Man Up

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

In this verse, I really see the primary duties and responsibilities that we have as men. God has a call on your life. I want to tell some of you today, it’s not too late for you to become the man God called you to be. What I love about the Lord, every day we are blessed with His grace to have a new beginning.   

I want you to know that God has called you to man up. The Apostle Paul reinforces it when he talks to the church at Corinth. He says, listen guys, you need to man up and be on your guard.

I want you to process with me three things to draw out of this text that have to do with our responsibilities as men. Our spiritual responsibilities as leaders. God has called you to be a leader in your home. A leader in your workplace. A leader in your church. He has called you to be a leader. When He said you are to be the light of the world, you are to shine so bright that you draw men to Him, that is what our life is really all about. Living a life that is so attractive, that people are drawn to us, so we can point them to Him. That is our life as men. 

You are called:

1. To Spiritually Protect  

You are to be the guardian, and to protect your family.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12 

Whether you know it or not, we are living in a war zone. There is spiritual warfare going on every day. The enemy is trying to take you out. He is trying to take your family out. He is trying to take everybody you know out. He is trying to take our nation out. As men, we have got to be the warriors who stand guard over our families to protect them.   

But you can’t go into war zones – you can’t walk into danger zones unarmed. If you go in unarmed, you become prey.   

I also learned that if you hang out in danger zones, you don’t want to hang out alone, or with the wrong people. I had a guy with me on a hunting trip in Africa who I’ll never hunt with again. When a buffalo charged, he never fired his weapon. I asked him why. He said that he couldn’t get around me.

I knew of a husband & wife on a walking safari, where the man used his wife as a shield.

We would no more think of putting our wives out in front of us as a shield in any form of war or combat. We would be the one out front, protecting our family. Why is it when it comes to the spiritual things, we aren’t taking the lead? I know our wives are more spiritual than us. That is a given. That is no excuse for us not to take the point position when it comes to defending our family. We know the greatest way that we defend our family. We put on the armor of Christ so that we can pray and intercede and pray a protective covering over our families.   

You may say, “pastor, I don’t know how to pray.” Every day, I pray for protection and covering over my family. I know God has called us to pray. 

Look what the Word of God says in the book of James: 

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective…” James 5:16 

It doesn’t say righteous woman. It says righteous man. Women’s prayers are powerful and effective. Come on, men! Our prayers are powerful and effective too. You may say “I am a prayer wimp.” Our women know how to pray better than us because they are more spiritual than we are. That doesn’t negate the fact that we are called to pray.   

There is something about when you begin to pray over your family, that God begins to give you a sense of spiritual discernment on how to lead your family. How to cover your family. How to be in a position where you can be used of God to encourage your family.   

One thing I’ve learned about in battle, I never hunted with that one guy again--I found a new guy to hunt with. Carl is about 6’5” and weighs about 300 pounds. Carried a gun so big, it was like a bazooka. I couldn’t hardly hold the thing up. I have been charged by elephants, buffalo, and lions. Now if I am charged by something, I want Carl right beside me. It does matter who you are hanging with.   

We never go into battle alone, men. We need to man up together. We need each other more than we realize. I don’t know what it is about us as men, we think that we are strong enough to deal with our challenges, or even strong enough to be the support of our families alone. That is not the way God created us. He created us to team up with each other, because we are stronger together.

I have men who are in covenant with me to pray over my family every day. I am in covenant with them to pray over their families every day and to be there to support them any way that I can.   

About three years ago, I visited a man in the hospital. His small group was already there standing guard. “We’ve got this covered.” Over the last three years, they have taken care of his family. They have taken care of his son. They are making sure his wife has whatever she needs. If the car breaks down, they fix it. They are covering him because they made covenant with each other. 

We need to make covenant with one another that we are going to be here to fight for one another, stand for one another. Together, we are stronger and with this bond, we will be able to fight off the enemy. We aren’t strong enough to do it alone. In the animal world, the one cannot protect the child. When the rest of the herd comes, they drive the predators away. That is why we need each other. We have got to pray for one another. We have got to serve with one another and we have got to build bonds with each other.   

Don’t pull this Lone Ranger stuff with me. The Lone Ranger wasn’t alone. He had Tonto, Kemosabe. We need to man up. Guys, I want you to step up and take your responsibility and pray.

I messed up with a lot of things with our kids, but one thing my wife and I made a priority. Every Sunday we were in church, worshiping God with our family. Every night, my wife would read devotions to the kids – I was a coach and I was on the road recruiting all the time. When I was home, I was praying with my kids. To this day, I pray over them every day. I know that I have the responsibility. I am their spiritual covering. You are your family’s spiritual covering. That is why you need to be under the covering of the church, under the covering of your pastors. You need to accept the responsibility to bring the spiritual covering to your families, Amen? 

Here is the second thing I see in that passage:

2. To Spiritually Provide Encouragement 

To infuse courage into them. When you are courageous and strong, you help inspire others to be courageous and strong in their lives. That is what encouragement means.   

It is an amazing thing, and I heard this observation the other day by Chris Hodges, who is a great son in the Gospel and a great pastor at Church in the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. He made this comment about when two times the Father spoke audibly over His Son. At His baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration. Both times, note what the Father said:

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

Think about this.

“This is my Son.” Acknowledging who His true identity was. For the Son to know that the Father was accepting Him and acknowledging Him as the Son. Don’t we all long for that? To be acknowledged and accepted. We all long for that.

Look at the second part. “Whom I love.” Expressing the affection of His love. We all long for that, do we not?

The last thing, “with him I am well pleased.” That is the affirmation of the Father in His Son.

Every one of us needs this sense of acceptance, affection, and affirmation. Fathers, we need to supply this to our children. Both our physical children and our spiritual children. If you don’t have natural children, you should have spiritual sons and daughters. You should have those you are encouraging. You have brothers who need this affirmation.

My best high school game, I ran for five touchdowns & 276 yards. My father didn’t affirm me. He couldn’t say “I love you” but he showed his affection by being at all my games. Praise God that I also had a grandfather who loved me. He demonstrated affection and would hug me. He would give me a little kiss on the cheek.

Isn’t it interesting in the Bible, Paul four times says, “greet each other with a holy kiss.” I’ll pass on the kiss with you but give me a hug! Paul understood the importance of us demonstrating and expressing both affection and affirmation for one another.

You may have been raised like my dad, in a family that never showed affirmation. You can break that. You can start it by looking to say something positive, something encouraging, something uplifting to the people around you. It will make you attractive. People will be drawn to you if you are an affirmer of them. You can use that influence to help them discover Christ.

I traveled over 1,000 miles and changed my schedule to attend my 50th high school reunion. Why? Because when I was 16 years old, I was walking out on the first day of summer practice, I was a junior, and Coach Young called me over and said, “Mullins, I want you to work hard this year, because I see the potential in you to play at the next level.”

For a kid that plays any sport, you have the dream of playing at the next level. He said “I see it in you. If you work hard this year, I will work hard for you.” After my senior year, I had multiple scholarship offers. He worked hard for me and I went on to play at the next level. I went up there because that man called the champion out in me. He saw potential in me. No one in my family had ever been to college or played college football. This man saw it and spoke it over me. He caused me to look at myself differently.

There is a power in affirmation. We need to become men of affirmation. We need to become intentional about calling the champion out in the lives of others. We need to look beyond the faults and weaknesses in one another and look to the potential that is in Christ in these people and call it out.

I am intentional; every weekend I am looking for young men who are with just a single parent, typically a mom. I want to get my arms around them and call them son. I tell them I love them. I tell them I see the champion in them. I want them to know that they are accepted. I want them to know that there is a true genuine manly affection that we can demonstrate to them. There is the power of our words to affirm. The Bible says we can speak life or death. I don’t know about you, but I want to speak life over people. I want to call people up to the next level. Don’t you?

I think that is what real men do. Real men know how to affirm other men. It could be a divine appointment for you to speak a word of encouragement over other men's lives. That is what we do. That is what we are called to do in the Word of God.

The third responsibility if we are really going to be men:

3. To Spiritually Prepare our families for victory

One thing I know as a coach, the key to victory is preparation. It just doesn’t happen. You have to prepare for it.

I love this verse of scripture:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:5-7

Here is the bottom line. If we want our kids to live by the principles and precepts of the Word that will bring life to them, then we have to model a life in front of them that is living according to the principles and precepts of God. If not, they will live according to the pressures and compromises of our culture. The bottom line is, we have got to lead by example. We have to be men who don’t direct our children. We lead our children.

We don’t direct our families and tell them where they need to go and how they need to live. We need to live in such a way that they will model their life after us. What you model, you promote.

I love this quote:

“Children have never been good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” ~ James Baldwin

Do you not notice that the older you get, the more you are acting like your father?

Here is another thing I know. I love this verse:

“How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands. Their children will be successful everywhere; an entire generation of godly people will be blessed. They themselves will be wealthy, and their good deeds will last forever.” Psalm 112:1-3

Your spiritual health impacts the health of your family. Your family will only be as strong as you are. We have got to step up and take the responsibility to prepare them for life. We want them to have the best education, the best experiences in sports. Our number one priority should be to want their spiritual health to be the best that it can be. That is why you need to be fully engaged in the church. You need to have your kids fully engaged in the church. We never missed it and never let our kids miss it. Now they are leading in the Kingdom of God. There is no greater reward when you invest that into them. As I said before, we have got to be intentional. We have to do it with purpose. When we do that, God will honor it.

“The measure of a man is the spiritual and emotional health of his family.” ~ Stu Weber

Men, it is never too late to be the man God has called you to be.

It took a lot of courage for Paul to say, “follow me, as I follow Christ.”

What would happen if all men would rise up and say to their families: “follow me as I follow Christ.”

If we stepped up and manned up and took our spiritual responsibility to be the protector of our family and say “I’m going to start praying over my family. I’m going to team up with other men who are going to pray over my family. I’m going to pray over their family and together, we are going to form a herd that will protect our families. I am going to start to provide encouragement even though it’s not natural for me. Even if I don’t know how to do it.” Well, suck it up and get tough! Don’t wimp out and blame it on the generation before and that’s not how you were raised. Change it! You know that and I know that.

We need to be intentional about growing ourselves and our faith. Standing firm in our faith so that we can prepare our families to stand firm in the faith so that they will be victorious in this life.

Rise up, oh men of God! Be done with lessor things. Give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of Kings. Men, it’s time to man up.

God bless you.