24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

• Therefore... because we are part of each other most of us crave this connection, this relationship with the other sex. And this relationship is defined by God as marriage because there is a holding fast to this relationship.

Genesis 3:8-98 ...and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

• Now, we’ve covered all this to show that man was called to be responsible first.

STAY MARRIED (PART 1)THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF A MANBig Idea: Men are called to be responsible not only in marriage, but also in culture. Before we can commit to taking responsibility, we have to be convinced that we’re called to be responsible. Once we’re convinced that we’re called to be responsible, we have to understand what we’re responsible for in life.

• My Dad• The Stats (Pages 57-58 of Real Marriage)

1 Corinthians 6:13-1413 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

1) Be watchful. Watchful means you’re on watch. You’re the one guarding the door of your home. Being watchful means being alert, awake. In other words, you men are driving your families somewhere, so don’t be asleep at the wheel. You have to know where you’re going. Being

Copyright © 2013 Thor Ramsey www.canyonlakechurch.org

watchful is about being responsible. What are men responsible for?

• Responsible for Leading (You are the primary example in your family of obedience to Christ which is always about humbling ourselves and giving ourselves and sacrificing ourselves for our families)

• Responsible for Learning (This is not about reading. It’s about learning. Do you have an i-Pod of some sort? Then you can learn. Find some good teaching. Listen to it. Guard your doctrine and your family.)

• Responsible for Loving (Loving is providing for, but that’s only one aspect of loving. Does your family see you model the love of the gospel?)

2) Every time Jesus or the Apostle Paul taught on marriage and responsibility, they went back to Genesis.

Genesis 2:1515 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

• Men are created to work. Work is not a curse of the fall. Man worked before the fall; paradise was not a life of napping in the hammock while sucking on straws poked into coconuts.

• The curse was that our work would now be toilsome. It would be difficult, but since work is God’s original design for us, we still find it rewarding even when difficult.

• Less than 1% of America’s 22.5 million married families with children under 15 have a stay at home dad.

• Work as a false god and irresponsible men who refuse to grow up.

Genesis 2:16-1716 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 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.”

• The first command is given to man. The implication is that man is now responsible for the spiritual health of those who come after him.

Genesis 2:1818 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

• Isolationism; doing it all on your own; not needing help – these are all false ideas of manhood.

• Helper = collaborator, co-worker, colleague, partner

• Helper only has negative connotations because we live in a culture that is dominated by arrogance and pride. (Design Star) Everyone wants servants. No one wants to be a servant. This alone should highlight the countercultural aspect of Christianity.

Genesis 2:21-2521 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bonesand flesh of my flesh;she shall be called Woman,because she was taken out of Man.”

Copyright © 2013 Thor Ramsey www.canyonlakechurch.org