We would not be where we are today if it wasn’t for the sacrifices men have made. Our nation would not be what it is today if it wasn’t for the men that laid their lives for this nation. Our Christian faith would not be what it is today if it wasn’t for the men (such as the apostles) that gave their lives for the Good News of Jesus Christ. So as men, we get to live a life that reflects the greatest man to ever walk on this earth… Jesus.

Ephesians 5:25 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Gave = paradidōmi = intrust, transmit; put in prison; give over; commit; deliver up

• The kind of love God is calling men to is not just to any kind of love… but rather a sacrificial love.

Ephesians 5:31 ESV

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

Leave = kataleipō = abandon; forsake

Men SACRIFICIALLY LOVE by Protecting | Serving | Leading

#1) PROTECT

How does a man sacrificially protect his family?

A) Demonstrate Courage & Strength

Joshua 1:9 ESV

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Hebrews 11:32-38 ESV

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

• Strength is found through weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NLT

Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

B) Be Engaged

1 Peter 5:8-9 NLT

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.

Look at the statistics of disengaged men:

• 90% of abortions are made by women in which the father was not committed to the relationship.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 17.8 million children, nearly 1 in 4, live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home.
• Research shows when a child is raised in a father-absent home, they are affected in the following ways…
  • Greater Risk of Poverty
  • More Likely to Have Behavioral Problems
  • Greater Risk of Infant Mortality
  • More Likely to Go to Prison
  • More Likely to Commit Crime
  • More Likely to Become Pregnant as a Teen
  • More Likely to Face Abuse and Neglect
  • More Likely to Abuse Drugs and Alcohol
  • More Likely to Suffer Obesity
  • More Likely to Drop Out of School

1 Corinthians 4:14-17 NLT

I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. So I urge you to imitate me. That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.

#2) SERVE

• Jesus didn’t come to serve himself. He came to serve others.

The biggest difference between a man and a boy.

• Boys are about self-indulgence  |  Men are about sacrificial love
• Boys are passive  |  Men show up
• Boys consume  |  Men produce
• Boys play  |  Men build
• Boys lack self-control  |  Men have self-control
• Boys want to be served  |  Men serve

Matthew 20:28 NLT

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

How does a man sacrificially serve his family?

By Meeting Their…

A) Physical Needs

1 Timothy 5:8 NKJV

But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

B) Emotional Needs

Ecclesiastes 9:9 NLT

Live happily with the woman you love through all the meaningless days of life that God has given you under the sun. The wife God gives you is your reward for all your earthly toil.

James 4:14 NLT

How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.

C) Spiritual Needs

Ephesians 5:26-27 ESV

that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

#3) LEAD

How does a man sacrificially lead his family?

A) Vision & Direction

• How you lead your household matters.
• Headship is responsibility. Headship is casting direction.

Proverbs 29:18 Passion

When there is no clear prophetic vision, people quickly wander astray. But when you follow the revelation of the word, heaven’s bliss fills your soul.

Psalm 127:3-5 NLT

Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them!  He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.

B) Discipline & Council

Ephesians 6:4 Passion

Fathers, don’t exasperate your children, but raise them up with loving discipline and counsel that brings the revelation of our Lord.

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

C) Fear God

Proverbs 1:7 ESV

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

• If men don’t fear God, we will either fear other things such as… fear of failure.

C.S. Lewis said: “Men, in the marriage relationship you wear a crown, but the crown you wear is first and foremost one of thorns.”

1 John 2:3 ESV

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

CONCLUSION

• Why Men should sacrifice?
  • When we live a sacrificial life, we look more like Jesus. And Jesus is our example of a perfect man.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

• The best thing we can do for our family is to offer our lives in the hope that things are made right for our family with God through what we do through Christ.
• Men, we represent Jesus. Therefore, we must learn His way of living life… His way of sacrificially loving.
• A call to sacrifice = a sacrificial love that moves us to sacrificially protect, serve, and lead our family.