The Measure of a Man
Notes
Transcript
Good morning
First of all, I want to wish a Happy Father’s Day to all of you fathers here this morning. I pray that it is a blessed day for you.
I want to encourage you fathers, especially those of you who still have children at home, I want to encourage you in your walk as fathers.
I’ve been a father for 16 1/2 years now, and I’m finding that being a father takes courage, strength, steadfastness, wisdom, all those qualities that men value.
As Father’s day was approaching this year, I thought, “Can it really be true that it has been exactly a year since I last saw my own father alive?”
Time certainly has a way of passing quickly.
I have to be honest with you this morning.
There is a lot of pressure when it comes to preparing sermons for Sunday morning.
But when I feel the most pressure is when these “special” Sundays come around. The “special” times of year when it seems like a “special” sermon is required.
Christmas
Easter
Thanksgiving
mother’s day
father’s day
What do I say that hasn’t been said before? I want to be encouraging and Scriptural, but, honestly, you guys have been in church a long time. What do I say that doesn’t make you immediately tune out and say, “Oh, I’ve heard THAT before”.
But on Father’s day, there is this added level of pressure,
Why?
Because I AM a father myself.
And my wife and children are sitting right here in front of me. And they know me better than any of you all.
And it’s a very humbling thing to stand up here and preach about how a father should live, or how a man should live,
Or this is what the Bible says about being a good father
And all the while my family knows exactly what kind of a person i truly am and how well I do at following what the Bible teaches.
And another way in which I struggle with mothers day and fathers day messages is, “What about those of us who aren’t mothers, who aren’t fathers?”
How do I connect with you all as well?
These are all things that were going through my mind as I prepared for today.
I would like for us to turn together to Psalm 112
1 Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
who greatly delights in his commandments!
2 His offspring will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.
4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who deals generously and lends;
who conducts his affairs with justice.
6 For the righteous will never be moved;
he will be remembered forever.
7 He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
9 He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn is exalted in honor.
10 The wicked man sees it and is angry;
he gnashes his teeth and melts away;
the desire of the wicked will perish!
I’ve entitled this sermon, “Being a Manly Man”
As we know, there are a lot of idea about what how to be a “real” man.
In our history, as guys, our example of manhood used to come from our fathers
Our father was the one who,
in Pioneering days
said to his family, ‘come family, we are moving across the ocean to the new world’
He secured the ocean voyage
did his best to make sure his family survived the trip
purchased the team of oxen and outfitted it for the trip
Fought off wild animals and attacks from the natives of the land
built the sod house or log hut
cleared the land, farmed the land, harvested whatever crop the land yielded
Men won battles, and lost many battles.
They dealt with extreme hardship and loss, yet somehow had to go on and get up to fight again
And boys would watch their father and learn about being a man
But then in the late 1800’s this thing called the “Kinetograph” was invented.
It took a series of pictures along a strip of film.
We later called it the movie camera, and much later, a video camera
And our ideas of what real men were began to change
Because we saw men on the screens in front of our eyes who were portrayed as being larger than life. These were guys who never lost, always won
They could take on any challenge and walk away relatively unscathed, with their lives and their dignity in tact
Hollywood has given us guys like John Wayne, Arnold Swartz, Tom Cruise
Guys who, when you go see one of their movies, you always expect them to win. They are the “manly men”.
These are the guys that society tell us “This is what real manly men are like”.
Problem is, There is not a single man alive that can be like these guys. They give us an example that is way out of reach
In our conservative Mennonite world, for quite a few years, we managed to keep ourselves immune from this ridiculous world of Hollywood.
We kept our family units largely in tact and boys still saw their fathers giving them an attainable example of how to be a manly man.
But that is changing very rapidly. Our culture is changing rapidly, and with it, I believe, is a changing understanding (or maybe a lack of understanding what being a man is all about).
Here in this Psalm that we read is an example of what a manly man is.
He fears the Lord and delights in His Word (His Commandments)
men, do you fear the Lord, and do you delight in His word?
Two active words here: Fear. Delight.
These two words can be intense emotions,
Or they can be active verbs. Active responses to God
Fear as an emotion.
It can save your life when you are in danger
Or it can stop you from doing something that you know you should do
But what does it mean to fear the Lord?
Some folks might say that fearing the Lord is an “OT thing”
They might say that because of Jesus, we don’t have to “fear” God anymore. Certainly not the wrath or judgment of God.
And that’s true. In Christ Jesus, we don’t fear the wrath and judgment of God.
But still, any time that you are dealing with the presence of Almighty God, there should arise in us....fear, respect, caution
Philippians 2:12-13 “..., work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
the wonder of having God work out His will and pleasure in our lives should cause a sense of awe and trembling in our hearts
Which should translate into how we live in our every day life.
Because again, there is danger in spurning the grace of God. There is danger in turning away and throwing aside what He has done through Christ Jesus, and continues to want to do in our lives
One of these warnings in Scripture is in Hebrews 12:25 “25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”
So fearing God is not walking around cringing because you are scared that you are going to get whacked on the head if you make one misstep
It is opening your heart more and more to His grace and the work that He wants to do in your life
Do you delight in the word of God?
Again, this word speaks of feeling delight, but
But it’s also an action word. Delight in the Word of God
Take pleasure in His word
One of the things that I learned from my own Dad is to delight in the Word of God. Scripture.
He taught me to dig in and struggle to understand it.
he taught me not to be afraid to ask the hard questions about Scripture. and not to be afraid to challenge what I have always taken for granted.
Why? Because He was confident that God’s Word could stand up to whatever scrutiny that I or the smartest men in the world could bring against it.
Do you delight in His word? Do you find in these pages, revealed in Christ Jesus, a God who is worthy to be known?
A God who is worthy to be sought after?
I know that we are busy men. But how often do you open Scripture pray, “Lord, Open my eyes, that I may behold
wondrous things out of your law.”
And when you read, do you understand what you read?
I know there are various opinions about this, but I would always encourage someone, even if you prefer the KJV, don’t be afraid to try other translations if you are struggling to understand
I use the ESV. It’s modern English but a very carefully done translation
Do you take pleasure in spending time in the Word. Because it’s in the written word that you discover the True and Living Word, Jesus Himself. Is He your delight and most valuable treasure?
Do you fear the Lord? Do you delight in His commands, or Word?
If you do, you will be blessed. There is great blessing in living under God’s authority and being guided by His principles
He is generous and just in his conduct
Verse 5 It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice.”
Verse 9 He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor.”
A manly man realizes that all he has comes from God.
He is not tightfisted, but rather he is generous.
He lends his money, might I say without interest?
Or at least, he lends money in such a way that the borrower can repay it
He is fair and just in the way that he uses his money
men, would folks say that of us? That we hold the things entrusted to us with open hands, being quick to give
That we are just and fair. That we are willing to help others get ahead in life
Or would they say taht we are just out to make a dollar or two and we aren’t interested in helping others out?
His heart is firm
Ladies, I don’t know how many of you realize this about men (certainly for those of you who have been married to one for any length of time, this is probably no secret)
But men actually deal with a lot of fear.
We like to put on this brave face and pretend like things don’t bother us too much, but down inside we have a lot of fear that we deal with.
Guys, if we’re honest with ourselves, we know this is true.
One of our big fears is fear of failure
What will I do if I put my hand to something that costs me a lot, and it fails. I’ll look like a fool. That terrifies us
We fear the future sometimes.
We fear losing control of our lives. We like to have things in boxes and sorted out in our minds.
It’s terrifying when things start to get out of their boxes and we don’ t know what is going on.
We have a lot of fears. And a lot of men are controlled by their fears
But a manly man is one that is not afraid of bad news
When he opens up the news in the morning and sees the headlines, his heart isn’t shaken to the core, even though the outlook is bleak
When his crops fail or his business venture crashes, or he receives the news of a terminal illness, whether it’s him, or a loved one
In all of these things, his heart is not shaken so badly that he can’t go on
Why? Simply this: He trusts in the Lord.
For a manly man, this is more than a simple shrug and “Well, whatever God wills”
He trusts in God, because He knows God. And He loves God.
And He knows that all things work to the good of those who Love God and are called according to the purpose of God.