Father’s Day 2023
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14Let all that you do be done in love. 1 Corinthians 16:13–14
Introduction
Today, I want to focus on one phrase in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “act like men.” In the Greek, it’s just one word. Some of your translations say, “be courageous,” which isn’t accurate. The most literal translation I could give is “be manly.”
I want to focus on the phrase “act like men” because it assumes men act in a certain way distinct from women. There is a certain way men should act, and God wants men to act like men. By implication, men refusing to embody masculinity by taking on feminine characteristics is wrong. Earlier in 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul listed some sins that prove one is not saved. One of the sins he lists is effeminacy. So, all Christian men should strive to embody masculinity.
Does Paul want all men to walk with John Wayne’s swagger or squint like Clint Eastwood? Is this all subjective and cultural? In some cultures, men wear quilts while in others men wear turbans. Or is Paul just talking about growing a nice big beard? The Bible doesn’t tell men the particulars of masculinity but the principles. For example, God tells husbands to love their wives. God doesn’t him how many dates to his wife on or how many conversations he should have with her. He just says love her like Christ loves the church. God gives principles so we can creatively live out those principles. So, what are the principles for men?
Men Pioneer, Provide, and Protect
In Genesis 1 and 2, we get a portrait of how God made men. We see God made Adam to cultivate and keep the garden.
Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Genesis 2:15
Notice, God gave Adam a mission before God made Adam a mate (Genesis 2:18-23). Now, two aspects of this mission are to cultivate and keep what God gave him. Instead of cultivating, today we say provide (1 Timothy 5:8), and instead of keep, we say protect (Ephesians 5:28). So, in the first two chapters of Genesis we see God created men for mission, providing, and protecting.
Most teaching today on biblical manhood focuses on father’s protecting and providing, which isn’t wrong, it’s just incomplete. A man must have a mission first. When the wife is a man’s mission, she is placed in a difficult spot. Remember, women help, nurture, and glorify. So when a Christian man makes his wife’s happiness his mission, she helps herself, nurtures herself, and glorifies herself. This ruins men, families, and especially women.
A man must have a mission first and it can’t be his wife and family. It must be as the Westminster catechism says, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. A man’s vocation typically embodies or serves His mission. His wife then steps in and embodies her feminine strengths. She helps him with his mission. He in response, provides and protects her. She, then takes that provision and security that he gives and glorifies it. He provides the family an income so she can glorify that income with brownies and clothes for the kids. Men provide, protect, and pioneer while women help, nurture, and glorify.
On Mother’s Day, I explained three traits of femininity. Women help, nurture, and glorify. Today, we will see that God made men to pioneer, provide, and protect. Today, I want to focus more on the pioneering aspect of men. If we fail at our mission, we fail as men and fathers.
You Have a Mission (Whether You Want to or not)
As the father goes, so goes the household, as the household goes so goes the culture, as the culture goes, so goes society.
For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. Ephesians 5:23
Father, you are the head of the house. Notice, Paul doesn’t say should be. He says is. So, even in a household where the mother makes all the decisions and essentially leads the house, the father is still the head. The man is responsible today, just like Adam was responsible for the failure of his house.
Remember, God told Adam to “cultivate and keep” Eden. But instead, Adam allowed a serpent into the garden who deceived his wife. Instead of taking responsibility for the sin of his household, he joined her in her sin. Today, most husbands and fathers allow the serpent to enter the home and join the family in their household sins. In order for Christian men to lead their families well, Christian men must be freed from their own sin.
Christ Redeems Your Mission
When we look at what Christ does for His bride, we realize what Adam should have done.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her Ephesians 5:25
The church is the bride of Christ and Christ died for her sins. What Adam should have done at the garden was refuse the fruit from Even, slay the dragon, and be punished in her place. Why? Because that’s what Jesus does for the church. Adam didn’t because he placed his mate over his mission. But Jesus redeems Adam’s failure.
Where Adam let the serpent into the garden, Jesus came to crush the head of the serpent. Where Adam allowed his bride to be deceived by the serpent, Jesus writes the commandment of God on her heart. Where Adam joined his bride in her sin, Jesus paid for sin of his bride. Where Adam sinned with his bride at a tree, Jesus saved His bride on a tree. Adam failed his mission to spread the glory of God over the world, he failed to provide for his bride, and failed to protect her. Jesus redeems all that. After His resurrection, He tells His bride the new mission, “go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).” He protects her with the holy spirit and he provides her with his holy word.
If you are in Christ, your sins are dead and gone in Christ. For Christian husbands and fathers, Jesus freed you to live on mission for him. But Adam was free from sin and plunged humanity into sin because he refused to die for His bride. If you truly want to live freely as a godly man, you must die first. Doug Wilson summarizes these masculine traits as “the glad assumption of sacrificial responsibility.” Men stand in front so they can take the arrows and they do it with a smile on their face.
Take Responsibility for Your Home
Not everything in your home is your fault. But everything in your home is your responsibility. You shouldn’t feel guilty for your wife’s sins or your children’s. However, you should take ownership for any growth in sin your house experiences. Job is a great example of this. In Job 1:1, we find he is a righteous man. And one thing this righteous man did was intercede for his family.
When the days of feasting had completed their cycle, Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Job 1:5
Keep in mind, you do not save your family from their sins. But you do intercede to your family from the savior of sins. Fathers are the pastors of their homes. So, young dads, start family worship with your family (flyer on ministry table). Older men, start reading the gospel of John with your wife before supper. Most importantly though is attending worship with the saints on the Lord’s Day (quiet times aren’t commanded in the Bible). When a father prioritizes weekly worship, his children will too. But if a father finds excuses to miss worship, he trains his children to find excuses to miss too.
Finally, remember the joy of the Lord is your strength. Sin destroys fellowship with God and neighbor. Sins in the family destroys fellowship in family. But in many American families, there is no fellowship to destroy. So, make the atmosphere of the home so joyful and fun that when your child sins and you discipline them, they have a joyful supper to come back to. To do this, stop complaining.
Conclusion
So, a manly man isn’t macho but responsible. He doesn’t walk with a swagger, but with confidence. Men, God has given you the responsibility to build a new humanity. Instead of sons of Adam, we are sons of Christ. We follow his lead bringing life to those under our care.