Thank you for visiting. We trust that you have enjoyed reading our articles.
Meal Time is Ministry Time
“When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them” (Luke 24:30 NIV).
Many people have the false notion that ministry only occurs inside the walls of the local church. The truth is we go to worship on Sunday to be fed the Word so that we can be the hands and feet of Christ – to feed others. However, it should be noted that we need to feed ourselves throughout the week by reading Scripture, prayer and meditation, and small groups.
We are all ministers. We are all called into ministry through our baptism and profession of faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. We all have a ministry that
we have been gifted with through the gifts and graces of the Spirit. The big question is how and where should we do our ministry? The Spirit will guide you in this and close, Christian friends will affirm you as appropriate.
Jesus is the perfect role model for ministry. Yes, he did ministry in the temple by teaching to His fellow Jews. However, the vast majority of His ministry was done outside of the temple. It is interesting to me how many times in Luke’s Gospel Jesus sits around a table for a meal. He regularly shared meals with others, whether they were Pharisees, sinners and tax collectors, or His disciples. Scripture provides us the ability to learn more of what He teaches about His heavenly Father on these occasions than from what He says in the synagogue.
Meal time is an ideal time not only for fellowship but also to drill down deeper to offer a word of hope, grace, peace, and love. Meals at the table are some of Jesus’ favorite settings for Him to make visible to others the good news of God’s mercy and acceptance of all people.
One of the primary roles of a husband as stated in the Bible is to lead his family to Christ. Meal time is a perfect opportunity for the husband to lead by giving thanks to God for the food and all the blessings that He has provided. Leadership simply means influence. Therefore, a biblically-based husband should influence his family. Husbands are not dictators, they should not demand, they should not rule over their wives. Instead, husbands should influence their wives and families in accordance with biblical teaching. They should exemplify, with their voice and their actions, attributes that bring glory to God and value and honor to their spouse and family.
Meal time is ministry time. Men, I encourage you to serve your family by leading them in prayer at this time. The fruit of a good biblically-based husband is a strong, confident, spiritually mature wife and family.
Prayer: Dear God: We are blessed to have an abundance of food. May we always be grateful that you are the provider of this and all of our blessings including our families. Please help us to lead our families in such a way that brings honor and glory to you.
Meet the Author
Todd Shupe is a Men’s Ministry Specialist through the General Commission of United Methodist Men and is in training to be a Certified Lay Minister through the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church. He currently serves as the President of the Baton Rouge District of United Methodist Men and is a Board Member for Gulf South Men and serves on the Action Team for The Kingdom Group. He is a volunteer for the Walk to Emmaus, Grace Camp, and Iron Sharpens Iron. Todd resides in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
We welcome your comments below.
Liked this post?
Read more below or search for more topics...
-
Grapes, Giants, and God
Grapes, Giants, and God “They gave Moses this account: ‘We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.’ Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, ‘We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it’” (Numbers 13:27-30 NIV). I recently heard... -
Attention Fathers! Little Eyes Are Watching
Attention Fathers! Little Eyes Are Watching “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18 ESV). Theodore and Nancy Faust Sizer authored the book The Students are Watching. The Sizers wrote about classrooms and schools, explaining that students learn from what their teachers do and say, and also from the things their teachers do not do or say. One significant finding from the book was “They watch us all the time. The students, that is. They listen to us sometimes. They learn from all that watching and listening.” Children are also learning... -
Benefits of giving back to the church are many
Benefits of Giving Back To The Church Are Many "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45 NIV). At any church, “giving” is one of the more sensitive topics for many but is also very important to discuss. That’s because “giving” is fundamentally essential for the existence and the growth of the local church and the church universal. We often associate giving with money. Although money is...