God's Call to Christian Men (Part 1)

I don't think I need to tell you men and women are very different. But those differences cause a lot of tension in marriages, in the church and in society. Our society is very confused about how to handle that tension and has come up with very bad solutions to ease it. One such solution is to deny or blur the differences. Other than our anatomical differences, they say we should consider one another as the same in every other way. Unfortunately, this has caused greater confusion. Why is there tension between the genders? Anything wrong with us or the world comes back to sin, obviously, which takes us back to Genesis. Seems like that's where every sermon starts. 

The Bible describes men and women as sharing the distinguished title of “image of God”. Both are made to rule but the roles in ruling are distinct and unique. When sin entered the scene it disrupted the natural order. Then the Lord pronounced a curse causing the differences between them to become points of contention."Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you." (Genesis 3:16) This word desire is not what we might think. God said to Cain about his anger "sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you" meaning to have its way with Cain - to lead him to commit murder! Yikes! What this meant for Adam and Eve was, from now on you will be inclined to subdue him to take control of him - he will be inclined to be tyrannical/harsh. So that's in part where the tension comes from. Its more prominent in marriage but is present in all men and women. 

What can an unbelieving culture do with this problem? It has only managed to blur the distinctions. The assumption is that distinctions are responsible for inequality.To be fair, inequality has been a problem even in western culture including in the church. But rather than correct this bad thinking culture has introduced more bad thinking. Men are to blame! The Bible has been misused! The submission of wives to husbands has been an excuse to oppress women! Feminism has been the result. The aim of feminism is to make women no different than men.  Let me explain: if the goal is to somehow be seen as no different than men then the only way is to become more like men. Ironic? I think so.

But this problem has gone the other direction too! Men are also becoming more like women! Many male pop culture icons emerging today are effeminate. I bring this up because it has affected Christian men and the church. There is a crisis today because men are not taking the lead in the home or in the church. They have become spiritually apathetic and women have picked up the slack! This has caused the problem to compound. Now men view becoming more serious about the faith as a girly thing to do. I had a Sunday School teacher years ago who used to say many men think church is for sissies and old women. I think the feminization of Jesus is why. We are not into making pictures of Jesus as Reformed Presbyterians, but have you noticed that movies, paintings and even kid's bible books all portray Jesus as a wimpy, fair skinned guy with feathered hair? This is partly due to the demasculinization of Jesus himself. 

Author Bruce Barton once said artists seem to “make our Christ with a woman's face, and add a beard.” So it understandable that some men may feel as if they have to be less manly in order to be a disciple of Christ. I want to encourage the men to consider that they might have fallen victim to this. What sort of Jesus do you guys think you have been called to follow? If you think its a sign of weakness to admit you love Jesus, I have good news: the Jesus we are being urged to follow is not the one portrayed in Hollywood or art. "Jesus was a dude..." writes Mark Driscoll. "...he was a construction worker who swung a hammer for a living Because Jesus worked in a day when there were no power tools, he likely had calluses on his hands and muscles on his frame..." The Jesus we are being urged to follow showed tremendous strength in weakness. He heroically faced the wrath of God! He conquered the world! Chuck Norris trembles at his feet! And this very same Man calls men to follow him. Men, is your view of manhood shaped by Jesus or by the culture?