LMD Week 16 (year 2) Devotional

MAIN IDEA: THE CHURCH PROVIDES FOR IT’S OWN

INTRODUCTION and SCRIPTURE READING

I have been reading 1 Timothy.

In Paul’s Timothy, he teaches the young shepherd about proper doctrine and how church leadership should look.

And by the end of the letter Paul instruct the church not to hide from their responsibilities of caring for each other.

But there’s a really powerful warning that’s in chapter 5 that struck me.

That’s the scripture I wanted to examine tonight:

READ: Let’s turn to 1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

BODY1 Before heeding a warning like this, we ought to examine the HISTORICAL/GRAMMATICAL CONTEXT and the verses before and after.

CARE FOR WOMEN AND WIDOWS

(Let’s rewind to v2) - 1 Timothy 5:2 “older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.”

In other words, treat the women in the church like your own family.

This is the general idea Paul starts with.

Continuing the flow of thought, Paul get’s more specific on how to treat WIDOWS in 1 Timothy 5:3 “Honor widows who are truly widows.”

How should we treat them? We should honor them! Respect them. Treat them well.

In verse 4, Paul talks about what right looks like in the care for widows.

1 Timothy 5:4 “But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.”

This is Very important. The children or grandchildren or I think anyone who decides to help a widow, pleases God.

They are showing Godliness, which is worshipping and showing devotion to God.

Taking care of this widow may include providing food, money, clothes, shelter, protection, worldly goods for their very survival!

In verse 5 though, Paul makes a more clear distinction between types of widows.

1 Timothy 5:5 “She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,”

So Paul has distinguished between 2 types of widows:

1) The widow who is alone who sets her hope on God who is without familial support - he refers to as a “true widow”.

2) The widow who has familial support from children or grandchildren.

3) Side note: there is a 3rd type of widow! The widow who is self indulgent. 1 Timothy 5:6 “but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.”

NASB says these widows give themselves to “wanton pleasure” which may mean unrestrained sexual relationships.

1 Timothy 5:11–13 “But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.”

The NIV translation of v11 says sensual desires draw them away from Christ.

Is Paul trying to redefine what a widow is?

No. He obviously calls all of them widows - referring to women whose husbands who have died.

However, there’s a reason he has to make a distinction between widows. Why?

We see the reason in 1 Timothy 5:16 “Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.”

So BELIEVING widows that don’t have any support to survive are the ones that the church will use its resources to support.

Further qualifications (and disqualifications) for the church assistance are in 1 Timothy 5:9–10 “Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. .”

BODY2: APPLICATION: this brings us to VERSE 8.

THE CHURCHES WARNING: All of this, verses 1-7 are the backdrop for the great warning in 1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

This is a heavy charge.

What could be worse than the fate of an unbeliever?

So how do we as IGC respond to this warning as true believers?

THE CHURCHES HEART

I feel that this warning concerns the church and the heart of the church and there’s an underlying principle we can see.

Bottom Line is this: We must understand that the church must care for its own. If someone is in need of goods needed to sustain their life, the church people need to provide it.

And God has designed an organized method of doing this.

If the church members don’t take care of their own family all the widows would be helpless widows.

This burdens the church as a whole more than it should.

But I think there’s more to it than meets the eye when we examine this principle of the church taking care of it’s own like family.

THE CHURCHES FAMILY

The church members need to see PEOPLE within the church the right way. It’s always a danger for men and women to see each other as objects of sexual or emotional gratification.

But Paul says in v1-2 all of us need to treat all of us as family.

This is further elaborated on in 1 John 3:17–18 “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”

IF ANYONE. The NASB also says BROTHER OR SISTER.

So it’s not just the blood relatives that should contribute to caring for this widow. If we are to treat all the women as mothers, then if we see any widow in need at church, then we better get on it to help them.

CONCLUSION: THE CHURCHES ONLY WAY

WHY AND HOW CAN WE EVER DO THIS?

We are sinners! Paul in chapter 1 tells his spiritual son Timothy that he himself is the worst of sinners: a violent, persecuting, blasphemer! Yet, because of God’s love and mercy toward him, God’s patience was displayed.

Not only this but this would be the prototype of how God would act toward us, his elect, for salvation.

GOD GAVE PAUL STRENGTH. And he gives that same strength to us to love others. And we do know what true love is.

1 John 3:16 “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

It doesn’t necessarily mean die. No. It means love others with the love we’ve been shown by Christ because we know what that true love is!

That is how and why we can give worldly goods to people in the church that are not even our blood relatives, people who we may even not know well. It’s not for rewards, not for approval of man, not to appease the Environmental Social and Governance requirements, not for a feel good feeling though it might yield that, no, it’s because of what Jesus Christ did for us, the worst of sinners.