Written in Heaven

Mark Driscoll is a church planter in Seattle, and he describes the leadership of Jesus in three ways: Jesus the Prophet, Jesus the King, and Jesus the Priest.

When I hear the work King, I think of, well, basically the Burger King King. I think of an old wise looking man who is decked out in the latest fashions of the 1500’s who sits on the gold throne waiting for someone to refill his goblet. This is not an accurate depiction of Jesus the King. Jesus the King is a king of details. When we talk about Jesus being king, it often means that he is king of our lives. It means he sits on the throne of our hearts and controls everything about us, all the details of our lives. This is important. Anyone who has Jesus on the throne of their lives vs. just simply following Jesus knows there is a huge, important distinction between the two.

So what does it look like for us to be kings? We have no authority to sit on the throne of anyone’s life, nor should we attempt to do so. What a leadership ‘king’ does is to figure out the details. People who are natural ‘kings’ are people my generation would describe as ‘anal retentive.’ These are people who are obsessed with systems, policies, and procedures all in the name of effective, efficient organization. I’m all for that, in fact I’ve got some king in me naturally. For any leadership position to function effectively, we all have to either be kings to some degree or surround ourselves with kings. In small groups, this means putting the ‘kings’ of your group in the role of Food Coordinator or Get off the Couch Week Coordinator. These people rock at organizing that kind of stuff. This also means tracking attendance (by name, not simply number) to your church or group and knowing who you need to follow up with. These are just some examples, but you get the gist.

Though the details aren’t always the most fun aspect of leadership, they are a crucial aspect – in fact, one Jesus cared about deeply.