Tend Your Tables
We all know that a great restaurant isn’t only focused on the food. The environment, attention to detail, and especially the service, all play a huge role. I would argue that having an incredible server might be the second most important thing behind the food itself. Being attentive, kind, knowledgeable, and pleasant makes the experience that much more enjoyable. If you’re unsure about that, just remember a time where you had horrible service. Forgotten appetizers, drinks not refilled, no napkins, missing silverware, messing up your order, not knowing the menu, not accommodating a simple request, or just being rude. Even if the food is great, a bad server can really dampen the mood.
When it comes to waiting tables biblically, one story jumps to the forefront of my mind in scripture — Acts 6. Let’s start with verses 1-6.
1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists (Culturally Greek Jews) arose against the Hebrews (Culturally Hebrew Jews) because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
As you can see, the cultural divide amongst the Jews caused some sort of unfair rationing of aid. The Apostles knew that they would not be able to dedicate themselves to the preaching, prayer, and ministry of the word if they were caught up in the everyday service of distribution and caretaking of the Church.
Be careful not to confuse something here. The Apostles surely didn’t see this work of sacrificial service as beneath them. They would continue to serve others throughout their ministry. In fact, all but one of the twelve would even go on to become martyrs for the faith. They weren’t worried about getting dirty or sacrificing their wants and desires for the good of others. This wasn’t about titles or status, it was about the different parts of the Body working together properly.
Now, let’s get into the power of serving tables!
As the Apostles chose men to serve the crowds and the needy, something incredible began to take place. Not only did the concerns of improper distribution dissipate, but the Church actually grew because of the way that these servants cared for the people and the Apostles were able to share the Word. Let’s look at verse 7.
7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
Three amazing things happened when the the Church decided to operate in unity by taking on different roles of ministry:
The Word Increased.
The Church Grew.
Priests Were Converted.
THE WORD INCREASED
When the roles of the Church became better defined and individuals began to step into multiple avenues of service, it gave the preachers and teachers time to pray, study, and minister in a greater capacity.
In Ephesians 4:11-12 it says, “11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…”
A common misconception is that the leaders of our churches should be doing it all. Every hospital visit, every prayer moment, every serve opportunity, every meeting, every decision, everything. However, this is not the case. It takes ALL of us to function as the Church. We are all the Church, not just the pastors.
And the result of this shift in mindset? The Church will grow.
THE CHURCH GREW
Another common misconception is that God wants His churches to remain easily manageable. Due to some cold and corporate megachurch cultures and some sadly morally corrupt megachurch pastors, the view of many is that small churches are better for community and ministry. I completely understand the worries associated with becoming a large church. There has definitely been those that abuse that model. However, the Word is what we should use as our true foundation.
The Bible says that 3,000 were added to the Church on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2), that 2,000 more were added after persecution (Acts 4), that churches were increasing in numbers daily (Acts16), and that 5,000 were fed by Jesus with five loaves of bread and two fish, and that didn’t include the women and children (Matthew 14). There were so many people gathering for the word, food, and community in Acts 6 that the Apostles couldn’t care for them without help and organization. God isn’t against growth, in fact, He wants all to know Him.
There are many ways to grow the Kingdom through growing churches while not losing that community, intimacy, and heart that Jesus wanted us to keep. Growth doesn’t have to stop at a certain point, it just needs to be managed biblically at every level.
PRIESTS WERE CONVERTED
This one should make you want to do a dance. As the community in Jerusalem watched these Christians serve each other, they were deeply moved. How do we know this? Because a great number of the Jewish priests abandoned their faith to join the Christian churches. They realized that they were missing something, and they saw it in the way Christ’s church served each other and preached the Word.
This is wild when you think about how ancient Judaism had such a focus on community and serving each other. For the Christian community to have had such an impact on the priests and leaders of Jewish synagogues that would leave their positions and status to become followers of Jesus, means something way out of the norm was happening. This wasn’t just being kind, it was radical love and care for others.
Do we exhibit this kind of radical love and service to others? Do we strive to be this way in our local churches? I hope that our church can one day be so impactful at serving others that a great number of people leave their sins, false religions, broken situations, and empty lives to run into the arms of Jesus.
I pray that we can become like the Church of Acts that drastically changed the spiritually landscape simply by serving tables and sharing Jesus.
When you think about how you can be more like the Church of Acts, here’s some quick ways to fulfill the call.
Look for the needy, daily.
Pray with passion for others to know Jesus.
Don’t make excuses for not serving others.
Find an outreach group to jump on board with.
Ask your pastors and leaders where, and how you can help.
Define your tables — what are your areas of influence? Job, family, group, etc.
Read the Word regularly and study the Church of Acts.
Model yourself after a great servant in your life — their actions, heart, and behaviors.
The best way I know to sum up this blog post is to challenge you with a one-liner that I hope sticks with you and challenges you to become a better servant.
Obey the King. Serve the Church. Be a man.