Able Men; 1 Chronicles 9:13
Statistics from churchformen.com
* The typical U.S. Congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 61% female, 39% male. This gender gap shows up in all age categories. Young adult, middle aged, and seniors….
* On any given Sunday there are 13 million more adult women than men in America’s churches.
* Midweek activities often draw 70 to 80 % female participants.
* As many as 90 % of the boys who are being raised in church will abandon it by their 20th birthday. Many will never return. Largely because of the poor example set by their dad’s.
* Men have been absent from the body of Christ and a significant number of those who do go to church attend out of habit, and are unaffected by what they hear.
* Quite a few men go to church simply to keep their wives/mothers/girlfriends happy.
* The majority of men who attend church do nothing to serve within the body of Christ.
This gender gap is not just a U.S. phenomenon; churches around the world are short on men. No other major religion suffers such a large, chronic shortage of males. In the Islamic world men are openly, publicly, and unashamedly religious. Of the world’s major religions, only Christianity has a consistent, nagging shortage of men.
But look in the bible and you’ll see that Jesus had no trouble captivating men. Rugged fishermen dropped nets full of fish and left all to follow Him, but today’s church can’t convince men to drop their remote controls for a couple of hours a week.
But this isn’t the first time this has happened in human history… 1 CHRONICLES…
Not very many people spent their time reading or studying the first nine chapters of 1 Chronicles because the first nine chapters are genealogical records and we often find them boring and irrelevant to our lives. But I believe as we look at the passage in you’ll see its relevance.
It begins with 1 Chronicles 1:1 with Adam, then goes on to cover 3,500 years of human history of the Jews until the time of their captivity and return to Jerusalem. And in these genealogies we see that God is on His throne, and that He is in control. And it shows us that when God’s people obey Him, He will bless them. If they disobey Him, He will chasten them.
1 Chronicles 9:1, “So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they were written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah, who were carried away to Babylon for their transgression.” The vast majority of the men in Israel had turned their backs on God and they were taken as captives because of it.
And I believe that same thing is happening today. In fact I’m working with a few men that had turned their backs on God to follow societies idea of manhood and they have been taken captive by their drug, alcohol, work, and sexual addictions. And they have destroyed much of their lives but now they are giving their lives back to Christ, but it’s a struggle for them.
But there was one group of men that had remained faithful. In verse 13, speaking of the priests in Jerusalem the Bible says, “They were very able men for the work of the service of the house of God.”
God called able men to serve Him, and that still holds true today. God is calling able men to serve Him. The problem is it’s getting harder and harder to find men who will take a stand against the cultural norm and say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
But let me tell you God is still looking for able men to serve Him. Men who will put on the armor of God, take up the sword of the spirit, and fight the good fight of faith. You see we are in a spiritual warfare and God is calling able men to take a stand on the front lines.
But what is an able man? Well let’s take a look at what the scriptures say.
1. THEY ARE MEN OF AVAILABILITY:
The greatest ability is availability. It doesn’t matter what abilities you posses if your not available to God you’re useless to the cause of Christ. ISAIAH 6:8, “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” You see Isaiah responded to the call of God.
I believe we often look at men like Isaiah, Abraham, Moses, David, Paul and many others as great men with tremendous abilities, but the truth is they were men like you and me. They were ordinary men who made themselves available to the Almighty God and God did amazing things through them.
God used them in great ways to impact the lives of thousands and even millions simply because they like Isaiah said, “Here am I send me.”
Unlike Isaiah, so many today are not available to do the Lord’s will. Men have put a sign around their life that says, DO NOT DISTRUB. I’m just to busy right now. I have too many things going on in my life. I just don’t have time to serve God. And they’re running around like chickens with their heads cut off with no direction in life.
Maybe you feel that way much of the time, you have too many irons in the fire and you feel like you just can’t catch up, there aren’t enough hours in the day to serve God.
But let me remind you of something, Moses was busy with the flocks at Horeb, Gideon was threshing wheat by the winepress, Saul was mule hunting, Elisha was busy plowing, Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the King, James and John were busy mending nets, and Matthew was busy collecting taxes. BUT THEY ALL RESPONDED TO GOD’S CALL OF SERVICE!
If you are to busy to be available to God, then you are to busy, you’ve got your priorities all out of whack and your headed for a meltdown. Allow God to rearrange your schedule and use you.
A chicken and a pig came upon a church building and read the advertisement on the billboard out front, which read, “Help Us Feed the Poor.” Immediately the chicken suggested they help feed the poor with bacon and eggs. The pig thought for a moment and said, “There is one thing wrong with feeding bacon and eggs to the poor. For you it only requires a contribution, but for me it requires total commitment.”
Many refuse to make themselves available to God because He demands too much of them. That’s why the scriptures tell us to consider the cost of discipleship. But far too many are exchanging the eternal for the temporary because they carnally minded, they are focused are the momentary pleasures rather than their heavenly reward in Christ.
But if you want to be a soldier in the army of God and stand against the evil forces of our day you must make yourself available and commit your all to God.
An able man is an available man…
2. THEY ARE MEN OF DEPENDABILITY:
1 Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”
I don’t know about you but I get so irritated with undependable people. People who could be a great asset to the cause of Christ and to the church, but you just can’t count on them. They waver in everything they do.
Vance Havner once said, “Many saints prefer to be flashy comets instead of faithful stars. They go up like a rocket but come down like a rock.” Maybe you know some people like that, they may be fun to be around but you can’t count on them.
I like it when someone says I’ll be there and they are, when they say I’ll do it and they get it done. I like dependable people. I can count on them, the church can count on them, and God can count on them.
Do you remember in the parable of the talents… God gave 5, 2, 1… Matthew 25:21, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”
When God finds a dependable man He gives that man great responsibilities.To the one with one talent God said, Vs.26, “Thou wicked and slothful servant” Vs. 28, “Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.” God chastises the unfaithful and blesses the faithful. And He does that in your life and mine as well…
An able man is a dependable man…
3. THEY ARE MEN OF MOBILITY:
MARK 16:1 Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Jesus said go, but the favorite song of many is I SHALL NOT BE MOVED.
We have got to stop sitting in our recliners and go out into the world and share the good news of Christ. I heard someone ask, “What do the first two letters in God spell? What do the first three letters in Satan Spell?” If we want to do God’s work we have got to get up and go.
Moses was willing to go from Horeb to Egypt, Amos was willing to go from the hills of Tekoa to Israel, David, was willing to go from the pastures to the palace, Phillip was willing to go from the city to the desert, John the Baptist was willing to go from the desert to the city.
Where are you willing to go? You don’t have to go around the world to share the good news, you could go next door… friends, family, co-workers…
One of the reason’s I responded to God’s call to go to Arizona is because I grew up in Arizona, I lived there for thirteen years and never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ…
ACTS 1:8 - Global vision ---- we cannot be global if we are not mobile. (Let me pause for a moment to say thank you for ACTS 1:8…) We can’t do it on our own, we need that support…
Able men are mobile men…
4. THEY ARE MEN OF STABILITY:
Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
We are in a spiritual battle and people are falling all around us and unless we stand fast we are going to fall with them. How many Christians have you seen that have been entangled again in the yoke of bondage, overcome by their own human efforts and drowning in sin?
Not only should we stand but we need to stand in the right place.
Samson was in the wrong place when he lost his strength… David was in the wrong place when he lusted after Bathsheba… Jonah was in the wrong place and wound up in the belly of a great fish, Peter was standing in the wrong place at the fire and he denied Jesus. YOU WON’T ABLE TO STAND FOR THE LORD IF YOUR IN THE WRONG PLACE.
So where should we stand?
1. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Our freedom is not in our efforts, works, good deeds, money, attendance… Our freedom is in the LORD.
2. Stand fast in the faith: 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.”
3. In the LORD: 1 Thessalonians 3:8, “For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.”
Able men are stable men…
CONCLUSION: Ephesians 6:10-13, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ”
God is looking for able men to stand up, to stand firm, to stand for Him. Will you be that man? Will you be the one who will put on the armor of God, take up the sword of the spirit, and fight the good fight of faith?
Thanks for the help of other contributers.
