BEING A MAN OF GOD
On this Father’s Day, I’m going to talk about manhood. I don’t often do this, observe a non-biblical celebration, but this year I will. I want to ask the critical question of our generation: What does it mean to be a real man?
This is a tough question in the present context. What defines manhood? How much you can bench? If you can fix your own car or change the oil? Are you into hockey, football, hunting, fishing, axe-throwing? Do you grunt quietly as you accidentally hammer your finger, suck it up and keep on working? Are these the marks of a man?
Can a man be sensitive and artistic? Does he need to be over six feet tall and say little? Or can men be unacquainted with the driveshaft of a 4440 something or other?
In an age of gender confusion, men have to figure out their place in a world where they are made to feel guilty for being male. On the other hand, men have been culturally trained, socially pressured, to behave a certain way that is in fact, toxic.
Toxic masculinity has been identified by the core tenants of toughness, anti-femininity, and power. Like Red Foreman, men are supposed to be strong and aggressively hardened. Like Al Bundy, men reject any and all feminine traits including emotion, accepting help, or washing the dishes. Like John Dutton, men are worthy only if they have money, power, status, and influence.
Some of the traits we associate with manhood can be said to be natural or typical of men or boys. When they are used to pressure the freedoms and rights of boys, forced to “dude the right way,” it’s a problem. It’s toxic.
The Bible does not have a book called “Man” so that you can turn to chapter 3 verse 12 and discover how the prophet defines manhood. Here and there we see snapshots of manhood and we must discern what is biblical manhood. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, however, Paul gives four challenges to the timid Timothy on what it means to be a man of God. In my opinion, this instruction is the most important teaching on manhood. Let’s look at these…
1. A Man of God Flees (1 Timothy 6:11a)
This first one may surprise you. A man of God knows when to run away. Flee! That may sound cowardly but consider that an experienced warrior knows when to fight and when he is outmatched. Run away!
Paul says to Timothy, “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things,” (11a). What things? If you look back to verses 3-10, you will note that Paul describes the kind of people who don’t live the “Jesus way.” “These things” include conceit, controversy, quarrelling, envy, dissension, slandering, causing friction. The pinnacle of “these things” is the desire to get rich which Paul says is a snare and leads people to destruction. These are the things Paul tells Timothy (and all men) to flee.
When it comes to sin, the Bible tells us not to dance with it but to run away. Flee from sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18). Flee from idolatry (1 Cor. 10:14). Flee from youthful passions (2 Tim. 2:22). Run away!
It is possible that we are too comfortable with sin and complacent as to how it will affect us. We think that we can dabble with it and not get sucked in. It’s like tourists who try to take selfies with a lion on an African safari – they are unaware of the potential disaster that a selfie can cause. Instead of running away when we see a prowling lion, we let it come near, walk towards it, oblivious of its reach.
Perhaps it is the sin of lust or of pride. Maybe you know what makes you angry and you think you have control of your feelings, but you know you are physically or mentally in a place that triggers you. Why are you there? The battle is in the heart and the mind. Don’t go there. Flee from temptations.
2. A Man of God Pursues (11b)
Paul balances “running away” from the negatives with “running towards” the positives. This is good since we need to occupy the space of our ambition. If we remove the object of our attentions, we need to replace that focus with something that is worth our attention or ambition. He says, “…flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness,” (11b). Paul kind of repeats himself in the second letter to Timothy saying, “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart,” (2 Tim. 2:22).
If we approach being a man of God only from the negative perspective, we fall into a pattern of “don’ts.” Stop doing this, stop acting like that. Men and boys need a positive vision of what they are striving for. Constant negativity is demoralizing, so we need a new perspective. Instead of “stop hitting your sister,” we say, “Use your hands to help and do good.” It changes the dynamic in the person’s mind from “I’m bad” to “I can be good.”
That’s just psychobabble unless you run to God. That’s what Paul is emphasizing in the pursuit of righteousness, godliness, faith, love, and so on. What is that? That’s Jesus!
The quest for true manhood drives us to the person of Jesus Christ. We run to Jesus as the perfect example of manhood. We run to the cross of Christ because as a man, I need to be rescued from my sinful self. It is sin in me that takes what is good and distorts it. Ambition is good in the right framework of the gospel. To be strong is a blessing if we acknowledge that our strength comes from the Lord.
We can be “manly” if our manliness resembles the faithfulness of Christ who went to the cross for us. Love is not wispy and fluffy when you see the MAN, Jesus Christ, giving himself for others on the cross. Never seen Chuck Norris do that.
The pursuit of these qualities is pursuing Jesus. It’s similar to what Paul says elsewhere using the language “put off” and “put on.” Put off the old self, the selfish “me,” and put on the new “me” recreated to be like Jesus. If I only take off the old clothes, I am left unclothed, so we put on Christ.
3. A Man of God Fights (12a)
Men of God fight. But not in hockey. One of my criticisms of the EMC cup was the fighting. In most sports, players get hot under the collar – passion to win leads to fighting. So, not that.
Paul says, “Fight the good fight of the faith,” (12a). The word “fight” means to struggle or strive. Think of the ancient Olympics when wrestling was a main sport. It could also be used in a military sense. The bottom line is that the Christian life is a struggle.
This goes against the easy-believism of modern-day evangelicalism. Once you say the sinner’s prayer and get saved, you’re good. Everything should go fine after that.
But we read earlier that some people have wandered away from the faith. That means that “the faith” is something specifically precious. It is the teaching of the apostles about Jesus. And we know that it doesn’t naturally come to mind or take priority in our decisions. We have to fight to put the gospel of Jesus front and center of our lives. We have to fight the” self” that wants to sit on the throne of our own lives and let Jesus sit there. It is a constant struggle to let Jesus be Lord.
Paul must have loved sports; he used so many references to athletics. He told the Corinthians, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So, I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified,” (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
If you have fight in you, fight for the faith. This life is a fight. We fight against temptation and sin. We fight against unbelief and the doubts that plague our minds. We contend with the world and its ungodly teachings. And we fight against the devil. But we do not fight against flesh and blood.
4. A Man of God Takes Hold (12b)
What does Paul mean with this last imperative? “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses,” (12b). Didn’t Timothy already have eternal life through his faith in Christ?
On the one hand, eternal life is our hope through faith in Jesus that though we die, we will live forever with God. Christ earned it for us. He died and rose again to guarantee it. He gave us his Holy Spirit as a deposit. Eternal life is ours now, but we have not yet taken full possession of it.
In another sense, eternal life is not a duration but a quality, and that’s what Paul is talking about. Eternal life is not something that only wait for as a future possession, but it is a quality of life we try to live in the here and now. It is a life we are “called to” and which we are to take hold of in the present.
Eternal life is not simply living forever; it is the kind of life we live. In other words, Jesus has given us the power and potential to live as if the kingdom of God were already fully realized. The invitation is to seize it, to grasp it, to hold on to it, to fight for it. We do not fight with the weapons of the world – to physically make it real or to force the kingdom on people or to legislate it with government policy – but our weapons are righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. These represent the kingdom of God.
Admittedly, this is not what we see in our culture. We see society’s heroes as men who stand up and by great effort and strength defy evil forces. Paul in this context is in chains. He is in prison. He would face prison again. And trials. And beatings. Eventually death by execution. Paul is a loser in the world’s eyes. The pressure on Timothy then, is to turn away from this faith, to give up his ministry. The cost is so great. It is too dangerous. Christians are like lambs to the slaughter. Nothing heroic in that scene.
So, Paul says, remember when you were baptized, remember the confession you made in front of everyone? At that moment, you said, “Jesus is worth it. Jesus saves. Jesus forgives.” Hold on to that with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. Hang on to eternal life and don’t let it go for anything the world has to offer. Hold on to it!
Jordan Peterson boils down “being a man” into two directives: “taking responsibility and living for a purpose.” That’s good…but not quite enough.
We shouldn’t be asking what kind of man we should be, but what kind of man God wants us to be. Culture tells us what men should be, and God tells us something quite different. There are two forces at work in culture which makes it even more confusing: one side tells us to apologize for being men, and the other side tells us to “man up” and wear our “big boy pants.” But God takes our faces by the chin and has us look at his Son, Jesus, and says, “This is a man. Be like him.”
Here’s the kicker in this sermon: Paul uses a word for “man” in verse 11 that can be translated “person.” So, even though I have been speaking to men about manhood, and to women who have men for husbands, or fathers, or sons, in truth, I am speaking to men and women. You could translate this verse, “But as for you, O person of God…”
O godly woman, O godly man, if you love Jesus, flee these things that are sin, pursue Jesus and be like him, fight to keep your faith alive and vibrant, and hold on to the quality of eternal life that is yours today.
And may you be covered by the dust of your Rabbi…
AMEN
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