Act Like Men | Yesterday Was Easy - Episode 04

As I mentioned in episode number 3, there are two passages of scripture that undergird this show. Last time

I broke down Proverbs 24. In this fourth episode, I want to discuss 1 Corinthians 16 -13.

Welcome to Yesterday Was Easy. This passage is a concise but direct biblical definition of what it means to be a man.

The Apostle Paul told the 1st century Corinthian believers to be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

Sounds simple right? Here is a brief exegesis of this verse looking at the original Greek. The word for watchful means to be on the alert or to be awake.

The language for stand firm is literally to be in the standing position firmly committed in conviction or belief.

The New Oxford American Dictionary describes firm as having a solid, almost unyielding surface or structure.

And the Greek for act like men is literally to act courageously. And lastly, be strong means to become strong or strengthen.

So here, let me give you the LBSV, or Luke the Bear Standard Version, translation.

Christians, be watchful, be alert, stay awake, standing firmly committed to the faith, having unyielding conviction, act courageously like men, become strong and strengthen one another.

This is for all of life, at home, at work, at church, or in the gym.

Don't give in. Do not act like cowards but be courageous. Act like men.

When the going gets tough, the men get going. Matthew Henry in his commentary on the whole

Bible said, a Christian should be fixed in the faith of the gospel and never desert nor renounce it.

It is by this faith alone that he will be able to keep his ground in an hour of temptation. It is by faith that we stand.

It is by this that we must overcome the world, both when it fawns and when it frowns, when it tempts and when it terrifies.

We must stand therefore in the faith of the gospel if we would maintain our integrity.

The author of the first letter to the Corinthians was the Apostle Paul. He didn't just tell us how to act like men, but actually live that out.

Although we do not know exactly how and when he died, tradition does claim that he was martyred under the reign of Emperor Nero, most likely around 68

AD, probably by being beheaded. But prior to being murdered, we do know the hell he survived.

In his second letter to the Corinthian church, he recounted the trials he endured in chapter 11 verses 24 -27.

He wrote, Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes, lest one.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked.

A night and a day I was adrift at sea. On frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, and toil and hardship through many a sleepless night and hunger and thirst often without food and cold and exposure.

Paul knew precisely what it meant to be watchful. He lived every waking moment of his life alert and on the lookout for men trying to arrest him or even take his life.

He knew exactly what it meant to stand firm in the faith. Despite the lashings and the beatings and even being stoned, he never backed down.

He continually stood resolute in his convictions. Like Christ, he set his face like flint, even to the point of death.

He knew what it meant to be courageous. He understood what it meant to act like a man. Even until the end, he remained strong, all the while strengthening everyone he could along the way.

Both of the Corinthian letters were written 10 -15 years prior to his death. The example

Paul left us was not short -lived, but roughly two decades long. Written within just a handful of years before his execution,

Paul also penned these words in his letter to the Philippian church. In chapter 1, verses 18 -22, he said,

What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,

Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the

Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always

Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is

Christ and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I believe it is safe to say that Paul lived out his hope.

He remained unashamed and courageous. Even when faced with public execution, he never fainted in the day of adversity.

His strength was never small. He honored Christ both in life and in death.

The Apostle Paul, who will probably go down as one of the most influential writers and men of all time, acted like a man.

We need to follow his example. So many manby -pamby men in this generation cry up a storm every time somebody is mean to them on Facebook, or when they have a bad day at work, or when their wives treat them poorly, or when their kids are difficult to manage.

I want to pose this question. Were you beaten today? Stoned? Shipwrecked?

No? Then shut up and act like a man. Put the purse down, buckle up your boots, pick up a shovel, grab a sword, be courageous, stop whining and act like a man.

I ask you this question now. Are you honoring Christ as a man? Are you courageous?

Are you resolute? As Paul described to the Philippians, being alive means having fruitful labor.

Are you bearing fruit? If you have a family, are you pointing them to Christ? Are you man enough to lead them in family worship?

If you don't have a family, are you pointing others toward Christ? Are you remaining strong and strengthening others, or are you relying on the strength of others?

Are you standing strong in the faith, or bowing out at the slightest hint of persecution?

Do your friends and family know you're a Christian? What about your co -workers? If not, then you're most likely not honoring

Christ with your life. Lastly, I want to mention one other thing Paul wrote in his first letter to the

Corinthians. In chapter 13, verse 11, he said, When I was a child, I spoke like a child,

I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

The first step to acting like a man is to think like a man. Christian men, let's put to death childish ways and reason like men.

Yesterday was easy. Act like men. Stay hard. This episode is brought to you by Hold the

Line Training Systems. Train today to serve others tomorrow. You can go to HTLTrainingSystems .com

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