Men’s Retreat on Spiritual Leadership, 2007 “Men on Target”
Jay Wegter
Message Outlines
Message One:
“Our Gracious Resources in Christ” (2 Peter 1:1-4)
I. Introduction:
Unfallen Adam’s ‘effortless’ planetary kingship was lost in the Fall. The creation now resists our attempts to subdue and lead. God is for the exercise of our godly manhood more than we can know. Men will do anything to avoid feeling inadequate. The Christian life is learning to live upon Another. A willingness to assume spiritual influence and leadership is tied to knowing your gracious resources in Christ (Christ is our adequacy).
II. 2 Peter 1:1-4
Know your Redeemer
Vs. 1—Christ is the only refuge for sinners—we have God-approved righteousness in Him. Vs. 2—The Christian faith is founded upon the true knowledge of God. Grace and peace are multiplied as the knowledge of God grows. Our knowledge is personal knowledge; not theoretical knowledge. We are to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
Know your Resources in Christ
Vs. 3—Christ is the source of the believer’s power and sufficiency. Christ grants us everything pertaining to life and godliness. We were called by God’s own glory and excellence.
Know your God through His Promises
Vs. 4a—By His own glory and excellence He granted us His promises.
Know your purpose through God’s Promises
Vs. 4b—God’s purpose is that you might be partakers of the divine nature. God’s promises are the ‘mould’ which gives shape to the Christian life. You have escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. God’s precious and magnificent promises provide my identity; my power source; my mission and job description, and my destiny. God’s glory and excellence gave us the Gospel promises which mould us into the image of Christ.
Message Two:
“Every Man’s Struggle”
Introduction:
Godly manhood is on the ‘chopping block’ in Western culture. Pop culture has changed our values about the ideal male from a man of character (50 + yrs ago) to a man of image. God has not changed His plan that fathers are to pass on the faith to their sons and daughters (Ps 78:1-8).
I. Purity is the prerequisite for spiritual leadership (2 Tim 2:19-21).
Nothing in our culture is easier than for a man to be a ‘sensual opportunist’. God has built the universe around the principle of delayed gratification. To live for pleasure directly is to be an enemy of the cross of Christ. Our sexuality is not to be eradicated but reclaimed for Christ—let a man purify himself of these things.
II. Purity is the result of watching over one’s heart with diligence (Prov 4:23).
The man of God builds a ‘perimeter’ around his heart affections. The cross has severed him from the love of the world (Gal 6:14-15). Gospel ‘logic’ is inseparable from moral logic. Spiritual ‘pleasures’ are apprehended by faith (sensual pleasures by sight).
III. Purity is the ‘byproduct’ of delighting in God (Ps 37:4).
Know the ‘access points’ to delighting in God. Paul’s prayers in Ephesians offer exemplary access points to delighting in God: Treasuring God in Christ moves us from duty to delight. Impurity is a refusal to delight in God. Delighting is a determination to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts (Rom 13:14).
IV. Purity is restored through repenting of heart idols (Ez 14:1-11).
A ‘heart idol’ is an illicit affection. True repentance deals not only with sinful deeds; but with sinful desires (illicit affections). True repentance restores our delighting in God. True repentance is not content to live with guilt—instead it runs to the atonement. True repentance enlarges the heart to take in more of God. True repentance daily reviews its true treasure (Phil 3:7-14).
IV. Purity is maintained by meditating upon God’s truth (Ps 119:9-16).
Know the benefits of purity and the consequences of impurity. Preach the Gospel to yourself everyday. Realize that you were redeemed in order to be staggered by the supremacy of Christ. Understand that your present ‘fight of faith’ is designed to fit you for a nearly unbearable weight of glory to come. Review the fact that the godly man’s ‘tool’ is his clear conscience (Acts 24:15-16).