Profile of an Upright Man

Job, chapter 1, verses 1 through 5: “.... There was a man in the land of Uz named Job, and this man was perfect and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. And 7 sons and 3 daughters were born to him; the man was fruitful. His possessions were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a great many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the people of the East. And his sons would go and hold feasts in their houses, each on his appointed day, and they would send for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of feasting had run their course, Job would send for them and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all, for Job said: Perhaps my children have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts. Thus he did every day.” May the Lord bless His holy word.

Sometimes, when we think of Job, we think only of his suffering and his prolonged agony, but we do not think of this man who was able to get past and overcome all his terrible crises and his tragedy because he was an upright man at heart—and that, ironically, was what brought about his trial. But besides being an upright man, Job was also an exemplary father. This morning I asked the Lord for a foundational text for my meditation, and the image of what Job used to do came to mind, and at some point in the sermon I am going to have time to touch briefly on what this text says.

But I want to address the men, because today is a fitting day for this, and besides, Meche ordered me to do it. I want to share with our brothers and with myself—to preach to myself these sermons I am always preaching—about the man God wants, the man God wants. As I stood there watching our brothers sing and seeing that wholesome, beautiful manliness worshiping God gladly and passionately, another image also came to mind, one I saw from my office window—I think it was Thursday or Friday or Wednesday; it was this week. As you know, they are doing some work out there in the street, and among a group of the men who were working in the street, wearing their hard hats and work clothes, there were two men laughing uproariously and talking. At one point they hugged, and then they shoved each other, as men do when they detect that there has been a tender moment between them, to make sure their masculinity is still intact, right? And I watched them from my window and said: What a mysterious creature a man is! And while I was here waiting for them to finish—and the men will forgive me, because I began writing something instead of paying attention to what they were doing and stopped writing because of it—I wrote a sort of poem that I want to read to you.

It says: What a beautiful sight a man is when he walks rightly! A mysterious creature, animated by a strange energy, a little lower than an angel, a mixture of earth and spirit, he walks the earth like a riddle. A mystery that God Himself is in the process of solving. What a beautiful creature a man is! Walking praise, a treasure in tension, a light under a bushel, a tribute to the supreme Artist. One day he will express everything for which he was made; meanwhile, his entire being cries out: Redeem me, heal me, reconcile me. Together with all creation, he waits impatiently, agonizingly, standing tall, for the day of his liberation.

Brothers and sisters, I never cease to be amazed when I look at a man, just as when I look at a woman, by the mystery he embodies, by the beauty that a man is. That creature, mysteriously endowed with life as no other creature that walks the earth, with all his tensions, his struggles, his contradictions, his inner agony. I believe God made man simply to amuse Himself. Just as little girls have a doll, God has the ability to create a living toy, which is man, and He has spent thousands and thousands of years trying to tame him, woo him, and draw him to Himself, because in man God had to set Himself a task worthy of His divinity. That is why He created a creature as mysterious, as elusive, as slippery as man, and set Himself the cosmic task of taking that creature, roping him in, and drawing him to Himself according to laws He Himself devised and limits He Himself established. And in a sense He made man almost like Himself—in creative ability, in the ability to invent, slip away, turn aside, and be self-sufficient—so that the task would be even more entertaining for Him.

And I believe that this world is simply God’s game. God set Himself a task there and is trying to solve it, and that is how He passes His time. And that is what we are: we are a project in motion; we are something still in play, and we do not yet know what the outcome will be. That is why I call man a riddle that God Himself is trying to solve. Yet, when I look at myself and look at men, alongside that beauty of man I also see such a great distance from the model God created. But the closer we come to the original design, even if only a little, the more beautiful, mysterious, and attractive we become. That is why I say: What a beautiful sight a man is when he walks rightly! It is something worth seeing. A well-fashioned person, a well-fashioned man or woman, is something beautiful, perfect; it is beautiful to behold. Yet when I look at how man functions—and I clearly include myself, as I have said—I see so many flaws, so many mistakes, so much that still remains. He is a light under a bushel; God’s greatness is still hidden within us. He is a treasure in tension. There is beauty, there are gifts, there are virtues, but there is also the other side: the fall within us that pulls us downward.

So that contradiction is there. When I see how man functions, I see a great deal of that in the church; I see that many times..... I thank the Lord because here we have a wholesome group of men. Right now I look around and see many men, and this has been a long-term project we have undertaken: that Lion of Judah would not be a church of women, but a church of men—of wholesome men, wholesome men and women, balancing one another. This week I had an opportunity to observe a group of people being trained somewhere; it was training for the leaders of a church, and how beautiful it was! And I am not diminishing what that church was doing, but it saddened me a little to notice that almost everyone there was a woman. There was only one man, whom I believe was even a pastor, but all the others were women. And that happens. On the day of the presentation at the State House, we laughed because at first only a great many women arrived. Thank God that later those men came who had been out in the street working, leading people, and so on, and there was a balance, but the vast majority were definitely women. Glory to God for them, amen. I am not diminishing the importance of women—understand me clearly—but I like balance; I like..... I believe God made us to balance one another, and God wants a balanced church. God wants a complementary church. That is nothing new.

One looks through the pages of Scripture and sees that the women were there when Christ was being crucified; they were there when Christ rose again; and throughout history women have played a role disproportionate to the level of influence they have been acknowledged as having in the church. And many times we men are conspicuous by our absence from spiritual events and the processes of the church, and generally the men’s ministry in every church is the weakest part of a congregation. Thank God that here we are well on our way to improving that more and more each day. And I encourage my brothers; I bless you in the name of the Lord; I declare the Spirit of Jesus Christ over each one of you; and we call those who are sleeping right now to wake up from their beds, put on their clothes, and come worship the Lord together with us, and to serve God in spirit and in truth.

So, that feminine dominance of the church in actual practice—and yet we see that the Bible presents a contrary model. The Bible teaches us something very different from the human reality of deformed and crippled men. In the Bible, I see instead that one of the things God has done is to make man the head, priest, and leader. Forgive me, sisters who do not agree with me on this, but I love the Bible too much to say otherwise out of fear or for any other reason. The Bible establishes the man as the leader of his home, as the head of his home and of his church. I do not believe it is because of qualifications, because many of us—rather, it is simply because God willed it to be so. And if we did what we are supposed to do, we would see the virtue of that divine determination. But I see that God wants man to head things, to be the leader, to be the spiritual priest in his home, in his marriage, in society, and in the church. That is biblical.

I also see that man occupies a special place in the heart of God. I am going to qualify those ideas; do not throw stones at me yet, my sisters. But man has something special in the heart of God, just as woman has other special things. But as I look through the pages of Scripture, even if only statistically, I see the prominence of man; I see there something special that God has with men. And I also see that throughout Scripture God Himself is portrayed from a decidedly masculine perspective, although I believe that God is not a man in the sexual sense of the word, obviously, and God has aspects that we generally identify with women. Yet in God’s character and personality I detect an energy that is decidedly one with which I, as a man, can identify. It is a masculine energy, and that is why God is Father in Scripture. Today, I know that theology has had the audacity to call Him Mother, but personally I believe that goes too far. I think that is too daring for me; perhaps if I go to seminary for about ten years, I may soften a little on that. I understand what people are trying to say, but I do not believe that fits within the frame of reference I have for the God I see reflected in Scripture. There is a mystery; there is a mysterious communication and affinity between God the Father and masculine energy. Yet there is a very great difference between that and what we see in reality.

Now, every time I say that, I offer two clarifications. I offer two clarifications out of consideration for my sisters and for the sake of being nuanced. Number one: man is not ontologically superior to woman. That is, in their being, man and woman are absolutely equal in the eyes of God. Say amen. There is no such thing as man being better than woman. Woman is a co-heir of the Kingdom of God; that is what the Word says. Understand that very clearly. At no time may a man feel superior to a woman, and that is why we must respect women, because woman too is the image of God, and a woman is as beautiful, as mysterious, and as profound as a man. She must be given the same value: in God’s eyes, woman is exactly equal; she is a co-heir.

And I also say something else: woman is as important as man in the economy of creation—I would say, in the ecology of creation. God made man with one kind of energy, and He made woman with another kind of energy; the two are complementary. A world of men is inconceivable, and that is why God had to create a woman, because woman has something that complements. The virtues and strengths of men also constitute their weaknesses, and the virtues and strengths of women constitute their weaknesses. Together, within the total economy of creation, they ensure that the world proceeds in a balanced way. And I also believe that man and woman were made to form two poems that, as they continually move over the earth, declare the absolute complexity of the God who created them. When a woman opens her mouth in her feminine tone, she is declaring something that exists in God. When a man opens his mouth in his masculine tone, he is declaring another part of God. When a man and a woman seek to unite and enter into one another, they are trying to exemplify that unity of the masculine and the feminine that exists in God.

And that is why both are absolutely necessary, and we cannot do without one another. Man and woman are complementary, complementary in their totality. You look at the soft, flowing lines of a woman and the angularity of a man, and even there you see their complementarity; and you see it in the sensitivities and wiring of men and women. All those things tell us that God made them to be united and to work together on the earth. That is why there can be no sense of superiority. We both depend on one another in order to be complete and properly joined together.

For that reason, among many other things, I rebel against the idea of homosexuality or lesbianism as something natural, or homosexual marriage as something that can even be contemplated, except by a society as far removed from what is human as this twenty-first-century society, here in the United States or in Western Europe. Only a disoriented society like this one can contemplate the possibility that such a thing might be normal. And I always say: I love, love, love, love homosexuals and lesbians, and I ardently desire that the Lord grant us a way to minister to them that goes beyond simply confronting them. And if you are struggling with that struggle, those tensions, and you are in our church and recognize that you need the touch of God in those areas, welcome, pilgrim, brother on the journey of faith. Because all of us are in that process of mastering our impulses and our deformities. We love you, and I beg you never to feel attacked when I speak in this way. We are talking about those who practice this without feeling remorse, without feeling repentance, without recognizing that it is something that needs healing. That is what I rebel against, and I will resist it until the last day of my life because I believe it is harmful to society and to the man whom I love and whose good I desire.

So I believe that God created man and woman to complement each other. Neither one is superior to the other.

Now, the models of manhood in the world—and, as I was saying, even in the church—are not very good. In the Middle East we see men oppressing women, abusing women, hiding them behind veils, burning them, burying them alive, stoning them, preventing them from becoming educated and rising to their full humanity. I find that—I do not believe there is any word I know that is strong enough to express my revulsion, my disgust at that kind of oppression of our sisters, but we see it in many parts of the world. In the rest of the Third World we also see much abuse of women: men beat women, abuse their strength, and keep women ignorant and isolated so that they can abuse them more easily, and that is totally contrary to the heart of God.

Unfortunately, to be fair, not everything is right in the relationships between men and women in the churches. There is a great deal of selfishness among us men that we practice in the churches. There are many dissatisfied women; many of our sisters are dissatisfied. And if I am fair, I have to admit that they are right in many areas, and there is much injustice, many men who... there is no proper balance in the distribution of duties and tasks in the home, and we must seek a more appropriate distribution, and we have to be humble enough to recognize this and try to make changes in the way we treat our wives and distribute burdens and responsibilities among ourselves. There is much verbal, emotional, and even physical abuse of our wives and our daughters, and that is totally unlawful in the context of the church. And we repudiate it completely. There is no excuse for a man to lay a hand on a woman, especially on a daughter of God. This church repudiates that completely, and anyone who practices it should know that he is outside the law and is bringing God’s judgment upon himself. It is not possible to practice that and call oneself a Christian. There is neglect; our women feel neglected—sometimes sexually, sometimes emotionally, sometimes in terms of attention and care—and that is not good. There is neglect in many ways. That is to say, there is much to do, much work to be done in that area, brothers.

But again, I have not come here to whip my brothers. You can breathe, because the worst is over. Take a deep breath; the worst is over. We have to be fair, brothers; just as I say one thing, I say the other. The Word of God is the Word of God, and the first one to get drenched by its downpour is me when I am preaching up here, but it is the Word of God and it must be preached exactly as it is. And when we violate it, that is the problem between men and women: we take only what we like. Or sometimes we react, and then we distort the Word because of the anger we feel, and we change it to get revenge, and that is not good either. We must go to the truth in all its complexity, apply it to ourselves, and drink it down, whether it tastes sweet or bitter. Sometimes the truth will taste bitter; sometimes it will taste sweeter than honey, but we must apply it to ourselves in all its complexity and not feel attacked or anything like that, but instead say, “Thank You, Lord. What bitter medicine, but it is making my life better.”

Now then, what is the biblical model of a man, of a good man? What is the biblical model? The difficulty I had was fitting this animal in and taming it, because there are so many things I could say about that question. What is the biblical model of a good man? Let me simply point out one or two little things here very quickly.

Number one: a good man receives his instructions from the Word of God; he receives his instructions, his models, and his standards from the Word of God. That is his point of reference. Psalm 1 says: “Blessed is the man who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.” His delight is in the law of the LORD.

When I think of a healthy man, I think of a man who loves the Word, reads it, knows it, grounds himself in it, and looks in it for the models he needs in order to live. This is where we find the counsel that you and I must use to learn what healthy masculinity is, men. That is why I beg you: know the Bible. If you are a new believer and are just now entering the ways of the Lord, I hope you have a good Bible and that you cultivate the habit of reading and studying it, because it is not possible to have healthy masculinity without turning to the models Scripture establishes of what balanced fatherhood and balanced masculinity are. For me, when I study the person of Jesus Christ, I see there the model of a balanced man: tender and fierce, passionate and patient; He speaks plainly, but He also knows when to be silent; He leads and serves; He suffers and attacks. All those things are contained within a single personality. I say, “That is what I would like to embody in my life.” The Lord Jesus is a fabulous model of masculinity, and that is why we do well to imitate Him.

For example, I see it when the disciples are there in their distorted masculinity, wanting the Lord to place one of them at His right and another at His left when He is in heaven. The Lord tells them: “Look, in the world those who rule lord it over the people they govern; they dominate them, oppress them, and exploit them. But it will not be so among you. Instead, the greatest will be like the least, and the strongest will serve the weakest.” There I see balanced masculinity: a man who confronts, leads, and speaks plainly, but who also says, “You have to be a leader, but you also have to be a servant.” And that is how we have to be in the home as well: leaders, but leaders who serve our wives and our children and devote ourselves completely to them. Before putting that spoon into your mouth, make sure the little chicks and the biggest female chick also have food. Before buying yourself the luxury car, make sure there is a washing machine that works.

Brothers, there has to be that balance in our lives. I see that this is what a servant leader is: a person who uses the abilities God has given him, and his gifts, to serve the others who are under his direction and leadership. A servant leader—and Jesus models that. And how can we find that if not in the pages of Scripture? When I look at Job, for example, I see here this man who, when his children had their celebrations and their activities, would pray for them when everything was over. “Father, if they offended You in any way during their celebration, in something they did, forgive them; heal them.” He was attentive to the destiny and spiritual condition of his children. And it says that he did this every day—just imagine. This man was a model in his conduct and a model in the prayer chamber. He was a priest who stood before the Father to intercede for his children.

Fathers, do we pray for our children? Let us pray for our children. How do we learn these things if not by reading the pages of Scripture? By singling out those models, singling out that counsel. Father, love the Word of God; read it continually, and do not look for your models among your friends at the factory or on the street; look for them in these models from Scripture. There are positive models and negative models. Imitate the positive models; learn from the negative ones so that you can avoid them. But the Bible contains all this. Be a man of the Word. The Arabs, the Quran—you already know about the enormous scandal that occurred here in the United States recently concerning the Quran, the abuse of the Quran. For Arabs, the Quran is the most incredible thing. It is a literally sacred book; its pages, its material form, are sacred. They are a people of the book. The Quran. Unfortunately, our Christian men have a revelation infinitely superior to the Quran, and yet we neglect it, and that cannot be. If we were men of the Word, there would be great blessing in our lives. That is to say, a good man receives his instructions and his model from the Word of God.

Number two: a model man leads by example and by decree. He leads by example and not by decree. What do I mean by that? Being the head does not mean giving orders or commanding or having a general’s insignia on your shoulder, so you have to pay attention to me and obey me because I am the one in command here in the house. “I am the head.” That is not it. We do not command because we hold a position; rather, it is supposed to be because we have spiritual and moral authority, quality, and capital that we have earned through our conduct. It is not by decree: “You have to do this; you have to do that; I am in charge, and things are done when I say so, the way I say so,” and so on. No; instead, there has to be modeling. I believe that, for me, saying that the man is the head means that he heads things up; it means that he is out in front, modeling and exemplifying something, right? Now I realize that I have to go much faster. Many men demand respect that they have not earned because they do not conduct themselves properly, and that is why we are always fighting: “Respect me, revere me, pay attention to me, love me, listen to me.” But it is something that is earned, not something that can be forced. Our wives have to want to be with us; we cannot force them. There has to be something that attracts them. The same is true of our children. We are the head; we are the leader, but in order to head things up and set an example. A model man leads through his example and not through his decrees.

Number three: he is a team player, not a lone ranger. A biblical man is a team player, not a lone ranger. Many men are solitary, closed off, and isolated within themselves, even in their own homes. And they are as though imprisoned in their own house; they arrive and do not feel that they are part of the team. Dad is a substance that has not been digested by the rest of the system. I sometimes see that in men. Why? Because sometimes there is a guilty conscience, and sometimes the system rejects them because all the pieces have not been integrated. And part of that we owe to our fathers and to the earlier models in our countries and the culture we have, where the man is a surly and somewhat threatening and dangerous being. He must be kept happy and calm because at any moment something in him might snap, and he will break something and ruin the party. So everyone has to walk slowly, very much on tiptoe, so that Dad does not get upset. Then, of course, a separation from the man is created, instead of their being a team. I say, brothers, we Christian men are a new generation in Christ. We cannot allow ourselves to be dominated by earlier models, from people who often did not know the Lord. You are now in the Word, in the revelation of God; you are a new creature, with new models; you are a generation that God is creating anew. We must recognize the talents of our children and our wives, work as a team, distribute responsibilities, delegate things, prepare our wives for leadership, allow them to become educated and do things so that they can develop in their leadership, depend on them as well, be part of the household economy, take off our general’s hat, take off our shoes, play, and get down on the floor with our children and our wives. There has to be that element of play and sharing in the home for there to be healing. We must be team players. I wish I had more time to develop this, but you get the idea.

We have to value our children and their opinions, and treat them as worthy individuals rather than underestimating their importance. Our children are important; that is why the Bible says: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger.” We cannot harass and neglect our children to the point that they become angry with us. We have to take them very seriously as well. That is what I understand by being a team player.

Two more things: a model man knows how to be vulnerable and transparent; he knows how to be vulnerable and transparent. Everything having to do with the area of weakness is what I want to embrace in that idea. I think of Jesus Christ, who, when He was about to go to the cross, felt fear and a sense of loneliness and sadness and anguish over what awaited Him, and He said to His disciples: brothers, friends, I am sorrowful unto death, and I need you. And that is why He took them along so that they would pray for Him, and He was hurt when they fell asleep there, because He needed the support of His companions, and they failed Him. He, the Son of God, was not afraid—just imagine—to show weakness. But, brothers, I have learned something, and it is that when we show weakness, instead of people kicking us, they love us more, and that is how it is in our homes, in our families. When we cast off that false armor of invulnerability and become more vulnerable and share our fears, or when we make mistakes and ask forgiveness, that softens hearts, and instead of bringing us disrespect and neglect, it makes us more approachable, and people love us more. So weakness combined with the moral strength of good, manly conduct in a leader—those two things make an incredibly beautiful and attractive combination. Weakness and strength are the most beautiful thing in the universe. And that is what we must embody. Never be afraid, man, to let your guard down and reveal fear, admit a mistake, or ask for advice, because that is good, and it allows others to be blessed by that aspect of your life in your home. So share your weakness. Be transparent. Sit down, talk, laugh, be a child from time to time. Many of us men have killed the child within us, and we do not know how to make fools of ourselves now and then, and that affects everything else. We need to loosen up; we need to relax. We need to let people see our humanity. That is very important, and it blesses our children and blesses our wives.

And finally, a model man is a priest in his home. We already saw that in Job, who continually interceded for his children. He brought them before the Lord. To me, that is one of the most beautiful and essential functions of a father. There is a sacred responsibility to pray for his wife and children and for the finances of his household. When you are there in the morning with your little cup of coffee, before the Father, bless your home; bless the columns in the basement of the house where you live. Bless your daughters and your sons; ask the Lord to protect them. Bless the finances of your household and the fruit of your labor, the destiny of your children, their future, and your wife; pour out the Lord’s grace upon her. And ask for wisdom for yourself as well. Intercede for your home. Love your church. Serve your church, man. Do not be stingy or miserly with your money, your time, or your masculine strength in your church. Give your church your time and energy generously. Be a priest. Love the Lord. Bless your children with the memory of a father who loved the courts of God.

My father was a very imperfect man in many ways, but 27 years after his death, his image is still an anchor in my consciousness. How does a father bless a son or daughter? The image of that father, even after he dies, follows that person all the way to the grave as well. The memory of a loving, solid, just, vulnerable, hardworking father is an anchor in the psyche of a man or woman. It is an inheritance for a lifetime. You can leave your children millions of dollars, but if you do not leave them an image they can treasure, you have left them nothing. Perhaps leave your children little, but leave them a treasure of memories, and you will have left them a wonderful destiny. A father can bless a daughter in ways you cannot even imagine: in her sexuality, in her ability to be a good wife, to give herself to a man, to appreciate masculinity in others, and to be a balanced, sensible, self-confident woman. All of that is given to her by a man, not only by a mother to a daughter. The masculine scent of a man whom she associates with something positive blesses that woman. Father, do not underestimate what you hold in your hands: the privilege of blessing your children until the last day of their lives.

May the Lord be pleased to bless us. If you have failed, if we have failed in some area, this is not so that we leave here today saying, “Wow, how I have failed.” No, it is simply so that you will know that this is what we must aim for and that there is still a long road ahead of us. If we have erred in anything, God is powerful enough to set everything right, bless your life, and repair what has been damaged. There is still plenty of time. Get to work and ask the Holy Spirit to help you in that task; He is more than willing.

Let us stand. Let us give thanks to the Lord. You know what? Before we finish, we have something very important. I am going to ask the usher brothers to take care of it, come through here, and bring Communion, but I want us to take a moment to receive what we have heard and bury it in our hearts right now.

Take a second to treasure God’s counsel, and promise yourself that you will not underestimate what you have heard. You will meditate on it, and you will put it into practice as much as possible. Father, thank You for Your Word; thank You for Your counsel. We receive it; we do not shy away from it. Thank You because You entrust these treasures of Your wisdom to us. I bless my brothers; I bless myself. Together, hand in hand, this community will move more and more each day toward a blessed, biblical masculinity and femininity, and thank You because You accompany us in this endeavor, Lord. Bless our children; may our sons be like trees planted beside flowing waters, our women like palm trees that grow upright and blessed; may our livestock and our inheritances never fail, because we have a God who prospers His people. Thank You, Lord. We bless You in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.