The Church Takes Care of Its Own | 1 Timothy 5:3-8
These last two chapters in Paul’s letter is a final charge the church in Ephesus. A final charge to teach Timothy how the church ought to function. What kind of fruit will a healthy church produce. One of those fruits is the fact that the church must take care of its own.
“Wash yourselves, purify yourselves; Remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Execute justice for the orphan, Plead for the widow.”
--Isaiah 1:16-17
“But become doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves…Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
--James 1:22, 27
“Odo Amoris”
Plato and Augustine: “The Order of Love” or “The Hierarchy of Love” or “The Ladder of Love.”
“The ‘order of love’ is a concept that helps us understand how we may direct the love we experience from God. In our human reality, love needs to be directed because we cannot love everybody equally: those close to us (our spouse, children, parents and friends) have more of a claim on us than others do. We need to divide our time and attention, and this is what the idea of ordering of love helps us think through. The idea goes back to St. Augustine, and he apparently took it from Plato, long before the Christian era.”
--ChristianCourier.ca
I would argue the order of love did not start with Plato but rather it is a biblical concept—it originated from God’s word, from God’s promises to His people. God has different promises for His family versus the rest of the world. God takes care of His family. He will save His family. God calls His family to operate in a different way than the world. God’s family is supposed to take care of each other, to worship God together, to be generous with one another, to defend its own family against the enemy and against the world.
The Biblical order of love is such in order of priority: 1. Love Jesus, 2. Love Your Family, 3. Love Your Church Family, 4. Love your nation, 5. Love the poor, the stranger, the lost, your enemies.
- The Church must take care of their own who have desperate needs and struggles.
“Honor widows who are widows indeed, but if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God. Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.”
--1 Timothy 5:3-5
Paul is commanding the church to help the widows within the congregation—but there is a set of guidelines to make sure the charity given is pleasing to God. Paul is doing this for two reasons:
- He knows that the heart of humanity is depraved and sinful, people can take advantage of charity even if they have no desperate need.
- He knows the church must be discerning and know how to measure the needs of its own people—lack of discernment can cause strife and envy.
“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can know it? I, Yahweh, search the heart; I test the inmost being, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
--Jeremiah 17:9-10
Remember, Paul calls the church to “test” deacons to make sure they are above reproach (1 Tim. 3:10) and the church must “test the spirits” to make sure it is God working and not the other spirits (1 John 4:1-3). The church must be mindful and have right judgement in all things to make sure they are glorifying God including in the ministry of charity.
“Honor widows who are widows indeed…Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.”
--1 Timothy 5:3, 5
Paul is telling the church to make sure they are truly widows. Make sure they are a part of the church, make sure they aren’t lying about their need, and that they serve God within their families and the church family. Basically, Paul is telling the church to make sure they are a part of the church.
“But if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.”
--1 Timothy 5:2-4
Here, we see the “odo amoris” in action. There is a widow in need, Paul is suggesting that it is the first responsibility of the widow’s family to help her if they have children or grandchildren. The children and grandchildren are to help her—“to make some return” means in regards to material provisions for the widow. Paul is giving clear instruction to both the families in the church and the church family itself: Take care of your families. They are your priorities, they are your first ministries, God has given them to you.
If a family takes care of each other well they will stand out in this selfish world. They will look different. People will notice—Christ even says this to His disciples before His death, Resurrection and Ascension.
“Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
--John 13:33-35
- The Christian’s priority is to serve Jesus, then their immediate family, then Christ’s Family: The Church—If you love those your family well then, your love for those outside of it will come easy.
“But she who lives in self-indulgence is dead even while she lives. And command these things as well, so that they may be above reproach. But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
--1 Timothy 5:6-8
Paul is giving the guideline discernment for the church in Ephesus in how to help the widows within their church and which widows to not help. The widow in need must have a life of service to her family, she cannot live in self-indulgence, self-gratification. The husband provides for his family and the Christian provides for their Church Family.
“Self-Indulgence”
σπαταλάω spataláō, from σπατάλη spatálē (luxury); to be voluptuous:—live in pleasure, be wanton.
“But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
--Mark 10:43-45
“Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’”
--Mark 12:29-31
“Neighbour”
λησίον plēsíon, play-see'-on; neuter of a derivative of πέλας pélas (near); (adverbially) close by; as noun, a neighbor, i.e. fellow (as man, countryman, Christian or friend):—near, neighbour.
“‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, and so not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, and you shall not keep your anger against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.’”
--Leviticus 19:17-18
Jesus isn’t commanding to “love the stranger” as the top priority but rather “to Love Your Neighbour” to love those within the family of God. To be generous to those within your family FIRST, to take care of what has given you FIRST, then to offer charity to our enemies, to the stranger, to those who don’t know Christ.
“‘And when a sojourner sojourns with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. The sojourner who sojourns with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt; I am Yahweh your God. ‘You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or in volume.’”
--Leviticus 19:33-35
“Sojourner”
גֵּר gêr, gare; or (fully) geyr (gare); from H1481; properly, a guest; by implication, a foreigner:—alien, sojourner, stranger, a temporary dweller who abides by the law of the land.
- The Church must be generous and take of each other—yet we need discernment in knowing who to help with charity.
“Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give the enemy no opportunity for reviling, for some have already turned aside after Satan. But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married, thus incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous pledge. And at the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house. And not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.”
--1 Timothy 5:11-14
The Church isn’t a regular non-profit charity program; The Church is God’s family, God’s people. We are to be called out, set apart and the scriptures call God’s church to take care of their families, to take care of their relationship with God—the world will see how different the church is and wonder why they are different.
“But when the disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, ‘Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.’ But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good work to Me. For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me. For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial. Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her.’”
--Matthew 26:8-13