How to be The Church

In the July 11, 2016 issue of Time magazine, there was an article on 240 reasons to celebrate America right now. 240 reasons. You know what number 77 was? In my remember number 77 was this. None other than the lowly but always open waffle house restaurant. Seriously, here's what the author of that article bin Goldberger said. It's so dependable that FEMA has a so called waffle house index for disasters. If the waffle house locations are closed, you know things are really bad. He goes on to say in this article, those who sing the praises of waffle house do not do so because of the food necessarily. But according to one customer, and he quotes, there's no ego, no pretension. It's welcoming to all. Another quote from Daniel Hum, the proprietor of a high end New York City restaurant called 11 Madison Park reported when he visited on a trip one time a waffle house. This is what he said. It was a reminder of how important hospitality is. We just felt so taken care of. And that is what should be said about the church. It is a place where you feel taken care of where we are hospitable and open and welcoming to all to receive the word of God and hear the gospel. And it is a place where you're well taken care of. That is exactly what Paul communicates to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 5. We're moving our way through the book of 1 Timothy. And we come to the day to chapter 5. And I want you to imagine young and timid Timothy facing the daunting challenge of the church in Ephesus. And it was a daunting challenge for such a young pastor. We've already picked up these clues from the book as to what it was like in the church in Ephesus. And we're moving down on the youth and inexperience of Timothy. False teachers have strong influence in the church. There are some women who are usurping roles not designed by God for women in the church. There are relational doctrinal ministry issues, confusing swirling all around Timothy. And he needs this letter from his mentor Paul. And he needs to take a lifeline to him as he devours this letter of instruction and encouragement and help from Paul. We've already seen that in chapters 1 through 4, Paul gives Timothy instruction on doctrine, chapter 1, on worship, chapter 2, on qualifications for leaders in the church, chapter 3. And on some dangers, warning signs of dangers that he will likely face in his ministry, chapter 4. So we come to chapter 5 and now Paul focuses on internal relationships and responsibilities of the church. And Timothy has, he's going to say, okay, now Timothy, I want you to take a look at what the church is supposed to be. He's going to tell him this is how the church should be the church. Now what we'll see in chapter 5 of 1 Timothy is not all that the church should be. This is not an exhaustive purpose, description, and vision casting for the church as a whole. In fact, you'll not find anything much here about worship, but he's already dealt with that in chapter 2. You'll not really find anything in chapter 5 about outreach, but he's already dealt with that in chapter 2 when he described prayer in terms of the mission of the church. Now he is more focused on the internal relationships and responsibilities. He's focused more on how we are to relate to one another in the church. That's his focus in chapter 5. And as he deals with that, how we are to relate to one another, responsibilities we have for one another in the context of the church, he touches on four issues that are still very much needed today. We're going to look at two of them today and two of them in a couple of weeks. The first responsibility that he gives to the church and to Timothy as he leads the church is respect fellow believers as family. Respect fellow believers as family. Notice 1st 1. He says, do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters with absolute purity. Now the first thing that jumps out at you when you read those verses is the church as family. He uses family terms to describe the church. So the church is a family. You know there are lots of metaphors, lots of word pictures of the church in the New Testament. The church is called a holy nation. It is called a kingdom. It is called a priesthood. The church is likened to branches on a vine. The church is called a bride, a temple, a body, an assembly, and a flock. Each of those word pictures of the church communicates some very pointed and unique aspects of church life and relationship. But here Paul avoids all of those and uses a different metaphor, and that is the church as a family, which indicates some very wonderful truths about what the church is and what it should be. This term, the family communicates the care and the openness and the love that ought to exist between people in a church. We are to treat one another as fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. We are to relate to each other in the best sense that families relate to each other. So the church as a family is a very beautiful concept of how the church ought to work. So I want you to see the respect due to family that Paul commands in these two verses. As you relate to one another as family, the key concept here is respect. The respect that is due to fellow family members. Now I remind you that Paul is addressing Timothy as a pastor. And so he's specifically telling him, this is the way Timothy you are to relate to your church family. Treat them as you would a family. And he mentions the different age groups and different genders in the church. And he says, this is how you relate to all of those age groups and genders as family. So let's look at it. Obviously it reflects really the care and responsibility of the whole church to relate to each other this way. But he's specifically talking to Timothy. He says, do not rebuke an older man harshly. So for older men, the command is don't rebuke harshly. It's a very interesting word. It's a word which literally means to strike. Well, yeah, didn't it? Strike. That's the word here. But the idea is to strike with words to really hammer someone verbally to let them have it. He says, don't you dare treat an older man that way, Timothy. Don't rebuke. You may have to rebuke him. You may have to correct him on some things. But don't rebuke him harshly. Don't let him have it. Don't hammer him with your speech. Don't strike him with your words. Rather, he says, exhort him. That word in this context means to make an appeal to, to encourage, to challenge, yes. But with the tone of this is your father. Appeal to him with the kind of respect and deference you would show your own father. There's a tone here that should be a tone, Timothy, of affection and respect. As I was studying this passage this week, I was thinking about my own father. My dad's been dead for eight and a half years. But I still respect him and his memory. And I thought about what would it have been like if I were in a position to have felt the need to go correct my dad about something, to rebuke him about something. First of all, I would have hesitated to even do that. That would have given me great pause to think, is this really necessary? And if I felt it was necessary, I can just imagine the kind of respect and affection and the way I would have worded things as carefully and lovingly and tenderly as possible. And Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, that's the way you treat older men in the church. You treat them as though they were your father. And then notice, he says, treat younger men as brothers. And then he says, treat them more like equals. So Timothy, when you're relating to younger men in the church, you know, your age, Timothy, we've already seen that Timothy was probably in his mid to late 30s. When you're dealing with younger men, Timothy, there should be no hint of superiority. Like, you know, I'm up here and you're down here. Relate to them as brothers. And I know brothers don't always get along. But obviously, Paul is talking about the way a family should operate. So he's saying treat them as equals. You're not a superior. Treat them as equals. Treat them as brothers. And then notice older women as mothers. Again, there must be that sense of gracious and gentle respect for older women. And I think Paul gives us a great example of how to deal with women in the church, possibly older women in this case, in the book of Philippians. I'm just going to read a couple of verses here for you. He's addressing some specific issues in the church in chapter four. And he says, therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for my joy and crown. That is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends. And then he says, I plead with Yodia and I plead with Sintica. You have to take my word for this. Those were feminine names in that day. And so these are ladies he's addressing and he calls them women later. He says, I plead with these two ladies to agree with each other in the Lord. Yes. And I ask you, Loyal Yoke Fellow, someone who's addressing in the church who's a leader in Philippi. I ask you, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement, the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Now notice how Timothy addresses these two women in the church to rebuke them, to correct them. And we're not sure if they were older ladies or not, but it does provide a model of how to treat women in the church. He first of all says, you are among the folks in the church that I love. He introduces that in chapter one, what's your know, I love you. And then he says, I plead with you. Not, I demand, I command. I mean Paul would have had the right to do that. He's an apostle, but he says, I plead with you. And then he highlights the fact that they had served along with him in the gospel. You see, he's couching everything he's saying, but we have a rebuke in tenderness and gracious gentleness. It's as though he's addressing his own mother. And so Paul says to Timothy, when you're dealing with older women, treat them as mothers with that gentleness and gracious kindness that you would your own mother. And then he says, and younger women as sisters with absolute purity. In other words, younger women, your age and younger Timothy in the church, mid 30s and under basically is what he's talking about with Timothy. He's saying, you should treat younger women with the same chaste and protective care that you would your own sister. Treat them as you would your own sister. Now here's a warning, Timothy, don't allow pastoral warmth to become inappropriate. And every pastor needs that warning. Don't allow pastoral warmth. The fact that you care for your flock to spill over in the inappropriate words or behavior or attention to younger women. Be chaste. Be protective of them as you would your own sister. So what he's saying is Timothy, the church is a family. And so treat everybody in the church with the same respect and gentleness and warmth and affection and purity that you would your own family. That's how the church should be the church. Treat one another with respect. Respect fellow believers as family. That's the first responsibility that Paul joins upon the church and Timothy as the pastor of the church. And then he says there's a second one and he's going to spend a good bit of time on this one because this was a very thorny issue in the early church. And it's this. Timothy, here's the second responsibility the church should have. Care for the needy. And he narrows that term needy with a very clear focus down to one category of those who in that day in that culture suffered some of the greatest need. And that was the care for widows. Notice in verse three he says give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. Now he's going to say a whole lot about widows in the next 14 verses. And I want to address specifically what he says about widows because it's important for the church to understand this today. But then we'll also see that this becomes a model and example for how the church ought to do benevolence in our culture. It becomes an example with some very clear teaching for us on that issue. But let's take the care for widows first. He has addressed that issue in verse three and he's talking about widows who are really in need. Now widows had a particular need in that day and time because basically in that culture, Old Testament and New Testament for century culture, the men did the work basically outside the home and women kept the household. And so women did not typically work jobs out in the marketplace. There were some rare exceptions like the lady in Acts 16 that Paul met in Philippi or in young Philippi who ran a thriving business. But there are not many of those. That's the exception in the world that Paul lived in. And so a widow typically had a rough way to go to take care of her own needs. Now there's a lot of background of what Paul says here and we really need to back up a little bit and understand a little bit of that background to catch the importance of why Paul would spend 14 verses on how to care for widows. First of all, you go back to the Old Testament and God places a high value on the care for widows. God Himself identifies Himself as the father of the fatherless and the protector or defender of widows. That is a statement made of God several times in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament law, it was in the mosaic law that farmers were not families were not supposed to harvest the corners of their fields or the sides of their fields to lead that grain for widows to harvest. For them to be able to come and be able to gain some harvest themselves so that they be able to take care of themselves. They don't have a husband to do the harvest for them and so this provision is made for widows. Same thing was true of vineyards and other crops. And then in the prophets in the Old Testament time and time again you hear the prophets crying out against the judges and kings who are treating widows unjustly. And it's part of God's message of social justice for the nation of Israel. You take care of the widows. So there's a huge Old Testament background here and that Old Testament background finds its way directly into the ministry of Christ because Christ showed compassion for widows. So let's think about it. There were three people that Jesus raised from the dead that we at least have a record of in the New Testament 3. One of them was a very close friend, Lazarus. One of them was he was going to a household of gyros to heal a little girl and on the way she dies. But the third one seems to be very intentional as an outreach to widows. Luke's Gospel tells us that Jesus was entering the little town of Nain in Galilee and there's a funeral procession coming out of the town. And Jesus knew who that funeral was for. It was the only son of a widow. And so Jesus stops the funeral procession and restores that young man to life so that he can take care of his widowed mother. Jesus showed compassion for widows. One of his parables about prayer talks about an unjust judge who will not hear the case of a widow. Jesus stopped the procession in the temple one day of people who were coming by and dropping their coins in those trumpet shaped receptacles in the temple for giving. And he stopped the whole procession and said, I want you all to know this widow, right here, this widow who gave two mites, two mites, a quarter of a penny worth has given more than anybody else. And he highlighted and heralded and lifted up the sacrificial giving of a widow. Jesus ripped into the Pharisees in Matthew 23 for their hypocrisy. And one of the things he said he said showed their hypocrisy was that they devoured widows houses. They took advantage of widows. So there's a huge example in the ministry of Christ that Old Testament background surfaces and has highlighted in the ministry of Christ and it flows right into the early church. You know the first problem the early church said we can't afford to miss on this one. We better organize this one well was the care of widows in Acts chapter 6. And in Acts chapter 9 the only clear story of a personal resurrection of someone back to life in the book of Acts is Dorcas and Peter razor from the dead and in that context it's clear that she made garments for widows. And if you read the passage carefully all the widows of the area are gathered to her house. And so once again a woman who ministered to widows her value to the community is seen James would further trump it this this cause of caring for the widows in James one when he says pure religion and undefiled is this to visit the width the orphans and widows minister to their needs. So this is not just an isolated reference you wonder why does Paul take 14 verses on this because this is huge in the early church when you're talking about caring for people you're focused on the care of widows. Now when he says in verse 3 give proper recognition to widows it is the Greek word for honor but it doesn't mean just you know kind of bow when you walk by them tip your hat to them and go on. The word timme the word for honor can also be used in financial context of providing material needs in fact it's used in Matthew 27 9 the word honor is used actually to set a price on something. So it does carry that meaning sometimes of providing for the material needs to take care of the financial needs of someone so when he says honor or give recognition to he's not just talking about a passing nod of recognition he's talking about you take care of these ladies you take care of their needs. These widows who are really in need you see you have to understand there were no pensions in that day that there was no life insurance in that day and one of the ways that families can provide for widows is through life insurance today but that was not possible in the first century. There was no government assistance for widows in that day and so that's the reason why it is incumbent on the church to move into meet this need. However Paul is going to make it clear that that could become overwhelming to the church and that may be part of what was happening in act 6 and so Paul makes clear the qualifications for care. He's going to say in a way to say I know what you're thinking there are a lot of widows in Ephesus are we supposed to provide for every widow in Ephesus and the answer is no no that's not the church's responsibility. So he gives some restrictions and some guidelines as to which widows should be considered for help by the church. I know this this may sound a little like it doesn't really apply that much to us listen it does in more ways than just widows it provides a pattern for how the church is to do benevolence. So let's see what he says about widows what are the qualifications for the church to become involved in their care number one qualification is that they have no relatives to care for them. You see in verse 3 he has identified widows who are really in need now he's going to identify what he means by that verse 4 but contrast word here contrast the widows who are really in need. So he's going to identify the ones who are really in need by this he says but if a widow has children or grandchildren these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents for this is pleasing to God. Now that's a mouthful but basically what Paul is saying here is that it is the first responsibility of the family to care for the widows widows who are really in need have no relatives to care for them that's his point in verses 3 and 4 but this also come there are no other resources no family resources to help this this kind of widow but this this also becomes a child. So it becomes a challenge to the family Paul is actually challenging us as families about the care of our own families and he's saying you have the responsibility as family first of all to take care of your own in this context particularly widows and he gives three reasons why it's the responsibility of the family first of all he says this is how you display your religion. In other words this is how you practice your faith this is the test of true spirituality and you can come to church every week and sing the songs and teach classes and you can talk about godly things but what what Timothy is being told here by Paul is if you don't take care of your parents you're not living out your faith. The test of spirituality is are you caring for your own family that's that's reason number one why it's the family's responsibility second reason is you owe this to your mother and your grandmother you see what he says there if a widow has children or grandchildren these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and notice the next words and so repaying their parents and grandkids. You owe your mom your grandmother that care I mean the woman who brought you into the world who clothed you changed your diapers fed you housed you supported you loved you nurtured you raised you you owe her as a child or a grandchild there's an obligation there a willing obligation yes a joyful loving obligation but nonetheless you pay them back in a sense is what Paul is saying you owe this to them and the third reason why he says it's the the family's responsibility notice the end of the verse this is pleasing to god well that's where we go back to all that old testament background the example of Christ the example of the early church I mean all everything leading up to this is so. Screaming at us god is pleased when we take care of widows and so with all that background yes it goes without saying god is pleased so it is the first responsibility of the relatives the family to care for and even when professional care may be needed and you cannot care for a mother or grandmother in your home you still have the obligation to financially emotionally spiritually and with your presence care for them take care of them look at a couple of the verses that really drive this home skip down the verse eight if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially his immediate family he has denied the faith and his worst and an unbeliever again he's saying you know he said in verse four this is how you show your religion your spirituality it's really putting your faith in the world really putting your faith into practice and if you don't take care of your own family then you're denying by your actions what you profess to believe with your lips in other words it's one of the greatest evidences of hypocrisy is to claim that you love Christ and don't take care of your parents so he says that in verse eight you're denying your faith you're worse than an unbeliever he said I mean even unbelievers in the Roman and Greek world knew that it was their responsibility to take care of their parents come on believers should know this so yeah it's the responsibility of the family didn't when he closes out this whole section and summarizes everything in verse 16 he repeats this same qualification that the family family has the first responsibility look at verse 16 if any woman who is a believer has widows in her family she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them so that the church can help those widows who are really in need you see what he's saying there it's the family's responsibility first so that the church will not be burdened and it's not the idea of oh no not another widows that care of it's not that it's that it's that there are so many needs out there how can we possibly meet them all well the church can focus on the widows who don't have families to care for them that relieves some of that burden if you will that that's his point but you get the point both in verse four and verse eight and in verse 16 that Paul is saying the widows the church cares for are widows who have no relatives to care for them it's the families responsibility first second qualification for widows to be cared for by the church is a godly life they must have lived a godly life look at verse five the widow who is really in need again that's the widows he mentioned in verse three he's going to further identify who he's talking about here the widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and pray and pray and she will be in the house of her husband. And to ask God for help but the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives give the people these instructions to so that no one will be open to blame. In other words Timothy you better teach this in the church the direct command for Timothy and since it's inspired for all pastors to teach these instructions in the church so that's what I'm doing this morning. The second qualification for churches is that this widow must have lived the godly life her hope is in God verse five says which means she is a believer the hope in God remember he just used the word hope in the passage we looked at last week same idea of a confident looking forward to what God promised in the future it's the looking forward to heaven. But he's talking about here and so her hope of heaven rests in her lord and savior Jesus Christ her hope is in God so she's a believer she knows the Lord but not only that you can tell that she really loves the Lord because she gives herself to prayer she's committed to prayer night and day pray and ask God for help and she also is not living a sinful and immoral lifestyle that's what verse six means the widow who lives for pleasure. So who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives in contrast to a godly life this is a woman who just lives for simple pleasure obviously immoral lifestyle a woman who does that is demonstrating by her continual lifestyle that she's really not a believer. You see sometimes we trump it so hard eternal security and I believe that with all my heart I believe that a person is genuinely saved they cannot and will not lose their salvation they are eternally secure you know there's a flip side to that coin theologians call it the perseverance of the saints and it basically is this that if you are a true believer there will be evidence in your life there will be a demonstration in your lifestyle at least to some extent that you are a true believer. You really know and love Jesus and there are lots of ways that shown the Bible talks about them you'll love his word you'll love fellow believers you will not want to sin although you will stumble and sin that's not your heart it's not your practice it's not your desired lifestyle and what he's talking about here is a woman who desires that lifestyle shows that she really is spiritually dead even when she's physically alive that's what he means by being dead while you're still alive. So the qualification to be cared for by the church is that you have to have a godly lifestyle you know the Lord and you're really seeking to live for the Lord that's it. Third qualification she has to be older. I'm gonna walk in where angels fear to tread here. Verse 9, no widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over 60. Now I don't want you to walk out today and say the preacher said I'm old because I'm 61. I'm not saying that I want to make sure I clarify this. Again you have to understand the culture context of what Paul saying here in the first century world by the time you turn 60 you were considered to be entering the later years of your life. The lifespan was not near what it is today and so typically age 60 was the age at which you were considered not able to provide for yourself your family would take care of you at that point. That was a standard kind of age you know like our retirement or social security age today is at a certain point well that was considered the time then when you know you can expect somebody else is going to be taken care of you about time you're 60 because of the lifespan. So it is in that context I'm calling 60 older. His point is these must be older women who are not really able to care for themselves these are the ones that should be put on the list he says and that's an interesting thought what is this list he's talking about it's not a church membership list obviously or otherwise only widows could be church members. Some people believe it is a list of older widows who would become kind of an order and a church office of serving widows that became a popular view in church history and really fed into the content system of the Roman Catholic church a little bit later. But I don't think that's what he's talking about here the whole context the whole passage is about the church caring for widows and and verse 10 is not telling a widow how she should serve in this special order it's describing how she has served in the past and her lifestyle leading up to this point that she needs care. So I think he's just saying Timothy you're not necessarily required to take care of all widows but certainly widows that are older that are in their later years of life and are going to be dependent on somebody else for their care anyway. Then if they don't have any family yes those are the ones you need to focus on. Okay he'll deal with younger widows in just a moment but let me just say older is one of the qualifications for being cared for by the church and then the fourth qualification is yes to be devoted to her husband you see it there in verse 9 has been faithful to her husband. It's an interesting expression that is basically the flip but the same kind of expression as the qualification for pastors and deacons husband of one wife well this is wife of one husband with the idea of being she has been faithfully devoted to her husband just like that qualification for pastors and deacons faithfully devoted to their wives this woman has to have demonstrated she was faithfully devoted to her husband she was she was a good wife. And then the last qualification the fifth one is a good testimony of service first ten. Here's a qualification for a widow to be put on this list and is well known for her good deeds such as bringing up children but was understand that it doesn't mean that she must necessarily have had children and a widow who never had children can't be cared for it doesn't mean that probably what's referenced in that the bringing up of children again to understand what was happening in the first time. It was happening in the first century in that culture it was practice in the Roman Empire and actually was legal if you did not want a child all you had to do is put them out on the street. That was it you just abandoned them and the early church we know this from early church writers and even Roman historians who tell us that the early church was known for rescuing those little children and taking them into their homes. And adopting them and caring for their needs and that's probably what's being referenced here this is a woman who showed that she cared for these little orphaned kids had a heart for children but he goes on to describe other forms of good deeds showing hospitality she's willing to give it herself in her home washing the feet of the saints that's a servants job when you come in off the dusty streets to say take off your sandals let me clean your feet before you before you sit down. Before you sit down at my table just shows the spirit of servant and then helping those in trouble devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds she's obviously a woman who has a good testimony of service this is the kind of woman the church should be taken care of. So there are five restrictions and qualifications Timothy is not saying or Paul is not saying the Timothy the church's responsibility is to care for everybody or every widow there are some restrictions and qualifications that the church should be taken care of. That the church should focus on and he's given them very clearly. Let me say this before we move on here quickly. I believe the best example we have in the Bible for the care of a widow is is not the old testament examples which are wonderful and not even the example of the ministry of Christ which is great and not even the ministry of the early church which is stellar. The best example we have of the care of a widow in the Bible is on the cross. Because on the cross nearing death Jesus arranges for the care of his widowed mother. I want you to think about that for a moment. Jesus only spoke he spoke seven times on the cross but he only spoke individually to somebody twice. One to a dying thief who had turned to him in faith in Jesus promises him a place in paradise. The other is to arrange the care for his own mother. Think about it. That shows the heart of God. As Jesus is bearing the burden of the sin of the world and all the horrible physical torture and agony that he's suffering on the cross his mind is concentrated on the salvation of one sinner and the care of one widow. More than anything else in scripture that tells me the responsibility we have to care for our mothers and our grandmothers. The Paul addresses the case of younger widows in verses 11 through 15. Let me see if I can summarize this. He says as for younger widows do not put them on such a list. In other words, they're not to be on the list of the widows that the church will care for. Why? Isn't that discriminatory, Paul? Well, that's certainly what we're here today. This is age discrimination. Paul has a couple of reasons for saying it's not the responsibility of the church to care for younger widows. These are two potential problems. Evidently we're common in that day. One is this. He says for when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ they want to marry. They bring judgment on themselves because they've broken their first pledge. I don't have time to go into all of the detail of what this means. Let me just say this. The problem here is not remarriage because in verse 14 he will counsel younger widows to remarry. That's not the issue. The issue obviously has something to do with these terms of their sensual desires and overcoming their dedication to Christ and breaking their first pledge. Let me just put all that together with that going through the explanation of all those phrases and words. It basically means this. It means that any woman's first dedication, primary dedication, is to be a Christ follower, to follow her Lord and to be obedient to him. That's her first pledge and sometimes maybe with a younger widow the physical desire for marriage and the desire to be cared for and under the blessing and love of a husband may lead her to throw away that pledge and that first dedication to Christ and marry whoever she can regardless of whether or not he's a believer. I think he's talking here about the pressure to get married may lead her to marry an unbeliever and for say her first pledged Christ and to be a Christ follower and to obey him. For that reason she shouldn't be put on the list of widows. The second potential problem is this. He says in verse 13, besides they get into the habit and he's describing a situation which evidently was occurring. They get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house and not only do they become idlers but also gossip and busy body saying things they ought not to. The temptation because of time on your hands no more family to care for is to be guilty of going from place to place, house to house and just spreading gossip and the word busy body means to roam around stick your nose and other people's business where it ought not to be. Now please don't misunderstand the passage. Younger women and younger widows are not the only ones guilty of gossip that is not the point. I heard about three preachers one time that went out fishing and one that you know they decided we're kind of a accountability group here we can share our innermost secrets and burdens and failings with each other and we can trust each other right. And one guy says you know my weakness my failing is the bottle I'll just be honest with you I sometimes I drink and I drink too much. Second guy said well I'll be honest with you and we'll be very transparent here my problem is love of money and I've actually taken some money for my church I shouldn't have. And the third pastor said I want you to know my problem is gossip and I can't wait to get back to tell him. The gossip is not the problem just of young women or young widows okay so I don't want that point to come across but evidently in that culture it was very common for this to happen and so he says okay the church is not going to support. And ungodly lifestyle whether that be immorality or gossip the church will not support that he says Timothy you should not put those women on the list but he says this is what I expect of younger widows verse 14 I counsel younger widows to marry to have children to manage their homes and give the enemy no opportunity for slander. He's not again he's not restricting women to the home that's not the point of this passage so many people take these things out of context basically what he's saying is a younger widow still has the opportunity to marry now be careful she needs to marry in the Lord that's very plain that's very clear from what he said but she still has the opportunity to marry raise a family and her needs will be cared for in that way. She will not need the church to care for her because that's how her needs will be cared for and it will give her a family to care for where she won't be idle and do all that other stuff that was evidently happening okay that's the point here so that's the case of younger widows now very quickly let me tie this together because I know this can sound like oh okay this is the first century only not really there's a lot of them although this is really couched in in the culture of the first century in the desperate need of widows in that day who could not care for themselves did not have a life insurance policy did not have government assistance or a pension plan although it was really designed for that there's some real teaching for us here today some principles for providing care I think there's some general principles we can learn about how the church should practice benevolence and not just in the case of widows but by by expansion of the principle even to other benevolent needs. What should be our guiding principles I think we can draw some from this passage number one the priority for care is believers now we're not talking about outreach here okay don't misunderstand me there's plenty of outreach in chapter two in the mission of the church but what we're talking about here is caring for the material financial needs of people the church obviously just can't do that for everybody and so the focus and the priority for care is believers Paul said the same thing in Galatians chapter six when he's talking about meeting the material needs of people he says in Galatians chapter six and verse 10 do we have that one on the screen Galatians six and verse 10 basically is saying therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all people especially to those who belong to the family of believers and in the context doing good there is a lot of work. We should help everyone we possibly can but we got to start at home when it comes to meeting financial needs we have to start with believers caring for our own family if we meet the needs of everybody in the community and there are widows in this church that are suffering we have failed them and so the priority for care is believers our own family second principle is the first part of the community for the family second principle is this the first responsibility belongs to the family that was clear in this text we all have that responsibility to care for our own mothers and grandmothers and bikes tension verse eight to all of our family he mentions we have that responsibility first kingdom resources are not to encourage irresponsibility on the part of families. And so the church has no responsibility to help with benevolent needs people who are not showing responsibility to take care of themselves or family members who are not showing responsibility to take care of their families that is very clear from this passage and I think is a very direct principle and application for the church caring for needs of people third principle is this the care should not support an ungodly lifestyle the church has a right. To make sure that kingdom resources are not being funneled to situations where immorality or idle sin is the case that's clear in this passage we have a responsibility and the right to ask some questions for people who receive care from the church and then the fourth principle is this those receiving care should respond by serving. You see when when a church member receives care from the church and I'm talking here as Paul is about financial help the church is not saying that's alone and you should pay me back the church never says that we never want to communicate that benevolent help or care for a member is not alone and we do not expect repayment but the passage is clear the women who deserve help here in this passage are also women who are very happy. We are active in serving the Lord and doing good works and so certainly to show gratitude to the Lord and the church a person who has been helped ought to plug into service ought to be involved in serving the Lord somehow and getting back that way to the Lord and his work following this instruction will help us to be the church God intends. You really will Rick Warren recently told a story about Dan Kathy who is the president and CEO of Chick-fil-A and I'm sorry for using so many restaurant illustrations today I know you're ready to go to one so sorry but he tells this story about Dan Kathy. Kathy was in Southern California checking on some new Chick-fil-A restaurants that their company was building near Saddleback Church where is the church where Rick Warren was a founding pastor still pastors so Rick Warren is out with Dan Kathy looking over these new construction sites of Chick-fil-A and they stopped at a construction site of a new Chick-fil-A and here's how Rick Warren told the story and I want to quote what he said he said we were looking at the building while we were there we were hungry so we went next door to I think it was a talk of the church. It was some other it was some other fast food in competition with Chick-fil-A we'd been out our hands were all sweaty and dirty we went into the restroom and washed our hands then I watched Dan take out extra sheets. This is the CEO of a chain of restaurants I watched him pull them out and I watched him hand clean the sinks of the Taco Bell restroom we were just in. I looked at him and said thank you for doing that Dan he said Rick we teach our staff to always leave any place they are at better than it was when they found that whether it's our place or not. Now nobody at Taco Bell is going to know that the CEO of Chick-fil-A just cleaned their restroom and didn't charge anything for it but that's not the point the point was not so anybody would know I'm sure Dan Kathy did not even want Rick Warren to tell the story the point is this that's the way the church ought to operate. Everywhere we go everything we do Princeton Bluefield, Mercer County, West Virginia the world ought to be a better place because we've been around we've been there and we are being the church we're doing what the church ought to be doing we're treating each other like family. What a testimony that is to a divided world you know we fret about the division in our country you know what we can do about it be the church treat each other like family love each other like brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and children and the world will sit up and take notice because that's not what's happening in our culture today. And then care for the needy whether it's widows or others that have needs care for the needy be the church leave this place a better place when we walk away let's pray. Father thank you for clear teaching of your word Paul's instruction to Timothy help us to be the church. To have the kind of relationships and fulfill the kind of responsibilities that show we truly are following you. That we're family and we treat each other like family. And that we care for those who have needs in our midst. Help us to be the church in Jesus name we pray amen.