(This is a talk I gave at the men’s breakfast at Outlook Christian Church on Saturday, Jan. 11th, 2025.)
The name we’ve given to the men’s ministry is Iron Sharpens Iron. Who knows where that phrase came from? Let me see a show of hands. Do you know where in the Bible?
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (NIV).
One of the more literal translation says; Iron sharpens iron. So does a man sharpen the face of his friend (Revised Geneva Translation).
The Hebrew literally says that one man sharpens the face of another. The word “face” here means both the human face and the cutting edge of an axe or a knife, so it’s a bit of a pun. (Yes, there are puns in the Bible.)
I want to unpack this a bit. The first picture that came to my mind when I read this verse was of a chef sharpening knives by rubbing them together, like in a cartoon. But that’s not a very good way to sharpen tools. A better way to think about this verse is to imagine somebody using a file to dress a sword, or maybe a plow. Today we often use specially shaped stones for sharpening things, but steel files are used as well, especially with something big, like an axe.
You sharpen a tool, obviously, because a dull tool doesn’t work very well. If it’s not sharp it won’t be very good even at the very job that tool was created to do. So one man sharpens another to make him better at the job God created him to do. It says in Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (NIV). So each one of us has tasks, good works, that we were born to do. And one of the things that every one of us was born to do is to make the men around us better at the things they were born to do. Iron sharpens iron.
The New Testament talks about this same thing in Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching (NIV).
Now there are a few principles we can get out of this. Each of these could probably be expanded into, not just a full sermon but an entire sermon series. But Kyle only gave me ten minues, so I can only just touch on them.
The first principle is that:
– Sharpening takes two. Iron sharpens iron. If you just leave your axe or saw or whatever on your workbench, it doesn’t sit there getting sharper. I know that, as men, we all want to be the Lone Ranger, but that’s not how God created us to work. If you’re not getting together frequently with your brothers you won’t sharpen them, and they won’t sharpen you.
– Secondly, sharpening takes intention. If you toss a bunch of tools into a box and shake them up, that will not make them sharper. You have to hold your file at the proper angle and move it in the proper way to get a good edge. Otherwise, you’ll dull your tool instead of sharpening it. So sharpening is intentional. So right now I want you to look at the other guys that you’re sitting with and ask yourself, “Which of these men has sharpened me this morning? Which of them have I sharpened?”
Think back to Hebrews 10:24. Remember that it says “let us consider.” That is, let us think about how we’re spurring each other on. We’re not just hoping that sharpening happens, we’re doing it on purpose.
– The third principle I find is that sharpening takes strength, both to sharpen and to be sharpened. Play-doh doesn’t sharpen iron. Iron doesn’t sharpen Play-doh. Play-doh certainly doesn’t sharpen Play-doh. Being sharpened to do the work God created us to do takes strength, and not just physical strength. We’re not being sharpened by rubbing up against another man physically (although that’s a different talk). No, what’s needed is character strength. And here’s where we run into a problem, because that kind of strength is not something that any of us, in our own natural selves, possesses.
What we are naturally, according to the Bible, is not strong. In fact, what the Scripture says we are by nature, in Ephsians 2:1-3, is dead. But it also says that those who trust in Christ share in his life. More than that, we aren’t just raised to new life, we’re actually seated with him, enthroned in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6). That’s the reason, Paul can write in Ephesians 3:16-17, I pray that out of his glorious riches he (meaning God) may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (NIV). Strengthen you with power through his Spirit. The strength to sharpen others, or to be sharpened by them, comes through faith in Christ.
Only in Christ do I have the strength of character to sharpen my brothers, and to let them genuinely sharpen me. And when I remember who I am in Christ, then I also remember who my brothers are, that they are my brothers, and I remember that one of the things I was born to do is help them to do the things that they were born to do.
So “iron sharpens iron” really is, at heart, about letting myself be transformed by Christ working through my brothers, and letting, in turn, Christ work through me to transform them. This is what the men’s ministry is all about, and this is why we meet together; so that each of us can help our brothers become the men they were created to be, to do the things they were created to do.
Let’s pray.