Spiritual Fatherhood: Part 1 - 1 Thess Lesson 16

CTW Proverbs 3:1-12

Spiritual Fatherhood

1 Thessalonians 2:9-12 – Part 1

 Please open your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians with me this morning and stand as we read the first 12 verses of Chapter 2.

 Just how important is leadership? Many people that I talk to are of the opinion that our country has suffered for the last few years under weak and ineffective leadership. Many are hopeful that, if not from a character standpoint, at least from a leadership standpoint, our next president will be more effective. Weak and inept leadership is not hard to spot. 

Weak leadership is a problem in the church. There isn’t any doubt that the church in America is in decline. Church attendance is down. Younger generations have no interest in spiritual things. There are many contributing factors to this trend. One important factor is the lack of leadership in the church. Another important factor is the lack of spiritual leadership in the “Christian” home. Not enough Christian men take spiritual leadership as seriously as they should. As a result, the family suffers. If the family suffers, this impacts the church. This passage is a powerful reminder to me of what I am to be doing as a pastor, and the patriarch of my family.

 Spiritual leadership, whether it is weak or strong, ineffective or effective, is something that will be evident to all. This reality is pointed out repeatedly in our text. Paul recalls everything he was doing as a spiritual leader. I hope you noticed how often Paul reminded the Thessalonians of what they knew, or what they were witnesses to. Verse 1 “You yourselves know…” Verse 9, “for you recall…” Verse 10, “you are witnesses…” Verse 11, “just as you know…” Paul’s commitment to being a strong spiritual leader was undeniable, even unquestionable among the Thessalonians. His commitment to spiritual leadership was evident.

 Not only did Paul know, and the Thessalonians know, but Paul appealed to the witness of God. In verse 4 Paul says “we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel.” He said also in verse 4, “God…examines our heart.” In verse 5, “God is witness…” In verse 10 he said, “you are witness and so is God…”

 This is an important consideration for a spiritual leader. As I stand before you and declare to you, “Thus says the Lord,” or “this is what the word of God says and means” you know if I am genuine. There is no room for anything in my life that allows for questions concerning my character or integrity or commitment to my duties. 

 More importantly God knows. If I am to be the kind of spiritual leader God calls me to be for this church, I must be able to say with a straight face, you know who I am, and God knows. It is glaringly obvious when leaders lead. It is glaringly obvious when leaders fail to lead. I have a confession to make. I haven’t always led as I should have as pastor of this church. There were times in years past when I wasn’t as focused and committed to leading this church as I should have been. Everyone knew it and some left. I understand why they left. I wasn’t leading. Others of you knew it and committed to praying for your pastor. Hopefully, you have seen a difference. More importantly, God knew. He knew that as long as I was involved in business interests outside the church I would continually be distracted. He orchestrated the circumstances that brought my focus to be exclusively on providing spiritual leadership to this church.

 Here is another confession. I still don’t feel like I am all I should be as a spiritual leader. I have much room to grow in many aspects of my walk as a Christian. I have much room for growth in many aspects of my work as a pastor and spiritual leader. You know that too. Believe me when I say that I am committed to my own growth as a spiritual leader. And I challenge you to be as committed to following that leadership as it is evident the Thessalonians were to following Paul. Spiritual leadership is vital. Spiritual “follow-ship” is not optional. We will look more at that when we get to verse 13 and beyond. We are going to see exactly what happened as a result of Paul’s leadership and the Thessalonians willingness to follow.

We do need to focus our attention on what we should be doing to be spiritual leaders who lead the way God has called us to lead. That is why we are digging deeply into this passage. We will be here for a couple weeks as we look at what it looks like for a spiritual leader to lead like a father.

 These twelve verses provide for us a picture of what spiritual leadership looks like. We have seen that spiritual leadership requires courage. Paul described that courage in the first two verses. Even though his ministry was constantly under assault from enemies of the gospel, and he suffered greatly and was mistreated everywhere he went, he still had the boldness in God to speak the gospel of God amid much opposition. He drew courage from the results he saw. His coming was not in vain. He saw what God was doing in the lives of those to whom he preached.

 We have seen that spiritual leadership requires an uncompromising commitment to the truth of God’s word. Paul’s exhortation never involved error, impurity or deceit. He would never compromise the truth because he knew he was accountable to God who had entrusted him with the gospel. He never compromised the message or utilized manipulative methods just to impress men. 

 Then, last week, we saw that a spiritual leader’s courage and commitment to the truth must be balanced with compassion for the people. Paul demonstrated this compassion and tenderness by being gracious, gentle and genuine. He was gracious in that he did not assert his authority as an apostle. He could have demanded support he rightfully had coming as an apostle of Christ. He chose rather to be gentle and tender. He employed the metaphor of motherhood to describe his tenderness toward the people. He also demonstrated genuineness. He was genuine in his love for them. He was genuine in his life. This is why he was willing to impart to them not only the gospel of God but also his own life. Paul showed us last week the importance of a balance between truth and tenderness when dealing with those whom we lead.

 Today, in verses 9-12, we see another aspect of spiritual leadership. This is the other side of the coin, if you will. Paul knew that this picture needed something more. The picture needed the balance of spiritual fatherhood. So in these verses he describes this important aspect. Paul’s approach to spiritual leadership not only involved the tenderness and compassion of a mother. It also involved the responsibilities and duties of a father.

 A spiritual leader must be able to strike a balance, and Paul certainly did strike the right balance. The Thessalonians would have recalled Paul’s time among them. They would have seen his courage. They would have affirmed his conviction and commitment to the truth. They would have remembered how he refused to assert his authority and demand what was rightfully his. They would have fondly remembered how gentle and tender Paul had been and how devoted he had been to imparting not only the truth, but also his own life. The Thessalonians would have acknowledged Paul’s compassion and tenderness.

 But they also would have acknowledged that when they needed to be confronted with the truth, Paul was there to do just that. They knew Paul was going to tell them what they needed to hear. Paul was their spiritual father and he was committed to their spiritual growth and spiritual health and overall spiritual well-being. He was determined to see them not only born again into the family of God, but he was also committed to their maturity as faithful followers of Christ. As a spiritual father he was working hard on their behalf. He was living the right kind of example for them to see and follow. He was exhorting, encouraging, and imploring them to walk in the truth. He was their spiritual father.

 It is probably worth noting that Paul’s approach was successful. You can go back to chapter 1 and see that this was a good church. It was a church full of people for whom Paul was thankful. It was a church bearing the marks of those who were doubtlessly called of God into salvation. Paul saw their work of faith, their labor of love, and their steadfastness of hope in the Lord. They had received the gospel and had become imitators of the Lord. They received the word of God in much tribulation. They heralded the word of God with their lips and confirmed its truth with their lives.  They lived expectantly, looking for the return of Christ. Paul’s spiritual leadership was effective and the results were evident.

 It is probably worth noting that not only was Paul’s approach successful, it didn’t take a long time to produce these incredible results. Acts 17 tells us that Paul reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue for three Sabbaths. I am sure he was in Thessalonica longer than three or four or five weeks. He was there long enough to set up shop as a tent maker to provide for himself and his companions. But he wasn’t there for many years. His approach as a spiritual leader was effective in bringing about a radical transformation in the lives of the Thessalonians in a relatively short amount of time. It didn’t take five or ten years for the Thessalonians to become mature in the faith.

 We are compelled to understand what Paul was doing. We can learn from him and apply his approach to our own spiritual leadership. Who would not love to see the results here at this church, or in our homes that Paul realized with his efforts to the Thessalonians?

What we will see in verses 9-12 is an explanation, to some extent, as to why Paul’s ministry among them was so effective. The real explanation is the work of God. What happened among the Thessalonians does not happen unless God does His work in the lives of His people. But God always chooses to work through human agents and Paul was the primary person through whom God worked. These verses give us the description of God’s man doing his part as a spiritual father to the Thessalonians.

 This passage would make a great Father’s Day message. It is a great passage for a New Year’s challenge to anyone in the role as a spiritual leader. But please listen. This passage has something for all of us. If you are a Christian you are a disciple maker. Your calling and your commission from the Lord is to be making disciples. Making disciples involves providing spiritual leadership to someone. The instruction provided in these verses offers something for everyone this morning. But they are particularly important to me as a pastor, to the elders of this church, to the fathers who are spiritual leaders to their families.

 I want to start at a different place than I usually start when we study a passage like this. I want to begin with the last verse. Let me tell you why. See the first two words of verse 12. The NASB says, “so that.” The Greek construction is an articular infinitive. You won’t remember that and to be honest I probably won’t either. I’m not a Greek scholar. We don’t need the Greek. The English translation adequately conveys the point. If I tell you what I am doing, or what I am going to do, and I tell you I’m doing it “so that,” you know I’m expressing to you the purpose for what I do.

 Why do I emphasize something so glaringly obvious to us all? Because the reason Paul gives for what he does is of utmost importance. Everything Paul did as a spiritual leader had one purpose. There was only one driving motivation. This was his all-consuming concern. Paul, and those who traveled and worked alongside Paul in his missionary journeys, did everything they did in order that those whom he reached with the gospel “would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”

 This is the goal of spiritual leadership. A spiritual leader will want nothing more for his followers than that they walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls them into His own kingdom and glory. A Christian father can’t pursue anything more important for his family. This is his goal. This is his priority. This is his purpose as a spiritual leader.

 One of the most important things a spiritual leader can do is to show those who follow where they are headed. Spiritual leadership isn’t wandering aimlessly through life hoping you finally arrive at the destination. Spiritual leadership isn’t just showing people heaven after this life is over. Spiritual leadership is showing the followers where they are headed and what it will look like when they get there. Paul concluded this section on all he did as a spiritual leader by telling them why he did it. He did it all so that they would walk in a manner worthy of God. This was the goal. This was his objective.

 This is really all that matters. We can’t strive for anything better. We can’t pursue a more noble outcome than to lead others to walk in a manner worthy of God. This is why the church is failing. Spiritual leaders have led followers to embrace social issues or political agendas. The church of the last 100 years has gotten away from the gospel and living for the glory of God.

 This is an important theme in Paul’s letters to the churches. Turn back to Ephesians 4:1. “Therefore,” After three chapters of doctrine Paul now turns to our duty as those who have believed. Paul says, “I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you…” The word “implore” is “parakaleo.” It means to call someone to come along side. Paul wasn’t commanding the Ephesians to do something he wasn’t already doing. Paul was calling them to come along side and walk as he walked. He was calling them to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which they had been called. He is calling them to walk as he walked. This is like he did in other places where he told them to be imitators of him. This is what spiritual leaders do. They call others to come along side and walk as they walk.

 Paul begins three chapters of instruction regarding the duty of the Christian with this straightforward command. “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling…” This command becomes the banner under which all other duty falls. This command gives us the criteria by which we can measure every attitude, every word, and every action of life. Is my attitude worthy of my calling? Are my words worthy of my calling? Are my actions worthy of my calling? Is my life in the body of Christ worthy of my calling? Is my use of spiritual gifts worthy of my calling? Is the way I put to death the deeds of my flesh worthy of my calling? Is the way I treat all others worthy of my calling? Is the way I love worthy of my calling? Is the way I treat my wife, or my husband worthy of my calling? As a child, is the way I treat my parents worthy of my calling? As a father is the way I deal with my children worthy of my calling? As an employee, are my dealings with my employer worthy of my calling? As a soldier of Christ, is the way I wear and use my spiritual armor worthy of my calling?

 There is so much involved in walking in a manner worthy. It encompasses every aspect of life. But, on the other hand, it is fairly simple. There is only one criteria by which we must evaluate how we walk. Turn to Philippians 1:27. “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ….” It isn’t like that conducting yourself in a worthy manner is just one of the options regarding how we walk. It is the only option for the true Christian. Only conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Don’t conduct yourself one way when you are at church and another way when you are at home, or at work, or at the grocery store. Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.

 Turn to Colossians 1:10. Read verse 9-12. In the verses previous to those I just read, Paul thanks God for the Colossians faith in Christ, their love for all the saints, and the hope which resulted from them hearing the gospel. Now, for this reason, Paul says, he has not ceased to pray for these believers. His prayer is that they be filled with the knowledge of the will of God in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that they will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. He wanted their walk to please the Lord in all respects. He wanted their spiritual lives bearing fruit in every good work. He wanted them increasing in the knowledge of God. He wanted them to be strengthened with all power and attaining all the steadfastness and patience they would need to live in such a way. He wanted them expressing thanksgiving for all that God had done for them.

 This is what the spiritual leader wants for those he leads. This is what he wants for them more than anything else. This becomes the driving force behind all that he does. His energy and efforts are all pointed at leading others to walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls them into His own kingdom and glory. This was why he prayed. This was why he taught them the word of God. This is why he lived the example he lived before them.

 Listen carefully. It is really clear that Paul wanted those whom he led to walk in a manner worthy of the God who had called them into His own kingdom and glory. Unless you want this for those whom you are supposed to lead, you are not a spiritual leader. Unless you are doing what needs to be done to lead them to this kind of walk, you cannot claim to want this for them. You will prove your desire for them by your deeds done on their behalf. It was Paul’s desire to see them walking in a manner worthy of God that drove him to do everything he did as a spiritual leader. If you lack that desire for those who follow you, you are not a spiritual leader. If you lack that desire for them, you will not do what needs to be done to lead them and show them what that kind of walk looks like.

 When we come back next week we will see from verses 9-11 Paul’s commitment, his character, and his concern. These are demonstrated in how he worked, how he lived, and how he taught the Thessalonians. He was willing to invest in them, walk in integrity before them, and instruct them from the word of God.

 Let me close with a couple of questions for you. There is ample evidence that the Thessalonians were all in as followers of Christ and of Paul. They were imitators of Paul and his companions and the Lord. We saw that in chapter 1, verse 6. What do you think Paul would have said to anyone in that church who didn’t appear interested in becoming an imitator of him and the Lord? How would Paul have handled someone who, either by their words, or by their actions, demonstrated a lack of desire to learn how to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord?

 With that as a backdrop, let me ask you to look at yourself. Are you walking in a manner worthy of the God who has called you into His kingdom and glory? If not, do you want to? Are you committed to that kind of walk? Or, are you content to come and sit and listen to messages about that kind of walk and then go home and continue your walk as it has always been?

 If we call ourselves a Christian, then our commitment should be to walk in a manner worthy of the calling we have received from God into His kingdom and glory. We all need spiritual leaders to help us achieve that walk. If there is something you need from me to help you, I am committed to helping you get what you need. If there is a lack of desire for that kind of walk, you need to take that before the Lord today.

 It may be that there is a serious problem. You may have never truly repented and trusted in Christ. You need to be honest and humble yourself before God and cry out for mercy and repent and trust Jesus alone. Unregenerate people will never be able to walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls. Perhaps your lack of desire is due to the fact that you have no spiritual life. Repent and believe and be saved.

 Maybe you are not walking in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His kingdom and glory and you know there is something in your life, some sin, that is hindering your progress. Maybe you need to confess that to someone and ask for help and make yourself accountable. You need a spiritual leader but you must be willing to be a spiritual follower. Ask for help if you need it.

 As your pastor, I have no greater desire than to see you walking in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His kingdom and glory. Listen to me. I don’t have anything more important to do than to lead you into that path. That is my desire for you. It is my duty to lead you to that kind of walk.

 Let’s pray.