The Bleeding King (Ep #3, The C3 Man)

This week, Eve is introduced - and the human destiny goes from "alone" to thrillingly possible. But how does Adam relate to her?

"The biblical man is formed and placed by God to keep, lead and bleed for God and Garden."

Christ Community Church Little Rock
A community transformed by grace sent to transform the world for the glory of God.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning, men. Good morning. That was decent. It actually is, like Toby said, really great to see y'all this morning. This is it's hard enough getting here week three at 6 a.m. But like it's basically 5 a.m. right now. Spring forward is really hard at this time of year when we're trying to run a men's ministry early in the morning. And so I want to congratulate you guys again for being here. If you're just joining us, or maybe you missed last week, we have uh we've been covering a lot of ground. And what we're trying to do in this series, like what uh Toby just mentioned, is we're we're really trying to do the sacred act of reclaiming. We're not inventing, we're not generating. I mean, we're just in Genesis 2, which is, I mean, thousands of years old. But we're trying to reclaim the footsteps, the proven method that Jesus has given us of how to become a man and what that man looks like, and especially as the weeks in this series unfolds, not just what a biblical man is, but what that means for us here at C3 in this city. And so uh, you know, a couple weeks ago at Warrior Hall, I preached my last sermon there, and I had a young man come up to me afterwards, and we were just talking, he was like, Justin, you don't understand. I've been I've been drifting. He was like, it wasn't six months ago, I felt so close to Jesus, and I've just been drifting. What do I do? And I looked at him and I said, Well, start over. And he kind of, you know, eyes widened, kind of recoiled a little bit, like start over. I was like, Yeah, start over. Just grace is real, the cross happened, the tomb is empty, Jesus is physical, in heaven, reigning right now. Just start over and don't bring your baggage with you. And he was like, start over. I never thought of that. And I just thought that was the funniest thing because it was that is functionally how so much of us, how we live. That's how it seems like our relationships work. That's how this world works, especially as you think about our jobs. It's all about earning, it's all about scales. But in this economy of grace and what we're trying to do in our gardens right now, that's the language you've been using, as we're just trying to get going and are reclaiming what is already ours in Christ. A lot of us just need to start over. And that is a bold, brave thing. It's hard to not earn. Earning makes sense. But in the economy of Jesus and grace, we just we receive. And so I just want to start with that this morning. And again, not even that is a super new thought. C.S. Lewis wrote it this way: mere Christianity. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road. And in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic, and my boys are learning fractions right now. It's awful. When I've started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start again, the faster I shall get on. I think if you look at the present state of the world, it's pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We're on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on. And so, I mean, that's how I want to start this morning because as I hope we've been doing a lot of work in our gardens, and there's a lot of neglect, there's a lot of weeds, there's a lot of things that are not in order. It can be very easy to just throw up the hands and overwhelm and stop. But we've got to listen to the voice of Jesus and be brave to start over. Sometimes we just gotta circle back. And again, that's what we've been doing with manhood. We have a definition that we're working on so far. Amen. I've got good news. We are gonna finish it today. Okay? We're gonna make a definition. It's not perfect. I think it's really good because it's rooted in biblical language, but we will finish it. We will memorize it. All right? Here's what we have so far. The biblical man is formed and placed by God to keep. Now there's not much left to the definition, which means every word matters. And then we've got to memorize this definition because then we can start to squeeze these words one by one, and a lot will come out. Formed. We're formed, the man is formed by God, like God, and for God. Y'all remember that? Placed. You squeeze place, what word comes out? Garden. And all that that entails. God. Formed by God, placed by God. He's the main character of Genesis 2, he's the main character of your life. Who is he in Genesis 2? He's creator, he's partner, he's trainer. We'll see in Genesis 3 next week that he's savior. There's nothing to save yet in Genesis 2. But that's coming. Uh, we see the word keep. When you squeeze the word keep, I hope you think strong. You think shamar, which means keeper. And remember, we look at our hands and we think cudgel and we think cradle. And that's what strength is. We must have the ability to take on the world and subdue it, but also cradle and nurture. That word implies both. You are, men, a shamar of your garden. That is who you are at the bottom. That's what we're doing this semester. At the bottom of opinion, of yourself identifying whatever it is you think you are, we're going to the very bottom of it. You are a shamar of the garden. And men, I would just say a lot of us are cool with that. A lot of you are cool with what we've covered so far. Where you might get a little uncomfortable is with the layer that I want to get to right now with who you are at the bottom. I want to do a little systematic theology, okay? We're going to do it live this morning. We're going to grab a couple texts. We're going to form them together and see what it is, who we are. First, I want to look at Psalm 115, verse 16. You can write down these verses and do your own systematics later, but you won't need to. We're going to do it right now. Psalm 115, verse 16. The heavens are the Lord's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. Okay, so in systematics, you kind of put it on the shelf right here. Psalm 8, verse 5. Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings, and crowned him with glory and honor. This is speaking of us. Humans. So I'm going to go back. The earth is ours. We are crowned with glory and honor, a little lower than the heavenly beings. How about Genesis 1.28? And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion. Then what word comes to mind when you think of a crowned person with dominion where all the land is theirs? Say it. King. Whatever else you guys said, you're wrong. The answer was king. Then what was Adam? King. Here's where it gets uncomfortable. What are you? Thank you. We've got, thank you, Rick. Ten bonus points. Men, you're a king. You are kings. And that is not something that we're comfortable with. That's not something that we think about often. But there is a God-given, long, maybe forgotten regality and dignity that you have in yourself as an image-bearer of God. That is what image means. Old kings historically would place their sovereign emblems, statues of themselves, to say, this is my domain, this is my dominion. And that's what God has done with us, men and women, humans, on his earth to be ambassadors, to reflect, to show his glory, and we are reigning as kings. You have a long-lost dignity. And I think that that's what makes sin, which we're going to get to next week, so tragic, because sin is a king killer. It's more than that. But what sin does is that when we sin, we are degrading ourselves. We are losing humanity. Not our worth in the eyes of God, but we lose our fullest sense when we rebel against God. And that's why we can say about Jesus that he was the fullest man. Because he didn't sin. He was the closest to God as God. He was the most full human. It's how we will be on the new earth. A king. That's why Jesus is the manliest. And that's why as we move towards God, we are reclaiming our manhood, our truest humanity. And men, every king needs a what? A queen. And so that's what we're going to get to today. As glorious as Adam's garden is, and it's been awesome so far. There is this need, isn't there? There is this anxiety growing in the garden, this kind of static energy, and God is the one who names it. God, again, we said it last week, not in a sinful sense, but in a keeping sense. God is the original keeper. God is almost anxious over Adam's every need. He wants to provide, he wants to nurture. And so we're going to read verses, oh, I forgot to tell you. That's the primal truth, all right? Man is a king, reigning and dignified. And then this is something we need to act out of. This is a truth at the bottom of who you are that we almost don't believe it, but it's all over what the Bible teaches. I'm going to read Genesis 2, verses 15 to 18, to catch us up and to move us forward. The Lord God took the man and put him, placed him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden. Remember, it's an abundance paradigm. Eat, enjoy. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Again, we're going to get into that next week. Verse 18. Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. Then again, do you see God keeping? Manhood is theology. If you want to know more about yourself, we've got to know more about God. Do you see him keeping? He is training Adam in how to keep. He is caring for every need. He is nurturing. He is caretaking. He's not just fighting with a cudgel. He's got his cradle hands out, if you will, right now. And then honestly, like, we know what this is like. And honestly, like in the silliest of ways, it is a manly thing to nurture. I think I'll just throw up a couple pictures here. Growing up, my boys, these aren't even the best pictures. I just grabbed them real quick, kind of ran out of time. This is me kind of tucking in my boys for movie nights. This is building forts for them. They're not even great. Like that's not even a really good overlap. But in their minds, oh my gosh. Or if you've ever taken your kids camping, the man knows, the dad knows, right? Like everything you got to pack in the cooler. You gotta bring the pull-ups, or else you're gonna have a mess. You gotta bring the candy plates, the iPad, make sure it's charged, make sure the poles are intact, all of those things. That is not just feminine. That is a manly thing to nurture and take care of and tuck in and gentle. A lot of us didn't get this from our dads. I did. And so I know what it's like. This is manly. This is what God is doing for Adam. He's the main character of Genesis 2, and I don't want to go on without missing that. But if you see, there are two words in Genesis 2.18 that we're gonna focus on real quick. I will make him a helper, fit. Helper and fit. Man, if we miss these two words, we will miss Eve. Remember, Adam received the divine word? Shamar, keeper. Eve is receiving a divine word. Helper. The Hebrew is Azer. You can write that down. Azer, E-Z, E, R. And Azer, a helper, is reinforcement at the dimmest hour. Azer means deliverer. You are Dunski's until helper shows up, until Azer shows up. That is Eve's divine word. Now again, we've got to ask: who is the OG helper? It's not primarily Eve. It is God. We read in Psalm 33, verse 20, our soul waits for the Lord, he is our help and our shield. This is a military term that's applied to Eve. Deuteronomy 33, 26. I love this verse. There is none like God, O Joshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, Azer, through the skies in his majesty. Man Adam had not sinned yet, but he needed rescue. The human destiny as a king that he's called to is impossible without this aer, this helper. This king cannot have dominion without this aer. That's the word helper, a divine word. We have shamar, women have azer. Second, fit. There is a harmony on the way. If you know anything about a harmony, two equal notes that are different, but man, when they come together. It's like Brandon and May May on a Sunday morning, right? Just that harmony. Or all the instruments of the band. See, Brooks here. This harmony, this band, that's what's coming. That's what fit means to correspond to. Adam is this, a harmony is coming to fit, to correspond to Adam. And I want to pause for a minute, okay? As I read this right here, then the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him a helper fit for him. Do you sense in this narrative any bit of superiority or inferiority? Do you sense it? Yes. You do. Because of the word helper in our because the word helper in our use seems to be. Okay, so that's good. So that's yes, we're gonna get culturally to how we can dump truck a lot into this narrative. I'm really glad you said it. The answer was no in the Hebrew. I love it. But I'm so glad you said yes because that's what we're all feeling. And that's why I even asked the question, Matt. Culturally, we dump truck a lot into this passage and all the implications out of it. And so I just want to say from the beginning, I'm not gonna make any apologies. But I also ask for grace. Okay, and if I say something that maybe I myself disagree with as I listen to this recording, uh you can go to Michael, okay? But as you think of a harmony, and as you think of the Hebrew helper, there is no sense of superiority, there is differences. But what does that word helper mean? That's a great thing to bring up, Matt. We will, uh we're gonna name that. Adam is alone, and things are not good. Eve is not an accessory, that's not what helper means. Eve is not an assistant. Everything God has made so far, if you follow Genesis 1, Genesis 2, has been this crescendo in beauty. And who is last? The last maid. It is Eve. So God is building this drama, okay? He's building this drama. If you don't believe me, look at verses 19 and 20. I think it's absolutely hilarious. These are the next verses in the narrative. Now, out of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and brought them to the man. So you've got to picture God parading these animals in front of Adam. There's this need in the garden, and God starts parading these animals in front of Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. Verse 20. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens, to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. And so, again, I find humor in this verse because there's this drama, there's this building, this tension. Where is the helper? Why would God parade the animals around Adam, knowing Adam wouldn't find one? Because he knew Adam wouldn't find one. As God, as Adam's looking at all these animals, it's like, that's not it. There's just this drama, there's this tension. We are supposed to right now feel the lack, the need, the not good. But we know this reinforcing harmony is on the way. And then we get to verse 21 and 22. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman, and brought her to the man. So this is gonna be our focus for the rest of the morning. Men, the king and the queen have arrived. And in a story like this, I wish I had a lot more time. Every word matters. But what we're gonna focus on, because we're we're men, we're simple, okay, is that image, that that word rib. Okay, rib. That's what we're gonna talk about. We're gonna get to that in one second. But by reaching verse 22, I have great news. We've unlocked the rest of our definition. We are now worthy. Are y'all ready for it? Pins out, here we go. The biblical man is formed and placed by God to keep, lead, and bleed for God and garden. The biblical man is formed and placed by God to keep, lead, and bleed for God and garden. Then let's work to memorize this. Perhaps the most shocking word is bleed. And that's going to be a big theme as this series unfolds. But this is the otherworldly, upside-down, heavenly posture of being a biblical man. We bleed. It's cruciform position. Jesus on the cross. That is how you are as a shamar. Cruciform. We bleed. Biblical men are bleeding kings. And is that not one of the coolest descriptions of how we picture Jesus? A bleeding king. And so we will learn everything from him as he teaches us. The reason I have lead and bleed together on this definition is because as you think about leadership, as the New Testament and the Old Testament give us, lead and bleed are absolutely connected. You cannot have one without the other. And that's where it gets abused. Remember, we learned this from Jesus. The manliest thing that has ever been is whatever was inside Jesus that compelled him to go to the cross with joy. And that's what he wants to give us. And so you cannot have leading without bleeding. You can't even spell bleed without lead. Though you kind of miss an A there. It almost works perfectly. Okay, I want to go to the word rib, and I just have three points, and then we're gonna uh do our table discussions. Rib is a symbol. And men, we all have a rib. Whether you're in here and you're married or you're single, and in your singleness, if you are not yet married, Maybe you have been married and are not now for any number of reasons, or if you will be lifelong single, you have a rib too. This is a manly calling. In Genesis 2, we know that Adam is about to be married to Eve, and so we're going to talk for the rest of this time in the context of marriage. I would ask you, single men, to just take that extra step of application. Whatever I say, apply it to your life. You have a rib. You have a rib. Jesus was single. Paul was single. Some of the greatest men throughout history, single. The Bible calls it a gift. Singleness, a gift, a hyper-focused attention on your rib. All the women of your life, in some sense, and the church. There's your rib. First, the rib symbolizes equality. Eve is by Adam's side. Eve was not taken and made from a footbone like she was beneath Adam, not from a headbone, like she's the head of Adam. Symbols matter. It's from the side. Eve is not a doormat. She's also not a deity. She's not a goddess. She's not to be worshipped. She's not to be walked upon. She's not to be worshipped. She is a rib. Paul says, he who loves his wife loves himself. You see that connection? Jesus defines this marriage far later as one flesh. Equality. That is, by the way, I'm going to get more to it in a little bit, unbelievably radical. When the Bible was being written, no one else was saying this. At best, man was slave to gods or God. And at best, woman was property. That's at best. At worst, it goes downhill. This is radical. That's a sermon for another time. Second, leadership. Eve is led by Adam. And this means a few things, and I have three sub points here if you're really good at taking notes. First, man, as we move into this conversation, Jesus' words are our compass, not culture. We are in an egalitarian feminized 2026. Leading as a man in your marriage is counter-cultural, and it is often considered the apex of evil. Again, I will make no apologies, but we lead not as bullies, but as bleeders. We bleed. You tell me this, riddle me this. If you were to flash back, time travel, 2,000 years ago to Ephesus, and you're talking to the Christian men there that have just recently converted, and Paul says in Ephesians to the men of Ephesus, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Do you know what the Christian men culturally would have been screaming in protest? No, I don't give up myself for my property. That's the cultural narrative. And so Jesus would have looked them in the eyes through the Spirit and said, You need to die. You need to die to self, which is what he calls for every believer. Now flash forward 2,000 years, and you have almost the exact opposite happening. You have now as the church submits in everything to their husbands, as wives submit in everything to their husbands, the cultural narrative is for women of the West to say, no, I do not submit, we are equal. To which God, Jesus, through the Spirit, would say, you need to die to yourself. And that's our cultural moment. Culture is not our compass, Jesus'. Second, Jesus' actions are our example. At the bottom, men, how do biblical men husband? Our answer should be as Christ. And it's no accident that that's what we get in Ephesians 23. Paul says three times, it's a pattern, as Christ. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior. That is headship, that is leading. It's in our definition. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ. Love the church and gave himself up for her. That is sacrificial love. That is bleeding. How did Jesus give himself up for the church? Bleeding. Verse 29. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it just as Christ does the church. What does that sound like? Keeping. Nourishing. Keeping, bleeding, bleeding. Our definition's pretty good, y'all. It's pretty good. It's not perfect, but it's really going to help us out. Jesus bled for us. Shamars, we bleed for Azers. But I want to ask, because maybe you're asking, why all this talk of blood? We know it's in the New Testament. Why are you talking about it here in Genesis 2? Well, men, I find blood here in the text of Genesis chapter 2. When God pulls out that rib from Adam, how do you picture that rib? It's dripping in blood. It's dripping in blood. And so it is from that blood that Eve is made alive. And the argument I'm making because of the New Testament ethic, it is by that blood, the continual bleeding and self-sacrificing, that Eve is going to flourish. And so it is blood that makes the garden flourish. And it's not Eve's blood. It's our blood. The third point is very well written. Bleeding is the worst. By show of hands, if you're married in here, okay, who would take a bullet for their wife? Okay. If you're not married, you're single, keep your hands up. Who would take a bullet for their mom, their sister? Okay. I saw every hand go up. Great. Husbands, who would say sorry first at the end of a conflict? We've got three. We've got three. That's blood. Bullets are easy, men. But when we're talking about blood, we're talking about sacrificing everything that riles up in us, that makes us. We kill it. We slaughter ourselves to flourish the garden. That's how our Eve lives. That is how this local church lives. Those that are doing kids and coffee. Men were here this morning putting out pins on table, picking up donuts, making coffee, water, all kinds of setting up tables. We bleed. Matt Chandler has that line in there, in your uh booklet that says, we get wrung out. So the most difficult thing about your marriage, men, is not your life. It's not your wife. Sorry. Can't read my own handwriting. Can we rewind a second? The most difficult thing about your marriage isn't your wife, it is your allergy to, as Christ, bleed for her. That is the most difficult thing about your marriage. It's you. You. And it's me. Last thing, real quick. The rib symbolizes protection. Men, what does your rib even do? Isn't it amazing? It protects the heart. The strongest form it could be, you can ask a doctor on this, okay? Or an architect. This curve. If it was a straight line, it would break so much easier. But the rib is this literal shield. Men, you are the shamar. You are the front line, and you protect the heart. The azer is the reinforcement. If the reinforcements become the front line, that ain't it. We are the front line. We take the hits. We take responsibility. We give her the last word in conflict. We give her the full weight of our attention. Because we're not just cudgels, we're also cradling. We give her our best, our rib. Martin Luther, the Great Reformer, his wife Catherine, he called her Kitty, my rib. You can start calling your wife your rib. It's so powerful. Give her your best self. When's the last time you've studied a marriage book, man? Why can't you do one a quarter? Why can't you listen to a podcast once a week with your wife and talk about it on Sunday night? Just ideas. Give her your best. I mean, so much of the semester is going back to the beginning. And, you know, for the married men in this room, you once said to your girlfriend, I can't wait until we get to live together and never have to say goodbye again. Have you lost that? The good news this morning is we can start over. You can go get that back. You can go get that back. It's gonna take blood. It's gonna take your blood. That's what's so cool about God bringing Eve to Adam. We'll get more into that next week when Adam just bursts into song, bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh. The first human words ever uttered. A love song from man to woman, Shammar to Azer. It's so powerful. Eve wanted to feel beautiful, she wanted to feel significant, she wanted to feel pursued, which is what your Azer wants as well. And Adam gave her that. He was a faithful keeper. Men, as we end, um you know it's a it's a dumb story, but last night it was my birthday. And uh thank you, thank you. My mom took me and my family out to dinner. And we sat down at this table, kind of a nicer restaurant, cypress social, not as good as you know, Aaron Fowler leaving. Kidding fantastic restaurant. And um it's one of those restaurants where you sit and there's kind of communal water jugs and cups, right? And so me and one of my boys sit down, he grabs the big thing, pours his glass, and pours it down. I'm sitting by my wife and my mom. I pour mine up, I fill up my mom's, I fill up my sister's, and I fill up mine, and I put it back down. I didn't say anything about it, I didn't do anything, and I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, but that is the difference between a boy and a man. And we can apply this to every single aspect of our lives. Men, Eve was not meant to be Adam's God. She actually makes for a terrible God, and some of you might worship your wife. Your wife doesn't have the final verdict on you. Do you know that? Her thoughts of you are so important, but they are not the final verdict on you. God has the final verdict on us. Eve makes for a terrible doormat, she makes for a terrible accessory. I mean, it's possible you're trying to squeeze from your wife a romance that is not big enough for your soul. You need a bigger romance than your wife. That's your partnership with God. There's your romance, there's your quest, there's your adventure, and now you need reinforcement, and we're running together. But a treasure, an acer, to linger in beauty, fulfill the human destiny. Man, go home and love your wife today. Love your writ. We all have a writ. We are bleeding kings, formed and placed by God to. We got a lot of work. We got a lot of work. Uh hey men, let's go to our tables now. I I know that uh a teaching like this will have sparked up a lot. I want to recommend our elders to you, our pastors to you. Let's talk through these things. Let's be men. And uh if you have something that you want to say or disagree with, come talk to us, okay? Uh you're loved here, you're safe here. We we want to get into all of this, and that will start at the table. So you guys get after it.