Act Like Men

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 / ESV)

This coming Sunday is Father’s Day so I will go ahead and take the liberty now to beat everyone to the punch: Happy Father’s Day! I’m preaching on the above scripture verses and I would be lying to say that I’m not excited. I’m pretty stoked to share my thoughts on Paul’s words to the church of Corinth because they apply today as much or more than they have applied to any other time in our lives. You will have to make your way out to Troy, Montana to hear the full sermon because I believe God wants me to write about just three simple, yet incredibly loaded and bearing much weight, words for my Trench Brothers today: act like men.

Many of us have heard things throughout our childhood and into our adult lives about what it takes to be a man. For instance, my father taught me that men work hard. Growing up under my parents’ roof, there was never a time that I can remember that my dad wasn’t outside doing something that he felt needed to be done. He was constantly working in the yard, planting things and trimming things. The grass was both cut and watered, once a week, like clockwork. He was starting new projects often. From patios to reroofing the house, from fence mending, to shed building – my dad was working hard.

He was tough, too. His father had passed on certain ways to conduct himself to my father, and he did his absolute best to pass that down to my brother and I as well. Stand your ground, or, stand up for yourself, were common words heard around the house as a young boy. Dad didn’t necessarily advocate for fighting and yet I heard these encouraging words about that: If you have to punch someone, punch the guy talking the loudest. Everyone else will shut up and leave you alone. He paired these “helpful hints” with stories from his own childhood about being the victor on the playground or at the park after school. It is safe to say that I developed my ideas and pictures of manhood from my father, and I believe today, that it is also true that only a small percentage of that information is actually truth, according to God.

I want to highlight and briefly lay out what I believe the bible means when Paul (and God) tells us to act like men. There are 5 basic principles here:

1. Have genuine humility before God. What does this mean? Brothers – (a) acknowledge your imperfections. The bible tells us that, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) When we start to compromise our stuff and act as if our sin is less than someone else’s sin, humility can swiftly start to look more like arrogance and pride. (b) Accept that we are saved through and because of Christ, and that nothing we have done or can do is able to improve our chances. Thank God (!) that we are saved by Grace and that He is patient with us. (Read 2 Peter 3:9) And finally, (c) we must have a continual sense of dependence on God. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. I don’t care how hard you work or how tough you are – without realizing that every single thing we do and are comes from God – that hard work and toughness is worthless. The author of Hebrews tell us that, “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)
2. Control our fleshly appetites. God, and only God, gives us a way out of every temptation we ever face. We run ourselves into real trouble when we start to think that our shoulders are broad enough. We think, as men, in so many different situations, that we have the power to say “no” and therefore allow ourselves to be placed by the enemy in harms way. God’s Word says, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Cor 10:13) If this is true, and I believe it is, then God allows us to be tempted, AND, He gives us a way out. The way out – in my humbled opinion, is to know where that line is drawn between Satan baiting you, and God’s allowance. For example, you see a naked woman standing at the door, just turn and walk away. When you don’t, and think you can control yourself after you walk inside, that’s where Satan baits you.
3. Protect our family. This means physically AND spiritually. Physically, we need to look no further than the model Jesus gave us. The bible tells us that we should, “…love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:25) This means brothers – we ought to be prepared if need be to lay our lives down for our wives. But protecting our family means so much more than this. Spiritually, let’s look at Adam and Eve as an example. Yes it’s true that Eve sinned first in the garden, but who got in trouble for failing to lead her? Adam did. Why? Because as I understand this story in the bible, he was chilling out, not really paying attention to what Eve was doing when he should have been. We don’t know what would or wouldn’t have happened if Adam was standing beside his wife when the serpent first showed his slimy self. Once again though, thank God it all went down the way it did. We need Jesus as our Savior to help us protect our family!
4. Provide for our family. This means monetarily and it also means in every other way: spiritually, safety, love, healthy, familial, and the list can go on and on. The bible says, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Tim 5:8) That’s a pretty hard fact to consider. I don’t want to be considered worse than an unbeliever. Jesus help me to be a better provider for my family! Amen.
5. Lead our family. Again, we find ourselves looking to Jesus as the model of this principle. We are called to lead with love, service, and sacrifice men. This does not look like, get behind me or know your place sort of leadership. Where we really get this wrong is when we incorrectly interpret scripture where it refers to our spouse as the “weaker vessel”. This word does not actually mean “weak”. The context meant to be discovered in 1 Peter 3:7, where it says, “weaker vessel”, actually means precious, expensive, and valuable. How many times when reading this have we, as men, looked at that and said to ourselves, yep – she is the weaker vessel. I need to put her in her place. If you’re a woman reading this, that sounds pretty archaic and Neanderthal like doesn’t it? That’s because it is, and it’s incorrect. Women – you are precious, expensive, and valuable to us!

Now brothers, this is my interpretation of what it means to biblically act like men, and I think you’ll find that if you practice these things, your family and your wives will actually want to submit to you. This Father’s Day, my prayer for you, is that you will be renewed through the Love of Christ as Dads and Husbands, and that you will walk with the confidence that God has given you to ACT LIKE MEN.

Now let’s SUIT UP!