Of Elephants and Men
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· 157 viewsGrace Fellowship in Rusk, Texas Sunday, June 20, 2021 at 10:30 AM
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Of Elephants and Men
Of Elephants and Men
He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.
The elephants are going wild!
The elephants are going wild!
Illustration by Tony Evans: “Adolescent male elephants have been running wild, attacking one another, other animals, and humans. Elephant aggression has become a big problem in many parts of the world in recent decades. As scientists have tried to figure out why, they determined that elephant social has been destroyed, mostly due to poaching. Elder elephants are missing, especially adult male bulls, who are favorite targets of poachers. When South African park rangers flew in some adult male elephants, they flapped their ears, raised their trunks, and bellowed for days—and they restored order. The young males got in line and stopped their destruction.”[1]
The same is true of humans. Many in our younger generation are running wild, attacking one another, robbing, burning, and have become disrespectful, hateful, insubordinate, rebellious, lazy, and entitled.
A high percentage of inmates in prison comes from homes where the father was absent, disengaged, and were physically and verbally abusive.
A high percentage of high school dropouts came out of the same situation.
Society’s problems are also the church’s problems.
Society’s problems are our problems.
It is time for the bull elephants to re-engage.
It is time for males to be males!
It is time for males to be males!
It is time for males to acknowledge and embrace the Creator’s design!
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Men, when you were born you were given an X and Y chromosome that defined your gender as a male. A female has two X chromosomes. That is the science.
How you feel cannot change who you really are.
Attempting to change the Creator’s design brings consequences.
Return to your Creator and let Him affirm and define your purpose and reality.
It is time for males to embrace their Creator’s purpose for the male.
God made males different than females to fulfill their role as a male in marriage, in relationships with other men and women, with their children, with their friends, in work, in military, in the church, and in society.
It is time for males to embrace their maleness and identify with other males.
It is time for men to be men!
It is time for men to be men!
It is time for young men to grow up! No more extended adolescence.
It is time for men to act like men!
To be responsible.
To be men of their word.
To be faithful providers for their families.
To remain free from the influence of drugs and alcohol.
To protect their families and not terrorize them.
It is time for married men to be faithful and loving husbands!
To keep their marriage vows.
To be a one-woman man.
To love and cherish, protect, and provide until death.
It is time for men to be good fathers to their children!
To be present and engaged in their children’s lives.
To give them a sense of identity and purpose.
Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father.
To teach them respect for authority and for others.
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
To correct their children in love.
He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.
The rod and rebuke give wisdom, But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
It is time for men to be men of God!
It is time for men to be men of God!
To fear God.
Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
To love and follow Jesus.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
To be godly examples.
Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
To be the spiritual leaders of their homes.
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
To be faithful members in the local church.
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
To live in the light of eternity.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
It is time for men of God to be spiritual fathers.
It is time for men of God to be spiritual fathers.
Many of our teens and young adults are spiritually and emotionally dysfunctional.
They have been abandoned, neglected, abused, and brainwashed.
They feel lost, alone, angry, and afraid.
This generation needs spiritual fathers:
To give them a sense of belonging.
To give them a sense of value.
To give them a sense of care.
To give them a sense of encouragement.
To give them a sense of security.
To give them a sense of purpose.
To give them a sense of vision.
To give them a sense of support.
Response to the Word
Response to the Word
Wives: Pray for, honor, and support your husband’s God-ordained role.
Children: Honor your fathers and obey them.
Men:
Repent of sin, apathy, neglect, pride, stubbornness, and selfishness.
Commit to becoming part of the answer for this generation.
Step up and become men of God.
Stand together as brothers in Christ in our mutual quest to live as men of God.
[1] Tony Evans, Kingdom Man Devotional (Carol Stream IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013), pp. 14-15.