I Timothy 5: After instructing Timothy how to “save” himself and the church from false teachings (4:1-16), Paul turns his attention toward instructing Timothy how to relate effectively to various groups of people in the church. He is not “to rebuke an older man” harshly, but to encourage or correct (“exhort”) him with gentleness and respect “as a father” (1a). He is to “exhort…younger men as brothers” in a gentle and loving way as equals (1b). Timothy is to “exhort…older women as mothers” with special consideration and love (2a) and “younger women as sisters” in the Lord with the same kind of “purity” he would render to a physical sister (2b). Paul gives Timothy instructions on how to identify and “honor widows” (3). If “any widow has children or grandchildren” then her children or grandchildren (“they”) are to support her (4). The “widow” that the church is to support has no family to care for her and she demonstrates that she is looking to the Lord to meet her needs rather than pursuing “pleasure” or a hedonistic lifestyle (5-6). Paul explains the importance of supporting one’s own parents since they provided for us growing up; believers were to provide for them (7-8a). Failure to provide for one’s parents or grandparents is contrary to Christian teaching (“the faith”) and makes one “worse than an unbeliever” who routinely takes care of his widowed mother or grandmother (8b). The Ephesian church had a list of “widows” who received regular support from the church if they met certain conditions: a. She had to be at least “sixty years old” (9a) since those under 60 could probably still work or remarry. b. She had to be “the wife of one man” (lit. one-man woman) which means she would be disqualified if she had been unfaithful to her husband when he was alive or if she remarried after his death (9b). c. She was “well reported for good works” including raising her “children” responsibly, showing hospitality to “strangers”, humbly served her brothers and sisters in Christ (“washed the saints’ feet”), provided relief for “the afflicted” or needy, and was wholehearted in her commitment to the Lord as expressed in following “every good work” (10). Paul said not to put “younger women” (under 60 years old) on the church list of supported widows because they may desire to marry an unbeliever and their sensual desires may lead them away from “Christ” their “first faith” (11-12) and they may learn to be “idle…gossips and busybodies” (13). Paul would rather younger widows remarry a believer, “bear children, manage the house” and avoid giving Satan an opportunity as some had already done by marrying unbelievers which led to leaving the Christian faith (14-15). Any “believing man or woman” is to care for their widowed mother to avoid hindering the church from supporting widows who qualify for their support (16; cf. 5:5-10). Paul now focuses on the treatment of “elders” (church leaders) in the church (17a). He instructs the local church to provide twice the compensation (“double honor”) for elders who “rule well” by working hard in preaching and teaching “the word and doctrine” because the Scriptures (Deut. 25:4; Luke 10:7) teach that a worker is “worthy of his wages” (17b-18). Just as an ox needs nourishment to work, so does a hard working teaching elder. Just as an oxen has the right to benefit from his labor, so a leader called to full-time leading and teaching in the church has the right to the financial support of the church. What happens if you muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain? The ox loses motivation. Rewarding teaching elders with financial support will increase their motivation and enable them to devote more time to the affairs of the church To protect innocent elders from false accusations, Paul said “not to receive an accusation” against an elder unless there were “two or three witnesses” to provide evidence of sin (19). Paul instructs Timothy to “rebuke” (confront) a “sinning” elder “in the presence of all” the elders so all of them learn to “fear” the painful consequences of sin (20). Paul charges Timothy “before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels” to carry out these commands concerning the compensation and discipline of elders without “partiality” (21). Paul cautioned Timothy about appointing men (“Do not lay hands on anyone hastily”) to the leadership position of elder “hastily” because they “share” the guilt of that man if he falls into sin (22a). Paul urged Timothy to keep himself “pure” because pure men would have the discernment to appoint pure men to leadership positions (22b). Paul advises Timothy “no longer to drink only water” which was not always purified, but to “use a little wine” to help with his frequent stomach ailment so that his physical health would not impair his ability to select qualified elders (23). The reason Timothy is to be careful about appointing men to leadership is “that some men’s sins” do not surface until later and some men’s “good works” are not apparent until later (24-25). The better a church knows it potential elders, the fewer surprises they will incur afterward. Application: 1. The church is a family consisting of spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who are to treat one another respectfully and lovingly (1-2). 2. Local churches are to provide financial support for older widows who do not have family to care for them and who serve the Lord faithfully in the local church. Younger widows are encouraged to remarry believing husbands, raise children, and manage their homes to avoid developing destructive habits and falling away from the Christian faith (2-16). The more churches follow God’s way of caring for their own, the less reliant they will be on government programs to take care of them. 3. Church leaders (“elders”) who work especially hard at leading, studying, and teaching God’s Word are to receive more compensation which is consistent with the biblical principle of rewarding hard work so that the worker does not lose motivation (17-18; cf. Deut. 25:4). How sad it is when churches underpay their leaders to “keep them humble” when in reality they are decreasing their motivation and their time to attend to the affairs of the church especially if they have to find employment outside of the church to support their family. 4. It is essential for churches to protect innocent church leaders from false accusations with the use of 2 or 3 witnesses of the wrongdoing and hold guilty church leaders accountable so that the other elders (and the entire church) learn to fear the consequences of sin and deal with one another fairly before God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His angels (19-21). 5. Churches should prayerfully and carefully observe potential elders before their appointment to office so that they have fewer regrets to deal with afterward (22-25).
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 02:56:40 +0000
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