#5 Men of Authority

by Dr. Stephen Phinney 

What is the real definition of a “wimpy man?” It is a man who defies submitting to authority and defiles by not asserting authority. A man who submits to authority takes on the most difficult task known to man--that of doing what he is told. A man who asserts authority opens himself up to the most vulnerability known to man--rejection from defiant followers.

Men of war must clearly know the words of commands, understand them, embrace them, and then carry them out to a tee. One of the primary reasons for wars being lost on the battlefield is that the commander did not make the orders clear, distinct, and/or understood. The second most common mistake of war is the troops not being trained to carry out the orders. This we can be assured of: Christ, as our Commander in Chief, will clearly communicate His orders to us. But, He does leave it up to the leaders in the field (leaders of the church) to train and equip the troops for warfare. We call this discipleship, mentorship, and equipping.

Men of our generation are reluctant to submit to authority. Men as a whole have adopted the deception that they can be their own leader and can somehow live this life on their own. Men who function like this have fallen as prey to the first tactic of warfare--getting the troops to turn on their commanders. The exactness of obeying commands is the key to being an effective warrior in the battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Authority establishes order. Without order, a kingdom will collapse and be taken over by an enemy. Authority is the fiber that holds everything together within a kingdom and gives functionality for the followers to appropriate. God is a God of order and His order provides a pathway for His work to be accomplished.

Since we understand there is an authority structure within the heavens, would it not be easy for us to understand that authority on earth would be equally as important? In fact, it is the authority of heaven that ties heaven to earth. A man who does not accept this will view authority as a humanistic attempt to manipulate or control the people.

All of mankind is under authority, even if they don’t acknowledge it. Even Satan is under authority and cannot accomplish anything without God’s permission.

The best way to understand authority is through understanding God’s order of creation. In the beginning there was God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Then we discover the “sons of God” (angels)--Lucifer included. Upon creation, He formed Adam and then Eve (from Adam’s side). This is how we understand the structure and flow of authority (Genesis 2:7-24).

The sin of Adam was that of passivity. Because Adam “took from the woman and ate,” he demonstrated a behavioral confession of his passivity. He had direct authoritive orders from God NOT to eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. But because he listened to the voice of his woman, instead of God’s voice, the ground became cursed by God. God’s order of business has not changed. God expects man to first listen to the Lord, wash his wife with the Word, then lead his family with the directives of the Lord. Needless to say, most men today are afraid of their wives and listen to their counsel and guidance before they listen to church leaders, or God Himself.

Today, men lack assertiveness, initiative, courage, vision, and drive. The first place to start is in the beginning. Consider applying the follow guidelines:

1. Choose a mentor who is clear in the Bible teachings that are accurate and Christ-centered. 
2. Confess your passivity to God and commit to Him that you will be a man of initiative, courage, vision, and drive.
3. Do not keep company with those who promote worldly ideas. It only breeds confusion. 
4. Study the Word and discover everything you can on the topics of authority and leadership.
5. Commit yourself to a men’s small group for a period of one year.
6. Be a part of a local church--be active in the Men’s Ministry.
7. Commit to keep your priorities straight--God, wife, children, church, job, and then friends. 

NEXT: Emasculating the Father

Men of Authority Copyright © 2013 IOM America. Permission to reproduce for educational purposes. Please keep author’s name intact. 

All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

#4: True Biblical Womanhood

By Dr. Stephen Phinney

Biblical women who profess the Christian life should be modest, sober, silent, and submissive, as it becomes their place. They must be very modest in their apparel, so as not to be bad-mannered, offensive, showy, flashy, or vulgar in their dress. Good works are the best adornment women possess, which are of a great price in God’s sight. Women who profess Christianity should act as true biblical women in all areas of life, including how they dress. For example, instead of spending their money on fine clothes, they must spend it on good works such as: caring for their husbands, children, and community. Women must learn the principles of their faith, grow in Christ, and study the Word. They must not think their gender excuses them from learning what is necessary to work out their Salvation.

Biblical women must be listeners, followers, and obedient. They should not try take authority from their husbands, church leaders, or employers. Why? Because Adam was the first human creation, then God formed Eve out of him. This is one reason women are in subordination to men, as well as dependent upon them. A woman was made for man, to be a helpmate for him. Another reason for her subjection is she was the first to sin against authority. The serpent did not immediately confront Adam---the serpent deceived Eve, first. She was then the first in the act of rebellion. The above mandate was the main consequence of usurping authority.

So, why is a dress code so important for women? It is quite simple—the extensiveness of the guidelines of Christianity. These apply to both women and men, not only to their persons, but also to their dress. Their clothing must be modest, like their design, and the outward way they stand, sit, or move must be modest with all subjection. The way an individual dresses is typically a confession of his/her level of modesty and spiritual humility. The more brazen the dress, the more seductive the attitude—not to mention the openness of temptation it provides for interested onlookers.

Women have always been more vulnerable to the dangers of seductive apparel, so it has been more necessary to caution them in this respect. Since it is an easy thing for a woman to adorn herself with external things, this should give the evidence of her ability to do the same with good works.

Both women and women must accommodate their behaviors and attitudes to their faith. Men and women are to hear and learn of their roles and duties from the Word, not from the modernistic fashionable views of our age and culture. By actively carrying out the roles and guidelines of the Word, we are actually demonstrating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Most importantly, we are demonstrating the function of Christ and His Bride.

As we profess our Christianity to the world, it is our responsibility to demonstrate Godly decency and respect of the Gospel through our clothing and gestures, in looks and speech, and in all of our manners. It is because of this that we reveal the inward principles and habits of true holiness, influence, and an order for the generations to come.

NEXT: Men of Authority

True Biblical Womanhood Copyright © 2013 IOM America. Permission to reproduce for educational purposes. Please keep author’s name intact.
All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

#3 True Biblical Manhood

By Dr. Stephen Phinney

C. S. Lewis wrote of the dispirate strands of manhood--fierceness and gentleness--can find healthy synthesis in the person of the knight and in the code of chivalry.  Here these competing impulses--normally found in different individuals--find their union. ¹
 

The balance required for authentic Christian manhood is found in his God-given strength and power.  Without the gentle side, men would be mere brutes.  Tenderness and compassion without masculine firmness and aggressiveness produces a male without the fire to lead or inspire others.

In the Old Testament we see David, who was a poet and singer, but also a warrior and king.  He had the fierceness to kill Goliath, the giant, and the tenderness to provide for the needs of the people of God.  His compassion and masculinity found its perfect blend.

Keeping the right balance between our impulses toward power, aggression, and the need to be gentle and responsible is a challenge most men face.  

Our men need a vision for masculinity that challenges and inspires--if our women, children, community, and nation are to be stable and healthy.  In an age of great social, spiritual, and gender confusion, there is a desperate need for clear guidelines and models that can inspire the men of this generation to embrace their God-given masculinity.

To be a true biblical man, we must get back to the basics: 

1. The Word of God--knowing it better than we know our occupations 
2.  Hearing God in our minds and hearts. 
3.  Live with Christ as a Bridal member who is responsible and pure. 
4.  Study the foundational writings of manhood, fatherhood, and what it means to be a patriarch. 
5.  Know history in order to fight off the enemy of today--passivity.

Understanding history and culture is the key to realizing where we stand in the flow of events and ideas that have shaped our identity as men.

As a man, what shapes your educational decisions, choice of vocation, music preferences, your way of relating to patriarchs and spiritual leadership is the key to understanding your culture.  If a man’s primary source of training is something other than the Bible, we have an eternal crisis.  

The industrial revolution did more damage to the American family than any other movement.  

Here are the primary effects of this “revolution”.

•  Industrialism took husbands/fathers away from their wives and children in order to make BIG money. 
• It gave parents permission to let their children “vacate” and not work alongside the parents. 
•  It activated feminism--women demanding their cultural rights. 
• It gave women permission to be workers outside the home. 
•  It turned children into parents--parenting themselves, and at times, their parents. 
•  It removed the patriarchs’ protection from the home. 
•  It turned the leadership over to the strongest personality within the home. 
• Fathers, mothers, and children lost their God-given significant places in family and more significantly, the fathers lost the hearts of their children.

 

Next article: True Biblical Womanhood

¹ C.S. Lewis Present Concerns: A Compelling Collection of Timely, Journalistic Essays (London: Fount Paperbacks, 1986). [C.S. Lewis, Present Concerns, "The Necessity of Chivalry" 1st published in Time and Tide, Aug. 1940].  

True Biblical Manhood Copyright © 2013 IOM America. Permission to reproduce for educational purposes. Please keep author's  name intact.

All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

#2 Threats to Patriarchy

by Dr. Stephen R. Phinney

A biblical view of men and women is that of complementarianism--men and women created equal in God’s own image but having different roles. Egalitarianism (e•gal•i•tar•i•an•ism), on the other hand, is the view that men and women have been gifted equally so that no role is limited to one sex. It is maintaining, relating to, or based on a belief that men and women are, in principle, equal in all aspects and should enjoy equal social, political, and leadership rights and opportunities. This is classified as “Christian feminism.”

Complementarian response is built upon a thoroughly biblical vision of male headship. This means men lead their families and churches by mirroring God (the Father) and Jesus (the head of the Bride--the Church). Scripture portrays God as the loving, sacrificial, protective Patriarch of His people.

Many men today are living according to an egalitarian belief based on the fact that role equality is considered to be extremely reasonable. But, research has shown many conservative and evangelical households to be among the “guiltiest” when it comes to giving way to externally applied pressure regarding egalitarianism and family harmony, relational happiness, and emotional health. In other words, men of our generation tend to default to female leadership to keep peace.

Christian men are known to maintain headship in the sphere of ideas, but their day-to-day decisions are based on a process of negotiation, mutual submission, and consensus. That’s what our biblical patriarch (forefathers) would have called “feminism.”

Embracing biblical patriarchy protects the doctrines of God from departing from what is right. To reject male headship leads to a redefinition of the Fatherhood of God and His divine sovereignty. This is just another way of promoting the view that God is impotent and limited in knowledge. Rearranging the order of God has been Satan’s goal and objective from the beginning. Converting our homes into “Christian Egalitarians” is one of his main tools and man’s worst enemy.

It is not wise to confuse “Christian Feminism” with equality regarding the inherent worth and dignity of being children of God. Spiritually, we are all created equal; but in the realm of leadership roles assigned to us by the Living God, we are called to function differently. God has asked men not to be conformed to the ideologies of the world, nor the fashionable trends of this age.

Christian men need to rid their thinking of feministic influence. They need to fill their minds with the design of God--embracing the masculine mind that has been embedded in them by the Father. If a man walks according to the worldly fables of man, he will become emasculated. If he walks according the teachings of God, he will find his fulfillment as a man.

Commit yourself this day to be a man who does not conform to the “traditions of man.” But be transformed in your masculinity by the doctrines and ways of God. Go now and practice the true characteristics of manhood by standing firm in the immovable things of God.

Next article: True Biblical Manhood

The Principled Patriarch: Threats to Patriarchy. Copyright © 2013 IOM America. Permission to reproduce for educational purposes. Please keep author’s name intact.  

All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.