Obedience Looks like Something
It has been said that life is contact sport. Whether you are a jock or not, every man gets the metaphor. How many times have we been taken out or to our knees due to a marital financial, sexual, or relational crisis that reveals just how impotent we are?
Part of the cultural emasculation of men in recent decades has been the softening of life’s challenges and the idea that if one is really “working” life correctly, a lot of the conflicts and challenges will melt away and disappear. It is a romantic view of life that tells us struggle and pain are not only needless but a sign of moving in the wrong direction. Some of this comes from therapeutic circles while much of it comes from new age spirituality and even some segments of evangelicalism that tell us that all problems are a by product of sin or a misunderstanding of how to interpret scripture. If we knew the techniques to control the cosmos, we would. This is the message. You should not be broken.
This is not just false. It is a lie. The challenges in life come because of the nature of life (it is fallen) and our deepest nature (it is fallen) and the power and redemption made available through the life, death and resurrection of our Lord & our adversary who wars against our very souls. Yes, we are flawed. Yes, life is often harsh and unjust. This is not about us. The fall is something we inherit. But, we have a Savior.
Over the years I have somehow been overly compelled to regard my sense of impotence as a much more revealing truth about who I am more than my potential or destiny. In other words, part of the therapeutic community and in some cases “spirituality” as it has been offered up, has told me how vital it is to come to the end of my own strengths: to come o to grips with my real brokenness and see my weaknesses clearly. This is true. In fact, I see this admission as a key component of my restoration and salvation.However, in the past I did not have other men to then re initiate or in some cases initiate me back into the brotherhood. It is like what happens when the team doctor patches you and sends you back on the field. Life carries on. New wounds are taken and new threats come over the ridge. I needed someone to see my wounds and help me heal or get the right medicine and then get me back out on the field of life. This is a band of brothers at work & play.
Physicians and historians have always been amazed over the years at how men in crisis, including things like war or tragedy, have all this amazing physical and psychic ability to be present in the midst of extremely threatening circumstances. Where does this energy come from and why are men able to know they are walking into death or the potentiality of death and still stay present and think of others rather than themselves? This is a gift from God. He has empowered men with the ability to withstand much pain and even damage for the sake of a cause that transcends them.
This is why we in Godmen announce the revolution.
There are no front seats in this revolution.
Obedience looks like something.
So…now I am aware of the fact that with every revelation of my weakness comes God’s power, comes a task, a quest to deploy and execute. We are asking many of you who have been friends and cohorts with many of the Godmen speakers to step up here and enter the fray. We need you to help us bring some healing and encouragement to the ranks. Help us fill the hall.
We feel confident and zealously encouraged that the day (our 1st Godmen gathering) will serve as a catalyst for real transformation. Many men are deeply aware of their impotence and their sin. This is a good place to be. In addition to this awareness also comes with it the awareness that you are known by name, called, and empowered to live your life out of a deep well of blessing. This original blessing comes to us through the death of God’s only Son. Here is a Father willing to take His very heart and give it to those ( us) who spurned His love and did not acknowledge the blessing of the gift (His Son).
Now through His Son, we know the Father’s heart. His heart is constantly searching the earth for men (& women) who are seeking Him and He reveals Himself. I have had people tell me to be proactive. Do it. Nike’s slogan is Do it! There is something deeply spiritual about this admonition. Obedience looks like something. To obey is to show up, to stand in your destiny and inhabit your space. Inhabiting your space is to bring your special gifts and insights into time and space. You are not a mistake. You are not excluded or discounted due to you broken estate. A plan and solution has been made. You are forgiven and have a place at the beggar’s banquet.
This day, through the power of the atonement, we announce a powerful release of God’s generosity towards you. Know this.All those challenges are actually opportunities for God’s restorative power to be manifest. As you show up, obey, stand in the time and space and call out to the Father, you are empowered to redeem these challenges and actually make them become things that bring God glory.
The glory of God is a man fully alive.
This glory looks like something. We came into this world as men and this is our destiny. Thus, who we were created to be tells us something about how the Father sees us. He sees us as men and says,” It is good!” In His eyes we are His sons fully authorized to walk in the power and glory of His Son. Your obedience is not a heavy yoke but the very dynamic power of the Holy Sprit made manifest in your life for the glory of God and the sake of the world. You are where you are as an operative and proclaimer of the now present
When we become followers of Jesus we then bring all our brokenness under a new canopy. What Satan and the world meant for harm, now becomes the very fodder that fuels our redemption and the redemption of those to which we are related. Your obedience as a man is connected to the release of the Father in so many areas of life.
The sports and business world talk much about execution and action. Part of the emasculation is the constant inward look without the obedience in time and space. Salvation looks like something. Obedience looks like something. Love looks like something. Repentance looks like something. This is why years of therapy spent retelling our story over and over of the victimization may serve to keep us victims. There is a truth to the initial telling and a power in the grieving of the injustice or sin done to us. However, the constant inward or backward glance can unwittingly make us children who cannot and will not grow up and see ourselves as men who have inherited the strength and power to face life in spite of its harshness and pain. Life is full of joy and celebration as well.
It took me some time to understand this statement,”Repentance looks like something.” What my brothers were saying to me was, “OK, you have seen and acknowledged your sin and complicity in this situation. What does your obedience look like? How will you know you are truly engaging the redemption of God in this situation? Once I caught on to the idea that truth and repentance always had an accompanying behavior to it, I then began to realize the “active “nature of my faith. There is a “doing” along with the “being” of faith. I can hold a truth in my heart and I should. But at some point I step out and engage. I step out and deploy. I step out and execute. This is one of the glories of being a man.
The danger with too much introspection without obedience is that we confirm in our minds and hearts that we are unable to change the impact of life’s circumstances on our lives. The idea that the fall is so pervasive and our hearts are so wicked that we cannot see real true restoration is a lie. Transformation is the fruit of obedience and restoration comes as we actively engage the action and behavior we are lead to deploy in one of life’s encounters. It is my prayer that we as men will spur one another onto righteousness. Help us at Godmen obey the call on our lives. We need you guys to walk along side us if you fill so lead. If you do, help us fill the hall. Get out of your front row seat and engage.
3 Comments:
At 10:59 PM , James Fletcher Baxter said...
The HUMAN PARADIGM
Consider:
The missing element in every human 'solution' is
an accurate definition of the creature.
In an effort to diminish the multiple and persistent
dangers and abuses which have characterized the
affairs of man in his every Age, and to assist in the
requisite search for human identity, it is essential to
perceive and specify that distinction which naturally
and most uniquely defines the human being. Because
definitions rule in the minds, behaviors, and institutions
of men, we can be confident that delineating and com-
municating that quality will assist the process of resolu-
tion and the courageous ascension to which man is
called. As Americans of the 21st Century, we are oblig-
ed and privileged to join our forebears and participate
in this continuing paradigm proclamation.
"WHAT IS MAN...?" God asks - and answers:
HUMAN DEFINED: EARTH'S CHOICEMAKER
by JAMES FLETCHER BAXTER (c) 2006
The way we define 'human' determines our view of self,
others, relationships, institutions, life, and future. Many
problems in human experience are the result of false
and inaccurate definitions of humankind premised
in man-made religions and humanistic philosophies.
Human knowledge is a fraction of the whole universe.
The balance is a vast void of human ignorance. Human
reason cannot fully function in such a void; thus, the
intellect can rise no higher than the criteria by which it
perceives and measures values.
Humanism makes man his own standard of measure.
However, as with all measuring systems, a standard
must be greater than the value measured. Based on
preponderant ignorance and an egocentric carnal
nature, humanism demotes reason to the simpleton
task of excuse-making in behalf of the rule of appe-
tites, desires, feelings, emotions, and glands.
Because man, hobbled in an ego-centric predicament,
cannot invent criteria greater than himself, the humanist
lacks a predictive capability. Without instinct or trans-
cendent criteria, humanism cannot evaluate options with
foresight and vision for progression and survival. Lack-
ing foresight, man is blind to potential consequence and
is unwittingly committed to mediocrity, collectivism,
averages, and regression - and worse. Humanism is an
unworthy worship.
The void of human ignorance can easily be filled with
a functional faith while not-so-patiently awaiting the
foot-dragging growth of human knowledge and behav-
ior. Faith, initiated by the Creator and revealed and
validated in His Word, the Bible, brings a transcend-
ent standard to man the choice-maker. Other philo-
sophies and religions are man-made, humanism, and
thereby lack what only the Bible has:
1.Transcendent Criteria and
2.Fulfilled Prophetic Validation.
The vision of faith in God and His Word is survival
equipment for today and the future. Only the Creator,
who made us in His own image, is qualified to define
us accurately.
Human is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by
nature and nature's God a creature of Choice - and of
Criteria. Psalm 119:30,173 His unique and definitive
characteristic is, and of Right ought to be, the natural
foundation of his environments, institutions, and re-
spectful relations to his fellow-man. Thus, he is orien-
ted to a Freedom whose roots are in the Order of the
universe.
At the sub-atomic level of the physical universe quantum
physics indicates a multifarious gap or division in the
causal chain; particles to which position cannot be
assigned at all times, systems that pass from one energy
state to another without manifestation in intermediate
states, entities without mass, fields whose substance is
as insubstantial as "a probability."
Only statistical conglomerates pay tribute to
deterministic forces. Singularities do not and are
therefore random, unpredictable, mutant, and in this
sense, uncaused. The finest contribution inanimate
reality is capable of making toward choice, without its
own selective agencies, is this continuing manifestation
of opportunity as the pre-condition to choice it defers
to the natural action of living forms.
Biological science affirms that each level of life,
single-cell to man himself, possesses attributes of
sensitivity, discrimination, and selectivity, and in
the exclusive and unique nature of each diversified
life form.
The survival and progression of life forms has all too
often been dependent upon the ever-present undeterminative
potential and appearance of one unique individual organism
within the whole spectrum of a given life-form. Only the
uniquely equipped individual organism is, like The Golden
Wedge of Ophir, capable of traversing the causal gap to
survival and progression. Mere reproductive determinacy
would have rendered life forms incapable of such potential.
Only a moving universe of opportunity plus choice enables
the present reality.
Each individual human being possesses a unique, highly
developed, and sensitive perception of diversity. Thus
aware, man is endowed with a natural capability for enact-
ing internal mental and external physical selectivity.
Quantitative and qualitative choice-making thus lends
itself as the superior basis of an active intelligence.
Human is earth's Choicemaker. His title describes
his definitive and typifying characteristic. Recall
that his other features are but vehicles of experi-
ence intent on the development of perceptive
awareness and the following acts of decision and
choice. Note that the products of man cannot define
him for they are the fruit of the discerning choice-
making process and include the cognition of self,
the utility of experience, the development of value-
measuring systems and language, and the accultur-
ation of civilization.
The arts and the sciences of man, as with his habits,
customs, and traditions, are the creative harvest of
his perceptive and selective powers. Creativity, the
creative process, is a choice-making process. His
articles, constructs, and commodities, however
marvelous to behold, deserve neither awe nor idol-
atry, for man, not his contrivance, is earth's own
highest expression of the creative process.
Human is earth's Choicemaker. The sublime and
significant act of choosing is, itself, the Archimedean
fulcrum upon which man levers and redirects the
forces of cause and effect to an elected level of qual-
ity and diversity. Further, it orients him toward a
natural environmental opportunity, freedom, and
bestows earth's title, The Choicemaker, on his
singular and plural brow.
Deterministic systems, ideological symbols of abdication
by man from his natural role as earth's Choicemaker,
inevitably degenerate into collectivism; the negation of
singularity, they become a conglomerate plural-based
system of measuring human value. Blunting an awareness
of diversity, blurring alternatives, and limiting the
selective creative process, they are self-relegated to
a passive and circular regression.
Tampering with man's selective nature endangers his
survival for it would render him impotent and obsolete
by denying the tools of diversity, individuality,
perception, criteria, selectivity, and progress.
Coercive attempts produce revulsion, for such acts
are contrary to an indeterminate nature and nature's
indeterminate off-spring, man the Choicemaker.
Until the oppressors discover that wisdom only just
begins with a respectful acknowledgment of The Creator,
The Creation, and The Choicemaker, they will be ever
learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth.
The rejection of Creator-initiated standards relegates
the mind of man to its own primitive, empirical, and
delimited devices. It is thus that the human intellect
cannot ascend and function at any level higher than the
criteria by which it perceives and measures values.
Additionally, such rejection of transcendent criteria
self-denies man the vision and foresight essential to
decision-making for survival and progression. He is left,
instead, with the redundant wreckage of expensive hind-
sight, including human institutions characterized by
averages, mediocrity, and regression.
Humanism, mired in the circular and mundane egocentric
predicament, is ill-equipped to produce transcendent
criteria. Evidenced by those who do not perceive
superiority and thus find themselves beset by the shifting
winds of the carnal-ego; i.e., moods, feelings, desires,
appetites, etc., the mind becomes subordinate: a mere
device for excuse-making and rationalizing self-justifica-
tion.
The carnal-ego rejects criteria and self-discipline for such
instruments are tools of the mind and the attitude. The
appetites of the flesh have no need of standards for at the
point of contention standards are perceived as alien, re-
strictive, and inhibiting. Yet, the very survival of our
physical nature itself depends upon a maintained sover-
eignty of the mind and of the spirit.
It remained, therefore, to the initiative of a personal
and living Creator to traverse the human horizon and
fill the vast void of human ignorance with an intelli-
gent and definitive faith. Man is thus afforded the
prime tool of the intellect - a Transcendent Standard
by which he may measure values in experience, anticipate
results, and make enlightened and visionary choices.
Only the unique and superior God-man Person can deserved-
ly displace the ego-person from his predicament and free
the individual to measure values and choose in a more
excellent way. That sublime Person was indicated in the
words of the prophet Amos, "...said the Lord, Behold,
I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel."
Y'shua Mashiyach Jesus said, "If I be lifted up I will
draw all men unto myself."
As long as some choose to abdicate their personal reality
and submit to the delusions of humanism, determinism, and
collectivism, just so long will they be subject and re-
acting only, to be tossed by every impulse emanating from
others. Those who abdicate such reality may, in perfect
justice, find themselves weighed in the balances of their
own choosing.
That human institution which is structured on the
principle, "...all men are endowed by their Creator with
...Liberty...," is a system with its roots in the natural
Order of the universe. The opponents of such a system are
necessarily engaged in a losing contest with nature and
nature's God. Biblical principles are still today the
foundation under Western Civilization and the American
way of life. To the advent of a new season we commend the
present generation and the "multitudes in the valley of
decision."
Let us proclaim it. Behold!
The Season of Generation-Choicemaker Joel 3:14 KJV
CONTEMPORARY COMMENTS
"I should think that if there is one thing that man has
learned about himself it is that he is a creature of
choice." Richard M. Weaver
"Man is a being capable of subduing his emotions and
impulses; he can rationalize his behavior. He arranges
his wishes into a scale, he chooses; in short, he acts.
What distinguishes man from beasts is precisely that he
adjusts his behavior deliberately." Ludwig von Mises
"To make any sense of the idea of morality, it must be
presumed that the human being is responsible for his
actions and responsibility cannot be understood apart
from the presumption of freedom of choice."
John Chamberlain
"The advocate of liberty believes that it is complementary
of the orderly laws of cause and effect, of probability
and of chance, of which man is not completely informed.
It is complementary of them because it rests in part upon
the faith that each individual is endowed by his Creator
with the power of individual choice."
Wendell J. Brown
"These examples demonstrate a basic truth -- that human
dignity is embodied in the free choice of individuals."
Condoleeza Rice
"Our Founding Fathers believed that we live in an ordered
universe. They believed themselves to be a part of the
universal order of things. Stated another way, they
believed in God. They believed that every man must find
his own place in a world where a place has been made for
him. They sought independence for their nation but, more
importantly, they sought freedom for individuals to think
and act for themselves. They established a republic
dedicated to one purpose above all others - the preserva-
tion of individual liberty..." Ralph W. Husted
"We have the gift of an inner liberty so far-reaching
that we can choose either to accept or reject the God
who gave it to us, and it would seem to follow that the
Author of a liberty so radical wills that we should be
equally free in our relationships with other men.
Spiritual liberty logically demands conditions of outer
and social freedom for its completion." Edmund A. Opitz
"Above all I see an ability to choose the better from the
worse that has made possible life's progress."
Charles Lindbergh
"Freedom is the Right to Choose, the Right to create for
oneself the alternatives of Choice. Without the possibil-
ity of Choice, and the exercise of Choice, a man is not
a man but a member, an instrument, a thing."
Thomas Jefferson
THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWER
Q: "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son
of man that You visit him?" Psalm 8:4
A: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against
you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing
and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and
your descendants may live." Deuteronomy 30:19
Q: "Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
Or the son of man, that you are mindful of him?" Psalm
144:3
A: "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose
for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the
gods which your fathers served that were on the other
side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15
Q: "What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is
born of a woman, that he could be righteous?" Job 15:14
A: "Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He
teach in the way he chooses." Psalm 25:12
Q: "What is man, that You should magnify him, that You
should set Your heart on him?" Job 7:17
A: "Do not envy the oppressor and choose none of his
ways." Proverbs 3:31
Q: "What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son
of man that You take care of him?" Hebrews 2:6
A: "I have chosen the way of truth; your judgments I have
laid before me." Psalm 119:30 "Let Your hand become my
help, for I have chosen Your precepts."Psalm 119:173
References:
Genesis 3:3,6 Deuteronomy 11:26-28; 30:19 Job 5:23
Isaiah 7:14-15; 13:12; 61:1 Amos 7:8 Joel 3:14
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
DEDICATION
Sir Isaac Newton
The greatest scientist in human history
a Bible-Believing Christian
an authority on the Bible's Book of Daniel
committed to individual value
and individual liberty
Daniel 9:25-26 Habakkuk 2:2-3 selah
"What is man...?" Earth's Choicemaker Psalm 25:12
http://www.blogger.com/profile/4744267
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/2728/
http://www.choicemaker.net/
jbaxter@choicemaker.net
An old/new paradigm - Mr. Jefferson would agree!
(Alternative? There is no alternative.)
+ + +
"Man cannot make or invent or contrive principles. He
can only discover them and he ought to look through the
discovery to the Author." -- Thomas Paine 1797
"Got Criteria?" See Psalm 119:1-176
semper fidelis
Jim Baxter
Sgt. USMC
WWII & Korean War
5th Grade Teacher - 30 years
At 1:58 PM , Anonymous said...
Sargeant Baxter, YOU sir, are extremely longwinded. Sorry I didn't read it all.
At 7:31 PM , Anonymous said...
Wow,that was very awsome.Its about time that men take the stand we were put here for. I just found this site tonite and its something I and many more men are looking for. Its real its raw its reeks of masculine maleness with Jesus leading the way.The way iys supossed to be. Your article has fired something inside me that I was looking for. Cant quite put my finger on it ,but its coming.And our Lord God Almighty will bring it out. I look forward to getting to one of your events in the near futre. Hopefuly one will be close to central Iowa. God bless you, Jeff
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