Alright, well if you have your Bible's open up to 1 Corinthians 4.

Today our passage is about power. Now what is power? Power inthe most general sense is that motive force that is able to makechanges in the world.

Waves have power to move rocks and shape them. If you thinkabout the power of a river to generate energy. Millions of metric tonsof water push on turbines that create megawatts of electricity thatpower homes and factories. And then we do stuff with that power.We make changes in the world.

Everything would just sit motionless and unchanged unless there ispower added into the equation. So power changes things. But poweris not too helpful unless we can direct it. Much of the effort ofscience goes toward harnessing the power of nature for thepurposes of men.

Now that all makes sense in the physical realm. We desire powerbecause we want to change things.

But here's the question in our passage before us today. Can we dothat same thing with spiritual power?

You see we all want spiritual power because we all want to change.We don't want to stay exactly how we are for the rest of our life. Wewant people around us to change. We don't want them to stayexactly how they are for the rest of their life. But how do we do it?We lack the power. We've tried to change ourselves and cannot.Without some external insertion of power nothing is going to change.Where does that power for change come from?

How do we experience the power of God to help us change? Ifspiritual power is what produces change, how do tap into that powerto change people? What levers do we hold to produce results tomake change, to direct that spiritual power.

This is what was causing division in the church in Corinth.

Presumably these arrogant teachers are motivated by theirperception that they control powerful ministry tools and they arecausing division because not only are they claiming their ministrytools work. They are claiming the old ways don't work.

This old-fashioned preaching stuff doesn't work.The cross is kind of weak and embarrassing.We need to be more relevant.We need to inject some polished eloquence.We need to keep up with this Greek wisdom.The power in ministry is derived from our cunning our witty efforts,our crafty schemes.We need to get a Starbucks in the foyer. That will draw them in forsure. We need something that actually works. We need power.

And what Paul does in this passage is say, you want to talk power?You want to talk about what works? You want to go to the source ofpower? I'm happy to go there. In fact, the only thing I care about iswhat works. I'm a pragmatist among the pragmatic. I care about truepower more than any of you. And it just so happens that this oldfashioned preaching of the cross which is foolishness to the world,this confession of weakness is the only thing that has true power.Preaching the cross, embracing foolishness, loving weakness, areall routes to power because they conform to reality.

Now the Corinthians are left in a bit of bind. Well who is right?

And what you have in this passage is essentially a Mt Carmelshowdown of pragmatics. You've got your alter of pragmatics overthere and I've got my altar of pragmatics over here and he's got hisaltar of pragmatics over there. Which one works. Which one isactually going to produce CHANGE? Which one has POWER?There are all these various claims to power. But which one is right?

Paul begins out passage today pleading for the Corinthians to listento him:

Let's organize our thoughts around this heading today:

Imitate the Spirit-Filled and Ignore theArrogant.Now Paul is trying to make the distinction between a guide and afather.

In the ancient Graeco-Roman world that word that we translateguide (παιδαγωγός) had a definite understanding. This guide had avery specific roll. This was not the teacher in the classroom. Thisperson was usually a slave or paid attendant who accompanied thechild for the purpose of protection, guidance, and generalsupervision of behavior to or from school, or on occasions when aparent was absent.

There are two key distinctions between a guide and father.

1. Motivation.

The motivation of the guide (παιδαγωγός) if he were hired would bemoney or if he were a slave, his motivation might be begrudgingobedience to his master, NOT love for the child. A guide isimpersonally invested. Guides are a dime a dozen. But it's not justan issue of motivation, it's an issue of destination.

2. Destination

You hire a guide to get you where you want to go. I might need aguide to get me to the best destinations in Belize. He says what kindof destinations are you looking for? Islands, rivers, jungles? I tell theguide the destination and he will get me there.

But what does a father do? A father tells you the destination. A

father will correct you if you have the wrong destination. A father willguide you, but not to the destination you think is best, but to thedestination which actually is best.

A father both knows his children and loves his children and becausehe knows and loves them, he is willing to correct and direct them.

If you give a child $500 that child has a mental destination for thatcash. He probably wants something that $500 can get him. And hecan find guides to help him. Maybe he wants a tablet and there areall sorts of guides on what the best tablets of 2018 are. That's aguide. But what does the father or mother do? They look at thedesired destination and they say, "That needs to be corrected andchallenged. Is it really a good idea to blow all that cash? It's hard toearn $500. Electronics become obsolete almost instantly. There's solittle good that comes from that. You need to save some of that. Youneed to give some of that money to God as a way to both rememberthat he is the giver of all good things and to store up treasure inheaven." This is the attitude of the father.

So the idea here is that Paul loves them and wants them to move inthe right direction. He cares for them. There are not many people outthere who will go to bat for you. There are not many who really careto get involved all the way.

Now as a point of application here, I want you to look at your life andsay, "Who is that person in my life who is can both guide and correctme? It's so easy to surround yourself with people who tell you, "Youare awesome." But here's the problem with that. You are notawesome. And you need a spiritual father who loves you enough totell you that. You need a spiritual father who loves you so much theywill actually just tell you the truth.

For some of you, that may be your actual biological father or mother.For some of you, the only person who will tell you the truth aboutyou is your spouse and you hate them because of that. For some ofyou that may even be your very own kids. For some of you that willbe a close friend. What do you need to hear and who will tell it toyou? Listen, find those VERY precious, rare people in your life whowill tell you true things about yourself that hurt. And love them. Latchonto them. Embrace them. Thank them. Let them guide you.

In fact, let me really challenge you. Ask them. Actually ask themwhere you need to change. Sure a father will tell you when he thinksyou are making a mistake but for every one he tells you, there were38 others that he wanted to say and instead bit his tongue. Howmuch better off we'd be if we actually asked? If we leveraged thatwisdom.

Where is Paul Taking Them?Now where is Paul trying to guide them? At first blush it's almosthumorous. Corinthians, you are off track. Your arrogance is killingyou. So what I want you to do is be humble. Actually come to thinkof it, just act like me. Imitate me. Be humble like me.

And the disapproval here goes off the charts. What Paul? Youfinally have it nailed? You have figured it out? I see, you are themodel and we are all to follow you in your perfect example. When weget to chapter 11 he's going to again say,

Now what does Paul mean by this? How is this not arrogant? Thekey to understanding this is to get specific on what exactly he'sasking them to imitate.

Paul will be the first to say, "I've got serious sin issues." Paul calledhimself the chief of sinners. So clearly, we aren't to imitateeverything he's doing. We don't imitate the sin. What are we toimitate?

The issue in chapters 1-4 is where does ministry power come from.And over and over in chapters 1-4 Paul says ministry power doesnot come from humans. It comes from the Spirit of God. What doesPaul call himself over and over again in chapters 1-4. The word thatrises to the top is servant.

Back in 3:5 he says, "What is Paul? What is Apollos? Servantsthrough whom you believed as the Lord assigned."In 4:1 he says, "This is how you should regard us, as servants ofChrist." The metaphors he uses point in this same direction.

We are rakes, shovels, plows. We are tools.

So Paul sees himself as a servant. That word in Greek is really theword for slave. And so to imitate Paul is to simply say, "I have norights. In my position as servant/slave of Christ, it is not my positionto decide the strategy of the church. I don't get to determine theblueprint of the building. I don't have that FREEDOM. I'm not thearchitect. I'm the builder. I'm not the gardener. I'm the shovel."

So when Paul says, "Imitate me." He's saying here's how you do it.You open up your Bible and it says, "Preach Jesus Christ and himcrucified." Okay let's do that. You open up your Bible and it says,"Confess Christ before men." Okay let's do that. Think of yourself asfoolish. Okay, got it. You are a rake that comes out and does its joband then goes back in the shed. Okay, perfect.

You don't need to get tricky or fancy. Jesus already told us what todo. Our job is to do it, not reinvent it. So imitate me cause that's allI'm doing.

Does that makes sense? Let's just get stupid simple. Rememberwhen Jesus first calls his disciples.

So Philip began to follow Jesus and he was convinced this is theMessiah. This is the guy. We've literally been waiting for this guy for1500 years since Moses. Can you believe it? He's here. Follow meand I'll show you.

Would you call Philip arrogant? Of course not. The only reason youfollow me is so that I can connect you to the guy who you need to befollowing.

Paul is functioning like a street sign. Here's the direction. That's themaster. He's got the truth. He knows what works. He's the architectand the engineer and the philanthropist. Follow him. I'm just a streetsign. Street signs are not arrogant. They just point the way when it'snot obvious.

But here's the question that arises:

1. I might agree that Paul is functioning as a father. He genuine caresabout his children. He's more than a guide.

2. I also might agree that he's not being arrogant. He truly believesthat we need to walk in the same path he's walking not because hehas the answer but because the guy he's following has the answer.

But how do you know he's right? What if he is sincerely misguided?What's the Bible's answer? This might be a little surprising. Bepragmatic. What works? We aren't into theories and philosophies ifthey don't actually work.Where's the power? Look at the next verse, verse 18 of chapter 4.

So do you see what Paul is saying here? It's easy to talk.

It's easy to criticize from a distance.It's easy to be an armchair pastor.It's easy to blow up the church with your words and point out all theproblems.

Paul is saying, "Avoid the talkers." It is arrogant to say, "I know theway. Listen to me." Avoid these people who set themselves up as

experts. It is humble to say, "I know nothing. But let me take you tothe one who does. Follow me."

Let's get out of the realm of the church for a moment and transferthis concept into the world of business.

Let's say you wake up in the morning and ask the question, "How doI grow my business?"

There are no shortage of consultants in the world who are readyand willing to open their mouths to give you advice and claimexpertise in answering that question.There are no shortage of guides who will want to talk and tell youthings.There are no shortage of people who will sit in that seat of authorityand say, "Let me tell you how to structure your life for success."

And while there will perhaps be some overlap in what thesecountless guides will tell you, many things these guides will tell youwill be quite different. So who do you listen to?

Well, the best answer is listen to the guy who's successful. Go tothe guy whose done it over and over again in differentcircumstances with different people and clearly he can see throughthe fog and confusion. He has a formula that works. Do they followtheir own advice and if so what did it produce in their own life?

Business has the motto, follow the money. The Bible uses similarlogic. Paul says, follow the power. "I will find out not the talk of thesearrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God does notconsist in talk but in power."

In other words these guys will talk and talk and talk about power butthey will lack true power. Paul, almost shockingly is saying, getpragmatic.

Paul says, "Who do you follow? You have countless guides. Thatword literally just means infinite. You will never exhaust the numberof guides out there. Follow people with power. Follow people whoselives are actually changed, who are actually transformed." We sawthis in our study of Hebrews.

Remember in Hebrews we saw this exact same idea. The author ofHebrews after surveying these amazing servants of God whothrough faith did amazing things says,

So that all makes sense, but there's one last piece we need to workreally hard on here. Because there's a potential at this very point fora major misstep. What kind of power are we looking to follow?

Because the Corinthians could say, "We are following the power."Apollos has more power in his speech then Paul. We are followingthe power and it looks like Paul doesn't have it.

And we too might be tempted to look around and say,

Well who has the biggest church? Who has the best technology oris the most culturally relevant?Who has the best worship band?Who has the most in attendance?Which church has the biggest budget?Which guy has sold the most books?Whose the most engaging teacher,whose the funniest,whose go the ability to draw us in with a story.

And we think we are following the power.

But do a word study on the word POWER. This is a major theme inthe Bible. It's one of those themes that really surprised me when Istarted looking into it. When the Bible uses the word power, it'salmost always referring to a very particular kind of power.

There is this very tight connection in the Bible between power andthe Holy Spirit. So when Paul talks about following the power, whenPaul talks about the kingdom of God consisting in power, he'stalking very specifically about the type of power that the Holy Spiritgives.

And the breadth of the type of power we are to be looking for is quiteimpressive. The Holy Spirit EMPOWERS the church in so manyways.

Listen to just a few of these examples.

So here we have power to be witnesses. Similarly we have anexample here

So here the apostles were given great power to share their story,their testimony. So you listen to this guy share his story and youthink, man that was done with such power. Amazing.

Here the Holy Spirit is giving a person hope when he should havenone. So the evidence of power is great hope.

In the book of Acts we see the power of God manifest in healing,speaking in tongues and prophesy. It's a huge theme especially in

the beginning of acts. Remember the lame man who approachesPeter and says hey, can you give me some money? And Petersays, "I don't carry cash any more, I only carry a credit card, buthere's what I do have, 'in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarath,walk."

Later on the religious leaders demand him to confess, "By whatpower did you do this?" So the power of God can be seen throughmiracles or healing or sign gifts.

In 2 Corinthians the Spirit's power is made known through humilityand confession of weakness.

One of my favorite is Paul's prayer in Ephesians.

So when we say follow the power, what kind of power is he talkingabout? He's talking about the power that comes from the Spirit ofGod working in you. The fruit of the Spirit. The power of spiritual

gifts working in you.

What actually changes people? It is the Holy Spirit.

He is the one who affects change,He is the one who manipulates the affectionsHe is the one who changes what you love,He is the one who heals people both physically and spirituallyHe is the one who speaks words of truth into your life.He is the one who gives you joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, gentleness and self control.

Look at the person who is satisfied in God and you will see thePOWER of God.

But what crushes all that power? This horrible, soul-sucking,choking, strangling PRIDE. Pride extinguishes the power of God. It'sjust buckets of water on a campfire. And so Paul just confronts it soviolently.

Next week we start a new subject in Corinthians. Paul is closing outthis section about divisions and pride with a call to action, a call tointrospection and repentance.

Paul here as their spiritual father is admonishing them. And he'sasking them to be sensitive, to repent, to respond, to confess.

And what is the core of his admonishment. You're seeking power inthe wrong places. You're seeking power in yourself. You're beingprideful. You're being worldly.

Point: If you want to experience the power of God, the power of theSpirit in you, be willing to receive correction, ask for correction,change.

We are all little children. One of the hard things about being a childis that you can't understand why your father gives you the advice hegives you.

It's hard to explain to your kids why certain songs, certain movies,certain friends, certain social settings are really dangerous...likereally dangerous. I'd much rather have my kids play catch withdaggers than listen to certain songs or watch certain movies. Thatmakes no sense to a child.

It's so hard to explain. There's just not enough life experience to helpthem to understand what it means to be impressionable, the effectsof 10 years of a subtle influence and what that does to you.

It's hard to listen. It's hard to admit. It's hard to be humble, but isn'tthat better? Don't you want that, ultimately? That's the plea of Paulas he finishes up chapter 4 and that's going to be our plea as wefinish up this message. Don't you want that? Don't you want toconform to reality? Doesn't the idea of gospel humility move you?

Let me put these two thoughts together for you. All I'm going to do isjust state two truths of the Bible that are really, really easy todemonstrate and hopefully the implication will be obvious.

Truth #1 - God HATES pride (anyone want to argue that?):

Truth #2 - God DISCIPLINES those he loves:

It's the entire theme of Hebrews 12.

1. So, if God loves you as a child, if God really, really cares for yousoul, if he looks at you with the compassion of a perfect father.

2. And if it's true that because he loves you he is willing to disciplineyou if he sees something in you that he dislikes.

3. And if we know that of all things he dislikes, it's pride, what do youthink will happen if you remain prideful?

Paul ends with this statement, "Shall I come to you with a rod or aspirit of love and gentleness?" Listen God I think is asking us today,"How hard to I need to make this?"

I think God has really worked in our body the last few weeks to dealwith pride in our hearts.

How is pride ruining your marriage?How is pride ruining your relationship with your kids or kids how ispride ruining your relationship with your parents?How is pride keeping chasms where closeness ought to be in your

relationships.How is pride destroying your relationships with God?

If you want to experience the power of God, lay it down. Repent of it.And you want to know what is on the other side of that? Love andgentleness of a loving fathter. And if you don't? God loves you toomuch not to discipline you. God knows what that looks like in yourlife. I'm not here to suggest anything in that regard other than Godknows how to do it. Stubborn kids need hard discipline. Soft kidsneed light discipline.

Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way? Are you goingto be a quick learner or a slow learner. Are you going to insist on anon-reality or are you conform to the reality?

Who do you need to ask forgiveness from?What do you need to admit that you haven't been willing to admit upto this point? Maybe you can't admit your side of a problem.Who do you need to seek out? Who is that person who will speaktruth into your life and tell it to you straight. The reason I amexperiencing all this failure is because .... and allow them to answerit.