There is a masculinity crisis today, and it is not only in the secular culture—this masculinity crisis is in our churches.
On the one hand, true masculinity has been severely feminized in today’s culture, which has impacted even Christian men. Modern culture celebrates androgyny, promoting ideals where traditional masculine traits are downplayed or even discouraged. Men are encouraged to embrace feminine characteristics while shunning qualities like strength and leadership.
But on the other hand, an equally problematic reaction to this feminization by many men today in both secular culture and churches is a sort of rugged machismo that replaces one unbiblical distortion with another, failing to capture the biblical vision of manhood that God has laid out in Scripture.
Neither feminization nor machismo rightly capture the biblical portrait of masculinity.
Neither feminization nor machismo rightly capture the biblical portrait of masculinity.
The Biblical Solution
So what, then, is the solution to the masculinity crisis for Christian men?
There are many biblical passages that could help, but one that succinctly describes key characteristics of biblical manhood is 1 Corinthians 16:13–14:
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
We might be tempted to view these imperatives as Paul’s final ditch effort at the end of this letter to cover all of his bases with five unrelated commands. But actually, these five imperatives summarize key principles that solve all of the problems Paul addresses in the letter. And while these commands are certainly given to all members of the church, we quickly notice that they are particularly instructive for men.
If Christian men want to remedy the masculinity crisis today, this is what we must pursue.
Be Watchful
The first command is “be watchful.” Literally, “be awake.” True Christian men need to be spiritually awake and alert. We can never lie down on the job.
The importance of spiritual alertness is key for all Christians, but it is particularly important for men who are the leaders of their families and churches. Men are never off-duty. As Peter says,
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Pet 5:8)
Most good men would be watchful if they knew there was potential danger. We go to a restaurant with our family, and we sit with our back to the wall and our eyes on the door. We’re walking through a shady part of town, and our eyes are darting around looking for threats. This is how Christian men must conduct themselves at all times spiritually, because there are always dangers lurking—spiritual dangers that threaten the health of our families and our churches.
Many days when I am driving home from work, mentally exhausted from a long day, I have to just repeat to myself, “You can’t relax when you get home.” Oh how I would love to just plop down on the couch and take it easy. No, I have to ask the Lord for strength and remind myself that my wife has been wrestling with the kids all day, and each of my children has different issues they’re struggling with, and the devil is prowling for their souls! I have to enter that house in a state of watchfulness.
Whether in our families or in our churches—or in our own lives, we must not wait until a problem becomes so bad that we can’t avoid it any longer. Like, I’m asleep, unaware that the house is on fire, and I don’t wake up until the flames start burning my own flesh. No, we must be awake, alert, watchful, always actively looking for little signs of issues that we can address now before they burn the house down.
Many times fatherhood, like pastoring, can feel like we’re just cleaning up messes—fixing problems. We plug up one leak over here only for another leak to spring over here, and so forth. And sometimes that’s unavoidable.
But I’m convinced as a father and as a pastor that many problems can be foreseen before they even occur if we are watchful. We need to be looking for early signs of problems and danger so that we can prevent them before they become even bigger problems.
Men, for the sake of your own soul, for the sake of the souls of your family members, and for the sake of every soul in your congregation, be watchful. Wake up. Watch the culture, looking for signs of danger. Watch your children’s lives, looking for ways to help lead them to Christ. Watch the other members of your church, looking for ways to encourage them or admonish them.
Be watchful.
Men, for the sake of your own soul, for the sake of the souls of your family members, and for the sake of every soul in your congregation, be watchful.
Stand Firm in the Faith
Second, stand firm in the faith.
Stand firm. But not just a macho, baseless, ego-driven kind of firmness. This is how many “men” today act, don’t they? Oh, they’re firm, but their firmness is mostly about proving something or defending their ego.
No, Paul says stand firm in the faith. The definite article there—the faith—is important. The faith is the content of God’s revelation. It is the truth of God’s Word.
This is similar to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:12:
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
He doesn’t just say here, “Fight the good fight of faith”—He says, “Fight the good fight of the faith,” the truth of God’s Word.
Men, we’re in a battle. This reality is one of the key reasons we need to be watchful. One of the things we need to be alert for is attacks against the faith, against the truth of God’s Word. But when we identify those attacks, what do we do? We stand firm. We fight. We defend.
This is not the job of pastors alone. Part of the reason churches are so weak today is because the men of the church think only pastors need to stand for the faith. No, the church is the pillar and buttress of the truth. All Christians—especially Christian men—must defend the faith.
Part of the reason churches are so weak today is because the men of the church think only pastors need to stand for the faith. No, the church is the pillar and buttress of the truth. All Christians—especially Christian men—must defend the faith.
Men, we must take the lead; we must stand firm in the faith. Don’t think that this is not your job. Don’t think that this is only the job of pastors or Sunday school teachers or seminary professors. No, this is the job of all believers, and this is the job primarily of the men of the church. This is military language—stand firm—the language of men. We stand to protect the women and children from the attacks of Satan, we stand as a pillar and buttress of the truth, we stand against worldly ideologies and pagan theologies that threaten the faith. We must stand firm in the faith.
Act Like Men
And this leads, then, to the third command. “Be watchful”—that’s certainly the responsibility of all Christians, but that is military language; it is especially the job of men. “Stand firm”—that’s certainly the responsibility of all Christians, but it is especially the job of men.
And with this third command, Paul just comes right out and says it—”act like men.” Again, this is military language. This command embodies both the idea of courage and maturity. Don’t be fearful; don’t be like a child. Be a man. Stand courageously. Be watchful, stand firm. Act like men.
Paul specifically condemned the Corinthians for their failure in this respect. In Chapter 14, he said, don’t be like children. Be mature. He said in chapter 3 that he wanted to address them as mature adults, but instead he had to treat them like children. He wanted to give them solid food, but they weren’t ready for it.
And so he treats them like the children they are.
What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? (1 Cor 4:21)
I tell my older children regularly, You are at the age where I should not have to threaten you with punishment anymore. I should be able to treat you like the young adult that you are and have a reasonable conversation with you, and you should respond by fulfilling your responsibilities. Stop acting like children; act your age.
This is the emphasis of Scripture. We should strive to grow in maturity, to grow in courage as we seek to stand firm in the faith, always watchful for ways in which the faith is under attack, and our families are under attack, and our churches are under attack.
Oh how the church today desperately needs courageous, mature men who will be watchful and stand firm in the faith.
Unfortunately, we live in a time when, even in churches, boyish immaturity is merely snickered at or even considered endearing. “Boys will be boys,” we hear when a couple teenagers do something immature.
No, childishness in young men or older men is not endearing; real men give up childish ways (1 Cor 13:11).
Unfortunately, we live in a time when, even in churches, boyish immaturity is merely snickered at or even considered endearing. No, childishness in young men or older men is not endearing; real men give up childish ways.
Be Strengthened
And then we have a fourth command: literally, “be strengthened.” This is the only passive verb in this list of commands. Paul doesn’t actually say, “be strong.” He says, “Be strengthened.” Why? Because you can’t strengthen yourself. Only God can strengthen you.
This flows out of what comes before. We can only be watchful, stand firm in the faith, and act like men if we are strengthened to do, not from within ourselves, but from God. He must strengthen us to fulfill these responsibilities God has given us as Christian men.
Men who think they are strong in themselves actually have a false view of true Christian strength. This was true of the Corinthians. But Paul admonishes them,
Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Cor 10:12)
They thought they were strong, they thought they were able to stand, but it was a false strength; it was a self-made strength. It was a sort of earthly machoism that’s puffed up and more about ego and showmanship and strutting around flaunting how strong we are instead of truly being strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
This kind of false strength is increasingly becoming a problem today, especially among Reformed men. There is a sort of Reformed machoism that is on the rise today that isn’t being strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, but rather about ego and posturing. That was exactly the problem with the Corinthians, and if we’re not careful, that could become a problem for the Reformed movement today.
There is a sort of Reformed machoism that is on the rise today that isn’t being strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, but rather about ego and posturing.
We must not be like the Corinthians. They were acting like children, but if you read through this book, you can tell that they are strutting around, daring Paul to challenge them. They’re “acting like men,” but actually children who are pretending to be men with a false, self-centered machoism.
This is not true manliness. This is not true strength. True strength that comes from Christ will be characterized by the kind of strength Christ exhibited. What stronger man was there than Jesus Christ? But he did not flaunt his strength. He was not puffed up. He did not try to prove how strong or important he was. No, Christ “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:7).
True, Christ-like strength is humble; true, Christ-like strength manifests itself through being a servant. Yes, we take the lead. Yes, we’re watchful, we stand firm, we act like men, but we do so in the service of Christ and in the service of the families and churches God has called us to serve.
This is the kind of watchfulness, and firmness, and manliness that we need: servanthood. Leadership, yes, but servant-leadership. Men, we are called to serve. That may sound counter-intuitive. We’re supposed to lead, right? Yes, but lead like Christ.
If our strength comes from within, we will be puffed up, macho, ego-driven, and ultimately abusive. But if our strength comes by the grace of Christ through the Spirit of Christ, our strength will be meek, humble, and geared toward serving God and others.
If our strength comes from within, we will be puffed up, macho, ego-driven, and ultimately abusive. But if our strength comes by the grace of Christ through the Spirit of Christ, our strength will be meek, humble, and geared toward serving God and others.
Let All That You Do Be Done in Love
And then finally, “let all that you do be done in love.” Here is the final command that characterizes them all, and it further support the idea of true, Christ-like strength we just discussed. Self-focused leadership, self-focused strength, is abusive; it’s more about the man than about those he is called to serve.
True, Christ-like strength is characterized by love. This is not talking about some squishy feeling. Love is ultimately self-sacrificing service. “Greater love has no one than this,” Jesus said, “that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
True, Christ-like strength is characterized by love.
The Corinthians may have thought that they were strong, but the ultimate evidence that they were not strong as Christ is strong is that they were not loving. They were a divided church, each person posturing for his own glory and status, rather than being united in the same mind and the same judgment (1 Cor 1:10).
They were sexually immoral in ways Paul says are not tolerated even among pagans (1 Cor 5:1), one of the most heinous evidences of self-centered, machoism.
They were suing each other (1 Cor 6), marriage partners were depriving each other (1 Cor 7), so-called “strong” brothers were oppressing the weak among them (1 Cor 8), they were hogging food at the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11) . . . we could go on and on.
You can almost imagine it—it’s not as if this church was filled with passive, effeminate men. From all of these descriptions of division and immorality and abuse, it’s clear that this church was filled with “strong” men, at least from an earthly perspective. These were active, aggressive, puffed up, macho, self-centered, egotistical men interested only in themselves, their status, their pleasures, their so-called “spiritual experiences,” and their so-called “Christian liberties.” The world probably looked at this congregation and said, “That group is full of really strong men—those are men’s men.”
But they weren’t Christian men. They weren’t being watchful for ways they could serve their wives and their children and other church members, they were watchful for ways they could advance their own status. They weren’t standing firm in the faith of the Word of God, they were standing firm for their own interests. They weren’t acting like courageous, mature men, they were actually acting like little children. They weren’t exhibiting Christ-like strength in service to others, they were exhibiting pseudo-strength in service to themselves. Ultimately, they were not loving. They were not self-sacrificing servants.
Men, which picture of “manliness” characterizes us? Macho, egotistical, aggressive, abusive manliness? Or self-sacrificing love?
Men, which picture of “manliness” characterizes us? Macho, egotistical, aggressive, abusive manliness? Or self-sacrificing love?
True biblical, Christ-like manliness is loving. And if we are truly loving, but this biblical definition of self-sacrificing service, then we will be men who are watchful, actively looking out for ways we need to protect our families and other church members, actively looking for ways to serve them. We will be men who stand firm in the faith, not out of some sort of puffed up egotism that has something to prove, but because we are jealous for God’s Word. We will be courageous, not in an aggressive, abusive way, but in a way that protects those under our care. We will exhibit true strength, not from within, but from above. A strength that is selfless and truly loving.
Let us be that sort of men.
