Well, brothers and sisters, you have probably noticed, if you haven't noticed, then you haven't really been paying attention, but you've probably noticed that in movies and TV shows today, women are increasingly taking up roles that were once associated with men. And that this is true even in action movies when it comes to roles that involve feats of great strength. I'm a fan of the books, The Lord of the Rings. You may know those books. I hope you do. They're great stories. So recently, not that long ago, when Amazon came out with a show, Rings of Power, based on The Lord of the Rings, I said, okay, I'll give it a try. I didn't expect it to be very good, but I thought I would give it a try. But I gave up when I got to the point after, in one of the early episodes, when there's a female character who is literally defeating these creatures ten times her size all by herself while all the men were standing around powerless to do anything. They had tried to defeat this creature. None of them could do anything. She suddenly shows up and single-handedly is defeating all of the creatures and the men are standing there looking like buffoons. At that point, I couldn't really take it anymore. But this is the reality of what's going on on TV more and more today. And it's not only that women are taking roles that are associated with men, but it's also the case, you may have noticed, that on TV, men are often, especially as fathers and husbands, are not presented in a positive light. Just think of a show like The Simpsons. Of course, I want you to know when I'm mentioning these shows, I am not encouraging you to watch these things. I'm not recommending these shows. You probably notice that I rarely mention movies or TV shows in any of my sermons because I don't want to recommend those things to you. I'm mentioning these today, but I want you to know I'm not recommending them to you. But if you know anything about the show The Simpsons, the husband, Homer Simpson, is a complete idiot, right? He can't do anything right. He's even clumsy. His children are wiser and smarter than he is. This is how he's presented as a father on that show. And this is not the only case. This is becoming more and more common. In fact, this goes all the way back to the 1960s to a show like The Honeymooners. You may be familiar with that show. It's a hilarious show. But if you know anything about it, the two husbands in that show, Ed Norton and Ralph Cramden, They are always doing the most stupid things. It's their wives that are always wise and giving them wise advice. They are always doing stupid things and getting themselves in trouble. And if you think about it, if Hollywood is presenting men in this way, and if you couple this with the fact that we have so many absentee fathers in our world today, what this means is that so many boys in America today are growing up without any positive example of what a man is. without any understanding whatsoever about what healthy manhood looks like. They're certainly not getting it from their TVs. and media, and they're not getting it from their homes as well. And the result is that many men today are not really being men. It's almost become a sort of stereotype today, a humorous stereotype to think of men as being undisciplined, self-indulgent, with little sense that they have any calling in the world at all, little sense of direction in life at all. And the reality is that this is actually what's true of many men today. I've joked with my sons that if men throughout history were like had the character of men today, that none of the great deeds and feats in human history would have ever been accomplished. Many people have pointed out that men today are living out their manhood vicariously. and virtually. Think about it. As men, we live out our manhood through sports stars on our TVs, right? We don't do great feats as men. We watch other men that are paid millions of dollars to do those great feats in different kinds of sports. Or men are living out their manhood through video games. We don't conquer anymore. How do we do it as men? We do it through video games today. The worst thing is that men are living out their manhood through things like pornography, which has become utterly pervasive in our world today. What all of this shows is just how much we've lost sight of our true identity and purpose as men, as a society, which we saw last time, is that we would lead and rule and exercise dominion as vice regents of God, those who have been created to govern for him, under the authority of Christ and for his glory. The Bible actually gives us clearly the blueprint of what it means to be a man. To be a man is to rule and to exercise dominion on behalf of God. And the sad thing is that men are not encouraged in the world today to be men. They're not encouraged to exercise dominion in this way. And I would go so far as to say that I don't think they're really encouraged to do this in the church as well. That this is even really being taught in the church in the way that it should be. And yet this is what we so desperately need as a society today. We so desperately need men to be men. We need strong, courageous men who are exercising godly rule and dominion for the good of those under their care and for the glory of God. And what I want us to think about this morning is this important question, well, what does this look like then? I spent a long time last week really laying out the foundation of what biblical manhood is, that men are called to rule and to lead and to exercise dominion as vice regents of God under the authority of Christ and for his glory. But what exactly, the question is, does this look like in practice? What does it mean to exercise dominion? How are we to do this as men? And what I want to do is start by thinking about what this means generally to exercise dominion, and then I want us to think about three areas where we are called to do this as men. So what does exercising dominion look like? Well, we could start with the language of the Bible. The language the Bible uses in Genesis 128 is that we are called to rule and subdue, meaning that we as men are to rule in such a way as to subdue the earth. And what this means is that men are to fruitfully order the world on God's behalf according to his will and for his glory. Let me say that again, it's important to think about this. Men are called to fruitfully order the world on God's behalf according to his will and for his glory. In other words, you can think about it this way. Men are to work to make the world a place where God is glorified, where his will is done, and where his beauty is seen. And to do this, as one pastor put it, we as men have to intentionally take up the responsibility to represent God and to establish his reign in the world. Just think about that for a minute. Is that how you think about yourself as a man? Is that what you're doing? Are you intentionally thinking of yourself as taking up the responsibility to represent God and to establish his reign in the world? And this sort of exercise of dominion, if you think about it, is needed more than ever in our world today now that sin has entered the world. Because of sin, the world is now completely disordered. Just think for a minute about the sort of world in which we live. It's a world where sin reigns. It's a world where children rebel. It's a world where nature destroys. It's a world where things decay, a world where thorns and thistles grow up. It's a world where evil corrupts. It's a world where men murder one another. It's a world where lies replace truth, where evil is called good. It's a world where the innocent are punished and the guilty go free. That's the disordered world. in which we're living because of sin. And you see the calling of men then is to fight and to work and to strive with all that is within them to bring order, God's order, to this world by subduing evil and the disorder that we see all around us. I don't think that we understand this enough as men, but this is what manhood is really about. This is why God has given us authority as men. It's not so that we can simply tell other people what to do. It's so that we would bring order. to the world according to God's will and for his glory. It's so that we, as men, would be used by God to extend his reign in the world, so that we would use the resources of creation and the gifts that God has given us to bring order to the world, to make it a place which is good in the way that God created it to be. And what I want you to think about this morning is that there are two ways that men are called to do this. First, we're called to do this by raising up godly offspring. This is what it clearly says in Genesis 1 to 28, that we are to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth. In other words, if our calling as men is to bring order to the disorder of this world, one way we do this is by filling the world with image bearers who are trained to love the Lord and to do his will. And I'll just say this this morning. I think this is something that we have greatly lost sight of as the church today. One of the saddest things, I think, about the declining birth rate in America, the fact that people are not having kids anymore today, is that this is not just true of unbelievers. It's not just true of progressives in the world. This is true in the church. As the birth rate has declined in the nation, The birth rate has declined among Christians as well. And yet the very thing God calls us to do, the first command in scripture, is to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the earth. If this is our calling as men to bring order to the world, this is the greatest way that we can do it, extend the reign of Christ in the world. It's by raising up godly offspring, filling the world with image bearers that are trained to love the Lord and to do his will. But as men, we're also called to bring order, as I said, by fighting and working and ruling to subdue the world's disorder and to make it a place that is good. This is what it means to exercise dominion. It means that men are to lead all those under their care to live in submission to God, to worship him as king, and to follow his word. And I want you to think this morning about three areas where men are called to do this, three areas where men are called to exercise this sort of dominion to bring order to the disorder of this world. The first area where men are called to do this is in the home. It's in the home. As men, we are called to do this as husbands. And fathers, if this is our created purpose to rule and to exercise dominion, the first place we're to do this is among our family. It's in the home. It's with our household. And as we think about this, I want you to think about the following points. First, I want you to think about The fact that in all the passages we read this morning, right? I read different passages about the calling of men as husbands and fathers. In all the passages we read this morning about the calling of husbands and fathers, male leadership is presented in the Bible, male leadership in the home, as something that is always good for those that are under that leadership. It's always good for those that are under that leadership. Think about it for a minute. Husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Wouldn't you want to be loved as Christ loved the church? Colossians 3 says something similar, that husbands are to love their wives and are not to be harsh with them. Ephesians 6 says that fathers are not to provoke their children to anger, but to bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. In other words, what scripture is clearly telling us here is that when men are exercising leadership in the way that God calls them to do, it is never abusive. It is never oppressive. It is never domineering. It is always good. It is always good. a blessing to the wives that are under that leadership. It is always a blessing to the children that are under that leadership. If men are truly living as the sort of men God calls them to be, this is the kind of leadership that you would want to be under, because it's the sort of leadership that Christ executed himself. What's important to understand is that God has established male headship. for the good of those that are under that leadership. And of course, this means that men are not leaders for their own interest. It's not a selfish pursuit. It's for the good of those that God has put under their care. The second thing I want you to think about is exactly what the Bible means when it tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. I want to zero in for a minute on that verse. That's the thing I think we most commonly think about when we think about men's calling in the Bible, as husbands in Ephesians chapter 5, we're to love our wives as Christ loved the church. But the question is, what exactly does that mean? How do we execute that? One pastor has pointed out that we tend to interpret that verse by thinking, well, Christ loved the church a lot, so it must mean that I'm supposed to love my wife a lot. Makes sense, right? Christ certainly loved the church to a great extent, so it must mean that I'm to love my wife to a great extent. There's certainly truth in that. But this really misses, when we only interpret Ephesians 5 that way, I'm to love my wife a lot, it misses the whole point that Ephesians 5 is making. It can actually turn the calling of the husband into something that's only sentimental, or make husbands think they're just to serve the wishes of their wives. much more profound that Ephesians 5 is teaching us. When it says that we're to love our wives as Christ loved the church, it's saying that male headship in the home is to follow the pattern of loving covenant headship that Christ shows over the church, his bride. In other words, what Paul is saying is every way that Christ shows headship, loving, covenantal headship over the church, this is the way that men are to show headship in the home with their wives and with their families. And what this means is that men are to take responsibility over every aspect of the family in the same way that Christ takes responsibility over every aspect of the church. Now let me be clear in what I'm saying. I'm not saying when I'm saying that men are to take responsibility over every aspect of the home that they're to do everything in the home or that they're even to do all the leading in the home. There's much that the wife is supposed to do and even leading that she's supposed to do. But the responsibility for everything lies with the father and with the husband. He's to take responsibility for all the problems that arise in the home, all the difficulties that may arise in marriage. The husband is to take responsibility for these things. You may have never actually thought about it this way, but the husband and father is even to take responsibility for the sins of his children and for the sins of his wife. He's to help them to overcome their sins in the same way that Christ helps us as the church to overcome our sins. But this also means That the husband, the father, is to protect and to provide for his family. Think about it. Isn't this what Christ does for the church? When it says that Christ loves the church, this is how Christ loves us as the church. He provides for us. He protects us. And what's important to understand is that husbands and fathers are not just to do this physically. They're not just to provide materially for their wives and families. Many men, I think, think that if they have a good job, and they're making good money, and they're providing everything their wife needs or wants, that then they're really being the leader that they're supposed to be. But scripture is calling us to something much more than that. to protect and provide for our family physically were to do this spiritually as men. If you think about it, this was the whole problem in the beginning. This is what Adam failed to do, right? He failed to protect Eve from the temptations of the serpent. He failed to protect her spiritually. He should have stood up and said, don't listen to that serpent. We should listen to God. But Adam didn't do it. And what this really shows us is what men, husbands and fathers, are called to do in the home. We're called to do what Adam didn't do. We're called to protect our wives and children from the temptations of the world. We're called to protect them from false theology, the lies of our culture. We're called to protect them from sin. I'll give you a little practical example of what this looks like in a home. It means this, that when the family is watching TV or maybe you're as a father watching TV with some of your children, when you're watching a movie as a family and something inappropriate comes on, it's the father that's supposed to stand up and grab the remote and turn the TV off and to explain to his children and family that we are not going to watch those things and the reason that we're not going to watch those things. because this is the father's responsibility to protect and provide his family, not just physically, but spiritually. It also means this, that the husband and father is the one that should be leading his wife and children in attending church. He should be the one every Lord's Day saying, you got to get up at this time to his wife and children. We're going to church. We're going to Sunday school. We're going to church. We're going to attend these things. He's the one taking them each week. He's the one that's leading and tithing in the home. He's saying, we've got this much money. We're going to give this first to the Lord. He's the one leading in these spiritual issues. He's the one leading the family in every way and putting God first in all the ways that God calls us to do this in his word. You see, I think there's something that's often missed when it comes to the responsibility of husbands and fathers, and it's this. That as men, we are responsible for the sanctification of our wife and of our children. You may have never thought about your role this way, but if you are here and you're a father and a husband, this is your responsibility. You are responsible for the sanctification of your wife and children. And we see this clearly in Ephesians 5, because it says that this is what Christ does for the church. It says that he gave himself for her so that he might sanctify her and make her holy. And the analogy Paul is making is that this is the same thing that fathers and husbands are to be doing for their wives. They're to be concerned for their sanctification. They're to be leading them in such a way that they want them to be growing in holiness, becoming more and more Christ-like by their leadership. See, I think in our world today, many men, especially young men, think that their goal is simply to find a beautiful wife. Right? That's your goal in life, to find a beautiful wife, right? Then everything will fall into place if you find a beautiful wife. I hope you know as a man that that's not your goal in life. I hope you can find a wife. You should be seeking to find a wife. But your goal in life is not just to find a beautiful wife. What Paul is saying in Ephesians 5 is your goal in life is to make your wife more and more beautiful by your leading of her in the ways of the Lord. That's what you want to see, her growing in spiritual beauty and Christ-likeness because of your leadership as her husband. And to do this, of course, as husbands and fathers, we also have to be teachers. We are also called to be teachers in the home. And Ephesians 5 makes this clear as well, because this is what Christ does for the church. It says that he sanctifies the church. He cleanses her by the washing of water with the word. How do we grow in holiness? Christ uses the Word for this purpose, to teach us and to lead us. And this is the calling of men as well, to be teachers in the home and to be teaching their family the Word of God. I know that this can seem like a great task. And I think that many men today think that they have to be a theologian to really teach the Bible to their wife and children. But I hope you know that this isn't true. There are many resources available today to help men to lead their families in devotions and in reading and studying the Bible. But the greatest resource that you have to do this as a man is Christ and the Holy Spirit. Christ will help you in this. As you begin to do this, open up the Word in your home, with your wife, with your children, God will bless this. He will teach you. You will be growing in your knowledge and love of God's Word in such a way that you can teach others and you can teach your family. This is what God does. This is what God wants to use you to do. And I can say from my own experience as a father and husband that there is nothing that drew me to read the Bible and study the Bible as much as the responsibility I knew I had to teach the Word of God to my family. Once I was married and then I had children, I suddenly realized this was a lot more serious than I thought. In my little times, I would read the Bible for myself. I realized I have to take this a lot more seriously if I'm going to be able to teach the word of God to my family. This is what God wants to do in your life as a man. It helps you to take the word of God more seriously. And he will teach you so that you can then teach others. Well, there's one more thing that I think needs to be said when it comes to the calling of men in the home. None of what I've said up to this point about the responsibilities of men, I hope you know, takes some special talent or some special gift on your part. But it does take something important. Do you know what it takes? It takes sacrifice. And it takes self-denial. You see, this is also what Jesus demonstrated in his love for the church, right? He gave himself for us. This is what the scripture says. He lowered himself even to become a man for us and to suffer on our behalf so that we could be saved. And this also is the calling of men to sacrifice and deny themselves for the good of their families. And I would say out of all of these things that I've discussed, this is probably where most men fail. This is where I myself have so often failed. One pastor put it this way, he said, too many husbands want the perks of headship in the home. They want to be served without understanding that biblical authority in the home is based on sacrifice. It's based on sacrifice. You see, men, we're not just called to headship. We are called to service. That's the kind of headship that we're called to, Christ-like headship. We're called to service as men in our homes. We're called to costly service in our homes. We're called to give ourselves away for the good of our wives and for our children. We're called literally to lay down our lives for our wives and children. We should do this. If there was some danger, we should literally lay down our lives for our wives and children. But we should be doing this also in little ways every day by our willingness to serve them and to work for their good. It should be our greatest desire as men to do good to those that God has put under our care. There's a lot more, of course, that I could say, a lot more that could be said about the responsibility of men in the home. I got myself in trouble with this sermon series. I came up with the idea to preach four sermons and then started laying them out and realized I need about 20 sermons on what it means to be men and women in the church. Really, this should be a sermon in itself. But what I hope you see is that this kind of leadership that God is laying out in his word for us as men in the home is always good. When men are doing this, when we are fulfilling this calling, when Christ is helping us to do this, our wives are blessed. Our families are blessed. People will want to be under that kind of leadership as we are exhibiting this sort of headship that scripture calls us to exhibit as men in the home. Well, this leads me to the second area that I want us to consider where we need to exercise dominion as men. We need to do this in the home first and foremost, but we also need to do this in the church. Men are called to bring order and to represent God, not just in the home. They're called to do this by leading in the church as well. And sadly, there are those today who call themselves evangelical Christians, who argue that women should serve as pastors and elders in the church, that women can serve as leaders in the church. They can do what men can do. I think this really shows how much we have adopted the thinking and ideas of our culture around us. But scripture clearly teaches that oversight in the church is reserved for men. And what I want you to think about is that this is clearly shown in scripture, not just because there are New Testament passages that we could turn to that show this. This is shown clearly in the scripture by the fact that men are called to exercise dominion in the family, the very thing that we've already looked at. If men are called to exercise dominion in the family, Then it's clear, this shows that men are actually also called to exercise dominion in the family of God, the church. It would make no sense, think about it, for God to say that men are to exercise dominion and headship in the family. But when it comes to the church that is made up of families and is the family of God, well then women are to exercise leadership in the church. The very fact that men are called to be leaders of their households shows that when it comes to the household of God, which is how the New Testament refers to the church, men are called to be leaders there as well. And in fact, scripture makes this explicit connection in 1 Timothy 3. It says that those who serve as elders have to manage their household well, because there's this connection between those who manage the home and those who manage the church. And there's two things I want you to think about when it comes to leadership then in the church as men. The first is something I've said before. I believe that in the church today, we have taken on what I call a professional clergy mentality, a professional clergy mentality. We hire pastors, we ordain elders and deacons, and then we think that they're the ones that are supposed to advance the mission of the church. I would say this, that many men today are completely passive when it comes to the calling of the church, to leadership in the church, to service in the church, to the mission of the church. They may come to church services on the Lord's Day. They come to receive what the professional clergy is giving them, the teaching and things that the elders are doing. But they're really passive when it comes to engaging in the life and ministry of the church. And what I hope you recognize is that that is really not the picture of the church. were given in Scripture. What's interesting, and I hope you've seen this through our study of the Book of Acts, in Scripture, everyone is advancing the mission of the Church. It's not just the apostles, it's not just the elders, it's everyone in the Church is concerned with the mission of the Church. And I think this is something that we really need to regain a sense of in our day. And I think part of what we need to do, and I want you to think about this with me for a minute, is to understand the connection between the creation mandate we've been thinking about and the Great Commission. Let me explain what I mean by this. The creation mandate is, of course, the command in Genesis 128 that we're to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. and rule over it. We've been thinking about this as the calling of men to do this. The Great Commission is the command Jesus gave to the church in Matthew 28 to make disciples. And what I hope you see is that there is a connection between these two things. If our calling as men in the creation mandate is to exercise dominion, as I said, to bring order to this world, to lead people to do the will of God. One main way we do this is through the church. This is the calling of the church as well. This is the mission of the church, right? To bring order to the world by spreading the gospel and leading people to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, what this means is that Your calling, your creational calling as a man to exercise dominion can never be separated from the church and its mission. The two go hand in hand. They are really the same thing. If you're called to exercise dominion as a man, then you're called to be concerned with the mission of the church. You want to see order brought into the world by the gospel going forward and more and more people coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, you could think about it this way. The very goal we have as fathers in raising our children is what? That they would know Jesus, right? That they would become disciples of Christ. That's the very mission of the Church, that more and more people would know Jesus and become disciples of Christ. The very calling we have as men is connected to the Church. It can never be separated from the mission of the Church. And I think what this shows is that if we're being the men God calls us to be, then every man in the church should be concerned with the mission and ministry of the church. Every man should be leading in the church. Every man should be serving in the church in some way, wanting to see the church advance, the gospel go forward. Every man should be helping in the church, taking responsibility, taking initiative. Because one of the main ways that we as men bring order and exercise dominion in the world is through our connection to the church and the mission of the church. We are called to lead in this as well, not just elders, and deacons, but every man is called to lead in this as well. One other thing that I want you to think about in terms of our calling as men to exercise dominion in the church, and it's this. I believe that if we had a greater vision today as men for our calling to exercise dominion, that we would actually have men lining up to serve as elders and deacons in our churches. If we really understood our created calling as men, we would have men lining up in our churches to serve as elders and deacons. And I want you to know, if you don't know, that it's the case today that we don't. It has almost become, I'm struggling to find the right word, certainly problematic how few men today are willing to serve in ordained leadership positions in the church. In all the churches in our presbytery, we need men to serve in these offices and cannot find men that are willing to do it, to take up this responsibility. And I think this shows that we have really lost a sense of the vision and calling that God has given us as men to exercise dominion. So many men today don't want to take up responsibility to lead the church. And what we're missing, I think, is that this is actually what we were created for. If you're a man here, you don't get a choice in it. You were created to exercise dominion. You were created to rule. You were created to have leadership. And if we really understood this, that this was our created purpose, I believe that more and more men would want to serve as elders. They would want to serve as deacons in our church. I'll just say this, that I realize that that calling is daunting in many ways. I know it because I'm serving as an elder in the church. And I know, in many ways, I hear men say, but I'm unworthy for that sort of calling. And in one sense, that's good. If you thought you were worthy to be a leader in the church, then you would be disqualified from being a leader in the church. You need to know that you're unworthy. But I think there's something else we're missing. We're missing that it's Christ that makes us worthy. It's Christ that makes us worthy. It's Christ that enables us to serve as leaders in our home, in the church, in the world. This is actually what you're redeemed for as a man, to serve in this way, to lead, to exercise dominion, to rule, to have oversight. Christ has redeemed you for this very purpose. And this is what I think we've lost sight of in the Church, that this is actually our goal as men, to lead and to rule on behalf of God. And how will the Church be led if men are not doing this? We bemoan sometimes in our reform circles that so many churches are taking on women elders and women pastors. But who's going to lead if the men don't? We need men to lead in our churches. I hope you know that when I'm saying all of this, my goal is not to condemn any of you as men here. I hope you know the goal of this whole sermon series and these sermons is to see you built up in Christ. I want to see us being the men that God created us to be. And I believe that Christ can help every single one of us to do this. But I think we do need to think about the fact that we don't have men to lead in our churches. And what does this say about us as men and whether we're really understanding the calling that God has given to us? I believe if we did, if we had a greater vision for this, there would be men lining up saying, maybe I can serve as an elder. Maybe I can serve as a deacon. Well, this leads me then to the final area where we are called as men to exercise dominion. We're called to do this in our homes. We're called to do this in the church. And lastly, we're called to do this in the world. This is really the problem that I have with some forms of what we call complementarianism. You may be familiar with that term. The problem I have with some forms of complementarianism is that they really teach that men are to exercise leadership in the home, and they exercise leadership in the church, but that's it. They don't really have any vision of men exercising leadership in the world. Kevin DeYoung puts it this way, he says that many evangelicals think that basically men can do 100 things and women can do 98 things. What he means by that is basically women and men can do all the same things in life, there's just two things that men and women can't do, where they can't do the same things and that's when it comes to being an elder in the church or having headship in the home, and I think this idea is very pervasive, even among those that call ourselves conservative Christians. This is how we think about headship. Well, women can do everything men can do, except these areas where God has sort of arbitrarily said, well, men should be leaders in the home, men should be leaders in the church. But think about it, if everything that I've been presenting to you is true, if God has actually created us as men, this is part of our nature. He created us to exercise headship and dominion. And for women to be helpers in this calling, to fulfill the creation mandate, then this has to have implications beyond the home and beyond the church. I sent out a quote this week that I think gets at this well. It says this, manhood and womanhood are not limited to the home and church. because they are not states you can switch off when you step into the secular world. I think we need to think about that. If God created us as men to lead and to rule and to exercise dominion, this is not something you just do in your home and then when you leave your home, you switch that off and you become a different man. It's something that has to have implications for how we live in every aspect of life and in every part of the world that God has created. And of course, saying that is the easy part. The hard part, of course, is to parse out what that looks like then. What are men to be doing in the world? What are women able to do in the world and should be doing in the world? And what should men be doing in the world? And I can't say that I have the answer to all of those questions. These are good things for us to think about and consider. But what I want us to do this morning is to really keep two things in mind. I think we can get caught up in the details sometimes about, well, what should men be doing? What should women be doing? And we sort of forget the big picture. And what I want you to keep in mind is two things that I think are important when we're thinking about leadership, male leadership in the world. I think the first thing we need to realize is that the world as it is today, our culture, what you're seeing on the news all around you is disordered. I think that it's clear that the reality which we see today where more and more women are taking leadership positions in the world that used to be positions that men would have, that this has not been good for our society and does not represent the order that God has intended for us. And I want to be clear what I'm saying in this, because I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I'm not saying that men's leadership is always good. I'm not saying that in any way. So please don't think I'm saying that. And I'm not saying, well, things are bad today, but they were so good in the past. I'm not saying that either by any stretch. of the imagination. But what I am saying is that I don't think the solution to bad male leadership is that we replace men with women, which is what is happening in our society today. I don't think that this has resulted in good for the world or represents God's created order. This has actually resulted in Secular people are saying this as well. It's not just Christians. This has resulted in less people marrying, less people having children, families that are having children having fewer and fewer children, which as you think about it is the very opposite of God's created order where he tells us that we're to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. This has also resulted in the great neglect of children. and parenting which is going on in our world today. So many children today are being raised by strangers, by daycare centers, and by TV screens, computer screens, phone screens, iPad screens, because women have taken up more and more positions of leadership in the world or in the world. I'm not saying that's the only reason. I want to be clear about that. But it's certainly part of what has produced this and is producing so many disorders that we see among young people today. I think it's clear that this does not represent God's order or his intention for us. Again, it's not easy to say, well, what exactly should men and women be doing in the world. That's challenging to think about, and we need to be thinking through those things, but we need to see, I think, that the way the world is today is disordered. And the second thing I think we need to keep in mind is that God made men the primary vehicle to be, men primarily, to be the vehicle of his headship and rule in the world. I think this is clear, and I hope I've presented this to you clearly in the sermons that I've taught on biblical manhood, that God made men primarily to be his vehicle of headship and rule in the world. And again, I want to be clear in what I'm saying. I don't think this means that there aren't ways for women to exercise leadership, both in the home, in the church, and in the world. I think this is. But we've got to keep the big picture in mind, that the primary vehicle God has ordained for his headship and rule in the world is men. It's fathers and husbands and men who are called to exercise leadership. And what I've done to try to help us as men to think about what exercising leadership in the world looks like, I came up with 10 questions just to have you think about, kind of probing questions, getting us to think about what it looks like to have leadership in the world. I can email these questions out this week so you don't have to try to to write these things down, just think about them. And many of these are very challenging. They're challenging for me. But I think this is to really get at the way we need to be thinking as men if we're really thinking that our role is to exercise dominion as God has called us to be. The first question is this. Is the work I'm doing, so think about your job, your vocation, is the work I'm doing really promoting the well-being of human beings and the goals of God in the world? Sometimes I think we don't think about this as men, right? We maybe have a job. We've got a good paycheck. Well, it's great. But is our job really serving the purpose of exercising dominion in the world? Is it really promoting the well-being of human beings and the goals of God in the world? I think we need to think about that as men. Maybe God can lead us to a job that's more along those lines. Second question, is the company I'm working for a company that I can support as a Christian? Or is it promoting things contrary to God's word? We also may not think about this, well, I got a good job, I'm getting a paycheck, but increasingly the large companies in our society that are running everything are not promoting the things that are pleasing to the Lord. It might seem like a step of faith for you to leave that job and look for something else, but that might be what we need to be doing as men if we're really going to exercise dominion in the world. Third question, are there ways that I might be able to take greater leadership in my vocation, or am I just content to get a paycheck and do what's required? Think about that. It's easy just to do the minimum and get your paycheck, but God's calling you to be a leader in the world. Are you really exercising leadership in your vocation? Question four, could there be opportunities for me to start my own company or begin something new that could be used to promote God's goals? in the world. This is something that Aaron Wren, you may know of him, he's an author, has written about. He says that the way the world is today, our Christian communities are actually very unstable and many of our families, because we often work for companies that are opposed to Christianity. And with cancer culture today, you could work for 10 or 15, 20 years for a company and find out you're a Christian and be fired tomorrow, right? This is increasingly what's happening in our culture. And he's saying, if we're going to have more stability for our families, we need Christian businesses, people starting Christian businesses and hiring Christian people so that we have more financial stability. Question five, am I doing my work with honesty and integrity and by this demonstrating leadership of character? You can exercise leadership in the world by the character you carry, your Christ-like character. Are you doing your work with honesty and integrity in that way? Question six, am I really using my gifts to their full potential? Are there gifts that I have that I'm not using? So we should be thinking about this as men, right? You might have a job, and it's good, and you can earn a living that way. But maybe God has given you other gifts you're not really using. And maybe you need a different job to use those gifts. Or maybe you could use those gifts in ways outside of your job. But are you really? using the gifts, the full potential of what the gifts God has given you to exercise dominion in the world. Question seven, are there ways outside of my paid employment that I could be working and joining with others to promote God's righteousness in the world? So think about things like working against abortion, providing mercy to the needy, doing things in the world that promote the righteousness of God. Are there ways that we as men Could we do this? Again, I think we're content too often as men, and I'm very guilty of this. We do the little work we have to do. We go home to our families, our homes. But are we thinking about promoting righteousness in the world? Question eight, are there people that God has brought into my life outside of my family that I should be protecting and providing for? So think about it. In our world today, it could be extended family members you have. that you, even though you're providing for your own family, you're a husband, maybe God wants you to exercise greater leadership over some of their needs. There are tons of single moms in our world today where there's no man. Maybe God wants you to help in some way in those kind of situations. Maybe you could work with neighborhood kids in your neighborhood. I had the opportunity to coach soccer when my boys were younger for years. And I did this just because I like to do it. And I wanted to be with my boys. But it was a great opportunity, actually, to work with young men. And when I look back now, I wish I had used that in greater measure to extend the kingdom of God, to work for Christ. But it's opportunities like this that I also need to be thinking about as men. Question nine, what bothers you about the world, or what burdens you that you would like to see change, and how could you work to do something about these things? It might seem overwhelming, it does, but I think, again, we can get in our little bubble, but think about it. If you're noticing what's going on in the world today, there's a lot that should bother you as a Christian. the abuse of children, the neglect of children, the poor education of children today. And we need to be thinking as Christians, and especially Christian men, is there anything that we could do about some of these things in little ways? And then question 10, how could you use the financial resources God has given you to exercise greater dominion, maybe spend less on yourself and more on the kingdom of God? Again, I think we often think as men, well, I work hard, and then I give my 10% to the church. So I did what God requires me to do. But maybe God wants you to give more than 10%. Maybe he's particularly blessed you so that you could aid Christian ministries in the church in different ministries, and by this, be exercising dominion in the world. I say this to you as men this morning. These things are not easy that I'm presenting to you, and I fall short in many of these areas. But I think this is the way we've got to begin to think if we're going to be the men that God called us to be. We've got to be thinking beyond even just our homes in the church, right, to people God may have put in our life, opportunities, things that we see. How could we be exercising leadership and rule on behalf of God in the sphere of influence that God has given to us as men? And I'll say this as well, that everything that we've thought about this morning, everything, exercising dominion in the home, in the church, in the world, I want you to know that this applies not just to married men, but to single men as well. If you're here and you're a single man, I don't want you to think that I'm only preaching to married men. Even the exercise of dominion in the home, there may be ways that you can do this as a single man. You may have possibilities with your larger extended family to care for people within your family. You may be able to care for your parents as they grow older. In all these ways, even as single men, we can exercise dominion in all of these ways, in the home, in the church, and in the world. I hope this is helpful to you. And I hope you know that my goal in all of this is just to encourage us to be the men that God calls us to be. Men are not, I hope you recognize this, being men in the world today. And I want to leave you with one final thought. Before I close in all of this, I hope these sermons have given you a greater sense of what it means to be a man, what you were created for. As I close, I want to leave you with one thought, and it's this, that if you as a man are going to be able to exercise dominion in your home and in the church and in the world, if you are going to be the sort of father and husband and leader that God calls you to be, there's something you must be doing. You must constantly be doing this. You will never be able to be the man God calls you to be unless you're constantly doing this. Do you know what it is? It's seeking to put off the old man you were in Adam and putting on the new man that you are in Christ. We read about this in Colossians 3 this morning. It's essential for you as a man. You've got to be growing in the fear of God and in your hatred of sin. Do you know what the number one thing that keeps men from being men? It's sin. It's sin. Things like anger, fear, laziness, self-indulgence, sexual sin. This destroys your ability to exercise rule and dominion on behalf of God. You could think about it this way. Men who are ruled by sin cannot rule and lead others. Men who are ruled by sin cannot rule and lead others. The old Adam in you will always abuse your authority or abdicate your responsibility. The only way that you can be the man that God calls you to be is if you're putting on the new man that you are in Christ. And what I hope you understand is that the only way that you can do this is by seeking Christ. You can't do this on your own. I can't renovate myself. I can't restore the image of God in me. But the great news of the gospel is that Christ can. If you are here today and you're a man and you even had no father, you didn't grow up with a father, you've had no example what manhood is, you can still be the man that God calls you to be because Christ is the one that can enable you to do this. But what this means is that we've got to be seeking Christ. This is what Christ came to do. He came to exercise dominion on our behalf by defeating sin and death for us so that we could be the men that God created us to be. You could think about it this way. Christ's exercise of dominion for us is the reason that we as men can now exercise dominion on his behalf and for his glory. But we've got to seek Christ. There's work we need to do as men. You've got to work. to be a faithful father and husband. You've got to sacrifice, but you can only do this if you're relying on Christ and seeking Christ. If my sermon series has left you thinking, well, I just got to go out and try harder to be a better man, then I failed you, and you won't make much progress. Yes, you've got to go out and seek to be a better man. But you've got to seek Christ constantly, constantly. Jesus, help me in this. Help me to be the father you called me to be. Help me to be the husband you've called me to be. And what I want to do is just to leave you with a prayer then. and encourage you to make this your sort of prayer. You've got to be seeking Christ. You can't do this in your own strength. The calling we have as men is an incredibly high calling, a great responsibility. So many men are failing in it today. We've got to seek Christ. And I hope you will make this sort of prayer your prayer. It goes like this. Lord, put to death the old sinful, abdicating Adam in me, and raise me up. to be the God-exalting, courageous leader you redeemed me to be. Empower me to bring godly order to this disordered world, to speak for you and to act for you and to fight for you and to rule for you and to sacrifice for you and even to suffer for you in order to exercise dominion in my home and in the church and in the world for the good of those under my care and for your glory. We need to be praying like that as men if we're going to see a change in our homes, in our churches, in our society today. This is what it means to be a man, to be doing all those things, speaking for God, acting for God, fighting for God, ruling for God, sacrificing for God, in order to exercise dominion. First Corinthians 16.13 says this, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. This is what the world needs today, men that are acting like men, the kind of biblical manhood that scripture clearly presents to us. It's a high calling. And how can we do it as men? In Christ. We can do it in Christ. Only when Jesus is walking alongside you, you're relying on him in everything. When you fail, what are you doing? You get angry as a father, what do you do? You repent and you go to Christ. Help me to be the father you called me to do. You struggle as a husband. Help me to be the husband you called me to do. It's by Christ that we can do these things. We desperately need men in the world, courageous, strong men that are exercising dominion as we call to do. We can do this as men, as we seek the Lord Jesus Christ and his grace. Let's go before the Lord in prayer.