Men's Ministry

Good Evening,

This evening we are beginning our men’s bible study and I wanted to talk some about my philosophy of Men’s Ministry a little bit before we actually begin. Turn with me in your bibles to 1 Timothy 3. This passage has to do with the qualification of elders within the Church and you may be asking yourself what that has to do with Men’s Ministry.

1 Timothy 3:1–7 “1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. 7 Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.”

We look at the list of qualities that are needed in someone we want to be an elder and only two of these are actionable items. Able to teach and manage his own household are the only two that are really actions, but even the manage his own household leans more toward a character quality than an action. The rest of the items listed here are character traits. These are traits that reflect the quality of the character of those who we would have lead the Church.

But look with me at Galatians 5, I will be reading verses 22 and 23

Galatians 5:22–23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Look how some of these perfectly line up with the qualities of an overseer. Love we see in the husband of one wife, in his ability to be hospitable, and how he must be thought well of by outsiders this also shows his faithfulness. Peace we see in the demand to not be quarrelsome, the overseer is to not be violent but gentle part of the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. We see patience in the the call to keep his children submissive, this also shows his ability to teach. We see self-control played out in his not being a drunkard and in the way he manages his own household well.

The traits of the overseer or elder are all connected with the fruit of the Spirit. These are qualities we expect in mature Christian men who are abiding in Christ.

Turn with me to 1 Peter, I will be reading in chapter 1 starting in verse 13 and I will read through verse 16

1 Peter 1:13–16 “13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Peter was writing to Christians who had been dispersed throughout Asia minor due to major persecution. In this passage we have one of my favorite verses to rebuke the idea of living however one wants to live, Peter says in verses 15 and 16, 1 Peter 1:15–16 “15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””

Then turn to chapter 3 of 1 Peter. Would someone be willing to read verses 8-17.

1 Peter 3:8–17 “8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. 10 For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11 let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:16–17 “16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”

We again see the characteristics of an overseer, throughout all of the new testament, every time we see an application or a how to live out the Christian live passage. We see these characteristics. The characteristics of an overseer or and elder are just those of a mature Christian, these are characteristics of our calling as men of God. So one of my big emphasis’ in Men’s Ministry is to help equip men to be mature in their walk with the Lord and in doing so train and equip those who feel led to be elders or have a desire for the office of overseer.

I also see men’s ministry as one of if not the most important ministry, outside of Church service, within the Church. This is seen especially in family attendance:

According to data collected by Promise Keepers and Baptist Press, if a father does not go to church, even if his wife does, only 1 child in 50 will become a regular worshiper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of what the mother does, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will attend church as adults. If a father attends church irregularly, between half and two-thirds of their kids will attend church with some regularity as adults.

If a mother does not go to church, but a father does, a minimum of two-thirds of their children will end up attending church. In contrast, if a father does not go to church, but the mother does, on average two-thirds of their children will not attend church.

Another study, focused on Sunday School, found similar results on the impact of fathers:

When both parents attend Bible study in addition to the Sunday service, 72% of their children attend Sunday school when grown.When only the father attends Sunday school, 55% of the children attend when grown.When only the mother attends Sunday school, 15% of the children attend when grown.When neither parent attends Sunday school, only 6% of the children attend when grown.

Another survey found that if a child is the first person in a household to become a Christian, there is a 3.5% probability everyone else in the household will follow. If the mother is the first to become a Christian, there is a 17% probability everyone else in the household will follow. However, when the father is first, there is a 93% probability everyone else in the household will follow.

Turn with me to Acts 16. Would another person be willing to read verses 29-34?

Acts 16:29–34 “29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.”

We see here that upon salvation that the Jailer brought Paul and Silas to his family and his whole family was saved and baptized. Now i know this is a unique situation and not prescriptive, but statically speaking this generally holds true. Again there is a 93% probability that everyone in the household will follow if the father is the first to attend a church.

A man’s faith or lack of faith has a generational impact on his family as well. You don’t have to turn to these, I will read them back to back but:

Deuteronomy 7:9 “9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,”

Psalm 103:17 “17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,”

Exodus 34:6–7 “6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””

You can see this played out in real life quite frequently. Jon Hansen, the assistant director of Village Missions, his father at a very young age was planning to kill himself. He walked to a river and was going to drown himself, when he heard some music coming from this little country church. He walked over and the pastor at this church shared the Gospel with him and he was saved. He ultimately became a pastor himself and his son, served as a missionary pastor in rural communities and now serves as assistant director to VM. Generations of people have been impacted because of this man’s salvation and his family has a completely different trajectory because of it as well.

Another example is the pastor at our sending church. His name is Scott, but pastor Scott's grandfather helped to found the AWANA program. For you who do not know AWANA stands for Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed, and their goal is to reach kids with the gospel but more than that it was to train them to rightly handle Word of God.

2 Timothy 2:15 “15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

But this man, had children who then impacted their own children and he now has grandchildren who are pastors in different places teaching the word of God to others.

The same is true the other direction as well. There are men out there who have no regard for God and their leadership has had lasting impacts on their families as well. It can be noticeable like fathers who abuse their children and now those children abuse their own kids. It can also be more subtle like men who disregard God and then their children grow and do the same.

To recap the my first two points of philosophy:

1) Men we are all called to be growing in maturity and that maturity is the same qualities we see in an Elder, so men’s ministry should always be working with the goal of growing men in Christian Maturity with the idea that some of those men will be Elders at some point.

2) Men have a vital role in their families and whether or not those families will grow or wither in their walks with the Lord.

3) Men’s discipleship or ministry is what Jesus demonstrated most often. It is also what Paul demonstrated most often.

Turn with me to Luke 6 and starting in verse 12.

Luke 6:12–16 “12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.”

He called these 12 men and ministered to them and began to train them to be the Apostles. When the disciples had questions about Jesus’ teachings, He taught them and gave them more understanding. He walked with his disciples and spent time with them showing them the life he was calling them to.

We see Paul doing the same thing with Timothy, often referring to Timothy as his spiritual son. Turn with me to 2 Timothy 3:10–11 “10 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11 my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.”

Timothy was with Paul and understood what it was to live a life dedicated to the Lord. And eventually, like Jesus did with the disciples Paul sent Timothy out to his own ministry. Both Jesus and Paul equipped men, for the ministry of leading the Church and their families.

4) And probably the most important part of my Philosophy to men’s ministry is that it has to be build on God’s Word. This may be offensive, but our opinions don’t matter, at least not when it comes to how to live a Godly life and what the church is to be. We can decide what book to study or in certain ways what extra ministries we are doing but if anything we do or any ministry we try to perform contradicts the bible and what God says we need to throw it out. Scripture must be our first and most important authority. My goal will never be to have a bunch of men who like or agree with what I say because I say it. My Goal is to help you to be able to look through the lens of Scripture and decide whether or not something is true. Whether we are doing a study like the women are doing, where we are going through a book to help us or we are studying a book of the bible, if you come to a different conclusion based on the context or other verses in the Bible great, lets sit and discuss how you got there, I am human and fallible I can be wrong and I expect there are probably going to be times that is the case. Other times, as long it is not a core christian doctrine, we may end up just agreeing to disagree, sometimes that is OK too. But if the reason, you or I disagree with something that is in the Bible, is that we don’t like the teaching, then that is a pride issue a choice not to submit to the authority of God’s word.

This is also our first foundational conviction for our Men’s study. God’s word is our authority and it is inerrant, this means without error, it is also infallible meaning it is incapable of being wrong. 2 Peter 1:20–21 “20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” This book contains everything we need for training in righteousness. If the scripture does not speak to it directly, there is a principle contained with that we can apply to the problem or situation. I will say that this is a continual growing process we have to be in the word to apply these.