The Desire to be a Man in the image of God

This will be the last part of this series. The Lord may lead me to do more later, but this one is the last for this time. As I have mentioned before, the issue in North America is not Toxic Masculinity as the feminists would have you believe but a lack of good, strong Biblical masculinity. We have too many men who are ignorant of the Bible and what it teaches and are not equipped to stand up and defend what it says. In Hosea 4:6, we have these sobering words from the Lord:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.”

God’s people are destroyed because of the lack of knowledge of God’s word. Look at the last line, “Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” Wow! These are hard words. Words that are haunting us here in North America right now. We have a generation of kids that literally do not know right from wrong, and it is because their parents have forgotten God’s laws. As such, these children are plagued with lawlessness. It is a dad’s job to make sure his kids know God’s law.

We talked about the fathers being the priests in their homes. The main job of the priest was to make sure that everyone knew God’s laws. Look at the rates of murders and suicides amongst our young people, and it sure looks like God has forgotten them. We have a generation of kids that have been convinced by Google that they know more than their parents; and we, the parents, have stood for it.

If you have come to the point in your life where you agree with God that you are a sinner, lost, unable to help yourself, and deserving of God’s righteous punishment in a place called Hell forever, and you have come to humble yourself before God, putting your complete confidence in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection as the only means for your salvation, then you are saved. See Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 10:9-10, John 3:16-17, and on I can go; but read these and make sure that you know Jesus as Savior.

If you are a child of God, my dear brother, there are two admonitions that I would like to give you from the word of God today. This will not be a long read, but I hope that it will challenge you to be the Godly man that we need today and to step up, put God first above every other thing or person in your life, including you, yes, the one looking at you in the mirror.

1. Ezekiel 22:29-31

“The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and exploited the foreign resident without justice. ³⁰ I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. ³¹ So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

God is looking for men to stand up for what is right, publicly. What if more Godly men ran for office? What if more Godly men were our mayors, our governors/premiers (Canada), presidents/prime ministers (Canada and the Commonwealth). What if more Godly men were policemen, teachers, and on we could go. What if those Godly men actually stood up for the laws of God? Well that is what God is looking for; read the verse. God was looking for ‘a man to stand in the gap on behalf of the land.’ But, somewhere along the way, the Godly man shied away from standing up. Whether for fear of loss of life or job, and here we are.

Well, since we would not stand up for God, then verse 31 comes to play; God is pouring out His anger on us, and we are being consumed. Men, we as a society are not good; we are not going to be good without the Word of God. And we need Godly men to stand up and rescue us from the wrath of God. You can only turn a blind eye for so long. Edmund Burke is quoted as saying this,

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke

Well, we have done nothing to stop it, and it is prospering right in front of our eyes. Too many Godly men have become spectators, and we sit and try to ignore. But eventually the evil ends up on your door step. Someone kills your family, steals your daughters, the drugs end up in your home, and the weapons on your property. When does it get to be enough? According to the information on Statistics Canada, suicide for age 15-19 went from 168 in 2013 to 223 in 2017, a 13% increase in just 4 years; and death by homicide went from 36 to 44 in the same time frame, an increase of almost 20%. Even accidental injuries went down, but these two went up.

Children and adults alike need rules; they need a framework to be free in. God knew this, and so He built us a framework of laws that keep us safe and teach us that life is precious. God wants Godly men to step up and take their place and act as a balm for society at large. God is not ignoring the role of our precious ladies, but it is the men that He calls to stand up and save the people in our nations from His wrath and judgments.

2. Jude 3-4

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ⁴ For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

God is calling Godly men to stand up for truth in our churches. Jude intended this letter to be a joyous celebration of our ‘common salvation’ in Jesus. But the Holy Spirit led him to write a scathing epistle about defending the truth of the scriptures. God calls us men to ‘earnestly contend’; that is to fight for the faith. We have churches filled with people who are going to Hell. They have come to believe in a Jesus that is NOT the Jesus of the Bible. This false Jesus takes you just the way you are and apparently leaves you just the way you are. His Holy Spirit does not challenge you, change you, purge you of sin nor transform you in any way. These are lies from Hell.

We that have children know that children grow, they learn to turn over, they crawl, they sit up, then walk, then run; and they say the first words, then a phrase or two, then complete sentences. They learn how to toilet themselves, and on and on we go. There are milestones that mark proper development. Yet we have people in churches that have never progressed in their growth in the Lord. Now, some kids may walk at 9 months, some at 12 months, but they walk. If they are not walking at 18 months, we go to find out what is wrong. God’s churches are filled with people who are not growing in Jesus; they show no desire to grow, no desire to mimic the person of Christ, and no desire to serve others. They show up, sing a few songs, get through the sermon and go back to their lives until next week.

Our churches need Godly men who will contend for the faith. Men who will study the Bible, read the truths, know the doctrine and then stand for it. Men who will call out false doctrine and not allow other ungodly men to come in and stifle the growth of the Lord’s people with false doctrines. Sometimes the reason a child is under-performing in his/her development is that they need better food. Their bodies are not being fed. In churches, the very same thing can happen: not enough good spiritual food to spur on growth and progress.

Men, you need to be the ones contending for the faith. Bring the good food to your Sunday School classes, to your men’s Bible studies, challenge each other, pray for each other and hold each other accountable in Godly love so that false doctrine and evil teaching will not creep in and corrupt the truths that we hold dear, and upon which our common salvation is based.

If you and I want to be Godly men, if we want to be men who make a difference in our homes, our nations and our churches, then we need to stand up for the Lord and be counted. I heard a preacher this year at one of our conferences say this: “If you want to be outstanding, you must first stand out.”

Come on, men, come on, my brothers, and let us be outstanding for the Lord, and so much more as we see the last days approaching and the Lord’s return looming on the horizon.

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

The Desire to be a Man in the image of God

There has been a good response to these articles. There are some serious issues surrounding men in our churches. Over the past few weeks we have looked at the need to be faithful men in our homes and faithful men in our churches. We are called to be the priest of our homes, making sure to teach the Word of God to our kids. We are the watchmen over our homes, the ones that are to protect our wives and children. We are to love our wives and support them as they journey through life for the Lord. We are to prepare our children to take our place when we move on to the next life. In this article I am going to talk about a few things that I felt led to expand on.

1. Be Faithfulness – 1 Corinthians 4:2

Faithfulness is one of the most important traits in a man. The NIV puts it this way, “Those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” The word steward can be translated manager. Man of God, you are a manager in your home. You are required to be faithful. When we hear the word faithful, one may automatically think of sex or being faithful to a wife. But we are required to be faithful in other areas as well. We need to be faithful at work; we should be working hard to provide for our families to set examples for our sons that men should be hard-working.

In 2 Thessalonians 3: 10, the apostle Paul tells the church at Thessalonica that one who does not work should not eat. We have an epidemic of men, even young men, on welfare in North America. We have men who have decided that the government should pay their bills, or even worse, that their parents should continue to support them well into their 20s and even the 30s. In our time, ‘young people’ are getting married older and older and putting off the responsibility of marriage and taking care of a family.

Men should be faithful in their churches. Church is not optional. In Hebrews 10:25 we are called to be faithful in assembling for worship. The word church is from a Greek word that means an assembly. The Lord tells us that, as we see the end of time approaching, church attendance will be more and more important. Men need to lead here and take their children to church with them. There should be no excuses. If you would go to work when you are sick, then go to church sick as well.

No sporting events should take the priority over the Lord’s house. Tell your children’s coaches that they will not be available on church days at all. In our home we do not allow our kids to get jobs that require them to work on Sundays, and my wife works only nights in the nursing home business. Anyone who lives in your home should be expected to attend church with you, no matter who they are. Get up, fix breakfast, dress the kids, walk the dog; do whatever it takes to lead and show your family that church is an essential like breathing and blood. It is a priority. Outside of being in a hospital or dead, there should not be an excuse to miss church. If you are on vacation, find a church or just have church before you go anywhere on a Sunday.

As a pastor it is important that my wife not feel that the church is my mistress. My marriage is first above all except to the Lord. There are wives who leave the ministry because they simply don’t like it. My first wife did; she was with me for 16+ years of marriage and 23 years all together; but one day she simply did not want to do this anymore, and she left. She still does not go to church much. But there are also marriages that fail because the wives feel cheated on with the churches we serve as pastors. Most urgencies are not as urgent as the caller makes them out to be, and can be monitored by text or phone. A death is a different situation, or a serious accident.

2. Be Merciful

Godly men, remember their frail humanity. In Luke 18:13, the publican, a hated man, asked God to be merciful to him, a sinner. Never forget that we are just dust; God recalls that we are just that (Psalm 103:14). Lead as one who is vulnerable and not one who is invincible. Serve as one who is often tempted, and lead as one who requires a lot of mercy. Matthew 5:7: “Blessed are the merciful….” Be merciful to your family, and especially your children.

A godly man should not hold grudges against one’s spouse. There is a certain degree of tolerance in any long-term marriage. One must learn to not complain or point out the failures of one’s wife often. She is going to fail as are you. Let things go. We are not talking about grievous sins but preferences. Even if she were to commit sins, we need to be men of God who will forgive and move on for the sake of the marriage. I have learned that my teeth can be great gates for my words. Not everything I think needs to come out of my mouth. A wise man needs to be careful with his words (Proverbs 17:27). Godly men are careful with their words; they can do irreparable damage. James 3:5 tells us that the tongue can set things on fire. The tongue can hurt people; the tongue can do more damage than sticks and stones. Godly men, learn to be merciful with your words.

3. Be Kind

Over the last few weeks, we have talked about being strong and being fighters. But we need to be kind to all that we can as well. Kind to our family first of all. It is amazing how much unkindness goes on in families. Siblings fighting, often egged on by family members; and there should be no nit-picking between spouses. Constant bickering will destroy your family, and your children will see it. Be kind to your wife and set the example for your daughters. They will marry men just like you. So, if you want your daughters to marry unkind men, be an unkind dad. Ask yourself this question: Would you let your daughter marry you? Would you give her your blessing?

Compliments are not the same as flattery; flattery has a motive, normally a bad one. But a Godly man pays genuine compliments to his wife and his children. In Genesis 12:12, Abraham is about to enter Egypt, and he warns Sarah that she is so beautiful that he is afraid that the men of Egypt will kill him for her. If you take the time to study the time line, you will see that Sarah is about 65 years old when Abraham say this about her. She is still his beauty.

Our wives should be our beauties to us long after the world’s definition of beauty is past. I have been saved for a long time; and over the years I have seen that there is a joy that keeps Godly women looking younger longer and maintains their beauty. A Godly man tells his wife that she is beautiful, with genuine compliments and with heartfelt admiration for what God has blessed him with. While there truly is physical beauty in youth, the truth is that my wife, after almost 10 years of marriage, is more beautiful to me than ever. Abraham’s wife was so beautiful to him at 65 that he feared for his life. Lastly, we men, me included, are good with the discipline but bad with the compliments when it comes to our children, especially our boys. We will compliment our daughters and not our boys.

Gents, my brothers, work at being Godly men. It is a lifelong journey, and you never arrive. There will always be more to learn and grow into.

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca