1 Timothy 5 - Christian Welfare
- Chad Werkhoven
- Sep 5, 2022
- 2 min read
Christian welfare is simple: within the Church, those who can must care for those who can't.
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1 Timothy 5 Summary
This letter to Pastor Timothy shows that the assembly of God's people must be the first priority at every stage of life. Young boys must aspire to be elders in the church when they get older (3:1), and young girls must present themselves modestly (2:9-10). Men like Timothy should "treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters (v2)."
Young widows as well must put the church first by seeking remarriage if possible rather than either becoming a burden to the church or following their passions, which leads to Satan (v13-15). Although everybody finds themselves in very different particular situations, the answer to every dilemma in life for Christians is simple: put God's people first.
Dig Deeper
It might seem like the Church has a huge responsibility to care for the poor and lonely in our communities, but v16 makes clear that the Church is only responsible to care for her own people. That seems selfish and un-Christian, until you look at the bigger picture. The Church's primary responsibility is to communicate God's grace to His people, which builds their faith. Then as individual Christians, we ought to be "putting our religion [faith] into practice by caring for our own family (v4)" as well as meeting the needs of our communities in general.
If the Church gets sidetracked from this primary task of communicating grace, then faith will not be built, and people will not put it into practice individually. Why should they if the Church will do it for them?
In general, churches in our society are becoming far more involved in social issues than in proclaiming the gospel these last fifty years. Do you think that individuals are more or less actively involved in caring for their communities as a result?
AAA Prayer:
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father God provides care for all of His children, young and old.
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the strength to care for those in your own family, and to also provide for those who are truly in need.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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