Sermon Tone Analysis

“Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

“Honor widows who are truly widows.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.

Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

[1]

Historically, the churches of our Lord bore responsibility for benevolence.

This is not to say that unchurched people could not be charitable; it is, rather, acknowledgement that benevolence in modern, especially western, thought was initiated by and fostered among the churches.

This is especially true in North America.

The first charities were church-based; and church sponsored charitable institutions continued to be the rule until quite recently in the history of our nation.

To verify this statement, one need but think of how many orphanages, how many hospitals, how many centres for education were begun by government, comparing that number to those that grew out of church ministries.

Though governments have assumed oversight of most of these institutions, more through regulation than through default, it cannot be denied that institutions of education and higher learning, medical facilities and homes for the vulnerable were disproportionately initiated and operated by the churches throughout the earliest years of our nation.

Historically, governments—whether regal or imperial—concerned themselves primarily with the welfare of the ruling class.

The mass of people living under a given government were viewed as vassals, responsible to produce goods to benefit the state.

It was only with the advent of the modern democratic state in the western world that governmental benevolence was introduced.

And this development of governmental benevolence grew out of seizure of benevolent ministries from the churches.

In a bygone era—not so many years ago, though well before the modern state usurped the role of social benefactor—families accepted responsibility of providing for their own family members; and the churches served as a safety net for those rare instances where family no longer existed or where family was unable to assist its members.

In most instances in the western world, local governments assumed responsibility to care for the indigent who had no family to provide for their needs and who had no immediate access to the churches.

However, as modern, western governments have grown larger and more powerful, churches and religious organisations have been shouldered aside as governmental agencies arrogated to themselves the role of administering benevolence through compelling altruism (redistribution of wealth).

The churches of the western world have faced increasingly restrictive regulations that effectively ensure their role in providing benevolence is marginalised as the population has been educated to be dependent upon government for assistance.

Thus, we have achieved the modern welfare state, the condition defined by a populace that is increasingly dependent upon government for care and even for the act of making decisions.

The churches increasingly are reduced to a position of irrelevance, especially when thinking of benevolence.

Though the citizenry thinks casually of the churches as centres for benevolence, churches have grown increasingly dependent upon government for permission to do what is natural to the redeemed of the Lord.

Thus, government usurps the place of God without even a whimper from the pulpit.

Writing Timothy, Paul provides guidelines for the role of a congregation in benevolent ministries.

These Scriptures should not be taken as exhaustive; however, they are definitive for directing the Community of Faith in administering benevolence.

Though the world looks to governments as the source of every blessing, we who follow the Master are required to give thanks for our government without exalting it above God.

We Christians are called to follow Christ the Lord in all things, just as we do in caring for the needy.

*CHRISTIAN RESPONSIBILITY FOR FAMILY* — The context in which the message occurs is Christian responsibility to the vulnerable.

The immediate focus of the Apostle’s instruction was widows.

Care of those who were widows was a great concern in the early congregations of our Lord.

Therefore, Paul instructs Timothy, “Honour widows who are truly widows.”

The honour expected is financial and material provision that will ensure they are not destitute.

The underlying theme is the intersection of individual responsibility toward the needy with congregational responsibility toward the needy.

Christians are taught to pray,

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.”

[MATTHEW 6:9-13]

The prayer Jesus taught His disciples calls each one to look to Him for provision.

God is gracious, answering the pleas of His children, often in unexpected ways.

The story is told of a poor widow who sought to follow the Lord.

One day as she prayed before an open window, an atheist happened by and heard her asking God for bread.

The atheist quickly ran to a nearby store and bought a loaf of bread.

Rushing back to the widow’s house, he tossed the loaf of bread through the window and waited to hear her response.

Startled by the bread falling to the floor in front of where she knelt, she opened her eyes and she saw the loaf of bread lying before her.

Immediately, she began to praise God in a loud voice.

At that moment, the atheist jumped in front of the window and laughed at her. “Ha!” he exclaimed, “God didn’t give you the bread!

I bought it.”

The widow continued to praise God, loudly exclaiming, “Thank you, Jesus!

Not only did You answer my prayer, but you had the devil deliver it!”

The Beatles sang:

“Let me tell you how it will be

There’s one for you, nineteen for me.

‘Cause I’m the taxman; yeah, I’m the taxman.”

[2]

We who follow the Son of God look to God to provide our needs as we are taught in this Model Prayer; we do not look to a mere human entity that reveals its inefficiency through keeping a substantial proportion for itself.

Each of us recognises the inefficiency of bureaucracies and the waste induced by governmental largess; and, yet, we have been trained to look first to the very bureaucracies that victimise us.

It never ceases to amaze me that the same entity that can spend billions on licensing long guns would be thought to be qualified to administer the care of millions of individuals who require financial assistance.

Whilst governments appear quite generous, bear in mind that it is your money fuelling governmental largess.

What is worse, you really have no say in how your moneys will be redistributed.

Your MP, your MLA or your municipal councillor may promise fiscal restraint; however, there must be something in the water in Ottawa, or in Victoria, or in Edmonton, or in the bottles served to Councillors in their meetings; something destroys resolve and induces an exaggerated desire to spend other people’s money.

Contrast that modern view of generosity with the biblical view of benevolence and you will discover that God does expect His people to be generous.

However, He does provide guidelines for this generosity.

Though often quoted to justify our greed, an old saw states, “Charity begins at home.”

What made that saying so popular was that it presented a recognisable truth, even if we tended to distort the implication of that truth.

Paul is saying quite clearly that charity does begin at home; and we are responsible for our own family first.

Charity, benevolence, does weigh on the child of God; however, there is a condition imposed on the congregation.

The first word of the fourth verse is the copulative conjunction, “but.”

Responsibility for care of the needy lies first with the family!

Children and grandchildren are responsible to care for aged or needy family members.

To be certain, in the immediate text, the Apostle makes the point both positively and negatively.

Positively, Paul writes, “If a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God” [1TIMOTHY 5:4].

Negatively, he writes, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” [1 TIMOTHY 5:8].

Soon after writing these words the Apostle strengthened this particular instruction when he wrote, “If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them.

Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows” [1 TIMOTHY 5:16].

What must be kept in view is the need for Christians to assume responsibility for the vulnerable.

In the day in which Paul wrote, the focus was on widows and orphans.

That has not truly changed to this day—widows and orphans are still vulnerable in too many instances.

Perhaps others could be considered vulnerable as result of injuries or chronic health conditions that have a negative impact on the ability to provide for one’s self.

The assumption underlying the Christian’s responsibility toward the vulnerable is two-fold—personal responsibility and corporate responsibility.

Personal responsibility means that we accept the duty of caring for our own family.

Parents realise that they bear responsibility to provide for their own family.

We work in order to provide daily necessities for our children and to prepare for the time when we will no longer be able to be as productive as we are now.

Inevitably, we will age; and with the ageing we will discover that we are less efficient and less capable of providing for our own needs.

The rhythm of generations will impose a dramatic reversal for each of us.

In the normal course of life, we who once held our infants in our arms will be held in their arms as they nurse us at the end of days.

This responsibility comes to all; and when our sons and daughters provide this care for us, they will fulfil the admonition to “make a return to their parents.”

At that time, we will be living out the Fifth Commandment; we will be fulfilling our duty toward our own household, repaying out parents what is owed them.

Then, fulfilling our filial responsibility, we will enjoy God’s rich approval, “for this is pleasing in the sight of God.”

Do take note of the fourth verse again, “If a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God” [1TIMOTHY 5:4].

Note especially the word “learn.”

Learning looms large in the Pastoral Epistles, since Paul uses the verb seven times in these letters.

[3] This is a reminder that a primary responsibility of the elders is to teach.