Men - It Is Time To Quit

MEN - IT’S TIME TO QUIT!

I CORINTHIANS 16:13

I CORINTHIANS 16:13 "WATCH YE, STAND FAST IN THE FAITH, QUIT YOU LIKE MEN, BE STRONG."

I. Demand for vigilance.

A. "Watch" - be awake, alert, constantly on guard, never sleepy or sluggish, never to let down one’s guard.

B. 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:"

C. Ephesians 6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

D. When an army is on a campaign, the soldiers have to "bivouac." This is, they spend the night in the open-air, and every one remains on guard. Ought not this to be the position of the church of Christ, now at war against the world, the flesh, and the devil? The night is setting in. Let the church BIVOUAC-- Let every one become a watchman. "What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch!" (Mark 13:37).

II. Demand for steadfastness.

A. "Stand fast in the faith" - stand your ground, stand true

B. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle."

C. 1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

D. Thomas Aquinas - Give me, O Lord, a steadfast heart, which no unworthy affection may drag downwards; give me an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; give me an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may tempt aside.

III. Demand for manliness.

A. "Quit you like men" - quit = andrizo - make a man of, show yourself to be a man

B. Be courageous as real men, quit living like immature men.

C. Ezekiel 22:30 "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none."

D. God is searching for men who will stand up as men - men of God!

E. Men who show themselves men are men who have the right priorities

1. God is first in their lives.

a. Matthew 6:33 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

b. Malachi 1:6 "A son honors his father and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honor? And if I be a master, where is my fear?" saith the LORD of hosts..."

2. Family is next to God

a. Love your wife

1. Your wife should be the most important thing in your life next to God.

2. Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"

3. Husbands in a Christian marriage are to mirror Christ’s eternal commitment to His bride, the church. Which involves self-sacrifice and always involves treating one’s spouse as equally or more important as one’s self.

4. Loving your wife as yourself means three things:

a. You so deeply identify with your spouse that you feel the effect of your behavior on your spouse.

b. You think first of making your spouse’s life better.

c. You want the best for your spouse even when your spouse can’t see what that is. (p. 117-118, Boundaries in Marriage by Dr Henry Cloud and Dr John Townsend.)

5. Colossians 3:19 "Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them."

6. Ecclesiastes 9:9 "Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun."

b. Love your children

1. After your wife should come your children

2. Ephesians 6:4 "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

3. Jim Andrews died of melanoma in the summer of 1994. He left behind three sons. Dave Dravecky in preparation for his book, The Worth of a Man, asked the boys to write a brief description of what their dad meant to them. Here’s what Taylor wrote almost a year after his father had died. "My dad was always very special to me. He loved me, my mom, my brothers more than anything in the world. I loved him the same way. He showed me he loved me by every night putting me to bed and praying with me. When he was dying, he wrote the most incredible letter to me and my brothers. In it, he repeatedly said he loved me. Almost any man can be a father, but it takes a true man to be a dad. My dad was even better." (Dave Dravecky, The Worth of a Man, Zondervan, 1996, p 135)