Faithful to Feed

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.

Matthew 24:45–46

A pastor cannot read this without some sense of conviction about our obligation to feed the flock of God with the Word of God. We will be evaluated by our Lord on the basis of how faithful we were to proclaim the whole counsel of God to His people, to nourish their souls, to increase their knowledge, to turn them to the right way and from the wrong way, and to enlighten their minds with an ever refreshing call to obedience.

But this is the obligation of all of God’s people — this is our common calling. If we do not preach we are to still share and support the preaching of the Word, and not distract from it. Nothing can substitute for God’s Word in our lives and God will judge us all as to how we supported the proclamation of the Word. He will also judge us on how we allowed it to be proclaimed to our hearts, and how we searched out its truth in our private lives, as well as how we meditated on it and how we obeyed it.

The phrase “proper time” is also instructive — en kairo in the Greek of the New Testament. Kairos means not just time as the clock ticks or as the calendar’s pages turn, but it stands for the strategic moment that rises suddenly. This means that the spiritual food we feed should be relevant for the times in which we live. We should proclaim the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), but we should also be aware of the needs of people’s hearts today.

When hearts are tired and minds are sleepy, when the world distracts us from His truth, and when society itself seems to be going in an entirely different way, then it is that we believers must speak the truth and speak up for the truth of God. Hearts are truly hungry for this every fresh message, for in Christ and in Christ alone is there true and lasting hope.

God notices us when we stop our busy lives long enough to consider His Word’s message, to listen to its wisdom, and to seek to align our lives with its message. When we share it with others we also offer cool spiritual water to dry and parched souls. They will drink and be refreshed, and even brought to new life. Faithful are those who always lift up and proclaim His Word, and God will notice our faith and obedience.

__________

Living Word,

Who quenches my soul’s thirst,

I come as a beggar to Your stream

I come as one with scraped feet from the rugged rocks

Of disbelief in an uncaring world,

With hands whose flesh is torn

From a rugged climb upward,

With knees and elbows

Ripped and bludgeoned in my

Attempted ascent into wisdom.

And now I stand on the precipice that

Learning has lifted me,

Trying to find the stream source

And find it a windy crag

A tiny, slippery ledge

Amid confusing clouds that clutter the view

And do not satisfy the soul.

But then my gaze falls below

And sees Your grace flowing

To the valleys of humiliation.

The refreshment I sought comes

Only through grace flowing downward.

Along with others I kneel with scooped hands

Lavishing in Your abundance.

Some others might think me wise when

They see my scrapes and scars,

But what a fool I had been to so impoverish my soul,

And how much higher could I have climbed

Were I supplied with Your life.

The wrong was not to have scaled

But to have climbed to find Your grace

That runs so freely in the valley.

Now I kneel and hear the gentle bubble

So profound to my soul echo in my ears,

“Jesus loves me, this I know…”