Like a Christian Men . The faithful man who protects women, children, and the church also disturbs demons and evildoers. A shepherd’s staff and rod provide comfort. “Gentle,” “meek,” and “compassionate” have meaning because he has inner strength. Like the warrior heroes of old, the godly man shares some attributes with the enemies he defeats so he can conquer them. In other words, the virtuous man must have vigor of soul. The idol of radical feminism shrieks at the mere quote: “Be alert, stand firm in your faith, act with valor, be strong.” She does not like men behaving with masculinity. If she cannot make men brutal, she wants their souls weak and disinterested in leadership, squandering their short lives staring at a screen.
Paul, through divine inspiration, would have you live purposefully, stand resolute, die honorably, rise again victorious – “conduct yourself bravely” in the old King James – be powerful. This command is no new idea. Paul, learned in Hebrew Scriptures, grew up hearing of Abraham and Noah, Moses and Joshua, David and Jonathan, Elijah and Nehemiah, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When Paul says the whole church should “act manfully,” he uses a term – andrizomai – already known to readers of the Greek Old Testament translations. The Israelite grew up with clear ideals of acting valorously, standing firm in faith, being strong,like Christian Men
Evil Spirits Recognize Such Men
“Act like a man” was a frequent charge to the generation about to enter the promised land. I cannot recount how often my retreating spirit needed to drink from Joshua’s cup. His Lord commanded him: Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua, and all Israel, needed to “acquit yourself like men” to conquer their own fears and enter the land full of formidable, fortified enemies.
God had already executed the cowardly attitudes of the spies by forty years in the wilderness. Only the two courageous spirits who trusted their God survived: Caleb and Joshua. Joshua is repeatedly charged – by Moses before the people, by the Lord Himself, and by the people – Act bravely and be strong.
Andrizomai denotes strength of soul. Men take action with a noble spirit to protect those in their care, while trusting God. All they do is governed by love, and that loving attitude does not negate the resilient soul; it focuses it on righteous purposes. “A true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.” Such a soldier says to a comrade in battle, attacked from all sides with his people on his heart: If the enemy is too strong for me, you will help me. But if your foe is too mighty, I will come and help you.
Take courage and acquit yourself as men for our people and the cities of our God. Demons recognize this man. His wife respects him. His children admire him. His people trust him. He is a soldier of his King, a son of his Father, a godly man.
Sin of Timidity
How is it, then, when you visit some Christian circles today, you might assume Paul taught: “Stand firm in your emotions, relax, act androgynous, embrace your permanent weakness”? The call to “gentleness” in these cases has not emphasized the man’s vigor but battered it. Love has not directed the sturdy soul but trumpeted its surrender. King David could soothe with music and slay with the sling.
The Lord Himself welcomed children yet was consumed with passion for His Father’s house and expelled the moneychangers. Are we their descendants? “Be more tender” cannot be the sole message for a generation increasingly unequipped in assertiveness, conviction, or valor. Charles Spurgeon lamented the timid and womanly spirit of his age. In the May 1866 The Sword and the Trowel, he diagnosed his times, uncomfortably applicable to ours:
Is not cowardliness a common vice among Christian workers? Is it not a sin to accustom God’s people to ways that disable them for spiritual battle? Are not these times that require a more valorous stance from believers than most exhibit?
Timidity is a vice, but what of Christianity’s emphasis on “softer” virtues like modesty?
He continues, You remind me that modesty is a great virtue; I concur, but other virtues are equally necessary for a soldier. The modesty that keeps a soldier to the rear in battle earns few honors. That shy nature which makes him retreat when ordered to advance goes by another name to courageous men.
Spurgeon often used military motifs in sermons. He had a masculine ministry that resisted the sheepishness he saw in too many pulpits.
Is not a spice of this treasonous modesty still evident in ministry, to which some are drawn? We are expected to appear unsure, disclaiming dogmatism, begging audience like a beggar seeks charity. God’s emissaries are to grovel, speaking their Master’s message as if He borrows permission.
In other words, as a pastor he echoed Shakespeare’s martial Coriolanus: “Why did you want me milder? Would you have me be false to my nature? Rather I say, play the man I am.”
“A man of God is a manly man,” declared Spurgeon. “A true man does what he believes right, no matter the discomfort.”
Soul-Destroying Politeness
Specifically, what was Spurgeon addressing, and how might we apply it today? False religion of modernity (active in his day too) expects we pay homage to diverse gods. A man must not contend for the faith delivered to saints. A man may have a private Jesus, but not the public Lord possessing all authority, to whom every sinner must bow.
Pluralism hates this Lord – though like Dagon before the ark, it will soon fall. Our battle, in his day and now (and in the first century), relates to plain speech of the true Christ for souls’ good. We wield spiritual weapons, destroy false strongholds, largely through speech, as we destroy proud arguments against God’s knowledge, taking every thought captive to obey Christ.
Will we summon strength of soul to tell the lost that his path leads to destruction, his god is an idol, his hopes are drunken dreams?
Spurgeon declares, “People are perishing, and if it is impolite to tell them so, it can only be where the devil oversees etiquette. Away with soul-destroying politeness; may the Lord give us honest love for souls, and this superficial gentility will vanish.”
Will sorrows once purifying now fester because men grow afraid to speak, or speaking, undermine the force of what we say with mumbled disclaimers?
Sharpening of Brothers
Perhaps we have cut Samson’s hair because men are left to be heroic alone, having lost sharpening brotherhood. Perhaps men don’t speak more boldly to neighbors because they don’t speak more boldly to one another. Where it remains, male accountability too quickly becomes therapy where listeners can only sympathize with the drowning man. We’ve forgotten how to challenge, how to sharpen as iron, how to act like men among men.
Am I too harsh to see that we often operate by the unspoken rule that we can be wandering fawns, eternally taking first steps in discipleship? Is the frontline to move forward? Is it not becoming habitual to huddle as startled sheep bleating brokenness without desperate plea to God and brothers to help us grow stronger?
Remember Peter’s vision for the Christian life – one of divine power for believers to make every effort and increase in holiness, one with a calling to God’s glory and excellence, one of progress and precious and magnificent promises, one of confirming our calling and election as we campaign with saints to the celestial city.
Setbacks? Certainly. Sin? Undeniably. But growth? Absolutely. Onward Christian soldiers is our legacy. The church triumphant marches behind Christus Victor, and the battle begins in our souls, leading to glory.
Act Like Christian Men
This brings us to the final point: God’s call to masculine strength is distinctly Christian. The Christian man does not rely on self or chariots. He does not swagger like Gaston, singing, “As a specimen, I’m intimidating!”
Joshua’s story, which Hebrews calls us to take hold of, teaches that the godly man is strong and courageous because he believes God’s promise: I will never leave you nor forsake you. Mighty men know their strength is utter weakness apart from God. “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”
Acting manfully means admitting we are but men. As the saying goes, “The best of men are men at best.” Without God we fail. With God, we stand bold as a lion. Without Him we melt. But God has promised not to leave us.
Away with unmanliness disguised as virtue. Speak of Christ to be heard. Work diligently. Find a wife. Raise children. Serve the church. Love your neighbor in Jesus’s name. Learn to sweat, develop your gifts, and use them. Walk humbly before God and His Word; stand tall before men. Lift holy hands and pray. Study. Sharpen one another. Stand firm. Let all you do be done in love. Be strong in the Lord. Act like Christian men.