Have You Got What It Takes

Braveheart Clip: “Lying in your beds, many years from now, would you trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back and tell our enemies, that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!”[i]

William Wallace, “A Man’s Man.” A man who was willing to lay down his life in the cause of freedom for his people. He was unwilling to compromise, refusing personal gain that would have required him to give up his quest. Wallace is a hero to Scots around the world, and a legendary man among men.

A few years ago, Minnesota governor Jessie Ventura stated in a Playboy article, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.” Not surprisingly, a lot of Christian leaders reacted strongly against his comments. Maybe you will be surprised to here me say that I don’t disagree with him. For years, being spiritual has been equated with being weak. Church-going men are seen as wimps, and the church has done little to change that - permitting a level of weakness in our men that would make a wet noodle blush. Women read 75% of the daily devotionals according to publishers. The overwhelming majority of Christians books are purchased by women. Women teach classes, lead study groups and have accountability relationships at a rate that should embarrass every Christian man.

It is time the situation changed. Any person who reads the Bible will quickly see that the men who walked with God were anything but wimps. They took huge risks, faced insurmountable challenges, demonstrated amazing courage, and literally sang in the face of death. Wimps? I don’t think so! The problem is not in being spiritual or godly, the problem is in “organized religion!”

God has been working in my heart over the last six months with a specific purpose in mind – to call men to a new, deeper level of commitment to Him. I believe that our church, our families and our nation are desperate for godly men – men the way God created them to be. Men of character, integrity and resolve. Men who are tired of living life at a level of mediocrity that leaves them feeling hollow, frustrated and emasculated.

Over the last year, I have been drawn again and again to two men in the Bible who were anything but wusses – Ezra and Nehemiah. These were strong men who laid it all on the line, and who inspired the men around them to be strong men. At one point in his diary, Nehemiah tells us that the enemies of Israel were planning a surprise terrorist attack on the city, and kill them all. Nehemiah got wind of the plan, stationed men in strategic locations, with weapons at their sides. Some of the men laid bricks with one hand while holding a sword in the other. After he had set the plans for defending their city, Nehemiah called the people together and said, “Do not be afraid of [the enemy]. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, you sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

That’s a line that stirs my heart – it echoes the inspiring words of William Wallace in Braveheart, or Maximus in Gladiator, or General Patton – but these words were not penned in Hollywood by some professional writer, they were spoken by a man - a man of God – a man who knew what it meant to have real faith. A man who was strong and spiritual. One of many examples in Scripture that show those two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

Today we embark on a study of Manhood from a Biblical perspective. There’s a lot of confusion about manliness in our society today. Think about the popular portrayal of men on television comedies, for example. From Leave it to Jim, to King of Queens, to The Simpson’s, or Home Improvement the typical lead male is a bumbling fool – always getting himself into trouble, putting his foot in his mouth or screwing things up. And in each case, the guy is married to a good-looking, got-it-all-together, successful woman who rescues her man from himself. Right?

The point is this – guys often times are putting their foot in their mouths, and getting themselves in trouble because there is a lot of confusion about what role they are really supposed to be playing. If they are the strong, leader type, they’re thought of as a Neanderthal, insensitive brute who is still living in the ‘50’s who needs to get in touch with the sensitivity of the 21^st Century. If they are too sensitive they are accused not doing their job as a man – they’re weenies who need to be led around instead of charting their own course. Deep inside the heart of a man there lies a desire to be a hero – a man – a leader.

It wasn’t women who made Braveheart, Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan into the best movies of their day – it was men. It was men who saw on that screen something they desperately want to be – no, not necessarily a brutal warrior – but a man of character – a man who stands for what’s right, defends the week, and leaves a legacy for his children to follow. Every man wants that for themselves – but few know where to go to find it.

Over the weeks to come, men, we are going to find the source for that kind of life. It’s found in the owner’s manual for life – the “How to” book for living, written by the One who set it all up. The book is the Bible, and the author is God. He created you. He created the family. He established the ideas of work and play, rest and diligence, love and duty. The men in this book – God’s men - struggled with the same issues we face every day. Sometimes they fell flat on their face, sometimes whey won amazing character victories…but they left us an example and a legacy of what it means to be a real man. We are going to examine the marks of godly manhood in the weeks to come:

Today I am inviting the men of this church to join me in an effort to become the men God has created us, and called us to be. This a call that will be full of words that we may not like to hear, like:

Larry Walters was employed as a truck driver in Southern California. On July 2, 1982, he fastened 42 surplus weather balloons he had bought at an Army/Navy Store to a lawn chair and launched from his girlfriend's San Pedro, CA home. He carried various supplies with him including a CB radio and a BB gun to shoot balloons one at a time to descend. He didn't realize how powerful the buoyancy of the balloons was. When he cut the first rope holding him to terra firma, he took off with such a jolt that the other anchor rope broke under the stress and he shot upward so quickly that his eyeglasses flew to the ground. He floated around the L.A. basin for several hours and reached an altitude of 16,000 feet. According to an article in the New York Times the next day, Walters was spotted by pilots from both TWA and Delta Airlines. It was cold at 16,000 feet and he started shooting some of his balloons to descend, but it was so cold dropped his BB gun and had to wait for the rig to come down on its own. He landed in a residential neighborhood in Long Beach where got tangled in some power lines, causing a power blackout. When asked why he had done such a weird thing, Walters usually gave the same answer: “People ask me if I had a death wish. I tell them no, it was something I had to do…I couldn’t just sit there any more.”[ii]

Now, I’m not calling on any of us to do anything that crazy – we are not going to be doing any stunts like that. But I want to ask you this – are you tired of just sitting there? Are you tired of life just slipping by? Days become weeks, weeks become months, months become years, and we find that while life slipped by, we were just sitting there. God has a great life for you – He designed you to live a life that matters, that will make a difference in the lives of the people around you, and will impact generations to come. Are you at the place where you can’t just sit there any more?

Men, the man you wife wants you to be is the man God wants you to be. The dad you kids need you to be is the man God created you to be. Your workplace, your city and your nation are starved for men who display the character that God wants us to have. And ladies – don’t think that you’re off the hook for the next several weeks – the characteristics we are going to examine apply to us all. Each week, we’ll be taking a look at how this plays out in your lives as well!

Timothy was a young apprentice that Paul was coaching and encouraging to grow. Paul was giving Timothy the same call that I am issuing to us this morning. In his letter, Paul says, in chapter 4, verse 7&8:

Have nothing to do with godless myths or old wives tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise both for the present life, and the life to come.

Now, don’t get hung up on the first part of that verse. The phrase “old wives tales” is not meant to be offensive to you. Paul is referring to false teachings and traditions that have no basis in Scripture. Today in our politically correct world, Paul might have said, “Stay clear of silly stories that get dressed up as religion.”[iii] Paul is calling on his young apprentice to not be duped by the cultural pressures that want to force him into some mold that does not match up with God’s intention for him.

I want to draw your attention to the rest of this passage, however, for a few minutes. Paul says, “Train yourself to be godly.” I think that is an intriguing command. It is an order, inspired by God, to Christians – that we “train ourselves to be godly.” I don’t think that I’m the only one here who would prefer Paul to have written, “Let God make you godly,” or “wait for God to make you godly.” Nope. It says, “Train yourself to be godly.” I went back to the original Greek, and guess what it says? It says, “Train yourself to be godly!” There’s no way around it – the responsibility rests squarely on my shoulders. It is my responsibility. It is my challenge.

That word “train,” in the Greek, was gumnos. It is the word from which we get our modern word gymnasium. When Paul gave Timothy, and all of us, this order, he was calling for us to go to the gym and put in a good, hard workout! He is calling us to some spiritual sweat – to exercise ourselves in the disciplines of godliness.

The Bible is full of such calls to self discipline and training. Last week we looked at Hebrews 12:1-12, which ended with the verse, “Therefore strengthen you feeble arms and week knees!” In I Corinthians 9:25-27, Paul says, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training…” And then calls Christians to do the same.

Check out the next verse. “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” Physical training will have value in some areas – we are happier, healthier and live longer if we take care of ourselves physically – but spiritual training has benefits that far exceed physical training. Godly discipline frees us from the strangle hold that mediocrity and hypocrisy have on so many of us. It affects this life – it makes a difference in our lives here and now – it will affect positively our marriage, our work, or children, and the generations to come. But it also affects the life to come. Spiritual discipline now affects our eternal life with God. Our faithfulness here makes a difference there. I hope can you see that the stakes in this are huge.

So what is this going to look like? A huge set of rules and requirements that we are going to be held to? Well, there will certainly be some suggestions, and some guidelines to assist you but it will be the Holy Spirit who we will look to as our guide. He will work on each of us in the areas we need to improve, as we make ourselves available to His promptings.

So what is the first step? Well, before beginning any training regimen, it’s important that we prepare. So my challenge for you this week is to Stretch.

E – Explore Scripture – read Paul’s letter to Timothy, or Nehemiah’s diary, or Heb. 12.

At the end of our lives, many years from now, will we find ourselves wishing to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance to come back and live life on the ragged edge for God? To be the men He has called us to be? My friends, that chance will not come. Those who wish for a chance to go back and do it all over are living a fool’s dream. The chance to live for God is only in the now. It is determined by the choices we make in this moment – not in a hollow promise to do better tomorrow, nor in a fool’s wish to go back and make things right in the past. We must train ourselves to be godly NOW, TODAY!

[ii] Charles R. Swindoll, The Finishing Touch. Word Publishing, 1994. pg. 10.