Waylon Jennings wrote these words that marked my life: “Just the good ol’ boys, never meanin’ no harm, beats all you’ve ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they was born.” As a 1980’s kid, I watched Bo and Luke Duke run the General Lee hard every week to escape the clutches of Sherriff Rosco P. Coltran and his best buddy, Flash, in the hit TV show The Dukes of Hazard. It was fun to see the shenanigans of these two grown men, the goofy incompetence of the county officials, and the love between friends and family. It all seemed to work out for these good ol boys. But that was show business.
Jay Strack often says, “There comes a time when the little boy sits down and the man stands up.” It is always exciting to see young men step into adulthood with a sense of courage and responsibility and passion for Jesus. But then there are the grown men who haven’t taken that challenge just yet. They have a job, a mortgage, a wife, and kids, but the little boy is still running around.
These are good guys. They are fun, they are helpful, and they love their family. They work hard to provide and they donate time to their church and community. They are good ol boys, our churches are full of them, and I love them.
But Jesus did not call men to be good ol boys. He found some good ol boys like Peter, James, and John, and challenged them to more. He called them to follow Him and He would make them into “fishers of men.” So they left their nets and followed Jesus. The little boys sat down and the men stood up.
After Jesus’ ministry, death, burial, and resurrection, He gave these men and others like them a mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the global glory of God. And twelve men and just over 100 others obeyed Him, waited on the Holy Spirit, and then got to work. And the result was a Gospel movement of disciple-making and church planting that has rocked the world for over 2000 years.
The early church faced tremendous challenges. They had theological issues to work through. They had to learn how to be a church. They experienced intense persecution. Yet against all odds, the church multiplied.
We still face challenges to make disciples and advance the Gospel. But the greatest challenge for us is not training, resources, or technology. And in the U.S. we are even sheltered from persecution. We are more educated, wealthy, and advanced than at any time in history. So what is our greatest challenge? What is it that holds us back?
Let me make a stab at it. Drum role please…
It could be that the greatest challenge to the advance of the Gospel in America today is the good ol boys attending our churches. Before you think I have lost my ever-loving mind just remember it was a good ol boy named Adam who was sitting down passively while Eve ate of the fruit. He was a hard worker. He loved Eve. He had a relationship with God. He was even present when Eve sunk her teeth into the fruit. But for some reason he refused to stand up. And the consequences of his passivity were devastating.
It seems good ol boys come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not about personality or giftedness. It’s not about education or interests. And it’s not about prosperity or poverty. So to help define just what it is, let’s look at six common good ol boys in the church today:
Career Boy
Men should work hard and provide for the their families. I know many Christ-centered, very successful businessmen. But Career Boy uses his career as a way to measure self-worth, hide from accountability, and pursue the idol of prosperity. All the while, he claims to work so hard to “support his family” when in fact he is working so hard to prop up his ego. As he works up the career ladder, he climbs right into isolation. As his bank account swells and his influence expands, his Gospel impact rides off into the sunset. He attends church, but disciple-making and church multiplication is simply not worth his life.
Kid Boy
Fathers should love their kids and spend time with them. But Kid Boy wants to be a buddy to his child rather than a father, so discipline is rare. Beyond that, Kid Boy sacrifices anything, including time and money, to ensure his child gets ahead in life. He often lives out his dreams through the life of his child. So rather than leading his family to love Jesus and connect to the body of Christ, Kid Boy lets the interest of his child determine the family schedule and priorities. The phrase, “they are only young once” is twisted to support the notion that we are to give kids everything they want to the neglect of the biblical mandate to “train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6).
Theology Boy
This dude wears his plaid shirt untucked, sports non-prescription artsy glasses, and is ESV all the way. He loves talking Bible at the coffee shop. It seems this guy really loves Jesus. But he doesn’t seem to love the church Jesus died to redeem. The local body of Christ is too earthy for him, too organized, and too programmatic. The worship style is too celebrative or too solemn or too formal or too casual. The preaching is too folksy, or too shallow, or just not relevant. Theology Boy likes talking about the Gospel, but is just unwilling to get his hands messy and heart attached to broken people. He never admits to looking for the perfect church, but his actions prove otherwise. From his perspective, the common church people just don’t get it.
Sneaky Boy
This is the good ol boy who presents himself well at church, in the community, and even to his family. But behind the veneer of faithfulness, he is irresponsible with money, he stops at the local bar on the way home, and views pornography on a regular basis. He flirts with the girls at the office and has marriage trouble that no one including his wife talks about anymore. Eventually, Sneaky Boy goes AWOL. No one is sure why. We pray for him, but there is no man close enough to ask the tough questions. So Sneaky Boy slips away to another church where he can hide behind his religious faithfulness while neglecting an authentic relationship with Jesus.
Helper Boy
Jesus calls us to a life of service and self-sacrifice. So we find Helper Boy driving the bus for the senior adult trip, picking up trash after the church picnic, and mowing the lawn. And the church staff considers him a go-to guy because he is happy to pitch in. If his wife needs help in the preschool department, he is there. If his buddy needs a hand, he is ready. But his service is not proactive or passionate. It is only a reaction to the requests or expectations of others. His service is more about maintaining his relationships and pleasing his peer group than advancing the Gospel.
Hobby Boy
This guy loves sports, hunting, running, or some other hobby. He works hard and plays hard, and that is a huge part of being a man. Men should never leave ruggedness at the church door. But for Hobby Man his hobby is his passion, and the advance of the Gospel through his church is his hobby. This is the guy who sacrifices time and money (lots of it) on a new set of clubs or the latest rain gear, but refuses to tithe his income to his church. This is the guy who gets on the water before dawn, but rarely opens his Bible in a week. This is the guy who puts everything aside to train for a marathon, but won’t walk across the street to have a Gospel conversation with his neighbor.
So what’s the big deal? What real harm do these good ol boys do? Just ask Adam. Ask Abraham. Ask David. Ask Ananias. When grown men refuse to stand up and follow Jesus, families get hurt and the church fails to advance the Gospel.
Before you get offended, I believe the church exists for good ol boys. Jesus loves good ol boys. I love wild game dinners, golf scrambles, and 5Ks and the good ole boys who attend them. And I see some of myself in the six common good ol boys I’ve described. So as men who want to grow in our faith and faithfulness, we pray for one another. We cheer each other on. We model Christ-likeness. But we also challenge one another to take the next step, because there comes a time when the good ol boy sits down and the redeemed ol man stands up and takes responsibility to follow Jesus, to shepherd his family, and to serve his church for the advance of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
I know there is more to say on this one. I would love to read your thoughts. Please click the Comment Button below to weigh in.
