1 Timothy Chapter 5 Verses 9 – 10

•A couple three things to glean from this direction to Timothy. First off, lots of “ifs,” right? There are characteristics that need to be met in order for the church to provide help…still holds true today. Second, it appears that real widows were taken on as paid staff of the local church and their ministry was not only praying but also visiting others and these are the job qualifications if you will. And finally, and I love this one, Timothy has orders. See that?

•Why is that one lovable to me…because there is guidance in the Bible of when to engage and when not to engage in terms of giving folks support and get this…just like Timothy was to command and stick to these things, so are we…and when they cry out in agony and proclaim how could you how could you…I take that right to the Lord…because it is His direction I am following.

1 Timothy Chapter 5 Verses 11 – 12

•Paul says, “Refuse ‘em.” There do exist circumstances in which the church should not engage in terms of financial assistance or support of someone and in general it’s when they can provide for themselves or when the Spirit will be hindered in their life by fiscal support. The first is somewhat simple to discern but the second, not so much. One of the primary reasons why it is important for me (as the pastor) to not make the decision on my own and for all financial aid applications in this church going to the Board for prayer and judgment.

•Paul says that if a younger widow is brought into this ministry and they begin to be supported by the church, adopting the ministry of prayer and visiting and service in the church, committing their lives to the service of the Lord under the protection and provision of the Lord, they’ll be fine for a time…but in their youth, they will miss being married. And if they do remarry, their soul will suffer with condemnation, because they walked away from the ministry…Paul says protect them by refusing them…

1 Timothy Chapter 5 Verse 13

•Paul has obviously made a mistake or two in the past in terms of ministry and it’s apparent that he has learned this first hand. He says that the younger widows often develop a heart not for the Lord but for things that aren’t profitable. This word for idle actually means (and I love this) slow. Slowness a powerful hindrance in ministry. 5, 10, 25 people and families that live within a mile or two of each other could be visited with for a few minutes in a day but you only get to 1 or 2…Basically the sin is you could do so much and you do so little and your reason for the so little is time wasted.

•I really believe that we live in a time of great blessing in the realm of ministry efficiency because of the internet, email, text, cell phones and especially social media. In any given day, I can minister to hundreds of people and even include a personal touch on many via text, private message, wall post or even an emoji…I do believe that one of the true measures of ministry is how effective are you or how slow are you in this arena…Can you imagine if Paul had an iPhone? HA! We wouldn’t have 16 letters! We’d have 2.5M Facebook posts, 1.2M Instagram posts and we’d all be sitting around reading his text’s to Timothy and Peter and James! HA!

•Paul warns Timothy and warns us…don’t learn to be slow…learn to excel and to effectively use all of the tools available to us to further the Kingdom of God! And folks worry about the time that will take…well, Paul addresses that too…because whether you are texting or posting or trolling or shopping or sleeping or cooking, you can be a busy body! Wandering about wasting your time…truly in the equation of ministry it’s not how you are spending your time so much as answering this question, are you wasting your time…

•Paul says that the younger widows will be slow, much slower than the older widows because they will spend their time on their own pleasures and wanderings…looking like they’re visiting and serving but they’re just making themselves busy with things and projects and tasks and the like when the older widow would adopt the heart of God and love the people. Worse yet, the worst of it all, Paul says that they begin to gossip. Literally in the Greek this word means tattler…someone who talks about the business of others…and not much does more harm to your reputation and the reputation of the church then folks tattling about other folks.

•Slow, wandering, wasting time and gossip…Paul says next that this is to side with Satan himself against the church and I agree with my WHOLE HEART!

1 Timothy Chapter 5 Verses 14 – 18

•Timothy, pay special tribute and give even double honor to those that God raises up around you in the ministry. BUT, the “if” is here as well…do you see it? Paul says, those who “rule well.” Literally this could be translated, “Those who care notably and beautifully for the ministry.” I love that…not just who can execute the ministry well…because many times they end up executing the ministry! HA! But those who care for you Timothy, support you like Jonathan stood with David…give them double honor…

•Especially to those who know the word and doctrine? Nope. Those how walk it out…Especially…even triple honor! How will you know who they are Timothy? They’re an ox. HA! (Reminds me of Elf, “Call me an elf one more time!” “You’re an elf!” HA) You’re an ox…they are an ox for you, Timothy. Oxen are hard laborers. They pull the plow that you have set your hand to…they grunt every now and then but Ox don’t talk! HA! In other words they’re not argumentative but rather they are dependable, effective plow pullers so that the field is well prepared to receive the seed and bring forth a harvest.

•Don’t muzzle them, Timothy…why so they can talk? No! Feed them he’s saying. As the lead of the church, know what they need and feed them…protect them…look at this…

1 Timothy Chapter 5 Verse 19

•Remember when you’re hearing an offense from someone against one of your oxen, remember the work they have put in…remember the care they have for you and the genuine care they have for the ministry, and stand as shield an buckler in front of them when frivolous accusations come. Require two or three before you unbridle the ox from the plow to investigate…because when you do that, the entire ministry pays a huge price as that plow sits idle (such is the case when conflicts occurs in the leadership of the church). But if they are in sin…

1 Timothy Chapter 5 Verse 20 – 22

•In context of what Paul is talking about, he is speaking of elders here…that Timothy, if an elder is in sin, rebuke him in the presence of all. Very harsh but at the same time that sends a very powerful message to the church, that they can and should have confidence in their pastor, and also that if you’re an elder, you’re not above correction and rebuke.

•Don’t be easy on one and hard on another either. Be consistent in the administration of widows, church leadership, and so on and really do nothing with partiality. Let a man prove himself an ox before raising him up in ministry…my how I’ve erred here in the past…as I’m sure all pastors have…teach, rebuke, exhort and correct but don’t wade out into the waters of other people’s sins…take precaution - EYES OPEN - to keep yourself pure…

1 Timothy Chapter 5 Verse 23

•Now I love this…this is interesting…wherever Paul went, people were healed…Acts 19 speaks of cloths and aprons that had touched Paul’s skin were healing people and here he says to Timothy, “Take your medicine.” Such wisdom in this one verse. But, Paul had already said back in chapter 3 that the pastor must not be given to wine and certainly that’s not what he’s telling Timothy to do…to be given to wine…but to take his medicine…and therefore, folks were going to condemn him for it…

1 Timothy Chapter 5 Verses 24 – 25

•Worry not about what they think or say. Their opinion never wrote you a check! HA! I love that idiom! But for real though, fight the good fight of faith no matter what the men around you say…because ultimately, it’s not mans’ kingdom you are fighting for…its God’s Kingdom!