Pastorinthewoods's Weblog: Can You Handle The Truth?

Servant Leadership vs. Fearful Leadership

I will be preaching this Sunday night from 1 Samuel 18 on the subject of “The Anatomy of Envy.” We will be examining the destructive forces of envy in the life of Saul. Along those lines, it is also worth noting the difference between Saul and his son Jonathan in regards to their leadership styles. Saul chose to rule his kingdom based upon fear. His whole agenda was set to defend his own image. He used people and sought to control people continually. After the defeat of Goliath and the subsequent friendship between Jonathan and David, verse 2 tells us that, ”Saul took him(David) that day and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore.” On the surface, it seems that Saul is doing this to recruit David to be a part of the effort to defeat the Philistines. However, based on the remainder of the passage we find that Saul was fearful of David and really wanted to keep him close in order to try to control him. Saul did many things to intimidate and control David in the days to come. Throwing spears at him, sending him to the front lines, and even making him a part of the royal family. This only caused David to be more successful and popular. The women would sing, “ Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. The Bible says that this galled Saul.  Chapter 18 says in verse 14 and 15,  “ and David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved wisely, he was afraid of him.” 

        The contrast to this is Jonathan’s response to David’s victory. The scriptures say that he loved him, made a covenant with him, he gave him his own royal robe, and his armor and weaponry. Jonathan saw no threat in David and actually expresses gracious love to a lowly shepherd boy. Both leaders pulled David in close to them. Saul did this out of a need to control and a terrible sense of suspicion. Jonathan did this out of love and a desire to empower David. One leader was afraid of the success of David and another celebrated it. This brings me to the point of the post, what type of leader are you? Here are some questions for us to answer:

 How do you respond to the success of peers or those under your care?

Do you find yourself pulling people in to control them or empower them?

Do you give things to people in order to control them more or empower them to succeed?

Are you willing to give away your power to others to see them succeed in what God has called them to do?

There are many pastors and leaders who dwell in the land of fear. They have chosen to be leaders consumed by fear. They fear the deacons becoming to powerful, the church down the road getting too big, the associate pastor being liked to much, or something happening that they cannot get credit for. This is not only common in the pastorate but is all areas of leadership. There is a saying among firefighters, “all good fire chiefs are control freaks.” I have found in large measure that is true. Good fire scene commanders are always worried about what they do not know. This often follows them to the board rooms and the day rooms. They cannot escape their fear of what is going on they do not know about. 

The way we order our lives as leaders will determine if we are a Saul or a Jonathan. Did we live our lives in fear and suspicion of others, always trying to keep them under our thumb and within sight?  Will we live our lives serving and empowering others? Will we release them to do what God has called them to or will we wait for our moment to pin them to the wall with our spear of discouragement?

The choice is ours.