But as we kind of consider all of these things, like I said, my desire, my goal for the last day through these four sessions is for you to really have a good grasp of what Paul was trying to communicate to the church at Corinth. That we go back to chapter 1, again for those who maybe weren't here yesterday, and you go back to verse 10 and the kind of purpose statement that he's exhorting That is, that strong, exhortation, preachy, you brothers, that by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you, that you be complete in the same mind, and in the same Judgment, because of course he's heard from Chloe's people, you're not. So, that's what he's praying for, and that's the argument he's kind of building through these first couple chapters, particularly in chapter three, that we are called, that the church is called to unity, and the way that you are going to have unity is that you would have the same mind in Christ, not only just the same theology of who Christ is, but you're actually going to have to spiritually humble yourself and understand service to one another, which is rooted in the fact that you are not an owner. You don't own your spiritual life. You don't own your spiritual work. You don't own your ministry. You don't own your spiritual gifts, maybe in this case with the church at Corinth, right? They think, well, I'm the one who has this gift. I'm the one who has that gift. Saying, no, no, no. It's all God's. God does it all. It's God's work. We're simply managing and sorting a little piece of that. And when we humble ourselves and realize how amazing that it is that the king of the universe, God himself, has given us a little piece, we're just humbled that we get to participate in any way that is possible. And now we're coming here in verse 14 after kind of seeing him lay out that stewardship, being a lowly servant of Christ, simply going where he's driving, where he's pointing, that to do so requires this service, recognizing this idea that the true opinion, the true court of opinion that matters is only what God thinks. He's going to kind of now expand this on verse 14, that he's writing these things and holding them, you could say, accountable. And although he's saying the ultimate opinion that really matters is God's opinion, God also does place people in your life who give you some checkups, who can give you some kind of ability to say, okay, how am I doing? Now, again, they're not ultimate. They can be wrong because remember, human judgment is flawed, which is why he doesn't really have, it's not a small thing. It's a very small thing that I may be examined by you or any human court. It's a small thing for you saying, even me examining myself, But he kind of comes back on that and going, although ultimate judgment of what God thinks, because God's going to give ultimately the praise and the reward of the judgment. He does kind of come back into and saying, but I am here as a spiritual father admonishing you. in writing these things for your good. And so we wanna see that here as you look at verse 14. Now, I think my dad's here, so he can vouch that this is a true story if he remembers it. But I can remember being about eight years old and going to church in the morning. And my dad was out preaching at another church. And I don't know why, and I know he did it somewhat, but he didn't do it super often. He was out preaching somewhere else. I went to Sunday school, and I don't remember why, but I had an attitude. I just remember thinking, dad wasn't there. And for whatever reason, that just made me feel pretty confident. I felt like I couldn't get touched for some reason. Maybe that's just the way eight-year-old minds work. And Shane Peterson, who was my Sunday school teacher, was kind of looking at me like, normally you're pretty good. What's your problem? And I like to think out of character. I guess you have to ask people who knew me when I was little. I think it was out of character. I like mouthed off. And I said something to the effect that sticks in my brain to this day that I said, basically, you can't do anything. My dad's not here. And I was really confident. That's what I remember about that moment, confident that I couldn't be touched. And you know, you don't really fear mom. My mom's very loving. She was always making me food late at night. I didn't fear mom, but I had a little fear of dad, but dad wasn't there. I'm like, you can't touch me. My dad's not even here. Who are you going to tell? And I hadn't thought it through because I was eight. And so he just kind of looked at me like, dude, you're dumb. And so he told my mom, and I was in trouble, and I remember going home, and I remember my mom looking at me going, wait till your dad gets home. And it was the first moment that the light bulb went off. Wait, he's coming back. Right? Like, I'm not going to get away with this. And I'm going to be called to the carpet on this. And I did. I got a little talking to, and I got a little consequence in the basement. And I remember both those things. But I just remembered that moment and that thought of arrogance of, he's not here. I can do what I want. And then the absolute dread of just, wait a minute. I'm caught. Because Shane's going to tell dad. Mom's going to tell dad. And I'm going to get in big trouble when dad gets home. I'm reminded of that here in verse 14, because that kind of feels like, to me, Paul and his writing in this fatherly tone, I am a father to you, where he's kind of like, just remember, I haven't seen you in a while, but I'm coming, and do you want me to come to you with a rod, verse 21, or with love and a spirit of gentleness? And this concept of fatherhood, this picture, not so much, again, he uses lots of pictures to help us learn. The picture of a steward, the picture of a under rower in a galley ship, a lowly slave. And lastly, this picture of a father to really help us understand spiritual leadership. what it is, and he's using the metaphor really of, you could say, masculinity at its highest form of fatherhood, a father loving a son, a father admonishing a father, disciplining a son here and here. And he's calling them to embrace, ultimately, correction, to embrace authority, and to really embrace accountability. So I appreciate just mentioning discipleship groups. I don't know if it's just a fun thing. I think ours is older than three years. We also have dGroups or discipleship groups. And I think that's partially encouraging people to get in a relative community where people know you and have some level of accountability. Obviously, your spouse brings some accountability, your family, your friends, your job, your work. I mean, people that see you bring some level. And God ultimately brings the ultimate accountability because people, even your spouse, doesn't know all your thoughts the way God does. But the question of whether we embrace those things, whether we embrace accountability, whether we embrace the struggle and realize it's okay, because we've humbly said, you're right, I do have things I still need to work on. I'm not there, I haven't yet arrived. That humility then says, but I welcome inspection, I welcome... because I know it makes me better. I welcome it because I know it's gonna help me grow into the likeness of Christ. And so a strong man, a strong leader, a strong servant, does not avoid accountability. Because Paul is gonna say he's coming with some accountability. Rather, submit to it, learn from it, and the quicker you do so, the more that those who God has placed in your life can bring love and a spirit of gentleness rather than bringing the rod. And even more importantly that we know God and we see that here, just you think of Hebrews, he disciplines those he loves like a father disciplines a son because you love them. So we need to be willing to understand, to accept this accountability. So three things here in this last session, we're gonna look at three things that accountability requires. The first thing that accountability requires is simply correction. Accountability requires correction as a father to a son. Verse 14, Paul writes, I do not 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. Paul's heart here is that I have a unique relationship to you, to this church. Like I said, on Sunday mornings I've been preaching through Colossians, and it's a different relationship. He's not met the church at Colossae. Paphroditus informs him of the church, and he's heard wonderful things about them, and he loves the church at Colossae, although having not met them. But this is different. This is me kind of saying like, man, I really love and appreciate the hospitality of the Lamar's Bible Church. I've really enjoyed talking with Mike and the other elders. But obviously, there's a different level of accountability and relationship with those, say, in my church who I live with day in and day out because of that nearness. But even more so, the familial relationship, right? A father and a son. There are men that I have appreciation for. There are men that I love, there are men that I serve with, but I treat them differently than I would treat my own son. And so if a young, say a young man at my church comes to me right now and says, hey, I'm 20 years old. I'm not sure what to do with the rest of my life. I'm just going to take a year off and not work and not do anything and kind of sit around and just take a year off and see what, you know, I kind of want to do with the rest of my life. I might go, well, I don't know if that's the best thing. I think it's best. Men are made to work. So you got to do something. In fact, you probably should figure out just move in a direction. You just get moving. You gotta move the ship and then you can turn the rudder and it's a lot easier and those kinds of things. And I'd be like, eh, that's not what I would counsel you to do. But maybe let's talk about that. But if my son came to me and said, you know, I'm just not gonna, I'm 20, I'm just not gonna work for a year. I'm not gonna do school. I'm not gonna do anything. The dad would come out, right? I don't think so. You're not gonna do that. Right? Because I'm going, you're my son and my son's not going to be lazy and he's not going to do it. And there would be that kind of ownership and aggression. Okay, someone else's kid might do that, but my kid's not doing that. Because this is the relationship of a father and a son. I have different expectations. And Paul's saying, I am a spiritual father to you, and I have these expectations, and I'm not writing this here because I hate you. I'm not writing this here because I want you to feel awful about yourself and think, man, we're the worst. I mean, he really has, as I said, that dripping irony and hyperbole of saying, I mean, he's mocking them in the right and righteous ways, using a way of saying, listen, you think you're wonderful. Come on, you're not. And just very much the way a father would instruct his son. And he's saying, listen, this isn't with a goal. This isn't that he, in essence, he is shaming them, but he's saying that's not the goal. I'm not doing this with the goal of you to sit in your shame and just think, oh wow, we're so embarrassed. He's saying, I want you to take this and if the shoe fits, and this is true, And you guys have been so prideful to think you own your gifts, spiritual gifts, you own your ministry rather than it is God. You've been so arrogant to look at me and Apollos and pit us against one another. If the shoe fits, wear it, but I'm not doing it so that you just would feel bad or shame you, but I'm doing it so that you would be admonished as my beloved children. He's like a dad coming to his son, coming to their daughter and saying, listen, this is why I'm disciplining you because I love you and I want you to learn. I want you to grow. I want you to take these lessons. In this case, humility and servanthood and stewardship. And the fact that God is the owner of everything and apply them to your life. And there's only one path. And that is the hard thing about accountability. There's only one path through that, which is realizing you're wrong. And there's just no way. And if you feel bad, that's just part of that progress for us. I don't care if that's in school. I don't care if that's in study or if that's in leadership. If someone doesn't say you're wrong and then you realize like, oh, wow, I'm embarrassed or I feel ashamed that I did this the wrong way. That's the only way through it. Like I said, it kind of comes back to the judging issue. You pick up a new hobby and you're bad at it. The only way to get good at it is to keep doing it. and make less mistakes, fewer mistakes along the way and get better and better and better. And that's just true of spiritual life as well. Someone has to come alongside of you and say, listen, What you did was wrong or what you did was unwise. And yeah, that might mean some disgrace or public humiliation, but it's good because now you've learned and you can grow from that forward. I think a true man, true masculinity embraces that kind of accountability. There's also a lesson here, obviously, for leaders, that you have those who are underneath you, and we're gonna see that also falls through with being an example for others, but you have a certain love for others that you need to do like Paul, and you need to actually be loving enough to kind of point out some of the things, maybe the things that aren't quite right. It's the, you know, I doubt anyone's gonna come up to me this morning and be like, wow, your breath is terrible. It might be true. It's a men's conference. A lot of coffee. I'm okay. I won't be that offended, I guess. But I remember my grandfather, who was very proper, was the one guy who was like, dude, your breath is awful. And he'd pop the mints, right? And he'd give you a mint. And I'm going, no one in my life ever told me that. But grandpa would be like, your hair looks terrible. In fact, I remember he died a few years back and well, I think we already had three kids at the time. And I wasn't in probably the best shape. You know, I wasn't in fighting shape at that point in my life. And early 30s. And grandpa looked at me when I saw him and he goes, you've gained weight. Yes, grandpa. Yes, I have. Right? Grandpa was kind of like pointing out those things, but I also understood, he's getting a little older, the filter was getting a little bit thinner, but he was lovingly trying to say, hey, you should get in shape. Hey, you should comb your hair. Hey. And I understand that came out of his place of saying, this is my grandson and I want him to be the best version of himself. Even more so here, Paul using this illustration of a father. You've had countless tutors in Christ. You've had other teachers. But he's unique. Why? Because he brought them the mystery of God. He brought them the very gospel message of Jesus Christ. They had not heard. They were sinners in the, you could say, the kingdom of darkness. They heard the gospel of Christ, who he is, what he's done. They believed it. They were transferred to the kingdom of light. He said, all these truths, all these riches, I exposed you to them. You don't have many fathers, which his way of saying is, you have someone who brought you the gospel, which is him. For in Christ Jesus, he's saying, I became your father through the gospel. He's basically saying, if you're saying, if you're wondering, do I have the right, do I have the responsibility to hold you accountable, to hold you to this standard? I do, because I love you and I, you've had a lot of people teach you, you've had a lot of different teachers. In our world, you might have people that you've read books, you might have radio preachers you've listened to, people you've watched on YouTube and you've had them impact your life, but there's somebody in your life who's spent more time discipling you than any other who could speak into your life the way that Paul has. And he wants them to understand everything he says. So really, like I said, in the most spiritual way, you could kind of use this mocking language, ironic language that he's used about them. Oh, you think you're so rich and we're so poor. He's like, take it all in the context of me as a loving father. I love you in a unique way. I'm not willing for you to go out and embarrass yourself, or I'm not willing for you, because I showed you Christ in the first place, I'm not willing for you to go the rest of your life and get to the judgment, and you have built everything on wood, hay, and stubble, and for it to all burn up. I don't want that for you because I am a father to you. It's that relationship that Paul is saying that accountability, love, you could even say in that way, fatherly love requires this correction that he's going to push them. It's like a good coach. At some point, a good coach has to get through some corrective things. They have to say, you're bad at this. And you better get better at this. They're going to watch film and realize, okay, I better humble myself and just realize I'm not as good at this. So maybe I'm better dribbling with my right hand because it's my dominant hand than I am with my left. I need to work on that. Someone who wants to help them be better is going to point out and give those corrections. But it's coming from love. not simply a desire for the person to be shamed or to feel terrible about themselves. It's a contrast, you could say, to all the false teachers that are running around in their day. It's a contrast to others. that have maybe not their best at heart, who just want to even grow their own personal ministries. He's saying, no, I've here come to you and I want you to understand that I'm pushing you in this way because I love you and have a unique relationship to you. And so, we all understand that that is the reality, is true accountability, true relationship, true discipleship at some level is only going to happen if there is some level of admonishment. Maybe it's a more biblical word used very often, but this idea of correction, admonishness. Chapter 1, he says, I exhort you, exhortation is part of it. And the only way you're going to exhort someone is by pointing out some of those flaws. so that they can make a course correction and go, okay, I didn't realize that I was doing that. And you'll actually find that, I think, with people very often. They didn't realize that, oh, I wasn't being very kind or I wasn't being very loving. When I was involved in college ministry and seminary, there was a number of us guys, me being guilty as one of them at the time, and we just kind of, study would end, and we had a Bible study at a house with a lot of people, and we used folding chairs, and I remember there was a time where the Bible study leader, I just started going there, and a number of the guys were in the corner just kind of chatting and catching up about life, and his pregnant wife was picking up the chairs and putting them away. And, I mean, no one thought about it. And that was his point. You're not thinking that the pregnant lady's there picking up all the chairs and cleaning up. Why don't you get over there and help her? And it was a moment of, wow, I do feel a little ashamed that I didn't notice, but also I didn't notice. And for, Almost 20 years now, every time I see chairs being picked up, I think of my friend Gus, who kind of looked at me with this look of disgust, like, what kind of man lets a pregnant woman pick up chairs? And I, every time I see people pick up chairs, I think of that and go, okay, I didn't know. And of course, rightfully so, some people are like, you should have known. It's like, I know, I should have known, you're right, I'm sorry. And you have to go through that to learn and to be reminded and have that kind of planted flag in the ground to say, I'm not gonna do that again. I'm gonna learn what it is to be mature, learn what it is to go out and live in a way that honors the Lord. And that's where I think all of the mentorship and accountability, discipleship has such impact because you're learning from others who've had those experiences and maybe, You can even learn some of those things without being shamed the same way the Corinthians, which would obviously be the best way to learn. But of course as we've seen, very often humility and suffering and maturity, they just go hand in hand. So accountability requires admonishment, requires correction. Secondly though, accountability requires this idea of personal responsibility. You better understand and own this idea of extreme ownership. Your life. Therefore, he says, verse 16, I exhort you, be imitators of me. For this reason, I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways, which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. Paul doesn't just tell the Corinthians what to do, right? He shows them what to do. Therefore, I urge you, imitate me. It's the word for imitators or for the idea of a mimic, a mime. Copy me. Accountability requires ownership or responsibility in the sense that if you're going to hold others accountable, you better hold them accountable to something that's reflective of your own life. You're not holding them to a different standard, but you're actually doing the very things you want them to do. And they have an example that they can follow. That is to say, is your life lived in such a way that if others mimicked it, they would be living a life of service to others. It's more than just copying behaviors, obviously, but closely following a pattern and learning. You could almost even say, whether it's youth or whether different stages of life, obviously you kind of learn along the way, kind of like training wheels, where you have someone in front of you, you're learning, they're teaching, they're mentoring. And then as time goes on, obviously you remove some of those training wheels. Paul's saying, I've shown you how to live. Therefore, I'm exhorting you." Again, he doesn't want just shame with no change. But he wants admonishment. He wants exhortation. That they would be imitators of me. Which again, later, a few chapters into Corinthians, he's going to say, be imitating of me as I imitate Christ. So it's not just imitate Paul. It's imitate Paul in every way that he reflects Christ. It's not imitate Josh. It's imitate Josh as much and as so far as he imitates Christ. That becomes the ultimate goal. Now, I find this really helpful because I need examples. I'm a visual learner. I need to see things. Otherwise, I just can't copy them. I can't understand them. Even when I was a little kid, I was a punter and I remember I didn't know how to punt and then I got a tape. You know, VHS. Pop it in. And it was Florida State punters. And they showed you how to punt. And you dropped the ball. And I thought, okay. I saw the guy. This is how he held the ball. This is how he dropped it. He kicked it in the middle of his foot. And that's how I taught myself how to punt a football. If I didn't see someone show me, I wouldn't have done it very well, right? You get somebody who's good, who's an expert at something, and they show you this is how you do it, kind of like a master craftsman. I mean, I don't know how to do woodworking at all, but I'm sure if I had someone who did, they could kind of start to show me. Now, maybe there's some natural knacks that I will always lack, but you could at least go, this is the process. Here's what we do here. Here's the step here. Here's the step there. Imitate me. Do it this way, do it this way, and do it this way. And you can learn almost anything. Again, you may not be the best, but you're gonna slowly learn and grow in any aspect. And it's the same when it comes to your spiritual walk in your spiritual life. You're gonna have to find some people who are a few steps ahead of you and imitate the way that they live. I know for me, when I was just in seminary and I worked for a pastor, and one of the things he was really good about was he would always, when he would travel, he would never go alone. And so he had a weird life because he was an outreach pastor at the large church I was at, and he was also a former Major League Soccer referee. And because of that, he left Major League Soccer when he became a full-time pastor, but he continued to ref Division I soccer. And so just around Los Angeles, USC, UCLA, Riverside, he'd go and he'd ref these games. But he would never go alone. He'd always grab me or another guy, and he'd take the time to sit down, and we'd grab lunch on the way, you know, sit in LA traffic, get into the game free since he was reffing it and watch a soccer game and hang out with him. And what was so helpful is you got to know him the way he lived and the way he thought and see that different part of his life. The same thing was, you know, you come over for dinner and he had, at the time, I wasn't married. I wasn't even really dating at the time. I wasn't married and he was married and he had a daughter who was two years old. And I got to see, okay, here's a guy who's a stage ahead of me, who's married, who has a two-year-old, how he interacts with his two-year-old, how he plays with his two-year-old, and I got to learn and kind of just see what he does and how he lives his life. He was also really, really effective in the way that he, like I said, was hospitable and have a lot of young people from the college ministry into his home. And I thought, well, that's really cool. I thought, maybe one day when I get married, like, we should have people in our home and be hospitable and have them over for dinner. Well, I really learned that from him. Now again, that's not rocket science. That makes a ton of sense. But if I hadn't seen it modeled, I don't know if I would have quite understood, like, this is how he did hosting. This is how he did hospitality. And it gave me something simply to kind of mimic. Now, like everything, what he did is not what I do, but I took a little bit of what he did and I applied it to the personality and the gifts that God has given me. And it's so helpful that you can take one small snapshot and mimic that. And then again you're going to tailor it to your own kind of way that God has gifted you. It's that reality of understanding that I have to own. Paul ultimately isn't going to be judged for the actions of Right? The church at Corinth. Paul is not going to be judged for your action or your lack of action. You're going to have to give an account for your actions before the Lord. It's your life you'll give an account. It's the things you're accountable for. The responsibilities you have in your church, your ministry, your family. But also you're needing to own that. And then find those who you can imitate. And then also remind yourself that you might think no one's watching, no one's trying to imitate you. There pretty much always is going to be someone who looks to you and will imitate the good, the bad, and the ugly of your life. And so you're always trying to make sure that you're reflecting Christ because you understand there's someone else looking. who's gonna mimic you, and therefore, ultimately, you want them to mimic not the things that are, say, wrong, but the things that are right, the things that are Christ-like. So you can say with Paul, with confidence, would you be proud for someone to imitate your life? Would you be proud for someone to imitate your schedule? Would you be proud for someone to imitate your spiritual walk, imitate your Bible study, imitate your prayer life, imitate your hospitality? Or, would you look at those three areas, or four areas, or five areas and start going like, uh, I don't think you should imitate that. Well then again, you're kind of halfway there to go, well then you know something then, and you need to work on those areas so that they would be areas you'd want others to imitate. But, what will that take? It'll take humility, right? It's gonna take, it's gonna cost you, it might cost you sacrificial, even suffering to some degree. to make those changes, but it's worth it because ultimately for the glory of Christ and for the service of others. And so accountability requires admonishment, correction. Accountability requires ownership and responsibility. But thirdly, accountability also, we're gonna see verse 18, it requires ultimately that we just submit ourselves to Christ. You submit everything you have to the lordship of Christ. Verse 18, it says, now some have become puffed up as though I were not coming to you. That is to say, you again, that word puffed up, you've become so arrogant like an eight-year-old who thinks dad's not gonna come home from his work trip or from preaching at another church. You're so arrogant. You're like a child who can't think 12 hours ahead. That's how puffed up, you don't think I'm coming? You don't think dad's not coming home? But I will come to you, he says, soon if the Lord wills. And I shall know not the, see, I shall know not the words of those who are puffed up, but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. But verse 21, what do you desire? Again, he gets kind of threatening here. Do you desire, shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit? of gentleness. Paul is not interested in empty words. He's interested in real power. He's interested in real authority. He's not interested in hearing about things. He's not interested in even him writing these things. He's saying, I'm going to show up and we're going to deal with sin. We're going to deal with sin in the camp. It's a way of saying, remember, humanly speaking, the apostle Paul, dad, the father in the faith is coming home and he's going to deal with this. And that's all just a reflection of the ultimate thing, right? The ultimate judge, the real courtroom that matters, which is ultimately the Lord is going to return and he's going to judge. Okay, so if we live in light of that and we mature past our eight-year-old mind, and we can start thinking out 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, you might be young today, but someday you won't be. And you know that because all of us age, one and one is going to die. Now you start to think, well, I better live in light of that, knowing the Lord will hold me accountable as a steward of all that he has given to me to manage as a man in this life. He's saying to think the Lord won't judge, to think you can get away and say the darkness of the night or what others can't see, to get away with that is puffed up, inflated with pride. You might think you're safe, Paul's saying, or in this case, actually, they think they're more powerful than they really are is probably the issue here. We might think that we, or more puffed up, better, Paul's saying, no, let's look at the standard and then you're gonna understand what it is. You're gonna understand what it is to be truly a servant of Christ. He's calling them to repentance. He's calling them to say, listen, you recognize and humble yourself or I'm gonna come and I'm gonna lay this out. You can learn from this harsh admonishment that I'm giving to you here in chapter four. And I'll come and when you're repentant and you're humble and serving one another and being unified in one mind, and I'll come with love and a spirit of gentleness and praise God. And if you don't, I'm coming with a rod. I'm coming with discipline. I'm coming with harsher words to instruct you. He's saying, let this be, you could say, a period of testing before I get there, and let's see where you guys are at. Now that's gonna involve him answering all these major questions, chapter five and on, within the church, and then he's gonna come back around with 2 Corinthians, right, or you even have another letter in there, and deal with these things and just check in and hold them accountable to how are they doing. But ultimately, it comes back to this issue of power and living. And he's saying, if the Lord wills, he's going to come. And he doesn't just want speech. He doesn't just want words. He actually wants action. It isn't that Christian leadership or Christian masculinity is just about speech, just about saying things. It's you have to get down from the pulpit and you actually have to live these true words out. does no good to talk about being a servant and not serve. It does no good to talk about unity from a pulpit and then cause disunity. Rather, you need the spirit and its power to work in the lives of men and women to do the ministry. Paul's saying, he doesn't need to ultimately kind of flex his muscles and show how strong he is, but he's also going, but if you want me to, You know, he can. Again, the picture of a loving father who's gentle and kind, but you also know that loving and gentle father can be strong and corrective when he needs to be. And he does so because he does so out of love. Because a father loves those whom he disciplines. I think when you look at verse 21, what I want to propose, kind of as we close our time, is that there is this choice. The choice of discipline or love. That really is it. He's not, again, dealing here with salvation. So, the point here is, if you're here this morning and you have not come to Christ and you have not truly believed, you've not really turned from your sin and repented and turned to Christ, that's one issue. And we urge you, come to Christ, because he is better. Even what the cost is of following Christ, it's worth it. Ultimately, rather to face his loving discipline as a son than his harsh judgment of wrath, right? When God is gonna judge the wicked and the dead, second resurrection, and he ultimately punished them into eternal hell. Far better than facing that to face his discipline as a loving father. The question isn't salvation here though in verse 21. The question here is one of sanctification. It's one of Christian discipline. A rod of correction or a spirit of gentleness. Are you gonna respond willingly? Let's just think over 1 Corinthians 4, what you've heard from the word of God in the last couple days. Are you gonna respond willingly and make those changes? Or are you gonna require stronger discipline? I've often told the men, I'm doing, just kind of meeting with discipleship, and if there's maybe a specific issue we're walking through, and the illustration I give is very often that the Lord will not let you graduate until you've passed, right? There's, you know, the picture's imperfect, but you know, if you're really, the Lord seems to be teaching you the same lesson over and over and over again, this is because you keep failing, right? This is, you're in second grade, and the Lord keeps presenting basic math, addition and subtraction. And if you can't do basic addition and subtraction, you can't get to third grade. In a similar way, I think sometimes with us, it's like, well the Lord's not gonna, He loves you. He's not gonna pass you just because He's nice. There's no, you say participation trophies in the kingdom. He's gonna say, no, you need to learn that. And if you don't learn it, I'm gonna keep teaching you over and over and over again. Either you're going to learn, or you're going to repeat the class. And, you know, I've known a few people that the Lord's been kind to. He's long suffering, He is patient, He is kind, and some of us keep repeating classes. So, I've been there too. But Hebrews 12, 6 says it this way, the Lord disciplines the one that He loves. His correction is proof of His love. If a father refuses to discipline his child, it is not a sign of love, it's a sign of neglect, right? He's neglecting his responsibility. I think as men, you think of Proverbs 27, verse six, that faithful are the wounds of a friend. That is to say, true accountability doesn't just tell us what we want to hear, right? It tells us what we need to hear. And so although Paul, I think in a genuine way, has a threatening tone, That, again, isn't the goal of the warning. The warning is, this is, I am a loving father who cares for you and wants you to turn. This is, I see, maybe not right in front, but I see a mile out, a cliff, and you are driving towards it. Please, don't do it. Don't keep driving. Stop. Turn around. A man who resists accountability, I think ultimately will find himself with regret. You've probably been there in different ways, in different times, going, I wish I had listened. Again, I'll use my grandfather as a story. When he had lung cancer in the 90s, so about, you know, 25 years later. He lived about 25 years after his cancer. But he would often tell me the story that his, mother, so my great-grandmother, when he went to the Navy in 1944, so the very tail end of World War Two, he lied about his age, like many of the men, to get out of Valentine, Nebraska. He just wanted to leave and never go back. And he joined the Navy, went out to San Diego, and his mother hated smoking, right? This is the 40s. You don't have any big campaigns against smoking. They haven't really connected smoking to lung cancer and a lot of those things. But she hated it. She thought it was a disgusting habit, and she was a very proper woman. And so she offered my grandpa $100. And my grandpa said, that's a lot of money, you know? He told me this story probably six times the last couple of years of his life. And he said, she offered me $100 to not smoke. And he said, you can just tell, I mean, here he is in his 90s, and he's got a tone of regret. Because his mom knew best, and she said, I just give you a hundred bucks if you don't smoke. But grandpa, being a man of integrity, even at his 16 year old self, said, I didn't take the money. Because I didn't think I could follow through. Because everyone smoked in the military, and every one of his friends smoked. And so he's like, I didn't take the money. Then he goes like, at 90 some years old, I wish I had take the money. Because it ended up being an issue with him for the rest of his life and with the lung cancer and all those things. And you could hear that tone of regret that, man, I wish I had taken the money and not gone down that road. It's that kind of regret that can happen when you don't listen to those who love you, who are trying to do what is best for you. Again, it's not to say that was the worst thing that ever happened. Again, something far worse is spiritual death and not dealing with your sin, not being forgiven in Christ, but just the illustration remains. Are you gonna regret not dealing with your sin? And the answer is going to be yes, maybe not today, but you will eventually regret not dealing with it, not holding yourself accountable through others. within the church, but obviously not ultimately holding yourself accountable and not living in light of the fact that it's not Paul returning, it's not dad returning, it is the Lord, your Savior, who will return and hold you accountable. Going back to chapter three, I think is a good reminder for us of the foundation that no one can lay other than Christ. Chapter three, verse 11, verse 12. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw, each man's work will become evident. For the day will indicate it because it is revealed with fire and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. That is to say, the day is coming where our lives will be tested. Your stewardship, your management will come underneath the microscope. It will be tested and we'll find out what was there. If it was built on something that is eternal, Things will remain, he will receive a reward. But, verse 15, if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved. Yet, as the throw of the fire. Again, I don't think this is talking about salvation, but this is talking about stewardship. God owns it all, but you need to be a manager, and the question of are you managing these things well for the glory of God or not becomes the question at play. Are you being a good servant of Christ? uniquely stewarding what God has given you as a man, thinking especially spiritual leadership within the church and within the home and within every sphere that the Lord has given. The Lord is a shepherd and the shepherd, right, has a rod. It's not just meant to correct the sheep when they wander, although it's used that way, right? But it was also used to protect them from danger. The Lord uses his discipline in the same way. So my prayer is we look at this and we think through all these things that you would be men who desire to be servants of the Lord. Humble enough to recognize you're a low-galley, rowing slave. To understand that you're ultimately just a manager passing through this life for a temporary time and be faithful to whatever the Lord has given. Understanding that He might give you more, He might not. That's not the point. The point is, what are you doing with what He has given? That ultimately you would embrace accountability within the church, within others. that you look for those you can imitate. That is to say, you know, every Paul should have a Timothy, even likewise, every Timothy should probably look for a Paul that you can mimic them in the Lord. Let's pray. Father, help us to be men of humility, men of accountability, embracing admonishment and correction. I pray that you would grant each one of these men, men, a stage ahead who can be fathers to guide spiritual leaders for them. But also that they would see their life is not simply to learn, but it's to take what they have learned and to pass it on to others. And therefore that they would not only have someone they can mimic, but also that they would then look to down below that is there someone else they can minister to and that they can disciple, that they can mentor. May their faith be marked not by the things that the world values, Authoritarianism, power, arrogance, pride, but marked by humility and marked by service. That they can lead in the strength that only you can provide. Please ask this in your son's name. Amen.