Lead Like Men: STRONG

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

The strength of a man can be used to hurt someone less powerful than himself.  The strength of a man can be used to bully and manipulate people to get his way.  Even though some might use their strength for wrong, we as men of Christ need to use our strength for His purpose.

You are a man.  You have been entrusted with your family and the work of the congregation.  You are on the alert to protect them.  You stand firm in the faith and know the scriptures and base your decisions from the Bible.  You act like men and do what needs to be done, even when it might be dangerous.  As we finish our passage, we see that we must also “be strong”.  I love one of the Greek definitions for this word: “increase in vigor”.  Why would the inspired apostle find it necessary to add in “be strong” at the end of this verse?  Could it be that God knows, that even when we follow the Biblical pattern for leading like men, there will be times where we feel weak?

Life is full of mountain highs, and valley lows.  Even the strongest of leaders can find himself depressed and in wonder about if he has made the right choice to follow the Biblical pattern.  There you are being the leader that you need to be, remaining on the alert, standing for the truth, acting like a man…and then it hits you.  It might be pressure from the outside.  It might be temptations from within.  But all of a sudden you find yourself doubting.  What must you do?  “BE STRONG.”

With any form of exercise, one will note that there comes a time where your muscles feel as if they cannot go on.  If you are a weight lifter, there will come a point when you feel that you can no longer lift a heaver weight.  Yet we know that in order to strengthen those muscles, one must press on.  He must endure.  With a marathon runner, when your lungs feel like they are on fire, and your legs feel week, in order to complete the course, one must endure the pain.

Men, we are in a marathon.  Leading like men is not a one-time action where you lay down the law for the family and the congregation and can expect it to continue with no maintenance.  Problems will arise, frustrating times will happen, and it is at this time that we must push on and endure.

James 1:2-4 says: “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Men, when we find ourselves in those tough times, consider it all joy!  Take the opportunity as a weight lifter would push himself with a few more reps. Take the opportunity as a marathon runner views the pain as just being a bit closer to the finish line.  Be strong.

If the protection of our wife, children and congregation is the number one priority in our life, then the pain and valley lows we find ourselves in should not tear us down.  Increase in vigor at these moments and keep the idea of being in heaven with those entrusted to you at the forefront of your mind.

Men, lead like men!  This can only happen if we remain STRONG.

Lead Like Men: ACT

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

It can be easy to agree with what is right, but acting on it can be a whole other animal.  Take World War II for instance.  Nearly everyone around the world today will agree; Hitler and his Nazi Germany had to be destroyed.  Roughly six million Jews lost their lives during this wretched time, not to mention all the other individuals around Europe and the world that lost their lives in the war.  Imagine being a good German man, an officer in Germany’s Army.  Was there anything a man like this could really do, except keep his mouth shut and obey?  Colonel Stauffenberg in Hitler’s Nazi Army thought he could do more.

In the well known account of Operation Valkyrie, Colonel Stauffenburg along with the help of several other military and political personnel took an already existing law (Valkyrie – supposed to protect Nazi Germany), changed the wording in it to help their cause, and attempted to assassinate their Fuhrer.  By changing the language in the law and killing Adolf Hitler, they thought they had a chance at taking over the government in order to stop the bloodshed.  The Colonel planted a bomb in his brief case and proceeded to a meeting with Hitler and many other military personnel.  The plan was to kill Hitler, fly back to Berlin, and with the authority from the changes made to Valkyrie, arrest the Gestapo and take control of the government.  The action had unmerciful consequences if they failed.  Yet it was the determination of the men involved to do everything they could to leave a better legacy for their country.  They failed and were executed; yet they died ACTING LIKE MEN.

You are a man.  You have been entrusted with leading your family and congregation.  You have found that it is imperative that you remain on the alert to protect your physical and spiritual families.  You are a man that will stand firm in the faith.  Yet none of this is useful if you do not act like a man!  When the hardest thing to do is the right thing to do, we need to man up and do it…no matter the consequences.  When we think about it, every decision in life has a consequence.  You can prove that you are a man if you make the right decision, even when the consequence has a chance of being bad.  What are some of these bad consequences?  You might have family and friends ridicule you for taking action when your family is threatened.  You might lose your job if you turn in your boss for doing illegal activity.  You might have an issue with someone retaliating on you for exposing their sin or crime.  Depending on where you are around the world, you might even lose your life for preaching the Gospel.  In the end, no matter what happens, if you act like a man and do what the Lord has asked you to do, nothing can truly hurt you…for your reward will be in heaven.

One of the most depressing, yet inspirational verses in the Bible relating to this is Ezekiel 22:30: “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; BUT I FOUND NO ONE” (emphasis added).  The Lord is looking for men to act like men on behalf of Him…are you going to answer the call?

Men, lead like men!  This can only be done if we ACT.

Lead Like Men: STAND

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

You are a man.  You have been entrusted with leading your family and the congregation.  You have found that it is imperative that you remain on the alert to protect your physical and spiritual families.  Now comes decision time.  But what must you as a man who is doing your best to lead like a man do?  You must be one that makes wise decisions for your family (both physical and spiritual).  Decisions that are based not on what you want, but what you find in Scripture.  This requires the man to be one who knows the Bible.  If you are to lead like a man, you must make your decisions based on scripture and stand firm in that decision!  A man that will back down on his decisions when they are based on Scripture will cause nothing but detriment to his physical and spiritual families.  We must stand firm in the faith!

What are some of the ways that a man might be enticed to step down from his decisions?  Outsiders can destroy your confidence in decision-making.  Friends can tell you that you are going overboard, your mother in-law might say you are hurting her daughter and grandchildren (if my mother in-law is reading this, I’m not referring to you…love ya!), church family might say you are being too harsh, media and other worldly outlets will tell you that you are old fashioned.  Your confidence in a decision can also be destroyed from within.  It might be your own lusts, your own desires that cause you not to protect the family and in turn, back down on your decision.  How can we ensure that this does not happen to us?

We are familiar with the legend of Hernando Cortez.  How in the year 1519 he landed in Mexico to conquer the land, and upon arrival he allegedly commanded his men to burn the ships down.  This would eradicate any desire to get back on the ships and head back home.  He was there, and he was there to stay.

You and I need to be the same way with our decision-making.  When we decide based on Scripture that we will teach our children to love our God (Deuteronomy 6:4-7), that we will stand up to sin and expose it (1 Corinthians 5:1-5), that our family will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15), then we must not back down.  Psalm 1:1-3 shares with the reader that a man who does not follow in the pressure to sin with others is likened to a tree that is planted by the waters.  We must be that tree, we must burn the ships.  When the decision is made to follow God’s law, we must take any doubt out of our mind and stand firm in the faith.

In your family: be the dad, be the husband.  Be the one to make the hard decisions and take a stand.  In the church family: be the man.  Do not allow others to cause you to cower from taking a stand.

Men, lead like men!  This can only be done if we STAND.

Lead Like Men: ALERT

 

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

I want you to imagine that you are leading a group of troops into battle.  You being the leader, have not only the obligation of leading your men into the direction that has been assigned to you, you also have the responsibility of your troops lives.  At every move, you either endanger or protect your men.  You do not want to lead them into a trap, and you do not want to lose anyone.  You are going to do everything possible to ensure that your men make it out alive.  How do you do this?  Be on the ALERT!  You know the danger; you know that you and your men are walking through a hostile situation.  No doubt, you will find out every bit of information that you can about the terrain that you will be walking through, the suspected weapons that the enemy will be using, and the location and strength of that enemy.  As you walk through enemy territory, you will keep your eyes peeled, your ears will listen for every unfamiliar sound, and your mouth will be ready to send off orders in order to protect your troops.

As discussed yesterday, men have been entrusted with leading their families and their congregation.  We must view our job description as one who is leading his troops into battle.  We are at war.  The evil one wants our families and congregations to fall prey to his evil schemes.  He wants our wife, he wants our children and he wants our church members.  1 Peter 5:8 says: “…be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”.  If we have been entrusted to lead our families and congregations, we best do our very best to not allow them to fall under our watch.  This can only be done if we are ALERT.

How can you become one who is alert?  Be a detective.  To be alert, one must look for clues.  One must know what the ways of normal life are, and be able to find rather quickly anything that is out of the norm.  Know your physical and spiritual families well enough that you can detect when there is a problem.

Look for Tension.  Arguments that go out of control can be a root cause for losing a soul in battle.  Whether it be between your kids, you and your spouse, or church members, unneeded tension can bring a family down.

Look for Sin.  Your job as the leader of your family and congregation does not give you the right to expose sin in order to hurt someone.  The purpose of finding sin is in order to save souls.  You should be on the alert for sin in your wife, children and spiritual family in order to help them, not humiliate them.

Look for Predators.  Be on watch to find those that would exploit the physical and spiritual families.  Predators can attack physically, and spiritually.  It is our job as men to watch out for the physical safety of our wife and children, but also for those in the congregation.  Predators can come from outside of the family, and unfortunately predators can come from within the congregation as well.

Men, lead like men!  This can only be done if we are on the ALERT.

Lead Like Men: ENTRUSTED

When you go to the bank to deposit your paycheck, you ENTRUST your money with the bank teller. When you open up a savings account, you are ENTRUSTING the bank to take care of your money for you while you do not use it.  The definition of the word entrust is: “a deposit, a trust or thing consigned to one’s faithful keeping”.

Paul reminds Timothy to take care of what has been entrusted to him twice in the epistles addressed to Timothy.

“O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you…” 1 Timothy 6:20

“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”  2 Timothy 1:14

The spreading of the Gospel has been entrusted to all Christians, yet are there certain areas in our life that men have been entrusted with specific jobs?  By reading the scriptures we can conclude that men have been entrusted to Lead Like Men.

Men have been entrusted to lead the FAMILY.  Ephesians 5:22-25 shows that the husband is the head of the wife.  In chapter 6, we see that fathers must also lead his children.

Men have also been entrusted to lead the CONGREGATION.  Paul uses the example of how Adam did not lead in the garden as he should, therefore allowing his wife to sin and in the end, followed her lead (1 Timothy 2:11-14). The same is true with the church, if the men do not lead (as they have been entrusted), issues can arise.  This is not because women are not capable of making decisions, or being good biblical students.  Men and women are equal in Christ (Galatians 3:28), yet men and women have different roles entrusted to them that must be obeyed.

We as men need to make sure that we LEAD LIKE MEN.  We must protect and cherish that which has been entrusted to us.

So how do we accomplish this?  Over the rest of this workweek, we will be studying a phenomenal passage on how men can lead:

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