Manliness, manliness is what I long for...

I was having a conversation with a few guys about manhood a few days ago, and we got into a disagreement about what it means to be manly. So I figured, hey, let’s look at what the Bible has to say about manhood.

1) God expects us to just know what it means to be manly. In 1 Corinthians 16:13, Paul says, ‘Act like men.’ And in 1 Corinthians 11:14-15, Paul says, “Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is a disgrace for him…?”

We’ll get to that ‘long hair’ issue in a second – but note this: God expects us to just know what manliness is.

2) Some of what manliness is is culturally relative. 1 Corinthians 11 is about head coverings. In the verse I just cited, Paul says, essentially, don’t you know that a head covering (long hair) on a man is effeminate?

Now, we don’t ‘know’ that per se. It was something unique to the Corinthian culture. But the fact is – they would’ve known that wearing a head cover in their culture was effeminate.

Application? There are things in our culture that are girly. So I can say you listen to girly music. Or like girly movies. Or talk in a girly way. Knock it off and toughen up, guys.

3) Only men are called to exercise authority in their families and in the Church of God. Of course that authority should be gentle (1 Peter 3), not domineering (1 Peter 5), and for the love of the saints/one’s wife (1 Peter 5; Ephesians 5:22ff).

But it’s still authority. That means a dude has to be decisive, responsible, and a leader. He has to own the direction for his family – and before he can do that, he needs to be decisive and responsible about his position as a Christian.

4) Godly men are to be willing to suffer. Ephesians 5:22 and following tells us a godly husband should suffer for the holiness of his wife because he loves her. So our love should compel us to suffer for the holiness of Christ’s bride and his people, in general.

Real men embrace suffering.

There’s a strength about that. You can look back to 1 Corinthians 16:13 about it.

5) Godly men protect God’s people against attacks against the glory of God.

Adam, as recorded in Genesis 2, was responsible for the commands God gave. Eve wasn’t even around when God gave them. And Adam did jack when Satan showed up.

He was supposed to speak up, act as his wife’s authority, and kill the serpent. Likewise, in the Church, the elders are commanded (Titus 1) to teach sound doctrine and silence those who contradict it.

Oh but that sounds so… harsh.

6) Men have a natural tendency towards violence – and that’s not a bad thing. Adam was supposed to kill the serpent. The priests (Numbers 3) were supposed to kill anyone who dared desecrate the temple. Only men were called to be soldiers.

Sometimes protection means we rebuke people. Sometimes protection means we use force. And that’s what men are called to.

Of course that can be abused. But those abuses aren’t what we’re talking about right now. Some things require violent action, and men are put in those positions for violent action. No man gets an exception.

7) Men are to lead courageously. In Judges 4, Barak failed to courageously lead God’s people into battle. Deborah, a judge in Israel, calls him out and mocks him – because he wanted to be protected by a woman.

8) Men are to determine the actions of their churches. In Isaiah 3 God mocks Israel – saying that women are leading them. He does that to mock the men. They should’ve been sticking up and leading Israel. They failed.

So there’s just a little bit. I’m not talking about stuff like love and gentleness here- those things that every Christian is commanded to obey. It’s clear from these Scriptures (and more) that men are to be uniquely men.

They are to lead. Take authority. Take responsibility for the Church of God. Silence those who would lead the sheep astray. Take responsibility for their families.

So men – you know this stuff. A few things to do:

A) Own your own spiritual growth. Stop being a spiritual coward, start following Jesus your King. That means submitting to his word and taking your own sin seriously.

B) Own your family’s spiritual growth if you have one.

C) Step up in the Church. Think of ministries to do. Do them. Step up when they ask for volunteers. Stop looking to be entertained and start taking risks to serve God.

D) Know the Bible. Speak the Bible. Rebuke those who contradict the Bible.

Guys – any more you can think of?