Being godly men - Part 2 - Men and Discipleship

How do you think of church? What image do you think of when you think of discipleship?

I think there are 2 helpful ways for men to think of discipleship and even church:



The first is thinking of church or discipleship as like a fight club where we spur one another on to tackle sin in our lives.


The second is that of a band of brothers where we each support and care for others.

I have a number of convictions about men and discipleship:

• Men need other men
• Men need challenge
• Men need investing in
• Men are different from women
• Men need courageous leaders
• Men need calling to kingdom greatness
• Men need mission

These are borne out of experience dealing with men, being one myself but also from studying Luke's gospel and seeing how Jesus disciples his followers:

In Luke 5v1-11 Jesus calls them to leave everything and be part of something in a team, then we see him invest time and energy in these guys during that time he; (8:25) Jesus directly challenges them, (9:51-ch19) invests in and trains them teaching them how and what to think and do. Jesus provides them with a living model of courageous leadership throughout, and (9:46-48) he does not rebuke them for seeking greatness but reinterprets greatness for them in kingdom terms. Finally (24:45-49) Jesus gives them a mission – witness to the world!

Earnest Shackleton posted this advert when recruiting men for polar expedition:

“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success”

5000 men applied for 26 posts, men long for adventure for challenge and the gospel channels and reinterprets those desires.

So what?We need men to lead and to call their friends to come to faith in Jesus Christ. 3% of the time if a child comes to Christ the family follow, 17% of the time if a wife come to Christ the family follow, 93% of the time if the husband comes to Christ the family follow. Men must engage in evangelism of other men.

We need as men to engage in discipleship to be a band of brothers who labour together to fight sin, who support each other, who spur one another on.

We also need to explode the ‘Quiet Time’ myth - many men struggle with the idea of quiet times. They've heard people preach and call others to go into their room in secret and pray to God but they find it hard and therefore give up or struggle on feeling guilty. Now the point of Jesus teaching there is combating those who only pray in public and are therefore hypocrites. He is not laying out a model of how to pray. I say that because if he did he then doesn't keep it himself as we often see him withdraw up a mountain to pray. It is the idea of praying alone with God unseen that matters. As men it may be in the outdoors, it may be walking in the hills or through a wood when actually we can pray.

As men we need to be courageous and take risks for Christ and call others to do the same, in too many of our churches we dial down on challenge and call and focus on comfort. But the gospels are distinctly uncomfortable in the terms in which they describe discipleship, they are phenomenally challenging. We need to hear that call respond to it ourselves and call others to.

Lastly we need to remind ourselves we are saved by grace, called to a kingdom and given a mission.