1Corinthians 4:14-21 REMEMBER THE CHILDREN It is a father's responsibility to speak openly and honestly to his children. The way he speaks often reveals his concern and the importance of what needs to be said. As a steward, Paul the apostle had to do whatever needed to be done to fulfill his Master's will and to make the work in his hand prosper. He paid the price of following Christ and expected to receive the consequences of his commitment by way of opposition and persecution from the unbelievers who had their own interests at heart. What was unacceptable was the attitude of believers in Corinth who had been saved by God's grace. They had to be reminded of who they were and their responsibility to Christ and the Gospel. It is very easy to be taken up with our new life and its blessings, rather than with the One who gave us the new life and provides the blessings. When we are so taken up with the activities of the church and all the programs that it provides for singles, newly married, young, old, poor, missions, and local social concerns that we forget the Blesser and the messenger who first taught us, then we are in danger of being overcome with carnality. Worldly flesh and religious flesh are both still flesh. When Samuel asked Saul, who returned from defeating the Amalekites, "What meaneth the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the cattle," that was supposed to have been destroyed, Saul replied that he had kept the best to offer to the Lord. He kept the best of what God hated the most. He said he kept it to offer to the Lord. He was more interested in what he was going to do than what God wanted. Religious flesh - carnality, is as bad or worse than worldly fleshly desire.
Those people in the past had to be reminded who they were now and in whose family they belonged. Paul initiated the work, and as a father, had its best interests at heart. He was not only an instructor who taught the truth, but also their father who loved his children. His relationship to them was that of a responsible parent. He had been there when they were born again into God's family. So now he had the right to correct them as a father corrects his children. It is possible for a teacher to have all the right answers without knowing the problem. We can learn all kinds of things from books and other people, but unless we have been through the hard times of the beginning of a work, we really have only a theoretical knowledge of what is involved in that work. To have gone through the high spots and the low, the causes of joy and sorrow, the gains and losses, enables us to have a practical knowledge and a "feel" for that assembly that is peculiar to fathers and not to instructors.
Paul intended them to follow his example and imitate him so they could carry out the spiritual practices of an assembly. He was following Christ by walking in the light with God, learning from God, and communicating with God. He qualified what he meant by saying in chapter 11, "Even as I also am of Christ." We don't have to mimic everything a spiritual father does, but we should do what he does as he follows Christ. Spiritual doctrines and practices need to be learned from spiritual people. Principles that apply to given situations need to be passed on by fathers. Many churches have strayed from the truth of God and substituted their own practices to please people, basing them on the wisdom of men. To talk about living by faith is one thing. To live by faith is another. To teach truth in an assembly is one thing. To live truth in an assembly is another. It is not enough to know what is right. We must practice what is right in our assembly.
Timothy was an example of a faithful man of God who had learned from his spiritual father, was able to pass on what he had been taught, and knew what was right. He trusted Paul. He respected him. He learned from him. He obeyed him because he knew he followed the Lord. The contrast between Timothy and the "puffed up" Corinthians was very obvious. Timothy knew Paul's teaching was consistent in every assembly he had established, and he knew what was expected of the believers in Corinth. For some reason, the Corinthians were proud of even their own disobedience. Their words were boastful, and they talked about their power - but it wasn't theirs. In essence, they were like children who boast about themselves without ever having accomplished anything of value.
What is a spiritual father to do to correct those who are like disobedient children? There are various forms of spiritual discipline that a father and an assembly can use to correct the wrong behavior of God's children. Paul was a spiritual father with a tender spirit. He initiated the subject of discipline by telling them of his right to do so. Spiritual children can cause us a lot of heartache and grief, but there must be discipline to bring them back to what God intends. We need to show and give true respect, obedience, support, and love for those we know truly care for us as a father cares for his children.
How does paternal love express itself to children? Is there some tone of voice, some way to tell them; Of your affection, yet stir their sense of duty to Him? With common sense and Bible truth to back it A tender voice at times and senatorial tones to fit The urgency and seriousness hopefully will hit - A place in their conscience to act.
When other voices are raised with hermeneutical expertise What is a caring, concerned father able to say compared to these? How are we able to bring them to where reality they will seize? A father has the welfare and well-being of his children at heart He may have to be firm and make corrections at the start Then follow that up with what only fatherly wisdom can impart - A place in their heart he will reach.
If the voices of teachers seem so learn'ed and insistent A father's example that has been real and consistent Can overpower the instructor who to truth has been resistant A father who truly cares cannot, by any other, be duplicated Even when a strange teacher some new thing initiated And tries to make a learner think some wrong is implicated - A place in their mind, he will give light.
When the child of God will honestly to a father give ear From an open heart and mind to the advice he will hear Then from the wrong teaching he will cease and forebear A father "founds" the family, so he has certain rights A father as an example to his children, imparts his light A father disciplines his children who thought his "bark worse than his bite" - A place in their lives he will claim.
"Father in heaven, there is a certain sense in which I am a father to many who live in this place. We brought the Gospel to many of them, saw them saved and established in Thy word and ways. May Thy servant receive from Thee a father-like care for their spiritual well- being while at the same time being faithful in correcting and guiding them. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."