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Please turn in your Bibles to
Job chapter 29. Job further continued his discourse
and said, oh, that I were as in months past, as in the days
when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head,
and when by his light I walked through darkness, just as I was
in the days of my prime when the friendly counsel of God was
over my tent. When the Almighty was yet with
me, when my children were around me, when my steps were bathed
with cream and the rock poured out rivers of oil for me, when
I went out to the gate by the city, when I took my seat in
the open square, the young men saw me and hid, and the aged
arose and stood. The princes refrained from talking
and put their hand on their mouth. The voice of nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. When the
ear heard, then it blessed me. And when the eye saw, then it
approved me. Because I delivered the poor who cried out, the fatherless
and the one who had no helper. The blessing of a perishing man
came upon me and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness and it clothed me. My justice was like
a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and I
was feet to the lame. I was a father to the poor and
I searched out the case that I did not know. I broke the fangs
of the wicked and plucked the victim from his teeth. Then I
said, I shall die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.
My root is spread out to the waters and the dew lies all night
on my branch. My glory is fresh within me and
my bow is renewed in my hand. Men listened to me and waited.
and kept silence for my counsel. After my words, they did not
speak again, and my speech settled on them as due. They waited for
me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for
the spring rain. If I mocked at them, they did
not believe it. In the light of my countenance, they did not
cast down. I chose the way for them and sat as chief, so I dwelt
as a king in the army, as one who comforts mourners." Father,
we thank You for the testimony of Job, and I pray that as we
dig into this passage that our own hearts would be encouraged
and spurred on to seek to grow in the areas that You call us
to. In Jesus' name, Amen. Warren Carr is a pastor in North
Carolina who decided one week to put up a questionnaire that
listed all of the different things that pastors are normally involved
in and asked his congregation to list out how much time on
each of these things they expected him to be involved in. He gathered
all of the answers and reported back to the congregation and
to the shock of the congregation, the average number of hours was
an 82-hour work week. And one answer proposed a schedule
of 200 hours, 32 more than exist in a week. And if he were to
live in terms of the expectations of his congregation, he would
not survive. In a magazine article titled,
Why Ministers Are Breaking Down, Wesley Schrader tells of a jam-packed
day of one minister who, quote, described simply and without
a trace of self-pity, a 13-and-a-half hour workday. Ministers have
a hard time living up to the expectations of others. Now,
I bring that illustration up not because I'm going to be talking
about preachers, I'm not. I brought it up because I think
that fathers and husbands often suffer from the same tug-of-war
of diverse and conflicting expectations that people place upon them.
And you men are pastors of your family, at least if you're married.
Right? If you men were to do all of
the things that you are expected to do in the men's Christian
literature of today, there literally would not be enough hours in
the week to be able to accomplish it. There's huge pressures that
are put upon you, and let me assure you, You're not going
to be able to please everyone, and that's not the point. You're
not going to meet the… You shouldn't even say, oh, Phil expects me
to do something, so I need to do it. You need to be Bereans.
Paul praised the Bereans for checking everything out that
Paul said, and look to the Lord, and he will be realistic in your
life. Now, a couple years ago, I gave
you the story of the professor and the jar. The professor took
a wide-mouthed mason jar, and he filled it with small-sized
pebbles. And he asked the class if the jar was full. It looked
pretty full. And a couple of people nodded
that it was full. Most of the class said no. And
then he put smaller pebbles into it, shook it down, asked if it
was full. Nobody said it was full that time. And then he poured
sand in, shook that down. And then he poured water in until
it was right up to the brim. And he asked his class, so what
is the moral of this illustration? And one of the students said,
well, the moral is that no matter how busy your schedule is, you
can always fit one more thing in. And the professor said, no,
no, that's not the moral. The moral of this illustration
is that if you don't get the big rocks in first, you will
never get them in. And this morning, we're going
to be looking at seven big rocks, seven stones that constitute
what I consider to be seven essentials of Christian manhood. These are
the things you need to be modeling to your boys, and these are the
things you want your boys to embrace and internalize as they
grow up. Now, before I dive into Job 29,
I want to demonstrate that Job was indeed a model man. Let me
read you Job 1 verse 1. There was a man in the land of
Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright
and one who feared God and shunned evil. So if there was any man
in the Bible who could be described as an ideal man, Job would be
it. He is described as a financial
success in verse 3, a family man in verse 5, a spiritual man
in the same verse. And then verse 8 repeats God's
opinion of Job as being a real man's man. It says, So here's
the point. Job 29 is Job's remembrances
of those days that God is describing, okay? It shows Job at his best.
It's a good definition of what a man is all about, what a father
is all about, what a husband is all about, and I believe Job
represents a fantastic model. God says he was blameless, he
was without fault. So, let me dig into the seven
big rocks that Job managed to fit into his super busy life.
First, verses 4 through 5, this is chapter 29, verses 4 through
5, Job is described as a man who constantly practiced the
presence of God. And I believe that all of the
other pillars flowed out of his walk with God. Job was a man
who was close to God, and he sought to bring his family close
to God. And I'm going to read verses
2 through 5 of chapter 29. Oh, that I were as in months
past, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp
shone upon my head, and when by his light I walked through
darkness, just as I was in the days of my prime, when the friendly
counsel of God was over my tent, when the Almighty was yet with
me. So those four verses describe the close relationship that Job
had with God. And I love the metaphor of God
being likened to a lamp that was constantly shining on his
head. But I'm just going to focus on
one phrase in verse four, when the friendly counsel of God was
over my tent. Two versions translate that,
when God's intimate friendship blessed my tent. Another says
when God was my home's familiar guest. Another has when the intimacy
of God was over my tent. However it is translated, the
concept of being very, very close to God can be seen And your relationship
to God profoundly affects what kind of man, husband, and father
you will be. Developing this close walk with
God is probably the most important rock that you can fit into the
jar of your life. Now, you might have all kinds
of excuses as to why you really are an exception. You can't do
this because you're so busy. A work calls to you to be involved,
you know, many, many different hours, and your children need
you, and you've got all kinds of things that keep you from
having your devotions. Well, here's the cool thing.
The concept of intimacy with God is not simply a matter of
having devotions, as important as that is. Practicing the presence
of God, as we've seen in the past, is something that you can
do all day long. And when you practice it enough,
you even discover God in your dreams, your dream life. It really
is a remarkable thing. In fact, you can sense God in
the very things that so crowd your life. The Scripture doesn't
ask you to add God to your schedule. Rather, the scripture calls you
to be so close to God, He is part and parcel of absolutely
everything you do. And we see hints of that in this
passage. In verse 2, Job says, as in the days when God watched
over me. walking quorum Deo is the way
that the Reformers worded it. That's a Latin phrase for means
walking before the face of God. So he had a constant sense that
God was watching what he was doing and cared for him no matter
what he was doing. Look at verse three, when he
felt in the dark and unsure what to do, he simply looked to God.
He says, when his lamp shone upon my head, and when by his
light I walked through the darkness. So this is intimacy lived out
in real life rather than being a division between life and devotions. All of life became friendship
with God. Like Enoch in the book of Genesis,
he walked with God. In verse 4, God is part of his
tent. In verse 5, God was part of his
relationship with his children. In verse 6, God was in his steps. And for those of you who have
an incredibly busy schedule, I want you to remember that Job
must have had an incredibly busy schedule as well. Not only did
he manage enormous assets, but he had a large family, he was
a judge in the gates, and many commentaries believe that he
was an Edomite king, and that these counselors were after his
job. He had a lot going on, but since
God was a part of his everyday schedule, he had learned to worship
in life, and it enabled him to worship in devotions. Friendship
with God can't be developed only in the formal times. God must
be a part and parcel of everything that we do. And if you don't
know how, I would refer you to an earlier sermon that was dedicated
to this whole idea of practicing the presence of God. Or you can
buy the book by Brother Lawrence from the medieval days. that's
titled Practicing the Presence. He was a cook in the Middle Ages
who showed very practical steps of how to develop a consciousness
of God's presence 24-7. So that's the first big rock.
Model to your boys that God is a part of every aspect of your
life and train them to be conscious of God's presence in everything
they do. It will transform your boys and give them a wonderful
foundation for manhood. But this brings us to the second
point. Not only was Job a friend of God, he also sought to bring
others close to God. He was a priest to his family,
and he took his responsibility as priest very seriously. Now,
before I develop this in chapter 29, let me read Job 1.5. So it
was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job
would send and sanctify them, that is, he sanctifying his children,
and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings
according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be
that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. This
Job did regularly. So this shows that Job had a
priestly concern for his children. As you read through this book,
it becomes apparent that he prayed for his children when they were
absent. He prayed with them when they were present. He took the
time to consider their needs. He discussed their concerns with
them. Now back to chapter 29, look at verse 5. It says, when the Almighty was
yet with me, when my children were around me, So he invited
his children to be a part of this intimacy with God. When
the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were around
me. So God was with him not just
in private, but in the context of his time spent with his children.
Now, many fathers leave this responsibility to their wives.
They have so much sand in the jar of their life that they just
can't fit this rock in. But that is to abandon one of
the most important roles in your life, to be a pastor to your
family. That means that it's time to
really pour out everything out of the jar of your life and start
over and readjust the priorities of your goals. What will you
have gained if you gain everything else in the world and you lose
your children? The only way you can multiply
yourself in your dominion is by having children and passing
on a heritage to those children. And when you die, your legacy
doesn't need to die. But if you're not a priest to
your children, to your family, your impact will die with you.
And this is happening even in homeschooling circles. all over
America. It's the women who act as priests
and shepherds of the home, not the men. Now, that's not to say
women don't have an important role in this. They absolutely
do. But there is no substitute for Dad being the pastor of the
home. And I think there is an aching
hole in the heart of many young people because Dad has completely
abandoned this role. And by the way, throughout this
book, there are hints that Job was also somewhat involved in
the education of his children. And he sanctified them and disciplined
them, and he acted as a priest. Verse 5 of this chapter simply
tells us he took the time to be around them and included them
in his relationship with God. And again, I'm not saying that
a wife doesn't have a huge role to play in drawing the hearts
of the children to God. Absolutely, she does. But any
wife will tell you she doesn't want to do this alone. If the
wife alone is the disciplinarian, it's going to be very difficult
on the kids. It's going to cast a shadow on
the family. And if the wife is the only one
that has the kid's hearts, the same is true. God has ordained
that nothing can replace the role that a father has as the
pastor of his family. I think there is something very
special that the Lord does when a father with fear and trembling
takes on that role. By the way, you read the last
book of the Old Testament, Malachi, It predicts that in the new covenant,
God is going to draw the hearts of the fathers to the children,
the children to the fathers, lest he come and strike the earth
with a curse. So there is, if we don't do it,
there is a curse, but I love the promise. And I think it's
a promise that we can claim. We must not neglect our role
as priests of the family. Make it a priority to spend at
least some time in family devotions and administering God's grace
to your children one on one. God will richly prosper the seeds
that you plant. And if you're a single man, you
don't have a family yet, start those disciplines now. It's never
too early to start. Third rock is learning how to
become a steward of all that you possess. Now, God had entrusted
Job with enormous wealth because he could trust Job to be a steward. Another way of saying this is
that Job was not materialistic. Yeah, he had a lot of wealth,
but the wealth did not have him. Chapter 1, verse 3 says that
Job was the richest man in the East at that time, and yet those
riches did not grip his heart. He speaks of his wealth in poetic
language in chapter 29, verse 6. when my steps were bathed
with cream, and the rock poured out rivers of oil for him." In
other words, he was what modern people would call filthy rich,
and yet God had no problem with that, had no problem with his
wealth. God is not down on riches, as
some people think. In fact, God delights in entrusting
more riches to the people who are the most faithful with those
possessions. But if we're not faithful stewards,
why on earth would he entrust you with more? He doesn't entrust
you with more simply because you have need. No, he entrusts
you with more because you're a steward. And so Job was wealthy,
yet the passage goes on to show he had a steward's heart. Wealth
was not the be-all and the end-all for Job, it was a tool. Look
especially, I'm gonna flip over to chapter 31, and look at verses
24 through 25. If I have made gold my hope or
said to find gold, you are my confidence. If I have rejoiced
because my wealth was great and because my hand had gained much.
And then in verses 26 through 27, he speaks of another form
of idolatry. But look at the conclusion of
verse 28. This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment,
for I would have denied God who was above." He is saying that
making gold his hope would be every bit as much a denial of
God as the explicit idolatry of verses 26 through 27. We frown
on the latter, and yet we give a pass to the former. But materialism
is idolatry, pure and simple. Even though Job had vast riches,
it did not grip his heart. He was not a materialist. It
was not the be-all and the end-all of his life. And you could see
that by his reaction to losing everything in chapter 1. Satan
took away everything that he had, including his children.
But when he lost everything, his wife was so discouraged,
she told him to curse God and die, and he refused. In chapter
1, verse 21, it says, Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved
his head and he fell to the ground. So there's grief there. He's
not saying when you lose things or when you lose family members
that you're to be a stoic. No, there's going to be pain
and sorrow. But it says he fell to the ground and worshiped.
And he said, naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall
I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Now, that is the
testimony of a steward. Lord, if you want me to continue
to be poor, I receive that. I want to be the best steward
of the little bit that you have entrusted into my hand that I
can. And if you want me to be wealthy, Lord, help it not to
ever grip my heart. I want to use it for the advancement
of your kingdom and for the benefit of my family. And so the question
that I have is this, are you stewards of what God has already
given to you? In too many of our homes, we
abandon what God has called us to be as men because material
possessions are so important to us. We excuse our almost total
absence from the family by saying, hey, I've got to provide material
things for my family. Okay, and yet we neglect the
things that are more important. Now it is true, I want to not
be legalistic on this, it is true that there are seasons of
time when the man has to be away from the family. You know, if
you think of in the Bible the career of being a sailor, you're
going to be away from your family for a while. Well, I probably
would have tried to take my wife with me, but you're probably
going to be away for a while. If you're starting a new business,
there's going to be long hours that you're going to have to
put in. If you're in the army, you're going to be separated
from your family. So I'm not saying that there's never a time when
there's separation. from the family, but the pursuit
of wealth is not our biggest goal in life. And if pursuing
wealth has precluded the other things that we're going through
in this sermon, then we're not stewards, and we won't be blessed
by the Lord. Jesus said that the pursuit of
God and His kingdom and His righteousness When that is done, he adds all
of these things. He loves to pour material wealth
above what we need, because he knows he can trust us with that
wealth. And some people might say, well, what about the rich
young ruler? Didn't Jesus make him give away all of his wealth?
Yes, he did. And the reason he made him give away all of his
wealth is he knew the wealth had come between him and Christ.
How do I know that? Because the text says, he went
away sad. He left Christ. It was his wealth
that made him leave Christ. He was not a steward. So, saving
up money for our children is not wrong. It is commanded by
Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, 14. The children ought not to lay
up for the parents, but the parents for the children. But that heritage
that we lay up for our children involves much more than money.
It involves laying up a heritage of education, values, worldview,
a family name. So if we pass on a heritage of
money to our children, but we don't pass on the stewardship
principles along with it, that money will actually be a curse
to our children. We must learn to be stewards
and teach our children to be stewards. And there may be some
here who will build a dynasty in 100 years that will influence
America for generations to come. But it won't be a godly one unless
this principle of stewardship is settled. Every dime you spend,
every dime you earn, every dime you give away or save needs to
be under God's plan. It all belongs to God. And we're
simply stewards who say with Job, the Lord gave, the Lord
has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Fourth word that should characterize every father and husband is that
we must be judges or justice seekers. Job was a judge under
God. He had learned to seek justice.
Now it wasn't to the exclusion of mercy any more than women
majoring on mercy is to the exclusion of justice. It's an emphasis
that I'm talking about. Scripture portrays women as majoring
on mercy, men as majoring on justice, but there needs to be
a balance of both in the men. And I want to look first of all
at the issue of justice. One of the reasons why John Wayne
and Stallone and Eastwood and Norris and Schwarzenegger and
Mel Gibson on The Patriot and when he played William Wallace
in Braveheart, One of the reasons those appeal to men is it satisfies
in part a thirst for justice that God has planted in men despite
the feminizing and the wimpification of men in our generation. Now,
my wife Kathy, she can watch the movie, but she doesn't enjoy
it quite as much as I and the boys did, right? But we men want
to see offenders punished and the Now, we're gonna be seeing
shortly how these models of justice frequently fall way short of
the biblical ideal, but the point is, Job as a man had a thirst
for justice, and that was good. Take a look at verses 12 through
17. We see here his involvement in
many facets of, first of all, social justice, helping the poor,
the fatherless, the victim, the dying, and the widows. It says,
because I delivered the poor who cried out, and the fatherless,
and he who had no helper, the blessing of a perishing man came
upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. Now, we
men admire such qualities, but are we out there modeling for
our children what a real man is? Because they're not going
to get it from the culture. If you go to a rescue mission as
a volunteer, tell your family about it, or bring your children
along with you. Let them help you with that. Let them see you
engaging in ministry. Take your children with you to
picket at the abortion clinic, or at least talk to your children
about what you have done. If you have stopped an armed
robbery, or you serve on jury duty or you've gone to bat for
somebody in a court, let your family know. Children need to
look up to dad as a champion of justice. Justice was important
to Job. Take a look at verses 14 through
17. I put on righteousness and it clothed me. My justice was
like a robe in a turban. I was eyes to the blind. I was
feet to the lame. I was father to the poor. And
I searched out the case that I did not know. I broke the fangs
of the wicked and I plucked the victim from his teeth. So the
courageous seekers of justice on the movies draw something
out in us men. But the Bible gives three qualifiers
to justice that I want to point out here. Verse 16 says, I searched
out the case I did not know. These are sub points here. Job
wanted to be fair. He didn't jump to conclusions
and belt the first kid that came along, you know, when he got
upset. He was fair. Someone gave me a quote that
I thought was good. It says, it's no use for a father
to put his foot down if he doesn't have a leg to stand on. There
is no justice in that. I remember as a kid getting a
spanking from our dorm parent at our boarding school. And boarding
schools are not recommended here. But anyway, I got a spanking,
a severe spanking, for something I hadn't done. And other kids
after the spanking told him I hadn't done it. And, OK, that was bad
enough. I could understand that mistake.
But what really bothered me was when he found out that I had
been spanked wrongly, he said, well, that's just for all the
times I didn't catch you. Well, sure enough, there were
plenty of times he hadn't caught me doing things that I probably
deserved as banking. But I knew he didn't have the
goods on me, right? And the fact that this was an injustice, and
he was just minimizing it, lowered him, in my estimation, even to
this day, as being a model of justice. And if you, as fathers,
let your thirst for justice find expression without careful examination,
whether it's critiquing a political figure or disciplining your children,
you'll be a bad role model. We need to be careful what kind
of critiques we bring against politicians or, on the other
hand, failures to critique those in government who are wicked,
like the wicked stuff that FEMA is doing down south right now
with all of the flooding and stopping private funds from being
able to go to families. Our children need to see that
we not only care, but we do good research. Now, some people get
discouraged on this point because they say, man, I have blown it
big time in the past. Well, the past is the past. You
can't always undo the past, but you don't have to be bound by
the past. We can start now by admitting our mistakes to our
children, asking them to forgive us, and saying, look, I want
to grow in this. Be patient with me as I learn. We can be involved
in justice through mercy ministries. We can begin to do what we fail
to do and teach others the same. Now, the second qualifier is
that when he found injustice, watch out. And that was true
not just within the family, it was also true in terms of his
role as a civil magistrate. Verse 17 says, I broke the fangs
of the wicked. He was a political judge and
a king, and he rejoiced in justice. Now this makes evangelicals really
squirm. They're not comfortable with
this. Verse 17 sounds too harsh for our mild-mannered churches.
People might chalk verse 17 up to barbarism, But I want you
to turn to Psalm 58 to see this is exactly the same language
that God has commanded us to use. The New Testament commands
us to sing the Psalms, and most of the war psalms of the Old
Testament are quoted in the New Testament or many times on the
lips of Jesus himself. So when evangelicals cringe at
the strong language of the war psalms and say they are sub-Christian,
They do not realize they are speaking against Christ himself
since Christ used those war songs. Anyway, Psalm 58 is a Psalm of
David, a man after God's own heart, and we'll look at just
a couple of examples here. Look at verse six. Break their
teeth in their mouth, O God. Break out the fangs of the young
lions, O Lord. It's exactly the same language
that Job used. Look at verses 10 through 11.
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall
wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that men will
say, Surely there is a reward for the righteous. Surely he
is God who judges in the earth." And I want you to notice the
connection between people being able to see earthly justice and
their view of God. Okay? He says, so that men will
say, surely there is a reward for the righteous. Surely he
is a God who judges in the earth. When children cannot see justice
in the state, it has the potential of skewing their view of God.
When parents' children don't see justice in a parent, it has
the potential of affecting their view of God. Do you rejoice,
as the psalmist did, when evil men receive their reward? And
if not, why not? I believe part of the reason
many don't like such language is that masculinity has been
stolen from the church. In a seminar by Howard Hendricks
that I attended several decades ago, he lamented this condition
in these words, and before I quote him, it's a great quote, but
he doesn't realize the degree to which his system of dispensationalism
has led to this. But anyway, he rightly said,
the church has become a bunch of mild-mannered people teaching
other mild-mannered people how to become more mild-mannered.
And I think he is right. Another example, there is a movement
in the church today to do away with all violence in videos.
But I would make a distinction between two kinds of violence.
When violence is gratuitous, it is wrong. When violence without
justice is enjoyed, then we are sick. But the scripture is full
of violence, and we should not shield our children from that.
I put a picture of a boy trying to sword fight very deliberately
into the outline there. To shield our children from all
violence, you would need to shield them from the Bible. There are
times when a fight is legitimate, and I think we need to at least
teach our boys how to fight. Christian pacifism does not have
a leg to stand on. Hardenbrook, from whose book
I got some of these ideas, says this. Hostile charges against
men's natural inclination to aggressively seek justice involve
a play on feminized emotions. They are a sneaky, disarming
attempt to strip males of their manhood to make them feel guilty
over something innately masculine. Real men get angry over injustice.
Therefore, it is essential that today's men resist guilt for
thinking, acting, and feeling the way real men think, act,
and feel. So if you do not get angry over
the abortion industry that is ripping little lives apart, then
part of your masculinity has been stolen by our culture. Do
you, like Job, have a desire to see the teeth of the lions
broken in as they devour the young? Real men have a thirst
for justice. And by the way, the pro-life
movement of today almost totally ignores the justice element in
its feminine quest for mercy. We don't treat parents and doctors
as murderers who are worthy of the death penalty. But they are.
Pro-life legislation always puts exceptions that will not criminalize
women. Well, I'm sorry, but if they
have deliberately done this according to their own will, they are murderers.
And if you don't believe that the pro-life movement is hostile
to this principle, I challenge you to ask about any pro-life
worker out there whether laws should be passed to give the
death penalty to both abortionists and mothers seeking abortion
as either reaction. Most don't even believe in the
death penalty. The men have metaphorically been injected with the wrong
hormone. They aren't acting like men. So we have seen an informed
justice, secondly, a manly justice, thirdly, a justice that rescues
and that has action. Look at verse 17. Third qualifier
is that this justice was employed for the sake of mercy. The verse
we read says, I broke the fangs of the wicked and plucked the
victim from his teeth. So this is to balance what we've
already said. He broke the fangs of the wicked
in order to pluck the victim from his teeth. So he was not
a violent man. He didn't enjoy fighting just
for the sake of fighting. It was a desire for mercy that
motivated his justice. And hopefully you can see that,
because some games out there They're not pursuing justice. They're just blowing everything
up. They're games that just delight in gratuitous violence. So many
modern models for justice are either make-my-day types who
have no sense of mercy and tenderness, or else they go to the other
extreme. They're like our modern court system. They show too much
mercy, and they coddle the criminals. which in the process ignores
the God-given rights of the victims. Job was not that way. He was
a rescue mission on two feet. And by the way, let me point
out that many Christians have copped out on the duty to seek
justice because they are socialists. Socialism is the antithesis of
biblical economics. Ronald Sider spoke of social
justice, but it was not the biblical model. Unlike modern liberals
who vote for you to give handouts with your tax money, who legislate,
who talk about mercy, Job was in the trenches using his own
money, his own time, his own efforts to help. Though he was
a civil magistrate, there is not a single reference in the
book of Job to him using tax money to help out the poor. He
cared for the poor, but he didn't use tax money. He personally
got involved, and he personally fed the poor and clothed them
with his own money. Liberals are not real men. They
are pretenders. Real men have a mercy of action,
not of legislating your mercy. So he was there in the hospital
when a man was dying. Verse 13 says, the blessing of
the perishing man came upon me. He was there when the widow needed
help. And the same verse says, I caused the widow's heart to
sing for joy. He was not a socialist. He was involved personally. I
love the story that E. Calvin Beisner told at one of
his seminars about Davy Crockett. Davy Crockett was making the
circles to get reelected. and stopped at a farmer's house,
and the farmer says, I voted for you before. I'm never voting
for you again. He said, why? He says, because you voted to
give a family relief out of the public purse. He said, what's
wrong with that? And the farmer proceeded to give him an economic
lesson on the difference between socialism and what true biblical
justice is all about. And he repented, and Davy Crockett,
at the next session I think it was the very next session, there
was a proposal given by one of the representatives to help on
another disaster case, and he said, he told the story of the
farmer and told them this is not biblical, this is not justice,
it's not even constitutional. And he said, I'm going to take
off my hat and put some of my own money in there, and if everybody
puts the same amount of money, we'll have everything we need
to be able to satisfy. Not one person contributed. They
like to talk about mercy, legislate your mercy, but they had no mercy
of their own. Okay, so socialism is letting
George do it, but Job was personally involved. Verses 12 and 16, orphans
enjoyed being around him. Verse 15, when there was a blind
man crossing the street, he helped him out. When the lame needed
a ride, he gave him one. So it was justice for the sake
of mercy. So we see that even in the definition
of justice, the second element of this point, mercy, is absolutely
essential to the definition of this man's men. And I would ask
you men, if you are not gentle and tender and merciful with
your wives, how can you hope to be with widows? If you are
not gentle and tender and merciful with your children, how can you
hope to be with orphans? A real man doesn't just show
mercy when there's something in it for him or when somebody
else notices. He is someone who gains honor and respect in the
community because of his selfless mercy. And this has implications
for fathers being involved in the pro-life movement. We have
women. But we need more fathers who
can be a role model of the selfish boyfriends and the husbands at
the abortion clinics. And above all, we need to be
merciful and tender with our children. But all of this is
to say, men must be godly judges. Fifth word that should describe
us is that we men must be servant kings. Another way of saying
this is we need to engage in dominion through service, or
to use the analogy Christ gave, We must lead in such a way that
it's not beneath our dignity to wash the feet of the very
people that we are leading. Job achieved leadership through
servanthood. There's no question in this passage
about the degree of leadership that Job had attained. He was
boss. No one could dispute that. And again, did I mention that
scholars are saying that based on some genealogy in the Bible
and early Jewish exegesis that a lot of people now are saying
this was an Edomite king and these counselors were actually
nobles who were trying to step into Job's position and get rid
of him. And seen in that light, it gives
a totally different twist on his complaints, and even at the
end of the book, why it was that God could say about Job to Eliphaz,
my wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you
have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So Job was responding to insubordination,
a grab for his job. Anyway, verse 7 describes him
as a king. Verse 8 says, the young men saw
me and hid, and the agent arose and stood. The princes refrained
from talking, put their hand on their mouth. The voice of
nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their
mouth. So he was a leader of leaders. And by the way, as a
side note, I think we ought to teach our children how to stand
when people who are honorable come into the room. We still
have vestiges of that. You know, if you go to a courtroom,
you'll see the bailiff saying, what do they say? All will now
rise, you know, as the judge comes in. It may not be that
particular thing, but the Bible does talk about these manners
that need to be taught to children. They're not going to automatically
get them. We need to teach them, for example, not to be always
talking when adults are talking with a guest, you know. There
could be times where the guest will involve them in the conversation,
but we need to teach them manners. But that's not the lesson I wanted
to draw out here. What I wanted to pull out was that his leadership
was not that of a tyrant or a bully. He gained his leadership through
servanthood. Several verses could be read. I love the image in
verse 25. I chose the way for them and
sat as chief. So there is the leadership. But notice in the
next two phrases the way his leadership is expressed, two
word pictures. So I dwelt as a king in the army. That's the
first word picture. And then the second image, as
one who comforts mourners. He was not the kind of king who
said, OK, you go off and fight in the army. And he was never
involved in the army. No, he led the charge with his
army. He was not the kind of a person
who was unwilling to get his hands dirty. And that doesn't
mean we can't have times as leaders where we have other people do
the work, but it does mean nothing should be beneath our dignity.
And it means also we're involved with those that we lead. The
second metaphor is a comforter of mortars. You can't comfort
a person by sending your servant. Comfort takes a personal touch.
And throughout this chapter, you see Job's personal touch
as he helped the poor man in verse 12, ministered to a dying
man in verse 13, was eyes to the blind, feet to the lame in
verse 15. He was a servant. So what is your leadership like,
men? Wives will often rebel against
leadership because there is no servanthood. Now, it doesn't
excuse their rebellion. I mean, these guys were rebelling
against Job despite his good leadership, right? So sin can
manifest itself in any situation, but we men need to examine our
lives. Are we willing to be like Christ who washed his disciples'
feet and served them and laid down his life for the church?
Now, God has not called us to be wimps when he calls us to
be tender. But on the other hand, some think
it's okay to be a John Wayne. But John Wayne did not have the
heart of Job, no way. I think of his pride that comes
out in a number of films. You can think of the film, She
Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and the repeated phrase, never apologize,
mister, it's a sign of weakness. If that's your idea of fatherhood,
you need to repent. John Wayne was an individualist.
Job was not. John Wayne tipped his hat to
God. Job was familiar with God. And there are many models of
manhood vying for your attention out there. There's the macho
maniac who's insensitive to women and children. There's the super
jock who equates masculinity with athletic ability, and who's
got a bad case of pride. There is the tycoon who thinks
the only way he can be a man is if he earns enough income.
He earns a fortune, and his search for money insulates him from
his family's needs. There's the gender blender who
has committed masculine hairy carry by caving in to everything
that his wife demands. He's not a leader. I would encourage
you men to be models of manhood in your city, and I would encourage
you wives and children to support them in that role. When God brings
revival to America, He will use men and women like you to show
those scarred and wounded converts what it means to be men and women
of God. And for you women, you can refer
to the long series on women of faith sermons. There's a lot
that you can learn on being a model woman there. But the church desperately
needs model men and women to disciple the new converts when
God sends revival. The kind of rule that many women
rebel against and associate with patriarchy is actually not patriarchy
at all. It is a perverted result of feminism,
ironically. It's the final result of rejecting
God's plan, and it's no wonder then that it's painful. Hardenbrook
says, being the kind of fathers men are supposed to be means
that they must return to patriarchy. Therefore, men should reject
the historically inaccurate assertion so naively believed by Americans
of both sexes that patriarchal families were oppressive families
in which women and children suffered at the cruel hands of despotic
men. An objective look at the period of American history when
patriarchal families were the norm tells us just the opposite.
It plainly demonstrates that spouses and children felt far
less oppressed and far more content than their modern counterparts.
Now obviously there are exceptions, but it is our age of feminism
which has produced the most irresponsible husbands and the most spousal
abuse. It's just a fact. Point six,
Job was a prophet, and we need to be prophets both to our families
and to our culture. Another way of saying it is that
you men need to speak God's Word, the Bible, into every situation
that you find. That means we've got to understand
the Bible. Job was a well of wisdom. Look at verses 21 through
23. Men listened to me, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
After my words they did not speak again, and my speech settled
on them as due. They waited for me as for the
rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain."
So here's a model for you fathers. When was the last time your family
asked your advice or others came to you for advice? Now, part
of the problem is people don't seek wisdom anymore. But we need
to be fathers who are wells of wisdom, who read, read, read. You cannot gain wisdom without
study. And don't just read your favorite books. Read because
it is your duty. And if you can't read, listen to podcasts, listen
to other forms of audio. There are conferences galore
nowadays that can strengthen us as men and women. As a good
manager, it's critical that you read books on discipline, education,
nurturing, economics, and yes, even women's books. You men should
read the best of the women's books, and if you don't, you're
going to relinquish your role as head and manager. Scripture
calls you men to wash your wives with the water of the word, and
that means you need to know how the Bible, how the Scripture
applies to her. Managers know something about the departments
underneath them. The modern church needs men who
seek to gain wisdom, who seek to understand how God wants us
to guide our families. One of my life verses from the
time I was probably 19 or 20 was 1 Chronicles 12, 32. In the middle of a genealogy,
it describes, quote, the sons of Issachar who had understanding
of the times to know what Israel ought to do. They're just ordinary
men, but they were studying their culture, and they knew enough
of the scripture and the biblical worldview that they knew what
men ought to do. They wanted to make a difference.
May you be a well of wisdom as you get older. As the patriarch
of a family, that is what God calls you to, to honor the wisdom
of your father and to seek to be a father that will grow in
wisdom. And then finally, Job had learned to enjoy life and
enjoyed bringing joy to others. Verses 18 through 20 talk about
satisfaction and joy in life that Job had despite an incredibly
busy schedule. And if you're too busy to have
fun, you're just too busy. It says, then I said, I shall
die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand. My root is
spread out to the waters, and the dew lies all night on my
branch. My glory is fresh within me, and my bow is renewed in
my hand. So it's just beautiful imagery of a man who had learned
to enjoy life. And the basis for that enjoyment
of life was found in God, which brings us all the way around
back to point number one. Living Quorum Deo. Verse 19 uses
the imagery of a tree finding never-ending refreshment from
a river, and the second half of that verse shows the imagery
of dew coming down upon him and watering him. So during those
times, like in verse 17, when he was discouraged over injustice
on the earth, he found the strength to go on in God. During those
times when people had sucked him dry, in verses 12 through
16, his cup was refilled with God's waters of life. Riches
don't fully satisfy, nor does a family, nor does a good job
or friends. Job realized all those things
can be taken away, but there is one source of strength that
enabled him to keep on keeping on even when the going got tough.
It was the streams of life that came from God. That was what
enabled him to say, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.
And so I urge you, fathers, to seek God as your ultimate source
of joy and satisfaction. The first six points focus on
glorifying God in your fatherhood. That's your duty. But this last
one exhorts you to never lose the joy of the Lord, which is
your strength. That is the only way you're going to be able to
enjoy life. You can think of Solomon. Had everything a man could dream
of. And yet it says, when he was backslidden, it says he hated
life. He had riches. He had women.
He had everything. He hated life. Why? Because his roots were not in
God. And at the end of his life, he repented. And he gave this
advice, fear God and enjoy life, in that order. Fear God and enjoy
life, what Gary preached on earlier. Catechism says man's chief end
is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And so my prayer
for you fathers is that you would fulfill your duties as fathers,
but enjoy life to the fullest as you do it, and help your family
to enjoy life. You need to be a person who knows
how to joke around and bring laughter to your family and do
fun things. You need to have optimism and hope and laughter. Now, obviously, there's a time
for mourning, and Job talks about that. But Job 29 describes the
pattern of life that we should strive for. Don't feel guilty
when you have fun together as a family and not all your work
is done. If we had to wait till all of our work was done before
our family had fun, we would never have had fun. It never
ends. Work seems to multiply. Okay? So work before pleasure
has to have balance. Enjoy life, help others to enjoy
life. Watch a movie, play a game, go
out for dinner, play ball, go on vacation. So there are other
essentials in manhood, but these are the ones that tend to be
the most neglected and crowded out, and so I focused on them.
But I charge you by God's grace to take seriously your roles
as friend, prophet, priest, and king, as steward and judge, and
above all, as one who has learned to enjoy God and helped others
to enjoy God. May he receive the glory. Amen.
Father, I pray that you would help us to grow in each of these
principles. We feel weak in ourselves, and yet your Holy Spirit can
enable us to do what we cannot do. And I pray that as we respond
by singing Psalm 144, that the martial spirit of this psalm
would grip our hearts and challenge us to be real men. In Jesus'
name, amen.
Seven Essentials of Christian Manhood
Series Sermon
| Sermon ID | 101924200258181 |
| Duration | 49:54 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
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