I Timothy Chapter 5 - October 30, 2008

5:1-16 - What we can glean from this passage about dealing with widows...
A.) Churches must determine the needs of widows in their congregations. Some widows will have significant amounts of money in savings and investments and may not need financial help at all. Many widows will be very self-sufficient and able to take care of themselves completely. What Paul may have been talking about in the passage when he says "true widows" over and over, is widows that do not have much in the money department and who cannot take care of themselves without assistance. These are the widows that churches must make sure they are taking care of to fulfill their Christian duty.
B.) We need to understand that as Christians the first people responsible for the "true widow" are the family members of the widow. The main supporters financially and the main supporters emotionally should be the widow's own family. That makes sense, right? All of us as sons and daughters should think about what it means for each of us, to take care of one or both of our parents in the future and prepare for that inevitability.
C.) The widows must be aware of their personal responsibilities. Paul is very clear that widowhood does not give a free pass to become idle and selfish. Widows should be focused completely on God and put their trust in Him (As we all should). Widows should seek after God and be an example for the younger people of the church (As we all should). Widows should pray continually for the church and people around the world. Paul sees widowhood for older women as an opportunity to serve God with every aspect of their lives. For younger widowed women he suggests moving on with life and marriage so that they don't burn with lust and become self-centered in the idleness. All of this seems to be good advice for widows and widowers today. In Paul's world there were rarely widowers, because men rarely lived beyond their 40's.

5:17-25 - Advice for pastors...
The word translated "elder" in this passage of the ESV is actually a different Greek word than the word used earlier in I Timothy to describe the overseers or what we would call elders today. Because of the reference to men who labor in preaching and teaching and the different Greek word, many have used this passage to relate directly to full-time pastors and teachers.
A.) The laborer deserves the wages. This is awkward for me to talk about, because I am a full-time paid minister. I will be the first to tell you that I am completely happy with the amount of money I receive and I actually do not even know what my salary is officially (My wife is the financial lady int he family). Because pastors want to keep themselves pure as described in verse 22, I think that we should all be very wary of becoming too money obsessed. When pastors start demanding huge yearly raises like the business world and hop from church to church to receive higher salaries, things start getting a little crazy. Churches should pay their ministers a decent wage, but ministers should remember that it wasn't the money that called us into ministry - it was God.
B.) Pastors must purposefully fight for their purity. As leaders in God's church they must understand that they are held to a higher standard and must go about the business of their heart and mind in such a way to bolster up their defenses against the attacks of Satan and his cronies. Ministry is often a high pressure job, where you are dealing with the greatest moments of people's lives and the lowest moments in people's lives in turn and no minister should ever assume that he/she is above any type of sin.