Spiritual Parents - 1 Corinthians 4:14-21 - Aligned - Pastor Jason Fritz

alright man love you brother thanks man appreciate all right hey yeah definitely Mario is the real deal crazy real-deal make sure you stop by their table and give them some love and showing some support I feel like maybe we should take an offering for Jason's first tattoo it probably our biggest offering ever so I don't want to do that you know all right if you got your Bibles for him first Corinthians chapter 4 we've been in this amazing letter for the last couple of months and it's been challenging it's been encouraging last week we saw the Apostle Paul do something unexpected he uses sarcasm sarcasm he's uh it's really a tough a tough approach to a tough situation sarcasm as we talked about can be an effective tool it can be an effective tool to point out the ridiculousness of one's actions it's really tough it's really difficult when you're trying to point out the pride and the arrogance that is in someone's heart while remaining humbled yourself and so Paul does a masterful job and last week he had tough words for some tough hearted people but the text turns the last half of 1st Corinthians chapter 4 Paul takes a different approach it's not so tough it's more tender in fact he speaks to them as if he were their spiritual father here's what he says in verse 14 he says I do not write these things to make you ashamed but to admonish you as my beloved children he says I'm not speaking sarcastically for the purpose of belittling you and making you feel small since I'm for you I'm on your side and the proof of this is that I'm trying to admonish you to admonish means to warn and what he's saying is this your pride is killing you it's killing you it's hurting you it's hurting those around you it's ruining the reputation of the church and by the way I'm telling you these things because I love you and Paul views these people literally as his spiritual children there's such a deep affection for them and we know this because of the Greek words that Paul uses see the word beloved that's the Greek word agapit the root word is agape maybe you've heard it termed as agape is God's love it's really interesting Greek word outside of the Bible you don't find this word very often but it's a word that's consistently applied to God and it describes an enduring abiding it's the kind of love that meets the best interest of another person it meets them at their greatest need and a person's greatest need is not actually for food and shelter a person's greatest need is to know Jesus Christ because one's eternal destination rides upon how you answer that question who do you say Jesus is in 3rd John verse 4 John says I have no greater joy than to see my children walk in truth well the 1st Corinthians Paul is essentially saying the opposite he says you know I have no greater anguish than to see my children walking away from the truth them no doubt we've got people in this room who have children that are struggling you've got wayward children and you know exactly how Paul feels no expense is too great no distance is too far you will do anything to reach those kids whom you love and bring them back that's exactly where Paul is out with these first century believers so Paul sees them literally as his children here's why we know that the very next verse verse 15 he says for though you have countless guides in Christ you do not have many fathers but I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel so previously Paul has referred to himself as a farmer a builder a galley slave and a steward but now he changes the metaphor and refers to himself as a spiritual father why this is his trump card then remember Paul wants to influence them he wants to change their thinking in their hearts he wants to uproot their pride as only he can do he says look you and I have a very special relationship it's a relationship unlike any other relationship in your life because you see I was the one whom God used to bring the gospel to you and God used me to carry the message of faith which you then received therefore I am your spiritual father and as your spiritual father I want you to know I love you I care about you and you have countless guides the word for guide is the Greek word Pedigo guy and it was a word used to describe the person who was hired to walk a child to and from school and along the way the Pedigo guy would give instruction would help the child with his or her homework Paul says you have those people in your life in fact he says you have countless the Greek word is myriad it was the largest word used to describe a big big number number of 10 thousands literally you have thousands of instructors you have thousands of tutors but you have only one spiritual father this is Paul's attempt to say if nothing else will you listen to my voice will you respond to what I say simply because you are my spiritual children and because you're my spiritual coach ildren I care deeply for you note that Paul says they are in Christ Jesus and the gospel is what places them there I love Paul's own humility this is not about me I'm just the messenger so let me ask you do you recall the person who shared Christ with you do you recall the person who stepped into your life maybe took a risk and they shared the message of Jesus Christ and you responded chances are that person's voice carries a little more weight than others this is what Paul is hoping you've had various spiritual teachers even Apollo's Cephas Peter you've had spiritual voices but you have one spiritual father so here's what's gonna happen in the rest of the passage really unique one because what Paul's doing is essentially this he's explaining what it means to be a spiritual mom or a spiritual dad it can I just tell you this is what the church needs we need spiritual parents we need spiritual moms and dads we need to be the kind of people that reach out to them so as we work our way through this text I just want you to ask two simple questions number one do I have a spiritual mom do I have a spiritual dad in my life do I have someone I can turn to someone who is there for me who can give me good counsel who will step in who is who is not not afraid to say the difficult thing someone who understands the scriptures and can speak them into my life do I have that person in my life and then secondly am i that person or am i becoming a spiritual parent to someone else as I've said many times we are just like any other Church in that we are healthy only to the degree that our people are plugged in and ministering to each other period the healthiest churches understand this church is not about coming sitting soaking and leaving it's about calm absorbing being exposed to the Word of God and then moving forward and employing that also is the goal of our instruction is what love we don't come here to puff ourselves up to become heir to arrogant ourselves chances are you and I probably don't need another Bible study in our lives what we need is to see the Bible study lived out in each other's lives that's where the power is this is what it means to be a spiritual parent so here's the first characteristic that Paul lays down he says first of all a spiritual parent is one who actually shares the gospel Paul says you heard it from me first and to truly meet someone's need is to give them what they need the most and that is salvation spiritual parents are constantly constantly sharing the gospel I'm very thankful that I was raised in a home with earthly who understood also what it means to be spiritual parents they shared the gospel with me they took me to consistently to a Bible teaching grace-filled Church it's been said that the church ought to be a maternity ward where we are constantly hearing the sound of newborn babes in Christ that is what we want Scott said it well it's one of the healthy signs of a church people getting baptized people responding to the gospel so all throughout this letter I said it from the very first week I forewarned you what does Paul do he presses in on you he presses in on you he's talking about having our Christian conduct match our Christian calling so let me ask you how you doing on this one are you sharing the gospel with those around you I promise you you have people in your life that desperately need to hear the message of Jesus Christ they need that from you you know in Paul's day he didn't go around handing out Bibles how did people know about Jesus how did they come to understand the wisdom of God they saw it lived out in God's people spiritual parents constantly communicating the gospel there is constantly the cry of newborn babes in Christ secondly spiritual parents give warning we read it in verse 14 when Paul says I do this to admonish you to admonish is to warn if you read the book of Proverbs it's really cool if you read the book of Proverbs it's it's essentially one big admonishment it's Solomon writing to his son and he says son I want to warn you don't go to the prostitutes house you may feel like you want to do that but if you go it's gonna be very bad for you son pay very close attention to who you hang out with be careful about the influences you allow into your life it will begin to shape you and mold you see some of us grew up in homes with well let me put it see this way we had a male presence in the house but we didn't have a dad understand I'm saying we had a male presence in the home but we didn't have a father and what does the father do my father cares enough to give warnings it takes two things number one you need to know what the scriptures say and number two you need to have courage so when I was a senior in high school just get my life together I observed a man in the church and here's what I saw in him his kids loved him his kids had this deep affection for him and his wife was so sweet she's like the sweetest woman and she had such an affection for her husband and he loved his kids and he loved his wife and his life wasn't perfect but I remember thinking I want what that guy has and so I asked him if he would disciple me and really that's what we're talking about we're talking about discipleship and he said yeah I'll disciple you so for a year once a week we met and we studied the Bible together and we went through a couple of books it was very rewarding but the most rewarding thing was the time he spent with me just the one-on-one one-on-one time just doing life together and he would take the Bible study and he would ask me Jason how are you living it out and more so as we hung out together he would say Jason I know what you're thinking right now and what you're feeling and I I can sense what you're about to do can I admonish you in other words can I bring to remembrance what the scriptures say I don't want I don't want you to go down that road I don't want to see you get hurt you've heard me say if you've been around God always blesses the greatest likeness to his son Jesus Christ where do you think I got that saying I got it from my mentor God always blesses the greatest likeness to his son Jesus Christ and really what he was doing in this relationship is he was admonishing me he didn't want to see me get hurt he cared about my testimony my reputation and let me make it clear that admonishing doesn't mean that you crushed someone's spirit again some of us as adults we're still trying to pick up the pieces of our lives there's shattered pieces of our lives because we had abusive harsh overbearing controlling parents that's not what a spiritual parent does a spiritual parent is patient is long-suffering they understand that there will be mistakes that there will be there will be failures and but they're still passionate about helping you become the man the woman that God wants you to be so every once in a while someone will say to me Jason you know it's so easy to tell your passion when you're upfront and you're preaching you're so passionate and my answer is always the same you know I am so passionate you want to know why it's simple the only reason why I'm passionate is because I am with you you think I'd have this kind of passion if you weren't in the room no you see I care about you I care about what you do I care about how you live and what I want for all of us is to experience God's hand of blessing on this church and by the way it is his church it is not my church people who have been attending for some length of time they'll come to me and say I have been attending your church for a year timeout is it's not my church and you've been attending for a year it's our church and according to Ephesians 5 hey I'm not the one that died for the church Jesus died for the church and gave himself up for her by the way that's all in the context of how a husband is to love his wife that's your image is Jesus dying on the cross that's a sacrificial love so it's easy for me to be passionate because I care deeply about you about our testimony and about what God wants to do through his people and this is what what leads Paul to say what he does in verse 16 the third attribute of a spiritual parent is that they are examples verse 16 he says I urge you then be like me imitate me that is why I sent you Timothy my beloved and faithful child in the Lord to remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach them everywhere and in every church so when you are mentoring someone you guys in the business world understand this you you set the pattern whatever you want them to be is what you are now you cannot impart what you do not know or that which you are not you can't pass that along I'm quite convinced that for most of these Corinthian believers when they hear Paul say imitate me they're horrified and here's why do you remember what Paul said about himself last week when people think about me they say I'm the scum of the earth imitate me my clothes are essentially rags imitate me well I don't have a home be like me I'm constantly hungry constantly thirsty be like me so these Corinthian believers they're in a completely different place they're trying to elevate themselves they're trying to lift themselves up they're trying to find a superior place within the congregation so when they hear Paul say imitate me they're stunned they're shocked and Paul is saying imitate me not because of all these difficulties and all of these hardships that I go through but despite them and very often because of these difficulties the power and the glory of God is seen more fully they didn't have the printing press back then Paul got it he understood it the only Bible the only Jesus that they would ever see would be through Paul so this really raises an interesting question right let's press in a little bit again this is the case for many of us the only Jesus some of the people around us will ever see what they see in us the only source of biblical wisdom they'll ever ever encounter it's through you what are we communicating what are we impressing upon them I said in the first service no excuse the words but just for many Christians many of us we just need to pull the underwear out you understand I'm saying loosen up a little bit just relax come on just relax what do we communicate when we run around and we're all stressed out we're all anxious about things did you did you hear about the latest news yeah and God still sits on the throne yeah but did youdid election fit and God still sits on the throne I'm not saying that those things don't have their place for their importance but God still sits on the throne and people are watching and your response and my response to the things of this world sends a very powerful message Paul understood this very very well the Greek word Paul uses for imitate is Mineo ty from which we get our English word mimeograph have you ever asked your kids to imitate you you want to have some fun how secure are you feeling ask your kids this question act like dad act like that so my daughter is older now but when she was little I don't know when she first did it was almost like spontaneous which makes it even more concerning but she used to do this impression of me preaching she was a little thing and she'd stand up and she'd wave our arms around and she'd scream and she'd spit and face would get red and is there any other way she would quote me on these other things and I'm watching I'm like that is so not me and my wife feels like everybody watches us someone is watching you one of my favorite descriptions of the Apostle Paul he says you know what I am I'm an ambassador of Jesus Christ you're an ambassador is an ambassador's a goodwill representative of some other place ooh that's rich saying this isn't Jesus says My Kingdom is what it's not of this world it's somewhere else Paul says mm-hmm that's my kingdom - I'm just in him back just passing through so since Paul couldn't be there in person he sends Timothy this is great because this is Paul's way of saying I practice what I preach Timothy is my guy Timothy is my spiritual child Timothy has this hardcore ministry man he shows up in all these struggling churches and this is the absolute pinnacle of spiritual fatherhood when you're able to say I can't be there but I'm sending this woman in my place I'm sending this man in my place and when they arrive it's just like having me there notice what he says he will remind you of my ways in Christ effective ministry is not being a mile-wide effective ministry comes in concentrating on the debt you've heard us say that's our that's what we want to do we want to concentrate on the depth of this church because as we concentrate on the depth of that church what happens God begins to provide the bread but you don't start with the breath you start with the depth and you actually end with the depth Howard Hendricks was once asked how can any church identify its own spiritual depths he said all that's easy just ask the people this question where are your spiritual children where's your spiritual son where's your spiritual daughter where are your timothy's now since Paul sends Timothy in his place this is how jacked up this church is some people think oh well Paul sending Timothy that means he's afraid to be with us in person he's afraid of us and it was fueling their pride all the more and further proof of their arrogance and so Paul lays it down in verse 18 he addresses it hey some of you are arrogant as though I were not coming to you you think you're all big and bad like I'm afraid to be there with you and that's making you even more proud but I'm gonna tell you I am not afraid verse 19 I will come to you soon if the Lord wills and I'm gonna find out not the talk of these arrogant people by the way that goes hand in hand doesn't it arrogant people and talking I'll find out not to talk of those these arrogant people but I'm gonna find out the power because here's the deal talk is cheap what I'm looking for when I show up to church is the power of God on display hey what does that look like it's not a bunch of Christians running running around trying to elevate themselves and their spiritual pride what the power of God looks like to transform life it's the very thing that the Corinthian Christians were missing to elevate yourself to take pride in all your accomplishments to elevate one preacher above another to draw lines in the sand and that's not the power of God the power of God it's when the gospel is proclaimed and the mind is illuminated and lives are transformed and Paul says that's what I'm looking for where is God showing up through the power of the gospel in your church and in when I say church what am I talking about how about you because verse 20 the kingdom of God does not consistent talk but in power what do you wish shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness interesting so there's this last attribute of a spiritual parent and it might be the hardest spiritual parent cares enough to bring loving correction Paul leaves the ball in their Court you know which Paul do you want which Paul do you want do you want the one who shows up with a rod and that refers to this Shepherd staff and so the sheep's getting out of line right getting kind of leavin the flock and going his own way that's really dangerous place to be so the Shepherd will walk over with with the staff and just yank pull and what does it sheep do she fights it a sheep's terrified is she wanting to run away the Shepherd just gently brings that sheep back into the fold they care enough to bring loving correction so here's what I've learned I've tried to practice this in my own life as a parent good parents will do the hard things for the sake of correcting their kids and really good parents in fact the best parents are actually willing to say look it's really okay if you don't like me right now but what I'm about to do is absolutely in your best interest in this moment I can live with the fact that you think I'm wrong maybe that you think I don't love you that I don't care I can live with the fact it's okay if you don't like me right now because I'm bringing you what you need and this is exactly Paul's perspective good parents bringing exactly what is needed when it is needed so when I was in college I made some really dumb decisions no surprise one day I get home from class walk through my apartment door and sitting on the couch one of my good friends and my mentor and as soon as I walked through the door I was like I know where this is going Christian intervention and they said Jason we need to talk you know we love you we know we you know we care about you and and we need to talk about what's going on in your life your testimony isn't what it should be you're hurting yourself you're hurting those around you and if you've ever been involved in something like this before you know there's a lot of pain and very often there are a lot of Tears and when you get through it you know how necessary it is and because I knew they loved me they were for me they took the risk it's not an easy thing to do I responded and I changed in love a spiritual father a spiritual mother bears the heart and speaks to it and it's only our pride that keeps us from listening so at illuminate we have two very active mentoring ministries where we take this passage to heart our women have a mentoring ministry I think they've mentored something like 58 ladies over the last couple of seasons in the fall they're getting ready to do it again our men in the same boat they're getting ready to launch the mentoring ministry for the guys in the fall there's more information on our website but I want you to know my prayer for this church is that we would have a room full of spiritual moms and dads and that we would constantly be hearing the cries of newborn babes in Christ those Timothy like relationships I have also been on the giving end of admonition when I was a young pastor a young girl came to see me and told me she was pregnant and she said she didn't know who the father was so I kept asking a few questions and eventually it was revealed at least she said that the father was a friend of mine who was in ministry candidly I I didn't fully believe her at the time I took my friend out to lunch and I said I gotta ask you man this girl came saw me and she made this accusation against you and right when I said it his face fell and I knew it was true my second thought was how stupid was I to do this over lunch I learned and I said look we'll get through this together but the thing that will derail this is going to be your pride do you see what Paul's trying to do here he's trying to expose what's keeping them back from stepping into that space that God wants them to be from them becoming spiritual moms spiritual dads from reaching out and finding those spiritual moms and dads and embracing them a Christian who isn't a spiritually fathering or mothering somebody is in my opinion my strong opinion a contradiction so my prayer for us for you is that we would become in the fullest sense spiritual parents wouldn't be amazing so why aren't you busy reproducing what's stopping you what's stopping you from giving birth from maturing we need it if we were gonna be all that God wants us to be we're gonna take seriously the words of the Apostle Paul now here's the beautiful thing I love the passage that says God is a father to the fatherless how do we know that because the father gives good father's give what kids their kids need Romans 5:8 but God demonstrated his love for us and that while we were sinners Christ died for us that's why before Jesus left he said I want you to remember the love that God has for you as expressed through my death on the cross so that's not where we're gonna close our time together by doing what Jesus commanded us to do and that is remembering his sacrifice on our behalf so as the men and women come forward they'll serve you the elements there's two cups stacked together just grab them and I would encourage you to take this time as the Apostle Paul encourages us and that is just to spend some time introspection reflecting on the words of the Scriptures as we've looked at them today let's allow the Spirit of God to speak to you to clean you from the inside out to prepare you to step into that space that he has for your father again as we enter into this time we're so grateful for the cross for Jesus sacrificial death for what it means to us and God I pray the more and more we would become the men and women that you want us to be and that the people around us need us to be we ask you in the name of Jesus Christ amen [Music] [Music]

Channel: Illuminate Community

Views: 1,820

Rating: 4.8461537 out of 5

Keywords: 1 Corinthians 4, 1 corinthians, holy spirit, bible study, bible, new testament, bible commentary, preaching, sermon, 1 Corinthians 4:14-21, Jason Fritz, arizona, sermons, christianity, word of god, illuminate community church, religion, gospel, teaching, discipleship, disciple, scottsdale

Id: cDECEN3ahm0

Length: 32min 57sec (1977 seconds)

Published: Tue May 28 2019