Just because we are “Men of God” does not mean we have already arrived
We have seen from my last series, “A Men’s Ministry Men Want to Know,” that men who have a passionate desire to serve widows and single moms have an acquired taste. That is, the average non-Christian man on the street does not normally think and act that way.
Rather, to become a “man of God,” we must be saved from our selfish, self-centered, and godless ways and come into a right relationship with God through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ. Then, having done so, we must come to understand God’s heart for widows and single moms by learning his Word, by developing a clear overview of spiritual reality that results in sound doctrine, by accepting biblical reproof and restoration, and by learning to live righteously. As we do, we become men of God who are “fully equipped for every good work.”
But just because we are in the process of becoming men of God who are engaged in doing God’s good works, this does not mean that we have arrived, that we are free from sin, or that we will never make major mistakes in this life. Take, for example, Paul’s statement in Philippians 3:12-14:
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
If anyone has been a “man of God,” it was Paul himself. And yet even Paul knew that he had not “already arrived.” That mentality, “I have not already arrived,” must be every man of God’s mentality. Yes, we are busy doing God’s good works. But while we may be doing the works of God, we still have issues. Doing good works does not mean we have “already arrived.”
Every man of God has feet of clay
This truth that no man of God has already arrived was impressed upon me in my teens and early twenties by my mentor, role model, and uncle. “Herb, always remember. Every man of God has feet of clay,” he would say.
That metaphor, “feet of clay” refers to “a weakness or hidden flaw in the character of a greatly admired or respected person” (Dictionary.com). It has its origin in Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s vision:
“Your Majesty looked, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.”
From a distance, the statue Daniel described to King Nebuchadnezzar was enormous, dazzling, and awesome. But when he got up close and looked down, he saw something disappointing: feet of clay mixed with iron. That is, the feet were not capable of holding up for long the otherwise fabulous statue. The entire stature was, therefore, a huge disappointment.
In its context, the statue in Daniel chapter two refers to consecutive historical kingdoms, each lesser in glory and stability. But the idea of “feet of clay” came to be applied to men (and women) of great social stature who, nevertheless, have severe and often hidden flaws.
The Bible is full of examples of men of God who had feet of clay.
- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelves sons struggled with their generational sin of lying.
- Moses lost his temper.
- Aaron allowed his impatience to drive him into idolatry.
- David was a rapist and murderer.
- Elijah was depressed.
- Peter struggled with pride.
- John Mark was disloyal and abandoned Paul while on mission.
All of these men of God demonstrated “feet of clay” after they had been called by God to serve him.
It is true, “every man of God has feet of clay.” By impressing this truth upon me, Uncle John, as our family affectionately called him, was protecting me from disappointment. And he was right to do so because, sure enough, some of the men of God whom I have known have indeed demonstrated that they have feet of clay.
One man of God I knew, a pastor, got embroiled in a huge argument with his church board, became embittered, and left his church in a huge mess. Another man of God was arrested, tried, convicted, and imprisoned for decades for secretly sexually assaulting women in alleyways. Another man of God confessed to pornography addiction. Another man of God had an affair, divorced his wife, and married his lover. Another man of God got caught and convicted for embezzling funds. All of these men were, and are, true men of God, were respected leaders in their churches, and later repented of their sin.
And all of them had feet of clay.
And yes, I have feet of clay too. I have a problem with my temper. I documented one example for you here.
Therefore, every man of God not only ministers to others through his good works, but also needs to be ministered to by a local church men’s ministry
While I don’t know all of the circumstances surrounding the above examples, I believe there are several reasons why men of God may succumb to their feet of clay.
- They may not recognize that they have unresolved issues in their lives.
- They do not know the reasons why they have these unresolved issues in the first place.
- Once the issues manifest themselves as trials or temptations, they are not willing to honestly talk about them with trusted friends.
- Indeed, they may not have any close friends at all to talk to, and instead feel isolated and lonely.
The reason why all men of God need to be involved in their church’s men’s ministry is because effective local church men’s ministries give men of God who have feet of clay — that is, who have a sinful nature — two things: insight and light.
First, an effective local church men’s ministry helps men of God honestly identify and deal with their own unique weaknesses and sins. This is insight and it is the first step in achieving genuine healing and victory over sin.
Second, an effective local church men’s ministry gives men of God the opportunity to talk openly with trusted friends about those weaknesses they are struggling with. This openness is “light” and it is the final step in achieving victory over sin.
“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:15
The reality that all men of God have feet of clay means that God not only seeks to minister through the good works that he has saved and called men of God to do, but God also seeks to minister to men as they do them. And one of the best ways for God to accomplish that is through a local church men’s ministry.
And pastors, I’m speaking especially to you. It is vital for you to personally participate in your local church men’s ministry, even if only as a participant. By doing so, you telegraph the message that you, too, need this ministry, for you, too, have feet of clay.
(For an idea of what a local church men’s ministry looks like when it genuinely ministers to men of God who have feet of clay, see my post, “The First Men’s Breakfast“.)
God’s first priority is ministry through a man of God and God’s second priority is ministry to a man of God
So which comes first, ministry to men, or ministry through men. That is, after conversion, do we first help a man deal with his problems and only then begin to teach him to do good works? Or do we first emphasize good works and deal with his “clay feet” in the process? I believe Scripture teaches both explicitly and by example that we should immediately invite the new believer to get involved in doing good works and then, as issues manifest themselves, help them deal with those issues.
First, Scripture clearly states that the whole purpose of a new believer’s salvation is for him to do good works. We see this emphasis in Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:14; 3:3-8 (especially v. 8); and Titus 3:14.
But Scripture also gives us specific examples of new believers immediately being encouraged to practice good works.
The priority of ministry through new believers before ministry to new believers in the ministry of John the Baptist
“The ax is already lying at the roots of the trees. All the trees that don’t produce good fruit will be cut down. They will be thrown into the fire.” “Then what should we do?” the crowd asked. John answered, “Anyone who has extra clothes should share with the one who has none. And anyone who has extra food should do the same.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” John told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” John replied, “Don’t force people to give you money. Don’t bring false charges against people. Be happy with your pay.”
The priority of ministry through new believers before ministry to new believers in the ministry of Jesus:
“Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much” (Luke 19:8).
The priority of ministry through new believers before ministry to new believers in the early church:
“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” Acts 2:44
The priority of ministry through new believers before ministry to new believers in the ministry of Paul:
“Anyone who has been stealing must never steal again. Instead, they must work. They must do something useful with their own hands. Then they will have something to give to people in need” (Ephesians 4:18).
The priority of ministry through new believers before ministry to new believers in the Old Testament:
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David and Elijah, whom I cited above, were all called and practicing their ministry, their “good works,” before God dealt with their “clay feet.”
A problem with modern men’s ministry is that we too often ignore the first priority – ministry through a man of God by his good works – and focus only on the second – ministry to a man of God’s felt needs
Modern conservative Christianity tends to entirely ignore the topic of good works, mainly because we have a strong emphasis on salvation by faith as a free gift, not as a result of our good works. But this imbalanced emphasis ignores the central role that good works do play after salvation in the life of every Christian (Ephesians 2:8-10).
This imbalance on the topic of good works has lead to a dearth of teaching on the subject in men’s ministry. Rare, if at all, is the book, article, post, or conference speaker who teaches on the role of good works in the Christian life. Consider the following list of sixteen breakout seminar topics at one nationally syndicated men’s conference ministry:
- Essentials of Manhood & Marriage
- W-O-R-K: More Than a 4 Letter Word
- Three Common Mistakes Churches Make
- Speaking into the Next Generation
- Raising Godly Boys
- How to begin a Hunting and Fishing Outdoor Adventure Ministry in your Church
- Spiritual Fathering – making disciples of the next generation
- God Loves Do-Overs
- Overcoming Procrastination:
- Impotent No More
- Christ is All
- Building a Marriage to Withstand Life’s Storms:
- Breaking A Myopic Leadership Cycle – Improving our foresight to change our outcomes
- Communication Still Works
- Redeeming the Time
- Building the Winning Team to Reach Men
- Empowered Relationship Through Athletics
- Leading your Adult Children
- If The Horse Is Dead Dismount
- Playing the Back Nine
- How to Build a Diversified Men’s Ministry
- Men and Their Health
One would never know from this list that the entire purpose of a man of God’s salvation is to do good works, even though there is one workshop listed above on a Christian man’s everyday work.
But we don’t want to make the opposite mistake and focus only on the first priority – ministry through men – and ignore the second – ministry to men
And yet, “Every man of God has feet of clay.” That is, every man of God still has a sinful nature and has issues. Ignoring this fact will lead to an imbalance in the opposite direction: focusing only on the good works a man of God is to do and not addressing his felt needs.
I know of one local church men’s ministry where all they do is use teams of men to serve their widows and single moms. This is inadequate men’s ministry. (New Commandment never intended men’s team ministry to be a standalone men’s ministry.) The men on those teams have needs too, sometimes very dramatic, intense needs. Those needs must be addressed as those men of God do the good works God saved them to do.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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