Pastor Tim compares modern-day efforts to feed the hungry with the Scriptural example of Jesus feeding the five thousand (John 6:1-14). Key to understanding the difference is the answer to the question, “From where does our bread come?” In order to mirror God as we share our bread, we have to first recognize the fact that our bread comes from God and not from our own provision.
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Post by Pastor Tim – As a culture, we’ve become concerned with the kinds of foods that we eat (and rightly so), but the Bible indicates how we eat is even more important! I’m not referring to the speed in which you eat, but rather the understanding of where your food comes from and the attitude in which you eat it.
James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” If we apply that verse to the food we eat, then we begin to understand that food is given by God and it is given for a purpose. Most of us wouldn’t disagree with the above statement, but it is much more common for us to think that our food comes from the money that we make by working hard. When we think like this, the food is provided by our own hands for the purpose of satisfying our own hunger. This effectively takes God out of the picture.
When we understand that our food comes from God, we are at the cusp of understanding that food should not only nourish us physically, but it should also nourish us in soul and spirit – remember that God created us as body, soul and spirit. In other words, food is given by God for more than just keeping you alive!
Pastor Foley says,
So when we receive all food – meals, snacks, everything – as fellowship gifts given by the Son of Man, when we receive it as bread crumbs that lead us back to fellowship with God and then with God’s people, when we invest it in fellowship that strengthens body, soul, and spirit, then that physical food will endure to eternal life. It comes from heaven and it returns to heaven – God’s provision becoming our worship. Yes, eating is designed to be a form of worship.
This is the first step in practically sharing your bread. It’s impossible to properly share our bread if we view our own eating as utilitarian rather than worship of God. So before we invite the masses into our homes for a meal, we must ask ourselves some probing questions about our food . . .
Jesus challenges us in Matthew 6:19-21 to use our resources in such a way that they will endure for eternity. Our food is also a resource that could that could rot and be destroyed, or if used properly could endure for eternity.
As my family eats our meals this week, we are going to ask ourselves the question – “What does it look like to share our bread so that each meal we eat endures to eternal life?”
I’d like you to ask the same question and invite you to share the results in the comments below.
From Pastor Foley–Blistering prophetic denunciations of church hypocrisy seem to be all the rage (literally) in the Christian blogosphere these days; however, I become more and more convicted over time that I should direct all my blistering prophetic denunciations of hypocrisy only at myself while instead seeking to fan into flame any wicks of hope I see smoldering within the ecclesia these days.
To that end, let me note the Ministry With The Poor site being operated by the United Methodist Church. Do I like everything on the site? No, not so much. But I love the preposition in the title (“With” rather than “To”), as well as a lot of what Bishop (retired) and Duke Divinity professor emeritus Kenneth Carder wrote last month on the site in his post entitled The Most Neglected Spiritual Discipline.
Bishop Carder’s post sets a helpful tone as we begin this month of focus on the Work of Mercy of sharing your bread. As we like to point out any chance anyone will listen to us, sharing your bread is fundamentally different than supplying food commodities to the poor. Food commodity distribution has never been recognized by the faithful church as a Work of Mercy, for the reasons described by Carder, who is worth quoting at length:
One discipline mandated in Scripture and faithfully practiced by John Wesley rarely appears in lists of required spiritual disciplines. It is, in my opinion, the most neglected act of devotion among contemporary United Methodists. In fact, few even consider it a necessary mark of spiritual wellbeing. Without it, however, the other disciplines lack power and authenticity.
The practice most disregarded by present-day United Methodists in America is visitation and friendship with the poor. Although the Bible clearly includes acts of mercy and justice toward the poor as indispensable components of faithfulness to God, many of us have little contact with the poor beyond almsgiving. Visiting with “the widow and orphan,” ministering with “the least of these,” and engaging with public policy decisions affecting the poor are largely left to agencies, hired employees, and elected representatives. Yet, we can no more delegate relationships with the poor to others than we can attain spiritual maturity by designating another to read the Bible or pray or attend worship for us.
John Wesley definitely considered ongoing relationships with the poor essential to Christian discipleship. He would no more neglect regular visits with the poor than he would abandon daily searching the Scriptures or persistent prayer. Historians document Wesley’s practice of eating with the poor, sleeping in their humble abodes, and providing holistic services to them. His friendships with the poor helped to shape the Wesleyan revival; and the poor were vital members and leaders of the classes, bands, and societies.
As I note in the Whole Life Offering, Wesley once said that the reason why rich people don’t care much for the poor is that they don’t spend a lot of relational time with them. And relational time, as Carder notes, means something other than time spent “serving” them. Especially in this month of focus on sharing our bread, let “service” mean nothing more or less to us than “pass the jam, please” as we eat around a common table with our brothers and sisters whose acquaintance we tragically have yet to make.
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