Act Like Men, Part 13

We have a great opportunity to study God's word together as a church to grow on our walk with the Lord. And our topic has been, since June, 1 Corinthians 16, 13, a little phrase, act like men. And we address the men of our church because they are to lead the way in the process. And yet, that little phrase deals with every person in the church. For Paul, when he wrote 1 Corinthians, he wrote to the church of Corinth. And wanted everybody in the church to act like men, to grow up, be mature, to be strong, to be courageous, to be confident.

It's used one time in the New Testament, many times in the Old Testament, to describe those who are strong and courageous. And so we want you to understand the importance of that. So we're tied to touch the tip of the iceberg in helping you understand that. We in no way have exhausted the topic in terms of what it means to act like men. Some of you think we have, but we really haven't. And so we tried to outline it for you in a very simple, practical way. It's in your bulletin to help you understand what does it mean to act like a man?

Well, it means that you live purposefully for the glory of God. You live proactively, not passively, because those who know their God display strength and they take a lot of action. And so you live proactively. You also are to live prayerfully and powerfully, because if you're on your knees, your life will be a very powerful kind of life. You are to live productively, bearing fruit for the glory of Christ. You are to live purely, that is, a holy life for the glory and honor of the King. You are to live prophetically, that is, you're the speaker of truth.

You're to proclaim the truth of God to those who do not know it. You're to transfer that truth to those that do know it, that they might grow in their walk with the Lord. You are to live patiently and progressively, moving toward Christ-likeness. You don't know everything. You don't live perfectly, but you do live progressively. You're moving closer and closer to Christ. You live perseveringly. You bear up under pressure. You bear with people, because you know God's called you to the ministry and God's called you to live for His glory, and so you continue to persevere for Him.

You live pleasingly, because you want to please Him. You make it your ambition to please Him who is invisible. Those are just some simple ways that we can begin to act like men, and I guarantee that if you begin to implement the things that we've been teaching you, you will see a change in your life and change in your marriage and change in your ministry, because you would have been obedient to the Word of the Lord. So we're back in June. I told you we had 12 points, and today is point number 12, okay?

It does not mean that we end today. It just means that we're at point number 12 today, okay? We will end next week. That's the plan, okay, on Communion Sunday, and so we want you to understand that the 12th principle is that you live passionately, passionately. Now I know that everybody in the room has a passion about something. The problem is that we are passionate about the things that we should be passive about, and we're passive about the things we should be passionate about, right? Sure. But every one of us has a passion.

The question is, what is your passion geared toward? If you're going to live passionately, to be strong and courageous to act like a man, what does that mean? It means you have a supreme, singular passion to love the Christ. Paul says in the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse number 14, the love of Christ compels me, constrains me. I am caught in the love of Christ, so much so that I've been chained by His love. It compels me. It constrains me. It moves me. There's something about the love of Christ that moves me to serve and to honor my King.

In fact, he says it this way in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, as he explains it, he says, for the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all, said they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. So Paul says, listen, our whole purpose is to live for the one who died for us. There's a passion that Paul had, and it was the love of Christ that compelled him. Our passion should be the love of Christ, to love him all the more because he loves us.

The Bible says that in Romans 5, that when we are born again, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.

That means it's all over the place in our hearts. It's just there. And we love him because he first loved us.

There needs to be this passion about your life and mine centered on the love of Christ that I want to love him. And I want to share that love with others. I want to get to know him and everything about my life is passionate about the Christ himself because I love him so. I love him so. Peter would say, even though you don't see him, you love him. First Peter 1 verse number 8, having not seen, you love, why?

Because he's everything to you. He's everything to you. And we love him because he simply first loved us.

So to act like a man, there's got to be a passion about our souls centered on our love for the Christ. This is our passion. This is what moves us. And so my question to you and to me is, do we love the Christ? Do we love the unseen Christ with all that we have? Paul would say in the book of second Timothy, the third chapter, these words, realize this that in the last days, difficult times, evil times will come for men will be lovers of self and lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents and grateful and holy and loving, irreconcilable malicious gossips without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

In the end times, as time grows closer to the return of the king, the characteristic of the world will be that man is a lover of himself. He is a lover of the world, lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. And you know, unfortunately that's crept into the church, hasn't it? We've been studying on Wednesday night a lot and he was a lover of the world. That's why he went to Sodom, it looked like Egypt. And when he was down in Egypt, it looked so good. They had to live in a place that looked like Egypt.

So he moved towards Sodom, it was the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life that moved him. He was a lover of self more than a lover of God. He was a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God. A lot of people in the church fall in that category and that's sad. Paul would later say about Demas, he has forsaken me because he loves this present world. He's forsaken me. He loved the world so much that he left me in the lurch. He could not hold back from the things of the world. He was passionate about the wrong things.

Lot was passionate about the wrong things. What are you passionate about? What moves you? What excites you? What trips your trigger? What makes your heart beat really, really fast? What gets you excited? Should be the love of Christ. Should be loving Him. Thomas Vincent, the great Puritan, in his book entitled The True Christian's Love to the Unseen Christ says this, he recognizes what a lack of love of Christ represents.

See if this is you. The life of Christianity consists very much in our love to Christ. Without love to Christ, we are as much without spiritual life as a carcass when the soul is fled from it is without natural life. Faith without love to Christ is a dead faith and a Christian without love to Christ is a dead Christian, dead in sins and trespasses. Without love to Christ, we may have the name of Christians, but we are holy without the nature. We may have the form of godliness, but are holy without the power of the unseen God.

And then he says this, the true Christian is evident by his consuming love for Christ. He says, if he has their love, their desires will be chiefly after him. Their delights will be chiefly in him. Their hopes and expectations will be chiefly from him. Their hatred, fear, grief, anger will be carried forth chiefly unto sin as it is offensive unto him. He knows that love will engage and employ for him all the powers and faculties of their souls. Their thoughts will be brought into captivity and obedience unto him.

Their understandings will be employed in seeking and finding out his truths. Their memories will be receptacles to retain them. Their consciences will be ready to accuse and excuse as his faithful deputies. Their wills will choose and refuse according to his direction and reveal pleasure. All their senses and the members of their bodies will be his servants. Their eyes will see for him. Their ears will hear for him. Their tongues will speak for him. Their hands will work for him. Their feet will walk for him.

All their gifts and talents will be at his devotion and service. If he has their love, they will be ready to do for him what he requires. They will suffer for him whatever he calls them to do. If they have much love for him, they will not think much of denying themselves, taking up his cross and following him wherever he leads them. Is that you? Is that described your love for the unseen Christ? Your ears will hear for him. Your eyes will see for him. Your tongue will speak for him. Your heart will be devoted to him.

Paul says it's that love that compels me. It moves me. It constrains me. I must serve my God. He was passionate. Paul was a passionate man. You know, a lot of men today are not very passionate about anything. You ever notice that?

Some guys are just like bumps on a log. They just kind of sit there and don't do anything. And yet as Christians, if we love the Christ, there should be this deep consuming passion for him. And not just for him, but to be used by him. For the glory of his kingdom. On Wednesday of Passion Week, the last week of our Lord's life, the Lord was on the Temple Mount, conversing with the leaders of Israel. The crowds around him were great. If you were with us on our study of Luke, you know that those last days were important days.

For Christ would convey so much about what people needed to know before he left. And on this Wednesday of Passion Week, he was asked three last questions. Okay? One dealt with man's political responsibility. The other dealt with a literal eternity. But the last question asked of Jesus, recorded on March 12, dealt with spiritual priority. The last question asked of Jesus is this. There are no other questions asked of him publicly. This is it. It's the last question. He then in turn will ask them a question about the identity of the Messiah.

But right now he's answering their questions. And this is the last question asked of Jesus. Here it is. You ready? Mark 12. Verse number... Number 30. 29. 28. Yeah, I'm sorry. 28. Verse number 28. And one of the scribes came and heard them arguing. And recognizing that he had answered them well, asked him, What commandment is the foremost of all? You've got to imagine the scene. Jesus is surrounded by spiritual leaders, plus many that are there for Passover. Which is the foremost commandment? Jesus answered.

The foremost is this. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Second is this.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. This is it. In summation, he concludes with the Ten Commandments. Loving God, the first four.

Loving your fellow man, the last six. But it all centers around your love for God. And if you love God, you love your fellow man. In fact, the way you treat your fellow man determines whether or not you love God or not. So he answers the question. He says, Your love for God must be inclusive with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. So everything. It's inclusive. Love for Christ includes your whole being. You don't love the Lord with your mind, but not with your heart.

You don't love him passively, but you love him passionately and intensely because you do it with all your strength, right? This is the foremost commandment. It's inclusive. Not only is it inclusive, it's very intimate because it involves your heart and your soul. It's very intelligent because it involves your mind. And it's very intense because it involves your strength. It involves everything about your life. You are to love the Christ with all that you have. In a second, it's like the first.

You love your neighbor as you love yourself. Imagine what the crowd was thinking as Christ would speak. Listen to how the scribe, the learned man, answered. Right, teacher? You have truly stated that he is one and there is no one else besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as himself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices. Wow. What a statement. He knew. He knew that what was on the inside mattered and what you did on the outside, ritualistic, did not matter.

He knew that you had to love God with all that you had. And that was more important than all the burnt offerings and all the sacrifices that one would offer. Because if you offer them without giving your heart to him, you're a hypocrite. It means nothing to God. So he knows that. He understands that. And Jesus says to him, these words, when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God.

You're not in, but you're not far. And yet, so close yet so far. You're not far from the kingdom because you understand that it's an internal issue, not an external issue. That's more than those who believe that you can be saved by your work, so you can do something externally, somehow to appease God and please God. So you're a lot further along than those people are. And yet you're not in the kingdom because you haven't given your life to me. You haven't denied yourself and taken up your cross and followed me.

You haven't committed yourself to me. You've accepted what I have said. You have accepted what the scriptures say, but you've refused to appropriate what the scripture says.

You believe what the scriptures say. But that's not enough because the demons believe and yet they tremble. So you have it all right in terms of your intelligence. You know what the Bible says.

But you're not willing to come to me that you might have life. You're unwilling to come to me and embrace me as Lord and Savior. You're unwilling to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. You are unwilling to love me as your God. Unwilling to do that. Oh, you're not far. But you're not in. Next phrase, no one dared to ask him any more questions. Nobody. Because there is no other question to ask. They were all done. They had exhausted the Q&A time. And it was summed up with man's love for the unseen Christ.

Man's love for the true God of Israel. Man's love for the one who stood before them. Jesus Christ, our Lord. He says, you're not far, but you're not in. Because you don't love me as your God. Because I am the God who was one. I am the Holy One of Israel. I am your Savior and your Redeemer. And he refused to embrace him as such. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, He who does not love the Lord, let him be accursed.

Let him be accursed. Because we are to love the Christ. By giving everything to him. So, this love for Christ should be our passion. Isn't it interesting? What the Bible says in Galatians chapter 2, verse number 20.

When Paul said these words. He said, I have been crucified with Christ. And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. Who loved me and gave himself for me. He makes it very clear. That the distinguished life. Is an extinguished life. The distinguished life of a man. Comes because his life is extinguished. I have been crucified with Christ. And that extinguished life is the relinquished life. I have given it all to him.

And that becomes the distinguished life. Because it is now Christ who lives in me. And the life, Paul says, I now live. I live because God is in me. That is the distinguished life. Paul was compelled to live for Christ. Because Christ lived in him. Maybe you are not compelled to live for Christ. Because Christ is to live in you. You ever think about that? Maybe you are not passionate about Christ. Because the love of Christ is not shed abroad in your hearts. You ever think about that? We just can't assume that you know the Lord because you are here.

You show up every week. Sometimes twice a week. Is there a passion for the Christ? Do you love him so? Christ would come to Peter. Remember that? John chapter 21. After the crucifixion. Peter went back to fishing. So Christ came to him while he was fishing. And made breakfast for Peter. That must have been quite a breakfast. Christ made it. You ever ask yourself how Christ makes breakfast? He just says, breakfast. And there it is. Don't you wish you could do that? So Peter understands it is the Christ.

He jumps out of the boat and runs to the shore. He meets the Christ. And in John's gospel, 21st chapter. These words are recorded. When it says, when they had finished breakfast. Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John. Do you love me more than these? More than what? What are the these? We don't know. Is it his nets and fishing? Could be. Is it the other disciples? Could be. The question is, do you love me more than everybody else? And anything else? In other words, do you love me supremely, Peter?

Is your love for me unparalleled, Peter? That's the question every one of us could ask. We could put ourselves in Peter's sandals and ask the same question. When Christ comes to us, what does he say? Is your love for me supreme? Is it unparalleled? Is there a rival, Peter, in your heart for my affection? Is there a rival in your heart for my attention? Is there a rival in your heart for my adoration? What rivals me in your heart? Peter, do you love me more than these? If Christ came to you, he would say, do you love me more than your job?

Do you love me more than your hobbies? Do you love me more than your wife? Do you love me more than your children? Do you love me more than your money? Do you love me more than your opportunity? Do you love me more than your own physical well-being? Do you love me more than these, everything else that you can think of? Is your love for me unparalleled? Is it supreme? Is it? Only you can answer that. I can't answer that for you. I'll be honest with you. I wish that my love for Christ was greater than it is.

I wish my love for Christ was more supreme than it is. That's why you live progressively. You move in that direction, right? So that you can move closer to the Christ. But we have to ask that question of ourselves, don't we? Peter, do you love me more than these? Peter says, simply, yes, Lord. You know that I love you. He said to him, tend to my lambs. Why does he say that? Because if you go back to the foremost commandment, you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, all your mind, and you love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Right? That's the command. The command is to love. If you love me, Peter, supremely, you'll tend to those that are my sheep, my lambs. You'll love them. You'll minister to them. Because, Peter, right now you're not. You went back to fishing. You're fishing. When I called you, I said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And you went back to fish fish. What kind of job is that? What kind of ministry is that? Fishing fish. Who does that? Except fishermen, right? I want to make you fishers of men.

Peter, if you love me supremely, you're going to tend to my lambs, to my sheep. You're going to watch out for them. You're going to care for them. You're going to love them. You're going to minister to them. And then Christ asked him again. A second time, Simon's son of John, do you love me?

Do you love me? He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, shepherd my sheep. Shepherd my sheep. Feed my sheep. I just don't want you to lead them. I want you to feed them. I want you to protect them. I want you to watch over them. Simon, do you love me supremely? Do you love me with an unparalleled kind of love? Not only do you love me supremely, do you love me singularly? Not only is your love unparalleled, your love is undivided. It's not taken in two different directions.

It's indivisible. It cannot be divided. It's undivided. It is singularly toward me because I am supremely the one you love. Peter, is your love for me undivided? Is your love for me unparalleled? That's my question. That's why he says, Peter, do you love me unconditionally? He uses the word agapao. Do you love me unconditionally, Peter? Supremely? And then he asks him a third time.

He says these words a third time. Simon, son of John, do you love me? Because when Peter answered, he didn't answer with agapao. He answered with phileo. So Christ says, Peter, do you love me like that?

Am I even a friend of yours, Peter? Is there even a brotherly love for me, Peter? He questioned the love that Peter thought was sufficient. And Peter was upset. Peter was grieved because he said to him a third time, do you love me?

He said to him, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, tend my sheep. You know that I love you, Peter, Lord. You know that I do. But he was grieved because Jesus questioned the love that Peter thought he could get away with. He says, I want you to love me supremely. I want you to love me singularly. I want you to love me sincerely, Peter. Your love must not just be unparalleled. It must not just be undivided. It must be unhypocritical, Peter. I want all of you, Peter.

I want you to love all of me. I want you to be consumed with me, Peter. Because you have a responsibility to tend the flock of God, to shepherd the sheep of God. Peter, you have a huge responsibility. And the only way you can fulfill that responsibility is if you are consumed with me. If you love me supremely. If you love me singularly. If you love me sincerely. Then, then you can tend to my sheep. Then you can feed my lambs. Then you can shepherd my people. But you gotta love me, Peter. I need you to love me with all that you have.

Then Jesus says this in John 21. He says to Peter, Truly, truly I say to you, when you were younger you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished. When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands as someone else will gird you and bring you where you do not wish to go. Now this, he said, signifying what kind of death he would glorify God. When he spoke of this, he said to him, Follow me. Peter, you're gonna die. I'm gonna tell you right up front. You love me supremely. Your love for me is unparalleled.

You love me singularly. Your love for me is undivided. You love me sincerely, Peter. Your love for me is unhypocritical. That's the way you are. You're gonna die for me. So, follow me. That's always been the message of Jesus. If any man come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. So Christ reiterates that in Peter's mind in a practical way. He says, Peter, you follow me. That's the same call given to you and me today. Are we willing to follow Christ? Are we willing to be crucified with Christ?

Are we willing to live a distinguished life by living an extinguished life? Our life is now dead, and Christ lives in us. We've relinquished everything to him. Are we willing to do that? Do we love the Christ? Christ says, you follow me.

If you love me, you'll follow me. Even if it costs you everything, you'll follow me. And Peter says, Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved, that's John, following them, the one who had also leaned back on his bosom at the supper and said, Lord, who is the one who betrays you? And so Peter seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, what about John? What are you going to do about John? Does John love you? And if John loves you, is he going to die too? Is it just going to be me who dies? Can't John die also?

What about John? That's always the question, isn't it? When questioned whether or not we love the Christ, what about them? Who cares about them? Christ isn't speaking, then I'm speaking to you. And Jesus says, if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?

You follow me. Who cares what happens to John? Who cares if he lives until I come again? I'm not talking to him, Peter. I'm talking to you. You follow me, Peter. So I'm talking to you. Christ, through his word, always speaks to us. And he wants us to follow him supremely, singularly, sincerely. He wants us to love him passionately with all our strength, all our soul, all our mind, everything that we have, because that is the greatest commandment, to love the Christ. And that love for Christ is that which compels us and moves us.

How do we know you love the Christ? You're compelled to serve the Christ. So we know. You're moved to minister for the Christ, to serve the Christ, to honor the Christ. Your life is about Christ. That's how we know you love Christ. It's about him, not about you. You live a distinguished life because you're living his life. You've been crucified, and you follow him. Every single one of us has to ask ourselves the question, do we love the living God? Do we love him with all that we have? That was Christ's question to Peter.

Do you really love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, Peter? Or are you paying lip service to your relationship with me? A lot of people in the church pay lip service to Jesus, don't they? They sing the songs and say they love Jesus and say they want to follow Jesus, but in all reality, they don't stand strong for the Christ and live for the Christ. My prayer for you and for me is that there be a deep passion, a deep passion for the Christ, that we love him with all of our hearts. That's why the Bible says, guard your heart, for out of it flow all the issues of life, Proverbs 4.23.

Guard your heart, protect your heart, because everything about your life comes from your heart. Christ wants all of your heart to love him. If that's the case, there's a great passion about your life, a deep passion for the Christ. And I want you to be a passionate person in the right area, for the right things, for the glory of the king. I want you to be passionate in your love for Jesus Christ, our Lord. Let me pray with you.

Lord, we thank you for today and the chance we have to spend a brief amount of time in your word. Truly, it is a blessing to be challenged through your word. To examine our lives in light of what you said to Peter, what you said on the Temple Mount to the scribe, to the Pharisees, to those who are listening. Do we love you? What our prayer is that we would, and that we would love you with all of our hearts. Now, with each passing day, we would grow in our love for the Christ because we grow in our knowledge of you.

And the more we know you, the more we can't help but embrace you, love you, and live for you. May that be our prayer today. In Jesus' name we ask, amen.