Don't Be An Effeminate Man — Zac Poonen

Acting Like Men in the Faith

Let's begin with a verse in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, and verse 13, the last part. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 13, the whole verse says, Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

There is a need for us to act like men. There's a particular way God wants men to act. We've been thinking about the calling of a brother as first of all a husband and also as a father, and we want to think about a responsibility as one who shares in God's kingdom, participates in building the church.

Effeminacy and the Responsibility of Men

So in 1 Corinthians in chapter 6, it speaks about a particular sin which many people don't think of as sin. It's in connection with what I said just now, act like men. Verse 9, 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9, don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Don't be deceived. Now look at the list of people here, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers. There's quite a list of people. Every one of them we can understand except one, effeminate, a man behaving like a woman, and that's categorized in the same category as idolaters, fornicators, adulterers, thieves, and drunkards, and revilers.

Do you believe that? I don't think we think of that seriously. We don't even think of that as God's created us to be men. I've seen many husbands who are effeminate husbands. The wife is the boss in the house.

Adam's Passivity in the Fall

Now God did create Eve to be a helper to Adam, but Adam was the first effeminate man. When you see Genesis chapter 3 and you see Eve talking to the serpent, the devil, I used to always think perhaps Adam was wandering around somewhere else, till I saw in Genesis 3 and verse 6, the last part, she gave the fruit to her husband who was with her.

He was standing there all along while this conversation was going on between the devil and his wife. He never said a word. He just allowed his wife to have a conversation with the serpent. Imagine if he had just intervened there and said, hey Eve, forget it, don't talk to that serpent, let's go.

Because after all, God had appointed him to be the head, and there we see the first example of an effeminate man who brought such ruin into his family, and I believe it's because he was such an effeminate man that his first son grew up to be a murderer.

He probably was an effeminate father as well, that he never taught his son. I mean you don't get a son growing up to be a murderer to kill his younger brother, unless the father is a pretty useless father.

So I see right at the beginning of sin in the world, the entrance of sin into this human race, it begins not only with the unbelieving disobedient wife, but with an effeminate man who was an effeminate husband and an effeminate father who did not act like a man, like we read in the beginning.

And that I think that's why if effeminate people are put in the same category as murderers and adulterers, you know, I believe scripture. I believe there's a reason why God has put that being effeminate right in the middle of some of those worst criminals of all that we saw in 1 Corinthians chapter 6.

Men Taking Responsibility in Home and Church

And I believe this is why many homes have suffered, because the man is not the head of the house. Many children have suffered because man is not a good father. And many churches have suffered because men don't take the lead to involve themselves.

And I don't mean everybody must be a leader. Being manly does not mean being a leader. It just means taking responsibility, even if it's a responsibility to clean the restrooms, to take responsibility.

Because if you don't have a gift of teaching, you can't teach. If you don't have a gift of preaching the word, you can't do it. But you can still be a man. God gives very people the gift of ministry of the word.

So that's not the mark of a man, because I find 95 of men in the church may have no gift of preaching at all. They still got to be men. So it's very important for us to understand the place that God has appointed for men, in his church especially.

Jesus' Disciples and Leadership in the Church

And though there is a place for women and even children to serve the Lord in the church, yet when Jesus prayed, you know, let me just show you this verse in Luke chapter 8. Who were the people going around with Jesus when he was preaching?

Luke chapter 8, as he went around from city to city, village to village, preaching, the 12 disciples were with him. It says, also some women, verse 2, Luke 8 verse 2, women who had been healed of evil spirits like Mary Magdalene, from whom seven demons would come out, Joanna, the wife of Cusa, Herod's steward.

Herod's steward means a palace manager. So the palace manager, he must have been a very influential rich man. His wife was following Jesus and Susanna and many others. These women were contributing to the support of Jesus and the disciples.

And yet we read in Luke chapter 6 and verse 12, Jesus went into the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer. And whenever he spent a whole night in prayer, it was a particular reason. You see the reason in the next verse.

When the day came, he called his disciples. So I believe he prayed. He wasn't praying all night, every night, definitely not. Most of the time he slept, even in a boat he slept. But when there was some very, very important decision which was going to affect the future of the church for the next two millennium, two thousand years, he prayed all night to be able to select the right people.

And though there were men and women following with him, the father gave him the names of only twelve men. That's why I showed you earlier that there were many women also in that group following Jesus.

But the father never gave him the name of any woman who was to be an apostle or a leader. And that shows that these are the twelve who finally became the leaders in the early church. And so the leadership in the church, as we see consistently in the New Testament, was always with men.

Deborah, Barak, and Reluctant Leadership

Now in the Old Testament, it was not so under the old covenant. We read at the time when Deborah was a prophetess. It says she would in the book of Judges, book of Judges in chapter 4 and verse 4, Deborah a prophetess.

Now it's interesting we read here in chapter 4 and verse 2, the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan. And the sons of Israel cried to the Lord because they were being oppressed, verse 3, oppressed severely for 20 years.

Lord give us deliverance from the strong king. And God gave them a woman, Deborah. That's the answer to the Israelites praying for 20 years. It is not how God answered Jesus when he prayed all night. Deborah, she used to sit, verse 5, under the, she's the wife of Lappidoth.

Verse 5, she sat under the palm tree, and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment, all the men and women. And she was the one who called Barak and said, the Lord has called you to fight against the enemy.

Now what do you think her husband was doing? Her husband was probably cooking at home and looking after the children. But he was the judge, Deborah was the judge. Why was that? Is it because God changed his mind from the time of Adam?

No, I don't think so. The bravest man in Israel at that time was this man called Barak. He was a leader of the army. So Deborah tells Barak, the Lord has commanded, go and I will draw, look at the promise she gave Barak.

I will bring Sisera out and I will, verse 7, give him into your hand. What a promise. You can go out with great boldness. The victory is already assured. And he says, Sister, if you don't come with me, I won't go.

That's the bravest man in Israel, verse 8. Sister, you've got to come with me. I can't go alone. I mean, God's promise is not enough. So this is how God is disappointed with many men. They don't take the leadership in their home.

Courageous Witness for Christ

They don't help with the leadership in the church. And they're not effective witnesses, bold witnesses for Christ. They're effeminate, brave, fearful. They're afraid to stand up for Christ in their place of work, to be known as a wholehearted disciple of Jesus Christ.