God’s Good Design of Masculinity

Good morning Thank you so much for attending 12 -5 church this morning.

We are so glad to have you. Sorry. We're working out some of the kinks So I prayed that this morning that we would worship

The sovereign triune God and spirit and in truth and just as a reminder

To the Saints, thank you so much for being faithful The way that the Lord has called us to not neglect the gathering together of the body

This is how we flourish in fellowship with one another and so for those who are visiting you are loved, too

We just want to thank you so much for coming and visiting our covenant Body, and we just want to encourage you if you get a chance fill out one of our connect cards that way

If you have any questions about who we are We'd love to reach out to you and and answer those questions and we'd love to pray for you

And so if you're a guest Please get one of those connect cards and please as we're done with the sermon

We do koinonia feast the time of fellowship and sermon discussion We'd encourage you to please stick around so we can get to know you and for you to get to know us

And so before we get started into our service, we have a couple announcements If you're interested in learning more about what it means to be a covenant member here at 12 -5 church

We do a four -week membership class every quarter throughout the year and it's coming up On Wednesday nights at 630 and we will start on May 22nd

This is the first step towards becoming a member and if you're not sure about Becoming a member yet would still like to learn more about who you are

Well, then just come be a part of our class Learn more about what God has done in the life and body of 12 -5 church what he's done as a church plant in the past And what he's continuing to show us in the direction of the leadership here as well

So we'd love for you to be a part of that. And if you're interested, please let us know that way We can get plenty of material for everybody for them number two

On Wednesday nights. We do what's called Theological training and so our time and the book everyone's a theologian is coming to a close.

Oh Have y 'all been loving that study for those of y 'all been a part for It's been about a year or more and so I've been able to be a part of that study and it's been incredible But it is coming to an end but July 3rd, we will be starting up a 12 -week course on the doctrines of grace

And so that will be starting July 3rd So right before we're gonna kick off July 4th with a bang

We're gonna start off with the day before with another kind of theological bang with the doctrines of grace

So, please look forward to that. We are going to provide a curriculum for this It's very extensive when we're talking about who

God is and who man is and how? Salvation works out all to the praise of God's glory

And so you probably are aware of this by now, but we take seriously here at 12 -5 Equipping the

Saints for the good work and a part of that is not only having great fellowship with other

Saints, but theological depth We must have orthodoxy right doctrine and that leads to how we

Practically live out their Christian life with one another and so before we begin our service

I want us to pray for a local church here in town that preaches the right gospel

We want to have great unity where unity is be able to have so please join me this morning for Praying for Highland Baptist Church here in town

Heavenly Father we want to thank you so much for the gathering of your people on the

Lord's Day And we just want to lift up Highland Drive Baptist. God. This is a faithful church that loves you

Jesus and It is wanting to preach the whole Council of God faithfully. Lord.

I just lift up the leadership at this church I pray that God they would not capitulate to the culture, but they would stand firm on your truth and God That you'd bless them and that many souls will be saved from the clutches of the enemy and that Many people would have their sins forgiven by looking to you

Jesus Lord, I just pray that you would use 12 -5 to be a means of gospel

Partnership with them and many other churches in the local area Lord. We love you. We pray these things in your name

Jesus All right, it's time to officially start our service if you would please stand

Our Call to worship this morning comes from Psalm chapter 37 And this is a time where it's not just for me to read and you listen

This is a time to participate in proclaiming the Word of God The psalmist says trust in the

Lord and do good And Faithfulness delight yourself in the

Lord He will give you the desires of your heart Commit your way to the

Lord Trust in him. He will act He will bring forth your righteousness at the light

The steps of a man are established by the Lord when he delights in his way, though he fall

He shall not be cast headline The Lord upholds his hand.

I Have been young and now I'm old He is ever lending generously

Turn away from evil and do good For the

Lord loves justice They are preserved forever

The righteous shall inherit the land Forever Amen Church All right.

Let's go together in a time of prayer for adoring our great and wonderful God Heavenly Father we lift your name on high

Lord. I pray that you would guard our hearts this morning from distraction from the things that God that we've we've been

Tainted by the world God this this age is perishing God We constantly are fighting against the lust of the flesh and Lord I just pray that this morning that you would remove those distractions that our hearts would be encouraged to sing praise on high and that we

Would magnify the great name of Jesus Lord, we love you. We pray these things in your name.

Amen Let's lift our voices let's sing out nothing but the blood a man

What can wash away my sin? Nothing, but the blood of Jesus What can make me whole again nothing, but the blood of Jesus For my part for my part and this

I see nothing, but the blood of Jesus for my cleansing this my plea

Nothing, but the blood of Jesus Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow

Oh Nothing can for sin at all nothing, but the blood of Jesus Not of good that I have done nothing, but the blood of Jesus This is all my hope and peace nothing, but the blood of Jesus This is all my righteousness

Nothing, but the blood of Jesus No Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow

No other fount I know Nothing, but the blood of Jesus One more time

Precious is the flow that makes me white as snow

No other fount I know Nothing, but the blood of Jesus Oh Glory this

I see nothing, but the blood of Jesus All my praise for this

I bring nothing, but the blood of Jesus I Dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on Jesus Oh When darkness

Darkness fails his lovely face. I rest on his

Unchanging grace in every high Story -tell my anchor holes

All other When he shall come

He shall come with trumpet sound. Oh, may

I then in him be found? dressed in his

Righteousness alone for blessed to stand before the throne

Across the solid rock I stand No One more time

On cross on cross the solid rock

I stand Is sinking

On this sinking Amen Our scripture reading this morning comes from Romans chapter 1

Very important passage telling us man's depravity Right showing us that left to ourselves.

All hope is lost Paul tells us starting in verse 18 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness

And unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth

For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes

Namely his eternal power and divine nature has been clearly perceived Ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so man

They are without excuse for although they knew God that did not honor him as God or give thanks to him

But they became futile and their thinking and in their their foolish hearts were darkened claiming to be wise

They became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images Resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things

Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves

Because they exchanged the truth About God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature

Rather than the Creator who is blessed forever Amen for this reason

God gave them up to dishonorable passions for their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature

And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another men committing shameless acts with men and receiving themselves the due penalty of Or for their error and since they did not see fit to acknowledge

God God Gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness evil covetousness Malice for they are full of envy murder strife deceit maliciousness.

They are gossip slanderers haters of God Insolent haughty boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents foolish faithless

Heartless Ruthless, though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die

They not only who do them but give approval to those who practice them This is the natural state of man

And this has been at least all of us to some degree of another until God's amazing grace

Opened up our heart to see the truth of who Jesus is. That's why he gets all the glory

And so I want us to come together in a prayer of confession and assurance Confessing that this is what we were saved out of and we still war against the flesh day by day

Have brothers and sisters in the room that I can call up and say hey, I need some prayer The flesh the flesh that constantly eats at my redeemed soul is telling me

Hey, you were saved from this and we long for glory with our Savior. So please pray with me

Heavenly Father as a corporate body We confess to you our sin got everything that we just read is all that man in the world has to offer

God man naturally hates you God loves their sin and suppresses the truth that all creation is

Testifying to not only your to your existence, but your righteous decrees. We know

Internally that we sin against our Creator God and by your amazing grace You have taken out that heart of stone and given us a new heart for those of us that love you

Jesus Lord, and we not only love you But you have gifted our hearts in such a way that we love the

Saints God, I pray that if there's anyone in here that is looking at another sister in Christ and gives them a dirty

Look God that you would change their heart that you would work conviction to show Christ like love

God not only for the ladies in the church, but the men God that we would The spirit would move about God and that we would look to honor you with our lives and to fulfill what you've called us to Fulfill the one another's to love one another to forgive one another to be reconciled with one another

God we fall short of the standard all the time and we confess that to you and we rest assured

That you Jesus are an amazing Savior that saves to the uttermost And Lord, we are so thankful Lord encourage our hearts this morning by your truth.

We love you Lord We put us in your name. Amen To me

Making your sleeping Without my

My true The My father

And I Now in the dwelling and I Which is

I Empty He prays

Ten's now

First My treasure

Oh Still be

My vision Still be my vision

Everybody should know this

Praise God from Blessings Oh Raise him all creatures here be

Raise father

Proclaim the power and might of his great name

Praise God God Please God save my soul

Please God Praise God, praise

God from whom all blessings flow. Praise to the

King whose throne transcends, His crown and kingdom never end.

Now and throughout eternity,

I'll praise the one who died for me.

Praise God, praise

God, praise God who saved my soul.

Praise God, praise God, praise

God from whom all blessings flow. Praise God, praise

God, praise God who saved my soul.

Praise God, praise God, praise

God from whom all blessings flow. Sing that first verse one more time.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him all creatures here below.

Praise Him above the heavenly host.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Of grace is Jesus my Redeemer.

There is no more for heaven now to give.

He is my joy, my righteousness, and freedom.

My steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.

To this I hold, to this I hold. My hope is only

Jesus. For my life is wholly bound to His.

Oh, how strange and divine I can sing.

All is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me.

Yes, amen. Hallelujah. Night is dark.

Night is dark, but I am not forsaken.

For by my side the Savior, He will stay.

Yes. And I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.

For in my need His power is displayed.

Yes. To this I hold. My shepherd will defend me.

Through the deepest valley He will lead.

Night has been won, and I shall overcome.

Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

Proclaim these truths. No fate I dread. Yes.

I know I am forgiven. Yes. The future's sure.

The price, it has been paid. For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon.

Yes. And He was raised to overthrow the grave.

To this I hold. My sin has been defeated.

Jesus now and ever is my plea.

Oh, the chains are released. I can see

I am free. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

With every breath I long to follow Jesus.

For He has said that He will bring me home.

And day by day I know He will renew me.

Yes. Until I stand with joy before the world.

To this I hold. My hope is only Jesus. Oh, the glory evermore to Him.

And when the race is complete. Still my lips shall repeat.

Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

When the race is complete.

Still my lips shall repeat. Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

God, we thank you,

Lord, for this time of worship. With brothers and sisters in Christ, God, as we lift praise to your name.

Because you are so worthy and honor of all and everything we could ever give. Fathers, we continue this time of worship and giving.

I ask, Father God, that you are honored in this time as well, Lord. Just as in the singing and worshiping and praising your name.

That in our giving, Father, brings you glory and honor. God, we thank you for each person you brought here this morning to worship with us.

And we ask, God, that you would prepare our hearts for the word, God, that you have ready this morning for us to hear,

Lord. That your people would respond in obedience to it, God. That we would see the glorious truths in this word this morning.

Fathers, we study, we praise you, Lord God. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Christ in me and Christ has given us the opportunity to come together and open up his words.

And glean from them, learn from them, grow from them, be edified by them, having our minds renewed.

So go ahead and open up your copy of God's word to Ephesians chapter 5. If you've got a copy of God's word with you, we will be in Ephesians chapter 5.

And we are going to read, as we did last week, a big portion starting in verse 22.

Because I want us to see the whole of this grouping of text that we are going to be dealing with over the next few weeks in this series.

But Ephesians chapter 5, I'm going to start reading there in verse 22. Where Paul says, wives, submit to your own husbands, says to the

Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its

Savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, says Christ. Love the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

So that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.

That she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it.

Just as Christ does the church. Because we are members of his body. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and two shall become one flesh.

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother.

This is a first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the

Lord. This is the reading of God's holy word. Let's bow once again. Let's pray that the

Holy Spirit would illuminate our hearts and minds to this truth. Dear Heavenly Father, we come bow before you once again.

We thank you for allowing us to sing truths. We thank you for allowing us to read your word and to pray to you.

We thank you that in Christ we have the right to come before you. And now we see your words.

We love your words. They are clear. They are true. And we ask that we would not in our remaining flesh distort them.

That we would not misunderstand them. That we would allow them in our lives to mold us.

As they renew our minds. As they bring our minds back to what our minds were initially created to be.

So, Father, I pray that you would be honored in it. Jesus, we ask that you would be present in this sermon.

That you would saturate all of it with your glory. And Holy Spirit, we ask that you would illuminate our minds and hearts to this glorious truth.

We thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Well, as you can see, last week we got back into our study through this great letter from Paul to the church in Ephesus.

And we began a bit of a mini -series within this study that we have entitled God's Design for the

Family. Seeing as how we've come to this portion that we just read here of chapter 5.

And it's giving us a glimpse of this great design by God. And as we pointed out last week, that this section here in Ephesians is that.

It's just a glimpse of a bigger picture of this good design.

Here we see it's showing us that wives are to submit to their husbands. We see that husbands are to love their wives.

We see that children are to obey. We see that fathers are to discipline well. And how teaching and living these things out without a fuller picture as to the why of that design.

In other words, meaning seeing it here in the text. You just read the words, right?

You see the words. You see that it says it. But without having a bigger picture of the biblical foundation of the wisdom and goodness of it.

Often leads us, as we pointed out last week if you were with us, to one of four categories.

And I'm going to repeat those here so we have those fresh in our minds. This not seeing the bigger picture while seeing a text like this.

A small glimpse of the design of the family often leads us to fall into obeying it begrudgingly.

Many of us, we see it here in the text and we say, I believe God's words. I must obey it.

Now sometimes I don't feel like it, but I'm going to do it anyways. If I'm a wife, I'm submitting.

I'm going to do it. If I'm a husband, I'm going to lead and I'm going to love and I'm going to be sacrificial. If I'm a kid,

I'm going to obey my parents. Even if they're wrong, I'm going to obey. We're going to just pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and do it.

But we're obeying it begrudgingly. Some of us questioning it silently.

You know, in our minds we read the text and we go, well that sure does seem arbitrary of God. Why did

God set it up like that? Why are the men in control and the family and the church? What does that mean?

Why is it structured this way? Some, and many in our culture and within the

Christian subculture today, are misunderstanding it fundamentally.

Misunderstanding it. Yeah, it seems to say that. I read the words here, but it must not mean that.

It must mean something else. Meaning you are misunderstanding this picture of God's design for the family.

And then there's others that we know all too well are denouncing it rebelliously. You say, well,

I have eyes. I can read. It says it. It's obvious.

It says it right there. But I'm not going to abide by it. I'm not going to listen to this.

I'm not going to honor and obey my husband. I'm not going to obey my parents. I'm not going to love my wife because I don't want to.

And so I can preach these texts, and many of you will fall into one of these four categories and honestly, totally miss out on the glorious goodness of this good design by God.

And so that's why we have begun to jump, before jumping into this exegesis of that text that we just read, we got to spend some time taking a look at how

Scripture depicts the created order of the distinction of natures between male and female.

This, I think, will give us a clearer picture as to the good design of the why wives submit, husbands lead, children obey, and fathers discipline.

We must see a distinction of natures built into the very fabric of God's creation.

So last week was just an introduction where we saw the world's view of what's known as egalitarianism.

Remember, we used some big words. I don't have them on the screen this week. I'm sorry if you didn't. If you weren't here last week and took notes, you're out of luck.

But there's big fancy words. Egalitarianism, and this is the world's view, claiming that there is no distinction between men and women.

They are equal in nature and, in their view, subsequently roles. And so passages like Ephesians 5 are absurd, trying to do away with God's good design altogether.

We also saw the distinction, this doctrine of the distinction of roles, known as complementarianism.

You have egalitarianism, equal. Complementarianism is complementary, that men and women are equal in value, worth, and dignity.

They are both image -bearers, yet distinct in roles. Roles that complement one another.

And finally, we saw the doctrine of the distinction of natures, known as patriarchy.

Remember that gross word that we talked about last week, that Satan has distorted and perverted in our minds and in our culture?

It's this doctrine that men and women are equal image -bearers. They both have the imago

Dei. They were created after God's image, but created with distinct and different natures altogether.

And so over the next two weeks, we are going to spend some time looking at those distinctions that are shown in Scripture in greater detail.

Today's message is entitled, God's Good Design of Masculinity.

God's Good Design of Masculinity, where we're going to look at the strength, the goodness of the design of the strength of manhood.

And then next week, we're going to look at God's Good Design of Femininity, where we will see the beauty of womanhood.

And the process of distorting God's good design here, the evil one, has used our very own sin nature combined with our created nature to begin to blur the lines between what is good and natural and what is evil and unnatural.

We see this in all walks of life. He's done this in nearly every area of our lives and our culture.

But specifically today, as I said, we're going to look at how he's done it with this idea of masculinity, of this idea of manhood that has been thoroughly distorted by using our sin nature and our

God -given nature. The world has its definitions, doesn't it?

We said last week that either define your terms or your enemy will, and our enemy sure has, and we have to redefine our terms.

But to some in our culture, the definition of manhood is nothing more than an effeminate, docile servant.

That's what feminism has brought manhood in our culture to.

Feminism, and just indifferent. The quintessential sitcom dad.

The idiot that knows his place. You know what I'm talking about. Watch any television show, the dad's the moron.

The dad is always wrong. The dad is detached, and our culture adheres to a creed because of this, and the creed that they hold to is happy wife, happy life.

And so they capitulate, and they compromise, and they give in, and they give up their

God -given roles in order to appease the culture's definition of manhood.

Accusing to every demand from their wife and children, no matter how harmful that demand is upon them and their family.

The world has a type of man that is growing up who are content to be pacified by pornography and video games.

They've taken dominion. Their created design was to take dominion, was it not?

To care for God's good creation, and so they can't do it out there because by the sweat of your brow will you eat.

They don't want to put in the hard work that they were created for, so they take dominion in the video game because then they get some sort of response from that because after all they were created to take dominion.

Instead of loving a wife and caring for her and having the spouse and the relationship there that is supposed to be beautiful and God -given between one man and one woman, they now just go after pornography because after all they don't have to put in the effort.

They don't have to put in the work. They just get the benefits from it, at least they think.

So that's one way, but others in our culture, they define manhood in a more rugged and more hardened way.

You see the extremes. They swing a pendulum, right? As Vody Bokum, which many of you know, he's a well -known pastor who is renowned for combating the decay of the family.

He summarizes our cultural definition of manhood with what he calls the three

B's. The three B's. We measure manhood by the billfold, the ball field, and the bedroom.

If you want to know what a man is in our culture today, we see that we are defining manhood by the three

B's, meaning that the peak of masculinity will always show itself in one of these three ways, and the pinnacle of that would be all three.

You know, the ball field makes sense, doesn't it? The ball field makes sense. After all, it is our culture's

God. Even many within the church today sacrifice their own children at its altar, giving up the

Sunday, Lord's Day gathering for travel sports, giving up family time in the evenings to disciple their children in important things in order to play ball, because that is our nation's

God, because that is the sign of masculinity to many in our culture. We look at these mighty men on the field or on the court and think, now that's a man.

That's the pinnacle of a man. He's strong, he's big, he's powerful. That is masculinity at its finest.

Forgetting all the while that these are grown men playing with a ball. Right? And because this seems like real manhood, what's happening is our young men who naturally and instinctively long for manhood, they instinctively long for glory, it's created in them.

They're tempted to accept this as the real thing and fall wantonly short of their true design.

They don't move forward into the real thing. They're trapped in something far lesser.

Some realize that this achievement of athletic greatness is off the table for them.

Men like myself who it is genetically impossible. And you begin to realize, well, that's off the table.

That seems hopeless. That's what our world deems as a masculine man. What do

I do? I still have the natural desire for manhood. Here's the deal.

It can be found in what he points to in the definition of our culture is in the billfold, in the bank account, the wallet, financially.

If you can't rule on the ball field, maybe you can rule in the boardroom.

This is, of course, natural. A man's design is to provide, so the best provider must be the best man.

Logic follows, doesn't it? The best provider must be the best man, must be the most masculine of all.

The ruthless, cunning, and fiscally wise man must be the pinnacle of masculinity, and that is how we perceive this in our world.

And thirdly, manhood is defined by the bedroom. Now, we have mixed company.

I have no need to elaborate greatly upon this, but you know that in our pornographic culture, there is an expectation of expertise, experience, and performance that men desire to attain and women look for, because it is the pinnacle of masculinity.

Because to them, this defines manhood. And all of these categories, these three categories, plus the other distortion of the docile, effeminate man, you can see where they're falling so short of what's really meant to be.

The three Bs maybe are a little bit closer to real design because the effeminate man, that's

Romans 1. That's completely doing away with any kind of design whatsoever.

A young man who is effeminate, fathers, you got to get a hold of him.

Men in the church, you have to get a hold of him. That is not God's design. But we see pictures of God's design in areas like the world's view within these three

Bs. The ball field, the billfold, and the bedroom.

But what do all three of these things have in common? They show us that masculinity is inevitable.

It is natural. Men desire to attain it, and women desire to benefit from it.

It's as simple as that. Men desire to attain it, and women desire to benefit from it.

It's only natural within the created order. And we have settled for so much less.

But if this is the design, and we can't get around it, and we know that masculinity, manliness, is meant to be, why do so many of the

NFL and NBA players' marriages fail? If they're the pinnacle of masculinity, and that's what men are attaining to be, and that's what women are longing for, why are their marriages failing at a significantly high rate?

Why do so many successful businessmen lose their families? I used to work in the corporate world, and the higher up you get, the more families those men end up having spread out because they lose one family after another.

Why is that? Well, if they're the peak of masculinity, can't they raise a family? Can't they love a woman?

Can't they care for a woman? Can't that woman desire and want him the most? It doesn't work like that.

Why are promiscuous men and women alike so lonely? Have you ever wondered that? Have you ever noticed?

They may parade it as if they're happy and having fun, but they're the loneliest people in all of the planet because they've settled for a distorted lie about their natural design.

It's fallen short. So let's go to the source. Now that we've seen the world's distortion, let's find out what it really looks like.

To help us redefine biblical masculinity, turn with me to 1 Corinthians 16. 1

Corinthians 16. Paul is giving his final instructions to the church at Corinth.

What is he doing? He's exhorting them in the faith. He's exhorting them to continue moving forward.

And look at what he says there. In 1 Corinthians 16, down at verse 13, he says,

Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men.

Be strong. Some translations like the

NIV have tried to soften the language here. They've translated it,

Be on your guard. Stand firm in the faith. Great so far. Be courageous. Be strong. You see the difference?

After all, here's the thing. Paul is not talking to just men in this exhortation to the church, is he?

He's speaking to the whole of the church, men and women alike. However, the word that Paul uses here in the

Greek, Andrizomai, this word, I know that means nothing to y 'all.

There's no connection to that word. I'm just pointing it out because I want you to understand it means to show oneself a man by being brave.

To show oneself a man by being brave. What is

Paul telling the whole church? Men and women alike in this exhortation.

He's telling them to act in a certain way. And the way that he tells them to act, by the way, is tied to a designed reality.

He's telling them to act in a certain way. And the way he's telling them to act is attached and connected and tied to a designed reality.

Men are designed by God to be, look at what he says right after that phrase at the very end, strong.

Men are designed by God to be strong. Why do you think the world defines masculinity in those other three categories that we mentioned?

The ball field, the billfold, and the bedroom. Because look at how we're built.

We're built genetically strong. We are the stronger of the two genders, are we not?

Physically, we are built strong. But not only physically, men are strong emotionally.

One of the many great things that my mother did for me, and by the way, my mother did a lot of great things for me.

This one is just one of them that has really stood out to me over the years and has impacted me greatly.

When I was a young teenage boy, probably 13 or so, I began to panic, and I felt an overwhelming sense of stress about all my responsibilities, as if I had any responsibilities at 13, right?

But in my view, I thought, the weight of the world is going to crush me, and I can't bear it,

I can't stand it. But I was beside myself. I'm overwhelmed with self -pity and the stress of life, and I can't stand firm.

And I remember my mother in that moment, grabbing me by the shirt and smacking me in the face. And she got up in my face and she said,

Son, get yourself together. You were designed by God to bear weight. You were made to bear stress.

You were designed for stress. You were created for stress. And not only that, your shoulders were created to bear the stress of the week along with it.

This is meant to mold you and grow you. And that stood out drastically to me.

I remember that. It's given me great comfort through difficulty. She is right. And this is why

Paul is encouraging the church to imitate this, and emulate manliness.

To be standing firm. Scripture gives us the opposite of strength.

Notice here he says, Be strong. Stand firm. Act like men.

But back in Isaiah 19 .16, it says, In that day the Egyptians will be like women and tremble with fear.

Jeremiah 51 .30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting.

They've stopped fighting. They've given up. They remain in their strongholds. They're hiding away, locked up.

Their strength has failed. They have no more strength. They have become women.

It's quite a contrast, is it not? Isaiah 3 .12 He says,

My people. Talking to the people of Israel at that time. Infants are their oppressors. Infants are overtaking them.

And women rule over them. That's not a good thing.

If you're so weak that infants have overtaken you, and that women rule over you, something is wrong.

You see the contrast in Scripture is it speaks of God's design of a man to be strong.

To be the one that is both physically and emotionally strong.

These, of course, these passages in the Old Testament are speaking primarily of physical strength and battle and in ruling.

But we see emotional strength in 1 Peter 3. In 1 Peter 3, verse 7, Peter says,

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel.

Don't blame me. I'm not saying it. I didn't say that. I literally just read the text. Okay? I'm just the messenger.

Don't shoot him. This is why God's design for the family and for society is patriarchal.

It takes strength to lead. So what does that strength look like?

What does strength look like? Paul tells us in the text. As a matter of fact, we see two things that Paul identifies.

As he calls them to act like men. And the first one is, men are to be watchful.

Men are to be watchful. Says it right there in the text. Why is a man to be watchful?

Why are we to act in this way? Now Paul, again, in the passage in 1

Corinthians, is speaking, of course, to men and women because women are called to carry out this standing within the church as a whole because they are equal parts of the church.

We're all a body, right? So when Paul's writing to the body, he's writing to the body as a whole and everyone has their place and position.

But when we see what it's tied to, the example of being strong and standing firm like men, we see the characteristics that he is speaking of and one of them to be watchful.

And why are men to be watchful? Well, Peter, again, in 1 Peter, but in chapter 5, verse 8, remember he says,

Hey, be sober -minded. Be watchful. Peter uses the same phrasing there that Paul does.

Be watchful. Why? Why be watchful? He says, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Leadership necessitates responsibility. Leadership necessitates responsibility.

What kind of man would take his family and put them in harm's way when there's a roaring lion outside and then just go to bed and just assume everything's going to be okay?

Well, we do that spiritually all the time, do we not? That's why Peter's warning, be watchful.

And that's for every saint. But this is tied to a masculinity, a manliness.

If you are designed to lead, then you're required to be responsible. It's not optional.

Some of you young men may say, Well, I'm just not going to get married because I don't want to bear that weight. Yeah, good luck with that.

You can't get away from God's good design. You see, this is where Adam failed.

I know I talk about that a lot, but everything goes back to that original sin, does it not? Everything goes back to the garden.

It's all tied together. This is where Adam failed. He either wasn't watching or was passive in his watching.

He was tasked to watch. He was tasked to care. And he wasn't. And he allowed his wife, the one he was responsible to lead, to be deceived by the evil one who was prowling around like a roaring lion.

But again, here's where the true and better Adam did not fall. He did not fail.

Even when his sheep wonder, which we do, he goes after us, does he not? Because he is watchful.

And he's not lost one. He's attentive. He is the perfect man. So many men today think that they are a man because they do manly things.

We see it, especially here in the South. It's kind of exaggerated here, is it not? We think we're men because we do masculine things, manly things.

I like to hunt. I like to hunt. I like to go fishing.

Maybe I work on cars. You know, I watch football on the weekend and drink my beer.

I work out. I do all my workouts. I do mixed martial arts. I fight

MMA. I'm a man. I'm doing manly things. Yes, of course, these are certainly manly type things in and of themselves, fine things, but they are not the right things.

And we settle for lesser because our definition of manhood is the ball field, the billfold, and the bedroom, a distorted version of masculinity.

Are they the right things? Are you being watchful? You're tasked with the role of strength, strength to care for and protect those who are not strong.

And many of us are wasting our strength on fruitless distractions while the weak around us are being devoured.

Our wives need us and are being devoured by the evil one.

And they're desperate. They're drowning. And they're crying out, Help me.

And they don't even know it. And you're watching football. We're to imitate our

Savior, the one who was not distracted. Here's the thing.

If your family truly does need meat in the freezer, I learned that. I quit hunting a long time ago.

I love hunting. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with hunting. It's a good thing. But I realized that I didn't really need.

The meat in the freezer was actually costing more with all my hunting supplies and my time than it would to just go to the grocery store and get the meat, right?

But if your family needs the meat in the freezer and it fits, then by all means, go hunting.

That's your job. You're taking care of them. If your family truly needs that car repaired in order for someone to get to work or to get supplies or to get anywhere, then fix the car, of course.

If watching football is a hobby that brings your family together and you're able to disciple them in the process, then watch it to the glory of God.

There's nothing wrong with those things in and of themselves. But if any of those things take away from your first primary role of the spiritual watchfulness of those tasked to your care, then you are derogating your duties and are not being masculine.

You are being weak. No matter how manly the thing you're doing seems, you're just distracted.

This goes again to the young men. Those of you that do not have wives yet, Proverbs chapter 20 says, the glory of young men is their strength.

That's the glory of young men, their strength. You may not have a wife and children to care for at the moment, but you have strength, strength to care for those around you, strength to care for those that cannot.

Young men, maybe your mother needs you to care for her, provide for her.

Maybe your sister's husband abandoned her because he's a godless heathen, and you need to step in so that she can stay at home and care for her children.

Maybe there are people in the church that desperately need help because they're drowning in difficulty and sin, and you can stand firm at the watchtower and watch over them.

This isn't just for you married men. This is for all men. It's built into the

DNA of you, but it's not just for men. It's for you women, too. You're called to be watchful in the areas that you're designed for.

We're going to talk about that next week. Young men, don't waste that strength on video games and pornography.

Use it for the kingdom. Act like men. Be watchful. Being watchful is not just watching out for those tasked to our care, but being watchful for our own souls also.

You're not just watching for those around you. You're watching for yourself. Being watchful for how the enemy is deceiving you.

The enemy is distracting you with entertainment. He's distracting you by thoughts that are not honoring to God, and sometimes he's even distracting you by good things that are keeping you from better things.

And men, young and old, the only way to be watchful is to know what you're watching for.

It doesn't help to stand on the watchtower when you haven't been told what to watch for. You're just looking out, and you're like, well,

I don't know what I'm looking for. I'm looking. I don't know what I'm looking for. That is why you must be a student of the

Word. Your mind must be renewed. You must be being trained in God's Word.

Men, if you're not taking advantage of Wednesday night doctrinal training, what are you doing? What are you doing?

If you're not being discipled by an older man in your life, if you don't have a Paul in your life, what are you doing? You need to be taught through God's words.

Wisdom comes from God and God alone, and you have none of it on your own.

Your wisdom is pure, undefiled foolishness. That's what got us in this mess in the first place, isn't it?

And by the way, you also can't do this alone. You're not

Rambo. That's another area of this, the evil one deceiving us.

And it's made its way into the church, right? We have individualism, like, I'm a man,

I go and do it on my own. That's masculinity. Pure masculinity is the guy that can go defeat the army by himself.

He gets all the glory. But that's not reality. That's a distorted version of masculinity.

There's only one man that accomplished that, right? Christ is the only one that accomplished it alone.

But we, we are called to community. You will not stand that watchtower on your own.

You can't do it. It's impossible. Even in the reality of it, how are you going to be watchful 24 hours a day?

It's impossible alone, isn't it? If you don't have community, a community of godly, watchful men standing that tower with you, you will be overtaken.

Because masculinity requires community. It demands it.

You must be in God's word, you must know what you're looking for, and you must be side by side on the battlefield with other men who know what they're looking for and are watching you while you're watching them.

The second, second thing that we see in the text is men are to be flat -footed.

If you're not familiar with this phrase, I like this phrase. It means unmovable.

It means you've put your feet into the sand and you've dug them in and you're not budging.

We see it here in the text. Look back at 1 Corinthians 16. Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith.

Men by nature are stubborn, aren't we? Usually sinfully stubborn.

Wives, you can't laugh at that. It's true. It's very true. We have our beliefs, we have our convictions, and we stand behind them, at least for the most part.

It's in our nature. The problem is that today in our culture, that is seen as toxic masculinity.

Having conviction is fine as long as you keep it to yourself, as long as you just stay quiet over there, as long as you don't stand flat -footed, as long as you're movable and moldable.

Preachers today, preachers like ourselves here are some of the most hated creatures on the planet in our culture today.

It's because we stand in a pulpit like this and we say, thus saith the Lord, boldly and unashamedly.

But our culture hates this type of flat -footedness. But this is precisely how

God designed masculinity. We are warriors, men. We're made for it.

We are dominion takers. We were designed for that. We were designed for the hard things.

And this demands conviction. Demands conviction.

And conviction demands a flat -footed boldness. Does it not? Any man who has a conviction and is movable in that conviction doesn't have a conviction.

A man stands firm. He is to be immovable. Think of the men on the front lines of things like the

Revolutionary War. You ever seen the movies depicting those? And you see the men standing there and you know those men aren't dumb.

They know good and well, yeah, I'm probably taking a bullet to the head today. I'm more than likely dying today.

With voice and knees shaking, barely able to hold their rifle still, yet standing firm, why would they do that?

Conviction. Conviction that this is for the greater good.

That his own life is a small price to pay for those that he's tasked to protect.

Now here's the thing, it may not be a good conviction. It's a conviction nonetheless.

But notice, Paul doesn't tell them to stand firm. Look at the text.

He tells them to stand firm in the faith.

The world has its conviction. But Paul says, no, no, no.

This is what a man does. Act like a man by standing firm in the faith.

This, this is the ultimate conviction. One that is truly worthy of standing firm for.

The only conviction worthy of standing firm. The faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

The faith that hinges on the ultimate man. The quintessential, perfect, ideal man of perfect masculinity.

The one who stood flat footed against sin and the enemy, death.

And when the world, the whole of the world, threw everything it had at him. Everything against him.

Its strongest powers that be, men like Pontius Pilate, were standing in front of him.

And he stood firm. And he declared to Pilate, remember he says, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above.

And stood firm. And then allowed, hear me out, allowed them to beat, mock, ridicule, spit upon, and ultimately kill him.

Allowed it. Even though, he had the power, you realize, to crush all of them at the word of his mouth.

He had created them by the word of his mouth. He could annihilate them, just the same.

He could have stopped it at any moment. They were his creatures. And he humbled himself, being made like them, to not only allow this, but sovereignly ordain it, so that he could do what?

He could represent. He could rescue. He could protect.

And he could keep those that are his. By taking the wrath of the father on their behalf.

You realize this, this is our example of masculinity. He stood on conviction.

And he wasn't willing to budge. That is manhood.

We were created like that. Let's go back to Adam again, though. Because you know, good and well, you're not strong enough to stand that flat -footed, don't you?

You see, when Adam found that Eve had eaten the fruit, we don't know what that looked like.

We don't know if he was passively watching, or if he was off somewhere else. We don't know.

But when Eve had eaten the fruit, Adam, knowing what God had said, he knew what

God had said, that the day you eat of it, you shall surely die, didn't he? He was very aware of this.

And his role, Adam's role, there in the garden, meant that he should have taken Eve directly to God.

Instead, he takes the fruit from his wife, and he eats it. But his role demanded, as the caretaker and the oversight of the garden, his role demanded what he should have done in that moment.

He should have taken Eve directly to God, and said, God, she ate of the tree, and I know what you said.

You said, the day you eat of it, you will surely die. Let me die in her stead.

That's what he should have done. But he did not step into the role of masculinity and manhood.

He did not step into the role of patriarchy. You feel that, don't you, man?

I feel it. I'm oftentimes more like Adam. But here's the thing.

Christ did precisely that. Christ brought his children, his people, his sheep.

He brought them before the Father and said, Yes, we said they will surely die.

Let me die in their stead. That is the picture of masculinity.

I know they broke the law. I know that the wages of sin is death. Let me die in their stead.

And in doing so, what did he do? He stood boldly and defeated death. And now because of this, we are freed from sin and death.

For those of us that are in Christ, that are his, we're freed from sin and death, but also free to walk in his precepts now.

We were slaves to sin prior to this. We were not able to walk in true manhood.

Men, you weren't. You were only able to see the distorted version of manhood.

Small little glimpses of masculinity, but so far from reaching the actual designed goal.

But now we are free. We've been made a new creation in him, and now we stand firm in that faith.

We don't have to settle for the distortion, that distortion of masculinity any longer.

Praise God. We have an example of the real thing. A strong, watchful, flat -footed leader.

I'm going to leave you with this. Men, this is what you were designed for in all walks of life.

Sin may have distorted it. Sin may have distorted this in you, and in some cases, it seemingly gotten rid of it altogether.

You see Romans 1, right? We read that earlier. Effeminacy has completely overtaken you.

And now you're married with an effeminate passivity.

Your wife rules. Your wife makes the decisions in the family.

All she has to do is kick and scream, and you go back to your creed, happy wife, happy life.

Instead of being watchful and standing firm on conviction and saying, honey,

I love you, and I'm going to sacrificially lay down my life for you, but I'm telling you right now, this is for your good, and I'm not moving.

That's manhood. Young men, you may give up in our culture because so many women have taken over positions of power throughout, and you have to submit to them.

You have to deal with what Caesar has put in place. But you can do it in a

God -honoring way. You may not have a position of outward leadership at the moment, but that doesn't mean that you can't practice masculine leadership in your life with self -control, flat -footed conviction, immovable.

And you may be able to come and immerse yourself into the life of a body like this and be used in the midst of that.

But the pendulum may have swung the other way. You may have no godly conviction, conviction but no godly conviction, leaving you to the pursuits of the world's version of a man.

You may think, well, this is what manhood is.

I'm going to achieve this. I'm going to live like this. I'm going to be that rugged athlete, or I'm going to be that businessman, or I'm going to be this, or I'm going to be that, and I'm going to do manly things.

But it's just a distortion. If you are in Christ, I'm here to tell you

Christ makes all things new. No matter where you land on that distorted pendulum, Christ makes all things new.

He has paid for even those sins of your effeminate passivity and your distorted masculinity.

He has paid for them once and for all. That's good news. And he will redeem the lost time.

Look to him. Commune with him. Be with his people. And the Holy Spirit will most certainly mold you more and more into the image of that ultimate man,

Christ. By the way, that goes for you ladies too. You're being molded into the image of Christ in very distinct and unique ways, and we'll talk about next week.

But for those of you who are not in Christ today, hope is only found in him. Look to him. Turn from your sins.

Repent and believe. Otherwise, all you have is the distortion.

But if you're struggling with working through these things, and you would like to be discipled in this process, come and talk with one of us elders, young men or old men.

Wives, I want to encourage you, if your husband is not leading as he should, pray for him first and foremost.

Pray for him. Pray that God will work in his heart and in his life. And come to your elders and let us work with him because if a man in this room is not carrying out his duties, he needs to be under discipline.

That's a serious matter. And we can pray with you. Just know that Christ is our only hope.

Christ is our only hope, the perfect example of masculinity. In light of that, let's express and see our oneness in him through the

Lord's table as we do each week. I love this time together as a family. We get to see how

Christ has paid for our sins by his blood and by his body given for us.

That boldness that he had to do what had to be done in order to redeem a people for himself, and we are the recipients of it.

For we are the weak, he is the strong. But we are brought into union with him, praise

God. Before we do that, though, we actually had something planned at the beginning of the service and we didn't get a chance to do it.

And I kind of want to do it before we go to the Lord's table. Thank you, baby. We have a new member recognition, and I want to do this before we go to the table.

Does that sound like a good plan? I think we should. I think we should do this. We are bringing and presenting as elders a couple,

Chase and Kylie Helms, if y 'all wouldn't mind coming up here. Chase and Kylie, y 'all have seen them around here over the past few weeks.

Little to some of you know, there's been a whole process over months of leading up to this point.

And God is in his goodness and in his graciousness has really laid upon their hearts that, hey, we want to be a part of this community.

And they kind of lucked out, right? We do the new member class once a quarter, and we had already done one.

But in that class, we had a handful of people that needed makeup classes, and there were three all at one time.

And they said, we want to be a part of the makeup class. So they were able to jump in early to the makeup class, and then we were able to deal with the fourth one.

But we've been walking through with them. And you guys have gone through the membership covenants and everything. You understand what it means to be brought into this covenant body of believers, right?

They've signed the membership covenants. They've gone through the process. And most of you were probably here a few weeks ago when they were both baptized.

So praise God. So we, the elders, we've met with them. We believe that they have a credible profession of faith.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have baptized them. But also, we believe that God is calling them here in covenant membership.

We believe that we are going to see how Christ is bringing particular pieces for this body, body parts that are necessary for this body of believers.

And Chase and Kylie both will see what those look like. Christ is in control of that, right? So we're excited for this.

So we, the elders, present Chase and Kylie for covenant membership.

All members who affirm this, please stand. Amen. Awesome.

All right. Well, guys, every time we bring a new member in, we hand you an

ESV study Bible. You get one per couple. You're gonna have to figure out which one gets it, right?

This is not a gift. We say it every week. This is a commissioning. Y 'all have learned this is what we're about.

This rules us. God's very words tell us everything we need for life in Godliness.

And this is a sword for you guys to grow in that. And we want to give this and commission this to your family.

And I know you have Bibles, but this is, for us, something meaningful about what it is that we value, because Christ is king and those are his words.

And so we're excited to have them here. Why don't everyone stand? Let's bow and pray.

Pray with me that God would work in their lives and use them. And members, make sure to go out of your way to come and welcome your brother and sister into the fold, into this community when we're done here.

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you. We thank you for how you are growing and molding your church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Lord, we thank you for Chase and Kylie. We thank you for their love for you, for their love for your word, for their love for your people.

And God, we most of all thank you for your love for them. And so we pray that you would mold them,

Lord, grow their family, disciple them. Lord, I pray that they would bring their gifts and abilities to benefit this body of believers and that they would benefit greatly from their brothers and sisters here.

And we thank you for your provision, your providence. Be honored in our lives and their lives, and together, all of us, we thank you in Christ's name.

Amen. All right. Well, guys, let's prepare our hearts now to go to the table.

We're a family, right? I know there are many of you that are guests here, and what we're doing, if you come to the table, we're taking you at your word that you profess

Christ, that you are a baptized believer and an active, participating member of a healthy, local church.

And so when you come to this table, we take it very seriously. Paul said that some of you have taken this in an unworthy manner and are sick, and some have even died.

This is very serious. Do not come to this table if you are not in Christ. That is a very serious matter.

But for those of you in this body that are coming to this table, this is a communal thing.

This is a family thing. We are professing to one another that yes, Christ has paid for me.

And I am in him, and I live for him. So let's pray now. How this will work is we come around and get the wine and the bread at either side, and then go back to your seats through the middle.

So we'll go around the outsides. Those of you in the back row up against the wall, if you could come to this side so we can kind of even out both lines.

But you can come up, take up the elements, go back to your seat, pray individually, pray as a family, pray with a group. However you wanna do that, take the elements, and then we will come back together.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, be honored in our time of worship through the ordinance of the

Lord's Supper. We thank you for this ordinance. We thank you for how it draws our minds and our hearts and our souls to you.

Christ Jesus, we thank you for your unique spiritual presence with us in this moment of worship together today as a family.

Oh, allow us to experience the goodness of Christ as we express it to each other.