Should Christians pray before meals? Dr. Robert Cara preaches a message on 1 Timothy 4:1-5 at RTS Charlotte.
I try not to be too annoying about being ARP, but did you notice (and you will from now on) that “Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah,” guess where it came from? The Bible Songs Hymnal, which is the ARP hymnal. And it’s actually Psalm 148; you were singing a psalm to an ARP tune. So it’s quite a day for me. Also, it’s about God being the creator, praise him. He’s our redeemer, but also praise him for him being our creator, the triune God, our creator. And that’s going to relate to the sermon. And as you see the sermon’s printed in your bulletin or if you have your Bible 1 Timothy 4:1–5. But allow me a few words of introduction before I get to the text.
I was noticing this week how many times I ate with other people, and how are we going to do the prayer thing before we eat? I’m going to get to sit down with my wife to watch the Home and Garden channel or whatever she wants to watch. We don’t pray before we do that. Why do we pray before we eat a meal? And I’m assuming most of you do. Is it a good tradition? Praying any time is a good tradition, so yeah. Is it a good tradition or is it something actually in the Bible? Is it commanded by the Bible? And as you’re going to see, the answer is yes. It’s in the Bible.
So I’m going to talk about the logic of why we pray to encourage you to keep doing it. And then too maybe some tips for praying at meals and some kind of discussion of this unbelievably wonderful tradition of praying before we eat. I want you to appreciate that tradition and use it for God’s glory and the benefit of those around you and your benefit as you pray and eat.
Our text, 1 Timothy 4:1–5, follows a section where Paul goes on and on about how great the Lord Jesus Christ is and the Lord Jesus Christ is praised in his church. Therefore, his church is very important. And then he moves to, since the church is very important, people are goofing up to church, we’ve got to do something about that. So it’s going to have a kind of negative thing in the beginning as I read the text, and then you’ll see the positive thing about praying with meals. So the written Word of God, 1 Timothy 4:1–5:
Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it’s received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
And let us pray. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, aid us in understanding your text. Aid us in applying your text. We pray this in the name of Christ who did everything in service to his Father. Amen.
God Created Good Material Things and They Should Be Received with Thanksgiving
The bad guys make two theological errors, and then Paul mostly discusses the one theological error. The two theological errors, you look at verse three, “who forbid marriage.” So they were about that, without giving all the background to that or the possibilities of why they were against that. And then, two, they had abstinence on certain foods and whole discussions on which foods, so forth and so on. This error connected to “spiritual=good, material things=bad.” That’s the background to this error, and this error is in various forms of Greek philosophy.
Unfortunately, it got into our church to some degree, but the error of “material things=bad” is no part of a world that God created. Now material things can be used badly, but it’s not part of it. Part of God being creator, one implication is: world, although affected by sin, but at some level, world=good. Now, most of our world probably doesn’t need this sermon because for them material things is all there is. They need a speech about there is a spiritual world. We’re going to be as balanced as the Bible’s bounced. So it talks about creation and material things=good, we’re going to talk about creation and material things=good.
Now, what’s his argument for why material things are good? So verse 3: “who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” His argument is really about food, but by implication relates back to marriage also. In this text, why is it OK to eat foods? One, God made them, and he made them good. And secondly, if you acknowledge that God made them with a prayer (with Thanksgiving means with a prayer) then eat whatever you want. God made food, and he made it good. If you acknowledge God made food, eat the food. It’s good. In fact, it’s sin to declare you can’t eat the food.
Enjoy God as Creator; he made things for you to enjoy.Now, a parenthesis, you may say, “Why did God in the Old Testament tell Israel not to eat certain foods?” In the end, that was a pattern, typology of certain things he wanted to teach them, that they were different than other groups around Israel. But he was never saying, “It’s inherently wrong to eat pork.” It was just a teaching lesson, as we would understand it. And in fact, in some of this wording, he’s probably relating back to Genesis 1:31, where God saw everything he made and he declared it good. Again, second half of 3, “God created foods to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” And also marriage, God made. Or to say it another way: even though the world abuses material things, God made them for believers to enjoy. There’s a bunch of exceptions to that, certain things you are not supposed to enjoy, but to enjoy. Then there’s always the moderation speech, but you’ve heard that 100 times, so enjoy in moderation.
But the big picture here: enjoy God as Creator; he made things for you to enjoy. In this world, and then significantly more in the next, in the new heavens and the earth for you to enjoy material things. Enjoy your food, enjoy your marriage. Just talking to Mr. McCullough, who was recently married. Enjoy your car, your apartment, your house. College football games. Your children, your grandchildren. Fishing, again in moderation. I’m not a fisherman. But if you acknowledge it comes from God (and all the appropriate caveats), enjoy God’s world.
God made the reality that we live, this life, to have with both what we call sometimes spiritual things, “spiritual” is using in a variety of ways in the Bible, but one way it’s used is immaterial. Not all the time, but many times. And this life includes both spiritual (or immaterial) and material things. A takeoff on the Second Helvetic Confession: it talked about how in the Old Testament there were spiritual and material things, but for teaching purposes, an emphasis on material. Then in the New Testament time, there’s both spiritual and material things. We pray for in the Lord’s Prayer, “give us our daily bread.” There’s material things in the New Testament, but with an emphasis on the spiritual. And then we get to the new heavens, new earth, hyper both. New heavens, new earth.
The material world we live in is God’s world.Say it another way. The material world we live in is God’s world. Let’s not give it to the materialists, even though they abuse it. Let me read verse 4 and 5 and make some comments about 5. Kind of summing up, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it’s received with thanksgiving.” Just another fancy word for prayer. “For [and now a final sum up] it is made holy [the food] by the word of God and prayer.” It’s made holy or sanctified or consecrated or set apart. Now, probably the Word of God there is probably one of the few times it means the Word of God in creation. I’m not one hundred percent sure of that. The Word of God meaning that he created it by his Word, may mean the Bible, too, but probably means the Word of God in creation and prayer.
Praying at Meals Reminds Us of God’s Grace in Creation and Redemption
So why do we pray at meals? To sanctify the food by acknowledging it all comes from God. We are also acknowledging his creatorship, as creator and continuing providence. It enforces the idea of grace with a little “g.” The word thanksgiving, we give thanks for the grace with a little “g” that he gave us providence to have money to do this, to cook and have this food in front of us. There is a certain sense that a Christian considers his food a gift.
Why do we pray at meals? To sanctify the food by acknowledging it all comes from God.And then that moves us, the idea, we pray, thanking God for the food, thanking secondarily the person who made it, the job, this, that, but ultimately thanking God for the food. Little “g,” a gift, makes us think about big “G,” big grace, that ultimately, Christ, that we have, we didn’t deserve. Again, just think of it. I thank God for this food. I didn’t merit it in some absolute sense. Makes you think also to thank Christ in the fullest sense for a gift that I don’t deserve, my salvation; it was given to me. Or to say it another way: God graced us in creation and redemption.
But a little parenthesis. We have various words for prayer that I’m guessing in a room this size people use. What do you use? You’re at the table and you’re going to say, “Johnny, give the prayer.” What word do you say? Do you say “give thanks” or a “thanksgiving”? That’s in the Bible, in fact, that’s one of our passages, it’s in a bunch of places. There’s one place, Mark 8:7, where they’re talking about a prayer before a meal and they call it a “blessing to bless.” Do any of you use that expression? “Give the blessing,” right in the Bible, so it’s good. Interestingly, in 1 Corinthians 10:30, although most modern translations have changed it because they’re afraid they’re going to confuse you, it actually calls the prayer a “grace.” And then most modern translations changed over to thanks or something like that. And if you say, “say grace,” there’s that older word, anybody, the older people here? By the way, 1 Corinthians 10:30, if you were worried about being biblical. That word grace one time in the Bible is used with a little “g” about the prayer before meals.
Prayer before meals is a wonderful tradition, if you think about it. Several times a day, I remember the grace with a little “g” that I am gifted with to eat, which then moves me to think about grace with a big “G,” my salvation: justification, sanctification, glorification from the Lord Jesus Christ. Several times a day I remember God is my creator and my redeemer. A seminary student, an RTS Charlotte seminary in the mid 90s, I knew him very well. It was during finals week, and he was a very good student, academically and in all ways. And he came in my office, plops down on the chair: “Bob, these finals are killing me. I haven’t prayed in three or four days.” And he was disgusted at himself. I said to him, “You mean you don’t even pray before meals?” “Well, yeah, I do that.” “OK, don’t downplay praying before meals like that’s a nothing, like that doesn’t count. It’s in the Bible. It’s wonderful. Now, maybe the way you’ve been doing it, it doesn’t count too much, but it’s a wonderful tradition. It’s a biblical tradition we actually do several times a day.”
Don’t downplay praying before meals like that’s a nothing, like that doesn’t count. It’s in the Bible.When you’re with your covenant family, your covenant friends, it’s a wonderful time around the Lord’s gifts. When you’re with non-Christians, and in my former engineering life, every time we were going out to eat with the client with people from the firm (for the people at the firm I had “goofy Christians” stamped on my forehead from their perspective), how was I going to handle the prayer thing? Was I going to do the silent thing? Was I going to say, “Do you mind if I pray?” I had my little ways to do it. It’s not very offensive. It’s a great little witnessing tool. “Do you mind if I pray before we eat?” Most people aren’t going to go, “Yeah, I mind.” Now, usually the little headache is they’ve already started to eat before you got there, and then you feel awkward about it. But, you know, if you get your food first, then you could wait for them. It’s a way to witness. It’s godly. It’s wholesome.
It reminds you of bigger issues a couple times a day. You can express kindness for the other person across the table. You know, someone’s having a medical difficulty, and you’re just not thinking about it. You’re at work. You pray for Sally and her medical difficulty. Or how about at your own family home and you have children and your children have grown up hearing the parents, one of them praying for the other parent a couple times a day?
A Pattern for Praying
Tips for praying. Especially now that you have seminary student on the front of your forehead, you’re going to be asked to pray in a bunch of scenarios. There are a whole bunch of patterns of prayer in the Bible. In fact we have courses on prayers in the Bible, don’t we? One pattern, a normative but not exhaustively normative pattern, if you are in one of my classes, I might suggest is think about God as creator and redeemer.
If you don’t mind, run to Colossians 1 just for a second. And this pattern is in many places, not everywhere, but many places in the Bible. In Colossians 1, Paul speaks of Christ in the pattern: he’s both creator (and continuing providence) and redeemer. Colossians 1:15:
[He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him [or through him] all things were created.” So through Christ, all things were created, Father and Son, aiding that. “In heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, in him all things hold together [continuing providence].”
That’s 15–17. Now Paul switches. “And he [Jesus] is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he may be preeminent.” One biblical way to think of the triune God: he’s the creator and he’s the redeemer. So therefore, in your prayers, you could then thank God for being our creator and redeemer. And then, think of things more related to creator aspects of our lives. And again, you can’t make a split exactly between material and spiritual. But pray for John; he’s got the Little League game. Or Sally hurt her ankle. Pray for the finances. “Oh, the Smith family. They lost their job.” Think of some creator-related angles. And thank him for the food, creator-related angle. Then think of some spiritual related angle. Something related to the church. Something to personal salvation. Something to “forgive us our sins.”
That’s one useful pattern, not the only pattern in the Bible. Think in your prayers, “God is creator and redeemer and implications of how that relates to me that petitions creator and redeemer.” And not just petitions, but thankful. Thankful that Mr. Smith found the job. Thankful that no one was hurt at the game. Thankful that Mrs. Smith’s operation went well. And then also the spiritual. Thank you for the missionaries, John being converted, so forth and so on.
Praying at meals is done by all Christian traditions. It’s been done for thousands of years, even before the New Testament. It is a wonderful, wonderful tradition. Use it to aid your growth as a Christian and encourage others (assuming that you’re praying with other people) with God’s both creative benefits and his redemptive benefits.
As Paul says, “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it’s received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” Amen and Amen.
