Source of Blessings

In this episode we look at what the Bible tells us about blessings and being blessed. We look at how we’re not just called to have and enjoy these blessings but go further and become a source of blessings for the people around us. People around us should be blessed simply because they’re around us!

Transcript

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Welcome to the King's Word Bible study. Today our topic is going to be not many fathers. Let's begin the day in First Corinthians Chapter 4. In First

Genesis 12:2

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Corinthians Chapter 4, beginning in the 14 verse, it says, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you, for though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I have begun you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. The part that stands out the most in this passage is Paul's phrase in verse 15. Ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers. That's an incredible thing to think about when we remember that at this point there were only a few decades in the church history. That's the same problem that we find plaguing the church today. There's plenty of instructors in the faith, but we don't have nearly enough spiritual fathers. Although the implication of this verse is clear, there's also a deeper meaning hidden beneath this verse that can easily escape our notice if we're not careful. We find it hiding in the word instructor. This doesn't mean your ordinary teacher or anything else like that. In the Greek it means a boy leader, a servant whose office it was to take children to school. The root word that this is derived from means a child under development by strict instruction. But the concordance goes further for the word itself to say, it's a legally appointed overseer, authorized to train and bring up a child by administering discipline, chastisement, and instruction, doing what was necessary to promote development. This is a very unique word because we only find it two other times, and those two other times are in the book of Galatians and

Psalms 1:1

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back-to-back verses. Galatians chapter 3, verses 24 to 25 tell us, wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. The classic Amplified sheds even a little more light on this. It says, so that the law served to us Jews as our trainer, our guardian, our guide to Christ to lead us until Christ came, that we might be justified, declared righteous, put in right standing with God by and through faith. But now that the faith has come, we are no longer under a trainer, the guardian of our childhood. These are fascinating verses because they help us to understand what exactly Paul meant. The law was the shadow of the good things to come under the new covenant, as the book of Hebrews tells us, meaning that the law wasn't the end in and of itself, it was the means of pointing us to Christ. It was to lead us towards Him. That's why God gave us the law in the same way. That's what these boy leaders and instructors are doing. But the implication is important. They're leading us there. But that doesn't mean that they're actually getting us to the destination that we need to reach. And that's exactly what the problem is. That's why we don't need countless tutors. We need something more real than that. We need spiritual fathers in our life. Why is it though that we need a spiritual father? Why isn't a tutor enough? What about a father sets him apart and above the instructor? A father has deeper responsibility. He's far more invested in the life of the child, and he has a calling to provide and protect his sons and daughters. That's important because the tutor doesn't have that. He may be called to get him to school and to teach him a few basic subjects, but when school's over, that responsibility is over too. That means that it's just a job. It's not a calling, it's not a vocation or a life's work. And that may be okay with natural education, but it's not okay with spiritual upbringing. We need far more fathers in the church. Paul shows the importance of this level of investment in verse 15. He says, For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten you through the gospel. What's Paul saying here? He doesn't have the power to save you. He knows that. That's why he corrected and reprimanded the early Christians who were going around saying that they were of Paul or they were of Apollos. But yet he's the same man who told us that he planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase. When saying there's people that he begot in the Lord, he was telling us that although God is the one who gives us life, that it's only through the Lord that we're born again. He chose Paul to be the vessel to share the good news with those people, to inspire them to come to faith and help them in that formative time of their life when they're learning who God is and what he requires of them. In the natural, it's not the mother who gives life, it's God who gives life. The woman is just the chosen vessel for which God imparts this beautiful gift. And that's no small role for the mother, and in the same way, it's no small role for the spiritual father. It's one of the highest, most important callings that God gives to his people. He became a father to those men. And that word father used in the Greek means one who imparts life and is committed to it, a progenitor bringing into being to pass on the potential for a likeness. That's what Paul was called to do, and he understood his role. He doesn't just talk about it here. We find that he goes into more detail in 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 8 to 9 tell us, so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. Just like the woman has birth pangs before the birth, just like she goes into labor when the work is about to be done, Paul went through pains and trials, bringing people to the gospel. He met with heavy spiritual oppression, and he met with opposition from the enemy at every turn, who wanted to see nothing less than souls being brought into the kingdom. He fought him tooth and nail. He wanted to tire him out and to wear him out so that he wouldn't see the work through to completion. And he wants the same with us. He wants us to give

Galatians 5:22-23

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up. He doesn't want you to impart life, to impart hope, to impart faith in Christ to those around you. Paul knew that, and he faithfully pushed through all the opposition, leading to him seeing salvations and incredible deliverances all around him. The next few verses, verses ten to twelve, go on to say, You're witnesses in God also how holy and justly and unblamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe, as ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children, that ye would walk worthy of God, who have called you unto his kingdom in glory. This shows another element of spiritual fatherhood that models what we see in the natural. The father sets an example for his children. They watch how he is, how he speaks, how he conducts himself, and the child, whether knowingly or unknowingly, absorbs what he sees, and he begins to reflect it. Paul knew that inclination of the human heart, and he knew that it applied just as much to the supernatural, knowing that he had a responsibility to show the people under his care what the true Christian life looked like, what surrender, what obedience, what faithfulness looked like in everyday life. And that's exactly what he did. Far from just being the tutor who either leads you to a place where you can learn or teaches you basic information, Paul went further, as a father should, and he showed the application of that information in his life, in his speech, and everything that he did. That leaves a far more lasting impression than what you read or what you hear from another man. It's the father's

Jeremiah 17:7-8

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greatest desire that his child becomes like him and even surpasses him. And that's why Paul tells us to follow him as he follows Christ. His greatest desire is that we walk worthy of God, the same way that he walked, being just as holy and just as unblameable as he was. Every good father wants that for their child, and every spiritual father desires the same. This difference between tutors and fathers is important also, because it's a direct parallel to the difference that exists between the shepherd and the hireling. John chapter 10, verses 11 to 13 say, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he that is a hireling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth because he is a hireling and careth not for the sheep. This reveals to us the same exact dynamic, but it shows it from a different angle. The tutor is like the hireling, and the shepherd is like the father. The hireling is there, he works, he does his job, but at the first sign of danger, he's nowhere to be found. When he sees the wolf coming towards the flock, he doesn't run out towards it and chase it away, putting his own life in danger. He doesn't fight it and fend it off, protecting the sheep to the best of his ability. He does the opposite, and he runs away, hiding and protecting himself, leaving the sheep unprotected and vulnerable. There's wolves that are trying to get into the church right now. They are trying to do the same thing that wolves in the natural do, steal, kill, and destroy the sheep. Acts chapter 20, verses 29 to 30 tell us, For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. The second part here is the most important. He didn't say that they would come from the outside, which we already know that they're going to try to do. He says

Jeremiah 2:13

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here, that of your own selves men shall arise. There's wolves amongst the churches right now. Jesus warned us of this. Matthew 7 and 15 says, Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. How did those wolves get there? How did they make it into the church in the first place? The shepherds didn't do their job. They didn't protect the sheep. The hirelings just ran and they hid themselves. Why? Because they just have a job. As John 10 told us, they care if not for the sheep. They just don't care enough to put themselves in danger to protect the flock. They don't want the wolf to get them. They're scared of the wolf and what he can do to them. That makes a lot of sense in the natural, but what about the supernatural? What about amongst ministers who are commanded by God to tell his children to fear not, that they're more than overcomers, and that more powerful is he that's within them than he that's in the world? It's a dereliction of duty. It's spiritual malpractice at the highest level, because they themselves, instead of putting their faith in God and what he can do for them, instead give in to fear, which is really just faith in the enemy and what he can do to them. That's the biggest distinction that we're dealing with here, and it's the most problematic. There are sheep today who are in vulnerable positions in the churches, because the hirelings that ended up being over them won't do as the good shepherd did. They won't deny themselves, and they're not willing to lay down their life for the sheep. They're not willing to give up their time, their energy, their money, or anything else to make sure that the sheep have all that they need, and to make sure that the sheep know the good shepherd for themselves. What else does the shepherd do? Luke chapter 15, verses 4 to 7 tell us, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he have found it,

Jeremiah 18:2-3

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he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. This is what the good shepherd does. He doesn't watch the sheep leave and then just shrug his shoulders and go back to business as normal. He's too invested to do that. He cares too much. He knows the responsibility that he has, that the sheep's life is in his hands. That's why he doesn't just sit around hoping and praying that the sheep wander back to him on their own. He's active. He does something about it. He moves and he gets up and he chases after the sheep, bringing them safely back to where they belong. That's the level of care that the shepherd has. He can't bear to see the sheep wander off into the dangerous wilderness. He does all in his power to spare them from making such a foolish decision. That's what's missing in the modern church. Sometimes you have to leave the 99, knowing that they're safe, they're mature, they're wise enough to not leave, and then find the one that's gone wandering off towards the grave danger that's in the world. We've lost our sense of urgency because the modern church has grown far too accustomed to tutors. We'll lead someone to where they can get truth, or maybe teach them a little information to get them a surface level understanding, but never really equip them with the knowledge that they need to protect themselves and defend themselves against the enemy. They don't tell them how to put on the whole armor of God. They don't tell them how to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we need. We can't ignore the warfare that we're in. We need a father who's going to sit us down and be straightforward with us about just what it is that we face when we go out into the world. We need a father who's strong, who's wise, who's seasoned in the ways of fighting, so that we can learn from them and then replicate what we see.

Exodus 15:27

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But as Paul said, too much of the church is without fathers today. They don't have good role models in the spiritual household of faith. They're left with people that don't really care about them and the state of their soul. Beyond that, we find another problem. Ezekiel chapter 34, verses 2 to 3 tell us, Son of Man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, unto the shepherds, woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves. Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? This is what we see taking place in the modern church. We have sheep that aren't being fed. They're malnourished, and they're spiritually sick because of it. They're spiritually starving. And it's not long before they get so desperate that they start looking elsewhere and they're drawn away by idols and by false ideologies. Their lack of food means that they don't have the strength to hold on when they should be. So they let go. They hold on to their faith too loosely, and they let it slip from their grasp with little to no resistance. As the church looks on, it's easy to be fooled about their true state. One of the side effects of starvation is a bloated belly. Any outsider would look in, and it would seem that they look well fed, but in reality they've been terribly neglected. 1 Peter 2 and 2 commands us, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. You can desire

Genesis 10:32

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that as much as you want, but if there's no one there to give you the milk that you need, or at the bare minimum show you where you can find it, that desire will go unmet. On top of that, we have to consider that he's referring to new Christians, newborn babes. A baby can't give himself milk. He needs his mother to bring the bottle to him and to feed him. That's part of being a shepherd. There's new Christians that are either starving or being given a slab of meat that they're not yet able to digest. They're being left to their own devices. We can't do that. People need help. They need to understand the basics before they can go deeper, because they first need a foundation that they can

Galatians 3:16

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then later build on. Far too often we forget what it's like to not have that foundation, and we take it for granted that everybody else shares that with us. But the truth is they don't. And far too often the modern church unknowingly turns people away through not providing the diet that the individual sheep need. That's what ministering is. A person who administers medicine doesn't give the same type or the same dose to everybody,

Luke 10:1-3

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because not everybody needs the same thing. Hebrews chapter 5, verses 13 to 14 say, For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised, to discern both good and evil. Everyone has different ailments and different issues that need to be addressed. And the shepherd, who knows the sheep and cares for the sheep, knows it, and goes out of his way to make sure that the needs of the sheep are met and that they've been well fed. Ezekiel goes on in verses four to six to say, The disease have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them, and they were scattered because there is no shepherd, and they became meat to all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered for all the mountains and upon every high hill, yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. There's sheep out there longing to be found, deep calls unto deep in their spirit, but not enough shepherds in the modern church are actively seeking them out.

Matthew 28:19-20

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That's why we're told to go ye therefore into all the world, and not wait for the world to come unto us. That's a command that's largely been neglected by modern Christianity. But even in spite of all that we face with hirelings and tutors and a lack of fathers and true shepherds in the church, we're not without hope. We never are. Verse eleven of Ezekiel 34 tells us, For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I will both search my sheep and seek them out. Then a few verses later, verses 15 to 16 tell us, I will feed my flock, and I will close them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick,

Numbers 33:9-10

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but I will destroy the fat and the strong, I will feed them with judgment. God's kept the records. He knows who's fed the sheep and who didn't. He knows when the sheep got the right diet and when they were cared for intended to. He doesn't take these things lightly, because there's a lot at stake here. People's eternities and their faith is at stake. Psalm 68 and 5, referring to the Lord, says, a father to the fatherless and a judge of the widows is God and his holy habitation. That's who our God is. He's our father, he's the ultimate one that the law and that every faithful shepherd points us to. Yet the fact that he's the father doesn't mean that we're not called to reflect that rule. The same way that although he's God, the book of Psalms tells us that we're gods with a lowercase g. We're made in his image and likeness, to be a reflection of him and to conform to his image. This is no different. That's why James chapter 1 and verse 27 tells us pure religion and undefiled before God and the father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted

Isaiah 58:11-12

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from the world. That's the calling that we're talking about today. Visit the fatherless, visit the ones who don't have true shepherds and spiritual fathers in their lives. Visit the sheep that have wandered off and are starving and diseased by this world. Visit the sheep that are being afflicted by the enemy and that are being confused and deceived by him, all while doing what James says here and being unspotted from the world. Meaning, go out and change the world. Don't let the world change you. That's pure religion before God. That's what he's looking for. We all share in this calling today. It could be something as simple as encouraging someone or inviting them to church or giving them a Bible, or just telling them that you're praying for them and that God loves them. There's spiritual orphans who need help. There's starving sheep that need care. There's hurting people who need a spiritual father figure to lead them and guide them, pointing them towards Christ. That's a calling that in whatever form or to whatever degree belongs to all of us, and one that we can start answering today, so that far from saying that there's not many fathers, he can say that there are many fathers who are pointing his children unto him. Let's close in prayer.

John 7:38

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Lord, today we thank you that you are our ultimate, heavenly Father. And Lord, we thank you that you are a good Father, that every good and perfect gift comes down from you, the Father of Lights. And Lord, today we thank you that you sent your spirit of adoption, your Holy Spirit, to adopt us into your very own family. That now we're heirs of you and joint heirs with Christ, that we have the full inheritance that's only made available to us through the sacrifice of your only beloved Son. Lord, today we thank you for the shepherds and the spiritual fathers that you put in our lives. And Lord, if we don't have any people playing this role in our lives, Lord, today we thank you that you're going to raise up your chosen people to answer the calling and to be faithful to your word. And Lord, today we thank you that you're emboldening us and empowering us to answer this calling in our own lives. Lord, we trust you that you're going to help us to help them, and that you're going to open up doors of opportunity for the ministry, to put us in the right places at the right time with the right people, and that you're going to move upon the hearts and the minds of the people that we interact with, that they can see their need to come to you. And that just like Paul, we can bring these people to the gospel where they can find true freedom in you. And Lord, we give you all the honor, all the glory, and all the praise in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, if you want to answer the call and have Jesus as a part of your life today, all you need to do is invite Jesus into your heart to be your personal Lord and Savior. You then need to repent of your sins and ask for his forgiveness. Then you trust that you've been forgiven and you ask for his free gift of eternal life. Now, if you've prayed this from a sincere heart and you truly meant it, then you are now a part of the family of God. Welcome to God's family. We want to thank everybody for listening today. We appreciate you taking out your time to spend with us. If you want even more of the King's Word, you can go to our YouTube page at Kingsword Ministry or visit our TikTok page at Kingsword Bible. God bless you. We want you to know that we love you all. And we'll see you next week as we continue to study the King's Word together.