Biblical Manhood - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Father, we thank you for your holy word. We're so grateful that we can open this word freely and receive the wisdom, the revelation of who you are, of your power, of your desire for us, of the gospel. And we're praying this morning, Lord, as you are alive and well, that you would take this word and make it alive in us. We need your power for it to be true. For some of us in here, maybe the word of God is dull.

For some of us in here, maybe the word of God seems casual. But, Lord, we're praying right now that you would open our eyes. Every person in here would have their eyes open, Lord. We're asking that you would quicken us by the Holy Spirit. We need him.

And so, lord, we just submit to the authority of the scriptures. We pray that every pre understanding, anything that we might have even grown up with that does not line up with the word, even though it may be tradition, we submit to the authority of the scriptures. This is the final authority for the Christian. And, Lord, if we claim to be so, then we must submit to your word. And so we pray right now against every distraction, every against every hint of pride or flesh that might fight or resist this word.

Lord, that we would not be like the Pharisees or the Sadducees who resist the holy spirit, that we would soften our hearts and receive from you. And so, Lord, we pray for a special presence today for a word that is needed much. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. The Bible says in Genesis one twenty seven that God created man in his own image.

In his image, he created man. Male and female, he created them. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, attested to the same reality when he says in Matthew nineteen four, have you not read that God has made them both male and female? Both the Old Testament and the New Testament testify of the human species, God's climactic act of creation, that he created them in a specific way. That God had an ultimate purpose in creating mankind, his ultimate masterpiece with two genders, male and female.

And the purpose behind God creating us as the human species, both male and female, serves an important purpose. Primarily, the reason why God has made man kind to be male and female is that we reflect the image of God. Both male and female reflect the image of God. Now that's important. An image is something that represents someone or something.

That's what an image is. And so when the Bible says that we are created in the image of God, the only creatures in the entire universe that are created in the image of God, what it's saying there is that we resemble and represent the one who created us. It is not saying that we are gods as some would assume. What it is saying is that we carry certain characteristics that belong to the one who has created us. And so because we are created in the image of God, we carry godlike features.

Like what? Well, as humans, we are personal beings like God. As human, we are relational beings like God. As humans, we are emotional beings like God. As humans, we are rational beings, we are creative beings, and we are even authoritative beings.

And so there is something very unique about being human. And because we are created in the image of God, because we carry those God like characteristics, we can commune with God. We can have a certain type of relationship with God that God cannot have with a tree, that God cannot have with your pet dog at home. We carry certain features that allow us to have a certain type of relationship with God, but also being human and being created in the image of God brings God much, much, much glory. Being the ultimate in the climactic act of his creation brings him much glory.

Being human brings God a lot of glory. We being his creatures bring him so much glory. That is a primary purse purpose of being created man and woman, male and female. Secondly, being treated as male and female is important because we must align ourselves to God's design of what it means to be male and feeble female in order for us to experience his purpose for our lives. We must respond appropriately to what it means to be male and what it means to be female in order for us to experience the fullness of his purpose purpose for us on this earth in this lifetime.

So let's break it down. As a man, I must appropriately respond to God's design, what it means to be a man. As a woman, whoever is a woman in this place, a woman must also respond appropriately to what it means to being a woman. And when the man and the woman work in partnership of what it means to be man and woman, then we will experience God's joy filled purpose for our lives in this lifetime. And so, yes, God has created us to be in his image to reflect his glory, but God has also created us in a certain way to fulfill a specific calling and a specific purpose.

Male and female. And that is why there is such an assault on what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. There is a all out war in our day concerning manhood and womanhood, And this is more than a societal issue. It's more than a cultural issue. It's more than a political issue.

It's a spiritual issue. It is literally an attempt to rob God from his glory, and it is literally an attempt to rob people from experiencing their God given and ordained purpose. And so what god has created to be so simple and so orderly is more complicated than ever today. Two genders? No.

Let's let's do 63. Let's do 63. Marriage definition, traditionally, for thousands of years between a man no. Let's do male and male. Let's do woman and woman.

And who knows? This is the starting point. Where will we go from there? But even more than that, because because we are a bible believing church, we believe in what it means to be male and female, that God has created two genders, and it is safe to assume that everybody here believes that marriage is between a man and woman, but it goes even deeper than that. Because we would all attest to that.

But the attack on what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, it it penetrates. It goes even deeper because not only is there an assault on gender and marriage, there's an assault on the responsibility of a man, and the responsibility of a woman, and the role of a man, and the role of a woman. And in order for us to maximize the glory that is due unto God and to experience the fullness of what it means to be on this earth, we must understand what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman biblically. Biblically, what does it mean to be a man? Biblically, what does it mean to be a woman?

And for the next two weeks, we're going to explore Biblical manhood and Biblical womanhood. What is God's design for man and what is God's design for woman. And for us to study this and to look into this, we're gonna explore three spheres in life that a man and a woman have a specific role in. A man has a specific calling as an individual. A man has a specific calling in his family, and a man has a specific calling within the church.

A woman has a specific calling as an individual. A woman has a specific calling in her family, and a woman has a specific calling within the church. Now this needs to be said upfront. It's gonna be very challenging because whether we acknowledge it or not, we are bombarded even subconsciously of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman. And so that's why even within the church, when the biblical standard is presented, people start squirming in their seats.

But the reality is God has set it already in his word, and God in his standard of what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman is for our good. It is always for our good, And we attempt to take God's standard and try to do it ourselves and look at the mess that we're in. And this is once again, it's not a societal thing. It's not a cultural thing. This is spiritual.

Underneath all of it, it is a spiritual thing because when you attack the man's role in the family and when you attack the woman's role in the family, it affects how the church operates. And when it affects how the church operates, it affects how society operates. There is a ripple effect on what it means to be a man and what it means to be a woman, and we think in this day that we're just gonna liberate people because God is concealing us and constraining us when God says my plan is the best way. Submit. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God.

And so before we even jump into this, by the grace of God, may we empty our minds from the things that we think is right and submit to what God says is right and trust in his plan and trust in his plan. God has a role for a man, and God has a role for a today's purpose and today's message is for men. Biblical manhood. What does it mean to be a man? So many things come to our mind.

And either we have our own worldview or we submit once again to the Biblical worldview. And we're gonna explore those three spheres as an individual, in the family, and in the church. And in reality, those three spheres, they're really like rings that are connected to one another because when we operate in one, it affects the other. And when we're not functioning in one, it affects the other. So if I'm not fulfilling my role as a man, as an individual, it affects my church life and my family life.

If I'm not fulfilling my role in the family, it affects my church life. If I'm not fulfilling my role in the church, it affects my family. They all affect one another, and so we must, as men today, and it's important for women to hear this too, and next week we're gonna do the opposite, to understand what the roles are so that in divine partnership we may fulfill God's calling. What is God's will for the man as an individual? As an individual just as a man, not not a married man, not a businessman, not a man that's working.

What is God's will for man? There's many men in the scriptures that we can turn to as examples for what God looks for in a man. There's one man in particular. His name is Saul, not New Testament Saul, Old Testament Saul. Saul was the first king of Israel.

Saul was a man's man, well, in the world's eyes. Saul, it says in first Samuel nine, was the most handsome man in all of Israel. In fact, he was a head taller than everybody else. Broad shoulders, tall guy, doesn't give details about his hair or his eyes, but he was handsome. Saul, it says, also was bold.

He was courageous. He stood before the Philistines. The Bible says in second Samuel that he was swifter than an eagle and stronger than a lion. That's a great description for a man. Swifter than an eagle and stronger than a lion.

If you wanna talk about athletics, Paul Saul rather had it. Saul was a king. Saul was a leader. Saul carried those features. And on top of that, Saul was anointed by the Holy Spirit.

Saul was empowered. It says that the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul, and so we look at all of that and we say, surely that's a man. You got the looks, you got the position, you got the athletic ability. On top of that, you're anointed of God. The spirit of God is on your life.

You're doing what God is calling you to do. Surely all those things is what a man's supposed to be, but God sees things differently. In fact, in first Samuel 13, the Bible says, I have rejected Saul. I have rejected Saul. And in first Samuel thirteen fourteen, the bible says this, but now your kingdom shall not continue.

The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. Despite all the things that Saul had in his life, there was one thing that the Lord was looking for in a man, and it was this, a man after my own heart. Did God find that man? Acts thirteen twenty two. And we're gonna be jumping a lot of scriptures here because this topic is gonna require for us to sprinkle around.

In Acts thirteen twenty two, the Bible says, and when he had removed him, being Saul, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified God testified of David and said, I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart who will do all my will. What is God's desire for a man? It's more than just good luck. It's more than just athletic ability. It's more than just the position.

It's more than just the praise of man. It's more than even being empowered by God to fulfill a certain ministry. What is God looking for in a man? A man after his own heart. Every single man that exists on this planet, every single man in this room, what God is looking for in you is that you ought to be a man that's after his own heart.

Now what does it mean for a man to have a heart after God's own heart? Simply this, that the man's priority in life is to please God in every aspect, in every way. Simple. Because to say that a man is after God's own heart can sound very emotional, sound very stirring, but it's connected in Acts thirteen twenty two to another reality. I have testified of David, son of Jesse, that I have found a man after my own heart who will do all my will.

A man after God's own heart is connected to the reality of obedience and fulfilling the will of God for his life. The will of God for a man is that he would be after God's own heart. That's the starting point. That's the foundation. That's the reality.

Men, we ought to be men who walk with God. Walking with God, loving God, worshiping God, seeking after God, that is God's desire for you as a man. Primarily, before we can even talk about family, before we can even talk about church responsibility, the number one thing that a man must realize and evaluate of his own life, am I a man after God's own heart? Take that verse, acts thirteen twenty two, and replace it with your name. And God testified of fill in your name that he is a man after my own heart, and that he will do all the my I will.

That that is my will. That's what we have to ask ourselves. Is that the reality of my life and your life? Are we men that God sees and can testify that that man is after my own heart? And God does not see man the way we evaluate men.

Even Samuel the prophet Samuel the prophet and looking for the next king, He was in the flesh and he saw Eliab, the oldest brother of the sons of Jesse. He said, surely this is the anointed one. And the Bible says that again. The Lord says, I rejected him. In other words, God did evaluate him and he saw something that was off.

And he says, I'm looking for a man because I don't see the way men see. I see what's on the heart. And today, we have painted what a man needs to look like, and it does not necessarily line up with God's will. The God of the universe that created man from the beginning, his desire from the beginning was this, I want a man that I can walk with. I want a man that I can talk with.

I want a man that I can fulfill my will through. I want a man that is so submitted to me that I can mold him and shape him into the image of my son. That's what God is looking for in men. That is the desire, rather ought to be the desire of every man. Am I a man after God's own heart?

Primarily, that is the the will of God for the individual man, and that translate translate into the will of God for the man in the family, the will of God for man in the family, if that man is called to find a wife and to raise up children. So we understand what it means because there are single men out there, and God's will for them is the same. Be a man after my own heart. Be a man that seeks my will. Be a man that is so submitted to me that I can do what I wanna do through your life.

That is calling that is the calling of God for every man that's ever existed that exists today, and he's looking for it. But what is the will of God for men within the family? Now this is where, from this moment on, it's gonna get a little interesting. This is where the role of men and women become more exclusive, become more detailed and specific for each gender. But God has assigned man with a specific role within the family.

Now you can turn your Bibles to Ephesians chapter five verse 23. And before we move on, it's probably worth mentioning something about the idea of roles concerning men and women. Sometimes because of how we see certain roles and responsibilities, we equate roles and responsibilities to value. That is not true. Let's take Adam and Eve as an example.

When God created Adam, he created him out of the dust, but when he created Eve, he took Eve out of Adam. He didn't create Eve out of the dust. Meaning what? She took. She was taken out of Adam, meaning they are of the same value in the same essence.

Man is not greater than Eve. In fact, Eve was taken out of Adam. They are the same. We can use the word maybe value or essence. But not only that, Eve was taken out of the rib of Adam.

Not out of the foot not a bone out of the foot so that Adam can Adam can step on her, and not out of a bone from the skull so that she can be above Adam, but out of the rib because they are equal. They are of the same value. They are at the same level. And so we have to understand that even from the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, man and woman, to be of the same value, the same essence, to be equal, yet with different responsibilities. And if that does not convince us, the greatest example is the Trinity.

Maybe some of us already know this. The Trinity, the mystery of the Trinity, three in one, one in three. They serve different roles, but they are the same in value, the same in essence. Jesus submits to the Father does not mean that Jesus is less than the Father. He's the same as the Father.

He is equally divine. The Holy Spirit submits to the Father and to Jesus. He's not less divine. He is not the background God. He is not the junior Godhead.

He is God. They are all equal yet serve different roles. So even within the Godhead, there's this understanding of you have this role, I have this role, you have this role. There's submission within the Trinity. And so if we're not even convinced that we ought to operate in specific roles, then how can how can we say that when the Godhead itself operates that way?

And so now we come into the role of the man in the family. And in verse 23, it says, for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. Very simple. The Bible tells us right from the right from the beginning in Ephesians five that the man of the household is the head. Meaning what?

Meaning this. The man has been assigned the role within the family to be the leader. The man has been assigned the role within the family to be the head as Christ is the head of the church. Now what does it mean to be a leader? Because so many people have taken that scripture and have gone way out there with it.

They've become abusive, dominating, dictatorship within the home, bossing around, abusive. That is not what it means to be the head. To be the head, to be the leader simply means to be the guide of the home, to be the example within the home, to be also the decision maker within the home. That is the role of the head, the man within the household, and that might excite some men, but it doesn't end there. It's not just that you're the leader and what you say goes and everybody else has to just listen to what you have to say.

Oh, there is tremendous responsibility to being the head of the house. In fact, if we were to weigh both, we get the heavier end of the deal. To be the leader of the home, to be the head of the home means two things. One, man is supposed to be the provider of the home, and two, man is supposed to be the protector of the home. Man is supposed to be the provider of the home and man is supposed to be the protector of the home.

Now go down to verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. Man is supposed to be the provider of the home, and you know what we all think? He's supposed to work. He's supposed to provide bread on the table.

True. And we're gonna talk about that, but man is not only the provider of wealth and finances as the primary source. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. Hold up.

Man is the provider also in a spiritual sense. Man operates as the head and the leader in a spiritual sense within the home. Notice what the Bible says in verse 26, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the word. So the same way Jesus has given us the Word of God that we, the bride, may be cleansed from the word, the man of the household has a responsibility of contributing to the sanctification of his wife and children. He has to operate as a spiritual priest within the home concerning not just the well-being of the physical state, but the spiritual state as well.

Now that does not mean the wife neglects her personal devotion and her personal walk with the Lord. No. But the man has a role in contributing to that. Just scroll down in Ephesians chapter six verse four. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

So the man has a role to play in the sanctification of his wife, and the man has a role to play in the sanctification of his children. That is the the spiritual role that has been given to the man. So what does that look like practically? What does the man have to do in that sense? Well, it goes back to the first point.

The man as an individual must be a man of God. He must know the word of God. He must be a man of prayer. He must be a man who initiates spiritual exercises within the home. I know this is very practical, but this is so important.

The man as future husbands, as current husbands, the man has an important role of initiating spiritual truths within the home. And so spiritual worship, getting in the word of God, in some form teaching even. Deuteronomy six says, teach your children when they get up, when they walk in your home, teach teach them the ways of the Lord. And so the man must know the word of God. The man must walk with God and be an example for the rest of the house household.

So what does it look like for a husband wife? Husband, grab your bible, sit down with your wife, and read the scriptures. Husband and father, you assign a specific time within the week where you come together with your family, and you come into the word, and you worship together. The man has been given a a spiritual leadership role within the family. That is crucial, and that cannot be a reality unless the first part is met.

He must be a man after God's own heart. So, yes, he must be a provider in the spiritual sense, and there is examples of this throughout the Bible. Who was it that said, ask for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord? Joshua. Joshua said, you know what?

My family might have different opinions, but as long as I'm the father of this house, we're serving Jesus Christ. That that's this is my house. I've been given the role. I have a responsibility as a priest of the home. My family will worship the Lord.

And even in that same era, there was somebody who didn't fulfill that role. And we'd be surprised too. Moses Moses did not fulfill that role right away. And Exodus chapter four verse 24. In Exodus chapter four verse 24, on his way to Egypt, after he's been commissioned by God to go and to bring deliverance to the people of of Israel, it says that at a lodging place in Ephesians four twenty four sorry, not Ephesians, Exodus four twenty four, the Lord met him in that place and sought to kill him.

In Exodus four twenty four, it says that Zipporah, his wife, took a flint knife and circumcised her son and took the foreskin and put it on the feet of Moses, says you are a a bridegroom of blood to me. And that's been a text that's confused a lot of people, but it's very simple. That God did call Moses into the ministry, but Moses could not even be the father of his own home in the spiritual sense. This is how God takes it so seriously for the man to be the spiritual example in his home. Moses, perhaps, was so Egyptianized.

In fact, when he came and he met Zipporah and he met the girls there, and when he when he came and he saved them from the other shepherds that were pushing him away from the well after he left Egypt, it says that they said an Egyptian Egyptian has saved us. Moses was so Egyptianized. And it is possible that when he got married that he he he did not even think about his Hebrew roots, and he did not even circumcise his children, or he did bring it up and his wife convinced him not to. That's why when God sought to kill him, she remembered, oh, we didn't circumcise him and circumcise the child. Circumcision in the old covenant was a sign of God's covenant between man and God.

And he told Abraham that for the generations to come, you ought to circumcise your children as a sign of the covenant. Moses did not take that seriously in his role as a father. He failed to do so. And the Bible tells us if you're not even able to take care of your own household, how are you gonna take over the household of God? And that's what he was doing with Moses.

You can't even circumcise your own son and you wanna go and deliver the people of Israel? Get it together in your own house before you go and do ministry. That's why he stopped in there, but that shows the weight of the responsibility of the man. It was Moses who was supposed to initiate and bring circumcision as a reality in the home. Now we don't do that in the new covenant, but we do it with the circumcision of the heart.

That we should be concerned about the heart of our children and their devotion to God, the heart of our wives and their devotion to God. We ought to be the example within the home. That's what God has given men to do. Once again, not as the source, but as a contribution to the family. Provider in the spiritual sense.

Now also provider in the physical sense. Now scroll down back in Ephesians five verse 28. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church. So now he's saying nobody's ever hated their own body, but the same way you, man, love to eat and love to take care of yourself and you're concerned about your well-being, you should be the same over your wife and your children.

And so the man is supposed to be concerned about the well-being in the physical sense as well for the family. He's supposed to be the breadwinner as the primary source. Doesn't mean that the woman does not work necessarily. We're gonna talk about that next week. But the man, because of even his physical stature, what God has given him even in the physical sense being stronger, first Peter three says that we ought to honor our wives and respect them as the weaker vessels.

Physically, they're weaker. Hey, you might not like that. That's just biology. Okay? Physically weaker.

Men can do harder work, spend harder time in doing labor, especially especially in this time. So they were the primary source of winning the bread for the home. They provided the needs for the family, and not just financial needs because there are men who do that all the time. They provide financial needs. But not that's it's not just talking about putting food on the table.

Emotional needs, relational needs, physical needs. That the man would recognize the needs of his family. Time for my children, time alone with my wife, meeting the needs, cherishing her and nourishing her in every sense of the way. That is the role of a man who wants to honor Christ in His Word. He's the provider in the spiritual sense and in the physical sense.

In fact, the Bible says in one Timothy five:eight that if one does not provide for his own household, especially his immediate family, he is worse than an unbeliever and has denied the faith. One who neglects the needs of his family is worse than an unbeliever. That's what the Bible says. So man is called to be the spiritual provider and the physical provider within the home. But not just provider, protector.

In the physical sense, yes, also in the spiritual sense, especially in the spiritual sense. He ought to be the protector of his family. We look at Adam and Eve as we talked about as our example today. In Genesis three, when Satan came intent and had that one on one conversation, what seems to be a one on one conversation with Eve. And it says later on there in verse six that he eventually convinced her, and she ate of the fruit.

And it says he gave it to her husband who was with her. So Adam was not just he wasn't at work and then and then saw this happen. Adam was there the entire time when this whole conversation was happening, when she took of the fruit, and in fact, he ate of the fruit. He did not intervene. He did not step in.

He did not protect his wife from the enemy. Men have been given a role to protect their wives and their children in the spiritual sense as well. What does that look like? It looks like this. Am I praying for my family?

As a man, am I praying for my family? And men, you might not be married now, but it's good to practice now. Job was a man that woke up every single morning, and he brought sacrifices on the altar for his family, lest they have cursed God in their hearts. Job made it his practice to wake up and to seek God in intercession for his kids and for his wife and his family. And it's good to practice now to pray for your parents, to pray for your siblings.

Am I praying for them? Am I praying for God's protection over their lives? Am I praying that they would grow more in Christ? Am I praying for them? Once again, am I showering them with the word of God?

Am I being attentive to their growth? Am I being attentive to my wife's growth in Christ? Am I being attentive to my children's growth in Christ? There are so many parents. They say they want godly kids.

They don't want godly kids. You know what they want? They want good kids. They say they want godly kids, but in reality, they just don't want their kids to do drugs. They want their kids to have good grades and a good job.

That doesn't necessarily mean godly. That just means good. But a true man wants godly offspring that they would reflect the image of Christ and be attentive to their spiritual growth. Not lording over them, not shoving it down their throats primarily by being an example, but also being in wisdom attentive to the dangers that they might be allowing into their own lives. Son, do you think you should be watching that stuff?

Do you think you should be listening to that kind of stuff? I'm just concerned about your spiritual walk. Not putting them in a little bubble and saying you know you can't go out into the world. No. That does that does worse damage than anything.

But operating in the wisdom of God of knowing how to being attentive to the spiritual needs by protection, not just provision. Or not just being attentive of my wife's growth or my children's growth. As a man, am I allowing anything into my life that's exposing them to spiritual danger? What am I watching on the TV that's inviting filthy language and sensuality into my home? What am I inviting with my habits and my practices within the home that might be exposing my family to spiritual danger?

Oh, we thought marriage was just about having sex. Right? No. There's there's some responsibility, fellas. Spiritual provider.

Spiritual protector, physical provider, physical protector. The man also look here in Ephesians five twenty five again. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. That is understood in two ways. One, he lived sacrificially, but two, he actually died.

And so the man responds to give his life, if he has to, for his family, lay down his life. Jesus laid down his life for the bride. You and I lay our lives down for the bride. That's what we do. The man in the family, spiritual provider, physical provider, spiritual protector, physical protector.

And this is why being the head has nothing to do with being some bossy, abusive dictator. Everything to do with sacrificial love. And even in love that you are providing, it's all motivated by love, protecting, laying your life down. That's what it means to be a man in the family sense. And if that's something that you and I are not willing to adopt now and practice now, it's not gonna get any easier when you get married.

So many people have this understanding, you know, when I get married, then I'm gonna take my spiritual walk seriously. When I get married, then I'm gonna start praying because I'm gonna have kids and I'm gonna raise them up in a good church. Start now. Develop disciplines now. Develop your prayer life now.

Develop your understanding of the scriptures now. Get rid of habits in your life now. You don't wanna bring that stuff into marriage. Kill it before marriage. The man has a role as an individual.

The man has a role within the family, and the man has a specific role within the church. The three spheres that we're talking about. And in the same way, the family, the nucleus of the family, the man has been assigned the role as leader and head, is the same way that within the church, God has assigned man, and here's the controversy, uh-oh, has been given the responsibility to be a leader within the local body. It is a reflection of what's already a reality within the family. What does it look like for a man to be a leader within the church?

One of the responsibilities that are assigned only to men is according to first Timothy two twelve, that it is the man who is the one who is responsible for teaching and preaching. That has been given and assigned to men specifically, and that is where most of the controversy is. And there's a lot of different things that have been assigned to men, but this is mainly the one this is the main vein that people touch on. Why? Does God think that women are incapable of coming up here and speaking truths of God?

Not necessarily. Not at all, actually. One of the main reasons why God has ordained it for it to be this way is because teaching and preaching requires so much energy, so much time, so much preparation that the woman who has been given specific roles within herself gives herself to that role, she will neglect the other responsibilities that God has given her. Let me say that again. The role of teaching and preaching requires so much energy, so much time, so much preparation.

In fact, if you on a seminary understanding, a sermon, an hour long sermon, they say on average, requires twenty to forty hours a week of preparation. That's been reduced now with technology and all these different things, but prayer and all these things, it takes twenty to forty hours a week for a sermon to be prepared. If you want to contextualize it, try writing two essays a week. So it requires time and preparation, And if a woman who has been given specific roles as a mother and a wife gives herself to this role, the roles here will be neglected. And guess what?

The man can't fulfill those roles, so they have specific roles and they need to stay within those boundaries. That is the way God has designed it. Not because he looks at women and says, you're incapable. No. Because I've I've designed you, and I formed you, and I've shaped you, and I've gifted you in a specific way for a specific arena of life.

And I've given this person, I've shaped him, informed him, and given the ability to fulfill this specific arena. Don't step into each other's arenas. Stay within your arenas. And we think that we're doing something, a service to God by saying, you know what God? It seems like that was for that day, and we're just gonna try to do it a little different.

It's 2017. 2017, I don't I don't see anything changing when it comes to concerning roles for men and women. Once again, let's go back to that let's go back to that airbag here because sometimes that just hits people and they go squirming in their seats. It's nothing to do with equality, nothing to do with essence, nothing to do with value, everything to do with responsibilities and fulfilling our God given call. Nothing to do with your less because you have this role.

Nothing. So there are specific responsibilities that are given to men specifically within the church because God in his infinite wisdom knows better than us. But here's the reality, not every man is called to preach and teach. So what's the what's the role for the men in the church that don't preach and teach? That don't have a full time ministry to fulfill?

Does the Bible give us any instruction about how men ought to operate and what they ought to do within the church? Yes. Once again, we're going through the whole Bible here. Go to Titus chapter two. In Titus chapter two verse two, Paul gives specific instructions to Titus who was a pastor about how church atmosphere and church life should be like.

And he says in chapter two verse two, older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. So he's speaking not just to young men, not older men. He's saying, older men, I want you to be sober minded. I want you to be dignified. And we could talk about each of those things, but there's one in particular that some people kind of avoid.

The other things make sense, but there's one one phrase, sound in faith. Older men, I want you to be sound in faith. Meaning what? You should know your stuff as an older man. And he's speaking to the older men because they're older.

They've been in the faith longer. And so he's saying, because you've been in the faith for fifteen, twenty years, you should be sound in faith by now. You should know your Bible. You should know what you believe in. You should know the scriptures.

You should be sound in your understanding of theology. This is foreign to us because to us, and this is why we're pointing it out, we think the pastor has to be sound in faith only. The leaders of the church are sound in faith. No. He says older men be sound in faith.

And because we are not taking that seriously, we live in such a day where if we see a person that knows their Bible really well, that walks in great spiritual maturity, you know what we assume? You must be called to ministry. And that might not necessarily be true. You know what he's doing? He's just fulfilling what he's calling in as a man to be sound in faith.

But because we are so scarce in our spiritual maturity, there are some people and I'm trying to fulfill first Timothy five one where it says, do not rebuke older men, but encourage them as fathers and younger brothers, encourage them as well. But this is just the reality of the spiritual condition. There are people who have been in the faith for twenty, thirty, forty years and they don't even understand their Bibles. Not as a sense of judgment, but as a sense of not fulfilling this. That as we grow up in years, we should grow in our understanding of scripture.

Older men, be sound in faith. Men, as you grow year by year, we should grow in our understanding of what this Bible says. That is a responsibility given to men. Once again, remember how all those fears affect one another? If not, how can you fulfill your role as a family in the family of teaching and sanctifying and raising up your children in the Lord?

See how they all affect one another? Older men, be sound in faith. But scroll down in verse six of Titus two, and he speaks to the younger men, and he gives one exhortation. He said, younger men, tell them to be self controlled. Is it that they shouldn't be sober minded or dignified or sound in faith?

No. It's because by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, he understands what younger men are going through. And their passions are flaring up, and their desires are flaring up. And what Paul is saying is, young men, in the season that you're in right now, learn how to control yourself. Learn how to control your emotions.

Learn how to control your sexual desires. Learn how to control your thought life, your habits. Be a self control because if you're not self controlled as a young man, you're carrying dangerous habits as an old man. Be self controlled. Learn Once again, don't wait till you're older, till you have everything in life settled down, until you become spiritual.

No. Develop it now. Be the person now. I wanna meet the one. Stop worrying about the one and start being the one.

Be worried about how you're the one for somebody, not just looking for the one. Be the one. Be the one who is self controlled, who is growing up in the things of God because it's gonna carry out into your older life. It's important. And what's Paul saying here, be self controlled younger men.

And there are other scriptures that we can go to. And some love to go to first Timothy three or Titus chapter one and and use the instructions that are given to the instructions that are given to elders and use that as a model for not just elders or pastors, but even men. And that's perfectly fine. You can do that. There's great standards set for men who desire to be in the ministry, and we can translate that for men who are not called into ministry.

But there are specific spots where it talks to men who are not called into ministry, like these, about what they should fulfill in the church. Here's one of them and we're ending it with this verse. In First Timothy two First Timothy two eight. Look what the Bible says. Paul says, I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.

Paul, in first Timothy two one to four, talks about the power of prayer and how the church should pray and how we ought to be in intercession and supplication. And then with that topic of prayer, he comes to men specifically, and he says, I desire that men, old or young, in every place that they should be men of prayer. Why didn't he ask women to be a woman of prayer? Are women not allowed to pray? No.

Women are allowed to pray, pray, prophesy. We're going to talk about that next week. So why would he just urge and instruct men to pray? Quite possibly because it is men who need more encouragement and exhortation to pray than women do. It's kinda harder to get men to pray than women to pray.

Kinda have to stir guys up to get them into prayer more than women. And so Paul uses his exhortation. He says, men, this isn't just for women. I I want you to understand something. I want men to pray as well lifting holy hands up to God.

Men, you and I must be men of prayer, not just privately, publicly. Lift up your voice and be men of prayer, and don't quarrel with one another. And the holy hands is not meaning that we ought to always have our hands up in posture like this in prayer. Speaking of being clean in our lives, not quarreling or fighting with one another. Men, we should not bicker and fight and argue and no.

No. No. No. No. But be men of prayer.

Men of prayer in the in the church, in the public setting. Be men that open their mouths in reverence and in holiness and in the spirit and pray. In every place, pray. So we can talk about this for another hour or two. But for the sake of receiving just the general understanding of what it means to be a man, One, as an individual, men, we are called to be men after God's own heart.

You're saying, well, I'm not perfect. Remember who was called a man after God's own heart? David. He messed up big time. But he was still a man after God's own heart.

Why? Because even in his sin, his repentance was so great. His brokenness over his sin was so great. That is still a quality of being a man after God's own heart. We are called to be men who seek after God primarily more than anything.

Two, within the family, we've been given a headship, a leadership role, not lording it over women, not lording it over kids, but a specific assignment to contribute to the spiritual well-being of our wives and our children, to protect them in the spiritual and the physical sense. And within the church, if you're called to the ministry of a specific role, but if not, you are men who should be sound in faith, men who should know this word more than your favorite sports team, Men who know the Bible, who know verses. Not being a theologian or a scholar, but you are familiar with the pages of this holy book. And then as you grow to be an older man, you would be sound in faith that you, along with your age and your hair changing color and the skin being wrinkly, you grow in the maturity of this Bible. Sound in faith.

Younger men in the season that we're in right now, we ought to be self controlled. That we don't wait till we're older, until we develop disciplines, but you do it now. Practice prayer now. Practice the scriptures now. Practice holiness now.

The Bible says, train yourself in godliness. You don't just get to godliness. You train yourself in godliness. You build those muscles in your prayer life. You build those muscles in discernment.

You build those muscles in holiness. It doesn't just come to you the same way biceps don't come to you because you go to the gym once a week. Build yourself up as a man. We need serious exhortation for this because we have not men, but boys who can shave. We need men of God.

And within the church, be men of prayer. Men of prayer that we should practice prayer, lifting holy hands. And so the question this morning is, is there a specific arena that we are not fulfilling as men? And Satan knows that if he can get the head, he can get the rest. That's why there is such an attack on men.

And not necessarily men who think that they're a different gender. That's one separate thing. But men who fail to fulfill their responsibility, who fail to fulfill what God has called them to do, to be men who walk with God, to be men who take their family as their primary ministry, to be men who take the church and the church role just as seriously. And so what is it in our lives? Because whether we believe it or not, one affects the other.

And the ladies in this place might be wondering that whole sermon was about men. What's the deal? We need your prayers. We need your prayers because there's such an attack on men. We need the prayers of our sisters.

Wives need to pray for their husbands. Daughters need to pray for their fathers, It's not easy. Your standard for, for, for your relationship with your wife, you know what your standard is? Jesus. Jesus.

Wow. He was perfect. If the man doesn't speak, if the man doesn't step up, what I can do with the family? Oh, boy. And don't buy into this stuff today about different roles that can be switched over.

That is not God's design. He is a different design, original design. And when we fail to walk in that, it's self destructive. Here's the exhortation. Am I a man as an individual that is after God's own heart?

Do I take seriously, not perfectly, but seriously my role as a husband or a father to really care for the spiritual well-being of my wife and my children, my home? Am I setting up an atmosphere in my home? In the church, am I sober minded? Am I self controlled? Have I put childish things away?

Am I am I growing in maturity, or am I still silly in my attitude? Am I dignified? Am I sound in faith? Am I praying? When I get together with my buddies, do we pray?

Not all the time. Not saying we have to walk around like monks, but in every place do we pray. If not, we're going to spend the next few moments to repent. Ladies, that you would even pray for your brothers, for your husbands, and for your fathers, and that we would just turn this place into an atmosphere of prayer. Let's do that together.