Measuring Manhood, Part 3

Be with us this evening as we study God's Word together. We're looking at what it means to understand biblical manhood, measuring manhood. This is important. It's important for all of us. Not just if you're a man, but if you're a woman too, because as a woman, you have to hate your iniquity, right? You can't love your iniquity just because we're telling men they have to hate their iniquity. It doesn't mean that as a woman you can love your iniquity, you still have to hate it as well. If we're talking to men about demonstrating their integrity, as a woman, you still have to demonstrate your integrity.

You still have to live what you say you believe. If you talk about the fact that you have to be the kind of person that initiates. Their responsibility. Whether you're a man or a woman, you still have to do that. Or effect your priority, you still have to do that as well. And that's the great thing about the Bible. Even though we take it and address it, particularly to men over these last couple of sermons, they apply across the board. To everybody, whether you're a woman, a man, a young woman, a young man, it applies across the board because they are biblical principles.

And therefore, you have to live them out. You say, well, what about point number five? Validating your masculinity. That's what we talked about last week. How do I, as a woman, do that? Well, the easy thing about that is that 1 Corinthians 16, 13, 14 was written to the church. In Corinth. It wasn written to the men of the church in Corinth. It was written to the church at Corinth. And so when Paul says, You need to be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, let all you do be done in love.

That applies to the entire church, not just the men of the church. And so when we talk about these principles, we are particularly applying them to the men of our church, but they go across the board to everybody who's here. That's what makes the Bible so unique and so wonderful. It's the precious truth of God that helps us understand how it is we are to live our lives according to God's Holy Word. And that's what we're trying to do. But we are particularly addressing the men of the church. And as we concluded last week with point number five, we want to pick up with point number six this evening and cover all the way down through.

Point number 12. That means we've got to cover seven points this evening. So we're going to go rather rapidly. So hopefully you can write fast and listen quick because we want to cover all these this evening. Point number six is this: that you must communicate your sensitivity. A man of God communicates his sensitivity. It follows up from our last point in 1 Corinthians 16, verses 13 and 14, where the man of God is to validate his masculinity by being on the alert, being sober-minded, being vigilant.

He's the kind of guy that needs to stand firm in the faith and act mature, act like a man. He's the kind of guy that's to be strong, but he's to let everything he does be done in love. Well the follow-up to that is that you must communicate your sensitivity. In other words, as men, we realize that our wife truly is, as the Bible says, the weaker vessel.

That's 1 Peter 3, verse number 7. She is the weaker vessel. She's not one of the guys. You can't treat your wife as if she's like just everybody else at work. She truly is the weaker vessel. She is the honorable possession. Therefore, as you communicate with her, you do it in the realm of sensitivity. Now, I'd like to say that I'm really good at this, but I'm not. In fact, I'm pretty bad at this. And so the Lord has had to convict me over the last couple of weeks on how I communicate with my wife.

You know, I can be a pretty strong type A personality. And so I've got to realize that with my wife, who is not a type A person, And she is the weaker vessel, and she is to be my honorable possession. That the way I communicate with her is crucial. The words I use. Ephesians 4. 2 says, Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth. Never is there to be an unwholes word to come out of your mouth. Because you are to use your words to encourage and to edify, to build up and to strengthen. But so often it's easy for us not to communicate in the realm of sensitivity.

Paul even said in 2 Timothy 4 verse number 12 Oh, sorry, 2 Timothy, verse number 2: that when you preach the word in season and out of season, you do it with great patience and instruction. There's got to be a great patience about how it is you preach the word of God. Listen to what Paul says over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. He's talking to those in the church of Thessalonica, and this is what he says in verse number 7. But we prove to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.

This was Paul's ministry in Thessalonica. It was a ministry that communicated great sensitivity as it dealt with the people of this church. We did it as a mother would tenderly care for her children. Well, what a marvelous ministry. Very few of us do that. But that's what Paul specialized in. And then he says this: he says, Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God. But also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. Wow. Those are words of affection, words of sensitivity, because this is how we dealt with the people there in this church.

Well, as men, we need to communicate that same kind of sensitivity. When you think of your wife and you think of your children, you must speak words that are wholesome. Pure, fitting, kind, purposeful, complimentary, gentle. Truthful, thought, not bitter, not abrasive, not sarcastic, not shady, not angry, not cutting, not boastful. But as Paul says in Colossians 4, there will be words that are seasoned with salt. Salt is a preservative. It's also a cleansing agent. And so when you share your words and they're seasoned with salt.

Therefore, you begin to communicate with sensitivity to the one the Bible calls the weaker vessel. There's a reason. It's a comparative term. As men, we are naturally stronger than our wives are. Okay? We're not asking our wives to lift the furniture and move the piano. That's what we do. Okay? Unless, of course, you're married to some monster of a woman who can do that kind of stuff. And she's better at it than you are. But the bottom line is that we are to communicate with them a very sensitive side.

That we treat them as those honorable possessions that God has given to us. You want to measure your manhood? Ask how it is you commun with your wife. Is it sensitivity or is it with abrasive words, cutting words, sarcastic words? Words that tear her down, words that demean, words that put her in her place, or they lift her, build her, that she might be the kind of woman God wants her to be. Point number seven, you must authenticate your min. This is good. Authenticate your ministry. Paul's whole life was one of authentication.

That is, there's a realness about your life. We've told you this many times. Many times over again, we'll talk to Aaron and Tim about it on Saturday at their wedding. You know, your marriage is your ministry. That's what it is. Your marriage is your ministry. Therefore, everything about your marriage must be authentic because you want to authenticate the ministry in your marriage. The Bible says something very unique that the Bible calls us priests.

1 Peter 2, verse number 9. We are a chosen nation. We're called a royal priesthood. Now, this is important. Why is this important? Because in the Old Testament, they had a priesthood. In the New Testament, we are a priesthood. It's part of our identity. That's who we are in the church. If you read Revelation chapter 1, you realize that we are a kingdom of priests. The church is a kingdom made up of priests. Why is that important? Because it plays into our identity. In order to authenticate our ministry, we must understand our identity as priests in God's kingdom.

Why is that crucial? Because it plays into everything we do. One thing my father taught me growing up was the priesthood of the believer. He lived this out. He never said, We got to go to church. He always said, We are the church. Big difference. If you got to go to church, maybe you're not a part of the church. Because we are the body. We are the church. Church is not a place you go to. Church is what we are. We're a part of the body of Christ. And therefore, because it's what we are, it's not something that we have to add on to our busy life.

It's a part of our life as believers. That's what we are. That's who we are. That's what we do. So my father growing up taught us that church was a priority because as a body of believers, we had gathered together to worship the Lord, that we might honor the Lord, that we might grow in our walk with the Lord. And so he maintained that Wednesday night prayer meeting was a priority for him and his family. That Sunday morning worship was a priority for he and his family. And so he never missed. We never missed, unless, of course, we were sick and on death's doorstep.

We couldn't schedule anything that would allow us to miss. Because it was a priority. You don't schedule things around your priority. I mean, you schedule things around your priority. You don't set the priority aside to do that which is, in my dad's mind, second.

Everything else outside of church was secondary. His job was secondary, not a priority. It was secondary. And here's a man without a college education, barely made it through high school, who's a multi-millionaire today. Because he made God a priority. He never worked on Wednesday nights. He never worked on Friday nights. He never worked on Saturdays. He worked Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. That's it. Because his whole life and ministry was the church. He understood the priesthood of the believer.

This is what he did. And this played into everything my father did growing up, so that we would realize that everything about the ministry of the church was a priority. And my dad wasn't a pastor. He just was a normal guy in the church. But everything about the church was his life. See, for the most part, church isn't our life. Church is something we do in life. It's not our life. But church should be our life. Because it's the body of Christ. And therefore, everything that happens in the church should be a priority for us.

And the priesthood of the believer is crucial. We are priests in God's kingdom. This plays over to everything we do. Let me give you an illustration.

There are a lot of people who today, in today's modern evangelicalism, believe in what is called social drinking. Okay? Anybody who believes in social drinking has no idea about the priesthood of the believer. They're always in search of an identity. People who social drink have an identity crisis. They have no idea who they are if they're believers. Why? Because in the Old Testament, a priest could never have wine touch his lips. Never. And he was a priest in God's temple. We, our bodies, are a living temple of God, and we are the priests.

And someone would come back to me because I've had this conversation with people, they come back to me say Well, you what? The Bible says in the Old Testament that wine couldn't touch the lips of a priest while he was doing his priestly duty.

And they would be right. And I would come back and say, you're absolutely right. But you've got to realize that because we are a priesthood. We present our bodies a living sacrifice. We are always on duty. We are always on call. Therefore, you don't understand the priesthood of the believer. That we are priests in God's kingdom, worshiping and honoring Him, sacrificing our lives to Him every moment of every day. If we take that and draw that out, that means that no wine ever touches the lip of somebody who's a child of God.

I'm really strong on this. I believe this whole. And I think people got it all mixed up because they want to live for themselves and they don't want to live for Christ and honor Christ. We need to understand that a real man is going to authenticate his ministry at home, with his family, in his marriage, in the church. When I talk about authenticating your ministry, I'm talking about the transparency of one's life, the authenticity of one's life, the affection of one's life, everything about that person's life.

Screams min for the glory of God because it's all about the Christ. And I would want the people of Christ Community Church to understand that, listen, we have a high calling. We have a heavenly calling. We have a holy calling. And it's to live for the glory and honor of Christ. We've been entrusted with the gospel to give the gospel out. Yes, we have gifts. Some of us have speaking gifts, and some of us have serving gifts, and they all function in different capacities. And we involve ourselves in the ministry of the church because God has gifted us and we want to be used to build the body of Christ.

And so we want to live a life that truly is transparent enough that when people see us, they see the glory of Christ in our lives. True biblical manhood is measured by how a man communicates his sensitivity because he's already validated his masculinity and therefore he authenticates his men. Ministry. Which leads us to the next point, point number eight, I believe it is: he cultivates his spirituality. He cultivates his spirituality. In other words, he stirs up the spiritual ground and begins to grow.

We've got to grow. We've got to make sure that as men, we are growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord. We are growing in our understanding of Christ. We are growing in our knowledge of Christ. We are growing in our walk with Christ. We want to be able to, as the Bible says in Philippians 3:10, we want to be able to passionately pursue.

Christ. Paul said, Oh, that I may know him. I mean, I'm big on passion. I think a man needs to be passionate about what he believes in. I really do. And I think that we need to be passionate in how we live our lives. But we've got to be passionate in the pursuit of Christ, passionate in coming to know Christ. I mean, it should be just the end-all, be-all to our existence. How bad? You know, when you gather together on Sunday morning at a worship service, that's like a trampoline effect. It's like a springboard that takes you into a deeper understanding of Christ.

Somebody was talking to me a couple of weeks ago and he said to me, You know, I really, and this guy doesn't go to church here, he's not even a believer. He says to me, Look, I really want to get to know God. I really want to walk. Walk with God, and I really want to be a better husband and a better father. What do I need to do? So, the first thing you need to do is give your life to Christ.

Second thing you need to do is you need to get involved in a strong Bible-believing church. That's number one.

After you give your life to Christ. A strong Bible-believing church, because if you don't, If you don't, you're going to falter. Why? Because when you gather together on Sunday morning and you hear the word of God and you're challenged by the word of God. And you're convicted by the Word of God. You're confronted by the Word of God. It's like that trampoline effect, it just sp you into action. It causes you to want to study God's word more. It causes you to want to know God more. But if you don't have that stimulus, if you don't have that springboard, if you don't have that one element that instigates you, that motivates you, Then you're going to fall by the wayside.

You need to actively involve yourself in a church that preaches and teaches the Word of God. That constantly challenges you, that constantly moves you, that constantly is the kind of church that confronts you on your sin and moves you to Christ's likeness. Because what that's going to do is it's going to cause you to dig your roots down deep and pursue the Christ. People had minimized. Church. They put church aside and think, well, you got to spend time with the Lord. Well, you do. You do. But what causes people to want to spend time with Christ?

They have been challenged. That they've been taught the truth. And now they want to know more of the truth. Listen, I'm a firm believer that if you love the Lord and you're taught the truth, you can't wait to get more truth. You can't wait to get more. It's like when you get a good steak, right? A good steak, it's juicy and it's sitting in its own juice, and you cut that baby open, and it's just a little pink on the inside. And boy, it just tastes so good. You just want more steak. And when you're all done, you want more steak because you just can't get enough of it.

It's so good. And that's the way it is with the truth. The truth is so stimulating, it is so motivating that you just want more of the truth. And that's what I talk about passionately. Pursuing the Christ. The man of God is going to cultivate his spirituality. He's going to grow in his walk with Christ. Yes, he's going to spend time alone with Christ, but the reason he does that is because he's been challenged. He's been challenged by the word of God. And now he realizes, I need to know more. So he's going to get up and he's going to spend time in silence and in solitude with the scriptures and in prayer.

Memorizing the Word of God, knowing more of the Word of God. That's why when Moses said to the nation of Israel way back in the book of Deuteronomy, 3 chapter: these are more than just words, these are your life. This is your life. Nothing else is your life. This is your life. If this is your life, master it. Know it. Inside and out, spend your free time read, studying, memorizing, knowing more and more of scripture. So that everything about the Word of God affects everything in your life. We need to be the kind of men that grow spiritually.

We need to be the kind of men that really want to know more of the Christ and so we spend time in his word. Ah, so important. I've talked about this many times over the 20 years that we've been together. We have a lot of C Ds about studying the Bible, reading the Bible, growing in your walk with the Lord. This is just so crucial. But the man of God is going to cultivate his spirituality. He's going to grow. It's a discipline. It's a discipline. It's not easy because it takes discipline. And for the most part, we just don't like to discipline ourselves.

You know, when Paul said, discipline yourself unto godliness, it's that Greek word, g. It's a grumbly word. Good nod, so. You know what I'm saying? Because it we get our English word gymnasium. Okay? Gymnasiums are sweaty, smelly places. Okay? So if you're going to discipline yourself to be godly, guess what? You're going to sweat and you're going to smell. But you're going to smell good. You're going to smell really good because you're becoming more and more like Christ. But it is a discipline. You're just going to say, you know, I going to grow spiritually today.

And not do anything. That's like trying to lose weight. I'm going to lose weight. I going to wake up. I'm going lose weight today. I'm going lose five pounds today. What I'm going to eat big breakfast and I'm going go to work. I'm going to go out to lunch, a nice little restaurant. I going to come home. My wife's going to give me a big spread. Well, what are you going to do this way? I'm not going do anything. You've got to do something. You've got to exercise. You've got to discipline yourself, right?

Same thing is true spiritually. You just can't wake up and say, hey, I'm going to grow in my walk with Christ today. You've got to be in the Word. You've got to minimize all the distractions. And silence is a part of that. You know, there's so much today with headphones. You know, and people having them on. You walk down the street, people got headphones on, man. All over the place. They always got to be listening to something. Music, okay? Always. Silence is a lost art in today's society. We don't like to be silent.

We don't like to be alone. We want to be busy. We want noise. Because it keep us from focusing on that which is real. Because when reality hits, we must do something about it. And the number one discipline that Christ practiced was the discipline of solitude and silence.

He'd get up early. He'd be alone, communing with his father, because he knew that to make it through a busy day, his relationship with his father must. Be at its best. That's what we should be. Cultivating that spirituality, growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Which leads us to our next point. After you cultivate your spirituality, you then illustrate your humility. He illustrates his humility because humility is not something you pursue, humility is a byproduct of Christ-likeness.

Humility is a byproduct of becoming like Christ. You don't say, today I'm going to pursue humility. Because that's not the way it happens. Christ said, Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I am meek and lowly, humble in heart. That's the inner quality of our Christ. Well, the more you become like Christ, the more you are able to illustrate the trueness of his character, which is a humble spirit. That's why the Bible says in John 3:3, John the Baptist said, He must increase, I must dec.

And that's hard in today's society. Boy, we live in a society where we advertise self-promotion and self-esteem. Okay, we're at the point now where we can't even give anybody the true grade that they receive in school. Because we got to move them on. And we don't want to hurt anybody's self-est. And we got to make sure we build up people's self-est. We don't have winners and losers. Everybody gets a trophy now.

You get a trophy because you participated. And so we don't want to hurt anybody's self-image. But yet, that's what the Bible does. The Bible condemns self-promotion. It condemns self-est. It condemns self-image. And it promotes. Self-denial, it promotes cross-bearing, it promotes denying who you are, following Christ, living for Him. That's what it promotes. It promotes the exact opposite of the things that we esteem today. And so, when you talk about illustrating hum, it's something that is so foreign to us.

I recommended this book to you the first time we were together a couple of weeks ago, The God Man's Picture.

Great book. If you haven't bought it yet, you need to buy it. If you didn't buy it for your father for Father's Day, get it to him for his birthday, for Christmas, whatever you can do. But get it for him. It's a great book. Here he talks about how may a Christian know that he is humble, consequently then, godly. Okay, because the humble person is the godly person. So, how does one know he is humble, therefore, consequently, he is a godly person? How does one know that? Listen to what he says. A humble soul is emptied of all swelling thoughts of him.

He is of low eyes. A humble man has lower thoughts of himself than others can have of him. David, though a king, still looked upon himself as a worm. He said in Psalm 22, 6, I am a worm and no man. He has low thoughts of himself, meaning he has high thoughts of everybody else. He goes on to say this: A humble soul thinks better of others than of himself. Philippians 2. 3, let each esteem others better than themselves. Paul will say that he was the least of all the apostles. He was the chief of all sinners.

He says a humble soul has a low esteem of his duties. A humble person bemoans not only his sins, but also his duties. When he has prayed and wept a loss, he says, How little I have done. In other words, the humble man looks at his duties and doesn't say, Look what I have done. He says, Oh, I could have done more. I should have done more. But we like to say, look what I've done. Look what I've accomplished. He goes on to say, A humble man is always preferring bills of indictment against himself. He complains not of his condition, but of his heart.

Boy, that's a zinger. He doesn't complain about his condition. Woe is me, I don't have a boyfriend, I don't have a girlfriend. Woe is me, I didn get accepted into the college I wanted to go to. Woe is me, I didn't make the team. Woe is me. No, not of his condition. He bemoans the condition of his heart. Big difference: his heart is not with the Lord. Oh, this evil heart of unbelief, he says. Paul said these words. O wretched man that I am. Here was the one who was caught up to the third heaven, but he understood the condition of his heart.

And that's how you know a man is a humble man because he recognizes that the condition of his life is nothing in comparison to the condition of his heart. A humble man will justify God in an afflicted condition. Howbeit, thou art just in all that is brought upon me, said Nehemiah, Nehemiah 9:3. A humble man will justify God in his afflicted condition. He's not going to condemn God in his afflicted condition. He's not going to blame God for his afflicted condition He is going to justify God amidst his afflicted condition.

That is the humble man, because he knows he doesn't deserve anything, but whatever he gives, gets it's because of the grace of Almighty God. A humble saint, oh, sorry, a humble soul is a Christ magnifier. A humble soul is willing to take reproof for sin. A wicked man is too high to stoop to reproof. A humble man is willing to have his name and gifts eclipsed so that God's glory may be increased. He is content to be outshone by others in gifts and esteem, so that the crown of Christ may shine the brighter.

This is the humble man's motto: Let me decrease, let Christ increase. He doesn't care about whether somebody else gets the glory or gets the opportunity or has that gift or this gift. He just rejoices in the fact that they have something and praises God for that. A humble saint likes that condition which God sees best for him. A proud man complains that he has no more. A humble man wonders that he has so much. Did you get that? That's just thing. That cuts to the quick for every one of us. We always want more.

The humble man says, I got enough. I don't need any more. The prideful man says, I got to have more. Whatever that may be for you, the humble Christian will stoop to the meanest person and the lowest office. He will visit the poorest member of Christ. Lazarus' so are more precious to him than the rich man's purple. He does not say, Stand by, come not near me, for I am holier than thou, but condescends to men of low estate. And I just read you just the first couple of lines of each paragraph.

It's so good because we just te to be very ar people. We live in a realm of expect. We expect things to happen for us. Us. We expect to be treated in a certain way. Listen, if you expect to be treated in a certain way, you are a very proud, arrogant person. Just the very fact that you even breathe is something you give God glory for and praise Him for. Our expectation level is so high. A poor man, a humble man, doesn't expect anything because he knows he deserves nothing. But a proud man, he expects more than he receives because he thinks he really deserves it.

A man of God is going to illustrate his humility. That's why Peter said, You younger men, likewise, clothe yourself with humility. 1 Peter chapter 5. Clothe yourself with humility. Peter was an arrogant man. He was a prideful man. Oh Lord, though all men deny you, I will not. I will die for you. I'm going to die for you, Jesus. These other clowns, man, they're going to walk away. But no, I'm going be right with you all the way. But his arrogance got him in so much trouble. But he learned. He learned about what it meant to clothe yourself with humility and to lean upon the Lord and to follow the Lord.

God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. How many times have we told you over the years? Listen, if you're asking. If you've approached the throne of grace and you're asking God for grace and you don't have it, it's probably because He's resisted you as a proud person. God always gives grace to the humble, but he does truly resist the proud. And so many times we think ourselves to be one way, but in reality we're another. How many of us can actually say, Lord, I want you to increase? I want personally to decrease.

I want you to be seen and not me. I want you to be lifted up and not me. And the man of God is going to illustrate his humility. Next, number nine, number ten. He will always anticipate his destiny. He will always anticipate his destiny. Listen, you can always, you can always. You can always end and agonize through your journey if you anticipate. Your destiny. Always. You can always agon, agonize in your journey if you. Anticipate your destiny. In other words, no matter how difficult life may be for you, if you know heaven is your destiny.

If you know that one day you're going to be with Christ, you can endure that. You can make it. Because this life is nothing. Paul said for me to live as Christ. To die is gained. Listen to what it says in the book of Hebrews, the 11th chapter. Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 13. All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them. and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

And indeed, if they had been thinking of what country from which they went out, they would have had opportun to return. But as it is, they desire a better country than is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city. For them. God is not ashamed to call these people Hebrews 11 their God because they anticipated the promises. That were before them. Listen, when we go through life, our whole life is to be lived in anticipation. Unfortunately, we anticipate the things that are carnal and temporal instead of things that are spiritual and eternal.

We anticipate the next birthday, we anticipate the next wedding, or the next child, or the next gift, or the next whatever it is. We don't anticipate eternity, we don't anticipate seeing Christ face to face. And the New Testament writers lived in the light of his soon return. They would live in anticipation. And that's why Paul would say at the very end of his ministry, Oh, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, and not for me only, but for all those who love his appearing. Those who long for him to come, those who love the appearance of Christ, there's this crown which is called the righteous crown that's available to us who are anticipating the return of Christ.

We anticipate our destiny. That's what a real man of God does. He doesn't live for the here and now. He stores for him treasures in heaven. Because he knows that's where everything is. He lives to be with Christ. Christ. And then he perpetuates his legacy. That's number 11. He perpetuates his legacy. The Bible says these words in Psalm 71, verse number 17: O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and I still declare thy winner's deeds.

And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare thy strength to this generation, thy power to all who are to come. This is David speaking. This is what David says. Life is not about his crown. He was the king. Life was not about his credentials as king. Everything about his life was how he could mo the next generation. That he could somehow declare to the next generation the marvelous and wonderful works of Almighty God. It wasn't about his kingship. It was about his citizenship in heaven.

And he wanted to perpetuate a legacy that he could pass on down to his children. They could pass on down to his grandchildren. Something that would last forever. And he says, when I'm old, don't forsake me, Lord, until I declare. Thy strength to this generation. I want this generation to know the power of Almighty God and the power that's to come. I want them to know that. So, when you turn over to Psalm 78, it says this. Listen, O my people, to my instruction. Incline your ear to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wondrous works. That he has done. We must tell the next generation. There was a compulsion about the fathers of Israel. We must pass this on. We must perpetuate the legacy. They must know the truth of God, the power of God. They must learn to praise God.

We have the responsibility to pass it on. And if we don't do that, they'll forget. And they won't know their God. And it's our responsibility to do that. It goes on to say in verse number five: for he established a testimony in Jacob. And appointed a law in Israel which he commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children. The generation. To come might know even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God and keep His commandments.

This is what we have to do. This is our responsibility. If we're going to build a legacy that impacts future generations, the question is: what are you doing today that will impact the generation of tomorrow? And the only thing that suffices is that I am teaching them the truth of God's holy word. Because that passes down. for eternity. And we have, as fathers, a responsibility to teach our children to keep the commands of God, to understand the nature of God, to praise God, to understand all the things that God has done.

We need to pass that down. It says over in Psalm 112, verse number 1: Praise the Lord. How blessed is the man who fears the Lord. Who greatly delights in his commandments? His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house. The man who fears the Lord and greatly delights in the commandments of God, his house is full of wealth and riches. Say, wait a minute. I love the Lord. I love his commandments. I live in a dump. Oh, no, it's not about that.

It's all about the atmosphere that's created within the home. My wife and I were reminiscing the other day as we were together, and we were talking about the fact that we are so rich, we are so wealthy. In the things that matter. We are. We are talking about our children. We are talking about our grandchildren. We were talking about people like our daughter-in-law, Teresa, our son-in-law, Dustin, and our soon-to-be the new son-in-law Tim, and how God has blessed us with. Our children with spouses that love the Lord, who want to serve the Lord and honor the Lord.

Oh, we're so wealthy, we are so rich in the things that matter because outside of that, what else does matter? What else does matter? Nothing. Nothing. My dad, uh who's who who's a multi-millionaire, all that money doesn't matter. Can't speak, can't walk, can't do anything. So, therefore, he can't spend his money. What does it mean to him? But what means something to him is that he's passed on to the next gener, the truth that lasts forever. And now is being seen lived out in his children, his grandchildren, and his great-.

See, that's what matters. And you could take all my father's money and throw it away. Because what matters most to him is the wealth and riches that are in his house, because he greatly delighted in the commandments of God and feared only God. That's why over in Psalm 128 it says these words: How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of their hands, you will be happy. It will be well with you. Your wife? She shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive plants around your table.

Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. As a man of God, our job is to perpetuate the legacy of truth. If we fear the Lord and we delight in His commandments, Then, what's going to happen is that's going to be passed down to the next generation because we have lived the truth before our children, before our wives. Every man wants his wife to be a fruitful vine. Because we've told you many times over, what do vines do? They cling and they climb. That's what vines do. Every man wants his wife clinging to him and climbing up him.

And that's what wives do to men who fear the Lord. They just do. And so the analogy is very clearly put in Scripture by the Spirit of God. His wife will be like a fruitful vine, his children like olive plants surround his table. We've talked to you in the past about olive plants and the symbolism of olive trees in the nation of Israel and what they stand for. They all stand for blessing. They all stand for longevity. They all stand for character. They all stand for that which counts. I'm your children when you fear the Lord.

How many have I given you? Ah, number twelve. See, I you we'd finish tonight. If you doubted me, shame on you. That the man of God who truly understands his walk with the Lord will celebrate God's glory. He lives a life of celebration. He celebrates the glory of God. Everything he does, he does for the glory of God. Whether you eat or whether you drink, you do all to the glory of God. And Paul would use the most mundane thing there is: eating and drinking. So mundane. We get a drink, don't even think about what we're drinking.

Okay? We eat, and most of the time we don even think about what we're eating. We just eat and drink. And Paul says that whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, even the most mundane things in life, the things you do without even thinking, you do it for the glory of God. You do it to put God on display. You do it so that when you drink and when you eat, God is put on display. And the man of God is going to celebrate God's glory. He's going to celebrate the character and nature of God in such a way that he wants God to be always on display in his.

Family, in his marriage, with his children, with his work, whatever he does. That's why, over in Ephesians chapter 3, it says, To him be the glory in the church. To him be the glory. To him be the beauty in the church from this generation and forever. And that's the way we live our lives. That's how you measure biblical manhood. Could I give you more principles? Sure. Could I count some other terms? Sure. But the bottom line is that we seek to live for the honor and glory of the one we say we love.

And my prayer for you and for your family is that this would be your passion. This would be your desire. This would motivate you to live for Christ. Well, I tell you, I just, in the depths of my soul, I am passionate about the Lord Jesus. I love the Lord. And I want the people of Christ Community Church to love the Lord, our young people to love the Lord more than anything in the world. That's all that matters. Do I love the Christ in such a way that I'll serve the Christ? Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for tonight a chance to be together. Truly, Lord, you are a great God. And we are a blessed people because you are our God. Our prayer, Father, tonight is that you would take these principles, you would embed them deep into our hearts and minds, that we would live for your glory and honor. That you'd be pleased. With our lives. Pray for young people. God, give them strength and wisdom. Your whole life ahead of them. May they never live life without the conscious recognition of the greatness of God, real their accountability to you as their creator and maker.

I pray for every man in this room that he'd rise to the occasion to be the man you want him to be. I pray for every woman that she would pray for her man, that she'd bring him before the throne of grace every day, asking you to do a great and mighty work in him and through him. For your glory and for your honor. I pray for our church. Father, the church we would magnify the name of Christ. That, whether it's with our children's ministry, our adult ministry, whether it's in a music ministry, a missions ministry, no matter where we are, no matter what we're doing, we would magnify the name of Christ our Lord.

And that when you look at Christ Community Church, you'd be pleased. Because truly, it's the name of Christ that matters. Give us safety as we go home. Bring us back again this Lord's Day for your glory. In your name we pray. Amen.