Essentials For Godliness

Transcript

GR 1771
6/29/2014
Essentials for Godliness
I Timothy 5:1-8
Gil Rugh

We are going to I Timothy chapter 5 in your Bibles, I Timothy chapter 5. As we noted when we started our study and then we’ve covered it again in chapter 3 of I Timothy, verse 15 Paul refers to the church as the family of God, His household and that he is writing so that we will know how to conduct ourselves in God’s household, how His family ought to behave. So it is natural when we come over to chapter 5 after addressing Timothy about some of his own personal life issues, how he should conduct himself, verse 12: “Let no one look down on your youthfulness but you are to be an example of the believer and a pattern that they can follow. Don’t neglect your spiritual gift. Pay attention to yourself and to your teaching and that will ensure salvation for yourself and for those who hear you.” That leads us into chapter 5 about the relationships that Timothy will have with different groups within the church. The church is comprised of older people, younger people, married people, single people and he will deal particularly with widows. In Biblical times there were slaves and masters. When we get down into chapter 6 he will be with those. So you have basically through chapter 5 and the 1st part of chapter 6 talking about the relationship, young and old, widows, elder, older people, slaves, masters, how the family is to relate together. You just take it for granted that God’s family will be composed of diversity. It’s not just a church for young people. Not just a church for older people or other kinds of division and so we are to learn to function together in a godly way. That is part of God’s plan.

You are going to have the same kind of instruction when you get to more personal issues as you had with other issues as well; ought to take note of that. In verse 11 he says: “Prescribe and teach these things.” Then down in chapter 5, verse 7: “Prescribe these things as well.” Then we get down into chapter 6, verse 2: “Teach and preach these things.” So pervades. These are things that are constantly to be brought up before the people. They are to be taught, they are to be remembered and they are to be put into practice.

He starts out with treatment of the old and the young. These are things essential for godliness. “Do not rebuke an older man but rather appeal to him as a father and to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, the younger women as sisters in all purity.” So we are the household of God. There are going to be senior citizens, there are going to be younger people, young adults. You have to function properly together with these people, Timothy.

It starts out with a rather unusual word. It’s only going to be used one other time in the New Testament. It talks about a really sharp, stern, harsh rebuke. “Do not sharply rebuke an older man.” That is a severe reprimand or censure. Originally the word meant to hit somebody with your fists and then it came to be used as a metaphor for in effect beating on someone with your words, being harsh with them, unkind.

So Timothy as one who would be identified with the younger people, we noted perhaps 40 and under he was told he chapter 4, verse 12: “Don’t let anyone look down on your youthfulness.” But you also have to deal with respect for those who are older. “Do not sharply rebuke an older man. Rather encourage him.” That word “appeal,” appeal to him, encourage him as a father. Older people need to be corrected at times. We don’t know everything until we are 70 or older and at times younger people in the position God has given them like Timothy are in a position to have to bring correction to older people but they need it to be with respect and understanding. So they appeal to them, they encourage them.

There is a way you would deal with your father. You appeal to him, encourage him. So you see the family picture here. They may not be your physical parent, your physical father but you have a sense of how you should deal with them in God’s family the same way you would deal with your father. It would be improper for the young person to rebuke in a harsh way their father so it is improper in God’s family as well. There is to be a respect, a consideration but the correction does need to be done. It is just to be done with the proper attitude and with the proper respect to the older man.

“You treat the younger men as brother.” And Timothy would be one in that group. He treats them as a family member as well. They are brothers. It is talking here about the men. He will come to the women in a moment. So again the dealing with them is with proper respect and love and consideration. No room for pride and arrogance.

Now when we are dealing with false teaching there will be certain firmness, even certain harshness if the false teaching is not stopped. That doesn’t mean we go soft and allow for everything in the name of love but here in the general flow of our functioning as a family there is respect, there is consideration and as we minister to one another and part of that ministry will be correcting error or faults. Timothy will have that responsibility. He does as he deals with younger men as brothers.

Now we can put these things into context if we come over to Titus. Paul wrote another letter to another young man who worked with him who was representing him in another area but acting as Paul’s representative. In chapter 2 of the letter to Titus he addressed older men and says: “Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.”

Then down in verse 6 he will address the younger men. “They are to be sensible, showing themselves an example of good deeds, purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach.” So there is to be the proper conduct among the older men and the younger men and when there is something that needs to be corrected those correcting, for example Timothy here but it will continue down for us, is to be done with the right attitude, the respect for one another. Now where improper conduct persists, then we have to deal with it in a more severe way. We saw that in chapter 1 where certain men have to be commanded not to teach other doctrines and Paul has turned some men over to Satan for their refusal to stop teaching error but in our general flow we are family. And being a mixture of older and younger is good for us because we learn to relate with one another, we learn to deal with one another properly. As the younger learn to be patient with the older and the older learn to be patient with younger even when it comes to music, right?

Verse 2 back in I Timothy 5, we just pick up with older women and then the younger women. The older women, you appeal to them as you would your mother. Again you want to encourage them. Where there needs to be instruction or correction it has to be done with understanding the way you would talk to your mother, with respect, with honor, not harsh, not talking down to them, not rebuking them in a disrespectful way. At your age you ought to know better kind of attitude. But you want to bring them along by the same token.

So Timothy is to be dealing with these people here and whether it’s the older men or the older women they have to come along. We all have to grow. None of us are done growing and that means we who are older have to open to the ministry of the younger. Timothy’s instructed here but that’s why we went to Titus. We are also reminded as the older people of our conduct and what it ought to be and so are the younger. So our conduct when it’s not what it ought to be then there will be ministry to us but we do it as family members, bringing member of the family along. So you deal with the older women as you would deal with your mother and the younger women as a sister and there is a caution here, in all purity. Up in verse 12 of chapter 4 Timothy was reminded of this. And the younger, it becomes more of a danger so in chapter 4, verse 12: “Let no one look down on your youthfulness but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, purity show yourself an example.” Now down here when the younger man like Timothy is dealing with the younger women he is to treat them as sisters and he has to be careful that purity is maintained when that kind of conduct and that kind of ministry is going on.

In Titus chapter 2, verses 4 and 5 and this is a pattern that we need to be sure we maintain he talks about the older women’s responsibility in verse 3 to be reverenced, not malicious gossips, not enslaved to much wine. Teaching what is good. What their teaching is encouraging the young women to love their children, love their children, be sensible, pure, workers at home, subject to their own husbands so the Word of God will not be dishonored. This ministry of developing and encouraging the younger women takes place with the older women and that will help in the maintaining of purity and the protection of all concerned. The younger women are to be treated as sisters in all purity.

Back in I Timothy chapter 5 he moves to a special group now, widows and that’s going to be the subject all the way down through verse16. So he speaks in a concise general way about ministry to just groups, the elderly men, the elderly women, the younger men, the younger women but now he is going to break out a special group that needs special attention and it’s quite an extensive section when you consider form verse 3 down through verse 16 he’s talking about widows and the responsibility of the church in its ministry to widows.

He starts out in verse 3: “Honor widows who are widows indeed.” And when he says, “widows indeed” he’s indicating not just widows but widows who have no family who could help take care of them. This would continue. We have today certain maybe safety nets that help with this but the responsibility is still here for us in God’s family and we have a responsibility to those who are widows indeed. We are to honor them, show them respect. You know no one is dealt with here in this section as a burden, as a problem that is sort of draining us or weighing us down and the widows are not viewed that way either. They are those worthy of our honor, worthy of our respect and this honor would demonstrate itself in being sure that their material needs are met; not excuses, “Well maybe their husbands should have made better preparation” or kids who may have pre-deceased them kind of thing. No, you are going to honor widows indeed, then the qualification.

This problem, maybe we ought to go back to Acts 6 before we go on. This came up early in the church. Acts chapter 6 starts out: “Now at this time while the disciples were increasing a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebrews. So they are both Jews, the Hellenistic Jews, Jews primarily that had been perhaps raised outside Palestine and had Greek influence versus what we call “native Jews” native to Israel, the land. So there is a disagreement between these two groups because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food. So the church had taken responsibility here for the widows but there were hard feelings. These Hellenistic Jews thought that the native Hebrews Jewish Christians were overlooking their widows and so a dispute arises. The 12 disciples who are the head of the church which is the church at Jerusalem at this point, that’s the church as it exists said we can’t take time from the ministry of the Word to be responsible for this so that appoint men and they have to be godly men, verse 3, “seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit of wisdom who can be put in charge of this task.” They chose Stephen, verse 5, “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit and Philip” and on the list. Interestingly these are men with names of Greek background which would seem to indicate part of the way we are going to deal with this so nobody has any question. If the Greek widows are being, the Jewish Greek widows are being overlooked, we will put godly Greek Jewish men over the distribution of these things.

But you see early on the church sensed it’s responsibility and it is serious enough it needs godly men. Sometimes Acts 6, as we noted earlier in our study of I Timothy is taken as the origin of Deacons but regardless we have the picture of what is happening.

Come back to I Timothy chapter 5. Now we honor widows who are widows indeed but not every widow is a widow indeed because some widows would have family members and so those family members should assume the responsibility. “But if any widow has children or grandchildren they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents for this is acceptable in the sight of God.” King James said “If they have children or nephews, the old word nephews as was used back in the 17th century referred to grandchildren but it is here talking about children or grandchildren; in other words, in the family. They have physical family; either their children or their grandchildren. This responsibility is passed on. Sometimes the parents outlive their own children. It could happen here with a mother whose husband died and perhaps her children died. Then the grandchildren have the responsibility so they must first learn to practice piety, godliness at home. This becomes part of godly character. Now it could be you would have a believing widow and maybe her family would not be believers and would refuse the responsibility particularly if you have here a Jewish mother who is converted to Christ and the families will not have anything to do then naturally the church would be willing to pick it up but in the general pattern this was true in Israel and so it would be a special case where these Jews wouldn’t have done it but it could happen, you know. Some families will have nothing to do with a believer but here at least is the general pattern. If there are children they ought to learn to practice godliness. This is a constant emphasis. It is important to see that this is one of the practical areas of godliness. It’s not just reading my Bible and praying. It is living life as God intends.

This word translated piety – godliness. Come back to chapter 2. It is used eight times in I Timothy here. In chapter 2, verse 2: “We are praying for kings and all in authority so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness.” Down in chapter 3, verse 16: “By common confession great is the mystery of godliness.” Here you have the summary of the ministry of Christ as we have seen. In chapter 4, verse 7, and the end of the verse: “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” That means you have nothing to do with false teaching and false doctrine. Verse 8: “Godliness is profitable for all things,” still in chapter 4, verse 8. You see that completed emphasis on godliness and the importance of godliness.

Jump over to chapter 6, verse 3: “If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the teaching conforming to godliness.” Often this word is used in the context of being faithful to the truth of the Gospel and the truth of God’s Word but godliness also involves fulfilling my responsibility in my family like taking care of a widowed mother or grandmother. It is all part of godliness. It permeates my entire life.

In verse 5, we want to finish this up of chapter 6 it talks about constant friction between men of depraved mind, deprived of the truth who suppose that godliness is a means of gain but godliness is actually a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. Verse 11: “Flee from these things you man of God. Pursue righteousness, godliness” and so on. So we are talking about godliness. When we are studying I Timothy we are talking about how God’s people, His family should conduct themselves. Well, we are the family of God and we ought to be characterized by godliness, lives that are pleasing to Him, honoring to Him.

So back in chapter 5, verse 4: “If any widow has children or grandchildren they must first learn to practice godliness, piety, in regard to their own family and make some return to their parents.” In other words recognize benefits I have received from my parents and their care for me in raising me to be an adult and so on. I honor them as my parents. I have an appreciation that I show to them. You know that’s to be expected and required. It was true under the Old Testament law, honor your father and your mother, one of the Ten Commandments, the fifth of the Ten Commandments.

Back up to the letter to the Ephesians. You get the idea this may have been an issue at the church in Ephesus because Timothy is at Ephesus when Paul writes to him then he writes the letter to the church at Ephesus, the letter to the Ephesians and in Ephesians chapter 6 he says in verse 1: “Children obey your parents in the Lord. This is right.” And then for children, “Honor your father and mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you that you may live long on the earth” then instruction to fathers in how they deal with their children but it was God’s instruction to His people in the Old Testament. You honor your father and your mother. In fact in the Old Testament the law provided if you had a child who showed disrespect to his parents and wouldn’t obey you could bring him to the elders and they would stone him to death. Rather severe.

So back in chapter 5, we have to first learn to practice godliness in your own family. Easy to pervade godliness in the church but if we are neglecting our family; if I am not fulfilling my responsibility there I am not a godly person. So first learn to practice godliness at home. Remember Jesus had to rebuke the Jewish leaders of His day. They had found a way to get around this. You claim that what you have you’ve devoted to the Lord so you can’t use it for supporting your parents and you try to cancel out what God has said by coming up with a tradition that may make you look in the eyes of men as spiritual but God is not fooled. You are canceling the Word of God. So they make a return to their parents. Why would you do this, the end of verse 4: “For this is acceptable; it is pleasing in the sight of God.” It’s what pleases God. Isn’t that what godliness is? Isn’t this what we are to do as the family of God? Do what is pleasing to Him. So it starts at home. That’s where I begin. I can’t say, “Well, I give my money to the church and I just don’t have anything left over to take care of my poor mother or my poor grandmother. I’d love to but I have to give to the Lord and I couldn’t take what I’m going to give to the Lord. No, you start with godliness at home and fulfill the responsibility there and it’s not to be viewed as a burden. I mean is pleasing God a burden? It doesn’t mean that there aren’t responsibilities that weigh on us in a sense but it’s not a burden in the sense I wish I didn’t have to do it. I wish I didn’t have to please God? If this is what is pleasing in the sight of God and I’m complaining about having to take care of my widowed mother or grandmother what am I complaining about? I don’t like having to please God. You know I want to please God. Well, do what He says; take care of your widowed mother or the grandmother.

Okay, verse 5 going to elaborate on this: “Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone.” This is has no family. The church is the only family she has. No details here whether she didn’t have children, her husband died or their children have died. Whatever, there are no children or grandchildren. The widow indeed has been left alone. “She has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day.” What can she do? This is an older woman we are going to see. We won’t get there but down in verse 9 she has to be at least 60 years old. What is she going to do? Things haven’t changed. You know, is she going to go out and get a job? She’s an older woman. How much older it doesn’t matter. It will be sixty and above in the context as we move along through this section. What can she do? There is no family. I can’t ask my children for help or my grandchildren. There is no one. All she can do is cast herself on the mercy of God. “She’s fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers day and night.” Her life is characterized by trusting in God, asking Him to provide for her. She’s demonstrating true godly character. This is preparing for those widows that the church will be responsible for, godly widows. That doesn’t mean that if I have a mother who is not saved I am not responsible for her. That’s part of my physical family responsibility. As he said, that’s just paying back what is owed so to speak but he’s leading in to what the church’s responsibility is here. That’s a little different issue in the widows that the church will take care of. So here is a godly widow. She is looking to God to supply her needs.

In contrast a woman who is a widow who gives herself to a life of pleasure has nothing. She is dead while she lives and the word we have translated wanton pleasure is a strong word. It is a miserable word. It’s only used one other time in the New Testament in James chapter 5, verse 5, just selfish, self-indulgent kind of living. This widow is dead while she lives, excluded from the life of God. The church at Sartus had a name that it was alive but it’s dead. This widow could have physical life. So the contrast here so the church sees. We are talking about a godly widow. There will be further guidelines given in the next section for our next study about a widow who gets to be enrolled in the church but he makes clear here he is talking about godly widows who have the potential to be supported by the church; not just any widow, a widow living a life of godless pleasure and selfishness is not one in view.

What is he to do? Prescribe these things as well so they may be above reproach. Now we have seen this word prescribe. We saw it in verse 11 of chapter 4, remember these three times, prescribe and teach things. Verse 7 of chapter 5, “prescribe these things” and then down in chapter 6, the end of verse 2, “Teach and preach these (I don’t know why they put the word principles there in italics, it’s the same thing, the Greek word talta, things, so it’s there. You could have put these things as it is the same expression as used in the other two. The word translated prescribe is the word for giving a command, giving a charge. You command. We have dealt with this back in chapter 1 of Timothy verse 3: “I urge you upon my departure to Macedonia remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct.” We noted the word instruct is the word command. It’s translated command down in chapter 1 verse 18: “This command I entrust to you.” Various form of the same word, command. So when he says prescribe these things, command them, charge them, not command in the harsh, unkind but these are things required. They must be required. They must be taught. They must know that this is a necessity.

So here in this context of talking about proper family relationship this is not just something in passing, not maybe as relevant as some other things we would think is the sound doctrine. No, Timothy you must be commanding these things. This is required for God’s family and how it is to function: “That they may be above reproach.” Nothing can be brought against them. This becomes a serious thing if you don’t take care of your own family and that’s what verse 8 goes on to say: “If anyone does not provide for his family.” This is the negative of what he instructed positively in verse 4, taking care of your family and particularly the widows. The children and the grandchildren are responsible.

The negative, verse 8 what if they don’t? “If anyone does not provide for his own and especially for those of his own household he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Worse than an unbeliever? Why? Because even unbelievers take care of their parents. I mean in the Roman and Greek world there were clear guidelines set down, expectations. You would lose respect in the community if you weren’t showing proper respect to your parents in seeing they were cared for. That would be what the unbelieving world was doing. I mean for a person to profess to be a believer and not fulfill this responsibility they have denied the faith. That’s strong language. No matter what you claim as far as your relationship with Christ, your life denies it. If you don’t want to be pleasing to God, if you don’t want to do what pleases Him, you don’t even carry out the responsibility that the unbeliever recognizes, you are worse than an unbeliever. It raises the question of the genuineness of their salvation. This idea that we have to accept this just because someone says they are is not true.

Look over in Titus chapter 1, verse 16: “They profess to know God but by their deeds they deny Him being detestable and disobedient, worthless for any good deed.” Sounds similar to what he is saying to Timothy. They are disobedient, worthless for any good deed. I mean they are worse than an infidel, worse than an unbeliever. They have denied the faith. They profess to know God but their practice doesn’t bear it out. You say, “Well, they come to church, they do this or that.” But, they are not taking care of their family. That is the context back in I Timothy chapter 5. They are not fulfilling that basic foundational practice of godliness. Up in verse 4: “They first learn to practice godliness in regard to their own family.” You can’t bypass that. I am going on to the advance level. I am skipping the foundation. No, you learn to practice this. This is foundational. If you are not doing this you are denying the faith. You are worse than an unbeliever. How are you going to have someone know you are dealing with a true believer or not? Well, you know, pretty strong language. Someone who denies the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Are they going to be a member in good standing in God’s family? It’s pretty hard to see that. So it’s put positively and negatively. God cares for His people. He cares for His family.

He is going to go on with instructions for how the church can keep track of the widows who are widows indeed and this becomes a monetary responsibility of the church. Now part of that would be discerning ‘who are the widows indeed?’ You know, we have widows who have family. In our church part of that may have to be sorted out because sometimes our families are in different churches because we have a variety of churches in the same community and so some parents are attending a different church than their children. They may all be believers so even though there might be a widow in this church or you may a widowed mother in another church, it doesn’t change the responsibility. So the church would look into that but he will give instructions on how these elderly widows are to be cared for and it is a responsibility we are to fulfill.

Not that every widow who is a widow indeed would be in need. I mean it’s not a matter that we would support any widow who has no family. Maybe her deceased husband left her ample means to be cared for then of course the church doesn’t have to do that. We want to be careful that we don’t look for excuses not to do it. Well you know it should have been something they took care of. Well what we have to deal with is the situation as it is. If it’s a widow indeed and she has no means to meet her basic needs, then it would be a responsibility of the church. A basic fact of godliness and the instruction for how the church is to arrange this and the distinction between widows over 60 and under 60 will be the subject of the next section.

Let’s have a word of prayer. Thank you Lord for Your grace, Your provision for us as Your family in this place in even the most basic of areas and Lord it is a privilege to have lives pleasing to You and we thank You Lord for godly homes. Thank You for families that are caring for one another, widows who are being provided for by their family members, their children, their grandchildren and Lord for us as a church it is a privilege to step in and be involved in situations where there may be special needs and there may be widows indeed. Lord we are encouraged as we contemplate how practical our lives are as Your children. In every area we are to manifest godly character, to live lives that are pleasing to You and that is our goal individually and then as a church family. Lord may we never forget that we are a family, senior citizens, young adults and all ages. We minister to one another. We want to minister to one another with a proper attitude in love, care and concern and we want to take care of one another. May we be a testimony that is pleasing to You. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.