“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)
Jesus said this to many of His disciples and of course tells us that today… “Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I (Paul) BECAME YOUR FATHER THROUGH THE GOSPEL. So I’m asking you to follow my example.” (1 Corin. 4:15-16) The Corinthians became Christians under Paul’s ministry. He laid the foundation of a church among them. Others could only build upon it. Whatever other teachers they had, HE WAS THEIR SPIRITUAL FATHER. He first brought them out of pagan idolatry to the faith of the gospel and the worship of the true and living God. He was the instrument of their new birth, and therefore claimed the relation of a father to them, and felt the compassion of a father towards them. There normally is, and always ought to be, an endeared affection between faithful ministers and those they win to Christ Jesus through the gospel! Paul encourages them, as we should to those we bring to the Lord, to FOLLOW US as we follow Christ!
“For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. HE WILL REMIND YOU OF MY WAY OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.” (1 Corin. 4:17) Spiritual brother-hood should involve affection as well as what is common and natural. The children of one father should have one heart. But he adds, “He (Timothy) is faithful in the Lord – trustworthy, as one that feared the Lord.” Oh, how wonderful it is to see those we have been privileged to ‘train up’ in the Lord, go on with the Lord’s work! “Jesus…looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might GIVE ETERNAL LIFE to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: THAT THEY KNOW YOU, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:1-3) This is the prayer Jesus prayed, preparing for His crucifixion. “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, PROTECT THEM by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that THEY MAY BE ONE AS WE ARE ONE.” (John 17:11)
-Bill Stockham