Men's Night 11.9.23
Notes
Transcript
Vision for Men’s Night
Vision for Men’s Night
Redefinition of Fellowship:
Men going toward something together.
Lord of the Rings
Set in Middle-earth, the story tells of the Dark Lord Sauron, who seeks the One Ring, which contains part of his might, to return to power. The Ring has found its way to the young hobbit Frodo Baggins. The fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance as Frodo and eight companions (who form the Fellowship of the Ring) begin their perilous journey to Mount Doom in the land of Mordor, the only place where the Ring can be destroyed.
They weren’t just getting together to eat, discuss the ring a little and then talk about sports.
This was a fellowship that was going somewhere together.
They didn’t look, talk, or act the same.
There were some racial issues they needed to overcome.
There was a lot of differences/personality clashes.
But they were unified in this mission: Get to Frodo to Mordor.
I don’t want this to be a testosterone group.
I want to go somewhere together.
We were meant to be men.
We have a culture that is increasingly trying to slam men.
It’s good that you’re a man.
God made man and said it was good.
God made us to be men.
Most churches are ran by women (60/40)
I don’t want that to be our story. I want every man on the field.
But not just men, elder-qualified men.
What is the goal?
Elder qualified men
Elder qualified men
I understand that not all of us are called to be pastors/elders
But it is a good thing when men are elder-qualified
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.
These are the guidelines for a mature Christian.
We were meant to be strong.
Strong Bodies
Proverbs 20:29 “29 The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.”
When a family would take place, the man would go to work.
It was a man who would work laborious jobs to provide for his family.
The responsibility of the household is on men.
We need to be strong in our body and continue to get stronger.
You need a plan for this
You need discipline.
You need a friend to do this.
You need to move every day for this
Running
Jiu jitsu
Cross fit
Lifting
You need to care for your bodies
1 Corinthians 9:26–27 “26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
This isn’t a legalistic call
This is a plead for you to play with your future grandkids.
Don’t be the Papaw that sits and watches.
I want you to be able to get in the floor and wrestle with them
Our families need us.
This is a call to be a soldier.
Strong Marriages
Song of Solomon 8:6–7 “6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.”
These characteristics in 1 Timothy 3 serve us in marriage.
Men are to be not only the head of the house, but the spiritual leader of the house.
These character traits Paul gives us inevitably lead us to love our wives fiercely.
The love we have for the Lord pours over into our wives, which pours over into our children, which pours over into our church which pours over into our communities, which pours out praise to Jesus.
Paul says we are to be the husband of one wife.
This means we need to get our sexual temptations murdered.
We need to get our porn issues straightened out.
We need to get our insecurities figured out so we don’t fall out of self-control and become violent, quarrelsome men.
Our wives need us to get this figured out for the sake of our marriages.
“So you believe that men should be the head of the family?”
Not only that, I believe that the Husband is the head of the Wife.
1 Corinthians 11:3 “3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”
How does masculine headship/responsibility work in marriage?
Both try to decide God’s will
Both make a decision
Husband takes responsibility for outcome
She’s the helper, you get help
“Honey, what do you think?”
Now we make a decision
When I say I want you to be elder-qualified, it isn’t because I expect you to one day lead a church.
All of these characteristics are used in leading your families.
Every characteristic required of a pastor is beneficial for a godly man.
Strong at Work
29 Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.
God loves when we work hard.
We were created to work hard and go to bed tired.
Our problem as a culture of men is that we’re going to bed to strong. We have too much energy.
God has wired us to pour ourselves out and rest mightily.
Pouring ourselves out to do the best work we can.
23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. 14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
Work is truly a gift of God.
All of this sounds hard.
In this economy
With this family systems
the woman I married
Health issues
Personality and temperament—That’s just not how I was wired.
Those are all cop-outs.
God has placed you in this place and time, with this people, and with that woman so that you can be drawn to Him.
If you feel that this is unattainable because you weren’t born that way, take heart. God said you needed to be born again anyway.
What our wives, children, communities, church need are strong men who love and follow Jesus.
Men who live in sacrificial love and give themselves up for the glory of King Jesus.
That was the beautiful part of the Knights.
They were noble men
Training hard for the sake of the cause to which they were called
Upholding strong moral character
Standing in opposition of injustice
Fought out of the overflow of their loyalty to the King.
How much more are we to live this way?
We don’t serve a king who will one day vacate his throne.
We serve the King of kings.
His throne stands forever
He leads angel armies
He’s called us to lead and love our families well for the sake of our church and the sake of our communities.
When husbands lead their families as God has call us to, then the families are built up.
When families are built up, churches are built up.
When churches are built up, communities are built up.
It all starts here.
We walk together in community.
We hold one another accountable.
We say hard things in love.
We pray with one another.
We shove one another toward Jesus.
Discussion:
What are road blocks that keep you from leading your family well?
Which characteristic in 1 Tim 3 do you find the hardest? The easiest?
How can you take steps to begin facilitating spiritual conversations with your family?
What steps can you take this week toward Jesus?
Where are you weak? Who can help you change that?