The Talk of Men: 18 Jan 2011

18 Jan 2011

Please read Todd's prayer requests and pray today. Saturday, Todd's had the transplant.

Reading/Focus: Ephesians 5:25-33 (ESV)

Again, I direct you back to the audio sermon files at http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/sermons starting 12 Aug 2007, in the 3-week sermon series "The Role of Men".


Do I really know what it means to be a man? I think I know what it means to be a man in earthly terms, but do I know what that means in Godly terms? Nearly every christian man I know, myself included, know exactly what verse 22-24 says, but that is what God commands the woman. After what verses for the man say, what God says to the woman is no longer relevant to the man. I'll come back to this.

In this reading, verse 29 challenges me over and over again.
"29For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,..."

Chandler (the village church) speaks to these two words for a while. The idea of nourish, mean mostly to provide for. Thankfully, most men see it this way in some regard. In this case, this nourish means to provide for, to make sure that there is food on the table, to protect, to keep a roof over her head, etc. This is not the definition that I struggle with. However, in a spiritual sense, we are also to be the spiritual nourisher in our home. This includes the wife. I don't think this says that we are to the be the only spiritual nourishment, but rather to watch over the spiritual nourishment and growth of all the family members, wife included. This is both keenly important and deeper than I think I fully understand.

It's the other word: "Cherish", that really challenges me. Chandler explains this for me that it means we should treat our wives like "porcelain", meaning to treat her carefully.
"Watch what comes out of your mouth towards them, watch how you touch them, watch how you handle them. They are not to be handled verbally or physically rough. Like porcelain.”
The bible is very clear that it is my job to love my wife like Christ loves the church. This means that I not only have the responsibility of being the initiator of reconciliation in my marriage (which is a huge deal), but also to love my wife regardless of her response. Now, think about that for a minute. For those of you who may challenge me on that, I would first ask you to look at how Christ loves the church. Does Christ's love for me depend on my response? I sure hope to God not! Like Christ loves the church...

Chandler describes this ultimately difficult mission as one guy giving advice to another and he paints it so well, I'll just end by quoting him here, to leave us pondering:
In fact, it's comical. I mean, if you start talking to other people like this, they're like,
“Man, my wife, she just doesn't respond to me well. I mean, I'm just trying and she doesn't let me...” You're like, “Keep loving her.”
“Why should I keep loving her? She doesn't do anything I want...”
“Yeah, yeah, okay. Just keep loving her more. Love her more.”
“What?” “Buy her flowers.”
“I can't stand her.”
“Buy her lots of flowers.”
“I mean, she's this and she's that.”
“You want to really get her? Go ahead and clean the whole house. Clean all of it, bathrooms too. Clean it. Serve her, that's what you do.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah. Serve her, romance her, love her, woo her.”
“Are you serious?” “Absolutely serious.”
I mean, this is a little bit different message, isn't it? “She spit in my face.” “Get her a bottle of water and get a towel.”



Prayer Requests:

> That we, as men, would dare to look deep into what it means to be a man in the eyes of God, and that we would have the gut to pursue being that man, regardless of the cost.

different subject....

> That the donor cells are strengthened and take over the body. When the hospital does a Chimerism test, we want it to see 100% donor cells.
> That God would strengthen Jen, as she is taking care of most of the things at home, while visiting Todd in the hospital.
> Pray for Todd's health, that when his immune system is so low, that he would not get sick at all.

See Todd's Blog, specifically "T-0: for real this time!"