Christian author, Rick Phillips, writes, "To be a man is to stand up and be counted when there is danger or other evil. God does not desire men to stand by idly and allow harm, or permit evil to exert itself" (The Masculine Mandate).This episode examines the masculine calling to be fierce protectors and warriors and identifies two reasons men often fail to fight the battles God has designed them to fight.
This is the third episode in a 6-part series that examines the hardwiring of the masculine heart. In week one we saw that men need a king to serve, that we are hardwired to want to please a commanding officer. Last week, we focused on Genesis 2:15, noting that Adam is placed in the Garden to work it (AVAD), to help it reach its full potential. Having been made in God’s image with the moral law written on his heart, he is to shape, FOR God, the culture that emerges, as labor is diversified, an economy is built, and the population grows. Today, we examine the second task that God gave Adam to do in the garden. Genesis 2:15 continues, The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it (SHAMAR). The basic meaning of keep is to “guard” or “protect.” Rick Philips drills down on the word, shamar. It is translated “watch,” “guard,” “protect,” “take under custody,” or “exercise care….” This calling to keep rounds out the masculine mandate of the Bible. A man is not only to wield the plow, but also to bear the sword. Being God’s deputy lord in the garden, Adam is to cultivate, build, and grow (both things and people), but also to stand guard so that people and things are kept safe (The Masculine Mandate).
Adam is to protect the garden and those in it from harm. This creation function of males is easily seen by observing boys. John Eldredge, author of Wild at Heart says,
Capes and swords, camouflage, bandannas, and six-shooters—these are the uniforms of boyhood…How many parents have tried in vain to prevent little Timmy from playing with guns? Give it up. If you do not supply a boy with weapons, he will make them with whatever materials are at hand. My boys chew their graham crackers into the shape of handguns at the breakfast table. Every stick or fallen branch is a spear, or better, a bazooka. Despite what many modern educators would say, this is not a psychological disturbance brought on by violent television or chemical imbalance. Aggression is part of the masculine design; we are hardwired for it.
Men are created to keep, i.e. to protect others in three ways:
- Protect others PHYSICALLY: When Nehemiah found out that the surrounding enemies plotted to attack the Jews rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, he had them strap on their swords and then appealed to their masculine hardwiring: Remember the Lord,…and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes (Neh 4:14).
- Protect others EMOTIONALLY: A wise, involved father, was tucking his 8-year-old daughter into bed, when, she asked, “Daddy, do you think I am pretty?” If I were that dad, I would have said, “Of course you are, honey,” turned out the light and rushed on to my next project. But this dad was wiser. He realized that his little girl was lifting up the shade on the window into her soul. So, he answered, “Of course you are, Sweetheart. What makes you ask?” His daughter burst into tears and said, “Some boys on the playground today said I was so ugly I needed to wear a bag over my head.” This father had the opportunity to hold her tight, assure her that she was beautiful, and help her process the feelings that that went along with this wound to her soul.
- Protect others SPIRITUALLY: Adam failed miserably at this responsibility. Standing next to Eve when she was attacked by Satan, he did NOTHING. The consequence of Adam’s failure to protect Eve and the garden sanctuary was horrific—Satan and sin took over control of the kingdom Adam had been assigned to rule—earth. With evil in control instead of God’s righteousness, death and destruction spread through their entire kingdom. NOW Adam’s efforts to develop the potential of the earth (AVAD) and shape the immerging relationships (culture) FOR the High King are resisted by the kingdom of darkness every step of the way. Now, Adam’s willingness to be a warrior, to fight for righteousness to prevail over his kingdom is put to the test every single day. The rest of this podcast examines the biggest obstacles today’s Christian men must overcome in order the be the SPIRITUAL WARRIORS God CALLS them to be, and PROTECTORS their families and communities NEED them to be.
FIRST OBSTACLE: WE HAVE ONLY A TRUNCATED VIEW of the GOSPEL
We correctly think the “good news” of the gospel is that by God’s grace we are saved through faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, that our names are written in the Book of Life. But this is a self-centered and incomplete understanding of the gospel. The true gospel is the gospel of the kingdom. It is the good news that although earth’s first king, Adam, rebelled against the High King, and by that treachery lost control of his kingdom to the tyrants, Satan, sin and death, the Second Adam has come to overthrow this kingdom of darkness and establish the kingdom of righteousness on planet earth. To follow King Jesus is to enlist in Jesus’ great cause—to follow him in the overthrow of the kingdom of darkness and establishment of his kingdom of light. Our marching orders are clear: Seek first the kingdom of God and his reign of righteousness over planet earth. The gospel story is about kingdom change.
- Jesus launched his ministry not by saying, “Accept me into your heart,” but by saying The time is fulfilled and the KINGDOM OF GOD is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel (Mk 1:15).
- The gospel writers tell their readers the good news is about the kingdom. And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel OF THE KINGDOM (Mt 4:23).
- Jesus, himself called his gospel, the gospel of the kingdom. He said to them, “I must preach the good news OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose” (Lk 4:43).
- Until Jesus returns his followers are to proclaim the good news of the kingdom: “And this gospel OF THE KINGDOM will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations” (Mt 24:14).
You cannot be content to summarize Christian discipleship simply as reading our Bible, being nice, and going to church, when you realize that the gospel is not just having a ticket to heaven when I die. The gospel—good news—is that the long-awaited Second Adam has come to win back Adam’s lost kingdom and overthrow Satan, sin, and death. As John wrote, The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 Jn 3:8) We are called, right now, to join Jesus’ work of pressing back the kingdom of darkness so that the kingdom of righteousness—justice, truth, and love—rules in each sphere of life.
Jesus did not say, “I am the light of MY FOLLOWERS,” but “I am the light of THE WORLD.” And Jesus explicitly tells his followers, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:14-16). Jesus does not give us the light of his truth to selfishly keep to ourselves. God’s covenant people, as God told Abraham, are chosen to be a blessing to the whole earth. We seek to spread Jesus’ kingdom righteousness over every square inch of the planet.
History is filled with stories of Christians battling for truth to prevail in their culture. Let’s examine a few. First, consider Mother Teresa. Not only did she have to oversee the Missionaries of Charity, which had over 4,500 nuns in 133 countries, she committed herself to the prolife cause. At the 1994 presidential prayer breakfast, sitting just a few feet from a pro-abortion American president and first lady, she said, "The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion." She also took time to file an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court of the US that says, in part: “The so-called right to abortion…has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience…. Human rights are not a right conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend and must not be declared to be contingent on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.” (Filed to Supreme Court February 28, 1994).
Or, consider another example of battling for righteousness in the culture—the story of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose story-telling abilities inspired hundreds of thousands to see the evils of slavery. Harriet was the sixth child of a prominent Presbyterian pastor, Lyman Beecher. In 1834 the seminary, of which Lyman was president,held debates about slavery—debates easily won by the abolitionists. During these years, Harriet interviewed many runaway slaves, a practice which increased when she and her husband, Rev. Calvin Stowe, relocated to Maine and made their home a station on the Underground Railroad. A series of events, including losing her 18-month-old son, deepened Harriet’s sympathy for slave parents separated forever from their children on the auction block. She began writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was originally published as weekly installments in an anti-slavery journal. When it was compiled into a book, it sold 300,000 copies its first year, was made into a play in New York City, and eventually became the second best-selling book of the 19th century, after the Bible. When Harriet Beecher Stowe visited the Whitehouse in 1862, Abraham Lincoln fondly greeted her “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war."
History is full of men and women like Harriet Beecher Stowe who knew that the gospel was more than signing your name on an eternal life insurance policy. It has always been to enlist in Christ's cause—battling evil and spreading righteousness over every square inch of planet earth, which King Jesus claims as his own.
SECOND OBSTACLE: THE SPIRITUAL BATTLE WE ARE CALLED TO FIGHT IS INVISIBLE
The invisible nature of this battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light creates numerous problems for us: Here are three of the most significant:
A. We get confused about who the enemy is. The enemy is not the Democrats, progressives, Black Lives Matter, the members of the LGBTQ community, or radical gender ideology activists. When Christians forget this fact and project anger, and hostility towards those in these groups—we not only lose our influence with them—we lose our influence with everyone else who is not part of the political right. These human beings, enslaved to destructive ideas because of the same sinful nature we have, are those to whom we are called to show mercy and love, even in the face of hostility: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you…your reward in heaven will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful (Lk 6:27ff).
I recently watched a video of a renowned Christian apologist from NYC in an open discussion with six non-Christians about Christianity. He was asked, “What is the Christian view of homosexuality?” Here was an opportunity, if he were careless, to antagonize his non-Christian audience. But instead, he gave this thoughtful answer: “Christians say three things that have to do with homosexuality. 1) the Good Samaritan parable and the very model of Jesus forgiving those who opposed him (“Father, forgive them”—from the cross) means that all Christians are duty bound to love and serve their neighbors regardless of other people’s faiths or different views of sexuality. We are supposed to make this city a great place to live for everybody, regardless of their belief, 2) the gospel of Christianity, which is that you are saved not by good doctrine or your good works but by sheer, unmerited grace, pulls out the self-righteousness, and the superiority that tend to go along with religious belief, which has actually made a lot of gay people suffer, 3) When the Bible teaches us about life—the issues of money, sex, and power--the message is: "God created us. Therefore, God in his Word, the Bible, is giving us directions for how we should live according to our design." It is like when the owners’ manual that comes with the car says, 'change the oil every so many thousand miles.' It’s not busy work; it’s saying, 'that’s how the car was designed. If you violate that, you are actually hurting the car.' The Bible says sex is for a woman and a man, inside marriage, to nurture love and commitment in a long-term relationship of marriage—which means polygamy, sex outside of marriage, homosexuality are considered violations of God’s will but also a violations of our own design. (Tim Keller, Reason for God Video)
B. The BATTLEFIELD is invisible. The battlefield is largely the human soul--our thinking, our decisions, and our feelings. The battle is in this human processing center, which is why the first piece of armor we are to wear is the belt of truth. Paul further explains this part of spiritual battle. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Cor 10:4-5). The invisible nature of this spiritual battle, for example in our children’s minds, is quite disconcerting. We don’t know how our children’s thinking is being corrupted. For example, many girls from Christian homes are rejecting what the Bible teaches about gender. Social media influencers have persuaded them that:
- The Bible’s creation account demeans women by telling wives they were created to be their husband’s helper.
- The Bible is the origin of oppressive patriarchy which gave men absolute legal power over women.
- The Bible teaches the archaic, demeaning idea that a wife should submit to her husband, which is rooted in male privilege.
- The Bible oppresses women by teaching traditional family roles—that Dad goes off to an exciting career, while Mom is stuck caring for the kids and the home.
- The Bible is sexist—teaching different gender roles that oppress women. (Here is the link to the article where I refute these).
C. The IMPACT OUR FIGHTING MAKES is usually INVISIBLE. We often don't see the impact we made in someone else’s’ thinking and eventual decision making by teaching or explaining the biblical worldview. So, the results of teaching, exhorting, and even parenting are often unseen, which can lead to discouragement. Perhaps even more disheartening than the lack of visible results of wielding the Sword of the Spirit can be lack of VISIBLE RESULT from utilizing our most powerful weapon, PRAYER. God has ordained one, primary offensive weapon that overthrows the kingdom of darkness: prayer. Jesus said to Peter, “Satan has demanded to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you" (Luke 22:31-32). There is nothing on earth that Satan so fears as prayer. He cannot triumph over prevailing prayer. But here is the problem—we can’t see the results of our prayers, so it is very easy to lose heart.
Can you imagine being Elijah. He marches into Ahab’s presence and says As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word (I King 17:1). Elijah knew God’s promise to Israel--that if they loved him alone as God, I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. But Elijah knew of God’s warning, If you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit (Deut 11:13-16).
For three and a half years straight, Elijah prayed that Israel would repent, and that Yahweh would withhold the rain until they did (James 5:17). Can you imagine? Day 1: Dear God, please move the heart of your covenant people to repent, to see the drought as the curse for turning after other God’s. Please don’t let it rain until they turn to you. Day 2: Dear God, please move the heart of your covenant people to repent, to see the drought as the curse for turning after other God’s. Please don’t let it rain until they turn to you... Day 365: Dear God, please move the heart of your covenant people to repent, to see the drought as the curse for turning after other God’s. Please don’t let it rain until they turn to you... Day 1095: the same prayer….. Then day 1200 or so comes, and God says to Elijah, “Tell the people to gather on Mt Carmel with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah.” (BTW both religions practiced child sacrifice). James says Elijah prayed for 3 years and 6 months, 1278 days.
You know the rest of the story. Yahweh sends fire down upon the altar proving that Baal is a demonic spirit not the true God, the people repent and approve the slaughter of the false prophets—and the rain immediately begins to pour down—except it didn’t. Elijah, must get on his knees and pray again, for at least the 1279th time—but the sky remains crystal clear. So, Elijah prays again—same result, clear blue sky. Seven times, Elijah prayed before a whisp appears on the horizon and Elijah sends word to Ahab—“Get off the mountain while you can because a hurricane is coming.”
Prayer unleashes tremendous spiritual power. We must keep praying even though we cannot see into the spiritual world where the answers are having an impact. Perhaps that is why Jesus, gave us his promise, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Perhaps that is why Paul, after celebrating the defeat of sin and death writes to the church at Corinth. “Therefore, my beloved brothers. Be steadfast, immovable. Always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you KNOW your labor in the Lord is NOT in vain (1 Cor 15:58).
For Further Prayerful Thought
- What do you think is the biggest obstacle to men battling spiritually as they are called to do?
- How would you combat the argument that Christians should not express their views about current cultural topics because it gets too political and detracts from focusing on the gospel?
- Why do you think, Tim Keller’s answer to what Christians believe about homosexuality has those specific three parts?
- Summarize the lessons that you believe Elijah can teach us about prayer?
