Manhood

The sins of men are something we are far too familiar with, we have experienced it in our own lives. We witness how evil men can be as they commit murder, rape, adultery and wage war. We are terrified when we read stories about sexual assault, the holocaust and other evil acts committed by men. Where does all this evil come from and how can we make it stop?

Pastor Matt Chandler from The Village Church talks about men’s struggle with sin in this sermon. We learn that there are two main groups of sin that men tend to lean towards: selfish aggression and selfish passivity. Selfish aggression would include pornography, domestic abuse, thoughtless criticism and withholding attention or affection when someone fails. Selfish aggression is to use money, power or something else to control others. Mocking or belittling others to exalt oneself. Slandering or harming another person’s reputation to get ahead. Deriving pleasure from watching other people suffer etc.

Selfish passivity is evident in a man’s life when he’d rather engage in fantasy than engage his wife and children, when he complains or makes excuses, when he actively avoids conflict, vulnerability or work. Selfish passivity also includes leaving difficult work to others, refusing to help someone in need, apathy, lack of ambition in matters truly important to God and others, and not being appalled by sexual abuse, child abuse, racism etc.

Matt Chandler explains that all humans are either male or female, but just because someone is born male that doesn’t mean he’s a man. We grow from boys and girls into men and women as we mature and as our character is being formed. Sadly, our world is filled with adult males who are still little boys on the inside, males who never put on the character of a man. Aging happens naturally, maturity doesn’t. In the sermon Matt Chandler gives men advice on what they can do to avoid falling into selfish passivity or selfish aggression in their lives.

We must actively pursue maturity to develop good character. As we mature and grow in character we develop the self-control and discipline we need to be able to turn away from our temptation toward sin and choose love and justice. We choose generosity over greed, faithfulness over being unfaithful, kindness over criticism, humility over hate etc. We learn to say “No” to every twisted desire we have, desires that could lead us toward committing evil acts. We all have these desires and they aren’t going away anytime soon.

The evil stops when we learn to control our minds and not give in to our twisted desires and temptations. Every human being is born with the ability to do both good and evil, acting like we aren’t ever tempted toward evil isn’t helpful. The evil stops when we decide to stop practicing it. It isn’t just other people who are adding more evil to this world. Every year you add evil to this world, and I do too. Let’s pursue maturity so that the people in our lives will greatly benefit from knowing us rather than the opposite being true.