#310 - Kyle Thompson // TOXIC vs. TETHERED: Godly Leadership

Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the

Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the

forces of evil. Your hosts are Jobimarton and Kyle Thompson, and they stand

ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Hi guys, welcome back. All week this week we're going to be looking at claims

of toxic masculinity from our culture, and then we're going to see what the Bible

has to say about those claims, and we'll keep hammering home the point of

tethered masculinity as a counter to the claims of culture. So tethered

masculinity, again our definition for this week, it's the identity and actions of

a man submitted to the authority of scripture. So here's cultural claim

number two, masculine leadership is oppressive. So you've surely heard this

before, but this claim is not mostly said for the most part, it's mostly

screamed out by people, you know, they'll shriek things like the patriarchy, the

patriarchy, the patriarchy, which is ultimately just short form for the claim

that masculine leadership is oppressive. You'll see a bunch of women with

nothing better to do dressed up and handmaids, tail outfits outside the Supreme

Court. If they make a decision that would make it slightly harder for women to

kill their unborn children, but hey, the patriarchy or something. But if we're

being honest, the cultural claims aren't totally false. I mean, there are

forms of masculine leadership that are in fact oppressive. They don't lead to

human flourishing. And yes, it would be okay to categorize those things as

toxic. But again, the people yelling those claims are

painting with too broad of a brush as they try to push masculinity to the

fringes of society. So while I agree that masculine leadership can be

oppressive, I want to remind them that tethered masculinity is never oppressive

because a masculinity that is tethered to the will and word of God leads

to life and flourishing. So let's actually go to Ephesians 5. Let's start in

verse 22. The Apostle Paul says this, wives submit to your own husbands as to

the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is head of

the church, his body and is himself, its savior. Now as the church submits

to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. To

which all the men said, Amen, right? Well, fellas, you know, that section's

for her. It's not for you. So let's actually keep reading verse 25, husbands

love your wives. How has Christ loved the church and gave himself up for

her? That he might sanctify her having cleans her by the washing of the

water with the word so that he might present the church to himself and

splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be wholly

and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as

their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated

his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.

Because we are members of his body. So that's, you know, that's pretty heavy

stuff, right? Love your wives as Christ loved the church, which leads to the

obvious question, how did Christ love the church? Well, he sacrificed for, you

know, he washed feet, he touched lepers, he protected the vulnerable, he

suffered for her, right? He rebuked wolves, he went silent under false

accusation, he took the crucifixion, nails and all without retaliation, and he

ultimately died for her. And in Ephesians 5 and other places in scripture, we get a

picture of the right ordering of households and ultimately society. God is the

creator and ruler of all. He has made the man the head of the family. The man is

to be subservient to the will of God. God gave man a woman to be his wife, a

helpmate, made fit for him. They are to be fruitful and multiply, which means

children. They are to jointly raise those children up in the nurture and

admonition of the Lord and children are to honor and obey their parents. That is

order and that is tethered masculinity. I don't do what I want to do. I do what

God wills me to do. I don't treat my wife. However, I see fit at the moment. I am to

love her as Christ loved the church, which is a sacrificial love. And that's not a

one-time sacrifice, guys. It's an enduring sacrifice. So yes, if a man leads a

life that is untethered from God's right ordering of the household, then yeah. Of

course, you can expect that man's leadership to be oppressive. But when a man

submits to the will of God and loves his wife as Christ loved the church,

there is flourishing and joy. So do you listen to this? Have you bought the

cultural lie that your masculine leadership is somehow toxic? And if you

haven't, have you tethered your masculine leadership to God's word and his

will for your life? Keep those questions in mind today.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Before you go, if you want to help

equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star

rating and review. Stay sharp.