He Has Made Me a Father to Pharaoh

Brothers and sisters, what I have been posting in the Call to Discipleship series is meat for the mature (Heb 5:14). Man doesn’t live by bread alone. We need spiritual meat. Young lions roar after their prey; they lack and suffer hunger. Likewise the people of God hunger for spiritual meat. Lord have mercy on your heritage and satisfy our mouths with good things. The eyes of all wait upon you … who faithfully gives meat in due season (Ps 145:15). Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matt 5:6).

The heart of God is that his people – the body of Christ – come into “mature manhood” (Eph 4:13). Mature fruit is the goal of every farmer. And while the farmer is patient for his harvest, fruit-bearing maturity remains his steadfast goal. “First the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” (Mk 4:28). Jesus' cursing of a promising yet empty fig tree is a confronting reminder of the enduring goal of fruit-bearing maturity. Being hungry and finding only leaves, Jesus pronounced: “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once (Matt 21:19). Perhaps even more confronting than the cursing of the fig tree was the parable Jesus told about the barren fig tree for whom the vinedresser intercedes.

And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit, on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it shall bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.' Luke 13:7-9

Maturity and fruit that accompanies repentance is the heart of God for His people. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove that you are my disciples” (Jn 15:8). Jesus' precious blood was spilt for nothing less. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies...” (Jn 12:24). Our heart must be entwined with the Father's heart, in this goal. To come into fruit-bearing maturity, we need solid food. We need the word of righteousness; the full counsel of God. We need fatherly love and discipline. We need, as it were, to be dug around and manured.

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children... Eph 4:13-14

In the first of his pastoral epistles, John gives us a key to understanding growth and maturity in Christ. I pray that as we receive greater understanding, it inspires greater desire on our part. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...” The key is in whom John addresses his letter. John identifies and addresses little children, young men, and fathers. These are not natural designations related to age, but designations of spiritual maturity.

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 1 John 2:12-14

“I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven...” (vs. 12). Sins forgiven is foundational truth. It is the pure milk of the Word – assurance of salvation by grace, through faith, irrespective of kingdom rewards. Little children are familiar with milk and for a time it satisfies. But we don't stay as little children and milk alone will not always satisfy. There comes a time when we must put away childish things, as it were, and become men (1 Cor 13:11). “Everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant” (Heb 5:13). There is a maturing that we should desire and this only happens as we embrace the full counsel of God – the meat of the Word. While sins forgiven is foundational truth, to live in defeat and to accept sin in our lives is to stay as a child, spiritually speaking. What I am talking about here is meat; the word of righteousness. While it is right and proper to cherish the forgiveness we receive for his name’s sake, to accept sin and worldliness in our lives is to treat lightly our ruling and reigning birthright. It is to risk forfeiting the kingdom inheritance promised to overcomers. What I am talking about here is solid food for the mature.

That no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright... Heb 12:16

John continues with the words, “I write to you young men because you have overcome the evil one” (vs. 12). John identifies those who have embraced the word of God (vs. 14) and overcome sin in their lives as young men. As we willingly yield to the grace of God and yoke ourselves with Christ, we mature into young men spiritually. It is the path of sonship. We willingly submit ourselves to the teaching about the crucified life as regards the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life and we become vessels of honour, “set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work” (2 Tim 2:21). We embrace the word of righteousness and we become profitable servants. This path of discipleship has nothing to do with worldly success or the applause of men. Indeed the crucified life and the word of righteousness is rejected even by many who profess Christ. To walk the path of an overcomer is to be misunderstood and excluded even by our own brethren, many of whom prefer to be infants and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matt 7:14

John also identifies fathers within the church. “I write to you fathers because you have known him who is from the beginning” (vs. 12). He declares fathers to be those who know the Ancient of Days. These disciples have come to know “him who is from the beginning.” John repeats this description of intimacy – word-for-word – in verse 14. Scripture is God-breathed – note carefully that which is repeated verbatim. Fathers are mature sons who have been invited into friendship with Yahweh, as a reward for their chaste conversation coupled with fear. He is a rewarder after all (Heb 11:6). Like Joseph who endured the vindictive wrath of Potiphar’s wife, fathers are those who have fallen foul of the world and its prince, having rejected the many allures and advances. Therefore their boast is not in anything of worldly value or what men esteem highly. Their boast is only that they understand and know the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, judgement and righteousness in the earth (Jer 29:4). They know the heart of Almighty God; they’re after his heart. The love of the world is not in them. Such are fathers. They are sons who have matured into fatherhood. Every father is firstly a son. Not every son, however, has matured into fatherhood.

Of John's three spiritual designations, I want to focus on fathers. True fathers in the faith are rare. They are hidden and few and far between. Unlike career sermonisers, fathers are a very rare, hidden company. Even if we were to come across a father in the faith, quite likely we would overlook them. Their humility and meekness and their acceptance that their hiddenness is God-ordained, means they will not spruik themselves. They have learnt to live contentedly by a drying brook and wait patiently for their God.

For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. 1 Cor 4:9-13

Elisha rightly identified his teacher, Elijah, to be a father. “My father, my father,” he exclaimed as Elijah was taken to Heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:12). Indeed Elijah was a father of Israel despite being reviled, persecuted and defamed. He lived during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, a period of national apostasy where beauty, comfort, and sensuality were valued over truth and holiness. Elijah's consecration to Yahweh and his separation from his people's idolatry cost him everything of worldly value. Likewise Joseph did not become “a father to Pharaoh” (Gen 45:8) without first suffering the loss of all things for the sake of truth and holiness.

Fathers are those who have laid down their lives to obtain pure gold. They have purchased, from Christ Himself, gold “refined as through fire.” (Rev 3:18). And they freely give what has cost them their lives to obtain. “Buy the truth, and sell it not…” (Prov 23:23). For all the talk of sonship, the church of the living God needs fathers. If we are to see a generation of sons birthed in the church – the formation of a mature man – we need fathers who will do the hard work of raising up young men from little children. Paul was a father; a true apostle who followed the example of Christ and laid down his life. Paul suffered the loss of all things to win Christ and to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil 3:10) ... and then he freely invested all he obtained into those who would be sons. He did the hard things and the thankless things and brought fatherly love and discipline to the church of God. He laboured to see Christ formed in them.

… for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. 2 Cor 12:14

Where are the fathers today whom the church so desperately needs? These men to whom the world has been crucified, and they to the world. Men who have gold obtained only through fire and who have been so weakened that they are now useful in the Master's hand? Men who rule with righteousness and judge with equity and who will judge angels in the age to come (1 Cor 6:3). We will not come into maturity without them. Impressive, worldly churches can be produced by clever business minds and trendy marketeers. The pure Bride of Christ, however, can only be brought forth by fathers. Listen to how a father speaks...

For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 2 Cor 11:2

Where do we place value? Are we, like the Corinthians of Paul's day, enamoured with the ‘super apostles’ while completely undervaluing the rare, lay-down-your-life fathers? We don't need another top billed conference as much as we need corporate purity and true fathers to lead us. With corporate purity comes other-worldly power and authority and fathers can lead us in this. A desperately hurting world awaits deliverance from harvest labourers – not in love with the world – but rather crucified to it. Fathers can lead us in this. When we're truly desperate for cleansing from the world and its idolatry, the fathers will come forth. When we're truly over slavery to sin and the fleshpots of Egypt, the fathers will lead us into freedom. When we're truly ready for manhood, the fathers will share their pearls. It is not for the children to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. It is for the children to desire and hunger. It is for the parents to provide. In Elijah's day, there were few humble enough to receive what he had laid up by way of treasure and inheritance. It was the same story in Elisha's day. Jesus called it for what it was: “A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house” (Mk 6:4).

Brothers and sisters, we desperately need a discipleship culture in the church of God. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...” (Matt 28:19). A discipleship culture is synonymous with a sonship culture. To be a son is to understand discipline. To willingly endure discipline is to understand that God is treating us as sons. “For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Heb 12:7-8). When we realise our need and are humble enough to receive such discipline, the Lord Himself will send us fathers as I have described. And they will labour with us until we reach fruit-bearing maturity and Christ be formed in us and we again take our place in the world as a peculiar, holy, and powerful people.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. 1 Pet 2:9