Quit You Like Men

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.  1 Corinthians 16:13

The Corinthian church was a church beset with many problems.  After a promising beginning, the church became afflicted with a host of issues:  doctrinal errors of various kinds, ambitious teachers who opposed the apostle Paul, divisions and strifes, and moral scandals.  When the news of these troubles reached Paul, he was stirred by the Holy Spirit to take up his pen and address the situation with an epistle.

After a lengthy letter in which Paul employed rebuke, correction, reproof, encouragement, doctrine – and every other means to affect a spiritual cure – he inserted a short, parting command:  quit you like men.  Quit you like men is old English for “act like men.”  The Greek signifies to “make a man of,” “play the man” or “act manly.”  

What a glorious command!  As Paul had pleaded with and exhorted the Corinthians to overcome their faults and bring forth fruit becoming their profession of Christ, he then summed up the whole of his exhortation:  QUIT YOU LIKE MEN!  ACT LIKE MEN!  ACT MANLY!  PLAY THE MAN!

You see Christian, there comes a point in time after we have heard all the sermons, debated all the doctrines, philosophized about the great love of God and His immeasurable grace toward us, after we have been coddled and stroked, encouraged ad nauseum, have made every excuse for our failures, blamed everyone but ourselves – from Adam to our parents – when we must answer the question:  Do we have the guts to be real Christians?  Will we “quit like men,” put off our compromise and set before the world a Christianity that beams with light and stings with salt?  Will we be willing to proclaim the true Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, who never begged for followers nor made his message palatable for the masses, who never apologized for who He was or what He said?   

I am convinced that the Christianity of today is a completely different faith from that of the first century.  The differences are vast.  The early church’s message was powerful, but ours is weak.  Their leaders were rugged men with grit, our leaders are soft and compromised.  Our leaders are afraid to confront sin, their leaders would not tolerate it.  The early Christians died in the circus, today’s church is a circus.  

And perhaps one of the saddest exhibits of the modern church circus is the demasculated man.  Do you see him on the midway?  There he is now, the weak one, unable to stand without the aid of his support group, begging, “Be my mentor!  Be my mentor!  My father didn’t love me and I can’t relate to God, I can’t show emotion and I can’t keep my word!”  Isn’t he pathetic?  But do not fear, for there is hope for him.  For at the end of the midway, behind the booth where the "cotton candied" religion is sold, there is a gathering of other demasculated men ready to mentor and be mentored.  Now our demasculated man is in good hands, for here he will learn the valuable lessons of “how to get in touch with his feminine side,” so that he can become a more caring, motherly man!  And finally, empowered by the support of his snivelling peers, he rises to hold hands with his brethren (I’m getting sick) to give God praise!  

Gentlemen, can we make an end of unmanly Christianity?  Can we do away with a religion that is unworthy of our Prince?  To make excuses for sin is weak.  To blame others for our faults is detestable.  I am what I am, not because of my environment or upbringing, but because of my choices.  

I maintain that a man who is in Christ does not need a “feminine side” (If you have one repent of it!).  A Christian man is capable of great feeling and compassion without needing to become effeminate.  He is bold yet meek; he is strong yet merciful.  He is filled with resolve; he has guts – he has grit.  He has counted the cost of following Christ and has suffered for it.  He does not care what the world thinks or if he must walk alone.  He is a good soldier; he will not forsake his post.  

So as we toil in the trenches of life and the battle is sore against us, as the war rages and darkness surrounds us, as we stumble and fall with our strength spent and our hopes crushed, a distant shout from an old battle scarred general may still be heard:  “QUIT YOU LIKE MEN, BE STRONG!”