How to Live in God’s House, Part 6
In our message, FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS (1 Tim. 5:1-16), we looked at some relationships within the church and how we are to treat one another.
The Bible says we are to treat older men in the church like we would a father, not harshly but with respect, and younger men as we would a brother (1 Tim. 5:1; Eph. 4:15-16; Heb. 10:23-25, etc.). Older ladies are to be treated with the love one would have for his or her own mother, and younger ladies as one would treat a sister “with all purity” (1 Tim. 5:2; John 17:17; Rom. 12:1-2, 9, etc.). Because the church is God’s family (John 3:7, 16; 1 John 3:1, etc.), we are called to treat various age groups and people within our local fellowship as we would treat corresponding members in our own family (1 Tim. 3:15).
The church is also called to treat those in great need with special honor (James 1:27, etc.), and one group, in the first century, that this was particularly true for was Christian widows (1 Tim. 5:3 NET, etc.). While all Christians are called to look for ways we can show God’s sacrificial love to all people (Gal. 6:10), there are times when the church itself should use funds (as it is able to) for meeting and providing for some of its members who are destitute, as was the case with many widows in the first century- a time in which no government aid existed or was provided (1 Tim. 5:3 NLT). But for the church to regularly support such people, they must really be in need- meaning no other family was available to support them (1 Tim. 5:4), and they were living a godly life that honored and glorified the Lord (1 Tim. 5:5-6, 10). Also, the Holy Spirit stated such “widows” in that time were not be supported in that way if they were “under sixty years old” (1 Tim. 5:9, 11) because they were likely to break their “pledge” to serve the church as a widow after they were put “on the list” for financial support (1 Tim. 5:11-12 NET). Such a breaking of trust was a poor witness of Christ and also being idle could lead to sin (1 Tim. 5:12-13) and had in fact led some young ladies into sin as they followed the example of the “Satan” at Ephesus (1 Tim. 5:13, 15). Instead, the Lord urges such younger widows who were still able to have a family to remarry an eligible Christian man and walk in the good works God had called them to (1 Tim. 2:15; 5:14; Titus 2:5; Gen. 1:27-28; Eph. 2:10, etc.). It is important to understand God “commands” the church to not support a Christian financially, regardless of perceived need, if he or she is living in open, unrepentant sin (1 Tim. 5:6-7, 13, 15 NET).
This passage of Scripture also emphasizes our call as Christians to “repay their parents what is owed them” by caring for them in their old age and times of need (1 Tim. 5:4, 8, 16, etc.). For more information on this calling of Christians and God’s Word here, please see SBFC’s August 3, 2025 message above.