Grab your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 4. 1 Corinthians chapter 4, I have good
news for you this morning. Paul's long discussion
about church unity is coming to an end with today's
passage. Hallelujah, right? This entire teaching
about unity in the body started way back in chapter
1, verse 10. You might recall this is what Paul
said at that point. He said, I exhort you, brothers
and sisters, and I want you to hear this today
at Oak Hill. I exhort you, brothers and sisters,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you
all agree and that there be no divisions among
you, that you may be made complete in the same
mind, in the same judgment. That's how Paul launched
this whole teaching on church unity. And then
all the way through today, to the end of chapter
4, he went on to talk about a whole bunch of
nuanced issues that relate to this one central
issue, which is unity in the body. Now, today
he's going to end it with a powerful affirmation
of his love for the Corinthians, but also with
a very stern warning for those in the city who
had grown prideful in his absence. Now, before
we read, don't forget what he's just written
in the section before, right? Verses 6 through
13. If you were with us last Sunday, you saw
how sarcastically Paul wrote about the foolishness
of the Corinthians, about their immaturity in
two ways, in the way they viewed themselves and
in the way they judged the apostles. And we noted
last Sunday how surprising Paul's language was
in that portion of the letter. Remember what
he asked? He said, what makes you so much better
than anyone else? Right? And then he said, Do
you deserve what you have? Have you earned what
you have? Or has it been given to you from above?
And if God has given you everything, why do you
boast in it? And then he said, you really think
you've arrived, don't you? You think you're filled,
you're complete, you're reigning like kings.
And all the while, us apostles, we're out here
struggling. He says, we're weak, we're without
honor, we're hungry and thirsty, we're poorly
clothed, we're roughly treated, we're slandered
by everybody, we are the scum of the world, but
good for you, Corinthians, you guys are just
fine. And of course, it was all sarcasm, right?
They really did believe, they were so prideful
to believe that they were reigning as kings.
So that's where we left off last Sunday. Now,
let's look at what he says next, how he finishes
the chapter. Look at verse 14. It says, I do
not write these things. And again, this goes
all the way back to chapter one. I don't write
these things to shame you, but to admonish you
as my beloved children. For if you were to have
countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not
have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became
your father through the gospel. Therefore, I
exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason
I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and
faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind
you of my ways, which are in Christ, just as
I teach everywhere in every church. Verse 18.
Now some have become arrogant, as though I were
not coming to you, but I will come to you soon
if the Lord wills, and I shall find out not the
words of those who are arrogant, but their power.
For the kingdom of God does not consist in words,
but in power. What do you desire? Shall I come
to you with a rod or with a love and a spirit
of gentleness? Wow. What a forceful way to end
this section of the letter. Now, let's walk through
some of the key details. Look at verse 15. Verse
15. For though you have countless tutors, or
you could put in that word guardians or instructors.
So we have many tutors in Christ. Yet you don't
have many fathers. You don't have many fathers.
For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through
the gospel. So what you see here is Paul taking
a pause in his rebuke. He's been a little bit
harsh, a little bit sarcastic. He's pausing to
say, look, let me tell you why I'm writing with
such strong language. It's because you're my
beloved children. Okay, so this reorients the
way we think about love. I'm writing to you so
strongly because I love you. You're my children.
You are my spiritual offspring. And as your spiritual
father, I carry with me this tremendous responsibility
for your well -being, right? By the way, this
is the perfect message for Father's Day next
week, right? Because this is the heart of a good
father. Father's Day is next week. Y 'all remember
that, right? Okay, we're doing baby dedications.
We'll talk about dads. It's going to be great.
As your spiritual father, I carry with me this
deep responsibility for your well -being. That's
the heart of a father. He wants what's best for
his children. And this is something that he consistently
expresses throughout the New Testament to all
the churches that he plants and all the believers
that he finds there. And in this case in Corinth,
he was able to lead these. Corinthians to repentance
and saving faith in Christ. They are his spiritual
children in every sense of the word. And so he
has a very special relationship with them. Even
though he's far away, he still feels this very
special relationship. And the truth is, some
of you know this, when you lead somebody to saving
faith, And there's no better thing on the earth,
right, than you could do is to watch somebody
else come to saving faith by God's grace. When
you do that, it brings you into such a close
relationship with that person, and you feel the
weight of responsibility now to say, okay, let's
get you maturing in the faith. Let's get you
growing. And so that is what is motivating Paul
as he writes. He's brought these folks to saving
faith, but they're showing such foolishness and
such immaturity, and he's very, very concerned.
Now, he does a good job of making sure that we
don't get the wrong idea that, hey, it's all
about me, the guy who shared my faith with these
folks, right? It's not that he's responsible
for saving anyone. He makes it clear. It's in
Christ Jesus that I became your father. And I
did so through the gospel. It wasn't because
I'm super impressive. It wasn't because I had
the best presentation of the gospel ever. It's
the power of the gospel itself by the work of
the Holy Spirit, whereby God's power moved to
save you. And Paul's making that very clear.
But because he's in Christ, he has the power
of Christ moving through him. And because he's
embraced the truth of the gospel, he's seen it
change his own life. Now he can bring it to bear
upon the lives of others. Guys, when we share
our faith, if it's not in us first, transforming
us, it's really difficult to share it, isn't
it? But this is what Paul is able to do. And
again, this is a consistent pattern in his life.
It's in Corinth. It's in Ephesus. It's in the
Galatian churches and more. Paul goes to these
places. He plants churches. He plants believers
in those churches. And wherever God moves to
the power of the gospel, we find him picking
up more of these spiritual children. What a privilege
he had to see all these new converts throughout
the Greek world. to come to faith in Jesus. Sometimes
it's entire churches, by the way, like here in
Corinth. Other times you see certain unique individuals
being named, right? Paul has spiritual children
like Timothy and like Titus and like Lydia and
like Crispus and Onesimus and more. And in various
places, he refers to them as my little children,
right? And my sons in the faith and all these
beautiful fatherly statements. These folks are
very special and very important to him. Now,
by identifying himself as their spiritual father,
one thing you have to know, Paul's not disparaging
the other teachers in their lives, right? We've
already seen him talk about the value of other
teachers like Peter, like Apollos in this letter.
Every teacher that a Christian ever sits under
is going to be a part of developmentally moving
them forward in the faith. That's true of you
and I today. In your life, you're going to have
lots and lots of instructors in Christ. Lots
of them. But it's also true, it's likely that
you're not going to have many fathers or mothers.
Those are going to be few and far between. Now,
it's important that we define what Paul means
by tutors here or instructors. In the original
Greek, this had a very specific meaning that
his Corinthian audience would have fully understood,
even if we don't quite get it today. In that
Greco -Roman society, he's talking about a household
slave who the master has identified as being
trustworthy enough to become the guardian of
his own child. Someone who's able to be able
to take the life of this important child and
to mentor them, to morally develop them while
the master is unable to be there. So he's a guardian
of sorts. He's an overseer of that child's life.
That's what Paul's describing here in terms of
these instructors. You and I will have many people
like that in our lives over the decades. We'll
have many of them, but not many fathers, not
many mothers. So again, Paul's writing to a Greek
church. They understood exactly what he was describing.
And this was his point. You're going to have
lots of guardians like that over the years. They
will teach you many things. They will show you
important things. But at the end of the day,
you only have one true spiritual father. And
that's why I feel I can write to you and admonish
you and correct you and exhort you because I
care for you as a father. So it's important to
see that Paul's doing two things at one time
here. First, he's asserting his authority in
their lives as a father. And because of that
role, secondly, he's appealing to their loyalty
in hopes that they will hear him go, that's my
spiritual father and respond in obedience to
repent and change the way that they're functioning
there in the city of Corinth. Does that make
sense? That's what he's trying to do. And we're
going to see as we go through the letter, and
if you read 2 Corinthians, you'll find out even
more about how they actually responded. Okay,
so what does a spiritual father do? Well, first
and foremost, he loves and he cares for his children
in the faith. Now, that doesn't mean he loves
and cares like the world says. He loves and he
cares as Scripture tells us. And that means balancing
the two things you see on the screen, affection
and discipline. Affection and discipline. And
by the way, we all know this from our physical
parenting, don't we? Isn't that the best model
for physical parenting? A good father or mother
seeks to balance those two things, to be tenderhearted
on the one hand, but also to be corrective, which
is not an easy thing to balance, right? None
of us human beings ever gets this perfect, but
that's the goal, to balance affection and discipline.
Err too much on the side of affection, and your
child will become spoiled and entitled. right?
Err too much on the side of discipline and your
child will become resentful and rebellious. So
it's a tough balance that we walk. And you see
what's going on here. Paul wants the believers
to know that his tough words for them flow out
of his tender heart and his love for them. That
he has a real love and concern for their welfare.
It's as if he's saying, because of my love for
you, I want you to become more healthy. Because
of my great concern for you, I want you to move
towards maturity and away from this foolishness.
Look at verse 14. He says, I'm not writing these
things to shame you. That's not my goal. I don't
want you to feel beat up by me, but to admonish
and warn you as my beloved children. To admonish
and warn, right? Listen, we know, forget what
the world says for a second. It is not loving
to stand back and apathetically watch your child
self -destruct. That is not love. The world says,
oh, but, you know, you don't want to come down
too hard on them. So you stand back and you watch
your child implode. That is not love. Sometimes
we have to step in, right? We call this tough
love. We correct and we warn our children. We
say, son. Where we say, daughter, I'm telling
you this because it's best for you. And it's
my love that compels you to admonish you like
this. It compels me to admonish you. And by the
way, that's a great biblical word, admonish.
If you want to underline that in your text, it's
a great word. In the original Greek, it's nutheteo.
And it means, basically the meaning, it combines
a whole bunch of things. That by themselves,
we understand. Listen to these words. Instruct,
exhort, correct, and warn. So when we admonish
each other or a spiritual father admonishes you,
it's more serious than a general teaching, but
it's not as severe as a rebuke. It's somewhere
in between. Does that make sense? It's loving
but serious counsel that is brought to bear upon
a person's life with the goal of correction.
Okay, this is what a good parent does. It does
assume that there's a problem. When we admonish,
it assumes that there is a weakness or a sin,
and it's saying, look, you need to change course
because you're heading in a bad direction, and
I love you too much to let that happen. I love
you too much. This is good, solid, fatherly stuff.
Tough love. So Paul's trying to correct the Corinthian
believers here while at the same time, he's like,
I don't want to shame you. I don't want to make
you resentful of my authority over your lives.
So we talk about admonishing with gentleness
in order to correct, critiquing in love with
a view to bringing about change. This is the
obligation, dare I say, of a good parent. Make
sense? So there's these parallels between physical
parenting and spiritual parenting. That's very
important to understand. Then we come to verse
16. What's Paul's conclusion based on what I
just shared? Therefore, he writes, I exhort you,
be imitators of me. Acorns. Do you guys remember?
What does it mean to imitate someone? To follow
their example, to copy them. Very good, right?
Because actually the Greek word means to mimic,
right? It's to mimic somebody or to copy them.
Very good. Paul says, because of what I've just
written about your need to change course and
to move away from this foolishness, this is what
you now must do. This is what I'm exhorting you
to do. Imitate me. Now that's another really
important biblical word. We looked at admonish.
What does the word exhort mean? And it's parakaleo,
and it's a very interesting word. We've already
seen it used once in this letter. And we saw
it used multiple times in our recent study in
the book of Titus. Literally, this word means
to summon somebody or to call somebody to your
side. Right? So the word picture is, is I'm walking
down the street and I look at Doug and I say,
Doug, come here. And Doug walks up along my side
and I put my arm around him and I say, brother,
I've got a charge for you. I got something I
want. Sorry, Doug. We say, brother. I want to
strongly encourage you to do something. And the
reason I might do that with Doug is I know there's
something going on that he needs to know, something
that I see in his life. And as a mentor or a
spiritual father, I can say, hey, I strongly
encourage you to change course and to go in this
direction. That's what Paul's talking about here.
He's saying to his spiritual children, I want
you to imitate the way I think, how I walk with
Christ, how I face suffering. and more. In fact,
watch my entire pattern of life. I'm calling
you alongside to say, let me point these things
out to you. And again, what's the motivation?
His love and concern for them. Not because he
enjoys beating people down, right? That's often
the image we get of church leaders. You guys
just like to, you know, lord your authority over
us. No, it's love. It's concern. But sometimes
we need to step in and talk about hard things.
By the way, this isn't the only place that Paul
speaks like this. Later in this same letter,
in chapter 11, he's going to say this very famous
thing. He says what? Be imitators of me as I
imitate Christ. That is the beautiful picture.
The mentor is following Christ, and then you're
following the mentor, right? In the letter to
the Philippians, he says, The things that you
have, get this now, learned from me, received
from me, heard from me, seen in me, practice
these things, he says. You heard it in our call
to worship passage from earlier, which Adam read.
Paul says to the Thessalonians, you know. You
know this, how you ought to follow our example
as apostles. It's like, I've already taught you
this. You should follow our example as apostles,
speaking of how they were acting in the presence
of this church. He says, we offer ourselves,
get this now, as a model for you so that you
would follow our example. So this is a consistent
teaching that Paul has with his spiritual children.
Imitate me as I imitate Christ. Now, it's important
to point something out here. Paul's not trying
to usurp. The role that Christ himself has in
our lives as our great example. Acorns, who's
the very best example that we can follow? Very
good. Good answer. That's right. Paul's not trying
to usurp that role here. It's only because Paul's
found in Christ and because he's actively walking
with Jesus and abiding in Jesus that he can be,
that he qualifies to be an example for others.
And this is, by the way, important. We looked
recently at this incredibly important principle,
don't put teachers on a pedestal. This is something
very different, though, because when we talk
about the skill of teaching, somebody who can
just relate information, we have a tendency to
put those people on a pedestal. This is something
very different. This goes beyond just intellectual
understanding of teaching. This is life -on -life
stuff. We need life -on -life mentors in our
lives that can show us Christ by the way they
walk. Now, look at verse 17. Paul writes something
here that you wouldn't probably expect. He says,
for this reason, because I want you to imitate
me, I'm sending Timothy to you. What? Like, you'd
expect him to say, I want you to imitate me so
when I come to Corinth, you'll be able to watch
my life. But he doesn't do that. He says, you're
going to see my ways in Timothy. How amazing
is this, right? Paul has done such a good job
of being a spiritual father in discipling Timothy
that he can literally go to Corinth and stand
in Paul's place. What confidence he has in this
young man. And it's because he's done good spiritual
fathering in the life of Timothy, right? What
a blessing Timothy must have been. Did you know
that as an apostle or an elder, you can't be
everywhere at once? You can't, right? Elders,
right? We know this. You can't. And so what a
blessing to Paul's ministry. He's already stretched
thin. He's just covering all the churches in
the ancient world, right? With no airplanes or
anything, right? Can't text, can't FaceTime.
So yeah, to be able to send Timothy and have
such confidence to say, if Timothy's there, he's
going to show you my ways, what a blessing that
must have been. So Paul says, I want you to imitate
me, so I'm sending Timothy. And then he adds,
by the way, if you don't know who Timothy is,
he says, he is my beloved and faithful child
in the Lord. And he's going to come and remind
you of my ways, which are in Christ. That's important.
Not just my preferences or my opinions. which
are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in
every church. So what's Timothy going to do?
He's going to show up there, and he's going to
love you guys, and he's going to show you exactly
what you should be doing, both in word and in
deed. Watch his life. He's going to show you
the principles of the Christian life that he
has seen in me, and he's going to relate those
things to you. Very important, right? And these
are the same principles, he says, that the apostles
that we teach in every place that we go, every
city, every region, because while there are cultural
differences in every place, the essentials of
the Christian life don't change. Amen? And so
what a picture we're given here. This is how
we truly make disciples, you guys. Listen carefully
to what I'm about to say. We all know, Matthew
28, make disciples, right? And then baptize them.
Here's how we do it. We teach it, we live it
out, and we reproduce it in others. This is what
Paul and Timothy have going on, right? And now
Timothy's gonna go to Corinth and he's gonna
develop, he's gonna become a spiritual father
to others. See how that works? We teach it, we
live it, we reproduce it. And that's the responsibility
of every single person here. Everyone who calls
upon the name of Jesus, which we'll get to in
just a second. Let's look at verse 18. Here comes
the stern warning. Some of you become arrogant,
right? Paul says, as though you're not going
to see me again, as though I'm not coming to
you, he writes. Now remember, for the better
part of four chapters, Paul's been saying, look,
there's real problems of division in Corinth.
And now here in verse 18, we finally get a little
bit clearer picture. Apparently, it wasn't just
that certain people in the church in Corinth
were lining up behind certain teachers and creating
cliques in the body and growing prideful and
judging others. That's all bad enough. But here
we find out that apparently some of these same
folks are actually bad -mouthing Paul. They're
bad -mouthing the apostle. They're claiming that
either We don't need you to come back or we don't
want you to come back to Corinth or we don't
think you have the guts to come back. Wow, can
you imagine the arrogance? What does Paul say
about that? By the way, we don't know who these
individuals are. We don't know how many there
were, but clearly Paul's become aware of it.
Somebody's told him it's happening. My guess
is he probably knew exactly who they were. And
listen, we've said this before in this series,
this kind of pride and rebellion is a cancer
in any church. It's a cancer, that type of rebellion
against God's established order. And so from
a leadership perspective, you cannot leave this
unchecked because it will only spread and affect
more of the body. So trusting that the Lord is
going to allow him to come back to Corinth, he
says to them in no uncertain terms, verse 19,
I will come soon. if the Lord wills, and I will
find out. Not what your talk is, right? Not the
talk of those who are arrogant, but I'm coming
to look at their power. How would you feel reading
that? Uh -oh, daddy's coming. Daddy's coming
home. How many of you guys remember that? Your
mom said, oh, your dad's coming soon. He'll be
here, right? And we're going to see, Paul says,
exactly what's going on. When I arrive, I'm going
to test your bravado here. We'll see if your
lives reveal a true work of the Spirit or not.
That's the power. Is your faith in Christ genuine?
When I get there, will I see fruit in your life
or will I see worldliness? Are you fleshly or
are you spiritual? Trust me, I think Paul already
knows the answer to that question because if
they were spiritual, they would not have stirred
up this type of division. They would not be taunting
the apostle. So he knows exactly what's going
on. What does he want from this letter? Repentance.
He knows what's going on there. He knows there's
a whole bunch of fleshliness happening. The point
of the letter is repentance, to produce that
in the Corinthian believers. Verse 20, he says,
for the kingdom of God does not consist of words,
but power. You know how we would say this in
English today? We'd say, talk is cheap. When
I get there, we're going to look at the actual
evidence. Because talk, it's not about talk.
You show me the fruit of the Spirit in your life.
And then Paul concludes with two rhetorical questions
that definitely would have gotten their attention.
He says, verse 21, what do you desire? He's like,
it's your call. How you respond to my letter
is going to tell me everything I need to know.
You make the choice. How would you like me to
arrive? I can come with a paddle as a disciplinarian
father, or I can come with big hugs. It's your
call. And it's up to their response. Listen,
I don't think there's any question in Paul's
mind which one he prefers, right? It's always
easier for a church leader to come with hugs
than with a paddle. But he'll do what is best
for his spiritual children. And that may require
the paddle. Because that's what a good father
does. Amen? Okay. So, let's do some practical
application. We have some time here to talk about
two really practical issues. for the church today,
and even for our church here at Oak Hill. Let
me talk first of all about this issue. Let's
talk about what we just read in terms of authority.
Authority in the church. This is one of the most
important things for all of us to understand
about church life, and it's something that, can
I just say, in the evangelical world, we don't
do this very well. Because especially as Americans,
we're like, I get to do what I want. You're not
the boss of me, right? But the church, if you've
studied church history, I know some of you nerds
are, it's always been about God's established
order in the body of Christ. And you don't want
to live in rebellion to what God has established.
So obviously there's no apostles on the earth
anymore, right? So there's no apostolic authority
over churches or over believers in the churches.
But when you look at the New Testament, you do
see a handoff. in terms of authority in the local
church, from apostles to this unique office in
the church called presbyteros or episkopos. And
we translate those as elders or overseers. And
we saw this specifically in the book of Titus.
Do you remember? Here's Paul, who's an apostle,
and he's writing to Titus, who is a younger but
fellow apostle. And he says, look, I want you
to go to Crete. And here's what I want you to
do. I want you to establish order on the island
of Crete by doing what? He says, establish elders
in every local body. That's God's plan. And by
the way, not a bishop. Don't go to the island
of Crete and create a bishop. Or don't create
a senior pastor. That's not a thing. He says,
go and create a plurality of elders, a team of
elders to oversee the local churches. I don't
know why we can't see that. It's just so obvious
in the Bible. But we just keep creating our own
ecclesial structures because we feel like it.
But that's what God has given us. Then he goes
on to say to Titus, by the way, here's the qualifications
for these elders. It's very important, right?
They've got to be men of integrity. Above reproach,
he says. They've got to be able to teach sound
doctrine and refute falsehood. And he goes on
to talk about those things. Friends. Here at
Oak Hill, we take those instructions really seriously.
We think we should live by them. And right now,
we have seven elders who are carrying out that
calling from the Lord. And passages like this
one in 1 Corinthians 4 tell us some of the ways
that we need to posture ourselves in relation
to you, the congregation. And let me just say
this. Last week, we talked about ways that you
can honor your leaders. I want to share with
you this morning just a little bit about behind
the scenes in church life. If you didn't know
this, serving as an elder is really difficult
work. Paul knew this, right? Obviously he knew
this. If you're under the impression that being
an elder is prestigious or glamorous, let me
sort that out for you this morning, just briefly.
As a lay elder, you put in long hours to serve
the body of Christ on top of your regular job.
You know, the one that actually pays you? Long
hours. And that means time away from your family.
All the time. Did you know that an elder's wife,
elder's children, sacrifice greatly for the sake
of the body because their husband, their dad,
is so busy overseeing the church? Have you ever
thanked an elder's wife? Something to think about.
It's a great sacrifice. Those hours include lots
of time discipling and counseling. Can I tell
you the emotional toll that takes on a man to
have a full -time job, to work hard, and then
to counsel and disciple that emotional toll of
doing that? It includes many, many hours of doing
prep work for all the preaching and teaching
that doesn't just magically happen in the local
church, sweating over the text of Scripture,
bearing the weight of what it means to handle
God's Word correctly. There's all the time in
communication with fellow elders and other leaders.
Overseeing various ministries, which means, trust
me, long email threads and long text threads,
right? Constant communication on top of the phone
calls. And like Paul, in the midst of doing all
those things for the benefit of others, oftentimes
you still feel the sting of criticism from the
very people you're trying to love and to serve.
And it breaks your heart. It can keep you up
at night. There are times when you have run -ins
with members who've grown prideful. and divisive,
and it tears at your soul. This was what Paul
was feeling as he was writing 1 Corinthians.
All of the long hours, the dedicated prayer time
over these saints that he loved so much, the
hardship of ancient travel. Can you imagine how
difficult it must have been? The physical and
emotional toll of ministry, the threats against
his life. Being hungry and thirsty and poorly
clothed and all those things we talked about.
And yet in the midst of all that, to have his
spiritual children in rebellion against his authority.
Judging them. Judging his work as an apostle.
From Corinth, of all places. Can you imagine
the heartache he was dealing with? Oh, and then
there's the problem issues that arise in every
local church, times when elders have to really
dig in and deal with really hard stuff, and times
when we have to take a posture like Paul does
here, where we have to come in and talk to people
we love and admonish them or rebuke them, exhort
them towards a better path. In those cases, sometimes
you're trying to bring out repentance for sin.
Sometimes you're dealing with divisiveness. Sometimes
you're just dealing with plain old foolishness
or blindness on the part of an immature believer.
And the goal for us, and we talk about this at
our elder meetings, is to balance patience and
gentleness, but also at the same time, firmness
and seriousness. And then there's also this,
in the midst of all that, It's part of our calling
as elders that we're supposed to set the example
for you. Talk about something that's heavy. It's
our job to set the example. We're supposed to
be able to say to this congregation, imitate
us as we imitate Christ. Observe our lives and
strive to live as we do. It's a heavy thing.
That's exactly what Peter talked about this back
in the first century. Peter said this. He said,
I exhort the elders, as your fellow elder, I
exhort you elders, what? Shepherd the flock of
God among you, exercising oversight and proving
yourself to be examples to the flock. That's
our calling. So it's a tough gig that we have.
And I don't say this because I'm begging for
sympathy. Your elders are not doing that. We've
embraced this calling that God has given to us.
But here's what I want you to take from this
and what I want you to see from what Paul is
going through. In 1 Corinthians 4, I want you
to know that for us to truly love you and care
for you as shepherds and fathers, there's going
to be times when we need to exhibit tough love.
That's part of our calling. Sometimes that tough
love comes in the form of a hard sermon. Right?
How many times have you thought, I've actually
heard you guys say this, Jeff, were you talking
to me? Did you write this sermon for me? No,
I didn't. But sometimes it comes in that form.
It's a hard sermon or it's in discipleship. It's
a challenge to grow in maturity. Or sometimes
it's a rebuke and a counseling appointment. This
is part of our job. And I hope and I pray for
myself and for all of our elders that we will
always balance those two things, affection and
discipline for you. That's our goal. And that
as we do that, even if we bring tough love, that
you will sense that we care deeply for you. But
it's important for you to realize that this is
part of our calling and then receive it well
from us, just as the Corinthians needed to hear
this from Paul. Make sense? Last thing, let's
talk about this issue of spiritual fathers. Or,
by the way, spiritual mothers. This is not just
a male issue, right? Christian men need spiritual
fathers. Christian women need spiritual mothers.
Acorns? Who else besides Jesus can we follow
as our example? Zeke. Zeke Fonda, ladies and
gentlemen. Good job, Carr. Adults who love Jesus.
Exactly. Listen, as Paul says in this passage,
we're going to have many, many teachers in our
lives. Okay, so what does that mean? You're going
to have pastors and elders and small group leaders
and college faculty and conference speakers,
even authors of books. And they're going to teach
you many things. And those are all great things.
But when we talk about spiritual fathers and
mothers, we're talking about something much deeper
than that. And because here in our text, Paul's
writing from a unique apostolic perspective here,
I think we can broaden out the application for
us today because it's not the first century anymore.
And the reality is, guys, and this is true of
me as well, not all of us are in contact with
the person who led us to faith or in close connection
with that person anymore. And so a spiritual
father or mother doesn't always have to be the
person who led you to faith. but you still need
this type of person in your life. So this is
something we all need to think about. We all
need this. And this means that we're going to
have to seek people out that we know are worthy
of imitation and saying, I need a spiritual father.
I need a spiritual mother who I can imitate as
they imitate Christ. And whoever that person
is, you can call them a spiritual mentor. You
can call them a discipler. The key to it all
is depth of relationship. That's what separates
you from the guy who writes a book. You read
something in a book, you're like, I learned something
here. That's not depth of relationship. We're
talking about something bigger here. And interestingly,
Paul actually gives us a snapshot in his second
letter to Timothy. He describes all the ways
that he and Timothy have this deep relationship.
Let me read this to you. He says, you, Timothy,
you followed, here's the list, you followed my
teaching, my conduct. my purpose, my faith, my
patience, my love, my perseverance, my persecutions,
and my sufferings. So you say, well, how did
Paul and Timothy become so close? Did you hear
that list? I'll read it again. These are all
the ways that Timothy observed Paul's life. Teaching,
conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance.
persecutions, and sufferings. Timothy said, I
watched you walk through all those things. So
I know the pattern of Paul's life. So a spiritual
father or mother is a person who's going to be
involved in your life in so many ways. They're
going to faithfully care for you. They're going
to be involved in your ongoing Christian formation.
They're going to give you sustained discipleship.
They're going to help you mature in your knowledge.
And in your understanding and how you walk with
the Lord. And yes, a spiritual father and mother
is going to admonish you and correct you when
that becomes necessary. Now this person has to
be worthy of imitation. You're following this
person as he or she is following Christ. So you
have to be close enough to observe the way they
walk. Observe the way they walk. You want to
look at practical things. How does my spiritual
father or mother, how do they function in marriage?
Is it a healthy marriage? How so? How do they
parent? Are they doing a good job to parent biblically?
How do they develop their own habits and disciplines
of the Christian life? And then practical things.
How do they manage their time? How do they manage
their finances? Right? What do they prioritize?
How consistent are they? This is what makes somebody
worthy of imitation. And then church -related
things. What do their ministries look like? How
do they show love and care? How do they serve
the body of Christ? Is that worthy of imitation?
And then the really hard part about having a
spiritual father or mother, you have to give
them permission to ask you hard questions. You
have to give them permission to dig into your
heart so they can point things out that you might
not see. You have to let them push you towards
greater maturity in the faith. And listen, guys,
I can testify. I know I'm an old man now, but
I can testify to the value of this from my younger
days. God brought a man into my life, actually
several men, who really spoke into my early spiritual
walk with the Lord, and it made all the difference
in the world. One of them, the man who baptized
me, became such an amazing example. He was always
involved in church life. He was an elder. He
was a Bible study teacher, and he was a missionary.
In fact, he went on to to preach and build orphanages
in Haiti. Just an amazing guy. And I will forever
be indebted to the Lord for bringing him into
my life. Now I'm an older man and I don't have
that close proximity. He's in very poor health
right now and really struggling. I don't have
that proximity. So even myself at 63 years old
and a pastor of a church, I still need spiritual
fathers. And so now I look to my fellow elders,
all of them. I know some of them are younger
than me. That's okay. Some of them are older,
but I see in each one of them certain parts of
their walk of faith that I want to imitate. So
you've got to be intentional about this. I'm
so thankful that Tanya and I have the privilege
of walking through this stage of our life with
fellow elders and their wives who can be great
examples to us. Now, for some of you, Are you
ready for the admonishment? Some of you, not
only should you have a spiritual mentor, you
should be a spiritual mentor. You should be a
spiritual mentor to somebody else. And if you're
not, if you've been a believer for decades and
you're not a spiritual father or mother to anyone,
I want to wake you up this morning to that deficiency.
And I don't say that to be mean -spirited, but
that exact rebuke is found in Hebrews 5. Did
you know that? In Hebrews 5, the author says,
by now you should be teachers, but you haven't
grown up. You still need milk, spiritual milk,
not solid food. So this is a rebuke that we can
lay on the church today. Look, some of you by
now should be teachers, should be spiritual mentors,
but you're still looking to somebody else, but
you're not looking behind to see who needs help
behind you. This is the responsibility of every
believer in this room. The Christian life is
not self -centered. It's always other -centered.
So for every man here this morning, every man,
every man, you should be striving to someday
be elder qualified. You should be striving to
be elder. It doesn't mean you'll be an elder,
but you should strive for those qualifications
because that is the description of a mature man.
That should be your goal. Ladies, you can't take
the office of an elder, but there are many lofty
spiritual goals for you to go after. Becoming
a spiritual mother to younger ladies. Serving
in women's ministry. Be a part of our women's
council. Many great targets for you to look at.
This is a pattern we see lived out by Paul and
Timothy. A spiritual child imitates his or her
mentor's way of life. becomes more mature in
the faith, and then turns around and says, what?
It's time for me to be a spiritual father. It's
time for me to be a spiritual mother. Imagine
Timothy saying, imagine Timothy saying, you know
what? I like following Paul. It's really comfortable.
It's great. I don't want to lead anybody else.
It's not what I'm called to do. It's not what
I'm gifted to do. No, no, no. That's not an option
that we're given. This is reproduction in the
kingdom of God. Just simple yet profound biblical
process of multiplication. Because the Christian
life is not static. Did you know this? It's not
static. It's always moving forward, always moving
towards maturity in Christ, always looking ahead
to our mentors and then turning around and taking
hold of somebody else and saying, come with me.
So if this is a new concept, that's okay. There's
grace, there's patience, but this is for all
of us as believers. This is how the kingdom operates.
Amen? Okay, so right there I just gave you an
example of a little admonishment, right? Receive
that well, because it's important. Okay, we're
four chapters into Paul's letter. What he's done,
I know he's been dealing with the same issue.
He's laying a foundation for everything he's
about to say in chapters 5 through 16. See, here's
the thing. In order to get to those issues, the
first thing he has to deal with is the pride
of these Corinthians. He's gotta deal with their
fleshliness. He's gotta root out all the divisive
tendencies. He's gotta have them embrace humility
and weakness. It's only when fundamental matters
like that are set straight that you can then
address other problems. And so Paul's done that.
We'll keep building on that as we go through
because all of those principles are gonna show
up all the way through chapter 16. Now, next
Sunday, you get a break from 1 Corinthians. It's
Father's Day. Adam's gonna be here. He's getting
close to finishing Ecclesiastes, which is very,
we'll celebrate Father's Day, right? Baby dedications.
And then the following Sunday, gird your loins.
We're in chapter five. And it's going to get
very, very interesting. Let's bow our heads.
Heavenly Father, as I step back and I look at
these four chapters, it's so humbling, Lord,
to know how you have designed the church so perfectly
and to know that we as human beings so often
mess it up. You've given us the blueprint and
we choose to be fleshly and we choose to be divisive
and we choose to not want your established authority
in our lives. We, in our rebellion, just want
to do what we want to do. And so I pray that
you'll break us of those habits, that you'll
cause us to desire to submit. to the principles
of your word, desire to submit to authority structures
and the calling that you have on our lives. God,
I pray for Oak Hill. You will continue to raise
up mature believers who can serve as fathers
and mothers to others and that you will keep
raising up another generation of men and women
who want to turn around and mentor others. God,
would you do that reproducing work in this local
church? We ask that you would do that, Father,
because we know it's for our good and even more
importantly for your glory. So do that work in
us, Father, according to your perfect will. We
pray in Christ's name.