I am not sure how many marks I am going to have, but I do know there will be at least four. I am basing this post on a sermon I heard recently from John MacArthur and he outlined at least four marks. I felt compelled to do this topic due to the upcoming weekend Men’s Conference called “Manning Up: in church, home, and culture“. Our local church is hosting the conference during the weekend of Feb. 19th. I am very excited about the conference so I decided to do some pre-conference research and study.

The marks of a godly man can be found in 1 Timothy chapter 6. This text is the basis of John MacArthur’s sermon “4 Marks of the Man of God“. The first mark that a godly man is known by is what he flees from.

But as for you, O man of God, flee from these things. (1 Tim. 6:11a ESV)

In MacArthur’s sermon he points out the greek grammer used here in this verse. The context of flee is a continuial action that is commanded here. We get the word running man or fugitive. We are commanded to be running relentlessly all the time. What is the man of God to flee from? The previous text in the chapter helps me answer this question. It is the lust of money found in verses 9 and 10. If you go all the way back to verse 3 we find that Paul (the author of the text) is referring to those who are deprived of the truth and assume an air of godliness and religion for personal gain. We are instructed by God, through this letter of Paul to Timothy, to flee from the draw and lust of money and it’s influences on our life for all of our lives. Never ceasing. We are never to put a price on our calling. Never put a price on your ministry. John MacArthur forms the following into a statement, but I like the question form. If you do put a price on it, will you have prostituted your calling of God into personal gain? We are to flee I say, flee. Desire to be a running man.

Running Man sketch courtesy of The Digital Sketchbook.