back to index2015-06-18 Study of 1 Corinthians: Week 9
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At the passage that we're gonna be studying today, chapter 4, verses 14 to 21, I'm gonna 00:00:15.000 |
Okay, there's a packet right at the table in the back. 00:00:32.560 |
So let me read this for us, and it says, "I do not write these things to shame you, but 00:00:43.600 |
For if we were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers. 00:00:48.480 |
For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the gospel. 00:00:55.280 |
For this reason, I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the 00:01:01.560 |
And he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every 00:01:07.400 |
Now, some have become arrogant as though I were not coming to you, but I will come to 00:01:12.800 |
If the Lord wills, and I shall find out, not the words of those who are arrogant, but their 00:01:19.360 |
For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. 00:01:24.480 |
Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?" 00:01:30.080 |
Heavenly Father, we wanna thank you again for your precious word. 00:01:35.080 |
We pray that as your word continues to examine us, challenge us, and admonish us to diminish 00:01:45.680 |
our pride and our hearts, to continue to seek harmony within the church. 00:01:51.360 |
I pray, Father Lord, that you would convict us through the spirit. 00:01:55.480 |
And Lord, would you help us to glean much from today's study as Apostle Paul continues 00:02:00.120 |
to express his heart of ministry and love towards the church. 00:02:13.560 |
I'm like mega dizzy and like stuffy right here. 00:02:20.960 |
Okay, in looking at the passes that I just read, now I just read it one time through, 00:02:27.800 |
and he's ending, he's ending his long argument about their division and the pride that they 00:02:35.600 |
If you look in chapter five, he's going to change the topic and say, "It is actually 00:02:40.660 |
reported that there is immorality among you," and he is changing the subject, right? 00:02:45.520 |
So in this last section, you would think typically you leave the punch to the very end. 00:02:55.480 |
In terms of the argument, a closing statement, so to speak. 00:02:59.520 |
Now I want to ask you, what would be the main argument and reason why the church should 00:03:09.680 |
And more specifically, I think he gives it away in verse 14 through 15. 00:03:27.560 |
Any other thoughts about what this last argument can be? 00:03:44.600 |
He's been giving various analogies and metaphors about who they are. 00:03:48.600 |
Spiritually here, he sees himself as their spiritual father, right? 00:03:53.380 |
And there's a sense in which, you know, when you're teaching little kids to do something, 00:03:58.880 |
you can tell them, "You need to do this because it's good for you. 00:04:01.560 |
You need to do this because the consequences are like this." 00:04:04.760 |
Sometimes you can tell them, "You need to do this because it hurts them." 00:04:07.200 |
You know, I tell Yoshi, "You have to be like this. 00:04:10.120 |
I know it seems unfair because otherwise you're hurting your brother." 00:04:14.240 |
But there are times when I will say, "You need to listen to me because I'm Appa, because 00:04:22.100 |
And although that used improperly would be just simply an abuse of power, but used properly, 00:04:32.860 |
Apostle Paul is essentially saying there's a great difference between, let's say, some 00:04:36.820 |
random guy trying to write you a letter to correct you, as opposed to me, I've stayed 00:04:50.340 |
Apostle Paul has sacrificed everything for this church. 00:04:54.500 |
And so in this last one, he's telling them, "I'm speaking to you as a father. 00:05:00.820 |
So let's take a dive in and take a look at more closely, then as a father, what are the 00:05:07.740 |
things that Apostle Paul is doing for the church and why should they listen? 00:05:11.500 |
Well, in verse 14, we'll get these words, "I do not write these things to you to shame 00:05:18.020 |
you, but to admonish you as my beloved children." 00:05:21.660 |
And the first question I want to ask is, if you were to take that first verse and use 00:05:28.940 |
that as almost like a purpose statement for the letter, how would you summarize that? 00:05:39.620 |
I know it's already a short verse, and you're like, "Huh, you're almost asking a summary 00:05:46.020 |
But sometimes it's good to put things in our own words. 00:05:50.420 |
Because that way we're kind of grasping, "Hey, this is in many ways the purpose statement 00:05:58.980 |
I write this because I love you and it's good for you. 00:06:03.900 |
I write this because I love you and it's good for you. 00:06:30.340 |
I'm writing to admonish as a father to his son. 00:06:41.140 |
What Apostle Paul is admonishing, correcting, but he's doing it in the context of a relationship 00:06:50.940 |
So just from this short verse, what applications can we draw about correcting or admonishing 00:07:16.020 |
To do it out of genuine care and to the best of that person, right? 00:07:26.980 |
If you look at that, there's a little last phrase, "as my beloved children." 00:07:35.020 |
You know, I really love it when the writers, whether it's Apostle Paul or other writers, 00:07:41.740 |
they start writing to the church as their truly beloved. 00:07:46.260 |
I remember John, as he's writing, he's an individual who writes of love a lot. 00:07:53.820 |
And it's pretty astounding because the way that the writers are seeing the church, they're 00:07:58.580 |
not seeing them as like, "You are my soldiers and I must break you." 00:08:03.580 |
They're not seeing them like, "You are my minions," or "You are my disciples, so do 00:08:07.220 |
what your teacher says," which in that culture, they could. 00:08:13.740 |
That's a culture where they had, what, slaves and masters. 00:08:18.620 |
That's a culture where hierarchy amongst older people and younger people and people of stature 00:08:23.860 |
and people of low income status was really, really different. 00:08:27.500 |
But the way that Apostle Paul and the different authors of the Bible speak to the church is 00:08:34.700 |
And then, you know, all the commentaries made note of the fact that that term, "as my beloved 00:08:43.140 |
You guys have heard many, many times that there are different words for love. 00:08:46.460 |
There's phileo, which is like brotherly love, and there's different types of love. 00:08:52.660 |
There is this unconditional, "I will go to any length to serve you, to do good for you," 00:09:01.380 |
There is this commitment, unconditional commitment for your good in that term, agape. 00:09:07.700 |
And so, all the things that Apostle Paul says, even the things that, remember in the last 00:09:11.860 |
couple weeks, he was getting all sarcastic with them. 00:09:14.300 |
He was like, "You guys are kings and I'm just a, you know, lollipopper and you guys are 00:09:21.980 |
But even sometimes that harsh tone, it exists in the care. 00:09:34.860 |
What else can we derive just from that short statement, or short phrase, verse 14? 00:09:51.380 |
But we should still do the things that are necessary, right? 00:09:57.660 |
So he mentions this idea of, over here, this whole idea of, "I don't necessarily want to 00:10:10.140 |
And that correction and admonishing is going to be painful. 00:10:14.300 |
When he says, "I don't want to shame you," we do have to think about this principle, 00:10:17.820 |
like if we're ever in a position, let's say, sometimes on the line, you're a small group 00:10:21.980 |
leader or just one-to-one, you have a younger brother or sister in Christ that you need 00:10:27.380 |
to correct, that you need to admonish, right? 00:10:34.520 |
You never want to make them feel like, "Oh, I'm just getting pressed so hard that essentially 00:10:41.860 |
There's a sense in which it's not our job to break somebody. 00:10:48.380 |
The breaking is going to happen by their own conviction in the Spirit to the truth of the 00:10:52.940 |
It's our job to give them and admonish them in the capacity God has given us, according 00:11:00.300 |
And so he says, "I don't mean to shame you, but what I do mean is to admonish you." 00:11:04.660 |
And that is one of the key terms that I want to talk about. 00:11:11.020 |
Admonish in the Greek is "nuthetaio," and it literally means "to put into mind." 00:11:18.620 |
So I'm sure a lot of you guys have heard about biblical counseling or nuthetic counseling, 00:11:23.780 |
and the whole premise behind that approach to counseling is to say, "We're going to reason 00:11:30.980 |
from the Scriptures and change the way an individual thinks, what the individual believes, 00:11:39.440 |
That's at the base or the foundation of that nuthetic counseling. 00:11:43.260 |
And so, from that term, there is a principle to be learned. 00:11:49.340 |
I loved it when an older gentleman taught me this principle and said, "You know, when 00:11:53.980 |
you're trying to help people change, you have to make them see the wisdom in it. 00:12:00.700 |
You have to make them see the wisdom of what you're doing. 00:12:03.340 |
I mean, you can sit here and just be like, 'Come on, come on,' and really, really just 00:12:09.060 |
kind of cheer them on and whatnot, but if they don't rationally, if they don't in truth 00:12:14.040 |
see the wisdom in what they're doing, they might be performing for you, they might temporarily 00:12:18.420 |
be appeasing you, but there's a sense in which a lasting, permanent change might not happen 00:12:27.060 |
So, with the term admonish, it has with it the idea that he purposed to bring about a 00:12:33.700 |
change in their belief and understanding, right? 00:12:37.080 |
And that's why you see in a letter, you see a letter where he's making arguments upon 00:12:48.780 |
So far, again, in that first verse, we learn a lot just about, one, what did Apostle Paul 00:12:53.240 |
purpose in his heart, and two, applicationally, how do we go about admonishing or correcting 00:13:04.320 |
Is it our job as a Christian to admonish fellow Christians? 00:13:21.780 |
That's why even though it's a yes or no one, I put it in here. 00:13:30.420 |
Galatians chapter six, verse one through two. 00:13:48.580 |
I'm going to have, how about, Mark Barless, can you read the Ezekiel passage? 00:13:59.460 |
- When I say to the wicked, you will surely die if you do not work and speak out for more 00:14:16.420 |
if he does not turn from the wickedness, or from the wicked way, 00:14:19.880 |
he shall die and be forgiven, but He has delivered himself. 00:14:22.880 |
Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits a wicked deed, 00:14:27.080 |
and commits an obstacle before it, he will die. 00:14:29.420 |
Since you have not warned him that he shall die in sin and his righteous deeds which he has done, 00:14:33.840 |
he shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require in your hand. 00:14:37.160 |
However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, 00:14:42.340 |
he shall surely live because he has been warned, and you have delivered yourself. 00:14:49.920 |
Like, if you're spiritual, and someone's sinning, then you who are spiritual, 00:14:54.260 |
you need to restore the person with gentleness. 00:14:57.080 |
In Ezekiel passage, if you see somebody and they're acting wickedly, 00:15:00.960 |
you need to speak them warning, otherwise their blood is on your hands. 00:15:05.760 |
So very clearly, those two passages teach us you need to admonish the people around you. 00:15:10.540 |
And so, I want us to think about that a little bit. 00:15:15.200 |
Basically, the reason why I say it wasn't as a clear-cut yes or no is because 00:15:20.000 |
there is kind of a balancing of two things, right? 00:15:25.380 |
For example, if you don't know a person, you don't want to just go to them in the vision and be like, 00:15:35.540 |
And also, in humility, you realize, "I don't see everything. 00:15:38.580 |
I don't see the person's, like, the surrounding circumstance, the person's intention." 00:15:43.540 |
So there's, on one end of the spectrum, there is, you should be careful about how you admonish people. 00:15:49.080 |
But on the other side of the spectrum, if you don't admonish people, 00:15:52.920 |
then you're also not heeding what God has implemented into the community of Christ. 00:15:58.700 |
And there's a sense in which we're really not doing God and His truth, 00:16:04.500 |
or giving God and His truth the kind of honor that it deserves. 00:16:10.080 |
Where we are all together so submitted to the will of the Lord, 00:16:13.840 |
that we are all together and one another admonishing each other to submit unto that. 00:16:21.660 |
And then verse 15 and 16, to me, is that kind of balancing. 00:16:27.540 |
Of the kind of balancing of what he's saying. 00:16:31.080 |
In verse 15, he says, "For if you were to have countless fathers in Christ, 00:16:38.040 |
For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the gospel." 00:16:43.380 |
Now, it could be pretty plain what he means by this. 00:16:47.540 |
But let me ask you, what do you think he means by saying, 00:16:53.920 |
Is he thinking about quality of care, like, "I care for you as a father"? 00:16:58.160 |
Is he thinking about just, like, numerically, 00:17:09.420 |
Okay, so my relationship to you is one as father to son, 00:17:26.880 |
So, more specifically, I do think he does have that relationship as an apostle, 00:17:37.000 |
But more specifically, he is the one who brought them to Christ. 00:17:39.660 |
So he is literally their spiritual father, right, through the gospel. 00:17:44.460 |
And so there's a sense here where he is talking about the various things 00:17:49.160 |
that I kind of mentioned, the quality of care, 00:17:52.960 |
He's saying, "There can be a lot of people who kind of tutor you, 00:17:57.960 |
but there is one spiritual father, and I became that father to you." 00:18:03.040 |
And so he's kind of saying, like, "Through that experience, 00:18:07.840 |
You know, there's a sense in which, can I become a father to anybody? 00:18:13.620 |
In a functional sense, I can adopt and become their father. 00:18:18.000 |
But in a biological sense, I can only become a father by actually, 00:18:28.660 |
And what's really interesting to me is that that tie of being a biological father 00:18:38.200 |
So, you know, when I was working at this academy back in Cerritos, 00:18:46.040 |
what the academy did was they hosted a bunch of these children from Guatemala. 00:18:52.500 |
They were Koreans who lived in Guatemala and grew up there, 00:18:55.320 |
and they came over, and then these host families would essentially 00:19:01.620 |
Now, you know what's really interesting is a lot of the host families 00:19:06.840 |
But sadly to say, do you think the host parents treated their 00:19:11.540 |
biological kids the same as the Guatemalan kids? 00:19:17.500 |
What's really interesting is biological children, they'll do stuff like buy them 00:19:21.240 |
cars, they'll do stuff like drive them, like, everywhere and anywhere. 00:19:31.900 |
And these were Korean parents, so they don't want to lose a dollar, you know? 00:19:35.700 |
But for their biological kids, they would go above and beyond. 00:19:39.500 |
So what's weird to me and interesting to me is that tie and connection will make 00:20:02.340 |
And there's a verse that I jotted down for you there. 00:20:09.800 |
Here for the third time, I am ready to come to you. 00:20:10.800 |
I will not be a burden to you, for I do not seek what is yours from you. 00:20:11.800 |
Your children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but parents for their 00:20:13.800 |
I will most gladly spend and be expended for your soul. 00:20:14.800 |
If I love you more, I will be the one to love you more. 00:20:50.800 |
There is a difference from a tutor to a parent. 00:20:55.280 |
There is a difference between a babysitter and a parent. 00:20:57.800 |
There is a difference between a hired hand, as Jesus would say, and the true shepherd. 00:21:02.240 |
And Apostle Paul is saying that I have this heart towards you. 00:21:07.000 |
So earlier I asked, is it our job to admonish? 00:21:10.800 |
But we have to always remember that job to admonish exists in the context of love. 00:21:16.640 |
If we're not willing to expend ourselves and go the extra step, if we're not willing 00:21:20.720 |
to help them by way of X, Y, and Z, and yet all we want to do is drop them the bomb and 00:21:28.040 |
give them a rock or something and say, here, take it. 00:21:32.240 |
I don't think we're doing what the Bible calls us to do. 00:21:36.400 |
So by application, that little blank is just simply, we should all have a heart of a loving 00:21:45.800 |
Now obviously we're not going to be treating each other like, oh, you're my little kid, 00:21:50.760 |
you know, because then that's going to be taken as very prideful too. 00:21:56.800 |
But there is a sense that every person that you see and you want to minister to, you want 00:22:03.840 |
If they, whatever they need, I'm willing to supply. 00:22:07.720 |
If they need a rebuking, then I will supply rebuking. 00:22:10.600 |
If they need encouragement and soft comfort, then I'm going to provide soft comfort and 00:22:21.400 |
In verse 16, he says, "Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me." 00:22:30.680 |
And so you can see him again, therefore, what is the basis of his exhortation? 00:22:42.960 |
And I don't know if I blanked it out, I'm supposed to. 00:22:45.440 |
The imitators in the Greek is the word where we get the word mimic. 00:22:54.240 |
Which is quite profound if you think about it. 00:22:58.640 |
And I definitely hope that as I parent my own kids, I could tell them, do what I do. 00:23:12.840 |
I hope that my character would be one where I can tell my kids, follow Appa. 00:23:21.240 |
But I think when he says that, when he says this interesting term, mimic me, again, a 00:23:26.720 |
lot of criticism has been given to churches and Christian faith because there's a sense 00:23:33.600 |
in which some people don't like this idea of mimic somebody. 00:23:41.240 |
And we're supposed to do exactly, everybody the same way and we're supposed to follow 00:23:45.800 |
Well, obviously this is, he's not saying in every little thing I do, you know? 00:23:50.120 |
He's not saying his temperament and everything. 00:23:56.120 |
But in thinking about that, I think it teaches us something about discipleship. 00:24:03.440 |
By Apostle Paul saying, mimic me, what does that teach us about discipleship in general? 00:24:10.600 |
Either like a method or a principle in discipleship? 00:24:26.720 |
There's a sense in which there is a difference between challenging others directly and challenging 00:24:37.800 |
And you have to realize at Berean, we give people opportunities to serve and to challenge 00:24:48.440 |
And obviously in terms of teaching, teaching the Bible, we hold that as like, you have 00:24:54.960 |
But every single one of us can indirectly be discipling others. 00:25:00.960 |
Through our own dedication, through our own commitment, through our own self-evaluation 00:25:05.560 |
and through our own sanctification, we're constantly discipling others. 00:25:11.520 |
You won't believe how many times I've been inspired and discipled indirectly by just 00:25:17.520 |
So if you ever see me just staring at you, it's not because you have something on your 00:25:24.600 |
You know, when people are doing things in the background. 00:25:27.940 |
Because that's the kind of way I operate too. 00:25:34.880 |
So again, Apostle Paul in his exhortation, he commands them or he exhorts them to be 00:25:42.200 |
And in verse 17 he says, "For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved 00:25:49.120 |
And he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everyone in every 00:25:58.360 |
So earlier Christine Cha mentioned about the kind of aim that somebody has. 00:26:06.680 |
Apostle Paul says here that for this reason I have sent you Timothy. 00:26:12.800 |
I just kind of, in studying I saw different views from different commentaries. 00:26:18.120 |
It's not necessarily like a profound one or whatever. 00:26:21.000 |
But he says, "For this reason I sent to you Timothy." 00:26:25.800 |
Is this the same reason in verse 16 where he says, "Therefore I exhort you." 00:26:40.880 |
Some options are, was it his fatherly love that he sent Timothy? 00:26:49.280 |
Was it for the reason of mimicking Apostle Paul? 00:26:53.920 |
Was it for the reason of practically obeying what he taught? 00:27:14.320 |
I feel like your answers are typically like that. 00:27:19.760 |
You know, actually, I mean, I guess it could be. 00:27:22.480 |
I don't think we have to decide, okay, it's exclusively one or the other. 00:27:28.520 |
But does anybody have a ... Because of his fatherly love. 00:27:36.320 |
Or why would you say it's because of his fatherly love? 00:27:39.800 |
Well, it comes right after ... It was interviewing verse about ... Just before that, it only 00:28:02.360 |
came after he sent Timothy because he's already about to imitate him. 00:28:26.600 |
And so then the most immediately preceding thing that makes sense to refer to is, I became 00:28:27.600 |
your father in Christ Jesus, who you got from. 00:28:31.600 |
So, Paul's a Paul in everything that he's doing, from admonishing, loving, being a father 00:28:39.880 |
He's doing all those things because he's motivated by his fatherly love. 00:28:44.600 |
So even in sending Timothy, can it be because he's motivated by his fatherly love? 00:28:50.600 |
But I guess I personally took it more on the side. 00:28:54.160 |
I basically took one of the commentaries' position and said, he says, "For this reason, 00:28:59.800 |
I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind 00:29:07.040 |
you of the ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church." 00:29:13.400 |
So I took it more to mean, Timothy is sent for a very specific purpose, to remind you 00:29:19.320 |
of my ways, the way I did things, the way I taught you, how I taught you to obey, how 00:29:26.000 |
I taught you to behave and function in the church. 00:29:28.920 |
So I took it to mean that when he says, "For this reason," and the reason is for your mimicking 00:29:33.080 |
of Apostle Paul, for your spiritual growth and practicality in the expression of your 00:29:38.000 |
faith being portrayed in your deeds, I'm sending you Timothy. 00:29:43.840 |
Now there are other portions of scripture that speak. 00:29:48.880 |
For example, in 3 John, John says, "I have no greater joy than this, to hear my children 00:30:00.840 |
In Galatians 4, 19, Apostle Paul says, "My children, with whom I am in labor until Christ 00:30:08.800 |
So earlier, Christine said, "To be a father, to be someone who truly loves an individual, 00:30:15.720 |
you have their spiritual best in your sight all the time." 00:30:20.600 |
He's kind of discouraged because Apostle Paul is like continuing to love them and the 00:30:24.200 |
church is continuing to doubt his apostleship. 00:30:29.120 |
But the fact of the matter is, Apostle Paul still nonetheless had their spiritual good 00:30:42.400 |
To mature from their sin of pride, which is one of the greatest that is taught to us in 00:30:49.480 |
And so I think there's a sense in which Apostle Paul, in sending Timothy, he's still pursuing 00:30:56.040 |
that goal of causing these Christians in Corinth to mature. 00:31:02.160 |
And so he's going to give an exhortation about that aspect, where faith needs to be mature 00:31:12.960 |
In verse 18 he says, "Now some have become arrogant as though I weren't coming to you." 00:31:22.800 |
We know that Apostle Paul was battling arrogance, you know, because arrogantly they're saying, 00:31:28.800 |
"I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, you know, I'm of Cephas." 00:31:33.720 |
And they're kind of having this like, "I'm better than you because of who taught me," 00:31:38.800 |
But can you try to think of why Apostle Paul would call them arrogant? 00:31:44.520 |
Is it because it's arrogant to think Apostle Paul won't come? 00:31:50.320 |
Is it arrogant, you know, why call them arrogant at this point? 00:31:57.880 |
Like, I guess, what's the arrogance that Apostle Paul is, you know, pinpointing here? 00:33:03.080 |
I think I agree with what Mitchell is saying. 00:33:06.920 |
What's, I guess, funny, and not necessarily funny, but what's interesting about this scenario 00:33:11.960 |
is did the Corinthian church think they were spiritually mature? 00:33:18.160 |
They actually thought they were the opposite. 00:33:23.920 |
And I think there's an element in which they were definitely going above and beyond, and 00:33:27.080 |
because they thought Apostle Paul wasn't coming, Mitchell said, "They end up saying whatever 00:33:33.160 |
So, good, I think you kind of hit the nail on the head. 00:33:38.240 |
They end up saying stuff and there's no consequences to it because they don't think Apostle Paul 00:33:44.480 |
There is this attitude of, "I'm going to say and do what I want." 00:33:50.280 |
And I think we never verbalize that in our lives. 00:33:58.280 |
Like, "I'm just going to do whatever I want." 00:34:04.640 |
People might, you know, kind of direct us and guide us with good counsel, but a lot 00:34:11.160 |
We do what we want, even if someone's trying to teach you the other way. 00:34:16.600 |
Because there's this attitude in us, deep in us, an element of pride that says, "I'm 00:34:23.480 |
And I think that's the kind of idea that he's getting at here. 00:34:26.760 |
In verse 19 through 20, oh, sorry, I wanted to tell you about the story of Eli and his 00:34:34.480 |
The story of Eli and his sons are a pretty sad story because Eli is actually seen as 00:34:43.240 |
But there's a marr in the story, there's a bad attribute to his character because of 00:34:53.720 |
And what happens is, his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, they end up doing whatever they 00:35:02.200 |
And the thing about it is, they not only just do whatever they want, they do things that 00:35:08.680 |
Things like, people come to the sanctuary to offer sacrifices, right? 00:35:15.400 |
Ladies come to the sanctuary to offer sacrifices, right? 00:35:18.280 |
So they have sexually immoral relationships with them. 00:35:21.600 |
They were opening up the sanctuary doors, the temple doors, to all kinds of sin and 00:35:28.060 |
And so, these two brothers needed to be rebuked, but their attitude was, "We do what we want." 00:35:34.720 |
What's crazy about this whole scenario is, Eli is judged for that. 00:35:41.920 |
Hophni and Phinehas were the two sons who were wicked." 00:35:44.360 |
Yes, but God, if you read the story, God rebukes Eli. 00:35:50.040 |
And there's an element in which, by allowing sin and his sons to do whatever they want 00:35:55.160 |
and not stemming their pride, Eli was again, guilty too. 00:36:00.600 |
And there's a sense in which we can say, when an individual sees sin, but they do not address 00:36:07.760 |
it, there is always a case in which you honor man more than God. 00:36:14.200 |
Eli then might be guilty of honoring his sons more than the Lord. 00:36:20.000 |
So I bring that story up because Apostle Paul essentially says, "I'm not letting you get 00:36:29.240 |
He says in verse 19, "But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I shall find 00:36:35.040 |
out not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power. 00:36:39.760 |
For the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power." 00:36:48.480 |
The kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power. 00:37:00.880 |
What does power represent as he's contrasting these two things, words and power? 00:37:29.840 |
I guess more specifically, what is he comparing? 00:38:56.400 |
So far we have one, power as in, I'm going to call that supernatural power. 00:39:02.240 |
Supernatural in the sense that maybe God has invested in the apostles power and authority 00:39:09.200 |
Then we also have power as in the Holy Spirit's moving in us to do the will of the Lord. 00:39:19.800 |
So in thinking about this, let's, as we take a look at this verse again. 00:39:25.540 |
He says, "I shall find out not the words of those who are arrogant, but their power." 00:39:31.560 |
So Eugene, I'd have to disagree with yours, but if you look at it, he's talking about 00:39:36.340 |
power in them, not necessarily power in himself. 00:39:43.320 |
There's that repeated many times in scripture difference between power just in words as 00:39:51.840 |
in faith that's seen only in doctrine as opposed to true spiritual power that's found in the 00:40:06.840 |
A repeated theme where faith that exists in words and doctrine is contrasted with the 00:40:19.040 |
And so the principle, we're trying to think about this for a moment, for the kingdom of 00:40:32.960 |
I'm going to examine your words and I'm going to see if there's real power. 00:40:37.640 |
As in I'm going to examine both what you're saying and what you're doing. 00:40:45.960 |
And then he gives this principle, the kingdom of God, kingdom of God that relates to what? 00:40:51.320 |
That it relates to the eternal kingdom, the kingdom in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:40:59.160 |
Jesus said in Matthew 7 verse 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the 00:41:04.600 |
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter. 00:41:13.400 |
So Christ himself is giving a clear principle. 00:41:16.640 |
There's going to be so many of you who are going to with words say, Lord, Lord, you know, 00:41:23.400 |
I'm a Christian, but he says, but they're not going to, they're going to be sorely disappointed. 00:41:30.600 |
Because the kingdom of heaven does not consist of those who only have power in words, but 00:41:34.640 |
it's going to be the spiritually transformed life of those who do the will of the father. 00:41:41.600 |
So true spiritual power is seen not in their boastful words, but it's seen in their transformed 00:41:53.320 |
Because apostle Paul wants to see tangible change. 00:41:59.740 |
Apostle Paul doesn't want to see like, here's an exhortation and then them to just agree, 00:42:08.360 |
Apostle Paul doesn't want to see this kind of like mental acceptance of what he's saying 00:42:12.680 |
without the actual life transformation that he's, he's actually expecting from them. 00:42:18.360 |
Likewise for us, there's a thing to be said like, you know, in the many ways that we grow 00:42:23.960 |
in our Bible knowledge and the many ways that we grow in our knowledge of the Lord, these 00:42:28.520 |
things have to have to be coupled with transformative living, like actual tangible change in the 00:42:36.160 |
way that we function, think and do things in our lives. 00:42:41.240 |
If there's some of you who feel, who feel like you've hit what are so-called plateaus, 00:42:47.200 |
which again, I believe technically they don't exist because in a relationship you're either 00:42:53.720 |
growing really, really far or growing really, really close. 00:42:56.900 |
But there are times in our spiritual lives we go to the same Bible studies and church 00:43:02.960 |
And there's kind of almost a sense in which, Hmm, I'm not sure if there is this purposeful, 00:43:09.240 |
tangible, goal oriented living in my life right now. 00:43:15.400 |
And my question to you is, has anything changed in the last several years? 00:43:19.560 |
You know, if you've heard exhortation to go, go like share the gospel at work, has anything 00:43:26.640 |
If you know, you've heard exhortation to diminish your entertainment consumption and spend more 00:43:30.860 |
time and consume consuming the word of the Lord and prayer, has anything actually changed? 00:43:35.880 |
If you've been exhorted and challenged to Bible studies to, you know, to reach out to 00:43:39.920 |
brothers and sisters, get to know them, ask them good questions, learn who they are, and 00:43:45.480 |
Has anything changed in your circle of friends? 00:43:48.640 |
I think there's a sense in which the power, the spiritual power that Apostle Paul wants 00:43:53.240 |
to see again is the spiritual power of transformed living. 00:44:01.400 |
Some of us have been really steadily growing and we've seen just radical changes in our 00:44:05.840 |
lives and some of us change is slow, which is fine. 00:44:11.200 |
Tangibly speaking, have things changed in the last several years? 00:44:14.400 |
And if they haven't, then yeah, you're going to end up feeling like, man, I'm not really 00:44:23.160 |
You know, there isn't an attachment of the things that I do with my life to what God 00:44:26.840 |
really wants and the will of the Lord, you know? 00:44:30.240 |
So lastly, in verse 21, okay, what do you desire? 00:44:40.960 |
And he says, shall I come with you with a rod or with love and a gentle spirit? 00:44:47.440 |
His tone suddenly changes and he speaks almost in a threatening way. 00:44:54.640 |
And I ask this question, as he says this, as he says this statement and asks the church 00:44:59.920 |
this question, what does this say about apostle Paul and how he viewed them? 00:45:06.080 |
You know, we've been talking about it so far that he's viewing them as a father, you know, 00:45:17.720 |
but just think about the question for a moment. 00:45:21.960 |
It is weird that he kind of ends the letter in this basically threat, you know? 00:45:47.360 |
You guys can leave that as one of your discussion questions, you know? 00:45:51.120 |
But can we learn about how apostle Paul viewed his relationship with the church and how he 00:46:01.040 |
So today, really, to summarize, apostle Paul exhorts them to cease from this division and 00:46:12.280 |
I admonish you, I exhort you, I'm going to come and examine you, but in the end he says, 00:46:17.720 |
I'm doing all this stuff because I'm your father, because I love you, right? 00:46:22.840 |
I'm saying all this stuff to you not to shame you, complete opposite. 00:46:27.440 |
I'm doing the hard stuff because I completely love you as a father with a son, right? 00:46:32.160 |
I think that's pretty amazing and it challenges us to think about the way we view the people 00:46:37.600 |
It challenges us to think about the way we encourage and exhort people around us too. 00:46:47.840 |
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you that you have used such men as apostle Paul. 00:46:56.320 |
Lord, we have at our church many people who love the church so much more than themselves. 00:47:04.760 |
We have so many people in the church who are willing to expend themselves and literally 00:47:10.220 |
die to themselves rather than to see the church hurt or suffer. 00:47:14.800 |
I thank you Father God that you have placed such men in the life of the church, Lord. 00:47:20.520 |
I pray Father God that we all would be challenged, that we all would be challenged to change 00:47:27.160 |
God, that we might have true spiritual power and not just in word and doctrine. 00:47:33.760 |
I pray also Father Lord that you would use us to admonish, to exhort, to comfort and 00:47:43.220 |
As you have called the church to be truly a body that's so connected as a family, I 00:47:48.380 |
pray Lord that that would be fulfilled in our church here.