Sermon Tone Analysis

The Search for “Real Men”

Rev. Paul Nelson

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introduction

What is a “real man”?

The traditional American view of a real man is one who is broad-shouldered, self-confident, tough, unemotional and successful.

The Marlboro Man, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood types.

But for the past ten years there has been a call for men to be more sensitive, to be vulnerable, to share their feelings, to cry more.

John Wayne and Clint Eastwood have been replaced by Billy Crystal and Woody Allen.

What constitutes a real man?

In the Christian world, we’ve been trying to come up with the answer.

We have Family Life Seminars, Promise Keepers conventions, hundreds of self-help books on how to be a good father, how to be a good husband.

The list of self-help books is endless.

I think that phrase “self-help” is significant.

I don’t mean to discredit any of those things I just mentioned, because they all have their place.

In fact, many of them were started because people felt like churches weren’t dealing with the issues.

But our tendency, when we realize there is a problem, is to go find a book written by some expert with the answers or go to a “professional counselor” or go to some conference to learn some steps to follow or principles to apply, to get motivated to work hard, and then we go home and try really hard to follow those steps.

We do them for the next few weeks or months.

*But eventually, we slip back into our old habits and wait for the next conference.*

Perhaps that is why the Promise Keepers have to come back each year.

We don’t keep our promises.

*The problem is that we are doing all these things out of our own energy, not God’s energy*.

*In our day, too many men are seeking more diligently for their manhood, than for God.*

However, if you read the biographies of the great Christians of the past, like Dwight L. Moody, Hudson Taylor, etc., it becomes obvious that they sought God first.

They spent hours in the Word and in prayer.

They were very godly men.

And look what God did through them.

They are remembered as great men.

*The only way to be manly is to be godly.

* (Crabb, p. 32)

What does it mean to be godly?

It means that we are actively reflecting the image of God.

To be godly means that in the core of our being as men we are changing and becoming more and more like Jesus Who is God so that we live and lead more and more like Him.

In order to become men we must know God and what He is like.

Last week we studied the first marriage, the marriage of Adam and Eve that was perfect in every way until the Silence of Adam.

In the crisis of Eve’s temptation, Adam failed to reflect God.

Please turn with me to Genesis 1:1-3.

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God spoke and Created order and life out of chaos

(Genesis 1:1-3 ESV) 1In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

2The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Genesis 1:2 says that the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep.

In other words, everything was chaos.

Then, while everything was darkness and chaos, God spoke into the darkness and He created life and beauty.

Genesis 1:2 is as much a theological statement as it is an historical one.

It is not just giving us a chronological order of events.

What it is saying about God is that God moves in darkness and chaos and creates order and life.

The statement is there so that man, who is created to walk in God’s image will know what that involves.

It involves moving into the chaos and creating order and life.

That brings us to the next point.

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Man’s Responsibility is To Walk in God’s Image

Genesis 1:26 says that man was created in God’s image and one purpose was to rule over the rest of creation.

*(Genesis 1:26 ESV) 26*Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Man was to help keep the order.

One of the first things Adam did was to name the animals.

That did three things:

•          First, it demonstrated his superiority over them and it fulfilled the command to rule over creation.

•          Second, it helped fulfill his role of being in God’s image and taking part in creating order out of chaos.

If animals didn’t have names, you would find yourself saying things like...

I saw one of those yellow, furry animals down by the creek today.

The other person would say, “The one with the long neck?”

Then you would say, “No, it had a short neck.”

Then the other person would say, “The one with stripes?” “No, the one with spots...” And on and on it would go.

That definitely would be a chaotic situation.

•          Third, Adam was also “like” God because naming the animals involved /speaking/ into the disorder.

In Genesis 1:3 God spoke and then in Gen. 2:19-20 man /spoke/.

*(Genesis 2:19-20 ESV) 19*So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them.

And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.

*20*The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.

But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

There is a logical connection between the two.

Man was reflecting the image of God by speaking into the chaos and creating order.

Here is a critical point:  *God spoke into chaos and created life and order.

Man is created in God’s image and part of man’s responsibility is to speak into chaos and create life and order.*

How does that apply to us today?

We don’t need to name the animals.

For me, that means that when /life/ is chaotic or when something threatens chaos and destruction on those I love and lead, I need to speak.

I need to say something and I need to do something.

I need to get involved.

I should not remain silent.

If I remain silent, I am like Adam in the garden.

I am sinning.

But man’s natural tendency is to remain silent.

That takes us to the next topic.

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Man’s Natural Tendency is To Be Silent

In addition to Adam, there are several examples in the Bible of men who were silent.

Let’s look at them and see where it got them.

!! The Example of Adam

We’ve already looked at this one.

Let me ask you, what were the consequences of Adam’s silence?

The result was that billions of people have lived miserable lives and then died and most have gone to hell.

!! The Example of Abraham

God made a promise to Abraham that he would have a son through Sarah and be the father of a multitude, through whom God would bless the world.

After ten years, and no children, Sarah came to Abraham

*(Genesis 16:2 ESV) 2*And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children.

Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.”

And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

What did Abraham say?

As you can see, Abraham was silent and listened to the voice of Sarah.