Act Like Men, Part 7

Act 16, 13, act like men. We need to do that. You need to grow up. You need to be spiritually mature, strong, confident, courageous. That's what the church needs to be. So let me review it with you.

Let's see how much you have learned in the last seven weeks, okay? If I'm going to act like a man, I must live how? Number one, purposefully.

One person knew it. Live purposefully. Verse is 1 Samuel 2 verse number 30. He who honors me, I will honor. So we live for a purpose, to honor and glorify the name of Christ. That's our purpose for living. We've been created to give glory to God. That's what we do. So every man who grows up lives purposefully. Number two, he lives proactively.

We got a couple more of you involved. That's right. We live proactively, not reactively, not passively, but proactively. And the verse for that is Daniel 11 32. Those who know their God, display strength and take action. You live proactively, not passively. My wife and I were on a little anniversary excursion this past week in San Diego, and we were walking in Seaport Village. I don't know if you've ever been there or not, but it's a beautiful location there on the Bay in San Diego. And as we were walking along, this family had these kids in the stroller, and one was going bonkers, screaming and yelling.

And everybody was looking, everybody my age and older, was looking and trying to figure out, dude, do something with your kid. Because we who are my age and older knew how to deal with our kids publicly. The new generation does not do that very well. But as this kid was screaming, the father was, that's right, he was just on his phone the whole time walking, and the kid's just screaming. And he's just on his phone the whole time. So finally, to get the kid to be quiet, he gives his phone to the kid, because the kid was screaming for the phone.

Here's a father who was living passively, not proactively. And then, I'll talk to you about this in a minute, the whole phone situation, quite an interesting story for those of you who have them, which probably is 95% of you who have smartphones today. But the unique thing about that is, is that we as men need to be proactive in every area of our life, not just certain areas. So we need to live proactively. Number three, you live what?

Prayerfully. Right, Luke 18, one is the verse for that. Men are always to pray not to faint. Lord, if we have time, we'll get back to that verse this morning. Men are always to pray not to faint. Why? Because you need to live by the power of prayer. We're strengthened by the power of prayer, dependent upon God living, trusting in the living God of the universe. So we live prayerfully. If you live prayerfully, number four, you live powerfully. You live powerfully. Verse for that, 2 Timothy 1, verse number seven.

You live powerfully. God has given us a spirit of power. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power. We're going to live powerfully. But so many of us are impotent in our spiritual walk. So many of us are impotent in our marriages, in our families. We live as if there's no power at all to do anything. And God has granted us a spirit to infuse us with the power that allows us to accomplish his will. So we live powerfully. If you live powerfully, you'll live productively, right? You with me?

You follow me? Some of you are. Some of you don't take very good notes or you have bad memories. I don't know, but you live productively, right? Verse for that, John 15, verse number eight. And this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit, not just a little bit of fruit, much fruit. This brings glory to God. We talked about the bearing of fruit and what fruit actually means when it comes to actions and attitudes and how we live for the glory of God. But you live productively. But all that's negated if you don't live what?

Purely, right? A pure and holy life. Pleaing before the Lord, honoring his name, living a pure life, completely devoted to him because he is a holy God. You want to be holy as he is holy. Verse for that, first Peter chapter one, verses 15 and 16.

And then spend three weeks on this one. You gotta get this one. You live prophetically, prophetically, right? You live proclaiming the truth of God. Listen, every one of you leave a legacy. Every one of you will leave a legacy. I want you to leave the legacy. You get the difference? There are legacies and then there is the legacy. The legacy is the only one that matters. All of you will leave a legacy behind. It could be good. It could be bad, but you need to leave the legacy behind. And the legacy is the truth of almighty God.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. That's the legacy. So to do that, you live prophetically proclaiming the truth of God. We talked to you about how you trust the truth, how you teach the truth, how you tell the truth, how you don't tamper with the truth. Remember all those things? We talked to you about that because living prophetically is the legacy you leave behind. You don't want to leave just a legacy. Everybody does that. Don't be like everybody else. Leave the legacy behind the legacy of truth.

We've got a whole sermon series on that, on the book of second Timothy. And the title for that is something about leaving a lasting legacy. I forget what the title of it is, but it's all about leaving the legacy of truth behind. It's all based on second Timothy, the last book that Paul wrote.

So and the point number eight, and we have 12 of them. So I will finish on September the third, Lord willing.

September the 10th, Patrick will preach. September the 17th, book of Hebrews chapter one, verse number four. That's the plan. It could change. It has changed drastically over the weeks, but that's the plan. So today we come to point number eight, and that is to act like a man, to live courageously, confidently, to grow up spiritually as Paul would address the church of Corinth. But we're addressing particularly the men of our church because you need to lead the way in these areas, right? So you live number eight, patiently, patiently.

And this is a hard one for me. This is of all the ones we've talked about so far, this is the hardest one for me to live patiently. We have to admit that none of us are very patient. We know that because we live in an age where modern technology has overwhelmed us, overwhelmed us. If you have a smartphone today, on average, you will check your smartphone every 4.3 minutes. Did you know that? On average, those who have smartphones, those iPhones, those Androids, you will check them every 4.3 minutes.

Some of you are on them right now. You have your Bible on them. And so you look at your Bible, but there's always a notification that comes up if you get a text or an email that goes bling.

So amidst all the blings and all the blongs and all the tings and all the songs, we are checking our cell phones every 4.3 minutes. Of the 8,000 people that were surveyed, all believers, ask this question. When you get up in the morning, what is the first thing you do?

73% of the 8,000 said they check their iPhone. They check their emails. They check who read, who posted, who commented on their Instagram, on their email, on their texts. We're like addicts. Our phone is with us 24-7. Do you have your phone on you today or did you leave it in the car? 24-7, we have our phones by us at our side so we can check them to see if someone is listening to what I said. We live lives so impatiently. We can't wait to receive a comment back. So when we post something, we expect people to comment on it immediately.

If they don't, we repost it because people must comment on what I have just posted for the purpose of affirmation, for the purpose of adoration, for the purpose of making me feel important. Tom Reinke has written a book called 12 Ways Our Cell Phones Have Changed Our Lives. It is very convicting. I will be sharing with you some of the illustrations he uses in the weeks to come because they are so convicting. They are very, very good, but that which is a vice, a virtue, can also become a vice. But because in this age of modern technology, we want to know everything immediately.

We want to wait for nothing. It adds to our life of impatience, not patience. We don't like to wait. And so, to be one who acts like a man, we must learn to live patiently. If we live prophetically, we especially need to live patiently because not everybody really gets it all the time. That's why Paul said these words in 2 Timothy 4, verse number 2, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all great patience and instruction. Timothy, you've got to preach the word.

You've got to reprove. You've got to rebuke. You've got to exhort. But when you're doing this, you've got to do it with great longsuffering, great forbearance, great patience. Why? Because people don't get it right away. They just don't. I've been preaching here 23 years. Some of you have been here 23 years. Some of you are having a hard time getting it after 23 years. It takes a long time to digest. And so, Paul would tell Timothy, when you preach the word, when you reprove, when you exhort, when you instruct, you do it with great patience because people have a hard time grasping the truth.

That's why Peter says in 2 Peter 1, I'm writing these things, not because you don't know them, simply because I need to remind you of what you already know. We need to be reminded. We need to repeat over and over and over again. Listen, I preach to you every Sunday. I say the same thing every Sunday. I just package it a little bit different than the week before. I say it a little bit different than the week before. I use different verses than the week before, but it's always the same thing. It's always about the Lord.

It's always about His glory, His honor. And how do we do that? And so we preach Christ, Him crucified, but at the same time, as we approach it from different directions and different verses, we're saying the same thing, but we repeat it because you've got to grasp it because we don't know it very well. Spurgeon talks about the fact that people were having a hard time grasping the gospel of grace. He wrote these words. He said, Luther talked about beating the heads of the Wittenbergers with the Bible so as to get the great doctrine of justification by faith into their brains, but beating is of no use.

We must have much patience with those we are trying to teach, and we must be willing to repeat over and over again the elements of truth. Someone asked a mother once, why do you teach your children the same thing 20 times? She answered very wisely because they find that 19 times is not enough, and it will be often the same with those who need to be taught the gospel. You must repeat it over and over with great patience and long-suffering. And so to live patiently, you need to live it in order to handle your responsibility.

What's your responsibility? To preach the word, to teach the word, to tell the truth, right? Talked about this the last three weeks, to live a life of a prophet. That's what we're here, to proclaim Christ, him crucified. So to handle your responsibility, you need to know patience. You need to live patiently because when you teach your children, when you teach the people in church, when you teach your friends and you tell them the truth, they don't always grasp it right away. So with long-suffering and instruction, you handle your responsibility.

Not only do you need patience to handle your responsibility, you need patience to help our relationships. Remember Colossians chapter 3? Paul says this, so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. This is your heavenly wardrobe designed by the ultimate tailor. When you go to buy a suit and someone tailors it for you, or you go to purchase your wedding dress and it needs to be tailored, you're looking for someone who can do it precisely and do it accurately so it comes out perfectly when it's all done.

Well you have a heavenly father who has designed your spiritual wardrobe so that when you put it on, you look like him. You honor him. So Paul says, as those who have been chosen by God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion. Put these things on. Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another. You need patience to forbear with one another, to bear up under each person, and then forgive each other. Do you want to know why we have a hard time forgiving? It's because we have a hard time forbearing with one another.

If you forbear, if you bear up under individuals and are patient with them, long-suffering with them, it's so much easier to forgive them. Impatient people tend to be unforgiving people. And Paul says, when you put on this heavenly wardrobe of patience, you can forbear with one another, you can forgive one another, and you can fulfill the ultimate commandment to love one another. Because he goes on to say, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

And beyond these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity, the golden chain of all the virtues. In order to handle our responsibility, which is to preach and teach the Word of God, we need to live patiently. In order for us to be helped in all of our relationships, we need to live patiently one with another. Proverbs 19, 11 says, a man's discretion, a man's discernment, a man's good judgment makes him slow to anger, patient, long-suffering. The man's greatest discernment, the man's best judgment, the man's best decision that he can make is to be slow to anger, long fused.

And then he says, and it is the glory of a man, the beauty of the man, the brightness of the man. Man who is discerning, who makes good judgment to be slow to anger, shines the brightest, looks the most beautiful of all. It is his glory to overlook a transgression. Wow. You see, when you're slow to anger, long-suffering, you can overlook the transgression. It doesn't mean you don't deal with sin. But it makes you forbear it with people who do sin. We're to be fervent in our love one for another. It is the glory and beauty of man to overlook a transgression, to forbear with that person, to deal with that person, to live with that person.

This is man at his best. This is a man who makes great judgments. This is living patiently. And so in order to help our relationships, we need to follow the word of the Lord to live a patient life. Paul says in the book of Ephesians, the fourth chapter, these words, he says, therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you've been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. Wow. Being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

The reason we are not diligent in preserving the spirit in the bond of peace. The reason we are not diligent to preserve the peace of the body of Christ is because we are unwilling, unwilling to be patient, long fused with one another. To live patiently is a must to handle our responsibility, to help our relationships. And number three, to harness our reactions, to harness our reactions.

Paul says in second Timothy 2, 22, now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart, but refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

The Lord's bond servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient, slow to rage when wronged, long suffering when slandered, slow to anger when verbally abused, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. Oh, the Lord's bond servant, that's you and me, must not be quarrelsome, but apt to teach, live prophetically, about that for three weeks, live prophetically.

And as you live prophetically, you must live patiently because you must be long-suffering, long-fused with those who wrong you, who wrong you. Remember Romans chapter 12? You know this verse well. Never pay back evil for evil with anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the vengeance of God. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he's thirsty, give him a drink.

For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Do not, do not, Paul says, be a victim of evil, but live victorious by returning good for evil. That verse is the New Testament commentary on the life of King David as he was dealt with by King Saul. The great story of the King of Israel, anointed King of Israel at the age of 17. He is the king. Samuel anointed him, but there was another king whose name was Saul, and Saul was jealous of David.

And although David was anointed the king of Israel, there was a king in Israel, Saul. Saul was not the king. He was just a king. David was the king. And for 13 years, 13 years, he waited to ascend the throne of Israel. That's patience. And all along with Saul, he returned good for evil. And in the caves of En Gedi, those of you who've been with me to Israel, those of you who are going with me this time, you will see the caves of En Gedi, understand the location of where David and Saul were. And now 1 Samuel 24 tells us that King Saul went in to relieve himself, to use the bathroom in one of the caves.

In the providence of God, it was the cave that David and his 600 men were in. There they were. And Saul wanted to relieve himself. And his men said, now is the time. Slay him, and you can ascend the throne. He is vulnerable. Kill him now.

You will be the king of Israel in all the eyes of the people. And David went up behind Saul and slit a piece of his robe and held it in his hands. He let Saul go. It was in his power at that moment to take the throne. He did not. He returned good for evil. And Saul left the cave. As he was descending down the mount from the cave, David addressed him and told him that he could have killed him, but he didn't. But he spared his life. And Saul said these words to David. When David had finished speaking, Saul said, is this your voice, my son David?

Then Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, you are more righteous than I, for you have dealt well with me, while I have dealt wickedly with you. David returned good for evil. And he was anointed the king of Israel. He had every right to the throne of Israel, but he did not ascend the throne. Verse 18 of 1 Samuel 24. You have declared today that you have done good to me, that the Lord delivered me into your hand, and yet you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely?

May the Lord therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day. Now behold, I know that you will surely be king and the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. So now swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father's household. And David swore to Saul, and Saul went to his home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. Saul had been heaped with burning coals of shame on his head, because David had dealt with him patiently, kindly, lovingly.

And the pursuit of Saul did not end there. He still became angry. So for 13 years, Saul pursued David through the hills of En Gedi, all around the nation of Israel, and David waited. When Saul was killed, David became king only over Judah. It would be another seven years before he was king over all of Israel. So for 20 years, he patiently waited until he became the king over all of Israel, even though in the eyes of God, in the eyes of Samuel, he was the king. Patiently he waited for 20 years until he became the king of Israel, and he reigned for 40 years.

That's patience. I don't have that kind of patience. I wish I did. I need to have that kind of patience. So he lived patiently. David was a man after God's own heart. He acted like a man. He made some mistakes in his life. Yes, he sinned terribly in his life. That's another story for another day. But in this account, with Saul, he returned good for evil. To harness our reactions to people, to bring them under control, we need to understand the patience of the living God. The Bible says that our God is a God of patience.

And the word for patience is makrothumia, which means long-fused, long-fused. In Hebrew, it's two words, slow and nostril, slow and nose, slow and face, two words, slow in the face, slow in the nostril, because your face, your nostrils shows your anger. See? So in Hebrew, you're slow to anger, you're long-suffering, you're long-nostriled, you are long in becoming angry. In the New Testament, it's makrothumia, which means to be long-fused. It's different from the word hupomone, which is another word for patience.

But hupomone deals with being patient, patient in circumstances, in situations, in pressure. Hupomone means patience in pressure. Makrothumia means patience with people. That's the difference. Patient with people. God is not patient with circumstances and situations, because He creates them. He designs them. God is never hupomone with anything, but He is makrothumia with people. He is patient with people, not patient with circumstances, because He is the creator of circumstances, the creator, the architect, the master architect of every situation that involves your life.

He is the author of calamity, the Bible says, Isaiah 45. So He is the author of all those things, so God is not hupomone with anything, but He is makrothumia with people. He is long-suffering with people. And that long-suffering leads to His ability to forgive. Because He is forbearing, He is forgiving. It's the thing that's true of us. If God was not forbearing, He would not be forgiving. If you're not forbearing with people, you will not be forgiving of people. You must live patiently. That's why I love what Peter says.

When Peter says, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshy lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. How do you do that? How do you keep your behavior great among the Gentiles, the unbelievers, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may become, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation? How is it your behavior is to be of such beauty and glory to God that it puts to silence the unbeliever?

Well, he tells you. He says, submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution. For this is, verse 15, the will of God, that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. You have a submissive spirit. And then he says, verse 18, servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. In other words, if you've got a boss that's unreasonable, who's got a boss that's unreasonable? Don't raise your hand, because you might work for me.

Okay, so if you have a boss that's unreasonable, think in your mind, this guy is unkind, unloving, unreasonable, very partial. He says, you'd be submissive to your masters, to those who are unreasonable, for this finds favor. If for the sake of conscience toward God, a person bears up under sorrow when suffering unjustly, for what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it. This finds favor with God.

In order to harness our reactions, we need the patience of God. And if you are able to bear up under the slander and the gossip and the difficulties you face at work with an unreasonable boss, this is pleasing to God. Why is this pleasing to God? Why does this find favor with God? Because this is God being fleshed out through your life in your actions. Because patience is not a natural response in situations. It is a supernatural response in situations, especially unjust situations, right? Unjust situations, unreasonable situations.

That's not right. That's not fair. I should never be treated that way. And Peter says, listen, when you are treated wrongly and you bear it patiently, this finds favor with the living God. And it finds favor with him. It pleases him because you have demonstrated him. You have fleshed out the truth. You have translated the truth. Talked about that last week. You've lived it out in front of the unbeliever. And that's why he talks about submitting to the authorities, submitting to your boss. And then lo and behold, he talks about in the same way, wives to unbelieving husbands.

And then he says in the same way, husbands to unbelieving wives. Because your example right in the middle, 21 to 25, is Christ who in suffering unjustly, patiently bore up under the criticism, the slander, the mocking of his abusers. And that's our example. This is why it finds favor with God. Because you're demonstrating the love of God. Remember 1 Corinthians 13, verse number four, it tells us very simply these words, love is patient, love is kind. Literal translation, the love is patient, the love is kind.

The definite article is before love and kind. Only time in this chapter. So the love is patient and the love, what love? What love is he talking about? There is a particular love that is patient, that is kind. That is the love of God. Now, he defines for us, describes for us, details for us exactly what God does. God's love is kind and God's love is patient. And then he gives the characteristics on how that fleshes itself out. But the main point is that the love is patient, long-suffering, long-fused.

That's God. And the love is kind. That's the Lord. God's love is so forbearing that all the while he is forbearing with you, he just keeps bestowing acts of kindness toward you. That's the love of God. We live patiently because we want to demonstrate the love of God to those we live with, to those we come in contact with every single day. That's why Jonah was so upset because he knew that God was this way in Jonah chapter 4. I knew, he says, that you were slow to anger. I knew that you were forgiving.

And Jonah was upset because God's forbearing love forgave the Ninevites of their sin because they repented. That's why the Bible says that God is long-suffering toward us.

2 Peter 3 verse number 9, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. His patience, his forbearance leads to his forgiveness. That's why Psalm 103 says it this way. Psalm 103. Let me read to you first, Ecclesiastes 8-11, because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

Why do people do evil in our country or any country? Because the judgment against them is not executed quickly. If the judgment against evildoers was executed quickly and publicly, it would turn around the sin in our country. The same is true with God. Why does he let sinners sin and continue to sin? Because of his forbearance and long-suffering and patience and bestowing acts of kindness upon them continually that they might come one day to a place of repentance. So the psalmist says in Psalm 103, verse 8, the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness.

He is so patient that he abounds in loving kindness. He is so forbearing that he just bestows acts of kindness on those who have sinned against him. He says, he will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, thank the Lord, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, thank the Lord. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

That's how God deals with his people. He removes those transgressions, but all the while, until his forgiveness is operational in our lives, he is forbearing with us as sinners. That's the way we are to live patiently in our church, in our family, in our community. Paul is a great testimony to this. In 1 Timothy chapter 1, when he says these words, I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has strengthened me because he has considered me faithful, putting me into service. Even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor, yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief.

And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason, I found mercy so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life. Paul says my life is a demonstration of the forbearing spirit of God, that while I was a blasphemer, while I was a violent aggressor against believers and I continually persecuted believers, the forbearance of God was demonstrated day in and day out until finally he forgave me of my sins.

And I'm a living testimony to the great love of God that allowed me to be a part of his great and glorious kingdom. What a testimony. We need patience to handle our responsibility, to preach the word. We need patience to help our relationships. We need patience to harness our reactions because we are demonstrating to those we come in contact with the love of God. So, Paul says this. He says these words in the book of 2 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, military term, the soldier that's out of step, that's unsubmissive, that's unruly.

Admonish him. Encourage the faint-hearted, the weak-souled. Encourage them. Help the weak. Hold them up. And then he says, be patient with everyone. As you admonish them, as you help them, as you restore them, you're going to need patience. Because it takes a long time for people to get it. Just because you got it and received it doesn't mean they've got it and received it. So, you live patiently. May God give us the grace to live his life every day. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that we could be together today to worship you.

We are grateful. We are grateful, Lord, because you've given us your word that describes to us who you are. And we know that it is the goodness and patience of God, Romans 2, 4, that led us to repentance. Thank you for bearing with us in our sin. Thank you for bringing us to a point through all your acts of goodness and kindness that we saw your grace and mercy, received it, and believed in you. We pray that that would be the case for those who might be here today who do not know you, that today would be the day of their salvation, having realized that you have been patient with them all along, bringing them to a place where they would repent of their sin.

Help us to live patiently. Help us to act like men. In Jesus' name, Amen.