WWUTT 646 Encourage the Family in All Purity?

If you're a Christian, then you should be part of a church, and that church is your spiritual family. As with other families, you have a spiritual mother and father and brothers and sisters, and you should treat them as such, when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text, as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.

Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.

The Church as a Spiritual Family

Thank you, Becky. We are moving into Chapter 5 in our study of the book of 1 Timothy. Today I'll be reading verses 1 -8. The Apostle Paul writes, 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 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. So we've had some periods over the course of this letter where Paul has given blatant instructions to Timothy regarding the gospel, and then he'll follow those gospel instructions with an example of growing in godliness.

And this is furthering those instructions in godliness. Paul gave instructions to Timothy as to how this is supposed to look in his own life, and that's what we were looking at over the last couple of weeks in chapter 4, verses 11 through 16.

And now he's saying, you're setting an example for your congregation. Here is the way that you're supposed to instruct the rest of the members of the household of faith. And as we move into these, this next set of instructions regarding godly living within a particular body of believers, Paul says, do not rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father.

So an older man in the church should be treated as you would treat your own dad. A younger man, consider him as if he was your own brother. Older women, think of them as mom. How would you treat mom? So you should treat the members, the more senior members of your church that way.

And younger women, they would be as if they are your sisters in all purity. Because see, in the body of Christ, in this family of God, of which we are a part, we have spiritual brothers and sisters. We even have spiritual parents, mothers and fathers.

And this is not just the person who shared the gospel with you, and through their work and their labor, you became born again. So you owe your spiritual birth to that particular person, and they would be like your father or mother, that person who shared the gospel with you.

Not just them, but also people in the church who have given their lives to the service of that particular church. Treat them in your church as though they are the mothers and fathers of that particular body.

Now, Paul doesn't use the term grandparent or like grandfather or grandmother here, but you would even consider them that way, because you're going to have generations of spiritual members in that body of Christ.

And so we have in our church, I am blessed to be a part of a church that has a long history. It has been around since 1954 was when it was planted. So we're what, 64 years here in 2018. And I've only been a pastor for eight of those years.

So I'm kind of a blip on the radar. Let's see, 64 is divisible by eight, eight times eight is 64. So for 12 of this church's existence, I've been a pastor at this church. And yet there are people who have committed a work of service for many more years than I have been there.

And I love having those members of our congregation. One of our oldest members, he actually turns 80 this year. His name is Jim, and he's one of our deacons. And he hasn't been there from the very beginning.

I don't think we have anybody in our church that has been there from the day it was first planted and began, but pretty close. Like he can still tell me, you know, this wing of the church was built then.

And I remember, you know, when we built it with this crew and this group of people, and this pastor was there during this decade. And he knows all the memories. He's got all the stories in the history of that church.

And he's not the only one, but he's probably been there the longest. How do you recognize the years of service that he's given to that church? I mean, it would be impossible over five decades of the work that he's done at First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City.

I would never be able to say enough kind words. And we as a church would never be able to repay that kind of work. But if he remains steadfast to the very end, I know that one day he is going to stand before his God and King, and he will hear from the master.

Well done, good and faithful servant, for great is your reward. We have another woman in our congregation. She's one of our widows. And because of health ailments and other things, she's not able to join us every Sunday.

But her name is Susan, and she used to be a secretary at our church. And she told me about a time when there was a pastor there. I don't even remember which pastor this was now. He just was not a very kind man.

He was not kind to members of the congregation. In fact, because of his short temper, he had even driven a lot of people away. And because so many people had left the church, they didn't have a regular consistent flow of money in to even be able to pay their pastor.

And so the pastor came into Susan one time, and he thumps her desk and says, you're going to write me my paycheck. And she says, well, yeah, I'll write your paycheck, and it's going to bounce. You're going to take it to the bank, and it's not even going to be able to clear.

We don't have the money to pay you. And despite how horribly he treated her and other members of the church, nonetheless, she's still a part of this church. That's an amazing story to me, especially when you consider the day and age in which we live, in which churches are considered like social clubs or like a health club.

I'm going to go pay my dues, and I'm going to join this health club. And yeah, they kind of meet my needs. They've got some things that I can do there and that are interesting to me. But if somebody comes along that's got a better deal and they've got more stuff that is interesting to me, well, then I'm just going to move my membership over there.

That's the way that we consider the church. It's like a buffet line. Or rather, we treat the church like a high school girlfriend instead of the bride of Christ. We're not committed to that church in sickness and in health till death parts us.

You know, we instead want to consider the church as something that's expendable. And if I don't like it, I can always go somewhere else. Yet we have these members of our church, the more generationally advantaged once again, who have been so committed for so many years.

And that in itself is such a legacy and a testimony. I remember hearing a comment from Mark Dever just recently in which he said we need to be committed to the church because it's the bride of Christ.

And talking specifically to pastors, Dever said that the church is not a career move for you. But as the bride of Christ, you should be considering that this ministry that you're doing there needs to be 10, 20, 30 years or more.

And even though Dever was talking to a group of pastors, I think that that also would apply to just about any member, because all the members of that body are doing a work of ministry through that church.

Remember, we are all part of one body, but we're all many parts. And those parts are working together to do the work of service. We contribute to one another, growing each other in godliness and holiness, in knowledge of the word of God to full maturity and manhood and womanhood.

And this is something that we do for each other. But then we're also reaching out with the gospel of Christ to the world so that others may hear the gospel and turn from sin and come to believe and be saved.

And we have those members of our church who have contributed so much to that body that they're able to teach us more and more. But even those who are more experienced in this walk of faith, they're still in the flesh and they're still susceptible to temptation and they still will sin.

And so consider somebody in your church who is older, who sins, and you see that they sin and you need to correct them. Well, Paul is saying here, don't rebuke an older man, but encourage him as you would a father.

If you needed to correct your father, how would you do that? There would probably be a little bit of fear there, right? I mean, this is the guy who disciplined me. He raised me. I'm alive because of him.

He's the one who instructed me and taught me everything that I know. And now I have to teach him something. Now I have to tell him, hey, dad, you're wrong. And I need to correct you on this. He corrected me for so many years.

Now I have to correct my dad. There's probably going to be a little bit of intimidation there, but you're definitely going to do that very, very respectfully, aren't you? Knowing everything that your father has given you to raise you and bring you up.

So you need to know that that is a man who is worthy of dignity and respect. And so it is the same with the members of our congregations who have given so many years to the service of faith that we would consider them as spiritual fathers and grandfathers and that we might be careful whenever we have to admonish somebody.

The way Paul puts it in Colossians three is that we encourage and admonish one another and to admonish means to correct with goodwill. So it's not a it's not a scathing rebuke. It's not a put down. It is a loving and gentle correction because you desire that they would continue in this work of righteousness that they've been committed to for so many years.

Don't lose it now. Hey, continue to walk in faith. And so don't rebuke an older man, encourage him as you would a father. And this likewise needs to be the way that we would consider the older women in our congregation.

Older women you would consider as mothers. How would you treat your own mom? And that's the way that you should consider the older women in the church. Younger men consider them as brothers. Now, some of us probably have some sibling rivalry in our family.

And you think about the way that you treat your brother. That's probably not the way that you should treat your brother. But how should you treat your brother? That's the way that you would treat your brother in the faith in your church.

Younger men consider as brothers. Younger women consider them as sisters. You treat them with dignity and respect. And they also have a certain piece of your heart a little bit more so than anyone else, not just among unbelievers, but even among believers like, you know, other Christians.

There's other Christians that you know in your own community who attend other churches. And they're, of course, brothers and sisters in the Lord. For we've all been adopted into the family of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

For those who have faith in Christ, his work on the cross, his resurrection from the grave, the blood that he shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins is that blood which brings us into the family of God.

And we become adopted sons and daughters of God. Christ is referred to in the book of Hebrews as our elder brother. And it's through his blood that we've become brothers and sisters in God's family. And so anyone who has been justified by faith is going to be your brother or sister in Christ.

But you're going to have a little bit more attention upon those that you regularly worship with in your church. I think that should go without saying, right? So there is more attention given to them. There is a greater closeness with them than there would be with other believers.

Now, you may have a certain spiritual mentor or brother or sister that has meant more to you for years. And maybe they live in another location and you would lay down your life for that person. You owe that person your entire life.

It's good to have those kinds of relationships. I have people in my life that I consider that way who are not part of my church. But nonetheless, most of my attention is going to be focused on members of my congregation.

Generally, our hearts are going to be with those with whom we regularly worship. And they're going to be closer brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers than others would be in this walk of faith.

And that's kind of what Paul is talking about here in 1 Timothy 5, that we care for members of our own household first. Just as when a man who's ahead of his household makes a paycheck and then spends that money, who is he going to spend that money on first?

Well, his wife and his children, correct? Even when he pays a bill, he's providing for his own household. So that's going to be the same when we do works of service. And when we do charity for others, we will focus on our own church congregation before it's going to be other brothers and sisters or even those who are not believers.

Paul sets this up that way in Galatians 6, where he says, as we have every opportunity, let us show charity to everyone, but especially the members of the household of faith. So they have our hearts first and we show love to our brothers and sisters in the Lord first before we then show love to others who are outside the faith so that we have an opportunity there to share the gospel and they would repent and come to know Jesus Christ.

So as we are encouraging one another in this faith, we need to remember that the older man in the church is one who would be like a father to us and we need to honor him. One who is an older woman in the church, she would be like our mother.

And what does the Bible say that we are to do with our mothers and fathers? What's the fifth commandment? It's actually the first of the horizontal commands. The first four of the 10 commandments are vertical commands.

They address our relationship with God. But then the next six commandments, five through 10 are horizontal commandments. They are addressing our relationship with one another on this earth. This is what's referred to as the first and the second table of the law.

So what's the first commandment in that second table of the law? It's honor your father and your mother. And of course, that's going to apply to your natural parents, your birth parents, or if you've been adopted, whoever it was that raised you.

They are worthy of being shown honor. And that is the case in a spiritual family as well. We have those members of the church who have contributed to our spiritual growth, our maturity, and maybe even the very faith that you have.

It was given to you by somebody who preached the gospel to you, maybe someone in your own church, and they would be considered to you as like a spiritual mother or father. You were born again by the spirit of God and the person that gave you the gospel was a spiritual parent to you.

Paul refers to himself that way to the Galatians in particular, where he talks about how he feels like he's a mother in birth pains, again, having to labor for them because they had left the gospel and had gone after a different gospel.

And so referring to himself as a parent, I'm in labor for you again. And he does this with the Corinthians also. And he refers to Timothy as a son in the faith. And so likewise, those who have helped to grow us in maturity and our understanding of God's word, they are our spiritual parents and they are worthy of honor.

Those who we are growing with, who we encourage and admonish with goodwill, they are our brothers and sisters. And so may we treat them with the kindness that you should treat a member of your own family.

The Family of God and Mutual Honor

Jesus said in Mark chapter 10, truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel who will not receive a hundredfold.

Now, in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, when you came to faith in Jesus Christ, you received a whole new family. Your brothers and sisters are those who are likewise adopted into the family of God because they heard the gospel of Christ and believed it.

You have an even larger family now in your spiritual rebirth than you had when you were first physically born and had a mother and a father and brothers and sisters. You have even more now in the in the household of faith.

And so we need to be that encouragement to one another for we are helping to grow each other in maturity. Consider those older men as you would consider them as being like your own father. Consider those younger men as they are your brothers in the faith.

Older women need to be thought of as mothers and younger women as sisters in all purity. We treat one another with dignity and respect. We forgive each other for if we don't forgive one another, neither will our heavenly father forgive us, as Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter six.

And so we need to show the same grace to each other that God has shown to us through his son, Jesus Christ. And as Paul continues to give instructions on caring for those who are members of your own household, that's where we will pick up the devotion tomorrow.

Let's pray. Our father, God, we thank you for the adoption that we have received through the blood of Jesus Christ. And I pray that we would live as worthy sons and daughters in this world, treating one another with dignity and respect and showing honor to those who have given so many years to this work of service in the faith and regard them as though they were our spiritual mothers and fathers.

You are our heavenly father and we bear your name. And so may we be witnesses to your name in this world so that there are others who will hear the gospel and turn from their sin and likewise be brought into this family by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.

We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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