First Timothy 5.1, rebuke not an elder, but entreat
him as a father, and the younger men as brethren. Now you'll remember from the
last verse of chapter four that the primary things dealt with
in this letter the preaching of the gospel the
doctrine sound doctrine words of faith and good doctrine and
The standard that the preacher is held to in order to be well
heard God's got to Do something for the man that
brings the gospel In order for him to be heard So even the behavior
of the preacher has to do more with the message than it does
the preacher. So it is with this chapter. So it is with chapter five, which
deals now with how we are to treat one another. The gospel's
paramount now. The reason the preacher's got
to be who he is is because of the gospel. As pathetic as we are, if the Lord didn't bless his
preachers and qualify them, Then the gospel couldn't go forth
and be heard. It just couldn't. And so he does.
In spite of us, he blesses it. But here now, it's how we are
to treat one another. The gospel again, always being
paramount. That's what it's about. This
church is the pillar and ground of the truth. That's why. He
teaches us how, as he put it, how we ought to behave ourselves
in the house of God. And again, this is toward one
another. This verse implies that the elder here has done something
or said something that troubles you. Your tendency is to rebuke. And so something has happened.
There's been something done or said that has caused you to be
concerned and prone to do something about it. But what he teaches
us to remember in that situation is our relationship to that person. You see how significant that
is here? You're not an adversary. If the elder needs to have anything
said to him at all, you're not to come as an adversary. You're
not the one in authority either. You're not tasked in the church
with correcting everyone. Not a lot, but I know several
people that seem to think that. That it's their task to correct
everybody and everything around them. That's not the point of this.
That's not it. That's not how it's done. That's
not who to be. Much less an elder. And nor, even if it was your
place to do that, you wouldn't want to do that. You wouldn't
want to do it that way if he's your father. If he's family. That's the point here. And treat
him as a father. Your attitude can't be one of spite or adversarial. And if it is,
you desperately need to shut up. I'm talking to myself. If that's our attitude, is we
always want to argue with somebody about everything. We're adversarial.
We're contentious. When we see something, hear something
we don't like, then we desperately need to shut up. I don't ever remember rebuking
my father. There were a lot of things he
did that I wasn't real happy about. I don't ever remember
rebuking him. I don't know, maybe you did.
I know that my situation was not
the same as everybody's, but rebuking? Rebuking your father? Not a good
idea, no matter what your situation is. Not a good idea. Not the
right way to handle it. Period. If something has to be
said, remember that you're dealing with a father that the Lord has
given you, the Lord has given you. And I understand that all
dads aren't ideal, I get that. But rebuke, never the thing to
do. get away from maybe as fast as
you can, that might be the right thing to do. But in the case of an elder in
the church now, you're dealing with a father that the Lord has
given you in love. He said, I'll give you pastors
after my own heart. which if that means anything,
it means they're gonna love you. What is God's heart toward his
people if it's not that? He's given for the purpose of
watching for your soul. He's a human being. He's far from perfect. Doesn't
mean he's not gonna do or say things you're not happy about. Remember this too, we're not
always happy about the truth. And it's not just about him being
the elder either, that's mentioned specifically because that's,
you know, should be, but it's also brothers treating one another.
You see that too, the younger men as brethren, as brethren. For the gospel's sake, brothers
must treat each other like brothers. I had two brothers growing up.
We were always, I mean, we were inseparable for quite a few years
there. We were always organizing some
kind of a sporting event. We were getting all the neighborhood
kids together to play football or basketball. And we didn't
play in such a way that nobody would get hurt. We played in
such a way that somebody was almost bound to get hurt. And
there would be fights, there would be disagreements and disputes,
to say the least. Not a knock down, drag out, clear
the benches fight. We didn't do a whole lot of that,
but there were everything shy of that. And how many times do
you think I took anybody else's side except my brothers? Not one time I can remember.
Even when they were being idiots. And when I was being an idiot,
they took my side too. Just because we were wrong or
right didn't even matter. That's my brother. Don't get
in his face. And I'm not saying that wrong
or right doesn't matter in the church. I'm saying, here's what
I am saying, that brothers don't look for reasons to fight one
another. They don't do it. It was us against the world,
not us against us. If necessary, it was us against
everybody else. And we need a little bit more
of that in the church. Brothers, to the elder women as mothers,
the younger as sisters in all purity. Remember our verse 1631
of Proverbs, the hoary head is a crown of glory. If it be found
in the way of righteousness, the elder women as mothers honor,
they deserve honor. They've earned the respect of
us now. Not in the sight of God, they're
not meritoriously honorable in the sight of God, but they are
to you. Honor your father and mother,
and the elder women in the church, honor them, if it be found in
the way of righteousness. The elder, elderly men and women
here, you know, but The word elder is a title of leadership
in the church. But also, just being old is a
reason for respect in God's church, if it be in the way of righteousness,
if it be in Christ. Old people got to be careful
to be worthy of that now. Respect is always earned. It's always got to be earned. among one another. There's a
certain amount of respect that comes with just having lived
in this world for so long. But this is about having lived
and walked with the Lord for a long time. That's what this
is about. If it be found in the way of
Christ. The young ladies in the church
are our sisters. If there was anyone that we brothers
were more protective of in our family than each other as brothers,
it was our sister. She may not have known that because
we were always hurting her. We were always hitting her with
rocks or something. But that was us. Nobody else
could do that. If you hit my sister with a rock,
you're in trouble. I can do it. I can burn her with
my fire stick at the campfire, but don't you do that. I say
that because that was a common occurrence. It was always my
sister that got burned every time there was a campfire. And
we were, of course, you know, drawing things in the air, and
next thing you know, somebody's crying. Now in any church, there's a
core family. There's a family. A group of people who are family
in this way. Spiritual family. And then there
are those who just for one reason or another come and hear the
gospel, but they just don't seem to be in on it. We can easily
observe that. It's not something you can hide. If you're in on it, you're in
on it. If you're not, you're not. You know, it's a lot better
than not hearing the gospel to come and not really be in on
it. Come hear the gospel. But I would encourage everybody
to include yourselves. Family. God's church is family. We look out for one another.
We take care of one another's needs. There's a lot involved in it,
isn't there? Taking one another's side. Caring
for one another. Loving one another. Indeed, not
just in word only. And we need to be careful to
be trustworthy of that inclusion. Verse three, honor widows that
are widows indeed. Now in these next verses, he's
gonna describe what he means by a widow indeed. And it's gonna
be real clear. And when this was written, I
don't expect there was such a thing as life insurance. or retirement
accounts, if there was such a thing, then there were likely those
many in the church who couldn't afford them if there was such
a thing. A widow indeed is someone who had depended on her husband
for her support and to take care of her financially and in every
way. And when he died, she was destitute. She had no support. And Paul
is clear here, and you'll see in the context, that they were
to be paid by the church. They were to be supported, regularly
paid by the church. Actually supported. Honored not
only as women in the Lord, but as needy. As needing that support. Look at verse four, but if any
widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show
piety at home, And to requite their parents, for that is good
and acceptable before God. Now there's quite a bit in this
verse, children or nephews. It's interesting how God expects
families to work. It's not just your direct children. Your sister's children, your
brother's children. It's a family. You are a father
or mother. to your nephews and nieces in
the sight of God. And it's very clear what's being
taught here. The church is not to support those who have family
that should be supporting them. There's a simple reason for that
in verse 16 if you skip down to verse 16 It says if any man
or woman that believeth have widows Let them relieve them
and let not the church be charged, but not the church be responsible
for that That the church may relieve them that are widows
indeed that don't have anybody the church doesn't have unlimited
resources and the resources are to be carefully managed according
to God's order. And that's ultimately on the
pastor. We have a treasurer, and I think most churches do,
that are true churches, that for the simple reason that I
personally don't want to see who gives what. And I have no
idea. I never have seen that. Even
when I was doing the profit and loss statement, which I wish
we had again. I'm going to talk to Ken about
that. But I believe our money, the church's money, should be
very clear to everybody how much was given and how much we spent
every month. I think that's very important.
And I'll talk to him about that. I don't wanna put him on the
spot when he's here. But I think that's important. But that's ultimately on me.
I just don't wanna know who gives what because of human nature.
And that's what I prefer. It's not required by scripture
to be that way. But what I'm saying is that I'm
responsible for it under God and there are considerations
according to God's word even about that. How the money is
given. We have some direction on that
here. It's not to be. Just everybody that needs something.
It's not the church's responsibility. But when it is the church's responsibility,
It needs to be taken care of quickly, effectively, and generously. Now, two important things from
this. Why are we talking about this? It's a strange message,
isn't it? Two important things. First, notice the word requite
in that verse. It means to pay that which is
due. To pay that which is due. Taking
care of your own mother or father when they need it. It's not just
a burden. It's not just a responsibility.
It is a burden. It is a responsibility. But it's
more than that, it's owed. It's owed. Under God, according
to God. It's a requiting, it's a recompense. It's paying what's due to them
in honor and love. Secondly, If a widow does have
support from her family, if she has sons, especially sons I think
are responsible for that, but if she has children or nieces
and nephews or anybody, that can take care of her and her
family, then that means the church is relieved of that responsibility.
But it doesn't mean the church is not careful to watch over
her and provide for her in other ways. Not everything is about
money. Anything that we can do, she's
family. She's family. To the church,
there are many ways we can help. Somebody that needs it and doesn't
have anybody help them Now the Pharisees were rebuked directly
and specifically by the Lord for finding a way not to obey
God's clear Requirement in this very thing Look at Mark chapter
7 with me if you would Mark 7 6 Mark 7, 6, he answered and said
unto them, well, hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites?
As it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. You know, this isn't part of
my notes this morning, but you notice how honest the Lord is?
You hypocrites. You're not who you pretend to
be. That's a harsh word, hypocrite. And people are offended by that,
and that amazes me. I had somebody recently that
kind of subtly rebuked me for saying something offensive. You almost wouldn't have even
recognized it as a rebuke. It was so kind of underhanded
or whatever you want to call it. But for using an offensive
word, If you're offended by a hypocrite, or by being called an idiot maybe,
in the word of God, but you're not offended by being called
a sinner, then you don't know what a sinner is. Nothing even
comes close to being called a sinner. And we're just like, oh yeah,
I'm an old sinner, but don't call me an idiot. I didn't, God
did. God did. He called me one too. But we're offended by that. We
need to find out what a sinner is and how God saves them. But they were rebuked directly.
Look at Mark 7 again. You hypocrite, you're a bunch
of hypocrite. He didn't try to save people's feelings. This
is beyond that. It's not about your feelings.
It's about life or death. As it is written, this people
honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
How be it in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men? For laying aside the commandment
of God, you hold the tradition of men as the washing of pots
and cups and many other such like things you do. And he said
unto them, full well, you reject the commandment of God that you
may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, honor thy father
and thy mother, and whoso curseth father or mother, let him die
the death. But you say, if a man shall say
to his father or mother, it is Corban, that is to say a gift
by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. And you suffer him no more to
do aught for his father or his mother, making the word of God
of none effect through your tradition, which you have delivered, and
many such like things do ye." So this is just an example of
the way religion is. They've come up with an excuse
for not doing what God said. They didn't want to honor their
fathers and mothers. Just like any, that's human nature,
to get by with the minimum. What's the minimum I can get
by with? How many times a month do I have to show up? What can I get away with?
And they called it Corbin, which is a gift. If you look that word
up, it means what they were doing was they're saying that money
is laid aside for the Lord. Oh, I can't support my mother
and father with that. That's laid aside for the Lord.
It wasn't actually spent yet. And what they actually spent
it on, who knows? But oh. When it comes to taking
care of what God said take care of, now, oh, this is for the
Lord. They're trying to be religious about it and denying the God
that's worthy of our worship and obedience. That's just one
of the many ways that our sin manifests itself. That's the
specific thing that our text is dealing with. People are absolute
masters at coming up with reasons not to just simply do what God
said. There's always reasons. There's reasons not to worship.
There's reasons not to treat one another like family. There's
always a reason. There's always a good reason,
you know, in their mind and heart. There's never a good reason not
to worship God. There's no reason for that. We're past our feelings now.
We're past that. Do you need Him or not? Do you
need to hear from God? What is good and acceptable before
God is what really matters. Those words are in our text,
good and acceptable before God. Consider verse eight in the context
of all this. Look at verse eight back in our
text. This is a verse that's often
taken out of context. First Timothy 5, eight, but if
any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own
house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. What does that have to do with
the gospel? Everything. You've got to live it. We've
got to live it. By God's grace, we've got to
live it. Has God done a work in us or not? Faith without works
is dead. It's just you calling it faith.
It's not the faith that God gives. That verse is often taken out
of context, isn't it? Providing for those that are
your own. You see the context of it. Now
look at verse five in our text. Now she that is a widow in deed
and desolate, she got nothing, she got nobody. trusteth in God,
and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. Now
we've been talking so far about her, how we're to behave toward
her. Now the spotlight is on her,
how she is to be. And this is important too, because
she's a sinner too now. She's a sinner too. We're Pharisees
in our hearts, we're gonna shun That which honors the Lord, if
we think we can get away with it, without his grace, and she's
a sinner too, look at her. If she's a widow indeed and desolate,
she trusts in God, not us. God may use us, but her trust
is not in us, it's in the Lord. And continueth in supplications
and prayers night and day, But she that liveth in pleasure,
think about that in the, this is another verse that's taken
so much out of context by me. I've always thought of this in
different light because I never studied the passage. She that
liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. Think about what's
being said here. It's amazing how that on the
part of the one responsible for widows, there is warning about
our evil nature. that we would be prone to making
an excuse for not doing what's good and acceptable to God. You know, it's not just about
money either. It's a massive burden to take
care of somebody that's old. It's also the right thing to
do. We're prone to make an excuse,
but also on the part of the widow here, the widow, she's a sinner
too, and two different kinds of widows are mentioned here.
It's not just a matter of financial support or even other earthly
support by us. The widow that is a widow indeed
trusts in the Lord. She trusts in God. She trusts
the Savior. This is not contradictory to
what's taught here about the good and acceptable behavior
of believers, but it's a picture of all of us and how we get what
we need. Yes, the Lord uses the church. He uses family. He uses the means
that he deems right and good to accomplish a purpose here,
the taking care of those that need it. But it's the Lord that's
doing that. It's not us. She trusts in the
Lord. And so should we in this thing. We all get what we need from
him. That's the message here. Earthly
means is one thing. Trusting in God is something
else. What is a true widow indeed?
Someone who is destitute because her husband is dead. Now remember that, think about
that. A true widow indeed is somebody
that's desolate and destitute because her husband's dead. Now
turn with me to Romans chapter seven. Romans 7.1. Know ye not, brethren, for I
speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth? And here's the example that he
gives. For the woman which hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth. But if
the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another
man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another man. The title of the message this
morning is Married to Another. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you
should be married to another, even to him who is raised from
the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. My husband
is dead, the one I was married to before. I found my support, I found what
I needed in the law. at one time. But since I've met
the Savior, I can't do that anymore. The law, I found that the law
can't do anything for me. I'm dead to the law and the law
is dead to me in that sense, in that regard. So how am I gonna
be supported? How am I gonna have what I need?
I'm gonna be married to Christ and find all that the law could
not provide for me. in him what the law could not
do because of me, because of my sin. God sent his son. We're married to him now. We
get everything we need in him, not just from him, but in him,
from God in Christ. Now a spiritual widow, in order
for her to be married to Christ, now she's got to be a widow indeed.
You've got to be utterly desolate. You can't be married to the law
and then marry Christ. You're an adulterer, a spiritual
adulterer and condemned under that law. She's got to be utterly destitute.
If she has any other means to get what she needs, she's not
a widow indeed. And we're not sinners indeed
as long as we trust in any other than Christ. As long as we're married to the
law, that is keeping the law in order to give us what we need,
righteousness, peace, a good conscience. It's not to be had
that way. None of the things we need before
God are provided except in Christ alone. We need
righteousness. The law can't give us any of
that. The law's dead to us and we unto the law. In that regard,
there's no one righteous by the deeds of the law. The law is
dead to us. Now we need mercy. You're not
gonna find any of that in the law either. You're not gonna
get it. The law's dead to you in that
regard. And you to him. Not only can the law not give
you mercy, can't, has no mercy, there's no compromise, there's
no, it's unbending. The only way to please the law
is to perfectly keep it in letter and in spirit. But not only does
the law have no mercy for a sinner, We can't have mercy at all as
long as we're married to the law. Can't have any. To try to remain married to the
law, and many are in this place now. We've got to do this, we've
got to do that, we've got to do this. Well, depends on what
you mean by that. If God says honor your father
and mother, I wouldn't say you don't got
to do that. But I'd say this, if you're trusting
in your keeping of that law or any of God's law as your righteousness
before God, you're a goner. So to try to remain married to
the law, to Do that which you do in order
to please God, in order to have a righteousness before God and
be married to Christ, makes you a spiritual adulterer.
She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. She tries
to have it all. The physical earthly reality
of that living in pleasure is any widow that exploits this
thing of widowhood in such a way that she gains beyond her needs. See, she's playing the widow
card and getting support from everybody concerned and living
in pleasure. You see the context of that.
That's clear as a bell. That's what it means. She's exploiting,
just like somebody who should be supporting the widow could
exploit that, could use the word of God and all kinds of underhanded
nonsense in order to play the system, she can do that too. And that's what this living in
pleasure means in a physical sense. Just like the Pharisee
shunned to do what was right under the guise of serving God,
the widow is a sinner, and she might manipulate the whole situation
in order to live in luxury. That's that word, pleasure, to
live luxuriously. That's not to be the case. She
pretends to be a widow indeed, but she's not. That's the picture of trying
to be married to both. The spiritual reality of that
is to still be dependent upon the law and yet try to be married
to Christ. To want credit for what you consider
to be your righteousness, your law keeping, your works, you
want credit for that before God, but yet pretend to be beholden
to Christ alone. You say, I'm a widow indeed,
I need Christ. But you're not a widow indeed.
You're still depending on, and in your mind, receiving support
from the law. A widow indeed has nothing to
offer God. Nothing. But they need everything
from Him. Destitute, desolate, bankrupt. Utterly dependent upon God for
everything she needs That's a widow indeed and a spiritual widow
indeed in that has one hope Christ is all she needs all of it The Lord saves those who are
destitute and Of all that's good, all that they need in order to
be with God, they're utterly destitute of it. God provides
himself what's needed, a lamb. Everything for spiritual widows
indeed, Christ is everything. Just as surely as that rock in
the wilderness was Christ, And that brazen serpent raised up
was Christ crucified. The widow's supply in this passage
is Christ. And we are that widow. Notice that she cries to God
now. In verse five, she's crying to
God. She continueth in supplications
and prayers, night and day. She knows that everything she
needs comes from him. The woman with the issue of blood,
she went to all the doctors first. She told them about her problem,
trusted them to fix it, paid them to do it. She only grew
worse now. It's if I can just touch the
hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. That's this widow. The word desolate in our text
goes beyond destitute. She not only can't help herself,
destitute of anything that she needs, but desolate means alone,
forsaken, destitute of help. Nobody else can do anything for
her either. Not only is she devoid of any
means of her own, but nobody else can help her. She's alone. She's forsaken. Notice also, verse five, that
she not only cries to God, but she trusts Him. She trusts Him. Psalm 142.4. I looked on my right hand and
beheld, but there was no man that would know me. Is this you
spiritually? Refuge failed me. No man cared
for my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord, and
I said, thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the
living. No man cared. But I cried unto
the Lord listen to Isaiah 62 3 Thou shalt also be a crown
of glory in the hand of the Lord And a royal diadem in the hand of
that God Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken Neither shall
thy land anymore be termed desolate. I that thou shalt be called Hephzibah
in thy land, Beulah. For the Lord delighteth in thee,
and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a
virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee, and as the bridegroom rejoices
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. You've got to be desolate in
order to have everything. Like the man saved by the good
Samaritan, the law passed by, the law looked at him, but then went on. The law looks
at the sinner, the law measures us up, but then finds that we
don't measure up and he can't help us. The priest, religion, wouldn't
even look at him. He passed by on the other side,
got no use for a real sinner. If you're living the Christian
life, if you've walked an aisle and if you've given your tithe,
boy, they love you. It's all one big happy family
of self-righteous hypocrites. But a real sinner, they don't
want nothing to do with you. That's why I exhort us, I exhort
us, when we prove to be real sinners, don't be shocked by
that. Don't be offended by that. So the Pharisee and the priest
passed by, but the Lord took him up. We are poor and needy, destitute
and desolate. Married to the law at one time,
but no more. By God's grace, no more. Christ is all we need. Widows
to the law, but married to another by the grace of God.