Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

-There was once an evangelist who was much sought after in his denomination.

It was said that you would have to wait a minimum of four years if you wanted him to preach at your church.

-There were several opportunities that tried to pull him away from his family, so his wife and him developed a strategy to balance to the two.

-He would preach out two weeks and be home two weeks.

This seemed to go well until one week, their 16 year old son lashed out and outright would not obey his mother.

-The mother called her husband and told him the situation.

He cancelled his meeting, turned the car around, and came home to deal with the problem.

-Little did he know his son was listening to the conversation in the other room seeing how his dad would respond.

-Days after this happened, there was a for sale sign in front of the house, the family was moving.

The dad had taken a job at a small church and given up his four years of meetings he had previously scheduled.

-During this time he invested heavily in his son.

He only had about 2 years left, and he wanted to make it count.

-During those short years of pastoring, the denomination had major changes, older men were retiring, younger men were taking their place, and when the time came for this man to go back into evangelism, those years off crippled his ministry.

-But because of his tough decision, years later his son would go on to start a significant ministry, Focus on the Family.

-James Dobson was the rebellious 16 year old son whose father sacrificed his career in order to gain back his son.

Here is a husband and father who was willing to drop everything going on in his life in order to sacrifice for the good of his family.

He looked beyond himself and saw what his family needed.

I wonder tonight, speaking in regards to husbands and fathers, what are we willing to do for the health of our family?

How far are you willing to go for the welfare of your marriage?

What are you willing to change in order to see things turn around in your home?

As I was considering this lesson, I’ll be honest, I found it difficult to find verses with commandments such as: “husbands do this, or husbands don’t do it.”

As I was meditating on this subject throughout the week, it finally clicked with me.

In reality, the whole book of Proverbs is written to husbands.

The overall context of this book is a father, writing to a son, about life and how it is supposed to be lived.

Wisdom, skill for living.

Rehoboam was still a young man as this was written.

We see warnings against strange women all throughout this book, and pictures of a virtuous woman as in chapter 31.

What are husbands supposed to be like though?

We can’t hash out the whole book of Proverbs tonight, but I want to give you several issues that men in particular struggle with and how Solomon addresses those issues with his son in this book of wisdom.

The Issue of Laziness

Laziness

When you consider the analogy that is given here with vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, both are irritating and painful.

Think about a husband who is lazy.

One who does not work.

Who contributes little to the home.

In his home, he will be like smoke in the eyes and vinegar to the teeth.

Could I challenge us as men tonight to be men who work.

I know probably for the most part I’m preaching to the choir, but men, we ought to provide for our household.

We ought to work with our hands.

We ought to get up every day realizing that we are fulfilling God’s call on our life to work, and to provide for our homes.

-When we moved from Kansas to Indiana we were there for about 2 months.

During those 2 months I did not have a job.

I applied many places.

I actually took a job at a call center of all places before God called me here.

I only lasted one day.

-I knew that I needed to provide for my family.

It was within me to find a job to fulfill my role in the home.

Many of you know, I work as a janitor.

I clean toilets.

One of the least desired jobs in the world.

-Do you think I can’t wait to get out of bed every morning knowing that I get to clean up other people’s messes?

Do you think I get a thrill when I hear a toilet is clogged?

No I don’t.

At times I don’t feel like going to work.

How many of you identify?

-But I go any way.

Because my family is more important to me than my feelings of not enjoying my job.

“I don’t feel like going to work” is not an option for me whether I go to work or not.

When you get married you take on responsibility.

You can’t just live with yourself in mind because now you have another person to consider.

And one of the responsibilities is to work.

Now, why make such a big deal about this issue?

I’ve counseled people about this, I’m sure pastor has as well, but you would be surprised how many people can’t hold a job for even a month because they are lazy.

Their spouse is fed up with them and because of that their marriage is on the rocks.

They would rather stay in their slothful state, than work through it.

Do you realize that being lazy is actually a harder path than working?

Living a life of slothfulness is like trudging through a field of thorns.

It’s hard, hurtful, and harmful.

As men we need to guard against laziness and be the hard workers that God designed us to be.

The Issue of Anger

This issue is prevalent among men.

Naturally, men are fighters.

You put little girls in a room with dolls, they’ll have a tea party.

You put little boys in a room and a fight is sure to break out!

We’ll get to this here in a moment, but men are full of pride, and when we don’t get our way or someone opposes us we can tend to get full of outrage.

But I want you to look at that verse again.

When we look at this verse through the lens of our culture, it may not seem like a huge deal.

But as you consider the historical context of walls and what it meant for a city, it was a life or death situation.

Walls, in Bible days, were a first line of defense.

It was a protection to a city.

The walls that were laid were thick and nearly impenetrable by enemies.

In fact, the psalmist will time and again illustrate God as a refuge and strength, in essence our strong tower.

The walls are significant to protection.

Now, take that same city, tear down the walls, and what do you have?

A city susceptible to attack.

It is like the begging the enemy to come in and take control.

To the man who has no rule over his own spirit, he is like that city without walls.

It is like giving Satan a handcrafted personal invitation to come in and wreak havoc in your life and ultimately your home.

Listen to what Solomon says though in :

Those who have control over their anger are greater than the fiercest warriors.

What a huge contrast!

You are either a mighty warrior, or you are being defeated in the worst of ways.

This is what I find interesting, even in my own life.

The ones who often are the recipients of our anger, are the ones who are closest to us.

That is often our spouse and children.

We bring the stress of work home with us.

We bring the offense that someone committed against us earlier that day.

We bring the bitterness in our hearts of someone who wronged us.

We hold in our hearts a grudge against life in general.