Father's Day 2024

Prayer

Text: 1 Corinthians 16:13-15 (NASB95)

Esp. vs. 13c: “act like men”

Other Translations

The KJV (has always resonated with me): quit you like men

BBE: be strong like men

NLT (and others strip the masculinity): MSG … give it all you’ve got … NLT Be courageous: (NLT Study notes: Literally Be men)

Complete Jewish Bible: “behave like a mentsh”

Wikipedia: According to Leo Rosten, a mensch is "someone to admire and emulate, someone of noble character. The key to being 'a real mensch' is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, responsible, decorous."[2] The term is used as a high compliment, implying the rarity and value of that individual's qualities.

What is interesting is that the phrase: act like a man, quit you like men, be strong like me or behave like a mentsh is actually the attempt to translate a single Greek word

That Greek word is: (an-DRID- zoh-my)

Which is used ONLY once in the NT — in our text

It is used several times in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT)

The one that stands out to me is in Joshua 1:9 (LSB) [where God tells Joshua]“Have I not commanded you? [an-DRID-zoh-my - be a man of strength and courage!] Do not be in dread or be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”

Over my 36 years of preaching, I have preached from this verse on many occasions.

Mainly on Father’s Day.

But I want us to look at it again this morning.

BE MANFUL

John Butler tells us this Greek word telling us to be Manful is a Greek word with 2 main thoughts ...

• Have character.

The Corinthians were acting childish in their behavior in the church and Paul told them to stop acting like children but to grow up and act mature like adults.

Our churches today, like Corinth, are also filled with babies who should have grown up long ago.

Their childish demeanor … hinders the work of the lord.

• Have courage.

Being “like men” here also involves acting with courage.

Butler says:

We do not need a bunch of cream puffs in Christianity who act sissy-like.

We must not be afraid to stand up for Jesus.

So, the Apostle Paul is calling on us men to be mature and to have courage.

BE MATURE

John MacArthur talks extensively about this command saying:

[This is a third] … military command fired out by Paul … Act like men.

“Quit you like men.”

That simply means to act like a man.

.... it has the idea of courage.

But it also is used in a—in reference to maturity.

Both [of those thoughts] in this one Greek word, the idea of courage and maturity but then again aren’t those almost coequal?

A child, somebody immature, tends not to be courageous

a mature person tends to be courageous,

a child tends to be rather fearful,

a mature person tends to have a sense of control and confidence,

and that’s essentially what the Apostle Paul is saying:

You should be courageous men, grown up and mature.

Conducting ourselves in a manly way … .

For a moment, let’s emphasize the maturity element of this word because the courage part will come along behind the maturity.

We can go back to the third chapter of 1 Corinthians, which may be a familiar text on this theme where the Apostle writes:

1 Corinthians 3:1–2 (LSB) And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are still not able,

He’s telling them, you’re like bunch of babies, I can’t even dispense good solid food, I have to keep giving you this milk stuff.

Over and over again he tells them to grow up.

Towards the end of 1 Corinthians 4 he said:

I have to talk to you like sons, …

I have to treat you like little kids and if you don’t shape up I’m going to come to you … and if I come to you, I’m going to spank you, if I have to.

He literally [asks], “Do you want me to come with a rod of disciple?”

And then, in 14:20 Paul deals with the Corinthians by saying…

1 Corinthians 14:20 (KJV) Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

… But in understanding (what?) be men.”

Grow up!

The Corinthians were acting like a bunch of babies, they were not being

men in understanding,

… men in courage,

and they were not men in maturity,

Instead they were acting like babies fighting, squabbling, immature, flopping around from every false doctrine like Ephesians 4:14 says.

They were … infantile and consequently they could not defend themselves against the onslaughts of Satan.

The Corinthians had not grown up, and so the Apostle Paul treated them like children, threatening to spank them, attempting to correct their childish sibling rivalries.

They were so petty and childish they were taking brothers to court, fighting, squabbling.

Paul says to them in, 1 Corinthians 13:11 (LSB) When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things.

Even their religious worship was infantile;

it was all based on feelings and emotions rather than truth and doctrine.

So Paul says, “GROW UP!”.

And you know something?

If they’d just grown up they would have eliminated

a whole lot of self-inflicted problems,

a whole lot of carnality, fighting, squabbling, and an infantile kind of religion.

If they had only been MEN in understanding, an emotional religion would have given way to a relationship with Jesus based on truth .

Paul tells them over and over, grow up, …

… and be alert — if they had been alert they wouldn’t have gotten into all this mess.

… Be firm in your theology — their understanding of who God is and how He deals with us..

Be mature — if they’d of been mature they would have eliminated all the squabbles and hassles and fightings and inadequacies and ineptitudes of immaturity.

What Paul says to the Corinthians 2000 years ago, the Lord is telling us today

Grow up and be mature.

Jesus tells us through 2 Peter 3:18 (LSB) but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. …

Grow as Ephesians 4:13–14 (LSB) [says] until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming,

Grow up into Him, who is the head and no longer be children, see?

Grow up.

You ask, how do I do that?

To be alert, I look through the Word.

To be firm, I study the doctrine of the Word.

But how can I grow up?

1 Peter 2:2 (LSB) [tells us how] … like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

Get into the Word and through the power of the Holy Spirit, let the Word get inside of you.

Through it we will find out how to be alert.

We’ll be firm and we’ll begin to mature.

It’s not so tough; it’s all right here in the Word.

BE COURAGEOUS

And as we grow in maturity…

We will grow in courage

We will be ready to stand up and be counted!

In the midst of the battle, we will prove ourselves to adults.

As adults we will do what we are supposed to do:

1. Even if the polls are against it.

2. Even if people don’t understand or approve.

3. Again, as our text says, we must: quit ourselves as men

As adults, as men, we do what we are supposed to do, so that when:

1. People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.

a) We willl love them anyway.

2. We will do good, even though people will accuse us of selfish ulterior motives.

a) We will do good anyway.

3. If we are successful, we will win false friends and true enemies.

a) But we will strive to succeed anyway.

4. Honesty and frankness will make us vulnerable.

a) But we will be honest and frank anyway.

5. The good we do today will be forgotten tomorrow.

a) Do good anyway.

6. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest pride.

a) Let’s think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs.

a) Let’s fight for some underdogs anyway.

8. What we spent years building may be destroyed overnight.

a) Let’s do the right thing, and build anyway.

9. We know that when we give the world the best we have we may get kicked in the teeth.

a) Let’s give the world the best we've got anyway!

Living for Christ, doing the right thing, the adult thing, the manly thing

will take great courage in these final days of time.

But we have an example of courage to follow:

...looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 )

Jesus’ example of courage will enable us to do what the NFL’s three-time Super Bowl champion, Harrison Butker. did a few weeks ago:

He stood up for truth

He refused to keep quiet about the woke cancer eating its way through American culture.

To the graduates of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, Butker spoke plainly —

about Joe Biden’s phony Catholicism,

about the horrors of transgenderism and abortion,

about the church’s refusal to speak into the moral issues of the day.

Butker admitted to that Class of 2024.

“These are the sorts of things we are told in polite society to not bring up,” “You know, the difficult and unpleasant things. But if we are going to be men and women for this time in history, we need to stop pretending that the ‘Church of Nice’ is a winning proposition. We must always speak and act in charity, but never mistake charity for cowardice.”

The woke crowd went crazy!

Hatefully attacking him and demeaning him.

After two weeks of being vilified by leftists and their media mouthpieces following his commencement speech at Benedictine College, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker responded to the criticism directed at him,

By backing off?

By apologizing?

No!

By doubling down on boldly voicing Christian truth and standing proudly by his Catholic faith.

Speaking at the “Courage Under Fire” gala for Regina Caeli Academy (RCA) … , the conservative Catholic football star mused,

“The theme for tonight’s gala, ‘Courage Under Fire,’ was decided many months ago, but it now feels providential that this would be the theme after what we have all witnessed these past two weeks.”

Are we willing to be as courageous as Harrison Butker?

To hold to Biblical principles even while under fire?

At our place of work?

In our schools?

In our neighborhoods?

In the public arena?

(Really hard!) in our families?

I AM ONE

When you do so, you may feel so alone!

It is then that we need to discover the power of One:

Edward Everett Hale said:

1. I may be only one, but I am one.

2. I cannot do everything, but I can do something.

3. What I can do, I ought to do.

4. And what I ought to do,

5. By the grace of God I shall do!

God is looking for men and women today who will say:

I may only be one, but with God’s help I am going to be that one who is determined to live a godly life and accomplish God’s will in the earth.

Yes, today is Father's Day and the message was primarily spoken to all of the men of our congregation.

But ladies, you can listen and learn as well.

We need your maturity and courage, too.

But men, we live in a day of great challenge to our manhood.

The traditional views of manhood and fatherhood are long dead and buried.

The idea of being a husband

a man married to only one woman (and no one else) for their entire life.

Of being a godly father who cares about our family.

Of being an employer who is considerate of his or her employees and not just the almighty buck.

Of being an employee who believes in doing his very best on the job — earning our paycheck.

Of being Christians, leaders, PARTICIPANTS in the church, who stand for God no matter what.

So many things try to tear down these views about what a man is:

The popular media loves to portray men as buffoons and idiots.

The radical feminist movement would have men castrated and then made to serve on their hands and knees.

The homosexuals and transgenders and all of the rest of the sexual deceivers would deny that godly masculinity can even exist.

The intellectuals in their stupidity (or in their intentional deceit!) deny any difference between men and women.

Men constantly hear messages that imply or directly tell us that our efforts at being a husband, or father, or provider, or Christian are not good enough.

The challenge is great, but we serve a God Who will, if we put our total trust in Him, make us equal to the challenge.

And remember, We are not the first generation of men to face challenges.

There are men who have gone before us, who faced challenges, and won the victory - even if it cost them everything.

There is a story told of some soldiers in Nero's army who faced the challenge of standing for Jesus.

1. The account has different tellings, but this is one that I came across:

2. It seems that in the days of the Roman Emperor Nero, there lived and served him a band of soldiers known as the "Emperor's Wrestlers."

3. They were fine, dedicated men, picked from the best and the bravest of the land, recruited from the great athletes of the Roman amphitheater.

4. In the great amphitheater they upheld the honor of the emperor against all challengers.

5. Before each contest they stood before the emperor's throne.

6. Then through the courts of Rome rang the cry:

"We, the wrestlers, wrestling for thee, O Emperor, to win FOR thee the victory and FROM thee, the victor's crown."

7. When the great Roman army was sent to fight in Gaul, no soldiers were braver or more loyal than this band of wrestlers led by their centurion Vespasian.

8. But news reached Nero that many Roman soldiers had accepted the Christian faith.

Therefore, this decree was dispatched to the centurion Vespasian; "If there be any among your soldiers who cling to the faith of the Christian, they must die!"

9. The decree was received in the dead of winter. The soldiers were camped on the shore of a frozen inland lake.

10. It was with sinking heart that Vespasian, the centurion, read the emperor's message.

11. Vespasian called the soldiers into formation and asked:

"Are there any among you who cling to the faith of the Christian? If so, let him step forward!"

12. Forty wrestlers instantly stepped forward two paces, respectfully saluted, and stood at attention.

13. Vespasian paused. He had not expected so many, nor such select ones. "I will wait until sundown for you to change your answer," said Vespasian.

14. Sundown came. Again the question was asked.

15. Again the forty wrestlers stepped forward.

16. Vespasian pleaded with them long and earnestly without prevailing upon a single man to deny his Lord.

17. Finally he said, "The decree of the emperor must be obeyed, but I am not willing that your comrades should shed your blood.

18. I order you to march out upon the lake of ice naked, and I shall leave you there to the mercy of the elements."

19. The forty wrestlers were stripped and then, falling into columns of four, marched toward the center of the lake of ice.

20. As they marched they broke into the chant of the arena:

"Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win FOR Thee the victory and FROM Thee, the victor's crown!"

21. Through the night Vespasian stood by his campfire and watched.

As he waited through the long night, there came to him fainter and fainter the wrestlers' song.

22. As morning drew near one figure, overcome by exposure, crept quietly toward the fire; in the extremity of his suffering he had renounced his Lord.

23. Faintly but clearly from the darkness came the song:

"Thirty-nine wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win FOR Thee the victory and FROM Thee, the victor's crown!"

24. Vespasian looked at the figure drawing close to the fire and then out to the center of the frozen lake.

25. Perhaps he saw eternal light shining there toward the center of the lake. Who can say?

26. But off came his helmet and clothing, and he sprang upon the ice, crying,

"Forty wrestlers, wrestling for Thee, O Christ, to win FOR Thee the victory and FROM Thee, the victor's crown!"

As the worship team comes, let me ask us…

Will like those 40 wrestlers?

Will we walk as

men of maturity

men of courage

men who are willing to lay down our lives for Jesus?

Could we all stand?

If you don’t have a relationship with Jesus, this would be a great day to start one.

Repent of your sins.

Surrender to Jesus as Lord of your life.

Could all the men come forward?

Will the women step up behind them?

Can we all pray?