Christ-like Leadership
Thanks for your response from our previous blog, “Work/Life (Re)Balance”! This week, we’ll address another question that was asked many different ways in response to our Chaplain survey. Here’s this week’s question:
"I’ve been trying to connect Sunday morning (my faith) to Monday morning (my work/life). I want to reflect Christ in how I lead others, both at work and at home. What does a Christ-like leader look like?"
What a great thought for this week! We just finished our 2022 Chaplain reports and the topic, Desire for Spiritual Growth was one of the top reasons why folks reached out to their Simmons Chaplain last year. I think many folks are in a season where they are wanting to walk deeper in their faith and, as you mentioned, better connect their faith to all areas of their life, including their work.
I spent some time this week thinking through your question, “What does a Christ-like leader look like?” There’s two areas of Christ’s leadership that I want to focus on this week that we typically see as dichotomies, but I believe as we look at the way Christ led, he proved they are more equally balanced than we may think.
Jesus served others with humility and courage.
Jesus communicated with grace and truth.
Jesus served others with humility and courage.
“I’ve been trying lately to connect Sunday morning (my faith) to Monday morning (my work)! I want to reflect Christ in how I lead others, both at work and at home. What does a Christ-like leader look like?”
Immediately after reading your question, my mind thought of a painting I picked up at a thrift store nearly twenty years ago. It’s a beautiful painting of Jesus kneeling to wash Peter’s feet. This story can be found in the Book of John, and it gives an amazing snapshot of Christ-like leadership.
John 13 depicts the story of “Jesus Washing the Disciples Feet”. In that 1st century culture, it was customary when you had guests over, someone (typically a servant) would wash their feet of the guests as they would have been dirty from their travels. If there was no one available, whoever was considered “lowest” in class or in stature would assume the role and would wash their feet. This would be strange today, but in that culture, it was as normal as shaking your guest’s hand or offering something to drink as they entered your home.
So picture this, Jesus gathers His disciples who have followed him for nearly three years at this point. They make small talk for a bit, and then start looking around because apparently no one has offered to wash their feet. Guess where their minds go…
”Which one of you is going to wash my feet?”
Right? That’s a normal human response. Or this…
“One of us is lowest on the totem pole, and it’s not me…so…(looking at you)”
If you or I were in that room (let’s be honest), we’re probably looking around at the others to determine who is gonna grab the towel and wash our feet. Possibly (but definitely) thinking something like…
It’s gotta be Thaddeus. He didn’t write a book in the Bible. Most people don’t even remember his name. “Grab a towel young Thad! Get to scrubbin’!!’”
It’s funny because it’s true! Their culture may be different then, but this mindset isn’t much different than ours today, is it?
What happens next is amazing. Scripture says this…
“The evening meal was in progress…Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so He got up from the meal and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.”
Don’t gloss over this. “All things were under His power.” That is a huge statement! How many of you have had the experience of walking into a room, and you know you have the most power or authority in the room? Jesus has that, just on a whole other level. Let’s look at this in two contexts.
First, from an eternal perspective, this is the Savior of the world. The Messiah. The One who spoke the universe into existence. The One at whose Name every knee will bow and every tongue confess…bending His knee to wash the feet of these men. Secondly, these men looked to Jesus as Teacher. They called themselves His followers. He had the authority in every room he was in. Can you imagine being one of the disciples in this moment? Peter puts up a fight. Wouldn’t you? How would you respond to Jesus bending down to wash your feet? It’s a humbling thought both ways isn’t it.
Jesus modeled what it looks like to lead with humility. Not out of status, but of service to those He was called to lead. We (me too) often get humility wrong. The best way I’ve heard it described is “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but rather thinking of yourself less.” (John Maxwell) Of all of the men in that room, Jesus was probably the only person that they knew was not going to wash their feet. It was below Him - His status, His authority. And yet, it’s Jesus who puts on the towel and fills the basin with water, and kneels down and unties their sandals and begins to serve each of them.
Jesus also led with courage. He had the ultimate authority in the room, and chose to leverage it to serve. That takes some guts. He knew who He was, and chose to use his position and authority to model what courageous leadership looks like. Christ was willing to take a risk in order that those he was leading knew that he genuinely cared about them.
How often I struggle with both of these! Maybe you can relate? I have reminders like this lined up under my computer at the office. This particular one pictured to the right has been there for over a decade now. It applies now as much as it did back then.
You will reflect Christ more and more in your leadership when you lead with humility and courage. What would it look like in your areas of leadership to lead in this way? What kind of impact would that have if, in your leadership and authority, you leveraged both to serve and lift others up? I promise you it would have both an impact in this life - and possibly the next.
“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
2. Jesus communicated with grace and truth.
This is another dichotomy that Scripture talks alot about and we find a great deal of harmony between the two when we look closer at Christ. Many believe it is either-grace-or-truth when it comes to leadership, relationships, parenting, etc. Christ showed us that it is a Both/And…grace AND truth. It wasn’t a 50-50% split - Scripture is clear - Jesus taught and showed us to live in 100% grace and 100% truth.
Grace is so evident in the life and ministry of Christ. Scripture talks often about it:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28)
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
In that same grace, as Jesus spoke to His disciples and followers, he loved them so much that he was willing to tell them the truth.
There’s a great story in John 8:1-11. Jesus is teaching to a group when a woman caught in adultery was brought to Him by a group of religious leaders and Pharisees who were constantly looking for ways to trap Him into breaking the law. The law at the time stated that the penalty for this was death by stoning. Here’s what grace and truth look like:
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When the Pharisees kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Grace and Truth. John 1:17 (NIV) says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
What does grace and truth look like as a leader?
My experience is that we are naturally geared towards one or the other. For some, grace comes easy and it’s hard for us to hold others accountable or to engage in anything that might be considered conflict. For others, truth comes easy and it’s hard for us to have compassion or empathy for others in difficult situations, failure, or disappointments.
For me, I’ve got a natural inclination towards grace. It has taken a lot of work to get better at truth. It’s less about a struggle with integrity and more about leaning into truth when it might lead to conflict. Remember the story of the Emperor with No Clothes? Do I care enough about you, to lean in and tell you the truth when it might be hard to hear? Am I willing to say what needs to be said, what is truthful and helpful, even when it might cost me (comfort, risk, embarrassment, or more)?
Leading with Christ-like grace might be most evident in how you deal with failure. When someone on your team or maybe one of your kids makes a mistake, how do you handle it? Do you seek to understand first in an attempt to get the whole picture before jumping to conclusions? Do you fly off the handle and let your emotions or embarrassment take over?
On the other hand, leading with Christ-like truth has a lot to do with how much you genuinely care for, or love, the person on the other side. Let’s be honest, these kinds of conversations aren’t pleasant! That is why we avoid them. Here is why grace AND truth must co-exist. I cannot say that I love you…AND know that the bridge is out ahead of you…AND say nothing.
Real Life Grace & Truth
I’ve seen this modeled well by a few leaders I get to walk closely with at Simmons. There have been a few times where I have been on the receiving end of this. It’s not always fun, but I’ve never felt more supported.
I witnessed grace and truth modeled in leadership during a meeting I was a part of a few weeks back. Here’s how it went down:
The leader of the group had asked for an update on a project that had been ongoing and didn’t seem to be getting much traction.
As this team member finished his response, the leader paused for a few seconds, genuinely smiled and said, “Hey, you know I love ya, right?”
The team member smiled back, looked down briefly and then looked up at the leader. “There’s no doubt about it,” he responded. I believed it.
The leader said, “Good. I love ya…AND…We’ve gone around and around this issue for a few weeks. You said it would be another month before we have an answer, and that’s not acceptable. Now, I’ve got your back, but we need a solution by Friday, not February.”
By the next team meeting, they had crossed the finish line and now they were rolling.
That wasn’t the first time I’ve heard this leader lead with grace and truth. I have a ton of respect for him - and so does his team. I’ve learned from him that it is always “I love ya AND” not “I love ya, BUT”. “But” is a word we use when we are about to unwind whatever we said before the comma. EVERYTHING COMMUNITCATES. “I love ya AND” tells the other person that out of a love (care, genuine mutual concern, etc) I want to tell you something (for your benefit, growth, etc).
When you think about leading at home, the same principle applies. What would grace and truth look like in your home? In your relationships? Is there someone in your life, that through behaviors, addictions, etc., their life is heading down a path where the bridge is out at the end? Those are really hard conversations to have, and if that is you today, I would encourage you to reach out to your Chaplain and process things with them this week. They can walk alongside you through this and even offer resources that might be helpful for you and your loved one.
Knowing the bridge is out ahead and doing nothing isn’t grace or truth. And it’s not love.
The responses to the Chaplain survey were anonymous, so I don’t know who asked this question, but thank you! What a great question for this week! I hope that the way I live, lead and love reflects Christ more and more. I hope what I wrote, you see lived out! May the same be true for you! As we’re on a journey together to figure out how to continue to make the connections between Sunday morning and Monday morning (and the rest of the week), let these examples of Christ-like Leadership be a model for us as we continue to lead in the areas and with the people God has intentionally placed us with.
A couple thoughts to ponder this week:
When you think about Christ-like leadership, which of these qualities (humility, courage, grace & truth) are you closest to living out authentically today? Which one would you say you struggle with the most?
Who do you know in your life that you would say is a Christ-like leader? What would it look like to buy him/her a cup of coffee in the next week and ask for advice?
“Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.”
Nick Braschler | Director of Simmons Cares | nick.braschler@simfoods.com