Jesus was the greatest leader that the world has ever known. Truly, His results speak for themselves!
The argument could easily be made then, that the Bible is also the best book about leadership ever written.
So leaders, let’s take to heart an important lesson taught by the greatest leader that the world has ever (and will ever) known… but first, let me set the stage for you:
Jesus had just performed one of the “biggest” miracles – the feeding of the 5,000 men (which in terms of actual humans, was probably closer to (or even greater than) 20,000 people)! He did it starting with only 5 small loaves of bread and two small fish that a boy nearby had with him.
After he feeds the people, he spends some time alone in prayer (after having sent his disciples away in a boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee). To catch up with them? He walks across the Sea of Galilee on top of the water!
The people whom He fed the day before found Him, and perceived that He did something else awesome, but didn’t know what it was. So they started asking Him about it. His response?
Here it is verbatim from the New King James Bible (Thanks Thomas Nelson from 1982) in John 6:26 - 27:
26Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
The people’s response? They begin to argue with Him about food!
His response to their argumentative attitudes? We find it in John 6:53:
53Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”
Whoa! Did Jesus just go off the rails there? Did the crowds push him too far and He finally broke? Was he really advocating such open cannibalism? I mean, the thought of cannibalism, and the drinking of someone’s blood is repulsive to most people, but to a Jewish person, it is also a direct violation of their sacred law.
No, Jesus wasn’t actually advocating for cannibalism and blood drinking. In fact, He says as much in verse 61 through the first part of verse 64:
61When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? 63It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe.”
What Jesus was saying is this: If you don’t wholeheartedly ingest and accept by faith in your heart, the payment of your sins through Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself upon the cross, AND turn your life fully over to Him as a result, than you not only remain dead in your sins, but have no place with those who are alive and have chosen life. Maybe more simply put, Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself is the ONLY food to bring any form of life to your soul; as food and drink are what bring life to your body.
What happens if you reject this spiritual food? You are therefore relegated to an eternity with those who have chosen death – which is first and foremost the devil and his demons. Even they don’t want to be where they know that they are ultimately going!
Ever wonder this: “If that is what He meant, then why didn’t Jesus say it in a more "digestible" way?” Because He wanted the pill to be hard to swallow.
If you are a person who has ever been in politics, marketing, and/or public relations, you are probably shaking your head right now at Jesus’ eat my flesh statement, thinking: “Uh, BIG mistake there Jesus!”
And in terms of garnering a mass following, you are correct. In fact, here is the fallout of Jesus’ words that day in verse 66:
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
So, not only did the mass crowds turn away in many respects at this point, but many of His disciples turned away here too.
“Many of His disciples?”
Yes, for a time, Jesus had a lot more disciples than just the 12. In fact, the gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus had at least 70 disciples at one point in his ministry.
Think of this situation in this light… you spent years creating a thriving business that yielded tens of thousands of loyal followers, evangelists, and customers, and included almost 100 employees. But, after a few statements one fateful day, all but 12 of those employees, and a handful of followers, are gone!
Today we would call such happenings not just a failure, but a complete meltdown! But, it was not that at all. John 6 continues on tells us that Jesus knew from the beginning who really believed and who didn’t. He didn’t fail! He was thinning the heard down to only those who were truly on His side.
“BUT WHY?”
The “market” was about to change, and Jesus was getting ahead of it! To accomplish that, Jesus needed to speak a very unpopular truth that almost no one wanted to hear. He needed to "thin the heard" without forcefully sending anyone away. He needed to find out who was truly going to follow Him from a place of trust.
"Did He really need to do this?"
Can you imagine in a few months, Jesus’ new church trying to establish itself without Him, having dozens of disciples (now all top-level Apostles), many of whom didn’t truly believe in the fullness of who Jesus was and what His mission was all about? His new church would have failed.
But it didn’t fail... in part because He thinned the heard to (almost) only those who truly were His disciples.
Yet, WE DO NOT LEAD THIS WAY TODAY!
We just keep thinking that more is best always. And yet we still expect the growth results that Jesus and His Apostles achieved; without doing what He did and without saying what He said, to achieve what He achieved!
Jesus said what needed to be said, when it needed to be said. That is part of how He achieved what He achieved. In fact, this was a major part of how He led others. He wasn’t focused on his likeability rating, his numbers in the polls, or even how much “support” He had. He was focused on delivering truth to the true and empowering them to do the same! It is what made His church strong from the very beginning.
But why do we get away from this type of strong leadership?
Because it takes a strong leader, who is dedicated to truth, to say what needs to be said, when it needs to be said.
What kind of leader are you?
Are the people that you lead so strong because of your strong leadership, that they are poised to conquer the world (as Jesus’ disciples were), even more so when you are gone?
You know, this discussion actually exposes a dark side of Democracy. Yes, though Democracy is the best political system on this planet, there is a dark side to it. Strong Democracy is built on strong leaders of character and truth, who stand for what they believe; with people voting them in because of who they are and what they believe. But, it all breaks down when those looking to ascend to leadership, pander in a moment, to what they believe the voters want to see and here. Is this not why people believe that most politicians make hollow and even deceitful promises just to get elected? Is this not why the word politician has become an ugly word in our culture?
Now, think of this fact: most people greatly distrust politicians, without realizing that in most situations, they themselves have become one. They pander to the views of others, or even change their views to match others, to ascend to greater levels within their own spheres of influence and/or organizations.
You know what is the worst of it? This poor leadership behavior is rampant among pastors and in ministries too! In fact, most pastors are elected to their posts, and most of them very much have sadly turned into “expert politicians”.
But how about you as a leader, deciding today to be different!
Deciding today to accept the truth that great numbers does NOT equate to great strength or health!
Deciding today to say what needs to be said, when it needs to be said!
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