The Family
Series: Part 4 - The Man
Gtcotr/ws020707
Key Scripture: Genesis 2:18 ¶ And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (KJV)
18 ¶ And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." (NKJV)
18 ¶ The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (NIV) (NAS95)
18 ¶ And the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him." (NLT)
Two things for sure:
1. It’s not good that man be alone.
2. He needs help.
One of the basic understandings about this helper God decides to make for man is that she would be a stabilizer. He evidently needs someone to stabilize his life.
Throughout the word of God we find God tasking the man with certain duties and specific responsibilities. The man is given responsibilities to:
Provide
Love
Leadership
Life Needs
Protect
Heart
Home
Defend
Faith
Family
Fortune
From the word of God we also draw some conclusions as to the man’s weaknesses. Satan has discovered and has historically used man’s weaknesses against him to deceive, destabilize and ultimately defeat man. These evident weaknesses can be grossly broken down into three main categories:
I call them the 3 G’s:
Gold
Glory
Girls
Lets look at some scripture and see if we can better understand the man.
Ephesians 5 NKJV
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body.
24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,
27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.
31 "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
God gives us insight into how he intends this woman to stabilize the man --- Respect him!
Man, in his world, filled with pride, ambition, a drive for success and a need for significance, is on a quest for respect.
Respect from:
Others important to his life
Self respect
God’s respect, if I may put it that way.
God’s respect comes in the form of being noticed and perhaps noted or in some way known by God. Much like we see Abraham getting from God when God said:
Genesis 18 NKJV
17 And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing,
18 "since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
19 "For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
Enoch also was noticed by God as was the Roman Centurion of Acts 10 and the man in Matthew 8:5.
Man is on a quest for respect and satan knows this. In the world’s system, respect is often given to those who have achieved apparent success. This is where these 3 major pitfalls come into play.
Man in his quest for respect and satan in his quest to destabilize and defeat man both meet together in the three temptations I call the 3 G’s. Remember them?
1. Gold – Perhaps this is how satan was able to defeat Judas or the young rich ruler in Mark 10
Mark 10:22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
This is also what defeated Elisha’s servant, Gehazi, when he went after Naaman and went for the Gold.
Remember Achan at the battle of
Joshua 22:20 When Achan son of Zerah acted unfaithfully regarding the devoted things, did not wrath come upon the whole community of
2. Glory
The I, My, Me, Mine Syndrome
Look what I did!
My dog’s better than your dog …
It’s all about me …
It’s all mine.
King Saul had his glory problems. He could not stand to share the spot light with anyone else, especially someone whom the people loved like they did David.
He mistakenly thought that if he tore down or destroyed the competition that it would somehow make him more glorious.
David did not care much for the Glory and he seemed not too bothered by living in a cave so perhaps Gold was not his weak spot either.
Reckon what satan used to temp David?
3. Girls
Satan did the same thing to Samson.
Solomon’s mother spoke a great bit of wisdom to him when she realized that he had an evident problem. He has accumulated hundreds of wives and several hundred concubines, sex slaves.
Before his mother taught him about the virtuous woman, she also spoke to him concerning the temptations of man and warned him:
Proverbs 31:3 Do not give your strength to women, Nor your ways to that which destroys kings. (NKJV)
The Message Version of the Bible says:
Don’t dissipate your virility on fortune-hunting women, promiscuous women who shipwreck leaders.
Men, let me quickly give you 3 signpost on the road to defeat:
1. No Personal Prayer or Bible
Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path
2. No Spiritual Covering
Proverbs 18:1 ¶ A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment
3. Believing That You Are Invincible
* The, “It can’t happen to me” syndrome
Mark 14:29 Peter said to Him, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be."
* it can’t happen to me --- not me --- never me!
Mark 14:71 Then he (Peter) began to curse and swear, "I do not know this Man (Jesus) of whom you speak!"
