Part V: Fathers and Sons (Pete Payne)

In the most memorable scene in the movie We Were Soldiers, Lt. Col. Hal Moore uttered these incredible words: "I will not leave the battle. I will not leave my men." Why is Moore's bold declaration incredible? The context. Moore's unit, the U.S. Army Seventh Cavalry, was surrounded by the North Vietnamese Army, an outfit that outnumbered Moore's troops by a 5-1 ratio. Yet Moore provided an astounding example of selfless leadership for his men by standing his ground in the face of staggering odds. Moore vowed to be the first man on the battlefield and the last to leave it.

For Pete Payne, raising sons biblically requires blood-and-guts leadership in the Moore mold. Payne reminded men at The Pursuit Conference that both fathers and their sons face a deadly spiritual enemy, one who has been pursuing a search-and-destroy objective against God's people since Eden.

"I wake up every day on a battlefield with my sons, with my own life, and I want to think of it in those terms," Payne said. "Our objective is clearly defined. As fathers and sons we have differing roles. We have non-commissioned officers as fathers and recruits as sons...And there is much we must do as leaders in this great battle."

To succeed, Payne said fathers and sons must march into the fight of faith beneath a banner adorned by five assurances:

1. That they are enlisted, that they are bonafide members of Christ.
2. That they are strong in the Lord.
3. That they are well-armed with the Sword of the Spirit.
4. That they know who the enemies are: the world, the flesh and the devil and that they are experiencing some measure of success against them.
5. That they are passionately pursing the ultimate objective of the glory of God.

Pete Payne has served as a pastor with Sovereign Grace Ministries for many years in Denver.  He presently serves as a pastor of the newly-planted Grace Church in the Dallas metroplex area.  This message was delivered at the November 2007 Western Regional Men's Conference of Sovereign Grace Ministries.  

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Part VI: Marks of Masculine Leadership (Rich Richardson)

The answer to the first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism-"What is the chief end of man?"- is famous within historic Protestant Christianity: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever." That certainly gives us much biblical help with the chief end of man, but what is the chief end of men?

Rich Richardson told men at the Pursuit Conference that the chief end of men was established in the Garden of Eden as they were created by God for the purpose of leadership.

This truth rings clear in the first three chapters of Scripture, Richardson said, for several reasons: God created man first, made man the head of the entire human race, gave man the task of naming the woman, called the human race "man" after Adam, held man morally responsible for eating the forbidden fruit even though Eve ate first, and provided man with a suitable helpmate. Thus, the irreducible call of men is a call to leadership.

"There is a picture emerging here of management and responsibility, one in which Adam, and us by extension, are called to function in a clear and specific way. To be able to understand what the chief end of men is, we must understand what we are created to do and to be able to attach a definition to the word man...We can actually define man in one word: leader; man is a leader. Man equals leader. Every man in here is called to lead in some way...Imprinted on our DNA is the call and direction to lead. That is how we were created."

Richardson serves as senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Church in Gilbert, Arizona, the host congregation for The Pursuit conference.

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Part III: The Pursuit of True Repentance (Craig Crabaniss) 

"As the men go, so the local church goes."

God has put in every Christian a desire to change, a desire to grow in holiness, a desire to mature in character, a desire to be ever increasingly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  Yet, many men are asking, "Why am I not growing in the battle against lust, anger, laziness, greed, pride, selfishness? One reason we make minimal change and lack enduring change is because oftentimes our repentance is superficial.

A genuine and authentic repentance is an internal change of heart motivated by the grace of God, where the gospel grips our soul and changes our desires from the inside.  Then we begin to act in a different manner because we are different on the inside.

"Christ, and Christ alone, is the source and strength of genuine repentance.  Without coming to him, and without viewing him as our mediator, high priest, deliverer and substitute, our repentance and our change will be short-lived."

Craig Cabaniss has served as a pastor with Sovereign Grace Ministries for many years in California.  He presently serves as the senior pastor of the newly-planted Grace Church in the Dallas metroplex area.  This message was delivered at the November 2007 Western Regional Men's Conference of Sovereign Grace Ministries.

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Part IV: Who's Really at Work? (C. J. Mahaney) 

Some men are exhausted from the attempt to grow in godliness. Counsel from well-meaning friends or even the scriptures can seem confusing:  Is the Christian life about ease or effort?  Rest or work? Faith or works? Trust or obedience?

God provides clarity through the exhortation of Paul in Philippians 2:12-13.  This text distinguishes, describes and reconciles God's role and responsibility in the process of sanctification and our role in the pursuit of godliness. Ultimately, only God's power makes godly effort possible.

Growth in godliness does not occur without our participation, so action and right attitude are necessary.  As John Owen said, "God works in us and with us, not against us or without us."  We must always remember that God is actively at work.  God makes us aware and convicts us of sin through his love.

"The accent in this passage upon God.  It is God who is at work.  The accent in this passage is on this comprehensive description of God's work for those who have turned from their sins and trusted in the Savior."

C.J. Mahaney leads Sovereign Grace Ministries in its mission to establish and support local churches. He pastored Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland for 27 years, and serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Board for CBMW.  He has written the book on Humility and also edited or coauthored four books in the Pursuit of Godliness book series: Why Small Groups?, This Great Salvation, How Can I Change?, and Disciplines for Life.

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Part I:  Manhood: Our Pursuit in Context (Steve Shank) 

Biblical manhood demands that a man think correctly about God, man, sin and redemption. These four doctrines summarize the teaching of Scripture and serve as the basics for every man who would seek to lead in the home or church. The first three chapters of Genesis provide this context in which every Christian man serves.

"The feminizing of men in our culture is rampant," said Steve Shank. "Often manhood is associated with Herculian strength or athletic ability, but the mark of manhood, is if the opposite sex cannot look at you without having a cardiac arrest. Somehow, those are portrayed as hallmarks of a true man.

"It is not enough for us simply to identify characteristics of manhood and begin to pursue those things. There are theological realities that a man should think about and think about deeply and think about often so that those thoughts then govern his pursuit of being a man and what God has called him to be, truths that put our manhood in perspective and that is why we start at Genesis. The first chapters of Scripture give us the context in which we exist as men."

Steve Shank delivered this opening message in "The Pursuit: Every Man's Call to Biblical Masculinity," a conference sponsored by Sovereign Grace Ministries. Steve has been a member of the Sovereign Grace Ministries leadership since 1985 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona. He oversees the planting and strengthening of Sovereign Grace churches in the western United States and Canada, as well as Central and South America.

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Part II: Jesus Christ - the Perfect Man (Rick Gamache)

A crucial part of biblical manhood is being able to articulate and defend the critical doctrine of justification. There are three "imputations" that compose the full-orbed doctrine of justification: the imputation of Adam's sin to every man, the imputation of God's wrath in the place of sinners, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the believer. 

Christ, by His perfect life, secured the righteousness that is given to every sinner who trusts in Him alone. 

"Christ is the one and only remedy for all men in all places at all times," Gamache said.

"The damage done by Adam's sin affects every human being because his sin is imputed to us, but the obedience is the remedy to the damage done by Adam because His obedience, His righteousness, His perfect life is imputed to everyone who believes on Him. Christ undoes what Adam did...How precious is that news! But Christ also lived for us which means that justification is not merely just as if I never sinned, it is also just as if I always obeyed."

Rick Gamache serves as senior pastor of Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Bloomington, Minnesota. In this address on "Jesus Christ-the Perfect Man," Rick unpacked Rom. 5:12-21 on the crucial biblical doctrine of justification by faith.

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Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13  

Paul the apostle called on the men of the early church to turn from sliding through life and instead to act like men.  CBMW is issuing the same call to all men in the church today.

In the face of a culture that is unclear about the nature of manhood, actively attempting to feminize manhood, and increasingly denying the very existence of manhood, CBMW's mission is to set forth a biblical vision of vibrant, strong, wise, tender, gutsy manhood.

Sovereign Grace Church of Gilbert, Arizona shares this vision and recently hosted a conference entitled The Pursuit: Every Man's Call to Biblical Masculinity.  This week, Gender Blog will be posting two sessions from that conference each day.  Each post will provide a written summary of each session and an MP3 audio file to download.  Listen while you work out, commute to work or with a small group of men.  But don't miss this call to biblical masculinity.

Many Christian readers know Douglas Bond through his historical fiction trilogy, Crown and Covenant, which brings to life the heroics of the Scottish Covenanters in 17^th century Scotland.

Bond's always lively pen has produced a hard-hitting new work of non-fiction, a work that serves as a robust clarion call to fathers and sons to live out Paul's admonition in 1 Cor. 16:13: "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."  

Fathers & Sons: Stand Fast in the Way of Truth (P&R), is the first in a two-volume study designed to teach men and boys to execute joyfully their God-ordained responsibilities as fathers, sons and leaders. Written in the form of a hortatory address in the second person singular, Bond speaks directly and firmly to sons in terms of God's expectations as they relate to His infinitely-wise blueprint for manhood.

For example, in a chapter on a young man's heroes and true greatness, Bond admonishes his young readers to shun the passing vainglory of those whom the world honors-Hollywood celebrities, pro sports stars and pop music icons-and calls on them to find their role models among those who live with abandon to the glory of God.

"Throw your lot in with the truly greats. Know your citizenship. Paul says that it is ‘in heaven' (Phil. 3:20). Know that most of the world's heroes are frauds. Their power, their prestige, their wealth is all borrowed and will someday be swept away with them. ‘Their destiny is destruction' (Phil. 3:19). No real man would throw his lot in with losers like that. You, young man of God, were predestined for a glorious body, transformed by the infinite power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Make him your ultimate hero, honor those who honor him, and resolve that he will have no worldly rival."

In seven sections, Bond gives both fathers and sons an engagingly written feast of penetrating biblical/theological analysis and robust application on:

• Young men and their way — Here, he sets forth how a young man is to think, seek God, avoid falling prey to sin and self-destruction.
• Young men and their idols — This chapter examines worship—both true and false—and details how a young man may run the race of life on the broad path that leads to destruction. Bond also helps the young man to put sports and competition in their proper perspectives.
• Young men and their relationships — Bond looks at the utter necessity of exercising self-control with respect to women, sex, dating and ethics.
• Young men and their words and manners — Bond unpacks for the young man a biblical theology of speech, gratitude and good manners and unmasks what he calls "the farce of cool," which he describes as a sinful self-centered ethos, one that contemporary culture prizes supremely.
• Young men and their heroes and loyalties — See the above quote.
• Young men and their witness — The author points the young man to the crucial nature of understanding the complementarity of Word and Spirit as they conspire to work out progressive sanctification in his heart.
• The young man and his praying and reading — Bond demonstrates how a young man is to pray and interpret the Bible, concluding that a robust prayer life, a Christ-centered hermeneutic and a theology centered on sovereign grace serve as fundamental cornerstones upon which a comprehensive Christian worldview must be built.

Stand Fast is filled with Scripture and also quotes many important figures in church history, including the Reformers and the Puritans. Helpful appendices include a bibliography of books that constitute must-reading for every young man (Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and J.C. Ryle's Thoughts for Young Men are two examples) who would dare to be faithful to God as well as "A Young Man's Hymnal," which provides lyrics for numerous classic hymns such as Luther's "A Mighty Fortress" and Walter Chalmers Smith's "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise."

Bond's second volume, Fathers and Sons: Hold Fast in a Broken World, will be released in the near future by P&R.  Bond heads the English department at Covenant High School in Tacoma, Wash., and is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.