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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 Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Culture’s Claim: Leadership Is Oppressive

Defining Tethered Masculinity

Ephesians 5: A Hard Look

Christlike Love In Action

God’s Order For The Home

Untethered vs Tethered Outcomes

Questions, Charge, And Closing

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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, you know, 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 in handmaid's 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 twenty-five. Husbands love your wives. How, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the 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. 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 listening 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.

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