Day Five: The Business of Service

Servant leaders produce a spirit of proprietorial ownership in others. To be in alignment with the Father, our goal must be to enable others to become proprietors.

This is the heart of the difference between someone who builds a business on Christian principles and someone who does not. The latter provides employment for the purpose of making himself rich; the former is satisfied only if he can produce new pro­prietors who become partners in the business and prosper in it themselves. In other words, Christian leaders are committed to making others wealthy (not rich); multiplying proprietors is the focus while profit is the by-product. This is the pattern God sets for us.

Most Christians are familiar with Christ’s saying that whoever wants to be great in the Kingdom must learn to be the servant of all. Few, however, have a biblical understanding of servant leader­ship. All too common is the notion that we must do everything for everybody, however, real servant leaders follow Christ’s example of enabling others to fulfill their own destinies in God’s plan.

Your primary job in your business is to help others discover their roles and draw out their skills so they can work more effectively. This implies an ethic for business that is ser­vant-driven rather than profit-driven. When everyone in an organization is doing what they are designed to do, they will not only be happy and fulfilled but very productive—and it is precisely this sort of business that will become profitable in the long run. We are not to seek profit as an end in itself; we are to seek to serve those with whom we work because profit is a fruit, not a goal.

In Matthew 10:39, Jesus invites us to lose our life for His sake. Seldom is this message preached in places preoccupied with popularity and growth. But it is in dying to my own agenda that I become fruitful and multiply. Growth is fueled by sacrifice.

Why are we after owners/managers versus employees? There are at least three differences between the two:

1. Employees tend to focus on their rights whereas leaders focus on their responsibilities.
2. Leaders have a “piece of the action” in some proportional way.
3. You don’t make profit on employees; at best, they help you break even. Profit is generated by people with a proprietorial spirit.

People and nations whose economic values are centered on rights rather than a sense of responsibility are destined for mediocrity and stagnation. The pain of growth is in the inner death of the leaders—their point of fellowship with Christ. Life and growth require death and sacrifice, something voluntarily shouldered by servant-hearted leaders. This is a master law of economic increase, and it is every bit as real and operable as the law of supply and demand.

Those who serve most effectively will lead. In any business or trade, in the long run, the servants will succeed. The Almighty’s business will succeed. It won’t be because God is simply more powerful than Satan but because God is a servant, and Satan is an exploiter. Even at the top, the servant always wins.

Thought of the Day: Service is the foundation of all lasting growth. Profit is a fruit not a goal.