SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/10/2014
8:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Introduction to The Spiritual Leader as
Father
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 Thess.
2:10-12
Message
of the verses: “10 You are
witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved
toward you believers; 11 just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging
and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, 12 so that you would walk in
a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
We will look at each verse
individually in latter SD’s, but today we just want to look at the introduction
of these verses, remembering that this will be the last section we will look at
as far as understanding different areas of spiritual leaders.
Paul wrote to the Corinthian
believers “1Co 4:15 For 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.” In a sense Paul was
the one who begot them for he was the one the Lord used to bring them to a
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
However that was not the fathers only responsibility for Dr. Wiersbe
writes “But the father not only begets the children; he also cares for
them. As he defended his own work
against false accusation, Paul pointed out three of his duties as a spiritual
father to the Thessalonicans.” We looked
at the first duty in yesterday’s SD, which was his work.
Now I want to move on to some things
that John MacArthur has to say in his introduction to this subject. First we want to look at another verse from 1
Corinthians: “Be on the alert, stand
firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”
The phrase act like men is what we want to zone in on, for that is the
only time it is used in the NT, but later we will look at some times this 7 Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him
in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go
with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to
give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. 8 "The LORD is the one who goes ahead of
you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or
be dismayed."from the Greek is used in the Septuagint, which is the OT
translated into the Greek language. John
MacArthur gives a quote from the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary for
the word “fortitude” “strength of mind that enables a person to encounter
danger or bear pain or adversity with [resolute] courage.” He pointed out that this word fortitude is a
good way to understand what this phrase act like men means.
He writes “Effective spiritual
leaders, then, will be men who have strength of conviction and courage to stand
on it. God has called them to noble
spiritual standards (cf. Eph. 4:11-12; 1 Tim. 3:1-13; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Peter
5:1-4) and granted them by truth and the Holy Spirit the fortitude to uphold
those standards and remain firm, unmoved, and uncompromising in the ace of any
opposition.”
Now we will look at some of the key
places in the OT (Septuagint translation) where this is found. “7 Then Moses called to Joshua and said to
him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall
go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to
give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. 8 “The LORD is the
one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake
you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’” “23
Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong
and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I
swore to them, and I will be with you.’”
(Deuteronomy 31:7-8 and 23)
“5 “No man will be able to stand
before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be
with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 “Be strong and courageous, for
you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their
fathers to give them. 7 "Only be
strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which
Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the
left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 8 "This book of the law shall not depart
from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be
careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make
your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9 “Have I not commanded
you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your
God is with you wherever you go.’”
(Joshua 1:5-9)
“12 “Be strong, and let us show
ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God;
and may the LORD do what is good in His sight." 13 So Joab and the people
who were with him drew near to the battle against the Arameans, and they fled
before him.” (2 Samuel 10:12-13)
MacArthur summarizes the passages
from Joshua: “As unfolded in the Joshua
passage, the first source of courage for Joshua in his task as spiritual leader
was the continuing presence of God (“I will be with you”); the second was the
promise of God (“I swore to their fathers”); and the third was the power of God
(Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you
go”). Based on those divine resources,
God called Joshua to obey His law, knowing that such obedience would make him a
successful leader. Those truths so
simply given, apply to all who lead in God’s kingdom.
“Perhaps the apostle Paul drew from
the above-cited passages as he elucidated the paternal metaphor or spiritual
leadership and reminded the Thessalonians how he and his missionary companions exemplified
it.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Being
strong in the Lord is the only way a person can truly be strong. Some men seem to have this kind of strength
as they go into burning buildings to save people from sure death, or show this
type of courage on the battle field like Joshua did, but this real strength has
to come from the Lord. For me to have
that kind of strength I know that it would come from the Lord, and my prayer is
that when I need this type of strength that the Lord will give it to me as he
gave it to Joshua and to Paul.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Be strong in
the Lord, and draw strength from Him.
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “That is
was given to Him.” (Matthew 28:18).
Today’s
Bible question: “Who said ‘"Will
You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?’”
Answer
in our next SD.
4/10/2014
9:37 AM
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