By Dr. Thurman R. Hayes Jr.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day. This weekend is a time when our culture focuses on men.

I was blessed to have an amazing dad, and there are still plenty of good dads out there. But by any measure, our culture has a serious “man problem.”

The many social problems in our culture are, for the most part, due to the failure of men to fulfill their biblical responsibilities as husbands and fathers. Unfortunately, we now have a massive number of boys who are growing up without a father, and every study reveals that it is a disaster in the making.

One sign of hope is the church of Jesus Christ. In a healthy church, people find a family. There, fatherless sons and daughters can meet a Father who loves them and who will never leave them or forsake them. There, in the church, those without fathers can find godly men who will come alongside them and mentor them with the love of Christ.

Tomorrow at our church we are going to look at a passage of Scripture that instructs us to “act like men.” It is found toward the end of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, and it says this: “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).

We see five commands bursting forth from this text:

• “Be watchful” — This means to be alert and on guard. We must be spiritually alert as opposed to spiritually drowsy. Temptation lurks. The devil attacks. One unguarded moment can wreck a family or a life. Men, stay alert.
• “Stand firm in the faith” — By including the definite article (the faith) Paul lets us know he is talking about the truth of God’s Word. Jude 3 calls it “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” In our culture today, there is extreme pressure to go along with the whims of culture on all kinds of issues. But the Bible does not change. A man of God must stand on the Word of God, even if that truth is not popular.
• “Act like men” — This is a call to maturity. Earlier in 1 Corinthians, Paul tells this church that they are acting like babies. They can take only milk, not solid food. Lots of men in our culture need to grow up and quit acting like juveniles, or babies. They need to take responsibility for their actions, quit living selfishly and serve their families with dedication and love.
• “Be strong” — The Greek verb here is passive, so the phrase literally means “be strengthened.” Simply put, we need God. Men, are you trying to be a man or a dad or a husband in your own strength? Ephesians 6:10 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” Guys, you don’t have to do this alone.
• “Let all that you do be done in love” — Sometimes we order baked potatoes with the fixings “on the side.” But we can’t have love on the side. Love must permeate everything that we do in life. But where does love come from? 1 John 4:7 says, “Let us love one another, for love is from God.”

Men, turn to Him.

Dr. Thurman R. Hayes is senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Suffolk. Follow him on Twitter at @ThurmanHayesJr.