By: Dale Weckbacher
1 Timothy 5:1-2
Do not rebuke an
older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women
as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.
NKJV
Jesus taught that the world would know us by our love for
each other (John 13:35). 1 Timothy 5
provides details of how we as believers are to treat those in our congregations
and since the purpose of this study in 1 Timothy is to equip us for spiritual
battle, we must take care of how we treat each other in order to be an example
of the love of Christ in our dark world.
As believers we are to,
1)
Treat older men as fathers and younger men as
brothers (1 Timothy 5:1) – The secular world we live in often regards older men
as beyond their prime and not as useful as they used to be. Younger men, like Timothy, are often regarded
as inexperienced. However, within the
church, everyone whether old or young as a purpose in God’s plan. Granted that purpose can change over time but
we are not to regard a person’s age as a guide to determine their
usefulness. For older men who have
experience, younger men should regard them as fathers with much to teach. Younger men should be regarded as brothers in
need of our support and not condemned for their age.
2)
Likewise, older women are to be treated as
mothers (1 Timothy 5:2) – Just as with men, the secular world often regards
older women as beyond their prime.
Unfortunately, this robs younger women of what they could derive from
the wisdom and experience of older women.
Younger women are also to be regarded as sisters and thus supported by
their fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Once again just as we saw with men. It is someone’s devotion to the
teachings of the Word of God and their devotion to God’s will in their lives,
and not their age that determines their usefulness.
3)
Honor widows who are truly widows (1 Timothy5:3) – In biblical times women did not work outside of the home. As such, if they became widowed, they had no
source of income. Therefore, the
treatment of widows was extremely important and the compassionate thing to
do. This provides an example of active
compassion towards those in the greatest need among us. I believe it is this active compassion Jesus
was referring to when he taught that the world would be drawn to Christ when
they saw how the church treated those in need within the congregation.
However, 1 Timothy 5:3 also refers to those who are truly widows so we must ask what constitutes a true widow. Fortunately for us 1 Timothy5:4-16 defines it for us. This passage tells us that,
1) A
true widow is one who is left all alone with no relatives to care for them (1Timothy 5:4-8) – Familial ties were strong in Israel during biblical times and
remain strong to this day. These strong
ties teach that children and grandchildren have an obligation to care for their
widowed mothers and grandmothers. 1
Timothy 5:4 teaches that this showing of compassion is Godly and fulfills the
commandment to honor our fathers and mothers.
In addition, this commandment carries with it the promise of longevity
of life and therefore is a demonstration of wise compassion (Exodus 20:12).
2) A
true widow is to set her hope on God and not live a life of self-indulgence (1Timothy 5:5-6) – A widow who places her entire hope in God is demonstrating
faith, trust and total surrender of her life to God. As such, she would have no desire to live a
life of self-indulgence. It would
therefore be unwise for the church to blindly fund a self-indulgent widow’s
self-indulgencies for this represents a waste of resources that could be used
to help a true widow in genuine need.
3) A
true widow demonstrates maturity bearing Godly fruit in her life (1 Timothy5:9-16) – Verse 9 speaks of enrolling widows.
This enrollment would be similar to someone today enrolling in a
government welfare program or receiving regular support from some charity or
church program. Once again it would be
unwise for a government or charity to just blindly distribute resources without
having some guidelines for determining someone’s genuine need for support. In the church during the time of Paul’s writing,
the guideline was that a widow be sixty or over, the wife of one husband with a
reputation for good works like bringing up children, showing hospitality, and
even washing the feed of saints which was important for people walking on dirt
roads in biblical times. These good
works demonstrate she is not self-indulgent and will not be wasteful with the
resources given her. Younger widows
however were not enrolled in the regular program of support for it was believed
they, being young, could remarry and most likely had family members who should
care for her.
The showing of
compassion is a way for us to actively demonstrate the love of God which dwells
within each of us. When we actively
demonstrate this compassion to those within the church, we create a desire for
those outside to church to become part of the body of Christ. However, we are also called by God to be good
stewards of what God has given us and therefore must be wise in how we utilize
the resources God has blessed us with.
Let us therefore as soldiers of God desiring to spread the Gospel be
both active, and wise in how we show compassion.
Next Wednesday we
will look at additional instructions for elders.
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