“Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, “I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.” 1 Kings 2:3-4
King David is on his deathbed and before he dies his last words to his son Solomon, who will take over the throne and reign as king, are to prove yourself to be a man. The last words of David, the thing he wanted to tell his son before it is too late on how to be a good king, how to take over well after I’m gone, is “be a man.” And the way David says Solomon will prove to be a man is by obeying the word of God.
There is an abundance of magazines, articles, seminars, podcasts, self-help gurus, and pills all geared toward telling us what it means to be a man. I bet not one of them ever mentions that the way you show yourself to be a man is by obeying the word of God. Even in the Christian world this is not what comes to mind when we try to answer the question, what does it mean to be a man? But for David, one of the manliest men ever, what proves that you are a man is obedience to the word.
This means we prove ourselves to be men when we are faithful to the tithe (Hebrews 7:4), when we refuse to look lustfully at another woman (Matthew 5:8), when we love our wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25), when we confront sin in others (2 Timothy 2:25), when we do not tolerate sin in our own lives (Romans 6:12), when we know and defend the truth (2 Timothy 4:2), when we are committed to pursuing spiritual and doctrinal maturity (Hebrews 6:1), when we pray (I Thessalonians 5:17), and when we sing (Colossians 3:16). And how about this one: when we obey those who rule over us submitting to the authority of the church (Hebrews 13:17).
Of course, we could go on and on. We cannot list all the commands in the Bible here, but the truth is that we prove ourselves to be men when we obey the word of God. And when I think of what it means to be a man I think of the boldness to obey the word when no one else does and no matter what the consequences. To be able to say and do the hard thing under pressure of a disapproving crowd.
One of my favorite examples of this is Phinehas, son of Eleazar, in Numbers 25. Israel was tolerating open sexual immorality and idolatry. God gave the command through Moses to strike down all who did this, but no one moved. Everyone was looking at one another, afraid or unwilling to be faithful to the word until Phinehas picked up his spear in the presence of the crowd and carried out the judgment of God.
Another great example is John the Baptist. Herod the King was living in open sin and sexual immorality as well, but no one wanted to speak against the king, of course, because it would cost them their lives. But John publicly denounced Herod, calling him to repent of his sin. It cost him his head. We might be tempted to think that didn’t work out very well for John, but Jesus says he was the greatest MAN who ever lived, and I’m sure he is enjoying paradise.
So men, if you want to be a manly man, a great man, if you want to prove yourself to be a real man, the way to do it is total obedience to the word of God.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn