On more occasions than I can count, I have heard positive comments about my empowering approach to running a church. I've had more than a few of our recent hires come to me and say something like, "Robert, this is the most empowering place I've ever worked. Thank you for creating an environment where we're free to use our gifts to the fullest."

I'm always both blessed and humbled by these comments. But I'm mostly just grateful. I appreciate hearing that I'm viewed as a leader who empowers those around me. And that is certainly something I have learned to value over the years. But to be honest, I think in the early years I just stumbled into being an empowering leader because, in my naiveté, it didn't occur to me to approach things any other way.

In other words, allowing others to grow and flourish and shine seemed to come naturally to me. It wasn't my natural instinct to feel threatened by the gifts or successes of the people working under my leadership.

When I've been asked about this aspect of my leadership style in the past, I've never been able to give a solid, spiritual, biblical explanation as to why I tend to approach things this way. And since I haven't been able to offer an explanation, it has been difficult for me to help other leaders to whom this empowering approach doesn't come as naturally.

All that changed recently when, after more than 30 years in ministry and intensive Bible study, I saw something in the Word I'd never noticed before. It was something that reveals both the key to being an empowering leader and the reason I had managed to stumble into it.

Not surprisingly, the truth was hiding in plain sight in John's account of the final hours of the most empowering leader to ever walk the face of the Earth. Now, I have read the 13th chapter of John with its description of the Last Supper countless times. I have been there at the table with Peter, James, John, Judas and the rest so many times that I'm always a little surprised not to see my face in da Vinci's famous painting.

I suspect you're as familiar with that scene as I am. If so, you know that Jesus began that extraordinary evening by washing the disciples' feet. What I had never noticed until just recently is the Bible's commentary about what prompted that act of service and humility. Right there in the opening verses of the chapter is an insight into Jesus' frame of mind and state of heart:

"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded" (John 13:3–5, emphasis added).

Why had I never noticed the first part of verse 3 before? Here is the explanation for the stunning fact that the King of Glory, the Incarnate Word who existed before time itself, bowed down before mere men and washed the filth from their feet. Here was the solution to the mind-blowing mystery of how the Creator could serve the creation.

Jesus could serve and delegate authority with confidence because He knew three things:

1) Jesus knew where power comes from. Note that John 13:3 says Jesus knew "that the Father had given all things into His hands." In the typical wealthy household of Jesus' day, the designated foot washer was the lowest-ranking servant. When you saw the servant whose job it was to wash feet, you could be confident you were looking at the guy who aspired to getting promoted to shoveling out the barn.

Only people who are secure in who they are and in what they have are fully free to choose the role of the servant. Only people who know beyond all doubt that they have God's approval can cast aside the bondage of seeking people's approval. Only those who are at peace knowing that it is God who has given them what they have and that no mortal can take it away from them are fully free to give away what they have.

This truth reveals the reason a leader will tenaciously cling to authority, influence and position. It's because in his heart of hearts he's not sure that "God has given all things into his hands." He's operating from the deception that he obtained his authority through his own hard work, striving and cleverness. And since he thinks he attained it by his own strength, he assumes he must hang onto it the same way.

Another leader may operate from a deep root of insecurity. He may secretly believe that someone more gifted, more charismatic, or more educated may come along at any moment and take what is his. He secretly believes that at any moment the affection and esteem of others, the prestige he enjoys, and the influence he wields may be siphoned away by another. So he maintains a white-knuckle grip on what he has. He dares not allow anyone he leads to fly too high or shine too brightly.

This house of fear and insecurity is built upon a false foundation. The key to being an empowering leader is simply knowing where power comes from:

"For exaltation [promotion] comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another" (Psalm 75:6–7).

When some of John the Baptist's disciples started getting alarmed about Jesus' growing fame and following, John shut them down quickly, asserting the fact that "a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven" (John 3:27).

John knew where power comes from. He recognized that whatever we have is on loan from God and that whatever we are given is to be held with an open hand before Him.

This revelation helped me understand why empowering others has seemed to come a little more naturally for me than for others. It is because I learned early on in my Christian walk to hold what God has given me with an open hand. I learned it first with money. Later I learned it extended to everything else in my life—including my positon and authority.

Don't get me wrong. There are countless aspects of the Christian life and spiritual leadership that took God years to get through my thick skull. But this one thing was a miraculous work God did in my heart very early in my Christian walk. And that work was deep, comprehensive and profound. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. Once God has led you to give away numerous cars, a house, and, on more than one occasion, your entire life savings—and in each case you've seen God unfailingly restore and bless you abundantly in response—trusting Him as you give away your ministry comes much easier.

This stems from and fosters an abundance mentality. It's the quiet confidence that God has plenty, and that if He asks you to give away what you have, He is faithful and just to restore you. You know there's much more where that came from.

The opposite is a scarcity mentality. It is the false belief that any resource—money, love, esteem, influence or opportunity—is limited. This paradigm also assumes that power comes from a place other than God—from ourselves, from random chance, from a system, or from denominational headquarters. If in your heart you believe these things, you will not hold what you've been given with an open hand.

Sadly, many pastors and leaders are operating with a scarcity mind-set. They can't bring themselves to openly share authority, credit or rewards, because they aren't convinced there is plenty to go around. In other words, they don't know where power comes from.

On more than one occasion I've been surprised to observe a pastor who will readily and confidently teach the principle of sowing and reaping when it comes to finances—that is, God is faithful to bless you with more when you give with a right heart—and yet that same pastor is too fearful to give power and authority away because he doesn't trust God to bless him with more.

2) Jesus knew where He came from. Jesus served His followers and gave them authority because He knew "the Father had given all things into His hands." But as John 13:3 says, that's not all He knew. Look at that verse again: "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God."

Jesus knew that He had come from God. You're probably, thinking, "Well, of course Jesus came from God. He was His only begotten Son." Yes, but you and I come from God too if we have been born again. We were lost and dead in our sins, but in Christ we have been born of God.

"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves Him who is begotten of Him" (1 John 5:1).

I know where I came from. Knowing this makes all the difference in the world for me as a leader. Remembering how lost, wretched, clueless and self-destructive I was without Christ—and how forgiven, whole, accepted and empowered I am in Christ—helps me stay in thankful dependence upon Him. And it gives me the confidence to serve others, because only He could redeem a mess like me.

As leaders, it's vital that we know where we came from. It guards our footsteps from stumbling through pride, and it prevents us from presuming that we can do anything under our own power.

3) Jesus knew where He was going. Jesus stripped to the waist and bowed down before his followers to serve them like a slave because He knew He "was going to God." In other words, He had a clear, compelling vision of His future and the rewards that He would enjoy there.

If a clear and compelling vision of future joy was necessary for the Son of God to fulfill His mission as a leader, how much more vital is it for you and me? We have to know where we're going and that where we're going is good. 

Adapted from The Blessed Church: The Simple Secrets to Growing the Church You Love by Robert Morris by permission of WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Robert Morris is the founding senior pastor of Gateway Church, a multi-campus church in Dallas-Fort Worth. He is the author of nearly a dozen books, including the best-selling The Blessed Life and The God I Never Knew.

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