Men of God
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But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:11-12
There is perhaps no more loaded topic in modern discourse than that of masculinity. The loudest and perhaps most influential voices in our culture tend to fall into one of two unhealthy extremes. On the one hand there is the emasculating narrative of popular culture and media that sees men as being one of the biggest problems in society, labelling all things male as toxic and calling for us to reject those characteristics that have traditionally been associated with manhood. On the other hand, there are the radical responses to this agenda which suggest true manhood is found in some sort of macho boy’s club focused on superiority and dominance.
Masculinity is a good gift of God. From the very beginning, God created male and female, existing in a beautiful, complementary relationship (Genesis 2:18-24). As LCMS President Harrison notes,
Like every good gift of God, sin wreaks havoc on every aspect of masculinity. Every relationship, every aspect of maleness - from physical strength, to sexuality, to God-given instincts to provide for and protect family - is subject to distortion, manipulation and abuse. In extreme cases, the gift of maleness is abused when it is denied or used to inflict maximum pain and havoc on the world (whether through mayhem, rape, oppression, terrorism or murder). But those are rank distortions of the gift. [1]
Truth be told none of us are the men God created us to be. When I examine my own life in light of God’s clear expectations for me as a husband and father, as a son, a brother and as a member of the body of Christ, I fall dismally short. But thanks be to God we have a Saviour who became Man to rescue us from sin and in His selfless sacrifice provided not only the answer to our sinful failures as men, but became ‘the perfect example for manliness in a self-indulgent, self-centred society’.[2]
Now I would be the first to admit that even as forgiven sinners we will never come close to Christ’s perfect example. And yet God continues to call men to be who He created us to be. While it may not be popular to say it, God calls men to lead in the home and in the church – not to lord it over others as the pagans do, but to lead like Christ (Matthew 20:24-26). That means we lead by dying. By bearing other people’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). By putting the needs of others – especially our wives and children – before our own needs (Ephesians 5:25-28, Colossians 3:19,20).
Godly men are led by the Holy Spirit to serve sacrificially. To lead by fearlessly speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15-16) and by confidently speaking forgiveness without need for reprisal (Colossians 3:12-13).
Men lead by engaging with God’s Word daily and always seeking to learn and grow in this Word. We lead by singing joyfully even when we are not blessed with a voice like Pavarotti! We lead by standing before the throne of grace with confidence because of all that Christ has done for us (Hebrews 4:16), and praying for the needs of those the Lord has entrusted to us, even those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:28). We lead by daily repenting of our sin (Matthew 3:2) and relying on Christ’s absolution, and by kneeling humbly at the altar where we receive all that we need to serve as God has called us to.
Biblical masculinity is ultimately about sacrificial service for the sake of the other and perhaps is best described by a much-misunderstood word – meekness. Today this word is often thought to describe a wimpy, lukewarm, uninspiring kind of person. But in the Scriptures the one who is meek is the one who has the strength and ability to act with power, but instead chooses gentleness, humility and patience. Meekness is best summed up in the person and work of Jesus Christ who ‘though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant’ (Philippians 2:6-7). This is what a true man looks like.
God’s expectations of men are overwhelming. And if we’re honest it is far easier to either conform to the androgenous expectations of our godless culture or to rail against them and prove our manhood in aggressive displays of power. But neither of these are options for the man seeking to be faithful to the Lord.
So in the midst of our struggles to be godly men, we are ‘to fix our eyes and hope on the Man up on the cross’[3] - Christ Jesus - who has forgiven our sins, who overcomes our failed masculinity, and who restores us to start anew each morning as the men He has called us to be, to the glory of the Father.
Rev Dr Matt Anker
President, Lutheran Mission - Australia
[1] Harrison, Matthew C., ‘On being a man’, June 1, 2018 / Letter From the President, The Lutheran Witness Magazine. https://witness.lcms.org/2018/on-being-a-man/
[2] Hemmer, Jeff, 2017, Man Up!: The Quest for Masculinity, Concordia Publishing House, p xv.
[3] Hemmer, op.cit., p xv