Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

I want to start off this morning with a brief thought experiment—I want you to imagine a football field.

And on that field, imagine that every single person that you know—family, friends, co-workers, neighbors—is standing in a group centered on the 50 yard line.

Now, of those people (and just use your best estimate), imagine that you asked everyone who has no affiliation with any kind of religion or church to go sit in the stands.

So now everybody that’s left on the field is active in or committed to a church.

For the next step, I want you to imagine that you ask all of the women on the field to go sit down—all the women who are regular church attenders or members go sit in the stands.

Here’s my question—are there enough men left on that field to make up an entire football team?

For far too many people, the answer is “No”.

And the results of this thought experiment are borne out by the statistics: On any given Sunday morning in the United States, about sixty percent of church attenders are women.

The immediate response that comes to mind might be, “Then we need to do a better job of sharing the Gospel with men!”

That seems like a logical conclusion until you discover that

More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians.

But only two out of six attend church on a given Sunday (https://www1.cbn.com/churchandministry/why-men-hate-church,

retrieved 9/22/2022)

Something is going on here—why would the vast majority of men who identify themselves as Christians, not bother to go to church?

If the Church really is what my brother Steve showed you from the Scriptures last week—if this institution really is meant to image the manliness of Jesus Christ in this world, if it really is meant to be the demonstration of the power and vitality and sacrificial strength of the King of Kings under the authority of the Father in Heaven, then why has Christianity become considered a religion for women?

Why is the Church of Jesus Christ, the household of God the Father—the place most focused on serving Him and magnifying His Name, an institution that has been commissioned by God to ransack the gates of Hell itself, and tear down every lofty argument that sets itself against the knowledge of God, the place where Christians are told to

1 Corinthians 16:13 (ESV)

13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

—why has this place become a wretched hive of of forty-year-old man-boys in fauxhawks and skinny jeans standing up on a stage, unctiously inviting people to “do life together” and “love on each other” and “let go and let God”, while the worship band warms up for the interpretive dance troupe?

How did the church of the living God, the pillar and buttress of the truth, become a “safe space” for LGBTQ perversions and Critical Race Theory abominations and cowardly pulpiteers that wouldn’t celebrate the Lord’s Supper during COVID unless they got permission from a transvestite in Harrisburg?

The short answer, beloved, is that the church in America has become thoroughly effeminate.

The church in this country has rejected masculinity for so long and so thoroughly that it has become virtually powerless to accomplish the dominion-taking role that Jesus Christ has commissioned it for.

Just as God has ordained one flesh male and female union as the foundation of households that drive dominion through children and grandchildren, so He has placed men and women into His spiritual household, the Church, to drive the Gospel dominion He commands to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you...” (Matt.

28:19).

And it is absolutely undeniable that the church in this country and in this age is powerless to exercise that Gospel dominion, because

The church is an IMPOTENT household when it rejects MASCULINE glories

The same dynamics of toxic sexuality that have crippled and poisoned the physical dominion that God called Adam and Eve to exercise has also crippled and poisoned the church.

When men abdicate their rulership and women seek to usurp it in the home, the result is brokenness and isolation and fruitlessness.

When men in the church abdicate their rulership and women seek to usurp it, the result is an effeminate church that forces men to choose between their Christianity and their masculinity—and four out of six men choose their masculinity every Sunday morning.

The Scriptures are clear that

I. God has ORDERED the GLORIES of His household (1 Timothy 3:15)

As physical households are the building blocks of all civilization, so churches are the building blocks of the Kingdom of God.

It is the place where the masculine glories of men and feminine glories of women are designed to harmonize to the glory of God and advancing Gospel dominion throughout all nations.

As God orders the roles of His household, he gives roles to both men and women as together they build and adorn the Church, the household of God and the engine of Gospel dominion.

God calls men and women to different roles in His household;

Masculine glory DEFINES and DEFENDS the household (2 Thess.

2:15)

Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica:

2 Thessalonians 2:15 (ESV)

15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

And Paul writes to his son in the faith, Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:12 (ESV)

12 Fight the good fight of the faith.

Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:14 (ESV)

14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

And he tells Titus to deal firmly with the false teachers who are threatening the church:

Titus 1:13 (ESV)

13 ...Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith,

God intends men to use their holy, redeemed masculinity to defend the church from false teaching, to stand firm in the godly traditions the apostles established, to fight the good fight of faith, to protect the purity of the faith and hold fast until Christ Himself returns to take possession of His Church.

Everything we have been seeing in the Scriptures about the good purposes for masculine aggressiveness and boldness and assertiveness and drive is meant to be harnessed in the Church to define and defend the household of God!

God has ordered the glories of His household to fit the unique strengths of masculine and feminine nature—godly masculinity defines and defends the household, and

Feminine glory ADORNS and UNITES the household (1 Timothy 5:9-10)

In 1 Timothy 5, Paul gives the church some qualifications to look for in widows who are in need of financial support.

The characteristics he describes give us a glimpse into the way God has designed feminine gifts to build up the church:

1 Timothy 5:9–10 (ESV)

9 Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, 10 and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

The interplay between masculinity and femininity in the church is gloriously complex and rich and vital—but just in these few things that we have seen, notice how masculine glories in their proper place in the church will work to separate people from heresies, drive out false teachers and sharply rebuke them; feminine glories in their proper place in the church will work to unite people—showing hospitality, making a place for belonging and peace, caring for those who are hurting.

Where men are called to cause discomfort—sharply rebuking false teachers, women seek to remove discomfort, to eliminate barriers between the saints.

Both men and women are called to utilize their masculinity and femininity in glorious and holy work in the church.

And when the household of God is ordered this way, the Church is a powerful, holy, pure, secure, delightful, warm, nurturing family that is a powerful engine of Gospel dominion in this world.

And so, naturally, Satan hates it.

And just as he seeks to destroy the households of husbands and wives by attacking and subverting their God-given gender roles, he has done the same in the Church.

The Serpent’s lie led Adam to abdicate his role and Eve to seek to usurp Adam’s role—and when this happens in the Church, the result is disastrous.

God has ordered the glories of His household, but

II.

The Fall has COUNTERFEITED the GLORIES of God’s household

When our father Adam fell, his fall took the form of abdicating his role as the head and spiritual authority of his household—Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:14 that Adam knew what he was doing; he was “not deceived”.

In other words, Adam chose to give up his role as spiritual head, and chose to let stand the deception that his wife suffered.

And so we see it today; the masculine glory that is meant to strengthen and define and defend the household is abandoned.

And in its place is the counterfeit glory of

“ WHITE KNIGHTS ” in the pulpit

Here’s what I mean by that.

Part of a man’s masculinity is driven to elevate and honor women—because they are our glory (as 1 Corinthians 11:7 tells us.)

And another tendency of masculinity is to defend and protect women, because they are the “weaker vessel” (as 1 Peter 3:7 teaches.)

So men are wired to both respect and protect women—but when that masculinity is corrupted by passivity, when a man abdicates his role as a spiritual leader, the result is a “nice guy” attitude that “just wants everybody to get along” and never wants to ruffle feathers, and doesn’t want to have to do the hard work of confronting sin or rebuking heresy or setting boundaries.

And so this kind of passive man becomes a “white knight”—always rushing in to rescue the feelings and sensibilities of the women from any kind of unpleasantness or discomfort (and then basking in the glory of being an “ally” for women, or being such an understanding, sensitive, agreeable man…)

And so instead of a spiritual leader who is willing to ruffle feathers where God’s Word demands it, who is more than capable of stepping on toes that have crossed the line into sin, a pastor who will be unpleasant when necessary to defend the faith or rebuke heresy, you have a “white knight” whose main concern is that nobody ever gets their feelings hurt--and such a man is especially careful to “rescue” the women in his congregation from ever being made uncomfortable, because he basks in the counterfeit glory of being their champion and defender, rescuing them from anything that might make them feel uncomfortable.

And so as a result, the church’s spiritual climate is governed exclusively by feminine sensibilities.

Feminine glories in their proper place in a church focus on relationship building and connecting and fostering fellowship—and so anything that threatens that sensibility is avoided.

A “white knight” preacher will swing for the fences when preaching against the sins of men—but would never even know how to preach against the sins of women (or even be offended by the thought that there is such a category of feminine sins.)

(Add to this the reality that the daughters of Eve share her temptation to rule over men, and the presence of white knights in leadership sets up the potential of a church where all of the positions that God intends to be filled by men are actually filled by the counterfeit glory of men who are totally beholden to pleasing all the women in the congregation…)

When the gender roles God has ordained in His household become corrupted, the pulpits of His churches become occupied by “white knight” leadership.

And inevitably, such leadership will decide that it is

Better to be AGREEABLE than ORTHODOX (cp.

Rom 16:17-18; Jude 1:16; cp. 1 Timothy 2:12-14)

The worst sin that can be committed in an effeminate church is to hurt someone’s feelings.

And a white knight, “nice guy” pastor (or elder or other or church leadership) who wants to avoid “hurting feelings” or “disrupting fellowship” at all costs will inevitably drift away from the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

And some of you have been there, haven’t you?

You’ve seen false teachings or other sins creeping into a congregation and been bewildered as to why nobody does anything about it.

A church that is led by “nice guy”, effeminate “white knights” (or, in some cases, led by actual women) is not equipped to deal with church discipline or sharp rebukes or standing firm like men—because they are not men!

But, do you know who is really good at being agreeable and kind and reasonable?

False teachers:

Romans 16:17–18 (ESV)

17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

Or as Jude writes,

Jude 16 (ESV)

16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

What is necessary at those times is a firm, unyielding, thoroughly disagreeable MAN to stand up and say “Enough!”

But an effeminate church that has rejected masculine glories is impotent against false teachers, and has no “immune system” against sin—unless the sins under discussion are typical of men, in which case they have a lot to say!