Sermon Tone Analysis

I Timothy 5:1-6:2

 

! I.     Introduction

            When our children come over for a day, we prepare the house and get all the food ready.

An hour before they arrive, the house is clean, everything is in its place.

Three adults can keep a place pretty clean and then when they make an effort to clean it, it is pretty good.

When they are about to leave, it is a different story.

There are 5 or more pairs of shoes strewn about the entry.

There is dirt that has been tracked in from playing games outside.

There are two year old hand prints on every mirror, there is sticky stuff on the chair which was used by our grandson.

There are toys and games laying about, dishes in the sink and pop cans on the counter.

When they leave, we sometimes feel like we have been in a whirlwind and now we have to clean up after it.

Being family is not a neat and orderly thing, it can be messy.

The same is true of the church family.

We affirm the wonderful statements of Jesus in which he says, “I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

We agree with the powerful statement of Paul in Ephesians 5:27, which tells us about God’s plan for the church “to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless…”

            But we also know that until Christ comes again, the church is not like that.

Instead, we see a church in which two brothers have spoken harshly to one another and they have trouble being together in the same church building.

We see a church in which singles, divorced people and widowed people are sometimes marginalized.

We see a church in which new people find it hard to develop good relationships with those who have been there a long time.

We see a church which continues to miss what God is doing and to miss great opportunities to do His work.

We have a church in which pastors are sent packing without much notice or on the other hand, pastors who bring the church into disrepute because of their inappropriate actions.

We see a church in which there is a desperate cry for workers and at the same time there are people whose gifts are not being used.

Being the church is messy!

In recognition of that, in I Timothy 4:16, Paul told Timothy, “Watch your life and doctrine closely.

Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

The concerns in this verse are that Timothy had responsibility to work diligently in order that he and his hearers would come to experience the purpose God had for them.

By His faithful leadership, Timothy was to help the church become what God intended – a church that is not overcome, a church without spot or wrinkle.

As we read on, from I Timothy 5:1-6:2, we read instructions which Timothy is to give to the church.

In 5:7, he is told “Give the people these instructions so that no one may be open to blame.”

In 6:2, he is told “These are the things you are to teach and urge on them.”

What is this chapter about?

What is not written, but is assumed behind almost every line is the understanding that being the church is messy.

Not everything is easy and perfect, there are problems.

However, in spite of the problems, there is something eternally worth working on.

That is why he says in 4:16, “persevere.”

That is why he teaches the church what they should be like.

God is building His church and in the end He will present a church without spot or wrinkle to Himself.

In the mean time, He calls for our involvement to do all that we can to do church well.

Being the church is messy, and that is why we need to talk about how we can do church well.

In this passage, Paul deals with four different specific issues that were relevant to making that church what God wanted it to be.

He speaks about relationships with all generations in vs. 1,2.

Then in verses 3-16, he talks about how to deal with widows well.

In verses 17-25, he deals with how to treat leadership and finally in 6:1,2, he speaks about those who are slaves.

These are not exactly our issues and so instead of dealing with these specific issues, I have begun by recognizing what is behind this passage – the fact that church is messy.

Now I would like draw out the principles which appear in this passage which are universal principles and transcend the specific issues addressed here.

These principles, supporting the specific things Paul addresses, are relevant for us today in dealing with the messy church which we also live with and are working in.

So the question for this morning is, “how can we do church well?”

Let us read the text so that we get the context and have the concepts fresh in our minds.

!

II.

We Will Build The Church If Our Attitudes Are Right

In order to do church well, certain attitudes are important.

Paul reveals some of these right attitudes in this text.

!! A.  Family Attitude

Verses 1,2 are good advice for how leaders ought to treat others in the congregation.

For example, it is sometimes necessary for leaders to confront men who are older.

How does a leader do that well?

Paul answers by suggesting that Timothy speak gently and wisely as he would to one who was his father.

But what is the attitude behind this advice?

It is the recognition that in the church we are a family.

We belong to each other as closely as parents and children, as brothers and sisters.

There is the same kind of mutuality and caring for one another and the same kind of taking responsibility for one another.

If we are to build the church well, we must do so recognizing that we are family.

This is an instruction not only to those who actually are family, but to everyone who is part of the church.

Each person who is part of the church of Christ is a member of our family.

Families spend time together, they care for each other and speak to each other.

Is that the kind of attitude we have towards the members of our spiritual family?

!! B.  Putting Hope in God

There is a line in this passage that really impresses me.

In verse 5 it talks about “the widow who is really in need and left all alone” who “puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.”

What a powerful example of an attitude that is so difficult for us to have.

The reason the “widow” mentioned here has this attitude is because she is “really in need.”

A Biblical example of such a widow would be Anna, in Luke 2:37, who spent all her time in the temple in prayer.

Such a person is destitute and knows that she needs God and has thrown herself completely on God.

The problem with most of our Christian living and even church ministry is that we don’t really see our need.

We are so strong, so self sufficient, so able in every way that we have not gotten to the place that we need to put our hope in God.

Yet if we want to see the victory of God happen in our church, if we want to live truly powerful lives for God, there is only one way that we can do that and that is by putting our hope in God.

When a person has all supports taken out from under them, they have no other choice but to depend on God.

The widow mentioned in this passage is in such a situation.

My question is, can we come to the place where we put our hope in God without having everything taken away?”

The attitude we need to do church well is to be people who depend on the Lord.

!! C.  Non-critical Attitude

Another attitude which is important in doing church well is that stated in verse 19 which says, “do not entertain an accusation against an elder…” Of course there is more to it.

If the elder is truly guilty of something then he should be accused, but we will deal with that part of it presently.

Have you ever heard the statement “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar?”

As I have grown up, I have discovered that I am motivated much more strongly by encouragement than by criticism.

Yet sometimes we think it is necessary to criticize.

When we do and it is not warranted, we discourage instead of encouraging.

We destroy instead of building up.

If we want to do church well, we should encourage those who are involved in leadership or ministry of any kind.

They will become effective and will be encouraged to do better.

From this word in Scripture, I would suggest to you that we will do church well when we encourage rather then criticize.

!! D.  Acknowledging God’s Sovereignty

In the context of discussing choosing leaders in verses 22-25, we have these interesting verses, 24,25.

It may seem like a rather hopeless statement.

What it is saying is that we can do our best to discern if a person is a good and faithful leader, but some will fool us anyway and turn out not to be good.

Another person has much to offer, but is never given the opportunity because we never see the good things that they do and are capable of doing.

It is rather discouraging to do church well when, as this verse indicates, we will not always get it right.

But there is a word of encouragement behind this and that is that God knows what is going on.

When it speaks of the place of judgement and the fact that good deeds cannot be hidden, it seems to me that it is indicating that although we don’t know all things, God does and He is involved in all of our choices and will make all things right in the end.

I do not think that these verses are intended as a depressing statement that is intended to discourage us from doing our best.