Welcome! Glad to have
you back for today’s Daily Bread. We’ve been studying Paul’s first letter to
Timothy and the expected conduct for the people within the church.
If you like to
read straight from your Bible either before or after you read through your
Daily Bread, you might notice that sometimes Paul jumps from one topic to
another, and then back again. Don’t forget, Paul is inspired by the
Holy Spirit,
and while he’s writing, he may get a vision or a message and need to
interject something that doesn’t follow the subject that he’s writing about
at the time.
You know how it is when
you’re doing something and you think of something important, so you jot down
a note so you won’t forget it? Well, imagine Paul getting messages from the
Holy Spirit all the time! He didn’t have Post-It®
notes to stick on the walls of his tent, or his prison wall to remind him to
add things to his writings later, and Paul wasn’t a rich man either, so he
probably didn’t have extra papyrus lying around to scribble notes on either,
so when it seems like something is out of context - literally - you can bet
that the Holy Spirit has a reason for every sentence to be just exactly
where it is. It may not make sense to you, but maybe to someone else, it
makes perfect sense. And maybe when you read the same passage at another
time, a verse that you simply could not understand for your very life, is
suddenly crystal clear.
Okay then, Paul is
now addressing Timothy’s position as minister, and in addition to making
sure his youthfulness remains an asset instead of a hindrance to the Gospel,
he tells Timothy not to rebuke (scold or criticize sharply) an elder, but
advise him as a father, and the younger men as brothers, the elder women as
mothers, and the younger as sisters with all purity.
Now if you’ve ever
read the Psalms, you know that the Lord has much compassion on the widowed
and the fatherless (Psalms
68:5; 94:6;
146:9), and
for most of us as well, even the mention of the word widow, invokes
compassion in our hearts.
If you’ll bear
with me, I know that many women are still a little sensitive about what Paul
had to say in chapter 2 of this letter, but when TRUTH is your motive, you
call things as you see them, and the Holy Spirit isn’t gonna let Paul sugar
coat anything so that women will agree or not be offended.
In a moment, we’re
gonna study some things that Paul says about widows, and in advance, I feel
compelled to ask you to be open minded to the TRUTH about women who are
alone. What happened to Eve when she was alone in the Garden of Eden? Also,
take into consideration her age. We don’t know exactly how old she was, but
she didn’t have any children yet, so it’s a good guess that she was fairly
young. Now, think about women throughout history and the women that you know
today. Would you say that young women or old women are more likely to stray
from their faith?
Okay, while you
ponder on those things, let’s look at something that will help you a little.
Paul was alive somewhere around 4,000 years after Adam and Eve, and
apparently young women then were still easily lured as Eve was. The truth is
- painful childbirth and being under man’s rule aren’t the only things that
women inherited from Eve. If you hide and watch, today, 2,000 year later,
women STILL have the same reputation. Why? Because it’s the TRUTH.
You see, Paul
wasn’t a chauvinist. He wasn’t a woman hater either. Paul had insight. The
intuition that women brag about having all the time . . . When you realize
where a woman’s characteristics come from, you won’t want to claim this so
readily. What Paul had was Spiritual intuition.
Don’t get me wrong
here. I’m not saying that being a woman is a shameful existence by any
means. I’m saying there are challenges that are beyond anyone’s control,
that if you understand them better, it will make many of your actions,
reactions and instincts much easier to understand and deal with as well.
If you’re a woman
and you read all the way through to the end of the study of
chapter 2 of this letter
from Paul, kudos to you. Now let’s look and learn what he has to say about
widows.
Honor widows that
are widows indeed. (Indeed. In deed) Respect widows that live according to
God’s expectations. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them
learn first to show piety (fidelity to natural obligations, as to parents,
grandparents, etc.) at home, and to requite (repay) their parents: because
that is good and acceptable in the sight of God.
I have an
interesting little Daily Bread Crumb for you. Actually, the term nephew used
to be used for the word grandchildren, but is now obsolete. Now she that is
a widow indeed, and destitute, trusts in God, and continues in supplications
and prayers night and day. But she that lives in pleasure is dead while she
still lives. And these things give as a commandment, so that they may remain
blameless.
So, a woman who is
happy to be a widow, is dead while she lives. This doesn’t mean she will
never live another joyful moment in her life. It doesn’t mean that she
should grieve every day for the rest of her days either. Even Jesus said,
Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead (Matthew 8:22). The Lord doesn’t
want anyone to be sad, but to enjoy being a widow, to be pleased about it,
this is what Paul is speaking of.
1TIM 5:8 But if
any man doesn’t provide for his own, and specially (namely) for those of his
own house (family), he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel
(an unbeliever).
Don’t let a widow be
counted as one of these who is under 60 years old, having been
the wife of one man, known for her good works, if she has brought up
children, if she has provided lodging for strangers, if she has washed the
saints’ feet, if she has taken care of the sick or poor, if she has
diligently followed every good work. Refuse these younger widows, because
when they start to turn away from Christ, they will marry, having damnation,
because they cast off their first faith and in addition, they learn to be
lazy, wandering about from house to house, and not only lazy, but gossips
and busybodies, repeating things that they ought not to.
Let’s back up one
paragraph. They abandon their first faith. What does that mean? It means
that before women married, they served the Lord. They were holy, prayerful,
pure. When they married, they served their husband and children and home.
But when they became widowed, they didn’t return to their first beliefs,
their first faith, their first love, and instead they were interested in
worldly matters. Then Paul describes what worldly women since creation until
now have done and still do today when they are alone, single, widowed. And
now, you know the difference between a widow and a widow indeed. One turns
to the world(ly) and one turns back to the Lord.
So, knowing woman’s natural tendencies, Paul says, I wish therefore, that
the younger women marry, bear children, manage the house, and give no
opportunity to the adversary (the devil) to speak reproachfully (to accuse
them to God shamefully), because some have already been led away by Satan.
If any believer
have widows (who are relatives, servants, etc.), let them assist them, and
don’t make the church responsible, so that the church can assist those who
are widows indeed.
Now Paul switches
subjects midstream and gives Timothy all different kinds of advice.
Let the elders
that rule well, be given double honor, especially those who work in the Word
(preach) and doctrine (teach). Because the scripture says, Thou shalt not
muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn (Deuteronomy
25:4). And,
