Be A Man
Father’s Day
CCCAG 6-18-23
Scripture- Joshua 1:1-9
This Father's Day morning I'm going to be giving everyone here, but especially the men some practical tools that we need to develop or redevelop quickly in these last days.
But this is not just for the men
Ladies, these three things that we're going to focus on this morning are things that you should be encouraging your guy to develop in his own life and if you don't have a guy yet you should be looking for these things in anyone you might want to get close to.
Also, sooner or later you're going to probably be involved in the raising or at least close mentoring of a boy who is struggling to become a man, so this lesson is for you as well.
And quite honestly these three principles are true for both men and women even if I make it mostly about the men today since it's Father's Day.
I’m going to give some background to our central scripture this morning as we are going to be looking at the life of Joshua today from the Old Testament.
If you don't remember who Joshua is, he was Moses’ closest friend and servant. Joshua served Moses the entire 40 years that the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness and got to see firsthand what intimacy with God looks like. This served him well as he prepared to take over the leadership of over 6 million people who are getting ready to take on some of the most ferocious and powerful nations in their world at that time.
All these nations, when grouped together, were called the Canaanites. Even though the Canaanites were several different kingdoms and tribes and nations, they still had very similar lifestyles, worship practices, and cultures.
This included:
Rampant sexual sin as part of their worship to pagan gods.
This included prostitution, homosexual sin, pedophilia, and what we would call today swinging. All of this was part of worshipping false deities that demanded human sacrifices including the children that were born from their sexual sin.
In fact much this same type of rampant sin was going on in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Those cities got to experience firsthand the direct wrath of God in the form of fire and brimstone falling from the sky.
This was the spiritual condition of Canaan as Joshua lead Israel to it’s borders.
Some of this sound familiar? Sound a little like the evening news-
Some might think that’s a little bit of hyperbole. After all, it’s not like we are living during a time where there are Pedophiles targeting children with drag shows in public schools.
If you think that’s harsh, what else would you call an adult who is trying to act sexually with a child or sexualize them before they even reach 1st grade?
But I don’t want to run down that rabbit hole this morning. I’m just giving you the background of what Cannan was like before you think that God was too harsh in order Israel to wipe them all out- man, woman, child, and even the livestock and family dog were to be slaughtered.
God gave the Canaanites 400 years to repent and turn from their sins, but they refused, and now his judgment was going to fall, and the Nation of Israel was going to be the tool God used to judge them.
By the way, this wasn’t just a snap decision by God.
God told Abraham all about this in Genesis 15 when God gave the Abrahamic covenant. God told Abraham what was going to happen to his descendants over the next 500 years or so- that the Amorites, one of the nations in Caanan during that time, was going to be conquered by his offspring. I’ve copied those verse and put them in your verses page for you to read later.
Gen 15:13-16
13 Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
This is what Joshua was facing. Not only did he have charge of over 6 million people, but he had to wage a military campaign over uneven and even mountainous terrain against heavily fortified cities filled with battle-hardened military forces.
Joshua’s Army consisted of the offspring of former slaves.
Not great military leaders
Not Navy Seals or Green Berets
There was no Delta force.
It was them, and God against the worst pagan evil the world knew up until that time.
Sound familiar? Maybe some of you are feeling like that today.
Let’s read the account in Joshua
Josh 1:1-9
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 2 "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them — to the Israelites.
3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates — all the Hittite country — to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
NIV
Prayer
For a moment, I’m going to speak directly to the men here and on the podcast.
It’s not going to be easy to identify as a Christian anymore. In fact, it will be considered by many to be a liability.
The evil of our society has weakened what it means to be a man, calling it toxic masculinity.
And for sure there have been abuses in the past. Some men have used their strength and size to do things which should not have been done.
But much of what our world calls toxic masculinity is simply manhood.
There is a big and noticeable difference between the genders. If you can't acknowledge that then you have bought the lie the world is trying to tell you. This is part of God's created order, and we have to acknowledge that because when we believe it we will live in such a way that we are in tune with God and enjoy the most joy safety, and prosperity we can possibly have.
I'm not talking about subjugating or mistreating women.
I'm not talking about making them second-class citizens that is not biblical.
I am simply saying men need to rise up and become men again.
This morning I'm going to give you three quick tools that will help you on that journey.
The first one is-
I. Seek a mentor
Remember I said in the beginning of the message that Joshua served Moses for 40 years. He had a first row seat to some of the most fantastic miracles described in the Bible. He also had a first-row seat to some of the biggest mistakes made by Moses.
One of the things true biblical manhood is missing is the handing of the baton from the older generation to the younger generation. As the Church of Jesus Christ, we have failed in this area over the last 40-50 years.
Which is why we have such weak men now. We reaped what we sowed, and since we took upon ourselves the world's definition of what it means to be a man it led to the destruction of many churches and because of that, the families and the churches crumbled as well.
We need the godly man of the church to take the younger men or the new Christians under their wing again.
By the way ladies this same principle applies to the young women in the church. They need role models and mentors too.
My grandfather was my first mentor. He was a good Lutheran man who made sure that I learned not only the necessary things to become simply an adult but to try to be a man of honor and a man of my word.
After my grandfather many Christian men in my first church came alongside me and would take me out to lunch or invite me over to their house for a BBQ and just talk about being a man after God's own heart.
When we went to Prayer House, God provided me with a spiritual father in Pastor Ron Auch.
There is a principle in the Kingdom of God that I have found in my life, and that is when you are ready to learn the teacher will appear. This will progress throughout your entire life but you need that teachable spirit in order to learn what God has for you and how he wants you to interact with those around you.
Always be on the lookout for God's hand moving in your life through others mentoring you, and be humble enough to accept it.
Things like leadership
Sacrifice
Honesty
Integrity
I learned major lessons about those things and then the bible reinforced those lessons in my life.
Your heart just needs to be open enough to be able to hear the voice of the holy spirit talking to you and teaching you through life circumstances.
#2 way of being a Godly man
II. Gain likeminded friends, but in the end, don’t be afraid to stand alone
In Numbers chapters 13 and 14, it tells the story of a group of men who were sent as spies into the promised land to see what they were up against. Among those spies were a younger Joshua and his friend Caleb. The spies went and did their job for 40 days they walked through Caanan to scout it out.
They saw the abundant crop land and the fortifications and the cities and the size of the armies and came back to give their report.
Initially, some of the older men in that group said there's no way we can take that land. They reported that the Armies of Canaan were too big their cities are too fortified and many of the men were built like the Nephilim which meant they were all the size of Goliath. For a modern-day example, if you ever watch strongman competitions some of those guys from Iceland, they are modern-day Nephilim, some of them are over 7 feet tall weigh 400 pounds, and can literally lift a large truck off the ground.
However, first Caleb and then Joshua told the people that the same God who brought them out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea in front of them is the same God who would help them defeat everyone in the promised land.
Imagine standing in front of the leaders of 6 million people, all of whom are saying you're nuts, you're crazy. The entire nation is looking at you like you're a total and complete fool for believing what you believe.
That's exactly where Joshua was, and this was when he was a young man. Imagine the intense pressure he was under to simply conform and go with the crowd.
My brothers and sisters in Christ, I ask you again does this sound familiar? Is this something we are all experiencing in our own lives?
Pause
Could some of you testify right now this is exactly how you feel when you're in school or at work or just simply out in the community?
This is why you need like-minded friends in your life.
And by the way, this is one of the primary functions of the church. It's to give you your own tribe that you can fall back on when everyone else turns against you.
When the entire world is telling you what to believe how to live and even what you can say and not say, you will need someone to stand with you against that crowd.
But either way even if it's just you and you alone, if all 8 billion people on this planet, if every life form that flies walks or crawls comes against you at the same time.
If you are standing with God you are the majority.
Men, in order to survive and thrive in the coming days, this is the mindset we will need to have. Our tribe and our God, facing the seemingly overwhelming forces of evil that are coming against us.
We need to learn the spiritual attribute of bravery once again.
This is probably going to speak mostly to the men right now but there is an oath that I came across that is attributed to the Crusader knights. This is the kind of thing that moves me emotionally- the thought of honor and duty.
It was largely used in the movie Kingdom of Heaven, and it goes like this-
“Be without fear in the face of your enemy
Be brave and upright, that God me love thee
Speak the truth always, even if it leads to your death
Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong.
This is your oath”
Men, we need that let God build within us that kind of dedication to being Godly men that can take a stand in these last days.
The third and last thing to we do be Godly men in these days is-
III. Remember God’s promises
Going back to the original verses we see several promises-
1. I will give you every place where you set your foot
If you set your foot and take a stand for God, He will honor that. Now, it might bring consequences, but it will change someone’s eternal destiny if God’s people learn to take some stands in love and humility.
The second promise-
2. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Again, even if you are the only one standing against the evil- if you are standing on Godly, biblical principle, you are the majority, and you will win because Jesus has already won!
That victory might not manifest itself today, and there may be a war fought over it in your life, but I read the end of this book- God wins and therefore you win.
He will never leave you, or forsake you.
I wanted to illustrate this with a quote from Oswald Chambers.
I’m going to paraphrase it a little just to make it more understandable as he uses very formal language-
When your obedience to God becomes the most important thing in your life, God will destroy entire stars and strip bare every resource on every remote planet if that is what is needed to bring his power to bear against your problems.
That’s exactly what God is willing to do for you right now if you walk with him.
Remember- God sent the most valuable thing in existence to a cross to save you from your sins. What else must He do to prove His love and faithfulness?
#3- Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Do you ever wonder how people like Joshua were able to be so courageous and faithful even when faced with challenges that were so overwhelming that to the human eye, were utterly impossible to overcome?
*HOLD UP BIBLE*
This was their food. This was their hope. This was their truth.
This is how they could be strong and courageous.
Simply because they believed God’s word was true.
I leave you with one final verse this morning-
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
The Greek word for conforming speaks to clay being molded by a potter.
As the table spins, the potter puts pressure on the clay to shape it into whatever shape they want.
Spiritually, all of us are clay as we live in our current world- we are all being molded by something or someone.
If it’s not God’s hands that are shaping you, then the world will apply pressure and shape you in their image.
Men, it is that simple.
Whose hands are applying pressure to you right now?
Is it God, or the world and it’s demon’s that are trying to drag you down to hell with them?
All rise
The bible says you need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. It’s God supernaturally softening you again, even after the world’s heat had hardened many parts of your heart. Jesus promised us that living waters will flow from us, softening us so our father’s hands can guide us, shape us, and mold us into men and women of honor that reflect HIM.
The way we do it, is become men of This word. As Christian soldiers, this book is your sword, your nourishment, and your protection.
Presentation of the Bookmarks for their bibles. Pray for the men.
