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Dad! I'm Watching 1 Corinthians 4:14-17 6.16.19 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  This morning, I really do count it an incredible blessing, but also an incredible challenge to be speaking to you on Father's Day. There are many times in a pastor's life where we get up and speak on different topics where we feel great trepidation over. This morning, this is one of those for me. The reality of standing here and preaching as my kids sit there.
• 0:32
  listening to me, knowing that they will be the ones who know without a doubt what my life looks like and whether my words are empty or real is a bit terrifying. I'm not a perfect man. I'm not a perfect father. In fact, I'm far from it.
• 0:52
  And yet I am called to be a minister of God's word and his truth and to lead alongside the leadership of this church and thus must follow in obedience and do so confidently. But please know, as I share this message, I am not sharing as one who is an authority on this subject, but as one who knows the book and a person of which who is the authority on this. It is...
• 1:24
  with a desire to be faithful to his word and his call on my life, that I approach our topic today and pray that it is a blessing to each of you as it has been to me as I studied it. Let's pray. Father in heaven, God, I pray that you would watch over the preaching of your word. God, that you would wash in our hearts the sin of doubt, Lord, that we can...
• 1:49
  Grab a hold of, Lord. Remind us of the power of your grace, the power of your mercy. God, the power of your word this morning. God, I pray that we would hear your words, that we would act upon them, that we can relish in the opportunity that you have given us to be dads, to be stewards of that which you have given us. Bless us as we enter into your word. May we be responsive to it in your name. Amen. Open your Bibles with me.
• 2:19
  if you would, to 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 4 is going to be our passage. We're going to be almost in the entirety of that chapter. We're going to focus in as we start on verses 14 through 17, but 1 Corinthians 4, and as you turn there, there are some...
• 2:41
  These commercials that I particularly really enjoy, that I've watched a couple different times, I believe they're on YouTube, I honestly couldn't tell you what they are for. They're very, very touching commercials, but they obviously didn't do a very good job of selling their product, because I can't tell you what they were for. But these commercials...
• 3:02
  depict this relationship of father and kids beautifully. And the way that they do that is they go through all these little mini clips of dads and their kids, and you hear just clips of kids saying, Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad, look! Dad, look! Dad! Dad! Dad!
• 3:24
  Like that. And they're just going through, and as they go through, they're taking you through these moments where you go from this dad catching the kid as he dangles from the monkey bars, fearful that he's going to fall and get hurt, to another kid getting spun around in a circle, and he's crying out, Dad! And then other times you hear this call for attention, Dad, look! And the kids are doing these different activities.
• 3:47
  And it goes all the way to this kid who calls for his dad, and he's obviously in the middle of potty training. And the dad rushes to try and help him. And then one of the moments that is just beautiful in this as it ends is it has this depiction of a dad and his grown daughter as they dance at her wedding together. And through tears, she says, Dad, look. It's a beautiful reality.
• 4:22
  that our kids are constantly calling out for our attentions as fathers, our attention as fathers. The call for our attention as fathers and dads is real. And I felt this reality the other day when Carla and I decided to take the kids out and play tennis with them. And we took all three of them out on the tennis court and began to play. And as we began to do this,
• 4:49
  there were many moments, numerous in fact, where I heard those words literally spoken almost in unison from three different voices, Dad, look. So as we were trying to play and we're hitting the tennis ball, I'm hearing this barrage of Dad, look, all over, calling for my attention to see what they are doing, my attention being drawn every which way.
• 5:14
  Our kids' cry for our focus and attention is clearly seen in these commercials that I shared with you. But there is another truth here in the relationship between dad and kids, one that I am reminded of daily. This week, as I prepared for this, I went home and had lunch at my house and was greeted warmly by all three kids. And as I began to cook lunch, Oren disappeared for a few short moments.
• 5:42
  Went upstairs, I guess, and came back down and with great joy said, Dad, now we look the same. I looked down and he had gone upstairs and he had changed his shirt to the same color as mine and he had changed his shorts into pants so that we now looked the same. I didn't even realize it, but he was watching. He saw how I looked and copied it.
• 6:10
  So while that commercial understandably points out the call for our attention from our kids, the truth and even more important thing for us this morning is that our kids' attention is fixed on us. The truth is, Dad, I'm watching.
• 6:29
  This reality reveals and illuminates the truth that what our lives look like matters. It matters both for our betterment and walk with the Lord, but also it matters immensely because our kids are watching. The kids of this church are watching. The kids in our neighborhood are watching. This morning, I want us to consider that reality.
• 6:55
  Not just us as fathers, of whom I would love to speak directly to this morning, but also for us as adults. Trust me, if you are an adult and there are those that are younger around you, they are watching your life. They are looking at our lives, listening to our words. And this morning, I pray, we can glean an understanding of what it means when Paul, in verse 16, says, Be imitators.
• 7:24
  of me. I urge you then be imitators of me. Let's read verses 14 through 17. I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you then be imitators
• 8:03
  Paul uses this phrase that he uses in verse 16 often in his writings. He uses it in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1, 1 Thessalonians 1.6 and 2.14.
• 8:18
  He says it in Ephesians 5, 1 and in Philippians 3, 7. And thus, this call from Paul to walk as he walks is a familiar one from his readers and for us this morning. He spoke this several times. Paul said this unashamedly and with conviction, knowing this reality, that we are all followers of someone or something.
• 8:48
  And thus, Paul calls his readers and this morning our attention to be imitators of him. As Paul makes this call to be imitators of him, he is calling them to follow and us to follow the actions of those mature than us in Christ. Paul here is stating that we will indeed follow something or someone, but that...
• 9:18
  which we will follow, or what is most often followed, or most easily followed, is what is done, not what is just said. Paul, in verse 16, says, be imitators of me. He doesn't say, be imitators of my words that I speak to you. He says, be imitators of me, calling us to attention to his actions, what he is doing. That is to say,
• 9:45
  That we find that the most successful things replicated is that which is done, not that which is said. In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, Paul illuminates more as he calls us to be imitators of him. In 1 Corinthians 11, verse 1, he gives us a deeper understanding of what that means. He says in 11, verse 1,
• 10:11
  This statement by Paul is to the young believer, to those new in their Christian walk, just as our kids and our young people ought to be called to today. These young believers will follow our actions more than our words. Brothers and sisters, we can talk to our kids till we're blue in the face. We can say all the words we want.
• 10:41
  to the young people in our church, but if our lives do not back them up, then what we are actually saying to them is follow somebody else. If our words do not match our actions, we are actually telling them to follow somebody else. And this is why Paul can make this statement because his actions...
• 11:06
  followed his words. As he said, follow my example because his words matched his actions. Jesus is obviously the ultimate example of words followed by action. But Paul set a very high standard with his life as well. And thus, his life was one that if followed, would lead these baby Christians in the way that they should go. And I want to take a closer look at that reality as Paul makes that...
• 11:35
  plea to follow, to be imitators. What does that mean? What does that look like? And in context, we're going to jump up to verse 1 of chapter 4 to get a little bit of an idea what he means when he says, be imitators of me. Paul, in chapter 4, verse 1, says, this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ.
• 12:02
  Be imitators of Paul, be imitators of him as servants of Christ. Brothers, the Bible does make it clear that we are appointed by God as leaders in our homes, that God has appointed us to lead, to lead our families, and that we have been entrusted with this position. We see that clearly in Ephesians chapter 5. However, this leadership is not to be tyrannical or a dictatorship, which is what has often been applied.
• 12:32
  Paul here is identifying that although he and the apostles, Apollos and Peter, held the position of leader, they were to be regarded as servants of Christ. That is to say that Christ is the one in authority and that he or they were merely servants of his. That they should not be regarded as leaders, but rather...
• 13:00
  And this word that he uses when he says servants of Christ is interesting. It is a Greek word which originally meant a rower on the lower bank of a Greek or Roman warship. One of the slaves who pulled at the great sweeps or oars which moved these warships through.
• 13:25
  That is the picture, that is the person that Paul is referencing as he says servants of Christ. Paul uses use of this word, directs our understanding of his thoughts on his and thus our positions of leadership. It draws a picture of Christ as the pilot who directs the course of the ship and Paul as the servant who accepts the pilot's orders and labors only.
• 13:55
  as his master directs. As we have Paul's examples set before us this morning and consider the young lives which come behind us, we must be servant leaders if we are to call others to be imitators of us, as Paul was able to hear. Paul goes on in verse 1b and verse 2, and he says this, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
• 14:25
  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. Brothers and sisters, we have been entrusted with one of God's greatest treasures. Recently, we had over a hundred young kids here at this church. We have been entrusted with one of God's greatest treasures here at this church. Often, one of God's greatest treasures is the young.
• 14:58
  the young kid, the young child. He makes this clear in Matthew chapter 18, and he makes it clear his high value placed on these little ones. He says that he will cast immense judgment on those who would cause one little one to stumble. We have been gifted with the youth and kids of this church. And if you're a parent, if you're a father,
• 15:47
  Because of this truth, Paul states that it is required, that it is required of the servant...
• 15:58
  who is entrusted with the young believer, that we be faithful stewards of it. He says, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. It is expected of us. It is truly one of the main focuses of the office, of the position of dad, of father, of leader, that we be faithful stewards. The word faithful can be
• 16:26
  Also translated, fidelity is another way to say faithfulness. It is fidelity to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is that virtue which is demanded by our position given by God. Fidelity is a term used in finance, and we even have a financial institution called fidelity. We also have positions called fiduciaries.
• 16:48
  are referencing is that if they're a fiduciary, they are required to do what is in the best interest of those that receive their investments. They are obligated to be stewards, required to be good stewards. That is the term used here when Paul says faithful.
• 17:13
  Too often, brothers, our God-given position is used to gain selfish rewards, to lower over our kids and wives that which is to be humbly accepted and cherished. We must, in order to be faithful stewards, be devoted to our Master's service.
• 17:36
  We must be faithful to the position of steward and the trust thus given to that position and not abuse or violate it with selfish desires. We are appointed by Christ and as such have nothing to boast about other than Christ. Brothers, we did not earn this position. We were given it and we must thus be faithful stewards.
• 18:06
  of it. To be imitators of Paul, and thus be imitators of Christ, we must be servants, we must be faithful stewards. Verses 3 to 5 say this, But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby
• 18:38
  acquitted, it is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes who will bring to light the things now hidden in the darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. In this section, I believe Paul is drawing our attention to the reality that there is one judge to which we answer.
• 19:11
  There are many ways that we can get off track in this life, especially as leaders, as fathers. As we seek to be the servants of Christ and faithful stewards of God that our position has appointed us to. However, I think that perhaps one of the most prominent and easy ways for us to get off track is for us to forget to whom we answer to. We are going to be judged for what we have been entrusted with.
• 19:46
  There are countless people who are going to have opinions on how we should go about our lives as Christian men, as leaders of our home, as we follow Christ. It can come from all sorts of sources. In fact, judgment often comes from those around us, from fellow believers, or from our own judgmental minds, and especially from our enemy, Satan, who is our accuser.
• 20:17
  Paul tells us here in verses 3 to 5 that there is one judge who matters. If I'm honest with you guys this morning, one of my biggest struggles is with critical words from others. I place too high a regard on the words of men, both critical and praise.
• 20:42
  I often will find myself struggling to defeat the thoughts of self-condemnation for the many times I know I fall short of the way I desire to walk faithfully with my Lord. As I read Paul's words here, I wouldn't be honest with you all if I didn't say that I was a bit envious of his ability to recognize the judgment that actually matters and that doesn't matter.
• 21:09
  Paul has little concern for the thoughts of those around him. The word judge here means exactly as you would expect it to. It means to examine the qualities of a person or a thing.
• 21:25
  And the results of that examination means to blame or bring forth condemnation. Thus, Paul is saying that the judgment or examination of him, and in fact of his own judgment of himself or by others, means little to him. It is only Christ, the Lord, whose judgment or examination of him which matters. And brothers and sisters, may we revel in the truth that we are saved by grace as we read that.
• 21:56
  What, then, does the Lord say of Paul's work, actions, or deeds? It tells us in verse 5 that the Lord will disclose the purposes of the heart. What does the Lord say? What does the Lord reveal of where Paul's heart is? Where does the Lord reveal where my heart is?
• 22:29
  heart is. As I consider this truth, as I said, I must confess to you, I all too often find myself fearful of others' judgment of me, even fearful of my own kids and wife's judgment of me. Not that they are judgmental, but that I...
• 22:47
  can sometimes be fearful because I know my own heart. I know how short I fall from the stewardship I desire to have and the servant's heart and life that I want to have and that the Lord calls for me and from us to have. Perhaps this morning I'm only talking to myself. Perhaps all of you guys are good. Perhaps none of you guys struggle with feeling inadequate or insufficient or like failures. Perhaps I'm all alone in that. I don't know. But I guess,
• 23:20
  I'm guessing that there are multiple people here sitting out in those seats who struggle with the same thing. Here then this each of us, Paul is reminding us, each one of us, that the only standard, the only judge we should listen to is Christ of whom we have received this calling, this position.
• 23:48
  We would do well then to remember that we should always hold up the judgment placed on us by others to the light of the gospel, humbly examining ourselves but not condemning ourselves because that's not our job, that's only the Lord's job. The truth should make us free. This truth should make us free, knowing that we are covered in grace and yet oh so very humble as we consider the freedom we have been given.
• 24:21
  All that Paul is saying about himself, about Apollos, about the apostles is true, not only for them, but also for the Corinthians and for us today. It is not only he and the apostles who must be kept humble by the thought that it is not the judgment of men they are facing, but the judgment of God, and thus revel in the grace offered to us by him.
• 24:52
  We should, we must, then walk in humility. Paul had a wonderfully courteous way of including himself in his own warnings, in his own condemnations. If we really wish, brothers and sisters, listen to this, please. If we really wish to help and to save our kids, our youth, our attitude must not be that of condemnation, but of pleading.
• 25:22
  Our words must not be of criticism but of compassion. We are not the judges. We have no place to put condemnation on our kids, on our youth. That is only the Lord's job. And if they know the Lord as their Savior, they are covered in grace just as we are. And so we should plead with them. We should have compassion with them.
• 25:52
  We should not condemn them. The Lord is the judge of whom we must answer to. We would do well to remember that, that people are not our judge. We do well to revel in the freedom that God offers because of that reality, because he has covered us in his grace. And that should lead us to...
• 26:19
  a humble response to him and a humble leadership as we have been given these positions. Let's go into verse 6. I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For those, for you...
• 26:44
  For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Paul in verse 7 asks one of the most basic and yet one of the most profoundly important questions we can ask ourselves, we can ask our spouses, we can ask our kids.
• 27:13
  What do you have? What do you have which you have not received? The gospel of grace clearly seen here. The humble state of the believers spoken. We do not. What we do have.
• 27:34
  What do we have that we did not receive? Ephesians 2.8 tells us, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of your own doing, it is the gift of God. What do we have that we did not receive? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What do we have which we have been given? Everything.
• 28:01
  Everything. Paul is reminding us of the blessed yet humble position of the believer. Completely dependent and yet completely saved. Then comes one of those run-on sentences from 8 to 13 that Paul is very famous for. And he says this, Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich.
• 28:30
  Without us, you have become kings. And would that you did reign so that we might share the rule with you. For I think God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.
• 29:00
  You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour, we hunger and thirst. We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. When slandered, we entreat. We have become and are still like the scum of the world, like the refuse.
• 29:29
  Paul writes to the Corinthians in this section with a scathing irony. He compares their pride, their self-satisfaction, their feeling of superiority with the life of an apostle, the life the apostles lived. And he chooses a very vivid picture in verse 9.
• 29:51
  As he says, Here, Paul is drawing the Corinthians' attention to a reality that they would have seen as in Roman culture, the Roman soldiers, the Roman captains, when they would have won a great victory, they were allowed to parade his victorious army through the streets.
• 30:20
  of the city with all the trophies that he had won, and the procession was called the triumph. But at the end, there came a little group of captives who were doomed to death. They were to be taken to the arena to fight with the beasts and so to die. The Corinthians, in their blatant pride, were like the conquering general displaying the trophies of his prowess. The apostles were the little group of captives doomed to death.
• 30:49
  To death, to the Corinthians, the Christian life meant flaunting their privileges and reckoning up their achievements in front of one another. To Paul and to the apostles, it meant humble service and a readiness to die for Christ. Brothers,
• 31:13
  Let me here again remind us, as Paul did to the Corinthian church, our positions given to us by God are not to be flaunted, abused, or mistreated. We are not to parade this God-given position of leadership, of headship around like the Roman soldiers did. Our kids, our families are not trophies to be flaunted.
• 31:40
  Rather, our families, our kids, the youth of this church are to be humbly served as Christ served the church, and we are to be ready to die to self, to die for them, for it. That is the humble service, the humble reality that our positions call for us and from us.
• 32:05
  As Paul in verse 16 said, be imitators of me. He was a servant of Christ. He was a faithful steward. He knew that he answered to God alone as his judge. And thus, as we learned when I spoke months ago, that he reveled in the love of Christ that he offers to him and was compelled by that to service.
• 32:37
  As we go through these verses and we consider these truths, if you're anything like me, it's easy to look at these things and see how often I fall short, how often we fall short of...
• 33:03
  who we ought to be, who God has called us to be, what he has lined out for us to follow in Christ's example, in Paul's example. It's easy for me to look at these things and condemn myself because I know I don't fulfill them. I don't live according to these things. And that is why it is so beautiful what Paul writes in verse 14. Verse 14, he tells us, I do not write...
• 33:33
  these things to make you ashamed. I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. Carla and I had an opportunity on Friday to go to the homeschooling convention, and we got to sit and listen to several different speakers teach on different things, which were just tremendous, really a blessing to us. One of the speakers in one of the sessions
• 34:08
  to us that when you're talking with your kid, if you're not looking them in the eye and them back to you in the eye, you're not talking to your kids. They're not hearing you. And as I read this verse in context of these...
• 34:28
  even after Paul is writing some of these harsh words of correction to the Corinthians. As I read him say, I write these not for you to be ashamed, my beloved children. I get this picture of Paul as he says he is their spiritual father kneeling down and getting down to their level as they listen to him, as they read his words and him saying, I love you.
• 35:01
  Don't be ashamed. This is not to shame you. This is not for you to feel guilt. This is to admonish. This is to encourage to right living. Paul didn't do this. He didn't write this without a purpose. He didn't write it just so that they could feel guilty about the fact that they fell short. Paul is writing this with a purpose.
• 35:29
  to correct, to warn, to give them an admonition to change where they needed to, but as a loving, gentle father would. At the point of his sharpest words, Paul changes and has this tenderness as he calls them, dear children, this morning.
• 35:57
  As we sit here and we read the word together, as we hear it spoken in this sermon, this is not a message to make us ashamed, rather to encourage and challenge us to right living. That we might be the humble servants, the stewards of the Lord, that we can be through the power of Christ. Brothers, this sermon...
• 36:26
  is especially for us as fathers, as leaders of our homes, our kids, but it's also for us as a church. You see, we have an opportunity to show ourselves to be faithful stewards of the kids, of the youth entrusted to us, the treasures that God has given to us on loan. We have a tremendous opportunity to show ourselves faithful at this church, in our homes.
• 37:02
  And so I pray that we are encouraged with the path to that, to be servants of Christ, to be faithful stewards, to remind ourselves that God alone is our judge and not to put man's opinions above the truth of God's word and that we would be humble. And as we close...
• 37:29
  Remind us, draws back to the beginning where we started. Just as my son Oren was watching and noticed how I was dressed and changed his clothes to match mine, our kids, our youth are watching. They are watching our lives as they do that. My question for us this morning is what will they change into?
• 38:00
  as they watch us. Let's pray. Father in heaven, God, we cannot do this apart from you. That is absolutely true. God, as we hear your word this morning, I pray that we would come under conviction where we need to, but Father, that we would not be put under the weight of shame and guilt. God, we would feel the freedom of your grace, of your mercies that you will and do make us capable.
• 38:31
  as you call, as you have given us these positions, these callings. Father, you enable us to walk faithfully with you if we would only put our eyes heavenward. God, make us your humble servants, stewards of your treasures. Pray these things in your name. Amen.