Resistance makes stronger muscles and stronger men. Avoiding responsibility and difficult decisions makes men weak and flimsy. Men who go uphill and face challenges head on are the men who truly grow up and take Christ’s command seriously to bear burdens, lead their families and shepherd their churches. Sometimes this comes naturally but most of the time, it doesn’t.

Now specifically to fathers. Dads are you embracing the weight of fatherhood? Are you bearing the brunt of responsibility for the spiritual, emotional and physical care of your family? Do you exemplify to your children a biblical man, a man you want your children to be like? Listen to these words from Doug Wilson in “Future men: Raising Boys to Fight Giants”

“This is a great need in the Christian Church today- we have a dearth of genuine fathers. We have males who have begotten more males but we do not have many true fathers. Many men who should now be training their boys to be men are not yet men themselves. The gauntlet which their boys need to run is a gauntlet which they themselves failed to run. The battle their sons face is battle which they once faced, and lost. Because of this, many of the lessons about masculinity contained in Scripture must first be internalized by the fathers. Such men must learn to be men themselves before they can teach their boys to be men.” (pg. 32)

What is the gauntlet that you yourself need to run? What are the battles that you have faced and lost that you need to face again?  What point of resistance do you pull back from that needs to be confronted?

Shoveling snow is easy. Fighting giants is hard. So when you put the shovel back in the garage and turn your face back to your home and family, remember that the work has just begun.

1. Christ loved the church while she was dead in her sin

“But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)

“But God, being rich in mercy…even while we were dead in our trespasses and sins made us alive together with Christ.” (Eph. 2:4)

“You did not choose me but I chose you.” (John 15:16)

Application: Love your wife unconditionally. Don’t wait for her to be just the way you want her and then start loving her. Start loving her now. Remember that Christ loved us even when we were dead in our sins.

2.    Christ did not just die for the church, he continues to sanctify her.

“….that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word….” (Eph. 5:26)

“….He always lives to make intercession for them…..” (Heb. 7:25)

“For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Heb. 10:14)

Application: Loving your wife is not a one-time act or a state of mind, it is an ongoing activity.  Any fool can pull together a few good days of loving your wife. The command to love your wife is ongoing.

3.    Christ takes pleasure in His church

“….so that he might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing….” (Eph. 5:27)

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

 His aim is his own delight in the work He has done. 

Application: Take pride and pleasure in seeing your wife flourish under your gentle leadership. Make your wife your trophy.  Take more pride in your wife then your fishing gear, deer heads and trucks.

4.    Christ went to war with sin, not the church

“In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (I John 4:10)

 “He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” (I Peter 2:24)

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

Application: Do not fight your wife, fight your own sin.  Do not go to war with your wife, go to war with your own flesh.   Don’t wake up in the morning and say, “how can my wife conform to me” but say “how can I kill my own sin and conform to Christ.”

5.    Christ took responsibility for His church

“He became sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Cor. 5:21)

“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” (Heb. 10:12)

“We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever……” (Hebrews 6:19-20)

Application: Assume full responsibility for your wife, regardless of her successes and failures. Don’t pull away when she fails. Use every occasion to nourish and cherish her.

Homes are not prisons or incubators that keep people from the rest of the world. They are the world itself. Mothers are at the heart of the planet. The home is where Christ dwells with His people, shapes marriages, forms and designs babies and broadcasts to the world His relationship with the Church.  It is a beautiful place.  It is the place that husbands should long to come “home” to. It is the place where boys become men and little girls become women.

And beautiful homes are not formed by accident.  Gardens don’t grow without tending. Sure something good might come up by chance but the vision must go beyond managing and getting by. Homes ought to be colorful, vibrant, full of light, full of truth, soaked in joy, steeped in hope.  That type of garden takes some work. Homes ought to be the gardens that God, Himself, walks in by His Spirit.

So instead of “stay at home moms” I am proposing a different title: “center of the planet moms.” You can take it or leave it. Either way, I would do well to land there as often as I can.

We work, play, raise children, pay our taxes and do good to our fellow neighbors and friends. These are normal activities. But we do more than that. We are not defined by our surroundings or county of residency. It is not our first citizenship. Our first citizenship is in heaven with Christ as the Mayor, Governor, President and Lord of all. We are people from another world, going to another world; of another city going to another city. We give allegiance to only One Being and all others are secondary.

This is what makes our church special. Not because we have unique qualities that distinguish us from other people but because we are aliens and foreigners in our own land. Many of us were born here. Many of us have never left Western Wisconsin or the Midwest or this continent. But that does not change our first identity as the people of God, called out by Christ, bought with His blood. We have sworn allegiance to God in our hearts. We live in Wisconsin with our hands.

100 years ago, a few Swedish immigrants felt compelled to start a church. Why? They had arrived in America. There was much to do: jobs to begin, homes to build, connections to make, mouths to feed and children to educate. Sound familiar? Life for them was busy in ways we can’t imagine. Hours of T.V. watching was an impossible thought at best. The tyranny of the present was not just a pithy statement. It was a fact. These people had no pensions or 401 ks or 403 bs. They had no guarantees for a better life or even life at all. Still, their new residency in America did not swallow up their deeper, greater and longer lasting identity as the people of God. And it was this identity that compelled a new church to launch in Balsam Lake, Wi.

Now in 2012, we are still here. Many concerns have not changed. Food, clothing, education and friendships are still essential needs. Winters are still cold. Summers are still beautiful. Men still court and marry the women they love. Life is a revolving door that has not yet closed for good. So also the church has not closed its doors. Many still enter it. And many more are being called to enter it. So come and be saved, not saved by the church but saved by Christ, not saved from sorrow but saved to greater joy, not saved to sit but saved to run.

Many arguments and lofty opinions will come that threaten the purity of our church, your home and our mission in the world as believers. Are we ready for it? Are we ready to destroy the work of Satan and expose his subtle schemes? Father give us the Sword of the Spirit to fight all foes by the Word of your power. All glory, honor and power are yours alone.

Indwelling Sin Not Only Abides, But Is Still Acting
“Sin does not only still abide in us, but is still acting, still laboring to bring forth the deeds of the flesh. When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone; but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least sus- picion. Sin does not only abide in us, but “the law of the members is still rebelling against the law of the mind” (Rom. 7:23); and “the spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy” (James 4:5). It is always in continual work; “the flesh lusts against the Spirit” (Gal. 5:17); lust is still tempting and conceiving sin (James 1:14); in every moral action it is always either inclining to evil, or hindering gaps, broken areas cease from that which is good, or disframing the spirit from communion with God. It inclines to evil.”

- From John Owen Of the Mortification of sin

And this is not really something that we naturally grow into.  At some point boys do become adults. They grow muscles. They get bigger and stronger than women (generally). They grow up into a society that tells them they are men. But they may or may not embody the actual qualities of a man. So what are those qualities that distinguish men from boys?

1)   Earned authority: True manhood is not assumed authority but earned authority. True men do not use their maleness to boss people around as though simply being male qualifies him to be domineering.  It doesn’t. Being male means that he has an opportunity to embrace the responsibility of leadership, to accept blame when necessary and to follow the pattern of biblical manhood, namely the model of Christ Himself.

2)   Gentle strength. Men are not called to be weak and flimsy. They are called to be gentle and at the same time, strong. Think for minute about the difference between gentleness and weakness. Gentleness is strength contained or controlled. Weakness is the absence of strength all together. Manhood means having the self-control to exercise appropriate strength in appropriate situations. It is not full throttle power. It knows when to swing a hammer and when to sing a song. It can shout and it can whisper out of the same mouth.

3)   Thoughtful leadership. Men ought to be willing to make the difficult decisions in life: where your children should go to school, what to spend money on, what house to buy, whether or not your child can spend the night at a friend’s house, etc.  These are decisions that men should not shy away from but rather face head on.  Men also ought to be the one’s who promote and model Bible reading to their kids and wife, as well as faithful commitment to a local church. Leadership is about much more than working and paying bills. Those are the functions and duties of manhood, not the essence itself.

4)   Brave responsibility. Irresponsibility plagues those who never grow up. The immature person is the one who has no responsibilities and takes no responsibilities. What defines the transition from boyhood to manhood then is the accepting of responsibility. This means more than responsibility for yourself but also for others. So a true man will feel responsible for his families’ health, both physically and spiritually. A true man will assume responsibility for purity in the home and seek to keep his home free of sin and bad influences.  Instead of “passing the buck” onto someone else, a true man says, “the buck stops here.”

5)   Grounded optimism.  Life has many challenges and men should take the brunt of them as they come. But that does not mean that men are allowed to be sullen and unhappy.  They are not allowed to dampen the mood of the family in the name of a bad day at work, an unexpected bill or a shrinking wallet.  Hope and happiness should be characteristic of a man’s life. Instead of only seeing what needs to be done and wishing things were different, a true man will delight in what God has given him and be hopeful for the days ahead.

“An upright saint is like an apple with rotten specks, but a hypocrite is like the apple with a rotten core. The sincere Christian has a speck of passion here, there one of worldliness, and there one of pride. But cut him up and anatomize him, and he is sound at heart; there Christ and Christianity live and reign. A hypocrite is like an apple that is smooth and lovely on the outside, but rotten within. His words may be exact, his duties devout, and his life blameless; but look within, and his heart is the sty of sin, the den of Satan.”

These are deeply convicting and encouraging words. Even the most righteous person will have specks of hypocrisy here and there. But what Jesus is concerned with is the inner core of a person. Is there light there? Holiness there? Is there purity there? May God cast his light into our hearts, exposing sin and dig up the roots of our sin with His gentle hands.

“The ESV Bible carries forward the trusted legacy of the Bible in English—the legacy established first in the Tyndale New Testament (1526) and the KJV Bible (1611). With this legacy as the foundation, the ESV Bible (2001) reflects the beauty and majesty of the original languages, first captured centuries ago by these early Bible translations.”

“But the ESV also provides the most recent evangelical Christian Bible scholarship and enduring readability for today. The ESV translation process itself was based on the trusted principles of essentially literal translation, which combines word-for-word accuracy with readability and literary excellence.”

In the early 1500′s Martin Luther was locked up in a castle for his resistance to the Roman Papacy. While in the Wartburg castle he began to translate the Old and New Testament into the German language.  This was considered by some to be his greatest achievement (although it is difficult to measure). Thanks to the Guttenberg press, this translation of the Bible was widely disseminated to the German people. Imagine the excitement over this great gift being given to ordinary peasants! God’s words in the German language! Although Luther’s was not the first translation of the Bible in German, his translation accurately reflected the vernacular of the people and made the scriptures more readily available to “common folk.”

My hope is that the ESV comes to us like Luther’s Bible came to the German people, with excitement! It is a great gift God has given us in His word. Would you come and celebrate it this weekend?! (Feb. 5th)

With joy and anticipation,

Pastor Gabe

“I find I must borrow yet another parable from George McDonald. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew these jobs needed doing so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.”

“What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house than the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is Building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

This is sanctification. God recreates us entirely.