Welcome back to the Theology of Business podcast. I'm your host, Darren Scheer, author of The Marketplace Christian and Marketing Like Jesus. And this is a show that helps marketplace Christians to partner with God in business to transform the marketplace and make an impact in eternity. On today's episode, management or leadership, which did Jesus emphasize more? What self-respecting young person would aspire to be a manager in our culture today when office comedy movies and TV shows have portrayed managers with such contempt and ridicule? I mean, don't get me wrong, some of these shows are absolutely hilarious, but nonetheless, they definitely deprecate the reputation and the esteem of being a manager. And many of today's leadership gurus have been promoting the notion that managers don't care about the people, vision, or mission of their organizations. And they're said to only care about non-human resources and protecting their systems and processes above all else, making sure they run as smoothly as possible. Such leadership pundits would have us believe that if you want to make a real difference in the world in the lives of people, you should aspire to be a leader rather than a manager. Be a leader not a manager has become a mainstream maxim among those seeking to make an impact in the private, public, and social sectors. So, what are the consequences of our society's negative view of managers and management upon our families, businesses, government, churches? Well, here's a couple of things irresponsibility, waste, entitlement, discontentment. You know, because if I'm not in charge of people, then I'm not really doing anything that matters. Uh poverty. When people don't think of themselves as managers, they don't manage money very well, they don't manage resources very well, unfulfillment, and so much more. And now I'm not saying that we don't need to talk about both leadership and management. It's not either or, it's definitely both and. I know I am currently, yet there are only 561 search results for the phrase Christian Management Conference. I mean, management, Christian Management Conference just doesn't have the ring to it that Christian Leadership Conference does. Why is that? As a book publisher and marketer, I'll confess on a personal level that it's tempting to add the word leadership into book titles just to make them more marketable. I mean, I've I've done my fair share of that, you know, adding leadership into taglines and uh program titles and things like that. It's just a more marketable idea than management. I mean, we want to lead things, we don't want to manage things. So, why is the idea of Christian leadership hundreds of times more popular than Christian management? Why are so many eager to be great leaders while far fewer are eager to be great managers? As marketplace Christians, what's the biblical way to approach management? All right, quick. What's a parable Jesus told that was explicitly about leadership and leaders? And if you're wondering how I'm defining leader, we could just simply define a leader as one who has someone following him or her. So if you're like most of us, you're finding this question to be somewhat difficult to answer. I mean, certainly we can make some indirect connections between Jesus' parables and leadership, but the connections are not overt. Okay, so now what's a parable Jesus told that was explicitly about management and managers? And we can define a manager as one charged to be a wise and responsible steward with what he or she has been given. Now I see virtual hands going up all over the place as I say this, as I ask this question. So where should we begin? Let's just list 28. In fact, well, we don't have time to list all 28. I'll just list a couple, but I do have a list of 28 you can check out at theologyofbusiness.com. These are 28 parables of Jesus that have specifically a business, financial, andor resource management context, not so much a leadership context. Again, we could make some indirect connections, but these parables are, I mean, managers are the main characters in these parables. The parable of the talents, the parable of the minas, the wise and the foolish builders, the growing seed, the two debtors, the rich fool, the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the parable of the two sons, the parable of the unjust steward, the faithful servant, the ten virgins, the wise and the foolish ones, the hidden treasure. You know, these are all centered around managers, not so much leaders. For business managers, there is a gold mine of management wisdom in these parables. And given that managers are the main characters in nearly all of Jesus' parables, this is clearly the way in which Jesus wants us to view ourselves. So here are a few general Christ-centered management lessons from Jesus' parables that can help to restore a biblical view of management and maybe kind of elevate the idea of being a manager out of the depths that it's sunk into, as we have just run after leadership conferences and leadership books and leadership uh teachings and kind of left management in the dust, unfortunately. So, number one, Christ-centered management breaks the I'm the master mentality. In the parables of Jesus that include a master as one of the characters, God is depicted as the master, while people are depicted as the managers, servants, stewards. As managers, that's how Jesus would have us consider ourselves. As we immerse ourselves so deeply into leadership teaching and training, which I love pretty much all of it, it can be easy to allow our leadership mindset to creep into our relationship with God. When it comes to our relationship with God, we are not leaders. We are his followers and stewards, his managers of whatever and whoever he entrusts into our care. Let's not get it backward. Let's let God do the leading, we'll do the managing of what he, our leader, entrusts to us. Number two, Christ-centered management helps us focus on being faithful and effective rather than on being important and significant. The unforgiving servant in Matthew 18, verses 23 through 35, he thought he was superior to the person who owed money to him, but he failed to realize that he himself was subordinate to the master, that and that the master would not approve of his treatment of his fellow worker. So this servant, this manager was not calling the shots, the master was calling the shots in responding to his disciples concerning their desires to achieve greater status in society, Jesus said in Mark 10 43, whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. In other words, if it's leadership status you're after, in fact, uh many translations translate this word great uh as leader, but the Greek word is megas. Obviously, that we understand what mega means. It's it's big, it's important, it's significant. In other words, if it's leadership status you're after, assume an attitude of humility and subordination. Not insubordination, subordination. People who view themselves as managers, that is, subordinate to God and viewing themselves as less important than others, which is what we're taught to do in Philippians 2, 3. Consider others as more important than yourselves, Paul says. Those people who view themselves as managers will find it much easier to serve than those who think of themselves as being above other people in some sort of hierarchy. Number three, Christ-centered management increases our influence and authority. In the parable of the talents and the parable of the minas, the responsible managers were given more responsibility, while the irresponsible one had his taken away. The influence and greatness that comes from God results from being a better manager of the time, calling, gifts, mind, relationships, body, resources, and opportunities God entrusts to us. It's a byproduct rather than the objective. So the idea of I want to increase my leadership by uh just trying to get more followers is a little bit backward. It's kind of putting the cart before the horse. First of all, be faithful, be a great manager with what you already have. Maybe you don't have direct reports. Uh, maybe you don't have tens of hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, but you have some resources. Maybe they're not people, you certainly have relationships in your life that God has called you to be a steward of. You know, if you are, if you do have direct reports, you know, it's about managing the energy and the motivation of your people, managing those relationships in a God-honoring way. It's managing what God has already entrusted to you that is going to increase our influence and authority. You know, this this is the story of the parable of the talents. This is the story of the parable of the minus. You know, to you've been faithful with a few things. Now I will entrust you with many things, the master says to the faithful servants, to the faithful managers. So if we'll focus on being better managers, that is better stewards of what God has entrusted to us, people will follow us and our authority will increase. God-given influence and effective leadership are byproducts of Christ-centered management. So don't say, well, I'll I'll lead when people, when I have people who are directly reporting to me, or when I have like this huge following of people, and and all the while not managing the things that you already have today. And that really brings us to the next point. Christ-centered management means we're accountable for everything entrusted to us. So we're not just accountable for how many people are following you, how many people are reporting to you, how many people are doing your bidding, and all these kinds of images that come to mind when we think of leadership so often. But it's everything that has been entrusted to us. When we become overly focused on leading and influencing others, we can become deceived into thinking that the behind-the-scenes issues of life and business in our case don't matter. This is part of what causes business professionals to feel as though their service to God would be quote unquote more significant if they left the marketplace to enter pulpit ministry or nonprofit work. Managing money, employees, and day-to-day business operations somehow seems irrelevant to eternity, but nothing could be further from the truth. As Jesus has demonstrated through his immense amount of management teaching, everything matters to God. And we'll be held accountable for how we manage even the quote-unquote smallest things that God entrusts to us. Consider the legacy and impact of Moses. The precondition for his level of impact was responsible management over everything God had entrusted to him. Numbers 12, 6, and 7, God says, I the Lord shall make myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my household. He is faithful in all my household. So as God's people, everything God has entrusted to us in business and beyond is part of God's household. It all belongs to him. Let's be effective, Christ-centered managers of every spiritual gift, every scent, every moment, every relationship God entrusts to us. So here's discussion. You can comment at theology of business.com. Do you think our culture is elevating the idea of leadership while deprecating the idea of management? And what management lessons can we learn from the parables of Jesus? I hope you've enjoyed this episode. You can share your feedback and get more information about Christ-centered business, spiritual gifts in the marketplace, and marketing like Jesus at theologyofbusiness.com. The Theology of Business podcast is sponsored by High Bridge Books. If you're interested in publishing a book to make an impact for God's glory and the culture, head over to highbridgebooks.com forward slash course to sign up for a free three video author training course. And in this course, you'll learn how to write a great nonfiction book, how to market your book, and how to start a blog to build your platform as a thought leader. Thanks for listening and keep partnering with God in your business.