The Strength of Men
[This lecture was delivered at the 2024 Men’s Retreat in Zumbro Falls, MN]
The topic of strength, specifically masculine strength, is of great importance. On one level, it is important because of our cultures aversion to it — to apply pressure to minimize it, erase it, flip it on its head and call it evil. But the very nature of it, is that it is stubborn and will not and cannot go away. God’s design in nature remains good, and wise and necessary.
In addition to the ongoing cultural pressure. This topic is important for us on 3 levels:
Strength is commanded in scripture.
Strength is inherently a more masculine attribute.
Our strength is needed in the world, and we need it from one another.
To explore the full picture of masculine strength we’ll look at seven observations or truths from the Bible, starting broad and narrowing our way down to land at a definition of masculine strength.
7 Observations
1. It is undeniable that God made men and women different, according to his wisdom.
Men and women are interdependent and undeniably different. Since Adam and Eve, there has not been a man or women made without a contribution from both a man and a women. And, those roles have never been interchangeable, every child in the world has been carried by its mother. Both are necessary, both are glorious, both are image bearers, both are made in wisdom to display God’s creativity, wisdom and glory.
God did not have to make us different, he could have created mankind in another way, but he didn’t. He made male and female, on purpose, with a differing design for different roles and purposes.
Proverbs 8:22–23,
“The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.”
Just because something is obvious doesn't mean it isn’t marvelous. It’s undeniable that he made us male and female and there is so much to wonder at in it.
2. Men are called to act like men, and there is an assumption in scripture that we have an idea of what that means.
Scripture assumes this in large part because of natural revelation. God has given us guidance through natural revelation. This does not mean he left it to us to create/define ourselves, it means he hardwired it into the world, into our bodies, into our minds and souls (which is further confirmed and clarified by his revealed Word).
We see this in all his creation: Look at the architecture of different buildings and learn about their purpose. You can look at a rhino, and get an idea of what it can do. You can look at a cheetah, and again learn of what it can do. Even a sloth is designed by God to display what laziness looks like! With the vast majority of animals we have an intuitive sense of their design, if they are a threat to us, and what they are able to do.
And this actually show us about the character of God. He is creative and complex, but he is not a God of chaos or confusion. He is a God of recognizable order. The design of our bodies is no different, male and female testifies to his order.
When we look at our design we learn about our purpose. One example that God gives us related to marriage is found in 1 Peter 3. With these distinct vessels, to grow in Christliness is to grow in masculinity for men and to grow in mature femininity for women. If you are growing in Christ, then you are becoming more of a man, in the pure ways God designed, not in the cultural perversions or caricatures of it.
Maturity doesn’t mean you are becoming merely a better human, but you are becoming a better man — a Godly man, which means a more masculine man.
3. Strength is closely tied to masculinity.
In Comparison to females first. 1 Peter 3:7,
“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”
What Peter bring to mind for husbands is that we should be aware and understand that men and women have differing vessels, differing bodies.
In God’s natural order, men have been given the stronger vessel, women have been given the weaker vessel. There is a masculine vessel and a feminine vessel. Our vessels are complex, and are interconnected in how everything functions. It’s not just our physical bodies, but our minds and souls and desires that fit that design. He is not saying weaker in faith, weaker in emotions, weaker in wisdom or even weaker in courage. These may manifest in different ways and we see some evidence of that in 1 Peter 3:6, it says, you are like Sarah “if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” (ie. courage).
A stronger vessel is a main component of masculinity. Right behind obvious anatomy differences, you would see the disparity in strength. Men, generally taller, broader shoulders, stronger muscles. Testosterone levels in women range from 9–55ng/dL, while men range from 300–1000ng/dL. In comparison to the feminine vessel, men have the stronger vessel. But more than that, strength is tied to masculinity in general, not just in comparison.
Men are strong, not just in comparison, but as a predominant feature of God’s intent.
1 Kings 2:1–3,
“When David’s time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes,…”
1 Chronciles 19:13,
“Be strong, and let us use our strength for our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.”
Act like men, play the men, behave like men.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14,
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”
Another closely tied trait that is next to strength is courage, and underneath it is love.
If we were to play the one-word game right now, you could do it:
Cheetah (fast), sloth (slow), men (strong).
Strength is not just a characteristic of men that is lost down somewhere on a top 25 list. It is sitting right at the top as one of the most visible and important attributes of men. Men are made to be strong, and let’s dig deeper into what that means — what is masculine strength?
4. Physical bodily strength is part of masculine strength.
It is undeniable that physical strength is an element to this, especially in comparison to our female counterparts. That body is made to work, made for it’s strength and might to be asserted. Physical strength is a piece to this, but isn’t where the substance of our strength lies. God has given us a vessel that is reflective of masculine strength, and is a suitable counterpart to the internal strength he requires and gives.
Joshua 1:6,
“Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”
Physical strength alone falls short of God’s intentions for true masculine strength. And, it actually create a huge mess when men project strength without the internal substance of it whether in their workplaces, families, or marriages.
5. Wisdom increases masculine strength.
Proverbs 24:5,
“A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might,”
Ecclesiastes 7:19,
“Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.”
It’s not saying it makes your strength more efficient, it is saying it increases your strength, which means your strength is tied to knowledge and wisdom and involves deeper internal strength that goes beyond external physical muscles. So a meat head who is a fool is not strong in God’s eyes, he lacks strength. Men have built the best things and built the worst things in the world. Men have done the greatest good and the greatest evil in this world.
6. Internal might is greater than physical might.
1 Timothy 4:8,
“…for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way,"
Comparing physical benefit to spiritual benefit, one of these has superior value.
Proverbs 16:32,
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”
Self-control over our hearts is greater than the strongest men who conquer cities.
Proverbs 20:29,
“The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.”
The glory of youth fades, lifelong glory/splender comes from wisdom and a well lived life.
Psalm 147:10–11,
“His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.”
Jeremiah 17:5,
“Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
Comparatively, internal substance, strength, and might is better than physical strength and might. It is greater than those who conquer cities, it is valuable in every way, it does not fade like the strength of our youth. But internal and external strength are at their best when integrated together. That internal strength, courage, self-control and godliness manifest itself in strength through our physical bodies in many ways.
7. Strength, might, and courage assume activity.
When comparing 1 Peter 3:6 versus verse 7, we see that it says: wives adorn selves by submitting to husbands, do good and don’t fear anything that is frightening. Husband, live in an understanding way being the stronger body/vessel.
Act like men. Play the men.
Passion/Desire
Ephesians 4:26,
“Be angry and do not sin;”
Passion/desire is not sinful in itself, to feel strongly is not inherently sinful. Christianity does mean to have a weak, docile Spirit that lacks vigor. Love undergirds all we do, as is true of God. His love slows his anger, but it also creates it. Love makes him angry, righteously angry at the wickedness in the world and he responds justly in his times of anger. And true, Christ-like masculinity models that. It is actually commanded of us!
“Be angry, and do not sin”
He wants there to be a fire lit in our hearts, that is what it means to be alive.
Romans 12:9–11,
“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”
2 Timothy 1:7,
“God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
Pursuit
Is it ok to seek glory, and honor, and immortality?
Romans 2:6-8,
“He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.”
Is it ok to seek reward from our heavenly father?
1 Samuel 26:23,
“The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness,”
2 Timothy 2:3–6,
“Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.”
Is it ok to desire to be great?
Matthew 20:25–28,
“But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Is it ok to want to lead?
Scripture thinks so…
1 Timothy 3:1,
“If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.”
Working Definition
True Masculine strength is an internal spiritual resolve that manifests itself in powerful love and agency for God’s people and God’s purposes.
Because the priority is internal spiritual strength, all of us are able to achieve it. Men will have different capacities for external strength, from birth or because of age. But we all have the capacity to have masculine strength that grows along with our maturity, our self-control, and our godliness that is put to use through the physical faculties God has given us.
Therefore, every man is equipped by God to fully live life with masculine strength.
It’s not that some have it and some just don’t. You are equipped by God, through His Spirit and His Word for every good work.
In Proverbs 4:23–27, we see the priority of the heart, soul, and spirit. We see it put to action:
Keep your heart with all vigilance,
for from it flow the springs of life.
Put away from you crooked speech,
and put devious talk far from you.
Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.
The battle grounds for your masculinity and strength is first and foremost in your heart.
Dallas Willard describes this well when speaking of our will:
“Often—perhaps usually—what we do is not an outcome of deliberate choices and a mere act of will, but is more of a relenting to pressure on the will from one or more of the dimensions of the self.”
He highlights that often our actions come from giving into external pressures rather than free and clear choice. We let external things dictate our wills and hearts, we give in.
We need to keep, guard, and strengthen our hearts, we need to be watchful.
Circumstances cannot diminish this strength unless we let them. This is a strength, drawing from Christ’s love being poured into our hearts that overcomes any circumstance that God allows to come our way.
We need to seek God’s face so that we live with deliberate actions towards fruitful, Godly ends. Not compromising, not letting the devil, or the world, or our flesh wear us down and have us settle for less. Not be sidelined by complacency.
The power of your heart is like Iron Man.
We need this from each other, the world needs this. Let us not underestimate the power of one man living out true masculine maturity and how that can totally change the dynamic of a Life Group, or a Community Group, or a neighborhood, or a work place.
This is what happens on sport teams, especially college, when a mature man/coach steps in.
Here’s an 8th observation, an 8th reality…
8. Our strength can be given to fruitful and unfruitful things
Do not use your strength for sexual immorality (in any of it’s forms). One of the most prevalent places men spoil and waste their God given strength is through the sin of sexual immorality.
Proverbs 7:21–26,
With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with her smooth talk she compels him.
All at once he follows her,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast
till an arrow pierces its liver;
as a bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.
And now, O sons, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths,
for many a victim has she laid low,
and all her slain are a mighty throng.
You can look at the statistics and have an educated guess of how prevalent the struggle is, even in the church. But men, it ought not to be that way! God’s holy people cannot look like the world! God is worthy of so much more from us.
1 Corinthians 6:15,
“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!”
1 Corinthians 6:18–20,
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know [brothers] that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Colossians 1:13,
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,”
Men be done with it
Be done with the hidden pursuit of sin that plunges you into isolation, guilt, shame, and is destroying your heart and your masculine strength and agency along with it.
It is poison for your soul and it is time to be done with it.
“For many a victim has she laid low and all her slain are a might throng” (Prov. 7:26).
Here’s the good news: you can be done with it, God will supply the masculine strength to be done with it. And, I don’t know of anyone who has died by quitting pornography cold turkey. You can be done with it.
Who knows what your heart and strength can accomplish when it is being fed nutrients instead of poison. When your spiritual lungs are breathing fresh air instead of a fog of smoke. What would it be like to have a church of men who have full use of their strength for the good purposes of God?
So much of our strength is being thrown away, we are giving it away. This deadens our activity, our passion, and our pursuit of good and Godly things. It is crippling what God has designed us to be. I want us to consider God’s wisdom in this to help us understand how he made us.
We can tend to think this strong physical desire, and our passion in general is more of a curse. But if God designed us this way, which I think he did, for a good reason, consider this: God calls men to action, courage, risk, and to sacrificial pursuit of others.
Husbands are called to pursue their wives. Love them as Christ loves the church. God calls us to great things, and gives us the passion and desire needed to accomplish it. God gives all our passion, (including physical desire) not as a curse but as a blessing to drive us into pure and righteous action towards others.
Strong desire is a god-given help to us fulfilling our calling in all sorts of places. Pursue your wife, or go find and win a bride. Endure through trials.
James 1:12,
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”
He gives us hearts with desires and passions up to the tasks he calls us to. God gave us strong desire and passion, not as a curse but as a blessing to do great things.
Do not use your strength for worldly pursuits.
James 1:9–11,
“Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.”
Do not set your strength aside in idleness and a love of comfort.
John 10:10,
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
Don’t sit on the sideline, these three temptations work together:
Sinful passions of the flesh deaden us.
Materialism causes us to live externally and for comfort.
Idleness makes us complacent and lulls us to sleep, causing us to seek fulfillment in the first two of sinful pleasure and material stuff.
God has designed us for strength, he has built our hearts that way, and he has built our bodies that way. Strength to be spent for good.
True Masculine strength is an internal spiritual resolve that manifests itself in powerful love and agency for God’s people and God’s purposes.
I want to close with a teaser into what Pastor Jonathan will pick up with tomorrow. We want to have a clear and compelling vision for how our strength ought to be used. 1 Chronicles 19:13 gives us a template.
1 Chronicles 19:13,
“Be strong, and let us use our strength for our people and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.”
Our people, our cities, with faith and trust in God. I will act as God has called me, and come what may. “May our sovereign Lord and King, do what seems good to him.”
Let’s pray…
Reflection Question:
What are 2-3 things that your strength/passion/energy is going to right now?
