Transcript

I'll never forget: I was speaking on Christian leadership once to a civic club in Atlanta, Georgia. A member of the Georgia Legislature came up to me and said, "Mr. Butt, that was a wonderful talk." He said, "I have always wanted to be a leader, but I never made it."

Now isn't that revealing? I know what he was saying. He wanted to have some leadership he never got.

The book of Revelation in the letter to the Philadelphians says a very profound thing, "Let no man rob you of your crown" (Rev.3:11). You are a leader. You are glorified with Jesus Christ right now. You share in his ruling and reigning of the universe right now. Don't let anybody take that away from you. Assert it, be conscious of it, be rational about it, have it prioritized: Because you cannot be a priest without standing. Christ in you stands in the place of leadership that truly is yours, not in the places you lust for, but the places of leadership that are truly yours. Our priesthood means we stand. Our priesthood means we serve.

Of course, without service Christian leadership is just the same old thing. It's tyranny. It is oppression—and that is the human experience. It is the experience of oppression. But there's good news! A new leadership style is coming, and it arrived washing the disciples' feet. It is leadership that serves.

This Classic Audio is from a talk by Howard Butt, Jr., called "Celebrating our Priesthood" delivered in 1981 at Laity Lodge in Leakey, TX.

No one from the east or the west or from the desert can exalt a man. But it is God who judges: He brings one down, he exalts another.

(Ps. 75:6-7)