Three Mighty Models of Manhood (Part 1)

Would you agree that our culture is selling a false image of manhood and that there is a male identity crisis in America? What is a man? Is it the Macho man, like the silly wrestlers, Stone Cold Steve Austin or “The Rock?” Or men of great ability but throw it away in order to satisfy their pleasures like Magic Johnson, or the man with great power but who is selfish and carnal, like our present occupant in the White House. Then there is the Great Pretender, that’s the Archie Bunker who builds himself up by belittling others. He talks tough but he is scared to death. You have the LOSER, that’s Al Bundy. Then there is the World class wimp, the John Arbuckle type, the owner of Garfield who is bullied by his own cat. Then we have a role reversal male where you cannot tell whether a man is a boy or a girl like Michael Jackson. In America we are seeing the feminization the male and effective male leadership is going the way of the dinosaur.
Being a male is a matter of birth, being a man is a matter of choice. Manhood is not determined by the value of our wealth but by the wealth of our values.
Let me ask you, are you man enough to get serious and live for God? Many men are missing in action today.
John Piper has well defined manhood as, “a sense of benevolent responsibility to lead, provide for and protect women in ways appropriate to a man’s differing relationships.”
Philippians 2 starts with an admonition to be likeminded and “in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” We are to delete conceit and selfish competition from our midst. Paul then shows that Jesus is the greatest example of this, and now he uses three other men to demonstrate this kind of mind, which is the mind of Christ. In this passage the apostle cites three examples of men who exemplify the mind of Christ. This mind is the key to unity in our church and in our homes.
This passage gives us a glimpse of three men who loved the Lord Jesus Christ and served him with a heart of joy: Paul, Timothy, and Ephaphroditus.
1. Joyful Consecration
Paul was willing to BE SPENT for the faith of the Philippians. He has already proven that when he first went there before he knew any of them. He was willing to be thrown into that dark Philippian prison in solitary confinement and what did he do there? He did not give an organ recital, but rather he sang praises unto God.
Paul likens the Philippian believers to living sacrifices. The Philippians themselves had given their lives to the Lord and Paul says I am willing to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of their faith! The word “offered upon” is spendomai. Paul was willing to die for the good of the Philippians faith!
2 Tim.4:6, For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. (“Offered” is the same word used in our Philippians passage)
2 Cor.12:15, And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
The word “spend” in this verse is used in James 4:3, for the one who would ask amiss that he would consume it on his own lusts. This world loves to spend themselves on their lusts. They open their wallet freely and pour out their wealth to enjoy a little bit of pleasure. The perfect example of this is the Prodigal Son. The Bible says, “And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land…” He was willing to spend all ON HIMSELF. Paul is willing to spend and be entirely spent for others. This is humility. This is manhood!
In this very context of pouring out his life, even unto death for the sake of the Philippian believers, Paul insists that he will rejoice and he wants the Philippians to rejoice with him. In the prospects of facing death for the sake of others faith, Paul could still rejoice! Death itself could not rob Paul of his joy. Yes, it is our choice to rejoice, even facing the ultimate test of death.
If you willingly and joyfully pour your life out over the sacrifice and service of others, people will say you are wasting your life. People will say you have your priorities upside down. To me, invested lives were those of NATE SAINT, ROGER YOUDERIAN, PETE FLEMING, ED McCULLY, and JIM ELLIOT, who who killed in the jungles of South America seeking to get the Gospel to the Auca Indians. Elliot said, “A man is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Pete Fleming said, “It is a grave and solemn problem; an unreachable people who murder and kill with extreme hatred. It comes to me strongly that God is leading me to do something about it…I know that this may be the most important decision of my life, but I have a quiet peace about it.” (Splendour, p.104) A problem for Fleming was that people were murdering and killing apart from the grace of God! He was willing along with his four friends to pour out his life upon the sacrifice and service of their faith!
A wasted life is not one lived as a consecrated sacrifice for God, a wasted life is one lived for self. To me, Donald Trump is wasting his life. Getting rich on the gambling industry, getting married and divorced and married and divorced, living for himself, he is wasting his life. You see, IT IS NOT HOW LONG WE LIVE, BUT WHAT WE LIVE FOR THAT DETERMINES WHETHER WE ARE WASTING OUR LIFE OR NOT!
A true man rejoices in the sacrifices he can make for others. A real man is not living selfishly and passively for sinful pleasures and vain pursuits. A real man does not commit fornication. A real man does not leave his wife for another woman. A real man does not abandon his children and abdicate his responsibilities by spending all of his time hanging out with the guys on the street. A real man doesn’t drive a Lexus with money he got from dealing drugs. A real man does sacrifice for others; he is willing to spend and be spent for a cause greater than himself. A real man realizes he is expendable. A real man realizes that he is not bigger than the cause. A real man engages himself in a cause that will outlast his own life and can get along fine without him.
This past week Bobby Knight was finally fired as coach of the Indiana basketball team. He is one of the winningest coaches of all time and he has won three national championships and eleven Big Ten titles. But winning games and championships does not a man make. He had a temper that was out of control. He threw chairs, grabbed players and most recently cursed another player out. He thought IU needed him more than he needed IU. He thought he was bigger than the basketball program at IU. It was his way or the highway. He was disloyal and would not submit himself to the president of the university. Then finally, he would not admit that he was wrong. He rationalized his violent anger and blamed it on others. That is not manhood. Real manhood rejoices in the opportunity to sacrifice for the faithful service of others to Jesus Christ. Real manhood is humble, it repents, and has a lowly mind.
2. Unwavering Christ-centeredness
Christ is the Center of Paul’s life, v. 19
This is not just a pious platitude of Paul when he says, “but I trust in the Lord Jesus…”
In everyday decisions he made everyday, he trusted in the Lord Jesus.
No, this is the core of Paul’s life: Christ. Jesus Christ, A.T. ROBERTSON writes, was “both the center and the circumference of he circle of life for Paul. Christ was the key to the universe and to Paul’s own life. He had no life outside of Christ.” (A.T. Robertson, p.89) Jesus Christ was life to Paul. Jesus was the circumference of all his plans and Jesus was the center of all his desires. Phil.1 21, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Phil. 3:8, I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
Paul was IN CHRIST and everything Paul did he did not for himself, but in faith in the sphere of the life of Christ.
Paul lived IN FAITH for THE FAITH!
“The faith,” as used in Phil.1:27, is not the trust he had in Christ alone for salvation, but it is the substance of Christianity, the entire body of revealed truth as revealed in the Scripture. “THE faith” In Jude 1 is what we are to earnestly contend for: “THE FAITH.” The word order of the original language is powerful. It goes something like this: “Contend earnestly for the once delivered to the saints faith!”
Paul was crucified with Christ and was willing to die daily with Christ and bear his cross and follow him. Do you know that you cannot follow Christ without going to the cross! Thank God, when you go to the cross, you can then and only then know the power of the resurrection!
Does the reality of the risen Christ cause you to say, Christ is in me, the hope of glory? Do you live a life centered on Christ?
A man who is an example of the Christ-centered life is C.H. Spurgeon. Spurgeon was the pastor of perhaps the world’s largest Baptist church in London in the middle to the end of the 1800’s. He died in 1892. Five years before his death, in 1887 (March-April), Spurgeon was greatly concerned about the attacks of modernism and liberalism within the Baptist Union. He wrote about the down-hill slope of compromise and said, “we are going downhill at breakneck speed,” and he said “the one thing they dread is light.” This controversy, called the DOWN-GRADE controversy, because of the drift downhill from sound doctrine, led him to withdraw from the union in October, 1887. Spurgeon wrote during the controversy, “the atonement is being scouted, the inspiration of Scripture is derided, the Holy Spirit is degraded into an influence, the punishment of sin is turned into fiction and the resurrection into a myth, and yet these enemies of our faith expect us to call them brethren, and maintain a confederacy with them!” He declared war on modernism and unbelief, because he lived IN faith for THE faith of the Gospel. He was censured by the Baptist Union by a lopsided vote of 2000-7 in spring, 1888. He died a few years later, and many think that the stress of that great fight took its toll on Mr. Spurgeon.
Men, be centered in Jesus Christ.
Let me ask you men: are you intimidated by the spirituality of your wives? Do you hinder their spiritual growth? Are you encouraging your wives to grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ or are you a detriment to their spiritual increase? Do you lead out in prayer at meals or in family devotions? Do you spend time with God in prayer and the Word yourself on a daily or regular basis?
3. Unselfish Compassion,
Phil. 1:21,22, For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
Timothy was willing to put people before profit; he was not looking for an excuse to get out of a huge amount of service, that is to make a trip from Rome to Philippi to encourage the believers there. That is an 800 mile trip on foot! Timothy means “honorable” and he lived up to his name.
Timothy was unselfish in his compassion and he was not wrapped up in his own interests, rather the interests of others. Paul tells us that there wasn’t anyone else like Timothy, either. Timothy was not an apostle, folks, but a believer in Christ. I am sure Timothy had to struggle against being “like everyone else,” all wrapped up in their own pursuits. Hey, everyone is doing their own thing and doing what is best for them, isn’t it easy to just follow what everyone else is doing?
Isn’t it easy to put our interests above the interests of God’s Kingdom? Timothy was not so wrapped up in his own affairs that he did not have time to serve God. One of the most valuable things we all possess is TIME. We all are equally rich in this commodity. Not one of us here has more or less time than anyone else! Life is nothing more than a little bit of TIME. Is it possible to get so wrapped up in your business that you do not have time for your family? Is it possible to get so wrapped up in other things that you do not have time for the Lord’s work or prayer? Do you know what a Dad is who is all wrapped up in himself? He is not a daddy but a mummy! Do you have time to serve the Lord? Do you have time to come worship the Lord in the house of God?
Do you know what this world is about: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. And do you know many people live for that system? They sacrifice for it, they pour their time and energy into it, and the Bible says they love it.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
What is love? It is sacrificial giving without thought of return. Love willingly makes sacrifices. In other words, those who are dedicated to this system of things apart from God are willing to sacrifice to satisfy the lust of their eyes, the lust of their flesh, and the pride of life. They are willing to sacrifice their time to satisfy their eyegate. They are willing to sacrifice their money to satisfy their flesh. They are willing to sacrifice their family to satisfy their ego and pride. Not so with the Christian who is wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ!
Timothy was genuinely and sincerely concerned about the affairs of others. He had the mind of Christ. He was wrapped up in God, he was tied up with the Lord and in the affairs of the Lord. And do you know what? There are not many people like him. Even Paul says, I have no man likeminded who will naturally, genuinely, sincerely, care for your state, for all seek their own and not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
Timothy was an Isaiah 40:31 Christian! He was tied up and knotted up with his God.
Yes, it is sad but true, there are not many who have the unselfish and compassionate MIND of Christ. There are not many who are not just looking out for themselves, but every man also on the things of others. There are not many men who are willing to put people before profits, and others before themselves. There are not many men who love the Lord Jesus Christ, love the Word of God, delight in obedience, and love the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many love lust. Many men today are sperm doners, but not many men are compassionate fathers. Many men love violence. Many men today are abusive, foul, vile, but not many are gentle and compassionate and unselfish. Many men today are effeminate and say they were born that way, but not many are willing to die to themselves and do all to the glory of God. Timothy was a man of compassion a honor who served in the Gospel with Paul as a son with his father.
What is a real man? What are some models of manhood for us?
War has been declared on manhood today, and we are facing the extinction of men who know how to lead. Many in our culture are afraid of the extinction of whales and white owls, but are not afraid of the extinction of men. The very survival of our culture will depend on the presence of male leadership in the home and the church. Are you man enough to live for God?