Man's Role and Responsibility

Topic

Man’s Role in the family

Man’s Roles and responsibility in the Church

Answer the Question: Am I my brother’s Keeper?

Huge concept that lies in the interrelation of these three problems

As we see the relinquishing of responsibility by Men in the Home, Church and in the Field.

1 Timothy 2

Paul writes to Timothy in order to encourage him to stay in Ephesus and lead the Church

Warn Timothy to be vigilant of certain harmful doctrines

and to give instruction on the organization of the Church

Included is instruction to women in the Church

Read Text

Q: Why is the Sin of Man seemingly placed on the shoulders of Eve?

I can get behind Paul’s instruction to women in the Church:

Dress Modestly

Act like a godly woman

Submit to the man

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—”

Was it not the Man whom sin entered the World?

East of Eden

Place yourself just East of the Garden of Eden immediately after the first human transgression

Imagine the Scene:

Adam and Eve are thrusted out of the Garden

Garden: A & E placed specifically here in order to:

Commune with God

Represent His Image to the rest of creation

Remember:

Be Fruitful and Multiply

Fill the Earth and Subdue it

Serve and Protect the Sanctuary (Garden)

where the repercussion / consequences of their sin soon becomes very real

Soon they will be surrounded by:

Compounding sin (sin begets sin begets sin)

A cursed ground (thorns, thistles, mosquitoes, and the like)

Death (oh, the wages of sin, is the punishment too great to bear?)

First indication of loss (when reality hit) for Adam and His Helper:

Genesis 3:24 “So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”

To guard the Garden was Adam’s job

Why the instruction to the Woman?

in the epistle to Timothy?

Less: of a command to ‘keep our women in line’

more: of a commentary on how far we’ve strayed from God’s original plan

Paul is saying:

Men: you have relinquished / Given up your responsibility in the house

and left your wives and Children vulnerable

And there’s More

1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”

Colossians 3:18–21 “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them. Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.”

-There is a God-ordained order in the Household

-Specific Roles are given to specific members of the household

-This is oftentimes interrupted and families are thrown into disarray

Reason this is interrupted is the curse

Because it is a natural part of our sin nature:

Church

Family of God (Church) also ought to incorporate order

-Order of the Church Body is ordained by God

-and we (Church) are accountable for edifying, and encouraging one another - Just as the family

Men - We have gifts, roles, and responsibilities to the Church

We have seen what happens when the Church does not confront an upset in God-ordained Church order.

So, am I my brother’s Keeper?

Ultimately: how does this translate to the here and now?

As A&E are walking away from the paradise of Eden,

-Adam has a fantastic idea!

Genesis 4:1 “Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.””

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.””

Oh, the Disappointment!

First one ends up killing the Good one

God asks what happened:

And His response:

Genesis 4:9 “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?””

With rebellion against God:

We don’t know if Adam was responsible for Eve

We can’t understand that Cain was responsible for his brother

Problem

1 John 4:7–21 NASB95

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.