Jump Start # 219

1 Corinthians 16:13 “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”

  The third statement that we find from this great verse is, “Act like Men.” Wow! Paul is telling the Corinthians to “grow up.” I’d expect most of us would be upset if someone told us that. Paul’s first two admonitions involved outside influences. Being on the alert means being watchful of things around you.  Stand firm carries the idea of not being pushed around by others. But “act like men” is an internal thing. It doesn’t necessarily involve anyone else.

  By saying this, Paul is addressing the subject of maturity. Grow up means to act your age. Paul said, “act like men.” There is a spiritual maturity as well as a mental maturity. The mature are responsible. They are dependable. They can be counted on. The immature must be watched. You never know what they may say or do.

  The subject of spiritual maturity comes up in the book of Hebrews. There we find, “For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Did you notice the characteristics of maturity?

• The mature is accustomed to the word of God. He is familiar with the Bible. He is not only comfortable with the Bible, he knows the Bible. He understands the message of the Bible.
• The mature diet on the solid food. They discover the depth of God’s word. They have learned to lower the nets in their thinking. It’s not superficial, shallow thoughts but insight, understanding that has led to their maturity.
• They have trained their senses to know good and evil. They know the difference between right and wrong and can understand why.

  Act like men. Children cry when they don’t get their way. Children will run home when things don’t go their way. Children fuss. Children can be selfish. But you know what? So can grown up Christians. They get mad and threaten to leave. That’s real grown up behavior, isn’t it? When what they want isn’t being well received they get loud. Volume doesn’t win arguments. Grown up Christians can be selfish, especially with their time. Some would rather sit at home in front of the TV set than meet with other Christians in a Bible study.

  Growing up with two brothers, we never used the word “immature.” We just called it as it was, we’d say, “You’re being a baby.” That wasn’t nice, but brothers can be that way. Immaturity hurts others. The immature parent will cry and pout because he can’t buy what he wants until the others cave in and he puts the family in debt simply because he has no will power or self control. Immaturity hurts. Immaturity hurts the church. Folks promise to do things and then when it comes time to do it, they call and back out. It’s not a emergency or sickness as we all understand, it’s simply, I’m not ready or I changed my mind.

  The mature apologize when wrong. The mature is not concerned about who gets credit. The mature understands when is the appropriate time to speak and when is the time to be silent. We send men into battle, not boys. We need the mature in Congress to solve problems not children. And God wants His people to grow up and act like men. Satan is not going to toss you a soft pitch. No one is going to give you a free pass. The world can be mean, hostile and aggressive against those who stand under the cross of Christ. It’s time to act like men. It’s time to be counted upon. The church needs you. God needs you. We don’t need folks who have to be pampered, hands held and can never be left alone. God needs us to act like men.

  Have you seen the commercial where a guy is sitting on the couch telling his counselor that he is afraid of yellow? His counselor is a former Marine drill sergeant. Funny stuff. True to this passage. We hear the expression, “Man-up” these days. That’s what we need to hear once in a while. If we made a promise to Christ, then we need to act like men. No excuses. He needs to be able to count on us.

  Act like men…

Roger