Whatever Happened to Godly Men?

 

Whatever Happened to Godly Men?

The gospel of Luke presents Jesus as a man.  In laying out the case for His humanity, we come across Luke 2:52.

               “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”

In other words, Jesus became a man.  He moved from childhood to adulthood.  He grew up physically and mentally.  This is an important verse because we know that He was preparing for 3 years of service to His heavenly Father which ended with His physical torture and death on the cross.  For the sins of the world, He needed to grow up! 

Each of us has gone through, or will go through, this same process of growing up.  If you are reading this, it is safe to assume you have already gone through the transformation from childhood to adulthood.  Some of us are old men, others are middle aged, and still others are young men.  As we survey the current state of the world in which we live, a reality check tells us, we need men!  Not just biological males with he/him pronouns and not men like Demas, who love this present world (II Timothy 4:10) .  We need men of God who follow after, pursue, and chase after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness (power under control).  Men who, “fight the good fight of faith” and who live the eternal life of which they are in possession (I Timothy 6:11 – 12) 

With the need of the hour before us, one must ask, where have all the men of God gone?  Many churches are devoid of men…not just men of God, but men period.  Of the men that are attending, many are ungodly hypocrites dragged to church by their godly wives.  Still other men in churches are simply unwilling to stand.  Far too many men are embroiled in one immoral sin or another.  Sadly, many of these men, in all these categories, are fathers who are so self-absorbed they fail to realize the impact their godlessness is having on their sons and the other young men in the church who are desperate and hungry for a godly man to emulate.  If you are a godly man, I pray you realize the impact you have on the young men in your family and in your church.  They are watching you.

If you are a godly man, young or old, I also want you to realize you are NOT alone!  There are others, just like you!  I Kings 18 regales the historical account of the showdown between Elijah and the prophets of Baal.  Elijah was greatly outnumbered, and the prophets of Baal had home court advantage.  Mt. Carmel was the supposed dwelling place of Baal.  After God uses Elijah in a mighty way, the following chapter records Elijah in a low moment.  In his despair, the Lord lets him know there are 7000 men like him, who have not bent the knee to Baal.  That is good news and bad.  It is good news because Elijah is not alone, but at the same time, that is bad news because Israel, at that time in their history, numbered in the millions.  The supermajority of men in Israel were Baal worshippers!  Thankfully, we know from Scripture that God does not need large numbers of men, just faithful men.  And, just as Elijah was not alone, neither are you.

So, how do we move from our perch on the wire of complacency and inactivity into a place of faithfulness?  I always find truth and history to be inspiring and motivating and I believe God’s Word agrees.  Hebrews 12:1 talks of the “Heroes of the Faith” (The theme of our Family Bible School this summer.) and says, “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”.

Let’s start with truth.  Romans 8:35 asks a very pertinent question that we, as believers, must know the answer to, if we are to walk faithfully.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword?”  The answer comes two verses later in verse 37 with a resounding NOTHING!  “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”  You and I are super conquerors through Him!  That is the absolute truth!  Anyone who has trusted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for their salvation is more than a conqueror through Christ!  Ephesians 3:20 furthers this truth by emphasizing that God is able and that we have His power working in us.  Sometimes, however, we do not feel like a conqueror, and sometimes we don’t feel able.  We live in a culture that thrives on feelings, and sadly we often make decisions based on how we feel rather than what is true.  II Timothy 1:9 tells us that God has called all who are saved to serve Him.  His wisdom should trump our feelings.

Now for some history to inspire and hopefully motivate us.  Judges 6 opens with a telling statement of the condition of the people of Israel.  Scripture records that they did evil.  At other times in the nation’s history, Scripture simply says they did that which was right in their own eyes.  While doing what is right in their own eyes was bad enough, I believe doing evil was the next level.  Because of their evil doing, the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Midianites for 7 years.  Verses 3 through 6 records in brief detail the events of those 7 years.  Israel hid in the dens, caves, and strong holds of the mountains while the Midianite masses overran their promised land and pillaged and plundered everything without resistance.  Things become so dire that verse 7 tells us they finally cry out to the Lord.  Up until that moment, they were faithfully worshipping the gods of the Amorites (vs 10).  Where were the men?

In Judges 6:11, we find a young man named Gideon hiding from the Midianites in a winepress.  Just like all the other men in Israel’s culture, he was hiding.  He was a coward.  He was NOT leading.  The church today is filled with Judges 6:11 Gideons.  Men who keep their heads down and their mouths shut as the culture overruns their position.  They don’t lead in their marriage, home, church, or community.  But God was calling Gideon for His purpose.  God was calling Gideon to lead!

I find it fascinating, in Judges 6:12, before Gideon has done anything, that the angel of the Lord (preincarnate Christ) calls the coward in the winepress a “mighty man of valour”.  Gideon was called a mighty man of valor, not because of anything he had done, but because the Lord was with Gideon.  You and I are “more than conquerors” who cannot be separated from the love of God according to Romans 8:37, 39.  That label, placed on us, is not because of anything we have done, or will do.  It is a label given us, solely based upon what Christ has done. 

Judges 6:13 – 24 tells of the many excuses Gideon throws out to counter God’s wisdom in picking him to be a mighty man of valor.  It sounds a lot like Moses and his many excuses when God called him to lead Israel.  By contrast, the apostle Paul understood when he was weak that he was strong (II Corinthians 12:6 – 10) How did Paul know this truth?  His faith had been tested and proved many times by the time he was inspired of God to pen those words.  Paul, through experience had shifted from dependence on himself to complete dependence upon God.  Young Gideon had yet to learn dependence on God.  He was about to.              

At this time in Gideon’s life, he was living in a family and city of Baal worshippers, (Judges 6:25 – 32) and the Lord, who was with him, was about to call him to “clean house”.  Gideon obeys that very night.  He takes 10 servants (11 men in a nation of millions) smashes the alter, cuts down the grove, builds an alter to the Lord, and offers a burnt offering to the Lord with his fathers young bullock and the wood from the grove.  God used one faithful man to desecrate and destroy their idol worshipping strong hold.  One…faithful…man!

There is a noticeable pattern in Scripture that we see from time to time.  Gideon was faithful in the small things, and so God used him in more ways and to do greater things.  The Apostle Paul’s journeys, as recorded in the book of Acts, subsequently grew in length.  The maps in your Bible bear this out. You and I need to be faithful in whatever God sets before us, and allow God to use us however he sees fit.  Often, those first steps of faith take place in our marriage, our home, or our church.

Not long after Gideon destroys the grove, the annual Midianite invasion begins (Judges 6:33 – 35).  However, after seven long years of keeping their heads down and being overrun, Gideon blows the trumpet ( a call to battle), and men respond.  They respond because of the faithfulness of one man.  They respond because they are personally affected by his example.  Thirty-two thousand men show up because of the faithfulness of one. 

This historical event ends with a resounding victory.  The irony in Gideon’s story is that it begins with cowardice at a winepress, and ends with godly victory…at a winepress.  The surroundings are the same, but faithfulness breaks the cycle, and produces a vastly different result.

Sometimes we wonder, “What can one man do?”.  We think, “Does what I am doing really matter?  Am I making a difference?”  What I do know, is that one man doing nothing will accomplish nothing.  Ungodly, faithless, self-absorbed men will be just like every other ungodly, faithless, self-absorbed man.  In stark contrast, one faithful obedient man can and will rally others to the spiritual battle.

Let me leave you with one parting thought.  Judges 8:10 gives us the odds of the battle in which Gideon led the men to a godly victory.  The Midianites numbered 135,000 of which 15,000 survived.  In contrast, Gideon’s army of torch bearing, sword wielding men was winnowed down to 300, of which all survived (Judges 8:4).  Those were 45 to 1 odds, but the underdogs were on the Lord’s side.  The truth is, God could have achieved the same victory with even less men.  Deuteronomy 32:30 is part of the song of Moses and says,

“How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?”  

    According to the song of Moses, Gideon needed only 27 men, but God gave him 300.  We live in an age where mega churches are viewed as the pinnacle of spiritual achievement.  Pastors are celebrities.  Servant leadership is a thing of the past.  The popular sentiment is, “the bigger the footprint in the community the better”.  Books are written to assist churches on how to become the next mega church.  More people and more money must mean God is blessing.  God didn’t need an army!  He needed an excuse wielding coward of a man to simply trust Him!  With that one man, He ended Baal worship in Gideon’s family.  With that one man, He ended Baal worship in Gideon’s home town.  With that one man, He defeated a culturally powerful, marauding army.  With that one man, He brought peace to Israel for 40 years. 

Whatever happened to godly men?  Who among us will be Gideon?  Who will faithfully be the man of God He has called us to be?

But thou, o man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

                                                                           II Timothy 6:11 - 12

A portion of this article was first published in the summer 2023 Truth Aflame, a free publication of Bible Doctrines to Live By.

Why Good Men Do Nothing Part I

 

                18^th Century Irish Philosopher and statesmen Edmund Burke is credited with the familiar quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  While we cannot find the exact quote in his writings, we can find a similar statement in his 1770 work entitled, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent.  It is interesting that in 1770 when Edmund Burke penned that writing, the cause of discontent was linked to good men doing nothing, especially in light of all we know was taking place around the world at that time.   There truly is “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). 

               We must ask why!  Why do seemingly good men choose to not join the “fellowship of the doers”?  Why do good men willingly choose passivity?   Scripture challenges us on this topic in two ways.  First, God’s Word gives testimonies of men who were doers.  James 1:22 directly states, 

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

While James 1:1 is clear that this letter was written to “the twelve tribes scattered abroad”, we cannot deny that the call to active obedience is a parallel truth for us today (Philippians 3:13 – 15).  Scripture does refer to us as servants and saints.  I cannot imagine how a servant or saint serves without doing. 

               The second way Scripture tackles this issue is in also addressing the many reasons why we, as men, choose to shrink back into passivity.  While there are many reasons why passivity is so popular among men, let’s look at only one.

               Proverbs 21:17 begins with 4 words, “He that loveth pleasure”.  Herein lies one of the most insidious attacks of Satan on mankind.  We are passive in things that matter because we are active in things that don’t!  Neil Postman once wrote a book entitled Amusing Ourselves to Death; a great book that well summarizes our current society.  As Christian men, we should stand out from the society.  Sadly, far too often, rather than standing out from the society, we are standing knee deep in it!  It is impossible to obey Galatians 5:1 and, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, when our boots are stuck fast in the muck of this world.

               While I disagree with Matt Walsh’s theology on many fronts, he was right in his book Church of Cowards when he described the church today as being lulled to sleep by having our pillows fluffed to keep us comfortable.  As the spiritual war rages around us, we rest comfortably, oblivious that our marriages, homes, churches, and societies are being laid waste.

               I will not deny that the world, and all its pleasures, does have a way of enticing us.  King David, a man after God’s own heart, fell prey to passivity and pleasure.  You may be familiar with David’s affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, but II Samuel 11:1 gives the full story.

And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah.  But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

David should have been leading his men and his nation in doing what God had called him to do, but instead he chose passivity and pleasure that led to his own failure.  Note that his choice had consequences that he could not have foreseen.  Those consequences went far beyond his own personal life.  When we choose passivity and pleasure, our choices will not just affect us.

               The Apostle Paul in II Timothy 4:7 says he kept the faith, but in Romans 7:19 he admits to the inward struggle with sin.  He says, “For the good that I would I do not:  but the evil which I would not, that I do.”  In II Timothy 4:10 he points out that Demas left him and cites the cause of his departure as, “having loved this present world”.  Far too often man willingly chooses passivity for pleasure.  We choose passivity because we love this present world. 

               Is there anything in this present world that you love?  Is there anything that keeps you from living and leading as God desires and commands in this life?  Are you passive in the things that matter because you are active in the things that don’t?

The Fellowship of the Doers

 

               What is the greatest danger you think you face today?  Is it death, war, a car accident, failing a class, getting fired, getting bullied, a heart attack, a stroke, sickness, divorce, murder, prison, police, mom, dad, or forgetting something?  What if I said the greatest danger you face today or any day the rest of your life is passivity?  The greatest danger you will ever face is doing nothing when something needs done or saying nothing when something need said! 

               A 1620’s dictionary defined passivity as suffering without resistance.  Some will read this and question, “Aren’t we called to suffer?”  (Philippians 1:29) Others will read this and the words of Isaiah 53:7 will come to mind, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”  The “Christian mantra” championing man’s default position of passivity is defended with verses like this one.  However, that verse is describing a moment in Christ’s earthly life that was anything but passive.  Christ was actively doing what needed to be done so that the world might be saved.  Throughout His earthly life he was anything but passive.  He overturned the money changers in the Temple and threw out the merchants…twice!  In John 7:30, he evades capture in the Temple.    Peter is no different.  In Acts 5 he is arrested and imprisoned.  Upon his miraculous escape, he is found back in the Temple teaching again.  He could have easily disappeared into the woodwork of history and suffered without resistance, but as a man, he understood that something needed to be said, and there was work to be done.   Paul would flee over the wall in a basket to escape capture, only to show up in the next town and start preaching again.  His own friends kept him from returning to the arena to address the crowd for his own protection.   

               Proverbs 18:9 summarizes well the life of a passive man.  The proverb says, “He also that is slothful in his work (passive) is brother to him that is a great waster.”  Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”    We are built for good works!  For you and me, passivity is wasting our lives.  Among Christian men, there is no room for passivity.

               In June of 1917, Theodore Roosevelt wrote, “I am a man of action, and the president (Woodrow Wilson) has refused to let me take part in this great contest as a man of action.”  Wilson had refused Roosevelt’s offer to recruit men for the Great War.  When Roosevelt penned those words, he was 58 years old.  He would die in his sleep 18 months later.  To the end, he was that man of action.  His simple description of his life was accurate.  He had been Governor of New York, Vice President and President of the United States, explored the Amazon River, ranched in the Dakotas, spent time in Africa on Safari, attended Harvard, and was an active reader attempting to read one book each day.  This is just a small part of his active life and does not even account for his time in the military and his many exploits there.  While we may disagree with his political views, we cannot deny that he was a man of action.

               Being a man of action began at a pivotal point in his life.  He realized he needed to make a change because of an experience he endured.  A decision that would forever change the course of his life.  He would write in his journal that he was joining, “the fellowship of the doers”.  His own bad experience at 13 forced him to realize that his own passivity was contributing to his problem. 

               Regardless of your age, in the time you have left on this earth, choose action and reject passivity fully.  Passivity is the very antithesis of action.  Passivity in the life of a man of God is missing the mark.  It…is…sin!  There…I said it!  Passivity is sin!  Dietric Bonhoeffer is credited with the following quote.

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.  God will not hold us guiltless.  Not to speak is to speak.  Not to act is to act.

               I Timothy 6:12 tells us to fight the good fight of faith.  The Greek word for fight is the word from which we get agonize.  When was the last time you were so engaged in the spiritual life as a man of God that it was agonizing?  When was the last time it was agonizing and you realized that was exactly what God had called you to?  That verse continues by commanding us to lay hold on eternal life.  Abandon passivity and grip tightly this life we have in Christ.  Not because we might lose our eternal life, but because it has gripped us!

               Let us be a fellowship of the doers! 

God's Scoundrels

 

God’s Scoundrels

               Margi Preus is an author of historical fiction chapter books for youth.  My family has read several of her books through the years.  One of our favorites is, Shadow on the Mountain.  It is a story of teens in the resistance movement in Norway during World War II and follows the events of one young man throughout Nazi occupation of that country.  His true story is recounted at the end of the book with pictures.  A few years ago, she wrote another book entitled, Village of Scoundrels about French teens in World War II who served as conductors, escorting Jews from Nazi persecution in France, through the mountains, to freedom in Switzerland. 

               As the story unfolded, we cheered for these young people and worried for their safety as they sought to outwit the ever-lurking officer and soldiers on their trail.  The constable chasing them called them scoundrels.  In the process, we also learned that it takes knowledge to guide others.  The more you know, the better equipped you are to lead and guide.  It also requires willingness.  The teens in that book had to face down their fears and go into the mountain passes anyway, despite their fears.  Those young people exhibited physical and mental stamina to do what they did.   There were times when it would have been far easier to bow out and run away from the need before them, but they saw a cause greater than themselves.  Because of their mental and physical stamina, they exhibited boldness in the face of danger.  They also had to have some confidence that they were able to do what needed to be done. 

               Humility was the last characteristic we learned was a requirement to lead.  In life, nobody likes the “know it all”.  The problem with that person is not what they know.  It is not even what they don’t know, but they think they know.  The core problem with the “know it all” is pride.  Pride bars the door of learning.  When pride enters, learning is arrested.  That is the message of Proverbs 16:18.

Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

               Pride keeps us, as men, from learning.  Learning is what will keep us from the pitfall that has the potential to destroy us, or that could bring us down to ruin.  No man is exempt from this promise.  We are all, young and old, capable at any moment of being ensnared by pride.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

                                                                                                                        I Corinthians 10:12

               The danger of pride is that it blinds us to the fact that we are prideful.  Sometimes it takes the fall, or the pit, to open our eyes to our own arrogance.  The fall, and the hard stop at the bottom, hopefully jar us back to reality.  Maybe then, we’ll realize we might not have fallen had we not placed ourselves on a pedestal.    

               If we have any desire to be guided or guide others, we must begin in humility.  In Proverbs 8, wisdom is personified.  She (wisdom) is calling out to men everywhere our paths take us          (Proverbs 8:1 – 4).  She wants the simple and fools to understand her (wisdom).  She speaks of excellent things, right things, truth, and righteousness.  She is compared to silver, gold, and rubies and found to be better.  In fact, in verse 18, it says durable or valuable riches are with her (wisdom).  In today’s inflationary financial market, shouldn’t we desire something of real value instead of building our, “empires of dirt” as the great “theologian” Johnny Cash once sang. 

               In the middle of Proverbs 8, verse 13 tells us that if we fear the Lord, we will hate evil.  The verse then goes on to mention what is considered evil.  The top two items on the list are pride and arrogance.  If I were making the list of what is evil, pride and arrogance might make the list, but probably wouldn’t top my list.  However, they hold the top spots on God’s list, and we must ask why.

God understands that pride and arrogance keep us from Him and the wisdom of His Word.  Understand, you and I will never guide anyone well, unless we are first guided by God through His Holy Spirit through His Word.  For God to be our guide, we must first allow Him to root out any pride and arrogance in our lives.

Will you humbly submit and allow God to guide you and equip you to lead others?  Will you allow God to mold you into the “scoundrel” God has called you to be?

Why Guide Service?

 Why Guide Service?

We live in a culture where everyone is a victim.  At least that's what we are taught from a very early age. Because we are indoctrinated with this idea from childhood, sometimes we don't even realize that we are "playing the victim card".  We act as the victim individually and collectively.  As children and parents, we blame the other players on the team if we lose, rather than owning the fact that I, or my child could have done more, prepared more, trained more, or given more.  This translates into adulthood where we blame coworkers or team members for whatever has occurred that needs blame shifted.  “It is not my fault, I’m just a victim of circumstance.”  This thinking has found its way into the church as well.  When people aren’t coming to church, we blame the culture.  When the church doesn’t have an impact, we blame the culture.       

Compounding this problem is another all-too-common issue that is also instilled in us through the culture from an early age.  The problem is success.  Yes, success is a problem to the believer and the church.  How can success be a problem?  Doesn’t God want us to succeed?  Won’t success as men allow us to fund ministries that would otherwise fail?  These are all fair questions.  However, what if, once again, we are guilty of looking at and defining success through the lens of culture?  What if, once again, we are found looking through the lens that culture has embedded in us rather than through the lens of God’s Word? 

Let me prove my point.  Michelangelo, the famous sculptor and painter said, “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our work.”  When you read those words, what do you hear?  I promise you, most, if not all, hear and internalize those words from a cultural point of view.  We see it, knowingly or unknowingly, through eyes covered in a cultural lens.  We think of goals set in our lives.  Maybe our minds focus on working harder and achieving more.  We think of the need to graduate or get that next degree.  We think of getting a better job with better pay to purchase a bigger house and more things.  We think of getting a raise or a promotion.  We think of making our first million by age ___.  Maybe we think outside the job/career box, and we think of personal goals.  “This year I want to get a ____.”  “This year I am going to ____.”    We either achieve our goals (success) or blame some circumstance out of our immediate control as the reason we didn’t (victim).  Through it all, we fail to define success according to the Word of God.

What happens when these two problems collide and coalesce in the local church?  What would that look like?  What evidence would we expect to see in the late stages of this cancer?  We do not have to wonder.  II Timothy 3:1 -5 tells us what it will look like when these cancers metastasize.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

According to the Apostle Paul, in his second letter to Timothy, when cultural success and victim mentality join forces, the church will become a dangerous place.  Men will be lovers of themselves and of pleasure more than lovers of God (success).  At the same time they will lay the blame for the problems of the church at the feet of the culture, or by despising those that are good (victim).  Imagine that.  The church is dangerous because of internal problems.  We want to sit and point fingers at all the problems in the world which have existed since time immemorial because it is easier to be a victim than to man up and realize the church is on a collision course of its own making! 

WE, as men, have a choice to make.  WE can allow the church to continue its present course toward the iceberg, all the while encouraging the band to play louder, or WE can own the fact that WE are the problem II Timothy 3:1 – 5 is describing.  WE can choose to stop playing the victim and take ownership of OUR choices.   WE can choose to see God’s definition of success as far superior to the cultural definition under which WE have been living and order OUR steps accordingly!

Guide Service exists to equip men to lead by standing firm and pushing back.  It will require more than just knowing sound doctrine. It will also require being guided by and living sound doctrine!  Together, we will look at what godly leadership and ungodly leadership look like.  Together, we will learn to know the difference.  Together, we will learn to have Biblical understanding of the times.  Together, we will learn how to study our Bible and renew our minds (Romans 12:1 – 2).  If the church is headed down the path of II Timothy 3, then it is up to godly men to challenge the church’s cultural norms.  If our families are in disarray, it is up to us to challenge our families’ cultural norms.  If we are not leading our homes as God intended, then we must challenge that cultural norm as well. 

 Joshua 24:15 ends with Joshua's words to the men in his time and his Jewish culture, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  It does not matter what the world is doing.  It does not matter what the church is doing.  It does not matter what other families are doing.  It does not matter what other men are doing.  What matters is what I am doing.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  I am done playing the victim!  Let’s take ownership of our choices, surrender completely to the Lord, and lead as He intends!