We stuffed up!!!!!

I recently read some Mark Driscoll. And I noticed that he’s political incorrect. And I remembered being at a Men’s convention and having someone tell me, “It’s great to be here”. It was a cry of liberation. Then I noticed that on TV there were 2 types of men represented- the immature “I’ll do what I want!” guy, and the metrosexual “I’ll do what women want” guy.

 

We stuffed up! We gave up our manhood and we’re now trying to redefine it. Maybe watching State of Origin or saying “mate” will do it… but I don’t think so.

 

What happened? The 1960’s saw a social revolution. Teenagers were seen as a group independent of their families. Feminism challenged traditional roles. Contraception ruled out the necessity of relationships for sex. The 1960’s placed a bomb under social order as we knew.

 

Only problem, they didn’t replace it with anything. This is why everyone talks about the 1950’s family- it’s definable. All the social revolution left was freedom to do what you want. Since then abortion has increased, divorce has increased, single parents, sexually transmitted disease have increased. Social responsibility has diminished, community life has diminished. In other words, we haven’t gained much. And by the way, we have yet to feel the full effects of this social experiment.

 

A major casualty is manhood. Feminism attacked this and reproductive technology made men feel redundant. So we crawled into our caves and went quiet.

 

And that’s where we stuffed up. We need to be men. We need to understand what manhood looks like. We need to be Men of God.

 

Now you may want me to talk about being wild at heart or a warrior. Personally, I don’t think this is what manhood is about. It’s just a way to try and reclaim lost ground. Let me give a quick overview of what I think manhood looks like:

 

Men are made in the image of God. So manhood means being a man of God.

 

If you love your V8/4WD, you can be a man of God. If you drink cappuccinos and play computer games, you can be a man of God. If you have a family and work 60 hours a week, you can be a man of God.

 

Over the few weeks I am going to explore what a man of God looks like. Here’s an outline:

Man of God

Image bearing, stewardship and relationships

Integrity

Success, money, sex, perseverance

Family

Single, married, married with children

Ministry

Serve His People, fulfil His mission, mentor others

 

 

If you are interested in being a man of God, start by praying that God would develop and use you for His glory. Then start reading His word. Finally, read the articles over the next few weeks and be a man.

 

I want to finish with a quote from Sam Allberry, whose desire is that “21^st century men will be set free from the slavery of human expectations, and enabled to live purposefully and confidently for Christ as true Men of God”