Fundamental Christian Attitudes: Strength, Part 1

What are we talking about when we're talking about strength? Well, we're talking about courage. We're talking about things like the courage of conviction. We're talking about being an uncompromising individual, someone who is not weak, who is not vacillating, someone who will take risks for the sake of truth and principle. That's what we're talking about. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. When you wake up sore and don't know why, or when you nod off at night earlier than you used to, you've discovered an unavoidable truth. The more years that pass, the less physical strength you have. Yet no matter how much physical stamina you might lose, you can grow spiritually stronger every day, and be part of the special work God has for all strong Christians to do. John MacArthur helps you become that mature believer in the study he begins today on Grace to You, titled The Courageous Christian.

So as you turn from the busyness of the holidays and prepare for the new year, here's John to show you how you can approach 2021 as a God-honoring, courageous Christian. Certainly in any consideration of the human body, strength is of grave importance. It's important if a body is going to be able to function at its maximum potential that it have a measure of strength and not be weak. There are a myriad of things that weaken the human body and we do everything we can from a medical standpoint and an exercise standpoint and a dietary standpoint to minimize those things which can assault the strength of the body. We want to do everything we can to maintain strength.

Well the same thing is true in the life of the church. There needs to be an internal strength if the church is to function in the way that God wants it to function. Now what are we talking about when we're talking about strength? Well we're talking about courage. We're talking about things like the courage of conviction.

We're talking about standing firm. We're talking about being an uncompromising individual, someone who is not weak, who is not vacillating, defeated, who is not fearful, frightened. Someone who has courage and boldness, who can confront and who can be persecuted and intimidated and yet be true in every sense to what is right. We're talking about somebody who doesn't give way to fear, somebody who doesn't seek the easy path, somebody who isn't looking for the safe place, somebody who lives on principle. We're talking about having the courage of what you know is true so that you don't vary those convictions from situation to situation. Someone who stands strong against opposition, someone brave enough to face challenges, someone who lives by principle and not by whim and not by opinion, someone who has firm and strong and fixed purposes and moves toward those purposes, meeting the enemy, bearing the pain, upholding the right, pressing to the goal. That's the kind of virtue that makes someone strong, decisive, someone who will take risks, serious risks for the sake of truth and principle.

That's what we're talking about. And that is a virtue greatly in need in the church today, in a time of great vacillation, in a time of tremendous compromise, in a time of weakness. The church needs to be strong. And we're not talking just about strength of personality, although we like that as a virtue. We like people who have strong personalities. In fact, we even like people if they're not Christians who have strong convictions.

There's something manly about that. There's something...there's something good about a resolute person who lives according to what he believes is right. We like strength of character. We like nobility in people's character. We give honor to that. We see virtue as important. We see consistency as important. Even the word integrity is a wonderful word. It means somebody whose life is consistent.

All the parts are perfectly integrated. That's integrity. We honor that.

Well certainly in the spiritual realm, it goes beyond a preference and becomes a mandate. We need in the church strength. And we live in a time when a premium is frankly being placed on weakness...on weakness. As one prominent pastor told me, your problem, MacArthur, is you just take things too seriously.

You need to lighten up. Take out all the punch, I guess. This is a time of weakness. This is a time of wimpishness.

This is a time of vacillation. This is a time of compromise. This is a time of let's not make ourselves offensive by holding strong doctrinal convictions.

You understand all that. Never was there perhaps a more desperate need for strength than there is right now. As I have told numerous pastors' groups through the years recently, this is not a time for weak men in weak pulpits preaching weak messages to weak people.

This is a time for strength. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 13. Now the Bible says a lot about strength. It says in Romans 4.20 that Abraham was strong in faith. It says in Hebrews 11.34 that there were great heroes of the faith who in weakness became strong. Great verse, verse 34, they in weakness became strong. Paul said God's strength was perfected in His weakness. Ephesians 6, 10, Paul says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. The Bible talks a lot about being strong.

It gives us models. Read Hebrews 11 and see all the models of strong faith. But there's a statement here in the 16th chapter of 1 Corinthians, the 13th verse, that really sums it up. And it's just a very simple exhortation.

It isn't even very much dependent upon the immediate context. It's just sort of stuck there and most translations of Scripture will identify verses 13 and 14 as a very brief paragraph because they really do exist almost apart from what comes before and what comes after. And this is what it says in verse 13 and 14, be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

You don't forfeit love, but you act like men and you are strong. My, this is an important, important essential exhortation. Now what does it mean? Verse 13 is somewhat an unfortunate translation, I think. The translation is act like men. But that's really not what the Greek verb says. What the Greek verb says is conduct yourself in a courageous way. Now this is what Greek students call hapax legomena, which means it's the only place in the New Testament where this verb is used.

So we don't have comparative New Testament passages to give us a little help in understanding it. But its basic meaning is to conduct oneself in a courageous way. Now may I suggest to you that the reason the translators translated it act like men was because in ancient times being a man was synonymous with being courageous. Life had a lot more risks in Paul's time.

It had a lot more risks even in the Old Testament time. And if you ask yourself how do men act, if we as Christians are told to act like men, how do men act? In our society, boy that might be hard to answer. They act all kinds of ways. I mean, they act bizarre, some of them. Some of them act like women.

Some of them go to the other extreme and act in other bizarre and harmful and disastrous ways and everything in the middle. But there was a time in the world and there are still places in the world where men is synonymous with courage and strength. There was a time, as you might well know, when being a man meant carving out life in a difficult environment. It meant building with your hands. It meant clearing.

It meant plowing. It meant protecting your family from raiding tribes, from other families, from those wars that occurred in the little dominions all over the world, not like big world wars that burst on the scene in this century, not post-industrial revolution when we began to develop weaponry and arms. There was a time in the world when you defended your property and you defended your life and you defended your family with your hands and you were in mortal combat and you carved out your existence with bodily strength and resoluteness and you worked hard and you sweat and you poured out your energy. I mean, you just read the Old Testament and just put yourself in that environment of the very difficult times that are chronicled for us as diseases and plagues and wars and attacks and assaults and the difficulty of labor carried the life along and men were men in times like that. They had to be men and women knew their role and they were to support the men. They were to undergird them with the care and the raising of the children and instruction to those children and the care of the home and the provision of meals and all those things that gave women their unique and marvelous balance. But men were men and men had to do what men had to do and that meant being strong and bending their back and moving their muscles, not at the local gym so they could take their shirt off and have people stare at their abs, but for other reasons like protecting their wife and children from invaders. Far more serious issues were at hand. We live in a time when the closest men get to conflict is maintaining their emotional equilibrium on I-5 at rush hour.

The closest we get to conflict is throwing our Pepsi at the TV when our hero in the football game is losing. We're not used to that kind of effort and many of us obviously in this society are involved in service industries where we don't do the kind of work that men did in past times. And as a result of that, we have to do other things just to maintain normal health because we don't exercise the way men in other times did.

We have sort of redefined the role of a man in our society greatly from what it used to be. And being a man was synonymous with being courageous in those times and that's why translators would feel the liberty to take a verb that basically means to express courage which exists in the heart and translate it, act like men. The New Testament gives us no illustrations of this verb, but fortunately the Old Testament gives us a lot of them. In the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Old Testament, which is good to study because you can see how Greek words were used in the Old Testament and that tells us something about the Hebrew intent of the word as well as the translators chose the right Greek word to match up. And as you go to the Old Testament, you find this same verb used repeatedly and I'll show you some of its uses because they are so interesting. Go back to Deuteronomy chapter 31...Deuteronomy chapter 31 and you'll see that this kind of exhortation though it is unique in the New Testament is anything but unique in the Old Testament.

It is used very often in the Old Testament, this idea of being courageous and being strong. For example, in Deuteronomy chapter 31, Moses obviously is at this particular point in his life going to pass away, pass off the scene and the mantle of leadership is going to be taken up by Joshua. Joshua will lead the people into the Promised Land. And in the 31st chapter of Deuteronomy, instruction comes from the Lord.

It comes to the people and most particularly to Joshua. It says you shouldn't be concerned about the enemies. The Lord tells them in verse 3, it is the Lord your God who will cross ahead of you. You don't need to worry, it says God's going to go with you.

He's going to be there. So verse 6, be strong and courageous. There are those same two verbs, those same two Greek words from 1 Corinthians 16, 13 in the Septuagint translation here, indicating the same sense. Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid...this is the negative side...do not be afraid or tremble at them, here's why, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. That was a word from Moses to the people to be strong and courageous. And then a word from Moses to Joshua, verse 7, Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, be strong and courageous.

Same two words, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. And the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you. He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.

Do not fear or be dismayed. Here then is God telling the people be strong and courageous. Here is Moses telling Joshua be strong and courageous.

Look at 2 Samuel for a moment, or at least listen. In chapter 10, Joab comes before the Israelites. They are on the brink of battle and in verse 9 it says of 2 Samuel 10, when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear...in other words he was being attacked from both the front and the back...he selected from all the choice men of Israel and arrayed them against the Arameans. Now this is the half-time pep talk by the coach telling him what the battle strategy needs to be.

They are surrounded by the enemy. He pulls the leaders in and he fires them up with this confident assertion, pulling these people together, gathering them, comes down to verse 12 and says this, "'Be strong and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God and may the Lord do what is good in His sight.'" Be strong and courageous. What was told to the children of Israel, what Moses told to Joshua, Joab now tells to the battling leaders of the army of Israel, be strong and courageous. In 1 Kings chapter 2 we find David coming near to the time of death.

He describes it as going the way of all the earth, in other words, dying like everybody does. And he calls Solomon his son in and this is what he says to him in 1 Kings 2, 2, be strong therefore and show yourself a man. Literally be strong and courageous. And by the way, you have similar words from David to Solomon in 1 Chronicles 22, 11 to 13, they are repeated. There is also a repetition of Moses' words to Joshua later on in that same chapter in Deuteronomy.

So this is a very common expression. How do you do that? Verse 3, 1 Kings 2, 3, keep the charge of the Lord your God.

And what is it? Walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances and His testimonies. In other words, obey Scripture. Be a man of conviction.

Be a man of the Word. Walk in His ways, keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, His testimonies. That is, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, you do everything that God has revealed and you be strong and courageous.

That is uncompromising, unwavering, unintimidated. So David speaks to Solomon. And then if you look at the...toward the end of 2 Chronicles, 32nd chapter, you have another occasion where the very same thing is said. This time Hezekiah, the king, is under severe threat from Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, is coming against the people of God. Hezekiah calls the military officers together in verse 6.

This is in 2 Chronicles 32, 6. He appointed military officers over the people, gathered them to him in a square at the city gate, spoke encouragingly to them, and this is what he said, be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the multitude which is with him for the one with us is greater than the one with him.

With him, verse 8 says, is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and they by the way won a victory. So whether you're having God speaking to the Israelites, Moses to Joshua, Joab to the Israelites, David to Solomon, Hezekiah to his officers, the message is be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous, good sound basic spiritual instruction that all believers ought to respond to.

Be willing to face the difficulty, be willing to face the challenge, meet the enemy, bear the pain, uphold the right press to the goal, strong and with great courage. All of those passages really don't come close to one other text that I think is the richest of all that use this phrase and that's in Joshua 1. And I want you to go to Joshua 1 for a moment.

This will sort of wrap up this introductory feature of setting in place in your mind the importance of this strength. In Joshua chapter 1, obviously the mantle of leadership has fallen on Joshua. He is going to take them into the land which God has promised to give them. God promises him that he's going to be with him. The Lord tells him, my servant Moses is now dead but I'm going to be with you and you're going to lead this people. Verse 5 of Joshua 1, no man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you.

Verse 6, this is the Word of the Lord to Joshua, be strong and courageous for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the Law which Moses my servant commanded.

Do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may have success wherever you go. In other words, the idea of being strong and courageous means to live the courage of your convictions which are founded upon the revealed Word of God. In verse 8, this book of the Law, God's Law shall not depart from your mouth, you meditate on it day and night.

You are careful to do according to all that is written in it, then you make your way prosperous, then you have success. Have not I commanded you be strong and courageous? On the negative, do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Tremendous exhortation for courage and spiritual strength in the face of the worst possible scenario because of the presence of the eternal and almighty and living God.

Tremendous. Verse 5, God is with you. Verse 6, the cause is righteous. You just be faithful to be strong and courageous. The church needs this. Boy, do we need a dose of this in this contemporary time of spiritual strength. And even though it is a command, and even though it is mandated to us, and even though we hear all of these passages and we are ennobled because of the model and the example of these who were told to be strong and went forth in strength to conquer, there is another component that we want to understand and for that I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 3...Ephesians chapter 3, this continuing in some introductory comments.

But a very important thing to keep in mind at this point. I'm not here to give you some kind of a pep talk. I'm not here to jack you up emotionally. I'm not here to just shout at you these exhortations and hoping that the echo will last a few hours in your mind. There's something much more profound involved in the fulfillment of these exhortations and it's indicated to us in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 14 where Paul engages himself in a prayer on behalf of the church. This is what he says, for this reason...a reason about to be disclosed...for this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I'm praying and I'm praying to the God who is the source of life for everyone. And here's what I'm praying for.

Here is the reason I am bowing my knees. In order that God would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. And I just want to add this, that while the call to be strong and the call to be courageous is a command, it is a mandate, it is an exhortation, it can only be fulfilled in the wondrous, mysterious power of the indwelling Spirit. We're not talking about just giving pep talks here. We're not talking about just jacking you up emotionally. We're talking about calling you to a Spirit-controlled life, to walking in the energy and the power of the Spirit and being committed to consistent living in line with the convictions that have arisen from an understanding of Scripture.

This is being strong. And it calls for these things that we have outlined. Number one, it calls for a knowledge of the Word of God. Two, a commitment to live according to those truths.

Three, to do so in the energy of the Holy Spirit and not in your own human strength. It's John MacArthur. He's the pastor of Grace Community Church and chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary in the Los Angeles area. Today, John showed you the first steps on the path to becoming what he calls a courageous Christian.

That's his current study here on Grace to You, the courageous Christian. Well, John, Christmas is now behind us, and thankfully a new year begins in less than a week. As we prepare to close the book on 2020, talk about how the Lord has sustained and even grown the ministry of grace to you over this past year.

Well, I'll tell you one thing, there's no remorse in seeing 2020 disappear. What an incredibly crazy year with riots and protests and COVID and all the chaos in this country connected to the election. It's been a very difficult year, but at the same time, the ministry has just flourished in incredible ways as people have run in the direction of the truth of the Word of God, and that's what we're here to do. So we are very thankful to close this year, but also very aware that even in these last few days, we need people to step up and support us.

We get a huge amount of our annual support comes in in the last few weeks of the year, and there's still a few more days. For those of you who have been blessed by this ministry and perhaps in the past have sustained us or maybe some new folks who have been part of our ministry on the hearing end but haven't stepped up to support us, we'd love to hear from you if this ministry has blessed you. We want to be sure as we wrap up this year and launch into 2021, we're able to do everything that the Lord has laid before us as an opportunity. All of this ministry really comes through your donations. We don't have any other source of income other than donations, and that's exactly the way we want it.

That's the way I've always wanted it. We want to be dependent on the giving of God's faithful people because they believe in this ministry and they trust us. That's accountability for us, and that's a true partnership. So this year-end, as you look at these final days, if you feel like supporting us, it would just mean the world to us and allow us to enter into 2021 with eagerness and readiness to do all that the Lord will lay before us. This is a transformative ministry because the Word of God transforms people's lives, and we see that daily as we circle the globe in many languages with the truth of God.

Thank you for being a partner. Yes, and friend, your generosity will help us teach the Word of God to countless people in 2021. To partner with Grace2U and to connect people in your community and beyond with biblical truth that changes lives, make a tax-deductible donation when you get in touch today. Mail your gift to Grace2U, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, or go to gty.org. Again, when you give this week to Grace2U, you help us start the new year on a strong financial footing, ensuring that John MacArthur's teaching will continue to encourage and challenge and comfort people in your community and throughout the world in 2021.

To make a year-end tax-deductible donation, make sure your gift is postmarked by December 31, or make a donation at our website before midnight on December 31, and our address again, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, and our website, gty.org. While you're at gty.org, take advantage of all of the free resources meant to help you better understand God's Word. That includes John's entire sermon archive, more than 3,500 sermons from nearly 52 years of Bible teaching, every message is free to download in audio or transcript format, and again, that's gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for tuning in today, and be back tomorrow as John continues to show what a strong, courageous, uncompromising believer looks like. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.