S2Ep10 - Jesus: The Model Man

Pastor Greg Griffith and Marcus Nathan close out Season 2 by turning the cup toward the One every other man points to: Jesus, the model man. This episode looks at His humility, courage, servant leadership, and the perfect balance of grace and truth — the kind of masculinity no culture can brew up on its own. As the season wraps, they remind us that real strength is found in staying close to Christ, and letting His character shape ours.

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Transcript

Season Finale And The Big Goal

SPEAKER_00 0:01

You're listening to Coffee Break Theology, a King of Kings podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome back. This is the final episode of season two, which has been amazing and so great. So we're talking Coffee Break Theology, Godly Masculinity. I'm Greg.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

And I'm Marcus. We're here, the final man of the Bible this season. He's the one all the other men point to.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

That's right. We've talked about Adam and Noah and Abraham and Joseph and Moses and Joshua and David and Daniel and Peter. And if you're listening to this on two times speed, that was super fast.

Philippians 2 And True Humility

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Now we're talking about Jesus, the perfect model of godly masculinity and what it looks like.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

Spoiler alert. The more we look at him, come on, the more we realize masculinity isn't about cultural stereotypes, it's about the character shaped by the heart of God.

SPEAKER_02 1:00

I love it. So let's look at Jesus by looking at Philippians 2. Have this in mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Now there you go.

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Luther said, God doesn't need your good works, but your neighbor does. I love that quote. And in Jesus, we see strength expressed through service.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Absolutely. And I was thinking about this this um this episode by itself. All the other ones, we talked about failure throughout. It's it's just a part of the sinful nature of man. Um, every every Bible character struggles with it. Yeah. But this this episode should be pretty easy. Yeah. We can't screw it up. No, Jesus. Jesus. There we go. No failure.

Foot Washing As Strength Through Service

SPEAKER_01 2:15

One of his best examples of genuine humility is in John 13 when he washes his disciples' feet.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Yeah, think about that. Like this is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the God Almighty, kneeling to clean dirt off the feet of guys who would betray, deny, and abandon him within hours.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

And Luther in the small catechism, he's talking about the fifth commandment about not harming our neighbor. He says this we should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbors in his body, but help and support him in every physical need. It's not just the not harming, it's also let's help and support. Right. Um, and that's exactly what Jesus is doing here. Right. He's supporting, he's helping, he's stooping down and doing the thing that nobody else wants to do. Yeah. Um, uh meeting a need that nobody else wants to meet.

Courage That Chooses The Cross

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Jesus it wasn't just gentle, he was incredibly courageous. Yep. He walked into Jerusalem knowing that the cross was before him. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

It's bravery. Absolutely. John 10 18 records Jesus saying, No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. That's ownership.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Yeah. Keller, Tim Keller, we've referenced him multiple times. He said, Jesus didn't come in order to be served, but to serve. And that ultimate service was giving his life for us. This is masculine courage, right? Self-sacrifice for the good of others. I think too, a lot of masculine courage, you think about our military, right? Self-sacrifice for the good of others.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yep, for sure. Uh, and something else

Holding Grace And Truth Together

SPEAKER_01 3:50

about Jesus. Uh he never compromised truth to be nice, right? People want you to be nice, they want you to do the right thing. Right. Uh, but he never withheld grace to prove he was right. Right. He was always using both.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

John 1:14 says that the word became flesh. And I like this. He tabernacled, right? Like, like he, he, um, Eugene Peterson in the message Bible, God God done moved into the neighborhood, is what he says. And and we've seen his full glory full of grace and truth. And those two things, grace and truth, they're like the rails on a godly man's heart that your life runs on.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

You need both. Absolutely. Luther says this in his commentary on Galatians. Truth without love is harshness, and love without truth is hypocrisy. Jesus embodied both perfectly.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

So, what does Jesus look like for us as the model man in 2026?

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yeah, it means it means we lead like servants. Yeah. We love with courage. We hold grace and truth together.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

I think it also means we have to reject the extremes, right? The pass is passivity that avoids leadership, right? And the dominance that abuses it. Yep. Masculinity in Jesus is about again taking responsibility, protecting the vulnerability, yeah, and laying down our lives for others. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Men's ministry leader, uh author Steve Ferrar, uh, I follow him and read a lot of his books. Uh, but he said this about humility. He says, Don't expect or angle for the seat of honor. Continually take the lowest seat at the table. Do that until God elevates you to a higher seat. He's saying don't don't don't expect it. Don't don't think you're entitled to it or anything like that. Just keep taking it. God will elevate you when

Three Practices For Real Humility

SPEAKER_01 5:40

he wants. Uh, so how do we do that? Let's let's give three quick quick ways to be to be humble, uh, to follow Jesus' model of humility. Uh, number one, serve someone intentionally, meet a need before they ask. Yeah. And that's that's super easy. Yeah. We were talking about this in Wednesday night connect groups the other day. Like, we've forgotten how to just be nice to each other.

unknown 5:58

Come on.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Like, just do something nice before you before you're it's necessary or they ask. Uh, number two, speak truth in love. Have that hard conversation, but do it with kindness. Yeah, there are hard conversations to have, yeah, but do it in a in a way that's kind. Uh number three, choose sacrifice over selfishness. Give up time, give up money, give up comfort, give it something that is going to cost you and do it for somebody else.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Remember, this isn't about trying harder on our own strength. It's really about staying close to Jesus so his character shapes ours.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Absolutely. And so here's a challenge for you. We could challenge you and say, be like Jesus. And Paul says, Imitate, imitate me like I imitate Christ. Yeah. So I mean, that's the easy way out. Just do what Jesus does. Yeah. Um, but I'll do this: pick one trait of Jesus from from this conversation: humility, courage, compassion, servant leadership, uh, that truth and grace balance. Pick one of those and intentionally live it out this week.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

Yeah, and and I would say write it down, like pray over it each morning. Yeah, um, ask the Holy Spirit to reflect Jesus in that area in your life. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Because in the end, the the measure of biblical manhood is is how well we we reflect the one who designed it.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Amen to

Season Takeaways And Leadership Charge

SPEAKER_02 7:12

that. Man, season two. This has been a great season of godly masculinity.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

Yeah, it's been an incredible journey. This is something I've I've loved diving into. Um good at it. I could talk about this for days, right? I mean, all told, I think we talk it for I don't know, a hundred minutes. Yeah, not even two hours. We could do this for more, but yeah. Um, we've seen failures, we've seen victories, we've seen strength, we've seen weaknesses, we've seen failure, we've seen all that. But all of it on both sides pointing to Jesus, yeah, the model man.

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Well, we're praying that these conversations over this season have stirred your heart into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Yep. And uh you've learned traits, whether you're a man or a woman, um, to see what God calls for a godly living. And men out there, um, keep leading because Jesus has called you uh to lead as a godly man. Yeah, and so uh may you be that man that not only he brews coffee, but also he lives the life with Jesus.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah, yeah, I love that. And and for me, like I I lead a by uh a men's ministry. We mentioned that in the first thing. Um if you're listening, you want to come, it's Monday mornings, great uh King of Kings Northwest, 6 a.m. Come on. Um, we talk about this all the time. Um, it's great conversation, great dudes. Um but at the same time, my my purpose in that, I tell people I am urging people to take their faith seriously. Yes. And for men, that's hard. Yes. I get it. There's a lot of polls in different directions. We have responsibility. You can't just drop everything to do Bible study and read everything. Um but but take ownership of your faith. Yeah, take ownership of that, take ownership of the responsibility God's given you. Yeah, whether that's husband, father, brother, son, yeah, friend, you know, leader, yep, workplace, all that stuff. It's it's all encapsulating. And if you can imitate Christ, the best of your ability, He's gonna show you how to be a man. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's go. All right, see you next season. See you later.

Next Season And Final Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Thanks for listening to Coffee Break Theology. Be sure to tune in next time and remember to check out our other podcast series available on every major podcast listening service.