The Biblical foundations for the Voice of the Servant’s work of Gospel evangelism and servant leadership training are many.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Spiritual Principle One
God loves every person. (John 3:16)
Spiritual Principle Two
God does not want anyone to be eternally separated from Him. (2 Peter 3:9)
Spiritual Principle Three
God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to save all people from their sin and from eternal separation from Him. (John 3:16)
Spiritual Principle Four
God, through His Holy Spirit, calls and empowers all believers in Jesus Christ to use their God given gifts and talents to advance God’s Kingdom by helping other people along their way in life and by spreading His Gospel of Salvation to every person in every part of the earth. (2 Corinthians 5:10-11; Mark 16:15-16; Galatians 6:9-10; Acts1:8)
Spiritual Principle Five
A person’s decision to accept God’s free gift of salvation and to be saved from eternal separation from God through repentance of a person’s sin and a personal expression of their belief in the resurrected Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior of their life, is the individual opportunity and responsibility of every person. (Mark 1:15; Romans10:9)
Spiritual Principle Six
God has a purpose and plan for each person’s life which He desires every person to follow; however, in order to understand God’s purpose for them, to use their gifts and talents in following God’s plan for their life, is solely dependent upon a person having faith and belief in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:10)
Spiritual Principle Seven
God is patient; however, the opportunity to understand God’s purpose for a person’s own life and to have God’s plan for the use of one’s gifts and talents in their life revealed to them, may be unnecessarily delayed, or missed altogether, because of a person’s unbelief in Jesus Christ, or because of their failure as a believer in Christ to earnestly seek The Holy Spirit’s guidance and empowerment through prayer, or because of their all consuming worldly thoughts, words and deeds. (2 Peter 3:9; Hebrews 3:19; Romans 8:28).
Spiritual Principle Eight
Unbelievers are often able to use their gifts and talents in their life and become worldly successful; however, they will be eternally lost unless they believe in The Lord Jesus Christ; and, God’s original purpose and plan for them will remain unrevealed, unfulfilled and unempowered. (Matthew 16:26; Ecclesiastes 5:19
Spiritual Principle Nine
God’s purpose and plan for the believer’s life will include blessing the believer and the believer’s use of their gifts and talents in life; however, the blessing by God may, or may not, include success as measured by the world. (Matthew 6:19-21; James 5:1-5; 1 Timothy 6:17-19; Luke 12:15; Jeremiah 29:11)
Spiritual Principle Ten
By diligently using their God given gifts of leadership and service, servant leaders help other people to find and follow God’s purpose and plan for the use of their gifts and talents in life. (2 Timothy 3:16; Romans 12:7-8)
SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATIONS
Voice of the Servant’s teaching that a servant leader must be a value-centered, strategically-driven and performance-oriented is found in the miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ feeding the multitude of 5,000. It is the only miracle, apart from the resurrection, which is present in all four Gospels: Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:5-15.
When Jesus heard John the Baptist had been killed, he withdrew by boat to a very solitary place. However, the crowds followed Jesus on foot from the towns. When Jesus and His disciples landed there was a large crowd assembled. Jesus had compassion upon them and ministered to them. As evening approached, the disciples came to Him and said, “This is a remote place, and it is already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” (Matthew 14:15)
Jesus told His disciples that the people did not need to go away and that the disciples were to give them something to eat. The disciples said they only had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Jesus asked them to bring what they had to Him. Jesus directed the people to sit down in groups of 50 and 100.
Taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish and looking up to Heaven, Jesus gave thanks and broke the loaves. He then gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples then picked up 12 baskets full of broken pieces that were left over. The number who ate were about 5,000 men, besides women and children.
Jesus again modeled His servanthood by putting the needs of the people before Himself. When He landed and saw there was a great crowd which had followed Him along the shore. He had planned to go on a retreat, but He instead placed the needs of the people ahead of His own needs.
Jesus further modeled His value-centeredness when He undertook the responsibility to feed the 5,000. He was not going to allow the people to go away hungry. It was the right thing to do.
Jesus also was strategic in how He went about feeding the 5,000. He directed the people to sit down in groups on the grass in groups of 50 and 100. The need to go about a task in an orderly fashion with a strategy in mind is clearly demonstrated by Jesus’s instruction to organize the people for the administration of the feeding.
Jesus also made sure that the result of the feeding the 5,000 was ample in terms of the performance of the miracle in that all the people ate and were satisfied. Moreover, the Gospels record that a specific measurement of 12 baskets full of broken pieces of bread and fish were collected for further use. It is clear that numbers and measurements were important in the Gospel accounts.
The Feeding of the 5,000 is, therefore, a clear example of the servant leader’s need to be value-centered, strategically-driven and performance-oriented in undertaking the leadership of people to accomplish tasks within an organizational structure.
Although based in scripture, the uniqueness of the powerful principles of servant leadership, core values, strategic thinking and performance excellence is that these performed principles can be universally applied to all organizations of people of good will.