(This article is available in audio form in all the major podcast directories. Here is the link to the Apple Podcast episode was posted Nov 17.
The Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, posted this advertisement in 1913:
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” 5000 men applied for 29 positions! Ernest Shackleton knew something about the masculine heart. We are hardwired for mission. We love challenges and don’t mind receiving a little honor and recognition along the way.
When it comes to understanding the masculine heart, in TODAY’s culture, a group comes to mind that recognizes the same truth: males love the challenge of accomplishing a mission. That group is the makers of video games. At the very moment you are listening to this podcast, thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of males worldwide are engaged in captivating missions on their screens like, Apex Legends, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, or Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order.
Our masculine hardwiring is also evident in the things that boys and men dream about. Author, John Eldrege, believes the church is often failing men because we are not challenging them with a mission great enough to capture their hearts. He points to this misconnect in his book, Wild at Heart: He writes;
“When all is said and done, I think most men in the church believe that God put them on the earth to be a good boy….If they try real hard, they can reach the lofty summit of becoming…a nice guy...Now let me ask my male readers: In all your boyhood dreams growing up, did you ever dream about becoming a Nice Guy?”
What DOES a boy dream about? Defeating the evil villain to save the world, doing it against impossible odds, winning the hand of the beautiful princess in the process, finally seeing a smile of approval on his father’s face, and then riding in the lead chariot of the victory parade. My version of this daydream would take place as I shot hoops by myself. I would dream about having the basketball in my hands in the corner of the court, the clock clicking down towards zero, the team behind by two points in the state championship, and going up for a fadeaway jumper. The ball leaves my fingers, the buzzer goes off, the ball swishes through the hoop, the home crowd roars, and I fall back out of bounds into the lap of my favorite cheerleader.
These observations that men are made for mission are part of what theologians call general revelation. They lead to truth about creation that you can observe. But what about what we call, special revelation. What has God revealed about masculinity in Scripture? What does God tell us men are created FOR?
Adam’s distinctive design is revealed to us in the second chapter of Genesis. In several weeks, our podcast topic will be Four Characteristics of Godly Masculinity. At that time, I will go into the chapter in greater depth. But, right now, let’s focus a bit on just one of the four, from Genesis 2:15, where we are told that Adam is placed in the garden to work it. That is the ESV translation. The Hebrew word for “work it” is avad, which is also translated cultivate (NASB). In this context, it means:
- to make fruitful,
- to cause to flourish,
- to produce,
- to build,
- to shape.
Adam is to make the garden, which includes its inhabitants, (ie. his wife and children) fruitful—to provide what the garden needs to thrive. His calling is to help the garden (world) and its inhabitants reach their fullest potential. In other words, Adam is designed to IMPACT his surroundings. No wonder men dream of changing the world. No wonder men want to fix their wife’s problems instead of just listening to how she feels. No wonder men want to make a difference—it’s in our design! We are made to change things. We are made to have impact. We are made for mission!!
YET, I believe that too often today’s church has failed men because we, the church leaders, (and I include myself here.) have failed to communicate the greatness of our mission as Christ-followers.
Let me share with you some of the research done by Dave Murrow, the author of the book, Why Men Hate Going to Church. He printed out two lists of values. The right set listed, love, communication, beauty, relationships, support, help, nurturing, feelings, sharing, relating, harmony, community, loving cooperation, and personal expression. The left set listed, competence, power, efficiency, achievement, skills, proving oneself, results, accomplishment, objects, technology, goal oriented, self-sufficiency, success, and competition.
Murrow showed these two side-by-side lists of values to hundreds of people: men and women, Christians and non-Christians, asking the question, “Which list of values best characterizes Jesus Christ and His true followers?” More than 95% chose the right set (the one I read first.) Murrow then reveals the origin of the two lists. He took them from John Gray’s best seller, “Men are from Mars, Women are From Venus.” The right set lists the “soft” values of Venus, while the left set lists the “harder” values of Mars. If you accept John Gray’s lists as fairly reflective of our culture, over 95% of the culture associates Christianity with soft, feminine values, rather than the harder, masculine ones, (which is one reason, Murrow argues, that many men don’t feel comfortable in church.)
Now, I want to go back and ask you to notice how many of the (masculine) values of Mars (the second list I read) relate to accomplishing a mission. It is ten out of thirteen: competence, power, efficiency, achievement, skills, results, accomplishment, technology, goal oriented, and success. The values of Mars relate to accomplishing a mission! Murrow’s survey reveals that in today’s world, the values needed to accomplish a mission are NOT those values associated with today’s church.
Now it is true that the “softer” feminine values, (love, harmony, feelings, support, community, etc.) are true values of Christ and true Christians. But if you believe a church has a mission to accomplish so are the left side values like, competence, achievement, results, and being goal oriented. The church today, apparently does not see itself as being on a mission.
This is tragic, since Jesus assigned to the church the greatest mission in history. We all know the text from Matthew 28:18-20. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The early church DEVOTED themselves to accomplishing this mission. Consequently, THAT generation of Christians were known for risk taking, power, aggression, and heroic sacrifice. In that kind of environment, men thrive. But THAT GENERATION of Christians understood two vital aspects of their mission to make disciples that our generation has LOST.
1. First, they had a much clearer picture of what a disciple was. Bands of disciples with their masters were quite common in Jesus’ day. Everyone knew that a disciple (the Greek word is mathetes) was a FOLLOWER of a master. The disciple had the deepest kind of personal friendship with the master because they did life together. The disciple patterned his whole life on the teaching and example of his master. The disciple’s greatest goal was to be like his master. And the disciple, as a “follower” went along with the master wherever the master went. He joined in his master’s mission.
I wonder if we in today's church are making BELIEVERS instead of DISCIPLES. Certainly, trusting in Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice for our sin is the foundation for being a Christian. But so is understanding that being a Christian is BEING A FOLLOWER of Christ. This podcast’s three-part definition of our mission is rooted in the original understanding that a DISCIPLE is a FOLLOWER of Jesus. Here is what I mean:
- A disciple has a close personal relationship with his master. (We are Called TO Christ--to enjoy a love relationship with him.)
- A disciple seeks to be like his master (We are Called to BE LIKE Christ—to holy, Christ-like attitudes.)
- A disciple participates with the master in his mission (We are Called to EXERCISE DOMINION FOR Christ. Christ has begun to overthrow evil and establish his kingdom of righteousness over the earth.)
So, the early church understood what Jesus meant when he said our mission was to make DISCIPLES, i.e. FOLLOWERS of Jesus.
2. The second part of the Great Commission that the early church understood—that we don’t—was WHY Jesus introduced the command to make disciples by first saying, “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me, THEREFORE….
We don’t understand why Jesus would precede the great commission with the vital historic fact that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him. Why in the world is this important? Didn’t Jesus already have all authority in heaven and earth—he is the omnipotent, second person of the Trinity?
But the early believers knew why discipleship depends upon Christ ascension and exaltation. They understood that Jesus was NOT referring in Matt 28 to his eternal, sovereign rule as God, but to the fact that as the second Adam, he was taking Adam’s kingdom back from its slavery to the tyrants who had usurped it at the fall—Satan, sin, and death. The early church understood the gospel, not as the good news of personal private salvation (an eternal life-insurance policy to be signed), but as the good news that the second Adam has come to overthrow Satan, sin, and death, fix everything that has been broken by sin, and establish the rule of his kingdom of righteousness over planet earth.
That is what Jesus was demonstrating by casting out demons, raising the dead, and calling his followers to a kingdom heart righteousness (Matt 5-7) that goes beyond outward behavior. That is what Jesus was talking about when he commanded his followers, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” i.e. the rule of King Jesus and his righteousness over the loyalties of their heart, their heart attitudes, and over every inch of the planet, which Jesus claims as his own.
That is what Jesus was talking about when he taught them to pray, “May your kingdom come.” Jesus was NOT saying that one of the five pillars of daily prayer is to ask Jesus every day to come back to earth soon! Rather, Jesus explained what he meant in the words that follow this instruction in Matt 6:10. Jesus’ words are “May your kingdom come—then he explains what he means—may your will to be done ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.” In heaven, God’s sovereign will and his moral will (what pleases him) overlap 100%, because there is no sin in heaven. On earth, God’s sovereign will is to give men the freedom to sin. The kingdom coming refers to the advance of Christ’s kingdom of righteousness over earth. The more that happens, THE MORE THE KINGDOM OF EARTH WILL BE LIKE THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. That is what it means to pray for God’s kingdom to come—that God’s righteousness from heaven will spread over the earth. Earth will be like heaven in being a fully righteous place!
The Kingdom of God, i.e. the reign of righteousness, was inaugurated at the Resurrection. The long-awaited Messiah had come to redeem his people. But the plan was never for the coming Davidic king to break the shackles of slavery to Rome, but always to break the slavery of God’s people to a far more destructive power—the triumvirate, Satan, sin, and death.
Christ defeated these three at the cross, and ascended to the right hand where he reigns as king over Adam’s once fallen kingdom. He has already defeated these three powers, but not yet vanquished them, which he will do when he returns. He has already delivered us from slavery to sin and Satan’s control, but not yet eliminated their ability to fight against Christ’s righteousness ruling over our own hearts and spreading throughout the world.
As we seek to further Christ’s kingdom of righteousness over our heart loyalties, our heart attitudes, and our spheres of life, progress is only possible because “All authority on heaven and earth has been given to the risen Christ.” (Matt 28:18). That is why Jesus began the Great Commission with this historic reality. He is the only human who has defeated sin. The spread of his kingdom of righteousness only happens through his power. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Be strong in the Lord in the strength of his might.” In Psalm 2, there is a preview of the ascended Christ. The Father says to The Son, “ASK of me, and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession” The spread of Christ’s kingdom of righteousness only happens through Christ’s intercession and when we fight for kingdom righteousness in his resurrection power. That is why Paul prays that the Ephesians would know… what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Eph 1: 19-22).
God has called you an me to the greatest mission in the history of the universe! To follow King Jesus is to enlist in his cause—the overthrow of sin and its suffering and the establishing of his kingdom of righteousness. We are called to seek to establish Christ’s righteous agenda in every sphere of our hearts and lives, resisted every step of the way by vicious demonic powers, but pressing on, in the power of Christ out of allegiance to Him, our Commander In Chief—for HIS HONOR AND GLORY. We are called to a mission that is a little bigger than being a nice guy!
Here are a few possible take-aways from our study:
1. You might want to spend some time telling Jesus what a fabulous Commander- In-Chief he is.
2. You might consider the question, “how does thinking about the greatness of your mission as a Christ-follower add significance to the various components of your life?”
3. You might ponder the question, “how can the fact that kingdom advance only happens through Christ’s spiritual power and not your own, be a source of deep encouragement to you?”
