Empowering the Weak – Practical Instructions in I Timothy 5.1-6.2
The whole passage for today is about behaviour towards others – especially by those that are in a position of authority, like Timothy. And especially towards those who are in a position of relative weakness and possible powerlessness. They are the people who are easiest to forget.
A Christian leader like Timothy is to be different from other leaders!
· The introduction in vv.1-2 exhorts Timothy to treat every human being with respect, no matter their age or gender.
· The whole chapter centres on attitudes. Attitudes to people and how they are expressed in particular actions, especially by someone with considerable authority over those s/he is responsible for!
There are three major categories of people that Paul addresses in this passage – widows, elders and slaves. All of these are categories that would normally occupy a lower place in society. Here Paul addresses them with great respect as people to whom God has entrusted enormous responsibilities. Widows take the most space in Paul’s considerations.
In Paul’s day, being a widow would be the primary reason why a woman would be alone. Today that has changed in two ways, and you’ll recognise them in our own church:
· There are other reasons for a woman being alone, as well as being widowed – separated, divorced or single, for example.
· Women on their own are not as powerless as they used to be. This is something to be grateful for and to continue working for.
In the OT, aliens, orphans and widows were to be cared for especially. Otherwise there was the danger that they would not ‘belong’ – something that is an inherent need in every human being, and meaning that we form a natural part of a wider human society. God was always concerned that people be accepted into the wider grouping of His people. In the mixed culture of the Roman Empire many ‘aliens’ had been drawn in as Roman citizens – including Paul! – a situation very much like that of London today.
I am not a widow or an orphan, but before I married my husband John, I was an alien. In fact, I have been an alien most of my life! I grew up in Latin America and came here in 1976, spending only a few years in my parents’ country, where I felt like an alien anyway! Belonging is important to every human being. But some people find difference difficult and reject it. God said to His people ‘Give special care to the alien, because…you also were sojourners in a foreign land!’ They were meant to have long memories, and not to forget their own experiences!
Timothy was making sure that widows ‘belonged’ in the church. They were involved in caring for others. In fact, there was a very organised system! Genuine care can often happen more easily if it is structurally organised. In Ephesus, there was a special list of widows over 60, with criteria for being on it:
· Widows had to have been faithful to their husbands – evidence of their trustworthiness.
· They had to be well known for their good deeds – and Paul gives some examples:
- bringing up children (doesn’t specify that they are a widow’s own, so this probably included orphans)
- showing hospitality
- washing the feet of the saints ie all believers
- helping those in trouble
I believe this list of widows to be one of the first instances of a group of women being set apart (like nuns) to serve Christ with the pledge, mentioned in v.12, of a single life. In this way they could be single-minded in their devotion. The fact that they were to be over 60 supports this view, as does the continuing argument in v.11:
As for the younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry.
Here sensual desires are contrasted with dedication to Christ, not because sensual desires are wrong, but rather because by giving in to them younger widows would let themselves and God down. It is very discouraging to promise something that we are then unable to deliver. I’m convinced that it is harder for someone who is young and has been married (or as in our own times simply sexually active!) to abstain than if the person has never been sexually active at all. This is especially true if the relationship with the husband was a good one.
Sublimation of those energies can be a very positive thing. But if that is not possible, Paul counsels the younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and basically to behave themselves so that there can be no fingers pointing at the church (v.14)! This is much easier in a Jewish setting where there is still a tradition of matchmaking! We have a book… I do wonder if maybe there is a place for that kind of tradition in the church today. We make too much of ‘falling in love’!
So a commitment to a celibate life for the sake of Christ was an early development – albeit limited to women over 60 – Paul was nothing if not a realist! The great thing is that it was acknowledged by a pledge and a list. Recognition is important for most people – to feel part of the wider work of the church. The Mothers’ Union, for example, follows in this same kind of tradition.
Those widows in ‘need’ are especially important
Paul does not see need as a negative thing. Rather, Paul maintains that ‘need’ pushes people onto God. He contrasts this with ‘the widow who lives for pleasure’. That word pleasure comes up in phrases like ‘the pleasures of sin for a season’. Paul is talking about pleasure here as a passing thing that gives no lasting satisfaction. In saying that she is ‘dead even while she lives’ he is warning that if people put other things before God, the result will be spiritual death. So widows in need are to be honoured.
General Principle
There is a general principle that Paul repeats in this passage, where it is applied to widows, and that is the importance of caring for our own families. In v.8 Paul says that:
Anyone who does not provide for relatives, and especially for immediate family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Partly this is because, as Paul says in v.16, the church can then take care of those who have no one at all. But primarily it is to do with the importance of the family (not as a nuclear family, but much broader) as the context in which the Christian faith is best passed on.
· The importance of those who have gone before.
On Wednesday we celebrated All Souls, and were remembering those special to us who have died. We are not alone as Christians – we have a legacy passed on to us, and will (hopefully) pass on a legacy to those that come after us! In v.4 it says:
…if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.
The motivation here is gratitude for what has been given by past generations, which then becomes a driving force for caring for the generations that come after. The motivation is relational. The reward is the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve been a good model for future generations to care for people. In this regard, Overseers and Deacons, if you remember chapter 3, are on the same level with the widow – they ALL have power to influence their own families. That’s why Paul can say that ‘Anyone who does not provide for relatives has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.’
· What does it mean to follow Satan in v.15?
Jesus says, ‘Follow me!’ What Paul is describing here is a list of pitfalls if we take our eyes off Jesus – and we cannot follow Him if we don’t have our eyes fixed on Him! These pitfalls are not limited to widows, either! – ‘idlers, gossips and busybodies’. So following Satan is not about a theoretical belief – in fact no belief is ever separate from its expression in practice. It is about what results in practice when we turn from following Jesus.
ELDERS
Older and wiser men were also to be held in great respect because of what they had to offer (apart from the overseers and deacons who were the church leaders).
· Practical responsibilities – Paul says, ‘direct the affairs of the church’
· Preaching and teaching
They got paid for fulfilling these responsibilities!
Theirs was a public position, so it was important that should any of them be accused of wrongdoing, they be rebuked publicly if and when two or three witnesses verified their sin. This prevented abuse by people making an effort to vilify the church.
Paul was great at motivating people to do good. He reminds Timothy (and us!) that ‘God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels’ are watching (one might say, ‘so watch out!’), SO…
· no partiality
· no favouritism
Slaves
Chapter 6 vv.1-2 adjures slaves to act respectfully for God’s sake. In other words, not because the person necessarily deserves respect. So the respectful behaviour arises out of the character and attitude of the slave. The same is true of us in relationship to those we work with.
Neither are slaves (or we) to take advantage of our bosses I they are believers like we are, either!
GOD’S WILL
With the Lord’s Prayer we pray that God’s will be done. God’s will is for us to be particular kinds of people first of all – that is the number 1 priority! What we do arises out of that – and what we DO means primarily what we do in relation to others – how we behave to other human beings – all made in the image of God.
Let’s keep a moment of quiet as we ask God’s forgiveness for the way we’ve treated people because we think little of them – for whatever reason.
AMEN.