“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:11-12 ESV).
God’s design for masculinity is under attack in today’s culture. The media, the education system, and the new radical feminism are combining with other cultural influences to declare a war against manhood.
In Christina Hoff Sommer’s book, The War Against Boys, she says:
“American boys face genuine problems that cannot be addressed by constructing new versions of manhood. They do not need to be ‘rescued’ from their masculinity. On the other hand, too many of our sons are languishing academically and socially. The widening education gap threatens the futures of millions of American boys. They get most of the failing grades and are more likely to be alienated from school.”
Sommers makes the case that a “misguided” feminism is actually doing harm to our young men.
Guy Garcia decribes the effect that this battle is having on American men. In his book, The Decline of Men, he writes:
“Why are so many ambitious young women unable to find boyfriends as successful and independent as they are? Why do so many men prefer the escapist digitized world of Spike TV, Jackass, and Grand Theft Auto to the reality of their own lives? Men are struggling to redefine what being a man means in today’s world. Their confusion has led to rampant male malaise, which has left many men feeling alienated and disconnected. Too many guys are slacking off and opting out of the manly obligations, producing an entire generation of men who are ditching their own potential and failing the moms, wives, and girlfriends who love them.”
American men are dropping out of school, not going to college, postponing marriage (or not committing to it at all), and finding a way to extend adolescence indefinitely, while playing video games, fantasy league football, and drinking beer. These are disturbing trends.
Perhaps most disturbing of all is how men are dropping out of church. More and more, church is a place for women and children, but men are missing in action.
David Murrow, writes in his book, Why Men Hate Going to Church,
“Women comprise more than 60 percent of the typical adult congregation. At least one-fifth of married women regularly worship without their husbands. There are quite a few single women but hardly any single men in our pews. Step into any church parking lot, and you’re likely to see an attractive young mother and her brightly scrubbed children scurrying to Sunday school. Mom may be wearing an impressive diamond ring on her left hand, but the man who gave it to her is nowhere to be seen… How did a faith founded by a Man and His twelve male disciples become so popular with women, but anathema to men? The church of the first century was a magnet to males. Jesus’ strong leadership, blunt honesty, and bold action mesmerized men. Today’s church does not mesmerize men; it repels them. When men need spiritual sustenance, they go to the wilderness, the garage, or the corner bar. Church is one of the last place men look for God.”
We are not the first generation of men to have our manhood come under attack. The apostle Paul wrote encouraging words to his spiritual son, Timothy about being a man of God. In the language of a warrior, Paul charged Timothy how to be a man of God. He gave him three powerful marks of a man of God:
1. A man of God knows when to retreat. (Flee lust, pursuit of money, idolatry, depravity…)
2. A man of God knows when to advance. (Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith…)
3. A man of God knows when to fight. (Fight the good fight of the faith…)
Godly men and women respect God’s Word and they respect God’s design for masculinity and femininity. They recognize the war for our minds and hearts in the culture today. And they are determined to be what God called them to be.
Men, may we be like Jesus, the perfect model of manhood, of whom Pontius Pilate announced, “Behold the man!”
Be the man.
“Now, brothers and sisters, we ask you to appreciate those who work hard among you, who lead you in the Lord and teach you” (1 Thessalonians 5:12 NCV).
This past Wednesday evening, Robin and I were invited to the “TNT” (Twenties and Thirties) Community Group. They surprised us with a special dinner and gifts, thanking us for our twenty years of faithful service and for planting WCC. After feeding us dinner (with a menu that honored our “lo-carb” diet), they went around the room and each of them told us what we meant to them.
Being with this group of twenty somethings was the perfect way to celebrate. Our church started out in my living room with seven people. It seemed appropriate that we celebrated our anniversary in a similar manner.
“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body… Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sina person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:13-20 ESV).
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:10-18 ESV).
“And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52 NIV84).
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV).
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11 ESV).
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:1-2 ESV).
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose
No, they are Walmart worshipers, I mean shoppers, waiting for the doors to open for the Black Friday sale the day after Thanksgiving. Many of them camped out for days in front of their favorite places, like Best Buy, Target and Walmart, to begin their celebration of the Christmas season.
Their commitment reminds me of the martyrs who willingly went to their deaths in the coliseum. This year, they endured being robbed, gun shot, pepper-sprayed, trampled, tazed, and arrested, all for the chance at a Xbox or flat screen TV. They seem willing to risk their time, talent, treasure and even their very lives to participate in this awesome spectacle.
The wise men who traveled from the East didn’t travel that great distance bearing gifts for King Herod. They were looking for the one “born king” of the Jews. These men were Magi, astrologers and students of the wisdom writings accumulated by the Babylonians and the Persians. Among these writings there was most probably a copy of the Hebrew Torah that the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzer had taken when he conquered Judah and carried them captive to Babylon.