Daily Word

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. They love the place of honour at banquets, and the seats of honour in the synagogues, and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by the people.

But as for you, do not be called Rabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ.

But the greatest of you shall be your servant."

Matthew 23:1-11

"Even though we could have asserted our authority as apostles of Christ. But we proved to

be gentle among you. As a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children, in the same way we had a fond affection for you and were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us."

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8

In the Kingdom of God there are no positions in the strict sense – only persons!

The Lord sits on His throne and rules over the entire universe with absolute power, not because of position but in the capacity of His person: He IS the Divine Majesty because of WHO HE IS, not because He was assigned to or acquired a position.

A position is something assigned or recognized and must exist for the sake of order in a world of rebellion and disintegration – there one submits to an assigned position, a human king or ruler of some kind. But this one is not so in the absolute sense.

The Church represents the Kingdom of God on earth and is to reflect and embody its reality. There one is therefore a leader only because of spiritual maturity and character, not because of assigned position. The entire teaching of the New Testament on leadership is about this.

The Jewish leaders of Jesus' time loved titles and position, but Jesus had a completely different view of leadership. He came himself to serve and give his life for others and laid down His example as a law for all leaders in the church and Paul did the same.

Apostle, prophet and overseer (Greek 'episkopos') is not a title or position, but the description of a mission and a function.

The hierarchic view of leadership, where position and titles played an increasingly important role, penetrated the Church when the spiritual life began to wane and unfortunately characterizes too many churches in our day.

But where Jesus Christ is Lord and the Holy Spirit is at work, titles and position lose their meaning and it is all about serving and giving one's life for others as Jesus did!