TRAPS
“Man Traps”
There has been a bit of a debate for several years now around the topic of manhood and what a real man looks like. Well it depends on who you ask. If you go to the gym they might tell you that a real man works out 3-4 times every week.
If you go to the workplace/office they might tell you that a real man works 60-70 hours a week. Either way his manhood is defined by how much he works.
If he is married and you ask his wife I believe the answer would also be different. She might say that a real man is a good provider; kind, considerate.
If you ask his children they would have a different list as well.
All of this places a lot of pressure on men today and if we are honest many of our men would say that it is a struggle to meet all of these expectations. How do you know what a real man looks like?
You’ve heard these phrases before…
• Real men don’t eat quiche. Of course we don’t. We prefer bacon and eggs-that’s why we all have high cholesterol.
• Real men don’t ask directions. We’re too proud to do that. That’s of course why we get lost half the time.
• Real men don’t cry. We just hold it in.
• Real men don’t wear pink. However, Bubba Watson, the new winner of the Master’s tournament does and his drive by the way has been clocked at 194 mph. So maybe you could say he’s a real man.
Lots of opinions out there. Lots of disagreement.
From the very beginning of time Satan has set out to destroy men. You could even say that it has been a primary focal point. And to accomplish this task he designed several different kinds of traps to catch us and unfortunately in many cases they have worked. Look at them with me.
The first trap we see is the trap of irresponsibility. The first man we learn this from was Adam. In the beginning of the Bible in the book of Genesis chapter one, we find the creation of man and his name was Adam. God has created the heavens, earth, gave us light, created the animals and then on the 6th day the Bible tells us that the Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And this man named Adam became our first role model. I can imagine that it was God’s intention that he would become a role model for the rest of us. But Adam was just the opposite.
There are in fact many things we could say that Adam did wrong. We could point to his disobedience. God told Adam clearly that he could eat from any tree in the garden.
Except one. It’s like that sign on a park bench that says wet paint, do not touch. God said don’t eat so he did. The sign says don’t touch so we do. We just have to know. He chose to disobey. The Bible tell us that he and his wife, Eve, then went and hid from God in the garden. You see if you hide then you don’t have to own up to your mistakes. You don’t have to admit you’re wrong. In other words you don’t have to take responsibility. And Adam was very good at not taking responsibility. In fact when God questioned Adam ….have you eaten fruit from the tree I warned you about? V.12 LB says yes, but it was the woman you gave me who brought it to me. It’s her fault. Not mine. It was the woman that YOU gave me. This is what I call the trap of irresponsibility … it is a very easy trap to fall into because it makes everything easier. Every man has to face this. This trap seems so harmless that we don’t realize that once we fall in, it can be very hard to get out of.
Now what do we do when we fall in? First of all let me say this…you will fall in. At one time or another, write it down, put it on your calendar, it will happen.
Adam thought he could hide from God. You don’t want to play hide and go seek with God because you will lose every time. He always wins because He always knows where we are. Physically, spiritually, He always knows. Adam may have been the first man who tried to hide from God but it is certainly not the last. We should learn from these mistakes instead of repeating them. Real men accept responsibility for their actions.
Now let’s look at another man in the scripture. His name was Samson. Samson falls into the trap of power. I am going to guess that all of us know something about Samson and it is probably the thing he was known for the most….his strength. If you Google his name you get pictures like this. Early in his adult life he had gone out to look for a wife when a lion came charging at him and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands. On one occasion 3000 men from Judah came and took Samson captive. They took two ropes and tied him up. Again the spirit of God came upon him and the Bible says that he snapped the ropes as though they were thread He then grabbed the fresh jawbone of a donkey and struck down 1000 men with it. Our temptation at that point is to wow you’re the man Samson. I wanna be like that.
Guys sometimes are the expression that someone is a man’s man. These are the kind of men other men respect and look up to. Women love him. Dog’s love him. He’s a man’s man. And that was Samson. Most of the time.
In those days there was no king over Israel. The closest thing they had was judge. And Samson served as Judge over Israel for 20 years. This was a very powerful position. And they were held in regard by the people. But sometimes men get power and instead of using it for good they misuse it to get things it was not intended for. Case in point.
Judges 16:1. One day Samson went to Gaza where he saw a prostitute. He went in and spent the night with her. Later he then fell in love with a woman named Delilah. It was her goal to find out the secret of his power. So she asks him and he tells her that is someone ties him up with 7 strips of leather that he cannot escape. So when he went to sleep she used the leather, tied him up but he snapped them as though they were nothing. So she asks again. He says if you tie me up with ropes that have never been used he would be as weak as any other man. So she does and again he snaps them in two as though they were made of thread.
Now she’s mad. She asks again. This time he says if you take my hair and weave it into the loom/fabric and then tighten it, I will not be able to escape so she does. But again he escapes. Now she’s really made and the Bible says “with such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. So he told her everything and this time told her the truth. She then shaves his head and Samson loses his strength. See, Samson was a Nazarite and they took 3 vows and one of them was not to ever shave their head.
So when Delilah shaved his head the Bible says that “the Lord left him but that he did not know it.” How does that happen? As men sometimes get so wrapped up in our own strength and we begin to think we’re self-sufficient. We don’t need other people and we may even separate ourselves from our family and sometimes even separate ourselves from God. This is called the power trap. As soon as we lose sight of where our power comes from, it goes off.
{TRAP} for small animals. They are used to catch small animals actually. They don’t cause the same pain that many traps cause. They don’t feel good, it’s just that when they go off they don’t cut into the animal, they may break his leg but the thing is you just can’t get loose. They hold on to you and many times the animal dies in the trap unless someone sets them free. Real men know where their strength comes from. They knew that when they get too close to power that things can get dangerous because they might use it for the wrong purpose.
In the NT writings of the Apostle Paul we find two lists that describe what a real man looks like. The two lists, found in 2 different books in the NT are almost identical. Let me give them to you. Men pay attention. Real men are a reflection of Jesus Christ. Their life is like a mirror. What do people see when they look at your life? What does your life reflect?
Real men love like Jesus loves. They practice agape love. This is love without conditions. No one has to earn it. It is the way everyone wants to be loved. Real men notice their speech. They pay attention to the words they speak. We should. Because everyone else does. Paul said, let every word that comes from your mouth be a word of encouragement to someone. Real men honor their families. They respect them and they treat them with respect. Real men find their identity in Christ. There is a “oneness” with Jesus.
Real men don’t live by the world’s values/standards. They obey Jesus.
Real men are growing, not standing still. They are real disciples.
These are the things that make up a real man. You see someone lied to most of us. The media, the people at the gym, the people in your workplace; they have lied to us and told us that success is about appearance; how much money we make and how much time we spend in the office. Steven Covey said years ago, one thing I have never heard a man say on his deathbed, “I wish I spent more time at the office.” And you never will.
Perhaps you have heard the story about two young men who broke into a department store one night? They were in the store for an hour or so, did what they came to do, and made their escape without getting caught. But this is where the story gets interesting. The young men were not robbers. They didn’t remove a single item from the store. But rather as a joke, they just changed the price
tags on the merchandise! They changed the value! They re-priced most everything in the store. They took the $5 price tag off a paperback book and put it on a television set. They took the $400 price tag off the TV and put it on a necktie. They took the
$350 price tag off a camera and put it on a hat, and they put the $25 price tag off the hat and put it on a diamond necklace.
Next morning the store opened as usual. The employees came to work as usual. Customers came to shop. They went most of the morning before anybody noticed that something was different. Some folks got some unbelievable buys. Others got ripped off. This all went on for over four hours before anyone realized that the price tags had been switched.
