Biblical Manhood: A Survey of the First Psalm

Sermon on Psalm 1

 1 Blessed is the man 
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, 
nor stands in the way of sinners, 
nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, 
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree 
planted by streams of water 
that yields its fruit in its season, 
and its leaf does not wither. 
In all that he does, he prospers. 
4 The wicked are not so, 
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, 
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, 
but the way of the wicked will perish.

Transcript

The Challenge To Live Consistently

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I am challenging you to wear consistent attire, to wear the Christian garments everywhere you go. And here's why this is so important because we got a lot of people today who know how to come into church and put on their Christian garments, right? They can speak the Christian language, they can pray and even get a little tear in their eye. I mean, they just look holy, right? And then they walk out of here and they shed those Christian garments and they put on the sweatpants of the old life, if you will. It's not funny, Casey. I want you to listen today because if you and I will wear consistent Christian clothing, we will glorify God. We will glorify God because we are made in his image. We are meant to reflect his character. And then, secondly, you know what? If we will wear consistent Christian clothing, reflecting the characteristics of Jesus Christ, it will enhance our witness. People will desire what you have. If you don't do this, you're gonna misrepresent Jesus, which I don't suggest. Like if you're not gonna wear Christian clothing, just please don't tell people you're Christian. Tell them you're Mormon or something, all right? Somebody said, Oh, I said it. Um, it'll destroy your witness. And watch this. If you're not wearing consistent Christian clothing, it may prove that your faith is actually a sham. It's worth thinking about.

Why Inconsistency Destroys Your Witness

SPEAKER_00 1:39

So Paul speaks today about putting on specific Christian garments in two particular places at home. Sometimes it's the hardest to wear your Christian clothes at home, isn't it? I have, you know, something happens at home, and I'm like, I'm trying to be a Christian, but you're not gonna let me, right? And then Paul addresses wearing those clothes, that same clothing at work. So let's deal with the home first.

Wives And The Garment Of Submission

SPEAKER_00 2:04

So, number one, Paul begins talking to wives, ladies first, and he talks about women that you are wives, that you are to wear the garment of submission. Look at verse 18. Wives submit to your husbands as is fitting in the Lord. Now, many of you probably just gasped because the word submit is almost a cuss word, isn't it, in our culture. I mean, everybody is about their eminentity and uh and just you know, it's individualistic and all of this, and I, you know, nobody's gonna tell me what to do, right? And to be sure, through the years, this idea of male headship in the home has been greatly abused, even in the church. Men have used this to become tyrants and to become dictators of their homes. But can I just tell you honestly, that is about as far as you can get from the biblical picture of male headship. God has ordained husbands, here's what it is, to be accountable for their households. They're not to be dictators, you know what they're to be servant leaders. Ladies, I could uh I would imagine you could follow and submit to a man like that. We'll talk more about that when we get to the men, but this is very important. Both men and women are created in the image of God. Yes? Yes, that means that by God putting this male headship upon the men, this vocation of headship, it has nothing, ladies, to do with your value nor even your ability. I look at some of you and I go, she should be leading the home. Okay, that was a joke. Um, well, kind of. Both men and women, we are created in the image of God. And by the way, you know, our culture is trying to redefine what it is to be a man and a woman. Here's the thing, and they're saying, you know what? That they're let me say it like this: men and women are different. We have a lot in common, obviously, but we are made differently. And Kathy Keller, in a book she wrote years ago, said that those differences are not incidental. God, out of his great wisdom, he designed us men and women like we are. And so secular culture is staunchly against the idea of male headship. As a matter of fact, I was watching a YouTube video of a friend of mine. He had flown out, uh, he's a social media influencer, and he flew out and he interviews a very popular um, what would you say, quote unquote, let's say, progressive Christian, if there is really such a thing. He said on this video, the Progressive Christian, he said, you know, I believe parts of the Bible, and I believe in the resurrection of Christ and all of this, and that's what's important. But he said, you know, there's parts I just don't like. And he said, when I read Paul's words about wives submitting to your husband, their husbands, he said, Man, I just can't get behind that. I reject it. I don't think that's for today. Now, here's the thing that might be your position, but let me tell you this. When you take that stance, you're not just rejecting Paul's words, you're rejecting the words of the divine author. Because doesn't the Bible say that all scripture is breathed out by what? By God. It's all God breathes. So I'm not really concerned, just I don't want to hurt your feelings. I'm not concerned what you think about male headship and all of this today. What I'm really concerned with is God's design. And can we just admit this morning that God might know a little bit more than us? Now, let me give one caveat here. Husband, a husband's authority does not replace the Lord's authority. So if you do not have a husband who is serving Christ, and let's say he doesn't want you to go to church and he doesn't want you to pray or all of these. No, your first allegiance is to Christ. Why should you follow the command? Why should we run our homes like this? Well, if you do not, chaos will ensue. Every organization needs a head, right? That's why we have CEOs. That's why every church needs a lead pastor. The buck has to stop with everyone and it's no different, or with someone in every entity, and it's no different in the home. So God meant God holds us responsible for what would you say, the spiritual enhancement, the spiritual formation of our homes. If you submit to this decree as well, you will glorify Christ. Did you notice in verse 18 what Paul said? He said, Wives, submit to your husbands as what is fitting to the Lord. Listen, if you're a Christian, this is this organization of the home is not ultimately about you. Nothing's ultimately about you. It's all about Jesus. Amen. Now we move on to the men.

Husbands Called To Sacrificial Love

SPEAKER_00 7:56

And uh Paul says two things to the men. He says, number one, love your wives and then don't provoke your children. Men, you ready for this? Buckle up. So number one, husbands, you are to put on the garment of love. So the wives are to put on the garment of submission. Husbands, you are to put on the garment of love. Watch this, verse 19. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Now you hear that today, and you'll duh, Paul. Did you have to write that? Of course, we're supposed to love our wives. But do you know this idea would have been revolutionary in Paul's day? Because in both Greco-Roman and Jewish cultures, men had legal authority over their wives. And they were often treated for all intents and purposes like property. Many husbands saw their roles as to control the home, not to nurture. So this is revolutionary. Paul says, Man, no, no, no. Don't control your wives, love your wives. And it's like, well, what does that mean? We have one word for love. And you know, we just have one word when we're talking about love in the English language. So I can say, and that's so it's it's overused, right? I can say, I love my wife, I love God, I love, you know, my dog, I love my children, I love my granddaughter. Um, I uh I can say I love pickleball, I can say I love Chick-fil-A, and I mean different things by all of those usages of the word love. In Greek, you have at least six, um, you have at least six different words to describe love. So, what is Paul talking about here? Well, the words, very familiar word. Uh, it's the verb form of agape, it is agapeo, and it's in in the dark text, it is in what's called the present active imperative. So, what this means is saying, whatever Paul is saying here, he is saying, he doesn't say, men, you know, when you married your wife, love her, he says, keep on, go on loving your wife. So this is a continual pattern, all right? And here's what the word means this is a radical love. Again, it is a verb, it is altruistic, it is laying your life down. And here's what it means ultimately, men, we are to love our wives not just by declaration, but by demonstration. I mean, you say you love your wife all you want, but the but the question is do you serve her like you love her? This is a radical love Paul's call calling us to, and we see this in a parallel passage in Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 25. Paul writes this husbands, love your wives. Watch this, as Christ loved the church, and gave himself up for her. So, ladies, you hear submit to your husbands, and you're like, ah, I don't know about that. Well, men, this is a pretty tough command to follow because how did Christ love the church? He literally gave himself on a cross, experienced the uh the wrath of God, took uh his our sin upon himself for us. He gave himself for his church, and that's the way we're called to love our wives. So again, we're not to be called tyrants, we're not to be tyrants in our homes. We are literally men to lay our lives down every day for our families. So the idea of male headship is not we sit on the couch and have our wives grab us a beer and Cheetos as we're watching the game. It's not that. It is daily to serve our spouses and to love them and to lay our lives down for them, to protect them, to teach them in the word. Paul talks about that in Ephesians 5, but let's move on. We're to put on the garment of love, husbands. And then he talks to fathers.

Fathers Discipline Without Discouraging

SPEAKER_00 12:17

And he says, Fathers, we're to put on the garment of encouragement. Fathers, verse 21, do not provoke your children lest they become discouraged. Don't provoke. That does not mean do not discipline. As a matter of fact, the Bible says, he who spares the rod hates his child. We see in today's culture what happens when you don't discipline your child. Here's what it does mean: it means discipline in the right way. So in Proverbs 13, 24, to quote this again, whoever spares the rod hates his son. But listen to this, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. What's the motive of disciplining our kids? It's love. And isn't it so frequent that discipline is done out of frustration or anger? That's not the motive, it's love. One commentator who's he's known some professional horse trainers said there are two ways to break a horse. Number one is with the use of a uh halter, a bit, a blanket, and a saddle. And he says, done correctly, this can produce a full-spirited, obedient horse. The second way is sometimes used with especially difficult horses. The Wrangler simply takes a two by four and knocks the uncooperative horses to its knees. A horse, it said, can be tamed this way, but with great cost. You will have a spiritless animal and an animal that, though obedient, will never be what it could have been. When we fail to discipline our children at all, we get out of control children who become out of control adults. But when we exasperate our children with our constant criticism and we take the two by four and knock their feet out from under them, we produce obedient but spiritless children. And I wonder today how many of our kids are not all they could have been now adults because they were not disciplined in the right way with the halter, the bit, the blanket, and the saddle. Instead, they were knocked in the knees. We are men to raise our children up with godly discipline and with godly encouragement. We're to raise them in the admonition of the Lord. So I preached a message probably three years ago. I think I wrote a blog about this too, on how not to provoke your kids. I'm not gonna dive into each of these deeply, but I do want to just mention some ways, man, that we can avoid provoking our kids. Number one, we must focus on our and their spiritual formation, spiritual growth. Because our primary job is not to make them great baseball players or great students or great husbands, it is to make them great followers of Jesus. Number two, we must discipline them appropriately. Uh we've got to practice self-control, let's say. Pick your battles, which leads into the next one. You don't want to provoke them, don't nag. Teenagers, don't raise your hand. Anybody have a parent that's a little bit of a nager? Okay. Number four, listen to them. Don't miss this, parents. Don't miss this. The Bible says be slow to speak and quick to listen. And I fear that many of our parents aren't like that. I understand this old authoritarian way of parenting. Well, I'm the dad, you're the kid, shut up and do what I say. I get it. You are the parent, your kid is not, and they should, you know, you have the ultimate say. But you should not have that authoritarian demeanor. I don't think that's what Christ would want. Your kids want to be heard. When you tell them to do something, or you're making a decision for your home, and they don't understand it and they have a different perspective. Listen to them. You don't have to change your mind, but they might bring some valuable information to the table. And you need to be humble enough when you're wrong in that decision to admit it and change your mind. Listen, man, it's quiet in the here. You're like, we're listening. Listen to your teenagers. And then finally, encourage them constantly. Do you know kids are dying for encouragement today? They're being told, uh, you know, at school, everywhere they go, that they're not enough. And they're then they're on social media and they see these kind of utopian ideas of living, and they're they're looking at their friends um and on online and they think, man, I just I just don't meet the standard. They need mom and dad to come around them, put their arms around them and cheer them on. We need to encourage them. Now, we've got to balance this out. Uh, Dr. Peterson said this. I love this. I posted this online a few weeks ago. He said, don't worship your child, because parents make the mistake of that too. He says, care for them, love them, but don't turn them into narcissists. That's what's thinking about. So, fathers, put on the garment of encouragement. And

Children And The Garment Of Obedience

SPEAKER_00 17:58

then, kids, in case you're smiling, because I was talking to your parents, I'm coming to you now. You're to put on the garment of obedience. Children, obey your parents in what? All the daddy said? Everything. For this pleases the Lord. You know, many children are out of control today. They're ill-mannered and whiny and selfish and arrogant and rude and defiant, even violent, except for you teenagers here today. All right. Even when they obey, they're still defiant in the heart. I love the story of uh the little boy who walked in and it's or he was in trouble, and his teacher told him, He said, You, she said, you need to sit down, kind of take a timeout thing. And so reluctantly he sat down, but he looked at her and he said, I want you to know I'm standing up on the inside. You know, you go back to the book of Exodus, uh, young people, and the Bible says not only that you're to obey your parents, but that you are to honor them, which goes beyond your action and into your heart. You ought to, you ought to honor your father and mother. Why? Because you have the greatest parents in the world? Well, you do. No, it's it's not because listen, we are all imperfect parents. I get it. I mean, I have so many regrets when I look back uh to the way I raised my children. But we honor them because in the text it's our our mom and dads because it says it pleases the Lord. And you'll figure it out, young people, one day when you have children of your own. Whoo, it's not easy. You know, somebody was telling me the other day they they had a they have a you know infant, and uh somebody said, Well, this is a really hard time, it will get better. But the lady said, I I know better than that. I'm not that naive. I know when they get teenagers, it's gonna be way worse. So that's true, isn't it? All right, so so you're to put young people on that garment of obedience. Now, let's close.

Work As Worship Not Eye Service

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Uh, before we move to the closing, let's look at wearing our Christian clothes at work. How many know this can be challenging? Look at verse 22. Bond servants obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by the way of eye service as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not from men, knowing that from the Lord you'll receive an inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. The wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he's done, and there is no partiality. So Paul is gonna talk first here to employees, and then he's gonna talk to employers. So, number one, employees, you are to put on the garment of diligence, or you could say hard work. Now, let me be clear here. In the original setting, Paul is specifically addressing household relationships here. He's talking to servants, and some translations even say slaves in the home. But understand that slavery then, I'm not saying it was good, but it was a lot different than what happened in this country. Okay, and it was just a part of the Roman Greco world. Paul here is not endorsing slavery, okay? Not in the least. But he's telling Christians, both masters and servants, how to conduct themselves, what Christian garments to wear in those situations. So since we culturally today don't have bondservants or slaves, uh, the closest parallel is our employee employer relationship. So, employees, you're to put on the garment of hard work or diligence. Verse 22 bondservants obey in everything. And then he says, not by way of eye service, but with sincerity of heart. You know, Americans are not. Notorious for wasting time at work? There was many surveys have shown that about 89% of workers acknowledge wasting at least one hour a day of work, but many of them admit to wait wasting two to four hours or even more on non-work-related tasks. Academic research has shown that companies pay about $100 billion annually in the U.S. for employees who wait waste time on non-work-related tasks. $100 billion. We ought to do what's expected of us Christians. If you're paid to work eight hours a day, work eight hours a day. And then I love this. Paul says to work diligently even when no one's watching. He says it's not eye service. Now, how many of you have ever, you know, maybe you've worked in the office or whatever, and you're goofing off and you hear the boss is coming, right? And you start trying to act like you're typing or, you know, just looking through some papers or pick your phone up when nobody's there. You know, yeah, don't do that. But you know that temptation is even greater today because a lot of jobs are remote now. And you don't have to worry about probably the boss walking into your living room when you're supposed to be working at home. That would be creepy, right? So here's the thing: you who work at home, you're gonna have a great temptation to slack off. But Jesus says, don't do this. He says, Don't, don't just act like you're working hard. But he says, be diligent in your work, even when the boss isn't watching. And then I want to point out one more thing here. You should act in this way even when you don't have a good boss. Now, this is live stream, so I won't ask you how many of you have how many of you have a horrible boss, but um I imagine some of you work for some pretty tough people. But let me just read you a passage from 1 Peter 2, 18. Servants be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing when mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. Okay, so even if you don't have the greatest boss in the world, you serve diligently. Why? Why? Doesn't that seem unfair? Well, here it is, verse 23 whatever you do, work heartily as for who? The Lord and not for men. You know who your ultimate employer is? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And the way you work ought to reflect Jesus well. We should not be lazy people who are off task all the time. We ought to be diligent workers. Your boss, if you're working remotely, um, may not be uh watching you 24-7, but Jesus is. Have you ever seen the little mead uh meme of Ned Flanders looking into Homer Simpson's uh living room there? And he's got a sign that says Jesus is watching. Maybe you should print that out because he is watching. And it's not that he's getting ready to strike us down with a you know lightning bolt. That's not the point. But as Christians, we're to serve him in everything. Listen, the way you lead your home in, it's again, it's not about you. Your ultimate authority is Christ, and your ultimate ultimate authority at the job is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we uh need to work diligently. But then Paul talks to finally employers.

Employers Lead With Justice And Fairness

SPEAKER_00 25:48

And employers, you're to put on the garment of fairness. Verse, chapter 4, verse 1. Masters treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a master in heaven. Okay, justly, the reason I say fairly here, justly means to treat people with fairness, with dignity and impartiality. Christian bosses, don't use your authority to crush people. Use it to bless people and build them up and let people see Christ in you. The text says that we're gonna give an answer for the way we treat people. We wear them at home, we wear them at work, in the supermarket, at the beach, everywhere we go. Because real followers of Jesus follow him 24/7, not just an hour or two on Sundays. Let me show you the power of this as I close. A couple of months ago, British podcaster Stephen Bartlett, who's by the way one of the UK's biggest podcasters, and he's an avowed atheist or agnostic, actually. He heard a presentation of the gospel given by the apologist Wesley Huff when he was on his show. Very compelling argument. A couple of months later, Bartlett released another podcast with the brilliant Christian Oxford professor John Lennox. And he's a scholar as well, gives great, he's written books about the defense of the faith, um, why uh you can logically believe in Christianity. During

When Character Becomes The Best Argument

SPEAKER_00 27:40

the interview with Lennox, this is so powerful, Bartlett was just struck by the reality of Christ. And I'm not saying he became a Christian, but he was really moved. And here's what he said to Lennox. He said, You know, Lennox, he said, it's not the best argument you've made for Christianity is not anything you've said, it's not anything you've written about. And he just paused and he says, It's you. He said, I've done a lot of interviews with some of the most famous people in the world, and they lack peace, amongst other things. He said, But you, you just have a peace and contentment that I don't see in the rest of them. But you know that peace and contentment he says. You can see that he says, in almost every Christian that I interview. And I wonder if people could say that about you. Like, apologetics are are all fine and good. We need to be able to defend the faith. But those don't really matter if you're not wearing the Christian garments that we're to wear. Because you, the transformation of your life, the peace that you have, the joy that you have, the love that you have for people, the kindness you have, the compassion you have, that's the most compelling argument for who Jesus is. So I don't know where you're at today. Um maybe you've never been transformed by Jesus. Maybe you've

Receiving New Clothes Through Christ

SPEAKER_00 29:29

never come to him. Here's the thing, guys. You cannot you cannot make these clothes at home. You cannot create these Christian clothes yourself. You can't even go to the store and buy them. All you can do is come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and He gives you this new set of clothes. Free. You don't earn it. But we have to appropriate those clothes that He's given us. I told you last week that you've got a closet full of clothes, and in the back of that closet is the clothes of the or the clothes of your old life, and then you've got the clothes of your new life in Christ. Every day, you and I must decide what clothes we're gonna wear. And I pray that as a church that we would represent Christ well, that we would glorify God by wearing those Christian garments day in and day out. And as we do, may our homes be transformed, may our churches be transformed, may our workplaces be transformed, may the may Walmart be transformed. Amen. Say may we do this by the Lord's grace with his help. Let's pray. God, love you. Um, Lord, thank you today for giving us these new clothes, for bringing us into a new humanity, for making us new, for changing our lives. Lord, I pray today that that you would move on our hearts. And Lord, if there's one here today that doesn't know you as Lord and Savior, that they would come to you and experience the transformation that only you can give. Lord, we know that that salvation is not just about some future life, though it is, wonderfully it is, but it's about life now. It's being brought into this new kingdom, being part of this new humanity. So, Lord, I pray for the rest of us who are Christians today. Lord, we know that we have proven ourselves from time to time uh to be hypocrites. We have not acted in accordance to what we claim to believe. We've acted different at home or at work than we do in the church. And so, Lord, today, help us be more consistent, convict our hearts. But thank you for your grace. Today's a new day. I pray when we get up tomorrow, uh, Lord, that as we go off to our jobs that we will work with more diligence. When we go home today, that we'll lead our families with more grace. And Lord, I pray this would all be for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.