Verses teaching "Christian Life & Worship"

Part 68 - PAUL'S FIRST LETTER to TIMOTHY

68.1 CHRISTIAN LEADERS

1 Timothy 1:5-7 - The ultimate aim of the Christian minister (such as Timothy) .... is to produce the love which springs from a pure heart, a good conscience and a genuine faith. Some seem to have forgotten this and to have lost themselves in endless words. They want a reputation as teachers of the Law (or scribes), yet they fail to realise the meaning of their own words, still less of the subject they are so dogmatic about.

 

68.2 WORSHIP

1 Timothy 2:1-2 - (Some of Paul's instructions on worship ....) Here then is my charge: First, supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings should be made on behalf of all men: for kings and rulers in positions of responsibility, so that our common life may be lived in peace and quiet, with a proper sense of God and of our responsibility to him for what we do with our lives.

 

68.3 UNIQUE CLAIMS OF CHRIST

1 Timothy 2:3-6 - In the sight of God our saviour this (... all people, including their rulers) is undoubtedly the right thing to pray for; for his purpose is that all men should be saved and come to realise the truth. And that is, that there is only one God, and only one intermediary between God and men, Jesus Christ the man. He gave himself as a ransom for us all - an act of redemption which happened once, but which stands for all times as a witness to what he is.

 

68.4 WORSHIP

1 Timothy 2:8 - I want the men to pray in all the churches with sincerity, without resentment or doubt in their minds.

 

68.5 WOMEN

1 Timothy 2:9-15 - The women (in church) should be dressed quietly, and their demeanour should be modest and serious. The adornment of a Christian woman is not a matter of an elaborate coiffure, expensive clothes or valuable jewellery, but the living of a good life. A woman should learn quietly and humbly. Personally, I don't allow women to teach, nor do I ever put them into positions of authority over men (but see Paul's reference to Phoebe, a deaconess in his letter to the Romans) - I believe their role is to be receptive. (My reasons are that man was created before woman. Further, it was Eve and not Adam who was first deceived and fell into sin. Nevertheless I believe that women will come safely through child-birth if they maintain a life of faith, love, holiness and gravity).

 

68.6 CHRISTIAN LEADERS

1 Timothy 3:1-13 - It is quiet true to say that a man who sets his heart on holding office has laudable ambition. Well, for the office of a bishop (or Overseer or Leader) a man must be of blameless reputation, he must be married to one wife only, and be a man of self-control and discretion. He must be a man of disciplined life; he must be hospitable and have the gift of teaching. He must be neither intemperate nor violent, but gentle. He must not be a controversialist nor must he be fond of money-grabbing. He must have proper authority in his own household, and be able to control and command the respect of his children. (For if a man cannot rule in his own house how can he look after the Church of God?). He must not be a beginner in the faith, for fear of his becoming conceited and sharing Satan's downfall. He should, in addition to the above qualifications, have a good reputation with the outside world, in case his good name is attacked and he is caught by the devil that way.

Deacons

Deacons, similarly, should be men of serious outlook and sincere conviction. They too should be temperate and not greedy for money. They should hold the faith as a sacred trust, with complete sincerity. Let them serve a period of probation first, and only serve as deacons if they prove satisfactory. Their wives should share their serious outlook, and must be women of discretion and self-control - women who can be trusted. Deacons should be men with only one wife, able to control their children and manage their own households properly. Those who do well as deacons earn for themselves a certain legitimate standing, as well as gaining confidence and freedom in the Christian faith.

 

68.7 CELIBACY

1 Timothy 4:3a - These men (false teachers) forbid marriage ....

 

68.8 FOOD

1 Timothy 4:3b-5 - These men (false teachers) ..... command abstinence from food - good things which, in fact, God intends to be thankfully enjoyed by those who believe in him and know the truth. Everything God made is good, and is meant to be gratefully used, not despised. The holiness or otherwise of a certain food, for instance, depends not on its nature but on whether it is eaten thankfully or not, It is consecrated by the man who has accepted the message, and thanks God for food.

 

68.9 CHRISTIAN LEADERS

1 Timothy 4:6-7 - You will be doing your duty as Christ's minister if you remind your church members of these things (false teaching), and you will show yourself as one who owes his strength to the truth of the faith he has absorbed and the sound teaching he has followed. But steer clear of all these stupid Godless fictions. Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit.

 

68.10 SPIRITUAL WARFARE

1 Timothy 4:8-11 - Take time and trouble to keep yourself spiritually fit. Bodily fitness has a certain value, but spiritual fitness is essential both for this present life and for the life to come. There is no doubt about this at all, and Christians should remember it. It is because we realise the paramount importance of the spiritual that we labour and struggle. These convictions should be the basis of your instruction and teaching.

 

68.11 CHRISTIAN LEADERS

1 Timothy 4:12-16 - (Paul speaking to the younger Timothy) ..... Don't let people look down on you because you are young; see that they look up to you because you are an example to them in your speech and behaviour, in your love and faith and sincerity. Concentrate until my arrival on your reading and on your preaching and teaching. Never forget that you received the gift of proclaiming God's Word when the assembled elders laid their hands on you. Give your whole attention, all your energies, to these things, so that your progress is plain for all to see. Keep a critical eye both upon your own life and on the teaching you give, and if you continue to follow the line I have indicated you will not only save your own soul but the souls of many of your hearers as well.

 

68.12 CHRISTIAN LEADERS

1 Timothy 5:1-2 - Don't reprimand a senior member of your church, appeal to him as a father. Treat the young men as brothers, and the older women as mothers. Treat the younger women as sisters, and no more.

 

68.13 WIDOWS

1 Timothy 5:3-16 - You should treat with great consideration widows who are really alone in the world. But remember that if a widow has children or grandchildren it is primarily their duty to show the genuineness of their religion in their own homes by repaying their parents for what has been done for them, and God readily accepts such service.

But the widow who is really alone and desolate can only hope in God, and she will pray to him day and night. The widow who plunges into all the pleasure that the world can give her is killing her own soul. You should therefore make the following rules for the widows to avoid abuses:

1) You should make it clear that for a man to refuse to look after his own relations, especially those actually living in his house, is a denial of the faith he professes. He is far worse than a man who makes no profession.

2) Widows for your church list should be at least sixty years of age, should have had only one husband and have a well-founded reputation for having lived a good life. Some such questions as these should be asked:- has she brought up her children well, has she been hospitable to strangers, has she been willing to serve fellow-Christians in menial ways, has she relieved those in distress, has she, in a word conscientiously done all the good she can?

3) Don't put the younger widows on your list. My experience is that when their natural desires grow stronger than their spiritual devotion to Christ they want to marry again, thus proving themselves unfaithful to their first loyalty. Moreover, they get into habits of slackness by being so much in and out of other people's houses. In fact they easily become worse than lazy, and degenerate into gossips and busybodies with dangerous tongues.

4) My advice is that younger widows should, normally, marry again, bear children and run their own households. They should certainly not be the means of lowering the reputation of the church, although some, alas, have already played into the enemy's hands.

5) As a general rule is should be taken for granted that any Christian, man or woman, who has a widow in the family should do everything possible for her, and not allow her to become the church's responsibility. The church will then be free to look after those widows who are alone in the world.

 

68.14 CHRISTIAN LEADERS

1 Timothy 5:17-20 - Elders with a gift of leadership should be considered worthy of respect, and of adequate salary, particularly if they work hard at their preaching and teaching. Remember the scriptural principle: 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads the grain', and 'The labourer is worthy of his wages'. Take no notice of charges brought against an elder unless they can be substantiated by proper witnesses. If sin is actually proved, then the offenders should be publicly rebuked as a salutary warning to others.

 

68.15 FAVOURITISM, also IMPARTIALITY

1 Timothy 5:21 - Timothy, I (Paul) solemnly charge you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the holy angels to follow these orders (on ministering to members of the church) with the strictest impartiality and to have no favourites.

 

68.16 CHRISTIAN LEADERS

1 Timothy 5:22 - Never be in a hurry to ordain a man (laying on of hands), or you may be making yourself responsible for his sins. Be careful that your own life (as a minister) is pure.

 

68.17 CHRISTIAN LEADERS

1 Timothy 5:24-25 - Remember that some men's sins are obvious, and are equally obviously bringing them to judgement. The sins of other men are not apparent, but are dogging them, nevertheless, under the surface. Similarly some virtues are plain to see, while other, though not at all conspicuous, will eventually make themselves felt.

 

68.18 EMPLOYEES

1 Timothy 6:1-2 - Christian slaves (employees) should treat their masters with respect, and avoid causing dishonour to the name of God and our teaching. If they have Christian masters they should not despise them because they work for brothers in the faith. Indeed they should serve them all the better because they are thereby benefiting those who have the same faith and love as themselves. This is the sort of thing you should teach .....

 

68.19 FALSE CHRISTIAN TEACHING, FALSE PROPHETS, CULTS

1 Timothy 6:3-5 - ... if anyone tries to teach some doctrinal novelty which is not compatible with sound teaching (which we base on Christ's own words and which leads to Christ-like living), then he is a conceited idiot! His mind is a morbid jumble of disputation and argument, things which lead to nothing but jealousy, quarrelling, insults and malicious innuendoes - continual wrangling, in fact, among men of warped minds who have lost their real hold on the truth but hope to make some profit out of the Christian religion.

 

68.20 MATERIALISM

1 Timothy 6:6-8 - There is a real profit, of course (Paul describing the pursuit of wealth), but it comes only to those who live contentedly as God would have them live. We brought absolutely nothing with us when we entered the world and we can be sure we shall take absolutely nothing with us when we leave it. Surely then, as far as physical things are concerned, it is sufficient for us to keep our bodies fed and clothed.

 

68.21 WEALTH

1 Timothy 6:9-10 - ... men who set their hearts on being wealthy expose themselves to temptation. They fall into one of the world's traps, and lay themselves open to all sorts of silly and wicked desires, which are quite capable of utterly ruining and destroying their souls. For loving money leads to all kinds of evil, and some men in the struggle to be rich have lost their faith and caused themselves untold agonies of mind.

 

68.22 CHRISTIAN CONDUCT

1 Timothy 6:11-12 - ... you (Timothy, the minister), the man of God, keep clear of such things (the pursuit of wealth). Set your heart not on riches, but on goodness, Christ-likeness, faith, love, patience and humility. Fight the worthwhile battle of the faith, keep your grip on that life eternal to which you have been called, and to which you boldly professed your loyalty before many witnesses.

 

68.23 WEALTH

1 Timothy 6:17-19 - Tell those who are rich in this present world not to be contemptuous of others, and not to rest the weight of their confidence on the transitory power of wealth but on the living God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment. Tell them to do good, to be rich in kindly actions, to be ready to give to others and to sympathise with those in distress. Their security should be invested in the life to come so that they may be sure of holding a share in the life which is permanent.

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