ARE YOU BEING PLACED UNDER “TUTORS AND GOVERNORS”?
Gal 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
Gal 4:2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
Gal 4:3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
Gal 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Gal 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Gal 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Are you being placed under the “tutors” and “governors” system by someone? Or, maybe could you be the one who has put someone else under the “tutors” and “governors” system? Well while most don’t fully realize the fact that they are being subjected to the “tutors” and “governors” system, or whether they are the ones who subject this type of system upon others; this is truly the case, and it will be a hindrance to the son’s edification and growth and his ability to cry “Abba Father” as the son should. The “tutors” and “governors” system of the law dealt with Israel as “children” whereas God dealt to Israel blessings when they walked in the “statutes” of the LORD, and chastisements when they walked “contrary” to the LORD’s statutes. When a child in most cultures and in Israel grew older, the child was taught and schooled by the “tutors” in the things he learned from the educational and fundamental stand point and the “governors” governed the decisions of the child, teaching the child ‘right from wrong.’ The child was not yet ready to make the important decisions that would soon have an impact upon his father and the business he would soon be involved with. But when the time came where the son reached the age of “adoption” he would be treated not as a “servant,” but a “son;” and one that has the ability to think like his father, do things his father’s way, and finally and most importantly; labor with his father in his business, so that one day he can be ‘like father, like son.’
Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
This is also the case with the saints today, we have all received the “adoption” whereas we are called upon to “live unto the Lord” and get our education underway where we have the desire to be taught by our Father and the doctrine which is according to “godliness” and grow in the doctrine for our sonship edification. However while we are being edified, we have a designed way that we are to grow from ‘milk to meat’ at a pace that the son can doctrinally let the word work “effectually” within him at each step and stage as he grows and is educated in the doctrine. But if the son begins the foundational doctrine of Romans thru Galatians and is not yet established by these fundamental truths because he is rushed into the doctrine of 1Timothy thru Philemon, then he will never be able to fully understand and appreciate the scriptures at all; because how can one learn how to work with his Father, if he does not understand how to think like the Father does (this important doctrine is found within Romans-Galatians, this is why the Ephesians-Colossians doctrine deals with the son growing in “knowledge” and “wisdom” because Romans-Galatians shows the necessity and the motivation to change our way of thinking, and to be “renewed” in our minds toward our Father’s thinking). And it is God who is able ‘hold us up’ in our sonship education.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Rom 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Rom 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Rom 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
There are some who will become a hindrance in the sonship growth of the saints because of their need to inflict their thinking, ways, and have the son work together with him in what he is doing, he can also become impatient with the son because he has not progressed as quickly as he would like. And this would be as if he put a “stumblingblock” in the way of the son’s education, but he has to understand we “are the Lord’s” servant, not his. But the most damaging to the son’s growth would be if the Pastor/Teacher guided the decision making of the son, and placed himself ‘at a different level’ from the son because he has more knowledge, this would be a “high-minded” approach, and would have the son being the “servant” of this “high-minded” man. But this Pastor/Teacher is not to “think of himself more highly than he ought to think” because he is “dealt” the same amount of grace as every other saint in Christ, and he is no better than any other member in the body; it is Christ who is our Head. The proper sonship growth for the son has to do with the son being able to make his own decisions based upon the amount of doctrine that he has learned, no matter how much, or less that he is operating upon, it is his decisions (whether right or wrong) that the Father wants to judge as He “searcheth” the hearts of His sons to see how they have replaced their old thinking and ways with their Father’s thinking and His ways, and this is based upon the amount of doctrine that he allows to “work effectually” within him.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Rom 12:4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:
Rom 12:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Moreover, there are some that never allow the son to fully grow in the doctrine according to godliness because of his desire to keep the son ‘stalled’ at a certain stage in his sonship education so that he can have an abundant number of ‘sheep’ in his congregation. And this is the case mostly because he himself has never truly understood the doctrine according to godliness, nor does he see the vital importance to establish the son in a ‘milk to meat’ education with the intent that the son will eventually ‘leave the flock’ so that he too will be doctrinally equipped to teach and establish others also.
2Ti 2:1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2Ti 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
2Ti 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2Ti 2:5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
2Ti 2:6 The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
2Ti 2:7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
This type of growth is what the Father designed for the son to walk according to, as we see the Apostle Paul establish men with the intent that they too will do the same. Now this might sound harsh to some, but if the son is attending the same church for 10, 20, 30 years he is still operating upon ‘milk’ doctrine; and so is his Pastor. And whether or not he is in the “simple” son, “young man,” or “wise man” stage in his education, chances are he will never grow where he will be able to fully work with the Father by spreading the gospel, and teaching others, but he will be content to come to church knowing his role in the body of Christ on this earth is to ‘fill the seats’ of the church. But your Father has a bigger and better role for you. You have been given “adoption,” and you are “called” upon to ‘be all you can be’ in Christ, and this cannot be accomplished by “babes” in Christ, but by sons that “cry Abba Father” and want to further their growth in the doctrine of their sonship education so that they can someday “edify another” in the doctrine of godliness .
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Rom 14:18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Rom 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
Finally, we as sons are never too old, or too young to become edified in our Father’s doctrine, it is designed to “work for us” while we are in the present evil world. We as “sons” are given essential doctrine to live our lives by, and this is important as the son grows older as a son, but if his education has ‘stalled’ because of either his lack of concern to be taught further by the Father, or because his Pastor/Teacher is a “novice” concerning the doctrine according godliness, then he can never fully live his sonship life the way God intended. This is why some seek the advice of the Pastor/Teacher in their important decisions, or request counseling for matters that they cannot ‘work out,’ because they have not been fully taught the doctrine of sonship, and by doing this they are placing themselves under the “tutors” and “governors” system. However the Pastor/Teacher’s job is to give the son “exhortation” (scriptural verses regarding their issues) in what the son encounters in his edification, without asking the son to conform his thinking and ways of doing things to theirs, but to have the son conform his thinking to the Fathers’ regardless whatever he is experiencing. We are taught of the Father to be “fully persuaded” in our own minds concerning the scriptures as we grow as a son and the Pastor/Teacher is the “helper of your joy” as you are edified by sound doctrine without being treated as a “child” and their “servant,” but a “son” who is able to “stand” on his own, because it is God who “is able to make him stand.”
Rod Jones