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Sermon Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (2-9-1979 Strandtown Baptist Church)
Now Paul deals with Timothy’s relationships to people of different ages in the Church, and the social problems he faced, like dealing with widows and slaves. This chapter is full of sound advice about responsibilities for every day situations which arise in everybody’s home and work.
(a) Old men. Do not rebuke an
older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father (1 Timothy 5:1).
Occasionally, in his capacity as a leader, Timothy would have to reprimand an
older man. Paul’s advice was not to do it sharply but to appeal to him as he
would his father. It is always difficult to reprimand someone in a Christian or
church context. And it is especially difficult to do it with graciousness if you
are worked up about someone’s failure. Harder still is to reprimand someone
older than yourself. Yet if the leader is to be faithful, it has to be done. To
shirk from the responsibility may be a mistake, and cause injury to the person
concerned. Many would have been saved from shipwreck and sorrow if only a
warning had been given in time.
The key is to speak out when it
is necessary, but to do so without anger or bitterness. If a leader speaks out
of anger or bitterness, the result will be hurt and pain, or else resentment,
fear and resistance. The great missionary teacher, Florence Allshorn, when she
was principal of a woman’s college, used to rebuke her students, if the need
arose, with her arm around them, showing that the rebuke was not from cruel
intent, but because she was under the compulsion of love.
(b) Young men. Treat younger
men as brothers. The advice here is simply to be brotherly, and not
superior, to our contemporaries and juniors.
(c) Old women. Treat older
women as mothers (1 Timothy 5:2). In other words, older women were to be
treated with the esteem, affection and help which the maternal relationship
should evoke. Respect for the aged is underlined. One of the tragedies of life
is that youth find age a nuisance. Young people sometimes find themselves at
loggerheads with those who have lived long, have experienced more, and have much
wisdom to impart. Rather, there ought to be an attitude of cooperation, mutual
strengthening and enthusing, of benefit and profitable to both young and old.
The fact is that often old people are more adaptable to the young than the young
are adaptable to the elderly.
(d) Young women. Treat younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. There needs to be much care in relationships between people of the opposite sex within churches. This advice is never out of date. Sadly there have been too many instances of Christian work ruined because of indiscretion or five minutes folly.
Give proper recognition to
those widows who are really in need (1 Timothy 5:3). Paul tells Timothy to
recognise those widows who are absolutely destitute (or possibly wives of the
polygamist who have now been dismissed since becoming Christians). Provision was
to be made for these needy ones. Under Jewish law, at the time of marriage, a
man ought to make provision for his wife in the event of his death. Also the
first Christian Church office-bearers, according to Acts 6, had a duty of caring
fairly and justly for widows. But this did not have to be done if these widows
still had children or grandchildren alive who could support them. The relatives
had a duty to care for their elderly parents or grandparents within their homes,
in return for all that their parents had done for them in earlier years. The
church did not have to be involved in the care until the children had done all
they could.
Sadly in society today, some
families do not feel this responsibility to take on the care of elderly parents,
even out of gratitude. The Dutch proverb has much truth: “It is often easier
for a poor father to provide for ten children than for ten rich children to
provide for one poor father.” Paul was quite clear about the duty of children
to their elderly parents: If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and
especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than
an unbeliever (1 Timothy 5:8).
By precept and personal example,
this is a constant theme in the Scriptures. "I am Joseph! Is my father
still living?" (Genesis 45:3). Honour your father and your mother (Exodus
20:12). He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow (Deuteronomy
10:18). A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his
holy habitation (Psalm 68:5). For Moses said, 'Honour your father and
your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to
death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help
you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to
God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you
nullify the word of God by your tradition (Mark
7:10-13). And the Lord’s provision for His own mother, even while He hung on
the Cross: to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time
on, this disciple took her into his home (John 19:27).
The widow and the fatherless are
under God’s special care and protection. He blesses those who help and honour
them. He rebukes and punishes those who injure them. His people are to plead for
the widow. Christ condemned those who robbed widow’s houses and for pretence
made long prayers. He commended the widow who gave two mites. He had compassion
of the widow of Nain who had list her only son. Religion that God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their
distress (James 1:27).
The widow who is really in
need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray
and to ask God for help (1 Timothy 5:5). Such widows will be cared for by
God, and are to be honoured and cared for by those in the church, including
material support.
Then Paul leaves the subject of
supporting widows in general, and goes on to speak of widows who are placed on a
list – an official register of elderly widows. Evidently in the early church
such a list existed, and those on it were recruited for special service within
the church. They were to be devoted to that special ministry. They had a vital
role and part to play within the church. There is evidence of these lists of
widows in the writings of Tertullian, around 204AD. Their task was to give
counsel to younger women, to comfort, pray and fast, visit the sick, prepare
women for baptism and communion, and give guidance to other widows and orphans.
Still in many churches today,
older women in good health, with their own children left home, are able to put
their great experience and knowledge of the Lord into tremendous ministry.
The qualifications Paul gives of
those on the list point in the direction of the kind of work to be done by them
and the kind of character they ought to possess. No widow may be put on the
list of widows unless she … has been faithful to her husband (she must
have set an example of purity and fidelity), is well known for her good deeds
(a good reputation is vital because nothing discredits a church like
unworthy office-bearers), such as bringing up children (having brought up
her own children in the Christian way).
Children in those days were
sometimes considered to be a misfortune. When a child was born it was laid at
its father’s feet. If the father lifted it up, it was to be acknowledged and
brought up within the family. If he turned away, the child was to be thrown out
like rubbish, maybe left in a field or at the roadside. Often such children were
collected by unscrupulous people to bring them up for evil purposes. Christians
often received such children and gave them a Christian home.
Continuing with the
qualifications of the widows on the list: she must be well known for showing
hospitality (the inns in Paul’s day were dirty and immoral, so open
Christian homes were a blessing), washing the feet of the saints (i.e.
willing to do humble tasks), helping those in trouble (persecution was
rife, and to help those in prison was risky but worthwhile), and devoting
herself to all kinds of good deeds. These were the qualifications for those
enrolled as widows, but really we have here a description of normal Christian
life.
Timothy is warned not to enter younger widows on this list. They might later find the opportunity and desire to remarry, and their vow to Christ would be broken – so better not to have made that vow in the first place and tied themselves to Christian duties. It would be better for them to remarry and engage in the greatest task of all – rearing children and making a home. The danger was that if they felt they must remain a widow, and not remarry, they might become idle gossipers (1 Timothy 5:11-15).
Among the members of Timothy’s church there would be
both Christian slaves and Christian slave-masters. Paul gives advice to Timothy
on how they should be instructed to behave. Within the church, there was no be
no distinction between slave and free. However, All who are under the yoke of
slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God's name
and our teaching may not be slandered (1 Timothy 6:1). Slaves had to be
reminded to respect and obey their masters. This was one way of honouring
God’s name. A Christian slave must not get the reputation for being insolent,
disobedient or inefficient, because that would discredit the Gospel.
If a Christian slave had a Christian master (1 Timothy
6:2), he must not take advantage of that by becoming slack in his duties or
familiar with his master. After all, they both belonged to Christ and were in
the same church. The Christian master was not likely to punish them because they
were fellow Christians. But the very fact that the master was a Christian meant
he had to be honoured all the more by being served well. Spiritual equality did
not efface civil distinctions.
This is advice which is never
out of date. Work well because you are a Christian worker. Indeed, you ought to
be a better workman than the rest, because all work is done in the spirit of it
being done unto the Lord, not as an awful chore. Never take advantage of a
Christian employer, or expect special leniency and considerations. Serve him
even better because he is a Christian.
Regrettably often our service to the church is more casual and less conscientious than to our employers. Our punctuality and attendance is well below what our employers would expect; our respect for church property less than our respect for our own homes. This is so ironic, and another example of how we take advantage of fellow Christians.
This advice is timeless. In church relationships today, there still ought to be respect for the elderly, and an attitude of brotherly love rather than superiority towards our peers and juniors. Relationships between the sexes need, more than ever, to be carefully watched. Church members should look after their own relatives if possible. There will always be those among us who are in need, and the church’s duty is always to help them. Older women have a special role still today, and can pay valuable service within the church. All have to be good workmen, especially when our employers are Christians.
