I had such high expectations for “Average Joe: God’s Extraordinary Calling to Ordinary Men” by Troy Meeder from Multnomah. I expected to hear how the Gospel drives the lives ordinary men far beyond the human ability of ordinary men. I was looking forward to reading about God’s work in our lives’ calling and vocation, about sanctification as a work of God in the grit and grizzle of our daily lives, about how God has fashioned us into a priesthood of believers regardless of our life status, and about how God connects us as the communion of the saints. In a graceless world where men are constantly told to pull themselves up by their boot-straps, dig deep within themselves, get some more discipline, and try a little harder, I was eager to read about how Christ dwells within each and every Christian ordinary Joe. I was expecting to read about how we are to die to self and live in Christ – to dig deep into Christ.
On page four the book went horribly wrong; Meeder writes, “Average Joe is the best of who we are. This book is a challenge to look deep within yourself, to better understand the man God has made you to be, to find contentment in the life God has blessed you with. I will finally urge you to leg go of your boyish or unrealistic dreams and replace them with the wise passions, wisdom, and disciplines of a man. It’s time to make sure that integrity, honor, and moral steadfastness describe who you are.”
As a pastor and chaplain who has counseled many men, I have witness how a paragraph like the previous one sounds good on paper, yet oppressed men with a harsh “be a man” religiosity. Our average Joe-ness is not the best of who we; our best is not about us, it is Christ who lives within us. As men, we have nothing within ourselves to dig deeper into. That is why we are Paul calls us to “set our minds on things above” as opposed to spiritual naval gazing. As men, integrity, honor, and moral steadfastness elude us when we seek to make it on our own. Instead, Christ is our righteousness and the fruit of our lives is fruit cultivated by the Spirit. The Content of Average Joe presents a macho Christian life that is inappropriately anthropocentric (man centered). And, the world-view of Average Joe could best be described by the phrase “moralistic therapeutic deism.” In other words, Meeder presents a Christian lifestyle in which moral behavior makes us feel better about our lives all the while God approves of our moral effort yet is presented as scantly involved in the transformation of our lives (Phil 2:12-13).
Instead of introducing us to Christ and examples of how he changes the lives of average every day men, Meeder launches into the body of Average Joe, “I want to introduce you to some average Joes. These men who have changed the world around them.” This leads into a 5 chapter section titled “Guts, Grit, and Sand.” The content comes off just like it sounds – just man up (the Nike approach to Christian living). The most disheartening thing about this section – apart from the man centered approach to faith – is that many of Meeder’s main points could be made by people of many other religions or world views. For example, in chapter 4 Meeder concludes with these points: 1) let your yes be yes, 2) your handshake is your bond, 3) the body of Christ is a tapestry of living creatures all joined together by the blood of Jesus, and 4) everyone needs a little manure in his or her life. With a little smattering of Jesus here and there, apart from point 3, there is not too much about Meeder’s view of life that differentiates Christianity from most moralistic world views. Another example, in chapter 5 Meeder argues that the Christian man must have a “mark” to aim for and then he just has to stay the course. Sounds great, but how many men (and women) are able to keep an eye on the “mark” and then stay the course? This is exactly where we struggle with the faith – this is exactly where we need Christ in us as opposed to digging deeper within ourselves. And, there is nothing about these points that exults the uniqueness of Christianity – these points could be a part of a business management seminar.
In the end, as I read this book a few times, I kept thinking about all the men I have counseled who burned out trying to live the faith by manning up, digging deeper within themselves, and trying to get that all elusive life discipline. When these men came to the end of themselves and a macho approach to the Christian faith, they counterintuitively surrendered and they got to know Jesus who in turn transformed their lives. Meeder’s book could be significantly more Gospel driven with far less moralism.
I received this book free for review from Waterbrook/Multnomah Press.
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Fair critique. It seems like in our culture it is too tempting to just "man up" and grit our teeth to live out what we think of as a "moral life". It's scary to come to the end of ourselves but it's there that we see our desperate need for Christ. Thanks for the reminder. - Jon
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