GLCB Men's Small Group Bible Study | Biblical Manhood-Lies Men Believe | Week 6
Good morning, men.
This coming Sunday we will resume our study of Biblical Manhood, Lies Men Believe, by picking up where we left off: Lies Men Believe about Marriage and Family, so I am resending the newsletter below with a preview of the lesson.
Also, I want to add a “Lie Men Believe” that has occurred to me recently:
Lie # 1a: Ephesians 5 Stops at verse 22
“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.”
As men, do we tend to think that the Lord’s instruction on marriage, issued through Paul, stops with this well-known admonition to wives?
If we do, we are missing vitally important instruction regarding not only our roles as husbands, but about the exceedingly wonderful relationship between Christ and His church as a whole, and between Christ and each one of us as individual believers!
See you Sunday!
Tommy Alderman
Good afternoon, men!
This Sunday evening we will examine Lies Men Believe about Marriage and Family. God’s providence is amazing, because marriage has become a keen focus of mine over the last few weeks!
As many of you know, Patti and I just returned from a 17-day road trip. We had a marvelous time, and we used part of the drive-time to listen to sermons aimed at strengthening our marriage. The most impactful of those were a series on Ephesians 5 preached by Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (you can find them here):
https://www.aldermanfarms.net/marriage.html
I cannot recommend the series strongly enough.
Afterward, I discovered that those sermons had been compiled into book form, entitled Christian Marriage, which you can find here:
https://amzn.to/37woB9W
I believe both resources will be a tremendous help to you. They have been and are being a tremendous help to me.
Dr. Lloyd-Jones asserts:
“It is only the Christian who truly understands and appreciates marriage.”
Later in the same message he restates:
“You cannot understand marriage unless you are a Christian.”
Indeed.
According to this week’s lesson, Christian men often allow our understanding of marriage to be informed by the world, rather than the Word of God!
If we don’t “appreciate” our marriage, perhaps that’s because our definition of “marriage” is incorrect, either in whole or in part.
Our first order of business as Christian men, regarding marriage, is to develop a biblical understanding of what marriage is designed to be and what the Lord demands of us as husbands (the same is true for our wives!).
Here are the “Lies Men Believe about Marriage and Family” that we will discuss this week:
Lie # 1: Love Doesn’t Require Spoken Words
- As husbands, we are called by God to lead our wives and to help them grow in knowledge and truth.
- As husbands, it is our job to be our wives’ number 1 encouragers!
- It takes spoken words to accomplish both.
Lie # 2: My Wife is Supposed to Make Me Happy
- In order for a marriage to be a biblical one, each spouse must be in love with Christ first and be satisfied in Him.
- Paul said we should submit to one another, before he said “wives submit to your own husbands.”
Lie # 3: I Don’t Have What it Takes to be the CEO of My Home, So I Can Leave that Role to My Wife
- Too often, men use a perceived lack of skill in some area as an excuse to abandon the God-given leadership role in the home.
- The Scriptures and prayer are sufficient to equip us and strengthen any weaknesses.
- Our wives are often gifted in ways that we are not, and that’s a beautiful thing! But it doesn’t absolve us of our God-ordained role as the head of the home.
Lie # 4: I Don’t Have to Grow Up
- We MUST be growing into godly men and leaders of our families. Neither we, nor our families, can survive if we do not move beyond “milk.”
- This generation finds far too many “men” who are really overgrown adolescents, refusing to move beyond childhood, and families are reaping destruction because of it.
Lie # 5: If I Discipline My Kids, They’ll Rebel
- If we do not discipline our children, we are guaranteed that the Lord will discipline them…as well as us!
- Both parents must be on the same page regarding discipline within the home, but the ultimate responsibility falls on us as men and fathers.
- Discipline, though, must be done in love, as we are admonished to not provoke our children to anger (Ephesians 6:4) and not to frustrate them - our instruction must be clear.
It would be a good thing for you to prayerfully read Ephesians 5:21-6:4 a few times before we meet together this week.
I pray the Lord would ignite in us a desire to be the godliest husbands and fathers that He can make us be!
I can’t wait to see you all this Sunday. I’ve missed our time together.
Until the nets are full,
Tommy Alderman