“When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves—praise the Lord! …My heart is with Israel’s princes, with the willing volunteers among the people. Praise the Lord!” (Judges 5:2, 9)
According to a survey conducted by the PEW Research Center in 2014, women are more religious than men. Of course this study was based in popular Christianity, not true biblical Christianity, and is no more true than saying tall people are more religious than short people. One’s biology has nothing to do with one’s spirituality. However, as an adolescent growing up in a conservative “Christian” household, I saw this first hand. My father was not particularly religious, but was pushed to attend church services regularly by my mother. She was by far the “religious one” in our family; not my father.
Our awesome Single Professionals Ministry put on a powerful skit about Jesus’ ability to resurrect us from our sin!
This dynamic is not uncommon in many North American families. In many respects, Christianity has become a very effeminate religion. Even Jesus is commonly depicted with long flowing hair and very feminine characteristics. This is certainly not the Jesus of the Bible, who had “no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, [and] nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.” (Isaiah 53:2) He was a carpenter, and most likely had to cut down and mill His own lumber. This fact alone should liken Jesus in our minds more to a modern-day lumberjack than to the Abercrombie and Fitch model-versions of Jesus that are commonplace in religion. In other words, Jesus was a man’s man!
Sadly this artificially-sweetened version of Jesus, and of Christianity, can worm its’ way into the Kingdom of God. Because many of us have had similar upbringings and experiences to mine, we carry with us a subliminal notion that it is not acceptable for women to “take the lead,” but it is normal. We princes of Israel can shrink back while the princesses of Israel step up. This was also the case in Deborah’s time. Though she did not desire to lead over the men, she was forced to lead because there were no men who would rise up. (Judges 4:8-9) Reluctantly, she led Israel to victory over Jabin’s Canaanite forces.
Ghislain Normand preaches about hope to a packed house of 148 at our Easter Bring-Your-Neighbour-Day Easter Sunday Service!
On the day of their victory, Deborah, along with her male co-leader Barak, sang these powerful words together, “When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves—praise the Lord!” Interestingly, this was the very first verse of thirty total verses within their song. It seems clearly understood by both of them that Deborah had done her part, and that it was time for Barak to step up and “take the lead.”
I personally believe that Barak answered this most important calling because it was his name that the writer of Hebrews mentioned over Deborah’s. He wrote, “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.” (Hebrews 11:32-34)
Sonia is resurrected with Christ through her baptism!
I praise God that we have some Deborah-like women in the Toronto Church! It has been amazing to see so many victories in the Women’s Ministry, as nine of the 14 baptisms so far this year have been women! Also exciting, is that there will be a Women’s Day Event on June 5th, in which I believe the women will more than blow out their faith goal of having 100 in attendance! The aim of this article, and of the scriptures, is not to ask the women to step down, but to charge the men to step up! Or as the widely-known Kingdom song states it, “Rise Up, O Men of God!”
This challenge to rise up is in no way meant to take anything away from the very masculine men we have in the church, or their consistent and forceful effort to make disciples; nor is it meant to create competition between the Men’s and Women’s Ministries. We have an awesome Women’s Ministry, and we have an awesome Men’s Ministry! Taking the lead is not about being better, or being the best; it’s about being first, and it is about being in front. It’s leading the way! Barak was initially too afraid to go first. He needed Deborah to go with him. (Judges 4:8) But perhaps it was he “who became powerful in battle?” Having a powerful and dynamic Men’s Ministry that takes the lead is essential in distinguishing the true biblical version of God’s Kingdom from the effeminate, popular version of Christianity that has so permeated the world today.
In the second to the last verse of Rise Up, O Men of God, the song goes, “Rise up, O men of God! The church for you doth wait, Her strength unequaled to her task; Rise up, and make her great!” I believe this verse reads true for us. The Church is waiting, and the task is beyond her strength. It is up to the “princes in Israel [to] take the lead,” and to rise up and make her great! I have no doubts that the men of the Toronto Church will answer this most important charge! And to God be all the glory!
Evan Bartholomew