Ephesians 5:25- 33

1 Peter 3: 7

Tonight I am going to be talking to the guys.  It is all about you guys tonight.  We are going to discuss what it takes for you guys to be men of God.  Ladies you may want to pay attention because this will give you a good measuring stick on the type of guy you should want.  Now guys I want you to understand a few things.  One you are boys.  Yes you are teenagers but in all reality right now your boys.  What we are talking about tonight are things that as you incorporate them into your life will help you to become men.  Real men.

            Now open up your bible’s and stand in respect for God’s word.  I want you to open up to the book of Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25.  For those of you who did not bring your bible you can follow along on the screen.

            There is a lot to unpack in this scripture.  We are just going to work our way down through these verse to get you to see what how God wants you to be a man.  The first thing I want you guys to get is that a man of God must love like Christ.  The first thing we are given in this passage is the hardest.  Honestly if you guys can get this one down the rest is a piece of cake.  To love like Christ is the hardest thing that you can do.  See this is how Christ loved.  He first limited himself.  That means though he was still God, when Christ came to be with us, he no longer had access to all the things that made him God.  This is like if you have a car, and thats the thing that makes you Mr. Cool, but to get the girl instead of using the car, you walk.  You are limiting yourself to show love.  That wasn’t all that Christ did, he also suffered.  We suffer daily anything from a stubbed toe, to a broken heart, Christ suffered just like we do.  Then finally Christ died for us.  See it is one thing to die for someone that you are close friends with but Christ died for strangers, and those that hated him. 

            So this is what it means to be a real man you limit yourself.  Practically this means that you don’t go spending all your money on yourself.  Instead you practice discipline and save it, and you give it back to God.  Real men suffer, this means when you are ready to and have a wife and children, you will go through what ever they are going through.  You don’t get to sit on the recliner and watch TV an tune them out, you are a man and you will be responsible to them.  Then thirdly you will die.  This means a real man is willing to give up everything for his family and community.  Now I know this sounds like being a man sucks, but here is the deal, all the things I am telling you to give up are the things you do as a boy.  The things that you gain as a man top any x-box, G.I. Joe, or other trivial thing you had as boy.

            Now like I said that was the hardest step.  The next thing you must do to be a man is read the bible.  This is a bible.  It is your life line.  This is your connection to God.  Through the words on these pages you will find faith.  We are commanded to read the words in here multiple times through the bible.  And you want to know why?  Because it is the answer to life’s problems.  If you want to be a man and you want to do it right you follow this.  If as a man you want to be married, to have a wife, then you need to be in this book.  This will guide you in marriage.  And later if as a man you want to be a father than you need this book, because it will teach you how to raise your kids.  You need the bible.  If you want to be a man a real man, than open this book dig your nose deep into its pages, and keep it there till it is ingrained in your life.  Not only are you to read the word but you are to make it part of your life.

            Third thing you must do if you want to be a man of God is treat your body right.  Here’s the deal guys there is no woman in her right mind that wants a drugged up man-hoe for a husband.  Real men do not go out and destroy their body doing drugs, by drinking till their liver is black, by smoking till they might as well have lit a fire in their lungs, or by sleeping around with so many women that if we asked you what STD you have it would be quicker if you just list the few that you don’t.  Here is why one day you guys are most likely get married.  Statistics are in your guys favor that, that will happen.   Here are somethings women do not want to find out from men that they marry.  They don’t want to find out that you have slept with 30 women.  They want to know they a precious to you and you waited for her.  They don’t want to know that the reason why your marriage is so short is because you wasted away your life on drugs.  They want to here though that you are going to be around forever.

            This isn’t just limited to sex and drugs though.  If you are treating your body right than you need to exercise.  A real man protects his wife, and his family.  He has the ability to work and work hard.  A real man is not a fat slob that sits on his but all day, who his crowning achievement is he can out eat an all you can eat buffet.  You also need hygiene.  That means dress well, shower, put on deodorant, and that thing that is growing between your eyebrows get rid of it.  Very few women want to marry a brow-clops.  And you know what the best part about this is.  If you do these things the bible says you will be rewarded.  Here on earth you will be rewarded.  And the reward is sex.  Not cheap tawdry sex, but amazing married sex.  It says right there at the end of 31 that the two will become one flesh.  That is your reward, so take care of yourself.

            Alright point four.  If you want to be a man of God you must grow up.  A child can not be a man.  It does not work that way.  Being a man has nothing to do with age.  You can be 30 and still be a child.  Some of you can start living this stuff today and honestly be more of a man than your fathers.  A lot of guys in todays world though would rather be boys than men.  We want you to be men, men succeed in life.  See boys live in their mom’s basement, have the worst job ever, so that they can laze around and make enough money to buy the next big Halo release.  Men on the other hand grow up.  They take on responsibilities.  They are people that can be relied on.  Someone who is just scraping by can not be relied on.

            There are 4 things that you really need to do take your self from a boy to a man.  These are the grow up steps.  First thing is, and these are in no particular order, you need to move out.  Men do not live at home, men have their place, and pay their own bills. 

            Next thing you need to be discipled.  This is a big thing, and honestly a lot of men miss this.  See if you want to be a man of God you need to have someone showing you the way.  Some one needs to be helping you unveil the truth of scripture and keeping you accountable.  These people that will disciple you will also be able to teach from experience how to be a better man, a better husband, and a better father.  They know because they have the experience.

            Third thing you need to do to grow up is get a job.  A real man accepts his responsibilities and takes care of them.  In this world responsibility takes money.  They are not mooching off their buds, or parents, or girlfriends.  They go out and work hard and earn their money.  See we live in this microwave culture where we think we can get everything now and for free.  Truth is you work hard and you get rewarded.  And in this society you need to work harder than everybody else if you want to get anywhere. 

            Fourth thing you need to do to grow up and be a man is find a wife.  This is a step that may not apply to some of you, but here is the deal.  Men don’t find girl friends.  Real men don’t think that they are all that and can just go get sex from what ever girl they want whenever they want.  Ream men love and honor one woman.  They woo her and respect her.  Get this guys I’m not saying you need a wife to be a man, what I am saying though is if you want to be a man and have a relationship with a woman you get two choices she is either your sister or your wife.  Thats is it.

            Alright one last thing to being a man.  Lets turn back in our bibles to 1 Peter 3:7.

If you want to be a real man you must respect women.  Women really listen up if a guy doesn’t meet this standard dump him.  Real men have a good and healthy relationship with women.  They treat them with honor and respect.  They do not pick on or tease women, they encourage them.  Real men do not treat women like a piece of meat.  You know what treats the opposite sex like meat.  It’s not boys your not even at that level, animals are what do that.  If you can not control your desires you are no worse than a dog.  Real mean are not putting their hand all over their girl friends.  They have respect and self control not just for the woman, but for themselves and for God.  See all these women are daughters in Christ.  This means they are daughters of the king.  And the daughter of a king is a princess.  You do not sexually molest a princess.  You know what happens when you do that the king will come after you.  That is what this verse is talking about.  Christ is saying that if you want to be a man for him you respect his daughters, if you don’t he will have nothing to do with you.  You guys need to treat every woman as if they are a daughter of Christ.  And I mean every woman.  That means at night when your alone and you think the best idea is to look at porn I want you to remember that is Christ’s daughter you are looking at.  And he is ticked that is what you have made his daughter.  Jesus is furious at you guys who think that if you take a girl out on a couple of dates that you now deserve to get something in return.  Prostitutes aren’t even that cheap.  Some of you guys need to really smarten up and realize that your view of women is so low, that the idea of treating a women right has never occurred to you.

            Some of you guys already want to be men of God.  Tonight is more of a guide than a correction.  But there are some of you guys tonight is your wake up call.  Some of you tonight need to realize that you have been listening to all the wrong sources, TV, your friends, and sadly some of you even your fathers.  You need to follow Christ’s way, and he wants you to be real men.  Which means some of you need to change things tonight.  So you guys are going to sit for a bit or come to the alter and just think about this and pray.  And when your ready than join us as we worship your best example for being a man Jesus Christ.