I got to be home.
Wes and I got off the airplane and we could finally control what was going on.
And so we walked so quickly.
And I think we were about to break into a run trying to get to baggage claim in time.
Because we could finally control the pace at which things were happening.
We saw people who rode the tram beat us to the baggage claim.
But at least we felt like we were in control of making it happen.
And I told Wes on the way home, we're not going to get home if I wreck.
So I got to slow down.
So I'm so eager to be back with my family.
As a husband and a father.
So I kind of foolishly took on the task of preaching this morning.
Being on this trip and being busy, busy and going, going.
And I decided at the beginning of the trip that I was going to preach a Father's Day sermon this morning.
But the scope of what I want to talk about today is larger than that.
Certainly includes being a father, but is bigger than that.
What I want to talk about this morning is masculinity.
What does it mean to be a man?
Now ladies, I know that the temptation now will be to check out.
There's lots of things going on in your life.
You can begin to work through some of those things now.
But if you are single, you should pay attention this morning.
Because this is what you want to look for in a man.
If you're not, you need to know how to pray for your men.
Because the task that's been given to us, the special role that we've been given as men in this world is a huge one.
And we need your prayers.
So what does it mean to be masculine?
What does that look like?
Culture gives us some definition of that.
We look around at fallen men.
Culture gives us some idea of what that might look like.
The car you drive.
How muscly you are.
How well groomed you are.
The clothes you wear.
The power job that you have.
But ultimately, all these things are a shadow of what once was.
Before the fall, Adam, the first man, was masculine in completion.
He was a planetary king.
He was given the world to rule.
And then he sinned.
And sin totally corrupted that nature.
And in all of us men, there is this desire to get back to that place.
We all carry the burden of sin.
Which says to us, you are a failure.
We all know that if we were set on the scale of masculinity, we would be found wanting.
So all the things we do, the things that culture defines as masculine, are an attempt to get back to that place.
That's why we love competition.
Right?
Because we want to be kings.
We want to rule.
We want to dominate over others.
That's why we get so into sports.
Because we want to even just relate to a team that's winning.
Very few diehard fans stick with a team when they're losing.
Right?
We want to flip-flop to the team that's winning.
Because we want to be in charge.
We want jobs where we call the shots.
We want to drive cars that make it look like we're in charge.
And it's all trying to get back to that Adamic nature.
We're all trying to get back to that place where we are planetary kings once again.
Invincible ruling the world.
Since corrupted it, hasn't it?
Unfortunately, we have a way back to that place, which we'll get to soon.
But for us to really understand what masculinity looks like, we have to go back pre-corruption.
We have to go back before the fall and look at the creation of Adam and Eve and the way they were meant to operate together.
So turn with me to Genesis chapter 1.
Moses wrote the book of Genesis under the inspiration of the Spirit.
In chapter 1, he gives us an account of the creation.
And then he repeats that account in chapter 2 with varying detail.
In chapter 1, verse 27, he kind of zooms in a bit on what's going on on the sixth day.
He says,
So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them.
So he zooms in to say something very important to us about man and woman.
And that is that they are equal.
They're both created in the image of God.
Both with the same rights, the same responsibilities, the same things we must answer to God for.
In chapter 2, he gives us another account of the creation.
Not that it happened again, but he's re-explaining some things for us.
And once again, he zooms in.
He zooms in tight.
He gives us some details, which I believe that he was inspired to do for some specific reasons.
Look at Genesis chapter 2, verse 7.
Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
And the man became a living creature.
And then verse 15.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
For in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.
Then the Lord God said,
It is not good that the man should be alone.
I will make a helper fit for him.
Verse 20.
But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man.
And while he slept, took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
And the ribs of the Lord God had taken from the man he made into woman and brought her to man.
Then the man said,
This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
So this account has purpose.
The reason it was recorded for us, once again, we've seen that they were created as equals.
But now we're seeing something else.
We're seeing that man was created first and then woman.
Why is that?
Man was created first and then woman.
It's to show that men are to be the leaders in our relationships.
Paul certainly understood that as he wrote his letter to Timothy.
His first letter to Timothy, under the inspiration of the Spirit.
So let me give you a definition of mature masculinity to help us wrap our minds around what we're going to talk about.
And this is stolen from John Piper.
I'll give him credit where credit is due.
At the heart of mature masculinity.
I catch that.
Mature masculinity.
The heart of mature masculinity is a sense of a benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for, and protect women in ways appropriate to a man's varying relationships.
I'll repeat that for you again.
You don't have to write it down.
Just kind of wrap your mind around it.
At the heart of mature masculinity is a sense of a benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for, and protect women in ways appropriate to a man's varying relationships.
So catch what Piper is saying.
And I think it's entirely biblically founded.
Our masculinity is measured by how we relate to women.
Who we are as men is measured by how we relate to the opposite sex.
The control group.
The fixed thing.
The comparison thereof is what makes us masculine.
Otherwise, we're a closed group of men, right?
What makes us men?
Our bodies.
The way we were created.
That makes us men.
What makes us masculine is how we relate to women.
And the first way that we relate to women that's so key is that we are to lead.
Ladies, this in no way takes away what Genesis 127 says.
It's just a different role.
And a man who leads properly is a man you will gladly follow.
So mature masculinity leads spiritually.
Now we saw up in 2.16.
God gives Adam a command.
You may surely eat of every tree of the garden.
Verse 17.
But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
From the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.
So God gives Adam the moral code of the garden.
And he's told Adam, work the garden, live in the garden, be fed by the garden.
There's just one thing you're not supposed to do.
He gives that command to Adam.
Once we see Eve created, God doesn't repeat that command.
He gives the command to Adam.
And the assumption there is that Adam was responsible to pass the command on to his bride.
We get some further evidencing of that in Genesis 3, 9 and 11.
After the fall.
Who does God go to first?
Not to Eve, the originator of the sin, but to Adam.
He holds Adam accountable.
He says,
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you?
And in verse 11, he said, who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to eat?
So here Adam is given a command and he's held fully accountable for it, even though Eve was the one that sinned first.
And why do you think Satan tempted Eve first?
Why do you think that he went after Eve instead of Adam?
Some have said it's because she was weaker.
She was the weaker of the sexes.
I don't believe that to be true at all.
I think that Satan went after it that way because he was intending to corrupt the order that God had set aside.
He was intending to go after the very thing that God had already ordered in the world.
That man came first and then woman.
He flipped it on its head and he stood back and laughed and said, boy, now they're never going to be able to sort this mess out.
Man's going to constantly try to lord over women and then blame them for everything.
And isn't that what happens?
Isn't that exactly what happens?
Adam says, the woman told me to do it.
In all that moment, we see the whole thing reversed.
Rather than leading as he ought to, he just listened to her and did what she said.
So Satan knew exactly what he was doing.
So mature masculinity leads spiritually.
Do we do that, men?
Do we lead our wives?
The other women around us, that definition I read, spoke of varying relationships.
Single men, do you lead those around you?
Are you an example for the women around you in spiritual matters?
I'm afraid that we're not.
I'm so thankful that I get to preach from the word of God and I don't have to stand up here and show you my life.
Except myself as the example.
Because I failed in so many of these things.
Do you lead your family spiritually?
Are you on the front edge of leading?
I doubt it.
Mature masculinity also leads selflessly.
Our definition says that man has a sense of a benevolent responsibility.
Jesus says in Luke chapter 22, verse 26.
Let the greatest among you become as the youngest and the leader as one who serves.
So mature masculinity does not assume authority, but advocates it through love.
Mature masculinity does not assume authority, but advocates it through love.
Ephesians chapter 5, verse 23 and 25.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church.
His body and himself its savior.
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Do we follow Christ because he's commanded it so?
That ought to be enough, shouldn't it?
That should be it.
Rule of the universe said to do it.
We should do it.
But we follow Christ because he loves us so much.
The way he laid his life down for us.
The sacrifices he gives.
The provision he gives in our lives.
That's why we follow Christ.
And men, we should be the same way.
Benevolent.
Encouraging and leading the women around us to follow us.
They will gladly follow the man that leads in this way.
Mature masculinity also leads to Christ.
Now, the man does not stand in the position of Christ in the church quite the way Christ does.
Because he's not Christ, is he?
We're kind of a caretaker.
Christ has put us in a position to lead our wives and the women around us.
Not to ourselves, lest we set ourselves up as Christ, but to Christ himself.
So the relationship isn't exactly the same because we're not the supreme ruler.
Our job is to lead the women around us to Christ.
Mature masculinity leads in discipline.
Fathers, do you leave the responsibility of disciplining your children to your wives?
Do you stand by while they whine and complain, waiting for your wife to do something about it?
Are you first in that?
Do you lead in that?
Do your children look at you and say,
Hey, my dad's in charge around here.
My dad is setting the moral code around here.
I better not transgress the law of this household or else I'll receive the wrath of my father.
That's a hard job, man.
I've got one that just turned one.
And we're getting to that constant discipline stage.
And it is hard.
And I don't want to do it sometimes.
He breaks my heart.
Pokes that little bottom lip out.
But it is my responsibility.
And I pray that I'm not sure of that responsibility at all.
Mature masculinity not only provides, which we'll get to in a second, but it also leads financially.
Men, are we an example to the women around us on how we ought to deal with our finances?
I think a lot of Christian households, there's a strain.
Men trying to be Adamic, trying to gain for themselves the stuff that makes them men amass things for their hobbies.
And the wives who say, but honey, we can't afford that.
The opposite should be true.
James Dobson wrote in a book called Straight Talk to Men and Their Wives.
A Christian man is obligated to lead his family to the best of his ability.
If his family has purchased too many items on credit, then the financial crunch is ultimately his fault.
If the family never reads the Bible or seldom goes to church on Sunday, God holds the man to blame.
If the children are disrespectful and disobedient, the primary responsibility lies with the father, not his wife.
In my view, says Dobson, America's greatest need is for husbands to begin guiding their families rather than pouring every physical and emotional resource into the mere acquisition of money.
And then it's our responsibility to provide.
It's our responsibility.
We ought to be providing for our households.
But it's not the only responsibility.
In our provision, we must be good stewards with what we're given.
Mature masculinity is sensitive to cultural expressions of masculinity.
This applies to all of us, married or not.
In any relationship we take on with any woman.
I have co-workers that are female.
What is appropriate?
What is the appropriate way for a man to act?
Men, do you know which side of a female you're supposed to walk on down the road?
Are you aware of where you're supposed to be when you're walking down the street?
Which side of her do you walk on?
It changes.
Should you open the door?
Yes, you should.
Our culture may change.
That may become an offensive thing someday.
At which time you should stop.
But are the things you do appropriately communicating to women, I'm a man and I would like to relate to you as a woman.
So, my masculinity and your femininity are going to relate on a healthy level.
How we dress matters.
Dressing overly aggressive communicates something.
I would suggest that none of you wear your tight clubbing shirts.
Just not appropriate for that.
I don't know if you have this.
But it communicates an aggressive thing.
On the flip side of that, you might not want to wear skinny jeans, guys.
Because what does that communicate?
Do you want to relate to women as a woman?
You're saying, I want to dress like you.
I want to relate like you.
Swoopy bang hairdos?
Probably not appropriate for a mature masculine male.
Think about what you're trying to communicate.
All of those things that we're seeing now, you know where that all comes from?
The emo rock movement.
You know where that comes from?
Japan.
You know what they're trying to do in Japan right now, young people?
They're trying to de-gender society.
There's an actual overt attempt to de-gender society.
And that's where that is birthed out of.
Think about those actions.
What you do communicate to the women around you.
I am a male.
And therefore, we can interact that way.
Or does it do the opposite?
It's important.
It matters.
Mature masculinity is sensitive to cultural expressions of masculinity.
All right.
Secondly,
mature masculine men provide.
In Genesis chapter 3,
we see post-fall that Adam is going to work the ground.
That wasn't something given to him as a result of sin.
Right?
He was told prior to the fall that he was going to work the garden.
Wasn't he?
That was his task to do,
was to work the garden
and to pick fruit from the trees
and provide food.
It was just going to be really easy then.
He was never going to grow tired.
He was going to live forever.
He was just going to be a gardener
and he was going to love it.
After the fall,
what we see in chapter 3
is that it's going to become hard.
It's going to become a toil.
It's going to become so difficult to do.
So that charge is still here for us as men.
Now, I think that Piper's definition
is really appropriate.
He says that the man has a sense
of his benevolent responsibility to provide.
Because we can't always do that.
Am I right?
Some of us are not particularly gifted
and therefore don't hold jobs
that are very high paying.
But we still should know
that it's our responsibility.
We should do everything we can
to climb the ladder
and make the money to provide for our families.
I'm in a situation like that now.
I don't quite make the ends meet.
Fortunately, my wife is gifted
and can do graphic art from home
and be home with Cade.
But the burden of providing lies with me.
And I'm working on it.
I'm finding ways to advance myself,
my job,
so that I can provide fully for my family.
So there's a sense
that that responsibility is yours.
Not that you necessarily do.
Or how about a man who's disabled,
who can't?
Just it's impossible
for him to go to work.
Not that he's required to,
but that he should have
this sense of the responsibility
to do so.
A mature masculine man
also protects
in the same way
when he can,
when he's able
to do so.
I think the
unfortunate picture
often of marriage
is this 50-50 relationship.
And that seems to apply
to all things.
So I'll get out of bed
and check the strange noise
50% of the time.
You get out the other 50%
of the time.
A mature masculine man
gets up every time.
Right?
In Genesis chapter 34,
a super cool story
of Hamor,
the Hivite,
and he sees
Dinah,
the sister of Simeon
and Levi,
and he rapes her.
And Simeon and Levi
exact revenge
by
pretending
that he's going to allow
this tribe of men,
these non-Jewish men,
to marry
with the
Jewish women.
But the
thing they must do
in order to do that
is to all be circumcised.
So they're all
circumcised
and
they wait until
they're incredibly sore
and they go to the town
and they kill
all the men.
They just wipe them all out.
And
that's the revenge
that they exact
for the serious crime
of
offending
their sister.
I'm not advocating
that we go kill people.
But
we ought to have
that sense of protection.
Not just with our wives,
but with
women
in general
around us.
Do we
protect
women?
And we should.
On this
trip that we were just on,
Wes and I were getting
ready to fly out
yesterday,
actually.
And we were sitting
in the little
lobby of the hotel
getting breakfast.
And I had already
sat down
because I had nothing
gluten-free,
so I was drinking
orange juice.
And all of a sudden
I saw Wes just
grab this old lady's arm.
She's like
over here
and just grabbed her arm.
It was the weirdest
kind of out of the corner
of my eye
bizarre thing
to see him do.
And then I realized
that what she was
about to do
was hit the hot water
spout on the coffee thing
with her cup
under where the coffee
comes out.
So the spout's up here.
She's going to hit the tab
with the spout right here.
It didn't make any sense
at all.
But she had her
arm up under here
and Wes saved her
from scalding her arm
with hot water.
He didn't even think
twice about it.
He just smashed her arm
out of the way.
And she was so appreciative.
Thank you so much.
I mean,
he like manhandled her.
But she was very thankful
for what he had done.
I don't like to toot
my own horn.
I don't have many examples
of mature masculinity,
so I'm going to give you
this one.
I shared the story
with you guys
of being in Gainesville
a number of months ago
and a woman was being
kind of assaulted
by a guy
that she knew
and she said,
stop,
you're hurting me.
And I didn't even
hesitate.
I was talking with
John Overton.
We're walking down
one side of the sidewalk
and it was like
something clicked in me
and I beelined
across the street
to intervene
in that situation.
That's mature masculinity.
We ought to have
a sense about us
to protect women.
There you go.
My examples.
Let's wait.
Me and Wes.
Manly men.
So ultimately,
masculinity
is living like Christ
in relation to women.
We're all called
to be Christian.
Masculinity is living
like Christ
in relation to women.
Begin to filter
everything you do
through that.
The things that you
even do
when you're not
around women.
Wes and I
were on a backpacking
trip together
this trip.
Thursday and Friday
we were off in the woods.
No women around.
Me and Wes
off in the woods.
But we could have
emasculated ourselves
by talking
coarsely
about our lives.
Right?
But we didn't.
When we spoke
with our wives
we spoke with them
respectfully.
Which is
masculine.
You see how that
works?
Begin to filter
the things you do men
through this lens
of my masculinity
hinges
on how I relate
to women.
And if we're not
masculine
what are we?
I'd say we're boys.
some of us
need to do some
growing up.
So if we're to be
Christ
in relation
to women
then
we probably
ought to look
at Christ
the ultimate
expression
of masculinity
and in his life
the culmination
of his masculinity
which was his death
on the cross
which is so
offensive
to the world's
idea of masculinity.
Right?
We all
as I talked
before
we all
want to
get back
to this
Adamic
nature.
We all
want to
be this
planetary
king
and we
seek that
by trying
to rule
over other
men
which isn't
at all
what Christ
who was God
himself
did.
He humbled
himself
to death
on a cross.
Jay
Wetger
writes
the cross
is an offense
because of
its abject
weakness.
For in the
spectacle of the
cross we see
a victim
perishing
in weakness
shame
ignominy
and dereliction.
It's an offense
to what we
think masculinity
should look like.
Right?
Our Savior
should have
come on a
big giant
horse
and he
should have
been the
most muscly
guy around
and wielded
large weapons
and he
should have
obliterated
the Roman
guard
and he
should have
rescued
his church.
But the
picture we're
given is
quite the
opposite of
that.
Silent
like a
lamb
led to
slaughter.
Christ
flips all
that around
for us
doesn't it?
Turn to
1 Corinthians
chapter 1.
I'm going to
read to you
verses 18
through 15
or 25
of chapter 1.
For the
word of the
cross is
folly to
those who
are perishing
but to us
who are being
saved it is
the power
of God.
For it is
written I
will destroy
the wisdom
of the wise
and the
discernment
of the
discerning
I will
thwart.
The
philosophies
of this
world
who seek
to conquer
to get
back to
that
nature
that
endemic
nature.
I'm going
to make
that seem
crazy.
Verse 20
Where is the
one who is
wise?
Where is the
scribe?
Where is the
debater of
this age?
Has not
God made
foolish the
wisdom of
the world?
For since
in the
wisdom of
God the
world did
not know
God
through
wisdom
it pleased
God
through the
folly
of what
we preach
to save
those
who believe.
For Jews
demand signs
and Greeks
seek wisdom
but we
preach Christ
crucified
a stumbling
block to
Jews and
folly to
Gentiles.
But to
those who
are called
both Jews
and Greeks
Christ the
power of
God and
the wisdom
of God.
For the
foolishness of
God is
wiser than
men and
the weakness
of God
is stronger
than men.
Isn't that
awesome?
That says to
me that when
I'm willing to
humble myself
to the point
of death
to give
myself
in my
masculinity
to serve
the women
in my life
power of
God.
What a
task,
right?
What an
overwhelming
task
that's been
given to
us.
Fortunately,
we have
Christ.
He is our
way back.
We can
rule.
We can
be that
planetary
king.
It just
looks
differently
than the
world
thinks.
2 Corinthians
5.16.
Paul says,
Therefore,
if anyone
is in
Christ,
he is a
new
creation.
The old
has passed
away.
Behold,
the new
has come.
We've been
restored.
Our
masculinity
has been
restored
in Christ.
We've not
been given
the ability
to be
appropriate,
to be
mature,
masculine
men.
But it's
hard.
Ladies,
it's a
challenge.
Guys,
I know
how hard
it is.
Jesus
says in
Matthew
chapter
11,
Come to
me,
all who
labor and
are heavy
laden,
and I
will give
you rest.
Take
my yoke
upon you
and learn
from me,
for I am
gentle and
lowly in
heart,
and you
will find
rest for
your souls.
For my
yoke is
easy,
and my
burden
is light.
So how
do we
live as
mature,
masculine
men?
We abide
in Christ.
We tarry
with Him.
We look
to Him
for the
power we
need in
order to
do so.
And
humility is
required to
see that
happen.
In the
book,
We're
covering
biblical
manhood
and
womanhood.
Piper
gives a
challenge and
shares his
prayer for
the men of
Bethlehem
Baptist
Church.
And I
think that
we should
echo this
here at
Christ
Family
Church.
And there's
15 points,
and I want
to read
them carefully
for you,
and I want
you to
bear with
me.
And we're
going to
close with
this.
Number
one,
that all
your life,
in whatever
calling,
be devoted to
the glory of
God.
Number
two,
that the
promises of
Christ be
trusted so
fully that
peace and
joy and
strength fill
your soul to
overflowing.
number
three,
that this
fullness of
God overflow
in daily
acts of
love so
that people
might see
your good
deeds and
give glory to
your Father
in heaven.
Number
four,
that you be
men of the
book who
love and
study and
obey the
Bible in
every area
of its
teaching,
that meditation
on biblical
truth be the
source of
hope and
faith,
that you
continue to
grow in
understanding
through all the
chapters of
your life,
never thinking
that study and
growth are
only for
others.
Number
five,
that you
be men of
prayer so
that the
word of
God will
be open
to you,
so the
power of
faith and
holiness will
descend upon
you,
that your
spiritual
influence may
increase at
home and
at church
and in the
world.
Number
six,
that you
be men
who have a
deep grasp
of the
sovereign grace
of God,
which undergirds
all these
spiritual
processes,
that you
be deep
thinkers about
the doctrines
of grace
and even
deeper
lovers of
these
things.
Number
seven,
that you
be totally
committed to
ministry,
whatever your
specific calling,
that you
not fritter
away your
time on
excessive
sports and
recreation or
unimportant
hobbies or
aimless
diddling in
the garage,
but that you
redeem the
time for
Christ and
his kingdom.
Number
eight,
that if you
are single,
you exploit your
singleness to
the fullness in
devotion to
God and
not be
paralyzed by
the desire
to be
married.
Number
nine,
that if you
are married,
you love
your life the
way Christ
loved the
church and
gave himself
for her,
that you
be a
humble,
self-denying,
up-building,
happy spiritual
leader,
that you
consistently
grow in
grace and
knowledge so
as never to
quench the
aspirations of
your wife for
spiritual
advancement,
that you
cultivate
tenderness and
strength,
a pattern of
initiative and a
listening ear,
that you accept the
responsibility of
provision and
protection in the
family, however you
and your wife share
the labor.
Number
ten,
that if you have
children, you
accept primary
responsibility in
partnership with your
wife to raise up
children in the
discipline and
instruction of the
Lord, children who
hope in the triumph
of God that you
establish a pattern of
teaching and discipline
that is not solely
dependent on the
church or school to
impart Bible knowledge
and spiritual values to
the children, that you
give your children the
time and attention and
affection that
communicates the true
nature of our
father in heaven.
Number eleven, that
you not assume
advancement and pure
approval in your
gainful employment are
the highest values in
life, but that you
ponder the eternal
significance of faithful
fatherhood and time
spent with your wife,
that you repeatedly
consider the new
possibilities each age
of your life for
maximizing your
energies for the
glory of God in
ministry, that you
pose the question
often.
Is our family molded
by the culture or do
we embody the values
of the kingdom of
God, that you lead
the family in making
choices not on the
basis of secular
trends or upward
lifestyle expectations,
but on the basis of
what will strengthen the
faith of the family and
advance the cause of
Christ.
Number twelve, that you
step back, plan the
various form of your
life's ministry in
chapters.
Chapters are divided by
various things, age,
strength, singleness,
marriage, employment,
children at home,
children in college,
grandchildren, retirement,
et cetera.
No chapter has all the
joys.
Finite life is a series
of trade-offs.
Finding God's will and
living for the glory of
Christ to the full in
every chapter is what
makes it a success, not
whether it reads like
somebody else's chapter,
whether it has in it
what only another
chapter will bring.
Number thirteen, that
you develop a wartime
mentality and lifestyle,
that you never forget
that life is short, that
billions of people hang
in the balance of heaven
and hell every day, that
the love of money is
spiritual suicide, that
the goals of upper
mobility, nicer clothes,
cars, houses,
vacations, food, hobbies
are a poor and a
dangerous substitute for
the goals of living for
Christ with all your
might and maximizing
your joy and ministry to
people's needs.
Number fourteen, that in
all your relationships with
women, not just in
marriage, you seek the
guidance of the Holy
Spirit in applying the
biblical vision of
manhood and womanhood,
that you develop a
lifestyle and demeanor
that expresses your God
given responsibility for
humble strength and
leadership and for
self-sacrificing
provision and protection,
that you think
creatively and with
cultural sensitivity,
sensitivity, just as she
must do, and shaping the
style and setting, the
tone of your interactions
with women.
Number fifteen, that you
see the biblical guidelines
for what is appropriate and
inappropriate for men and
women, not as licensed for
domination or bossive
passivity, but as a call to
servant leadership that
thinks in terms of
responsibilities, not
rights, that you see these
principles as wise and
gracious prescriptions for
how to discover the true
freedom of God's ideal of
complementarity, that you
encourage the fruitful
encouragement of women in
the countless ministry
roles that are biblically
appropriate and deeply
needed.
Guys, I think it's time that
we stop being boys and start
being mature, masculine men.
Let's pray together.