Week 20:-: Signposts – The ultimate goal of servant leadership.

Objective:

• Get leaders to review their ultimate mission.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

It is easy to get so involved in the daily activities of empowering others, accomplishing goals and celebrating success that a leader forgets the most important reason why they are here on Earth. Nothing we build here on earth is going to last forever. Your most important function as a servant leader, is to serve as a signpost, pointing people to the light of the world, Jesus. Do not get me wrong, a Servant Leader is called to the highest level of service and integrity. You are called to:

• Work as unto God not unto men. The direct implication is you should see God as your true boss in whatever role you serve in. Seeing God as your boss who put any things in perspective and help steer you off any compromising path.
• Not work as men pleasers. One who seeks to work just to be recognized by men will be limited by how far they can go to ensure that the highest quality of work is done as their main driver is extrinsic in nature. If your goal however is to be pleasing to God (whom you do not physically see), this is a powerful motivation to produce the highest levels of service.
• Work diligently like an ant (Proverbs 6:6). The writer of the book of proverbs instructs those that desire wisdom to learn from the ant who diligently prepares for bad weather.

These are just a few of the many directions the bible gives regarding how work should be approached. A lazy leader has no business with servant leadership. Work well done honors God. It is through our dedicated service that we can change the world to make it a much better place than when we found it. What one thing can you do to leave this world in a much better shape than when you found it?Remember it is not about you, put God first and help point others to Him as you live your call as a Servant Leader. That is our ultimate mission, this is the big picture.

God has given you His gifts including special skill sets, talents and placed you in a particular family, city and nation for the specific reason of showing His excellence and making Him known. Your skills complement those of other leaders like different parts of the same body. The end goal is not just to achieve good results and to effectively empower people. It is all about serving as a faithful signpost, pointing others to the saving grace of God. Jesus did not only call and share the mission with His disciples, He empowered and sent them with the specific goal of making disciples of Jesus. Once the disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit, they did a lot of things and experienced a lot of supernatural miracles, but their ultimate goal was to take all these signs and point to them as proof of the veracity of their message. If we miss the big picture, our leadership will still accomplish a lot of good for people, but we will miss up on our raison d'être!

Assignment 20

  

1. Does your work and leadership reflect the highest standard of excellence?
2. Do you challenge those in your sphere of influence to give the best of themselves and to serve as unto God and not man?
3. How can you become a more effective signpost pointing people to the light of the world, Jesus?
4. Write down how this week’s lesson has challenged you.
5. Write a brief summary of what you learned this week and explain why it is important for all leaders. Post on your blog and share the link in your group.