(1Co 4:18) “Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.” “Puffed up”: swollen in pride. The word “pride” is a great example of how Satan has taken a bad word and made it good. The Lord never speaks of pride in a good way.

(1Co 4:17) “For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.” The person of authority, for you and me the pastor, is responsible for what it taught within the church. Notice that Timothy would teach as Paul would teach.

(1Co 4:16) “Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.” with (v.15b) “… have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”  A true father wishes the very best for his children. He will protect them. That’s what the Spirit of God put into the heart of Paul. I pray each of you seeks out and follows a godly person whose faith you can follow.

(1 Cor 4:15) For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.”  The gospel is not simply stating of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ; but that Jesus died bearing “your” sin, was buried and then rose again. He now gives eternal life to them that repent and embrace Him as their substitute (believe), saving you from hell: (Luk 24:46)  “And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (47) “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” That…is how the hearers are “begotten”.

(1Co 4:14) “I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. (15) For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” One must be careful of who one spiritually follows. We live in a day in which we have many resources “about” the Bible. Brother/sister, they are not “short-cuts” to spiritual growth. I think I would trust the one who cared enough for my soul to seek my salvation before any other.

(1Co 4:13) “Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.” Isn’t it interesting that he who was used to pen most of the New Testament, suffered as the lowest of men? Why? To keep him usable; his pride was kept in check: (2Co 12:7) “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”

(1 Cor 4:12)  And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:”  I can tell you from experience, to bless when one is reviled and to except suffering for the cause of Christ goes against our fallen nature of pride. Yet, the souls of both the source and those observing are to be counted more important than our pride.

(1Co 4:11) “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; (12)  And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:” How very different from the mindset of so many servants of God today! They must have certain guarantees of comfort, support, before they will venture into service.

(1Co 4:10) “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.”  The true follower of Christ will not be loved by this world, for both the way they think and the way they separate from evil condemns the conscience of the lost: (Joh 15:19) “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (20) Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

(1Co 4:9) “For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.”  The contrast between (v.8) “ye have reigned as kings” to (v.9) “last”, “appointed to death”, “spectacle” should have resulted in shame and repentance in the church. The saved are to live as Jesus lived, in service to all others with the hope of reaching the lost and ministering to the saved.