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The
highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity,
choosing right over wrong, ethics over convenience, and truth over
popularity.
Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for THERE IS
NEVER A WRONG TIME TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
-
Bishop Soc Villegas
25 July 2007
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The 6th Core
Value in CFCFFL
November 5, 2008
My dear brethren in Christ,
One of our 7 Core Values in CFC-FFL is
Servant Leadership. This is a value that is crucial if we are to
become the instruments that God can use for His work.
A proper understanding of Servant
Leadership becomes even more critical, given what happened to us in
the crisis of 2007 and up to now. We saw how brethren who were at the
highest levels of “servant leadership” suddenly acted in
unbrotherly and unchristian wayslying, maligning, slandering,
attacking, oppressing. What happened? And can it happen again? Yes, it
can, for we are all too human and sinful.
And so we try to look deeper into the
meaning of servant leadership.
First we see a seeming oxymoron. The
words “servant” and “leader” seem opposed. A person is either
one or the other. And so to put the two words together creates a new
reality that is somewhat of a contradiction. And indeed, this is where
the problem starts.
Being a leader means having position,
power, influence, submission from subordinates, and recognition.
Indeed, even for a servant leader, this is part of his role. These
elements are objective realities that are not per se wrong. In
fact, these are necessary for him to function well. On the other hand,
being a servant means having the lowest position, no inherent power,
submission to a higher authority, and even non-recognition of the good
one does (Lk 17:10).
What leads a servant leader astray is
when he looks to being a leader but not really to being a servant.
This is when he looks to pride rather than humility, to power rather
than powerlessness, to being first rather than being last, to being
applauded rather than anonymously doing his work. This is where he
lords it over people. This is when he becomes more concerned about how
people look up to him, rather than on how he can look to his people
and serve their needs. In other words, the focus is now on himself as
leader rather then on others as their servant.
Now Jesus is the servant leader par
excellence. And the text we often quote is the lesson he gave to
his disciples, when James and John, with their mother, tried to secure
places of honor at his right and left. Jesus told them, “You know
that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones
make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you.
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the
Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life
as a ransom for many.” (Mt 20:25-28).
Jesus gave the principle: the great
will be the servant, the first shall be the slave. Then he gave
himself as an example. He would model servant leadership. Even if he
was the Master, he came to serve rather than be served. Finally, he
said what could be the key phrase for our deeper understanding of
servanthood, and that is, Jesus would give his life as a ransom.
What do we think of when one speaks of
ransom? We think of kidnapping (Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines) or
hijacking (Somali pirates in the gulf of Aden). For them to release
their captives, whether persons or ships or goods, a ransom is
demanded. The ransom is given by someone who has an interest in the
person or thing being ransomed. The ransom paid then passes into the
total control of the kidnapper or hijacker, to do with as he wills.
Now with Jesus, this is what happened.
We were under the dominion of Satan. In a way, since our natural
environment as children of God is heaven, we were abducted. Jesus then
offered himself, suffered and died for us, paid the price, and secured
our release.
How about us? As servant leaders, we
too are to give our life as ransom. What does that mean?
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We expend ourselves
for the good of others, having the utmost concern for their
well-being, especially spiritually.
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We hold nothing
back, even our very lives.
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We give up all
human desire for power, position and influence; we look not to
human acclaim nor to protection of our reputation.
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We serve even when
those we serve do not appreciate us or might even act negatively
toward
Remember: a ransom, though having value of itself, in this particular
context has value only in relation to the person or thing being
ransomed, that is, only as it can provide relief or well-being to the
captive. A ransom becomes a mere commodity, an instrument to be used.
A ransom substitutes itself for the captive, putting itself in place
of the captive, in order to secure the latter’s release. A ransom
loses its freedom in order to secure freedom for the captive. A ransom
gives up its own “life” in order to save the captive from
“death.”
This is what Jesus did. And in Paul’s
letter to the Philippians, we see the very fact of how Jesus exercised
servant leadership.
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“Who, though he
was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the
form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in
appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even
death on a cross.” (Phil 2:6-8)
Being a ransom involves death to self, in order to give life to
another.
Servant leaders are called to expend
themselves for the sake of those they serve. And though their service
is what brings benefit to those served, what is important, for the
servant leaders’ own sake, is knowing who or what they are rather
than looking to what they do. Knowing and living out who they are
supposed to be is what will keep them on the right track. What they
are able to do then simply proceeds from who or what they are. While
their action is to lead; their identity is to be a servant.
A servant leader is not so much about
serving as a leader, but rather leading as a servant. Or put another
way, a servant leader is not so much about a leader who serves, but
rather about a servant who leads.
The call to servant leadership is a
wonderful calling. It is the very way of Jesus. It is God’s way of
caring for His people. Servant leaders are needed in order to
accomplish God’s plan for the life of the world.
Let those who are privileged to be so
called never forget that in the kingdom of God, the greatest is always
the least.. And those whom the Lord will exalt are only those who have
been humbled.
May we be worthy to be the Lord’s
servant leaders. God bless you all.
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