Read 1 Chronicles 12:32a and 2 Timothy 3:1-7.
I don’t believe that there’s anyone who isn’t aware that we’re living in the last days. The last days began when God raised Jesus from the dead. The last days are taking us to the end of this dispensation, the dispensation of grace and begin the thousand-year reign.
This is a pretty good description of what the world is like today. We’ve become insensitive to sin and suffering. We’ve seen so much of it that it doesn’t bother us anymore. Scenes of abuse, crime, death and destruction are everyday occurrences. We’ve lost our identity as men. And, when you lose your identity, you lose your purpose. And, when you lose your purpose, you misbehave. That is, you miss the behavior you’re supposed to be doing. Many of our youth are misbehaving today because we’ve failed to tell them who God is. Men are definitely under attack in this generation!
Today, I intend to challenge your concepts of what it means to be a man. Many of us because we don’t understand the times we live in, have a misconception about the definition of being a man. My prayer is that, after hearing this sermon, you’ll be better men because you’ll know what it’s going to take for you to go to the next level as it relates to being who God created you to be.
Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:11. Now this is a powerful verse. If we’re going to truly be men, we’ve got to put away childish things. How do children act?
A child wants to have their cake and eat it too. So do many of us. We want to be Christians, but still dibble and dabble in the world: we still want to go to the club, play with drugs and alcohol and still receive the favor of God. A child whines and cries when he doesn’t get his way. A child is ungrateful, unappreciative and selfish. In many respects, so are many of us. It’s time to grow up.
To understand what it means to be a man, we have to go to the beginning of all things. Turn with me to Gensis 1:1-3, 26-28.
We read "In the beginning, God . . .". God called everything into being. In verse 26, we come to where God says, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness . . .” God made man to be in His image (to look like Him). Not physically, but spiritually. We are, after all, really spirit beings. And, God made us after His likeness. That means we were made to possess the very character of God. We’re supposed to act like God.
What does God act like? Let’s read Genesis 1:28.
God commanded us to be fruitful. This wasn’t a suggestion. God is saying “Be productive.” Jesus cursed the fig because it wasn’t productive. God is serious about this. Even though it looked like a fig tree and smelled like a fig tree, it didn’t have any fruit. God is looking for fruit in us. Where’s your fruit?
As we read in the above scriptures, we find that from the very beginning, God gave man dominion. The word dominion means "to have authority and power to rule". The word authority means "the legal right to act". This means that authority is ordained of God and accountable to God. Authority is also positional. By this I meant hat God goes to the position not the person in the position necessarily. For example, God goes to the office of President of the United States. It doesn’t matter to God who the president is. Just as in Genesis: God didn’t go to Joseph, a righteous man, when He wanted to tell of the coming famine. No, he went to ungodly Pharaoh, because Pharaoh held the position of authority.
God goes to the position of husband and father in the same way. Having authority doesn’t bring greater freedom. On the contrary: authority brings greater responsibility. So men, you have been given authority and dominion which is ordained by God.
Let’s read Genesis 1:31. In this verse, we find that everything God made was good. God didn’t make any junk, including you. Not only did God command men to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the earth, he also told us that we were made good!
After reading this sermon so far, are you living up to your potential? Most of us aren’t as men. We’re confused, frustrated, and unhappy because we’re not living as victoriously as we know we should. We instinctively know we’re destined to do better. We’re void of understanding of the things of God.
When Eve fell to the devil, it wasn’t Eve the devil was after. The devil was after Adam all the time. He used Eve to get to Adam. If only Eve had eaten of the tree, God could have fixed things. But, when Adam ate . . .The devil knows if the man ever finds out who he is, the whole family will also come into the image and likeness of God. That’s why the attack on the man is so great.
So, I ask you, “What does being a man mean to you? We’re going to deal with seven issues of what it means to be a man. It’s my goal to get us to examine ourselves and see how we measure up to God’s standard as men.
I. Men are developed, not born.
If you were born a male child, you have the potential to become a man. You have to learn to become a man.
And, it’s the man’s job to instruct the children. Read Proverbs 22:6. But many of us have left that responsibility totally to the women. Men, we need to be involved in raising up the children.
Men and Brothers, God is talking to you.
II. Becoming a man isn’t necessarily attaining a certain chronological age.
American society says you become a man when you reach your 21st birthday. But, just because you’ve lived long enough to get this old doesn’t mean you’re mature.
A man is, or should be, always under construction. We should be constantly growing in maturity, emotionally and spiritually. A man is a male who has gained a level of maturity where he takes responsibility for his own actions.
All this means is we’ve got some 12-year old men and we’ve got some 65-year-old boys.
III. A man has character and integrity.
A man must possess character and integrity. Do you stand by your word? Does your word have value? Can others trust you? Or, do you say and do the convenient just to get through in a tough situation?
Character and integrity means you do the right thing
When no one is looking, When there’s nothing in it for you, even when it costs you unfairly. Character and integrity in a man won’t let him quit, even when he wants to.
You don’t inherit character and integrity. It’s not the result of the new-birth experience either. I’ve seen unbelievers who have more character and integrity than a lot of believers I know. You have to develop integrity through hard work and diligent application of godly principles.
You can’t have character and integrity and lie, cheat, and steal. You can’t stand up and say, “I’m with you pastor,” and, as soon as the pastor makes a commitment based on your word, you back out.
We’re seeing a crisis in America because of a lack of character and integrity. It runs the gamut from the lowest to the highest; from personal lives to the highest echelons of government, from the pulpit to the door. People caught red-handed, in the act of sin, will lie and insist they’ve done nothing wrong, no matter how much overwhelming evidence is available. You can catch them on tape, and they’ll say, “That’s not me.”
Heads of corporations will sell everybody out for their own personal gain. The Enron scandal is a classic example of the deterioration of our value system in this country. It’s up to us in the church to bring these principles back to the mainstream.
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This message continues with "The Attack of the Male Seed - Part II".
