Being Faithful and Prudent Slaves who give God’s People Food at the Proper Time

We must be faithful in service in the Lord’s commission to give God as food to the members of His household so that we may win Christ as our reward in the coming kingdom; we need to be the faithful and prudent slaves giving them food at the proper time! Amen!

This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, Being Faithful in Service, based on mainly Matt. 24; in the view of the Lord’s return, we need to be faithful in service to Him by giving the members of His household food at the proper time.

As virgins, we need to be watchful in life and be filled with Him as the Spirit in our spirit, and we need to be transformed in our soul so that we may be matured and ready for the rapture.

As slaves of God, however, we are His servants, and this requires that we are faithful to carry out the Lord’s commission and exercise the gifts, the talents He has given to us, so that we can gain a reward when He returns.

As believers in Christ, we all have this dual status: we are both a virgin waiting for the Lord as our Bridegroom to return (and as such, we need to be watchful in life), and we are slaves of God serving Him in His household (and as such, we must faithful to the Lord’s commission).

The Lord has given each one of us a gift, a talent, and He expects that, when He returns, we would increase it and properly invest it to bring Him profit.

Amen, we need to be faithful in service in the Lord’s commission and in His gifts for His second and imminent return.

Our service to the Lord as slaves is not merely for us to take care of doing these practical things that are so necessary for the church life; rather, our serving the Lord is to give the members of His household food at the proper time, and it is with the Lord’s return in view.

We need to see our service to the Lord in view of the Lord’s return; He is coming soon, and our service to Him must be according to His word and in His way so that we may receive His reward at His return.

While many Christians desire to serve the Lord and do something for God, there is a particular service that He is looking for, in view of His second coming; there’s a service that prepares His second coming. He is coming back to rapture the bride, which is the built-up Body of Christ, the one new man; our service must have this in view!

Being Faithful and Prudent Slaves as Channels of Supply to Give His People Food at the Proper Time

In Matt. 24:45-51 we see the Lord’s commission to us, those who are learning to be faithful and prudent slaves in His household; He commissions us to give God as food to the members of His household!

Many believers serve God according to what they see as being the need, what is convenient to them, and according to their own burden and in their own way; however, we must be faithful in service in the Lord’s commission, for He has a heart’s desire.

God is after something. there is something on His heart, and He has a particular commission; our service is to fulfill and carry out His commission, not just to do what we think is needed and necessary for the Lord.

God’s commission is that we give food to the members of His household. Instead of doing a great work of evangelizing, teaching others, preaching, healing, casting out demons, and doing many wonderful works, God’s commission in the light of His coming is to charge His slaves to give food to His household.

This is so that they would be healthy, living, nourished, and they would grow in life unto maturity and be prepared for the Lord’s return.

God has a household – He has the greatest family and household in the whole universe, and He also has a household administration, an economy, to dispense Himself as food to the members of His household for His expression (1 Tim. 1:4; 3:15; Eph. 2:19).

Our God is a God of purpose; He planned something according to His economy, His household administration, and management.

Deep in God’s heart, He desires to gain a household consisting of many members for His expression as His enlargement.

And this household requires a kind of administration, management, to make sure that all the members of the household are taken care of, especially regarding the food supply; no one in God’s household should be famishing or dying of hunger, but all should be well nourished!

Our service to God is in relation to God’s gaining of a healthy and well-nourished household according to and for His economy.

For this, He has set faithful and prudent slaves over His household as household administrators, stewards, channels of supply, to give His people food at the proper time (Matt. 24:45; 1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 3:2; 1 Cor. 4:1; 1 Pet. 4:10; Phil. 1:25). Amen!

Who in God’s household – which is composed of many members – has a consideration of distributing food to the needy ones, the hungry ones, and to all the saints?

There is rich storage of food, for the riches of Christ are unsearchable, vast, and immense, with no shortage; but who will distribute food to God’s people in His household?

God calls us out – He calls all His believers and charges them to be prudent and faithful slaves over His household, stewards as channels of supply to give His people food at the proper time. Paul was such a one; he knew he was entrusted with a stewardship, he was conscious of the stewardship (1 Cor. 9:17).

Stewardship in Greek is the same word as economy; in relation to God, it is His economy, and in relation to us, it is our stewardship.

We are not just those sent to preach the gospel, teach the truth, and shepherd others; we are those entrusted by God to give those in His household food at the proper time.

God needs many stewards in His household who have the consciousness and realization that their duty is NOT to do things according to their own view, to achieve this or that, but give food to those in God’s household for them to grow in life and be matured.

Amen, each one, as he has received the gift, we need to minister it among ourselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God (1 Pet. 4:10).

Peter realize that, as he received the varied grace, he also needs to minister the many aspects of the rich grace of God, and we all need to be such faithful and prudent slaves in the household of God.

Thank You, Lord, for making us part of Your household, the household of God, to enjoy all Your riches together with all the saints! Amen, Lord, may we be faithful in service in Your commission to give God as food to the members of Your household until You come so that we may win Christ as our reward in the coming kingdom! May we be those who enjoy You, are filled with You, and are constituted with Your riches so that we may give food to Your people at the proper time for their growth in life unto maturity. Lord, make us the faithful and prudent slaves who are channels of supply to give Your people food at the proper time, day by day! Make us those who enjoy and minister the varied grace of God to the believers for their enjoyment of Christ and growth in life unto maturity!

We Give Food to the Members of God’s Household by Ministering the Word of God and Christ as the Life Supply to the Believers in the Church

What does it mean for us to “give them food at the proper time”?

In view of the Lord’s second and imminent return, we are commissioned by the Lord to give the members of His household food at the proper time by ministering the word of God and Christ as the life-supply to the believers in the church (Matt. 24:45; John 6:57, 63, 68; Acts 5:20; 1 John 5:16).

Christ as the life-giving Spirit is our food; He is embodied and realized in the word of life, and we need to be filled with this word and minister this word to the members of God’s household.

Our realization, as we come to meet together with the saints, is that we are here to give them food; we’re here not just to attend meetings, enjoy a good service, or get together in homes to encourage one another, but to minister the word of God and Christ as life supply to others.

We need to have the conviction that we are here to give others food; we need to have this aspiration as we meet, making sure that no one leaves the meeting hungry but are fed in some way.

If all the elders and responsible ones have this realization, the whole level of life in the churches will be different for, instead of merely carrying out a formality in the meetings, our focus is to make sure the saints are given food to eat.

How do we give them food at the proper time? It is by ministering the word of God and Christ as life supply to them.

And this doesn’t mean that we should “give a sermon” or “speak a message” every time we meet; neither does it mean that we need to “hear a teaching” and then we’re edified and fed.

Merely reading verses or speaking a message to others may not feed them; the word of God in the Bible must become the word of life to us, nourishing us and feeding us, and then we will also feed others with what we have enjoyed.

The black-and-white letters in the Bible will not suffice; many are trained in seminaries and Bible schools to be “pastors” and “ministers”, knowing how to “teach the Bible”, give sermons, and pass on knowledge, without any kind of realization that the main duty of a servant of God is to give others food.

It is not being trained and ordained with a doctorate in theology so that we can teach the Bible to others; it is bearing the responsibility to be a faithful and prudent slave to give others food at the proper time.

Giving others food is not teaching them; it is we ourselves enjoying the Lord in His word, praying over His word to obtain the rich supply, and then minister the word of God and Christ to others for their life supply.

As 1 John 5:16 says, we need to pray and give others life, minister them life; on one hand, God gives life to others, but on the other hand, we can pray on behalf of others and minister them life.

God can give others life through us; He set us to be faithful and prudent slaves over His household to give them food, even as a mother is faithful and prudent to give food to her children at the proper time.

In order to enjoy the Lord as our spiritual food so that we can feed others also, we must pray over and muse on God’s word, tasting it and enjoying it through careful consideration (Eph. 6:17-18; Psa. 119:15; Ezek. 3:1-4).

We can’t feed others with the food we don’t have; we first need to pay the price to spend time in the word of God to be richly supplied by pray-reading the word, musing on the word, and internalizing the word with much consideration in prayer.

Then, when we have eaten the word of God, when we are richly fed with the Lord and we internalize it, we can speak to others according to the need, and we will give food to them.

Lord Jesus, we come to You in Your word to be nourished and richly supplied by You. We take Your word in with much prayerful musing, and we taste it and enjoy it with much consideration. We want to pay the price to spend time in the word of God to prayerfully internalize the word, eating it and digesting it, so that we may have a living and fresh supply of life. Amen, Lord, may we be richly fed and nourished with Your word so that we can have the adequate supply to minister to those in Your household! Amen, may we be the faithful and prudent slaves to give others food at the proper time by ministering the word of God and Christ as the life-supply to the believers in the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1985, vol. 5, “The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move,” chs. 8, 10, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 4, Being Faithful in Service.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – 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. (Hymns #922)
  – Lord, You’ve met my every need, / Lord, I’ll serve You as a priest, / Lord, I’ll minister the Life that I’ve received, / Lord, find me giving food so timely. (Song on, Watch! Be Ready!)
  – Find the word and eat it, / Letting it become / Both our joy and gladness, / Present and to come. / God with life supplies us, / Nourishing and sweet, / To feed others with His / Life supply complete. (Song on, Eat the Scroll of God’s Word)