The Danger of Digital Discipleship
Lord's Day Exhortation
There are great blessings that have accompanied the age of the internet. For never has it been easier for biblical teaching to be spread throughout the earth. One of our earnest desires here in Moscow is to imitate the Apostles by filling the world with our teaching (Acts 5:28). And whether you’re visiting Moscow or have moved here, many of you are here this morning because of the books and videos you have benefited from—praise God.
At the same time, there are certain dangers that come with the proliferation of online media and digital communities. One of them is the temptation to forsake or minimize your local churches, pastors, and flesh-and-blood community in favor of a curated digital version.
When writing to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul commented that though they had ten thousand teachers, they did not have many fathers (1 Cor. 4:15–16). The Corinthians were puffed up with empty knowledge, but Paul’s desire was for them to learn glory in imitation of him.
In a world filled with “content” — with many self-appointed teachers, podcasters, influencers, authors, and brand builders — you must resist the urge to be led solely by men or women who do not know your name.
It is easy to have many teachers, but do you have fathers?
Men who know and care for your family?
Men who have labored tenderly and soberly on your behalf?
Who are willing to warn you as beloved children in the Lord?
Men who are worthy of imitating as they follow Christ?
God has given as a gift to His Church ministers and elders, to lead and serve as shepherds of the flock He purchased with His own blood (Eph. 4:11–16, Acts 20:28). Therefore, do not neglect those God has providentially placed in your lives, who watch out for your souls and will one day give an account (Heb. 13:17).
Of course, this is not only a call for God’s people to seek out fathers in the faith, but a call for pastors and elders to be present in their own communities and to live lives worth imitating—to live as fathers. This is not only your calling in the Lord, but it is especially needed in a time when we have many hirelings, but few shepherds who love the church with fatherly affection.
As Charles Spurgeon once preached, “Fathers are never so numerous as they ought to be… but wherever they are, they are the strength of the church.”1
This exhortation was given on August 10, AD 2025, at King’s Cross Church in Moscow, Idaho.
Charles Spurgeon, Fathers in Christ, spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/fathers-in-christ.