First Timothy lesson 25

Well, I am in 1 Timothy chapter 5. I'm going to wrap up a few questions. Somebody's got a mic on, and Mike, it might be yours. Could you kill that? That's so good, thank you. I was just having a hard time getting the noise, the background noise. But now I can hear. Can you hear me okay? Okay, thank you, sorry. Well, 1 Timothy chapter 5, let's read 1 and 2. Can somebody grab those two verses for me? And we'll pick up with question 10, lesson 24, right after we read. Chapter 5, verse 1.

I've got it here. Thank you. Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as the father, the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters in all purity. No, you did right. Yeah, that's exactly what I was looking at. So, let's talk about the transition from 1 Timothy 4 to 1 Timothy 5. What's going on here?

What does 16 say, 416? That's all about Timothy persevering in the face of spiritual battle, teaching as a spiritual responsibility. Paul talks about, to Timothy, he tells him at the end of chapter 4 that faithful teaching actually does something. What does it do? What's the point of faithful teaching to the body that Paul is trying to communicate to Timothy?

What does it protect him against? I would hope that the teaching at Holly Hills and also there in Canada and anywhere else that we're communicating God's Word, that it would be beneficial for those that hear to protect them against doctrinal error. Right? That's what Timothy was dealing with. That's what Paul was encouraging him to focus on. Protect those and doctrinal correctness so as to lead them away from error and ultimately to salvation.

Would you agree with that? When I turn my mic on, is it fuzzy? Yeah. I'll try another one. I think salvation here has a lot to do with not the initial salvation, but the longevity of staying the course and not being sidetracked along the way. Yes, I agree, and that term salvation is interesting because you're already talking to a group of believers. So, what are they, what's the secondary sense that the New Testament refers to in someone saving themselves?

You got Philippians 2.12.

Maybe somebody wants to jump into Philippians 2.12.

We've also got some passages in James and Jude, but, um, Levians 2.12 might get us along this path. And feel free to read once you got it. Rick is page turner.

So then my beloved justice, you have always obeyed. Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Well, there's that fire and brimstone. How do you work it out? Next verse, for it is God who works unto you both the will and to do of his good pleasure.

Thank you for reading the second one there. So salvation has a different perspective here, right? Yeah. But explain to me what that means to you today, sitting where you sit. What does it mean for you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling? For it is God who... One way or another, I'll get there smoking and burning. Well, I think it has more to do with what's happening now, not where you're going. Isn't that more just... Go ahead, Myles. That's OK.

I was just going to say, when talking about salvation in terms of our walk, I always think of the transition that Paul makes between Romans 3 and 4 and chapters 6 through 8. And he uses that salvation language in chapter 5. It says, so much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. That's kind of his whole point.

It's the life of Christ that is our salvation in the present tense kind of a sense, right? Is this positional or conditional? What do you think Philippians 2.12 is talking about, salvation positionally or conditionally? And is that a fair question? Does it apply? I thought it did, but... What does salvation mean, right?

We're being... slaved from something to something. Miles, we talked, I can't remember if it was Monday Night Bible Study or if it was last week's, but a person is always enslaved, but you're also possibly freed from, and then joined in union to. and you become essentially what is referred to as a bond servant, a willful servant unto.

So what is Paul really challenging Timothy to do in light of the salvation, that is, Well, we would like to say it's the gospel, let's get the gospel out. But I think that it has to do with a perseverance of paying close attention to the spiritual battle that you're surrounded by. I think Paul is telling Timothy to be faithful in teaching and protect against that doctrinal error, and that could definitely lead to salvation from a positional perspective, but I think he has in mind conditional very much here as well.

So there must be a leg in my, I'm always jumping on people. Sorry. I was just gonna say, I think it has a lot to do with, uh, with keeping our eyes on our, on our position, that that's the thing that, um, that ensures salvation in the conditional, you know, present present tense kind of a sense, right? We have to be, we have to be reminded of our, of our position. We have to be standing on that ground in order for that. the reality of that to be worked out in our day-to-day life. Anyone have a problem with that? How does that practically make sense for you?

So as we start to look at the position impacting the condition, Paul, in this chapter 5 of 1 Timothy, starts to get really kind of personal. He moves from a broader perspective of, this is how I want you to behave, Timothy, in terms of being on alert and close attention. And we got that from Ephesians 6 that we looked at last week. So there's a lot of responsibility that church leaders carry, and Chapter 5 moves into a personal nature.

What is that personal nature? I was on the phone with Mike Doyle earlier this week, and yes, I gave him a hard time when we opened, but I would never sharply rebuke Mike. Is that what that means? but rather a piltum as a father, and to younger men as brothers? How does that look in your life? How would that look for Timothy? And then maybe think about it from your own perspective.

Well, what is the older man? The word here is, it could be translated elder man. get personal, right? We're talking about the relationships of different ages. You could see this possibly as, in the wrong way, as do not sharply rebuke an elder. Do we believe that this term Is the same or an elder who leads and guides the sheep? Or is this an age description?

That's the first distinction we need to make, right? So I know that you can't respond. So Miles is going to have to respond to everything. I guess I got to come off mute then. That's what I'm going to do. I was doing some math the other day, and I think unless anyone new has come to Holly Hills here, I'm the youngest. So everybody's older than me, so I can't, you know, this is pretty applicable. Well, you've got the younger men. in your camp as well, right?

And then chapter 5 verse 2 clarifies older women as mothers and younger women as sisters in all purity. This has to do with the family relationship is where I'm kind of settling my mind around this. Absolutely, Paul has instructed Timothy on what eldership looks like as a role within the Church, as a privilege, in a capacity to lead and to protect and to preserve, to be on alert, to pay close attention. And while that all applies to any age group, it was specific to Timothy as a teacher in the church. And here, in chapter 5, we're moving on to what I see by way of interpretation. a treatment of different age groups within the body and it's it is highly personal don't sharply rebuke an older man um what would be the opposite of not sharply rebuking an older man you know i really like that you know appeal to him as a father um and uh it is really cool the way the way he draws out these these different family relationships right that's the way we're to look at one another now um i don't know what everyone's personal home situation was like growing up how they related to one another but You know, I think for myself, at least, I can recognize that I have a ton of respect for my dad, still do.

And especially as you grow older, you become a young man yourself, and all of a sudden, you have your own views and opinions on things, but you still respect him. And so you learn how to appeal to him as your father. So you may not be in agreement on something. You don't rebuke him, right? You appeal to him on something. And it's just, yeah, it's neat to think that in the church we have that same kind of interaction, same kind of relationship to one another. I want to carry that forward. So you've got the father.

So you appealing as a younger man to an older, not rebuking, but appealing to, and then, and then the chain switches over. So it's, there's the older, but what about the younger? What about those younger men as brothers? What does that, what does that mean? How do you appeal to a younger man as, as a brother? Oh, I can hear Mike. Oh, OK. I can't see you, but I can hear you. You can hear me or you can hear I can hear you now, too.

So we've got the the appeal to the older man as as a. But my question is, how do you appeal to the younger generation, younger men as brothers by grace? Did you hear that Mike said yeah, I said I did I was just thinking about how I got onto my son last night and I was absolutely convicted It's a conditional walk because of a Positional reality Yeah, I think it ties right back in perfectly Mike and It talks about the same thing in verse two, with older women as mothers and younger women as sisters.

So as I was kind of working this out in my thinking, I'm looking at this, surely the family analogy, right? And it's beyond an analogy, but it sets the standard for the body is a family. And the way that we're told to honor our mother and father, etc., we're also given, you know, much clarity on how family relationships should work. Those same traditional into conditional attitudes work in the body of Christ as well.

So question number 10, what is the problem dealt with in this chapter? I think it deals with, you know, it goes into the problem of widows. But before it goes into the problem of widows, it establishes the nature of attitude towards one another and it covers men and women, young and old. And then it goes to a first century issue. So what's that next question number 10 on lesson 24?

What is the problem dealt with in this chapter? We'll call it the problem of widows, but what was that, based on your study? What did that mean? Well, if you look at the history, though, I know they're calling the out-of-town Jews who were complaining that the in-town Christians weren't taking care of their widows, and so they had an issue about it. So Paul is laying out the parameters under which widows are to be taken care of. Oh, I forgot that. Did you hear what I said? Not a word. Yes, I did. I did.

It's going up and down by way of volume, which is fine. One thing I wanted to point out is the brothers to brother. I think that what we're studying on the main service about weaker and stronger brothers is a really good layout of how you deal with your brother. There are strong brothers and weak brothers, and how do they react to each other? And I think it's very informative and educational to realize that even if you're a strong brother, you modify your freedom for the benefit of the weaker brother. And the weaker brother doesn't go around judging the stronger brother, but the stronger brother's doing his job.

He's got nothing to be criticized about. And the point is, is that they love each other. And so there's lots of leeway there for hearing and listening and realizing that the body of Christ grows individually, but also because you find out in your life you're really thankful for the brothers that were in your life that came along, you know. No, that's absolutely a big part of what Paul is setting up for Timothy here.

In looking at the widows, in that time, we could say a few facts about what was going on. A, or first of all, is there was a vulnerability to widows. They didn't have a lot of income. They didn't own their own property. And if they didn't have family support, they could easily fall into poverty.

And this was something that was on the top of mind for Paul. There's always, you know, the incorrect application of this, but the early church at that time was supporting many widows. What Paul is impressing upon Timothy is a, at least in my mind, is Christian compassion. You see that in Acts 6, but as the church grew, some of those women began to abuse that system.

And they could have done it in many different ways. They could have been receiving financial support or the help of others unnecessarily. They could have, as in verse 13 points to, living idly or becoming busybodies, or we also see representations of widows avoiding family responsibility. So families shrinking their duty, well, not even widows, but those that should be caring for widows avoiding that family responsibility. And I think that Paul is wanting there to be discernment and structure to this. And he instructs Timothy to create clear qualifications for those widows who are to be put on the list, so to speak. Verse 9 says that.

I was always curious about how that might translate, but put on the list likely probably a formal group of those receiving ongoing support or possibly serving in the ministry, and you could view this similar to to men that are in the same situation. I'm not sure that there's a lot. I know in the first entry, it was focused here. This was the issue that they were really handling at the moment. But I see a lot of, if I can say it, a lot of that same attitude for Tom, right? Like this is applicable in my mind. So Paul is giving qualifications and helping a first century situation of vulnerability, especially in the case of widows, to explain the way the church functions.

Is that, are we okay with that? Yeah. So I guess the question 11 is, has it been solved? Have we done the thing? Is it solved? Yes. Okay. I want to say why, but I want you to think about why you said yes for a second. What were the things that had to be put into place in order for that problem to be solved in Timothy's time? That's what Miles has to do next week. Well, I think, first of all, someone grab Acts chapter 6 verses 1 through 6. It's going to be a little bit of a long read, but I think it's applicable here. Acts 6 verses 1 through 6.

Now at this time, while the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. So the twelve summed the congregation of the disciples and said, It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom. whom we may put in charge of this task, but we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." The statement found approval with the whole congregation, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Pecorias, and Necanthor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch. And these they brought before the apostles, and after praying, they laid their hands on them.

Yeah. So you've got a conflict, right? It arose out of or because widows were being overlooked in daily food distribution. They weren't given enough food. So the apostles responded, in the case of Acts 6 here, by appointing seven men. What do you think this role is in the church, these seven men? Deacons.

I think you're right, Cheryl. Yeah. And they're to manage the ministry of caring for these women. And so the goal It had to do with being fair, making sure that there was enough food to go around. The apostles could concentrate on the prayer side, and the deacons could focus on fairness and entrusting, you know, the ministry of eating, and focus on that, where the apostles could concentrate on prayer and teaching, and knowing that the care was being handled.

Now that's evolved to the degree that, you know, we're not, we do have deacons. So we've got one of the seven men in the back there, another one in the back doing other things there at Holly Hills today. And then we've got an elder. You're not an apostle, but you are, um, In the case of what the problem they're dealing with, you're to concentrate on the prayer and the teaching, knowing that the care, the physical needs of those in the body are being handled.

If you had to focus on both, I would say it's an imbalance of how the church is to be administratively managed. And so he gives them guidelines. Paul gave pastoral guidelines to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 5. He introduced them to the qualifications for widows receiving ongoing support.

They must be truly widows indeed, without the family to care for them. And we're going to get into this more, but they must be older. And in my study, it was likely over 60 years old-ish, but be godly and known for good works. Those are the women that qualified for elders, or in the case of Acts 6, these seven men to care for and focus on so that the apostles could continue and concentrate on prayer and teaching. Younger widows were encouraged to remarry and stay productive, not dependent. That goes into 1 Timothy 5, 11 through 15. We're going to get into that. But essentially what Paul was saying is families, live for your own. Live for your own. You got verse 4, verse 8, verse 16, all kind of repeating that same perspective.

So was the problem solved in the first century? Does it continue on today? And Mike, and having read through your notes, I have a question that I'd like to pose that is just what I said. How does the Holy Spirit show us how to depend upon the principles of care for others in the body? Even though it might have been solved to a degree in the first century with those widows in those situations, how does it relate to what we might call exercising wise generosity towards one another? What does that mean for us today? One of the great things about God's word is that he does address, Paul especially addresses issues and lays out the principles in which the issues are to be handled, which offers a solution that is good not only for initially, but for all time.

So in that sense, I think the problem is solved. But in another sense, talking about Tom Mallinson, you know, he has a family who have, you know, disavowed care for him. So he could stay where he is or we could bring him here and hopefully he'd have a much more productive life and fellowship with believers who cared about him. And it isn't a matter of, necessarily a matter of economics with him because he's got social security and other things. You know, in our society, we've kind of solved that problem with social security, even though you can't live on that, but still you have income. So I think the principle to to take care of your brother is laid out here, or widow, or whoever it is. But the primary responsibility falls on the family.

Yes. That's really good. And I think it falls along the lines of what I'm learning here as well. I think there are principles. I put it into a category of four. And I'll review those here in the last few minutes. we'll pick up with Lesson 25 next week.

I think compassion must be paired with discernment. So, churches should absolutely be caring for those that are vulnerable, the widows, elderly, even single parents, I think, fall into these categories. But Paul is communicating to Timothy the nature of which to care, and that is, You need to be wise, you need to be structured, and it needs to be sustainable. And the deacons are a big part of that. in order for the organism of the church to function in this capacity, right? So that's the first thing, compassion compared with discernment. The second thing is that family responsibility is still foundational. So Paul's super clear here.

If a family can help, what should they do? They should help. if they can. And the church comes along and supports when others can't, not instead of others who won't. So, there's a strong rebuke in verse 8 around that. When you can, you should. So, in today's context, we talk about like adult children maybe neglecting their elderly parents, assuming the church or government will step in, and that really misses the biblical model of what Timothy's talk, or Paul's telling Timothy here, is we're not to to neglect those that are older.

We're not to assume that the church or the government should step in, but where we can, we should. So family responsibility is still foundational. He doesn't take that away. He includes it. There's a strong rebuke there in verse 8. We'll get to that.

The third thing, and these are principles that are relevant to us still today, I believe, is honoring the elderly, meaning the older generation, and the servant-hearted. So my thought here was the church should recognize and care for those who've lived a life of faithfulness.

Maybe that's a little bit too... I'm going back to Michael's comment on grace. I think grace should be the motivation behind how that works, even though this is structural. there is an intentional care for long-time members or servants of the Church, not just with the money, but being there, spending time with. You know, I think about the stories that each of you have of coming alongside, whether it be...

I won't mention any more names during class, but we've got those that we've got to walk alongside and encourage, and we still respect them and we honor them. But they, even more than money, sometimes they just need our presence. And that's one of the ways that we honor those that are older than ourselves.

And then the fourth one, fourth point here is guarding against idleness and gossip. So in the first century there was still the danger when people live off others but don't engage in the meaningful services of the church. They became idle. And then additionally, they exchanged in gossip and constant conversation about things that may or may not be working very well.

But a healthy church equips and invites all ages and life stages into active participation, not the contrast, active participation on one end and then passive dependency on the other end. So there's a responsibility from all parties with regards to the structure that Timothy's putting, or that Paul and Timothy are learning about. I loved this term. It said Paul was addressing the compassion, fatigue, and system strain of the early church. Compassion, fatigue, and system strain.

Where on the other side, the church ministries of benevolence and how we treat the elderly and the vulnerable with compassion and accountability, we are to take that upon ourselves. So these older men, in a general sense, could relate to different groups within the church. Don't sharply rebuke them as older men. Rather, appeal to them as a father, to the younger men as brothers, to the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.

So I'll stop there, and we'll close in prayer. One thing, just on the last quick point is, I think what has happened is the blurring that has happened by government versus the church. Even 100 years ago, the church was more active in these areas. Now it is the government that supposedly takes care of everybody. We have Social Security, we have Medicare, we have Medicaid, we have all these things.

That that supplants what the church would have done And I think that leads to the other point that you made is idleness and busybody and all that those who just get handouts without like these criteria that Paul lays out in the next verses is You know, these are the criteria of which you do this.

You can't be this you can't do that. It's In the government, there's very little requirement. You're just of age or whatever, or criteria, and you get the money. And I think our current society blurs the last two points you said, what the church is supposed to do, and what that creates in the individuals who are being supported. They don't put these criteria on.

I think we are in a very interesting point in time with respect to these points we are getting to. I agree, and I'm interested to hear more about that. I think we're keying in on the ideology of socialism and some of the things that we're seeing across a lot of our countries, and I include all of us because that's the tendency, right, is to government-sponsored grocery stores. No, you cook a meal and you take it over there. It's a totally different thing. So I'll let you touch on that with Myles next week, and I can segue out. No, but I agree completely.

I remember being in Moldova, which was right next to Romania there on the Black Sea, and the whole Iron Curtain and all the things that that they went through with the Soviet Union at the time and so forth, their mentality was, all we have to do is look like we're busy and we'll be okay. That's what they told me, and I was like, what does that mean?

And I looked around. There was a lot of very fine, wonderful believers and people there, so I don't want to discredit, but everything was unfinished. Buildings were not completed. Streets were not kept. There was just no thought, because we're waiting on you to do that for us. So we're idle, and we're busybodies, and we just have to look like we're doing some stuff. and everything will be fine.

Well, A, that's wrong for government, but more importantly in this case and in this context, it's not right for the body of Christ. That's not the function. That's not how we operate. So benevolence and care for those that are vulnerable are very important. But families have a role in that, and there's a lot to take away from this.

So I'll stop and pray for us, and we'll go into second hour here. Father, we thank you that you have created a structure and you've communicated it through Paul to Timothy. on how to approach these different generations and the needs that present themselves, and the structure is godly. It's based on not only the way that you designed and created us, but it allows us to operate an operating system of grace rather than handouts or forced. We do it because we love, and we love because you first loved us. And so we're so thankful that you do teach us and provide us with the love and grace in which to operate as a body. And we thank you for that. It's in your name we pray.