Being a Faithful and Prudent Slave by Dispensing Christ as Food to His Believers

As believers in Christ, we need to be a faithful and prudent slave in His house, dispensing Christ as food to the believers as members of God’s household to make ourselves ready for the Lord’s coming. Amen!

This week in our morning revival we come to the matter of, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Being a Faithful and Prudent Slave.

What we have previously seen that we can make ourselves ready for the Lord’s coming by loving the Lord’s appearing, by not loving the present age, by growing in life unto maturity, and by giving heed to the prophetic word.

Now we come to the matter presented in Matt. 24, being a faithful and prudent slave in the house of God giving food to the saints at the proper time.

According to Matt. 24-25 we have a twofold status: in life, we are virgins living for the Lord, and in service, we serve Him as slaves.

On one hand, the Lord as the Bridegroom has attracted us, we love Him, and we pursue Him to be joined to Him at the wedding feast and live a married life together.

On the other hand, we have been purchased by Christ with a price, and we are saved to serve the Lord as slaves.

As virgins living for the Lord and loving Him, we need to be watchful; we need to seek to be filled with Him in our spirit, and we also need to be transformed in our soul.

As virgins loving the Lord and eagerly awaiting for His return, we want to be filled with the Spirit in our spirit, and we want to be transformed in our soul so that we may gain an extra portion of oil in our vessel.

As slaves of God, those who have been purchased by Him with a price to serve Him, we need to be faithful and prudent.

We need to be faithful and prudent slaves to carry out the Lord’s commission and use the talents given to us by the Lord so that at His coming we may gain a reward.

As those who have been regenerated by the Lord with His life, we all have these two statuses: we are both virgins loving the Lord and being filled with the Spirit in our spirit and gaining the Spirit in our soul, and we are slaves who should be faithful and prudent to give others food at the proper time.

The entire Bible concludes with the Lord’s desire to return and our loving response of, Come, Lord Jesus! Our prayer and desire is that the Lord would return soon.

And our daily life and living is one of waiting for the Lord’s coming.

Therefore, we need to be actively waiting for His coming by being filled with the Spirit and also by being faithful and prudent in our service to the Lord.

We need to do all things in the light of the Lord’s return and prepare ourselves for His coming, for He is coming quickly.

Being a Faithful and Prudent Slave by Dispensing Christ as Food to His Believers

Matt. 24:45-46 speaks of the faithful and prudent slave whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time.

Blessed is such a one whom his master, when he comes will find so doing; he will be set over his master’s possessions. Amen!

There are three crucial points here: the Lord’s commission, His requirement, and His reward.

The Lord’s commission to us all is that we are set over His household; His requirement is that we would give them food at the proper time.

And His reward is the kingdom, even the ruling authority in the coming kingdom.

If we are faithful in the Lord’s commission by being a faithful and prudent slave who serves God according to His commission, giving food to His household, in the coming kingdom we will gain Christ as our reward.

God has a household, and He has an administration; His household and His administration are related.

The divine dispensing is for the accomplishment of God’s economy, but it needs to be carried out in the house of God by the many stewards who can share in the stewardship of grace to give people food.

God’s economy is in faith; this is His household economy, His household administration, to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people so that He may have a house to express Himself, which house is the church, the Body of Christ (1 Tim. 1:4; 3:15; Eph. 2:19).

The God of this universe has a heart’s desire, a deep longing in His heart, to gain a house, a household, to enlarge Himself and dispense all that He is into His folks.

He desires to gain an enlargement to be His expression.

For this household, He needs an administration, a management in order to make sure that all the members of His household can receive the proper care, especially in the matter of food.

God is concerned with our eating; He doesn’t want any member of His household to go hungry or be dying of hunger.

Every member of God’s family should be richly supplied with the nourishment of the food to become God’s expression.

Paul’s ministry is focused on God’s economy. We as the members of the Body of Christ are here living in the church life, and our living and service should be linked to God’s economy.

We need to be faithful and prudent slaves who dispense Christ as food to His believers.

The faithful and prudent slave in Matt. 24:45 is a steward in God’s house, a household administrator, who dispenses Christ as “food” into the believers in Christ (1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; 1 Cor. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:10).

We have all been entrusted with a stewardship; this stewardship is on God’s side His economy, and on our side it becomes our stewardship.

On His side, it is God’s household administration, His economy; on our side, it is a stewardship, for we participate in God’s dispensing plan.

We have been appointed by God in His household to dispense Christ as food to the members of God’s household.

We are like Joseph in the Old Testament: there are vast, immense riches to be dispensed to all the hungry ones, and we need to be good stewards dispensing the riches of Christ into the members of God’s household.

On God’s side, there is no shortage of food and of riches; however, on our side, there is a need to rise up and be faithful and prudent slaves who dispense these riches into God’s people.

May we see a clear vision of God’s eternal economy and realize that each one of us as members of the Body of Christ can and should participate in the stewardship of grace.

Each one of us needs to be a faithful and prudent slave who dispenses the riches of Christ to the believers, the members of God’s household.

This stewardship was given to me for you, to us for others; we enjoy Christ and partake of His riches so that we may minister these riches to others also.

Toward the Lord, we need to be faithful (1 Cor. 4:2; 7:25); toward the believers, we need to be prudent (cf. Col. 1:28; 2 Chron. 1:10; Phil. 4:5).

In stewards it is sought that they would be faithful; we need to be shown mercy by the Lord to be faithful toward the Lord in our service.

We cannot be faithful according to our natural constitution, but when we open to the Lord and contact Him, He dispenses His attribute of faithfulness into us, and we can become faithful and prudent stewards in the household of God.

May we be those who come to the Lord concerning this matter, asking Him to show us mercy to be the faithful and prudent stewards in His household who give food to the believers at the proper time.

Lord Jesus, we want to be the faithful and prudent stewards who minister Christ as food to the believers, the members of God’s household. Amen, Lord, we come to You to be filled with You; fill us with Your riches. Grant us to see a vision of God’s eternal economy so that we may participate in this dispensing ministry. Hallelujah, each believer in Christ is commissioned by the Lord to be a faithful and prudent slave in God’s house to minister Christ to others as food! Amen, Lord, we want to carry out our stewardship, the stewardship of the grace of God, by enjoying Christ and ministering Him as food to others. Grant us the mercy to be found faithful in our service to God by giving food to the members of His household at the proper time. Amen, Lord, we want to be faithful toward God and prudent toward man in our service to God for the building up of the church.

Learning to Give Food to the Members of God’s Household at the Proper Time

We believers in Christ, those regenerated by the Lord who have His life and nature, are God’s household (Eph. 2:19), the church (1 Tim. 3:15).

Each one of us has been entrusted with the stewardship of the grace of God to give others food at the proper time, and each of us needs to be a faithful and prudent slave in the house of God.

However, this matter of ministering food, ministering Christ as food to God’s people, has been very much lost and misunderstood.

Many in Christianity think that it is those who are trained and gifted who can minister food, and only when others speak from the pulpit to great crowds that food is ministered.

But there’s no such thought in the Bible.

You don’t need to be specially gifted to be able to minister food, nor do you need to have a gift of teaching in order to minister Christ to others.

Every one of the Lord’s servants, that is, each one of us the believers in Christ, have a certain gift from the Lord for our commission, and we all need to be faithful and prudent in our serving the Lord.

We cannot wait for the gifted ones to feed us, nor should we expect that those who are more talented and have a greater capacity would feed us.

Rather, we all need to speak for the Lord and minister Christ to one another.

What is the appointed time? What is the proper time to give others food?

Well, humanly speaking, when we all come together at the table, that’s when food is dispensed.

A proper mother knows how to cook good food three times a day to feed her family, and she knows what is the appointed time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

She may even prepare a good meal for her husband as he goes to work. Or if she herself works at a job, she makes a way for each of the household to be fed properly and at the proper time.

She is learning, as the family grows and increases, how to serve food and when to serve food and even what food to serve to the members of her household so that everyone would be properly fed and taken care of.

When we come to the meeting, that is the proper time for us to feed the members of God’s household.

The proper time to feed the saints is when we meet together to feast with the Lord and with one another.

Even if we have a ministry meeting in which we listen to a longer message, we still need to speak for the Lord after the meeting.

When we come together with the saints in the home meetings and group meetings, we all need to prepare and bring something of Christ to minister to others.

When we come to the Lord’s table meeting, we need to minister Christ to one another.

For us the be faithful and prudent slave who ministers Christ as food to the believers at the proper time, we need to spend much time with the Lord in His word to prepare something.

We cannot be lazy, thinking that by just reading a few verses or doing our Bible reading schedule we will have something of Christ to minister to others.

We need to spend time with the Lord in His word and enjoy Him, partake of His riches, and have a constitution of Christ so that, when we come to the meetings or when we meet with the saints, something of Christ will be ministered to them.

When we meet with sinners, the food we can minister to them is the gospel of Christ.

When we meet with the saints, the food we can minister to them is the riches of Christ we have enjoyed.

We need to consider before the Lord what is the situation and condition of those to whom we speak, and we need to be faithful and prudent to minister something of Christ to them.

There are many hungry and many sick ones around us, and we can exercise to minister food to them at the proper time.

Lord Jesus, thank You for being so rich to us in Your word. We want to come to You in Your word day by day to be filled with Your riches. We want to gain a rich deposit of Your riches so that we may have something of Christ to minister to others also. Amen, Lord, may we all carry out our stewardship of grace by being in the word, enjoying Christ, partaking of the riches of Christ, and having something of Christ to minister to others as food. We want to be diligent in seeking You in Your word so that we can prepare to serve good food when we come to the meeting. May we learn what is the proper time to minister Christ to others, and may there be much food that we can supply them for their growth in life. Recover this matter among us, Lord. Make us those who minister Christ to one another in the household of God.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 5, “The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move,” pp. 515-517, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 ICSC), week 4, entitled, Making Ourselves Ready for the Lord’s Coming by Being a Faithful and Prudent Slave.
• Further reading on this topic:
  – Southern Africa Blending Conference March 2023, General subject: MAKING OURSELVES READY FOR THE LORD’S COMING, see the outline here.
  – How to serve the Lord, a portion from, Life Lessons, Vol. 2 (#13-24), Chapter 11, by Witness Lee.
  – Prayer, Week of September 12 – Spreading the Truth of God’s Economy for the Church’s Increase, a portion via, The Church in LA.
  – The pattern of Paul and the religion of James, article by Ron Kangas via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Ten Virgins Went Forth to Meet the Bridegroom, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Virgins Christ comes quickly for, / Those with oil an extra store, / Not the fools who oil ignore— / Buy in time! / For the oil a price we pay, / Deal with self without delay, / Fill your vessels every day— / Buy in time! / For His servants Christ will come / And reward each faithful one; / Slothful ones will be undone— / Serve in time! / Make your single talent count, / All self’s problems now surmount, / Serve with Christ, the living fount— / Serve in time! (Hymns #1304 stanzas 2-3)
  – Soon our Lord will come His servants to reward; / Those who love Him then the crown will share. / Watchful we must be and treasure not the world, / Love and serve the Lord, His burden bear. (Hymns #956 stanza 3)
  – To the lost world minister Christ, / By daily walk making Him known; / Imparting Christ by whom you live, / Share with all men what you own. / To the lost world minister Christ, / The precious One you possess, / Imparting Christ to those you love / As all their gain and success. (Hymns #922 stanza 2 and chorus)