We have called this series, Molded by the Gospel: How the Gospel is to Shape the Life of the Church
because Timothy was written to charge Timothy to confront false teachers and
teaching by allowing the truth of the gospel to shape the life of the church and her members. There is a certain shape, or mold, that the
truth of the gospel is supposed to give to the life of the church. The shape that Paul has in mind is found in 1 Timothy 3:15, where he calls the
church “a pillar and buttress of the
truth,” meaning that God desires for the church to uphold and support the
truth of the gospel.
In 1
Timothy 5:1-2, Paul instructed Timothy on how the gospel should shape
various relationships within the church.
As a matter of fact, 1 Timothy
5:1-6:2 gives us several different relationships that are affected by the
truth of the gospel. What we learn from
this is that the gospel should radically shape our relationships with others,
especially those in the church. May
prayer today is that God would move us and enable us to relate to one another
in ways that are not only shaped by the gospel but are also a testimony to its
power. How does this passage reveal the
way the gospel should shape our relationships?
[5:1] Do
not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as
brothers, [2] older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all
purity. (1 Timothy 5:1-2 ESV)
I.
The Gospel Makes Us Family (5:1-2)
Paul begins this chapter by describing how Timothy
is to relate to people of different ages and genders within the church. He tells him to “not rebuke” older men,
but to encourage them as he would a “father.”
He is also to encourage younger men “as brothers,” older women “as mothers,” and younger
women “as sisters, in all purity.”
What point Paul is making? It is that Timothy is to relate to all the
people of different ages and genders in the church as family. The gospel
creates a radical new family dynamic
for those who are in Christ. It makes us
FAMILY. Paul has already mentioned this
family dynamic in calling the church, “the
household of God” (3:15). This
is why an overseer and a deacon had to manage their own household’s well,
because managing a person’s own family well is a prerequisite for managing
God’s family (3:4-5).
In Mark
3:31-35, Jesus spoke of this new family dynamic that would be present among
His people: [31] And his mother and his brothers came,
and standing outside they sent to him and called him. [32] And a crowd was
sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are
outside, seeking you.” [33] And he answered them, “Who are my mother and
my brothers?” [34] And looking about at those who sat around him, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers! [35] For whoever does the will of
God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Being born again is being born into the family of
God. Do you think about the church this
way? Do you relate to older men and
women with respect, encouraging them, as you should your own father or
mother? Do you view the younger men and
women in this fellowship as brothers and sisters that you are responsible to
look after and encourage? The gospel of Jesus Christ makes us part of the only
family that will last forever, the family of God. But the gospel not only makes us family, it
also calls us to live like
family.
II.
The Gospel Calls Us to Live Like Family (5:1-2)
What does it mean to be family? At a bear minimum this passage shows us two
things that it means to be family: that we (1) respect one another and that we (2) encourage on another. We see the charge to respect one another in both the command not to rebuke an older man
and also in the command to relate to younger women with all purity. The instruction concerning older men is not a
total prohibition from correcting older men, but rather speaks to the manner in which Timothy should relate to
older men and correct them if needed. He
should to do so respectfully. Respect is also implicit in the additional instruction
concerning relating to younger women. In
other words, this is what it means to relate to younger women in the church in
all purity: to respect them in
thought, word, and deed. Now men, let’s
be honest. The temptation to view
younger women (women younger than older women) as objects of sexual
gratification is as much or more a temptation in our day as it was in Timothy’s. We must love and respect our sisters more
than this! Ask God to help you view the
younger women in our church as sisters.
Any brother worth his salt would want to guard his sister’s purity, not
take advantage of her.
But being family also means we are called to encourage one another. John MacArthur says “This Greek word, which is related to a title for the
Holy Spirit (paracletos; cf. John
14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7), refers to coming alongside someone to help. It may
best be translated strengthen.” Encouraging
one another has to do with speaking to
and caring for one another in such a
way that it strengthens them where they are.
How are you doing with encouraging one another?
I think the “one another” commands that we find in
Scripture are also an excellent illustration of what it means to live like
family as a church. Granted, the list is
long, but I would like you to get the imagery of coming alongside someone to
help them and strengthen them as I read through this list. Here are the commands that I found:
·
Serve one
another (John 13:14; Gal. 5:13; 1 Peter
4:9-10)
·
Love one
another (John 13:34-35; 15:12,17; Rom.
12:10; 1 Thess. 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22; 4:8, 1 John 3:11,23; 4:7, 11-12, 2 John 5)
·
Live in
harmony/peace with one another (Mark
9:50; Rom. 12:16; 15:5)
·
Outdo one
another in showing honor (Rom. 12:10)
·
Do not pass
judgment on one another in matters of Christian liberty (Rom. 14:13)
·
Welcome/Greet
one another (Rom. 15:7; 16:16; 1 Cor.
16:20; 2 Cor. 13:12, 1 Peter 5:14)
·
Do not have
lawsuits against one another (1 Cor.
6:7)
·
Do not
defraud one another sexually as husbands and wives (1 Cor. 7:5)
·
Wait upon one
another in taking the Lord’s supper (1
Cor. 11:33)
·
Have mutual
care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25)
·
Do not
measure yourselves against one another or compare yourselves to one another (2 Cor. 10:12)
·
Comfort one
another (2 Cor. 13:11)
·
Agree with
one another (2 Cor. 13:11)
·
Do not
sinfully provoke or envy one another (Gal.
5:26)
·
Bear one
another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2)
·
Bear with one
another (Eph. 4:2, Col. 3:13)
·
Do not lie to
one another/Speak truth with one another (Eph.
4:25, Col. 3:9)
·
Be kind to
one another (Eph. 4:32)
·
Address/Admonish
one another in psalms, hymns, & spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16)
·
Submit to one
another (Eph. 5:21)
·
Encourage one
another (1 Thess. 4:18; 5:11, Heb.
10:24-25)
·
Build one
another up (1 Thess. 5:11)
·
Do good to
one another (1 Thess. 5:15)
·
Exhort one
another (Heb. 3:13)
·
Stir up one
another to love and good works (Heb.
10:24-25)
·
Do not speak
evil of one another (James 4:11)
·
Do not
grumble against one another (James 5:9)
·
Confess your
sins to one another (James 5:16)
·
Pray for one
another (James 5:16)
·
Show
hospitality to one another (1 Peter
4:9-10)
·
Clothe
yourself with humility towards one another (1
Peter 5:5)
As we think through applying what it means encourage
one another as family, I feel like I’ll be walking a tightrope in what I
encourage you to do. On the one hand, I
need to say a few things that may be hard for you to hear. But on the other hand, my fear in saying some
of those things is that there will be some people who take what I have to say
as an excuse to complain about this church.
So hear these applications as things that you need to do to others but
not things that you need to get your feelings hurt over if they are not done to
you.
I never want to foster an environment where we
keep score of everyone who speaks to us or checks on us if we miss, but I do
think there is something that can be said about the need to encourage “family
members” who we begin to notice missing.
Look around today. Who’s
missing? Will you make it a point this
week to check in on them?
Also, as our church grows, we need to be every
mindful of the need to get to know people that we don’t know that well. As loving a church as I believe this is, one
critique that I have often heard against us is that we can come across as
“clickish” and be so tight-knit sometimes that we make others feel left
out. We must be proactive in guarding against this.
Let me give you a challenge that I hope you will take me up on over the
next month. I challenge you to choose
one other person or family in our church that you don’t know very well and
spend the next month getting to know them.
And stretch yourself
here. Don’t pick another person or
family who is just like you. And don’t wait on someone to try to get to
know you; YOU take the initiative! Don’t
be the person who keeps score. In order
to become a healthy family, it takes everyone doing their part to be a faithful
part of the family for the good of the family.
Ultimately, we must ask God for the enabling to
live this way through the power of the gospel.
We are not by nature people who give ourselves to honoring, encouraging,
and respecting others. We don’t want to
give these things; we want everyone to give them to us! Jesus died to pay for such selfishness in His
people and to give them new hearts and the presence of His Holy Spirit to begin
to show the world a radically different way of relating to each other. [34] A
new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved
you, you also are to love one another. [35] By this all people will know
that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35 ESV)
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