The Camaraderie and Fraternity of the Battlefield

Satan watches for those vessels that sail without a convoy,” wrote Puritan pastor George Swinnock (1627–1673). Every individual knows he was created for community. Isolation is the Devil’s playground, and our Enemy is on the lookout for the Christian who thinks he can stand alone in independent isolation from the fellowship, accountability, and encouragement of faithful brothers and sisters.

Before the fall of man, even though the Lord God walked in close communion with Adam in the garden, our gracious and triune God knew it was not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18), and so God created someone who would meet Adam’s needs and relate to Adam in a way that, by design, God Himself did not. In His often-overlooked grace, God blessed mankind with the most beautiful, intimate, and joyous relationship that exists between mere human beings: holy wedlock between a man and a woman, who by design and covenant become one flesh. Nevertheless, even from that glorious union, He called them to multiply themselves into communities of families that would populate and dominate creation to share life and glorify God together.

God gave each of us an insatiable hunger to experience life together — life’s joys and passions and life’s sorrows and burdens. Men need men, and women need women. Younger men and women need to listen to and learn from the wisdom and experiences of older men and women. Older men and women need the passion and patience to sit down and tell their stories and lessons to the next generation. Women need authentic relationships with other women to form the enduring companionship of sisterhood that not only detests divisive gossip and grudges but defends, encourages, and bears the burdens of every woman so that no woman is left alone to fend for herself in serving the Lord in her many callings.

Even though many men are completely content with the community and companionship of images, games, and voices on a screen, men desperately need the camaraderie and fraternity of other men. Men are made to experience intimate and authentic, loyal and enduring friendships with other men — on the battlefield, in the foxhole, at the gates of the city, and at the coffee shop on the corner. And while no wise and truly humble man will ever consider himself a hero, each and every man of God by His grace is called to strive to conquer this world, his flesh, and the Devil, shoulder to shoulder with other men who together serve one another in a company of heroes as husbands and dads who serve by leading their wives, families, churches, and communities into fellowship with God.

by Burke Parsons, editor of Tabletalk magazine and associate minister at Saint Andrew’s in Sanford, Florida

The Eagles, Desperadoes and God

"Desperado" was a big hit for the Eagles back in 1973 and has been covered many times since then by such artists as Linda Ronstadt and Johnny Cash. One of the song’s classic lines speaks to angst of our times: “It's hard to tell the night time from the day; And you're losing all your highs and lows; ain’t it funny how the feeling goes away... Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?”

A desperado, according to Webster’s, is someone who is so desperate they are willing to do things that involve risk or danger, and often criminal behavior. Author and poet Henry David Thoreau once observed that “most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Thoreau and the Eagles both got it right about the plight of American manhood today.

Psalm 84:2 tells of another kind of desperation. David was a desperado. There was a time he was a man on the run, a man in hiding from King Saul. He knew both the sweet and bitter providence of God in his life. In this Psalm David laments, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Do you feel that way about God? Are you desperate for Him? Do you have a gnawing, aching hunger inside to know your Heavenly Father better?

Luke 15 tells the story of the prodigal son who became a desperado of sorts. After zealously claiming his inheritance from his father, he squandered it on wild living and chasing after all the world has to offer. He ended up slopping hogs and eating after them. Then the text says he “came to his senses”. God humbled him and he confessed his sin and need for his father’s grace and mercy. He became a desperate man for reconciliation with and the embrace of his father. He discovered that only his restored relationship with his father could satisfy his heart’s desire. Do you feel like you’ve squandered away blessings and opportunities God has given you on foolish, selfish living? Are your desperate for God’s rescue and reconciliation? Do you long for His embrace?

John Piper writes about why it’s a good thing for men to be “spiritual desperados” for God.

“The New Testament teaches us that whether or not our treasure is really in heaven is most clearly seen when it costs us our earthly treasures in order to obtain it. But American Christians live in the most prosperous nation in world history and the one in which it costs the least to be a Christian.”

“This environment can be deadly to faith. It allows false faith to masquerade as real faith very easily. And its power to dissipate zeal and energy and mission-focus and willingness to risk is extraordinary because it doesn’t come to us with a whip and a threat. It comes to us with a pillow and a promise of comfort for us and our children. The former makes us desperate for God. The latter robs our sense of desperation.”

“And it’s the lack of a sense of desperation for God that is so deadly. If we don’t feel desperate for God, we don’t tend to cry out to him. Love for this present world sets in subtly, like a spiritual leprosy, damaging spiritual nerve endings so that we don’t feel the erosion and decay happening until it’s too late.”

“So we must fast and pray for and support the suffering church in the diseases that can set in from harsh adversity. But we must also fast and pray for God to deliver us from the diseases that set in from prosperity. We need him. We can discipline ourselves in various ways. But we cannot manufacture our own desperation. Only God can make us desperate for him.”

“So God, whatever it takes, increase our awareness of our dependence on you in everything! Keep us desperate for you so that the deceitfulness of sin does not harden our hearts (Hebrews 3:13). In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

by Dave Brown, Director and Pastor-at-Large, Washington Area Coalition of Men’s Ministries

Counterfeit Masculinity

"Counterfeit masculinity excels at making excuses. Because the 'masculinity' is a matter of pride, not humble acceptance of responsibility, then anything which threatens that pride must be rejected. One of the things which always threatens pride is any kind of failure, and the way that insecure males deal with this is through making excuses. True masculinity accepts responsibility, period, while false masculinity will try to accept responsibility only for success. This is a key distinction and is worth pursuing at some length."
...
"Boys must learn to say, regularly - to God, to others, and to themselves - that they were wrong when they were wrong, and that they were responsible when they were responsible. When they do this, they will discover that authority, naturally flows to those who take responsibility. That same authority naturally flees from those who seek to shift responsibility or the blame. When boys learn to do this, they are learning what it means to be a young man. When young men learn to do this, they are learning what it means to be a grown man.'

from Future Men by Doug Wilson

Jesus - The Authentic Man

The late Peter Marshall was Chaplain of the U.S. Senate from 1947, the year I was born, until 1949 when he died from a massive heart attack at the age of 43. Dr. Marshall was an early hero of mine and his life and writings greatly influenced my coming to Christ. Below he described how Jesus lived out his manhood.

“Jesus liked people – all kinds of folks – red-blooded folks for He Himself was red-blooded. We have had enough of the emaciated Christ – the pale, anemic, namby-pamby Jesus – the ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’ – Perhaps we have had too much of it. Let us see the Christ of the Gospels striding up and down the dusty miles of Palestine – sun-tanned bronzed fearless. Let us see the white knuckles of the carpenter’s hand as He upset the tables of the money-changers and glared at the racketeers. Let us feel the terrific dynamic of the personality that walked clear through the lynching mob that sought to throw Him over a cliff. He strode through them, and no man laid a hand on him. That’s the Christ we ought to see. Let’s see the Christ who called a spade a spade and let the chips fall where they might. Take Jesus out of the perfumed cloisters of pious sentiment, and let Him walk the street of the city."

the late Dr. Peter Marshall, former Chaplain US Senate

Desperate Men

“And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him.  And he became captain over them.” 1 Samuel 22:2

David attracted desperate men, men who were passionate for change, men who longed for something better.  The empowered and the privileged did not gather to him.  They had too much to lose.  But the distressed, the debtors and the fed-up rallied to him.  And under his leadership, this rabble redefined the future.

If your heart is at rest with the status quo, you have no incentive for all-out commitment to Jesus.  You will just get in the way.  But if you are in distress, if you are in debt, if you are bitter in soul, there is a mighty Captain who is not ashamed to have you in his army.  He turns no one away, no one who is desperate for change on his terms.

Desperate is a post from: Ray Ortlund

A Man's New And Exalted Identity

"If I can do enough of the right things, I will have established my worth. Identity is the sum of my achievements. Hence, if I can satisfy the boss, meet the needs of my spouse and children, and still do justice to my inner aspirations, then I will have proven my worth. There are infinite ways to prove our worth along these lines. The basic equation is this: I am what I do. It is a religious position in life because it tries to answer in practical terms the question, Who am I and what is my niche in the universe? On this reading, my niche is in proportion to my deeds. In Christian theology, such a position is called justification by works. It assumes that my worth is measured by my performance. Conversely, it conceals, thinly, a dark and ghastly fear: If I do not perform, I will be judged unworthy. To myself I will cease to exist."

by Paul Zahl,  Who Will Deliver Us

Ernest Shackleton and Life’s Greatest Adventure

In 1914 the advertisement below appeared in The London Times:

“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.” (signed) Shackleton

Can you imagine anyone answering an ad like this? Well, thousands of men from all over the world did. From among them, world famous explorer Ernest Shackleton chose 27 to sail with him to Antarctica on a ship he named Endurance. In the nearly two years they traveled across Antarctica, Shackleton and his men battled the elements and endured hardships in an adventure that defies description. These men chose not to play safe.

Jesus invites us into the hazardous rescue mission to Planet Earth. In John 6 when he laid out the cost of signing up for life’s greatest adventure, most of those who claimed to be his followers turned back. And many still do today. But there’s that handful who stick it out and say like Peter -- Lord, you're the only one who has anything lasting, anything that really matters. You offer life and we want to be fully alive.

Men, it is those few who look at the hardships, count the cost and still sign on for the expedition and who will, like Peter and the other first disciples turn the world upside down. Jesus calls us into his great mission and his great adventure to proclaim and glories of His gospel and to make disciples among all men. Like Ernest Shackleton sending out his ad, Jesus talks straight about the "hazards and honor" for those who will risk it all for Him. Wherever you might be in your journey, remember - the easy road, the popular road never leads to anything that really matters. In fact, Jesus said it leads to destruction. So if you want to be fully alive, set sail with the real “Master and Commander” and make a difference that counts forever. 

Terry Virgo, Founder of Newfrontiers, writes, "Grace should never lead to passivity, but to outrageous adventure, a lifestyle that baffles those who play safe. It threatens the status quo not only of tentative religion but also of cynical unbelief." The truth is God's grace sets God's men free to risk it all for what is eternally significant -- freedom in Christ!


© 2011, Dave Brown is a pastor and the director of the Washington Area Coalition of Men’s Ministries (WACMM) and has been the men’s pastor at McLean Bible Church in McLean, Va. He served for 30 years in the federal government’s Senior Executive Service (SES), including eight years as an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. He did his seminary work at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Reformed Theological Seminary. He’s been a leadership consultant, university administrator and member of the board of directors for the C.S. Lewis Institute.

God Works Strangely

Our friend and colleague Steve Farrar addressed the National Coalition of Men's Ministries Annual Leadership Conference five years ago in St. Louis about God's sovereignty and how that works out providentially. He stirred the brothers with his refrain that "God Work's Strangely". Steve included this notion in his book God Built, Forge by God...in the Bad and God and Life. Here's an excerpt from the book.

God’s plan for Joseph included the evil his brothers did to him. That’s strange, isn’t it? They had betrayed him and lied to their father. What they had done was a heinous and barbaric sin. Acting out of jealousy and sheer hatred, they intended it for evil. But God intended it for good, to bring about this present result.

Do you see what Joseph is saying here? He is saying that the providence of God is bigger than anybody, anytime, anywhere. They intended it for evil, but God took their act of evil and intended it for good. He didn’t stop it, and He didn’t interrupt it. He let their evil plan come about. But all the time the invisible hand of our BIG GOD was in control of every detail and circumstance. When he was in the midst of it, Joseph was enveloped in shock, pain, and disbelief. But now, thirty-two years later as he looks backward, he sees the amazing providence of a good and holy God.It’s amazing – but it’s also strange. Wonderfully strange

If you're interested in reading more about Steve Farrar on God's providence, CLICK HERE.