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)
3. The Church is in third place
a. Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"
b. Christ died for the church, the body of believers, the people of God.
c. Christ did not die for our job or business. He did not die for our golf game or baseball. He did not die for our social or civic clubs.
d. Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
e. Men of God work for God in the church, get involved in the ministry of the church, support the church in your giving, fellowship regularly with the body, and faithfully attend church.
4. Occupation
a. 1 Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."
b. Your career is the means that God has given you to meet your needs.
c. Your career should never run your lives.
d. When Billy Crystal’s daughter turned 11, Billy was in New York filming a movie. He called her apologizing for his work schedule and said a package would be delivered soon. He then flew from NY to LA. Later that day when Lindsay opened the front door, a six-foot high carton greeted her and she began ripping it open on the spot. Dad was inside the carton. Billy said, "She hugged me for five minutes. It was unbelievable." He went on to say, "I missed 25 birthdays with my dad. I’m not going to let that happen with my girls."
e. Do your work honestly as unto the Lord.
f. Romans 12:11 "Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;"
5. Recreation
a. Someone has said that one way to tell the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.
b. 1 Timothy 4:8 "For bodily exercise profits little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."
c. People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness. - John Wanamaker (1838-1922)
d. Mark 6:31 "And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat."
e. Vance Havner - Jesus knows we must come apart and rest awhile, or else, we may just plain come apart.
F. Men who show themselves men are men who stand for the right principles.
1. Maintain a Holy Standard
a. " stand fast in the faith"
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. Theodore Roosevelt - "Some men can live up to their loftiest ideals without ever going higher than a basement."
d. Seventy percent of Americans think it important to obey God or the Bible when choosing right from wrong, but far fewer believe in moral absolutes. A Gallup poll, conducted for Americans United for Life, found nearly 70 percent agree with the statement: "There are few moral absolutes; what is right or wrong usually varies from situation to situation." Only 27 percent disagreed!
e. What our country needs is not a return to the gold standard but to the God standard.
2. Do not compromise Truth for Culture or Comfort
a. Ephesians 4:14 "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"
b. Do not seek to please your wife, children or community by paying the price of compromise.
c. The story is told that in an ancient land, where men were allowed to have many wives, a middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that was young; each loved him very much, and desired to see him like herself. He wanted to please both of them and yielded to their every whim. Now the Man’s hair was turning gray, which the young Wife did not like, as it made him look too old for her husband. So every night she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones. But the elder Wife saw her husband growing gray with great pleasure, for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every morning she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the black ones as she could. The consequence was the Man soon found himself entirely bald. Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield. How much better it is to remain true to the Lord Jesus Christ!
3. Live consistent lives
a. James 1:22 "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
b. The problem with Christians in America is not that Christians aren’t where they should be; the problem is that they’re not what they should be right where they are.
c. I sometimes wonder whether the church needs new members one-half as much as she needs the old bunch made over. Judging by the way multitudes in the church live, you would think they imagined they had a through ticket to heaven in a Pullman palace car, and had left orders for the porter to wake them up when they head into the yards of the New Jerusalem. -- Billy Sunday in The Real Billy Sunday. Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 14.
G. Men who show themselves men are men who stand when everyone else has sat down.
1. 2 Samuel 10:12 "Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seems him good."
2. ’Tis nothing for a man to hold up his head in a calm; but to maintain his post when all others have quitted their ground and there to stand upright when other men are beaten down is divine. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca (C. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65)
3. If I falter, push me on. If I stumble, pick me up. If I retreat, shoot me. - James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 128.
4. Ephesians 6:13 "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
