What Is a Man? | The Biblical Answer Many Pastors Won’t Say on Father’s Day

All

right, good morning everyone.

Happy Father's Day.

I should have opened the service with

that, but it slipped my mind in the

moment.

All right.

Uh, good to see you all. It's good to be

up here. Of course, if I have to adjust

this, I might. My head isn't quite the

same size as Matt if you didn't realize

that. So, every once in a while I don't

get this adjusted quite right before I

start, but it sounds all right for now.

Anyways, all right. A few weeks ago, I

preached a sermon called What is a woman

on Mother's Day?

And as was promised, I said that I would

also preach a sermon on what does godly

masculinity look like for Father's Day.

And as we did for the Mother's Day

sermon, we talked briefly about the

overlap that there is between a man and

a woman. Um, which we're going to kind

of quickly cover that again,

right? Because there's a lot of there's

a lot of overlap. Both created in God's

image, both enslaved to sin, both being

saved by grace. So, we're going to cover

that a bit, but um really the the main

focus of the sermon is going to be on

the distinction, the ways that a man is

created differently from a woman and the

unique quote biological

ways that that is a wonderful thing. The

spiritual calling, spiritual duty that

God has given to men uniquely and how

that's a wonderful thing. You know, all

of God's creation is to be praised in

some form or fashion. Not that we

fashion idols and praise them. We always

praise God. But everything that God made

at the end of it, he said, "It's good.

It's good. It's very good." And our

culture really wrestles with this idea.

Um, really, really wrestles, really

struggles, really thins culturally. See,

I told you I might have to adjust this.

um

uh really um falls short or misses the

mark or sins a lot in understanding and

celebrating that men and women are

created differently. That we're created

with different purposes and roles

generally um and strengths and

weaknesses. And those aren't to be uh in

contention with one another, but they're

to be celebrated with one another. Adam

wasn't complete until he had a woman

that was created for him. In fact, the

only thing that God said was not good of

all of his creation was that Adam was

alone. He said it's not good that man is

alone, but he needs a woman. He needs a

helper. He needs someone suitable for

him. And so, we're going to we're going

to spend some time um going through that

this morning. I don't have a verse like

we usually start with, you know, stand

for the reading of the scripture. I have

lots of verses, but I won't make you

stand and sit. Stand and sit. So, we're

just gonna open in prayer and we're

gonna dive in. Um, and hopefully, like

Sam prayed, you will get something out

of the sermon that's useful and

profitable. Um, and ultimately that God

would receive glory in this. So, let's

pray this morning. God, we come to you

and we do celebrate, Lord, that you are

our heavenly father. We thank you God

that you have um that you are gracious,

that you are kind, that you are loving,

that you are the perfect father that all

of us have access to. Um whether we had

a good father, a bad father, no father,

maybe many different figures in our

lives that that acted as a father. Um,

and whatever

maybe difficulty or or challenges or sin

was was there that was committed by our

heaven by our by our earthly father,

Lord, we all have a heavenly father who

is perfect in every way. And we're

grateful for that, Lord. We thank you um

for that. And we pray as we come to your

word, as we study what your word has to

say about both who you are as our

heavenly father, Jesus, who you are are

as our shepherd, as our leader um and

also what your word says specifically

what we as men are called to be um as

men, as as husbands, as fathers, as

leaders, that um you would that you

would shape us, that you would refine

us, that you would mold us, God, that we

would be glad to repent of any s that

comes that comes in this and that you

would receive all the glory and praise

in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Um so yeah, like I was mentioning

a bit um we're all very aware of how

broken our society is when it comes to

um the roles of men and the roles of

women. I went into that in detail on

Mother's Day. um how we're so broken

that it's it's it's confusing when you

ask people to describe what is a woman,

they have no idea. When you're asked to

describe what is a man, they have no

idea. That men think that they can be a

woman by putting on woman's clothes and

and taking estrogen. That women think

that they can be a man by cutting their

hair short and wearing the clothes of a

man and taking testosterone. It's it's

insanity. It's absolutely insanity. You

know, we all know that every single one

of your cells is full of DNA. And that

DNA unexplainably or un unambiguously

says you are a man. You are a woman.

Amen. That's right. Um and praise God

for that. Praise God for that. We should

be grateful that God made us that way.

And when society orients itself around

those wonderful realities, when women

embrace everything that God calls them

to be as a woman. When men embrace

gladly everything God calls them to be

as a man, there are so many so many

benefits from that, so many blessings

that come from that. Um, most

importantly, God is glorified because

that's how he made things to be. But the

family is in a much better situation.

The church is in a much better

situation. The government is in a much

better situation. and these core

foundational truths of of who we are as

as humans are eroded, everything

collapses around them. You know, you've

probably heard the saying that, you

know, strong godly men create strong

godly families. Strong godly families

create strong godly churches. Strong

godly churches create strong godly

societies. And when when you erode that

foundation, it's no surprise to us that

everything built on that foundation

crumbles as well. So, we're in a bit of

a mess as a culture. Um, I'm so grateful

to be at a church like this surrounded

by men and women both who delight and

embrace who God made them to be as men

and women. Um, we'll go into that a

little bit more about how important that

is to um as a man to part of a culture

like this to help build up a culture

like this. Um,

and uh, so lot lots of things, lots of

good things. Uh, I'm actually going to

start with my definition uh, to try to

make sure that this point is driven home

multiple times throughout the sermon.

So, what is a man? This is my attempt at

a definition. Um, it was hard to, right,

to narrow it down because there's so

much in scripture. It is the same with

women. So many things in scripture. I

know that even as I go through this, I'm

I'm I'm going to be missing things. I'm

going to be emp not emphasizing things

that that maybe should have been

emphasized a little more. Maybe

emphasizing. So anyways, um but what is

a man? A man is an image bearer of God,

lost in sin, saved by grace, created to

glorify God by working hard to subdue

the world for Christ, and by laying down

his life to lovingly lead those God

placed in his care.

So, I'm going to really focus in on two

main categories this morning. Again,

this is not a holistic picture, right?

That we got a book uh there's a book

back in the lobby for men called um the

masculine mandate that explains in even

more detail some of the things that I'm

going to talk about this morning. So,

read the book. Most importantly, read

the Bible. But I'm going to really zero

in on two I think core distinctions of

um how God made men uh both to be the

ones that do the subduing and the fill

and subdue dominion mandate. We talked

about this a little bit a few weeks ago.

Fill and subdue. God created women

uniquely with the ability to fill the

earth by having babies. God created men

uniquely um with a greater ability to

subdue the earth. So do the earth. Work

hard. We're going to focus in on that.

And then the second one, we're going to

talk a lot about leadership, a lot about

what it looks like as men to lovingly

lead those that God has put under our

care. Um, if you're a single man, that's

chiefly yourself. If you're a married

man, that's your wife. If you've got

kids, that's also your kids. Your your

or your distant family or really whoever

God has put under your care. Um, we're

to lovingly lead them.

Okay.

So, like I said, we're gonna kind of

really quickly just zip through as a

refresher the first few points here.

I get the slides to come up. Actually,

whoever's back there, do you want to hit

the next slide?

So, image bearer, this was the first

thing that we emphasized. Then God said,

"Let us make man in our image, after our

likeness. Let them have dominion over

the fish of the sea, and over the birds

of the heavens, and over the livestock,

and over all the earth, and over every

creeping thing that creeps on the

earth." Um, so God created man in his

own image. In the image of God, he

created him. Male and female he created

him. So man is created in God's image,

in God's likeness. God breathed the

breath of life into man. We are created

above all of the rest of creation. As

this says, we are in one sense the

pinnacle of creation. Um with God above

us, God is our head. Um man is in the

image of God as um as his lord over

creation, as his king over creation, as

his great steward over creation. Um

there's so much to that image bearer

idea that we're not going to really get

into, but um point number one, God is

man is made in God's image.

Okay, you want to hit the next slide?

doesn't want to load

the fancy that always work.

Um, all right. So, point number two, uh,

lost in sin.

Uh, you don't have to look at mankind

very long to realize that we are very,

very, very lost in sin. And that sin has

affected the whole world. That sin has

affected every part of the world. Um,

and that sin has likely affected some of

you who have had maybe bad fathers. Um,

maybe fathers that were abusive or um or

angry or

maybe abusive in in pretty bad ways. Um,

you know, that used their power and

their their strength and their authority

uh in awful ways. Now, I would I would I

would call out, and we'll talk about

this a little bit more, that's that's

not a fault of leadership itself. That's

not a fault of masculinity itself.

Um, a lot of people today in society,

they say, "Well, I had a I had a bad

abusive father or I had a bad abusive

coach or I had some male authority

figure in my life that was that really

wronged me." Which sadly is is is very

common. and they just scorn all men.

They scorn all authority. They scorn all

leadership altogether because of that.

And that's a problem. That's a problem.

Um God is all powerful. You know,

there's the saying that says uh power

corrupts and absolute power corrupts

absolutely. Okay. Well, we often see

that play out as true, but God is all

powerful and God is not corrupt. And so

um that that and and also as part of

God's creation, he has given authority

to different spheres to be honored, to

be celebrated. Um when those authorities

are doing their job well, it is a

wonderful thing. Right? So sin has

corrupted godly masculinity. Sin has sin

is the reason for maybe that abuse that

you've experienced from father. Sin is

the reason for that doineering authority

or or dictatorship or the Stalins, the

Hitlers, the you know go on down the

line. Men can do powerful things and

when they're corrupted with sin, they do

a lot of very evil, very powerful

things. But that is not a a fault of

leadership or authority itself. Men men

just like women are lost in sin.

Okay. Uh hit the next slide.

Caleb, this is just There's no

discovered connections when I go to

program.

I think when it times out, it it loses

connection or something or when it when

it goes offline. All right. Is my son

still back there on the on the slide

helping me out. So thankful that my boy

is stepping up this morning. All right.

Lost in sin. Let's go to the next slide.

Saved by grace. I'll give you a little

before it before it bounces. Um what is

a man? A man needs to be saved by grace.

Uh Romans 3:22 through uh 24. For there

Romans 3:22

is no distinction. We talked about this.

This is where men and women are both the

same. No distinction. All have sinned

and fall short of the glory of God and

are justified by his grace as a gift

through the redemption that is in Jesus

Christ. So men, we need to be saved. If

you're a man here and you're not

forgiven, you haven't bowed your knee to

Christ, you haven't confessed him as

your Lord, you cannot be the God wants

you to be. You cannot be um fulfilled as

a man who God wants you to be. You need

to repent of your sins and believe in

Jesus Christ. And we're going to talk a

lot about what God expects of you as a

man. And none of these things are

possible unless you submit in your life

to Jesus Christ, who is the perfect God

man. How can you expect to be the man

that God wants you to be if you do not

have your eyes focused on the perfect

God man, Jesus Christ? You can't. You

can't. And as men who are saved, how can

we expect to lead our homes like God

wants us to to work like Jesus Christ

wants us to if we don't continually have

our eyes fixed on who Jesus Christ is

and what he did and how he lived and how

he spoke and how he led and how he loved

and how he laid down his life for his

for his beloved bride.

So that is um that is really where where

it starts as a man is lay your life uh

is is give your life to Christ and

follow his model. Thank you. I'm just

gonna keep tapping this so it doesn't

time out on me. Oh, you turned off.

Okay, perfect.

All right. So, now we're gonna start to

zero in on the distinction. What are the

things that God has called us as men to

be, to do, to think about, to meditate

on, to understand, to embrace, joyfully

embrace? um that one is very foreign to

the mind the worldview of the world the

worldview of the culture but can even be

foreign to at times the mind of

Christian culture the Christian church

um a lot of these these distinctions

have been blurred sometimes even by

conservative theologians these

distinctions have been blurred and in my

opinion when we when we blur the lines

of what scripture has said there are

lines here it's going to lead to error

it's going to lead to

and it's going to lead to problems. So,

as a church, I want us to not blur these

lines. I want us to embrace as men what

God calls us to be as men and as women

what God calls you all to be as women.

Right? Let's let's dig in and dive into

the scriptures and and see um see what

this looks like. So, first again, first

main thing that I'm going to focus in on

there. I had to remove so many of my

notes as I was going through this

because I'm like this is kind of too

much. to zoom through. So, I'm gonna

really try to focus in on two main

things that I think are um very

important. So, the first the first duty

of a man is I think that as men were

created um to work and to keep the

garden.

Uh so, Genesis 1:28 says, "And God

Genesis 1:28

blessed them and God said to them, be

fruitful and multiply, fill the earth to

do it, have dominion over the fish of

the sea, over the birds of the heavens,

and over every living thing that moves

on the earth." And then Genesis 2, the

Lord God took the man and put him in the

garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

To work and keep. And there's there's so

much there. Such a

so much you can get from four words of

scripture there. Uh and the Lord God

commanded the man, saying, you you may

surely eat of every tree of the garden,

but of the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil, you shall not eat. From the

day that you eat of it, you shall surely

die.

So to work and to keep um

I think From this there's there's two

big ideas when you think about what is

most work. You have work where you're

going out and subduing something. You

know, you're building a new building.

You're writing a new piece of code.

You're building a new piece of

functionality. You're, you know,

developing something. You're you're

killing the land. You're planting seeds,

right? There's all this like go out and

and have dominion over things work. But

then the other category of work is the

maintaining part.

the maintaining part. Anybody that's

maybe had a farm can understand this

well. Anybody that's owned any piece of

equipment understands this maintenance

part well. Anybody who owns a house

understands the maintenance part well.

Right? It feels like you spend so much

time just keeping what you have from

from

uh the second law of thermodynamics,

right? from breaking down over time,

from from corroding over time, from

rusting over time, from from you know

needing maintenance over time. And this

idea work and keep has a lot of

spiritual application as well. We're

really going to focus in on the the

actual kind of make money type work or

dominion type work um this morning. But

but but really work has I think these

two big ideas. as men were to go out and

to subdue things, to to fulfill things,

to conquer things, to to to build bigger

schools, to go, you know, build new

buildings or whatever it is. But there's

also a large part of work that's just

maintaining, that's keeping things

running, that's changing your oil every

5,000 miles, that's rotating your tires,

that's, you know, all this stuff that

doesn't feel very fulfilling as a man.

At least if you're like me, that's how I

feel. It's like, oh, I I don't like

having to do this stuff that just keeps

stuff running. I like to go out and be

building things, but that's a big part

of work as well. And when we are doing

that maybe less exciting maintenance

type work, we're fulfilling God's

calling for us, right? If you don't pull

weeds in your garden, what happens? You

eventually don't have a garden. I was

talking with Jesse and he's like, you're

I was telling him about my little garden

uh fun that I've been having and he's

like, you're going to have to bring in a

garden analogy. So, here you go. Here's

my garden analogy. if I wasn't out there

pulling weeds in my garden. Uh,

actually, we moved our garden because we

couldn't keep the weeds under control

this year. So, um, it's it's it's adding

the new garden, but then it's

maintaining as well. Um, I'm sure as men

in your job, there's this type of stuff

as well. It's learning new skills, but

then also refresh your courses on the

skills that you have, maintaining those

skills. me, you know, seeing Jeremy

nodding back there. If you're in

security, you got to run those drills

over and over and over so that even

though you've learned it, it's second

nature when something comes up. And so

it's it's both going out and learning

new things, but also um maintaining

keeping the the things that we have. So

it it really doesn't um I really don't

need to go I I don't believe into a lot

of detail about you know there there's

it's very clearly when you look at men

versus women. Now are women called to

work as well? Yes. It's very clear from

the scripture that that uh what does it

say? And God said to them be fruitful

and multiply fill the earth and subdue

it. So do women just get to sit around

and do nothing all day you know because

men do all the work? No certainly not.

But are men uniquely the ones I think

called to to go out and and subdue and

primarily be the breadwinners and you

know be that main uh kind of force of

dominion type work in the world.

Absolutely. And it's very clear God God

created us to be that right. We've got

um I was doing just a little research on

on biology. You know a man's heart is

roughly 40 pumps roughly 40% more oxygen

capacity than a woman's heart. So if a

man's out swinging an axe, God gave us a

bigger heart to be able to pump more

oxygen so that we've got more endurance

so that we can swing that axe longer, so

we can swing that hammer longer. Right?

There was even something interesting

about the way the heart changes under

heavy load and how a man's blood vessels

I believe will widen a little larger

which helps also increase that blood

flow. So and you you could just go on

and on down the list which again we love

these distinctions. We should love as

Christians to study these scientific

distinctions between men and women. The

world tries to shy away from those.

Like, how dare you say that a man can't

do everything that a woman can do and a

woman can do everything that a man can

do? And how dare we study the

differences between how men are created

than than women. It's it's folly. It's

insanity. We should celebrate these

things. You know, praise God that

there's been strong men that have gone

before us that cleared the forest, that

cleared the land. You know, I was I was

also doing some reading on um you know,

before modern farming and all this

equipment, you know, when settlers were

kind of new coming into the Midwest, it

was about 50% forest and about 50% tall,

thick prairie grass. And so, you're

like, "Oh, that's not so bad." You know,

the forest seemed pretty rough. Like,

can you imagine having to cut down every

tree and dig up the stump and you didn't

have chainsaws, you didn't have

machinery? Like, if you wanted to create

a garden for your you had to, you know,

cut some trees, like a lot of trees

down. And it was even saying that like a

household could do about two to five

acres a year, could clear about two to

five acres a year of land. So if you

wanted to plant a field for some wheat

or some corn or something, like just an

enormous amount of work. But so that was

the forest side, but then the prairie

grass side, apparently the the the

prairie grass grew so tall and the roots

grew so thick and so deep, you couldn't

plow it. So I'm like, I wonder what

tools they came up with. I mean, maybe

they had to have had to take a pickaxe

so that even the prairies to dig it up

enough so that you could so that you

could plant, you know, your seed or your

ground or whatever. So anyways, men

being able by God to go out and do these

hard work things has been a great

blessing to society. You know, we were

in Hawaii about a month ago and you

drive through the fields even and

there's these walls of rock everywhere.

It's like that's kind of interesting,

you know? Oh, they must have just built

the walls so that, you know, they could

have cows or they could plant or

whatever. Well, it's like no, the fields

were literally full of rock and if you

wanted to to to grow something in that

field, you had to get all the rocks out.

So, you know, months or years of just

moving rocks, right? So, praise God that

he created men with more muscle, with

more strength, with more oxygen capacity

to pump through their, you know, their

lungs and into their heart and

everything and their muscles so that we

can do this hard work so that society

can be benefit and blessed from it. So,

let's not shy away from those amazing

distinctions, but actually as men and

women, let's let's press into them.

Let's get excited about them because uh

one is who God made us to be. And it's

it's a great blessing to society when

when love the role that they have and

when men delight in the role that they

have. Um,

so some real practical application here

on

what does godly work look like, right?

What is what is so if you know if I'm a

man, God calls me to work. He calls me

to work hard. He calls me to do a good

job. Okay? What is what does this look

like? What does God call me to be in in

my in my career, in my employment? Um,

so a few verses here I think are are

applicable. Paul is When I was a child,

I spoke like a child. I thought like a

child. I reasoned like a child. But when

I became a man, I gave up childish ways,

right? To be a man, it means you got to

stop being a child. You got to give up

the childish ways. Okay? The childish

thinking. Um, a lot of that is stop

thinking about yourself and start

thinking about others. That's a big part

of growing up from being a child to

being a man. 1 Corinthians 16, be

watchful, stand firm in the faith, act

like men, be strong. Let all that you do

be done in love. So there Paul is

affirming men act like men. Praise God.

Um and in 2 Timothy 2 verse 22. So flee

2 Timothy 2:22

youthful passions and pursue

righteousness, faith, love, peace along

with those who call on the Lord from a

pure heart. So be the man that God wants

you to be. You got to give up childish

ways. You got to act like a man, which

um if if you're not sure how to do that,

maybe that hasn't been modeled to you.

Get around other men. Get around other

men that you see acting like men and

learn from them. And um the use youthful

passion, the youthful entertainment, the

youthful games, the youthful, you know,

hobbies or whatever it might be, you

know, does this mean you're not allowed

to have any hobbies as a man? Certainly

not. But if if you know if even while

you're working, your mind is on your

hobbies and not on doing a good job in

your work, that's that's an area that

needs to that needs to flee, that needs

to go away. um leave those youthful

passions when when God calls you to

work.

Okay. And then um second verse here and

there's so much application in this

verse related to this.

Let's see.

Colossians 3:22. Bond servants obey in

Colossians 3:22

everything those who are your earthly

masters not by way of eye service as

people pleasers but with sincerity of

heart fearing the Lord. Whatever you do

work hardily is for the Lord and not for

men. Knowing that from the Lord you will

receive the inheritance as your reward.

You are serving the Lord Christ. For the

wrongdoer will be paid back for the

wrong he has done and there is no

partiality. Masters treat your bond

servants justly and fairly knowing that

you also have a master in heaven.

Um there's a there's a lot of

application here that I'm going to kind

of buzz through. Um but you you can see

in this really all levels of manly or or

or godly work for a man. Okay. So the

first level we see bond servants obey

and everything those three earthly

masters. Okay. We're not a society that

you know a a a primary slavery society

like ancient Rome was right up until

honestly the last few hundred years the

majority of the world uh okay I don't

know about majority but a large portion

of the world were slaves. This is why in

the New Testament we see Paul, this is

not the only passage where he's talking

about um how to be a good slave. But

because in in at New Testament time

there was a lot of there was a lot of

slavery. There was a lot of Christians

that were slaves. And so they're hearing

you're free in Christ. Does that mean I

can just go, you know, I don't have to

work. I don't have to, you know, obey

those who are over me? No. There there

there's there's a lot there. Um but I

think the emphasis here for us, right?

How do we apply this verse? How do we

understand it in context and then apply

it to us today? You know, we as men, all

of us, whether you own your own business

or not, whether you're the top of a

company or not, you have people over you

that you have to report to. You know, if

you're a CEO, you've got a board that

you report to. if you're the the you

know on the on the bottom rung maybe

well you know if you're on cashier at

Walmart or working at fast food or you

know if you're starting off on your

career you've got a boss that you report

to and so Paul tells us you know if I

can't remember what this is called but

essentially we see the principle applied

to slaves and their masters how much

more does the principle apply to us who

aren't slaves to those who we work for

and how are we to work for

Are we supposed to, you know, okay,

whatever. When your when your boss asks

you to do something, it's like, no.

Don't work for them as way of eye

service. Don't work for them to to just

barely do enough. You know, Paul says,

"Work with sincerity of heart. Put your

whole heart into it." You know, there's

another verse that says, "Whatever your

hand finds to do, do it with all your

might. Work hard. Go to work and work

hard and enjoy um enjoy working hard for

your boss."

and know that you're doing it not just

for them, but ultimately you're doing it

for Christ. This is the most important

thing to remember when it comes to doing

good work is that ultimately Jesus

Christ is watching you. You know, what

you might be able to get away with to

your boss who doesn't see uh you can't

get away with to Jesus Christ because he

sees everything that that's going on.

And so work as if you're working for

him. And the amazing thing um about

having Jesus Christ as your ultimate

boss is he also knows all the answers.

And so if you're really struggling with

something at work or you can't figure

something out or there's someone

difficult that you have to deal with or

a hard conversation you have to have, go

to Jesus Christ, your boss, and ask him

to give you help. You know, there's been

I I wish I I wish I was better at this.

This this sermon has been very

convicting to put together because it's

like everything I say I I know I'm not

meeting the standard that God is calling

me to. Um but I I know in in my life

there's been times where I was really

wrestling with an engineering problem or

you know whatever it might be and you

know wrestled with it for maybe a few

days and I'm like you know what I'm just

going to this is to my fault. I wrestled

with it for a few days before finally

saying, "I'm gonna I'm gonna ask God for

help with this." And like a light bulb

came on and I figured out the problem.

You know, does that happen every single

time? No. But does God want us as men

and women, you know, whatever you're

doing to be in constant communication

with with Jesus Christ? You know, Lord,

help me understand this. Help me help me

enjoy this work. I really don't enjoy

this type of work right now. Help me to

to do it harder in some way, right? help

me to, you know,

um, excel at this or learn this or, you

know, if you're in school, guess what?

Jesus Christ knows everything about the

tool that you're trying to learn. Uh,

and and so ask him for help. You know,

you're working as as not to man, but as

to him. Okay? And so, so we've got

slaves to masters, you know, we've got

really whatever type of work you're

doing, work is under the Lord. Jesus

Christ is is is there and is watching

both from an accountability standpoint

but also from a willing to help at time

of need standpoint. And then as masters,

if you're in a position of authority

over somebody, this addresses how we're

to treat them. Treat your bond service

justly and fairly, knowing that you also

have a master in heaven. So, as you're

as you're leading, and this will this

will kind of play into the next section

of the sermon that we're going to get

into, but you know, if you're in a

position of authority over somebody,

whether it be in work, whether it be in

your home, whether it be, you know, in

church or an organization or whatever,

um, you know, you're not to treat people

as slaves. That's not what Paul is

saying here. But if a master over a

slave is to treat somebody justly and

fairly, how much more should you as a

free man over another free man treat

somebody fairly and justly? And I think

that's a very fair way to apply that and

to understand that that passage. So if a

master over a slave who has a sense of

ownership over that person says, "Hey,

you need to be just and fair with that

person whom you own." How much more over

somebody who you don't own? Again,

there's a whole lot with slavery that

I'm not going to get into. Um, that

would be a fun thing to talk about at

lunch. I love talking about complicated

things in in the word. But, you know, if

you're over somebody in work, be just,

be fair. Um, treat them as you want to

be treated. Uh, give them instruction,

clear instruction as you like to receive

clear instruction. You know, leadership

is a there's a whole lot to it. That

doesn't mean as as somebody over

somebody you just fix every problem for

them. You know, sometimes being a godly

leader is giving somebody a problem and

and letting them wrestle with it for a

while so that they can learn, so that

they can understand. So So all right. So

So then do do good work. Um do good

work.

>> Okay. A few other quick application

points. I I find this proverb very

helpful because you know I also get that

like when you do good work you want to

be noted. That's also an area that

leaders aren't always good at is

affirming or acknowledging or thanking

good hard work. Um again remember Christ

is your is your boss. So he he sees when

you when you do a really good job or

really go the extra mile and maybe

you're not appreciated for it by your

bosses. Um, but I would I would remind

us of this verse as well. It says, "Let

another praise you and not your own

mouth, a stranger and not your own

lips." And so this is this is real

practical application.

um when you when you go the extra mile

and work when you show up every day and

work hard and you're a problem solver,

you take ownership of problems, you

know, you see something that could be

better and instead of just assuming that

that's someone else's responsibility,

which there's a line there, you're not

called to solve every single problem,

but I I say to you, you know, men or

younger men or, you know, wherever

you're at in your career, if you're

trying to get to that next level in your

career,

you you don't get there by just waiting

around and waiting for somebody to give

you more opportunity. Now, it does

happen in good organizations with good

leadership. It it can happen. I I will

tell you though, in my experience at

least, that's pretty rare, right? The

way you get to that next level

career-wise is you go seek out the

opportunity. You go seek out the

additional responsibility. You go seek

out where you can come in and bring more

value. And know that if you do that and

you turn around and a week from now,

somebody's not praising you for that

additional work and giving you a raise.

That's how that's just how it is. Let

the lips of another praise you. Show up,

take on more responsibility, take on

more ownership, work hard, and I over

time it will pay off. Over time, it will

pay off. Um I I've seen that multiple

times in my own career. We've got a lot

of very successful men in this church. I

would encourage you young men who are,

you know, really trying to get to that

next level career-wise, seek them out,

ask them for advice.

But that's that's how it is. God sees

you putting in the extra mile. God knows

your needs. God will reward you. And

that's that's that's very often how it

is. So

I think that covers all of the work

things that I wanted to go into.

Um

okay. So the next the next category we

talked about two main categories. man is

a godly worker and what that looks like.

Um, I love to talk about that. So, I'm

sure there's questions. I'm sure there's

I'm sure there's like what do I do here?

What about this? What about that? Would

love to spend time with any of you

talking more about that kind of stuff.

Um, but that's all the time I have to

talk about work. Second category that I

want to talk about in about the 20

minutes that I have left is godly

leadership. And I I think this is

extremely extremely important.

to to really dig into to understand, you

know, you as a man are called to be a

leader in the capacity that God's given

you to lead. Now, does that mean you're

going to run a business someday? No, not

necessarily. Does that mean that um

you're going to have a bunch of kids to

leave someday? Not necessarily. But as a

man, does God want you to be

first and foremost leading yourself?

Yes, absolutely he does. Um, and what

you'll find is as you get better at

leading yourself, God will give you

additional opportunities to lead others.

See who is faithful not. And we live in

this society where um Christians who

should be in the gates Matt Matt talks

about this in the gates is where the

political decisions were made, the

financial decisions were made, the

leadership was done. Christians should

be in those positions of influence and

authority and we're not. Christians were

in those positions of influence and

authority and we have America to thank

for it in many ways. Many of the

founders of the country were either

heavily heavily influenced by Christian

culture or were strong Christians

themselves and America's been an amazing

place to live for hundreds of years and

it shaped the whole world um in many

ways. And so God wants there to be godly

leadership. This this verse from

Proverbs is amazing. When the righteous

are in authority, I actually like the

King James version of this better

than the ESB which is why I have the

King James. When the righteous are in

authority, the people rejoice. When the

wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

I'm going to read that again. When the

righteous are in authority, the people

rejoice.

How wonderful would it be if we had

righteous laws in the land? How

wonderful would it be if we all got to

grow up in homes with with righteous

fathers?

How wonderful would that be if we've uh

been at church our whole life with

righteous leaders, righteous elders who

who who weren't known for frustration.

God wants his people in positions of

influence. God wants his people God

wants his men in positions of authority.

When they aren't, guess who's more than

happy to fill that position of

authority? The wicked. The wicked. Men,

if you don't step up and first and

foremost lead yourself, the evil one

will. If you then don't step up and lead

your families, someone else is more than

happy to come in and take that position

of authority and and rule over them. Um,

and and it won't go the direction you

want to. You're going to mourn.

for men. We don't as we have

opportunity, this isn't for everybody to

go be president of the United States.

I'm not saying that by any means, but as

God gives you opportunities to be in

positions of influence and authority, I

really encourage you to take it. I

really encourage you to take it. Be that

godly leader that you want to have,

right? Love your neighbor as yourself.

Do you want there to be godly leaders

for your neighbors? Do you want there to

be godly leaders for yourself? Then be

that godly leader for somebody else.

Okay.

So a great blessing when there's godly

leaders in in positions of influence.

The opposite of that uh this is in

Isaiah my people infants are their

oppressors and women rule over them. Oh

my people your guides mislead you and

they have swallowed up the course of

your path. Isaiah is bemoning you know

God is is speaking through Isaiah but

bemoning the fact that children and

women are ruling over them. Those whom

God hasn't called to lead are leading

them and

That's not the way God wants things to

be. And it's and it's it's a curse.

Actually, seen as a curse, right? Could

children be the ones ruling your home?

Could your children be the ones telling

you, you know, I'm sure you all have

seen family in the store or wherever

where it's very clear who's in charge of

that family and it's not the dad and

it's not the mom, it's the child. You

think that family is the happy place to

go home to? You think that child is

growing up with the self-control and and

the discipline and instruction in the

Lord that they need? Probably not.

Probably not. Okay. The children should

not be ruling our homes. We as men need

to be ruling our homes. All right. So,

godly leadership is is a is a wonderful

amazing thing. And um and so we uh we

need to figure out we need to figure out

how to be those men. Okay. So, what does

that look like?

First and foremost, as a man, Christ

needs to be leading you. You cannot

expect to be a good leader if Christ is

not leading you. So, the words of

Christ, he says, "I am the good

shepherd." The good shepherd lays down

his life for the sheep. He who is a

hired hand is not a she and not a

shepherd who does not own the sheep sees

the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and

fle. And the wolf snatches them and

scatters them. He flees because he has a

hired hand and cares nothing for the

sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my

own and my own know me just as the

father knows me and I know the father

and I lay down my life for the sheep. If

I could if I could read if I could leave

the drum more than any other in this

sermon as a man as who God told you to

be as a godly leader you got to fix your

eyes on the good shepherd.

You got to fix your eyes on Christ who

how does he describe himself as the good

shepherd? He's laying down his life for

sheep. He's laying down his life for his

feet. When the hired hand comes, he's

the wolf. Doesn't care, right? When

danger comes into your household, are

you the hired hand who who just wants to

avoid it and ignore it and not need to

do anything about it or are you the good

shepherd that that wants to lay down

your life for the sheep?

So, we got to fix our eyes on Christ. We

got to fix our eyes on Christ. And the

good news about that is um

he can take us wherever we are to

wherever we need to be. Isn't that an

amazing thing? It's an amazing thing.

If if if

maybe for a long time we haven't been

leading our household like God wants us

to, Jesus knows that he can take us from

where we are where we need to be. We're

all a work in progress. Praise God. He's

so gracious to to um to not leave us

where we are, but but want to want to

mold us and shape us and make us into

the moment that God to be. Okay. So,

first and foremost, Christ needs to be

leading you. Um, second, for your

household, you got to set the purpose

and take responsibility for it. And this

is the purpose of our household. Joshua

24. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and

serve him in sincerity and in

faithfulness. Put away the gods that

your fathers served beyond the river and

in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it

is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord,

choose this day whom you will serve.

Whether the gods of your fathers served

in the region beyond the river, or the

gods of the Amorites in whose land you

dwell. But as for me and my house, we

will serve the Lord. Men, that's got to

be that's got to be the drum beast. As

for me and my house, we're going to

serve the Lord. We're going to serve

God. We're going to put away the idols

of our fathers. There's a lot of those.

There's a lot of those. We see them all

around us. There's a lot of idols of our

fathers, right? The the entertainment

culture, the the sex culture, the hippie

culture, the the wishy-washy

evangelicalism culture. I mean, go on

and on and on down the list. There's a

lot of idols um that a lot of our

fathers serve. We got to put them away.

They can't be in our household. You

know, there's a lot of idols trying to

attack your children through the TV,

through the devices, through the books,

through whatever it is. Put them away.

Put them away. Get them out of there.

Man, if you see an idol in your house,

you got to you got to get it out.

Sometimes you got to be creative. got to

get rid of that idol. You know, it's not

always as easy as just I mean, sometimes

it's as easy as taking the Barbie doll

and throwing it in the trash. That's

pretty easy way to smash an idol. Um,

but sometimes it's those idols are

deeply rooted and it takes creativity

and it takes being on your knees in

prayer um to God to smash those idols.

So, know your purpose. We're going to

serve the Lord. We're going to put away

those idols from our household. Um,

praise God. Sometimes it's feminism that

needs to be put out of your household.

Sometimes it's uh advocating

masculinity. Sometimes that idol is one

that you've been serving for a while

that's got to be put out of your

household. So men ask God, "Show me the

idol. Show me the idol, Lord, in my

household. I got to put them away

because we're going to serve the Lord.

We're going to serve the Lord." Okay?

And you know, related to that, um your

responsibility, man. We got to take

responsibility. We can't we can't expect

someone else to come in and fix the

problems that God wants us to fix. You

know, we need to be in prayer for those

things, but you can't it's important to

be in prayer, but if God's wanting you

to to to do to actually do something,

you know, don't ask God to do what he's

expecting you to do, right? If God's

wanting you to be the one that has that

hard conversation

uh so that your wife something about the

Lord or about whatever it is, you got to

have it. You know, it's good to pray

about it as well. Um, but take

responsibility, you know, that's that's

I think there's there's a lot of

families um

there's a lot of families where the dads

are just checked out, you know, and

they're happy to check out. They're

happy to let the wife do the thing and

bring home, you know, and whatever it

might be. Make the decisions about

childing, make the decision about

you know, they get to, you know, they

they go to work and they come home and

they think that that's enough, you know,

or advocate the instruction of their

children for Sunday school or advocate

the instruction of their children to,

you know, youth group or whatever. Um,

then it's our responsibility. God's

holding us accountable. God's holding us

as leaders to a higher account for how

we're running our household. Um, so, so,

so be those kind of men. I love this

verse in Job. It says, "And when the

days of the feast had run their course,

Job would send uh would send." So, it's

talking about when his children would

get together and and um you know,

fellowship, have a feast, have food,

have a poll, whatever, when all of his

children would get together. But after

the feast was over, it says he would

send and consecrate them and he would

rise early in the morning and offer

burnt offerings according to the number

of them all. For Job said, "It may be it

may be that my children have sinned and

cursed God in their heart." That's Job

did continually continually. So, Job was

aware of the temptations of his family.

He he wanted to make sure that um if

even if they had done anything wrong,

they were consecrated before the Lord.

So, you know, don't don't be like Adam

who just who just stood by. And I

realize, you know, you might be thinking

about your household and you might be

thinking, man, there's some real giants.

There's some real idols. There's some

real beasts in this in this household

that that need defeated. And they just

They just seem too great. They seem too

powerful. They seem too strong. I don't

know what we're going to do about this.

Um, but remember, you know, the

Israelites, that's what they were saying

when Goliath was coming out every day uh

and and uh you know, mocking their God.

And what did David do? He ran up there

and said, "How dare you mock my God?"

And he he he ran and slayed the giant.

Um, now I will say that's not how all

giants were slayed. It would be nice if

you could just rise up and take a sling

and and and smash the thing and the

idols gone from your household. No,

idols and giants sometimes take some

creativity on how to get rid of but um

but praise God, we have a giant slain

God. We have a giant slain God. We have

a God who who knows the giants that are

in your household that the idols in your

household and and he wants to help you

slay them. He wants to help you take

them down. So,

um I have so much

Maybe I'll have to preach again on some

of these other things. All right, I'm

gonna hit on one other thing and then

I'm pretty much out of time.

So the another thing I wanted to really

emphasize and um so talking about

leading

um you know talking about like knowing

the state of your flock that's that's

the main point that is very important

you know then do you know where you know

the spiritual state of your children

know the spiritual state of your wife um

are you praying for their strength are

are you praying for their weaknesses are

you praying for their needs you know I

think that's very very important as men

um just to do that to know, you know, as

a good shepherd,

which of my sheep are sick, which of my

sheep are ill, which of my sheep are

doing really well. Um which of my sheep

just need some encouragement. That's a

really really important role as a man.

You know, you're not always playing

giants. Sometimes you're just saying,

"Man, you did a really great job on

that." You know, uh this meal was was

really really good.

um you know wife you look really

beautiful

but encouragement as men needs to

continually be on our list even more

than discipline way more than discipline

needs to be encouragement you know when

you see something doing uh that that

your that your family's doing well that

you like that you enjoy that that you

know God enjoys then bless them for that

praise them for that thank them for that

I think that's very important

um and then you know leading by example

is very important I've got a whole

section here I'll mention that. But then

I'll also um

mention I think another thing that's

very very important that helps with a

lot of these things we talked about is

trying to be consistent in family

worship as men. It's your duty. Um you

know it says husbands or fathers bring

up your children in the fear and the

instruction of the Lord. That's your

role as men. Now, does that mean as a

mom you shouldn't be reading scriptures

to your children and teaching them at

lunch or whatever it might be?

Absolutely not. Uh that's, you know, if

if you're working together as a

household to bring those children up and

if you're in the mission of the Lord. Um

but men, is that happening in your home,

right? Is is there disciplehip of your

children happening in your home? Um and

is it enough to counter all of the

horrible ideology of our society? It

needs to be. it needs to be. So, family

worship is really important. I know it's

very hard with little ones. I'm sure

many of you can relate to that. I we've

had a very hard time of that. Even now,

we've got two older kids that that

listen and sit well, but two younger

kids that pretty much every time we sit

down and do family worship, there's some

form of discipline that's happening.

Whether it's stand here next to me and

don't move because you're constantly

trying to get down or, you know, hold

your hands together because they're

constantly touching things. Um, or maybe

a form of discipline that that um you

can pull from the you know wooden

swimming bucket that that that takes

that form. But um it it's really really

important to try to be consistent

and it's very hard. It's very very hard.

I'm right there as well. It's very hard

for our family to be consistent, but I

think family worship is really really

key.

And I'm going to end on this. Um what

guides all of this as men? It's love for

our family. First and foremost, it's

love for the Lord. All of Love has to

guide all of this. Love has to undergard

all of this. Right? Paul says, "If I

speak in the tongue of men and of angels

and have not love, I gain nothing. If I

give away all I have to the poor but

have not love, I gain nothing." Men, you

could be doing everything by the book

right, but if it's not driven from a

heart of love, it's it's

your your children and your wife are

going to hypocrisy.

Um, you know, you've heard families of

of of households like that and it's very

tragic. You know, we read the Bible

every single day. We memorized scripture

every single day and the children felt

like it was just a drum that had to be

beat to check a box and it wasn't done

in love. Um, and they they get kind of

turned off by spirituality. It's very

sad. Um, and so many, you know, love

love has to undergard all of it. Um

and scriptures really really emphasize

that. Colossians 3:19, "Husbands, love

Colossians 3:19

your wives. Do not be harsh with them."

You know, Ephesians chapter 5 is

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

exceptional to meditate on. Husbands

love your wives as Christ loved the

church and gave his wife up for them

that he might sanctify her by the

washing of the water by the word.

There's so much in that as men that one

teaches us, you know, as you as you

really I just encourage you all as you

really

you could think about and meditate on

this week. Um, first and foremost, is

Christ leading me? But am I loving my

family as Christ loves the church? And

that's actually where as I've been

meditating on this sermon, there's been

a lot of conviction in my own heart on,

you know, a lot of lot of lot of growth

opportunities for me.

Love your wife as Christ loves the

church. Love your children.

You know, is it your heart's cry? Like

like third John verse four, I have no

greater joy than to hear that my

children walking in the truth. That is

that what you want more than anything

else for your household, your children

to know the Lord. Um, you know, to have

your children's heart

here. Um,

but I think this verse is very

encouraging to me as well as I think

about all this stuff because I'm sure as

men, you know, if you're like me,

hopefully you're not as much like me in

a lot of ways. Um, you've messed up a

lot. You sin a lot against your family.

You sin a lot against your wife. You sin

a lot against your children. You got to

ask for forgiveness. Maybe you don't

always ask for forgiveness. You get

hurt. Get bitter. You know, the list the

list goes on and on. Um but I find this

verse so encouraging. First Peter

1 Peter 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4, it says, "Above all, keep

loving one another earnestly since love

covers a multitude of people."

Love covers a multitude of things. We

will will mess up in our household a

lot. Um, but when when we have a heart

of love, when when we know the love of

the father and when we know the love of

the son and when that love infuses what

we do, when that love motivates what we

do, even as we stumble, even as we mess

up, even as we get angry, even as we are

harsh, whatever it might be, this verse

is so so great. encouraging. Above all,

keep loving one another earnestly

because love covers a multitude of

things. Love covers a multitude of

things. When you're when we as men

are known by our love for one another,

when we as men when our children know my

daddy loves me, my even if you're a boss

over an employee, my when your employees

know, man, Stephen really

wants to see me successful. He really

wants to Well, that's low. That's low.

You know, if my employees said, "Man,

Stephen really loves me." That would be

a little weird, right? It's a different

it's a different mentality in the in the

workplace. Um, but you know, it it's it

seems when you as an employee are

showing up and working hard every day,

guess what people will say about you?

And Stephen loves being there. He loves

working hard. He loves doing a good job,

right? Love is that that motivating

force. Um, when your children know that

you love them, even if you're working

long hours, right? Even if you're maybe

up late and out of the out of the uh out

of the house early for a season or for a

while, when they know that you're doing

it because you love them and you're not

doing it because you love yourself, it's

going to cover it's going to cover that

that multitude of things. Um,

all right. So,

one last one last little thought of

encouragement.

Uh, you know, men, it's not good for us

to be alone. I didn't really emphasize

that, but it's a clear point of

scripture. As men, it's not good to be

alone.

And

it's so important when we're struggling

with things, when we need counsel, when

we need help. You know, our tendency as

men is just kind of buckle down and try

to figure it out ourselves. God gave us

God gave us all the men in this room,

the elders, uh there's a lot of

successful people here financially um

you know because they've worked hard

because they've applied these principles

to to their jobs for for years and um

you know there's a lot of successful

husbands in this room. So thankful for

that. Praise God for that.

If you're struggling with something in

your home and you just can't, you know,

don't sit there and and dwell on it in

the moment and man, go seek out godly,

you know, don't be that man that thinks

he's so tough and thinks he's so smart

and thinks he can figure it out. That's

not that's not being a man because God

gave us one another. He said, in fact,

to be a godly man, it's not good to be

alone. So, if you're that man that's

always alone and always trying to figure

out everything on your own, that's not

being a godly man. So, um, seek council,

seek help, be in godly community, and um

you know, fix your eyes on Christ.

And kind of wrapping this up here, I

know I've been wrapping up about eight

pounds. Um

this this picture of the godly home, I

think I know is such a powerful

testimony to the gospel. And this is me

kind of bringing it full circle and and

bringing us to a point of communion as

well. This household We talked a bit

about what godly femininity looks like

and what a household that has a godly

woman in it looks like should look like.

Talked a bit about godly masculinity

um and what that looks like as men for

us to be the men that God called us to

leading our home setting direction doing

it out of love, loving our life, loving

our children. This this home I think I I

know I believe in our in fact I see it

here in this church. So I can say I know

it I know it to be true. It is such a

powerful testimony of the gospel. It is

so How many of you here

um came to this church and I'm not I'm

not boasting in our church anyway. I'm

boasting only in what God has done here.

But how many of you came here and saw

like wow this is refreshing. There's

families here that love one another.

There's families here that want to spend

time together. There's children here

that are happy. They're actually happy

now within reason, right? Kids can get

whiny, but they're like and and you're

like, "What is like what is different

about this place? What is unique about

this place?" And you come in and you

hear it's the power of the gospel

changing lives. It's the power of the

gospel changing families, changing

hearts, changing minds. And you think,

"That's the God I want to know." Because

everyone out there is saying a whole

host of different things about how

family's supposed to be run, about what

men are supposed to be like, about what

women are supposed to be like, about

what on and on and on down the list. No,

there there there's something real here.

And again, it's glory be to God. Glory

be to God. And I'll tell you, we're not

perfect as a church by any means. As we

embrace these things more and more as

God's people, as we press into these and

be more and more the men and women that

God wants us to be, we'll be like a city

on a hill. We'll be like a light, a

beacon that that God will will draw men

here, draw families here, and they'll

give glory to the father in heaven.

There'll be sales here. There'll be

children that are brought up to fear and

serve the Lord. We're going to break the

statistics in our culture that are so

damaging. The divorce rates, the the

children

It's tragic to me how many children

spend their whole life in the church and

walk out the doors in high school and

never come back.

We need to break that. That cannot be

the case. It's tragic how many I've

heard stories

of people that say they're Christians

going to the abortion mill. That cannot

be the case. We cannot change that. And

it starts by

It starts.

Then when you need help, go after it.

Seek it. Work hard in your lead. Smash

the idol. Serve the Lord. Serve the

risen Lord.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you, Lord, that your word

gives us life. It gives us truth. God,

it gives us it gives us all that we need

for life and godliness. And Lord, I'm a

broken man. My family's got issues that

that you know of that I know of. God, I

know we can all say that about our

homes, but Lord, may we be households

that serve the Lord. As for me and my

house, we will serve the Lord. God, may

we be men that that want to learn how to

lead well, how to cherish our wives, how

to embrace what it means to be a man,

how to lead our children to be godly men

and godly women. Lord, may we see our

children's children. May we see the

blessing of our children's children

serve the Lord and fear the Lord. I pray

God that as a church we would we would

we would be such an anomaly to those

statistics that plague our society that

wreck havoc on our society

not most importantly of all

men and women would see our good works

and we would glorify our father which is

in heaven because you are the only

reason for there is nothing good in you

except that which is good of you and

give us grace oh God give us continued

strength and by your Holy Spirit to be

the men and be the women that God wants

us to be. All for your