The Man's Role In Society

The society in which we live has neglected to teach men about their role in the home, in the church, and society. The worldly view of a man’s role is that he should provide financially for his family, but we shouldn’t expect him to be very engaged with home life. In spite of all our talk of feminism, we have left the job of making a home and raising the kids to the female of the household. The role of leadership, of teaching and correcting the kids has fallen to the feminine side of our society. This is both unwise and unbiblical. As a result our homes are very weak and the enemy finds it very easy to destroy our families through divorce, rebellion, addictions, molestation, and child abuse.

In a quote from Leon Podles, who wrote the book “The Church Impotent” he remarks:

“Women go to church; men go to football games. Laymen attend church activities because a wife, mother, or girlfriend has pressured them… If a man goes to church, he goes because a woman has wheedled him into what hi would normally consider unmanly behavior. But if he goes voluntarily, he suffers suspicions about his masculinity. A devastating criticism of Christianity is many men see it not only as irrelevant, but as effeminate. As one man put it, ‘life is a football game, with men fighting it out on the green, while the minister is up in the grandstands, explaining it to the ladies.’”

The tide of leadership has changed drastically in our society, homes, and churches and women have been forced into areas that God did not intend for them to be. And while this maybe true, I believe that many a men and women do not understand their God-given roles while here on earth. God bless our fathers, grand-fathers, uncles, friends, and other adults for their attempt to try and teach us as men, our roles in society. However, much of what they taught us was based on what they were taught when they were coming up along with life long experience. So we as men have been taught:

• That crying is for punks.

• That success of a man is based on his economic status.

• That beating a woman into submission is mucho.

• That our sexual activity and little black books determines our worth in life.

• That the woman’s role is in the kitchen and the bedroom

• That life is what we make it.

• That man is the bread winner of the family.

• If we hurt, we’re told to suck it up and stop crying like a punk

• If we’re sick, we’re told stop whining like a big baby

• If we have to much fun, we’re told you’re nothing more than a big kid

• If we we’re any other color outside of black, brown, and blue, then we’re gay (Homosexual)

And the list goes on and on and on……. And it’s this teaching that we’re judged by. We’re judged by our bank account, car, house, credit, looks, success, leadership, and our sexual performance.

I can continue on talking about the confusion of a man’s sexuality heterosexual or homosexual (the down-low syndrome). I can beat us up about what we’re not doing and congratulate us on what we’re doing right. But that’s not what I want to do today in this message. We’ve been beating up enough over the years by the church and society.

I have a two-fold agenda with this message today:

1. To give us as men an understanding of our roles in society, the home, and the church. I believe the principles to be rendered here today will apply to all three areas of our lives. And the principles giving today can also apply to women as well.

2. To call us to repentance for missing for so long, restore us to the place of godly leadership and stability, and encourage us to hang in there even when the going gets tough.

This text offers to us Three (3) Areas of Importance as to the man’s role in society:

I. Men of PRAYER – v. 1a - “I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere….”

In order to understand the significance of Paul’s instruction to pastor Timothy about how to run the church, I need to walk you back through what’s going on at the church of Ephesus. Paul is writing this letter to help aid Timothy with the difficult task of bringing order back into the church at Ephesus. At the time that this letter was written Timothy has become overwhelmed with the task because for all indicated purposes it’s too much for one man to handle and he’s ready to quit. But Paul exhorts him in chapter 1:3 to stay at the task because there are false teachers in the church that teaching a gospel lie. Now, I know that this letter was some 2000 years ago but I wonder if you’ve ever been in a place where things got over your head. Have you ever been in a place where it was just too hard for you to handle? And it was at that point that you were ready to give it all up and throw in the towel. Well, allow me to be your Paul and say to don’t give up. Things may seem hard but all is not lost. Don’t throw in the towel just yet help is on the way.