Being a Servant Leader: Caring for the Least of These (part 4)

Bottom Line

Once we’ve cultivated a watchfulness of scripture and willingly put ourselves under its authority, we find that it tells us to love our neighbor, especially the “least of these.”

Takeaways

We’ve been looking at what is means to be a Christian leader, a servant leader. We’re now on step 4 of our journey and I hope you can see how it all flows together. How one step builds to the next one.

• Firstly you have to become biblically literate.
• Secondly, once you’ve done that, then you can cultivate a watchfulness of what the Bible says and how you're living your life. Do they match? Or, is there’s a mismatch?
• Thirdly, you have to willingly place yourself under the authority of scripture. If you’re going to lead as Christ did, then we have to be willing to do as scripture says.

Now, in step 4, we’re starting to look at what actions scripture prompting us to do. What does a servant leader do? What does it mean to “be” Christian?
 
Most of us have preconceived ideas about what it means to be Christian … or what it means to be religious. And, often, these ideas inform us about how to “be” church. 

But, our ideas of what God wants from us don't always match what scripture is asking of us.

This isn’t new. It was the same for the Old Testament folks as well.

They thought being religious was about making the right animal sacrifices in the temple. 

They thought being religious was saying the right prayers and being seen praying those prayers. 

They thought being religious was eating the right foods: keeping kosher.

They thought being religious was keeping the feasts.

And, they thought that being religious was fasting by the rules. 

But, what they weren’t doing was listening to what God wanted. And, what God wanted was to for them to love their neighbor. 

• Isaiah 1:11-20
• Isaiah 58

God doesn’t want outward religiosity. He wants us to love our neighbor, to care for the “least of these.”
 
 Isaiah’s condemnation of Israel is the same condemnation that Jesus gives to the Pharisees

• Matthew 23:25-32

Sometimes if feels like we fall into these same traps. 

• We’re concerned with whether we’re fasting correctly
• We’re concerned with festal celebrations, services, and rubrics
• We’re concerned with praising the saints

But, all the while, we let the starving family in our own community go hungry. We ignore the single mother struggling to get by. We turn a blind eye to someone who may not be in our social or cultural circle.

In short, we often ignore the Bible’s command to care for the least of these … the very thing God punished Israel for not doing.

And, unfortunately, we have no excuse. Israel and the pharisees serve as a warning for us. We’ve seen how God hates such hypocrisy.

But, by becoming a servant leader, we can step up to walk The Way and care for the "least of these."

---

I encourage you to check out the website of the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative. You'll be glad you did!