The resources of your authority

Isaiah describes a coming king, and the people who lead under Him.

Look, a righteous king is coming! And honest princes will rule under him. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched land.

Shelter… Refuge… Water… Shade. As leaders under Christ, we are called to be these things for the people entrusted to our care. Each image points to something we offer to someone else. A shelter doesn’t cover itself; it covers those under it, even as it weathers the elements. Similarly, a refuge… a place of hiding… stands in the open so someone else can find safety within it. Water gives life to those who drink it. A great rock cannot enjoy the shadow it casts; its shade is for those who need rest from the heat. That is what our authority is for.

As we find shelter in Christ, we grow to become shelter for others. What He entrusts to us becomes a resource for their good.

Where leaders get their cues

James and John asked for the seats on the right and the left. The other ten were furious, which suggests they wanted the same thing. Jesus does not scold the ambition. Instead, He relocates it.

You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you.

Jesus and His disciples lived under Roman rule. At that time, Rome represented the dominant model of power around them: hierarchical, status-conscious, and willing to use authority for control. The problem was not the structure itself; it wasn’t that people had authority. Rather, the problem with Rome as a role model was the way authority was used.

Some settle for a cheap and easy solution to this tension: they resolve that God is against human authority. But from the time God gave authority to Adam, leadership to Israel, and responsibilities to prophets, priests, and kings, through Jesus’ delegation of authority to His disciples and the Spirit’s forming of authority within the church, it is clear that God is not against human authority structures. Rather, He is against using that authority to control people instead of leveraging authority to care for them.

And here is the part that should make any of us nervous: when we were “lorded over” by others, it sets an example for what kind of leader we are going to be. The disciples had been under Rome their whole lives. So when they imagined authority, Rome was the familiar example. Most of us have our own examples in poor bosses, teachers, parents, governments, and other authority figures. Jesus makes it clear… “Not so with you.”

A leader never seeks to find shade in their own shadow

The ways we have been led can teach us what to expect from leadership… including the place, approval, status, or sense of purpose we expect it to give us.

We see this need for approval in 1 Samuel 15, where Saul, the first king of Israel, admits that he was afraid of the people and gave in to them (1 Samuel 15:24). Then he asks the prophet Samuel to honor him before the elders and before Israel (1 Samuel 15:30).

Saul had been entrusted with leadership, yet he was still concerned with securing his standing before the people.

We can bring that same need into our leadership.

When we treat our roles as the thing that establishes us, we’re reduced to needing the people we are leading to become our shelter from exposure… our refuge from the storm of criticism… the water that quenches our thirst for validation… and the great rock that takes the heat in our stead.

The people entrusted to our care become the ones we expect to carry us.

When a leader needs the people they lead to prove the leader’s worth, it becomes difficult for that leader to be a shelter for those same people. Jesus says… “Not so with you.”

Something has to die

In order for Jesus to lead us and for His leadership to extend through us, something has to die. Particularly, the ways of leading we have learned that are contrary to the grace, goodness, mercy, and generosity of Christ.

The need for the role to establish us must die. The need for the people to prove our worth must be crucified. The ways of leading we have learned to use to secure both must be laid to rest.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

Paul is describing a life joined to Christ in His death and now lived by trusting Him. The Son who leads him is the one whose love for him took the form of giving His own life. As Christ lives in us, the ways we lead come under His care and direction, too. We surrender these ways of leading as people already loved by Christ.

Our identity must come from Him. Our authority must come from Him. And so too, our leadership style must come from Him.

The one question every leader must ask

That is what the shelter is made of. Warmth, tone, and niceties are not enough.

Shelter… Refuge… Water… Shade… Amongst the people we lead, that means budget, protection, reputation, the benefit of the doubt, the meeting you can get that they cannot. Authority is a set of resources, and the question is only ever which direction we are pointing them.

Jesus does this all the time. He takes the resources of His authority and brings them into your world for your benefit. In John 13:3-15, He washes the feet of those under His authority and then calls them to extend the care they have received.

We are not the righteous king in Isaiah 32. We are princes ruling under Him, and we can spend what He entrusts to us freely because the King has already made us right without asking us to perform for it.

Let Him lead you

Remember, we saw earlier that being lorded over sets an example for what kind of leader we are going to be. The way we are led shapes the way we lead. It was true for the disciples under Rome; it is true for us under our bosses, parents, and government. And being led by Christ shapes us, too.

So let Him lead you!

Your own relationship with Jesus is where you learn to receive the care you are called to give.

Allow yourself to be governed by Christ… not simply as a rule or for morality’s sake, but as a gift to be received and shared with those He sees fit to entrust to you.

The more we receive the gift of Jesus’ leadership, the more Christ-like leadership we have to spend on others.

To those we care for, this starts to sound like:

“What do you need most?” … “How can I help?”