Man Stuff
Wednesday, 19th of August 2009
Before I get into the serious stuff I guess I need to comment on the 80 minutes (it was pointed 
out to me…) that I took to preach the message on Sunday. It has been reported that the great preacher Jonathan Edwards, when he took over at Princeton University preached his first sermon there on the Unchangeableness of Christ. The sermon lasted upwards of 2 hours and was said to have been “listened to with such profound attention, and deep interest, by the audience that they were unconscious of the lapse of time and surprised that it closed so soon”. I am aware that there are some competing factors at work in our services on Sunday mornings, young children in the service, volunteer workers in the crèche, shift workers fighting sleep deprivation, people who were out too late on Saturday night struggling to stay awake…and I know that I am not Jonathan Edwards and we are not in the 1700’s! So what does that have to do with my 80 minutes this past week? Well, I just want to say that I was so impressed with the attention and grace that you all gave me on Sunday! Toward the end of the message you could hear a pin drop (…and no it wasn’t because everyone was asleep…) and it seemed to me that you were all engaged right to the end. As you know Sunday’s message was certainly not the norm for our services, but I hope that when the subject requires it, and God leads me to finish what I start, that you will continue to give me grace and hear what God wants to say to you through the message! With all of those things above in mind, I will certainly give you my promise that I will seek to make the messages, Biblical, relevant, clear, and as free from redundancy as possible. On your side, I only ask that you come each week having prepared yourself to listen, stay awake and hear from God as His Word is opened. For those of you who had to leave early last week or missed it altogether the podcast should be up soon.
Now to the topic at hand. First men, let me give you the podcast link to the Mark Driscoll sermon on Marriage and Men. http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-men I’m sure that you will all benefit from listening to this very ‘man-focused’ sermon on our responsibilities as husbands and men in general. I was greatly challenged by it and I’ve watched it several times. Let me say that I am very thankful for men like Pastor Driscoll who are unashamed to call us to a Biblical standard even in the pluralistic times which we live in. I am also thankful that there is a large church like Mars Hill which provides resources like this one free of charge. I know that God will bless their ministry for being so generous. It is true that as men we receive things very differently than women. Sometimes we need someone to really be hardcore with us, and just tell it like it is! Take a risk and listen to the sermon sometime soon!
On Sunday I said that God designed men to be leaders. They are to lead in their families, in the 
community, in the church, in their workplaces or where ever they are in contact with women. Just reading a statement like that sends many people into fits of rage about chauvinistic men who only want to beat down women and keep them in their ‘place’. The reason that it is so infuriating to many people is because they do not understand the essence of God focused leadership, and perhaps they haven’t seen it lived out in any man they know. That kind of leadership as God sees and outlines it in the various scripture passage’s, is described really well by John Piper in a book he contributed to and edited, “Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood”. He said in the first chapter, “Mature masculinity expresses itself not in the demand to be served, but in the strength to serve and to sacrifice for the good of women.”. That kind of leadership is not chauvinistic, or abusive, or overbearing, in fact it has at its very core the goal of giving women the value, honor and service that they rightly deserve as God’s special creations! Somehow we have developed the idea in our world that if someone leads with strength then that means the followers are somehow demeaned or lesser in value than their leader. In actual fact a good leaders will recognize the strengths of those around him and will mobilize them to rise to their potential and make a difference.
Mature men who lead as God has designed and instructed them are not threatened by strong, intelligent women (…which all of you are ladies…J). They are able to mobilize and enable those women to effectively fulfill their roles without feeling demeaned or beaten down in any way. One of the major things that needs to be recovered in all of this is mature, God focused leadership by men who will practice it in all of their various relationships with women. Sunday we will deal with the topic of God’s Design of Women. Please post any questions or comments you may have so that I can know what you are thinking! Some scripture to meditate on…
Genesis 2:22-23
22 The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”
Your Shepherd,
Pastor Tim