1 Corinthians 4:14-21 - Disciple-Making Ministry

Introduction:

If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 4.

We will begin reading together in verse 14 and it will be our aim this morning to complete chapter 4.

1 Corinthians 4:14–21 ESV

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 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. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 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 in every church. 18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 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. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Lets Pray

1 Corinthians 4:14 (ESV)

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed…

Verse 14 is a clarification of Paul the Apostle’s motive for writing this letter...

Paul has just written some very direct things

He has written some very difficult things to these Corinthian Christians.

He has called them out for their arrogance, their divisiveness, and their spiritual immaturity.

But why?

Why take the time to write this letter?

I mean hasn’t Paul been through enough persecution, and hardship, and difficulty in his life?

Why even worry about writing back to this messed up Corinthian church?

I mean isn’t there more missionally advantageous things he could be doing?

Couldn’t he just forget about these guys and move on to the next place where the name of Jesus has never been named?

Why put this kind of work into writing a letter like this, which very likely could just make the Corinthians angry with you?

Well underneath everything in this text is Paul’s understanding of his own mission,

and really his understanding of the mission of God In the world through his people.

If you are a note-taker write this down as kind of the basis for this whole paragraph.

Truth #1 God’s Mission is a Disciple-Making Mission

This means that Paul did not view the work to be complete in a city as soon as a group of people came to faith in Jesus.

Rather, it means that a work had just begun.

His initial work of sharing the gospel with the Corinthian people was the beginning of something God was doing in the city.

It began a process of what would become the Corinthian church.

A church is a group of people in process.

We are a group of people who fall into sin and then help one another crawl back out of sin.

We are a group of people who are committed to growing together to look more like Jesus…, and to do more for the mission of Jesus.

We are disciples.

And we are disciple-makers.

Paul writes back to the Corinthian church because he cares that they grow in godliness.

He cares that they live as disciples of Jesus and that they make disciples of Jesus.

For a year and a half, Paul taught the church in Corinth.

And now, even from a distance he cares about the health and strength of the church in Corinth…,

because its the local church of Corinth that would be a witness of Jesus in that city In Paul’s absence.

They are the missional force and the Christ representative for the thousands of people who did not know Jesus In Corinth.

Paul did not understand the mission of God to be only a convert making mission…,

but a disciple-making mission, and a church-strengthening mission.

Paul’s letters are evidence to us that God cares about the health, and the maturity, and the strength of local churches carrying out the mission of making disciples and strengthening other churches.

This is our mission at St. Rose Community Church.

We exist to make disciples.… that is we exist to lead people to Jesus and then help them follow Jesus with their lives.

but what does that look like?

I think this paragraph actually gives us some key aspects of disciple-making ministry

We will we see somewhat of a model for us even here in how Paul talks about his relationship to the Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 4:14 (ESV)

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed….

Paul is not writing these things in order to make the Corinthians feel bad.

He is not trying to plunge them into shame and guilt.

He is not sitting in an ivory tower chuckling to himself as he writes about the sin that he has heard about.…

Certainly it would have been much easier for Paul to move on and forget about such a messy church.… but for some reason he writes.

1 Corinthians 4:14–15 ESV

14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 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.

Why does he write?

He hopes to admonish his beloved children…

Now there are two aspects to this sentence… there is the admonishment part and there is the beloved children part.

Let’s take note of that phrase “beloved children”

When Paul shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with the Corinthians for the first time…, and they repented of their sins and put faith in Jesus…, they entered into a real relationship with Paul.

They became like spiritual children to Paul.

and he became like a spiritual parent to them.

There is genuine care modeled here.

Truth #2 Discipling is a Relational Mission

There is a closeness of relationship here.

There is a desire for these new Christians to grow, to thrive, to multiply and to make more disciples.

Paul says that his relationship to them was unique.

They have a lot of guides in Christ…, but Paul uniquely was the one who led them to faith in the Lord and helped them take their first steps as Christians.

In verse 17, we see Paul refer to Timothy with similar language.

1 Corinthians 4:17 ESV

17 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 in every church.

Timothy was Paul’s beloved, and faithful child in the Lord.

Timothy was another person whom Paul embraced, took under his wing, and helped to follow Jesus.

Paul was a disciple-maker.

He entered into loving relationships with people whom came to faith in Jesus and he then helped them take their next steps into spiritual maturity until he could move on to make more disciples.

Paul likens it to spiritual parenting.

The analogy works well for the work of disciple-making.

It communicates the intimacy of the relationship.

For many of us, its the relational dynamic that we struggle with most when it comes to this great commission.

Relationships are messy, time consuming, and difficult things to manage.

Discipling relationships do not often happen accidentally.

They are not fallen into.

They are pursued.

And for most of us living in a very individualistic culture this is difficult. For some of those who are in an older generations, deep and vulnerable relationships are foreign concepts. …,

Entering into relationship with someone else so much so that we become like a spiritual father or spiritual son to them would be a difficult concept…

For many of us We never make disciples primarily because we never make time for it.

We fill up our time with sports, and hobbies, and entertainment, and house work, or perhaps just the people we like being around most… so that we don’t have time to establish the kinds of contextual relationships where disciple-making can thrive.

We can all agree that parenting requires presence.

It requires continual presence in the lives of our children.

Spiritual parenting.

Spiritual disciple-making also requires presence…

It requires time invested… it requires what unfortunately in our go, go, go society is a very hard thing to come by.

This concept of spiritual parenting communicates the relational reality of disciple-making, but it also communicates the nature of that relational work

1 Corinthians 4:16 ESV

I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

Truth #3 Discipling is an Example-Setting Mission

Paul lived a faithful life.

He lived a faithful life in close proximity to the Corinthian people for a year and a half.

And he did so intentionally.

He wanted to live in such a way in the presence of these Corinthian converts, that he could write back to them a sentence like this…

“Be imitators of me.”

Its an astounding sentence when you think about It.

Paul did not believe himself to be perfect… we see that clearly throughout his writings.

But apparently he was confident enough of his pursuit of Jesus…,

that he could tell these Corinthian people to follow him…,

and if they followed Paul’s example….

they would find themselves following after Jesus.

Let me pause here and ask a few questions.…

Have you gone deep enough relationally with anyone here at our church or anyone in this community, or anyone over the course of your life so that a new or undiscipled believer could observe your life?

Secondly, is your life something that you would want to be imitated?

We want to live holy lives because we love God…

But we should also want to live holy lives because we love others…

At least part of our motivation for spending time in prayer and in the Scriptures every single day is so that we might be a model to those we love.

I want every church member in this room to be confident that if they set up a meeting with me during the week,

I will have already had a meeting with God that morning before I ever had a meeting with them.

I want my kids to understand that Daddy’s first priority in the mornings is to have God’s ear in prayer and to listen to his voice in the word.

I want to live a life worthy of imitation, yes because I love God, but also for the people that I love.

This is what disciple-making is all about.

Jesus told us to go therefor and make disciples, but what model did he leave us to follow?

Jesus lived in close proximity with 12 guys and he intentionally lived in such a way that they could imitate him…

That is disciple-making. That’s hard.

It is an example-setting mission… and thats really not all it is.

Notice what Paul wants Timothy to do when he arrives in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 4:17 ESV

17 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 in every church.

Paul had set an example for them.

They forgot that example.. and now Timothy had to go and remind them of the things that Paul taught to them and to every church.

Truth #4 Discipling is a Teaching and Reminding Mission

If I were to ask you the question, “are you discipling anyone?”

What am I really asking?

Essentially, I am asking, “are you committed to teaching and reminding someone of God’s word?” right now.

Are you committed to teaching and reminding someone of true things for their spiritual growth?

That is the crux of it.

Your primary mission as a member of St. Rose Community Church is to commit to the spiritual growth of other people in your family, in your neighborhood, in this church.

Your primary mission is to set an example, to teach, and to remind other people of God’s word in the context of a relationship to them.

Now, are there going to be different depths of relationships with different people during different seasons of life… certainly… but for the Christian person there is always somebody whom you are trying to help grow spiritually so that they can grow others spiritually.

And that means teaching, and that means reminding…, but that also means the difficult work of admonishing.

Jump back to verse 14.

1 Corinthians 4:14 ESV

I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

Truth #5 Discipling Requires Admonishment

Lets define that word admonishment.

That word admonish means to “warn someone about wrong doing.”

It is to seek to have a corrective influence in someone’s life.

Paul wants to admonish them “AS” his beloved children.

He is admonishing like a parent.

Good parents correct their children… but what’s the motivation?

Do we admonish our children because we like to…

or do we admonish our children because we love them.…

do we admonish our children to tear them down or do we admonish them to build them up into who God calls them to be.

Paul is writing to correct the Corinthians as a spiritual parent who loves his spiritual children

And doesn’t want them to venture down the path of destruction.

All good and healthy discipline we give as a parent is corrective discipline.

Its the kind of admonishment we give our children in hopes of

shaping their character,

protecting them from something harmful,

and/or leading them to something that will help them.

Without admonishment, there is no real love.

And no relationship will continue very long without the opportunity for admonishment.

This is why the local church is often commanded to be the type of community where admonishment happens regularly among us as we seek to disciple one another.

Colossians 3:16 ESV

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Colossians 3:16 sounds beautiful.

It sounds beautiful to have the word of Christ dwell in us richly and for us to sing psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to God…

But what about this admonishment bit.

Paul says we are to open up our lives to one another for correction just as we gather with one another to sing songs.

Its part of our worship.

Its part of our mission.

Its absolutely necessary for the mission of disciple-making.

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul says church leaders should be willing to admonish the church, and church members should be willing to admonish one another in love.

1 Thessalonians 5:12–14 ESV

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

The Christian community should be one where mutual admonishment is not just tolerated but encouraged as a loving act.

If we love one another, we will open up our lives for correction, and we will take the risk of correcting one another in love.

We do this because we serve a God who admonishes us and who expects us to reflect his love.

Hebrews 12:5–11 ESV

5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

This becomes a major theme over the next chapter especially.

Some of the hardest words of rebuke are coming in chapters 5 and 6… and much of what Paul is upset about is the failure of the Corinthian church to admonish one another in love.

… so it makes since that Paul would pause here and say I am writing to you like a loving parent who wants whats best for his children.

I am writing to you to expose what is wrong, and to lead you into what is right.

That is what disciple-making requires.

We are discipled best by people who are willing to admonish us in love.

So if you want to grow as a disciple of Jesus Christ

If you want to look more like Jesus

If you want to lead more people to Jesus.…. , strive to be admonishable, strive to have relationships with people whom you give license to admonish you.

That means strive to be approachable, seek the counsel and correction of others as much as you can, and you will be a better disciple and discipler of God’s people.

This Christian mission together in Christian community can be a beautiful thing of mutual encouragement and admonishment and spiritual growth…

It can also be a very hard thing.

Disciple-making can be risky.

You put yourself out there when you try to help someone grow spiritually.

You put yourself out there when you live on mission for god.

Sometimes, in a local church, unrepentant people can respond very badly even to the gentlest of admonishment.

Sometimes, you can even find yourself in a situation where you have to stand firmly against a false teacher, or a divisive individual.

It seems like Paul was prepared for that scenario as well.… and as he writes this letter he sends a signal to the Corinthians… that he will not back down from the truth no matter the opposition he might face when he comes to Corinth.

Listen to how Paul changes gears in verse 18.

1 Corinthians 4:18–21 ESV

18 Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 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. 20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

Until now, Paul has addressed the Corinthian church somewhat generally.

But now he narrows down to a select few within the Corinthian church.

Some trouble-makers who are potentially behind the divisiveness and the factions splitting within the church.

He says that these people are arrogant.

And that they do not think that Paul will return to address them.

The competing leaders in Corinth have been boasting in their rhetoric.

They have been boasting in their worldly wisdom and their elegant speech.

They have been taking the Corinthian’s eyes off of the cross of Christ and putting their eyes on other things.

Paul plans to return to Corinth for a visit.

Paul plans to confront these “powerful” and “arrogant” individuals.

He aims to discern whether they have the true Gospel,

whether they have the power of the Holy Spirit,

whether they are truly serving to expand God’s kingdom…,

and Paul essentially gives an option… do you want me to come in a spirit of gentleness or do you want me to come with A rod?

Its as if he is asking… are you trouble-makers in Corinth really Christians who just need some guidance…

or are you wolves in sheep’s clothing who need to be removed from the flock?

What strikes me about the whole paragraph is Paul’s confidence.

This is a really interesting look for Paul.

He has just emphasized his weakness, and his humility, and his servanthood,

But that does not make Paul cowardly, or timid, or unwilling to do what God has called him to do.

This is our final truth for this morning that we see from Paul’s example.

Truth #6 Discipling Requires Confidence in Kingdom Power

What is kingdom power?

Paul has already articulated this.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 2:4–5 ESV

and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

So what is Paul coming to discern?

He is coming to discern whether these leaders in Corinth have actually trusted the cross of Christ,

and whether they are actually speaking by the power of the Spirit the true words of the gospel of Jesus.

And Paul comes with confidence…,

because he knows that he believes the right message…

he knows that the Spirit of God is with Him…

he knows that he is following Jesus…

he knows that its God’s sovereignty that guides him..

Thats why he says.. “I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills”

Paul’s confidence is not in himself…

But no doubt about it…. Paul is confident.

He is confident in his God, and thus he will not shrink back from these opposing forces who are steering the church away from God.

Paul the apostle’s task was certainly unique to ours.

But his confidence in kingdom power doesn’t have to be.

Christian, let me encourage you… do not be afraid of the mission of God.

Do not be afraid of what it takes to be a disciple-maker in this broken world.

Do not be afraid of the hard conversation.

You have grounds for being a confident person….a missional person, an evangelistic person, a discipline person… and the grounds for that confidence is not in yourself.

It is in your God… and in the message that you share… and in the Spirit of God that is within you…, and in the promises of God that his sovereignty will workout all things for your good.

We have been promised a kingdom power as we carry on the work of God.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

the question is not whether God will supply the power for gospel ministry he has called us to…

the question is whether we will be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ who is reliant on his power.

Truth #1 God’s Mission is a Disciple-Making Mission

Truth #2 Discipling is a Relational Mission

Truth #3 Discipling is an Example-Setting Mission

Truth #4 Discipling is a Teaching and Reminding Mission

Truth #5 Discipling is requires admonishment

Truth #6 Discipling requires Confidence in Kingdom Power

There is one big takeaway this morning.

1.) Seek out Discipleship

Actively seek out relationships with people who will teach you, and remind you, and admonish you to grow in Jesus.

Actively seek out relationships with people whom you can teach, remind, and admonish to grow in Jesus.

This is Christianity 101.

We love the lord Our God with all our heart and we make disciples.

so lets do it together.

Lets love the Lord, lets make disciples, lets plant churches by his grace and for his glory.

Lets pray.