“Suck it up and be a Man (of God)”
Galatians 5:16-26
Fatherhood in the
Bible…
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Their last names were actually, I am Matt son of Herbert
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They did not come from a region as much as they came from “their
father’s house” or “the house of…” or “Jesus son of…”
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When referring back to previous generations, it was almost always in the
name of the “forefathers”
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Lineage almost always came through the father
The most important
concept from the Bible is that of the father being the spiritual leader of his family
Joshua called
all the leaders of Israel to either serve God or serve other gods
He did not
want them to partly serve God and partly serve others
Revelation 3:15-16.
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either
one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about
to spit you out of my mouth.
He wanted
them to make a stand as to who was Lord of their life and their nation.
Joshua 24:15
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will
serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."
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Joshua was making a stand for not only himself, but his whole family
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the entire household would fall under the spiritual direction of the father
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fathers, regardless of what the world around us is saying, we have a right,
a responsibility to lead our families spiritually (to put our feet down)
In 1 Timothy 3:1-12,
Paul lists the requirements for a Pastor or Deacon
He is setting
the standard for leadership in the church, a standard we are all to strive for, not just the Pastor or the Deacons
(4-5) He must manage his own family well and see that his children
obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own
family, how can he take care of God's church?)
Ephesians 5:22-27
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For
the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for
her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
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to come under the authority of your husband, but also the protection and
guidance
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who would not want to come under the protection of someone who was going
to treat you as Christ treats the church?
Ephesians 6:4. Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead,
bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
The Lord has given
Fathers, husbands, men a great amount of responsibility
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the are to lead their families
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lead the church
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love their wives as Christ would love them by leading them how Christ would
lead them
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assist in the training of the children
Every man by virtue
of being a man has been given the role of leader.
This does not give you permission to be the dictator of your
family
Hebrews 13:17. Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.
They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.
It is not a “look
at me I’m the king of my castle” attitude
If anything, we
are to be the lead servants.
You see,
We
as men (as fathers) need to know that who we are effects all of those under us.
Men
do not have the preference to take a passive role in leading their family.
Men do not have
the option of sitting back and just moving through life, living for ourselves.
God
holds us accountable for how we have led our family and our church.
We
need to realize our responsibility and step up to the plate.
We
need to suck it up and be men of God.
How is a man (a
father) to lead his entire household spiritually?
How
is he to manage his family and lead the church well?
How is he to be the kind of husband that his wife would want to follow?
Turn to Galatians
5:16-25 and follow along as I read it.
There are two ways
we can lead our families. (two ways we can live our lives)
We can let the desires
of the sinful nature control us
Or
We can live by the
Spirit
When we live by
the desires of the sinful nature…
…we are living
like the person we used to be before we came to Jesus.
or
…we are not
striving to be the person God wants us to be.
A person led by
the sinful nature is like… (19-21)
Sexual immorality/adultery…union with the world is
spiritual adultery
Debauchery….unbridled lust, eagerness for lustful pleasure
Discord…strife, quarreling, bickering
Dissensions…divisions, to separate yourself from the
greater group
Factions…to
get people on your side, a desire to have things your way
(What are you like when you are not walking with the Lord?)
Most importantly,
we are not letting the Lord be in control of our lives
(When
we decided to put our faith in Jesus we were deciding to put Him in control of our lives)
We are letting the
old us control our lives. We are operating from a bad point of view/ a shipwrecked
state.
When we are letting
the things that are contrary to the Spirit control our lives, we are in the dark
trying to lead our family and do what is best for our family.
Our desires, our
natural instincts, our human nature is not enough to lead those under us.
If we do, we will
be leading from emptiness.
2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ and I no
longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
We cannot just put
our faith in Jesus and then continue to function the way we always have.
The alternative
is to live by the Spirit
A person who lives
by the Spirit is like…(22-23)
So how are we to
do this?
We are to (16) “live by the Spirit”
a.
Not just to be under the control of, but...
b.
to make it habit- part of your way of life
c.
not just specific instances
d.
every aspect of our life is guided by the Holy Spirit
When we live by the spirit, we will not gratify the desires of our sinful man!
This is a promise.
Walking each moment
under the Spirit’s control assures absolute victory over the desires of our sinful nature.
The only consistent
way to overcome the sinful desires of our human nature is to consistently live under the direction and the power of the Holy
Spirit
The more you walk
in the Spirit the less your fleshly desires are evident.
(most of us have not gone very far from the dangers of our
old self. We have yet to take a stand, as Joshua did, and run with the Truth)
lets see how the
Spirit helps us in that matter
We are to (18) be “led by the Spirit”
(to give control- total surrender
and obedience)
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to lead, take with one.
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to lead by laying hold of, and this way to bring to the point of destination
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to lead by accompanying to (into) a place
(as if you
put a bag over your head and someone guided you somewhwere)
Some of you are
saying, how do I let the Holy Spirit lead me so I can lead others?
When we accept Christ,
we are not born knowing how be led by the Spirit
We need to (25)“keep in step with the Spirit”
Keep in step= learn to walk. how do we learn to walk?
Just as we learned
to walk physically by the trial and error method, so are we to begin to walk by
the Spirit—it is a learning process.
We must learn to
walk in the Spirit.
How did you learn to walk? Were you given a lecture on the subject? Did you go to a school and take a course in learning to
walk?.
Once
in a while, you’ll fell down hard
You’ll fell many times,
What are some things we can do that will teach us how to follow the Spirit?
Read the Bible, learn from others, Christian music, unlimited
resources.
Galatians 5:18 says
that you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
Please do not be
the kind of person who wants to be told what to do because you are unwilling to do the work yourself.
God does not want
to surround us by a bunch of rules to guide our lives.
He wants a relationship
where we do what we are supposed to do, regardless of the Laws.
Some of you may
feel comfortable with Laws, rules, guides you are told to live by.
Stop living within
that box and start letting the Spirit guide you.
(When you let rules
guide your life, you are no better than the religious rulers of Jesus’ days)
There is a freedom,
a creativity, a relationship when you live by the Spirit.
There is no substitute
for taking the time and effort to learn for yourself.
We cannot learn
to follow the Lord if we do not spend time with him and learn from him.
We
live in a society were we want something for nothing.
You cannot learn
to walk in the spirit if you as an individual does not put forth the effort.
(discipleship: help
others, be helped by others)
Basically, it is
a decision you have to make
A decision to know
the Lord and walk in his ways
Spend time with
Him, learn from Him.
Turn to John 15
"I am the true vine,
and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit
he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because
of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain
in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in
me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a
branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
Jesus is the vine. We must stay in Him. We must become more
like Him
We have a responsibility
to lead those under us. They are going to eat our fruit. What kind of fruit are you producing?
Life led by the
Spirit is uneasy. It is a life that is not under your control. It is a life that requires us to learn the language of the One who is in control and then to follow His
directions.
Lets take time to
learn. Let’s realize our responsibilities, get off our recliners and starting
leading.
Closing
Maybe you said the
prayer but never put Jesus in control of your life…are you really saved, did you really understand what it means to
give your life to Jesus.
Maybe you need to
let go of the steering wheel and give it to God this morning.
Maybe you have not
been leading your family as God has called you to do and you want to make a commitment to begin doing that today. You want to begin leading by letting the Holy Spirit lead you.
Maybe you know God
is calling you to commit to this church, to become a member so you can help lead this church and you want to speak with me
about that.
Maybe you need to
ask God to help you follow the leadership of your husband, your pastor, those God has placed in leadership over you.