Christian Men Today Need Help Living As
Called Men Instead Of Driven Ones
Staying Focused on Christ's Agenda
A. Picture of a Man Who is DRIVEN
- His life is hectic and very fast-paced, yet doesn’t seem to have a very clear direction.
- Often his life seems out of control. He “bounces off” whatever happens to be in front of us.Spends 98% of our time and energy focused on the outer world, giving our inner, private world the leftovers
Our public worlds are filled with a seeming infinity of demands upon our time, our loyalties, our money, and our energies. And because these public worlds of ours are so visible, so real, we have to struggle to ignore all their seductions and demands. They scream for our attention and action.
The result is that our private world is often cheated, neglected because it does not shout quite so loudly. It can be effectively ignored for large periods of time before it gives way to a sinkhole-like cave-in.
Gordon MacDonald, Ordering Your Private World |
- Is haunted by vague doubts about whether we are really following God’s priorities for our lives
- Is extremely busy, sometimes exhausted by the pace of life, yet inwardly not that fulfilled
- Carried along by internal drives and outward circumstances without any internal compass to evaluate or give direction to what we do.
- Very few of us have any sense of clear mission for our lives. At work—goals, strategy, priorities, plan. In our personal lives and homes, we react our way through life.
- Truth be told, very few of us are leading our homes. We have no goals, no sense of direction and no game plan.
“It is my conclusion that effective male leadership in the homes of America is going the way of the dinosaur. Some people are worried about the extinction of whales, condors, snail darters, or baby seals. Those are legitimate concerns. But let me shoot straight with you. I’m a lot more worried about the extinction of men who know how to lead a family. And the effective male leader who knows how to lead his family is already on the endangered species list.”
Steve Farrar, Point Man |
B. The Cost of the DRIVEN Lifestyle
- CHRIST’S REPUTAION suffers
“Can you think of any way the WORLD can be made right unless the CHURCH is made right. Can you think of any way the CHURCH can be made right unless FAMILIES are made right. Can you think of any way FAMILIES can be made right unless MARRIAGES are made right. Can you think of any way MARRIAGES can be made right unless MEN are made right. Can you think of anything that has more potential to change the world than reaching men? ”
Pat Morley, The National Coalition of Men’s Ministries |
C. God’s Ideal: Living as CALLED Men
“I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph. 4:1)
“Answering the call of our Creator is “the ultimate why” for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence…Calling is the truth that God calls us to Himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to His summons and service.”
Os Guiness, The Call |
1. Over 30 times in the NT alone, believers are referred to as those who are “called.”
2. Here is a sample:
- I have called you by name, you are mine (Is. 43:1)
- We are partakers of a holy calling (Heb. 3:1)
- He has called us to a holy calling (II Tim. 1:9)
- For he has called you out of darkness (I Pet. 2:9)
- To those who are called (Jude 1)
- Our God may count you worthy of his calling (II Thes. 1:1
3. I believe the best way to view our lives in this world is as a response to God’s call upon our lives
- Our life in Christ begins with his effectual calling in our lives
- The focus becomes personal—it is our response to God, not a to do list to become spiritual or successful
- It is not legalistic or outwardly focused. Being Christ’s disciple is not defined primarily in terms of various disciplines, but as a response to him
- Having said that, responding to God’s call upon our lives implies more than a relationship; it implies a direction, a purpose that lies behind the call
D. 3 Dimensions to our Calling:
- There is the call to himself
- There is the call to become like him
- There is the call to rule for him
1. The CALL TO HIMSELF
- “God, who has called us into fellowship with his son, is faithful (I Cor. 1:9)
- “I have called you by name, you are mine (Is 43:1)
- “That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness” (I Pet. 2:9)
- “He calls his own sheep by name…and his sheep follow him because they know his voice…I am the good shepherd. (John 10:2ff)
- The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, and strength
- Phil. 4:4 makes it clear that God wants our relationship with him to be a source of great joy. “Rejoice in the Lord always; Again, I will say rejoice.”
2. The CALL TO BECOME LIKE HIM
- “For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son…and those he predestined, he also called.” (Rom. 8:29-30)
- “Finally all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil for evil or insult for insult, but with blessing because to this you were called. (I Pet. 3:8-9)
- “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” (I Thes. 5:24)
- “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children…” (Eph. 5:1)
- Imitation is the greatest form of praise.
3. The CALL TO RULE every domain of our lives FOR HIM
- “We constantly pray for you that our, God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.” (II Thes. 1:11)
- “Urging you to live lives worthy of God” (I Thes. 2:12)
- “Who has saved us and called us to a holy life” (II Tim. 1:9)
- According to Genesis 1:26-28, we were made in God’s image, not to be passive, but to rule EVERY DOMAIN of our lives for the true Kingin response to God’s call upon our lives.
- God has chosen to exercise his rule through us.
- The term for this position is vice-regent.
- The term for this calling is “The Cultural Mandate.”
E. Christ Can Empower Us To Live As Called Men
1. We must turn our backs on the DRIVEN life-style and resolve, with Christ’s help, to order our lives
 according to Christ’s mission for us.
2. We must have a clear understanding of our 3-fold mission. We must know what are aiming for.
3. We must have a battle plan, with our strategy thought through, and the steps
spelled out to
accomplish our mission, so that we can stay focused on it.
- That is exactly what the FOCUS notebook is designed to be for you. This has been helping men shape their lives according to their mission for many years. Go to www.forgingbonds.org to find out more about this valuable tool.
- No NFL team would go out onto the field without a game plan. But Christian men have no game plan to help them stay focused on the mission their master has given them! Which is more important, Christ’s mission for us or a football game?
4. We need a weekly briefing with our CO to seek his guidance and plan how we will accomplish our mission during the week ahead.
“Why is it that for so many the answer to personal tension and pressure lies not in going to the bridge of life but rather in attempting to run faster, protest more vigorously, accumulate more, collect more data, and gain more expertise. We are of an age in which it seems instinctive to give attention to every cubic inch of life other than our inner world—the only place from which we can gain the strength to brave, or even beat any turbulence.”
Gordon McDonald, Ordering Your Private World |
- Consider the example of Jesus in Mark 1:29-39
- A great way to be sure you get this time is to steal some time for a weekly briefing with the King Sunday afternoon or evening. I believe that is part of his intent for us in giving us one day of the week to rest, renew, and re-FOCUS.
- “If you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord.” (Is. 58:13-14)
- The only thing dumber than an NFL team having no playbook and game plan would be to have a game plan and never look at it during the game.
- If you believe the inner world of the spiritual must govern the outward world of activity you must set aside weekly time to FOCUS.
5. We must find a band of brothers to help us.
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their work: but pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up…though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A chord of 3 strands is not quickly broken.” Ecc. 4:10-12 |
