But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave…
Matthew 20:25-27
Commenting on Matthew 20:25-27, D.A. Carson writes:
…Christian leadership is profoundly self-denying for the sake of others, like Christ’s ultimate example of self-denial for the sake of others. So the church must not elevate people to places of leadership who have many of the gifts necessary to high office, but who lack this one. To lead or teach, for example, you must have the gift of leadership or teaching (Rom. 12:6-8). But you must also be profoundly committed to principled self-denial for the sake of brothers and sisters in Christ, or you are disqualified.
Now this would take courage—and great faith—for a search committee or elder board to pronounce a gifted leader or teacher “disqualified” for high office if the candidate lacked obvious “principled self-denial for the sake of brothers and sisters in Christ.” But for the sake of the church, this is the verdict that must be pronounced when this virtue is absent.
How do you measure “principled self-denial” in a leader or teacher who you are considering for high office in the church? What are you doing to cultivate this virtue in your own life?
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Imagine a life where you don’t feel inadequate, easily offended, desperate to prove yourself, or endlessly preoccupied with how you look to others. Imagine relishing, not resenting, the success of others. Living this way isn’t far-fetched. It’s actually guaranteed to believers, as they learn to receive God’s approval, rather than striving to earn it.
In Tim Keller’s short ebook, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness: The Path To True Christian Joy, he explains how to overcome the toxic tendencies of our age一not by diluting biblical truth or denying our differences一but by rooting our identity in Christ.
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