Author: missionspaul

I had forgotten about this interesting comment about a list of widows who were 60 years and over.

“No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good works.” – 1 Timothy 5:9-10

What does this tell us?

• The early church had a formal support system that honoured and cared for its most vulnerable members. 
• There was a list. Not everyone made it on there for there were criteria.
• The woman had to be 60 years of age, maybe because for that generation it represented a benchmark of maturity, a woman who had wisdom and had survived this life. 
• The woman had to be known for her acts of love.

The Church today needs women like this. Look at those criteria again. We have those women in our churches and we need more. These women possess a wealth of wisdom and experience. They are a blessing to the Church. 

Whether we are 60yrs or not, these honoured women, on a list, challenge the church in every generation, to measure love by acts, vulnerability with care, and when there are decades of faithfulness, to honour and celebrate such service. 

In a world increasingly marked by individualism and fractured relationships, Christians who prioritise family responsibility shine as distinctive lights of the world.

Before we read one of Paul’s shocking sentences we do well to remind ourselves that authentic faith always translates into authentic care for those closest to us. 

“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 5:8

This was a serious indictment in the 1st century, to be called, “worse than an unbeliever”.

The word “provide” is literally, “to think ahead” or “to take thought for,” suggesting this isn’t just about meeting immediate needs but involves thoughtful planning and anticipation of family members’ requirements. 

The principle of 1 Timothy 5:8 doesn’t necessarily mean every family must provide direct care in their home, but it does mean we cannot simply abandon our parents to institutional care without consideration and involvement. 

My dad has been in a lovely care home for the last few months. It was a difficult decision for my Mum and for me and my brother. In the end with the onset of Alzheimer’s and his constant falling a decision for his safety had to be made. Those who have had to make similar decisions know the heart-breaking journey that has been. But one thing we can say is, Dad, has not been abandoned. My Mum goes every single day to see him. She sits and joins in the entertainment that the home put on for Dad. She shows him pictures of 60 years ago and he remembers every single name as they look at these moments of times that they shared together. Me and my brother visit as often as we can and strapped into a wheelchair push him to the park for an ice-cream. My Dad spent his entire life caring for people and now he is needing to be cared for. He is at his most neediest. He is vulnerable like never before. It is upsetting and tiring especially for Mum. But he is provided for, cared for and loved. For us, we have not “denied the faith” as Paul instructs us all not to.

Caring for Dad is not merely a social obligation, it is a spiritual indicator.

How can we claim to love a God we cannot see if we fail to care for family members we see daily?

I don’t live near where Dad is. It is a 6 hour round-trip and sometimes that can be longer. That might seem like a burden but it isn’t. You see, our care for family members becomes a tangible expression of God’s care for us—thoughtful, sacrificial, and enduring. I do it for Dad because God continually does it for me. 

Genuine spirituality cannot be separated from how we treat those in need and nowhere does that apply more than in the Church. 

While families bear primary responsibility, the church community has a crucial role in supporting those who are truly without other options. Paul believed families should look after their own but he also believed that of the church too.

His teaching on these matters reveal a beautiful aspect of who he was. This great apostle of our faith had a heart for the least and the vulnerable and he expected Timothy, his leader for the Ephesian church, to build a community that strategically takes care of every member, regardless of age or status. 

Let’s read some more.

“Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But 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 widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame.” 1 Timothy 5:3-7

The widows in Timothy’s generation were not too dissimilar to those in places of Africa and Asia today. They faced extreme vulnerability without the social securities that many in the West afford. The early church (Acts 6) developed a strategy to help them and Paul continues to build on that in his instruction. 

*There are widows who are really in need. They don’t have family support. The church is their only hope, that and of course God. She is repeatedly praying for help. Her dependence on God and her devotion to Him is clear;y seen by the Church and they are to recognise this with both honour and practical support. 

*There are widows who have their own family.  1 Timothy 5:3-7Paul makes it clear that the primary responsibility lies with their families. Children and grandchildren should “learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family.” The phrase “repaying their parents and grandparents” suggests that caring for aging family members is both a duty and an act of gratitude for the care received in childhood.

*There are widows who are self-indulgent. Being wealthy is not wrong of course but self-indulgence is and they don’t qualify for any support.

The repeated emphasis on putting “religion into practice” reminds us that genuine faith inevitably manifests in practical love. How we treat the vulnerable—especially in our own families—reveals the authenticity of our spiritual commitments.

Paul’s instructions about widows reveal a beautiful balance of compassion and wisdom. The early church was called to be a community where the vulnerable found genuine care, where families took their responsibilities seriously, and where faith expressed itself in practical love.

Today’s believers can learn from this model:, especially within our own families. The “true widow” who puts her hope entirely in God becomes not just a recipient of care, but a model of faith for the entire community.

That’s true, right? I mean we know this don’t we?

In a world which is often characterised by harshness, criticism, inappropriateness, self-seeking ambitions, there is an alternative life. It’s called the Church. Paul writes at length to this Church leader about building the Church into a community where people of all ages and backgrounds are treated with dignity and respect. We will take each instruction slowly. If Paul speaks at length then it is because of its importance. So let’s be inspired by his words:-

“Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, ² older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.” (1 Timothy 5 v 1-2)

Even older guys need correction. Their old age doesn’t mean they are beyond accountability. But the approach to the older men in the church is everything. Latre in v 20 Paul will tell Timothy there are times when elders need to be publicly corrected so it isn’t the fact that Timothy has to let the older men off the hook. But it is all about his attitude and motivation. Honour, patience and humility is what Paul is seeking rather than condescending harshness. It is not what you say but how you say it that counts. Respect the older man as if he was your father.

Younger men are your equal as brothers. Let there be banter. Let there be mutual support. Let there be shared goals. Let these spiritual ‘siblings’ experience and share in the wellbeing of you and them.

Older women need to be treated as the same as the older men. They are your spiritual mothers so let that be seen through your respect, gratitude and honour for their contributions within the church which is a nurturing role.

Younger women are your equal as sisters. If you have ever had a younger sister then you know feelings of protection that brings.

Do it all with absolute purity. A purity of motive, speech and actions regardless of age or gender.

This is the Church. This is family. Timothy make sure it happens. And we should take that instruction also.

Paul has been encouraging Timothy because apparently some people had been looking at him with disdain and disapproval. For Timothy it was because he was young. We know the feeling of age-related disapproval, whether being too young or being too old. We all know the voices that remind us we just don’t cut the grade. We are just not good enough for them. We could have done more. What do we do at times like that other than become discouraged and want to resign from ministry and from church? Paul is going to tell Timothy what he wants him to do. He must ‘be diligent’ on certain matters. He must give careful attention and be thoroughly committed to a few things. This will help Timothy and it still helps us.

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. ¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4 v 13-16)

“Until I come” has a lovely sound doesn’t it? Paul was going to visit Timothy and obviously that was the intent behind the words. But it has Messianic futuristic tones with those 3 words. Until Jesus comes do these things.

Read the Bible and encourage others to hear it also. It was at a time of personal copies of Scripture were rare and the majority were illiterate, so the public reading of Scripture was very important.

For us today it would be the same in essence, read the Bible and encourage others to do so.

Preach and Teach. Don’t worry about getting people on your side or entertaining them or getting the accolade and applause. Proclaim the message and carefully explain how to apply the message. Whether you do that in the pulpit or in the many pathways of life, it is the same request. Let the sound that comes from your mouth be the Word of God.

Remember the day of the Lord for you. Whether that be your ordination, commissioning or a moment when you knew the hand of the Lord was upon you and He called you, remember it, bring to mind the former things. Maybe for you like Timothy there was the prophetic word spoken over you, or there was the laying on of hands as someone prayed for you, or a community witnessed what God was doing in your life. Recall that moment. Don’t let intimidation, comparison with others, laziness or tiredness, the loud voices that wage war against your soul rob you. Remember.

Watch your character. Let your character match your gifting. Your character will carry your gifting. Your character will enable your gifting to last. Character always benefits spiritual well-being. Everything comes back to your character so watch it.

Maybe you would describe this season as discouraging and you are having to fight every day your feelings. Take these 4 things said to Timothy and apply them and see the difference it makes.

Do you know that feeling when someone is looking at you with disdain? It’s not only that they’re looking at you, but it feels like they are looking down at you. They have found something wrong with you, something they don’t like, you offend them, disappoint them perhaps, and they begin to list what it is you haven’t done or have done or even worse what you look like. There’s something wrong with you which disqualifies you from being or doing what God has called you to be and do. Do you know that feeling? Paul did and he gave Timothy some advice about it.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” (1 Timothy 4 v 12)

This isn’t unique to Timothy’s generation. Even today Pastors and leaders face questions about their experience and capabilities; but Paul’s instruction reveals something profound for us. The problem isn’t Timothy’s age but it is people’s prejudice. How do we know? Because the answer isn’t for Timothy to wait till he is older and then be able to prove he is called. It is to respond in a way that is on a higher ground than the prejudicial level.

“Timothy don’t start to act older, don’t pretend, rather let your character do the talking.”

Paul is telling Timothy to live higher than the voices that are around him.

1. Watch what comes out of your mouth. Speak with wisdom, grace and truth. Don’t give people further ammunition by allowing outbursts of anger to flow. Learn to apologise.
2. Acts differently, act like Christ as much as you can.
3. Learn agape. People need love more than experience. It is hard to describe agape but when it isn’t there in the conversations and actions within church then you know what it is.
4. Trust God. Lean into Him. Go to Him before you go to others for help.
5. Walk clean.

Let me add 2 more based on the above:-

•  Focus on what you can control.
• Excellence is the best defence.

The voices around you are pulling you down to a level you are not called to live at. Go higher today. Live higher. God is calling and lifting you there.

You may not be a preacher but you will know one.

You may not be a teacher but you have heard teaching.

Keep commanding and teaching these things. (Amp)

Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them. (NLT)

Prescribe and teach these things. (NASB)

“Command and teach these things.” (1 Timothy 4 v 11 NIV)

The 5 simple words of the NIV translation are the crux of the life of the preacher/teacher.

Paul has just written about false teachings and deceptive spirits and instructions about godliness and discipleship. These are the ‘these things’ that Timothy is called to command and teach.

Paul is not asking Timothy to bring a little homily to God’s people. He isn’t recommending a style to follow. He is bringing a directive. Timothy should bring an authoritative call within his teaching. He needs to stamp spiritual leadership within his message. He is to command. The Amplified helps us to see this is an ongoing action, commanding. The NLT reveals that there is an insistence attached to this. The NASB shows us that the teaching from the pulpits is likened to the doctor prescribing what should be taken to get better.

Command. The Christian truths are not for debate or negotiation. Preachers/Teachers let there be an uncompromising proclamation of the message from God.

Teach. People need to be helped to see why these truths are true and how to apply them to their lives.

The privilege and the responsibility in being a handler of God’s Word is that:-

• We may not be popular; people have opinions and they have their truth; they will let you know at every opportunity. Settle your mind to accept that popularity will not follow you all the days of your life, but goodness and mercy will as you remain committed to preaching and teaching God’s Word.
• We must be humble; the authority given is not from achievement or qualification, but from God and His Word.
• We must give people not what they want but what they need; we must take them on a journey of discovery; for that, the authority of God must flow with the humility of our hearts.

Maybe you just need those 3 words today!

If ever there is one major thing that Paul tells Timothy that we need to hear, it is this next sentence.

As a Christian you have put your hope in the living God, so continue with whatever is in your hand, however He has called you, whatever is before you and never give up!

“That is why we labour and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.” (1 Timothy 4 v 10)

She did it first on 16th November 1952. Charlie Brown explains to Lucy: “All you have to do is hold the ball. Then I come running and kick it.” She’s not so sure. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea.” Charlie Brown comes running, but, at the last moment, Lucy pulls back the football, explaining to the prostrate kicker: “I was afraid your shoes might be dirty, Charlie Brown. I don’t want anyone with dirty shoes kicking my new football.” He tells her: “Don’t you ever do that again! Do you want to kill me? This time, hold it tight!” She does, so tightly, he kicks a ball, which doesn’t move, and tumbles onto his back. “I held it real tight, Charlie Brown.” He laments: “I’m not going to get up. I’m going to lie here for the rest of the day.” Lucy would continue some variant of the football snatch in almost every subsequent year of the strip, all the way to 1999. The same would happen nine times in animation. Drawing the strip for the last time, Charles Schultz said that he realized, sadly, that Charlie Brown would never kick that football, but, he also thought, having him succeed would have been a disservice to the character.

I wonder today if you are living with hope of kicking the ball?

Priest and theologian, Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) said this of hope, it “expects the coming of something new. Hope looks toward that which is not yet. Hope reaches out beyond ourselves to a power beyond us. Hope is grounded in the historic Christ-event … and as a dramatic affirmation that there is light on the other side of darkness.” (in Seeds of Hope)

After quitting school early and a brief time in Europe working as a Red Cross driver taking soldiers to the frontline he returned to Kansas to become a cartoon illustrator. But he lost his job because the editor claimed he had no imagination. How wrong that was! He headed out to Hollywood and had failure after failure with his ideas. Universal stole his ‘Oswald the Lucky Rabbit’ idea and MGM rejected his talking mouse and his ‘Three Little Pigs’ never saw the light of day. But he kept going. Half the audience walked out of his ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’; ‘Pinocchio’ was a financial disaster; in fact all the classic films that I grew up on and which broke record after record at the Oscars and which billions of people have now watched was only possible because one failed man held on to hope. Of course the man is Walt Disney (1901-1966); the Walt Disney Company is estimated now at around $130 billion.

February 1st 1975, a famous prisoner, Nelson Mandela (who spent 27 years in prison) wrote to his wife Winnie, “You may find it difficult at first to pinpoint the negative features in your life, but the 10th attempt may yield rich rewards. Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying. … No ax is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise and win in the end.”

Hope is more than optimism. There may not be any hopeful aspects of a situation which optimism clings to. But hope is found not in a situation but in a loving Saviour.

Hope is more than being positive. There may be no moving forward, no direction and no increase. But hope is found not in progress but in a Person named Love.

In his book ‘Deserted by God?’, Sinclair Ferguson shares the following story:
“The first physician to die of the AIDS virus in the UK was a young Christian. He had contracted it while doing medical research in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. In the last days of his life, his power of communication failed. He struggled with increasing difficulty to express his thoughts to his wife. On one occasion she simply could not understand his message. He wrote on a note pad the letter J. She ran through her medical dictionary, saying various words beginning with J. None was right. Then she said, “Jesus?”
That was the right word. He was with them. That was all either of them needed to know.

Hope has a name and that name is Jesus. He is the living God and He is your Saviour.

I’ve just taken a break from the gym. My membership is on hold as I venture outdoors for my runs. That’s the theory and we shall see what happens.

We are going to read a word in these next verses which is gymnazo – ‘train’ – the root of our word ‘gymnasium’. Paul doesn’t want Timothy to take a break he is instructing him to be rigorous and disciplined in his life. The reason being is that the spiritual training that Paul is calling for is not for some temporary benefit but rather it is an investment that will outlast all earthly achievement. We must build the character that will be consistent throughout the decades of our life. Let’s read what Paul says.

“Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. ⁸ For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ⁹ This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.” (1 Timothy 4 v 7-9)

So what are the tips from this coach?

• Clear the rubbish away. “Have nothing to do with …” There are many myths in church that I still hear: success justifies any means; image above integrity; gifts more than character; power the ultimate desire. These are toxic to the soul and need to be rejected before we go to the gym. Put down the TED talks, the Youtube, the social media talks and pick up the Bible. Where are you seeking wisdom from?
• Godliness above all things. The character we build today shapes our future tomorrow, how we will be remembered and how we will stand before God.

Here’s my training plan at the gym:-

• How are my daily spiritual disciplines? Am I praying more? Am I spending time in the Bible more?
• Steer clear of success-at-any-cost mentality; arrogance; the belief that results justify the methods.
• Check-in with my accountability partners.
• What do I want to become in the next 5 years?
• Don’t give up.

Leadership is a marathon. It is an ongoing process.

Instruction is more of a consistent pattern of communication rather than just one teaching experience.

Paul says to Timothy:-

“If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.” (1 Timothy 4 v 6)

• Commit to a learning journey. Timothy had to be nourished by good teaching. Whether that comes to you by books, being mentored, attending conferences, studying further or many other pathways, the important thing is every leader needs to keep growing.
• Be a pointer of truth. That can be difficult. It can mean challenging conversations. It needs the leader to have a deep conviction of the truth. Of course the truth may not be what people want to hear.
• Successful leadership is measured not by how many people are following you but how many people you are serving.