You can open your Bible to 2 Timothy. Happy Father's Day, dads. Thanks, Ray. I'm going to focus on Dad somewhat this morning, but the text we're going to use, though in a male context, definitely applies to all believers. And so, ladies, you can glean and benefit from this, young people as well. The passage we're going to be looking at in 2 Timothy chapter 2, again, applies to all believers, all those who would claim to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so there's application all around. Our culture is continuing its sort of upheaval. Decades ago, there is what we might have called the sexual revolution. The sexual revolution, the motto was kind of free love, and the idea is taking, really conflating the ideas of sex and love. And so free love meant sex all over. Free sex and without any restrictions or so on. And so that was generations ago, and that's what we call the sexual revolution. Well, the sexual revolution never stopped. is continued. And so kind of that breaking of the bonds of God's design for sexuality began then and it continues. And so that's what we find today as well. And it seems like in the last decade or so things have sped up quite quite a bit. And so really the end goal of this is no moral restraints whatsoever on sexuality. That's the end desire. And now up until this point, much of what we've called the sexual revolution has been wrapped within moral garb. And so you cannot tell me who to love, for instance, or we cannot withhold rights from certain individuals. And so love and rights and so on have been the main focus. And we have observed that, and it continues. With that sexual revolution and the distortion of God's design also comes a distortion of gender, gender identity and gender expression and gender roles. And you're seeing that all around you today as well. So what do we do when we come to Mother's Day and come to Father's Day? Mother's Day, if we celebrate Mother's Day, really what we're saying is we recognize that there is a specific gender role and gender expression associated with females, right? And so we say, mothers, we celebrate that traditional role, kind of that instinctual role of females. And then Father's Day comes along and we say, well, we recognize that there is a specific gender role and gender expression for men, and we celebrate that saying Father's Day. And so it's a wonderful vestige in our culture, harkening back to a time where we saw a clear distinction between male and female, and male and female gender roles. And so when I was preaching on Mother's Day, I mentioned to you that there are some schools in Australia that are actually changing Father's Day and Mother's Day, and they're simply changing these days to appreciation days, and with no recognition of male or female. Well, The attack on God's design continues, but we are not those who are carried about with the culture. The church is not moored to the culture so that when the culture moves, the church also moves. That's not the case. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is firmly fixed on the standard of scripture and the holy character of God. And so no matter how the culture moves, the church remains steadfast. One of the problems with the culture or with the church is that the church seems content to stay almost 20 yards behind the culture. And so as long as we seem to be somewhat behind the culture as far as this revolution is concerned, then we're okay. The problem with that is if we link ourselves to the culture, no matter how far behind the culture we are, as the culture moves, we move as well. Well, the Word of God is our unchanging standard. The holy character of God is our unchanging standard. Morality and gender roles emanate from the holy character of God. That is the source of our morality. That's our unchanging source, our transcendent source, our objective authority. And so as a church we stand on that. And so this morning I want to focus on some character qualities that we would consider traditionally male. There is an essence to masculinity where we can say, and I can confidently say to the next generation of young men, act like a man. This is not the world's view of masculinity. This is not even a stereotypical view of masculinity from decades of the past. And so we do not look at men as the dumb brute who's obsessed with beer and football. We do not believe that masculinity means the sexist, misogynistic man who is dominating or domineering over women. We do not look at masculinity and say that men are those primitive, sex-obsessed brutes. That's not our understanding of masculinity. But we do believe that there are distinctions between masculinity and femininity. God has designed men to be men and women to be women. And there are traditional roles and God designed roles to fill. In 2 Timothy 2, verses 1-7, we have a man, the apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, a young man. Paul's intention here is to encourage young Timothy to kind of man up. Timothy, I'm entrusting with you truth, and your job is then to entrust that to other men also, who will be able to teach further men as well. What we're going to find is that God's design for the faith, the passing on from one generation to the next, is that of being passed from one generation of men to the next. God's design is that men be the leaders who take the faith and pass it from one generation to the next. And so, 2 Timothy 2, verse 1-7, we kind of eavesdrop on Paul's advice to young Timothy. It says, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. I mentioned that God's design for the faith is that men Fathers shepherd their young sons and pass the faith from one generation to the next. We see this all throughout the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 1 verse 8 says, Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching. Proverbs 2 1, My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you. 3 1, My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. 4. Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive that you may gain insight. You understand the pattern and we can keep going. God's design is that men understand that they have a responsibility. God has created an office when it comes to fatherhood. He said that this office is my design. Men are to fill that office and to be stewards of that office. And so, as in many areas of life and in many relationships, I recognize that as a dad, my role as a father is filling and being a steward of the office which God has designed called fatherhood. This is not my idea. This is not my design. It's not your design either. This is God's design, fatherhood. And so I have to appeal to the creator and the designer and say, Lord, what does it look like to be a dad? What does it look like to be a father? What would you have me to do as I hold this office? And so we see in Proverbs, very clearly, is to give instruction, pass the faith on, hear the father's instruction. Why? Because the father is passing on what? The commandments of God. And so it continues in Proverbs. My son, accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. Proverbs 4.20, My son, be attentive to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Proverbs 7.1, My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you. You say men. This time in history, maybe in some degrees beyond others, manhood or masculinity or fatherhood is under attack. And so what we have is we have a generation of young men who are being raised up who just don't know what to do with themselves. Who am I? What is my role? And so what we have is masculinity is being attacked. Men, masculinity is being described as toxic. There's no place for it and there's this grand reversal happening in our culture. Now some of that may be a response to real imbalances that have existed in the past. A concept of masculinity that saw it as domineering which was an imbalance in and of itself. But also there's a movement afoot to really say that masculinity is illegitimate, that fatherhood is illegitimate. We saw the controversy some months ago with the Gillette razor ad. And the whole concept was really to attack some stereotypes of masculinity, but actually just some good traditional understandings of what masculinity ought to be. There's an attack on masculinity. And so young men are wondering what their role in life ought to be. The fact is, God's plan for men is that we, with single-minded determination, self-discipline and endure and serve God wholeheartedly and then pass that on to the next generation. So why the prolonging of adolescence? Why young men never really entering into adult life, even once they get married, acting like teenage children when they ought to be manning up and beginning to serve and to sacrifice for their families? Instead, they spend so much time on, you know, I'm going to say it. on Xbox and PlayStation, spending their hours of their day instead of getting into the Word of God, and learning more about Christ, and preparing themselves to pass the faith on to their children, so their kids look at them as men of determination, and conviction, and meaning. Instead, they're big children. the benefits of married life and the benefits of adulthood while never taking upon themselves the responsibilities of the office for which God has entrusted them. And so, God's design is that with determination, single-mindedness, self-discipline, and endurance that men will serve God wholeheartedly. That's our calling. This is This idea of the lazy, self-indulgent young man, the prolonged childhood, is a problem because it flies in the face of Christ's description of discipleship. Luke 9, verse 23, Jesus says, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." He's saying, listen, if you're going to follow me, deny yourself, self-denial, take up your cross, die to yourself, die to your self-interest, die to your self-indulgence. Part of manhood, the authority which God has asked men to wield, Is that a self-sacrifice? It's not about me. It's not about my self-indulgence. I hear about men, whether it's their own lust or their own desires, abandoning their families. I got to be true to me. Masculinity, manhood, as we come off celebrating the anniversary of D-Day, the idea of men who would say, We have to fight for something greater than ourselves. We have to be willing to give ourselves what? For what? To protect our wives and our children and freedom itself. A manhood that says, it's not about me. A willingness to sacrifice life. It might not be giving your life physically, but it's saying, you know what? It's not about my indulgence. I'm not the king of the castle. I'm a servant leader in my home, here to serve my children and serve my wife. This is inherent to the qualities of discipleship. Deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Christ. There are rigors to discipleship. Because of this reality, Paul finds it very fitting to use some analogies referring to what it means to be a Christian man, to Timothy. And so he says in verse 3 of our passage, share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. And so Paul says, I want to liken your role, Timothy, to that of a soldier. We, in 2019, as men, even some of you young men, We have not seen war. We don't fear a draft. We don't feel a calling to go on the other side of the world, feeling that the very freedom of our nation or our families is at risk. We don't have to face that choice. The freedom that has been fought for by a generation of men that has gone before us and have succeeded, have produced the ability for us to live a life of ease. And it is still something within men that says, I need to fight for something. I need to feel as if I have purpose in life. Or maybe I need to experience a similar struggle to prior generations. And so we invent our own psychoses. We invent our own struggles. And so we're going to fight against injustice in the culture. We're going to fight against hurtful words or hate speech and so on. And really what we're doing is producing a man of Well, I don't want to describe because I'm gonna get myself in trouble. So, the steadfast submission of a soldier we see in verse 3. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Paul uses the metaphor of war. It's not the first time he's done this. 1 Timothy 1.18, he says, This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. It's a proper analogy. is a proper analogy because Paul is saying it takes discipline, it takes work, there's sacrifice involved. Not only this, but there actually is a spiritual warfare which is real. Paul often referred to fellow workers as fellow soldiers. See in Philippians 2.25, I have thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother, and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need. Ephesians 6, he likens spiritual life to spiritual warfare. Why? This is not just a clever metaphor. What he's saying is that there actually is warfare happening all around you. Satan is real. The Bible says that he goes about as a roaring lion seeking somebody to devour. And so the Bible says, be watchful, be sober-minded, because that's reality. So be on guard. And so this is a calling, saying men realize, now, rabbit trail, here we go, okay. So I have noticed that in our culture, our culture is force feeding us, isn't it? I mean, you see this right now just by going online and seeing how everybody this particular month, all these companies are changing their logos this month in honor of certain recognition The culture has a moral system which it is seeking to force-feed us with, right? And passivity means allowing desensitization by the culture in your minds, men, and even in our homes. What we need to understand biblically is that there is a spiritual war going on all around us. And so there are spiritual influences at play seeking to influence and to devour. I say that because my attitude is one of, it may not be the best word, I have a spirit or an attitude of rebellion against the world system. Because I understand the motive, I understand the intention. The intention is to completely desensitize its social engineering, to try to get you to accept a moral system which is contrary to scripture. And I don't look at that lightly. I say, who do you think you are? How dare you try to push this morality upon me? So I fight against that and say, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to be led by the nose to eat at the same trough of slop that the world is. Absolutely not. Because I understand there's spiritual warfare. And so the Bible says be sober minded and be watchful. So lazy and self-indulgent that we're just going to feed upon the same thing that the world is feeding upon because we're so desperate for entertainment or to occupy our minds. 2 Corinthians 10.3 says, For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. It's saying there's spiritual war. You have the ability to engage in it, so get busy. The analogy of a soldier in a war is appropriate because we're engaged in spiritual battle. Forces all around us which seek to cause us to deviate from all that God has called us to do. Do you think the war on men doesn't have a spiritual source? Do you think the war on gender roles doesn't have a spiritual source? The very same voice in the early chapters of Genesis which sought to distort God's word and to destroy His design is still at work. And so, as men are busy occupying their minds and their time building wonderful structures on Minecraft, look what I have made. What are we doing building up the spiritual lives of our children? What are we doing fighting a spiritual battle and accomplishing something for the one who has called us or who has enlisted us? There's a multitude of different avenues by which Satan has sought to neuter men. Just occupy them. Just engage them. Just occupy their minds. Just give them diversions. Confuse them as far as what their role is in the culture. Men are to be determined to not become spiritual casualties. We are to engage in spiritual battle. Not only this, but like a soldier, he engages with resolve, a sense of duty, and he does so unwaveringly. Paul says to Timothy, be a man. You ought to have the steadfast submission of a soldier. I say steadfast, steadfast, the idea of being resolute. resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering." Verse 4, it says, "...no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." You're not going to deviate. You're not going to get caught up. You're not going to get tangled up with the world. Don't get caught up with civilian pursuits. You have a charge. You have been enlisted. And so there ought to be a single-minded devotion. We ought to have a single-minded devotion to Christ, the one who has called us. A determination to fulfill His calling without distraction, without being led astray, without being occupied or handicapped. How many men are on the sidelines of spiritual battle because they're addicted to pornography? You don't think there's a spiritual source to this? Here you are absolutely powerless, without any ability to have any spiritual impact or to lead your family because you're so sidelined with an obsession over sensuality and your own physical pleasure. You don't think there's a spiritual source to this? No soldier gets entangled with civilian pursuits. He's got an aim to please the one who has enlisted him, without distraction. without being led astray, without being occupied or handicapped by the things of the world. 1 John 2.15 says, "...do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Come on, men! Have a healthy rebellion against the movement of the culture. I've used the analogy before, and I think it's a powerful one. The idea of us sitting in a landfill, Sorting through all the gunk and the garbage and the stench with flies all over and picking through it to find if there's anything salvageable there and say, oh, look what I found. This is what we do with the culture. The Bible says that Satan is the prince of the power of the air. The Bible says that he is the god of this world. The world system is antithetical to what God has called us as spiritual men to. Don't wade through it trying to pick out bits and pieces of things that you think are salvageable. Reject the world, the world system. Do it so that you can be useful in reaching the world. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, 1 John 2, 16, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride and possessions is not from the Father but is from the world. The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. Don't get caught up with the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, pride and possessions. Men, meaning in life is not found in getting a new grill. It's not found in getting a new promotion. It's not found in your home or your vehicle. It's not found in sensual pleasure. Not the desires of the flesh, or the eyes, or pride in possessions. Don't love the world. Don't get caught up in civilian affairs. We had some people in Luke 9 that came to Jesus and said that we want to follow You, Jesus. And Jesus says, well, if you're going to follow Me, what? Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. You've got to be willing to sacrifice, willing to have some discomfort. Another one said to Jesus in Luke 9.59, to another Jesus said, follow me. But this man said, Lord, let me first go bury my father. Jesus said to him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Harsh, Jesus. That's harsh. Let the dead go bury their dead. What is he saying? Can't go bury my father? What this man was saying is let me go home and tend to my father until the time of his death where I can receive my inheritance and then everything will be good and then I can really follow you and I can serve you with my whole heart, but let me first get this out of the way so that I can do so without restriction. He said, no, there's some urgency here. Anybody who says I will serve Jesus when will never serve Jesus. No. Let the spiritually dead bury their physically dead. But you, if you're to follow me, go proclaim the kingdom of God now. Another said, I'll follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. Well, that seems reasonable. But Jesus said to him, no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. You start, you gotta finish. No deviating. No half-built towers. No half-plowed fields. And so men, as disciples of Christ, we have determined in our minds that He is the preeminent figure in our lives. He won't do anything to deter us from following Him. He will not permit anything or anyone to dissuade us from our affections for Christ and for our submission to Him. He is our Lord and our Commander. He has saved us. He has given us a calling. And so on one hand we have this idea And I don't want to be guilty of painting this imbalance, this idea of a hardened soldier, you know, this kind of calloused man who's unfeeling and so he's going out there into battle and he's going to take the arrows kind of deal. That's true, but that is wrapped in the context of a heart filled with affection that's serving as a soldier out of love and care for the Lord Jesus Christ who has called us to that service. And so Paul says to Timothy, no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits. Civilian pursuits. Jesus said something similar in Luke 8 when he was talking about the parable of the sower. You know the parable, these different seeds that are cast into different types of soil and some take root and some don't. And the picture was that the gospel goes out and some believe and some go on to produce fruit and others don't. And so in Luke 8 verse 14, Jesus in describing that which fell among the thorns, he says, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and the fruit does not mature. There are those who get choked out, the faith gets choked out. Why? They start following Christ, they stop following Christ. You say, because of sin, right? Like, they just get sidelined and there's major sin, and they renounce the faith. That's not what it says. It says cares, there's anxieties, riches, pleasures of life. It's easy for men to say, okay, but I'm the man, so I gotta provide for the home, so I gotta have my job, and I just gotta take care of the issues of life. And so, in many, many churches, you have women who give themselves to Bible study, which we're very thankful for. You have women who seem to be the main focus within the congregation, or the main driving force in the ministry, which are very important. We're incredibly thankful for those women who give themselves to spiritual things. And so was the Apostle Paul. You see it in Romans 16 when he's commending people in the church, and women fill that list. But sometimes men can give spiritual leadership to their wives as they think of themselves as just going out and being the breadwinner and not giving heed to spiritual things. This isn't God's design. cares of this life, the desire to attain money, the pleasures of life, all have the potential to sideline our faith. What Paul says to Timothy is that no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits. It doesn't mean that there aren't civilian pursuits. It means you don't get entangled in the civilian pursuits. Paul said of Demas in 2 Timothy 4.10, For Demas, in love with his present world, has deserted me, and gone to Thessalonica, Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. He's saying everybody's left me. Why? Love of the world. Don't get entangled in civilian pursuits. Take care of your civilian pursuits. Be the breadwinner. Provide for your home. Do all this. But understand your chief calling is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2.4. Again, he says, "...no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him." Where does this wholehearted, disciplined devotion come from? This man who is holding his masculinity in a way which says, I need to serve and I need to sacrifice, I need to hold the office of fatherhood and masculinity in a way that honors God. This man is doing so, why? Because he's in submission. This is proper biblical authority. There is no calling to authority within the scripture which is not also a calling to submission. Everyone in authority is also in submission in a biblical understanding of authority. And so he's saying this one whom God has called to lead is also one who is in submission to another. And so dads, I encourage you in your home, your wife and your children must understand that you are in submission, that you have affection and love for one greater than yourself, and that your leadership in the home, even as you seek to lead them, is in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. You know how much safety and security that brings to your kids? Dad isn't here as just some domineering man who's gonna lay down the law, lay down the rules, and we must follow him, and we're just kind of subject to the whims of Dad. This isn't God's design at all. What he's saying is, men, communicate to your children, to your wife, I am in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything that I do or say, I have an accountability to my Lord. He is the governor here. He is the Lord here, not me. And so to the degree that I'm authority in my home is the degree to which I'm being faithful in executing the office that Jesus Christ has given to me, and it's all in submission to Him. And so no soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. This answers so many questions about life. Man, what's your goal? What's your goal? Some of you are young guys, right? What's your goal in life? I mean, what career are you looking at? There's all sorts of answers to that, but the ultimate answer, my aim is to please the one who enlisted me. That's it. Life's not all that difficult. It's not all that complicated, I should say. What is your goal as a believer? To please the one who enlisted me. to love the Lord Jesus Christ above all others. Every relationship that I have is submissive to my relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, so secondary. Any pursuit that I have in life is secondary to my pursuit of the kingdom of God for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. All these questions are answered for us men, aren't they? Our aim is to please the one who enlisted us. Therefore, I don't get entangled with civilian pursuits. Paul modeled this in Galatians 1. He was being accused of changing the message of the gospel to please people. And he says, am I now seeking the approval of man or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. So I say, men, and again, I know it's not the best wording, you need to have a holy rebellion against the movements of the culture. Say no. I'm not going to fall prey to this. I'm not going to allow this to influence me or my home. I cannot serve God and man. This takes resolve, it takes determination, it takes a principled approach to life, which determines that Christ and His truth is a number one priority. In fact, you can even use the word duty. It's our duty to live this way. Luke 17.10, so you also, when you have done all that you have commanded, that you were commanded, say, we're just unworthy servants. We've only done what was our duty. So we are serving the One who has enlisted us. Verse 4, No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuit since his aim is to please the One who enlisted him. That's our purpose in life. 1 Peter 1.15, He has called you. He who has called you is holy. You also be holy in all your conduct. The character of the One who called us has a bearing on how we're to live. 1 Thessalonians 2.12, Paul says, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into His kingdom and glory. And again, the language, a charge and a calling. Paul says, we charged you, we gave you a mandate, we gave you marching orders to walk in a manner worthy of God. Why? Because He's the one that's called you to His kingdom. So if we are believers, we've been called out by the commander. We have been enlisted in spiritual warfare. Our preeminent desire and determination is to please the one who has enlisted us. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.8, Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and be at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. With this idea, of being a soldier comes a willingness to suffer and sacrifice, verse 3. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. So I know I've already touched on it, but men, your life is not about you. Part of masculinity and the male authority which God has invested according to His design is not domination, is not domineering, is not throwing weight around, is not being a king of the castle. God's design following the model of Christ is that we be servant leaders, servant leadership. Soldiers suffer. Soldiers give themselves in sacrifice for the sake of others. This is the life of the Christian male. Following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, we deny ourselves for the sake of our wives. We deny ourselves for the sake of our children. So men, let's do a heart check. Even though I don't think if you have, you've gotten this in teaching at Calvary Baptist Church. But have you fallen prey to the stereotypical picture of male authority in the home to the point where you are kind of expecting service from your wife and from your children? Feeling as if you kind of rule the roost because you're the man. As much as we want to fight against the distortion of the culture when it comes to gender roles, we also don't want to fall prey to distortions on the other side either. Soldiers are enlisted to suffer. Self-denial, a willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for others. The fact is we became believers by such a commitment. Take up our cross and to follow Him. Deny ourselves. So we're to give ourselves to our children. The Bible specifically says to fathers, fathers do not provoke your children. Ephesians 6.4. Do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. How do you provoke your children to anger? There's a host of ways. One of the ways is through an unchecked domination. Just demanding your kids get in order. Follow me. Listen to your dad. Do this. Why? Because I'm your dad. That's why. Such compliance, when we come to such compliance that way, will always breed rebellion. You will have compliance until a child comes to a place where he can express his rebellion, and then he will rebel. He'll seek to be out from the authority of his father as soon as possible, and he'll probably pass on that distortion of masculinity to the next generation as well. We don't provoke our children to anger. We bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. The idea there is nurture. Authority? Sure. Servant leadership. An example, embodying the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, the loving, compassionate, merciful, forgiving, empathetic character of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men have a hard exterior which enables them to fight the spiritual battles, to resist the move of the culture. But in the heart is the very heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our children can feel secure. They can feel comfort. They know they can come to Dad and find a heart that will embrace them and accept them and nurture them. Submission, as a soldier, means submission in all of our relationships. And so, I relate to my children the way the Lord Jesus Christ has asked me to, because all of my relationships are placed at His feet. And also to our wives. The Bible says, husbands, love your wives. as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water by the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies, he who loves his wife loves himself." And I say there's imbalance in all sorts of directions because there was a time, I believe, I don't know how far back you need to go, decades anyway, but there has been a time where the church would teach An emphasis on wives, submit to your husbands. Why? Well, because God wants men to be the leaders. Okay. And let me just say, I'm very aware that we can be, I can be guilty of trying to counteract that and going way too far in the other direction as well. And we don't want to make that mistake. We find in Ephesians 5, God has invested in husband's leadership, yes, absolutely. What does that look like? Husbands love your wives. Does Christ love the church and gave himself up for her? I'm like, man, your misconceptions about masculinity and fatherhood and being a husband and authority, they die right here. How do you come out of Ephesians 5.25 still feeling as if you rule the roost and that your will be done in your home? Our calling as men is to be self-sacrificial. And what is the standard by which we measure our level of self-sacrifice? You have no escape. As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. Christ died for the church while we were still rebels. Christ died for the church while we were absolutely unworthy. God's calling to men and to husbands is to give themselves to their wives when our wives are entirely unworthy, understanding that we are to bear the brunt and carry the weight of even the failures of our wives, so that we sacrifice and give ourselves even when she's failing. Why? Verse 26, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, And that's why I say with authority comes responsibility. The responsibility is to encourage the sanctification of our wives. How do we do that? By loving like Christ loves. Willing to sacrifice the way that Christ sacrificed. Just like Christ gave himself for the church, why? For her good, for her sanctification, so that she can be holy without blemish in the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 1 Peter 3.7 says, "...likewise husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered." So men, your wife should not remain this enigma. Who can understand women? It says, get to know your wives, understand them so that your leadership is properly catered towards the character of your wife. Understand her faults, understand her failures, understand her strengths, understand how her mind works and so that your communication, your leadership is catered to her. Live with her in an understanding way. Don't allow the differences between male and female plus your feeling as if you're an authority to become domineering upon your wife and to discredit her Feelings. Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. We submit to Christ. We're seeking to please the one who has enlisted us. That submission to the authority of Christ means that in all of our relationships, my role and how I operate within those roles is also in submission to Christ. especially when it comes to our wives and our children. And so Paul says to Timothy, you ought to have the steadfast submission of a soldier, but then he continues in verse 5. And be relieved, that point was very long compared to the next two points, okay? So the steadfast submission of a soldier, but then he says, you ought to have the enduring discipline of an athlete, verse 5. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. And so Paul's saying to Timothy, number one, I'm gonna throw a soldier at you, So you're going to be humbly submissive to the one who called you, and then you're going to carry out your role, engage in spiritual warfare in submission to Christ. But then he says, an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. What do we know about an athlete? Discipline. Some of you have been involved in sports and you know that any success in your sports had to do with self-discipline. There are some sports where you're not necessarily competing against others, but you're really competing against your own body. That is, you need to get yourself in shape. And so that type of workout and discipline is trying to beat personal bests and so on, and pushing yourself to a level of performance that you haven't reached before. That's enduring discipline. An athlete has given himself to becoming better and better at whatever sport for the ultimate purpose of winning the prize. Paul said, and he loves sports analogies, Paul did, Philippians 3.13, Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. He's saying, and again, I'm pushing on, forgetting what's behind, I'm determined. He says there's a goal and I'm going to reach it. Like the soldier seeking to please the one who has called him, the prize is the approval of Christ. So soldier and athlete both have the idea of discipline. And I know I said some things earlier that might be a little bit harsh as far as kind of hitting at the self-indulgent, lazy nature of this generation of young men. But the reality is, if this is what discipleship is, This lazy, apathetic, self-indulgent character is going to strike right to the heart of your ability to be a proper disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our aim is to come to that time where Christ says, well done, good and faithful servant. Paul says that even after all that he had accomplished, really what he's saying is, I don't consider myself to have made it my own. I have not arrived yet, is what he's saying. Even towards the end of his life, he had the same notion. The point is this is a lifelong pursuit of self-discipline and self-denial. Like an athlete that trains day in and day out in order to obtain his goal, so too does a man of God labor relentlessly in order to please the one who called him. That's the idea. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15.10, "...but by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. It was not I, but the grace of God that is with me." This is a very important passage because some of you may be recoiling at this emphasis that I'm putting on self-discipline, self-effort, labor, sweat, and so on. You say, wait, but it's all by grace. And I agree with you, it's all by grace. But what do we do with grace? 1 Corinthians 15.10, But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. He's saying it's all God's grace. But he says it wasn't in vain. How? It wasn't in vain. On the contrary, Paul says this is how God's grace was not in vain. I worked harder than any of them. It's God's grace, yes, but God's grace was not given to me in vain. Why? Because I worked, I labored harder than anybody else. Paul's quick to say that it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. And so here we have this strange tension. The grace of God given to me means what? I should labor as hard as I possibly can, not to earn acceptance with God, not to earn my salvation, simply because I've been enlisted and I want to live in submission to Him. But then Paul says, but anything I was able to do for His glory, all God's grace, is all God's grace, but God's grace does not preclude labor. God's grace expects labor, not to earn the grace, but to be an outworking of the grace. So we labor by God's grace. Like any good athlete would tell you, in order to win, you must discipline and deny yourself any time your own passions jeopardize the obtaining of that prize. And so Hebrews 12.1 says, therefore, Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, that is all those examples of the life of faith in Hebrews 11, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. And so if you're at a track meet, you're going to run a race. You know, sometimes people when they train for these things, they might have ankle weights on or they might carry weights so that their body can get used to bearing a greater weight than what their body actually is. And when it comes day to compete, you take those weights off, right? I mean, you go and you've trained your body. You can imagine somebody coming to the starting line and still having weights on him. coming and having a parka on, coming and having his cell phone in his pocket and the headphones on, right? And just absolutely unprepared, covered with additional weight and hindrance. This is the idea. The writer of Hebrews says, lay all that aside, anything that's going to hinder you, lay it aside. Every weight. And what is it? Well, he says, in sin, which clings so closely. There are so many, especially young men. And I understand you are, to a certain degree, a victim of the culture. Our culture is designed to demoralize and even entrap young men, to sideline you so that you are obsessed with your own sensuality and the misnomers the culture gives you regarding the purpose of men. I understand that. Lay it all aside. Lay aside every weight and every sin which clings so closely. Why? Because you need to run with endurance the race that's set before you. What are you looking at? Not a finish line. You're looking at the Lord Jesus Christ, looking unto Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. And so you know what? I'm painting a picture for you of a life of self-denial, labor, work, sweat, determination. You say, oh, that sounds like a lot of work. I kind of like the way I'm living right now. I kind of do what I want to do. I come and go as I please, and I'm just having... Okay. You look at discipleship and say, oh, that seems like some suffering. Yeah, it does, doesn't it? Self-denial now, why? Because of the joy that's set before us. Look to Jesus, who, for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. And so, of the athlete, there's self-denial, there's self-discipline, And it says in verse 5, an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. An ancient athlete participating in the Olympiad had to train for 10 months. He had to train for 10 months and he had to swear an oath that he had done it. You've got to compete according to the rules. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, 25, every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. And I love this again, I know I'm kind of hitting this thing over and over again, but men, I think that this is, this is that area in which so many men are sidelined. A lack of discipline of the body. Paul says, I exercise self-control. I'm not beating the air. I'm not just shadow boxing here. I don't run aimlessly. I discipline my body. I keep it under control. Why? Because there's a danger. Preach to others, but my own lack of self-discipline means that I end up becoming sidelined and I myself am disqualified. Self-control in all things. Discipline my body. And so Paul says, steadfast submission of a soldier, the enduring discipline of an athlete, all of these are analogies of the Christian faith, especially focused from one man to another. Then he gives one more in verse 6, and we're going to be done here. He says, you also, Timothy, to be a workman approved of God, need to assume upon yourself the long-suffering labor of a farmer. Verse 6. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the cross." Now this seems a little strange. Soldier? I mean, going off to wonderful victory, and by the way, the wonderful thing about a soldier is, yes, he's under the authority of his commander, but he also has a band of brothers. The soldier's not just a lone guy there. He has his group of fellow soldiers that serve that encouragement, that serve to be that family, and it's a wonderful analogy to that of life in the church. So he's got the steadfast submission of the soldier, the enduring discipline of the athlete, but then he's a farmer? I mean, I can understand you have, you know, heroes. And so sometimes you have a fictional hero, a movie star or something, that's in that role of, you know, soldier going to battle. Okay. And there's many people who have heroes that are athletes, right? I can understand that. I've never yet seen a young man who has a poster on his wall of a man wearing a John Deere hat. I just haven't seen it. I haven't seen one yet where, you know, this is my idol and it's a man with one of those hats that's all mesh in the back and a pioneer seeds logo on the front. I just haven't seen it. Soldier, athlete, farmer? What's he trying to say? It's a hardworking farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. All three of these have in common that idea. Every one of these roles requires continual self-discipline, continual labor. It's the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Now, there's some elements of the farmer that I would say kind of speak to us even to a greater degree of self-discipline than even the soldier and the athlete, believe it or not. The soldier goes to battle. And when the war is over, he comes home. Or when the time of his enlistment is over, he comes home. He's a veteran, kind of been there and done that. An athlete, you know, the time comes where he's too old to play anymore, unless you're Tom Brady. But there comes a time where you're too old to play anymore and you retire. Or the season's over, what have you. A farmer. A farmer labors. goes out and he tills the land, and he plants the seed, and he fertilizes the seed, and the seed grows, and he stresses the whole time that it's growing about the weather, and then he harvests that, and then he brings it to the mill, and so on, and what does he do? He gets ready for the next season, where he plants, and then he fertilizes, and then he harvests, and so on. And I know, growing up on a farm, the phrase that I always heard, all the time, A farmer's work is never done. A farmer's work is never done. Always asking my stepdad, you know, what are you doing today? A farmer's work is never done, right? Farmer's work is never done. And it's true. A farmer's work is never done. There's no end to the enlistment. There's no end to the season. There's no time where you're going to retire. It is a time where you finish this season, you're immediately looking to the next as to what needs to be done. Now, what does this mean for us? Sometimes laboring men does not mean that we go off into battle and have an exhilarating victory and say, yes, I've done it. It does not mean that we discipline ourselves and then go off and then win the Stanley Cup or win the NBA Finals or whatever it may be. The idea of the farmer is that he just labors, and labors, and labors, and labors, and labors. Not a lot of fanfare, really no end in sight. It's that slow, faithful, patient, plodding in his labor. This at times is the Christian life. Jesus said in Matthew 11, 28, And what metaphor did He use? Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The idea of two yokes of oxen, two oxen side by side with a yoke over both of them, and what are they doing? Just slowly and faithfully plodding along. Just slowly and faithfully plodding along. He says, yoke up with me. And this is what life looks like. It's labor. It's discipline. Right? It's continual focus. But sometimes it's just faithful plotting. Consistency is what matters. Faithfulness is what matters. Not necessarily immediate results. Do all that you can and then leave the rest up to God. That's all a farmer can do. We're not in charge of life. You plant the seed. This is what he wants me to do. You fertilize it. This is what he wants me to do. The rest is up to God. What does God produce? And then I harvest what God produces, and I do it all over again. Not necessarily immediate results, but we keep laboring. We're steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, labor's not in vain. And so this is the Christian life. This is for everybody. But Paul uses the analogies he uses for a reason. They're masculine, aren't they? One man to a young man, encouraging him to pass it on to other men. Why? Because this is God's design for the faith. Faithful men, fathers passing it on to their sons, who can pass it on to others, the whole while leading and encouraging others along the way. This is God's design for females as well, but we recognize God has designed the office of father specifically for the purpose of passing on the faith. And so all of these, the soldier, the athlete, the farmer, they're all pursuing excellence. The soldier wants to please his commander, the athlete wants to win the prize, the farmer, he's going to benefit from his labors. All of them pursuing excellence. And so notice in our passage in verse 2, in conclusion, Paul instructs Timothy to pass on the teaching to another generation of men so that they'll be able to teach another generation also. It's no mistake that this is in the same context as these encouragements to suffer like a soldier and train like an athlete and labor like a farmer. If the faith is to continue from one generation to the next, We must have men who have determination and fortitude and discipline and a willingness to suffer for the faith and then to see it perpetuated. Pass it on. This is your role, men. Be faithful and pass it on. Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this passage and I pray you'd encourage us as men to be faithful to you. I pray that we take seriously our calling, that we'd want to please the Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do. I pray you'd equip us for this. Many of us may feel inferior or unable. I pray you'd encourage us, give us confidence, understanding that your grace is what makes it possible. And then, Lord, help us to answer your grace with labor, serving self-disciplined lives, giving you all the glory for anything of spiritual significance which we accomplish. We thank you for this. I pray you convict us in areas where we need to do better, when it comes to being fathers, when it comes to being husbands. I pray you would give us just a holy rebellion against the culture with the refusal to be led astray or to be led about by the changing culture all around us. We thank you for this and we thank you for the model of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray you would help us to follow Him. We thank you for this in His name. Amen.