Speaker: Andy Stanley
The word Power...has become a new 4-letter word among leaders.
If you're in leadership you have power. You must use it in a way that glorifoes God.
Question: What do you do when it dawns on you that you're the most powerful person in the room? Confrence setting? Counseling session? Board of Directors Setting?
This is the moment in the life of a leader that shapes the character of a leader!
Youn have no idea how many people God wants to influence through you! You're fear of power might be the very thing that makes you a prime candidate for God to use you!
John 13:1-8, 12-17
1Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He now showed the disciples the full extent of his love. F65 2It was time for supper, and the Devil had already enticed Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to carry out his plan to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel he had around him.
What's your next move when it dawn's on you when you're the most important person in the room? What did Jesus do? He took off His robe, the symbol of His Authority, and leveraged His power for the sake of the others in the room...he stunned His disciples and made them uncomfortable at His place of humility!
Jesus was saying, "There's coming a time when YOU will be the most influential person in the room, and this is what you need to do! In my moment of GREATEST RECOGNITION OF POWER...I took off my symbols of power and decided to leverage my power for the good of the people in the room."
6When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, "Lord, why are you going to wash my feet?"
7Jesus replied, "You don't understand now why I am doing it; someday you will."
8"No," Peter protested, "you will never wash my feet!" Jesus replied, "But if I don't wash you, you won't belong to me."12After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, "Do you understand what I was doing? 13You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because it is true. 14And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. 15I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. 16How true it is that a servant is not greater than the master. Nor are messengers more important than the one who sends them. 17You know these things—now do them! That is the path of blessing.
The disciples GOT IT, they got the message in the upper room.
What's your next move when it dawn's on you when you're the most important person in the room?
You look around and leverage that power for the sake of the other people in the room! If you do anything other than what Jesus did...if you leverage your power for yourself, you're saying that you're greater than Jesus. And you're operating out of an actual weakness!
You HAVE TO ASK YOURSELF, "How can I leverage the influence that I already have for the good of the people in my sphere of influence?" As you do, you will also grow in influence. Doing this will define who you are, what the character is, of your leadership. I'M NOT GREATER THAN MY MASTER. I'M NOT GREATER THAN MY SAVIOUR. And if HIS first response was to humble Himself and leverage His power for the good of those in the room with Him...then who am I to do anything less?
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