JESUS IS MANLY

JESUS IS MANLY

1 Corinthians 16:13(KJV)

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 

I want to continue springing off this phrase, “quit you like men” to consider what it means to be a man, using Jesus Christ as our example of manliness.

Catholicism has painted a picture of an effeminate Jesus Christ.

·   He has long hair

·   He is usually represented kind of spindly and frail looking

Much of the time, when we think of Jesus, we do not think of a very manly man because of the paintings that we made to represent Him.

Remember, these paintings are artists conceptions.

No one has a painting of Jesus where He sat down for it to be done. All of them were painted hundreds of years after Christ had gone to heaven so they are not at all accurate.

I submit to you that Jesus was a VERY MANLY MAN.

Intrinsic evidence points to His manliness

-He was a carpenter for many years.

That is not the type of work a weakling can do well.

Carpentry in their day was different even than the rough work it is today.  Back then it included stone masonry.  And back then they did not have the types of power equipment we have now.

He would have had to have been pretty tough.

- At His Crucifixion, 

·He stayed up all night

·He was beaten repeatedly

Yet He gave up the Ghost[1]- a weakling of a man could not have endured all Christ did.

That Christ was Manly can also be Demonstrated by Some of the Things He Did on Earth

*I. JESUS WAS BLUNT WHEN IT CAME TO ERROR

Matthew 3:7 (KJV)

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Jesus wasn’t afraid to say what needed to be said.

He would speak out against sin:

·   To religious leaders

·   To friends and associates

·   To wealthy and influential people

There were times when Jesus could have appeased a large crowd and had more followers.

John 6:1-6 (KJV)

After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.

And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.

And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.

And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.

When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?

And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.

Notice that He did not try to keep them, rather, He tried 

·   to prove them – 

·   to test them, 

·   to strengthen them in their faith.

He chose to preach the truth, even though He knew most would never follow Him again because of it.

John 6:24-36 (KJV)

When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.

And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?

Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

There is no reason a man has to be rude and insensitive in his speech

But it takes a man to say what needs to be said regardless of the consequences.

*II. JESUS WAS BOLD IN THE HOUSE OF GOD

Matthew 21:12-13 (KJV)

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 

This would take boldness AND PHYSICAL STRENGTH.

If Jesus were a wimpy type of man, there would have been somebody there who would have tackled Him and whipped Him.

The fact that they didn’t indicates that He might have been intimidating in His stature.

At the very least, He would have had to have been a bold man to run the moneychangers out at all.

He is no wimp.

·Jesus was blunt in speaking against sin

·He was Bold in driving the money changers out of the House of God

*III. JESUS WAS BRAVE IN THE FACE OF DEATH

John 19:10-11 (KJV)

Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

The Bible tells us that Jesus had the resources at His disposal to save Himself from this crucifixion.[2]

There was no sin in Him, and Pilate was LOOKING for a way to spare His life. 

But Jesus knew HE HAD TO DIE if our sins were to be forgiven. 

So He set His face like a flint[3]and refused to beg or barter for His life.

We know too that, had He chosen, He could have called the angels of heaven and they would have saved His life and destroyed the world.[4]

But Jesus was steadfast in His resolve to give His life so we might live with God forever.

Romans 5:7-8 (KJV) says

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

If manliness can be defined as 

·   Valor, 

·   Courage, 

·   Sacrifice

Then no man has ever been more manly than Jesus Christ.

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[1]Mark 15:39 (KJV)

And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

[2]Luke 4:28-30 (KJV)

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,

And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

Consider too, the Garden of Gethsemane when He merely said I am and all the soldiers fell down backwards.

John 18:4-6 (KJV)

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye?

5  They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them.

6  As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

[3]Isaiah 50:7 (KJV)

For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

[4]Matthew 26:53 (KJV)

Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?