The Servant

As competitive people, we always want to be the best.  We always want to be better - at least better than the people around us.  It's a good thing, but may get out of hand from time to time.

A man named Jim Collins did a study a few years ago about what makes a great company.  He specifically was wondering how companies that are good move to being great.  Therefore he wrote a book with that title.

There seemed to be qualities and behaviors of the leaders that made them different, and he categorized leaders into five different levels.  Most of the descriptions made sense, but the top leadership - Level Five Leaders - were different from the other four leaders.  Level five leaders had a quality that was rarely found in leaders, and in general it was rarely found in people at all.  Jim Collins was surprised to find that beyond the determination, working hard, good communication, creative thinking, and other leadership qualities, the quality that can make a leader great is humility.

Jesus sometimes taught this concept.  "The greatest among you will be your servant." Matthew 23:11  But more than that, he lived it.

In Matthew chapter twelve, Jesus is described as a a servant, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy from 800 years earlier.  Jesus was a leader who was gentle with the weak (not breaking a bruised reed or snuffing out a smoldering wick) with God's Spirit on him, and people would put their hope in him.  This was the first

Isaiah 42:1-4
 ¹ “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, 
   my chosen one in whom I delight; 
I will put my Spirit on him, 
   and he will bring justice to the nations. 
² He will not shout or cry out, 
   or raise his voice in the streets. 
³ A bruised reed he will not break, 
   and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. 
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; 
 ⁴ he will not falter or be discouraged 
till he establishes justice on earth. 
   In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”


This was the first of a few songs in Isaiah know as the Suffering Servant Songs.  They were descriptions of the coming Messiah, the one who was going to make everything right again.  The servant would also display God's splendor in Isaiah 49, would not be disgraced even though people beat and mock him in Isaiah 50, would lighten the nations with his justice in Isaiah 51, and would be pierced for our transgressions in Isaiah 53.  Jesus was a great leader, and his leadership was marked with humility.  It was nice that Jim Collins reminded us of this - and nice that the Spirit is reminding us of this every day.