A Jesus For Real Men

A Jesus for Real Men.
By
Mike Cope

I have to admit: I get weary of the modern “masculinity movement” in the church that wants people to rediscover the REAL Jesus — the Jesus who’d love to kick your butt.
It gets as silly as this. The parody is silly, but so is the interview it’s based on. (”The problem in the church today: it’s just a bunch of nice, soft, tender chickified churchboys. Sixty percent of Christians are chicks, and the forty percent that are dudes are still sort of chicks.” Ummm, speak for yourself, Pastor Driscoll.)
The best thing I’ve read on men and the church recently was this article in Christianity Today by Brandon O’Brien entitled: “A Jesus for Real Men: What the New Masculinity Movement Gets Right and Wrong.”
Listen to some of this brilliant, gospel-formed writing:
“The masculinity movement would have us emulate the glorified Jesus — the one who will return on horseback and brandish the sword of judgment. That is certainly the Jesus we worship. But it is not the Jesus we are commanded to imitate. The only times Jesus appears in Scripture as a warrior are in his pre-incarnate debuts in the Old Testament and post-resurrection glory. Our model of behavior, then, is the suffering Son, not the glorified one. Humanity in the image of Christ is not aggressive and combative; it is humble and poor (Phil. 2:5ff). We are most like Christ not when we win a fight, but when we suffer for righteousness’ sake (Eph. 5:1-2; 1 Thess. 1:6; 2:14).”