Characteristics of Christian men
Since today is fathers day I thought I would it be appropriate for us talk about good Characteristics that every Christian man should have. Please not what Paul says to some Christian men,
ESV
1 Corinthians 16:13 Be watchful,
stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
Now Paul gives these men 3 things to do. First
they are to be watchful which means they should always be watching what they
doing and paying attention to what is going on around them spiritually. Second
he tells them to stand firm in the faith. In other words men should not allow themselves to become
persuaded to move away from the truth toward the tradition of men. Instead they
should be firmly planted in God Word and they only way they can do that is by
being students of God Word. Now Paul 3rd point is what I want to
focus in on when he tells these Christians to act like men.
What does it mean to act like men? I believe the answer to this question is
found in NT where we learn how men are
conduct themselves.
The first thing I want to look at is how single
men should conduct themselves. First lets take a look at the charge given to
Timothy a single man of the day.
1 Timothy
We learn from these words how a single man is to
act. Even though Timothy was an minister I believe these same characteristics
apply to all single Christian men in fact these great characteristics that
every Christian should learn to have in their lives. I want you to notice all
the things that Timothy was to be an example in. First he was to be an example
in his word or his speech. It is very important for men to watch what they say.
There is always an open ear just waiting to hear your say something inappropriate,
which is why it is important for us to watch what we say. Paul says,
Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with
grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Second of all, Timothy was to be an example in his conduct or his behavior. A man is to conduct himself in honorable way and not in some lewd manner. Sometimes you will find men behaving in vulgar and disrespectful ways but a Christian man should not behave this way.
The third thing Timothy was to be an example in was in love. If a man is full of love he will not have any room for hate or angry words. So for a Christian man to conduct himself is way that is pleasing to God he must have love.
The last 3 things Timothy is to be a good example in is spirit, faith and purity. Every man should live their live is such a way that those around you can see that spirit of Christ is in you. In order for you to have the spirit of Christ it takes faith. A man needs to have faith in God. This last thing is very important to those that are single men and that is purity. A single man is one who needs to watch how he conducts himself around other women and that he maintains pure thoughts. Lets take a look at What Paul tell Titus
Titus 2: 6 Likewise exhort the young
men to be sober-minded, 7 in
all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing
integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, 8
sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be
ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.
Here Paul gives Titus
very similar instructions. But the whole point is that Paul wants these men to
be sure to conduct themselves in such a way that so that they will be good examples to those
around them.
The Bible teaches us
that there is advantage to those who are single.
1 Corinthians
You see a single man has more time on his hands.
He doesn’t have a family to take care of and so a single man should use his
extra time and energy for the lord. However, many times these men don’t remain
single forever and eventual they get married and start a family. That brings to
our second Characteristic.
Every Christian man should be a great husband. But
how should a man act as a husband?
I think Paul describes it best in,
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as
Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and
cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to
Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but
that she should be holy and without blemish.
28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own
bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and
cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.
We learn from Paul that we are to love our wives
just as Christ loved the church. Think about how great a love that really is.
To put this in to perspective lets take a look a few passages that show what
Christ was willing to do for the church which is just another way of saying
what he did for us since we make up the church.
Philippians 2 5 Let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6
who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with
God, 7 but made Himself of no
reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness
of men. 8 And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross.
That is how much love Jesus has for you and I. He
was willing to give up his home in heaven to take on the form of a man and to live like one of us and be
tempted like one us so that he could fully know how to help us in our time of
need.
2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,
that you through His poverty might become rich.
You see Jesus was
willing to give up all that he had so that we could be set free from our sins.
He loved us so much that he was willing to face the torture of the cross for
our sakes. Notice what John says about his sacrifice.
Romans 5 7 For scarcely for a
righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare
to die. 8 But God
demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. 9 Much
more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through Him.
Because Jesus loved us so much he was willing to
give his life for us and according to Acts
20:28 he purchased the church with his own blood. That is how much Jesus
loved the church and we as husbands are to have this same type of love for our
wives. This means that we should be willing to love our wives with every ounce
of our being. We are to love them as we love ourselves and we are to nurture
them as we would want to be nurtured. We should also respect them give them the
attention and affection that they deserve.
1 Corinthians 7:3 Let the husband render to his wife
the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority
over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does
not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another
except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and
prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of
your lack of self-control.
Obviously we learn from
this passage that there is a responsibility for both men and women to give
attention and affection to one another. So we learn from the passage that there
is great need for us as men to spend quality time with our wives. As good
Christian men we need to recognize the importance of rendering attention and
affection to our mate. I have known of married couples where the men don’t
spend much time with their wives, in fact they try to do everything they can to
avoid spending time with them. This is not what God had in mind when comes to a
happy marriage. Now some men after they get married still want to act like
there single and they want to run off and do all things they used to do.
However, we must learn that life is not all about us and we have to realize
that we must make a few sacrifices so that we can spend more time with our
wives and our children that is if we want to have a happy family life. If we
continue to neglect our family Paul tells that Satan is going have a better
chance at causing kayos in the family. Another thing we should do is found in,
1 Peter 3:7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with
understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being
heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
You see a Christian men
we need to try to understand our wives and to honor them to the best of our
ability. I cant tell you how many times I have heard men talking bad about
their wives or doing whatever they can to belittle them in front of others but
friends this is wrong and we should not do that and certain does not honor our
wives.
Now lets take a look at how men should act as
fathers.
Ephesians 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke
your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the
Lord.
First lets deal with the
phrase do not provoke your children to wrath. First of all not all provoking is
bad.
Hebrews
In this instance there a
positive way that a person may provoke or stir someone up and as fathers we certainly
want to provoke our or stir up our children up in such away that it will lead
them to righteousness. However, Paul is teaching us that we should not provoke them
such a way that will cause them to be angry or cause them to regret you being
their father. Paul also tells us that we are to train them up, that is to fully
teach them about Gods Word. This is one greatest responsibilities of a
Christian father. He should be the spiritual leader of the house hold and he should
take an active part in teaching his children about the Lord. This is not new
concept in fact God has always wanted the fathers to be involved in their
children up bringing. For instance lets look at what the Bible says about
Abraham in,
Genesis 18:19 "For I have known him, in
order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they
keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may
bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."
You see even back as far as Abraham God had this
plan for the fathers. Its very important that we train our children up and use
discipline as necessary. God commanded the children of
Deuteronomy 6:6 " And these words which I
command you today shall be in your heart.
7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and
shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when
you lie down, and when you rise up.
Every Christian farther needs to understand the
importance of this. In fact we all need to have the attitude that Joshua did.
Joshua 24:15"And if it seems evil to you to
serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the
gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River,
or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my
house, we will serve the LORD."
Another good Characteristic we are to as Christian
men is learning be a good son.
Paul tells
us in,
Ephesians 6:2 "Honor your father and
mother," which is the first commandment with promise:
As Christian men we should never get to the point
where we treat our parents badly instead we are to honor them. We have a
biblical example of where the Jews were trying to neglect their parents and
Jesus made them understand very quickly that what they were doing was wrong.
This is found in Mark 7 where the Jews were complaining to Jesus about his
disciples eating with unwashed hands. Notice Jesus response,
Mark 7:6 He answered and said to them,
"Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This
people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 7 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' 8 "For laying aside the
commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men -- the washing of pitchers
and cups, and many other such things you do." 9 He said to them, "All
too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your
tradition. 10 "For Moses
said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or
mother, let him be put to death.' 11
"But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever
profit you might have received from me is Corban" -- ' (that is, a
gift to God), 12
"then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, 13 "making the word of God of
no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such
things you do."
You see these men were neglecting their
responsibility as sons to take care of their parents in their old age and Jesus
tells them that they were allowing their man made traditions to override the
word of God and he lets them know that this is not acceptable to God. Another passage that makes is clear that
Christian men are to take care of their parents is found in
1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own,
and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse
than an unbeliever.
If we fail to be good Christian sons and we do not
take care of our own then we are considered worse than unbeliever. Even Jesus
did what he could from the cross to make sure that his mother would be taken
care of after he was gone.
John 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw His
mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother,
"Woman, behold your son!" 27
Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that
hour that disciple took her to his own home.
John would now take
care of his mother. So, let us never try to neglect our responsibility for
taking care of our own.
Finally lets take a
look a few good characteristics that are involved in being a servant of God.
First thing we will
notice is that are many thing that we should purse and flee as Christian men
according to,
1 Timothy 6: 9 But those who desire
to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and
harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root
of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in
their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But you, O man of God, flee
these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
gentleness. 12 Fight the good
fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and
have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God
who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the
good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14
that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord
Jesus Christ's appearing,
This a great summary
that all Christian men should follow. In an nutshell Paul is teaching us to
flee from evil and worldly things but pursue after those things that will lead
you to eternal life and the way we do that is by keeping all of Gods word
without spot. You see a man of God will make every effort to be a true child of
God.
Another great
Characteristic of a Christian man is one that will seek out things he can do
for the Lord. I don’t care who you are ever person has been blessed with some
sort of an ability or talent that can be used to honor God and Christian men
should never shy away from trying to develop new abilities or talents. We need
more men who are willing to learn how to be leaders with in the church and who
are willing to teach Bible classes. It important that we use what we have been
given. Peter emphasizes this in,
.
1 Peter
So don’t neglect your
gifts. In this lesson the morning we have learned some great characteristic
that ever man should be working toward. We talked about how single men should
conduct themselves, we talked about how we should be good husbands, fathers and
sons. Then finally we talked about how we should be good servants of the Lord.
If we can learn to add these good characteristic to our lives we will have a
great relationship with God, with our families and with everyone else that is
around us.