Every Man’s Call to Biblical Masculinity, Day 3

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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