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Bible Studies Everyday Christian Life
Leadership
Whether you lead a company, a class, or a household, Scripture inverts most of what leadership usually means.
Whether you lead a company, a class, or a household, Scripture inverts most of what leadership usually means.
What you’ll explore
- 01 “Not so among you”
- 02 Servant leadership as a description, not a slogan
- 03 Character before competence
- 04 Authority and accountability
- 05 Leading people who disagree with you
- 06 Failure, correction, and staying teachable
- 07 Leading at home
“Not so among you”
Read Mark 10:35-45
James and John ask for the best seats, the others are indignant, and Jesus contrasts Gentile rulers who lord it over people with what is to happen among them. Whoever would be great must be servant; whoever would be first must be slave of all. He then grounds it in his own example.
Servant leadership as a description, not a slogan
Read John 13:1-17; Philippians 2:5-8
He gets up, takes a towel, and does the job of the lowest servant in the house, then says he has given them an example. Paul’s hymn has Christ emptying himself and taking the form of a servant. The phrase has been worn smooth by overuse; the passages have not.
Character before competence
Read 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9
Read both lists and notice what is almost entirely absent: ability, results, charisma, vision. What is there is above reproach, sober-minded, hospitable, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, managing his own household well. The one skill required is being able to teach.
Authority and accountability
Read 1 Peter 5:1-4; Hebrews 13:17; James 3:1
Peter tells elders to shepherd willingly, not for gain, not domineering, but as examples. Hebrews says leaders will give an account. James warns that teachers will be judged more strictly. Authority in Scripture always arrives attached to a reckoning.
Leading people who disagree with you
Read Acts 15:6-22; Romans 14:1-5
The Jerusalem council has much debate, several speeches, and a decision that gives ground. Paul tells strong and weak believers not to despise each other over genuinely disputed matters. Neither passage resolves disagreement by suppressing it.
Failure, correction, and staying teachable
Read Galatians 2:11-14; Proverbs 27:5-6; 2 Samuel 12:7
Paul corrects Peter to his face, in public, and Peter remains an apostle. Nathan confronts a king. Better is open rebuke than hidden love. A leader nobody can correct is a leader nobody can help.
Leading at home
Read 1 Timothy 3:4-5; Ephesians 5:25; Joshua 24:15
Paul makes the household the test case — if a man cannot manage his own, how will he care for God’s church. The standard set for a husband is Christ’s self-giving. Christians differ on how household leadership is ordered; that it is measured by sacrifice rather than by control is not disputed.
Questions to sit with
- Would the people you lead describe you as a servant? Would you?
- Which item on the 1 Timothy 3 list is the weakest in you?
- Who is allowed to correct you, and when did they last do it?
Every passage in this study
Go deeper
Where this connects
This study sits inside a larger story. Read the passages above in their own books, and follow the thread back through Scripture as a whole.