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.