Читать книгу MYSTERIES OF GOD'S KINGDOM - Kenneth B. Alexander - Страница 18

SPIRITUAL FATHERS

“…if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. (1 Corinthians 4:15). Paul was a spiritual Father. He gave birth to the Corinthian church and fathered it as the members came into the maturity of Christ, as a natural son grows up under a natural father. .

1 Corinthians 4:15 (above) contains the word Father two times. They are different words in the Greek but when read together they describe the relationship Paul had with the church. The first father used is the Greek word “pater”. This denotes a natural father but its spiritual meaning is much deeper. The word is from a root signifying a nourisher, protector and an upholder; one with an advanced knowledge of Christ (1 John 2:13). It also refers to God as the creator and in I John 2:14 we read, I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. In this chapter, John addressed the children, the fathers, and the young men, repeatedly.

This word denotes the continuing relationship a father has with those who have been born anew (John 1:12-13). Paul referred to himself as a wise masterbuilder. According to the grace of God which was given unto me as a wise masterbuilder, I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-11). The father is the masterbuilder; the sons build on that foundation. (Vine’s Expository Dictionary, pp. 1865).

The second reference is “gennao” which means to beget. It means the physical begottening of children. Spiritually, it is used as:

“the act of God in the birth of Jesus Christ (Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5 & 5:5).

“the impartation of spiritual life by a gospel preacher” (1 Co. 4:15; Philemon 10) “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

“impartation of God’s divine nature to the believer (John 3:3, 5:7; 1 John 2:29; the New American Standard Key Word Study Bible).

Thus Paul defines his ministry as a spiritual one of begetting (birthing) believers into Christ and his continuing relationship of fathering. As John said:” I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning” (1 John 2:14).

Paul was bringing out an important truth. Paul was a father, and he had a sense of responsibility for his people. A father is responsible for what he begets or creates. Old wisdom recognized this principle: If you saw a man drowning in a river, you should not rescue him. If you rescued him and were responsible for saving his life, you became responsible for him. From that time on, he became your charge. Therefore, you would have to take him home and feed him; your children could go hungry while you fed a stranger that you had pulled out of the river.

Paul said, “I exhort you to be imitators of me” (see above). He said for the Corinthian church to be a responsible father just he was. He says by inference to be responsible in the relationships you have. Whoever one begets he is responsible for. That is one of the things that drive a spiritual father. He knows that he has begotten sons in the Spirit. He has become a spiritual father to lead them. He may scold them, drive them, push them to give and to work, and push them to care for one another and to love one another, but he does this because He loves them. Paul spoke a Word from God that created something in their hearts. When he saw what grew as a result of that word he knew that he was responsible. So we are responsible for one another, even to our spiritual fathers, to create them into a deeper Father ministry.

The Father is the progenitor. “I [Paul] have planted; Apollos watered; but God has given the increase. So that neither the planter is anything, nor the waterer; but God the giver of the increase (1 Corinthians 3:5-7). The Father does not exalt himself with his spirituality with spiritual pride. He recognizes his ministry as an essential part of the body of Christ but no better or less than the ministry of anyone else. It is God who causes the growth. We are, whatever our ministry, His vessels.

A spiritual Father is a combination father and mother. The father side is a co-creator with God, and through His Word, he brings to birth a son of God. The father also experiences the travail of birth. He trains, disciplines and imparts his sons into a deeper relationship with Christ. His mother side is also creative. That side nourishes, protects, intercedes, covers and loves the son, much like a mother in the natural realm. The mother side is also aware of the responsibility to discipline. A true Father does not spoil the offspring as to make the son dependent on him; he constantly points the son towards God and to his more important relationship with Him.

The writer of Hebrews said this of discipline that the Father must administer:

“MY son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or faint when you are reproved by Him; FOR THOSE WHOM the Lord loves He disciplines And He scourges every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of our spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:5-11). The spiritual father on earth takes the role of the heavenly Father.

Also “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

How do we as sons relate to our spiritual fathers? Expect a great deal from them but learn from them so you too may walk as a father. Sons, expect more out of yourselves. Expect to learn the voice of God for yourself so as not to put undo pressure on the fathers to do it for you. This kind of demand and expectation produces growth. Paul said to be imitators of him. So must we towards our spiritual Fathers.

Remember the 4^th commandment, the only one of the 10 Commandments with a promise: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you” (Exodus 20:12. So also we honor our spiritual Fathers so that we may receive life.