The following is excerpted from the sermon “Men and Masculinity,” from the original 2001 Proverbs sermon series, as part of our look at biblical manhood here on the blog. In it, Pastor Mark discusses three specific aspects of a man's identity–cultivator, warrior, and sage– as found in Scripture.
MAN AS CULTIVATOR
A man is created to be a cultivator. God creates the earth and all of creation, which at that time, according to Genesis 2, is untamed, wild land. But there’s one part of creation that is tamed: the Garden of Eden. There are orderly trees and shrubs; it’s cultivated. And God puts the man, Adam, in that garden and he tells that man to fill the earth and subdue it, which is a lot of work. God tells him to be fruitful and increase in number and cultivate the whole earth. You will find that men, because they’re made in the image and likeness of God, are cultivators. They love to create something. And once something is made, they like to cultivate it and nurture it so that it continues to progress.
HARDER, BETTER, FASTER, STRONGER
Some guys do this with their car. Even if the car is running fine, they have to take it apart. They put it together, it doesn’t go fast enough, so they take it apart and then make it go faster. That’s what guys do. Other guys are always working on the house, and running to Home Depot is like going to Mecca. Or maybe they’re into computers and electronics and are always updating their equipment. “It’s not big enough,” “It’s not fast enough,” “The speakers aren’t big enough,” “We need to upgrade.” Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade. That’s the chant of a man. Men do this because they’re cultivators. They want to build things. And once they’re built, they want them to improve and keep moving, keep going. In addition, they’re supposed to cultivate their wives – love, nurture, encourage, build – so that the woman becomes like Psalm 128 says, “a fruitful vine.” They’re supposed to cultivate children and give them wisdom and discipline, and pour into those kids, and see those kids progress. They’re supposed to pour into their business. They’re supposed to pour into their physical body. They’re supposed to pour into their home, into whatever it is that God has given them.
The problem is, if a man doesn’t love God, he cultivates the wrong things. He cultivates sin. He nourishes and nurtures rebellion and death. Cultivation can be bad, like the creation of the tower of Babel. It could be good, like Noah building the ark out in the middle of the desert. When the man sins against God in the things he cultivates, God doesn’t just curse the man, he curses the ground under the man. What that means is, everything under the man’s dominion now starts to fight against him. Whatever it is you’re trying to cultivate, you will find that it always fights against you. A lot of guys say, “Well, pretty soon I’m going to have all my bills paid, and my car will be running, and my house will be done. Whew. I’ll be done.” And it never comes together. Humpty Dumpty always comes off the proverbial wall. You never get it all together. You never have enough money. You never have enough hours. You just can’t ever get on top of it. Why is that? Because God has cursed everything that’s under the man. Why did he do that? Because he loves the man.
GOD CURSED HIS BRANCHES.
When the man is trying to subdue and harness everything under his dominion to do what he desires for it to do, and it all fights against him, it teaches him about God: The ground is doing to the man what the man does to the Lord. The man asks, “Why is this so hard? Why is everything fighting me? Why is it in rebellion?” And God says, “Because you’ve sinned, and you’re doing the same thing to me.” So the man starts to understand the gospel as he’s working. The more a man works and takes responsibility, and becomes a husband and a father, and buys a home, and runs a business, the more likely he is to make sense out of the gospel. Because he’ll feel what it’s like to have something rebel against you when you’re trying to bring order out of chaos.
This will remind him that he is that way toward God, that he is thorns and thistles, and that God is trying to cultivate him. It brings a man to a place of humility. What this means for the men: Everything you try and do is going to be hard. Some men think, “Well, I’ll just find a woman, kids, job, house, or new car that won’t be a lot of work. But, they don’t make those! Nothing comes that way. Everything on this planet is a fixer-upper. And men are going to have to work hard to cultivate those things.
MAN AS WARRIOR
The second thing a man is created for is war. He’s created for battle. We see this in Genesis where God creates the man, and he puts the man in charge. And as Satan comes to declare war on God, the man and the woman, the man is supposed to fight, but he doesn’t. He just sits there quietly and lets Satan attack his wife, and dishonor the name of God. Men are built to defend truth and justice, to conquer evil and to promote righteousness, and to protect the helpless and the vulnerable and the weak.
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
God has enemies, and men have enemies. Those enemies, the Bible says, are not just flesh and blood. They’re powers and principalities and spirits. So, men need to take the weapons of their war and they need to defend against lies and against death and against Satan and against hell. And they need to champion the cause of righteousness and truth and justice. The problem is if a man doesn’t know how to fight or if he’s wicked, he starts to fight for the wrong things, and hurts the innocent and not his enemies. These men become very dangerous. Men need to know who they’re to protect, who they’re to defend, what truth is, what righteousness is, and what justice is.
MAN AS SAGE
The last thing that we see as well is that men are created, in Genesis, to be sages. They’re created to get wisdom and knowledge from God, teach, and then impart that to others. If a boy or girl has a good dad, his dad is going to teach the child a lot. Some of it will be with his words. Much of it will be with his living. In Genesis, God created the man and the woman, and he first instructs the man. He says, “Here are the rules. Here’s what is supposed to happen. Make sure you pass this on.” Apparently, Adam was a very bad Bible teacher, because when it came time to contend with Satan, his wife, Eve, according to 1 Timothy 2 and 2 Corinthians 11, was deceived.
Men need wisdom, and you men need to understand and receive the fact, you are teachers. You are teaching. You can’t help it. You’re either teaching good or bad, but you’re teaching something with your words or with your deeds. Children, especially sons, parrot their fathers. And if they don’t get wisdom from their dad, what Proverbs 1 says is, they get it from other guys. And they end up hanging out with hoodlums and thugs and getting in trouble. Boys share wisdom, and not good knowledge, but the knowledge and wisdom that is at the tree of knowledge in the garden. It’s the knowledge of good and evil. It’s sinful, wicked knowledge. Sages will either have truth or error, lies or righteousness. And they’re going to instruct it in word and deed. Men are built to learn and receive knowledge, and cultivate the mind and the soul by reading, learning, thinking. Not just in abstract concepts, but in practical life. Most men are practical theologians. They want to know about how to make money and work and life and have friendship and defend and have honor and nobility and dignity, all the themes of the Father to the Son in Proverbs.
POWERMAN
In 1 John it says, “I write to you young men because you’re strong.” Strength isn’t bad. The whole point is: Is there wisdom? Is it for cultivating? Is it for warring against the enemies? If it is, then it’s all good. If not, it’s dangerous, because you’re going to cultivate sin, you’re going to teach error, and you’re going to shoot the innocent; that’s when the strength is bad. Men are supposed to be sages. Practically, this means one thing: Men, you have to know your Bible. You have to. Here are books in the Bible that are written for the benefit and the training of men: • 1 Timothy • 2 Timothy • Titus • Proverbs (2001/2 and2009) • Ecclesiastes • Song of Solomon Read them. Read them. Read them. Read your Bible. Know your Bible. Love your Bible. Study your Bible. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, ask God and he’ll give it to you.” Seek wisdom. Get wisdom.
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