Kingdom Culture, Part Eight
I remember my first promotion. I was called into my boss’s office, and I thought I was in trouble. But to my surprise, my supervisor smiled at me and extended his hand. “Congratulations,” he told me. “You’ve done excellent work, and we want you to be team leader.”
I was a bit shocked. I had just been doing my job. I wasn’t gunning for a promotion or competing with anyone. Still, it felt good to be appreciated. My boss then went on to tell me about my new salary and responsibilities. But I had one burning question: “Do I still need to fill out a timesheet every week?”
It sounds a bit silly now, but I’m the kind of person who goes to work, puts his head down, and just plows through. Having to track what projects I’m working on and how much time I’m spending on each one just interrupts the flow and slows me down. I hate that sort of thing. To my delight, my boss assured me timesheets would no longer be necessary.
I bring this up because, all too often, when we think of leadership, we think of the perks of the job, whether they be seven-figure salaries or not having to do the mundane aspects of a role, like filling out project memos and timesheets. We tend to think of authority and privilege, freedom even. Real leaders, we’re told, make the rules; they don’t need to follow them.
When you think about the early church and its leaders, what names come to mind? Peter perhaps? Or maybe Paul? Those are solid choices, and I think you’d be right. After all, Peter was part of Jesus’ inner circle of disciples, and his name comes first in every list of apostles in the Gospels and Acts. Paul, likewise, was kind of a big deal. He was hand-selected by Jesus to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He planted churches throughout the Roman world, perhaps reaching as far as Spain (though we can’t be sure of that). Plus, he wrote more books of the New Testament than anyone else.
But let’s look at how each of these men were commissioned. First, let’s consider Peter’s promotion ceremony:
Then they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (John 21:15–19)
Three times Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep. Then, He assured his friend that He would die as a martyr one day. It’s hardly the keys to the company car and a corner office.
Now, let’s think about Paul (also known as Saul). Here’s how God revealed Paul’s new role to Ananias, the man He chose to restore Paul’s sight after he was blinded by heaven’s light on the road to Damascus:
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15–16)
Just as it was when Jesus commissioned Peter, He called Paul to suffer for His name’s sake. Once again, I don’t see the perks and the privileges we associate with leadership roles.
Many years ago, I had a seminary professor who, after reviewing these commissioning texts, concluded that God doesn’t call anyone to leadership, at least not the way we use the word. What God does instead is call people to service—dirty hands, daily bread, and a life poured out for Him. After all, Jesus did say, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
Of course, some might say Peter and Paul are hardly ordinary leaders. Their roles in redemption history were unique, and they were commissioned in the early church when persecution was widespread. True enough. However, the New Testament describes ordinary church leadership in the humblest of terms as well. Remember what Paul wrote to the Ephesians:
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11–13)
Regardless of your personal view on the continuing ministry of apostles and prophets, one simple truth remains: God gave gifts and offices in the church for the building up of everyone else. In the kingdom, the org chart is upside-down. The people “at the top” are really on the bottom. They’ve been placed there to lift others up.
I can already hear someone saying, “Okay, fine. But that’s the church. That’s not a business with stockholders to please and a market to conquer. That’s not a non-profit ministry with budgets to meet and donors to cultivate.” You’re right. It’s not. But so what? If God turned leadership on its head to fashion a church with the power to ambush the very gates of hell (Matthew 16:18), why wouldn’t the model work in other settings?
What if—and hear me out here—God’s kingdom is supposed to spread to every corner of creation? What if Jesus is Lord not just of Sundays and steeples but every day of the week and every sphere of life?
Imagine if everyone stopped looking up as they climbed the corporate ladder and instead looked down to see who they could empower, guide, and mentor. What if managers and supervisors from the C-suite to the mailroom saw it as their job to equip others? For that matter, what if senior pastors actually lived this way too? Instead of running churches like CEOs and following the latest so-called Christian leadership trends, what if they took seriously Scripture’s priorities when it comes to their role?
Check out my latest books:
The Unlikely Intrusion of Adams Klein (The TimeFall Trilogy, Part 1)
And if you’ve missed any of the previous posts in this series, start here at the first article:
Pages of Joy // John Greco 
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