Fight Club - Real Men Help the Weak

True masculinity is shockingly distorted by our culture. Strength is seen as the power to dominate others. In our culture "real men" are portrayed as hitting hard and tough, insensitive, not showing emotion, surrounding  themselves with other strong and powerful people, and trampling upon the weak. This is a far cry from what real manhood is.

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all you do be done in love." (1 Corinthians 16:13)

Acting like men means showing love. The greatest picture of Biblical masculinity is Jesus Christ. He was tender and loving, meek and controlled, and yet furiously strong. What kind of strength enables a man to take a beating by a whip within an inch of death and then be crucified on a cross? All of this, and He could have blinked and had a legion of terrifying angels at His side and slaughtered all who opposed Him.

But He did not.

Why?

To redeem all that would call on His name. A sacrifice had to be made. The ransom had to be paid. And sin and death were about to be forever destroyed! That is a man. Doing what is right even when it hurts. Sacrificial love is the epitome of what it is to be a man. 

Why else would Paul command husbands to,

"...love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." (Ephesians 5:25-27)

It really is true that "greater love has no man than this: to lay his life down for his friends" (John 15:13).  C.S. Lewis described this sacrifice allegorically in a beautiful way when Aslan sacrifices himself on the Stone Table to the White Witch to save Edmund's life.


This is strength. The power to sacrifice.

Husbands are called to sacrificial love. Men are called to lay themselves down in strength to help the weak and vulnerable.

Men of God, who is weak in your life? Who is being bullied? Who is being trampled? Will be you be a man and stand with them? Will you stand for them?

In Exodus 22, God commanded that Israel should “not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry" (Exodus 22:20-26). The measure of a society is how it treats the most weak and vulnerable. Likewise, the measure of a man is how he treats those who are weaker than himself. Are the weak and vulnerable afraid of your shadow? This is not being a man.

A man defends the weak. Helps the hurting. Fights for the vulnerable. This is strength.

"Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed." (Psalm 82:3)

Where are the men who will stand up and fight? Who will sacrifice their reputation or social status to stop bullying? Who will show honor to women? Who will stop the locker-room talk? Will you?

God is looking for warriors who are ready to fight. Men who will speak the truth in love and lay down their lives to defend the weak and vulnerable. As everyone's favorite superhero says,

"With great power, comes great responsibility." 

-Spiderman