Serve Like a Shepard, Lead as a Worshiper.
Worship (v.) – showing reverence and adoration to God.
How do you prefer to worship God? Do you prefer to do it in a corporate setting, with a full band? Do you prefer to do it in the privacy of your home? Do you tend to worship God while you’re driving or hiking or in the midst of the mundane? What does worship look like for you?
Each week, we’ve been talking about servant leadership through the Christmas story. Today, we close out this series by learning about the shepherds and how they taught us to be servant leaders through worship.
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What is one way you might more intentionally lead people through sharing your story of encountering Jesus? Like the shepherds, how will your witness be open and enthusiastic as you share?
Where might you more consciously and purposefully give God the glory and honor in your leadership roles? How might you do this internally? What about externally?
When was a time someone noticed something “holy” different about the way you live and lead? How did you respond? How might your leadership this week be more effective in pointing others to the love of God?
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I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas. This Christmas, our devotionals have been centered on the Christmas story and looking at servant leadership through various people in the Christmas story.
It’s been really fun. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. It’s been very instructive for me as well. We finished this series by looking at the shepherds. Once again, you might say, “What does that have to do with servant leadership? Ines, are you stretching?” But listen, the shepherds show us a totally different picture of what servant leadership should look like. Servant leadership is an act of worship.
The shepherds are known as being the very first to hear and witness the miraculous birth of the baby Jesus. They were told by an angel of the Lord, and it must have been like minutes after the baby was born. When they see an angel, they freak out. Apparently, angels have this effect on people. So we better be careful when we say we’d love to see an angel. Yikes! The shepherds were out in the fields, not too far from where Jesus was born in a manger.
On my recent trip to Israel, I got to visit that area. It’s just beautiful. To be right there where all of this happened and overlooking Bethlehem and imaging what it must’ve been like for them when this day came.
We’re going to look back at Luke today, in chapter 2, verses 8 through 20, So let’s read that story.
“In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.’
Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!’ When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’
They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.”
We see the angel telling the shepherds, “…good news of great joy that will be for all the people…” The good news was that the Messiah, the Lord whom the people had been waiting for for years, was born that very night. This was huge news, really.
After the proclamation, a whole multitude of heavenly hosts appeared and started singing joyfully and started praising God. They were glorifying God for bringing Jesus. This is an incredible event that changed the world forever.
When the shepherds heard this story, they said, “Let’s go.” They may have gone there just because they were curious, but I believe really what they did was an act of worship. They believed what the angel said to them to be true, and they joined the hosts in proclaiming the good news. They left their flocks behind to go see an infant.
After spending some time with Jesus, they went out and told others about him. They told him what the angel said, “Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
When we give God the honor that he is due, we’re worshipping. That’s what worship is. When we witness to others about Jesus being our Savior, we are worshipping. They are glorifying and praising God for all of the things they had seen and heard, which is just as they had been told. That’s what it says in verse 20. You may want to highlight that in your Bible because it’s such a powerful thing that as they shared their story, other people were astonished about what happened.
By this very action, they were sharing the gospel, the good news. It’s an act of worship. These shepherds were just commonly normal people, out of a field, and right where they were, they were going around towns telling people what they saw.
You have to imagine how crazy this must have sounded. An angel comes to them, a host of angels sing and proclaim that a special baby was born, they run, and sure enough, they see everything exactly as they were told.
Imagine them telling that story. They’re probably talking really fast before people would throw something at them. But they really believed it, and it showed. They were the very first people who proclaimed the good news about Jesus to others. By their enthusiasm, people were moved to believe as well. People were astonished.
You and I, as leaders, when we lead people, when we lead any organization or any team, we do it in the name of Jesus. We’re basically pointing people toward Jesus. When we serve others with a servant’s heart, trusting God and his truth, we care for others as priority the same way God cares for us.
This is why I say that servant leadership is an act of worship. We point to God since he was the servant who came to bring us joy. Any of us who are Christ-centered servant leaders are going to make decisions that are for the greatest needs of others. But the best and greatest need every person has is to meet their Savior, to have a relationship with him for eternity.
Remember, as a leader, as someone who follows Jesus, he calls us to be his witnesses. In other words, he calls us to tell others about what we have heard and seen and to make disciples, to share the good news with others so they, too, will become followers. That’s our job. This is our job in the kingdom of God—to point others to Jesus as these guys did.
Whatever it is, whatever authority you have, whatever place God has placed you in, serve him in such a way that the name of Jesus will be lifted up, that people will want to know their Savior.
What does he bring them? He brings them joy. He came to make our joy complete. That’s what Scripture tells us. He came to give us shalom, peace with God. That changes everything in our lives. The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but Jesus came to give us joy. That is good news. That’s one of the joys of being a servant leader in the kingdom of God.
By our very actions, because it’s so contrary to the way the world calls us to lead, people will be compelled to ask, “What’s behind what you do? Why do you do it this way?” It’s an act of worship when you point to Jesus because we’re saying, “He deserves all the glory, all the praise, and all the honor because he came to do what nothing else in this world could do for us, which is make our joy complete.”
Through his birth, his life, his death, and his resurrection, he brought us the joy that we could never experience on our own. I love this story. I love the story of the shepherds.
I’m so happy, honestly, that we ended this whole series with this story because the shepherds are a picture of the worship that comes when we lead as servant leaders. They didn’t know they were leading others, but they still lead us. They’re still leading us today. Isn’t that wonderful? Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the picture of worship that we see in the story of Christmas, God. Not just the shepherds, the angels, the hosts, and the people as they heard the good news. It is wonderful that we get to participate in this eternal worship service, God, by the way we serve others, and by the way we lead.
Lord, help us do that faithfully. As we finish this Christmas season, may we begin the next year with a servant heart toward all the people you put before us. May that see you above all else, and may that bring them joy and us joy and you joy. We thank you, and we praise you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
God bless you, and have a happy New Year!
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