Paul, writing to the Corinthians, uses the metaphor of spiritual fatherhood to describe his relationship with them, emphasizing that he "begat" them through the gospel. He contrasts this fatherhood with mere instructors, highlighting that true spiritual leadership involves being an example, demonstrating selfless love, and maintaining unwavering faithfulness. Paul asserts that the kingdom of God operates not in mere words but in power, and that spiritual fathers must embody this power through their lives, urging believers to follow their example and to boast only in the Lord.
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the Corinthians chapter four. First Corinthians chapter four. And we want to begin our reading at verse fourteen and read to the end of the chapter. Where we read here, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you. And this fourth chapter, by the way, concludes The introduction to the epistle. This epistle has four chapters that form the introduction. And this is a conclusion of the introduction.
And it's a warning. He says, I write not these things to shame you, but to warn you. For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you to the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. For this cause have I sent unto you to Mothius, who is my beloved son and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will you? Shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? Now let's pray together. Our Father? Now let's pray together. Our Father... Having read this portion of your word, we're conscious of the fact that you're not that much interested in our word as you are in our power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
And therefore we ask that as we multiply words upon the sacred text that they'll come to each of us in power, in the Holy Spirit and with assurance. For Jesus' sake, amen. In our studies in First Corinthians, we have used as an overall text the closing verse in chapter one, which is a quotation from Jeremiah nine and twenty-three. He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. But another translation puts it, he who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.
Now here in Closing section chapter four, Paul deals with three metaphors that describe our relationship as one who would take leadership in the church. He describes that relationship with these metaphors that reminds us of our fellowship with the Lord and also our responsibility to the Lord. First of all, service. He speaks of us as a servant. You have that in verse one. And then he speaks of us as stewards. You have that also in verse one.
And last week we looked at our stewardship, the stewardship of the mysteries of God, our stewardship of gifts, our stewardship of suffering. And now we have the metaphor of fatherhood. And you have, beginning in verse fifteen, he says, For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. And here we are brought to the thought of fatherhood. And there are two main lines of truth there.
First of all, we want to deal with the origin of fatherhood. And then second, We want to deal with the implications of fatherhood. What does that expression imply? What does it mean? Paul says concerning the origin of fatherhood, he says, I became your father through the gospel. It was Paul who brought the gospel to the wicked city of Corinth. It was Paul who brought new ground there and who preached Christ. and him crucified. And he said, I was there. I was there to witness the miracle of regeneration and adoption.
And I was there when you were brought into the family of God. Now, when anybody has the joy of leading someone to Christ, you see, it brings them into a unique relationship with that person. As our my good friend, Richard Schumacher said he was a missionary in Africa. And as we were driving to the country of Uganda, coming out of the Congo, Nazaire, we were talking of various ones who were saved at various times. And I told him of a unique birth that took place, a person.
And he said, my, when someone is led to the Lord in that way, they become a friend for life and how true it is. And a person who witnesses a person being brought from the darkness of paganism into the glorious light of the gospel, that person becomes a friend for life. And Paul witnessed this occurrence. And because of his witnessing of it, he gave to him a unique relationship with them. Paul fulfilled his function as a teacher sent from God. He says to them in that fifteenth verse, Though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers.
Here, he says, Though you have many teachers, and another word could be used, another guardian. Though you have many guardians. And the thought here is that of a governess. in a Victorian household, one who rules over the whole of the moral conduct of the child. So you have many teachers, you only have one father. Now you may have many of these guardians, but in Christ I have begotten you through the gospel is what he's saying. Now we have learned in the first four chapters that Paul was not saying that he was the progenitor of their spiritual life.
He wasn't saying that. But what he was talking about was in the context of evangelism, that God used him to come to Corinth, to preach the gospel, and it was through the message that he preached that he saw these people transformed by the regenerating grace of God, and a church was formed. He was involved in their spiritual birth. That's amazing. Paul here calls himself their father, their spiritual father. When you read the letter to the Galatians, Paul says, I'm your spiritual mother.
He says, oh, my little children in Galatians chapter four. He says, verse nineteen, my little children. of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. For they had been listening to Paul's teaching, and they had been drawn away from the simplicity that's in Christ. Their hearts were attached to something else, to someone else, and to a teaching foreign to that which Paul had ministered unto them. And he says, I am a spiritual mother. I am prevailing in birth until Christ be formed in you again. So he longed after those who claimed to be Christ.
Now when he writes to the Thessalonians, in chapter two of the Thessalonians, he says, I'm a nursemaid to you. He says, I've dealt with you as a nurse handles a child. He cared gently for them in their formative years. Now this gives us an insight into the heart of the Apostle. To the Corinthians, he says, I'm your father in the Lord. To the Galatians, he says, I'm a mother. To the Thessalonians, he says, I'm a nursemaid. The point of all this is that Paul is describing the most intimate personal relationship between himself and those he cared for in the church of Jesus Christ.
What an expression we have, the origin of fatherhood. In Christ Jesus, he says, I have begotten you through the gospel. And beloved, if we realize the mighty power of the gospel, that it's able to transform lives and bring us into such a unique relationship, this is the greatest privilege, this side of glory. Greatest privilege to proclaim the gospel and see poor sinners saved by God's matchless grace. Now what does fatherhood imply? And I want to deal with the implications of fatherhood this morning.
No, it is important for us to be grasped this. What does this expression fatherhood imply? Well, first of all, it does not imply. You've got to deal with a negative. What it doesn't imply? It doesn't apply imply either authority or superiority. Those two things are not in the idea here with Paul. He had already said in verse one, when he used the word servant there, it wasn't the ordinary Greek word diaconate that he used. It is a word who parities and it's an under-roar. I'm as far down among the servants as you can find.
I'm an under-roar on a ship. I'm a third galley slave. I'm on the bottom. That's what the origin of the word, who paratees means, that he translated servant or servant there in chapter four. Paul is not here speaking of superiority, and he's not speaking of authority. For in this sense of superiority and authority, our Lord Jesus had something to say about it. In Matthew, verse nine, he said, Call no man your father upon earth. For you are one Father who is in heaven. You know, even Paul speaks of a genuine relationship that exists among the saints.
He doesn't use the word Father. He uses the word brother. When we think of our relation to each other, it is the word brother. But what does fatherhood imply here? There are several implications from these verses. And I want to point out three implications this morning, and they are very important. First of all, a father's example. A father's example. Notice verse sixteen. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
That's example. I don't know of anything. that has impressed me more and helped me more in my Christian development than examples. I've heard a lot of Bible teachers in my time. It's the godly examples that made an impression. And there is nothing in the life of a home. that makes an impression like an example. A father may be a totalitarian, he may be authoritative, and he may take a superior attitude.
It won't mean a thing, apart from the example. And Paul transfers this into the church, and he says, be an example. I want you to follow me. Amen. Can you say that? I want you to follow me. Are we living exemplary lives as a children of God? This is the implication here. I beseech you, he says, be ye followers of me. May I ask you a serious question? How far would this assembly go?
if men followed your example. It's searching, isn't it? Be ye followers of me. Paul was not ashamed. He was not ashamed to take a stand. Now, this, beloved, is a source of true authority. Where does authority come from among the children of God? Where does authority come from among spiritual leaders? Well, what do you say, first of all, where it doesn't come from? It doesn't come from age.
And someone is kidding me before the meeting, someone who happens to have a birthday, and I volunteered to sing, but they didn't want that. But nevertheless, you see... And I was told how old I was, that's just all right. But authority doesn't come at age. Authority doesn't come at age, beloved. And authority doesn't merely come with experience, no matter how wide and how deep it is. Furthermore, authority doesn't come with education and position. It doesn't come these ways. When Paul wrote to his young son in the faith, whom he commissioned to go to Ephesus and labor there.
When he writes to him, he says, Let no man despise thy youth, but be an example. Don't let anybody despise your youth. You see, men and women, people have a tendency to look down on the This young man, this young man, they did it at Ephesus, and people are the same in all generations. Paul had sent him. He was commissioned by the apostle to go there and deliver. And there were those who looked on upon him, you know, and they could have looked at him and said, oh, he's young. He'll grow out of those extremes that come with youth.
Wait till he gets a little age on him. Paul writes and he says, don't let anybody despise your youth. Don't be ashamed that you're young. But be an example. Now, beloved knowledge doesn't confer authority. Youth doesn't confer it either. And we have a tendency today to want to say whatever the young people want they should have. It doesn't confer authority either. What does? Well, while age doesn't and youth doesn't, now age doesn't disqualify and neither does youth.
But what makes the difference? Be an example. Well, beloved age doesn't confer authority and youth doesn't disqualify from it, but an exemplary life of godliness. is what confers it. A godly life. Paul could say as he wrote to these Corinthians, I beseech you. I urge you. Be followers of need. Now beloved, if we're going to commend the gospel to men and women, there's only one way we can do it.
when our lives reveal the power of the gospel. That's the only way it can be done. The kingdom of God is not in word, he says here, but in power. And the only way that we can commend the gospel is when our lives exhibit the power of the gospel. We love it. This is the most important thing for us to learn. We need to cry to God to give us a lie that are exemplary before the world and before others.
Paul says, you have only one Father. I have begotten you through the gospel. Because the word I spoke, I lived, I want you to follow me. Can you say that today? Can you say that for someone? I thank God that in my past I had an earthly father who practiced that. I thank God that I listened to Bible teachers over the years whose lives were exemplary.
I've had some of them live in my home and they commended the gospel they preached by the lives that they lived. Fatherhood, what does it imply? First of all, it implies being. an example. But there's a second implication. The second implication here is a father's love. I want you to notice the closing words. Verse twenty and twenty one. Or we ought to take verse nineteen with us.
He says, but I will come to you. Verse eighteen says, but some are puffed up. Some are so swell headed. They have such big head as though I would not come to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will. And I will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. So he closes the chapter with a few questions. What do you want? What will you? Shall I come unto you with a rod or in love? And here's the second implication, you see.
The second implication of fatherhood is love. Now, when you read these verses, you'll notice, first of all, this is not sentimental and emotional attitude that Paul is here talking about. He's not talking about something that's sentimental. But the kind of love that Paul is speaking about here is what he has to say in two Corinthians twelve. And I want you to turn over to second Corinthians chapter twelve. Love is so sentimental and mushy today. It has nothing to do with what is known as love today, with what is biblical love in the Word of God.
In Second Corinthians chapter twelve, and I want to read verses fourteen and fifteen. Paul is writing to this same church. He says in verse fourteen, Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. There's a principle. There's a principle that's laid down. The children don't lay up for the parents. It is a parent for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.
Though the more abundantly I love you, The less I'm loved. That's genuine love. Paul says, I'm coming. You don't love me. But though you don't love me, I love you all the more. So fatherhood implies love. See, Paul longs here to come to them. And he does not speak about being possessive, but about being himself. expendable. Not only is he an example, but he is expendable for their sake.
Paul doesn't count his life dear to himself. He will spend and be spent for the sake of their soul. That's genuine love. Now this is a quality, beloved, of spiritual leadership that is absolutely indispensable. You can't do without this. Well, you see, the Lord Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Now, while the Lord Jesus gave his life for the sheep in an atoning and a redemptive sense, we can't do that.
Under shepherds can't do that, for the work of atonement is finished. That has been done once for all. but beloved in the same self-giving and self-sacrificing way that should be the spirit that characterizes the children of God I am the good shepherd the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep and beloved I am disturbed when I find believers who are resentful unwilling and reserved about the way they give themselves to one another in Christian service.
Fatherhood implies love. You see, we have the apostolic pattern. The pattern is here. We have the example of a father's love that distinguishes the good shepherd from the hireling, as you have in John ten. Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But the hireling, all he's interested in is himself. The hireling leeth because he is an hireling. He cares not for the sheep. And this is exactly what Jeremiah said. as he wrote his prophecy concerning the false shepherds of the day in which he lived.
Love and faithfulness, beloved, are always linked in the Word of God. And with a gentle Christ-like love, we can look over this passage and we see in the Apostle, we see the Father's example. We see the Father's love. But there's a third implication here. And the third implication is a father's faithfulness. A father's faithfulness. And you have that in those verses we just read, verses eighteen through twenty-one. Love and faithfulness are always linked together. If a person loves me, he's going to be faithful to me.
In the sense of the word of true love, in the book of Proverbs we read, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Who do you associate wounds with? A friend or an enemy? An enemy. Who do you associate kisses with? A friend. But the Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend. Here wounds and friendship go together. Because if a person really loves me, that person is going to be faithful to me and may have to wound me in faithfulness. Faithful are the wounds of a friend. But the kisses of an enemy, who wants the hugs and the kisses of an enemy?
They're deceitful. It appears to be the opposite, but in reality it isn't. Well, you see, a father's faithfulness. True love, beloved, is never blind. True love is never solved. The mark of a true father is that he's going to be faithful with his child. You see, fatherhood implies not only love, but faithfulness. Paul, when he writes here to the Corinthians, what does he say? He says, There are others who are going to be easily satisfied.
There are some people who are satisfied with anything. But not Paul. Paul wasn't satisfied with anything. He only could have the satisfaction of a father who not only loved, but a father who was faithful. You see, there are many today who are so easily satisfied. Paul will not be content with a spiritual life, beloved, that is mere talk. And that's what these Corinthians were. It was all talk. You see, the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk.
It's a matter of power. That's what he says. Verse twenty, for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. This is so important. Paul says, when I come, I'm coming. He says, how do you want me to come? And when I come, I'm going to find out how these arrogant people are talking. But I want to know what kind of power they have. Beloved, you can listen to a lot of talk today.
and not find any power at all. It's only words. You don't find an example of godliness. You find an example of compromise. Paul says the kingdom of God. He's not in words. It's in power. In the church at Corinth, Paul would not be satisfied with mere talkers. It was the power of God. that he wanted to see in their lives. You see, a father's faithfulness will make him deal faithfully with all forms of arrogance and pride and self-interest.
Why? Why it arises from the love that he has in his soul for these dear people. Paul's ministry at Corinth was marked. It was marked by the humble submission of a servant. It was marked by the faithfulness of a wise steward. It was marked by the loving example of a father. That means, beloved, that a believer, the Christian worker, must not be concerned with status He must not be concerned with his office, but he must be concerned with his service for God.
He must not be concerned with his own interest. He must be concerned for the interests of Christ. He must be concerned not with his own glory, but with the glory of God. He who both is our text. Let him boast in the Lord. He who glories let him glory in the Lord. For you see, beloved, what is at stake at Corinth is nothing less than the glory of God. And that is what is at stake then in the heart of God. And that is the burning jealousy of God is for his own glory.
And that which burned in the heart of the apostle was the glory of God, for it was already burning in the heart of God. Beloved, this is what is at stake in our own generation. The glory of God. May I ask you a question? Is God being robbed of his glory in some area in your life? Is God being robbed of his glory in some area of your life?
You see, the ultimate goal of evangelism is the glory of God. The ultimate reason why we should want God to set straight anything that is wrong in our lives is the glory of God. He who boast, let him boast in the Lord. What a foundation Paul has laid for the Church of Corinth. Now he's going to have quite a bit to say beginning in chapter five. But here's the foundation. He who boasts let him boast in the Lord.
Fatherhood, it implies an example. It implies love and it implies faithfulness Paul said I have begotten you through the gospel there's no other way to be begotten for it is the word of God and the spirit of God that we generate and those who proclaim the gospel have a message And the message is a message of power. For when a person is regenerated, it is the power of God that does it.
And Paul says, I have begotten you through the gospel. To these people who were begotten, he says, I urge you to follow me. I urge you to love one another. I urge you to be faithful. one another. Oh, may God make it so in our lives. Now let's pray. Oh, with a hymn writer, oh God, we would say to thee, the God of Abraham prays, at whose supreme command from earth I rise and seek the joy at thy right hand.
I all on earth forsake its wisdom, fame, and power, and him my only portion takes, my shield, and power. May it be so, O God, in all our lives, give us the grace, the mercy, and the peace. that flows from thy heart to make it a reality in our lives for Jesus' sake. Amen.