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.
