Attribute Nine | A Man Is Devoted To Brotherhood Series

Well as promised, each time I said that I was dealing with one of these attributes of a man – I said I was going to share a verse or 2 from something that Jesus did, and something that Jesus said. Because we believe that Jesus was the ultimate man, and since he was the ultimate man he knew what manhood looked like – since he lived it. And he told us about it. Therefore, if we can just look at the things that Jesus said and did, then maybe we can aim at something with our manhood.

So here is your first verse. It’s from John 17:21. It reads this way. This is what Jesus said. “That they may all be one, just as you Father are in me and I in you. That they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” Now, this is something Jesus did. Jesus was devoted to his brotherhood. Into his oneness and unity. And in Mark 3:32-34 – reads this way.

“And a crowd was sitting around Him. And they said to Him, ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.’ And he answered them, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking about at those who sat around him he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.'” I love this moment with Jesus because I feel like Jesus, right – is including me -and he’s including you, gentlemen.

And because he loves us so much, he includes us in something special – a brotherhood. It isn’t something connected by genes, genetics, or family even – biologically. We’re talking about a spiritual brotherhood and a spiritual connectedness that Jesus draws us into. Therefore, here is attribute 9. Let me read it for you.

“A man is devoted to a brotherhood. While autonomy comes easy for us, we must live out our quest for manhood inside of brotherhood with other believers. It is within Christian brotherhood that we discovered the – well the riches of the deep spiritual relationship modeled to us by the Godhead. It is also through the brotherhood that we live out faith, love, and oneness that expands God’s message to the world. This is the environment where iron sharpens iron. And we voluntarily put ourselves in proximity with other men, to avoid catastrophes in our life that will unravel our manhood.”

Guys, I think – to some extent – if we ask ourselves the hard question – why is it so hard to find brotherhood? We’re going to come up with a lot of answers. A lot of answers. These are answers that you can probably think of. There are answers that I can think of. They’re excuses maybe, some of them. Some of them are real issues. But I just want you to think through some of these. Why is it hard to find brotherhood?

Well, I think one of the reasons it’s hard to find brotherhood is our own arrogance, our own pride. For some of us, we just really don’t think that we need help. For some of us, we just really think that we have it all together. And because of our own pride and arrogance, we don’t seek it out, right? Maybe it’s a fear? A fear that keeps us from brotherhood. Like fear of sharing, fearing of transparency? Maybe it could be a fear of being held accountable? But we have these fears, right? When it comes to finding brotherhood.

Maybe it’s hard to find brotherhood because we’ve never find– We have never found the right group. We have trouble finding men that we can really connect with. Where we have a chemistry with. Where we can trust them, and they can trust us, and we can grow together. And maybe it is because we never really had a right relationship with our father – that we perpetuate in our continuing relationships? Maybe it’s because – well, we have never found truly healthy accountability. And we really don’t know what that looks like. Or that we are too controlling of the situations in our life. And this threatens us because we realize that we’re going to have to open up.

I don’t know what it is for you. But somehow we have got to move past superficial and shallow relationships, where we prefer anonymity. And we have got to become intentional about seeking out brotherhood, and here’s why. The predominant reason why. It is because I know that when I meet with guys who are facing issues in their lives – the number 1 thing that leads them down the path of those issues is the fact that they have isolated themselves from brotherhood.

I promise you that every man that I’ve ever talked with that has problems in his life, will answer the question of his connectedness with brotherhood and community, by saying, “No, I really don’t have any of that, and I’m actually calling you because I don’t know where else to turn.” And this is true 100% of the time. And therefore, we’ve got to stop isolating ourselves from brotherhood, and push through the pain of discovering what a relationship with another man in a Christian bond really looks like.