If you have your Bibles, I would ask you to turn in your Bibles to Paul's first letter to the Corinthians as we continue in our series of studies I'm calling Challenges Christians Face. One of the challenges that Christians face is knowing the characteristics of a spiritual father. I want to learn about this in a lesson that I'm calling today, Like Father, like children. So I'd like to begin reading at verse 14 of 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Apostle Paul is writing, and this is what he says, I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, You do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you then, be imitators of me. That is why I send you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ. is I teach them everywhere in every church. Some are arrogant as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you soon if the Lord wills, and I'll find out not the talk of those arrogant people, but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod? or with love in a spirit of gentleness. Just so far in the reading of God's Word. Would you bow with me as we look to the Lord in prayer? Lord our God, we do give you thanks for your Word. Thank you for this portion of your Word. Now as we study it and look at it, we always ask you to give us your Spirit to guide us into your truth. so that we might become more and more like Jesus, your Son, our Saviour, in whose name we pray. Amen. Several years ago, the TV show 60 Minutes ran a segment that tells us something about the importance of fatherlessness, or something important about that. Park rangers at a South African wildlife preserve were concerned about the death of 39 white rhinos in their park. And it turned out that these rhinos were killed not by poachers, as you might expect, but rather by juvenile delinquents, teen elephants. The story began about a decade earlier when the park could no longer sustain the increasing population of the elephants, and so they decided to kill many of the adult elephants whose young were old enough to survive without them. And so these young elephants grew up fatherless. As time went on, Many of these young elephants roamed together in gangs and began to do things that elephants normally do not do. They threw sticks and water at rhinos and acted like neighborhood bullies. And without dominant males, these young bulls became sexually active, producing excessive testosterone and exhibiting excessive and aggressive behavior. A few young males grew especially violent, knocking down the rhinos and stepping or kneeling on them, crushing the life out of them. And finally, Mufato, one of the gang leaders of these elephants, eventually had to be killed. So the park rangers theorized that these teenage elephants were acting badly because they lacked role models. The solution was to bring in a large male elephant to counteract their bully behaviour. Soon the new male established dominance and put these young bulls in their places. And remarkably, the killing stopped. The young males were mentored and saved. The presence, participation and Power of a father cannot be overestimated. It's reported that 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes. 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes. 80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes. 70% of juveniles in state-operated institutions come from fatherless homes. 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home. And what is true in the natural realm, I would suggest to you, is also true in the spiritual realm. Christians are profoundly shaped and influenced by godly spiritual parenting. The Apostle Paul was keenly aware of that truth when he wrote to the Corinthians. You recall that they had slipped into various kinds of errors. He was there for 18 months. He planted the church and then he left. He was gone. They started acting badly. They started believing all kinds of things that were contrary to the Scriptures. They developed their favourites that they supported against one another. They believed that they had arrived spiritually, that there was nothing more to be gained. They thought that they had arrived at true wisdom and that the Gospel was kind of like, I don't know, something for elementary children. And so Paul rebuked these Corinthians because he loved them as a father loves his children. In today's passage, Paul focused their attention on six characteristics of a faithful spiritual father. He teaches them the key elements that are to be found in a vital and effective discipleship relationship. These elements are not given in chronological order, but they are given to us as essential elements to be found in a vital and effective discipleship relationship. And so today, in our lesson, we learn about the characteristics of a spiritual father. And let me begin with the first one. First, a spiritual father admonishes his children. Paul said in verse 14, I did not write these things, these things that he had written up until this point. I don't write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you. Paul wrote to the Corinthians because they had slipped into all kinds of error. They favoured one preacher over another. They misunderstood the Gospel. And ultimately, or underneath all of that, was a challenge to the Apostle Paul's authority over them. And so he wrote to them, not to make them ashamed. He would leave that up to their own consciences. But he wrote to admonish them. He needed to reprove and correct them for their wrong thinking which was leading into wrong behaviour. Christian businessman and author John Beckett shares the following personal story about the power of admonition. He says, I was in a dentist's chair being prepped for the replacement of a filling. And just as my mouth was filled with all kinds of dental hardware so I couldn't speak but only mumble, the dental technician said, out of the blue, you're Mr. Beckett, aren't you? I grunted assent. Well, I want to thank you for firing my husband. I was stuck. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I could only listen to the ensuing monologue. It happened about ten years ago, she said. A few days after your company hired my husband, he was notified that he had failed a drug test. You may not recall, she continued, but you called him into your office before he left. You said to him, I realize I don't have any choice but to terminate you, but I want to tell you something. You are at a crossroads. You can keep going the way you are, and the results are very predictable. Or, you can take this as a wake-up call. You can decide that you are going to turn your life around. I'm sure the technician, he says, couldn't see all the beads of perspiration on my forehead under all the paraphernalia, as she continued. I want you to know, she said, My husband took your advice. Today, he's a good father, a good husband, and he has a fine job. Thank you for firing my husband." And then Beckett says, I wish I could say that all our terminations have turned out this way. Regardless of the outcome, however, we must be prepared to take action when a situation cannot be brought around in a strange way, it's an aspect of our care for people. And just as he had in the secular and business world admonished somebody, that is ever more important in the spiritual world as well. And a faithful spiritual father will admonish his spiritual children when they are wrong. Second, A spiritual father loves his children, his spiritual children. Paul said in verse 14, the second part, as my beloved children. Paul really loved his spiritual children. Pastor John MacArthur says that the word beloved is from the verb agapao, which refers to the strongest kind of love, the deepest love. It is more than brotherly love, which is phileo, which is a tender affection. But this beloved, this agapao love, is a love that is determined and willful, having the one purpose of serving the object of that love. Sean and Leanne Toohey, you recall them from the movie The Blind Side, wrote in a book which they called In a Heartbeat, These Words. There's a little known congressional program that awards internships to young people who have aged out of the foster care system. These are kids who were never adopted and are no longer eligible for state support. The senator we've met employed one such man as an intern. One morning, the senator breezed in for a meeting and discovered that his intern was already in the office, reorganizing the entire mailroom. The senator said to the intern, this is amazing. The mailroom has never looked so clean. You did a great job. A few minutes later, the senator saw that the intern had tears streaming down his face. So he said to him, son, are you okay? Yes, the intern answered quietly. Did I say something to offend you? No, sir. Well, what's wrong? The young man said, that's the first time in my life anyone's told me that I did something good. And then the Tuis went on to comment and said, a little bit of attention and a kind word, that's how little it takes to affect someone's life for the better. That's the power of love. Guy Dowd was the National Teacher of the Year in 1986 and he was the first one I heard use the phrase, they will never know how much you care until, I mean, they will never care how much you know until they know how much you care. They will never care how much you know. until they know how much you care. He is a Christian with a passionate love for children and teaching children with love. And what's true in that realm is ever more true in the Christian realm as well. I could be up here with three PhDs, but if I didn't love you, you wouldn't care what I said. But it's the power of love that is important. Third, the spiritual father begets his spiritual children. Paul said in verse 15, For though you have countless spiritual guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. These believers in Corinth became Christians through the ministry of Paul. And even though they had countless guides in Christ, they only had one spiritual father, and that was Paul. That's why he said, for I became your father through Jesus, or in Jesus Christ, through the gospel. I want you to think about the person who led you to Christ. It may have been a parent, it may have been a friend, it could have been a co-worker, And even though you may have had many teachers since then, throughout your Christian life, especially if you're older, you had many, many teachers since your conversion to Christ, you only have one person who became your spiritual father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. And you'll always think fondly and gratefully of the person who led you to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul's saying to these Corinthians. You've got lots of people who are teaching you and guiding you, but I am your spiritual father. And every one of us can think of that person who introduced us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'd encourage you to thank that person for his or her work in your life in that way. Fourth, a spiritual father sets an example for his spiritual children. In verses 16 and 17, Paul says, I urge you then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ. A significant part of discipleship is imitation, just as a significant part of a parent's teaching is imitation. I remember my wife Eileen recalling that she would say things to our children and she would then remember that those were things she'd heard her mother say to her when she was a little girl. And it's the power of imitation. Imitation is extremely powerful and Paul says on several occasions in his letters, imitate me. In other words, he's saying, just don't do what I say do what I do. You can look to me as an example, and perfect example to be sure, but as an example of what it means to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Timothy Dalrymple, editor of Pythaios.com, was the NCAA's top-ranked gymnast as a sophomore at Stanford until a broken neck ended his gymnastics career. But in God's providence, that disaster opened up opportunities for him to deepen his faith in the Lord and also eventually earn a PhD from Harvard University. But while he was lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling, Timothy had plenty to think about. He says that, even as a child, I had a philosophical bent and spent a lot of time thinking about all sorts of ultimate questions, especially the question of whether there is some sort of existence beyond death. I don't know which one terrified me more, that there would be some existence or that there would be none. And yet, When he was asked what it was that helped him to grow in his faith, philosophical questions gave way to a relationship and an example. The example of my father, he said. Not only a pastor, but a genuinely loving, faithful, righteous person helped. I saw in his life something undeniably true that I could not explain away. the power of example, which causes others to imitate what they see. So a spiritual father sets an example for his spiritual children. And then fifth, a spiritual father teaches his spiritual children. Paul said in verse 17, as I teach them everywhere in every church, Imagine for a moment that you're at the grocery store. You go into the grocery store and you see a couple there. They seem lost. So you go over to them. They're obviously foreign. And you ask them what they're looking for. And they say they're looking for bread. So you walk them over to the bread aisle and strike up a conversation with them. You discover that they're graduate students over at the University of South Florida. They're from Inner Mongolia. They're about to graduate in a week or so and go back to their country and you get engaged in a conversation and in the course of that conversation you invite them to a worship service. And to your delight, they show up at the worship service here the next Sunday and at the end of the service you talk to them and they say, you know, we would like to know what it means to be a Christian. And so you introduce them to the gospel and you lead them to faith in Jesus Christ. And then they say, you know, we're graduating later this week and then we're going back to Inner Mongolia. What do we need to do now? And so you say to them, oh don't worry, you'll figure it out. Is that what you'd say? No. That would be absurd. You don't tell them or that they'll figure out, you have to show them or teach them how to live the Christian life. We were reminded in the Sunday school class this morning about Jesus' great commission. You all know the Great Commission, where Jesus is going to all the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe everything. It doesn't say just teach them. He says, teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And that's our job, to teach the entire Word of God, so that Christians can be built up in their most holy faith. Most of you probably don't know the name Edward Kimball. He lived over a hundred years ago. He was a Sunday school teacher in Boston, where one day a young teenager came to his Sunday school class. That young boy was from the country. He didn't really know the ways of the city, but he came to Kimball's Sunday school class. And when he first came to the class, Kimball gave him a Bible. And when Kimball said, turn in your Bible to the Gospel of John, this young boy didn't have a clue about where John was in the Gospel. And so he helped him, showed him where John was. when he read the other boys snickered and made fun of him, but Kimball encouraged them and helped those boys as they learned and grew in their understanding of what the scriptures taught. Finally one day Kimball went down to where this young boy was, he wasn't that young, a teenager, he was working at a shoe store. He was packing boxes at the back of a shoe store and he went in and started talking to this young boy about the Lord Jesus Christ and what it meant to have saving faith in Jesus. And he led that young boy to faith in Christ. That young boy continued to grow and mature and eventually he became one of America's best known preachers, pastors and evangelists. That young boy was D.L. Moody. You don't know Edward Kimball, an obscure Sunday school teacher, but he understood the power and importance of teaching the Word of God. And that's what a spiritual father does with his spiritual children. He teaches them to not only know what the Word says, but how to put it into practice in the lives of those whom he is teaching. And then finally, a spiritual father disciplines his spiritual children. Verses 18-21 Paul says, Some are arrogant in the church, as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant, but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness. Now there are times when natural fathers have to discipline their children. And discipline is in fact an expression of love. I know if you're at the receiving end it doesn't feel like that, but properly administered and properly done, discipline is in fact an expression of love. It's given to correct wrong action, wrong behavior, wrong thinking. And in the same way a spiritual father disciplines his spiritual children. Paul did that. with the Corinthian believers, because they had slipped into wrong thinking, which was affecting the way they were acting. In fact, some of the Corinthian believers had become arrogant, believing that they could think and act as they wanted, and thinking that Paul would not come to them. But Paul assured them that he would come to them soon, if the Lord willed. And then when he came, he would find out not the talk of these arrogant people, but their power. You see, the problem is that the Corinthians thought that they had arrived at true wisdom. They mistakenly thought that the wisdom of the world was more powerful than the gospel. And then Paul stated a central principle of great importance. And he said, for the kingdom of God does not consist in talk, but in power. In other words, faith that does not result in right living may have many words to support it, but it does not have any power at all. As Pastor John MacArthur says, a person's true spiritual character is not determined by the impressiveness of his words. but by the power of his life. And I can tell you that when a person says that they are a Christian, I want to see the evidence of that. Jesus said, you will know them by their fruit. It's not just the words. Anybody can say, I'm a Christian. Even I believe in Jesus. but show me your life." Bishop J.C. Ryle used to say, your justification is always married to your sanctification. In other words, if you claim to be a child of God, there will be evidence of a changed life. So, Paul gave the Corinthians a choice. What do you wish, he said, shall I come to you with a rod or with love in a spirit of gentleness? And he hoped, of course, that they would repent. so that he would not have to come to them with a rod, but that he would be able to come rather in love, in the spirit of gentleness. Nevertheless, if he needed to do so, he would discipline his spiritual children. Charlie Engle raised the harp, and Kevin Lynn no endurance better than most. For 111 days, they ran the equivalent of two marathons a day to cross the entire Sahara Desert on foot. Now I can tell you, I have run more than two marathons in one day. I ran 55 miles in a race. I don't know how you do that for 111 days. That's just stunning to me. They started, they put their feet in the water at the in Senegal and then ran all across the Sahara Desert going through Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Libya and Egypt and finally touched the waters of the Red Sea. And along the way they had to face all kinds of obstacles, over 100 degree heat, jarring, freezing nights, sandstorms, tendinitis, violent sickness and then of course the usual aches and pains and blisters. But the biggest challenge on the trip, of course, was finding clean and pure water. Finding it in its purest and cleanest form was a chore, but they were able to manage it, and they did manage to cross the desert in 111 days. Now that's an amazing accomplishment, it really is, certainly to me. But just as commendable are these marathon finishes. Christians who finish their lives still learning and still growing, and spiritual fathers who admonish, love, beget, set an example, teach and discipline their spiritual children. In these words, in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we learn about these six characteristics of a true and faithful spiritual father. These are the key elements that are found in a vital, effective and life-transforming discipleship relationship. And I hope and pray that every one of you is involved in one like that. Let's pray. Our Father, the Apostle Paul teaches us about six characteristics of a faithful spiritual father which are the key elements in a vital and effective discipleship relationship. I pray that every Christian here today would be actively participating in a discipleship relationship where these elements are producing spiritual growth and transformation. And all of this I pray In Jesus' name, Amen.