Al's 3rd talk

Here is the final talk that Al gave in his 3 part series on manhood. It was given on April 8th.
----
----

Manhood 3 Outline:  Jesus is da man, da last adam,

Summarize last week:  Manhood in world cultures, neurobiology, and our own American experience.

1. The Current Cultural Confusion:

1. Robert Brannon’s, Forty Nine Percent Majority (1976)

1. No Sissy Stuff
2. I’m the Big Wheel
3. I am the Rock
4. I give ‘em hell

2. Promisekeepers in 2006 listed men’s problems as:

1. friendlessness,
2. emotional isolation,
3. confusion about masculinity,
4. success-driven,
5. spiritually searching.

BUT ARE WE MEN IN CHRIST OR JUST MEN IN AMERICA?

2. Man is made to Image God: Male & Female

1. Who is God & Why Matter, Matters?

1. The Invisible God is made visible through what he has made.  
2. Transcendent- sky god,
3. Immanent- mother earth,

2. Jesus is the Image of God
3. What is the Image of God?

1. Substantial View

1. Immortal soul
2. Embodied self

2. Functional View- God’s representative over and in creation
3. Relational View- best seen in our sexuality but “I-Thou” in relation to God.  

3. The Image of God is sexed, differentiated between male and female

1. Equality and Difference are willed by God
2. Adam before Eve is not wild but responsible

1. Wilderness or Garden origins?
2. We Can Work It Out- cultivate, subdue, progress, compete, challenge, grow, acquire, aggressive
3. We Can Keep It Safe- protect, sustain, guard, communicate, use strength to defend. Adam fails to tell Eve about danger.

4. A Real Man is a Godly Man, A Real Man is a Disciple of Christ

1. Men in Christ are

1. Transcendental
2. Procreative
3. Protective
4. Providing
5. Sacrificial
6. Nurturing

Are the spiritual gifts or fruit of the Spirit gender specific? Emotional mastery, responsibility, love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, helps, tongues, prophecy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, teaching, administration, liberality.

5. Being Men in a Changing Culture

1. Wuthnow’s After the Baby Boomers, 2007: Seven Key Trends in Changing World of Young Adults

1. Delayed marriage
2. Children are fewer and coming later
3. Uncertainty of work and economy
4. Increased higher education for many
5. Loosening relationships. Younger adults have fewer social relationships than their parents and grandparents did. They are bowling alone rather than in leagues.
6. Globalization exposes us to instant information, job changes, more travel, increased emigration and immigration.
7. Information explosion, Internet and computer revolution at home, school,  workplace, entertainment, study

2. Smith’s Young Catholic America, 2014, Seven Macro Changes in American Culture for Emerging Adults

1. Growth of higher education. Remaining in school until their 30s
2. Delay of marriage over fifty years period: Women from 20 to 26; Men from 23 to 28.
3. Changes in American and global economy undermine life-long careers and employment security.
4. Parents willing to extend financial aid through the 20s.
5. Widespread availability of many different contraceptives, especially the Pill. Sexual intercourse disconnected from fertility and parenthood.
6. Postmodern thought dismisses reason, progress, science, universal rationality, patriotism and objective truth.
7. Consumerism as a way of life. Material prosperity as result of post WWII economic boom. Increased sense of entitlement and extravagant expectations.

6. Some Questions

1. Men discover dominion through service. Some call this servant lordship. What responsibilities has God given you and what authority has He placed into your hands to carry out these tasks? Are there any future responsibilities for which you should be preparing now?
2. If someone were to ask four people who know you well, where you most need spiritual growth and development. What would they say?
3. Can you name any good friends? Men who you can confess your sins too? Men who you can borrow money from? Men who will challenge and confront you as well as laugh and cry with you?  What are some barriers that keep Christian men from being present in the lives of friends? Can you think of some steps that will enable you to have a greater presence in the lives of male friends and to allow them to be more present in your life?
4. Have you ever struggled with envy toward other men? How is it futile and counterproductive. What is the difference between envy and godly ambition?
5. Have you experienced the joy of doing the will of God? When? Have you described this to another man? Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. When have you consciously experienced joy in suffering? Have you shared that with another man?
6. Men procreate, protect, and provide. They cultivate, guard, nurture, sacrifice. In what ways does the image of Jesus, ‘lowly and meek’, keep you from godly ambition, fruitful competition, and pursuit of blessedness as well as blessing? Is it manly to demonstrate these activities?
7. When have you imagined you were being “manly” only to find out you were playing the jackass? How did you respond? Shame, embarrassment, fury, threatening, laughter, self parody, indifference? If you had it to do over again what would you do?

The above questions are rewritten from a list I discovered in my notes. I cannot, however, locate the name of the book.

7. A Conclusion: Is there a crisis of manhood? Yes and no. From Eden to Ann Arbor to Jesus’ return, there is always only one fundamental crisis. It isn’t a crisis of manhood. It is a crisis of obeying God, a crisis of discipleship, a crisis of the will of God, a crisis about the manifestation of the Kingdom. Wherever the will of God is performed, there is a glimpse of the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Man or woman, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, pious or rebellious, old or young, beautiful or ugly, black or white, immigrant or native, labor or management, etc., - if anyone wants to see the Kingdom obey the will of God.  Build the Church on the will of God and the world will rediscover the Church as a window on eternity.