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The Bible Breakdown
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The Bible Breakdown
1 Timothy 05: Be Practical
What practical steps can we take to truly embody our faith in everyday life? In our latest episode of the Bible Breakdown Podcast, Pastor Brandon unpacks the rich wisdom of 1 Timothy, chapter 5, offering thoughtful guidance on treating everyone within the church community with respect and purity. We explore Paul's teachings to Timothy on caring for widows, emphasizing family responsibility and understanding individual circumstances. The respect and honor due to church elders, particularly those committed to preaching and teaching, are also discussed, reminding us that Christianity extends far beyond abstract ideals into actionable, daily living.
Delving deeper, we reflect on Paul's advice regarding the cautious use of alcohol for medicinal purposes, highlighting the importance of intention and moderation. Our conversation touches on the necessity of patience and understanding, recognizing that not all struggles or good deeds are immediately visible. By embracing these principles, we align our actions with God's word, setting an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. This episode not only provides spiritual insights but also practical steps to love and support those around us, demonstrating the enduring relevance of scripture in our lives. Join us for this enriching discussion and be inspired to live out your faith with compassion and consistency.
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The More You Dig. The More You Find.
Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Timothy, chapter 5, and today's title is just simply Be Practical. Be practical in what you do. It is so easy when it comes to Christianity, to either just go on one side and go, hey, you know what, I don't know, so I'm just not going to worry about it, I'm just going to live my life or the other side, we can get so far into the weeds on stuff, and what does something really mean, and all of that that we forget that Christianity is a lifestyle. It's working out our salvation with our brothers and sisters, and so God's word is extremely relevant and extremely practical, and so we have to make sure that we continue to be practical in the way we live and not set up ideals that we don't actually have the ability to follow ourselves, but we put it right down where we can all live and we pursue God together. We'll get into that in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast and, as always, join us at the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. The more we dig, the more we find, and they're doing a great job over there. It's such an encouragement to see those devotions every single morning If you have your Bibles.
Speaker 0:I want to open up with me to 1 Timothy 5. Remember, this is a conversation between Paul, this veteran pastor who's been in the faith and he's planted churches all over the known world, and he's done all these things and had the mess beat out of him over and over again for his faith in Christ. And he's passing on these words of wisdom to Timothy, a young pastor in a church in Ephesus, the Ephesian church, and he's helping him know what to do until Paul gets there. And we know according to history that he continued to do these things even afterward. He was a pastor of that church for quite a while and over the past several chapters he's talked about all these different things. And today Paul's going to get really into the weeds and be like look, this is what it looks like in real life. We have to make sure that when we read God's word, sometimes we can read it and we read it as stories, because there's a lot of stories there, but we forget that Paul was a real person. Timothy was a real person. Moses, daniel, jeremiah, david these are all real people that live real lives and help us realize God's word is very practical. So we're going to read through this today and just kind of get the sense of how just real all of this really is. You ready, let's read this together 1 Timothy 5, verse 1 says this Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully, as you would your own father.
Speaker 0:Talk to younger men as you would your own brothers. Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity, as you would your own sisters. Take care of any widow who had no one to take care of herself. Now, a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his help. But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives. Give these instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism. But those who won't care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, they have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.
Speaker 0:A widow who is put on the list of support must be a woman who is at least 60 years old and was faithful to her husband. She must be well respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her own children well? Has she been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly? Has she helped those who were in trouble? Has she brought up her own children well? Has she been kind to strangers and served other believers humbly? Has she helped those who were in trouble? Has she always been ready to do good?
Speaker 0:The younger widows should not be on the list because their physical desires will overpower their devotion to Christ and they will want to remarry. Then they would be guilty of breaking their previous pledge. And if they're on the list, then they will learn to be lazy and they will spend their time gossiping from house to house, meddling with other people's businesses and talking about things that they shouldn't. So I advise these younger widows to go and marry again, have children and take care of their own homes. Then the enemy will not be able to say anything against them. For I am afraid that some of them have already gone astray and now follow Satan. For I am afraid that some of them have already gone astray and now follow Satan.
Speaker 0:If a woman is a believer and they have relatives who are widows, she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then the church can take care for the widows who are truly alone. Elders who do their work well and should be respected and paid well. Somebody say amen, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching, for the scripture says you must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain and in other places. Those who work deserve their pay.
Speaker 0:Now pause for a moment. First of all, you notice at the very beginning he was talking a lot about widows that are both young and old. What he was saying is is that older widows who have family, the first responsibility to take care of these people is not the church, it's their family, and I know that's different in different contexts and different cultures and not everyone can afford to take care of the elderly in their home. But there is this idea that if there's ever an issue in your life, the church is supposed to immediately come to aid. And of course as a church we have an opportunity to help these people. But what Paul is saying is, if we're not careful. All of a sudden, now everyone starts pulling on the church and the church has limited resources, and so the first line of help should always come from family, and if you need help, you should always go to family first, and then that leads into a whole can of worms.
Speaker 0:We're not going to open up, but I heard someone ask this question one time, and that was if you can't go ask your family for help, ask yourself why Is it? Because there's a situation where there's an issue with your family or something like that. And it may not necessarily be a bad answer, it's just an informative answer on why you can't do that. But he's saying the first line of help should always come from family. If you're younger, you also shouldn't be depending on the church. You should move on with your life and go get married again. But if you're someone who legitimately needs help an old widow who can't take care of herself, of course the church will step in and will help.
Speaker 0:And so notice how he's trying to put proper boundaries, and can I tell you, as a pastor, I struggle with this all the time. Where we are located, we will have a lot of homeless people who will pass through, and we've even had people who have told us hey, I'm just going to the next place. If you can't help me, I'm going to go somewhere else. And and it's this idea that because we're a church, we're automatically a handout service, and of course we want to help people, of course we want to do these things, but we want to help people who need it, not people who don't need it. And so, as hard as it is, a lot of times in ministry we have to put proper boundaries in place and go, wait a minute, you don't actually need help, you just want something for free. But then you do need help and it is our honor to help you. And so it's this interesting dynamic that Paul is telling Timothy hey, this is hard, and not every situation is the same, so you have to use wisdom and do the very best you can.
Speaker 0:But he also asked the question well, why does it seem like he's picking on the ladies in this? And sometimes I've heard people that would say it just seems like Paul's picking on the ladies. And you know why? Because guys didn't get any of this. If there was an old man who was a widow, hey, you go take care of yourself, my friend. And so be quick to not say that Paul's picking on the ladies, because he's actually saying this is how you go about helping these ladies and dudes. Dudes, you go fix it, you go figure it out. Well, the next thing he's talking about is to my elders, and he simply says it's okay for an elder to get paid for what they do.
Speaker 0:And we've run into that a little bit in the past, but it's been a real long time. There were people who said, well, I don't want to go to a church where a pastor gets paid. But can I tell you, to be honest, that's not God's word. Now let's also be very practical, and that is it is absolutely a deal that there are some places where some pastors get paid way more than would be considered adequate or fair. Can I tell you, as someone who I've been in ministry most of my life and I've been around pastors most of my life, most of the time, the only people you know of that that happens are the ones you see on TV. Most pastors get paid way under the work that they do, because they're not in it to get rich. Matter of fact, most people will say if you want to become wealthy, don't become a pastor. I know it may look like it but it's not it at all. But, matter of fact, most people I know get paid less than what they deserve because they know the church can't afford it and they would rather ministry happen than them have more. And so I think it's a wonderful thing that Paul says hey, these other pastors in these other areas, make sure we're taking care of them, because they shouldn't be hurting because they've given their life to God. All right.
Speaker 0:Verse 19, do not listen to any accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by two or three witnesses. Those who sin should be reprimanded in front of the whole church. This will serve as a strong warning to others. Remember, go back to Matthew, chapter 18, where he says go privately, then you go with one or two, then you go to the church leaders and then you tell them they've got to leave. So he's saying when you do that, tell them they've got to go and make sure everybody realizes what's going on, because it's a warning to the whole church.
Speaker 0:Verse 21,. I solemnly command you, in the presence of God and in Christ Jesus and the highest angels, to obey these instructions without taking sides or showing favoritism to anyone. Never be in a hurry to appoint a church leader. Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. Don't drink only water. You ought to also drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach, because you were so sick so often. We'll come back to that as we finish. Remember the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment, but there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later. In this same way, the good deeds of some people are obvious, and the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light. So there's two things there, and then we'll finish this chapter. First of all, he says don't drink just water, but drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach, because you are sick so often. So in other words, he's saying it's okay to take medicine, it's okay to do this Now.
Speaker 0:Already we know that in the Bible, having a little bit of alcohol is not a sin. Yet Paul is very careful when he says being drunk is a sin. So having a drink is not a sin, having all the drinks is, and so we don't know exactly what's going on here, but it seems as though Timothy has decided to be a teetotaler. He just wants to stay away from it completely, but he's having some kind of physical issues. And so Paul is saying hey, listen, I know you're doing it for the right reasons, but it's okay if you want to take a little bit for the sake of medicinal purposes. And so it's just a little bit of wisdom there, by an older gentleman who is saying make sure you're not going so far that you're forgetting why you're doing it. And I think we have to be careful with that when it comes to being Christians, and that is to make sure we don't go so far in doing the right thing that we forget why we're doing the right thing. And sometimes a little balance is in order.
Speaker 0:And then, lastly, he gives us this amazing moment of wisdom when he says there are some people that when they sin, we know it, it's out there and we all know it's there. And there are some people who have sin issues they struggle with. There are some people that when they do something great, we know it, and there are some people that we're not so sure what we think about them, but the reality is they're doing a lot better than we realize. Therefore, be patient and trust the Lord. If we turned everybody out of the church that ever did anything wrong. Nobody could ever come to church, including us, right? So we have to be patient, let the Lord work and then, when it comes to doing good, just because we don't see someone doing good doesn't mean they're not. We have to trust the Lord.
Speaker 0:So, as we finish this together, I hope what you saw today is that God's word is extremely practical, extremely relevant. But the challenge is a lot of times is we have to become students of God's word and do what we're doing right now, consistently, daily, reading God's word, and as we do it, we're slowly taking on the mind of Christ. We're slowly starting to think the way God wants us to think, and as we do that, we begin to realize the practicality of God's word. And really so much of what Paul is saying in this chapter is be patient, let God work and use your common sense, and as we do that, we will find that a lot of times, a lot of what happens when we are patient, we choose to love and we use our common sense a lot of times it will lead us in that direction, and not always. That's why we don't rely on ourselves, we rely on God's word.
Speaker 0:But as we do that, we find out that God's word has got so much to say about what's going on in our lives, and so I want to leave with this question as we are thinking through this, what practical next step do you need to take? Maybe, as we read about up top, maybe you see someone in your life, someone in your family, who's struggling, and maybe you need to go to them and say, hey, can I help you? I noticed that's going on. Maybe there's someone that you see that you really are struggling to love them, you're struggling to kind of walk with them, and maybe you need to realize God might be doing things in their life that we don't see. So let God's word dig down into your heart and realize God's got a big idea for you. He's also got a big idea for everybody else, and so we get practical and we grow. We help other people grow as well.
Speaker 0:God, thank you so much for your word. Thank you that your word is ridiculously practical. It's so wonderful, and the great thing is is the principles that you share, god. They're not just for the time of Paul and Timothy, but they're even still practical for us 2,000 years later, because the truth of your word never grows stale, it never grows old. I pray God, today, as we continue to meditate on your scriptures, that you will bring to life our next steps and give us the courage to take that next step. In Jesus name, we pray, amen and amen, what God's word says in first Timothy, chapter 4, verse 12 don't let anyone think less of you because you are young or whatever they may think, but be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, love, your faith and your purity. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for the grand finale of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy, chapter 6.
