1 Timothy for the life of..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Okay, so I'll invite you all to open up our Bibles to the book of 1st Timothy. We are still in the book of 1st Timothy, but we are in a new chapter.

So we'll be reading chapter 5 this evening and we'll be concentrating our efforts whilst we consider the first 16 verses of chapter 5. 16 verses. which is probably the most we've done in one hit, I think, to this point. So this is just to give you some assurance we will, God willing, get through the book before the end of the year. So the first 16 verses, if you have your Bibles open, 1 Timothy, chapter 5, from verses 1 through 16.

Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father. Younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters in all purity. Honor widows who are truly widows, 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. She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers day, night and day. But she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.

Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach. 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. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than 60 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, but refused 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 from house to house and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies saying what they should not. So I would have younger women or one younger widow, widows, marry, bear children, manage their households and give the adversary no occasion for slander.

For some have already strayed after Satan. If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be so burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows. Amen. This is the word of the Lord.

Now, last few weeks, or last week in particular, we concluded chapter 4 of 1 Timothy. And in that chapter, if you remember, the Apostle Paul was writing to Timothy and was expressing or explaining and giving instructions how he could be a faithful minister of the Word. And if you remember last week, there was two main elements to this. And the first was that Timothy was to look at or watch over his own life, his own personal holiness, as well as to look to his ministry. Now, if you remember, we said that the two go hand in hand.

You can't have one without the other and still be deemed as a faithful minister. You must have both. Now, if Timothy was going to talk the talk, so if he's going to preach the word, if he's going to teach and preach, if he's going to examine God's word and the instruction given to the church, then he needs to be one who lives according to that word. showing that he is indeed a person who is trusting in the Word of God and believing that the Word of God is the instruction for life and godliness for all the people of God. Now Paul gets pretty specific.

Last week we said this and he speaks to Timothy and speaks about his own personal holiness and he expresses five Christian virtues that Timothy must possess and in fact every minister of the word and I would go as far as to say indefinitely this is the goal for every Christian to have in the way of personal holiness, virtues that Christians should possess to one degree or another. And there was five of them. And if you remember last week, and we read them today, can anyone remember any of the five without cheating? Any of the five? Any at all?

Five of the virtues. I'll start you off. The first one was, he was to be an example in his speech. in his speech what was the next one any sort of but he didn't conduct very good conducts actions yeah speech conduct love yes love next one is in his in his faith. It starts with F, I'll take that.

Faith. And the last one was in purity. So I'll say them again. Speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. He needs to excel in these and continue to excel in these Christian virtues so that he would be an example for those who hear him preach, who hear him teach.

And if he proclaims the word, the gospel, to even those who are not in the faith, they ought to see his life and he ought to earn the respect of others through the way he lives out his faith. Because we said last week, James tells us there is no such thing as faith without actions. If you have true faith, true saving faith, then you possess, or the Spirit of God dwells in you, and you are empowered to produce fruit for the Lord. So true faith always produces true works. And so Paul in chapter 4 also exhorts Timothy to do something else, and that is that he would continue to devote himself to three things in particular.

The public reading of the word, exhortation, the encouragement of the disciples, the encouragement of the Christians through the word, and the third one is that he is to continue teaching. teaching the Word. This is the fundamental responsibility of an elder, of a minister of the Word. The three of those pertain to the Word of Jesus Christ, the Bible, the Scripture. And if you remember anything at all as we've been going through the book of 1 Timothy, it ought to be this.

The Word of God, the Scripture, the Bible is central to the Church of Jesus Christ. It carries the supreme authority. God has spoken, and he's given us a closed canon of 66 books, and that canon is the authority of God over the church. It ought to be central to all the church's activities. But there's also one other thing we said last week, to recap before we begin what we're going to speak about this week, and that is that the Bible, or the scripture, also has a protection factor to it.

What do I mean by that? Paul insists that Timothy and every minister of the word diligently study God's word in order to become familiar with God's word. And this is something which is a responsibility for All the believers. See, as the minister studies God's Word, becomes familiar, the Word then does a work in his soul, in his heart. And then he proclaims that Word, and teaches that Word, and exhorts others in that Word, so that the believers grow in their knowledge of God's Word.

Because, as we said last time, one of the major problems in the early church, and one of the major problems in the contemporary church, is this. False teachers. False teachers. They come in and amongst you. They're not coming from the outside.

They don't look like criminals. They don't look like people that want to hurt us. They are risen from in and amongst us. But then they start to spread their lies. And as we said the other week and for several weeks as we've gone through the study of 1st Timothy, we ought to commit our time to study and commune with the Lord and meditate upon his words so that we would know the real thing.

So that if we're confronted with the counterfeit, We can identify it as a fake and for what it is. Because the Word of God protects us from false doctrine. And the weightiness of those truths are all expressed in the last verse of that chapter. And this is what Paul says to young Timothy. He says, keep a close watch on yourself.

and on your teaching. Why? He says, persist in this for by doing so you will save both yourself and your heroes. Beloved, these are very weighty words. It is critical for the Christian life, not only for the minister, but for every one of us to commit to the study of the Word of God.

It's an imperative. It ought to be a desire within us to continually go and read God's Word, to grow in our understanding, to grow in our understanding of our salvation. So we know who our Saviour is, who our God is, so that we know that how we ought to conduct ourselves in the world. The Spirit of God uses that Word and makes it abiding in our hearts and it changes us. It's what conforms us into the image of Jesus Christ.

The Word is central to the Christian life. But now we go from chapter 4 into chapter 5. and Timothy turns his attention to more probably more practical ways of how he and all that's Timothy and all the believers ought to treat one another especially those who are of the greatest need and particularly he speaks of widows in this chapter he says in verse one let's read it do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as he would as as you would a father Younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters. What's Timothy saying? Basically he's saying treat everyone in the church like family.

Why? Because they are family. This is the thing we've expressed that in Christ, those who love the Lord, who by faith have been justified, who are now believing upon Jesus and Jesus alone for their salvation. Jesus is our older brother and God the Father has adopted us into his family in union with Jesus Christ. We are now, as it says in Timothy chapter 3 verse 15, I think it is, that we are now the household of God.

We are the family of God. We are called by His name. Therefore, our brothers and sisters that we commune with weekly, the church, the local body, these are truly our brothers and sisters. It's even the universal body that are our brothers and sisters. But we ought to care in a special way for those that the Lord has placed among us providentially in the area we live and in the church that we attend.

Because we are truly brothers and sisters in Christ. You know, it's very sad when we think about some of the contemporary modern-day churches where there's some big churches, and there's nothing wrong with big churches, but on many occasions you hear of people who go to churches even after years and sit next to people they don't know. And the people they sit next to, they may have seen them week after week in church, but they don't know each other, they don't commune with each other, they don't get to speak to one another. How could this be? There's reasons why we've given the analogies, the truths that the church, the body, gathers as a family.

Imagine as a family that there are members of a family, no matter how big this people have 22 children. So imagine you have a family and a parent doesn't know one of their children, or one of the siblings doesn't understand, doesn't know his brother or sister, they don't know anything about each other. How could that be? You would call that a dysfunctional family. There's something wrong, really wrong, with that family.

Brothers and sisters, this is the same for us. We're a family who ought to be intimate with one another. We ought to love one another, care for one another. We ought to treat each other like families treat members of their own family. This is the way it ought to be.

Like our physical families, Paul is saying, the older men in the church, treat them with the respect and love like you would your own father. The women, the older women, like your mother, The older, the younger men, the younger women, treat them like your siblings. Treat them like your own family. Love them. If one of your own family is hungry, you would care for them and provide for them.

If they have any needs, you ought to be at least burdened to fulfill that need, if you can, within the resources you have. So by God's grace, this is how we grow in our love for one another and grow in unity as we read God's Word, as the Spirit of God works among us. We grow in unity as one family. And so we ought to treat each other the same way. Paul says, do not rebuke older men.

That's the first instruction he gives. It can sound contradictory. Because Paul instructs Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 4, he actually uses rebuke. In our English Bibles we have the same word. He says rebuke the believers who are clearly in error or who are living in sin.

So in one stage he says you rebuke sinners and in another he says do not rebuke. But the thing is, that the minister's responsibility is to lovingly rebuke if someone is living in error or in sin, but in fact the original word is actually different here. It's only used once in the New Testament, and although it's translated rebuke in our Bibles, it's very close to the meaning, but it carries a stronger, sharper overtone. It really connotes a sharp insensitivity. Do not be brutal to your brother.

It's like striking someone. They're the definitions you get when you look up this word. So what he's saying basically is don't speak sharply to the older men. Don't be brutal in your rebukes, but be loving. Timothy, how would you address your father?

It's very likely Timothy's father may be dead at this point. We don't know. But how would you address your father? If your father had done something that's clearly in error, and you need to sit down and speak to him, it is loving to speak to him about the error, but how would you address it? With respect, with love, with care.

Timothy, you must do this to older men. Older women, as such, they're to be treated like mothers. and also the younger ought to be treated as brothers and sisters. Brothers and sisters, can you see how there is no possibility that we can find in this instruction for us to actually be harmful in our words to our brothers and sisters in Christ? There is no justification for us to be spiteful or hurtful in what we say.

We ought to do it in love. Now, some may take offense to what we have to say, but in our conscience we ought to be thinking we're doing it in love. We're doing it because we are genuinely concerned for our brothers and sisters in Christ. You need to ask yourself, am I treating the brothers and sisters that we have in the church, am I treating them like my own family? That's the standard that Paul is instructing Timothy.

And in relating to young men and to young women, the main thing is not to seek your own, but to seek them above your own. It's to deal with them in love. And the thing is love, really love. Because the thing that bonds a family together is indeed love. It's love for one another.

You've probably seen or heard of families that don't have that love, and there's fighting, there's spitefulness, That's not what Paul is speaking. Paul is speaking about a family that is a healthy family, that has a genuine healthy love for one another. I want to remind you of what the Apostle John says in the epistle, in the first epistle. In 1st John chapter 3, listen to what he says. He says, we know that we have passed out of death into life because of what?

Because we love the brothers. So passing from death into life means we know that you are redeemed. We know that you were saved. Jesus speaks of this and Paul says that we were in the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of life. We come from death to life.

John is saying that if you truly love your brothers and that word brothers he does mean brothers and sisters but if you truly love them this is an evidence that you pass from death from being unredeemed being under the wrath of God into life being in the mercy and grace of God now a child of the living God by your love and we ought to be treating one another with with that love. How do I treat my wife? How do I treat my children? That's how I should be treating my brothers and sisters within the church. And it needs to be genuine.

A genuine, it's not self-seeking, but a selfless love. A genuine caring for them. And in particular, in this passage, Paul speaks about those who are in the greatest need amongst the believers. And that is, in this context, the widows. And you know what, it's a sentiment that James also carries.

Because in the book of James, we read, religion that is pure. He's saying religion, in other words, the Christian faith that is pure, is undefiled before God, the Father, and it's this, to visit the orphans and widows in their afflictions and to keep oneself unstained from the world. True religion, he says, is to seek the well-being the widows and these are the ladies in the first century which were or who were in in great need. This is why Paul dedicates 14 verses in this chapter specifically speaking to Timothy how to address the widows in and amongst them. It was a big concern in the early church.

Now if you remember actually one of the first or if not the first that we know of sanctioned ministry or ministerial program that we hear of in the book of Acts is is indeed, go and choose seven men who are full of Holy Spirit from among you, what for what function? You remember what the function was? So that there would be equal distributions to the Grecian, the Greek women, widows I should say, as well as the Jews, because the Greek widows were being overlooked. That's a beautiful, a beautiful demonstration how in Christ and in the church, there is no distinction between Jew or Gentile. There is no racial distinctions, because our faith supersedes all this.

It transcends all these things. But that was a concern for the early church and it continued to be a concern even now when Paul writes to Timothy. He writes 14 verses to say, hey, you need to deal with this. But it's not just a New Testament concern. Throughout the Old Testament you'll see several places in the Old Testament where God is concerned.

That is, people look after the orphans and the widows. God does that throughout the Old Testament. So it's crucial for the people of God to have compassionate hearts. merciful hearts, that they would see that there are people who are not as privileged among them and their hearts ought to be broken, not just to break and then in the mind just acknowledge that brokenness, but rather to act upon it as well. Because there are true needs out there.

In the Old and the New Testament we see that this is something that is really expressed because it is from the heart of God. God defends the fatherless. God takes care of the widow. That's his concern. Now it may be a temptation for us in the 21st century That we look at ourselves and we look at the context of our churches and we look at the country that we live in and we think about this and say, look how really applicable are these words for us?

Let's think about it. We live in a country where there's an age pension. Most people who are of age, retirement age, they receive the age pension. We know there's many nursing homes around. We know there's many old people's facilities.

They didn't have these facilities in these days. So we can be easy to sit back and say, well, you know, how applicable are these things for us? However, despite the dynamics, they do differ from first century Christian church to what we have now by God's grace. Providentially, we have all these things that are deemed as blessings. But what we need to realize is the principle still stands.

So when we go through these things this evening, I want you to think about the principle. Because the principle stands. The dynamics may change. We may not have any widows amongst us, but the dynamics may change. But the principle still stands.

And we can always look at the principle about those who are in true need among us. and the principle of family. Always remember that. As we go through what we go through today, always in the back of your mind, please remember that we are dealing with family. We're not dealing with strangers.

Paul's words are all pretty much, unless he's explicit, he's pretty much speaking to the Christian people, to Timothy, about the Christian women who is amongst them. So having reminded us in verse 2, about the family that the church is, and the reality of the family, and how we ought to care for the family, and treat the brothers and sisters within the church as true family, like our physical family. Paul will go over the next 14 verses, from verses 3 to 16, and he'll explain how to approach the widow situation in Ephesus. And he says these things in love and in equity. But we can divide these verses in two sections.

First, from verses 3 to 8, which is how to care for the distressed widows, those who are truly widows, is how Paul says it. And also, we can look at the next section, which is from verses 9 through 16. And these are characteristics that are necessary to enroll the widow into service. Now, that might not make sense now, but I'll explain it when we get to it. So two sections, from three to eight, we have two qualifications that speak, that are specific to the church.

So Paul says that there are two qualifications for the widow to be deemed as, in our ESV, truly a widow. And you see it listed twice, in verse three and in verse five. And that could be also explained or connoted as a widow in distress. These the church must honor, Paul says. And the honor, the word there is really to honor both physically and spiritually, to provide for them.

In other words, to provide for their needs, to provide for their finance, to provide food and whatever else that's required for these widows to coexist with us as the people of God. In other words, we must value and provide for them. And not just that. We have to realize Paul is not referring to all the widows in Ephesus. He's not saying, look, you know, Ephesus is in a place called Asia Minor and it's a fairly big place.

You need to take these instructions. and have a look at all the widows out there and use them accordingly. No, that's not what Paul is saying. Look, it is the responsibility of the believer to be concerned whether they're Christian or not, people who are in poverty in our society. That is a concern for the Christian, and we ought to do what we can within our means.

But Paul speaks here that the church's responsibility is first and foremost for the people in the church, for the brothers, and the sisters in the church, in particular in this passage for the widows that are among them. He speaks specifically to the believers that are among them, those who are considered mothers and sisters in Christ. So the first qualification is that they must be devoid or without relatives. You'll read that in verse 4. Paul says, "...

but if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household, to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God." What's Paul saying here? Paul is saying essentially If you are people who have sons and daughters or grandchildren who have in your family a mother or a grandmother who is in need, who is a widow and in need, whether it's physically or any other needs, then it's your primary responsibility to make sure you meet those needs. If it's blood relative, if she's your biological relative, you need to make sure that you meet these needs. It's a responsibility of yours to do this.

It's the godly thing to do, especially for Christians. Non-Christians are doing these things. How much more should Christians meet the needs of their family members? This is an important duty before the Lord. So many in our day don't fulfill that obligation.

Christians must, beloved. In fact, Paul is so adamant about this point that if you read verse 8, what does he say there? He says that if there are relatives who don't provide for their household, their biological family, he says you are worse than what? Unbelievers. These are very, very strong words Paul is saying.

Beloved, unbelievers go to hell. Unbelievers go to hell. Paul is saying if you don't provide, if you know if they're Christians who are neglecting completely their families, turn their backs on them, walked away, they're neglecting their needs. If they have a mother or a grandmother who's in need and they don't care for them and they have the resources to be able to provide and you don't care for them, don't you dare call yourself a Christian. Because you're worse than the unbeliever, Paul is saying.

Why? Because you have the light. You've at least lived and dwelled amongst the community of believers, among the church. You've at least heard with your ears what Christians ought to be doing, and you've turned your back on that. See, the unbelievers may not know these things.

Nature teaches them. But they may not know that it is God's mandate that the family members look after each other. But you do. And if you turn your back on that responsibility, then he says, you're worse than the unbeliever. If you neglect your own family.

If you neglect to love your own family. Why would he say this? You see, caring for your family is rooted in love. Again, we're going to love. And if we go back to 1 John this time, the fourth chapter, verse 20, listen to what the Apostle John says about this exact point.

He says, if anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. And remember, love shows itself out in action. We don't just say, like the Christian love here is a verb, it's an acting. So it's not like, I love you. It's not the sentimental, emotional, mushy love that we hear about in the world.

It's an acting love. It's a working love. I show you my love by the things I do. And then he goes on to say, he's a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen. cannot love God whom he has not seen.

You see the principle. You've been given family and if you don't love the family that you know are your responsibility and you've turned your back and you neglect their needs, then how can you say you love God who you haven't seen? He says, you lie. And that's why Paul is able to say with full confidence that if there are any believers who neglect completely their family, turn their back and walk away and neglect their family, Paul says, you're worse than an unbeliever. You're under the judgment.

You're under the judgment of God. Jesus says, by this all people will know that you are my disciples, by your love one for another. If you are in Christ, then the love of Christ abides in you. We love him because he loved us first. So we demonstrate our love through the things we do.

And if the Lord has placed us amongst family, especially our biological family, we ought to show our love by our care. and provision for that family. And then when we look at the extended family of ours, our spiritual family, it needs to overflow into the church as well, because the principles stand true. Our extended family are our eternal, our spiritual family, my apologies, are our eternal family. Brothers and sisters, those of us who are in Christ, if we're trusting in the Lord, if we've been saved by Him, then our brothers and sisters that we commune with, that we fellowship with, will be our brothers and sisters into all eternity.

So whatever seed you sow now will be carried through to all eternity. The benefit is not only now, the benefit is into all eternity. So we should be loving one another. should be loving for one another. My apologies, Jesus spoke to some Jews back in Mark chapter 7 and in Matthew 15.

And these Jews were trying to get out of supporting their parents because there was a little bit of a loophole in their law saying that if you dedicate the money that was supposed to go to your father and your mother, then if you dedicate that money to the temple, then you don't have to provide for your mum and dad. Here's the thing, you get to enjoy it. Because the dedication to the temple could be when you die, you can give the money to your temple. So you actually get to enjoy it. And when your parents are in need, you can just say to them, sorry, my money's been dedicated to the temple.

And Jesus said, you do this and you are defiling or you are breaking the very command of God. And he rebuked these Jews. Why? Because they, for the tradition of men, for the sake of the traditions of men, because it's not God's command, they are violating the commandment of God. What is the commandment of God?

It's the fifth commandment. Thou shalt honor your parents. That means that commandment goes beyond only obedience to parents. It's honoring your parents, which means it goes beyond you being in the household of your parents. It means that when you go out of the household of your parents, you ought to honor your parents and provide for them and love for them as well.

It's not just obedience. It's beyond these things. It's beyond these things. But the thing is also that we're told here that if a widow has family, then the family should provide for them. But if they have family who are rebellious, if they have family who are not in Christ, and they're not providing for their mother or their grandmother, then of course the church is going to provide for her.

Of course. But Paul is laying down the principles for the Christians and saying, if you're in Christ, if you're a believer, if you're part of the church, and you don't provide, then Timothy, you need to command these people. Wake them up. Give them a wake-up call. They would know that their actions are not demonstrations or evidence of true saving faith.

Wake them up. But if they have rebellious kids, Paul's not saying, oh she's got kids, neglect. No, of course not. Provide for her. The church should be sympathetic to mothers like that.

And there's a second reason. There's a second qualification that he gives, and that is that the woman needs to completely be dependent on God. Verse 5, She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God, and continues in supplication and prayers night and day. Her hope is completely secured in God, and her conduct is a reflection of that hope. In other words, If she's a true Christian, her God-centered hope proves that that hope is genuine through spiritual gifts.

We said that earlier on, that true faith ought to come with action and Paul is saying in this situation the fruit for this widow who is truly and fully trusting in God in God alone she's devoted to prayer and supplication day and night she petitions the Lord in prayer day and night she's concerned for the church she's concerned for her brothers and sisters she's concerned for the ministry she's concerned for these things so she's always before the Lord now you might be remember you might be able to remember there was another widow who was committed completely to prayer. You remember back in Luke chapter 2, she's a widow called Anna. For 84 years, we can't tell, there's a textual variance, she could have been divorced, my apologies, her husband could have been dead for 84 years, and she was a widow for 84 years, which makes her pretty old, that's a possibility, she'd be over 100 probably, or she could be 84 years of age at that point, we don't know, but she's a fairly old lady, yeah? And she lived in the, the Bible says she did not depart from the temple, but she committed herself to prayer fasting. Prayer and fasting.

She was committed to the work of God. She was committed to to commune with Him, to supplicate on behalf of people. In her particular, she was waiting for the Messiah to come and when they brought the parents of Jesus, brought baby Jesus into the temple and she saw the baby, she rejoiced because salvation has come to Jerusalem. Genuine Christians with a heart for God have a heart for His people. And genuine Christians who truly love the Lord commune with the Lord in prayer.

Paul is saying, if you're going to be honoring this woman financially and providing for her needs, he calls it a burden to the church. We'll use the same terminology. Not that it is a burden, but it is a cost to the church. But you need to make sure that you go through the correct avenues. Encourage those among you who are family to provide, but then if they don't provide, make sure, if she is destitute, if she is alone and she has no one, then just make sure that she is truly a believer, that she's committed to the Lord, that she commits herself to prayer and supplication, she has a love for the saints and a love for God, and then you can provide for her in these things.

But then he goes on to say, but there are some that Paul says would be proven to become self-indulgent. In other words, they're not given over to prayer, they're not given over to supplication, but they become self-indulgent. You see, you have to think of it this way. These widows have grown up. About this age, they're probably retired.

They no longer have those responsibilities of a family. She would have been married. Now, she may have had kids who have grown up and maybe departed or gone away. Maybe she didn't have kids, she was barren. But either way, she has much more time on her hand.

How is she spending that time? You see, if she's being selfish, self-indulgent, all she's concerned with is the carnal pleasures of her flesh. That all she wants to do is go out there and have fun. You know, this is the world that we live in. If you look at the advertising in the media, when they advertise towards retirement, they're always advertising at your own self.

They'll say words like, you deserve it. You deserve it. Just do it. Now, don't get me wrong. I think that if you've worked hard and you do retire and the Lord gives you that providentially, that you can enjoy the fruit of your labor.

But if that is your only concern, if your only concern is, how do I enjoy myself? How do I fulfill the lust of my flesh? How do I go or do all these things? If you have no concern for the church, if you have no concern for Christ, no concern for the ministry, for the proclamation of the gospel, to the lust, to the salvation of lost souls, if you've got no concern for these things, and your main concern is directed at self, then Paul is saying, then your heart is in grave danger. Grave, grave danger.

And this must not be so amongst the Christians. Because the state of your heart is the evidence of what you do. So if your heart is captured by the Lord, then that will come out in your actions. You'll either be a person, the widow will either be a woman of prayer and supplications, or she'll be a woman that wakes up every morning thinking, how can I satisfy my own soul? How can I satisfy my flesh?

But now we move on to verses 9 through 16, which is the second part of this passage, and here we find the qualifications for the widows who will be enrolled. Now, we need to see this as a separate thing. The first one is the qualification of widows who will be honoured by the church, who will be given the help and the benefits of the church to fulfil their needs. now to be enrolled. Now here we do have commentators that disagree on this.

Some would say, there's two major opinions, some would say the enrollment is to enroll like a list, a list with the widow's names that they would know which widows are the ones who require the help, the financial assistance, or the daily rations, for example. That's a possibility, but the second possibility is that the enrollment is more to the ministry. In other words, enrolled to serve the church in different service capacity. Now, most commentators will agree with the latter. That is, an enrollment list for widows who are actually going to be serving the church, because they're probably already being supplied for.

And just to think about it, that the first thing that Paul says is the woman needs to be over 60 years of age. Does that mean that if she's under 60, she doesn't get any help? What if she's under 60, has kids, husband's dead, and she has no kids, babies, does that mean that she doesn't get any help? No, of course not. The church will definitely provide for her.

So it's very likely that Paul is speaking here of the characteristics that are necessary for the widow to possess the traits that she must have in order to fulfill her service. Because the ones he describes, and we'll see this as we get to them, the ones he describes are very much characteristics that if she doesn't have, it will hinder her service to the church. You'll know what I'm saying once we get there. and it will prove to be harmful to the people of God, to the Christians that she dwells amongst. So, first of all, he says, Paul says that she needs to be over 60 years of age.

Over 60 years of age. Why? Well, at that point, she's probably beyond her childbearing years. At over 60 years of age, providentially, she no longer has the responsibilities of rearing a family, and she has got a lot more time on her hands, and she's a bit more mature, and it's very likely that she will deem the opportunity to serve amongst the believers for the rest of her life as a wonderful opportunity to commit to the Lord and to the saints. And it's important that we see here also that Paul gives some characteristics, probably very similar to the ones that were given to the office bearers.

Remember how we were in chapter three, how Paul gives characteristics for the elder and the deacon. He used something very similar here because the next thing he says is that she must be literally a one-man woman. A one-man woman. Now, if you remember back, for the deacons and for the elders, it was a one-woman man. One-woman man.

This is a one-man woman. It's described actually the same way. Now, it doesn't mean here that if her husband had died and she'd remarried and that he's died again and she's a widow because of that, that's it, she's been disqualified. That's not at all what Paul is saying here, because that would be a legal thing in the Word of God. And Paul is even saying, later on, he's saying that he's encouraging other young women, if they're young and under 60, to get married, right?

If they have a desire to get married. So by him recommending for them to get married, he's pretty much saying, by the way, by the way, when you're 60, you're not going to be eligible for any of service. You won't be able to commit yourself to service in the church. No, that's not what Paul is saying at all. But what Paul is saying is that she needs to be a woman who's committed or was committed to her husband.

A woman who honored the marriage, a woman who was faithful, who was diligent, who was a good wife if she had children, that she was a godly mother, that she held her responsibilities seriously, that she managed her household well. This is very similar to the characteristics of an elder or a deacon, very similar. Paul is saying that she needed to have these things. If she was committed to her husband, then she'll be committed to the church. If she was committed to her husband, she'll be committed to a church.

She needed to have been pure, and she needed to be a godly wife. She needs to be in good reputation. That's the second thing Paul says. And Paul continues by explaining what that good reputation means. So if she's had children, then her good works would have been evident in the way she's nurtured her children.

So according to Paul, he says in verse 13, her ministry may be to visit younger mothers and her character and experience as a godly wife and mother would be of a great blessing. Because in 13, he says that they go from house to house. And it's written in these times that there's other documents that sort of suggest that it's possible that the ministry, we can't be sure, the Bible doesn't say this, that their ministry may have been to go from home to home. Because the older women, and they probably had kids, they were experienced in rearing a family and children and so forth, that it could have been that their ministry was to go from household to household to help the younger women who have newly-borns, that they would be able to encourage them to love the Lord. If you remember, it's along the same lines as Titus chapter 2, you remember.

I'll read it for you. It says there, older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior. Paul is speaking or writing to Titus and expressing how the Christian women in the church ought to act and conduct themselves. He says they ought to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves of much wine. Now hear this, they are to teach what is good and so train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, to be pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the Word of God may not be reviled.

It's very possible that these women had that ministry, that may have been their service, that they would go and they would assist and love and pray for and just nourish and nurture the women who are younger within the body of Christ. Of course, all older women should be striving for the things that we just read about in Titus chapter 2. That's not just for widows, we know that. The next thing Paul says is she is to have been hospitable. She needs to have washed the feet of the saints, cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

All these, again, are Christian virtues. These are really virtues that not only women, but men ought to strive towards. Hospitality is a demonstration of care and love and concern for others, that you'd bring them into your own home, or that you would help them, or that you would offer a food or drink for someone who's in need. Washing the feet of the disciples. What comes to your mind when we say these words?

It ought to be Jesus. It ought to be John 13 when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. You remember what Jesus said there? He said that he's doing these things as an example for you to follow. That's what he says to his disciples.

What's the example? Let's think about it. The rabbi washes the feet of the disciples. It ought not to be like that. The rabbi washed the feet.

This is incredible humility. So it is very possible Paul here is literally meaning that he washed the feet of the disciples because he was dusty and muddy and it's very common that when they came to a home they would normally wash their feet. It's possible that he's saying that she's showing humility literally in that way or it's possible that Paul is saying she needs to be an example of humility. She needs to be a woman who's prepared to humble herself for the sake of of others. She needs to have cared for the afflicted and devoted to every good work.

These are virtues of selflessness and a desire to do what is good and right in the eyes of God. This widow needs to show that she is deeply in love with the Saviour and that she is deeply in love with the Judge. She loves the church, and she's prepared to give up her life, or the rest of her life at least, in servitude of the church. Brothers and sisters, it's important that we see this. I said this before, she has a lot of time on her hands.

A lot of time on her hands. And Paul is saying, what has she done with her time? What has this woman done with her time? And these are principles we ought to, whether we're men or women, we ought to think of ourselves in this time. That are we showing these virtues?

Are we showing humility? Are we showing servitude to one another? Are we humbling ourselves? Are we caring for those who are afflicted? In this day, the affliction may have been caused by persecution.

The Roman Empire at this point were actually fervently against the Christians. So maybe they were persecuted and suffered in that way and the heart was broken and she cared for these people. But the principle still stands that we ought to be caring for one another, those who are in need. We ought to be looking for the needs and caring for them. This is very important.

And what we do with our spare time is telling of our hearts. Now we may say, look, we are so time poor. I get it. I get it. Our time is sometimes taken away from us.

But I want to ask the question, what are we doing with whatever time that we do have spare? And rest and recreation is very important. Spending time with your family is incredibly important. But do our minds go to the church? Do our minds go to Christ?

Do our minds think about the gospel and the amount of lost people who are perishing apart from the preaching of God? Do we think about these things? Do we ask and pray, Lord, use me in whatever ways that I can with the resources I have, with the gifts that you've given me? How can I be used amongst the people of God? How can I be used in the church?

Are we asking these questions? Are we asking these questions of ourselves? Because it is important that we do these things because the love that we have for Christ is shown, it's evidenced, it's proven by our actions and the way we serve His bride. Remember that. That the way we show love for Jesus Christ is by serving His bride.

That's how we show love. But it's interesting to me also that Paul's not saying that you need to find a widow who can be put on this list as long as she is able to meet these things. In other words, as long as she can do these things, or as long as she will be able to do them. He's not saying, okay, she has potential. He's not saying look for the potential.

He's actually saying, has she proven to be this way? Has she proven To be this way. You're not looking for me to go, look, I know I haven't, but I will. No. You have Christians seeing that her reputation precedes her.

Because it's not a matter of the will. It's not a matter of us going, okay, I'm going to will to do these things. It is if the love of Christ is in us, if we have a genuine desire for His church, then we're already doing these things. The widows are already doing these things. And that's what Paul says, look to the fruit.

Look at what they are doing. And if they are already this way, then they can be enlisted. But if they're not, they shouldn't be enlisted. They shouldn't be enlisted. And so then we look at the And then we look at the second reason that is given.

I'm sorry, we look at... who it is that should be enrolled. And now we go to one of the reasons why younger women, because now Paul directs his attention to the younger one from verse 11 onwards. He directs his attention to the younger women and then he says to Timothy, there are two main reasons why I'm saying that the younger women under 60 should not be enrolled. And the first one has to do with their passions.

And you'll see that in your Bibles because this type of service that Paul speaks to is one that requires commitment. Commitment that requires wholehearted devotion to God. In other words, her commitment to the church must be undivided. Unlike the older women, younger women may still have desires to get married. Like I said earlier, if you're over 60, you'll be on your childbearing years.

It is more possible that you're okay spending the rest of your life with the church and being content with that. But if you're younger, you may actually desire to start a new marital relationship. And you know what? If that's what you want, Paul is saying, if that's in their heart, Thumbs up. Let them do it.

It's noble. Let's not oppose God's will for that woman. If she has desires to get married, let her get married. I encourage her. Get married.

Let her serve the Lord by serving her husband, by managing her household well, by rearing children and training them in instruction and the ways of the Lord. Let her do these things. Let her show herself to be a faithful wife. Let her do these things. But you have to remember that the context here, you might think this is obvious, right?

Why is Paul having to say these things? The context. You remember back in chapter 4, our brother, a few weeks ago, he did the first few verses for us in chapter 4. Do you remember how there was false teachers who crept into the church and they were forbidding Two main things. The second was they were telling people to abstain from certain types of foods.

But what was the first thing they forbid? Marriage. Marriage. So it's very possible that the false teachers had already crept into this society and have already placed on the conscience of women, maybe even some of these young widows, that you're not to be married. Maybe.

We don't know. Paul is now encouraging the obvious. Someone might be able to say, maybe that's why he's telling Timothy, just let them get married. Don't let them feel bad about it. It's okay.

You're not less of a Christian if you get married. This is God's calling for your life. And beloved, there is no greater calling for a woman, if she can get married and bear children, to actually bring up godly seed. The Bible speaks to this as being the highest calling for women. Now, our society might not agree with those words, but the Bible does.

Paul says, let her do these things. It's okay, let her do these things. And so, and the other point that Paul is making, why the younger woman should not be enrolled in these things, is because if they do desire, they have the desires to get married, then maybe their commitment to serve the Lord is only, well, half-hearted. because their hearts and their affections are somewhere else. Now you might come back and say, well...

Hold on, there are a lot of single men who serve the Lord, and a lot of single women that serve the Lord in other capacities, and surely they want to get married because they don't have the gift of singleness. When they get married, does God look down upon them at that point? So why is Paul saying that here? Well, it's because it's very possible from the text, the way we read the text, that these women were actually pledging They were actually possibly making vows into the service of God. Now we know Anna stayed in the temple and did not depart for many, many, many years.

Now it's possible that these women were doing it. Now look down at verse 11. Let's read it slowly. Verse 11, But refuse to enroll, Paul says, younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, meaning the service of the church, that's what he's saying, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for abandoning their former faith. Now, is making a decision for these women, if they had been serving in the church of Jesus Christ, making a decision, you know what?

I want to get married now. Does that mean that they're abandoning the saving faith? Does that mean they're abandoning the faith that justifies them in Christ Jesus? Is that what this means? Of course not.

No, of course not. Paul is speaking about women who love the Lord, and because of their love for the Lord and love for the church, they desire to serve the church. Again, he's not forcing anyone into this. They're saying, can we do these things? Can we serve?

They're the ones coming forward who want to do these things. So it's most likely, as many commentators do agree to this point, that Paul may be using the word faith to signify pledge or vow and it has been used this way in the original in the classical Greek it does mean it's got two meanings it could mean because in the context here it could very well mean a pledge they're giving a pledge or a vow and this is why before these were widows were probably making the vow for service and they were making that vow that we will serve the Lord in this capacity until we die however if they become desirous to get married, then they may have to break their vows. And so what's Paul saying? Well, if someone breaks their vow to God, this is a serious offence. Because in Deuteronomy 23, God's given a will to the people of Israel that if you make a vow, God will expect to repay that vow, to fulfill that vow.

God doesn't look lightly on people and say, Lord, I'm going to make a vow and not fulfill it. A vow must be fulfilled. Otherwise they're guilty, says in that chapter, guilty of sin. So if you make a vow to God, if you make a pledge, You need to make sure that you're able to fulfill it. So what is Paul doing here?

He's saying the number one reason that widows abandon this particular service in the church is because of their desires to get married. then it would be logical and wise for Paul to recommend Timothy, hey, why don't you prevent these women from breaking their vows and their pledge by looking at the women or just allowing the older women who are over 60 and have met these characteristic qualifications to be enlisted to the service because it's unlikely that they're going to leave for that reason, which is the number one reason to get married. It's very possible, I think, that Paul is saying that because he's using very vivid words in this text. And it's almost like I would be convinced that these things were actually happening. I don't think he's giving a hypothetical scenario.

I think Paul is speaking, or a report had come back to Paul, and I do think he's speaking about actual events that are happening. Because in verse 13, listen to what he says here. He says, 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. I would have younger women marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. Now of course Paul is wanting all women.

Paul is not saying that all young women are this way. demeaning all young women, but probably from his experience, he's seen that this has been a common theme. And he said, look, you know, first of all, they walk away from their serving ministry because of this reason, they desire to get married. But also, he says, besides that, so secondarily, they learn to be idlers, going from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossipers and busybodies. See, as I said earlier, the service from house to house would have been probably an encouragement ministry, and to nurture the young women, to exalt them in the Lord, to pray with them, to help them with their children.

It's probably what the service would look like. And that was right up their alley, because that's where their experience was. But in doing that, in helping these families, in going to these families, rather than support these families, they became idle in their good work, they became lazy in their good work, and active in no good. That's what Paul is saying here. They're poking their heads into other people's business.

They're engaging in destructive behavior of gossip. They go from one home to the other, spreading words of gossip. They're exchanging what was meant to be a noble service to the fleeting pleasures of hurtful behaviours. They're now exchanging gossip or spreading gossip. They're not 100% committed because they're half-hearted in this.

If they're completely committed to the Lord, then they would be preserving their tongue, they'll be biting their tongue because they'll be concerned, like we said earlier, because if they deemed all the brothers and sisters, or all the people in the church, brothers and sisters in Christ, then they would be very concerned to preserve their reputations also. And gossip, beloved, is deadly. It's deadly amongst the church. It's deadly amongst anyone. It crashes someone's reputation for no reason at all.

If one has something against a brother or a sister, he or she ought to go and speak to them one-on-one and have a chat to them about these things and express their concerns. But to speak to someone else is only going to spread lies and nothing more. So Paul is saying to prevent this damaging behavior, To prevent these things from happening, from brothers and sisters being hurt, let's stick to only women above the 60 years of age and women who have proven themselves to be godly women who love the Lord and love the church. And Paul goes on to say, let's not give the enemy an opportunity to slander. Let's not give these women an opportunity to fall in areas that they may be susceptible to.

If they're young, let them get married. Let them serve the Lord within the context of a household, being faithful wives and faithful mothers, bringing up godly children. Let that be their ministry. Let them do these things. This is good and it's noble.

It's good before the Lord. Let them do these things. But essentially, although Paul has been instructing Timothy specifically on matters of widows in the church, We need to remember that these principles that we spoke about here this evening apply to most of us. These are principles that apply to most of us, that we ought to be people of prayer, that we ought to be people who show themselves in good works, that our reputation before others precedes us, that we should bite our tongue, we should not gossip, that we should love one another, that we should treat one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are principles that we ought to hold dearly in our hearts.

And brothers and sisters, we also need to remember those who are not as privileged as us, especially those who've come among us. If the Lord wills and our church starts to grow, our eyes ought to be open to these things. And we ought to be willing to be able to come alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ, and come alongside them and care for them. to be devoted to them in love because this is how the church grows. This is how the church grows in love and in Christ-likeness.

And it's very important that we are these people. People who are committed to prayer and these things before the Lord from the youngest of us to the oldest of us. And Paul says in verse 16 that by doing these things, if everyone fulfills their obligation before the Lord as members of the one body, if everyone is fulfilling their obligations, then it reduces the burden on the church. If a church acts in this way, then by God's grace, individually and corporately, we all grow together in love, unity, and Christlikeness. This is the fruit of salvation because the evidence of our love for our Lord, as I said before, is loving and serving His bride.