Man up: Adam

Lately I've been really thinking and contemplating on what God has called me to do. So many things are happening in my life right now that my mind seems to be in a constant state of motion. Instead of being in a constant state confusion and feeling helpless, I'm choosing to grasp onto the thing I know God has given me a passion for.

We are completely missing something. The church is hurting like never before and it seems to be ok with it. To most being a Christian is nothing more than going to church on Sunday's and, as Matt Chandler put it, have made Christianity a hobby. Seriously? We get a relationship with the Creator of the universe who spoke everything in to existence. He's the Creator of every breath we breathe yet we treat Him like He is an inconvenience. The attitude we have towards Christ it seems is that He's a mere accessory to our life, a genie rather than a Savior. This is a problem that we as the bride of Christ need to fix and it needs to start with the Men of God. God needs to be enough for us as men and our passion NEEDS and HAS to be Him. We should desire to know what He calls a man to be and the way we do that is digging into His word and shaping our lives based on that. Jesus needs to be our everything if we are ever going to be the men that God has called us to be, the husbands that God has called us to be, and the fathers God has called us to be.

Lets look at Adam. I think this is probably one of the most important men in scripture to look at and learn from. Adam's life shows us some amazing truths that we as men need to grab onto and shape our lives around. God makes Adam and He places him in the garden of Eden but Adam is not just there to chill and hang out in paradise. He was there for a specific reason and we see that in Genesis 2:15.

"Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it."

Genesis 2:15

The first thing we must learn from Adam's life is that he was given responsibility. God gave Adam a job to do and He has given us as men jobs to do. God has called us to be leaders and to be responsible with what He's given us. We as men have to step into responsibility and really grasp what that looks like. Responsibility is the idea of being accountable for things in life. Adam was accountable for his job in the garden. He couldn't pass the blame onto anyone else for doing a crappy job or just plain not doing his job it was all on him. If he didn't do it right, it was on him and he would have to take the blame for it. In the same way as men of God we need to step into responsibility. Too many times do we shift the blame on other things in life to excuse for us not being men. Whether it's things from our past, things that are going on in the present or whatever it might be it's time for men to stop making excuses. Adam's life is a perfect picture of a man not taking responsibility and the result of that is catastrophic; just as it is in the world today as men have given into timidity and self-indulgence being led by their emotions and desires.

When the woman came onto the scene needless to say, it was very good for man. For obvious reason Adam was a fan of what he saw and affectionately names her woman (or Woah Man!...get it? Bible Humor for the win!). See what the text doesn't come out and say is by Adam doing this what he was actually doing is taking responsibility (see there's that word again) for her. In the culture when you named something you took responsibility for it and this was Adam doing that with his lovely bride. Things were perfect, the couple was happy and God was happy and they all lived happily ever after..right up until the next chapter. Satan shows up tempts the woman and with her loving Husband sitting right there with her they condemns us to the world we now see around us. Adam and the woman freak out once they both eat the fruit and see themselves naked and on cue God shows up asking where His people were. This part is the most crucial part for understanding what is going on. Who does God come looking for first? Adam. Adam is the first person God talks to because Adam is the one in charge. Adam is the one who is responsible for what goes on in the garden and Adam is the one that God is going to hold accountable. 

He goes to Adam and asks what's going on. Adam steps up to the plate and takes responsibility for his actions. He tells God that is was his fault that the woman fell into temptation because he as a man didn't protect her. It was his job to keep her away from the tree and it was his job to protect her and he dropped the ball. He failed at his responsibility and it was all his fault but hey at least he owned up to it...right? 

Wrong.

Adam plays the blame game. It's our go to move in this world as men. It's not my fault, my boss is ridiculous. It's not my fault my wife isn't supportive enough. It's not my fault, my father wasn't there for me. It's not my fault, (insert excuse here). The problem is it was Adam's fault. And if we are completely honest with ourselves as men, the reason the American church is so screwed up falls on us. The divorce rate is 50% in churches and it's our fault. Woman in this world are searching for love everywhere in this world except for the Lord and that is our fault. The gospel has been misconstrued and truth has gone from absolute to whatever we feel and that is our fault. Our kids have no idea what it is to have a walk with the Lord and because of that could care less about God and are led by their desires and wants and that's our fault.

How? 

The same way the fall was Adam's fault. 

Men have remained silent and have refused to be responsible. We have refused to be leaders and stand firm on the things God has called us to when it was our responsibility to do so. 

That's why we MUST start taking responsibility as men. It has to start somewhere and the enemy wants us to think it's someone else fault. No men it's ours and it's time for us to start taking back what it means to be men of God. That starts where Adam failed and it means us taking responsibility and accepting the gravity of what being a man is!

Light

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden ; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Matthew 5:14-16

Before we get into this very used piece of scripture we have to lay some ground work before hand.

Isn't it amazing the vast differences between light and darkness. Through scripture the writers often compare unbelievers and believers by things that are completely different. In Ephesians 2 Paul expresses the difference between dead people and people that are alive. Pretty big differences in the way life is lived between the two I would say. Here we have Jesus using light and darkness and there are many more throughout the scripture the problem that we seem to be having in the Church is continually trying to look more and more like the very thing they are not. Instead of being these blinding Lighthouses we are choosing to be night lights. Instead of being alive and living as such, we are settling for being coma patients spiritually. We don't want to stick out to the world because that would make our lives uncomfortable. 

A life of comfortable Christianity gets us to this- So instead of standing up for the kid that's getting picked on we say nothing because, let's be honest, we aren't making fun of him so really we aren't doing anything wrong. Instead of standing up and not laughing at that crude joke we laugh along because, let's be honest. we didn't tell the joke so we didn't really do anything wrong. Instead of giving God our time in His word on a daily basis we get a verse sent to our phones and read it quickly and say, hey at least I got some bible today and go on with our lives. Instead of talking to our unbelieving friends about what Jesus is doing in our lives, we leave out His name and just accredit it to ourselves or our parents because, let's be honest, I don't want to bring up Jesus's name and make them feel weird. I don't want to bring up Jesus because I know what they are going to say, "So what are you saying?? That I'm going to Hell just because I don't believe in Jesus?"  and that would just be uncomfortable and Jesus wouldn't want that. Jesus doesn't want me to be uncomfortable he wants me to just live my life and work on my relationship with Him. Jesus wouldn't want them to feel uncomfortable about their lives because I know he doesn't want to make me feel uncomfortable in mine. This is the very real danger that we have in this world today as believers. We are worshiping a Jesus, who no where throughout scripture, exists.

The scariest part about this is many believers think that this is ok. I want you take a moment and think about what being a Christian really is. What does it really mean to say that I'm a Christian. What Christians are, for better or for worse, are physical representations of Jesus Christ. When you call Him Lord what you are saying is "You have control over every aspect of my life even the ones that are dirty and disgusting because you bought me with your blood." 1st John 3:1-2 puts it this way-

"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is."

1 John 3:1-2

Basically what John is saying is you are a child of God and ,just like your earthly parents, as you grow you are going to look more and more like them because you belong to them. And if you want to add to that look at what 1 John 2:6 says-

"the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." 

1 John 2:6

When we walk as He walked we are going to look more and more like Him. Jesus life was the opposite of comfortable and Jesus NEVER promised your life was going to be comfortable or easy when you signed up to be a Christian. He promises us many amazing beautiful things but comfort and an easy life is NOT among them. We as Christians need to be open to the idea whether it be in a school or college or about to get married where ever Jesus has us that His goal for our life at that time is not for us to be "comfortable" but rather it's to honor Him. To represent Him and His name wherever we go.

Now back to the scripture of Matthew.

 "YOU are the light of the world."- Yes YOU are. Jesus, talking to His disciples said this, and He is saying it to you as a believer right now. If you want to change the world through the power of the Gospel YOU need to do it. YOU as a believer need to to be the change. YOU need to be the light in the darkness of this world.

"A city on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand and it gives light to all who are in the house."- Christians should be incredibly awful hide-n-go seek players in this world. We should stick out like a sore thumb and it should be obvious to the world that we are different. It will be impossible for the world to mistake you for being anything other than a Christian. You CAN NOT be hidden when you are a Christian because the way you live your life should be incredibly different than the way the world lives theirs!

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."- This is the most crucial part of these verses because without it we would easily get prideful and swollen heads. The entire point of being this light in the world is show the Word Jesus. The only light we have is from HIM! What Jesus is saying is people are going to see YOUR light and know it's MY light. Paul in Galatians puts it this way-

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

Galatians 2:20

See the light that you are shining is not YOUR own light. You are shining the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you grasp the power of that? Do you understand what you are representing? When we choose to shine like a night light what we are saying is "This is how powerful my God is.". When we shrink away from those opportunities that the Lord has given us because they make us "uncomfortable" what we are doing is saying "That's who my God is.".

How are YOU representing the creator of the world on a daily basis? Are you representing a powerful amazing, loving, Creator with a light tower? Or are you representing the Lord God with a nightlight? What are you representing God to be? I'm not talking about beating people up with scripture and I'm not talking about shoving Jesus down people's throats what I am talking about is that who you are must be defined by the Lord and who you represent the Lord as is very very important to the world.

But wait...there's more!

"Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Acts 1:4-5

In the verses before the one's I've highlighted here Luke was clear that Jesus had given orders for His people. These orders where to make disciples as we read in Matthew 28:19. It's our call as believers to make disciples as the Church. While Jesus was clear in what He wanted done He says to his disciples "but wait".

Wait? That didn't make much sense to me the first time I read it. Jesus has risen from the grave and gives them a mission and now is about to leave so they can get busy doing the work of God and instead He says to wait? I, being a man, am not a professional at waiting. I hate it. The microwave takes much too long for me. Why in the world is Jesus giving me an order and then telling me to wait??  

Well I think it's important for us to understand that Jesus knew who the people He was working with.

In verse 2 of chapter 1 Luke talks about the disciples and refers to them as those " ...whom He had chosen." Jesus knew these men. He spent time with them and He loved them. That should be so comforting to us as believers to know that the Lord really knows His people because as believers we are His people too!

It's because He knew His disciples that knew that they could not change the world by themselves.

Jesus had walked through life with His disciples and taught them what it was to be a true follower of the Lord. A crash course from the Creator of the universe on how to live life but now He was leaving. He had finished His mission and now it was time for His disciples to be His hands and feet but Jesus never planned from them to do it on their own. Jesus was sending them the Holy Spirit and through Him they would continue to reach the world and leave His fingerprints behind them. Jesus viewed the Holy Spirit very highly and even said in John 16 that it was better for Him to leave for the Holy Spirit to come for the disciples! 

We as believers have the this same Holy Spirit and are not expected to do the work of the Lord by ourselves! We are called to rely on the Holy Spirit and through it, give the world a picture with our lives what it is to be a believer.

3,2,1 Action!

"The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,

until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen."
Acts 1:1-2

I will always remember what I felt like when I was first saved. I can remember saying to myself "This is great! I'm not going to hell!...now what?". I think the book of Acts starts off the way it does to address that very question of "Now what?". In verse 2 Luke writes " after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.". The first thing we should identify is that the Lord had given orders. He didn't leave this world without telling His people exactly what He desired for them to do but rather gave them clear instructions. Jesus had lived life with His disciples teaching them through His actions and giving them a picture of what is was to truly follow Him. In the very last chapter of Matthew we find these words of Jesus, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations..". This is command of every believer! Not just Pastors and not just people in ministry but all believers! 

When Jesus was crucified some of the disciples went back to what they knew. We find Peter and he is back to fishing and that's the very tendency we have as people when we become believers. My nature when I was saved was now trying to fit God into the life I already had but that is not what the Lord is looking for at all! He's looking for us to fit our lives around who He is and our relationship with Him! Even Francis Chan remembers back when he was first saved, the thing he prayed to God about was not losing any of his friends now that he was a Christian. See we have a default setting of just going back to whats familiar to us but we are called to a completely different life. Our lives should look radically different from when we had no idea who Jesus was compared to calling Him "Lord, Lord". Paul using the analogy in Ephesians of the difference is as big as being dead and then being alive. That's as different as something can be when you really stop and think about it and that's the picture Luke is painting to start of the book.

Jesus did not leave this earth without giving His marching orders to His people in a very clear way. 

Learning

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Philippians 4:13

One of the most quoted verses in all the Bible. Paul was using it in the context of being "content in whatever circumstances" because the one thing he could always relay on was the Lord. No matter what he had, a lot or a little, it didn't matter because the one constant was the Lord. Paul learned this lesson but by no means do I believe that he learned it the way he expected to. 

See the more and more I learn about the Lord it becomes painfully obvious that He rarely, if ever, teaches me things the way I expect Him to. 

To take that even further He rarely teaches me the way I want Him to. 

In my mind my life would be so much "better" and so much more "fulfilling" if God would just teach me lessons the way I want. Nothing painful, nothing too difficult, nothing that shakes my world or breaks my heart but that's rarely the way the Lord brings truth into our lives. He can but I think C.S Lewis put it best when he said "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world." The very things we try our hardest to run from and escape from in this world, such as heartbreaks, trials and pain, can be greatest tools the Lord uses to reach our heartstrings.

I've prayed to the Lord countless times to teach me more about what it is to truly follow Him. To truly be completely surrendered in every aspect of my life. Do we really mean what we pray? Even when His answer is in the form of extreme pain or heartache? Growing to look more and more like Him rarely is a process we have control of and Paul learned this in a way he probably didn't ever expect to. Paul certainly had to question what God was doing at multiple times in his life but all those things, the good and painful, led Paul to write down this verse. 

James 1:17

"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

James 1:17

The first chapter of James is by far my favorite chapter of scripture. James is all about the idea that the true power of scripture comes not just from hearing the word but putting it into practice and letting it effect every aspect of our lives. It has to define who we are.

Before this specific verse James was talking about temptation and the downfall giving in to it leads to. James tells us that the Lord isn't the one who tempts us but rather He, our Father, give's us every good thing we have. James then goes on to talk about the character of the God we serve, "With whom there is no variation or shifting shadow". James is saying, with God, you know what you are getting and it doesn't shift to something else when you get into it like temptation does. Temptation lures you in promising one thing but never having the ability to deliver on it while God's very character is based on the fact that He never fails to deliver on His promises or His word.

The mark of a Christian needs to be that they relay on the character of God especially during times of temptation and trials. That's the very definition of faith! It's not just a word but rather the very way we live our lives. By faith not by sight.

Love

"We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

1 John 3:16

For me, there are some pieces of scripture that have so much power and influence in my life it's overwhelming. This is one of them. Is there a more beautiful picture painted in the entire Word of God than this? It's a verse I've known for a good awhile and one I routinely use to encourage myself of the Love the Lord has for me. I can remember talking about the Love God has for us and using this verse and all my mind could think about was the crucifixion of Jesus. What Jesus did on the cross is something that can never be overstated and that act of Love is exactly what Ephesians 3:19 refers to when says His love goes beyond all understanding but this verse covers more than just the crucifixion! 

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 

who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

Philippians 2:5-8

While the crucifixion is one of the most humbling things to read about in scripture for me so shouldn't the very birth of the Savior in Luke 2:1-7. Jesus laid down his place in the heavens and placed himself into this world for me. The story of Jesus' birth is the greatest act of humility anyone will ever read. The Creator of everything chose to step into this world for my sake laying down his rights to meet the greatest need I ever had. The King of Kings entered this world that He created to serve as my perfect sacrifice. Is there a greater picture of Love than that? The very fact that Jesus entered this world at all should bring me to my knees let alone realizing why He came. If we miss the humility and pure perfect Love of our Savior this Christmas we have completely failed to grasp what this day is supposed to mean.

How do I miss the mark so badly when it comes to this day? When did this day become more about me than about Him? When did I get so selfish to think that my life belongs to me when He bought it with a price?

Father, how can I respond to this kind of perfect Love and humility but with my very life? Help me to live out 1 John 2:6 in light of these very things. Help my life be marked with this kind of love and this kind of humility that you have shown. My only purpose Lord is to tell Your story with my life and to be pleasing to you in every area of it.