[0:00] Okay, so tonight's topic is a man is responsible.! A man is responsible.! We've been going through what is a man, uh, is the name of the nine weeks of teachings,! And tonight I'm teaching about how a man is, that's the question, what is a man?
[0:20] This is honing out on the specific aspect of what a man is, and the topic is that a man is responsible. Okay, so I've got a couple of definitions as we start. The Merriam-Webster definition, that you all can look up pretty fast, for responsibility or responsible is described as liable to be called on to answer, liable to be called on to account as the primary cause, motive or agent, being worthy of credit or blame.
[0:54] Okay, that's the responsibility, the definition that we have in our dictionaries of responsibility. And a man is responsible. Doug Wilson's definition of masculinity is the glad assumption of sacrificial responsibility. I think that's such an awesome definition of what a man is, masculinity. The glad assumption of sacrificial responsibility. And a lot of times we go through life hearing a phrase.
[1:26] Most of the time, I think when something goes wrong is, who's responsible for this? You know, a lot of times if something goes right, you might not hear that unless it's like something worthy of praise. You know, who did this? You know, who made this? Who created this? You know, I was thinking about this topic and I was just thinking about how the twin towers, when they were standing in World Trade Centers, it was a pretty big feat to build, right? You might ask the question, you know, who was behind the construction? But post-2001, you could ask the same question, who's responsible for this? The destruction, okay? We go through life and we live in the light of responsibility. And tonight I'm going to speak about how men bear an inert, God-bestowed attribute, which is responsibility, okay? And so to start with God, you know, we're Christians here at Christ
[2:31] Church. We believe that not only does God call men who they are, but God gives men what they are, makes them what they are. And responsibility is an extension that God bestowed on man. So God calls men to responsibility and to action. In the Bible we see that sin came into the world through one man, Romans 5, 12 says. In Genesis 3, 9, the Lord says, but the Lord called to the man and said to him, where are you? This is post-sin entering the world. God calls to the man and he says, where are you?
[3:10] You can kind of feel that, you know, Merriam-Webster liable to be called on to answer. The Lord calls him, where are you, man? Where are you, Adam? We see this in other places. God says to Job, Job, dress for action like a man. He calls Job up, not just calls him up for responsibility, but he actually says in calling him that he's supposed to be like a man. He says, dress yourself.
[3:38] Jesus says to his disciples, stay dressed for action. Kind of a masculine attribute right there. Peter says to the church in 1 Peter 1, 13, he says, therefore, preparing your minds for action.
[3:54] Okay. Same line of thought. And then Paul in 1 Corinthians 16 says, act like men. So we have a biblical witness of both responsibility and of action. And when we're thinking about this topic, it's good to think about it as distinctly masculine. Okay. God bestows on men a unique bringing to bear of responsibility. And so when we think about responsibility and even its definition, whether you're credit or blame, right there, you think most of the time, who's to blame? Whose fault is it?
[4:31] Right. And I think this probably characterizes men the most in light of sin entering the world is we like to blame other people for our sin.
[4:43] Okay. We like to find a way out of bearing responsibility. Okay. This is, this is not masculine to do that. This is abdicating our role as men when we do that. Blame shifting, making excuses, all these things are not masculine at all. Yet the world participates in this, uh, abdication, this avoidance of responsibility from, from the smallest little things to the largest, you know, we see nations, you know, on the macro blaming other nations and we see, you know, each other day to day in our workplace, uh, blaming one another on an individual level. Okay. It's responsibility is inescapable. Okay. And as we, uh, walk through what I want to talk about in light of a man being responsible, I like to fit, I like to think about, um, our own lives. Where do we believe that God speaks to us to call us up, or maybe even specifically, as God did to Adam in the garden, where is God saying to us, where are you? Where are you being called? So to speak, if there was a survey of your life to take up responsibility where you're not, whether it be in passivity or ignorance. Oh, I didn't know I was supposed to be responsible or in rebellion, whether you're blaming intentionally or making excuses intentionally. I like for us to think, um, you know, not of the guy next to us, not of someone who's not here, but ask ourselves in honesty, uh, do I, is the Lord speaking to me? Basically. So, moving through here, uh, we see in Genesis 12 that Adam, the, uh, kind of archetype of humanity, uh, after sin, uh, does not take responsibility.
[6:47] He blames. And who does he blame? He blames, as far as I can tell, uh, three persons. In Genesis 3.12, it says, the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me gave me the fruit of the tree and I ate.
[7:02] Okay? So, number one, he blames Eve. He blames his wife. He says, it's the woman. That's her fault. Uh, she gave me the fruit. But in the same phrase, it's not only the woman, uh, it's also God. He, he does a double blame in one phrase. He says, it's the woman whom you gave. God, you gave me the woman.
[7:24] You should know that I would be tempted in this way. And, uh, and God obviously didn't appreciate that. Um, so, Adam blames the woman and he blames God. And then the woman, what does she do? Is she going to take up responsibility? Uh, does she have a good example of a husband of taking up responsibility? No.
[7:47] She doesn't follow after him. What does she do? Well, seeing as she was just blamed and God was blamed, she says, it was the serpent. It was, it was the serpent that deceived me. It wasn't me.
[8:00] I didn't fall prey. Come on, God, don't you know who we are? We're only perfect human beings until now. So, there's this, there's a cycle of blame. There's this progression of blame. And, uh, God does not leave them in their blaming and just say, yeah, it's human nature. People are going to blame. Maybe like we normally do with one another. God confronts them in their, in their blaming and in their sin.
[8:33] And he calls them out. He says, what, what, what is this thing that you've done? Have you eaten of the tree that I told you not to eat of? You know, they were both naked in the garden. They were ashamed.
[8:45] And then God asks them, who told you that you were naked? Did you do the thing I told you not to do? He calls them to account and he calls man first. He says, Adam, where are you? So, God confronts us in our, in our sin, in our shame, and ultimately in our hiding. Um, the truth is fault, fault knows no gender.
[9:07] Men, men and women have an equal capacity to be at fault, but God holds them both, uh, responsible. But he seems in the scripture through a straight line to hold men more responsible. So, every single human being is responsible for their own actions. But the Bible is clear that men are ultimately responsible. So, if, if you are married, you're a husband, you have a wife, and she runs amok in the home, runs amok in her workplace if she's working, and you happen to hear about it, you don't say, that's just my wife, she needs to figure that out. No, uh, she is your wife. She's your wife. She's not her own entity. The Bible says that when you get married, you're one flesh, okay? And the, that the head of every woman, or every wife is her husband, the scripture says. So, when, when we just have this, this position towards our wives that says, that's their deal, uh, that's their sin, uh, as if they need to get themselves straight, that is advocating our role and responsibility as husbands, okay?
[10:21] This also applies if you're single. This isn't the get out of jail free card. Um, single people blame other people all the time, right? You guys probably have think people in your mind, um, that maybe you blame today, or maybe you had a hard day at work, and, uh, I would venture to guess that you didn't say it was hard because, uh, you know, I'm, I have failures, you know? It was probably hard because this guy did this, and, uh, my boss is this way, whatever it is, right? You want to blame, you want to avoid responsibility, but whether we're married or single, it doesn't matter, we're men.
[11:03] We take responsibility for our own actions. So, how do we evade this responsibility? Oftentimes, the classic example is, you walk into a room, you stub your toe, you want to blame the person who put whatever the thing is that you stubbed your toe on, right? That's, that's, that's the classic example. That's really shallow, but, you know, how embedded is it for us to blame, uh, uh, something other than ourselves? What do we do? We procrastinate, we procrastinate. How many projects have been just undone, laid waste? How many degrees have not been attained? How many jobs have been abandoned? Uh, because, simply, we just avoid doing the thing we ought to do.
[11:52] We do this, uh, we avoid responsibility for multiple reasons. Because we're running, because we're afraid, because oftentimes at the root is, uh, a lack of courage to face the problems of life. Okay, what are you running from?
[12:11] Or is there an area, maybe, maybe not many things, maybe, maybe you think, I'm actually not running for much. But, like I said in the beginning, what is the thing that God wants to speak to you and, and say, where are you in this area? Where are you running from?
[12:30] You guys can probe yourselves and ask, where am I hiding? Where am I self-absorbed? Where am I blind to? Am I hiding? Where am I trying to preserve myself? Or, where am I trying to save face? Whether with my friends, or my family, or my boss. This can show that we're actually avoiding the responsibility on our lives.
[12:54] Where am I too dependent? This is a big one. And honestly, if you're single, it's even, even more of a turnoff if you're seeking a wife, or wanting to pursue a woman. If you're dependent upon women or other men, ultimately women and other men resent that dependence. They have no respect for a fully grown, able-bodied man, uh, whom they have to support because they aren't willing to take action and responsibility. And that's the truth, right? Um, but it paints an image of a certain man, sometimes, heads close to home. This is a type of adultal lessons, so to speak. A Peter Pan syndrome. Uh, always seeking for, uh, never, never land, wanting to get back to the, uh, state of just enjoying thyself. You know, can't wait to get off work till I can just turn on the system. Uh, this is adultal lessons, as the term goes. And, um, we need to watch out for that. And so, um, I've got three, uh, three types of men I would like to talk to you guys about. And as I pose the question in the beginning, I'll pose another one. I'm going to dive into three types of men. I would just like you to examine yourselves and ask, where do I fit in? Okay, this talk is not meant to, uh, condemn or to, uh, say, uh, you guys suck or whatever, right? I hope that it illuminates our need for God and the gospel and the fact that we actually need to be men in the areas that we are not. Okay. So there's three types of men. First one, uh, is what's called the worthless boy man. Uh, the, the worthless boy man is the man who doesn't take responsibility or action. He just doesn't, right? He, he's worthless because the Bible has something to say about worthless men. And first Samuel 2, uh, 12, verse 12, it says the sons of Eli were worthless men because they did not know the Lord. If you want to take that verse at face value, if you do not know the Lord, uh, maybe if you're, if you're not a Christian, the Bible says there's a worthlessness about you. It's heavy, uh, but we need to take heed. If we're men, we want to be, uh, men of worth, not worthless. The worthless boy man is passive and inactive and lazy. Um, he's, he's like Adam in the garden. Uh, the scripture says who was with her when all this is going down. He's lazy. He's passive. He watches his wife sin and he watches the human race crumble before his eyes, uh, because he shrinks back or doesn't care. This is not a man. This is a boy man who hasn't grown into a man. Genesis 317 says, God says, because you listen to the voice of your wife.
[16:09] He, he, the, the boy blames, the boy shirks off responsibility and says, um, you know, I'm just going to not take responsibility. I'm just going to do what everyone else says. I'm going to listen to whatever the, uh, advice is at hand because I don't want to bear it myself.
[16:29] He's irresponsible, not able to respond. He's avoidant. He makes excuses. Like I said earlier, he, he hides. He doesn't run to the fight. He runs away from the fight. He, he tries to self-preserve and he's self-absorbed. He's dependent on other men and women often.
[16:47] He's a, he's a cultural substitute oftentimes. This is the, uh, the man cave couch potato.
[16:58] This is the, the, the gamer and the playboy and the gangster and the partier. Um, all these things are facades for an empty running from actual biblical manhood.
[17:12] That's a worthless boy man. Where are we in our assessment of ourselves? Are we high-minded? Or do we think of ourselves as worth more than we ought? Maybe we should, uh, come to the Lord to be humbled.
[17:32] Number two, a grown-up complacent man. Which, this is a, uh, slight improvement from the, uh, worthless boy man, uh, because he's grown up.
[17:45] But as you can tell, he's complacent. What do I mean by that? He, he manages responsibilities, his own responsibilities in his life. Maybe he's a good worker, goes to work, he provides, he pays his bills.
[17:58] But that's all he does. And no more. This guy seems better than the worthless boy man, but he still lacks embracing manhood. He has the heart to go to the game, but only to be a bench warmer. Maybe he'll get on the field, but he's the first to have a guy sub him out. He's not really in the arena. He's only there to make a showing and then forfeit when things become too much. This guy can fly under the radar. And, uh, it appears to be, he appears to be good on the outside, but really he's in it for his own appetites and his own desires.
[18:38] Those are the things that guides him. His appetites and desires. Mainly, I think, uh, pleasing people is largely the characteristic of this man. Is, uh, just making sure everyone thinks he's all right.
[18:52] And so he can live his own life. He feels a sense of security because he's not other men.
[19:03] He feels a sense of security because he's not the worthless boy man. He's, he's a little bit better. He's outside the category. This, the, the grown-up complacent man is self-righteous.
[19:15] He's not self-aware. He doesn't know his own failures. He doesn't know his own faults. He's essentially self-deceived. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, when I was a child, I spoke like one. I spoke like a child.
[19:33] But when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. When you become a man, you think, you speak, and you act. You don't just do the bare minimum.
[19:45] You think, how would a man, uh, act? And you do more than what's required of you. This has characterized every single good man throughout history. Not the man who just goes to work and pays the bills. And not that those things are better at all. I think that they're perfectly good and right. But if, if the mentality behind all those things is, I'm a good person because I meet the standards, or I meet the minimum, we could be in danger of other, uh, false forms of masculinity.
[20:20] So the grown-up complacent man does not, uh, seek to be more than his, uh, more than his strengths.
[20:30] He avoids his weaknesses. He, uh, doesn't like to be found out as wrong. He doesn't ultimately like reconciliation. He doesn't like to ask for forgiveness because that exposes actually that he needs forgiveness. And, uh, therefore reconciliation is always hard. He doesn't, he doesn't actually handle it very well. There's not full reconciliation. There's a quick apology and then back to my routine.
[20:59] Um, he's not reliable. He's flaky. He doesn't keep his commitments. He's unfaithful. He's not open or vulnerable. He's guarded. And, uh, this guy is really hard to be around. Um, there's, there's different traits that, uh, you might not notice that find themselves in this man. But we all experience a sore loser, whether in, uh, you know, athletics or video games, but the guy who constantly is a sore loser and says, you know, it wasn't my fault or this happened or that he blames, you know, uh, he's trying to protect himself. Uh, or the guy who, uh, apologizes too much. Um, I actually used to beat this guy. I, uh, would, um, whenever I would fail, basically it'd be an opportunity for me to confront myself.
[21:57] And in order for me to protect myself from the pain of defeat, what I would do is I would try and make sure that everybody knew the way that I failed and that I was honest about it. Uh, so that I could protect myself from the person thinking or from you guys thinking that I was less than I was. Uh, if I would make sure everyone knew I was a failure, then maybe they would say at least he's honest. At least he's an honest person. Okay. Uh, it's, it's a weird way to kind of boast about it, but it's a type of protecting yourself from the pain of defeat. But that person really never can be taught, uh, to overcome his failures because he's too consumed with protecting himself and buys into the lie that he can control what other people think about. Okay. Um, this is an area of insecurity, um, that tries to control.
[22:56] He hides behind an overemphasis on what is good while neglecting the rest of what it means to be a man. He's hesitant, not confident, self-righteous, like I said. And, uh, ultimately we need to know the areas that we are being this man. Where are we self-righteous? Where do you pride yourself?
[23:19] Okay. Um, do you ever see somebody fail and you don't say it out loud, but you think it in your mind, like at least I'm not that guy. At least, at least I'm not, uh, doing those same things. Right. Watch yourself. Okay. Watch yourself that you're not elevating yourself thinking that you could be that guy at some time. Okay. I remember doing this on probably more occasions than I think I can count, but I remember thinking like, man, that sucks to be that guy. And then the next week I did the same thing.
[23:53] That guy, that guy was me. I was confronted and we have an example in scripture of this and second Samuel 12, uh, King David, awesome figure, uh, probably a pretty good example of what a man is in many respects, some respects not. Uh, second Samuel 12 says, this is after David had committed adultery.
[24:17] He slept with Bathsheba and proceeded to murder, uh, Bathsheba's husband Uriah, and then lie about it. So there's like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Uh, sin after sin, avoidance of responsibility. And this is the thing that actually brings him back. Nathan, the prophet is, God sends a prophet to, uh, King David, uh, and he describes to him a story about a rich man who had a bunch of cattle and then a poor man who only had one little lamb, but this lamb was so precious to him. It's like his own child. And in the story, basically the rich man, uh, demanded to have, uh, this man's lamb to give to someone else and to sell to someone else when he could have given out of his abundance. And David was furious. He said, he says, who is this man? He says, judgment should be on this man fourfold. Who is this man? And Nathan, the prophet says, you are the man, David. You're the man.
[25:21] Obviously not, uh, in reference to his cattle, right? But he, he, he was prophetically saying, David, you're the guy. You slept with Bathsheba and committed adultery. You proceeded to lie about it. And it's led to the murder of Uriah under your watch and responsibility intentionally. But he gets confronted. He says, you're the man. Where, where are we? Are we open to the Lord saying to us, you're the guy in this way? Are we closed? Are we prideful against God himself? Okay.
[25:56] Ultimately, this is, uh, this is the thing that we want to take note of is how have we fallen short? How have we sinned? So the complacent grownup man is the man who looks good on the outside, possibly more honestly dangerous than the worthless boy, man, because he could go his whole life thinking he's something, uh, when he's not. Uh, he says he has selfish limits. He says this far, I'll go this far, but no further.
[26:30] Everybody knows that true friendship. If you ever had a really good friend, uh, uh, doesn't have selfish limits, right? True friendship, uh, is someone you can call at any time, right? You can wake up up in the middle of the night and they'll pick up, right? There's no selfish limits there. That's, that's true brotherhood. And, uh, do, do we, uh, are we that kind of friend to somebody basically? Do we, do we have a, uh, a, uh, terrible circumstance, uh, that could be reversed simply by going beyond the selfish limits? I remember, um, actually recently Judah, my brother-in-law, came over. I had a, uh, sewer backup on our rental property and, uh, it was terrible. It was the, uh, it was a bad night, but, um, I needed some stuff from Home Depot and I called him like, hey, would you be willing to just like grab some BBC for me and jump it off? And he's the,
[27:35] I'm like, is that too much? Are you doing anything tonight? And he's like, I'm not doing anything. He's like, I'm going to come up, you do this. And I'm like, yes, that's great. Yeah. And it was, the circumstances didn't really change very much, but what changed, but what changed about it is, is my brother was with me, right? Uh, and we saw it through and what could have been a terrible night by myself was not anymore. He was with me. Okay. What, what is that? What is that thing right there? That's responsibility. That's you saying I'm responsible for my brothers. Okay. Are you like that to somebody? You got friends like that? Be that guy. Don't be the grownup, complacent man who says that's their deal. They'll take care of it. You guys know how that is to be left alone. Don't be that guy. Okay. There's, there's, there's plenty of men like that and the world is worse for it. Okay.
[28:32] Do you have the mentality for others? Are your relationships just cordial and a facade? Do you just want to hang out and keep everything light? All to realize maybe later that one of your best friends is actually having insane marriage trouble? You're on the brink of divorce where you find out that they have longstanding health problems you didn't know about just because you don't want the pride. You don't want to consume responsibility for the man next to you. Don't be that person.
[29:05] Responsibility comes with facing your fears. What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of people finding out who you really are? Are you afraid of dealing with somebody who's struggling because you don't know what to say to them? A lot of times you don't even have to do much. You just have to be there and just say something simple like you're there for them. Okay. That's the grownup, complacent, complacent man. Okay. Man number three. The mature man. This is the man you want to be like.
[29:48] The mature man is a man who increases responsibility and action. Okay. Unlike the last two men, it's the man who says, how can I gain more responsibility? How can I take more on myself so that others do not have to bear it? This is really seen very brightly in marriage. How can I make my wife have an easy in road to living and raising my kids and keeping my home so that she, that's what I don't, I don't come home and just offload onto her realizing that she has her own weights. Okay. Increasing responsibility. Not just increasing responsibility, but takes action. Okay.
[30:36] He's not passive. He's not one to make excuses. He owns his mistakes. He says, yes, that's me. I did that. That's mine. My bad. I was wrong. You know, God forbid we ever say out of our own lips that we were wrong. I don't think you'll find any reel from any debate online where someone says, you know what? I'm wrong. I was wrong. You know what that is? That's the spirit of the age. Giving in to avoidance and abdication of responsibility. What do you guys do? Are you just like the reels? Or do you say, by God's grace, I don't have to identify, my identity isn't bound up in being right?
[31:19] It's bound up in Christ. And so, yeah, I was wrong. I didn't know that. But you know what? You're right. I see that. Okay. That's a mature man right there. He increases his responsibility and he takes action, meaning he makes it right. If he sins and if he's done wrong, he makes it right.
[31:39] Okay. Jocko Willink, former Navy SEAL, calls this extreme ownership. It's the title of this book. But the phrase is really enlightening in the sense where if you're a man, don't just take ownership of the things in your purview. Seek to take extreme ownership, things outside of your purview, things in your friends, things in others, you know. Don't just seek to be a family man. Well, that's good.
[32:11] Be a churchman. Seek to be others oriented. Don't be self-absorbed, right? That's a mature man, a man who takes extreme ownership. Suffocate your excuses. Love that phrase. I think we could reinterpret, or maybe dive into the scripture and see in Romans 13, 14, which says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. In other words, suffocate that flesh that says, I want to be right. I can't be wrong. I want to do what I want to do. And it doesn't matter.
[32:49] Suffocate that. Put it to death. There's no man that is worth respecting that says, I'll live in proximity to my excuses and keep them alive. They have to die. You got to suffocate them. Okay?
[33:08] The mature man is responsible. Having the ability to respond quickly. He takes courage and risks. Not because he's not afraid, but because he knows the truth about what he's facing. He knows that courage is of necessity. It's not an option to be afraid. Always ready to take action with no hesitation. He runs to, not from. Specifically running towards what the flesh wants to avoid. So in other words, if you know, actually the Bible says, if you know the right thing you should do and you don't, in the book of James it says you've sinned. Okay? So if we know what we ought to do, and we don't do it, we sin. But if it's posed before us, whether we should do it or not, the mature man says, in the face of wanting to do, wanting to obey my flesh, I will not obey it.
[34:01] I will not obey it. It's a warlike mentality. Okay? Men were created to have a disposition of war towards his own fleshly selfishness so that it could finally reach its end in death. He tries new things. Okay?
[34:19] He gets out of his comfort zone. That doesn't mean that he doesn't get uncomfortable. I used to think that all the most confident, mature guys I knew were just like really comfortable with anything. And then I found out they weren't. They were just pressing themselves to be a mature man and not pride themselves in what they were good at, but trying new things so that they were always growing. They knew that their weaknesses didn't define them, so they failed. You know? Don't be too comfortable. Some of us are just way too comfortable. I think that's part of the reason why, no one gets married as much anymore. No one talks to women. It's because there's this uncomfortability that cannot be pushed past. You have to push past it. It doesn't mean that you're not going to feel uncomfortable. You probably will. But isn't that courage? You know, going into battle? I mean, how many movies, you know, do we see? It's like, are you afraid? Like, yeah, I'm afraid. Let's go.
[35:20] You know? Forget about that fear. Forget about the uncomfortability. Go for it. You're going to fail, but you don't find identity in failing. A mature man finds identity ultimately in Christ.
[35:32] He looks to Jesus as the one who gives him approval, gives him identity. He knows he's weak, and he's perfectly okay with that. The mature man, this guy is always asking how we can create value for others, how we can make things better and not waste what he's been given. What have you guys been given? You live in America, you've been given far more than you probably ever think.
[35:59] Some of you don't believe that because of a host of things, the way you were raised, the job you have, whatever. But the truth is, God has put breath in your lungs, and all things considered, your life probably isn't that bad. Okay? I'm not making light of terrible things, or even being raised, handicapped in different ways. But a mature man is not an orphan, in the sense that he gives way to what he does not have. His victimhood, so to speak. But he says, I can overcome, and I can take responsibility for myself. I'm not going to blame other people for the way that I am.
[36:44] That's what a mature man does. So, which guy are you? I feel like I can find myself, if I'm honest, in each one of these categories, maybe far less at times than the mature man, of course. But if you're not the mature man, which I would mention to say that most of us aren't in different aspects, then how do we become one, is the question. How do you stop finding identity and security and being good, or good at things?
[37:25] How do you stop the self-hatred, or the exhausting your energy to protect yourself? How do you do that? Okay, well, I'm here to tell you that if you go to the world to do that, you're just going to find more reels.
[37:38] Worthless reels. I'm not saying they all have no value. Actually, I take it back. There are some really good reels. But ultimately, I'm giving you guys a layup to Christ and the gospel.
[37:54] Okay? Even the best advice, you know, the Jordan Petersons out there, the motivational speakers, Jocko, all these guys, they have good things, but I believe that all the good that you get from them are a mirror, an extension, really from God, to be the man he's calling you to be.
[38:18] Okay? And so, how do we become the mature man? That's the question. Well, I've got good news. It starts first, not by white knuckling, picking yourself up by your bootstraps, not necessarily by taking responsibility for yourself, but first, by beginning to understand that somebody has taken responsibility for you. You have to start there. What do I mean by that?
[38:52] God, through Jesus Christ, has assumed utter responsibility for his children. Okay? He's come into this mess of this world that we abdicated. We said, this is not our fault.
[39:07] Okay? Just as Adam and Eve did in the garden. He's come into his world that he created of his own volition. And what did he do? He took responsibility for the ones he created. How? By dying on a cross.
[39:21] By dying and the blame that we spat out onto him, he fully took on himself. Okay? You have to understand this. You will never be the mature man. You will never be the mature man if you don't come to Christ. I hope everyone walks away hearing that. If you don't come to Christ, you will be continuing to fight the insecurity that dwells within your heart that you can never change.
[39:49] Okay? God, through Jesus Christ, has assumed responsibility for his children. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
[40:10] Which? Awesome verse. And then I think maybe my most favorite verse in all of the New Testament. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. Think about yourselves now. Question I pose.
[40:23] 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. For our sake he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So let me break this down. God made Jesus sin.
[40:37] Only in one sense did he make Jesus sin. God treated Jesus as if he committed every sin by any person who would ever believe, although in fact he committed none of them.
[40:51] All your blame, all your excuse making, God laid onto Jesus, not as a wrong punishing of Jesus. Jesus went willingly to take that on. Okay? God punished Jesus for my sin as if he lived the life I lived.
[41:11] Okay? Your sinful life. Not only that, but now God treats you as if you lived Jesus life, although you in fact did not. Jesus never once sinned. He was perfect without sin. He was a spotless lamb.
[41:27] And he bids everyone welcome to lay down their sins before him and take up his life. That is what a mature man does. That is how you become a mature man. That is the first and crucial step to becoming a mature man.
[41:46] Brendan Manning has a quote. I'm going to read a verse in close. And I just want you to think about yourself right now. He says, There is one God of the Christian vision, the God revealed by him in Jesus Christ, who this moment walks directly to your seat, looks you straight in the eye, and says, I have a word for you.
[42:16] I know your whole life story. I know every skeleton in your closet. I know every moment of sin, shame, dishonesty, and degraded love that has darkened your past.
[42:29] Right now I know your shallow faith and your feeble prayer life, your inconsistent discipleship. Nothing is hidden from my eyes. And my word is this, I dare you to trust that I love you as you are and not as you should be, because you will never be as you should be.
[42:57] I close with Romans 5. Romans 5-6 For while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for the righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die.
[43:14] But God shows his love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.