Vox Men’s Exchange Conference 2026 – Session 4 Notes

Sermon by – Lead Pastor Justin Kendrick – Vox Church

Pastor Justin’s message centered on Romans 5:17 and the question of what kind of men we are becoming. Not simply whether men are moral or successful, but whether they are living under Christ in the way God intended.

“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.”
— Romans 5:17

He kept returning to that phrase: reign in life.

The sermon was not about men becoming louder, more aggressive, more dominant, or more outwardly masculine. It was about men being restored through Christ to what Adam failed to be.

Paul says death entered through one man. That matters. Eve ate first, but Scripture places responsibility on Adam. Pastor Justin pointed out that Adam was there. He did not intervene. He did not protect. He did not lead. He stayed passive in the moment responsibility required action.

That reframes the fall in an important way. Adam’s problem was not only rebellion. It was passive failure. He had been given responsibility to work and keep the garden. The word “keep” carries the idea of guarding and protecting. In the moment that responsibility mattered most, Adam remained silent.

That same pattern still shows up now. Many men are not absent physically, but they are absent spiritually, emotionally, or morally. They drift. They avoid responsibility. They refuse hard conversations. They stay passive while things around them slowly fall apart.

Pastor Justin contrasted that with Christ.

Where Adam failed, Christ obeyed.
Where Adam brought death, Christ brings life.
Where Adam stood passive, Christ stepped forward.

Romans 5:17 says those who receive grace and righteousness now reign in life through Jesus Christ. The emphasis was important. Receive. This is not self-manufactured strength. A man cannot build biblical masculinity out of ego, discipline alone, or external performance. He must first receive grace and righteousness from Christ.

That changes how a man sees himself.

Pastor Justin spoke about identity and shared that his first tattoo said “Son of the King.” The point was not the tattoo itself. It was that his understanding of who he was in Christ began to reorder his life. His family changed. His direction changed. His understanding of manhood changed.

A man who believes he is condemned, unwanted, or defined by failure will live differently than a man who understands he has been justified by God.

Justification was a major part of the sermon. Pastor Justin described it as a legal declaration. In the courtroom of heaven, the believer has been declared righteous through Christ. The case is settled. There is no double jeopardy. The Christian is not endlessly trying to earn acceptance before God.

That freedom does not remove responsibility. It restores it.

The sermon then moved into what he described as three common responses to masculinity in modern culture.

The first bucket was repression.

Some men are taught that strength itself is dangerous. Energy, ambition, leadership, aggression, competitiveness, and drive are treated as problems to suppress. Men are told to become harmless, passive, agreeable, and emotionally flattened. Pastor Justin used Mr. Rogers as a cultural example of the overly softened version of masculinity many people now expect.

There is truth in gentleness, patience, and kindness. Scripture calls men to those things. But suppressing strength is not the same as sanctifying it. Buried strength does not become holy. It usually becomes passive.

The second bucket was release.

Other men reject suppression entirely and swing the opposite direction. They lash out. They dominate. They use bravado, intimidation, anger, ego, and selfish ambition as proof of strength. This version of masculinity glorifies control, pride, lust, and self-exaltation.

Pastor Justin made it clear this is not biblical masculinity either. It is strength disconnected from submission to God.

Then he gave the third category: reign.

This was the biblical vision.

A Christian man is not called to repress strength or recklessly release it. He is called to reign in life through Christ.

That means strength brought under the rule of God. Leadership with humility. Courage with restraint. Responsibility instead of passivity. Protection instead of domination.

A man who reigns in life leads from the front. He speaks truth. He works hard. He takes accountability. He protects what God has entrusted to him. He does not wait for others to act first. He does not drift through life reacting to everything around him.

Pastor Justin then showed a framework for what this kind of man looks like.

First, a man’s life must be oriented toward God. He was made to glorify God and enjoy Him. If God is not at the center, something else will eventually take His place. Success, pleasure, comfort, politics, approval, entertainment, achievement. A man’s life is always aimed somewhere.

Second, a man’s heart must be oriented toward the Lord and His kingdom. Christ must rule the inner life. Thoughts, desires, motives, priorities, and decisions all flow from there. You cannot reign rightly if you are ruled by something else.

Third, a man must be oriented toward work. God told Adam to work and keep the garden before sin entered the world. Work is not part of the curse itself, though the curse made work painful. Men are called to labor faithfully, take ownership, and carry responsibility seriously. Pastor Justin emphasized that this applies whether someone is leading a company or stocking shelves. The issue is not status. It is faithfulness.

Fourth, a man must be rightly oriented toward women. Pastor Justin spoke directly against pornography, objectification, and using women for selfish desire. A man of God nourishes and cherishes rather than consumes. He protects instead of exploits. He shared a simple story about helping a woman with her bag on a plane and noted how unusual basic care and respect can seem in a culture where many women have experienced selfish or manipulative men.

Fifth, a man must be oriented toward children and the next generation. Men are called to train and instruct. This includes their own children, but not only their own. Churches, communities, and younger believers all need stable, present, godly men willing to step into responsibility instead of remaining detached.

Finally, a man must be oriented toward love of neighbor and even enemy. Christian masculinity is not harshness. It reflects Christ. It tells the truth, but it also loves. It has courage, but also mercy. Loving enemies requires far more strength than simply overpowering them.

Near the end of the message, Pastor Justin spoke about the different ways people try to satisfy the deeper hunger in the human heart.

Some pursue things. Money, possessions, comfort, success.

Some pursue pleasure. Experiences, entertainment, sex, escape.

Some pursue knowledge. Understanding, intelligence, being right.

Some pursue legacy. Family name, children, influence, future generations.

Some pursue a cause. Purpose, mission, justice, something larger than themselves.

He was not saying those things are automatically wrong. Many are good gifts in their proper place. The point was that most people stop too shallow. They never go deep enough to reach what the soul is actually searching for.

At the deepest level is eternity. God Himself.

Nothing else fully satisfies because mankind was made for communion with God. Men keep trying to fill spiritual hunger with temporary things.

That ties directly back to Romans 5:17. Men are not meant to reign through possessions, pleasure, intelligence, legacy, or personal ambition. They are meant to reign in life through Jesus Christ.

The central challenge of the sermon was not simply “be better men.” It was deeper than that.

Receive grace.
Receive righteousness.
Stop living passively.
Step into responsibility under Christ.

That is the Christian answer to the crisis of masculinity.