1 Timothy 5:1-8
Introduction: Just as we are all paying very close attention to metrics of health (such as positive tests, deaths, the shape of the curve) in the COVID-19 pandemic, the book of 1 Timothy was written by the apostle Paul to help Timothy bring a spiritually unhealthy church back to health again. Even though so much has changed in our world, the signs of a vibrant, growing, healthy faith have not – they hold true no matter the circumstances. The sign of life that is at the heart of this passage (and so many others in the Bible) is caring for those in need.
Caring for those in need has always been - and will become even more so in the days ahead – one of the most important, crucial signs of life for every follower of Jesus and every faithful Church. This passage provides us with the necessary steps to becoming people who truly care for those in need
Step One - Identify Those in Need
At this point in our health crisis, it is clear that many people are in great need right now. There will also be a tidal wave of needs following in the wake of the pandemic and quarantine. Before we can offer care or help, we have to first identify those in need. As obvious has this may seem, one of the hardest and most persistent barriers between those who have help to give and those who need that help, is that oftentimes the those who have help to give don’t really see those who need help.
In this passage, Paul identifies widows in the church as a group in need of special attention and care. Paul is telling Timothy to carry on a ministry that started at the very beginning of the Christian church. Acts 6 tells us about how the early church had overlooked a group of widows in need and how they stopped everything until they found a way to care for them. Throughout the Bible widows are identified over and over by God as those in need of special attention and care. Why? Because they were so often overlooked, unidentified, and unseen by people. Widows were among the most vulnerable and voiceless in the ancient world.
What can we learn about how God identifies widows for his people - over and over again? Although human beings may forget and overlook the vulnerable and voiceless, God does not. He sees them, identifies with them and tells his people to do the same. Paul is telling Timothy to identify those widows who are “genuinely in need” (v.3) and “truly in need” (v.5 and v.16 later on) to care for them. He is saying they must be seen and never overlooked. Christians must do the same for the vulnerable and voices in our communities today.
Step Two - Value Those in Need
In the ancient world, not only were widows vulnerable and voiceless, they were not valued. For women at this time, their value and status was tied to their husband. When a husband died, a women’s worth and value died too. But Paul says this should never be the case in the family and household of God. In fact, the Bible teaches throughout that widows are valuable in and of themselves - they have value independent of their relationship to a man (a radical idea in that time).
In fact, the text goes on to talk about “enrolling widows on a list” using the same word that was used for military enlistment. From the earliest days of the church this was interpreted as creating an official position of ministry. Early letters described elders, bishops, deacons and “an order of widows”. This order of widows provided a valuable ministry of prayer and care for others in need.
The step of valuing those in need is a step we cannot pass over. We are often guilty of helping someone in need from a sense of superiority or paternalism. This is not the kind of care the Bible calls us to. God is called the “Champion of the widow” (Psa 68:5). God champions those who are not valued; those who are forgotten or cast off. He champions their need, but he also champions their value – what they have to give We cannot jump from seeing the need to simply meeting the need. If we are to care for those in need the way this text and the rest of the Bible calls us to, we must value the person in need, as a family member, a friend and an equal.
Step Three - Provide for Those in Need
God calls His people to give both presence and provision to those in need. Paul’s focus here is on providing for the physical and financial needs of those in distress. Notice how God answers the prayers of the lonely widow who prayers day and night to God for provision. He answers their prayers through his people, the church. The ministry of provision is described using the language of worship as a sacred duty. It is a matter of “godliness”. It is pleasing to God. Our genuine worship of God can never be separated from our practical care for people (see James 1:27!)
In this time of uncertainty with all things we are facing ourselves, how can we look outside ourselves? The answer is the Gospel. The gospel is the good news that God first identified our great need, and because He so valued us (“for God so loved the world), He provided for our need (that He gave His only begotten Son). So when the Christian sees someone in need, we shouldn’t first see someone who needs our help - we should see ourselves. We should remember that we were (and are) poor and so needy, that we valued despite our poverty such that all our needs were provided for by the One who became poor for us. The gospel reminds us everything we have – we didn’t earn and we don’t deserve. It’s all a gift from God to the poor and needy (me!). The gospel reminds us any care we give – we give as those in need ourselves.
Such a gospel mindset was behind the care the early Christians gave that extended through plague and disease. In the words of Carl F Henry, “The early Christians did not say “Look what the world is coming to!” [and retreat into fear or judgment]; they said “Look what has come into the world!” [which they displayed by sacrificial care].
DIAGNOSE – How ready to you feel to begin thinking outside of yourself to those who are (and will be) in need because of this pandemic?
REFLECT OR DISCUSS
What about the sermon impacted you most? What left you with questions?
What is hardest for you in identifying those truly in need? Why do you think it so hard for those who “have” to see and identify the “have-not’s”. Who would you identify as the most vulnerable and voiceless in our community?
What is hardest for you in valuing those in need? Do you tend to think those in need should help themselves? or that they need your help?
Mother Teresa was fond of saying, “We need the poor more than the poor need us”. What do you think she meant by this?
What about the Christian faith requires that we care for people as whole and embodied people?
How does the gospel provide the motivation for us to move toward people in need?
How can Martin Luther’s advice from letter he wrote about how to respond to a plague in 16th century guide us in caring for people in our situation? “I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”
Where can we start?
Start with your own family. God is pleased with those who are caring for parents and grandparents both now and in “normal” times (see v.2 and v.8)
Opportunities also exist within our church – TrinityCares is our ministry for physical care and needs, so if you want to be involved, please contact responseteam@trintypresoc.org. On the other side, if you have needs or know of needs, please get in touch! Help us in the task of identifying specific needs.