Act Like Men (2-13-12)

1 Corinthians 16:13 - "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong."

The third exhortation in this short verse is "act like men". How is this to be taken? In what way exactly are we to "act like men"? In the King James version of the Bible it reads this way: "Quit you like men". Well that doesn't clear it up at all, so we'll have to look at some newer translations. The New King James version says "Be brave" and the NIV says "Be courageous", so the idea behind this exhortation has to do with being brave or courageous like men, not like children. As Christians we're called to be soldiers of Jesus Christ. Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:3-4 - "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." In the natural world we don't send children off to war, and it's the same way in regards to spiritual warfare. However, in spiritual warfare, age doesn't matter, every believer young and old needs to "act like men", to be mature and brave. A young child could be a better soldier for Christ than a fit young man if they are exercising more courage and boldness in the faith and reaching out to a lost world. It takes courage to live out what we believe and it takes even more courage to share our faith with a world that's hostile toward Christians, but this is what we're called to do, be brave. Children have irrational fears, but how many irrational fears come into our minds that keep us from sharing our faith? We don't reach out to people because we're afraid that they won't listen to us, or we're afraid of what they might think of us. So what? These are irrational fears, we need to grow up and act like men. The Bible says in Proverbs 29 - "The fear of man brings a snare."
"Act like men". As well as having irrational fears, children are also immature. They're not grown up in the way that they act or think. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:20 - "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature." We need to grow up in our thinking. The Corinthian church was very immature in the things of Christ and that's one of the main reasons that Paul wrote them this letter. In chapter 3 Paul says "And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly." And he says in chapter 13 "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." Just as we mature physically we need to mature spiritually, both in our actions and in our thinking.
"Act like men." Children are also undisciplined. They have to be disciplined and guided by their parents because they have no self-control. Paul also talks about this in this book. As mature believers we need to discipline ourselves, we need to subject our bodies to obey the will of God. 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 - "Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified." We need to grow up in all things in Christ.

In Hebrews chapter 11 we have a list of men and women in the Bible who exercised this principle in their lives. They were not immature in their faith, they were courageous, they exemplify what Paul was talking about when he says "act like men." at the end of the chapter the writer to the Hebrews concludes like this - "And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground." This is your example, these men and women of whom the world was not worthy. Take courage, be brave, act like men and follow their lead.