Courageous Manhood

The transition to manhood isn’t marked by age, it’s defined by strength of character, purpose, and a code of honor.

The absence of real men in our culture has profound effects on society.

33% of children in America live in homes without the presence of their biological father.
Children in female led households are 4x more likely to live in poverty, be obese, repeat a grade, drop out of school, have emotional problems, and struggle with depression.
The one thing that most prison inmates have in common regardless of race, religion, or socioeconomic background is the lack of a father in the home.

Being a man is a high and spiritual calling that all men should strive to live out.

The Apostle Paul clearly articulates what it means to be a man.
At the time he wrote this, he was writing to the church in Corinth, one of the most vile cities of the ancient world. Most of the people were caught up in devious sexual lives and cults, they worshipped money and their leaders. The city was affluent and we can deduct that most of the people who came to faith and started attending church were also affluent.

This is what Paul writes to a struggling group of people who are trying to live countercultural for the cause of Christ.

(1 Corinthians 16:10-18)

“When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.”

Timothy was a teenager at this time. Paul recognized him as a man and tells the Corinthian men to recognize him as a man as well.

“Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.”

Apollos was a companion of Paul’s who changed his mind about traveling to Corinth.

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”

This is where we get the five marks of a man.

“Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people..”
1 Corinthians 16:10-18

Paul notes that Fortunatus and Achaicus were game changers. They supplied what was needed at the time.

The Five Marks of a Man

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14

In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul writes that there is a time for boys to stop acting like children.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”
1 Corinthians 13:11

In order to become a real man, you must put away your childish thoughts and actions.

Then later in chapter 16 Paul shares the five marks of a man in two verses.

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14

1. Be watchful.

2. Stand Firm.

3. Act like men.

4. Be strong.

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,…” Colossians 3:23

5. Do everything in love.

Boy’s Rite of Passage to Manhood

One of the most important rites in most cultures is the celebration of when a boy becomes a man.
It’s a specific time in a young man’s life when he is formally recognized as a man. In some cultures, the boy gets tattooed or gets to go on the hunt for food with the other men in the tribe.

When does a boy become a man in America? We don’t have any formal rituals, but we should.

If you want to be recognized as a courageous man, take the charge

I am a man.

I will be watchful and have a vision for my life.

I will look for the long-term win.

I will stand firm basing my life on the Word of God.

I will stand up to stupidity.

I will act like a man and have a pack of men to be manly with.

I will be strong working for the glory of God and to provide for others.

I will do everything in love because that is what Jesus calls me to do every day.

I will protect my family and put God first.

This is my commitment to those who know me and those who will.

I am a man and proud of it.