A Revival in Servant Leadership — Edgar Reich

Well, good morning Church, and I greet you in that name that is above every name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I give you greetings from Pastor Roy Somerville. He's recuperating on strength and is with his family today, so we pray for him and we wish him much strength for the days ahead.

For those of you that are new in the church, my name is Brother Edgar, and I'm also a member of this church, but I am absent often. The Lord, by his will, has called me for a revival ministry, and I cannot always be here.

The Biblical Foundation of Servant Leadership

When I asked Pastor Roy what he wanted me to speak on, he answered Christian leadership. And so the title of the message today is A Revival in Servant Leadership. Here are two verses to start with from the Bible that we will look at further.

You see, Jesus had chosen 12 men to change the world and to bring the gospel to all nations in the world. And those 12 followers, they felt they were great and they were arguing who is the greatest among them.

And Jesus said to them in Luke chapter 22 verses 25 to 26, and he said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called benefactors.

But not so among you. On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. Here's the second verse that Jesus used. These men also asked Jesus to increase their faith, and what should they say when asked what they were doing?

And Jesus answered them and said in Luke chapter 17 verse 10. Luke chapter 17 verse 10. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, now this is a bit hard to take, okay, but say, we are unprofitable servants.

We have done what was our duty to do. These two verses are somehow difficult for us to understand because we are used to a different kind of leadership. But they give understanding for Christian servant leadership.

Worldly Leadership and the Throne of Self

And in order to understand these two verses better, let us look at the world's leadership principles first. Now the Lord allowed me to learn and and work in a number of corporations, and I learned world leadership, leading corporations, and even to teach business management and leadership at the University of Toronto.

This was before I became a Christian, and later on I ran a nine hundred million dollar corporation in Europe, which also involved involved international business principles in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, the UK, and Russia.

I was involved in Japan and a joint venture with Hitachi and advised concerning business in China. However, with all of this, please consider also, I had left my family, I was living deep in sin, and I was on my way to hell.

Now going back to what Jesus said to his twelve chosen men that were to change the world, he said, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them. So in a worldly sense, you exercise lordship over those people that you lead.

You see, in the businesses I was in, I was the leader, and you serve me. It's my vision. It's my direction. It's my doing. It's my will, and it's my power. If you don't like it, you can leave, or I will terminate you.

Then Jesus explained to his followers and those who exercise authority over them, they are called benefactors. Those who exercise authority in the world appear to give benefits. They say they're doing it for the benefit of the people, but it is more often for the benefit of the self.

So what were my benefactors' benefits? They were money, richness, staying in castles, expensive cars, limousines, at times private jets, stock options, eating in the most expensive restaurants in the world, and doing whatever I wanted.

While all of this was happening, I was living deep in sin. I had left my family. I believed Satan's lies that money and power will bring happiness. Yet I was deeply unhappy and deep despair, without joy, without hope, living in sin, considering even suicide, and destined for an eternal hell.

The Rolling Stones had a song, and it went like this, I can't get no satisfaction, but I tried. This song was true of me. The self in me was sitting on my throne, inside of me, and the world and the devil were misleading me.

Dependence on Christ and the Power of God

Now Jesus taught and gave advice to his twelve leaders that would change the world, and the advice that he taught his disciples, and he said to them, also in other passages, without me you can do nothing.

It's all about higher power. It is all about the power of God, and I'm so glad that Brother Paul last week taught on the Holy Spirit, who is our comforter, our guide, and our helper. You see, without him we can achieve nothing.

It is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Jesus wanted his disciple to be humble and to understand that God would work through them, and do what they could not do, because they were to change the world.

So it starts with humility, to be a Christian servant leader. So Jesus said in Luke chapter 22, verse 26, giving advice to his twelve leaders to change the world, and in the second verse, he said, but not so among you.

On the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. So here Jesus used two examples to help them understand about leadership. The first is from Jesus' life, where the youngest in the family should be quiet.

He was not to speak before others. That was part of the Jewish life. The youngest was the lowest rank. He would always get the lowest seat in the house. Now the second example that Jesus used here was from government, and he said, if you are elected and put into Christian circles and service, you are to become a servant to others.

You are to become a servant. Later, Jesus said, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your soul and with all your mind, and this is the first and great commandment, and the second one is like it.

You ought to love your neighbor as yourself. Now, in order to do this, we must take the old self off the throne inside of us and replace him with the Lord Jesus Christ. We must say, Jesus, you are in charge.

You rule. Then we will have power to serve others, to love others, and to start to experience true joy. While God gave me great business success, I could not find happiness, and in fact, Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, all is vanity and grasping for the wind, if you go for money, richness, and power, young people.

That is why so many super-rich people commit suicide. They cannot find ultimate happiness and satisfaction. But what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? So God saved me at the age of 62 through a grave vision, showing me that I was on my way to hell and that there was no salvation except through the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is what I did. I gave my life to Christ, and I'm trying to follow him. It's not always easy, and I have to change all of my old ways, and it is a great struggle for each one of us to do this because to set aside the self is a task that we cannot do ourselves.

We need higher help with that, and we also have the world and the devil against us, enticing the self to go the old way, to go my own way. The Apostle Paul said in his prior life to becoming a Christian, it was like dung to him what he had experienced.

Likewise with me, my prior life is like dung to me and how I dealt with people and how I followed the world's leadership principles and how I depended on the self. When the world selects leaders, the leadership qualities they look for are Harvard-educated, Cambridge-educated, powerful, bold, strong, innovative, visionary leaders.

You need to have great organizational skills. You need to have leadership over people. You must have vision. You must be able to set goals and objectives. You must select the right people to make things happen.

You must obtain finances. You must select resources, machines, and assets to produce profits and profitability. When Jesus was to select his leaders to change the world, he chose 12 men. Where did he go to select those 12 men?

Did he go to the universities of the land? Did he go to Jewish law schools to select leaders? Did he go to seminaries to find the leaders? Did he go to the best religious schools to find leaders? Did he go to the leadership of the Sanhedrin to find the right leaders to change the world?

How would Jesus find the right man to change the world? Jesus went to his Heavenly Father. He prayed all night. He asked his Father's advice, and then he chose. Whom did he choose? Well, some were fishermen who were actually uneducated and untrained.

The government leaders said about these men in Acts chapter 4 verse 13,. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled, and they realized that they had been with Jesus.

Jesus chose some people that were outcasts. One was a political dissident. Another one was a tax collector that was hated by the Jewish people. And then Jesus himself apparently did not go to school, because in John chapter 7 verse 15 it says,.

And the Jews marveled, saying, How does this man know letters, having never studied? How would it be possible for these twelve men to attempt great things for God and expect great things from God and even change the world?

How is that possible? You see, this is so wonderful to really understand how great God is, and I'm so thankful that Zachary played all of these marvelous songs about God this morning. You see, he is power.

He is strength. He is might. But he needs people that are prepared to let the self go off the throne inside of them and allow Jesus to sit on that throne. See, then the power comes. It is not by might nor by power of man, but it is by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

God Chooses the Weak to Display His Power

And so the Apostle Paul explained this principle further in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 26 and 29, and he's speaking about all of us in this passage. 1 Corinthians 1, 26 to 29, and it says,. For you see, you are calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen.

And the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. No flesh should take the credit from God. No flesh should overrule God. No flesh should make themselves bigger than God, because he is the God of miracles.

He makes things to come to pass that human beings cannot do, that I cannot do. And so for me, the number one sign of a Christian leader is, has Jesus been allowed to sit on the throne of that man or that woman?

Has the self been replaced by Jesus? See, it says, no flesh should glory in God's presence. Now we start to understand the second verse a little bit better that I had started with from Luke chapter 17 verse 10, and there it says, so likewise you, when you have done all these things which you are commanded, say, we are unprofitable servants.

We have done what our duty was to do. And you see, this points to God having done things through us that we could not do, we ourselves in our flesh. There must be less of me and more of him. And when there's more of him, then we see miracles in our lives.

We see answer prayers that we had never seen before. He wants us to allow him to sit on the throne of our life inside of us. You see, whatever good happens through us when we walk with the Lord, we should not point to ourselves.

We realize that all has happened because of him, our Lord. It is not by might nor by power of man, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Now, Jesus himself is the greatest leader and the example of Christian servant leadership.

He humbled himself coming from heaven. He gave up everything in heaven, a wonderful, wonderful, incredible life. And then he came to earth to give his life and he served us even to go to the cross. Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He's the greatest leader and if we follow him, we can become like him. Now you might answer, well, he was divine, but I can't do that. I try sometimes, but I can't make it. Well, one of the greatest leaders in a human body was Moses in the Bible.

Moses as a Model of Humble Leadership

Now the Bible in Numbers chapter 12 verse 3 says, Moses was very humble more than all men who were on the face of the earth. How can that be that he was a great leader if he was humble? How is that possible?

The four greatest principles that define Moses as a servant leader to my mind were, number one, his total obedience to God. He would not move the nation along unless God said so. He would not go to a place where God said for him not to go.

He would only move when God said move. This also reflects humility. And then number two, he had total dependence upon God. Basically, if you have probably over two million people in the desert and you have no water and you've no food, you better depend on God, but he had total faith that God would provide and God did.

And then he was a humble person before people. Moses begged people in humility to follow God and there's a great example in Numbers chapter 16 verses 1 to 4 because there was a man by the name of Korah and he incited a rebellion against God with 250 Jewish leaders.

Moses fell on his face in the dust and he begged them to follow God. And when they did not, he said, well, we're going to ask God to decide tomorrow morning. God can choose between you and me. He did not exercise his own authority.

He asked God to exercise his authority. And the next day Korah was swallowed up by the earth. He died, all of his family and all the 250 that opposed God. So beloved, now when I say these words, sometimes they go in and out our ears.

And so the humility of Moses and his leadership, I want to illustrate that in one example. I know it's a bit unusual but I'm going to step next here to the railing for a moment. And I'm going to kneel down.

You know what it said? Moses went with his face in the dust before Korah. Korah, I beg you, I beg you to follow God. Don't go your own way. Don't believe that you can do it. It is God who leads us. Believe it Korah, believe it.

Salvation Through Surrender to Christ

So beloved, what can I say? It's the same with salvation today. It is the same with salvation today. If you think you're going to make it to heaven on your own, you will not. It is only through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And if you want me to, I would be glad to beg on my face that you make things right with God. That you start a new life. That you have a new opportunity through God and have heaven waiting for you. Now, you might also say to me, well, yeah, I agree Moses' leadership was not himself, but times are different today.

We have different times. And so if I may, I would like to share a story with you. This was reported by the Canadian church planting arm of Vision Canada in 2011. And it comes from China. There was a pastor in China, in Hong Kong.

He worked with the underground church and two young sisters had contacted him. They were basically just above teenage age. They had been saved by a radio broadcast. They contacted this pastor and they said, pastor, we want to go to the mission field.

We are called. And the pastor said, no, no, no, you cannot do this. You gotta get some training. You gotta go to Bible school. I will teach you. You gotta study. And these two young ladies, they said, no, no, no.

The Bible says for us to go and to share Christ. That's what we want to do. And the pastor said, well, there is an island by the name of Hainan Island. If you would like to go there, go and share your faith.

And so the two sisters went and two years went by and the pastor, after two years, just got a note and was asked by these two sisters, do you have any Bibles? Do you have help for us with materials that people can read?

And at the same time when he got that request, he also got a request from pastors from America. They wanted to come and learn about the underground church in China. And so these pastors came from western churches and this pastor in Hong Kong arranged this meeting between this pastor and these two young ladies who came who wanted to pick up Bibles and they came to a fancy hotel.

They came in their straw hats. They came in their ficious garments. The hotel didn't even want to let them in, but the pastor said, no, they're coming to see me. And now they came together and the pastor asked them, now, what have you done on Hainan Island?

How many churches have you established? And the women put their heads down and they answered, oh pastor, we have only been there two years yes, two years only, not many, not very many. The voices were apologetic.

How many? Tell me. Oh, not many pastor, not many. We have only been there a short time. The people were very unfriendly. Sometimes they were vicious. Yes, sometimes they were going to drown us in the ocean and several men threatened us.

Oh my, and then the women were against us. The old ladies didn't like us. Yes, some even called us terrible names. So not many churches. No, not many. The pastor interrupted and slowly repeated the words, how many?

How many? Tell me, how many? There was a moment of silence. Then one of the women looked up with embarrassment and anguish as though confessing to a crime. Only 13 churches. We've planted only 13 churches.

The pastor looked astonished and interpreted for the guests from America. He said there were 13 churches and one of the pastors said, only 13. Oh my goodness. I haven't planted that many churches in my lifetime.

One of the pastor's assistants interrupted and said, pastor, you did not translate correctly. They did not say 13 churches, but they said 30 churches. Only 30. Only 30. We planted only 30. The two guests could only mutter 30 churches in two years.

My word. Again, the women began to apologize with the pastor. And the pastor said, now I would like to know how many people came to these churches. How many people came to these 30 churches? Oh, not many, pastor.

Not many. We are apologizing. And the whole process repeated itself and the pastor got very impatient and he said, now tell me. And he finally said, well, one church had 220 people in it. Not many, not many.

Quickly multiplying in his head, the pastor said 220 times 30 churches. That means 6 ,600 people saved in two years. Oh, not many. But pastor, this one with 220, that was a smaller church. We have some bigger church churches.

And the pastor said, well, how big? Which is your biggest church? And they said, well, pastor, we don't think it's too many, but there are 4 ,900 in our largest church. Less than 5 ,000, pastor. But we tried.

We tried. We tried. From behind the pastor, the other pastors from the Western nations, they were weeping on the floor. They said, dear Lord, forgive us. Forgive us to deny your power. Forgive us to not depend on the Holy Spirit.

Forgive us not to look to your greatness to do your will. The pastors then said, well, we want to know what you did. What did you do, sisters? What did you do? How did you get 30 churches? And they said, oh, nothing.

We just prayed. We just prayed. We didn't do nothing. And they said, well, that's not possible. Tell us what you did. Tell us. Well, we just prayed and we asked the Holy Spirit to help us. We prayed, we prayed, we prayed.

By the way, this church has three prayer meetings if you ever want to join prayer. If you ever want to cry out to God in sincerity and truth, there are three prayer meetings. You see, these two young women, they set off to planned churches without plans or training because Jesus said to go.

And the two girls shared what happened and they said, after we prayed, the Holy Spirit would tell us exactly what to do. We would keep praying and then he would tell us what we needed to do as the next step.

And we would do it and then we prayed and then he would tell us the next step what to do. And we kept on praying. They did by the Spirit of God what they were supposed to do, share Christ. They took no credit for themselves.

Servant Leadership in the Home and Church

They let God speak through their lives. You see, it is not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord. So, it really begs the question, how do I act in my home life? Is Jesus on the throne of my life, fathers?

And fathers, in Ephesians, the first part before you get to make the final decision, it says submit to each other. So you're supposed to ask your wife for advice and then you're supposed to act like Jesus did.

Wash her feet once in a while and she'll have no problem in following you. Or, perhaps wives, are you doing what God is saying to you to do or are you going with the world? Do you let Jesus be on the throne of your life and you do what the Bible says to do?

Young people, are your plans to pursue money, power, and might? Or are you willing to submit to God in obedience and let Jesus be on the throne of your life? You see, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says that Jesus created you and he has a great purpose for your life.

He has chosen certain works for you, which you are supposed to do and which will bring you happiness. Praise God. Now some of you men who come to this church, Pastor Roy, is hoping that some of you will become Christian servant leaders to help this church and to come on the board of this church.

You see, I can't do that. I have no experience. Well, what about the 12 men that Jesus chose? What about the two little girls that just did what God asked them to do? If you have Jesus on the throne of your life, then please reach out to Pastor Roy.

Dying to Self and Following Christ's Will

Now, I have to also change my own life. You see, I am no longer in charge. God is and his son is. It is his vision and my following. It is now Jesus' direction and the way I should go. It is now his will and my obedience.

It is now his power and my dependence. It is now his decision and my following him. It must be Jesus' life in me and the death to the old self in me. The death is at the cross. It must be Jesus sitting on my throne and no longer me the self.

It must be death to the self at the cross. It must be his life in me and my death. And when I do, these miracles come, beloved. So it's not by might nor by power of man, but by my spirit, says the Lord, and that is Christian service leadership.

The Call to Make Peace With God

Finally, there may be someone here who has not yet committed their life to Christ Jesus. May I say I would be glad to fall down before you and beg you, make things right with God. That is your most important decision in life.

There's no other decision that is more important because your whole eternity hinges on it, beloved. God tells us the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

He knows you and he wants to give you a new life. Now I'm going to say a short prayer and then after my prayer, there'll be a final song with Brother Zachary. But I also wanted to mention at the end of the service and after the closing song, I'll be in the pastor's office.

The pastor's office is through this glass door to your right to my left at the end there. And if you would like to start a new life under Christ, please come and we can pray together that you will have that new start in life.

If there are any things that overwhelm you by way of trials and illness, I'd also be glad to pray with you if you come. And then if there are other issues in your life, I'll be there for you for a little while in the pastor's office on the left.

So let us pray for a moment. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your words. Thank you for the Christian leadership examples from the Lord Jesus who told the Twelfth Apostles how they were to behave.

Thank you for the leadership example from Moses. Lord, thank you for the leadership example from the two teenage girls, totally depending on you and starting 30 churches. Lord, help our faith to rise up and to help all of us in this congregation to put you on the throne of our lives.

Impress on every heart that you are still the same God, yesterday, today, and forever. Lord, if anyone is wrestling with illness, with job loss, with any other trials, help them to cry out to Jesus this morning.

For he said, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So Lord, I pray for those who need to make peace with you, our God. Please touch their heart and draw them and that they would make things right with you this morning and come to the pastor's office.

And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.