19/06/2023
*JESUS REIGN'S DEVOTIONAL*
*SPIRITUAL FATHERHOOD AND HONOUR*
*MATTHEW 23:8-9*
But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. 9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
On my early days in ministry one thing I learnt is houring people's and ministry leaders..
IT'S OUR responsibility us believer's to honour our pastor's or church leaders.
*Honour must be expressed. Saying you honour your pastor without any expression will not make the honour effective*.
We said that the moment you feel your pastor does not deserve to be honoured,you hold something in mind against him or her.
*The moment you do that or thinks that way, the person ceases to be your pastor. This is because, you can never be blessed by his ministry(what God has given to him by his grace )*.
Even Jesus could not do mighty work in his hometown when the people were in dishonour due to over familiarity,see the verse below
*Matthew 13:54-58*
54 Jesus went to the town called Nazareth. He had lived in Nazareth when he was a boy. He taught the people in the building where they met to pray. The people were very surprised about the things that he was teaching them. ‘Where did this man learn all these things?’ they asked each other. ‘How does he know so much? How does he do all these powerful things?’ they said.
55 ‘We *know who this man is*. He is the son of a man who makes things out of wood. And Mary is his mother. We also know his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas.
56 All his sisters also live here in this town among us. So then, where did he learn to do all these things? Who caused him to be so powerful?’ So the people were not happy with Jesus.
57 ‘People do not believe a prophet who comes from their own town’, Jesus said to them. ‘His own people and his own family do not believe that he receives messages from God. Only people in other places believe him.’
58 *Jesus did not do many powerful things in Nazareth because the people did not believe in him.*
Woow *Jesus did no mighty works there due to their dishour*
Knowing your leader or Pastor weakness or shortcomings doesn't walatin you to dishour him or her, that's dishonour and standing behind your Pastor in all season is a sign of honor..
Their dishonour was their unbelief. *A person in dishonour cannot receive even from Jesus*.
We must therefore guard our eyes,heart and ears and attention from people, activities or things that can fuel dishonour. Observe the people who are very critical of men of God and who seem to talk evil of men of God.
They can do nothing in ministry other than criticism. Dishonour makes you blind, deaf and limit you to be blessed by God's grace upon God's people's ministry.
*If you cannot submit or honour your pastor, quietly leave the church than staying and corrupting other brethren and denying them of the grace upon the pastor.*
There is another area of misunderstanding. When some men of God or pastors are addressed as my papa or my father in the Lord, people quote our opening text to say that it is wrong to called a man father or papa because Jesus said, call no man your father. This is when we take what Jesus said out of context.
If Jesus said call no man father, then it will be wrong to call your biological father, father or papa.
This means, we must explain what Jesus said in the right context. *Jesus in context, was exposing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the scribes. He said that none of these Pharisees or scribes deserve to be called Rabbi, they don’t deserve to be called fathers because of their hypocrisy.* The word “man” is in italics which means it was not part of the original. *Therefore, Jesus was referring to the Pharisees. Jesus was saying call none of these hypocritical Pharisees fathers or rabbi. Jesus was not making general statement for all men; it was in reference to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees*
In the epistles, apostle *Paul called Brother Timothy his son,*
1 Timothy 1:2,
*Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith:* Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord”.
This means Apostle Paul was the *father in the Lord for brother Timothy*.
The word *father comes from the Greek word*
*“pater”* which means source, nourisher, provider etc. depending on the context.
*In ministry, any pastor or man of God who is responsible for your spiritual nourishment, doctrinal persuasion or is responsible for your training in ministry can be called your father in the faith. To be called a father in the faith is responsibility. It means, you are responsible for teaching doctrine or you are the source of the person doctrinal persuasion. It is therefore not wrong to call somebody you are under his tutelage in ministry your father in the faith*
The greatest way to receive from any men of God is by honoring them ..
Let's walk in honor so God help us to received from his people's he had place over us ..
*GOD RICHLY BLESS YOU*
JESUS REIGN'S
