Shepherd Leadership -MONDAY

If we were to compare Jesus' leadership at the time to those leaders that we exalt as great leaders presently or in history, how would He measure up?  Now keep in mind I said "Jesus' leadership at the time" as the measurement, and not what has been produced from it since then.  This means you cannot look at the reports that showed in 2010 that 2.2 billion people identified themselves as Christians.  That number is more than likely about being affiliated in name only with Christ, rather than being truly committed to Him as Christians.  There is a big difference.  It is called being redeemed or not.  However, even if it is less than the numbers reported, it is still magnificent and it is apparent that Jesus knew what He was doing with His leadership and what would result from it.  Back to the question:  Would we have thought His a successful leadership form if we watched Him and followed Him around in His day?  If we saw Him and heard Him, wouldn't most of us want to reshape His mission as our leader to be an earthly king and overcome our enemy, for that is what the people of Israel wanted?  As a Pharisee or Zealot or simply as a defiant Israelite at the time, did they not see what He did as ineffective leadership, for it was too gentle, or too kind, too heavenly, too free, and even appeared to them as somewhat passive?  If we use a worldview, we can understand their reluctance.  Consider:

Most followers scatter when a key leader is removed.  If a leader's influence and power is removed, the followers will scatter.  The Romans knew this.  Based on their experience, they would think Jesus' leadership would be limited by His presence, and like all other radical leaders would fade away when He was removed?  After all He was crucified and His followers scattered, and that part was right.  He was silenced? "He was killed, and His leadership was killed along with His body," they thought.  It stands to reason that if this happened to any leader in the world, we would see his or her work as a leader to be a failure.  But not Jesus, for we know from the results that His leadership continued to have influence and the disciples continued to follow Him and lead like He taught them, for that is what a disciple does.  Jesus' form of leadership was different, but it was right.  His mission was different and it will always be counter-culture if we lead like Him.  His method was different for He didn't have the ego driven idiosyncrasies of a typical leader.  I'm sure the establishment thought His leadership at the time could not accomplish great results.  But we now know what has been produced could not have happened if He had not been a successful leader.  The results prove it.  The question is, "What can we learn from Jesus' form of leadership, and as Christian men allow it to influence us in how to lead."  This week I want to dive into that question and see if we can take into our own life some of His principles for leadership.  I believe it will produce great abundance for those of us who lead like Him, for he gave us a model to work with that worked for Him.  We will begin looking at those unique characteristics tomorrow.