The Measure of a Man
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Measure of a Man
Measure of a Man
The world looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Today is Father’s Day. A day where the special men in our lives get recognized for the impact and contribution they make on our families, in our homes, in our lives and on society.
When preparing for this service I started to think about how I have seen men portrayed over social media, in movies, on the news and in society as a whole. Then I started to compare it to what we see in scripture and the Godly examples that have been portrayed.
When preparing for this service I started to think about how I have seen men portrayed over social media, in movies, on the news and in society as a whole. Then I started to compare it to what we see in scripture and the Godly examples that have been portrayed.
Society’s pic of a man:
cheater
liar
bails on responsibilities
unfaithful
womanizer
unethical
impatient
Picture of a Godly man:
servant
kind
Compassionate
loving
good father
caring
positive role model
loves wife like Christ loved the church
What are some things that makes a good Father?
1. A Godly Father Loves God
1. A Godly Father Loves God
It all starts with a relationship with Christ
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
This is our text this evening and there will be references as to what all this means and we will look at it through examples throughout this message. We are going to look at the character of a good dad. Our first thing to take into account is to love God. Priority one is to know, love and walk with God.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matt. 6:33
This verse states the priority of our relationship should be God first. He must lead us in all things and we need to yield our lives to him. Father’s, today I implore you keep that relationship sacred with God. In this day, we need His wisdom, leading and direction in our lives to take on the challenges that come our way.
Make seeking Him your number one priority. Be a man that seeks the face of God in all things. The strong walk with God and show evidence of a close relationship with Him through evidence of the fruit of the spirit in his life.
Fruit of the spirit
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Gal. 2:22
Without a right relationship with God it is hard to relate properly with others. The type of leadership given does not reflect Him. We need to know him to reflect Him. Our goal is to point others to Christ and how can we do so without knowing God?
Running from God brings no peace. Settle this matter first of all!
“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”
Spend time in prayer, Bible reading, fasting, meditating upon His word, praying His word and living His word!
2. A Godly Father loves His wife
2. A Godly Father loves His wife
Most husbands think love is sex! This is a part of love but not all of it.
Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;
for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church,
because we are members of His body.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.
Real love seeks to meet the needs of one another.
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
This is the definition of real love.
Romantic actions don’t mean you have abandoned your manliness. Show your wife you love her, this does not mean expensive gifts, flowers, etc. It means daily little things like:
Holding a door
Letting her walk in first
Hold Hands
Make the bed
Rinse out the tub after using
Put toilet seat down
Give her a night off
Cook Dinner
Clean up the kitchen
Tell her you love her
Tell her how you feel about her use an example
Father’s your sons are learning how to treat their wives by your example and your daughters learn their level of worth in how you treat their mom. Keep this in mind when at home. Keep this in mind when talking to and living with your wife. Remind yourself of why you married her and why you wanted to have her as your wife.
Your
3. A Godly Father loves their Children
3. A Godly Father loves their Children
Love is more than providing for material things. It is good to work and provide for your family and of course necessary. But there is an attitude that I work and provide an income to care for my family but please hear me that is not where loving your children ends.
Don’t miss your child’s childhood because of work or those kind of commitments. Make time for your kids. Make it a priority to get to know who they are, know what they like to do. Share experiences with them, these times will prove to be the most enriching experiences of your life. Remember you only have them as children once there are no second chances to watch your children grow up. Take advantage of every opportunity and make lots of memories and lifelong friendships with them that neither of you will ever forget.
When discipline is required do it in love.
Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.
Do not correct your child out of anger. Correction builds character but don’t crush their spirit in the process.
Children interpret time spent with them as love.
Forget “quality time” vs. “quantity time”. Make it a priority to be with your children, they will never forget it and neither will you.
4. A Godly Father is a man of Integrity
4. A Godly Father is a man of Integrity
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Our text in Micah states do justly… love mercy… walk uprightly...
What does this mean exactly?
By Justly used here it is meant do justice - justice refers to God’s uprightness. God is the ruler over all, He is our moral guide, by this we are to follow the example He has given us in His word and by the example of His son and live our lives by these things.
Justice is getting what we do deserve. Here in our text we are challenged to obey God, live according to his morals and ways. Recognize the importance of keeping your life aligned with the things of God.
Mercy is not getting what we do deserve, being spared that punishment. Some translations state love as kindness instead of mercy. What is meant here is true love, this comes from our attitude and knowledge.
Show God’s love which is kind, generous, and never ending.
Walk Humbly - Humility - gentleness - meek. Not boastful
Walk closely with the Lord not like you know it all, be teachable, hear from God, allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and through you. I believe this is the best way to explain walking humbly with God. We all have much to learn and He is our faithful teacher but we need to be willing to hear and accept what He wants to give us.
Integrity has almost become a forgotten word. But this is imperative for us as Christians today. Fathers I challenge you on a daily basis let your integrity lead you.
We hear continuous stories on the news about political leaders who are leading but not with integrity. There is always some scandal or conspiracy on the horizon. Those in high offices in our land are tainted with the smell of corruption and are know to be notorious liars.
We are called to rise above scandal and skepticism and to be people of worth, humility and integrity.
Integrity means the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. The state of being whole and upright.
Integrity should be seen in every area of our lives
Workplace - honest days work
Home - fulfilled promises, being a person of your word
Personal business - prompt payment of obligations
Relationships - commitment to fulfill my commitments
5. A Godly Father is a role Model of God
5. A Godly Father is a role Model of God
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
The image of a father is not always a good one. Statistics show that many grow up without a father in the home. Often that abandonment is something children never get over.
The image of a father is not always a good one. Statistics show that many grow up without a father in the home. Often that abandonment is something children never get over.
Sexual abuse is on the rise and has been proven in stats that it is often due to a father figure or male role model that performs this abuse.
Then we introduce God our Heavenly Father to the children. Many are afraid of God because God and Father connections creates such a fearful place for them.
This is certainly not a safe, holy, comfortable person of interest for them. Can you imagine what this creates in their minds?
There has been corruption as to what God intended for the role of father to mean for us. The challenge today is for us to do right by the example and present men of integrity and led by and living out that Godly example daily.
Dad you are shaping your child’s concept of his or her Heavenly Father. They see Him as you and associate your example to Him so much. Think about this as you live your life.
Conclusion:
With these
This evening with all the things we have looked at the challenge to parent is great yes it definitely is. Being a Father is a a big task but one God will equip you for. No one is perfect and we are not meant to be, but to walk with God and try to the best of our ability to be the best example of Him that’s what we are called to.
This evening I challenge you these things:
Put your relationships before your results
For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.
For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.
2. Put your character before conformity
But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father.
He who walks in integrity walks securely,
But he who perverts his ways will be found out.
3. Put your commitment before your comfort
But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;
because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick.
For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
Phil.
4. Put your courage before security
Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard;
because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.
Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard;
because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Surrender your life to Him, walk closely to Him, meet withHim daily, allow the Holy Spirit to guide your path and lead with honesty, integrity, prayerfully and be all in!
Illustration
The story is told about a little boy who had been invited to a friend’s birthday party. He was so excited and started counting the days until the party. But the morning of the party he was devastated when he found that a blizzard had struck their little town. The snow was falling in wet, heavy flakes, and the wind was howling. “I don’t think you should go to the party,” his father said. The little boy was so disappointed.
He began to importune his father, begging to be allowed to go. Finally, much to his surprise, his dad said, “All right, you can go to the party.” The little boy bundled up in his hat and coat and mittens and started down the street to his friend’s house. When he got to the door, he turned around and saw his father turning to walk back home. It was then he realized that his father had been walking behind him all the way to make sure he was safe.
There may be times when we feel like we are alone, but in truth we are always surrounded by the love and goodness of God. There is never a time when we are truly on our own. Even when we do not believe Him as we should, "he abideth faithful" ().
Taken from http://ministry127.com/resources/illustration/you-are-being-followed