Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast where we're all about sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Cosby Hinn. This is episode two of our series on biblical manhood to kick off the year. The first episode was called Misguided Manhood. We talked about some of the misfires as far as manhood goes and the way that we tend to miss the target, but God has put a drive in us and traits in us as men, and those need to be shaped by the Holy Spirit to bear his fruit. I'm joined by Pastor Travis Allen, Pastor of Grace Church in Greeley, Colorado. A dear friend, a dear brother. He is the featured guest and the key point of wisdom for this series. Travis, welcome back, brother.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, man. Good to be here.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Well, this episode is The Traits of a Biblical Man. I don't really want to hold you back here. I just want to unleash you and let you do what you do. I may jump in with a question or add some color commentary here and there if I want you to unpack something more. But would you be willing to just cut it straight, lay it on us as men and women who are listening and mothers who shape their sons and all sorts? What are the the three, the four, the five, or maybe a text you want to take us to? What are the traits of a biblical man?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, uh, in the in the way you set this podcast up with the last episode, we were basically basically kind of framing the issues, framing the problem in the culture today with regard to men. And we we kind of both were quoting from Vince Lombardi. Uh not that he's a he's a biblical stalwart figure or anything like that, but he does have some memorable quotes. And you know, that I always think about that gentleman. This is a football kind of a little myth about him, um, that really is is trying to go back to the blueprint, go back to the basics, the fundamentals uh of football for a losing Green Bay Packers team that he uh took to championship. So, you know, that's I I think the same in the same way, it's important for us as pastors, as leaders in the church to go right back to the blueprint, go back to the word of God and see what did what when he created mankind, when he created them male and female, what did he create men? What did he create men to do in particular? And I think that uh we don't need to go any further than you know Genesis 1 and 2, you know, to see to see what he created mankind to be and to do. Uh I always go back to um you know day six on in Genesis chapter one, where God said, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heaven, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. You see that that uh man in man created in our image after our likeness. There's a you know a kind of a in an indication of a of a Trinitarian uh you know, three persons there, not not necessarily three, but definitely a plurality there of personhood uh in in the Godhead, uh, but in our image after our likeness. And so we see already mankind, there's something of an image-bearing uh you know role or purpose for mankind and created after the likeness of God. So I think that's unpacked then as we learn more about ourselves, but let them have dominion, you know, to exercise dominion over the earth, the dominion indicates there's a place and there's an extent of dominion, there's there's a um there's a place and a time for that. And so after creating everything else in days one through five, comes to day six, creates the animals, and then creates mankind as the the pinnacle, the the crown of his creation, and there's a dominion sense. So the the reason that we have to have bear the image of God and be created in his likeness is because we're going to exercise dominion over the earth. That means we're going to be, in a sense, representing God and his authority, his rule over the earth. And in so that that indicates what the um what the creation in his image, creation in his likeness, uh, it has to do with with intellectual things and and thoughtful and creative, and um some of the communicable attributes of God that show up in mankind are here indicated in seed form here and will be unpacked throughout scripture. So we're to we're to exercise dominion. It's gonna be a uh, you know, there's a there's a certain dominion over the fish of the sea, another one over the birds of the air, over the livestock on the ground. I I just can't help but point out uh sea, air, and land is represented there, which uh um I think there's an acronym that's a pretty cool acronym that comes out of that and justifies. I think that particular acronym represented in a special forces fighting force is kind of a you know what God designed from the very beginning. I don't know if that's biblically justifiable or not, but I'm gonna find justification here.
SPEAKER_00And then it goes on versus You're a former Navy CEO, you have to justify that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, you know, I to say I'm a little tainted, a little biased, it's absolutely true. But anyway, going to Genesis 127. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, and then this male and female, and he created them. God made a distinction there in on day six when he created man and woman. There's a maleness, a maleness and a femaleness within the humankind. All these other animal kinds are within their within their group, within their their genus or species. Here's us created as mankind, and there's two types of them. One is a male type and one's a female type, and they each have their individual qualities. God blessed them, God said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, and have dominion. They repeat so the fish of the sea, birds of the heaven, every living thing that moves on the earth, and he goes on from there. The the blessing them, saying to them, Be fruitful and multiply. It turns out that we require one another to be fruitful and multiply. If we're going to fulfill that, we need to we depend on each other. There's got to be a mutuality of respect and appreciation to see one another's usefulness and God's design that drives us together. Um, drives us together in in, you know, frankly, intimate relationship. So this this is all part of this is baked into the cake, this is part of the blueprint, is that God would create mankind, male and female, in his image and in his likeness. There's something about uh about God that is in us that points to him. Um and and there's there then there's something where he he breaks us out into male and female, but then you know, so distinguishes us, but then drives us back together. So both image bearers, both to respect one another as image bearers of God, appreciating that we have the same essence of humanity, which is a we're a composite being. We're made of material stuff, you know, formed out of the dust of the ground. We're also made of immaterial stuff, like you know, like the angels are pure spirit, nobody, but they're called sons of God, and we are like that in that sense, but we're embodied spirits. So we have an immaterial part of us and a material part of us. We're very unique. We're like the animals in that we're material, but we're like the angels in that we're immaterial, and God has joined us together uniquely uh to be that that basically that mediation between heaven and earth. And so here we are, placed on the earth, we're to exercise dominion, we're to we're to exercise God's rule upon the earth, and it's gonna require us to perpetuate our our species, we're to perpetuate humanity, and the way we're gonna do that is by being fruitful and multiplying, it's gonna drive us back together in a very intimate relationship. So, you see, in the design is intimacy, relationship, and that's gonna be unpacked further as we keep on going. So that's that's day six. We get a little bit of a we in chapter two, we come to kind of a uh the camera focuses in on the special creation of man and woman on day six, in as we get into chapter two. So Genesis one through chapter two, verse three, days one through seven. Um, you know, verse chapter two, verse one, the heavens and the earth were finished, all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, rested on the seventh day from all his work he'd done. He blessed the seventh day, made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. And you know what we don't see as as day seven comes to a close. We don't see day seven coming to a close. You see, on day one, two, three, four, five, and six, and it was eat there was evening and it was morning the fifth day. You see the evening and morning, the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth day. You do not see that a day coming to a close. There was evening and there was morning the sixth day. We have a we have this entrance into what God intended to be. This is rest. This is this is the enjoyment of all that I've given you. Now, sin, of course, interrupts that. Sin, of course, uh, you know, tears that apart. And there is a Sabbath rest for the people of God, as the writer of the Hebrews tells us. But without jumping ahead too far in the story, let's let's dial into um the focus on day six, Genesis 2.4. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they're created, and the day that the Lord God made the heaven, the earth, and the heavens, when no bush of the field was yet in the land, no small plant of the field had yet sprung up, but the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, there was no man to work the ground, there was a mist growing up from the land, or going up from the land, it was watering the whole face of the ground. Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature, became a living being. Interesting there that we do not see Eve created, just just Adam. God forms him, you know, and we have this picture in our minds, and some some some would say this is kind of you know anthropomorphic language of kind of picturing God doing something. Some some would say no, this this could be a uh Christophany of Christ, uh pre-incarnate Christ coming down and and actually doing this. But whatever it is, whether it's a metaphor or whether it's a picture, we're just supposed to assume, whatever it is, it shows God getting dirty. It shows God getting getting the dust, putting this together, intimate involvement of his hands, and and and then his his lips, and and breathing into the nostrils of man the the breath of life. And so you see the the life from God, the life giver, the living God coming into the man. So that it's it's basically the the picture of his uh immaterial self being created in that moment and joined to a material self. No woman, though. There's no woman there, and there's a lot that's about to happen without a woman being present. Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east in verse 8. There he put the man whom he had formed. So, out of the ground, Lord God made uh to spring up every tree that's pleasant to the sight and good for food. You got two categories of trees trees that are good for looking at, trees that are good for eating. We're gonna find later. Don't mix the two. There's some trees that are good for looking at, and other good trees that are good for eating. Don't mix them up. So, two kinds of trees. Tree of life is in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One is good for looking at and learning from and observing, the other is good for food. A river flood out of Eden to Wada the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. And the name of the first is the Pishon, it's the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah where there's gold. Gold of that land is good, the Delium and Onyx stone are there. And the name of the second is the Gihon, the one that flowed out of the whole land of Cush, and the name of the third is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria, the fourth is the Euphrates. You've got this, you've got this picture of all the resources of the earth. You've got the the garden, and then you've got this wider earth of unexplored territory, and yet God is still giving Adam this kind of like insight into hey, there's stuff out there. There, I'd like I'd like put really cool stuff into the earth that you can mine out of it, you can extract out of it. Um, there's a that you know, we use all these elements for for beauty, for creation, for industry, for development and growth. There's this is this is the basis right here of science, of all exploration, of all study, of inquiry, curiosity, and God is exposing Adam to this uh from on the very first day. He he creates this man, he breathes into his his nostrils the breath of life, he becomes a living creature, and then God exposes him to what's in the world. Um, just basically filling his mind with little ideas that start to percolate or take root. He says, Huh, I'm gonna go check that out, I'm gonna go look at that, I'm gonna go explore, trace these rivers, see see what's in these different lands. So you see geography, you see mineralogy, you see um all kinds of ologies or things that we can study, science, um, exploration, discovery, industry, technology is embedded into the God into the world that God made. And the Lord God in verse 15, and and by the way, no woman, there's no woman there. The the God has created everything else, and he's holding off for the the final creature that he's gonna make. But right now, Adam's there and he's learning all this stuff, and God is filling his head with with uh with knowledge and and the potential of more knowledge and more discoveries. So he's kind of giving him ambition, so to speak. And you can see that God is doing this almost like a father to a son, like a father would say, Hey, I want to show you some really cool stuff. You're you're a former baseball guy. I know that you got your kids in sports, and that's part of why you uh, you know, at one time lost your lost your voice and stuff. But uh you get your sons out there, you're you're you're encouraging them on, and you're showing them how to handle a ball. You're showing them how to be a team player, you're showing them how to uh how to how to make a pass and how to receive a pass and how to drive and how to do layups. You're showing them all kinds of stuff. God is doing the same thing here with Adam. He's it's almost like a a prototype of discipleship. Verse 15: the Lord God took the man, put him in the Garden of Eden, and notice to work it and to keep it. Work is work is prior to the fall. Work is a part of our desire, it's a part of our drive. We love to work, we love to have good things to do. And here we see that he's got the uh the God made the Garden of Eden, and Adam is to work it and keep it, but you know what? He's gonna expand that garden and all that order and all that beauty, he's gonna expand it out into other places as well. He's got the he's got the prototype of what is good from God, and now he's gonna learn that, work it, keep it, discover it, and then replicate that in other places. That's part of the dominion thing that he wants to do. Lord God commanded the man in verse 16. Here's the here's the the speech that comes into it, and interesting that the speech is a warning. He commanded the man saying, You it well, I should say it's a warning, but first of all, it's this massive permission, a magnanimous permission. He commanded the man saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden. Listen, have at it. I've created all this stuff, just enjoy. Um, you have broad permissions. Explore my goodness, understand the things that I put there. There's trees for looking at that are beautiful, and you can you can learn about my creativity, you can learn about my the the beauty that I that I paint on this canvas of creation. You can learn that by by observing, discovering, and studying and and and classifying and doing do science. Enjoy that. And then also every time you need a snack, just pick up pick a piece of fruit and enjoy your with your taste buds and your your your olfactory nerves and your sight. Enjoy the the goodness that I put into. Let that feed your body, let the goodness of God feed your body. You may surely eat of every tree in the garden, except one. Verse 17, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it. For in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. Now, is that an eating tree or an observing tree? That's an observing tree. That's one to look at, not one to eat from. Don't mix them up. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall surely, or you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of that, you shall surely die. So there's something to learn from that. There is a there is a yes and a no with God. There is there is that just as there is an order, just as there are boundaries throughout all the world, there's also an order and boundaries in the immaterial world, in the spiritual world, in the relational world. You're gonna relate to me, God says, by obedience as a father to a son, you're gonna obey your father. And this is coming in Adam's mind before any woman is there. The Lord God said then in verse 18, it's not good that the man should be alone. And I think you and I, Costi, can say a hearty amen to that. Um, we so appreciate our wives and see the wisdom of God and goodness of God, the kindness of God in giving us the wives he's given us. And and and I know this is true for you and Christine, it's true for me and Melinda, that he gave us the wife that we so desperately needed, but had no idea. I mean, I've been married for 30 years. I had no idea way back then that she was perfect for me. In fact, I I couldn't see it exactly, and it was it's just been a process of my maturing to see the great wisdom of God in giving me the wife that he's given me. God said, I'll make a helper, I'll make him a helper fit for him. Uh, we have the word help meet. The word meet, M-E-E-T there is meaning fitting, suitable, um, uh corresponding to. So the the suitable corresponding to helper for him is what God has has given to Adam. He see so he plans this, he speaks it, and then he doesn't do it. Verse 19 out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field, every bird of the heavens, brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called that living creature, that was its name. So now you got him, you got Adam naming creatures. In the ancient world, especially, they understood this. But we understand it too. Every time we name our children, we're exercising some degree of authority. Here Adam is exercising authority. This is his dominion starting already. He started to exercise dominion by naming these animals. He's he's got to sum up the creature, he's got to give it a name that's suitable to it, and he's using his intellect, he's using his creativity, he's granting names, he's using authority. All this without a woman, there, right? And in fact, this exercising dominion um starts to create a need for him. He starts to see, hmm, there's Mr. Hippopotamus and Mrs. Hippopotamus, and there's Mr. Giraffe and Mrs. Giraffe, and there's Mr. T-Rex and Mrs. T-Rex, and for Adam, you know, he's he gave names, verse 20, to all the livestock, all the birds of the heavens, every beast of the field, but for Adam, they're not found a helper suit fit for him. None of them are talking back to him, none of them are giving input on, hey, I don't really like the name you gave me. How about you know, how about instead of phagosaurus, you give me you know, bronosaurus. You know, he's they're not talking back. He's got nobody, nobody that corresponds to him, nobody that looks like him, nobody that that shape like him, nobody that has you know, no mammal like him, no biped, no, nothing like that. He's not seeing anything like that. He sees animals. So it's creating a need within him. It's it's it's it's informing him, hey, I'm alone, and this isn't the right condition for me to be in. So the Lord God, after all this time, all the things he's exposed to, all the knowledge that he has, and this warning about, huh, there's death in this here garden if I disobey. All this Adam has without the one woman present. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man. While he slept, he took one of his ribs, closed up the place with flesh. The rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman and brought her to the man. And then the man said, I had a Hebrew professor that that said the Hebrew here is very um dramatic and expressive. Uh, you know, we read it pretty this now is bone of my bones. We kind of read it with a uh kind of an austere that was bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, he shall be called woman. She was taken out of the man. Actually, he's jumping up and kicking his heels together, and it's it's like it is like drawing out poetry from him, from his soul. And he is so excited. I mean, I can imagine after after naming the animals all day, and then taking a pretty uh pretty deep nap, and having surgery, uh, you know, and God closing up the place, and then waking up and seeing this creature that God has just made, and the the father then bringing the bride to me, and the first marriage is performed here. And then therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother hold fast to his wife, glue together to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. They will come back together as God designed. They need to be fruitful and multiply. They see, I can't do this on my own, they're driven together, and the man and his wife both naked, and we're not ashamed. There's no sin, there's no need to be ashamed. There's no there's no there's no wrong thought. There's just that's not even in the world at all. This beautiful creature that's standing before Adam is corresponding to him, like him, but different. Um, you know, she's he's been formed from the ground. She has been fashioned from him. She's a I wouldn't say an improvement on the model of Adam, but she definitely is a an artistic um design, whereas he is more of a utilitarian design, more muscular, angular, angular, angular. Uh, you know, the protuberances on the bones are larger to hold more muscle. So he's going to be for function and utility, and she's going to be for design and fine-tuning and wisdom and beauty. He can see the differences. I mean, he's his intellect is unpolluted with sin. So he he understands this way. I mean, we're talking like ABC baby language compared to what he discovered and observed in this life that God had given him. He sees it, he sees God's goodness. And his head is filled with the knowledge that God has given him already. He's been he's been discipled by God, he's learned from God, he has commands from God, and all these things, he is in a position now, both by virtue of his creation order, being created first, not second. He's in he's in a position now to pass on what he's learned from God to this creature, his wife, to teach her everything he knows, to lead her through the discovery of the world that God has put him into, to to bring her into his work that he has been given to do in the garden, and also to teach her and instruct her. And he's got a motivation that God instilled into his soul about death. Death is a very real possibility in this world through this disobedience. And so I love her, and so I need to warn her. I need to teach her, warn her. You can kind of see some indications as you get into chapter three that he's done that, you know. So he warns her, he's like, you know, let's let's not go near this tree, let's not even touch it. So he's given her instruction, uh, he's he's motivated by love. And so you're asking about what are some traits of a biblical man? I think, I think we see number one, that this this man is a man who lives his life filled with gratitude for God and his goodness. He traits of a biblical man, we could just expand from from gratitude and just say he's a worshiper of God. He's a worshiper of God who lives his life in a vertical sense of looking up to God, loving God with all his heart, seeing his goodness, being rejoicing in the magnanimity of God's good gifts in the world. He walks in the reality of that all the time. He never loses sight that God is good, God is kind, God is wise, God is loving, God is powerful. He walks through God's world and he just never really gets over. I know God, and God has granted all this to me. So he's a worshiper, first of all, and he's a grateful one. His heart is not bent on complaining and moaning and bemoaning his station. He's he's actually filled with joy, gratitude. And number two, then he's a man that wants to pass that on. So another trait of a biblical man is he's he's a leader, he's he's by by nature by virtue of his order of creation, he's put into a position of being out front. He's first in the created order. Paul says in 1 Timothy 2, 12, when he restricts the teaching and preaching role, eldership role in uh the church to a man, he says, I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but she's to remain silent. For, and then he gives the reasons. Or it was Adam who was created first, and then Eve. So he's a teacher, he's a leader, he's someone who's gonna pass on to his wife, or Adam's gonna pass on to Eve, everything that's been downloaded to him, everything that he's been exposed to, all the all the ambitions that God has filled him with, all the all the possibilities and potentials and and desire for discovery, all that he's gonna he's gonna give to his wife, and she's gonna be, by her design, she's gonna want to help him realize those goals and realize that realize those ambitions, and and and she's gonna be there to fine-tune that that drive and that desire. So he's he is a worshiper of God, he's a teacher, he's a leader to his wife, and he's driven by a motive of love. This motive of love, you know, he did he so appreciates this gift of a wife, um, not just in contrast to the rest of the animals of creation, but by virtue of just who she is and the beauty of her design and the perfection of her role as a as a as a fitting helper to him. Uh, he is he is eager to to share with her, to invite her in, to be a communicator, to talk with her, uh, and and then help shape her thinking. And he's also concerned that she has a right relationship with God. That's that's essential. If she doesn't and she's disobedient and she eats of the fruit, death to this wife. I I don't want to see that. I don't want to see her die. I don't want to die. We got to be obedient creatures, obedient humans before God and exercise our roles. So I'd say all that, those are those are three traits I think that come out of this passage. Uh more we could discuss, but maybe I'll turn it over to you. I've been talking a lot and see if you've got anything to say.
SPEAKER_00Oh that was so fantastic. I just love the way you walk through a passage and where it's rooted in Genesis and the created order. I think all of that, um one of the fun reasons I enjoy sitting under your teaching if you were to teach this stuff. I just Bible open, journal open, just go. Um so helpful for the foundation, the framework of all of that. Um I guess one more thing as you land the plane. Could you speak to uh the modern man who hears all of that and says yes and amen, but then is somewhat maybe framed up or influenced by the the worldliness of manhood, the cultural ideologies of manhood that we talked about a little bit last time in the first episode. Um the Joe Rogan, David Goggins, Jordan Peterson bravado, even some of the overcorrection of the church world today. Could I uh could I get some commentary from you on uh biblical traits like uh like meekness or the the aspects of Christ and the humility and the sacrifice? I'm I'm using those words on purpose because they get a bad PR, they get trampled, or they get eye rolls or from men in the in the biblical teaching camp, so to speak. Meekness is weakness, uh, you know, humility, please. We've had enough of that. You know, men need to be men. Sort of the the yelling rah-rah approach. Meekness or humility or sacrifice or service as a leader. Could you speak to those and then we'll land the plane?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, when I when I see people who um you know kind of dismiss humility, meekness, virtues like that, um, you know, take the fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, um, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. If you if you ask, just go back to any man on the street and say, hey, you know, what's your model of manhood? You're gonna get all you know, you get answers all over the map. You know, anything from the president to you know one of the, you know, some sports figure or some celebrity, whatever, you're gonna see you're gonna see all kinds of qualities. If you drill down and ask them, what do you like about that person? You know, they'll give you the typical answers about strength and you know, ambition and and you know, ability to uh project power and and get things done and all that kind of stuff. You know, and and sadly, I think that taking it from the man on the street, you walk in any any typical church and ask the same question, I think you're gonna you're bound to get sadly you're bound to get the same answers. But I think in the church you'll be more likely to find some people who are gonna say, you know what, I think I think my example of of um true manhood is Jesus Christ. And and then if you drill down into what is it about Jesus Christ that you that you like then, and and you're gonna you're gonna boil it down to those issues of meekness, you know, meekness being the strength under control, the the power under control. I always find it interesting when Jesus, there's two temple cleansings, you know, there's one at the beginning of his ministry, which is recorded in the Gospel of John, another one that's recorded in the synoptics at the end of his ministry, just before he um you know enters into the final week of his life, uh of his earthly life, and he's crucified. You know, but both of those, you know, and and people love to point to him going out and kind of clearing house in the temple, and he's he's kind of he's he's he's got his angry face on, and he's gonna drive everybody out with a whip. Interesting in in John's gospel, he sees everything going on in the temple, the buying, the selling, the cacophony, the the the bartering, and all that. I mean, it's it's it's turning the the temple of God, which is supposed to be a house of prayer for all the nations. It's supposed to be a place where people come and and in sincerity of heart offer their sacrifices to God and and commune with the living God through sacrifice, through prayer, through uh finding forgiveness of sins, atonement and covering for their sins. Uh, instruction is to be going on all the time in the temple. So loud noises and things like that are not appropriate. We need quiet and order so that we can hear the teaching from the priesthood, you know, that's instructing me in the word of God and in filling my mind and instructing my prayer life and helping me to examine my heart well and come before God, appreciate Him and love Him. Jesus comes into the temple and He finds that's not all that's going on. It's turned into a marketplace. The chief priests, the Sadducees are running the thing like a mafia. They've got they've got contracts with people in their stalls and money changing going on that's actually robbing people, and they got they they disapprove of people's sacrifices that they bring, and they say, No, you need to go buy the approved sacrifices out here from one of our vendors, all that stuff's going on. And Jesus does not run in there like an angry man and start tearing things apart, instead, he stops and he makes for himself a whip of cords. Takes time for him to do that, takes time for him to weave together a whip. As he's he's not he's not losing his mind there, he's not going postal, he's he's he's thoughtful. And when he goes in and drives out the money changers and the buyers and the sellers, it says he turned over the money, the the tables of the money changers and he drove the the animals out and stuff, but it says that when it comes to the the the vendors of like the doves or the pigeons that were also for the poor people for sacrifice, he didn't knock over those cages. The delicate animals, he spoke to them and said, get these things out of here. I think by that time they were ready to obey his command. But but it's interesting that he'll drive everything else out, but they'll speak to them and have them carry the more delicate animals away. He's not unhinged, he's thoughtful, and he's gentle with the animals, he's he's gentle with the doves. That's strength under control, that's thoughtful design. You know, it says in, you know, Paul says in Ephesians 4, be angry. He's commanding anger. It's actually a command, an imperative there. Be angry. But in your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down in your anger, don't give the devil a foothold. He's he's telling us to be angry. What are we to be angry about? Our passions are useful. Our passions are to are are to we're to have passions that are lined up with God's God's uh you know righteousness, God's holiness, the things that pertain to him. You know, the disciples look back and they remembered, zeal for your house will consume me. And so his passions, Jesus' passions were rightly aligned to the things that pertain to God. And that's what that's what causes indignation to rise. And yet, it is indignation, never committed one's sin. That's meekness. That's meekness right there. And that's what that's manhood in Jesus Christ. We're to have we're to have meekness as we think about matters pertaining to the church and its church and the church life. We shouldn't expect when we walk into the church that it looks like the tonight show. We shouldn't walk into the church and expect it expect that it looks like a circus. In fact, if we see those kind of things as men, we should rise up and say, no, enough of this nonsense. This is supposed to be, in a sense, our temple, our place of prayer. This is supposed to be where our minds are instructed, where we're trained and equipped so I can be a better husband and father and worker in the world. This is where I'm to learn to be effective as a Christian as I go out into the into the culture and into the world and into its politics and into the environment of my workplace and be effective there. I'm not to be, I can't come into my church life and have it be disorderly and worldly and teaching me nothing. I need to be indignant about that. And yet there's a place for how there's a there's a there's a way that I conduct myself with dignity and holiness and gentleness as I deal with people, as I recognize that they don't understand the things that I'm seeing. And so I need to teach them. I need to be the teacher, I need to be the communicator. You know, as I would tell my kids when they're young and they're screaming, I'd say, oh, use your words. And I want to say that to men. Men, use your words. Let your mind instruct your mouth and let God's wisdom instruct your mind and use your words and teach and instruct and help people to understand things and advocate for uh what's right and what's wrong. So we do that in the church, we do that in our families. Meekness is, I mean, we see that virtue uh in in spades in in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is our model, he is to be true, he is he is he's he's the second Adam, you know, he's the last Adam. So he is the He is the prototype, he is the one that we're he's the also He's also the archetype, he's the one that we're to we're we're going to become like because when He returns, we'll see Him as He is and we'll be like Him. So if that's if that's the goal and that's that's where we're heading, I think right now that's what we practice to follow. And so every Christian man ought to be saying, Oh yeah, those qualities were filled to the brim in the Lord Jesus Christ. The more I understand what those qualities look like in His life and how He lived His life, that's true manhood. If they want, you know, uh to become unhinged and go into the world and just kind of wreck things and be sarcastic and snarky and and put people in their place, that makes them feel good in the flesh. They can try to find some Bible verses to attach to that as virtue, but I just say they're worldly.
SPEAKER_00Such good wisdom, man. This episode was phenomenal. Uh for you to unpack Genesis 1, Genesis 2, like that, and then unpack those realities about Christ. I don't think we meditate enough on the temperate approach of Christ in the temple, in addition to the strong and uh Zodalous fire, if you will, because he was passionate about what was bringing reproach on the temple. Well done. Thank you for that. Uh the traits of a biblical man. There they are. Uh, we're gonna get into in the next episode the role of men in the home. I've got a number of questions for you about manhood in in the s sense of uh being a spiritual example, how men today should view the home, the marriage, and family in a society that more and more uh is uh uh porn saturated. Men would rather have some uh fake online experience or uh some virtual reality rather than following the path that God has set before them. And in addition, I think a lot of men have had challenges, whether they were uh discipled by a faithful father, or maybe they didn't have a good father and a good example. So we need to help men, you're gonna help men understand what it means to disciple wife and kids, and that we are more than just providers. It's not enough to say, you know, I put a roof over your head, you know, give me a good meal and and let that be it. You know, stop bothering me and the rest of all that. I'm so excited for that. Thanks again for your wisdom, brother.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it's great spending time with you again, Costi, as always.
SPEAKER_00Thankful. Well, uh, for everybody who's listening, this is Pastor Travis Allen, who's been spearheading this series on manhood. He pastors Grace Church in Greeley, Colorado. Obviously, if you're in that area and you don't have a biblical, strong, faithful church, you need to get over there as well. And you could go to the website. Travis, what's the website for your church? I know there's some people that are going to want to listen to your sermons.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's uh what is it? GraceGreele.org. GraceGreeley.org.
SPEAKER_00GraceGreeley.org. You're so busy just preaching and shepherding faithfully. You have no clue what your website is. That's good, man. I'm not surprised. Not surprised.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that can sometimes be true. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's great. Well, as always, everyone, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Thanks for supporting. We're so grateful that these resources could be used by the Lord in whatever way. Uh, if you're a pastor listening to this, I hope this is winding your sails and strengthens you and encourages your perspective as you preach and teach and faithfully shepherd where God has you. Uh, we'll be back next Monday with another episode. For now, keep on living for the gospel.