A few months ago, I was stunned by the appalling difference that I saw between the leadership style of Pharaoh and the leadership style of Jesus.
As I reflected on this further, it became both more profound and more concerning. Why? It became more profound because it gave me a window into the heart, character, and humility of Jesus. Though he is God and he could have rightly demanded anything, he didn't. He served. This is God's form of leadership.
On the other hand, Pharaoh was a sinful human who had no right to demand anything or treat people the way that he did; yet, he bulldozed and harshly used people for his own purposes. Pharaoh embodied the leadership style that is seen time and again in Scripture, history, and in our present world which we can refer to as worldly leadership (which undoubtedly, at times, may have some connection to Satan as well). This became concerning to me because, at times, I'm afraid many of us, and our churches, have adopted the leadership style of Pharaoh to accomplish the work of Jesus.
Note the differences shown in the chart below. For the purposes of this article, the worldly style of leadership will be examined by looking at Pharaoh from Exodus 5-6. The godly form of leadership will be examined by looking at various aspects of the life of Jesus in the New Testament.
Leadership: God's Style vs. the World's Style
The World's Style of Leadership (Pharaoh) | God's Style of Leadership (Jesus) |
Pride (Exodus 5:2) | Humility, rather than demonic selfish ambition (Phil. 2:3-4) |
Work instead of worship (5:3-4) | Though work is considered good (since it existed before the fall) and there is a place for a proper amount of it, at times Jesus prioritizes worship and prayer over work (Luke 10:38-42) |
Doesn't allow rest, just work (5:5) | Gives rest to the burdened and weary (Matthew 11:28-30) |
Unrealistic expectations, heavy workload (5:6-14) | Consistently seen in the Gospels balancing his own workload and his workers' workloads with rest and prayer (Luke 5:16) |
Bad treatment of people (5:15-21) | Treated people well (Matthew 7:12) |
Evil (5:24) | Righteous (Romans 3:21-26) |
Lays burdens on people (6:6) | Lifts burdens off of people (Matthew 11:28-30) |
Harsh, leading to brokenness (6:9) | Not domineering or harsh, but a servant (Matthew 20:25-28; John 13:1-17) |