TODAY’S DEVOTION (MONDAY 23RD DECEMBER 2024)
“Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’
But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.
But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Matthew 23:1-12 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 358TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT
It has been great serving the one and only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. The rewards are much more than what we can say. How much His mercies alone have helped us is something that only eternity can tell. How much His peace has kept us, is something that only eternity can tell.
It pays to serve the LORD. The revelation of what He teaches never comes to an end. That is why one of the major things that happens in God’s kingdom is continuous learning; yes, it is continuous learning because God is ever revealing Himself. It is what He reveals that we learn.
That is why revelation cannot be exhausted in the life of those who sit at His feet daily. Though it takes a lot of discipline to do that, sitting at His feet leaves you with no enemy that is yours. It makes your enemy God’s enemy.
In simple terms, all of our enemies are privatized by the Lord once we become His disciples.
Yes, He becomes an enemy to our enemies when we become His disciples. That was why He said to Saul, the terrorist who was going about killing and arresting those who became the disciples of Christ, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4 NKJV).
He did not say why are you persecuting people who believe in Me, He said why are you persecuting Me. The LORD will always privatize your enemies once you become His disciple.
The years is ending in few days, according to the Gregorian Calendar. There are things all believers must come to term with.
That thing is our primary calling, the call to be disciples or learners of Christ. Our calling is not to be a spiritual son of anyone, but to be leaners of Christ. That is why true spiritual fathering will make you a disciple or leaner of Christ.
All my spiritual fathers made me an addicted disciple of Christ, not an addicted son of theirs. You will never be productive in Christ, being an addicted spiritual son of anyone. You can only be productive when you have a spiritual father who turn you into an addicted disciple of Christ.
IT IS SUCH SPIRITUAL FATHERS GOD WILL HONOR IN HEAVEN.
Our journey of faith on this platform of late has been the Cry of the Spirit on spiritual fathering. Today on this journey, we will be looking at a contentious scripture on the subject of fathering.
Actually, no scripture is contentious, it is when people read their ideas into scriptures that they seem to be contentious.
In the same way, nothing about God and His kingdom is controversial. It is when people depart from the ways of the LORD and the LORD sends you to preach them back into His ways that you become controversial to them.
In the land of wickedness, where the majority is wrong, they do not want the minority that is right to be right. They fight them strongly because the devil wants all to be wrong. It is that fight that results in controversies.
Satan will want all in hell. He is not willing that anyone escape hell. Hence stirring the majority that is wrong to call the minority that is right controversial; and since some will not want to be addressed in such terms, they will either become silent about the wrongs of the majority, or quit being part of the minority that is right, to join the majority that is wrong.
The truth is. When a preacher does not understand the rules that guides scriptural interpretations, he or she will end up reading his or her ideas into God’s word, mixing greed with God’s creed sometimes.
Some will even read jealousy, envy, pride, disappointment, anger, and carnal mindedness into the scriptures, thereby coming out with dangerous meanings. That is what has happened to the scripture of our devotional text. Especially the portion that says, “call no one teacher, father, or master on earth.”
The classic edition of the amplified version presents it this way;
“But you are not to be called rabbi (teacher), for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone [in the church] on earth father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. And you must not be called masters (leaders), for you have one Master (Leader), the Christ.” Matthew 23:8-10 AMPC
If you stand on this scripture alone, you will take the father-son system God established from the days of Adam to the days of the early Church as a wrong system. You will vilify and demonize all who call religious leaders wrongly or rightly spiritual fathers.
YOU WILL VILIFY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, AND CALL THEM ANTICHRIST.
You will do so much and cut yourself from the system of God. Especially if you have suffered anything by the hands of some so-called spiritual fathers. You will just become an extremist.
I have found so many who have become extremist, so many hurting and aggrieved people, cashing into the “call no one father” scripture to attack God’s system for raising the next generation, and discipling nations for Christ; the fathering system.
They dangerously attack both dark spiritual fathering and righteous spiritual fathering with the same words, putting their eternal lives in danger of judgment. They add their ideas to the word of the LORD, and ignorantly come under awaiting judgment.
The Bible says, “no scripture is of private interpretation.”
Meaning, we do not stand on one scripture alone to understand what the Bible is saying concerning any issue, especially if it seems to be opposite other scriptures. If we do so, we will read our ideas into it and end up mutilating the scriptures.
On the issue of calling no one father, Paul who was chosen by the resurrected Christ to take Judaism out of Christianity; one born in due season to be used of the LORD to show a pattern for the faith, called Timothy and Titus, “son,” living Titus in Crete to set in order the things that were lacking. (1 Timothy 1:18-19, Titus 1:4).
If it was wrong to call anyone father, Paul would not have called these ones Sons. He also called the entire Church in Galatia, “my little Children whom I travailed in birth until Christ is formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19).
If you study the Bible, you will realize that he called those who were not his spiritual sons or children, “fellow workers.” He did not call everyone “fellow workers” or “my sons.” He distinguished between those he functioned in their lives as a father, and those he functioned in their lives as one of the brethren in Christ.
If calling anyone a spiritual father was evil, he would have told us, just as he told us that fornication was a sin.
HE WOULD NOT HAVE CALLED TIMOTHY OR TITUS SONS, BUT FELLOW WORKERS.
It is wrong to stand on the abuse people are facing through a perverted spiritual fathering system to condemn a kingdom practice that dated back to the days of Adam. It will be like throwing away the use of the dollar because of the fake dollars around the world. That will be foolish.
Personally, without a righteous fathering system, there would have been no me. The LORD used it to make me who He wants be to be.
In my study, I did not find any place in the Bible where Timothy, Titus or the Church in Galatia addressed Paul as “father,” because the Bible never showed the response to Paul from these men he called “son,” or the Church he addressed as “my little children.”
If we had seen their responses, we would have seen them calling him like Elisha called Elijah, “my father, my father,” because of the impact of his ministry in their lives.
Friend, there are truths that Transends dispensations because they are not in types and shadows but in the reality of Christ. The truth on spiritual fathering is one of such truths!
If you look at other scriptures on fathering, and use them to uncover the “call no one father or teacher” scripture, you will easily realize that Christ was not against us calling those whose spiritual seeds or investments we are, “father.” He was not against spiritual fathering that makes people His disciples.
He was warning us against placing spiritual leaders above the fatherhood of God, which many of us have already done due to the ignorance of what righteous spiritual fathering is.
The same Christ who says call no one Teacher, gave some to be Teachers in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 through 13.
WHAT DO YOU THINK HE EXPECTS US TO DO WHEN WE SEE THEM?
From what the Bible teaches about honour, He definitely expect us to honour them in any way, including calling them teacher. But He never expects us to replace Him with them, like many have done today. You must understand that.
As we bring this to a close, understand that Jesus will never speak against honouring men who have impacted our lives, by calling them father or teacher, or pastor, or apostle and etc.
But will always warn us not to replace God with them, or replace Him with them in our hearts. Replacing God or Christ with them as our ultimate Father and Teacher will be idolatry, and will ruin our eternal lives.
There is so much in Matthew 23:1-12 that we cannot unpack in a devotional. But we believe the core truth have been shared. It is our prayers that we use it to build our lives even as we strive for our eternal inheritance in Christ. Amen!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY!
“And when they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.
He said, You have asked a hard thing. However, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you—but if not, it shall not be so. As they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire parted the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
And Elisha saw it and he cried, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.” 2 Kings 2:9-12 AMPC