To accomplish a duet like that, separated by
a stage as broad as this, is something else.
And you can do it any time you want to. I like
piano organ duets. I had intended this morning
to continue my series on the doctrine of the
Church. However, I have been redirected, I believe,
by the Holy Spirit for today. As I was meditating
and praying the other morning regarding our circumstances
right now as a church, which in several ways
are at a very critical point, an exciting point,
a point with a lot of opportunities and great
things happening and yet some considerable needs,
God laid upon my heart a message. The Lord impressed
upon me that I need today to speak especially
to the men. of Grace Church. Not that the ladies
and children who are present this morning aren't
important, but I need to speak to the men of
our church, and I invite the rest of you to listen
in. Maybe you'll get some of the buckshot around
the edges. Don't be afraid. One of my most pressing
concerns is for a congregation of men in particular
who are exercising their spiritual role of leadership
that God has given to them. A role that extends
both to the home as well as to the church. God
impressed upon my heart, as I thought about this
a few days ago, that in reality the needs that
we are facing right now as a church would not
be there if, in fact, all of the men of our church
were living up to that spiritual role of leadership
that God has assigned to us all. Now there are
some men who are already doing so, but there
are many who are not. And what we need in our
church desperately is a solid population of men
who can be characterized by what the Bible calls,
in this phrase, the men of God. Men of God. That
is a term which was used in the Old Testament
of certain people who were given by God high
positions of authority. King David, for example,
or the prophet Elijah, or the leader Moses were
called men of God. In the New Testament, the
term seems to be more general and would apply
to all believers, a generic sort of term. For
in 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, it tells us
that we have the inspired, the God -breathed
Word of God before us so that we men of God may
be equipped and thoroughly furnished to every
good work. And so men of God refers to something
all of us should be. The term is also used in
the book of 1 Timothy, and it is there that I
want to find our text today, 1 Timothy chapter
6. The term itself is found in verse 11, but
I want to begin with verse 3, which I think is
the beginning of this paragraph. I realize that
today is Father's Day, and it's an appropriate
day to bring a message like this, perhaps, but
that is purely coincidental. 1 Timothy 6, verse
3. If anyone advocates a different doctrine,
that is, than the one that Paul has just instructed,
and does not agree with sound words, those of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine
conforming to godliness, He is conceited and
understands nothing, but he has a morbid interest
in controversial questions and disputes about
words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive
language, evil suspicions, and constant friction
between men of depraved mind and deprived of
the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means
of gain. He's talking here about false teachers
who make religion their business. And we are
loaded with them these days, aren't we? People
who make religion a means of their getting rich,
of having personal gain. But the apostle goes
on in sort of a play of words to say, but godliness
actually is a means of great gain when accompanied
by contentment. For we have brought nothing into
the world, so we cannot take anything out of
it either. And if we have food and covering,
with these we shall be content. But those who
want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare
and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge
men into ruin and destruction. For the love of
money is a root of all sorts of evil. and some
by longing for it have wandered away from the
faith and pierced themselves with many a pang.
But flee from these things, you man of God, and
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good
fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life
to which you were called. And you made the good
confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Heavenly Father, I pray that as we approach this
burden that you have for our church, and as we
talk about this text of Scripture and seek to
apply it to our lives, that you will give us
hearts that are able to hear your words, your
thoughts, to us personally. I pray that we will
not be... pointing our fingers at others, but
that I as the preacher will speak to myself and
that the Holy Spirit will take these words and
then will cause them to be applied to each life
here today by each person. And then we pray that
you will give us hearts that would respond to
be obedient. Lord, we need to be men of God.
Make us that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. It
seems to me from our text that a man of God is
characterized by four actions. These four actions
are found in four verbs, which are commands that
must be obeyed if we are going to be what God
has declared us to be, men of God. In the first
place, a man of God flees. He flees. Verse 11
says, flee from these things, man of God. It
means to run away from the vices which destroy
our spiritual effectiveness. And in the context
here, there are at least two that are mentioned.
We are in the first place to run away from involvement
in false teaching. That is the text beginning
in verse 3, where it warns us about those who
advocate a different doctrine, a doctrine which
does not agree with the sound or the healthy
words of the Bible, a doctrine which does not
agree with godliness that comes out of the Bible.
We are warned to stay away from false teachers
who are conceited and ignorant, who do not understand
the Bible, but rather who have a morbid, unhealthy
interest in controversial questions and disputes
about words. The apostle undoubtedly had some
particular group of people in mind from that
day. We don't know exactly who he was referring
to. Maybe that's good because then we can apply
it more easily to our own day. For there are
around us all kinds of movements and isms, asms,
and spasms which people who love God can get
caught up in and which are at worst false teaching.
and at best, secondary, non -essential, unimportant
issues. Disputes even about the meanings of words.
There are those who love to get into those kinds
of arguments and spats. Well, he says, out of
this kind of a thing arises envy and strife.
Language, which is abusive. Runs down others.
Out of this comes a suspicious kind of a spirit.
A non -trusting attitude. And from it also comes
constant friction between men. So he says, if
you and I are going to be men of God, one of
the things we have to do is to stay away from
those kinds of things. The kinds of things which
divide over... nonsensical, meaningless issues,
those kinds of things which may even be false
in their essence. Stay away from the controversies,
which, if you get involved in them, will produce
the kind of fruit that we see in verses 4 and
5. He is saying, basically, if you want to be
a man of God, then major on the majors and be
careful of the minors. Not that there's not a
time to talk about the minors, too. But don't
get involved in emphasizing those and getting
them out of proportion, because that's a waste.
It's a waste. It will destroy your spiritual
effectiveness. Flee from that. But he says, secondly,
we are to flee from the love of money. This maybe
is a bigger problem to many of us. Perhaps, in
fact, this is the greatest problem that Christian
men face. in our culture, maybe not in some cultures,
but in ours, which is very materialistic and
hedonistic, the love of money and what it can
buy. Now, please understand, he is not saying
we're to flee from money. Money is essential
to live. By it, we're able to provide for our
needs and provide for the work of God. That is
God's plan. But he is saying that we are to flee
from the love of it. establishing it as a God
in our lives, making it mammon. Jesus said you
cannot serve mammon, money, and God. He warns
us that the love of money becomes a root sin,
which produces all sorts of evil in the life.
Because of the love of money, there are some
people... who sell their bodies, others who sell
their souls, some who sell their standards. Because
of the love of money, there are some who will
run over anybody else, whatever the pain that
may be created. There are some who will lie.
There are some who will cheat because of the
love of money. The real problem is greed. but
it produces all these other sorts of secondary
issues in the life. There are a few things that
will destroy your effectiveness and mine as the
love of money. It is a basic root sin that causes
many, it says, to stumble, to wander away from
the faith, and to be pierced with many a pang,
a sting, a pain. I suppose that all of us can
look around at someone else and we say, now there
is a person who loves money. Folks, our need
today is to look at our own lives, for me to
look at me and you to look at you, and to see
if there's something in us that we need to flee
from. Have we somehow subtly been caught up in
the standards and the thoughts and the desires
and the motivations of our world? our society,
so that we have made getting rich or having money
for personal pleasure our goal in life? I tell
you, if we do that, we will never be men of God,
ever. It is not wrong to be rich, nor is it wrong
to be poor. We need to be content wherever we
are on that scale, in the spectrum of it. That's
the important thing. Godliness with contentment.
That is soul sufficiency. Being able to say,
Father, thank you for providing this for me.
And when we can do that, that is great gain.
That's being rich. That's being rich. If we're
going to be men of God, the first action that
we must follow is that of fleeing. We must flee
from those things that would destroy our effectiveness
as Christians, our examples as fathers and husbands,
our purity as men. Flee from these things, O
man of God. And there are some in our church
family who need to do that. in very special,
particular ways that God right now is laying
in your heart. For there are some of us that
have compromised. There are some of us that have
allowed things to come into our lives that have
begun getting us sidetracked from being men of
God. If that's true in your life, will you today
say, Lord, I want to be a man of God, I'll flee.
I'll give it up. I'm through with it. I've repented
that. Secondly, if we would be men of God, we
would also pursue some things. Not only run away
from some things, but run after some other things.
Pursue them eagerly. There are six qualities
that he lists in verse 11. And I would have you
notice as we go through these how directly opposite
they are of what our world considers important.
He says, man of God, pursue this, pursue righteousness.
What is righteousness? He's talking here about
the state of heart and mind, which is in harmony
with God's law. I think it was Barnhouse that
said that, and I like that definition. It is
the state of heart and mind which is in harmony
with what God wants. That's righteousness. We
are men, I'm talking to you especially, fathers,
husbands, listen. I fear that we are increasingly
tolerant of sin. We are increasingly insensitive
to it so that we allow it to gain beachheads
in our lives and in our families. And I want
to be specific this morning about some areas.
I will not cover every possible area. We do have
to get out by 3 o 'clock or before. I want to
talk about television. I am not among those preachers
who for years have said that television is the
tool of the devil. I'm not among them, but I'm
getting there. I have heard preachers for some
years who have said, you need to get the televisions
out of your homes. I have not been among them,
but I'm getting there. Do you realize the kinds
of things that are indoctrinating your family
by means of television? Do you realize that the
producers of the television shows that come into
your living room and mine have moral standards
that are directly opposite, for the most part,
directly opposite of yours as a Bible -believing
Christian? Not only do they have those standards,
but they are determined to sell those standards
to their audiences. Now, I'm not just saying
this as a preacher who's pounding the pulpit.
I am simply relating to you what I am reading
in the newspaper. I read it this last week in
the columnist in the Tribune. And if it's there,
it's got to be the truth, right? This man who
makes no claim to be a Christian says that this
fall, CBS in particular is going into the gutter.
to try to keep pace with cable television, which
is putting the networks into a serious situation
financially. And so they are going to begin promoting
all kinds of perversions and sexual relationships
in your living room and mine, not at 9 o 'clock,
at 7 o 'clock in prime time at some of their
new shows. And some of the old ones are going
to be retooled to do the same thing. What I'm
saying to you is that you better sit down with
your family, man of God, and decide which programs
you're going to allow to come into that home
of yours and which are not. And I'm not talking
about just the evening programs. I'm talking
about some of the Saturday morning cartoons as
well. If we are going to be men of God, we have
to pursue righteousness. And I want you to know
that very little of what comes over television
is in harmony with God's law. There may come
a day when I will say to you, I think we should
take our televisions out of our homes. There
are some of you who believe that now, and I don't
say you shouldn't do that. That's fine if that's
what God leads you to do. I'm not to that point
yet, but I tell you what, I'm coming there. I
talked to my wife about it this last week. I
want to talk about music. What kind of music
do you listen to? I like country music. My wife,
who is the Kentuckian... Honey, don't forget
this is Father's Day. Be kind to me. She does
not care for it, but... I like it, and as some
of you know, I listen as regularly as I can to
A Prairie Home Companion. I think that is one
of the neatest programs around. I love the bluegrass
music. And one of my favorite country entertainers
has been in the past, Kenny Rogers. And you know
what I discovered? That some of his music had
insensitized me, made me insensitive to some
of the words he was saying. I have a record,
I think it's called The Best of Kenny Rogers,
and I'd listen to that occasionally. That's not
gospel music, I'm sorry, it disappoints some
of you, but it's just music I enjoy listening
to occasionally. And it didn't bother me until
I realized that my son was listening to that
record, and I began to hear him sing some of
the words that Kenny Rogers was singing. He has
no idea what he's saying at this point, but I
know what he's saying, and it really turned me
off to Kenny Rogers. And he's no worse than some
of the others. I'm not picking on him. What about
rock music? Do you realize what some of your
teenagers are listening to in rock music? Do
you realize the kind of garbage that is being
drilled into their minds through that? The kind
of perversion, the kind of even demon activity
that they are exposed to through rock music.
And yet some of you fathers have not so much
as put your foot down on the kind of music your
children are listening to. You better look after
that if you're going to pursue righteousness.
I want to talk about Sunday employment. Now,
I have been meddling so far, but I'm going to
now. I am not among those who believe that Sunday
is the Sabbath and that we must keep the Old
Testament laws on Sunday. I don't believe that
at all. But I do believe that Sunday is the Lord's
Day. The Bible calls it that. And I do believe
that we ought to obey the Word of God and be
in the assembly of the saints and not forsake
it as the manner of some is. There are some of
you who will take a job on Sunday that fast to
make some bucks. But maybe even worse than that
is the fact that you allow your teenagers to
do it, and you don't think anything about it.
And they're missing Bible instruction and the
fellowship of God's people, and you as a father
have allowed that to happen in your home. Now,
I told you I was going to meddle. If you are
going to pursue righteousness, and cause your
home to be in harmony with what God wants, then
look at your home today and realize what's taking
place in it. Shall I talk about weekend trips?
Shall I talk about taking summer vacations from
God? And saying, well, summertime's here, time
to go to the cabin every weekend. Forget church.
I realize there are some who go to church wherever
the cabin is, and even some who come all the
way back to the cities, and I thank God for that.
My point is simply, we can't afford to take breaks
from God. What do you think you're teaching your
children by establishing that kind of a pattern?
Pursue righteousness. I believe that we need
an honest, God -led investigation in our attitudes
and practices, which are not in harmony with
His law in our lives and in our homes. And where
we are out of harmony with God, we need to get
ourselves aligned to get in step with the Lord.
He says we need to pursue godliness. That's conduct
which reflects God. Devoutness, robustness of
life, which imitates Jesus Christ. It is having
the touch of God upon one's life. But I fear
that the conduct of some of us may reflect compromise,
not God's character. We are content to look like
and smell like and be like and talk like and
laugh like and look like the world as much as
possible. Godliness, that's old -fashioned, but
not for men of God, women of God. If we're going
to be men of God, then we need to run after being
like God, godliness. We need today to look at
our conduct. Let it reflect off the mirror of
God's word. Then bring our conduct into line.
Wash the dirt off of our lives. It says that
we need to pursue faith. That means reliance
upon God's promises. We know so little about
faith, don't we? I do. We have so little need
for faith in our gluttonous materialistic society.
Because if we lack some little thing, We can
go down, if we don't have the cash for it, we
can plunk down one of those credit cards and
buy it. We don't need to pray about it. We've
got credit. We don't need God. I wonder how our
children are going to learn anything about faith.
Some of us grew up in the Depression or those
years right afterward, and there weren't the
credit cards, and there wasn't the availability
of things in those days. And I think sometimes
out of an overreaction to that, now we think
we have to provide everything for our kids. But
are we teaching the value of things? Are we somehow
communicating to our kids what it is to trust
God and to rely upon God for something? Are we
learning it ourselves? Our need today may well
be to repent of our self -sufficiency. For we
are much like the Laodicean church which said,
I'm rich and have need of nothing. We are poor
and miserable, blind and naked. The man of God
pursues faith. He makes it his business not to
live on credit. And I'm not knocking credit always.
There's a time for that and a place for it. But
folks, we can't... allow that to usurp the other
place of trusting God, believing God in our lives.
We're men of God. We're going to pursue love,
actively seek the benefit of others, the welfare
of others. We'll cause our heart to be devoted
to God and allow that first love to be in our
lives for Him, not like the church at Ephesus,
which was very busy, even in ministry. But Jesus
said, you've left your first love. We have a
greater tendency, don't we, toward greed and
covetousness rather than sharing. That's prevalent
in our world. Take what you can. Don't let anybody
take away from you what belongs to you. And how
natural and good that sounds to our flesh. Selfless
giving out of love is rare, but a man of God
must pursue love. Then he must pursue perseverance.
It means to bear up under adversities, steadfastness
with the assurance of the coming victory. We
so easily give up. We run into a little problem.
We say, it must not be God's will. We make commitments,
and then when we have to pay a price to keep
the commitment, we forget the commitment. We
do what we say we're going to do as long as it's
convenient. One who's a man of God must be one
who sticks with it, a man who perseveres, one
who bears up. I really think that a lot of us
today need to see how emaciated and even whining
we are when things get tough in our lives. If
we're going to be men of God, we've got to also
pursue gentleness. This is the only time in the
Greek New Testament when this particular word
is found. The idea is not to be a reactionary,
but to be patient with people. It's a combination
of two words, to suffer and meekness. And it's
the idea of somebody coming against you and then
your response being one of gentleness. But really,
aren't a lot of us more interested in preserving
our macho image? Isn't enforcing our rights more
important than showing gentleness? I mean, really,
when you get down to it, there in the office,
or in the neighborhood, or the neighbor puts
that fence in the wrong place, whatever the issue
may be, we ought to be gentle. That word describes
so beautifully the Lord Jesus Christ, but there
was no more manly person who's ever walked on
the earth than he. If you and I are going to
be men of God, there are some things we have
to run away from and there are some things we
have to run toward, run after. I like the fact
that it says run after these things, pursue them.
It suggests that we never really arrive there.
We never get to the point of really saying, well,
now I've attained it. But he says all of our
life long we have to pursue these things. Make
them our ideals, our goals. We're to be men of
God, we also have to fight. You say, wait a minute,
didn't you just say we had to be gentle? Now
you're saying fight? That's what the Word of
God says. Verse 12, fight. But notice what it
says to fight. Not your wife. Not your kids.
Fight the good fight of the faith. And the idea
is that we are to fight the noble fight. We are
to be aggressive in battling for the faith, not
over personal, selfish things, but we are to
be involved in battling Satan's system of evil
in the world. We are not to give in to it. We
are not to go along with the crowd as be carried
with the flow, the stream of our age. But we
are to stand up against it and say, this is where
I take my stand. And we are to fight that noble
fight, whatever the cost may be, if we are to
be men of God. Yeah, it's tough. Yes, there are
people around us who go AWOL. And there are some
Christians who talk about passivism or negotiation
with the world or maybe even disarmament. But
not one who wants to be a man of God. You cannot
against Satan's system. You can't disarm. You've
got to put on the armor. Ephesians 6. You don't
negotiate with the world. You resist it in the
power of Jesus Christ. If we're going to be men
of God, we have to learn where the lines are
being drawn and get to that line and take the
stand right there and not be pushed around. Then
a man of God finally will take hold of some things.
He says, take hold of the eternal life to which
you were called. He gets a good grip on eternal
life. Now, what does that mean? He's already
saved. What does it mean, get a good grip on
eternal life? It means that you get a hold of
eternal life, not as something that's going to
come in the future, but something that you have
right now. And even right now, you live with
eternal values in view. Eternal goals, that's
what it means. All Christians possess eternal
life, but not many, frankly, seem to take hold
of it in the sense mentioned here. It means to
live life with an eternal perspective. When was
the last time you sat down for about 15 minutes?
and thought through what you're doing, how you're
spending your time and your money. And then you've
gotten back away from that a little bit, and
you've looked at it and tried to look at it from
God's perspective. You get the eternal flashlight
out, and you shine it on that and look at what
you're doing, how you're spending your money.
That's what he's talking about. Get a hold. On
eternal life. Make it a quality of life that
you are experiencing and enjoying right now.
God wants us to enjoy life. We can only do it
if we get a hold of it. Eternal life. And we
know Him who is eternal. And fellowship with
Him. I'm burdened for the men of Grace Church.
And I include myself in that lot. Men, our homes
are not going to be what they ought to be unless
we become men of God. And the ministry of Grace
Church Roseville is never going to be any stronger
than the weakest of us. The weakest of us, not
the strongest. We've got some things we've got
to get right with God. I believe that God would
call some of us today to repentance, to a change
of thinking about some things. He would call
some of us today to Christian conversion. In
other words, we've been going one way, we're
going to turn around and go another way, change
the way we're living. One of the most critical
areas that we men need to face. is that of being
the priests in our homes, of in some fashion
leading our families in worship, whether that
family be just the wife now or it still be with
the little ones who are at your knees. I'm talking
about what used to be called the family altar.
I've not always been a perfect example in that.
And I recognize that the family altar needs to
take different forms at different stages in a
family. But man, God is going to hold me and
you accountable at the judgment for what we do
in our homes to train our children, our wives,
spiritually. Now, I warn you that now. So that
when the judgment comes, hopefully you'll be
ready to stand and give an answer. You say, I
don't know what to do. I have a training course
designed for that. And I have not been able yet
to bounce this off of the staff and the elders
to decide just how we're going to go about it.
But that is going to be offered to the men of
Grace Church to teach you. how to be the priests
of your home, the fathers and husbands to train
your wives or children in the things of God.
It'll take 10 weeks or 10 sessions. And I want
to invite you now to come to that, but only if
you are involved in leading your family in worship
or if you will begin this week. If you don't
intend to do it, you are not invited to the classes.
It's only for those who intend to do it or are
doing it. If we are going to be men of God, if
our families, if our church is going to be what
God intends them to be, then it begins with you
and me, men. It begins with us. What are we going
to do with God's challenge today? Let's bow together.
Our heads bowed, our eyes are closed. I trust
the Spirit of God has said something to you.
I tell you, it has to me. God has showed me how
much I failed. God has showed me how gracious
he is. God has instilled some new commitments,
new desires in my own heart. And I believe there
are many of you who may feel the same way. I
want to give a very specific invitation before
I pray. I want to ask those men And I'm talking
here now because of the nature of the case, those
who are of college age and above, but especially
those who are career, those who are married.
If you today are having family worship, I don't
know what form it may take. I don't know how
complete it may be. You may feel it's very imperfect.
In some manner, you are today attempting to bring
the Word of God into your home. You and your
wife pray together. Your family and you pray
together. You're studying the Word of God together.
I want to ask you in just a moment to stand.
Not yet. There's a second group I want to address.
I want to talk to those of you men who say, Pastor...
That is my need. I need to do that. I am convicted
about that. I want to do it. Now maybe you know
how. Maybe you don't know how. But you're saying
today, God has convicted me. There are some changes
I need to make. It needs to start in my home.
I'm going to pursue this thing. And today I make
that commitment before God. I'm going to establish.
some form of family altar in my family, my home.
I want you also to stand. Now, I want both of
those groups of men to stand together right now,
would you please? You are doing it. You're saying,
I will do it. We're talking about the home. I
recognize there are some of you that would not
follow the categories that we've talked to. Now,
before I pray, Is there anyone else, any other
men, who say, I'm not doing it, I know I should,
or I am doing it, and I recommit myself to it
today? Now, I wonder if there are some wives
who would say, I thank God my husband is standing,
and as a testimony with him, of my support, of
my commitment with him, I also want to stand.
Would you do that right now? If you're here as
a wife of one of these men standing. I recognize
there may be some who are not present. Some men
who will stand alone. That's fine. I want to
pray for you. Heavenly Father, I pray in Jesus'
name that you will do a new and deep work. in
our homes. And on this day, which happens to
be Father's Day, we as husbands and as fathers
give ourselves afresh to you along with our wives,
our dear partners. And Father, we are saying
by standing right now that we acknowledge our
shortcomings and we give ourselves to establish
in our homes our priesthoods that you've committed
to us. And Father, we are saying that we want
to learn how to do it better, how to be more
effective. So teach us, I pray. And Lord, I know
there are going to be challenges that will come
against us. There are going to be times we'll
get discouraged, we may even quit for a while.
I pray that in those times you'll bring us back
to this commitment we make today. And I pray
the result of this, Father, will be healthier
homes spiritually. a stronger home and a stronger
church. Thank you for speaking to our hearts
and for bringing us today to this place of challenge
and of being able to answer that challenge. In
Jesus' name. Now would all of you stand, please,
and take a hymnal. I would like us to close by
singing hymn 144.