I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.Today, as in Paul's day, no one has trouble finding instructors—they are a dime a dozen. In fact, the Scripture declares that in the last days people will heap up teachers for themselves (2 Tim. 4:3).
Therefore I urge you, imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.
(1 Cor. 4:14-17)
Folks will line up to be imparters of information. But to find a true father in the faith is a rare thing, indeed. A father imparts more than information. A father imparts himself. He becomes vulnerable. He sacrifices for his sons and daughters.
He watches over his children in prayer and rejoices in their progress. He carries them in his heart. And he has "...no greater joy than to hear that his children walk in truth" (3 John 1:4). It takes commitment to be a father.
The First Thing Fathers Do
The first thing fathers do is produce children. Natural fathers produce physical children, and spiritual fathers produce spiritual children. Notice the language of 1 Corinthians 4:14-17: "My beloved children...I have begotten you...my beloved and faithful son."
So people become spiritual fathers, first of all, by winning people to Christ through sharing the gospel! Paul said, "In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (v.15).
Jesus explained this same truth to Nicodemus in John 3, when He said, "You must be born again." Yet in order for the Holy Spirit to accomplish that work of regeneration, there must always be a certain element present in a person's life in order for the new birth to come about.
The Holy Spirit needs something to work with: the seed of God's Word! First Peter 1:23 says, "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever."
You must sow the seed of the Word if people are to be born again. People are "begotten through the gospel," as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:15.
Spiritual fathers sow seeds just as natural fathers do! If your wife gets pregnant, you are not going to wonder how it happened. You know how it happened! To expect people to be saved (birthed spiritually) without planting the seed of the Word in their hearts is like a husband and wife praying for a baby and never sharing sexual intimacy!
Human beings can only become natural parents through the act of planting seeds. And we can only become spiritual parents through the act of planting incorruptible seeds.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers