Shame On The Church? - [1 Timothy 5:1-16]

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Well, I would encourage you to open your Bibles this evening to first chapter or first chapter first Timothy chapter 5
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If we go to first chapter of Timothy, we'll be in trouble because we've already taught that and I don't have notes for that You know over the last 30 years.
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I have a I have a question for you. What do you think? Maybe the the trend has been in Evangelizing or even just in how you kind of target people to come to church
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You know, is there any specific group that they aim at you think young people?
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Shouldn't they go for the older folks? I mean, why not invite them in and you know to a wailing guitar solo and You know, maybe what are some of the other things that they do in churches now sit around and light candles
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Meditate and I'm sure think of some of the terms that are applied to people who don't go and that there are
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It's really kind of scaring me and that they're angling to bring into church. Here's a term unchurched
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Now, who do you think that applies to more often than not? It's going to apply to What's that?
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unbelievers, but also I Mean would you expect think about it this way would you expect that people under 50 or over 50 are more likely to have been to church
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I Would say over right so when they say unchurched, what are they heading for their hate they're aiming for those younger people
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Millennials have you heard that term? You know, these are people are coming of age in the new millennium.
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So we have to come up with a cool term for them Generation X generation Y generation
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Z whatever generation they're on now. They're looking for younger people You know, here's a here's an interesting thing come this
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Sunday and we'll show you some social security tips that you didn't know anything about They don't do that You know, it's clowns we were talking to somebody last night whose church former church, you know, they had
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Clowns on Sunday and that's the kind of thing they do why because they want to pack young younger people in Listen to this.
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This is from one of my favorite sources George Barnum And he says why should the church target youth?
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Well in a study on 24 successful churches. I always love how they target the successful churches.
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What what constitutes by the way a successful church Over 3 ,000 elders is all they said
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Or yeah, it's got to be packed, you know it's not a successful church is based solely on numbers not on spiritual growth or anything else, but In a study carried out over 24 successful churches in the
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United States by George Barna who is the guru of church growth Now it's interesting to me.
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He's the guru of church growth. But as far as I know, he doesn't pastor a church I don't know how that works, but he found that in each church the leaders believe that ministering to Young people was a key to having growing a growing and healthy church and he made the following points
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Ministering to children is one way of attracting adults to church Parents are moved if a church is genuinely interested in Accepts and helps to instill certain values in their children nice a
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Child Barna goes on represents the highest potential for conversion I think some of our
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Southern Baptist friends say, you know that the odds of saving someone after they hit the age of 15 You know, it goes it was like that and I was thinking about that today and I go what about Jean D Martino?
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What would she say about that? But in the United States statistics suggest that two out of every three adults who are
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Christians made the decision of accepting Christ as Savior before they reach the age of 18 That would let me out
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Therefore ministering to young people was viewed as an a means of efficient Evangelism I guess
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I have a hard time you read this but let me just finish this because I think it's fascinating Children have a way of impacting the church environment
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Dynamically, they sure do that are run around screaming and all that kind of stuff. That's dynamic Children can breathe new life into a stale environment allowing for a livelier atmosphere
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Adults have the tendency to get into routines. I mean, you know seeing hymns preaching the gospel things like that But Barna found that remaining sensitive to the interests and reaction of young people enabled the healthy growing church
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To maintain a sense of life and adventure Children serve as a creating testing ground a creative testing ground for new ministry ideas
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See how this today's youth are leaders of tomorrow, okay Children frequently have a more profound effect now listen this one children frequently have a more profound effect than Pastors on the spiritual development of their parents.
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Who's the leader of your home? Well, it's a little Timmy Tim here tonight, okay
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Children frequently Okay, Barna from his research has suggested the leaders of healthy of the healthy churches
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Acknowledged that for their ministry to be complete. It must identify and address the needs of children and youth.
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I Mean as I've said many occasions you can't just expect to preach the word and have God grow the church
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You've got a target specific audiences and old folks when you read all these books just aren't in the plan
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I'm a little seeker for you tonight There's only one expert on church growth and he has promised to build his church
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Now we've been going through first Timothy sometimes You know every month or two but going through first Timothy and Paul wrote
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Timothy at Ephesus He put him he sent him there to basically clean the place out to set aside or to Get rid of the false teachers to set things in order told him how to run a church
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Told him the things to do and what not to do And the last time I taught we talked about the specific responsibilities of a pastor
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We said that a pastor must make scripture the focal point of church services Secondly a pastor must exercise his giftedness
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Thirdly a pastor must be focused on his life and his doctrine Now tonight as I promised this morning, we are going to cover a lot of verses in very un
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BBC Fashion we are going to cover 16 verses first Timothy chapter 5 verses 1 to 16
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I think it'll be become obvious why we're going to do this because there's a few themes that run throughout all 16 of these verses
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And otherwise we'd have about a five -part series on widows So we're not going to do that verse 1
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Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father younger men as brothers older women as mothers
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Younger women as sisters in all purity Honor widows who are truly widows
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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
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For this is pleasing in the sight of God Verse 5 she who is truly a widow left all alone
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Has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day
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But she who is self -indulgent is dead even while she lives
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Command these things as well so that they may be without reproach But if anyone does not provide for his relatives especially and especially for the members of his household
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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
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If she has brought up children has shown hospitality Has washed the feet of the
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Saints has cared for the afflicted and has devoted herself to every good work
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But refused to enroll younger widows for when their passions draw them away from Christ They desire to marry and so incurred condemnation for having abandoned their former faith
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Besides that they learned to be idlers Going about from house to house and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies
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Saying what they should not So I would have younger widows marry bear children
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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
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Let the church not be burdened so that it may care for those who are truly widows
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Now tonight I want to draw your attention To four church building principles drawn from our text so that you will not
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Bring shame to the church or even allow shame to be brought into the church or upon the
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Lord who bought her Four principles Which if followed will help to ensure that Shame is not brought upon the
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Church of Christ And you're going to see tonight that there are ways to do that There are ways to bring actually shame upon the local church by violating these very principles our first principle first Respect your elders, and I don't mean the elder board by the way
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Look at verse 1 do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father
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Now in context Paul's writing to Timothy and here This is really the first few verses here in chapter 5 are really personal instruction
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From Paul to Timothy about his personal conduct, but I think it gives us some principles that we can apply
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He had warned Timothy that the church would read would look for reasons to Discount him to kind of push aside the fact that he was sent there to organize the church in Fact if you look back at verse 12 of chapter 4
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Paul says let no one despise you for your youth But set the believers an example in speech and conduct in love and faith in Purity let no one despise you for your youth
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We've said before that Timothy was probably in his mid to late 30s, and that would be considered a young man
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And so here he says Don't go to older men and Kind of Rebuke them, but instead encourage them as you would a father
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Well, why because they're looking they're already looking for a reason to push him aside to ignore him to get rid of him
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You know who's this young whippersnapper in his mere 30s coming along and telling us how to do things But he commands
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Timothy not to rebuke not to approve in other words the idea the picture would be not to amount Someone who is a presbyter.
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That's a Greek word here, and it means elder And you say well, why are we talking about the elders then because the normal?
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Meaning of that word is just an older man, and that's what it means here
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There are some specific Applications of it where it means somebody who's set over the church as an elder, but here it just means an older man
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So he says instead of jumping on an older man, he's told Look at it there in your text.
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It says do not rebuke an older man But and that word but I mentioned this from time to time because there are two
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Greek words that can be used for that that Conjunction there one is the
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Greek word day, which means that there's a contrast, but it need not be so black and white
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It could just be you know In this case. It's the word Allah, which is not to be confused with The God of Islam, but it's the starkest contrast.
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It's the biggest contrast. He's saying don't do this But instead do that Says don't come alongside these guys, and you know presume to tell them as one of my friends used to say on the sheriff's department how the cow eats the cabbage don't come off as You know knowing instantly more than he does and kind of put him in his place
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Why would that be? Why would Paul say you come alongside him as you would a father?
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Well, what did Paul write in Ephesians about parents and how we are to treat them? He said honor your mother and father you wouldn't go to your mother or your father
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I'll tell you what when I was younger in fact even now I don't know if I'd go to my dad and really tell him you know what time it is dad
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Let me just tell you how it's gonna be Scary We're supposed to have a respect we're supposed to honor our parents
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And he says in that same way you go to an older man, and you respect him You treat him as if he were your own father
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As a principle that many in the world I mean outside of this immediate application or this instruction to Timothy and even looking beyond our own lives
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People understand this there is almost almost a kind of a universal
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Reverence for older folks a respect for them in fact you know in jail It's a little bit of a shame
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I mean there are some things that nobody really cares about you know between the inmates things that they can do that are just fine
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But it is Embarrassing it is a shame to them if they treat an older inmate
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Incorrectly we even had it in one of the jails. I was at we had a dorm Where they they put all the older guys together?
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you know and it didn't really work very well, but When they would put an older guy into a dorm all the other guys regardless of race or anything else they would call him pops
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They would respect them, and they would you know ask him to resolve Conflict sometimes in the dorm why it's because there's an understanding that with age
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Often I won't say all the time, but often comes wisdom I mean sometimes you an
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Older person might do something and you might think well I don't know if that's right and then you go and you talk to them
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And you find out well This is why I'm doing it is because I've learned over the years that this is this particular approach works and other approaches don't
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There is wisdom that comes with age Proverbs 20 29 says the glory of young men is their strength true
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You know young men are often more strong than others, but listen to the second half
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But the splendor of old men is their gray hair Looking at some splendid folks tonight
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There is something to be said, but I you know I've I told some of the guys you know some of the younger fathers
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I go you know what the great thing about being a grandfather is I remember as a as a father
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When my kids would cry it would drive me nuts And I would just like I you know sometimes and I won't get too graphic But sometimes
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I would just like look at my wife like she should be able to make him quiet You know what is going on?
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How come these babies are crying? And now you know I hold little January, and I just think she's crying well.
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You know It doesn't bother me why? Because as I've gotten older I realized that she's crying now, and I'm holding her now five years from now
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I'm not gonna be able to hold my lap and bounce her up and down and throw over my shoulder It's just not gonna happen you realize that these moments even the moments that seemed
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Painful or whatever are moments to be treasured as you get older you get hopefully more patient More wise you learn things and so when you go to an older saint
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You ought to do so with the understanding that he knows more than you about at least about life He's lived things.
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He's done things that you haven't done That same principle applies to older women look at verse 2
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Just to put it kind of in context. I'll read verse 1 2 he says do not rebuke an older man But encourage him as you would a father
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Younger men as brothers verse 2 older men or older women as mothers You know might there be an occasion for a pastor or even for you to confront an older saint to go to a person that is
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Older in years older in the faith. What have you and to confront them because of sin absolutely
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But if they're older than you you should approach them with a certain amount of deference
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And the question is why well because it's the right thing to do And does this mean that older Saints get a pass no as I said they can be in sin they can be wrong
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They can be thinking wrongly However, they are to be talked to as if you are talking to your parents
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You don't jump on them you kind of maybe ask them some questions Figure out exactly what's going on and then say you know gently
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Let me come alongside you And that's what the picture is
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Encourage him that's what exactly what the word is it means to come alongside To just talk to him in a in an understanding way
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So first we need to respect our elders secondly respect your peers again look at verse 1 Do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father younger men as brothers again in context
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Timothy is a pastor and he's He's got to be mindful that he can't really
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Lord over Anyone his power his authority or anything else even though you know he could say well, you know the
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Apostle Paul Sent me here to straighten things out, and I'm here to make sure that everything's run.
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Just so He could have done that but Paul says don't do that Come alongside these guys as you would with an older man as it was as it were with as As you would with a father as with younger men as with brothers now
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I know how I used to come alongside my brother, and maybe that wouldn't be the best idea But that's not the that's not his point here the
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Ephesian Church the church at Ephesus all the people in it were sheep
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But they were also his brothers and sisters in Christ so he needed to come alongside them and to think of them rightly as Someone that he needed to encourage someone he needed to exhort, but someone that he needed to do so with respect
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It's like Jesus said in Luke 6 31 as you wish that others would do to you do so to them
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There is a mutual a peer -to -peer respect as it were And in all of our interactions within the body we need to think what more highly of ourselves than we do of others
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We need to go into every conversation with the understanding that we're right. They're wrong No No, and it doesn't matter if you're the senior pastor the junior pastor
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You know the usher at the back door the nursery worker the guy out front shoveling ice.
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Everybody is In Christ and a brother or sister in Christ, and we need to have that mindset
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This is a key principle This is the way that we are the way that we treat each other really reflects to the world it reflects in here
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How we How we interact really reflects what kind of church we are but also to the world it shows
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What kind of church we are what did Jesus say in John 13 35? By this people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another we get from time to time very encouraging emails from people who visited and said you know you guys have the friendliest church and It was so great to meet so many people and they were just so loving and everybody was wanting to help
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And then of course we get people who leave and say this is the meanest church I've ever been to nobody would say hi to me
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But you know usually the people who complain about the church I don't I go and I don't even know who that person is which is funny because I try to meet as many people as I can and you know
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You bolt for the door the church doesn't seem very friendly But with the way we treat each other the way we respect each other matters
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Paul wanted Timothy to think this when I think it's good for us, too We don't want to think this way okay this guy is younger than me
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So I don't have to give him the respect that it would an older saint You know he's he's just a young buck like me
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So I could just kind of come along and sock him in the arm or whatever the the idea is if we're thinking rightly if we're thinking that that is a
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Brother or sister in Christ that this is someone that I need to treat as if We're Christ himself
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It changes our attitude. I Need to think more highly of them their needs come before my needs
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If I'm going to correct someone I need to think about what the log in my own
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Eye before I worry about the speck in their eye But again, no one's immune from being confronted if they're wrong look at verse 2
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Older women as mothers younger women as sisters in all purity There is a care and a caution that has to be taken when a man and a woman are in such a kind of counseling situation you'll see me and Pastor Mike or pastor
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Dave or Pradeep if we're going into the offices with a woman by ourselves You know all the lights go on all the blinds get open
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We want everybody to be able to see that we're in there Because we don't want there to be any question about the propriety of the situation
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If we think about it this way young woman as sisters. Well, how would you like your sister be treated? I know how
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I'd like my sister to be treated. I know how every young man should want a sister be treated and We need to look out for the reputation of the ladies when we do these
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Kind of things when we talk to them So first we've seen respect your elders secondly respect your peers thirdly care for faithful and tested widows
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Here we go verse 3 honor widows who are truly widows
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Now that's a tough one What does it mean to be truly a widow? Well, thankfully he's going to tell us but why was it necessary to take care of widows at all?
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I mean, didn't they just go when they turn 62 and sign up for Social Security and oh No, they didn't get to do that there were no career women
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Back then it's not like you went to law school and or you know medical school And then you worked in the medical field until you retired there were no 401ks
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There was no Social Security nets or anything like that and women were not granted many of the basic rights that we take for granted now
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So for the most part if they were widows, they couldn't provide for themselves
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I didn't really look this up, but I'd venture to say that probably The number of women who died in childbirth in those days is probably enormous because of the medical
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Lack of medical facilities and knowledge that they had back then But if a woman survived her childbearing years she was likely to Outlive her husband.
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That's how it happens now right women live longer than men What if she was a Christian and had no believing children, what if she was barren who was going to take care of her and The answer is the church
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God's commands in Scripture to care for Orphans and widows are there over and over all through the
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Old Testament What was one of the most common complaints that God had against Israel in the
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Old Testament when they were off? You know what they'd be chasing idols, but what was always the first thing to go?
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It was their care for Widows and orphans for those who couldn't care for themselves
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Because if you're pursuing false gods and You know the riches of this world then you're not concerned with the things that God is concerned about James 1 27
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James writes this religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction
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One of the ways that we demonstrate one of the ways that we show that we believe in God that we Want to honor him is to care for those who cannot
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Cannot not will not but cannot provide for themselves Believers are in effect the hands and feet of God when they do this psalm 68 5 says that God is the father of the fatherless and protector of widows
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So what does a widow have to be or what does she have to do to be truly a widow? First she needs to not have
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Believing children or grandchildren look at verse 4 but if a widow but if a widow
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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
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Of God it would be wrong For children and grandchildren to just go you know what mom grandma you're on your own the church
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You know we'll take care of you, or you know hey mom's past the age of 60 here you go church you're trying to take care of her
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I Highlighted the word return in there in verse 4 because it is interesting And it means a return for benefits received you put money in the bank
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You get some interest these days not a whole lot, but that's the idea you get a return on your investment
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And so what Paul's saying here is look You're the child or the great or the grandchild of this woman
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It is right for her to receive some return on her work
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She bore you or she took care of you if she was your grandmother she fed you she changed your diapers
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All that and so the the idea is that you have an obligation to her in your old or in her old age
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Secondly she needs to be a Christian and a prayer warrior look at verse 5 she who is truly a widow
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Left all alone. He says that I mean that's just to like underscore what he's just said Has set her hope on God and Continues in supplications and prayers night and day
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Again no family to support her what does it mean that she has set her hope on God?
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This widow Means that she has no hope outside of that and that I mean it really is kind of a
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Sort of first Peter language where he talks about the hope of heaven and we even talked about that this morning
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And when it says that he or she has set her hope on God It is a perfect tense which is really actually it's not
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I wouldn't say it's rare But it's pretty unusual in the Greek because typically what we have is a present tense or an imperfect tense
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But a perfect tense means one time action Ongoing results so this says that she set her hope completely on God at one moment
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And then that had ongoing results that she never wavered so this is a woman who was saved and never gave any kind of indication that she was wandering from the faith
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Faithful And look at that she continues in supplications and prayers night and day.
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You know when I was reading this I just thought I Thought about grandma Evie I had the
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The opportunity to pray with her and that would that was a fun thing because she did not doubt
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For a moment that God was going to answer her prayers, and I don't care what it was about if it was about someone's salvation
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I Can remember praying for the salvation of people and watching that happen, and I can remember her praying once to find her car keys
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There was nothing too small or too big for grandma Evie to pray about and that's exactly what we're talking about is someone who understands that God is there
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God cares God answers prayer and who turns to him for all manner of events
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So first she needs to be completely alone secondly she needs to be a Christian and a prayer warrior thirdly
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She needs to or we find out what a Christian is not look at verse 6 But she who is self -indulgent is dead even while she lives.
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I mean this is You know the transition here is a little startling, but he's talking about this is the contrast between Those who love
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Christ who set their hope entirely on him who pray constantly to God who trust in him entirely and Those who are self -indulgent those who seek their own pleasure
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And Paul says of those women that they are dead they're spiritually dead even though they are physically alive
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They once the these sorts of widows once made a profession of faith They're technically widows their husbands died but they they act as though their husband's death somehow freed them to act as if they
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Were never a Christian at all In other words what we really see here is the unbelief that they suppressed that they hid from the world comes out
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They are kind of that the soil where the rocky soil where they can grow up for a little while and they show some evidence and Then as soon as the cares of this world come along they get choked out
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So they can't be that sort of woman Fourth Qualification of a true widow
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Her age and her faithfulness to her husband if any must be consistent with what it meant to be a widow
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Look at verse 9. Let a widow be enrolled that that is to be supported by the church if She is not less than 60 years of age
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Having been the wife of one husband. It's interesting. Isn't it? You know 60 is kind of that magical number
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Now why 60 No, probably because in those days it was reckoned that she would be unlikely to be remarried at that age she was past childbearing age and she would be unlikely to Attract another husband and certainly she would be close enough to glory where it would seem reasonable that maybe she could wait until Death and not worry about taking a husband
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Of course they didn't live to be a hundred like we do today But what if she'd been married twice somebody look at that and say let a widow be enrolled if she is
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Not less than 60 years of age having been the wife of one husband. They'll go. Wait a minute. This woman was married twice
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Well, this verse is like the the mirror image The first sympathy three two were talking about elders in their qualifications
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Therefore an overseer an elder must be above reproach the husband of one wife and that literally means a one
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Woman man Meaning that his affections are set upon his wife alone
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So the idea here is not that she could never have been married a second time. It's that the first husband.
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She was faithful to him that he died She got married again the second husband.
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She was faithful to him He died and it could have gone on like that unless she killed him it could have gone on like that on multiple occasions
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That would be bad she shouldn't be taken care of with the church if that was the case But she should be known as basically a one -man woman someone who is devoted to her husband
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Now there's another group of widows that Paul says should not be cared for Those who are younger look at verse 11 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 now as he's saying they shouldn't get married.
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No He's saying that their passions their desire to be married their desire to be with a man will lead them to marry non -christians
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We see that even today, you know, we've been talking about I don't know if you know this but we've had 16 babies
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How long has it been? since last two years 16 babies 12 of them have been girls
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I'm very very concerned and I think we need to have some kind of conference about no missionary dating, you know
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We can't just can't have that But maybe they would look outside of the faith and actually abandon the faith
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Because just in their desire to be married putting in other words marriage above Christ Look at verse 13 besides that they learn to be idlers if you put young women on the rules here
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If you just take care of them young widows, here's what he says is gonna happen. Besides that they learn to be idlers non -workers going about from house to house
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And not only idlers but also gossips and busybodies saying what they should not
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So I would have younger widows marry bare children So he wants them to get married bare children manage their households and give the adversary no occasion for slander
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For some have already strayed after Satan Young widows are vulnerable.
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They may follow their emotions instead of remaining faithful Having not spent sufficient time in the discipline of being a wife.
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They wind up being troublemakers worse than you know kind of our Current idea of troublemakers where maybe they just or you know
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One one young man once said well, what's she gonna do if she's not working, you know What's she gonna do sit at home all day and eat bonbons watch soap operas?
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Wives are busy. We you know, we have a wrong idea sometimes of what they do, but but Paul says look if they're if they're just taken care of if their needs are met by the church and They're young and they have all this energy.
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What are they going to do? Well, it's not going to be good They're going to be kind of the the poison running around in the church and spreading the rumor spreading the gossip and causing trouble
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You don't want that let them be married Get back to what they ought to be doing be married running a household taking care of their husbands that kind of thing
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Far better for them to marry again Why because plunging back into the discipline of the work that they were created to perform
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By doing that they deny Satan entrance into their lives and into the body of Christ.
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I don't think we think about that enough men were made for going out and bringing home the bacon women were made for two as a compliment to men and different roles
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So young women shouldn't be taken care of in that way and he says fifth fifth Qualification to be a true widow
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She had to have a good reputation again. It's very similar. Listen to it. It's very similar to that of another look at verse 10 having a reputation for good works
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If she has brought up children has shown hospitality Has washed the feet of the
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Saints has cared for the afflicted and has devoted herself to every good work
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You know if you were to summarize this in one word you could say this is my wife No, you could say this is a servant.
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This is a godly woman. She is known in the church as someone Who could be count upon to serve those in need be they her own children those traveling in the need of places to stay?
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those who are ill Whatever the need of the body is she has always been ready to meet it
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So this is an older woman who's been faithful Serve brought up children
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She didn't have children the picture would still be that of a faithful woman who served her husband
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Who was hospitable who just served in the local body? and This is the sort of woman who ought to be serving as a disciple er of younger women
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Titus 2 verses 3 to 5 says older women likewise are to be reverent behavior not slanderers
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Interesting that that concept comes back in here or slaves to much wine They are to teach what is good and so train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self -controlled
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Pure working at home kind and submissive to their own husbands that the Word of God may not be reviled
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These older widows have kind of a been there done that sort of experience level
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And they ought to be used by the church to assist younger wives and mothers to learn the lessons that they themselves have learned
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Seasoned Saints older Christians, whatever you want to call them. They're precious precious
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I don't even want to call them a commodity. We need them You know if you go to church, and there's nobody with gray hair in the church it's either because somebody's giving away free dye jobs or because The church the church is out of balance.
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They've driven out the older Generation which would be exactly the wrong thing to do you need older men you need older women
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Now why should the church care for widows who are widows indeed? Because to fail to do so brings shame upon the church look at verse 7
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I Command these things as well so that they may be without reproach Without reproach means to be morally blameless, so if the church fails in this way it will be judged morally deficient by the
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Lord himself Now BBC we get we get requests for help we sometimes get phone calls in fact
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I can almost identify voices That's how scary it is and I don't mean
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People from BBC calling I mean people from outside I mean I I've said this before I kind of wish our name was
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Zulu Bible Church because You know what they start in the A's and then they get to Bethlehem pretty quick And then they start calling us whereas if we were
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Zulu they'd be done. You know they Zebulon, I don't know you know whatever but we
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We help people sometimes as people that have never been to the church why? Because if we have the opportunity to give them the gospel and maybe
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I remember one young man in particular if we if we I Like hard luck stories especially when
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I believe them but if you if you get the opportunity to help someone and you can preach the gospel to them and you know that this is someone who's not just trying to Get over on the church like maybe they have on the government, then it's fine to help them
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But you want to help those who are basically incapable of helping themselves or just need a little temporary stopgap thing
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But we don't have the resources to just take care of everyone. It's not what we can do and it's not our charge
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It's not our God -given responsibility Here Paul writes that we are to take care of widows who are widows indeed
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And that's what we need to be focused on we take care of widows So we've seen one respect your elders secondly respect your peers third care for faithful and tested widows and fourth care for your own family look at verse 8 but if anyone does not provide for his relatives and Especially for members of his own household.
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He has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever Talk about bringing shame upon the church
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Worse than an unbeliever in fact I was gonna title this message worse than unbelief because that's just like that's incredible What could be worse than unbelief?
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What says that right here? What could be worse than unbelief saying that you're a believer and not taking care of the ones that God has put in your charge
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That's worse than unbelief It's shocking should never happen again, even
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Unbelievers understand this Me watch football players or basketball players, you know basketball player 19 years old just got drafted.
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What's the first thing you're gonna do? I always like it actually when they say, you know Not I'm gonna go get a
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Cadillac and I'm gonna party and I'm gonna do this and the other thing whether they say look my mom Sacrificed so much for me and I'm gonna get her house.
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I'm gonna do this for her I'm gonna you know, and it's just like I can't do enough for my mom. I like that But unbelievers understand that how much more should we understand that?
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I Mean what kind of mentality does it take to not even take care of your immediate family and that's the idea here
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He says, you know relatives can be a little bit more distant, but he says especially for members of his household
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It means you know mother father sister. I mean it's close. It's it's this tight -knit group and That whole idea that someone wouldn't do that should shock our consciences
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One who would do this can claim to be a Christian, but by his actions he has Denied the faith.
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Listen what Kistemacher says. He says the sin of omission Gives the lie to his profession of faith though.
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He professes to be a Christian He lacks the most precious of all fruits that grow on the tree of a truly
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Christian life and conduct. He lacks love If you don't love your own family enough to care for them enough to take care of them, you don't have any love at all and finally
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Women of means are not let off the hook look at verse 16 If any believing woman has relatives who are widows let her care for them
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Let the church not be burdened so that it may care for those who are truly widows.
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I There were women who had money We think of Lydia. I always like her title, you know, how did the hell that go?
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She was the seller of purple goods. So when she had like a little storefront where you know, I sell purple.
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I Mean, what was that purple ink? I don't know, you know Can you imagine what that store was like?
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But anyway She had a home and she opened her a home up to ministry
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And if someone hurt like her had Christian relatives who were widows indeed She ought to provide for them so that the church would not need to thus freeing up resources
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I mean in other words what Paul's saying here is she couldn't say well, you know, this is mine I'm in charge of this and the church can take care of those widows
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No They're saying what Paul's saying here is if they're in your family and you have the means to do it
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You need to do it even though You know, maybe you're a woman and some people would think that that's beyond your purview.
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He says no you need to do that You know people wonder about the church and how involved we should be in the community and maybe we should be doing
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This that and the other thing should we feed the poor and you know clothes? Those and you know home build homes for the homeless habitat for humanity and all that Here's what
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I know we do have a rest home ministry we do go into rest homes and preach the gospel
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Should we maybe be more involved or could we be involved in? More orphanage activity.
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Absolutely, you know when Sean Mullen was here and he was talking about providing water fresh water to those over there in Mozambique and you just think how basic is that and yet, you know without the water
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Who knows if they'd even stick around to hear the gospel. Is that a good thing? I think it's fine But our overall
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Concern is not global warming. It's not making sure that we eradicate poverty because what did
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Jesus say the poor you will Always have with you. We're not going to get rid of it.
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We can't wipe out Inequality we can't wipe out hunger.
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Why not? Because there's sin in this world some people hoard more than they need some people won't share and It's not our job to force them to do it
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No Christian Should ever want to bring shame upon the church
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But I would submit that if your goal is simply to pack people in and to get people
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I Did this thing on I read this thing on Willow Creek some time ago when they finally admitted that Willow Creek Church when they admitted that their programs had kind of Created some strange divisions in the body where the younger people wouldn't mix with the older people and they couldn't figure out what they'd done
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Wrong. Well, it was pretty simple. They created all these programs for young people and had completely ignored the older Saints So why didn't they have any older Saints in their services?
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It's because they designed everything to appeal to 30 and younger So when you got up to a certain age, you just left there was nothing left for you widows older men older women
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They're vital We need them The way that we conduct ourselves towards them towards older people towards each other
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Toward widows and Toward our own family speaks volumes about the church at large speaks volumes about our
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Christian testimony Speaks volumes about our love for Christ if we don't do these things
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We're exhibiting a lack of love for the Lord who bought us let's pray father in heaven very practical
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Very plain Passage tonight Lord, I pray that you would give us more
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Saints that have been through the testing of life more who have
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Served you for many years or even as we we think about Jean D. Martino who are just new to Christ But have come with such excitement and such exuberance a
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Longing to learn more and to serve Father I pray that we would rightly
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Think of our brothers and sisters in Christ that this would be a place known not just as merely some kind of Seminary University, but a place where the love of Christ is exhibited and is practiced
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Where men and women are truly Treated as brothers and sisters in Christ regardless of their age
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Regardless of their race Father all the things that the world is so consumed with Lord, I pray that as the years go by Should your son not return that you would just continue to build this church not in numbers, but in love for one another
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That they would the world West Boston Boston wherever you would put us Would look at this place and go.
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I don't know much about those people, but I know that they love each other. I know that they have a supernatural affection for one another
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Would you so work in our lives through your spirit that there would be none of these other things that Paul mentions
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The Busybodying the tattletaling the spreading of gossip and rumor
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None of these things that really spread like gangrene through the church and cause division
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Father we would pray for Pastor Dave and his foot his wife
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Debbie and her foot's Pradeep and his illness and our dear pastor Mike who's just been Struggling now,
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I believe for 73 days Father I pray that you would give him healing I pray that this would be a week in which the people of Christ would just reach out to the
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Avondroth family to the Therians to the Binnies Just as they think about their own
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Losses and and father. I just pray that we would love on them Lord be with us this evening as we sing one last song and as we just have fellowship tonight in Christ's name we pray