Dependent Warrior

Dependent Warrior

CCCAG, Father’s Day 2021

Scripture: Joshua 1: 1-9

Introductions- What woman really want

A while back, I was working a shift in the ER, and we had one of those rare moments where we had no patients. What made it even more unusual was that I was the only male working in the ER that shift.

Both the providers, the unit secretary, the tech, and respiratory, resource, and all of the nurses were female.

I was the sole island of testosterone in a sea of estrogen.

Men- Here is a pro-tip if you ever find yourself in this situation- be quiet, don’t say a thing unless spoken too.

As often happens during these times the subject of dating in general and men specifically came up.

Some of the women present like men at least 6 inches taller than they were, for others they didn't care about that.

Some liked the cut, super physically fit type guys, Others think dad bods are just fine.

Various habits came up, like drinking or smoking or soft drug use, and again you had your various preferences expressed.

When it came to personality most women wanted a man who would be able to make them laugh.

What was curious to me was for many of the younger women there, they liked the bad boy image.

One of them was very vocal in saying “I need a strong man that will put me in my place”

I was very surprised to here that. I thought that was very interesting because she's also very much a feminist.

So I asked if I could ask a question.

Being the only man there and having all these women between me and the exits so I had to remain safe. She said sure I could ask anything I wanted.

I said like anything else you guys say around me anything you say can and will probably be used in a sermon in the future but I won't identify who you are and she said that was fine.

I said, “you are probably one of the most vocal feminists here and I'm not criticizing that, but I would like you to tell me how do you reconcile feminism with a man who puts you in your place because they sound very opposite.”

She paused and thought about it for a moment and replied, “I think the reason I'm such a feminist is because I hate weak men, and I hate having to be the one in charge all the time. It makes me feel vulnerable, unsafe, and question if this person could take care of me if stuff should hit the fan.”

Many of the other women agreed with her. One even came out and said, “I would rather have a man who might be the bad boy, and maybe not treat me right all the time (she was very clear- aren’t talking about physical abuse) but just being the alpha male, because I feel safe with him around.”

She finished by saying, “That’s the problem with men today- they are all a bunch of wimps that we can push around, and unconsciously, most woman hate men like that.”

Now I know that’s not all woman, but in that group of woman, that was the overall consensus.

So this Father’s Day, I want to explore the root of what it means to be a man. You might think, this is Father’s Day, shouldn’t we just focus on being a good father?

You can’t be a good father without being a good man first.

And ladies, particularly single ladies, don’t check out, because you need to hear about the kind of man you should be looking for in a potential future husband.

So.

For a Christian, being a good man means being a dependent man.

I know that sounds like the opposite of what woman want, but bear with me for a moment.

Growing up, everyone has role models that they shape their opinions, mannerisms, and conduct around.

Now, I have had many male role models in my life. Some were good, somewhere bad, some are very ugly.

But I thank God for my grandfather because even as a Lutheran, he showed me what being a good man was all about.

After all, he was a full-blooded Norwegian.

We are going to read about a man today who learned how to be dependent on God in everything in his life.

This man had one of the best role models you could ever have- in this case Moses. He spent over 40 years being his personal assistant learning how to live for God even when it made no sense to him at all.

We are going to watch a brief video this morning highlighting this principle. The scene is from the series the Chosen, and shows Moses preparing the Bronze Serpent. The background is that the Israelites have left Egypt and are in the desert. They rebelled against God, and God sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they were dying. God told Moses to form a serpent made of bronze, and that is where we pick up the scene.