Act Like Men

1 Corinthians 16:13–14 NKJV

Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.

Act Like Men

1 Cor 16:13-14

June 7, 2020

Thesis: Men of God must act like men by waking up to spiritual realities and advancing God's kingdom in love.

First sermon back in sanctuary after the Covid-19 “pandemic” of 2020.

Intro

76 years ago men landed on the beaches of Normandy in order to confront a murderous regime bent on world domination.

Today men are lacking in number and quality.

This is true in the church.

Watch / Wake up

Literally, “be awake.”

Jesus used in connection with prayer (Matt 26:40; Col 4:2).

Spiritually, we (especially men) need to wake up.

To the evil.

Satan wants to devour you and your family (1 Pe 5:8).

Satan is the enemy. And he’s deceptive.

He’s deceived us into believing the battle is something it is not.

He’s deceived us into believing the enemy is someone that they’re not.

He’s deceived us into thinking we’re good as long as we’re cultural Christians.

He’s deceived us using the devices of this world.

TV

Social Media

Do you know what your kids are up to on social media?

You can do everything right and still lose your kids to the culture.

“Sobering reminder that you can take them to church, through Christian school from K4 to college and they still might be lost...Christian camp, Awanas & youth group...no guarantee...Only one of my four attend church or have any spiritual fruit...”

If you aren’t discipling your kids, then they are being discipled by Youtube, TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms!

We’ve raised and are raising a generation of kids who grew up in church but have more in common with the world. That’s on us!

He’s lulled us to sleep.

Men (& women), it’s time to wake up!

Do you see what’s going on this world? Its not a race war! It’s not an economic war! It’s not even really political war! It’s a spiritual war!

Also to the glories!

of salvation, here and now (sanctification)

of raising a family to follow Jesus, and the impact you can have!

of the value of hard work in Jesus’ Name

of heaven and the reward that awaits

Transition: It’s not enough to wake up. You have to stand up.

Stand up

“Stand firm in the faith.”

This refers to planting yourself and refusing to be moved.

“Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1).

“Stand firm and hold to the traditions” (2 Thes 2:15).

There are forces that seek to move the godly man from the righteous traditions in which he is planted.

Forces from within (your own sin nature).

Forces from without (peer pressure).

What are the issues you need to stand up on?

Be a husband and a father. That’s your calling!

Feelings before facts

Truth is relative (“My truth/your truth”)

Lies of feminism

Lies of racial superiority, in every direction

Gender is a construct

Sexuality is a spectrum.

Lies of Evolution

Woke / BLM / LGBTQ+ peer pressures (“Blackout Tuesday”)

Kneeling as performative art

“In a moment of crisis, cowardice is a sin” (Tucker Carlson).

“Fear of ridicule begets the worst cowardice” (Andre Gide).

You must teach your children to stand, because the tidal wave is here.

Blackout Tuesday / Teens pressured to make political statements in order to be seen as not racist.

“If you don’t support climate change or you hate South Americans.”

“If you support a particular political candidate, then you’re definitely a racist.”

“If you believe that God created the universe in 6 days about 7k years ago, then you are an idiot.”

“If you talk about Jesus in public, then you’re a bigot and you can’t work here.”

Martin Luther

“If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point” (Fritz, in The Chronicles of the Schoenberg Cotta Family, Elizabeth R. Charles, 1864).

“I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God.”

“Better to lose the world and keep your soul.”

Three OT examples

David (“Is there not a cause?”)

Esther (“for such a time as this”)

Shammah, son of Agee (2 Samuel 23:11-12)

“And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered together into a troop where there was a piece of ground full of lentils. So the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stationed himself in the middle of the field, defended it, and killed the Philistines. So the Lord brought about a great victory.”

When you stand up, and refuse to be moved, the Lord can work a great victory through you.

Move out

“Act like men.”

Other translations include “be courageous.”

“Be courageous” 7x to Joshua (Dt 31:6, 7, 23; Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, 18)

Joshua was on the move.

Fully awake to the dangers around him.

Ready to stand his ground against the enemy.

But also ready to advance on the enemy.

We need to stop being on the defensive and get on the offensive.

With the gospel. No truth is more offensive than the gospel!

“You are an offensive, awful person rebelling against the only, Holy God!”

“God loves you and wants to save you, but you must submit, believe, and repent.

Jesus is the only way to salvation.

With truth. Don’t be offensive for the sake of being offensive, but tell the truth...even if it’s offensive.

With action

Lead your family spiritually.

Mentor a young man.

Don’t just stand your ground...get on the offensive.

Move out!

Level Up

“Be made strong.” It’s passive.

Goes against everything we learn naturally about growing stronger & getting better.

Remember the illustration of the body. Just as a child’s body grows strong if you feed it good nutrients, God will grow your spiritual body if you feed on good spiritual nutrients.

Spiritual junk food

Movies/TV

Adult media

Video games

Spiritual super food

Scripture

Prayer

God’s people / church

Christ Himself!

“Whoever feeds on my flesh & drinks my blood has eternal life, & I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, & my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh & drinks my blood abides in me, & I in him...whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:54-56, 58a).

Meditate on Christ and what He has done for you.

You will not be able to stand or advance in your own strength.

Love All

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels...or if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains...if I give away all I have, and deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:1-3).

If I wake up, stand up, move out, level up, but have not love, I am nothing.

There’s enough hostility in this world. We don’t need any coming from the church.

Love does not necessarily mean holy stubbornness, though it can. We must be willing to stand and defend.

Love does not necessarily mean confrontation, though we must be willing.

Conclusion

Mark Twain said, “When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth and tell the whole world: ‘No, you move.’”

In God’s Name, it’s time men of God, for the sake of their families, for the sake of the church, and for the sake of this nation

Woke up

Stood up

Moved out

Leveled up

Loved all