God Created Men

The content of this post was originally taught as a lesson to 6th Graders, the first half of a two-part co-teaching.

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In 1862, Victor Hugo published a massive, epic book titled Les Misérables. The story takes places over the course of decades and follows the lives of many characters. One of my favourite threads woven into the masterpiece is the story of a man named "Jean Valjean", a good French name.


As the story opens, Valjean has been in prison for 15 years. We find out he was caught stealing a loaf of bread because he was so poor and hungry. That seems like a small offense to us, but it grew into a big issue. At the start, Valjean is released on parole and finds refuge with a kindly priest. But old habits die hard and Valjean is caught stealing some silver candlesticks. However, the old priest offers him Mercy and Grace.

I remember when Bob the Tomato explained to me Mercy and Grace. Mercy, he said, is when the punishment I deserve is not given; Grace is when I don't deserve anything good, but receive a free gift. The priest offered Jean Valjean both Mercy and Grace. He forgave the thief and in fact gave the silver candlesticks to him, telling him to use the money to start a new life.

The story skips ahead a few years and Valjean has used the money to start a factory business and is no longer referred to as "Jean Valjean" but "Monsieur le maire" (Mr. the Mayor). He is a totally changed man, thanks to the second chance he received from the priest. Soon, one of his former employees, Fantine, is sick and dying. So, being a merciful and graceful man, Valjean promises to find and care for her daughter, Cosette.

But just as he turns to go find her, who should show up but Javert, the jailer from years ago. Javert is stuck with tunnel-vision, believing that Valjean escaped parole and deserves to go back to jail. The contrast between how Valjean serves others and how Javert seeks only his goal is striking. The confrontation that follows is captured in the song, "The Confrontation". How Valjean cares for others even while he himself is being pursued by Javert is stunning to me.

Today, Traci and I are here to talk about how God created men and women unique. I'm glad Traci is teaching the other half, since I've never been a woman and can't talk from experience there. But I have been a man, and I am excited to explore how God created us me to reflect His image uniquely.

In talking beforehand, I offered "ladies first", but Traci asked me to start. It got me thinking about how that's sometimes true, sometimes not. For instance, God created Adam first and gave him the responsibility to take care of the Garden, take care of Eve, and pass on the command against eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We know the story how he botched that responsibility.

"Ladies first" on the lifeboat from the sinking Titanic, but "men first" in the war zone. There's a lot of political talk lately about including women in the draft. My gut response says, "I don't really want to fight, but send me before we send women." It feels like there's something not how it's supposed to be if we send women into battle.

This is not at all because men are better or women are any less. God created us equal, yet unique. In fact, I'd argue that men should be the first to fight precisely because there's something sacred and special about women.

In our culture, we have all kinds of definitions of what a man is; usually it includes muscles, facial hair, and action movies. Even sometimes we Christians can get a messed up picture of what it means to be a man. We can get super specific in our definitions, while God created a pretty broad range of men. If men must be gruff and tough, what if I like art? If men are always clueless and stupid (as in the movies and TV shows), what if I'm not?

God offers a better definition of manhood in Scripture. Isaiah 32:1-2 says, "Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice. Each [man] will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land." (ESV). Men were created to be just and righteous, and to be a "shelter from the storm."

The summer before 7th Grade, I went on a Bike Trip in the UP. It rained almost every day, and each morning when I woke up, my tent was soaked. Yet inside it, my friends and I and all our stuff was dry.  Or how about this: a bodyguard is willing to jump in front of a bullet, even if he gets shot. The shelter protects what's inside, but it also gets blasted by the storm.

God created men to serve, even when it costs. In Titus 2, Paul speaks to a young man as the pastor of a church. He gives Titus directions to encourage older women, younger women, older men, and younger men with. Each has a handful of directions, but for young men, Paul only gives Titus one encouragement. Verse 6 says, "Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled" (ESV). It takes self-control to live life aware of serving the other instead of just living for myself.

Back in middle school I was trying to figure out how to serve women. I learned it starts small: even holding the door open for someone is a small gesture of caring for someone else, even if it costs me a few seconds. Another way to care for others is to listen well. Girls don't have cooties, I promise. They're real human beings with thoughts and feelings and dreams. When you care about what interests her, you serve her.

One of my favourite Bible stories of a godly man is the story of Boaz. We all know the story of Ruth. Naomi and her husband Elimilech traveled to a foreign land in a famine, and both of their sons married foreign women, Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpah. Soon, both the sons died, along with their dad, leaving three widows.

In Old Testament times, names were highly valued, since your name was your reputation. Proverbs reminds us how good it is to have a good name--even more than gold or silver. God gave Moses a law about "Kinsman Redeemers". If a man died without having heirs, his brother should marry his widow to carry on his legacy. Yet since Mahlon's brother Chilion also died, who was next in line?

After coming back to Israel, Ruth and Naomi meet a righteous and just man named Boaz. Boaz takes the widows under his care. Eventually, he decides to marry Ruth to better take care of her and Naomi, but there is one cousin closer in line as the Kinsman Redeemer. Ruth 4 records the conversation between Boaz and the unnamed Kinsman Redeemer.

Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.” (Ruth 4:3-6 ESV)

Notice the contrast between the other man's concern for only his plan for life and Boaz' desire to serve, no matter what the cost. Boaz was willing to step out of his comfort zone and inconvenience himself for the other.

My favourite part of the story comes a few verses later. Boaz and Ruth get married and have a son named Obed. "Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David," who was in the family line of Jesus. The lineage of Obed does not at all name Mahlon, but God blessed Boaz to be part of the lineage of Jesus.

Jesus is our ultimate example of a godly manhood. In Ephesians 5:25, Paul tells men to love women as Christ loved the Church and literally died for us. Jesus served us, even when the cost was his own life. Let's take up the challenge to be men of God who serve even when it costs us something.