If this
is your first visit to this blog it might be best to read the short edition
right below this one to get some perspective. The topic at hand is how we are unwittingly driving away or
emasculating our true male heroes from the modern church. To start with I
want to clearly point out that this is not an attack or even a hint of
disrespect leveled at our “women folk.” They have historically
been the ones to carry the weight of actual church ministry and have always outnumbered
their bearded counterparts. They were the only ones to show up at the most important
grave side gathering! We are indebted to them and this is not an attack on
their contributions or their value to the church. The person of the Lord Jesus
was unique in that He perfectly represented the natural strengths found in both
sexes. My point here is that He demonstrated a
complete picture, both necessary elements for a healthy church – (1) the
caring, accepting, forgiving Nurturer, and (2) a confident, strong,
disciplining, masculine Leader.
Today, we
only have half of that combination in most of our churches. Church life has
become very emotive, feeling, and nurturing with strong emphasis on deeds over
creeds. Yes, we all know Jesus was “meek
and mild, gentle and kind,” but He also cleared the Temple, making a whip out
of cords and driving out the money changers, overturning tables, and notice, no
one stood up to Him! He called one of his best friends “the devil,” and don’t
forget the 30 years of grueling carpentry work! He did NOT look like those
Renaissance pictures of some girlie-man with long hair, frail and effeminate.
That image is not the Son of God that was beaten and bloodied, whipped and
crucified on a rugged tree, hanging for three long hours. When you compare
those classic paintings with the description of Him in Revelation 19:11-16 you
just have to scratch your head.
Have
you noticed the current move in our society to render real men impotent? Owning
guns is now considered a Neanderthal practice, hunting is viewed even worse,
and contact sports is doing all it can to lower the aggressiveness so to
eradicate any possible injury although the very nature of the activity is to
crash wildly into each other in an effort to win. The word I’m looking for here
is RISK! The
most content men alive are those that have been given a larger-than-life
challenge and the opportunity to achieve that impossibility (a definition of risk). However, when men are not
challenged at home, at work, or at church they can easily slide into taking
other “secret” risks. These can
develop into aberrant behavior and suck the very “hero-style” life out of them
leaving them disillusioned and in their wake destroyed sons, daughters, and
families.
A
key ingredient in the development of a hero is a nebulous “something”- it’s this larger than life quality that he is willing
to die for as well as live for, and it requires a large dose of risk before it
clicks. This, of course, is melded with godly fear. Without it, men go back on the shelf, living
out their “manliness” vicariously through some fictional TV character or worse,
some professional sports icon. The bottom line is without this hero mentality
they DO nothing. You may have unknowingly shelved heroes, not to mention
overlooked the supermen that are in your community, men that will never darken
the door of your church because they believe “stallions go to bars and geldings
go to church,” and you give them no reason to think otherwise!
Here
is my first observation that points the finger at how the church has
contributed to the “emasculated men syndrome.” Some of you are NOT going to
like this! Just try to critically observe the “worship” music that has become
very popular in many of our contemporary settings. This is NOT a rant on
contemporary music; however some of the lyrics are extremely feminine, speaking
of love affairs with Jesus in words that no real man would ever consider using
with another man. Just stop and read some of those lines. You need to realize
that men visualize Christ as our Commander
and Chief, our King, our Lord, and believe it or not ladies,
this is a type of male intimacy. But when almost every song is touchy, touchy,
feely, feely we are unable to sing those words with any self-respect. To us,
those words come out as forced, disingenuous, and it’s like an affront to how
He created us as men. There are plenty of contemporary songs that appeal to men
(i.e., the “Promise Keepers” litany of albums) but they are rarely used, opting
for the more “emotionally charged” songs. I’m just asking for some
consideration, a balance, more songs on His character, nature, holiness and
less on how we feel about Him.
This
phenomena in music is completely unintentional, but with men making up less
than 34 % of the average church membership, and even less of them actively
involved, it’s time for us to start contemplating what is keeping away those “mighty
men of David.” We desperately need strong, biblically-seasoned, male heroes.
This is observation number one, and there are several more to follow. Stay
tuned!
Great thoughts! Unfortunately many of our institutions (church, schools, etc) often seem like torture chambers to the males among us! This is just another example of how subtle the influence is!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Bella Michelle! Your operative word is "subtle." The same tactic the enemy has been using since the very beginning! Thanks for sharing!
DeleteAlan, you have an awsome insight into the men of the church! The guys in the church need to stand up and be MEN!
DeleteBobby D
Bobby D, you have encouraged me today. I am very grateful for you kind comment. Let's lock arms and get more men to stand up to their rightful calling and place.
Delete