Man Up!
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Aproximately 18.2 million children are living in a fatherless home.
That equates to roughly 1 in 4 children living without any type of father figure in the home.
About 19.7 million are living without their biological father.
Less than 50% of these children have any kind of regular contact or visitation with their biological father.
Where are these men?
What could be more important than leading, protecting, and investing in your family?
Why are so many kids living without their dads?
The sad truth is that millions of dads don’t know how to be men.
In our passage, we see that Israel, because of disobedience had been delivered into the hands of the Midianites.
God had given them the land, and told them not to fear the other Gods.
But they did fear, and it lead to disobedience.
They did not claiming the gift that God had given them.
What does this have to do with fatherhood?
Fear has prevented many men from claiming their God-given families.
There are several reasons for this:
First:
Men have abandoned their homes because they have abandoned God.
Men have abandoned their homes because they have abandoned God.
Judges 6:10
Judges 6:10
When we fail to recognize God for who He is, we are on a road to failure.
God proves His power and His worth time and again.
When we fail to recall the greatness of God in the past and fail to recognize His lordship in the present, we sin.
When Israel abandoned the worship of God and turned toward other gods, they abandoned the true God.
They forfeited their rights according to the covenant.
The Midianite persecution wasn’t an accident or a coincidence; it was the hand of God.
The Midianite persecution was the hand of God.
The Midianite persecution was the hand of God.
Judges 6:1-2
Judges 6:1-2
Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.
God’s people were humiliated at the hands of the surrounding nations.
All because of sin and unfaithfulness to God.
When we abandon God, the consequences affect everything about our lives.
Next:
Men have abandoned their homes because they are afraid
Men have abandoned their homes because they are afraid
Judges 6:11
Judges 6:11
Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites.
When we abandon God, oppression mounts and we respond in fear.
Rather than threshing his wheat on a floor built for threshing, Gideon was in a wine vat, out of view, for fear of being caught.
He was living his life in fear.
Our fear of the world has allowed the world to take our homes and families captive.
Too many men cower and hide, rather than standing up.
Our children are being kidnapped by sin and brainwashed by popular culture.
All while we shrink in fear of what might happen to us if we fight back.
Many of us would rather our kids look like the world and fly under the radar than stand up for Christ.
Here’s a fun fact:
Our kids won't stand up for Christ if we don't set the example.
Also:
Men have abandoned their homes because they are weak.
Men have abandoned their homes because they are weak.
Judges 6:15
Judges 6:15
So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
Our only excuse for lackadaisical Christianity is weakness.
Whether we mask it behind pride or behind humility and fear, the response is still weakness.
However, a Christian is only weak if he ignores God’s strength.
Gideon certainly wasn’t strong on his own merit, but he had strength in the Lord if he would just use it.
Look at God’s response to Gideon's excuse of being weak:
The Lord is our strength.
The Lord is our strength.
Judges 6:16
Judges 6:16
And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”
God often chooses and calls people who are weak to fulfill His purposes because in our weakness, He is made strong.
2 Corinthians 12:10
2 Corinthians 12:10
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
When we hide behind weakness, it is a slap in the face to God.
Why? because weakness isn’t about recognizing our limitations.
Weakness is about ignoring the power of God.
When God calls, He equips.
When God calls, He provides.
When we answer His call, He sustains us.
Many men today have abandoned their God-ordained responsibility to fight for their families because they have not given God first place in their lives.
Even some Christian men… men who call Jesus Lord have forgotten God in the face of a hostile world.
We are not to fear the World.
We are not to fear the World.
2 Timothy 1:7
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
God will answer our excuses with strength.
He will replace our fear with boldness.
God wants warriors and His power transforms us from weak to strong.
Rather than abandoning us, God chooses to transform and strengthen us.
However, we need to remember that God consumes and uses us, it is not the other way around… we do not use God.
We are the living sacrifice, and God is a consuming fire.
We are the living sacrifice, and God is a consuming fire.
Romans 12:1-2
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Hebrews 12:29
Hebrews 12:29
For our God is a consuming fire.
For men to step up and be courageous, it means being consumed by God.
For Christians to step up and be mighty warriors in the army of God, it takes laying our lives on the altar and being completely consumed by God.
Application:
Is your life consumed by progress or by being used by God?
Is your life consumed with yourself or by your desire to serve others?
Is your life consumed by career or by family?
Remember:
God made a stuttering man His mouthpiece (Moses).
God made a shepherd boy a mighty king (David).
God made a simple virgin (Mary) the mother of His Son.
God made His enemy (Paul) the champion of the church.
God gets glory when the weak surprise the world with His might and His strength.
God whittled Gideon’s army down to nearly nothing.
God removed any chance the people could assume credit for victory.
He shrank the army so He could gain the glory for redeeming His people.
God does the same in our lives.
For God to transform us from weaklings to warriors, He often breaks us first.
Gideon wanted fighters, but God wanted faith.
Gideon had 32,000 men on his side.
It would have been easy to ride the adrenaline of trashing Baal’s altar after assembling a mighty army, but this would have caused pride.
For us to be warriors, we have to rely on God and God alone.
Breaking us down is God’s method of making sure we rely on His strength and not ours.
Only when we are completely broken and consumed are we are useful to God.
The Gideon story continues with a successful victory over the Midianite camps with just 300 men.
By the power of God, Gideon and his army were victorious.
The Lord directed the events and used Gideon’s small army to accomplish His purpose.
Are we allowing ourselves to be used by God?
Remember, 19.7 million children in this country are living without their fathers.
How many men render themselves useless when it comes to family responsibility?
What would happen if those same men were to assume godly leadership in their homes?
What might happen in our communities and nation if even some of these men strengthened their resolve to follow God?
Families would glorify God, and our entire culture would begin to change.
Application:
“God wants to use you to accomplish His purpose.
As long as we wait for Christ’s return, we are the hands and feet of God… the body of Christ… the church.
How we live out our call as fathers, mothers, faithful followers, ministers, evangelists, teachers, and disciples can be weak or strong.
We can be wimps, or we can be warriors
We can be bold or we can be fearful.
Man up, follow God, and be the man that your family needs.
How will you respond to the war for your family?
How will you respond to the war for your family?
Joshua 24:15
Joshua 24:15
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
