Fight Like a Man: Part 2

What happens when men embrace God's call to protect and lead spiritually?

Continuing our study of Genesis 2, Pastor Matt Shackelford examines the responsibilities God entrusted to men as protectors and priests within the home and community. Most importantly, he points us to the hope found in Christ for anyone who feels they have fallen short.

You'll discover:

• Why God calls men to protect the people and responsibilities entrusted to them
• What it means to exercise biblical masculinity through courage and stewardship
• How fathers and husbands are called to lead their families spiritually
• Why God's Word is essential for discernment, wisdom, and leadership
• How the gospel restores those who have failed as providers, protectors, and spiritual leaders

God is still in the business of forming men—and through Christ, failure is never the end of the story.

Scripture: Genesis 2:5-20
Series: Be Fruitful and Multiply

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Today on Moment of Truth, we continue Pastor Matt Shackelford's message, How to Fight Like a Man. Last time we saw that God calls men to provide through strength, responsibility, and servant leadership. In today's message, we'll discover two essential marks of biblical masculinity, protecting those entrusted to our care and leading our families spiritually. And for anyone who feels they've fallen short, Pastor Matt reminds us that our hope isn't found in trying harder. It's found at the cross, where Christ makes all things new.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Because if you're not working, if you're not engaged in building something, you were created to do something. You're always going to be a worker. And if you're not working something, what's going to happen is you're going to build criticisms of people who are working. If you're not working, what will happen is you'll build negative work. You'll build up negative words and you'll criticize other people who are working. And that's going to be part of that's part of our nature that we have to avoid. But God has given us a created purpose. It's to work. How do we do that? Write this down. Men provide how? Through their strength. This is part of what it means to be a man, it's to have strength. In verse 15, the Lord God took the man, put him in the Garden of Eden to work it, to use muscle. Scripture constantly connects strength to manhood. In fact, I just looked this up and there were just innumerable amounts of verses that came up to this. I'm going to give you three. Deuteronomy 31, 23, God's command, be strong, be courageous. Joshua 1, 9, be strong and courageous. 1 Corinthians 16, 13, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Strength is always connected to biblical masculinity. Always. Boys are built that way. My son, I'll never forget when I was living in Anaheim, and my son and I would work out in the garage, and he was just a little guy. And I'd be over there and I'd look at him and kind of smile, and then he'd come over to me and said, Dad, I'm getting strong, huh? And Dad, feel my muscle. And I'd be like, oh yeah, you're getting strong, buddy. And it's like there is this drive inside of men to be strong. That's from God. Why? So that you can provide. God makes men strong in whatever strength you have to provide for others. You can't avoid that role that God has created you with. I like the liberal parent who said, There's no gender roles. It's all societal. I'm not doing that with my kid. I'm gonna give them an option for both. And so she bought her girl a dump truck. And her little toddler girl took that dump truck and she swaddled it and she put it in the stroller and she pushed it around the house. And I love that. In the same way, if you were to buy my son at a young age a doll, he would pop off that arm and he would sharpen it into a knife. Alright? And that's just what's inside of them. There is a strength at work. There is a femininity at work for ladies. And God has made man that way, and you're called to embrace it. That's not saying one is superior to the other. My son was working out with me last night and he said, Dad, what's better? The preacher curls or the normal curls? And I said, Son, they're both great. One's not better than the other. Alright? It's subjective. The husband is called to be the strong rock for the family, the provider. He's also to provide through leadership. Write that down. The husband is to provide through leadership. In verse 7, notice the priority, and Paul will pick up on this priority when he talks about the teaching role in the church. It was Adam who was created first. In verse 7, the man became a living creature. The man came first. He became. And in verse 8, the Lord God planted a garden. This is why Paul will talk about headship in Ephesians chapter 5. He'll call the husband the head of the wife, not the CEO. He's not to dominate, he's not to be a dictator. I do say this to my children. I say, children, I'm your dad, and that means that I am your benevolent dictator. Do what I say. Alright? I do not speak to my wife that way. How many of you know it would not go well for me if I said that? The question here is not if you're leading, it's how are you leading? All men are leaders. Now, some of you have grown up in a home where you're not sure what a leader is. Let me define biblical leadership for men. All right. And I've said this in our series, I think it was Ephesians or Colossians. Let me just talk about a grid for what it means to lead in the home. All right. So, men, listen to me. Biblical leadership is basically this: it means you're always the one saying, let's. Let's go to church. Let's, as a family, read our Bible and discuss it. Let's go get counseling. We're not doing well. We're not on the same page. We need help. Let's get advice. Let's get help. Hey, what if this for the next 16 weeks we read a book? Let's read a book together. Let's pray together. It's that's the role of the husband. He's the one always saying, let's. Let's. And some of you need to recover that today. That's what God would have us to do. Husbands, you are shepherding your home. Maybe, husband, the first person you need to lead is yourself. Let's get a job. Don't wait to be told to get a job. First Timothy is actually really interesting. 1 Timothy 5.8, it says that if you don't work as a man, this strips you of all your masculinity. You're worse than an unbeliever. You've denied the faith. Strong words from the Apostle Paul. So, husbands, are you shepherding? Have you gone from me to we in your home? Again, guys have to learn this. Guys don't automatically get oneness. Men were made to provide. And men have to learn oneness. Men have to learn provision. So here's the question: In what area of your life do you need to learn sacrificial oneness? Leadership is not this job of the hut thing where it's just serve me, serve me, serve me. Leadership is sacrificial service to others. It's leading them, it's loving them, it's using your strength. Number two, if you're taking notes, point number two, second, let's fight to recover protecting masculinity. We're providers, but we're also protectors. Look at verse 15. And this point will go quick. The man was put in the garden, and he was put there why? To work it and to keep it. Now, to work it is one side of it. It's to till the ground, it's to plant the plants, it's to create human flourishing. To keep it is an interesting one. It's actually the word enslave it. Uh it's the word to garrison it, to guard it. It's a military word. It's the idea that you're protecting, that you're actually preserving boundaries. This is manhood. It's preserving people. It's looking around saying, who's vulnerable? Who's there that I can use my strength on this situation to bring them up and protect them? And I think as a culture, we've lost this. Like back in American history, this is really fascinating. It used to be this massive honor to go to war. So much so that in the American Revolutionary War, young men at age 14 and 15, they would lie about their age. Why? Because they wanted to go to war and protect their family, their nation. It was an honor. We've lost that. Today people want to do all they can to avoid serving and protecting. You and I have to recover that. You and I have to see the honor in providing for someone else. Like, like some of you are at this loss of significance in your life, and you need to know that if you are providing for your family, if you are providing for the weak, that's a significant life. Alan Ross says to this point, without protection, chaos enters the world. When Adam stopped doing this, when he stopped being that provider, that protector, what happened is the world experienced a fall. Why? Because he wasn't protecting. When we went to Greece last year as a team, we took a great team to Greece and we stopped at the place where the Battle of Thermopylae happened. This is a great place. And we saw King Leonidas with his big spear. And you guys all know the story of the 300. You remember this, right? The Persians are coming in, they're sweeping into the land like locusts. They're coming in, and King Leonidas takes 300 guys in this very narrow strait, and he protects Spartan territory. He basically says, My families and my friends are behind me, and you're not marching on our lands, not on my watch. I love that. That's incredible. That's manhood. That's what it looks like. And some of you need to recover this. Some of you need to come back to this. Like your kids are struggling spiritually, and the guy in the family needs to say, not on my watch. Who do I need to meet with? Who do I need to meet with and fix this? Develop a discipleship plan. Or some of you are saying, My kids. My kids are hanging out with the wrong crowd. And I'm concerned. Some of you need to say, not on my watch. Some of you need to take up this role of protector in all sorts of ways. Not just that you lock the door of your house. That's good. Keep your doors locked, alright? That's good. But more than that, what about your devices? At our house, every iPad, every phone is basically an ankle monitor. All right? We have them unlock the internet browsers, you can't get to it. We we really protect the apps that our kids put on there. And if you need help figuring that out, our guys on staff can help you, I can help you. But you need to lock down. Part of your role as a father is making sure that the environment is safe for your family. And all of us need to step forward in this. We need to look around. What's the dangerous thing that we need to protect against? And we need to say, not on my watch. What if men were more protective of our sisters in Christ? What if men of Central Church said, we will absolutely reject pornography, preach against pornography? Why? Because it fuels the non-masculine men of our society, the men who secretly want to exploit the weak and demand for more of that. We will fully, wholeheartedly reject it as men. It means you teach your sons to protect. There's a famous internet video of this young five-year-old, six-year-old boy protecting his young sister from a dog. How many of you have seen this? Have you seen this video? This young, yeah, a few of you have. This video where this young man is like protecting his sister, and the dog actually actually really gets him, and he has to have stitches on his face, and that's masculine. We had an event here, it was probably a year ago, and we had one of our deacons watching for the ladies' event, and for some reason the timer on the parking lot wasn't working, and the lights were dark, and and I was calling my wife, just seeing where she's at, and it was amazing. This deacon, gracious, godly deacon, was walking my wife out to the car in the dark. It's like, okay, that's what we've got to learn to develop. That kind of protecting manhood that says, this is our role, we're gonna lean into it, we're gonna embrace this, we're gonna fulfill this. Those are the kind of men we need. Protect your home, protect your family, protect the weak. Third thought, and then we're done. We need to fight to recover providing masculinity. If you don't work, you don't eat. If you don't provide for your family, you're worse than an unbeliever, denied the faith, step into that role. We need to pick up protecting masculinity, and then lastly, we need to pick up priestly masculinity.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

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SPEAKER_03 13:36

From the day that you eat of it, you shall what? Die. There's a bad term. That's the first time the word death is mentioned. There's gonna be death if you do this. Now, now here's the question. Follow along with me. When this is given, when this command is given, this scriptural imperative from God, where's Eve? Where's Eve? She's really close. Right? Yeah, some of you are pointing. She's right here. She's still a rib. Like she's still in Adam. Right? So, what does that mean? It means Adam has to give this information to Eve. He's got to deliver to her the word of God. Eve has to receive the word of God from her husband. Husband, your role is to wash your family in the word. Read Ephesians 4 and 5. You'll get that imperative. Your role is to teach. Notice the teaching that comes in the rest of this chapter. The naming of the animals. Now, to name something means authority and dominion. God names things, and then he brings animals in front of Adam to name. To see what he would name him. Part of teaching, part of training is naming things. Part of your masculinity is naming things, men. You can't deal with something you haven't defined. You can't deal with something you haven't named. Dads, your role as a husband, as a father, is to point at things. Just like Adam pointed at those animals. You're to point at things and say, that's good. That's bad. Hey, those are bad friends to hang out with. They're gonna pull you in the wrong direction. Hey, that's a good place to be. That's a good person to meet with. But you have to define things. That action is good. That is bad. And as men, some of you need to step into that role that God gave to Adam and lead as a priest. I would say of these three terms, protector, provider, priest, priest is the hardest one for men to step into. Part of the reason it's so hard is because men don't know God's word. In order for you to be able to name something as good or bad, you have to spend time in God's word and have discernment. So that might mean that you need to start setting, taking your Bible and setting it in your passenger seat of the car. And before you walk into work, just read one chapter. It might mean you need to set your Bible on the family dinner table so that when you get there, you just open it up and say, hey, let's let's read a passage and let's let's take in God's word together. But you can't name something. You can't say whether something is good, bad, blessing, or curse, unless you're doing it according to God's word. Dads, God has called you to know the word, give the warning. Man, what would it have been like if Adam would have done this? He would have looked at the snake, he would have looked at the false teaching and he would have said, Don't trust this person, don't trust that teaching. And he names it. That's false teaching. That's against what God has said. But he didn't name that. And he fell. God has called you to give the word and give the warning. Don't just tell your kids, hey, have fun dating. Have fun at college. No, no, give instruction. Don't tell them to figure it out. Train them. Tell them what not to do. Tell them what will lead to their destruction. Give them wisdom. Jordan Peterson is a, well, he's a secular clinical psychologist. He's an interesting guy. It seems like he's always flirting with Christianity, although not quite Christian. It's just kind of interesting to watch this guy. But he says things that I think are helpful from time to time. One of the things he says is that don't let your kids do anything that makes you not like them. That's brilliant. Why? Because if you let them do something that you don't like and it makes you not like them, there's a good chance that others in the world are not going to like them and you're going to unleash them on the world. Their boss won't like them, their spouse won't like them. You have to give that verbal word of correction. I like the story of the young man who blew off his freshman year, and his parents made him work and pay for all the money that he wasted at college. Some of you are going to college here this week, all right? Work hard. Work hard. But the family went on the family vacation and they went to Greece, and the mom sent a postcard to the son who didn't work hard. And she wrote the following: She said, Today we stood on the mountains where ancient Spartan women sacrificed their defective children. Wish you were here. Dads, this is your role. If you're going to be equipped to speak up, you have to be like Psalm 1 declares, you have to be like that growing thing planted by the stream, taking in the word of God. Your priesthood ultimately should lead others to Christ. That's what priesthood looks like in an ultimate standard. I tell parents all the time that my goal as a parent, I have four kids, and my goal as a parent is I want my children to first be dependent upon me, but I want them to transfer their trust to Christ. That's what it's about. I want them to trust me, but I want to direct them to trust Christ ultimately. I want them to abide with Christ. I want them to experience that abiding relationship. I want a transfer of trust. And so let's just enter into a time of application. Okay, that exposition's done. Let's go to application. What are you cultivating or neglecting in what God has given you, what He has blessed you with? God blesses Adam, He blesses Eve with this garden to cultivate and to experience. What are you cultivating? Men, how are you providing? You've got to be careful if you're not working, if you're not providing. You've got to be so careful. Why? Because men are builders. If you're not building something good, you'll build something bad. If you're not building something that's a blessing, you'll build something that's a curse. You'll attack the people that are building if you're not building. What needs to change in your life? If you feel like a failure today, some of you, this sermon is hitting you in a very powerful way because you realize you've not been what God's called you to be. In some aspect of your life, you've not multiplied well. You've not provided, you've not protected, you've not been the priest. I don't want you to leave there. I want you to realize that in the garden there were two trees. And that first tree is a tree of shame. The first tree in the garden was the tree of cursing, but but you need to now lift your eyes. You've seen that tree. You need to lift your eyes to another tree, that tree on Calvary, that says, it is finished. All of your guilt is atoned for on the cross of Jesus Christ. If you've not been God's kind of man, if you've not been God's kind of leader, if you've not been God's kind of protector or provider or priest, here's the good news: God is calling you into a new humanity because of the cross. When he saves people, he changes people and he reforms people. God is in the business of forming men. And he wants to form you today. Is that you? Is that you? Do you need to be formed by God today? Maybe you feel the weight of your guilt, the weight of your sin. Maybe you've not led well in the home. I want to challenge you and encourage you this morning. Every week we come here, we we learn more about what it means to be an image bearer of God. We learn more about what it means to follow God. And I want to encourage you, there's hope for you. Not in just you be doing better. This is not a do better sermon. The hope is that as you hear the Word of God, as you've come into a relationship with God, He's changing your values, He's changing your direction. And this week He's giving you new objectives. If God was to say, I want to change one thing in you today, what would it be? What is it? Maybe you need to be that dad who says let's. That father that says let's. That husband that says, let's go get counseling. Let's go get help. Let's go to church. Let's read our Bible. Maybe God's calling you into leadership. Maybe for others, God's calling you to name some things. You can't deal with things if you don't define them. Maybe God's calling you to look out on your family and see dangerous areas and say, that's good, that's bad. That's dangerous. That's healthy. Dad, speak up, be a priest. Maybe God's calling you to wash your family in the word. That means you have to have a quiet time. You have to have a devotion. You have to be taught by God. And then, like Adam, you take the word to others. You take the word to your wife, to your children. Guys, this is the original formula. And this is what God wants for every Christian. Father, thank you. Thank you for our men, Lord. We know that if we get the men, we build legacies. The past hundred years of American history has not been glorious. It's resulted in fatherless homes, depression, anxiety, men who feel defeated. And as a culture, it just seems like no one can explain why. But Lord, we're living in a world we don't recognize. It's a world not as you intended it to be. And so, Lord, help us to recover this original formula. Help us to recover the plans that you have for us in manhood and womanhood. And Father, next week, as we come back and we look at womanhood, that strong term helper, that the woman is a helper, like God is a helper. Help us to understand that term of power and help us to together cultivate a godly family. Lord, we love you. We thank you for the opportunity to hear the word, and we ask that you would be glorified as we seek to apply it and leave this place today. We love you and praise you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 24:45

This is your moment of truth. How is God calling you to respond? If you have any questions about today's message, please visit centralchurch.com or email info at centralchurch.com. God loves you and we would love to walk alongside you in your journey to learn more about God and his redemptive plan for many.