it. And we began to get cynical about it and we began to push back against it. And the change number one is harder. Number two takes longer. And number three, doesn't actually last. But when we recognize that the leader truly does have our best interest at heart, then we begin to recognize that change and resonate with it.

[00:07:34] And it becomes easier. It moves quick. And it actually ends up lasting longer. So if you want to have true leadership, if you want to be a true leader, you have to take it from the attitude of being a servant and being a slave to others. Thanks for letting.[00:08:00]

[00:08:01] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor. Go over to facebook.com/inspire.

[00:08:25] Stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world.[00:09:00]