Culture of the Kingdom
Today’s Topic: Spiritual Families: Kingdom Rights of the Fathers
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 4:14-21; Acts 9:15; Ephesians 3:2
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
When we talk about rights, we are talking about the authority to do something. Now what or better yet who gives Paul the right to say what he said to the Corinthians? First we must understand that Paul was a chosen vessel unto Jesus Christ by the Lord’s own words in Acts 9:15. Now if the Lord says that Paul is His chosen vessel to bear His name to the Gentiles then Paul has to be given something to do this. Paul was given authority and power from the Lord Jesus Christ to do what He did in that time. How do we know? In the letter to the Ephesians Paul says this in Ephesians 3:2: “If ye have heard of the DISPENSATION OF THE GRACE OF GOD which is given me to you-ward.” So God gives Paul authority and power (Grace) to give to the Gentiles. Hmm! So if Paul is the face of the grace to the Gentiles then Paul has the authority to make the statement to the church at Corinth that He was their spiritual father in the gospel. Now let’s bring it full circle.
Spiritual fatherhood is a God-given right. When you become fathered you set yourself up to become more mature in the things of Christ so that you can also disciple others and handle the affairs of the Kingdom. Once again the result of unfathered people is a nation of orphans. These orphans hoard because their understanding of their supply is that they are the only basis of their own well being. On the other hand, a son (offspring) with a father who has a household that is at his disposal understands that all of the assets of the household are available to that child in the pursuit of maturity. Another result of a son who is fathered is maturity to being a ruler.
A mature son becomes a ruler to have the authority to administrate the affairs of the Kingdom for the good of the people under his rule. Now if they are unfathered (orphan), the only thing they know is loneliness, insecurity and insufficiency. Insufficiency one of the most problematic situations for the orphan, because even when they have, they hoard and this is not a Kingdom principal or a part of Kingdom culture. God cannot entrust the Kingdom to hoarders because they will view the Kingdom as a gift personally given to them not as a gift for distribution. As a result the unfathered orphan will only know God’s supply of his daily bread and will never know the joy of distributing the grace of God as a mature son. Now based upon all of this, and we take stock and inventory of the church, is the majority of the church (believers) fathered or unfathered? Do we have more sons or orphans?
The mature sons of God will be given authority to disciple others in the ways and character of Christ to help bring the body of Christ into maturity. Now there will be a generation that will be purely mature at the end of the age so that tells me that there is always going to be spiritual fathers available to disciple sons of God to maturity. It may look bleak now because the majority are still unfathered but God is rearing more spiritual fathers in this time because as time progresses to the end, fatherlessness will continue to worsen but God will have His sons on the Earth displaying the matured power of the Kingdom of God during that troublesome time on the Earth. You should know who your spiritual father is.
In the next message we will look at how spiritual fathers deal with conflict amongst the sons of God and how this is to aid in the maturation of the saints.
At the Father’s Service,
Elder Calvin Calhoun Jr.
