Description:

This five-lesson study guide examines the five commands given by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14, and how we can learn to enact them in our lives on a daily basis.

Message from Marsh: “May your personal walk with the Lord lead you to be transformed, renewed, and blessed.”

Marsh

Founder/President

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Five Challenges for Men

(www.mensgroup.org – “Original Study”)

PRAY: A suggested opening prayer for small group members or individuals to invite God to connect as we seek Him in his Word. Feel free to add your own words, “in prayer.”

Dear Lord, help us to understand Paul’s challenges in the Scripture that reveal our role as godly men. We pray you will encourage and strengthen us to follow these commands for men so that we will live our lives as you intended.

INTRODUCTION

From the locker room all the way to the board room, coaches to CEOs take time to encourage the men working with them. They know each man needs to stay focused when they step onto the court, field, or into their place of business. The challenges they receive from their leaders give them a clear picture of what is at stake and help them understand their responsibilities in it. These moments of encouragement create a higher possibility of success for all.

Here are a few concise statements of encouragement from sports and business leaders to men that can motivate them:

  • “Capital isn’t scarce. Vision is.” –Sam Walton, CEO of Wal-Mart

  • “The effectiveness of a leader is best judged by the actions of those he guides.” –Bill Courtney, Assistant Coach, University of Miami

  • “Growth and comfort do not coexist.” –Ginny Rometty, CEO of IBM

  • “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” –Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

  • “Skill is only developed by hours and hours of work.” –Usain Bolt, Olympic Gold Medalist

  • “Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.” –George S. Halas, Head Coach, Chicago Bears

  • “Successful people don’t fear failure, but understand that it’s necessary to learn and grow from.” –Robert Kiyosaki, Businessman and Author

PURPOSE:

Why do these five commands that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church matter to me in the twenty-first century? Paul laid out the standard of life for any man who wanted to participate in leadership as an Elder or Deacon. The question then is, “Does this exempt all other men from meeting a standard to be a godly man?” The clear answer is, “No!” Here are the five commands from the Apostle Paul that we will be studying (1 Corinthians 16:13-14):

  • Be on your guard.

  • Stand firm in the faith.

  • Be men of courage.

  • Be strong.

  • Do everything in love.

These five commands give us a glimpse into how Paul saw manliness in the church. They set a standard for believing men to live up to, no matter where they are in their faith journey. The purpose of this series is:

  • To inform men that they are in a daily battle for their lives and must actively engage in protecting themselves against forces eager to guide them to destruction.

  • To instruct men in how to recognize what they can do, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to live a life worthy of Christ’s sacrifice for them.

  • To inspire men to live a life that produces fruit, dispels discouragement, and leads to victory in God’s personal plans for us.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

As a pastor/coach, Paul, the apostle, spent much time in Corinth, Greece, discipling and instructing an assembly of believers. Then, as he traveled to other places, he wrote letters back to them with more instruction on issues they had questions about. These included: marriage, divorce, moral and social purity, divisions among attendees, church discipline, idolatry, proper worship and the Lord’s Supper, spiritual gifts, and other practical advice, as well as doctrinal issues.

As Paul concluded his sixteen-chapter letter to Corinth, he told them he wanted “to come and stay a while” in the near future (1 Cor. 16:7). He also identified several other leaders ministering to believers with which he was working, including Timothy and Stephanas.

Then, with all the difficult and questionable issues addressed, and before he wrote his final goodbye, he challenged the church to a new kind of thinking about their behavior, by summarizing all the previous issues into five succinct statements. Paul said to his struggling Corinthian community: “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NIV)

How can we understand what Paul said since it was over two thousand years ago? At that time the Greek language was used as the business language for the known world, much like English is today. This lasted from about 400 B.C. to several hundred years after Christ. It was called Koine [or Common] Greek, not classical Greek, and was replaced by Latin which spread from the Roman Empire. Because the Koine Greek died out, it means that all original definitions of its words would not change, so we are confident that we know exactly the meaning of the words Paul used when he wrote to the Corinthians.

To fully understand the emphasis of these five challenging statements, it is helpful to review the Corinthian society. We have already listed topics he addressed with them, and to this we add a brief survey of the city of Corinth, Greece in the first century.

Corinth is a port city on the southwest side of the isthmus between the peninsula below it and mainland Greece above it. Much commerce flowed into its harbor from the west and was carried to the east side of the isthmus to continue to its destination in the east. Commerce arriving on the east side of the isthmus traveled across to depart from the port of Corinth for the west. The manufacturing of dyed cloth, pottery, and armor were significant businesses in Corinth and that, combined with other cargo passing through the isthmus and the city, created a powerful commercial spirit. Many residents became rich and lived luxurious and immoral lives. You might say it was a first-century Los Angeles, New York, or Paris.

Further, the city’s population was deeply committed to idolatry with a large temple overlooking the city from Ziria Mountain which rose 1,750 feet above the sea. A major portion of the converts in the Corinthian church came from pagan backgrounds where there were deities tied to seasons, ceremonies of initiation, developed myths of the gods, pagan beliefs, and very little doctrine, but the ideas of salvation, redemption, and immortality were not the primary goal of their mystical experiences. It is suggested that Maia, one of the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, conceived a child with Zeus and gave birth to Hermes in a cave near lake Dasios on Mount Ziria. Sexual pleasure as a form of worship and offerings of the best kinds of meats were daily activities of this idolatrous city.

It would be difficult transitioning people from gods and myths to Jesus Christ as Savior without the power of the Holy Spirit breaking through the mysticism in which they indulged. The teachings of Christianity were a perpetual challenge for the church and its leaders as new believers were surrounded by immorality and idolatry of paganism.

The five challenges of “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NIV) were significant challenges by Paul to overcome the Corinthian culture. Each challenge is addressed in the following lessons with several questions to help in their application to twenty-first-century men.

ASSIGNMENT:

A good way to start this lesson series is to review the next lesson and the “Additional Resources” verses.

Note: All verses are taken from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible.

Continue to Lesson 1 – Be on Your Guard

Or use these links to navigate to various parts of this study:

Intro | Lesson 1 | Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 | Lesson 4 | Lesson 5 | Summary

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