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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapters 4, 5 and 6 ch. 5:1 to 6:3 ch. 6:3-11 ch. 6:11-21
Advice About Widows, Elders And Slaves (ch.5:1 – 6:3) In chapter 5 Paul gives Timothy some practical advise
on a number of points. He
begins by telling Timothy not “to rebuke an older man harshly, but
exhort him as a father”. This
instruction was most likely based on Timothy’s young age.
Even if at times he needed to bring some correction to “an older
man”, he should do it with respect because of the older man’s age and
Timothy’s youthfulness. Correction
should not be ignored, but should be done in a respectful way. In the youth culture of our day, this is one very
important lesson for younger people to learn.
Older people, even elderly people, have been around a long time.
They have a measure of wisdom and history that can benefit the church.
Paul goes on to tell Timothy to treat “younger men
as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with
absolute purity”. Note the
words “absolute purity”. Timothy
being young himself would have natural feelings towards younger women.
Paul was cautioning him about being pure towards his fellow
Christian sisters. Sexual sins
in the church are nothing new. It
is one of the more prevalent reasons why Christian leaders fall into
disgrace. Paul gives instructions concerning widows. First of
all he says that if a widow has children or grandchildren that could look
after her, then it is their responsibility to do so, not the churches.
The children and grandchildren should put their religion into
practice by looking after their parent or grandparent.
Yet if the widow has no one to look after her, if she is dedicated
to the Lord (prays to God night and day for help - ch. 5:5) then the
church can look after her. If
the widow is worldly and does not really trust God, then this widow
should find help elsewhere. This
is only common sense. It
places the responsibility on the family so the church can care for those
who need the care most. Paul says that if a person does not provide for his
relatives, and especially his immediate family, then that person is worse
than an unbeliever, “and has denied the truth”.
What does “denying the truth mean”?
If one claims real faith in Jesus and their actions do not show
this faith, then by their very actions, they are denying what they claim
to have. There lips may
profess faith, but their actions deny what their lips claim to have.
Either they really don’t have faith, or else their faith is
extremely weak. Concerning these widows who have no family to look
after her, Paul gives further instructions on how to care for her.
First of all the widow should be over 60 years old, suggesting that
she may be too frail to help herself.
Beyond the age factor, she must be
a woman who was faithful to her husband, full of good works and
helping other saints who need it.
Paul really doesn’t want to waist valuable money on someone who
doesn’t deserve it. Paul
seldom took money from others. He
felt everyone else should be like minded, but if one had to receive
financial help, they should be worthy of the help they get.
Therefore widows in the church who worked hard in the church should
be financially supported. Whether our modern church should follow these
particular rules exactly as Paul lays out is debatable.
Nevertheless there is a principle that should be followed.
A church does not simply hand out money to whoever wants it.
One must earn the respect in order to find help by the church. If
you begin to help someone you don’t really know, and if it turns out
that person is wasting church funds, then the church should stop giving to
that person. That person needs
to learn respect for money and for those who give it to him. The
same rule should apply in our society and government. In verse 11 Paul talks about “younger widows”.
He tells Timothy not to put these younger widows on a list to
receive financial help, because sooner or later they will find husbands
who will support them. Paul goes on to say that these women when they
remarry “break their first pledge and bring judgement on themselves”.
What does this mean? How
would remarrying bring judgement, and what pledge are they breaking.
In 1 Cor. 7 Paul clearly states that there is nothing wrong with
remarrying when your spouse dies, even though he would personally not
recommend it. So remarrying is
not wrong. If remarrying is
not wrong, the first pledge they are breaking, is not the pledge they made
to their first husband who is no longer living. Could the first pledge be
speaking of their pledge to give their lives to Jesus?
I don’t think so. One
can still pledge themselves to Jesus and be married at the same time. If
this were not the case, we would all be in trouble.
I don’t think we can say for sure just what Paul
meant by these words. Some suggest that the pledge they break, is a pledge
to stay single, maybe to serve Jesus better, or maybe to receive financial
help from the church. If a
young widow pledges singleness to church elders and receive money as a
result, then changes her mind
and remarries, she breaks her pledge to singleness .
The breaking of any commitment in the eyes of Paul, or even God, is
serious, thus brings a certain measure of
condemnation on the one breaking the commitment. If as Christians we say we will do something, then we
should do it, without changing our minds.
Ecc. 5:5 tells us that it is better not to make a vow and to make
one and not follow through on it. Broken
promises erodes the core of who we are as Christians.
Our lives are based on trust. That
is, we trust Jesus for our salvation.
He is trustworthy to do what He promises.
He expects us to be trustworthy as well.
When we break our vows, our promises, we better have very a good
reason to do so. Another reason why Paul tells Timothy not to give
financial support to younger widows is because they tend to be idle, going
from house to house gossiping and saying things they should not be saying.
Paul then says that he tells younger women to marry, have children,
and be busy looking after their family.
By doing this they stay away from any temptation.
Yet even as Paul tells Timothy these words, some women have ignored
this advise and have fallen away from the truth, thus “follow satan”
instead of Jesus. Paul goes on to say in verse 16 that if any woman has
a widow in her family, maybe a mother or a sister, then she should look
after that widow. The church
should not have to look after her. Paul
says that church funds should “go to the widows who are really in
need”, and if one has a family member that can look after her, then she
is not really in need. Paul now leaves the topic of widows and turns his
attention to elders. In verse
17 he says “the elders who direct the affairs of the church well should
receive double honour, especially those who work in teaching and
preaching”. This sentence
tells us a couple of things about the first century church.
First it tells us that church leaders were “elders”, not an
elder, as in one elder only. Elders
were those men who qualified by their Godly life to be elders, as
described in chapter 3. The
word “elders” when in reference to church leadership always appears in
the plural form in the New Testament.
Note that elders “direct the affairs of the
church”, or as the original manuscripts say, “ruling elders”.
Elders rule, or direct the affairs of the church.
They do this jointly, although they do not all have the same
talents and job description. Obviously some elders majored in teaching and
preaching as Paul says here. Paul
does not say what the rest of the elders do.
Yet by pointing out that some teach and preach, we can only
conclude that each man’s duties were different, according to the gift
God had given him. Concerning these elders who work hard at teaching and
preaching, they should receive double honour.
This most likely means double financial support since in the next
verse he says “a
worker deserves his wages”. Paul
often puts an emphasis on preaching and teaching the doctrines of Christ,
and therefore anyone who does this should be paid for it, even though he
himself doesn’t want to be paid. He
would rather have the church spend their money on needy widows than to
give it to him. Thus from this verse we see the church having a group
of men who direct the affairs of the church.
Some of these men specialize in preaching and teaching, while
others specialize in other things according to their gifting.
Even with these words concerning double honour, there is no hint
that these men are called “head elders”.
They are still elders, and do not stand above the rest of the
elders as in our modern church. If there is any accusation against one of these
elders then at least two or three people should bring the accusation to
Timothy, or in case there was no Timothy, I would suppose they would bring
it to the other elders. The
point here is that there needs to be more than one person bringing the
accusation. There must be a
definite problem, not a false accusation by one person.
If it is proved that the elder in question really has sinned or
done something wrong, then he needs “to be rebuked publicly so that the
others (I assume other elders) may be warned.
Paul charges Timothy before God, Jesus and the angels
to carry out these instructions without “partiality or favouritism”.
Why? Because God
Himself is partial to no man. He
is just. There is no place for
favouritism in the church. Just
because you like someone does not mean he or she should hold any special
position in the church. Church
leadership depend on one’s calling and talents along with the proper
qualifications. In verse 22 Paul says “do not be hasty in the
laying on of hands’. I think
this is reference to the ordaining of elders because of the context of
these words. I don’t think
Paul is referring to laying on of hands in the sense of praying for
someone’s healing for instance. Timothy
needs to be certain who he
chooses to be elders. He
should not make a hasty decision. Once
the choices have been made then he can lay his hands on them and give them
to the service of the Lord. Paul also tells Timothy to keep himself pure, “and
not to share in the sins of others”.
Timothy, in his lifestyle must stand far above the ordinary
Christian. Paul has given
Timothy a great responsibility and those in leadership like Timothy need
to be examples for others to follow. In verse 23 Paul gives Timothy a little personal
advice. It appears that
Timothy had some kind of stomach problem that obviously the Lord didn’t
heal. Therefore Paul told Timothy to “drink a little wine” to help
that problem. Whether Paul understood the science behind what he was
saying or not, it is clear that as we understand today, for some stomach
problems, wine can be of some assistance . And to make it clear, Paul is
not talking about grape juice. Wine
is wine. When Paul uses the
word wine, it is the same Greek word that is used when Jesus turned the
water into wine, and also when he tells people not to get drunk with wine.
You cannot get drunk with grape juice. In verse 24 Paul says, “the sins of some men are
obvious, reaching the place of judgement ahead of them; the sins of others
trail behind them”. What I
believe Paul means here is that obvious sins that can be seen by all often
have immediate judgement by God and men.
For example immorality in an elder.
If an elder commits adultery he will be rebuked openly and may
loose his eldership. Judgement
has already come to him. Yet
not all sins are so open and evident to see. These sins will not be judged
by men, but will be judged by God at some future point. In like fashion when it comes to good deeds.
Some good deeds are obvious for all to see while others are not so
obvious, but both will have its rewards, whether now or later. In chapter 6 verse 1 Paul turns his attention to the
practice of slavery. Paul does
not condemn the practice of slavery in these verses, although you must
remember in chapter 1 verse 10 he lists slave trading with serious sins,
such as murder. Here he tells the slaves to respect their owners, even if
they are not Christians, so that the name of Christ will not be
“slandered”, and also so that Paul’s teaching may not be
“slandered”. And if
the master of the slave is a Christian (suggesting Christians were slave
owners) then even more so should the slave honour his master, and treat
him as a brother. These words
are not the full understanding of Paul when it comes to slaves and owners.
Elsewhere Paul tells the slave owners to treat his slaves as
brothers in Christ as well. Paul would clearly point out that what he teaches is
what Jesus taught, or, wanted him to teach.
To those who taught differently, that is to false teachers, he had
some strong words for them. Beginning
in verse 4 he says these false teachers are “conceited and understand
nothing”. He also says that
these people “have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels
about words that result in envy, strife…”
He ends these words by saying that these men think “that
godliness is a means to financial gain”.
Knowing Paul, who refuses financial help, trying to make money from
based on greed would be abhorrent. Pride and conceit is an ever-present tendency, or
temptation in the church, especially among preachers and teachers of the
pulpit. The platform and the
pulpit found in most church buildings promote the preacher or teacher more
than what is being preached or taught.
All eyes are on the speaker. He
becomes the centre of things. Our
style of teaching then becomes a vehicle for pride.
In verse 6 he gives the answer to such greediness.
He says, “Godliness with contentment is great gain”.
This type of thinking is quite foreign
in our materialistic society. Paul
did not care much about financial gains.
He cared about “Godliness” in a life.
I have always said that if we don’t have an underlying sense of
contentment in our lives, and if we always want more, then we will be very
frustrated. I don’t think that there is anything inherently wrong with
wanting more, but if we don’t have a foundation of contentment, then our
desires lead to unhealthy frustration.
If we are truly content with what we have, we can want for more,
and if for some reason we don’t get more, then we don’t worry about
it. A key to a happy life is contentment with what one already has, not
with what he does not have. Paul gives a reason for his above statement
concerning contentment. He
says that we “brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing
out”. As we are born, we only arrive with who we are.
We have absolutely nothing. We
will die the same way. We take
nothing with us. In verse 8
Paul says that he will be content with simply having food to eat and
clothes on his back. The problem with always wanting more, with getting
rich as Paul sees it, is that there is great temptation, that lead men
into “a ruin and destruction”. It
is evident in today’s world that money can buy lots of things that are
not good for us. Money
itself is not evil. But as
Paul says, “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”.
This is a better translation than the KJV that says, “the love of
money is the root of all evil”. There
is a big difference between the word “all” and the words “all
kinds”. Money clearly is not
the underlying reason for every evil that is in the world. Paul closes this section by saying that “some
people, eager for money have wandered from the faith, and pierced
themselves with many grief’s”. Human
nature has not changed since Paul's days.
These words apply to us today, just as they did back then.
Misuse of money and pride will always be a temptation for all of
us. Paul’s Charge To Timothy (ch. 6:11 - 21) Paul now begins to close his first letter to Timothy.
He tells him to “flee from all this”.
“All this” means the love of money that Paul just spoke about.
Love for money should not be found in the servant of the Lord.
One should not desire to work for Jesus because of any financial
benefit they might receive. This
was very evident in Paul’s life. Rather,
the servant of the Lord must pursue “righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, endurance and gentleness”, as Paul tells Timothy.
Paul told Timothy "to flee" from this
temptation. Flee means to run
away from, don't hang around, just get out of temptations way as fast as
possible. Too
often in today's church we don't flee these things, and we get in
trouble for it. We hang out
too close to these temptations thinking they won't affect us, but they do
without us even knowing it.
In verse 12 Paul tells Timothy “to fight the good
fight of faith”. For Paul
this word “fight” is quite fitting.
Paul felt that he was in a battle, not necessarily with flesh and
blood but with spiritual powers of wickedness.
We understand that there is a fight to be fought, but do we
actually feel as if we are in this fight.
Many of us are not serving Jesus to the degree that we should and
thus aren’t really experiencing any type of battle. Paul was in a daily
battle. Timothy obviously was
as well. Paul continues to exhort Timothy by telling him to
“hold on to eternal life”.
This “holding on” is not a passive holding on to but an active holding
on to. Hold on to your faith
with all the might you have. Don’t
let it slip in the least. Paul
is clearly suggesting that one can lose his faith if one doesn't hold on
to it tightly. Timothy took hold of this eternal life when he first
“made his confession” of faith “in the presence of many
witnesses”, Paul says. This
confession of faith may be when Timothy first gave his life to Jesus and
claimed to trust him for this eternal life.
Verse 13 says that not only did Timothy make a
confession in the sight of many people, but “in the sight of God, who
gives life to everything”. We
always need to remember that all we do and say is not merely in the sight
of man, but of God as well. And
it is God who gives life to everything, not just to every living creature,
as in animals and human life. God
has given life to plants and to every other organism in the universe. Besides people and God, Timothy made this confession
in the sight of Jesus as well, who also made a good confession when He
stood before Pilate. What confession is Paul speaking about here?
Pilate asked Jesus if He were a King.
Jesus replied by saying, “you are right in saying that I am a
King…” (John 18:37) The
confession that He Himself was a King is fundamental to who Jesus is and
to our faith as well. Our
faith is based on the premise that Jesus is Lord.
Paul continues by telling Timothy to “keep this
command” until Jesus returns to this earth. The command that Paul is
speaking about is the command to hold on to eternal life and the good
confession of faith that Jesus Christ is Lord.
And concerning that day, “God will bring this about in His own
time”. The truth that Jesus
is Lord will be evident when He returns to earth as Lord.
In verse 15 Paul speaks of God in all of His glory.
He says, “God, the blessed and only Ruler (only true ruler in all
of the universe), the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (God Himself is Lord
over all other lords), who alone is immortal (that is, untouched by deadly
corruption), and who lives in unapproachable light (maybe this is the best
way to describe God), who no one has seen or can see, (we can only see God
through Jesus), To Him be honour and might forever. Amen.” Throughout Paul’s writings he has much to say about
money as we have seen in the last couple of chapters. In verse 17 he tells
Timothy “to command those who are rich in this present world
not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so
uncertain”. Even though Paul
himself did not accumulate wealth for himself, he obviously recognized
that some Christians were rich. He
only warns them not to put their trust in these riches since there is
uncertainty with worldly riches. We
are all “to put our hope in God who richly provides us with everything
for our enjoyment”. The
foundation to our lives should be our trust in our God.
Paul says here that He will “provide us with everything for our
enjoyment”. We could ask the
question concerning Paul’s life, that is, did God give Paul everything
for his enjoyment? The answer
might depend on what one means by “enjoyment”.
Paul’s joy came when he saw people come to Jesus and grow in
their trust in Jesus. Beyond
this, I am not sure Paul was interested in other types of enjoyment, if he
were, they weren’t depended on material things.
His enjoyment came in things spiritual, whether in Jesus Himself,
or his brothers and sisters in the Lord.
So we should be careful how we interpret this verse.
We need to interpret these words in respect to how Paul views
enjoyment, not how we may understand enjoyment in today's world.
We may find enjoyment in having a new car, a new
house and cottage, and the latest in all the high tech equipment.
I am not convinced that God is obligated to provide us with all of
these things, just to make us happy. Paul goes on to say to the rich Christians that they
need to be “rich in good deeds”, and to be generous with the money
that they have. If
they do this, they “will lay up treasures for the coming age”,
similar words that Jesus Himself once said.
To be clear, Paul does not say that people should not
be rich. You can find that in
the text. He is simply telling
rich people two things here. One
thing is to not trust in your riches, and the second thing is to share
your riches with those who have none.
Paul ends this paragraph by saying “so that they
may take hold of the life that is truly life”.
By saying this we clearly understand Paul’s definition of what
life is, and it is not based on money and possessions.
Real life is based on Jesus, that will last into all of eternity. Verse 20 begins the closing of this letter with
personal remarks to Timothy. Paul
tells him “to guard what has been entrusted to him”.
Timothy has a ministry, a calling, and a responsibility to carry
his duties out. God has
“entrusted”, or “trusts
Timothy to carry this out”. Human
tendency is to let things slide after the initial thrill has warn off.
Paul tells Timothy to guard himself so this won’t happen. Do
we really think in terms of "guarding" these days, that is,
guarding our faith, guarding the truth, and guarding what our Lord has
given us? Paul also tells Timothy to stay away “from Godless
chatter and opposing ideas … which some have professed and by so doing
have wandered from the faith”. Timothy,
and us as well, should stay away from any kind of conversation or teaching
that leads people away from Jesus. An
example of “Godless chatter” might be the constant complaining by some
about the government of the day. This
type of talk usually ends in arguments, and if not, has no redeeming
value. Worldly philosophies
such as post-modernism is another example of something in today's church
that is causing people to stray from their trust, their faith in Jesus. As I have said before, we can “wander from the
faith”. If we wander so far
as to lay aside our faith, we, at that time also lay aside our salvation.
Individual sins, or bad works, do not get us unsaved, just as
individual acts of kindness and good works don’t save us.
Our salvation is based on our trust in Jesus.
When and if we lay aside this faith, then we lay aside our eternal
salvation. Paul simply closes this letter by saying, “grace be
with you”, something that we all need.
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