Perhaps the essential passage on the value of being a servant is Mark 10:42-45 (for the entire pericope, see verses 35-45). In that passage Jesus Himself explains that men who are truly great are servants; men who would be first must be slaves of all, even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

In God’s economy, there is something noble about being a servant. A servant serves. A servant is a person who works for others; someone who performs duties for another person or organization. They attend to needs of someone else. They make a contribution to someone else’s enterprise. They do their part for the bigger picture. But the bottom line is that a servant is a worker.

Besides the physical effort itself there are some character qualities that are connected with servants. We know that a biblical servant serves with humility (Philippians 2:5-11). They serve not as men-pleasers but in the sight of God (Colossians 3:22-25). They serve heartily (Colossians 3:23). Their service is not for applause but for God’s praise. And they serve as stewards of a gift of God and in His strength (1 Peter 4:11). And they serve so that God gets the glory (1 Peter 4:11).

Those qualities of a servant are applicable no matter who the servant is. But here is my question: What is different about a MAN serving compared to a woman? Though there is obvious overlap in what it means for both men and women to be servants, there should be something distinct about men at work. So what separates a man at work from a woman at work?

It isn’t just an issue of location. It isn’t man-work because it is outside the home while a woman’s work is inside the home. It isn’t necessarily an issue of physical size or strength. It doesn’t make it man-service because you wear a muscle shirt, have body odor and a 5 o’clock shadow while drinking black coffee and eating red meat cooked over flames. It also does not make it “man work” because you can get someone else to do it for you. So again,

What distinguishes a godly and manly servant?

Before we get to the answer, let’s admit that our culture and probably most in the evangelical church are confused about this. There’s no doubt that part of the problem with identifying what man-work is comes from the contrasting caricatures of men marketed by the world. As Christian men we are right to be put off by chauvinistic, proud, arrogant, masculinwannabe.

However, our society has not balanced that extreme but run to the opposite extreme. In order to compensate for chauvinists and forge a softer, gentler male, men have been weakened and women-ized/feminized. In order to be a man in today’s world, men have to make a choice between being either a knuckle-dragging gorillas or little school girls.

But I’d like to suggest that our biggest problem is not our widespread misunderstanding of manhood or a misconstrued picture of men. Our biggest hurdle is not abundant examples of over-macho men or under-macho men.

Instead, our biggest problem is that we men are seduced by laziness. We are surrounded by a world that specializes in the various arts of inflaming selfishness and encouraging laziness. We have lost what it means to serve and work. We believe the lie that it is better to have a servant than to be one. We have been seduced by laziness.

Being seduced is the opposite of manliness. John Milton uses a striking phrase in Paradise Lost referring to those men who were seduced by the “daughters of men.” When the angel Michael showed Adam a vision of the future seduction of these men, these descendants of his, Adam attempts to blame the women involved - “Man’s woe holds on the same, from Woman to begin.” The angel replies to the contrary: “From man’s effeminate slackness it begins.”

When men allow women to seduce them, they have abandoned what it means to be the man: to lead. In fact, our English word “seduction” comes from the Latin word duco, which means “I lead.” This original meaning carries over in our use of the word seduction. When a man is seduced he is being led, and when a woman seduces she is leading. That means that when a man is seduced he is relinquishing and abdicating his assigned role.

Likewise, many men choose to flatter themselves that they are really men based on how lazy they can be. They celebrate in afternoons of being led by football on television. In reality, it is effeminate slackness. At the heart of genuine masculinity is an acknowledgment of responsibility and taking of initiative. God created man to be a head, a head willing to sacrifice himself. But men have been seduced to sell their manliness for the television remote (or whatever other thing keeps them from work).

A man who is seduced is the antithesis of a man pursuing his God-given masculine calling. Instead of learning the meaning of headship under God, he descends to the level of a dumb animal. Our Lazy Boys seduce us to nap when we should be working. Our favorite football team seduces us into isolation. Our father’s bad example seduces us to excuse our poor communication. The Internet seduces our time.

Our laziness and lack of service is not morally neutral. It is a spiritual fight with personal, corporate, and eternal consequences.

So what does it mean to be a godly and manly servant? In fact, when was the last time you used the word manly? Is that even something that is important anymore? It should be. And there are some biblical distinctions of manly service.

Here are three nails hold that together the picture of godly and manly service: I.R.S. - Initiative, Responsibility, and Sacrifice.

Godly Man-Servants:

1. Take Initiative

God has made women to be responders; they follow. But men are to lead.

A mature man doesn’t wait around for someone else to tell him what to do. When was the last time you strategized to improve something before someone else complained about it? A godly man at work has the ability to assess and pioneer solutions.

Men don’t need to be told what to do. That’s part of what it means to be a man and not a child. Grown men don’t need to have their hand held. They do what needs to be done and look for more things to do. They don’t just react, they pro-act (they are proactive).

Men too often neglect their responsibilities until there is a problem. We do more preventative work on our cars—changing the oil every 3000 miles—than we do with our kids. We have a better strategy to keep our lawns green than we do to keep our wives growing.

A godly man-servant is aggressive and decisive. They start the ball rolling. Set some goals for your spiritual growth. Set some goals for the spiritual growth of your family. Set some goals for your work product. Set some goals for your small group or your fellowship class. Be hungry for something of real value.

How long would a shepherd have a flock if all he did was react? More than that, what percentage of great things have been done in the name of reaction?

Jesus is the ultimate example of this. One of my favorite verses in any modern worship song is:

You did not wait for me, to draw near to You
but You clothed Yourself in frail humanity.
You did not wait for me, to cry out to You,
but You let me hear Your voice calling me.
And I’m forever grateful, to You.
And I’m forever grateful, for the cross.
I’m forever grateful, to You,
that You came to seek and save the lost.

If Christ did not take the initiative, we are still in our sins.

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

If Jesus had not taken the initiative with Peter, James, John and the rest of the disciples, they would have kept on fishing and we wouldn’t be here.

A godly man-servant isn’t lazy, he leads. He takes the initiative.

2. Take Responsibility

God has given various responsibilities to women, but God has given the greatest responsibility to men. Men are the head (1 Corinthians 11:3, 8, 9). That means, for example, it is the head’s problem not only when there is a pain in the head but also when their is pain in the knee.

Godly men don’t make excuses. Real men do not rationalize. They do not blame other people for their problems or their mistakes.

This is perhaps our greatest area of weakness. We love to take the glory for things going right, but we are excellent at making excuses for when things go wrong. We, as men, have a long history of excuse makers as our examples. It goes all the way back to our first father, Adam. You undoubtedly remember the story of Man’s Fall in Genesis 3. Let’s read the story to see where we get this excuse making from.

There are so many problems in Genesis 3:1-19. God had charged Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:15-17). Then God made Adam a helper: Eve. We can assume then, that it was Adam’s responsibility to instruct his wife and guide her to fulfill the responsibility that God had given to him not to eat from the tree. But somewhere there was a mix up. There was a failure to communicate because as soon as we get into chapter three we see the serpent tempting Eve.

Eve falls for the temptation and she eats fruit from the tree but Adam is held responsible! Men are held accountable to lead and to guide and to be men! The feminine thing to do is follow. The manly thing to do is lead. It would have been the manly thing for Adam to say “No.” It would have been the masculine thing to do so say, “I must obey God first.” But Adam followed Eve.

Really, that is not the worst of it. Not only did Adam make an excuse and say that Eve made him do it, then he actually blamed God. “The woman You gave me” (v.12) That is bold but not noble. That is fearless but not God-fearing.

Adam blamed God for his sin. He made excuses for his choice. We can’t let this happen. We can’t be a church of guys who let other people take the blame for our failures. We dare not sit back and cop-out, cover up, defend or disguise our weakness. We can’t shift the blame if we want to be men who glorify God.

What if Jesus had said, “It’s not my fault that these guys sinned. There is no way I’m going to do something to help them. I didn’t do anything wrong.” But instead, “He who knew no sin” became “sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). That is an example of taking responsibility.

Not only do we need to stop making excuses for things that actually are our fault, we also need to serve and sacrifice and love and cover for other’s failures, at least if we want to be like Jesus.

So as we look at these characteristics of Biblical Masculinity, don’t make excuses for where you are failing. Don’t look for ways to explain why you can’t do this or that. I admonish you men and young men here tonight to rise up, follow the example of our Lord, and be responsibility takers for the glory of God.

My dad shared this poem with me when I was a kid. I’ve never forgotten it. It was written by Pat Williams, a former NBA General Manager.

Winners vs. Losers

When a winner makes a mistake, he says, “I was wrong;“
When a loser makes a mistake, he says, “It wasn’t my fault.”

A winner works harder than a loser and has more time;
A loser is always “too busy” to do what is necessary.

A winner goes through a problem;
A loser goes around it, and never gets past it.

A winner makes commitments;
A loser makes promises.

A winner says, “I’m good, but not as good as I ought to be;“
A loser says, “I’m not as bad as a lot of other people.”

A winner listens;
A loser just waits until it is his turn to talk.

A winner respects those who are superior to him
and tries to learn something from them;
A loser resents those who are superior to him
and tries to find chinks in their armor.

A winner feels responsible for more than his job;
A loser says, “I only work here.”

A godly man-servant doesn’t shirk responsibility, he shoulders it.

3. Make Sacrifices

This is not to say that women don’t sacrifice, but men are called to a particular kind of sacrifice in their service.

It is too often that we find men indulging themselves, seeing how much we can get someone to sacrifice for us. Instead our lives are to be spent for the sake of others.

This is precisely what we see in Mark 10 as Jesus describes the kinds of servants that follow Him.

We see this especially for husbands in Ephesians 5:25-33.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)

Just as athletes exercise self-control in all things (1 Corinthians 9:24-27), so men must make sacrifices in order to serve.

Of course, this is typically not-convenient. But a godly man-servant is not self-centered, he is self-sacrificing.

Isn’t it interesting that the world portrays men just the opposite of these three distinctives? Men are not seen as initiators, but as lazy, undisciplined, reactors. Men are not viewed as responsible, but as taking every measure possible to get out of responsibility and justify their shortcomings. And men are not seen as those who sacrifice, but as those who scheme how to indulge themselves even more.

But when our lives are lives of service, taking initiative, taking responsibility, and making sacrifices, we provide a stability and security to our families and to our ministries. Men are to be dependable, not masters of the unaccomplished plan and unorganized activity.

Conclusion

We’re prone not to take laziness very seriously. We take being drunk seriously—being a slave to self through the pleasures of alcohol. That’s a major taboo, a “biggie” sin. Then we talk about gluttony—being a slave to self through the pleasures of food. That’s bad but more acceptable. Then maybe we talk about laziness—being a slave to self through the pleasures of inactivity/sleep.

What can you take away from this message?

1. Learn the Gospel.

Serving as godly men is only possible because of the gospel. The gospel changes us internally and provides an external example. Remember and rehearse the gospel over and over.

Consider Philippians 2:5-11 and Mark 10:35-45.

Until the gospel kills our pride we won’t serve.

The gospel rescues us from the bondage of serving ourselves. It frees us to serve others. It breaks the power of laziness internally and motivates us by example externally.

2. Get to Work.

It doesn’t matter where you are: home, work, church. And it is all three, not one, not two. The mess we’ve made in modern life doesn’t change that God has given us responsibilities to provide for our family outside the home, to shepherd our family at home, and to lead our family in worship at church. We need men at work.

And don’t let me give the impression that work is easy. There is a reason they call it work and not recess or vacation. You are going to be tired.

Theodore Roosevelt said,

There has never yet been a man who led a life of ease, whose name is worth remembering.

In some senses this isn’t ultimately about work, this is about worship. When we serve like men we honor our heavenly Father. We need to serve for the sake of our families, for the sake of our churches, and for the sake of our own joy.

To be men at work we’ve got to lead, shoulder responsibility, make sacrifices. Let there be no effeminate slackness among the men of God. To be great is to be a servant. To be a godly servant is to be a man. To be a godly man is to be like Christ.

Fight. Work. Serve. Love. Pray like men!