As the Man at Home and in Society; Do not be on the Periphery
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The document discusses the evolving role of men in modern society, emphasizing the importance of active participation in family, community, and spiritual life. It highlights the necessity for men to volunteer and take responsibility instead of relinquishing roles to women, who have stepped into both traditional and emerging roles. Ultimately, it calls for men to be spiritually alert, set standards of obedience to God, and reclaim their rightful positions by leading through service and commitment.
As the Man at Home and in Society; Do not be on the Periphery
- 1. As the Man in Home and Society: Do not be on the Periphery Times and seasons have changed. We are living in times when roles between men and women have also changed. Men in general have become reluctant warriors in a social revolution. Men everywhere want to find their places in the world. Most of us grew up in a world that was very different from the world we now inhabit. It has become extremely difficult for today’s man to understand his role at home, in society and even in the Church. The church is also changing much more slowly but just as surely. Women are no longer silent. Men no longer make all the decisions. In many churches, there are very few many who attend. The choir, ushers, children ministry, and many other departments are led by women. This is indeed a very sad scenario. Men do it reluctantly. Most men know they ought to do more to raise their children, but that doesn't mean they really want to. Most men will move over and admit women's voices to the important decision-making processes of the church, but that doesn't mean they really want to. And the reason for the reluctance is that so many women sitting in places traditionally reserved for men, and so many men having to sit in places traditionally the domain of women, frankly makes us men uncomfortable. It is threatening. It is challenging. It can be humiliating. And it makes us wonder and ask; What is "a man's place in the world" nowadays? What is the domain of man in the world? Does he have an exclusive role anymore? If so, what is it? What can the man then do to get back his rightful position? 1. A man’s place is to be there for the family It is very, very crucial to be there and be counted for your family. Situations have changed nowadays where we find men running away from their responsibilities when needed. Today I talked to a young person about the past. I was shocked that this person holds a lot of bitterness from the past because the father never supported this young person. This young one never got any post school training at all. When we get children, we need to plan for their future. This is one of the greatest responsibilities. I urge all men with families; BE THERE FOR YOUR FAMILIES. 2. A man's place is to be a volunteer for the betterment of life A man has to do all that he can to make life better particularly if he is a father. Now there's what it means to be a man. He has to volunteer himself and offer services that will cost him. Volunteers believe in their cause and step forward without being coerced. God wants men to be volunteers. Of all of the whining that may be heard in the land today, probably the loudest and longest and most grating is that which comes from us men who complain about women taking our places. Can you believe it? What happened to the days when a man's home was his castle, and his throne was the recliner in front of the television? Is nothing sacred anymore? Hear me now: if any woman has occupied any place that God had really intended for any man to have, it has been because that man refused to step forward and volunteer his services. In the first place, he thought it should be reserved for him because it was a man's job. And he would do it when he got around to it. And in the second place, when he got around to it, he still wanted to be begged to do it. God's purposes will not be defeated because men expect to be begged and conscripted, or because men want special places to be reserved for them. In the home, or in the church, or in the world, if a man
- 2. won't do it, then a woman will! If we men want to find our places in the world, we must surrender all notions of our great necessity and our profound privilege. We must aggressively and generously volunteer to do those things that we believe we can do better than anybody else in the world. Along the way, we must admit that God in His redemptive way has used the failure of us men to gain for women a bigger piece of the action. This is God's justice and God's business. We are not going to turn it around and head it in the other direction. And for that reason, we should spend our energy on something that will help. Men need to re-enlist in their true places in God's world. Because the woman is finding her place in the world, too, it is not likely that we will ever return to the days of male-female roles. But we can take places of productive service to the world and to the family and to the church and to our Lord! 3. A man's place is to remain on spiritual alert A man must remain watchful. God wants us to be alert to His voice and prepared for action. The failure of men today is not that we do not have our eyes upon our enemies but that we do not have our eyes upon God. Prayer and meditation are the means by which a man will see God; but these are activities that men, by and large, have surrendered to women. Prayer is no longer a man's fixation. We men have our eyes upon something besides prayer because we have our eyes upon something besides God. Christian men today look with intense suspicion upon prayer, upon music and praise, upon missions study and upon the power of the preaching and the teaching of God's Word. Not that we never practice any of it or don't believe that it should be done; just that all of it appears to be inadequate ammunition for facing the worldly foes that we daily encounter. Better to rely upon our own manly intelligence, our own powers of persuasion, our own willingness to work 45 and 60 hours, our own dogged determination and high blood pressure to get the job done! 4. A man's place is to set his world a standard of obedience to God Obedience is the most essential part of faith. To trust is to obey. In the final analysis, a man's place is the same as anybody's place: obedience to God's call and claim upon his life. "I don't know my place anymore," we men say. "I don't know what's expected of me. I don't know where I fit in." God's Word teaches us men our place. God's Word calls a man to spiritual headship in his home. That doesn't mean he makes all of the decision. It does mean that he sets his family a standard of obedience to God! If anybody in the family is faithful to God, he is. If anybody wants prayers to be said and scriptures to be read, he does. If anybody insists the family rise up and attends the church that Jesus loves, he insists. If anybody tithes the family income, he tithes. Once at church, God calls a man to responsible manhood under the headship of Jesus Christ. Children and youth, whether they have a faithful father back home or not, need for Christian men to set the standard of obedience to God. If the young ever learn what it means to relate to God as a father, they will learn it be relating to one of God's faithful men. FINALLY We have to rise from where we are. The future generations will not forgive us for having failed our current generations. Let’s do something. If you started doing something about it and someone else does something and I also do something, I believe we will succeed. We can make it. Isaiah 60:1
- 3. ‘Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you’. (NKJV)