Transcript

Take your Bibles and let’s go back to our exposition, our verse by verse preaching through the book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy. We are now in chapter 5. We call this “Beautifying the Bride” because in this letter Paul is writing to his understudy Timothy, who’s left to pastor the local church at Ephesus and he’s working through Timothy to get the church in order, to get it structured right, ah, to guide it in functioning properly, and he’s dealing with lots of practical things and in chapter 5, beginning in verse 3, he begins dealing with widows in the church.

Now I said on, on Twitter I think last night, that preaching on widows is not something, I don’t, I don’t remember I’ve ever desired to preach on. I’ve never thought, “You know, I’m gonna do a series on widows.” Now it doesn’t mean we don’t love widows and widows are not very important to us. Of course they are. Matter of fact, God says he has special concern for orphans and widows and we should too. But you just don’t think in terms of preaching on them but Paul spends a very lengthy section of Scripture on widows in the church and there’s actually two sections here, ah, verses 3 through 8 is what we’re dealing with today and that’s what we’ll talk about, and then there’s another group of widows that begins in verse 9, Lord willing we’ll look at that next week together.

So I call the exposition of 1 Timothy 5:3-8 “Widows in Need.” N-e-e-d. Widows in need. Let’s read it together beginning in verse 3 of 1 Timothy 5.

3 Honor widows who are widows indeed; 4 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. 5 Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day. 6 But she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7 Prescribe these things as well, so that they may be above reproach. 8 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.

Now let me remind you as I say often, even though the context here is pointed to widows and how the church should care for them and how they should conduct themselves, there are larger biblical principles here that are applicable for all of us. So don’t tune me out but yet tune in and let’s look at this together.

I. in our outline, let’s talk about worthy widows. Worthy widows. Now the church when necessary must support an care for the widows in our membership but there’s some things that need to be considered. Subpoint A would be: they must be vetted. They must be vetted. Now that means they must be examined, they must be appraised of their real condition. Ah, when Paul says here in verse 3, those who are widows indeed, the word “indeed” has the idea of being true. They truly are widows who need the church’s support and care.

Now it’s good for us to think of the context. You and I do not have a context or we do not live in a cultural context anything close to this first century church. First of all, poverty was rampant. This was a day when poverty meant you were skinny. It’s interesting to me that a lot of times we talk about, ah, poverty and low income and people don’t have enough to eat, there’s a lot of obese people live in those communities. That don’t mean they do not have needs and we shouldn’t be concerned but that’s not what the ancient world called poverty. In the ancient world literally you didn’t have enough to eat and you were skinny and, ah, in this setting there were just a lot of widows in this culture. There was a high mortality rate among men, wars and diseases and various things, and I think also widows were of such a generally destitute condition when they heard the Gospel they heard hope, and I think percentage wise more widows were coming to the faith than perhaps other demographics of the culture. We know in Acts 6, Pentecost has occurred, the people are being saved by the thousands, the church is being built up, and by Acts 6, I mean, the church is just getting going, they have a serious problem of widows who have to be cared for by the church. I mean the daily food they eat has to be given by the church, and we saw this complaint come before the church pastors and we know how Acts 6 unfolds, they get godly Spirit-filled men, I believe it’s the first deacons, and the pastors commission and pray over these Spirit-filled deacons to make sure these widows are cared for so they can get back to studying and preaching the word. I’m saying all that to say that this was a common problem.

Now also they do not have the social welfare programs we have today. Our government takes our money every time we’re paid money in our country, to put back a reserve that we might live off of it when we get older. So these, these are things that we take in consideration today that they did not have in this day. So there’s a lot of differences but nevertheless the principle remains the same.

Now in vetting these widows, we must remind ourselves that the church was not to offer support to just any widow but to those who were appraised, vetted, and qualified. Notice he says here in verse 4, ” 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.” First of all, if this widow has family who can care for her, they should do that and that burden should not be put upon the church.

Then in verses 5 and 6, “Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day.” In other words, she should be vetted in the sense of is she faithful to the Lord. Is she using her widowhood and the new free time she has on her hands to serve the Lord in his local church. If not, then she’s not qualified for the church to support her. He continues on in verse 5, verse 6 rather, “But she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives.” If she obviously has a pattern of living where she gives herself to worldly pursuits, then she is not qualified to be on the list of those widows who need the church’s direct support.

So, first of all, these worthy widows are those who have been vetted and they qualify. Secondly, not only vetted they are to be honored. In a general sense they’re to be honored. In verse 3 he says honor those who are widows indeed. This includes that aspect of respect. It includes holding them in high esteem. Here’s what I want to say to you: the world is too foolish and blind to appraise the worth of a godly woman. The world would, ah, scorn her, the world would diminish her, but the church must not. Those ladies who’ve been good and faithful homemakers and devoted wives to their husbands and, and faithful moms to their children and then their grandchildren, when they hit that age of life and they’re seniors, widowed or unwidowed, the church must honor that lifetime of service. God help us in the church today, we’ve become so doggone worldly we start appraising and, and praising women if they’re like the world instead of like what the Scripture bears out is worthy of honor and worthy of praise.

She’s to be honored. The Bible says that, um, she’s one of those who has faithfully lived or faithfully devoted herself to her husband all these years. She’s faithfully devoted herself to her children and her grandchildren and then in this verse it picks up then after she became a widow, she used that new freedom to serve the Lord in her local church. In other words, she’s lost most of what she had on earth and now she seeks more of what there is in heaven.

1 Corinthians 7:34 picks up on this truth. In another context Paul writing to those who are not married, you know, these are young women, he says, “and his interests are divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but the one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.” Now he’s not saying one is more spiritual than the other, he’s just giving the, the principle that when you don’t have the obligations of marriage and the home like you used to, you have more time to directly serve the Lord i.e. through your local church.

And so these kind of ladies, a lifetime of faithfulness in the home, to their husbands, to their children, and now in their elder years want to serve God faithfully in his church, they are to be honored. Same word “honor” is used over in verse 17 of this chapter where Paul shifts gears and he’s talking about the pastors of the church, particularly the preaching pastors, and he says they are to be worthy of double honor. That includes holding them in high esteem. So widows are to be held in high esteem.

I don’t really have time but Proverbs 31 reminds us of how this godly woman is a woman who will be praised by her husband, she’ll be praised by her children, and then the text even says she’ll be, be praised in the gates. That means in the community. The influencers of the city will see her work. Now listen to me, ladies, she doesn’t start out that way. Matter of fact, if she starts out with these biblical convictions about her home, her husband, her children, it’s very likely in the first decade or two or three she’s gonna be despised, she’s gonna be ignored, she may be scoffed at, but given the time, her husband can’t help but praise her publicly. Her children can’t help but praise her publicly and her good is gonna be so known, she didn’t plan to make it happen, it’s just the way God ordains it to happen that even the community will rise up and say, “That was a wonderful and important and blessed woman.” I love that. Here’s what I’m telling you: we don’t need to wait until the blind, foolish, unregenerate world gets it, we need to start doing it for our ladies now. Honor those who have a lifetime of faithfulness in their home and in their church.

Well, worthy widows, widows who are worthy to be considered for the church’s care and support and in this context direct material support must be vetted and they ought to be honored and, thirdly, they ought to be materially supported. Again this word “honored” in verse 3 does mean is esteem and respect, but it also includes financial support. Same thing in verse 17 where he talks about, ah, the pastor who rules well is worthy of double honor. It means financial support along with the respect and the esteem. So it’s kind of interesting that he puts widows and pastors kinda in the same context here, that these widows who have been faithful in their homes all these years are worthy, if need be, for the church to take them in and materially support them.

Now James reminds us in James 1:27, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” So we want to be that kind of church and I wanna tell you, I take that very seriously. In this, ah, present climate that we are in, I constantly am in touch with our pastors, our elders, our staff about what’s the condition of our senior adults. Is there a need we need to meet. And if you ever know of any lady in our church, especially who’s a widow in need, you make sure we know about it. We are not gonna let a dear precious lady who served the Lord all these years, been faithful in her family, go without if we have anything left to help her with.

Well, those are worthy widows, they’re vetted, they’re honored, and they’re to be materially supported by the church if necessary. Now secondly, let’s shift gears because Paul shifts gears, now let’s talk about worldly widows. Worldly widows. We see this so pointedly brought out in verse 6, we read it a while ago, “But she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives.” She’s greedy. She’s selfish. It, it means an excessive pursuit of worldly things. Now let’s be balanced. It doesn’t mean that when a lady becomes a widow she doesn’t, shouldn’t enjoy going out to dinner with her friends more, or she shouldn’t enjoy traveling a little more. It’s not the aspect of measuring things out and being legalistic, it’s the heart. It’s the heart and this is the woman, this worldly woman who gives herself wholly to the next worldly pursuit and in, in effect she begins to neglect many good things she could be doing in service unto the Lord.

This woman is right the opposite of Anna the prophetess that’s mentioned in the Gospels. She came to my mind immediately. Luke 2:36-37, notice the contrast here, “And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,” so she was married seven years and the rest of her life she did this, verse 37, “and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.” Now again this, this isn’t the exact pattern for all widows but it’s the heart principle. The worldly widow doesn’t say that at all. She just thinks about, “Man, I’m free and I’m gonna live it up to the most.”

I have two points here. I’ve really hit on the first one quite well already. A. The purpose and pattern of her life is worldly pleasure. She gives herself wantonly. It’s a willful excess. She’s living up her freedom. And then B, the Bible says here she’s of no spiritual good. Wow, that’s pointed, is it not? But Paul is very pointed. He says in verse 6 a widow who does this is dead even while she lives. She’s dead even while she lives. It doesn’t, it doesn’t necessarily mean she’s unsaved. Now that’s probably true of many but I believe, I agree with the scholars who say this is not talking about being unconverted, it means she has, she’s doing no spiritual good. She’s fruitless. She’s the apple tree that has a substantial root system and the trunk is very healthy and, and the branches are, are, are vital and the leaves are lush but every year it doesn’t produce any apples. She is fruitless for God and God’s work. Now let’s remind ourselves in balance all common grace enjoyments of this present world are not to be avoided but the question is, is that all this woman thinks about. Is that all there is to her. That’s what it looks like. He’s saying that is a worldly widow.

In verse 5 we have the godly widow who pours her energies into serving God. This was the woman who was dead to the world as a widow and now alive to God in service. And then in verse 6 we have this worldly widow, she’s the one who’s functioning dead to God but very alive to this fallen and sinful world. The point of the text is Paul is saying this kind of widow should not be supported by the church.

Now there’s so much unsaid here and I, I, I have to say this because so many of us are prone to go to the Scripture as where every text is a firm letter of the law like “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” I’m convinced Paul is not saying if a woman has been backslidden and she’s a widow and she’s lived in the world and she has critical need, the church should just let her suffer. I don’t think he’s saying that. He’s just saying as a general rule if she’s gonna live like that, the church shouldn’t have the burden of taking care of her. You’re not taking care of someone to help them build Satan’s kingdom. So it doesn’t matter whether you are a, a tent, ah, 10 year old and, and you know the Lord, or you’re 110, if you sin, you sin and there’s consequences and it’s to be dealt with by the church.

Another application here, I think this is very interesting, 500 years ago John Calvin writes in his commentary another aspect of a worldly woman and he said she doesn’t need to be this woman who, um, flitters all day going from altar to altar lifting up praises and prayers, actually being a show-out in front of all the people. Then she gets home late in the day and her house is a mess and dinner’s not done, her husband’s unhappy and she’s irritable. His point was she’s missed everything. She’s, she’s acted like she’s serving the Lord but she’s actually not serving the Lord. You can be worldly in that way also if it’s a, if it’s a hypocrisy, if it’s a put-on for the appearance of others.

Well, so Paul says there’s the worthy widow that we ought to always be helping and supporting and caring for as a church. There are worldly widows who if they’re gonna live like that, the church shouldn’t feel an obligation to support them. Now I’m coming to III, something I want to call Christianity 101. I call it Christianity 101 because there’s a larger principle here that is just basic to Christian truth but it’s something we often miss, but the way Paul says it here is that he’s making a point to say this, “Obviously you should understand this already.” That’s what he’s saying.

Now see this in verses 4 and in verse 7. Ah, I’m sorry, really just verse 4 for right now. Here’s the obvious principle, “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.” In other words, he said, “Have some spiritual common sense. Taking care of the needs in your own family is the first step of your spiritual duty and devotion to God. Don’t neglect that.” And evidently this is being neglected by some in the church. You remember when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, I mean these are baby Christians and they had things all out of whack and out of balance, and many of them were thinking that if you’re married, you couldn’t really serve the Lord like you ought to so some of them were wanting to leave their spouses, or some of them were wanting to never be married and Paul said, “What a minute, you’re out of, you’re out of balance here. Remain in the condition in which you were called. If you’re married, stay married. You’re missing, you’re not seeing the forest for the trees.” These, have some spiritual common sense, or I call these common or basic human duties. It’s the basic duty of humanity given by our Creator that we care for our families. In this context, verse 4, they’re to learn to practice piety toward their own mother or grandmother. I know some translations instead of grandmother put nephew for that’s a, a, a, not a sound translation. It really means grand, grandmother. So learn to practice piety. It means learn to worship properly. You’re worshiping properly. You, you, your reverence and worship of God is shown properly when you care for your widowed mother or grandmother.

Then he says do this to make some return. In other words, you have a debt to them. It’s, it’s a financial recompense that is owed to them.

Then he says in verse 4, “to your own family.” The point there would be so that the church does not have to pick up this responsibility.

Now our God is a God of all wisdom and he’s in his wisdom, he’s a God of order, and in God’s order and purposes he’s ordained two foundational institutions: the home or the family and the church. Now he’s given some ministries and duties that are to be carried out in the home and the family, others that are to be carried out in the church. Now in the home and the family, ah, chief among the duties he’s given to the home and family is the care of children and the care of elders. That’s to be primarily done in the family. There’s some exceptions but that’s primarily where it’s to be done. Now in the church, chief among the church’s responsibilities is preaching the word, the ministry of the word and administering the Gospel.

Now listen to me: Satan works incessantly at reversing this order or at least getting it out of balance. You wouldn’t believe the ministers I’ve met through the years and I believe they’re good brothers and perhaps they meant well, and they will constantly talk about expending their energies caring for the physical needs of people and they do it over and over again, and then I’ll watch their study habits and I listen to their preaching and it’s definitely suffering. It’s because they’re out of balance. There are things that ought to have been taken care of by families that the pastor was doing out in the family structure, physical needs, caring for the elderly, caring for the sick. It doesn’t mean a pastor doesn’t do that but he must not do it to the neglect of his primary duty which is centered in the church which is preaching the word. Satan, because I want to tell you something, it’s so, I know pastors watch our broadcast, it’s so rewarding humanly speaking to minister to people physically in their physical needs and be, it’s just rewarding because they appreciate it so much, but if you’re neglecting their spiritual need by not being ready to preach the word, you’re actually hurting them more than you’re helping them. Unfortunately a lot of pastors and churches where they esteem their fiscal need a lot higher than their spiritual need and so they’ll praise the pastor for doing that which is the primary ministry of the home and he’ll neglect his primary duty in the church.

Anyway, we gotta be careful because Satan loves to warp these, get them in reverse order and out of balance. But for the younger women who are caring for their widowed moms or grandmoms or maybe just elderly parents, the Bible is pointing out you are performing a tri-ministry. Not only is this a spiritual duty, it’s, it’s, it’s what I call a basic human duty, even the lost people get this, but you’re performing a tri-ministry. First of all, it’s an ordained service to your parents. It’s an ordained spiritual service to your parents. God’s ordained it. It’s an ordained spiritual service to the local church because that way their care doesn’t fall back on the church. And it’s an ordained spiritual duty to God himself. That’s Christianity 101, that there are common human duties God’s given man and as Christians we must make sure we fulfill those. In this context it was younger women taking care of their own widowed mothers and grandmothers.

Now what I call pastoral ministry 101, VI, or IV rather. IV. Pastoral ministry 101. Why do I bring this out? Because right in the middle in verse 7 he says something to Timothy about what he’s to do, “Prescribe these things as well, so that they may be above reproach.” Now he said the exact same thing in a different context up in verse 11 of the previous chapter, prescribe and teach these things. That word that we translate “prescribe” literally means “continually command.” Continually command. Now here’s pastoral ministry 101. What do I mean by pastoral ministry 101? Here’s something that should be a, a mark, a continual mark of your ministry. I call it authoritative repetition. Authoritative repetition. There’s certain things you’re gonna say over and over and over. Now we should try to say them differently, use different illustrations, ah, don’t be dull and boring and repetitious in that sense but if you’re faithful to God’s truth, you have to keep doing what Paul tells Timothy to do, keep on commanding these things.

As I like to say to you, you have to keep on commanding them because people get them in but then they leak them back out again and there’s just a necessity. Matter of fact, do you get tired of hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I certainly do not. It’s good to hear it over again and it, it, it, even after you’re converted, of course, you need to hear the Gospel because you are continually being sanctified, you are saved but you are continually being saved and you need that preaching. Think about the repetition in the word of God. Ah, for example, if you study the theology of Romans and then you go to study Galatians, you’ll find the same theology repeated in Galatians. And if you study the doctrines and theology of Romans and Galatians, you’ll find it’s repeated again in Ephesians. And then if you’ve study Philippians, you’ll find it repeated again in Philippians. And then again in Colossians and basically through the Canon of Scripture. It’s said differently, some different terms, but the basic doctrines of the faith are continually repeated in the word of God. When Paul gives instructions for home life, the mother, the father, the children’s role in a Christian home, he says basically the same thing to the, to the church at Ephesus he says to the church at Colossae. There’s an authoritative repetition. The four Gospels, different men give different perspectives but nevertheless the essential narrative of Christ coming, his death, burial, resurrection and ascension, and the doctrines surrounding that are the same Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Authoritative repetition.

Pastor ministry 101 is preach the word and don’t be afraid to repreach the truths you’ve preached before. But here’s the beautiful thing about it: a biblical preacher is a repetitive preacher because these doctrines are repeated throughout Scripture but he’s also a progressive preacher. Well, I hate to use the word “progressive” in our modern cultural context but nevertheless it fits here. He’s a progressive preacher. What I mean by that, he preaches the same doctrine but as he studied and grown and experienced, he has richer insights and richer understandings, so though it’s the same doctrine it comes apart, it comes across in new ways, in new richness, in new understanding, new insight and in new power. Pastoral ministry 101.

So we’ve looked at the worthy widow, the one the church ought to be fully committed to care for and support. She must be vetted, gotta, gotta appraise the situation. She should always be honored and she should be materially supported. Then he talked about the worldly widow who gives herself to wanton excess, taking her new widowhood and freedom to pursue the world and she should not be supported by the church. Then we talked about Christianity 101, the basic or the common human duties that we have and Christians should be doing those and that’s one of those Christian duties, and we’ll talk about that in just a second more but that’s the home and caring within the home. Then, of course, pastoral ministry 101, authoritative repetitiveness and preaching the word. Now I want to, I’m not gonna spend long on each one of these but let me give you now some conclusions for practical application. There’s been a good bit of practical application but let’s expand out even beyond this direct context of caring for widows and let’s talk about more the rest of us, let’s say.

1. I., or just 1 under conclusions for practical application. Understand common human duties. Our Creator has given all of mankind things that are natural to humans that don’t apply to the other parts of creation, things that are self-authenticating. In other words, even the unbelievers know these things are right to do them. We might call them, I think, I think one caller called them they’re humanly, they’re unique to us, they’re inherent to humankind, and one of these basic or common human duties is the love of family. I mean, everyone knows that’s right. The love of family’s just right. Matter of fact, there are many who do not know Christ who are very devoted to this principle. Why? Because the Creator put it in them. It’s common to mankind, and this is what separates us from the beasts.

Ah, not, not trying to be graphic but I like watching these wildlife shows and I found it very interesting the first time they showed this pride of lions and the old leader, the old dominant male had gotten weak and one of the young stronger males killed him so that he might take over the pride. After he killed the old dominant male, he proceeds to literally eat all of the cubs recently birthed by that old dominant male because he wants to remove any trace of him from the pride. You think, that’s just grotesque and awful. Well, folks, that’s what beasts do. They’re not of humankind. They’re not made in the dignity and the image of God as we are. But among human beings we don’t approach things that way. You say, “Well, pastor, we’re doing some terrible things among humankind today. What about the abortion issue?” Yes, that is true but in their heart of hearts they know it’s wrong. They know it and that’s a lot, one of the reasons why we see so much screaming and marching and protesting, they’re trying to quiet their own conscience. We’re human beings made in the image of this holy God. There’s a sacredness to us and there are common human duties we all know in our hearts are right and one of those is love and care within the family.

Now in our context again, so serving and caring for widowed mothers or grandmothers is natural to all humankind. Well, 2 under conclusions for practical application. True spirituality does not neglect common human duties. True spirituality does not neglect common human duties. In other words, the woman who would neglect her home to be at the church too much, I mean, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t have time for both but she’s out of balance. She’s thinking, “Well, I’m so spiritual, I’m gonna neglect my home and my husband.” No, that’s, Paul would tell you, “No, that’s not your spiritual duty.” You understand Christians must excel in the common human duties God’s given all mankind.

For example, children honoring their parents. That’s a common human duty. It’s inherent in mankind. We know that’s right. All mankind knows that’s right. Spouses being faithful to their marriage vows. The institution of marriage itself. “Wait a minute, pastor, we, we live in cultures today that reject all that, ah, ah, adultery, open marriage, etc.” They can say all they want and they can do all they want but in their heart of hearts they know it’s wrong. They know it’s right and ordained of their Creator to be faithful to our spouses. The principle of working. If you’re gonna eat, remember Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, some of them were being lazy, he said, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” I mean, saved and unsaved, that’s a, a common human duty. We know that’s right. Again, as I mentioned earlier, the sanctity of human life. We know that’s right. Honoring our authorities and our elders. It’s one of those common human duties. We know that’s right. Then, of course, to honor God.

Here’s my point, he’s, there’s evidently some ladies in the church who are not taking care of their own widowed mothers but maybe they’re at the same time spending a lot of hours down at the church house saying they’re spiritual. He said, “You’re, you’re upside down.” If you’re a Christian, your spirituality is shown first in these common human duties. We should excel at those over and above what the world does in those areas. Now, now, now don’t get, there’s also, there’s balance in everything, is there not? And I’ve seen many people who’ve made an idol out of the home and they neglect God’s church. That’s not what Paul is saying. In this context he was dealing with the opposite extreme.

3. Conclusions for practical application. Children have a debt to their parents and grandparents. In verse 4 he tells, says make some return to your elderly parents. They brought you in this world, they loved you, they cared for you, they supported you, they educated you, they met your needs and provided many of your wants, and we are bound to the utmost of our ability to strive to give them their wants in their old age. The Bible would tell us that a sin against the family is a sin against humanity, but for us, those of us who are Christians, it’s in the deepest sense a sin against Christ. It’s wholly unthinkable that those born of the Spirit and those belonging to Christ would willfully sin against this most basic of common human duties, caring for the elderly in their own family.

Roman or rather number 4 under conclusions for practical application. If God removes some of your common human duties, then the void should be filled with service to the Lord in your local church. That’s what he commends about the widows here. These ladies are now free from the duty to their husbands, he’s passed on. They’re free from raising their children, they’re grown. And she’s to be one who now fills her energies and her life with service to the Lord.

5. You can be born of the Spirit yet dead in spiritual effect. You can be born of the Spirit yet dead in spiritual effect. Couple of good cross references here where he brings up the same basic truth and this is why I don’t think that when he says she’s dead while she lives in our text, he means absolutely she’s unconverted. I believe he just means as a Christian at this time she’s not of any spiritual good. For example in 1 Corinthians 3:3, he says, “you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” You’re walking in the flesh and not in the Spirit that indwells you. You’re acting like you’re not even a Christian right now.

In Matthew 16:23, “He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.'” For this moment Peter was no spiritual good. He was acting as if he were dead spiritually. He was saying Jesus going to the cross is not the will of God and Jesus had to say, “You’re acting like Satan right now. Satan hates me going to the cross.” Now Peter wasn’t premeditated but at this moment he had fallen into false thinking and a, a false view, if you will, of spirituality trying to keep Jesus from the cross, and we all can do that and in our context the widow who fills her life with wanton worldly pleasures is spiritually dead even though she’s alive.

Now our last one, 6, love your mother or grandmother no matter what. If you look at verse 4 where he says you ladies who are younger, you must first learn, interesting he says learn. It may not, you might not feel like it, you learn to practice piety in regard to your own mother or grandmother. This is acceptable in the sight of God. It, it’s just a very clear point but this is when you are really showing your spirituality. Now look, you can be super-devoted to your mother and grandmother and be carnal and worldly but a true Christian who loves God understands this is my service to God in balance with my service to my own husband, my own home, and my local church. But I must make sure she’s taken care of.

There’s not one thing in that verse that talks about the mother’s qualification or worthiness, or the grandmother’s qualification or worthiness. He just says it’s your mother, it’s your grandmother, take care of them, because some people may say, “But you know what? You don’t know my past. You don’t know the abuse. My mother failed me. My mother abandoned our home. My mother was foolish and worldly and a lot of her need today is because she spent her life in sin.” Well, we’ve already supported and laid out that it is natural for humankind to care for the elderly and an elderly mom in particular, and I would add it is natural among humankind to have resentment, bitterness, even a refusal to care for a parent who has failed you. But can I remind you that though it’s natural to feel that way and if you’re born of the Spirit and you’re a child of God, you’re not natural. You’re supernatural. You’re born of the Spirit. Christ lives in you. You have Christ indwelling you, the Christ who loves you and you’re unworthy. So I say to you love them anyway. Care for them anyway and thus be like Christ. She’s the only mom you have.

And could I just close on this Mother’s Day saying that obviously you always want to make sure your mom, your grandmom knows that you love them but on this day let’s go the extra step, let’s make sure they know that we love them. I know in some cases we can’t even hug their necks and that’s hard, and I have come to understand God has made us to need physical contact so reach out to mom and grandmom today, grandma, granny, whoever she is and make sure they know that you love them even if you might be in one of those rare spots where they really failed you. You make sure you’re not resentful. You make sure you’re not bitter. You make sure you love them anyway.