Lions, not Lambs
David Murrow said in his book Why Men Hate Going To Church “while christian values tend to be perceived as feminine, they must be lived out in an aggressive, masculine fashion.”
Isn’t that the issue in a nutshell? The perception of christian music is “My boyfriend Jesus”. The perception of serving at church is decorating, watching children, hospital ministry all sorts of things that men are naturally not good at. The modern church appears to be feminine. It looks like the only men there are dorks to be honest. The women in church are there more often according to studies. They serve more than we do. Why? because the message of serving in our local church al; evolve around stuff that women are great at comforting, nurturing, supporting a program.
Men show up for “work days” fixing someone's house, car, or doing some yard work on the church grounds. That’s what men are good at. Goal oriented, task focus, and completion are naturally built into every man, but when it comes to day to day discipleship men aren’t engaged as much as women. My church has a prayer breakfast, wild game dinner, and a bible study like once a year. So that's roughly three hours out of a whole year that men are together to be intentional, and it's not from lack of trying from our pastor. So what’s that deal?
The deal is men like risk and reward mindsets, they enjoy adventure and competition. So why don’t we focus some discipleship towards the way men are wired? I want to believe our pastors are trying. They just need a few men to let them know we have their backs on this. Like the quote above it appears feminine, but must be lived out in a masculine way.
What does that mean?
When I read that this is what I hear, I am supposed to lean into my aggressive nature, my competitive nature, and my risk reward nature for the advancement of the kingdom.
Let us look at some biblical examples. The apostle John is now called the apostle of love. He writes about it throughout his gospel and epistles, but he did not start that way. He started hot headed. John and his brother were called the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). They wanted to call down fire from heaven because some folks were being mean. If that’s not hot headed I don't know what is. By the end of John's life he was known for his love of others and love of Christ, but he was also so aggressive in his approach to making disciples.
The same goes for Peter, Andrew, James, and the others. These were all tough men, fishermen, farmers, outdoorsmen who preached a message from Jesus. Yes jesus’ message is of love, but in order to spread his message he chose a group of men who were not religious scholars, or well educated. He chose a group of men He knew could be teachable and change, but also could stand strong in conflict and risk.
In that way I believe we are like the apostles. They were just normal men until they all met Jesus. If you’re reading this I pray that you've met Jesus. If you haven’t stop and reach out to us or someone. Jesus showed them how to serve and serve aggressively.
Why can’t our men today stand up and be aggressive with our learning of the gospel?
Why can’t our men be aggressive in our outreach?
Spreading the gospel is a perfect opportunity for us to lean into mens natural attributes. Men love a challenge, so, make it a challenge. Go out into the public square and take a risk. If you get stumped by questions, GOOD it gives you something to study so you can try again. If you’re scared, be honest with a group about why and go do it anyway. Men doing something you don’t want to do with a group of men is a lot easier than doing it with or around women. Men don’t like to look dumb in front of women. Get a group of men to study together and go out to put it into action together.
These apostles and early church fathers were lions, not lambs. They were men who risked everything in service to God. They willingly taught the word of The Lord to everyone they met with courage that embodies Roman 1:16. They were totally unashamed of the gospel of Christ. Maybe that’s the problem men are ashamed of the Church today because the modern man is weak, overly humble, and above all else he is nice. He lets others run over him and doesn’t have the spine to truly protect and provide for a family. Maybe that's why? Don’t you think it's time to change that perspective? I do!
At Fort Iron Ministries that is what we’re hoping to do. Change the regular church going man from lamb meek and mild into lion strong and powerful. That's exactly what our local churches need. That is what our country needs. It is what the world needs. Men of God stand in their faith and not only fight for one thing or another, but fight for everything. Every single fight that needs to be fought we should have christian men everywhere standing in their faith ready with a defense of the gospel or ready with a biblical approach to solving the issue.
1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your Labor is not in vain.
The problem is we have too many lambs who want to sit in the pew to get fed, and get led around. Be a lion go on the hunt, find your food, be aggressive in the good fight so you will hear Well done my good and faithful servant
Be a Lion!