Biblical Manhood
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Show Yourself A Man
Show Yourself A Man
Intro:
Hello men!
We get a chance to ditch the ladies and have just some guy time.
So feel free to burp and fart now because in a bit we will be back with them.
So here is what we going do here this afternoon.
We are going to talk about manhood.
I believe that manhood is a tricky beast.
And the world and our culture has lots of suggestions as to what manhood should be, what it needs to be and what it actually is.
And you guys get blasted with it everyday and some stuff is good stuff but I feel the majority of it is trash.
So for our time together I want to talk with you about what does God require of men.
I think it is a fair question for us to ask.
Me:
We:
Let me as a question to you.
What is manhood to you?
What are some manly things we do?
Or that we see other men do that we are like that is manly?
So when we maybe don’t do some of those things that define manhood how does that make you feel?
Like a man or more like a no man.
I’m not one for nature.
I don’t mind hiking but the idea of going out and sleeping in a tent when hotels are way nicer is not appealing to me.
Or like let go live off the land for 2 weeks and almost die of starvation and dehydration, because killing animals and finding water is really hard to do.
But you know what had food and water?
My house— my house does.
So like I get it— you may feel manly doing those things and those of us who don’t we tend to shrink a bit when we are not doing manly things.
Like if you can’t grow a beard you may feel like you are not a man.
Because here is what I see if someone says be a man—
Bearded, full head of hair, tats, dirty hands, smells of lumber and has flacks of sawdust on his flannel that has a henley under it, with a pair of Levi’s and work boots.
He has a gun slung around his shoulder and he hops into his Ford 450 truck.
With a license plate that reads BeManly
And in the bed of his truck is fish, deer, and a bear he killed with his bear hands.
And then I look at myself in the mirror and go you are so weak— your no man.
You drive a prius, you own a bb gun, and you don’t own a pair of Levi’s.
It can be easy to describe what a man is and then look at ourselves and feel like we don’t fit the mold.
What if I told you that manhood is not about looks or what your hobbies are.
But what if manhood was something more?
I have a great dad.
And I know some people in this room may not be able to say that, but I’m blessed to be able to say that.
I love my dad and whenever I need wisdom about a situation, he is often the first person I can.
And I say this because the passage we are going to look at is in 1 Kings 2. and what is interesting here is that it is a conversation between a dad and his son.
So let’s open up the Bible to 1 Kings 2.
God:
And let’s look to God’s Word to define being a man
When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man,
King David— you know the guy who killed the giant Goliath with a sling shot and a stone.
He is dying.
And it is a conversation between a father and son.
This conversation is impactful to Solomon.
I can maybe count 5 solid conversations where my dad come to me and said, hey Zach, I need to talk to you.
And it is those moments where I feel my dad gave me the greatest amount of wisdom.
And it seems like that is what is happening here between David and Solomon.
And David says to Solomon to be strong and show yourself a man.
Show yourself a man.
Or the CSB says Be a man.
What David is saying is be strong and be brave.
The world is going to pull you in a thousand ways but be strong, be brave, show yourself a man.
What does Solomon need to do in order that he is this man?
To be strong and Be brave?
David tells him 3 things.
Number one is to Prosper.
Prosper simply means to grow strong— and what does David want Solomon to grow strong in?
In The Lord
Here is David tells Solomon, picking up in verse 3.
and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn, that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
A man follows after God and obey Him or at least they try too.
A man— knows God’s word.
A man engages in God’s word.
A true man knows truth.
David is saying to Solomon, you need to keep to the law of Moses.
Follow the Lord.
If you want to see success in your kingdom you have to start here.
How do we follow God— Deut 11:1
“You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.
Know God’s word.
Men know truth.
The Second thing David tells Solomon is to Protect.
A man protects.
“Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet. Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
and then David brings up protection again later on in 1 Kings 2:8-9
And there is also with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”
So David is talking about Solomon protecting against others and in this case it is two men.
Joab and Shimei
And we see that Joab was a dude that was the head of the army for David.
Joab killed innocent blood for his own selfishness.
It was a time of peace but Joab killed anyway.
David may have trusted him but now he does not and he is charging Solomon to protect himself.
That Joab should not be trusted.
and even says bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.
Protect your household
For A man protects his household.
And late David brings up another guys that Solomon needs to protect himself from.
and that is Shimei
Shimei was for the former king Saul.
And He cursed David.
And While David made a promise to not hurt Shimei, he is now telling Solomon that he needs to take care of this guy.
And he uses the same phrase that he used for Joab: bring gray head down with blood to Sheol.
To be a man, a man protects.
A man seeing a threat and they take care of the threat.
No one in this room is going to let someone just walk into their home and allow the burglar to take what he wants, and hurt his family.
I got a baseball bat under my bed and I will mess someone up if they were to come into my home.
I am going to protect our fam.
David was telling Solomon— look there are people who are going to challenge your rule and they need to be dealt with.
Solomon needs to protect himself.
And lastly David told Solomon that a man Provides
But deal loyally with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for with such loyalty they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother.
The Sons of Barzillai and Gileadites.
Let those who have been loyal to you and are not an enemy be invited to your table.
Let them be among those who eat at your table
A man takes care of those who have been entrusted to him.
Right now you may not have a lot that has been entrusted you but that will change one day.
One day you will be asked to provide for others.
A man does this to those God has entrusted to them.
So we have Prosper, protect and provide.
Those are the three charges of what Solomon needs to do to show me a man.
To be a man.
A man knows God’s word
Protects those who he is called to protect.
Provides for those who he is called to provide.
Now if we believe that this is biblical manhood then were have we seen this go well and where have we seen this go terrible?
How about we start with the terrible:
In the Garden of Eden.
We have the failure of the 1st Adam
God created man and he created woman and they were naked and life was God.
As we heard from Kevin this morning— You can have everything you want in the garden, I ask that you stay away from just this one tree.
So what do they do they go hang out buy this tree.
The first failure for Adam in lacking to be a man is his failure to listen and obey God’s word.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
God said hey don’t eat from that tree.
I wouldn’t be anywhere near this tree.
Like the Ocean....
But Adam did not prosper instead he failed to obey and trust God’s word.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Which then lead to Adam failing to protect what God entrusted to him.
Now I know sometimes we like to blame Eve for her talking to a talking snake.
Like she should have known that this was not good.
She should have known that something was off.
When you being to have conversations with snakes guess what you should do RUN.
However she did not.
Here is what happened:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Here is the deal:
Adam was present the whole time this conversation was going on and he said nothing.
He remained silent.
The silence of man is what we are dealing with.
As soon as Adam heard this snake talking to his woman he should have stepped in and protected his wife.
When you become married and if you see some other dude beginning to flirt and chat up your wife are you going to protect her?
Or are you going to let this other guys steal your wife?
You better be stepping in— silence does nothing.
You have to protect and you have to act.
Adam showed his failure here in his silence.
And here is what happens: When we don’t step into the lies of our culture we give up truth.
We give up the truth— which we know what is truth because we a prospering because we are following God’s word and we are being obedient.
Be willing to step in, even if it going to cost you.
Adam failed Eve here.
Now let’s look at how Adam failed in providing as well.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
A man is to provide, but look at the one who is doing the providing here.
Eve took the fruit and she ate it and then she gave some to her husband.
The women provided here.
And it wasn’t like he wasn’t around— oh wait yes he was.
Literally right next to her.
A man provides- physically and spiritually
Now let’s look at Prosper, protect and provide in a different way.
Let’s look at the life of Jesus.
But not when he was actually on earth, at least not yet.
But when he was mentioned over and over again in the OT
Let’s look at the second promise of the 2nd Adam AKA Jesus
The promise that Jesus would prosper
Prosper: Deuteronomy 18:18
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
The promise of Jesus who would tell the people everything that God had commanded of them.
And He did.
How about the promise of protection?
Protect: Gen 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
The promise of Christ that he would protect.
That the serpent may cause an injury but the promise that Jesus would deliver a death-bow to satan.
And He Did
How the promise to provide.
Provide: Isa 53:5
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
The promise was for the messiah to suffer and save us.
His wounds would bring healing.
He provided the fulfillment of the failure of the 1st Adam.
So lets look now at the Triumph of the 2nd Adam
Prosper: Matt 5:17
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Jesus knew his role was to fulfill the law.
He was not sent to destroy God commands but he was sent to fulfill God’s word.
So that we would look at God’s word and obey it.
Jesus also protected.
Protect: Mark 8:33 —
But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Jesus was not going to let anyone get in the way of his mission.
This included his disciples.
Jesus had just told his disciples that He was going to suffer, and be killed but he was going to raise again 3 days later.
And Peter is like Jesus stop it— you are going to lose your following.
Nobody wants to follow a dead guy.
And Jesus is like you don’t get it.
Get behind me satan.
Peter was not for the advancement of the Gospel of Christ.
And I have shared this quotes with you before and I want to do it again.
“if you are not for the advancement of the Gospel then you are from the pits of hell”
If you are not for Christ then you are an enemy and Christ will protect again anyone who comes against him.
And yes that is meant to be scary.
How about Jesus the provider.
Provide: John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
Jesus provides for his people.
He is the bread of life.
Food gives energy and you can’t survive long without it.
And He provides water that is a forever thirst quincher.
Jesusade.
PowerJesus
I don’t know.
But Christ provides for his followers.
He has provided for you.
So we have seen a bad example, the promise of the second adam and the perfect example that is Christ.
So what kind of man do you want to be?
You can be like Adam— and be silent, present but silent and dare I say a coward.
You could be like the promises of the 2nd Adam of Jesus coming.
You can say you want to be a man and you can even promise to be, but action speak louder than words.
And lastly you can be like Christ who trusted God word, protected his people and provided the ultimate sacrifice for us.
So here is our call to be a man of God
The call to be a man of God
Prosper: 1 Timothy 4:6
If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.
Real man knows the word of God.
You can’t fight with what you don’t have.
You have to know it, you have to know the word of God.
You have dwell on his word and follow His words.
Protect: 1 Peter 3:7
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
I don’t want to miss this here— men show honor to women.
It means stop undressing them with your eye and thinking about what you want to do to them.
You are treating them like an object and that culture needs to stop.
They are not an object they are Daughters of the king!
It mean being nice to them without anything in return.
It means protecting them.
Peter describes them as the weaker vessel.
Others that are in need, need someone to step up for them.
As a man you have an opportunity to protect.
and I would say that who ever God give you to protect do it with grace, honor and firmness.
Be strong and be brave.
Stop being silent.
When we don’t step into the lies of our culture we give up truth.
Don’t give up on the truth it is worth protecting.
lastingly:
Provide: 1 Timothy 5:8
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Provide for those God has entrusted to you.
Be brave in this world.
Show me a man.
Physically Spiritually and emotionally
The world is trying to give you a way of thinking.
You have to combat it by prospering, protecting, and providing.
I will leave you with the last call to be a man.
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
We need the truth of God word
A man knows God’s word.
Protects those who he is called to protect
Provides for those who he is called to provide for.
So will you show me a man?
Will you?
What is something that God is calling you into?
What is something that maybe God is saying hey I need you to be this for me.
Are you going to be a man?
Because a man does what?
He prospers
He protects
And He provides
Let’s pray
We are wrapped up a little early.
Does anyone have any questions?
Time for some Q&A