Humble Leadership and Humble Leaders
By Mike Sharrett | Interim Pastor, Grace Covenant PCA in Williamsburg, Virginia
How many church leaders wake up every morning and plead with the Lord to save their ministry from themselves? Probably not many.
That is likely because we tend to underestimate the pervasive, pernicious, and powerful presence of pride in our hearts and to undernourish the grace of humility, resulting in inflated self-confidence. It is easy to forget to beg the Holy Spirit to constrain our hearts from self-centeredness, self-promotion, and self-sufficiency and for him to produce the fruits of a heart intoxicated with Christ’s love so that we might esteem others more highly than ourselves.
Our doctrine of human depravity tells us that there is no natural inclination in us toward humble, other-centered servanthood—it must be intentionally cultivated. Sadly, many church leaders long to be served, admired, esteemed, and depended upon as indispensable to the cause. We tend to think too highly of ourselves. We are tempted to neglect the holy warfare of assaulting unbridled ambition and lust for control, power, comfort, or approval. Often, the more successful a church leader, the less likely he is to tell himself, I am nothing:
Galatians 6:3—For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
1 Corinthians 3:7—So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
2 Corinthians 12:11—For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.
Humble, Other-Centered Servants
What are the implications of these precarious tendencies for healthy leadership? We generally minimize the fact that beyond all considerations of gifting and calling to the office of Teaching or Ruling Elder, by far, the most important quality adorning the heart of a shepherd is humility. All the talent, charisma, worldly success, theological prowess, or intellect in the world counts for very little if a church leader is reputed to be, or is unaware of being, proud, self-consumed, unapproachable, defensive, petty, inflexible, unchallengeable, intractable, arrogant, or dismissive of other people.
Contrary to popular sentiment that the senior pastor must be a superb preacher, a visionary, and a leader and that Ruling Elders should be popular and community standouts—the Lord’s shepherds, first and foremost, must be humble, other-centered servants.
Such servants, horrified to hear that their sheep viewed them as proud, self-centered, or self-promoting, long to adorn the beauty of Christ’s humble and gentle heart, his self-sacrificing concern for other’s flourishing, and his resolute pursuit of serving his sheep ahead of his own welfare.
Notice how the Apostle Peter parses elders’ motives as he proscribes humility:
1 Peter 5:1-6—So I exhort the elders among you… 2 shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly 3 not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock… 6 Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
Peter expands, in some respects, the admonition of Jesus for church leaders:
Mark 10:44-45—And whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Humility’s Lenses
Because Paul calls humility a mindset in Philippians 2:5 (“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus”), think of humility as your lens, filter, or starting point for making sense of your world.
Humility’s lenses are mercy and grace, two of the benefits lavished upon sinners through God’s love in the Gospel:
The mercy lens interprets everything according to this fact:
I have not received what I deserve from the hand of a just God.
The grace lens interprets everything according to this fact:
I have received what I do not deserve from the hand of a merciful Father.
Make the truth vivid to your soul by relentlessly reminding yourself of the facts:
God, stunningly, has been far more kind, generous, compassionate, and patient toward me than I could ever imagine. The riches of Christ’s manifold grace and mercy comprise the lenses through which I make sense of everything in life, and not least, the faults of others and my own accomplishments.
Humility, therefore, desires to see things as God sees them while closely monitoring the self-promoting and self-justifying inclination of my heart. Jesus’ Spirit works this grace in the heart, enabling you to freely credit God with every good thing you enjoy while taking responsibility for any way in which you fail to reflect his glory.
Humble hearts stand tirelessly in awe of the cross and long to be intoxicated with Gospel wonder, the ongoing discovery that, though pride continually lurks in my heart, Jesus will always persevere with me in irrepressible compassion, patience, and love. Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis: Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Secure in the love of Christ, humble hearts are free to consider others more important than themselves, putting others’ interests before their own while submitting their own actions, attitudes ,and affections to critique.
Philippians 2:3-4 – 3—Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.
Jonathan Edwards, echoing Augustine and Calvin, wrote about the centrality of humility:
Humility, then, is the most essential thing in true religion. The whole setting of the gospel and everything that belongs to the New Covenant should have this effect upon the hearts of men. Without it, there can be no true religion, whatever profession may be made, and however intense the person’s religious affections appear to be.
Humility Contrasted with Pride
Humble servants are not like the proud who complacently are content to remain exactly who they are, giving little thought to mortifying their pride, examining the log in their eye (Matt.7:4), nurturing a contrite spirit, or asking themselves upon discovery of other’s sins, Could that be me? (Galatians 6:1) Rather, the humble are amazed that God would condescend to save them, let alone use them in Kingdom work.
Pride makes sense of life through the lenses of deserving and demanding.
The deserving lens interprets everything according to this impression (not a fact):
I deserve better than what I have.
The demanding lens interprets everything according to this impression (not a fact):
I have the right to demand whatever I think promotes my welfare.
Pride interprets everything with a skewed or inflated view of self-importance, finding joy first in the primacy of one’s own reputation, desires, and demands. Pride inescapably renders you self-centered, self-exalting, and God-diminishing. Searching your heart for pride is an incessant battle because, ironically:
What most beautifies us—humility—we least desire;
What most soils our hearts—pride—we least detect.
Thankfully, every Christ-follower has the Spirit of Jesus to liberate them from the insidious work of pride continuously. He is jealous to show us our pride that we might increasingly be conformed to Jesus’ image. He convicts us of how pride drains out of us our need for grace and a desire to serve others sacrificially. He reveals to us how pride tends to hide from us our sins and weaknesses, thus quenching the Spirit’s tenacious work to convict us of self-sufficiency and to create humble desperation for his presence and power.
Evidence of Humility
What are some tangible indicators that the Spirit is forging humility in your heart?
You will wake up each morning and remind yourself that you are the greatest threat to the welfare of your ministry and if left to yourself, will ruin it. Then you will flee to Jesus and receive his grace and power. Mercy experienced in your personal devotion to Jesus will frame the way you relate to everyone else.
You will gladly confess to the Lord that you are nothing, God is everything, and that no fruit will be borne through you without being constantly filled with the Spirit (John 15:5; Eph.5:18)
You will continue to ask Jesus for grace to repent of your idols, whether the need for control, approval, comfort, appearing competent, or being right.
You will insist on periodic reviews of your performance, seeking input from those who work for or with you regarding your impact upon them.
When leaders model these graces, there will be a trickle-down effect into the flock they lead, producing sheep who also adorn humility and long to mortify pride.
Mike Sharrett has planted several churches in the PCA and has served as an interim pastor for six churches during the last nine years. He has a burden to help Sessions assess relational and leadership vitality. Mike and his wife Janice love the ocean, walks, and seeing their children and four grandchildren.
This is an excellent and challenging article. Thank you for posting it.