1 Corinthians 4:14-21, “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 of me. That is why I sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?”
Sunday Evening we will be looking at this passage of Scripture in 1 Corinthians in which Paul reminds the believers in Corinth that he became their father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. This is why he is able to tell them to imitate him.
This weekend Father’s Day will be celebrated by many. Let us remember as we celebrate, to not celebrate like the world does in forsaking the Lord’s Day or a neglect of remembering our Father in Heaven. Instead may we truly honor our father and our mother as we seek to not only obey the fifth commandment of the Lord, but to truly embrace all of God’s law and truth.
May we not forget the fathers of the faith who have gone on before us, setting a good example for others to follow. May we not be novel or new in our approach to Christianity, but instead seek the ancient paths and walk in them. Paths that many other fathers of the faith have walked in their desire to remain true to the Word of God.
“Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” Jeremiah 6:16
The people of Israel refused to walk in the good way and instead rebelled again God. May we travel the road of truth, clinging to Scripture as our guide, and the wisdom of those fathers of the faith who blazed not a new trail, but followed that narrow road that leads to life.