Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
- Philippians 2.6-7
The psychologists tell us that a person can view power in a couple of ways: as freedom, or as responsibility. When those two roads diverge, one must choose a path, and that choice makes all the difference. View power as personal freedom, and you are on the trail to tyranny. View it as a responsibility to care for others, and become a source of life.
In his famous and culture-forming book Servant Leadership, Robert K. Greenleaf coopted Christ to his cause and it has since been a commonplace to refer to Jesus as a "servant-leader." I disagree: When service becomes an adjective dressed in the livery of leadership it sacrifices its essential character and prostitutes itself as one more means to the true end. Jesus wasn't a servant-leader; Jesus was a servant. He did not serve to gain power; he used whatever power he had in order to serve.
Studies reveal several important facets of service as the proper expression of power. Jesus hits all the markers.
For instance, pondering the proper use of power makes one more likely to use it well. That is why Paul admonishes us to "let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus," then steers our meditations directly to the cross. Jesus did not go to Calvary despite his status as God but because of it. The cross is not something God allowed; the cross shows us who God is.
Another for-instance: A boss who abandons the corner office to hang out with subordinates grows more responsible and more responsive. Jesus was born in human likeness. As Eugene Peterson phrases it in one of the shining glories of The Message: The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. (John 1.14) If a heavenly detective squad ever dusts the glorified Christ for fingerprints, they'll find ours all over him. (1 John 1.1)
To take yet another example, identifying with followers makes leaders more compassionate. Jesus did not come to earth in disguise, as God dressed in a man-suit, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. In Greek, the word form is the same as one Paul uses in to describe Jesus as possessing the form of God. This is incarnation, not impersonation. Jesus did not keep one foot firmly planted in glory but emptied himself of all divine privilege. He rebuked sin as one who battled sin, one who went mano-a-humano with Satan in the trans-Jordanian wilderness and was at all points tempted, the King James Version's happy rendering of the Greek perfect tense: well and truly tempted in every possible way.
One last note: Leaders abandon responsibility and fall back on freedom when someone threatens their power. But Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross. In Gethsemane he refused to sign the executive order that would have called in an angelic airstrike to execute a scorched-earth policy against the earthly usurpers of divine prerogative. (Mt 26.53) Jesus remained a servant when people threatened his power because he had no power for them to threaten: He'd already laid it down.
Servant-leadership is a manmade masquerade; service is a divine mandate. Jesus did not come as an undercover boss; he came as a slave with nowhere to take cover. Let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.
For more information on this topic, see When Power Makes Leaders More Sensitive.
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