1 Timothy 5:3-10 | Episode # 1205

May 29, 2026

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

1 Timothy 5:3-10

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for over 25 years. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse-by-verse and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Hope Alive, where we apply God's Word to our daily life. My name is Chad Harrison. I'm first a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I'm also the teaching pastor at Lake Community Church in Dadeville, Alabama, on beautiful Lake Martin. I've been serving as a pastor for over 30 years. I also serve as the Tallapoosa County District Judge. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word verse by verse through the Bible and to find his purpose and will for your daily life. If you would like sponsor this podcast, go to the Show Notes, where there's a link where you can make a donation. I pray in the name of Jesus that God would open his word to you, allow you to see him and to know him, so that you would know his will and his way for your life, that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today. Word of God, please speak to the hearers of your voice today in the name of Jesus. Amen. Foreign. Two chapters that we're at are really, really, really good chapters for. For you to understand, for us to get a really good understanding of not only Paul's given in instruction to someone who's leading. Who's leading church people. Okay? I just want y' all to know that none of the nerds are here at all. I mean, none of them are here at all. Over there. It's all denominationalist and Pentecostals today tonight. But as we're studying through it, it's really good to understand as you're studying through Scripture, especially when you get to the epistles. And this isn't considered an epistle, it's a personal epistle. Okay? There are general epistles, then there are epistles that are written to churches. And usually if it's epistle written to a church, it's. It names the church. Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, all those churches. Then you've got general epistles. James is a general epistle. James is written to the whole church. First and Second Peter are general epistles. John, all three of the johns are. Well, two of the johns are general epistles. One's written to a person. And then. So when you're reading these books, sometimes you do need to realize what you're reading. Okay. And you also need to make sure that you think through contextualizing what's going on. This is a pastoral epistle to a person named. First named Timothy, who was a pastor of the church in Ephesus, which was started by the Apostle Paul, and he was left there to lead that church. If it's a general epistle like Peter, he's given a message to the whole church. So oftentimes in those letters they're not gonna be very specific as far as issues that are going on in certain areas. In fact, some of those epistles are written to explain things that are generally going on with the church everywhere. They are very disciple oriented and a very life oriented books. This book which is being written to Timothy is very personal to Timothy and it's gonn be very specific to Ephesus. So in all actuality, when you read first and second Timothy and the book of Ephesians, you're kind of reading a grouping of books that deal with a group of people in that area. And it's going to be, it's going to deal with local situations. And knowing that you're, knowing that someone is dealing with a local situation doesn't mean that you throw it aside. Because there were some very localized things that were happening in First Corinthians when we studied through that book. There were some very important things. But you can learn how to deal with things and remember. And remember, generally speaking, people. And I'm not going to draw on both sides, but you know, humanity, humans, men and women are different. And men, men are very process and things oriented. And women are very relational and personally oriented. They're, they're, they're people oriented. All right. And if you say, well, that's just sex, it's not sexist, that's just science. Okay, it's just science. Now are there very relational men? Sure. And are there very process oriented women? Absolutely. My wife is very process oriented. Her love language is to do list and she gives them to me. And I just started recently talking about giving her to do lists back as an expression of my love toward her because I love getting them myself. So those to do lists are her expression of a process. So we're not all on one end or the other end of, of those spectrums, but understanding that's important. And understanding what's going on culturally when we're reading these books is important because it gives you insights not only how to do church, but it gives you insights in how to be a, be a child of light and how to, how to process what God says and make it relevant to where you're at. And that's really, really important that you learn how to do that. And I'm going to tell you, I was a typical male when I first went into the ministry and I brought to the table all the Testosterone and all the maleness that you could have. And over the years, it was very painful to learn how to pastor and how to think about why people are doing and being and how they are and how I can minister to that and help them grow in their relationship with Christ. And when I say painful, it was painful because a lot of times what you have to do is you have to deal with yourself also. And so when Timothy is reading this, I can just imagine him wrestling with this as a young man. I remember being a young pastor at a church, and my first church, I started on, on Easter Sunday, and it was also the week of my birthday, and I turned 27 that week. And I think it was the same day, but I'm not sure. And. And that being the case, it was very hard to be the leader of a church and, and learn how to deal with the issues of people that obviously I'd never experienced myself. All right, and so when we get to this, we've got. We' a cultural issue that's taking place, and it's an important one, and that is how do you treat people who do not have the ability to take care of themselves financially? Okay? Now, it's very specific because there's some rules in the church that are important. It's very specific as to widows, okay? And that means there are people that are. That have lost a spouse. Generally speaking, this would be females, okay? And you get the feeling that it is females, especially in the Book of Acts and here. But you're also dealing with a very large group of Jewish people who are a part of the church, but they're in a Greek area which is Ephesus. And so you're going to have. Just like you had in Jerusalem, you're going to have a problem because there's two clashing cultures there. And there needs to be a church culture that grows out of that. And so when he deals with it, he deals with it in a way that we could actually take this and think about it ourselves. Because even though we don't have the situation where there's no social welfare network or net to catch people in, which was be the case in Ephesus, we do have a social welfare network, but that does not alleviate us our responsibility to the widows and the orphans. And you need to hear that, because if you want to know what true religion is, the Bible tells us that, okay, if you're going to be religious, if you want to be religious, you know, we love to be religious and come up with the law, right? He's already Told Timothy, don't be, don't be religious about the law, okay? Don't, don't be. Your, your job is not to be a lawyer and be a legalist, all right? But if you want to be, if that's your desire, then this is what you got to do. Take care of the widows and the orphans. That's religion, okay? If you want true religion, that's taking care of the widows and orphans. That's what Bible teaches. So we're in verse three, it says, honor widows who are really widows. Boy, that's so practical, isn't it? He says, honor widows who are actually widows. Okay, now you go, what do you mean? If your husband or wife dies, aren't you a widow? Sure you are. But it's not, not everybody's the same. And what he's saying is a widower who has no resource and is not going to have any relationship, and he's going to explain that. And we need to talk about that and think about it, because as a church, we do realize we do have a responsibility to take care of the widows and the orphans. Because we don't want to just be, love God, love your neighbor, love each other. We want to follow the whole scripture, okay? And if you want a rule, that's a rule, so we got to take care. That is a legitimate biblical rule, okay? If we're going to do it, we got to take care of widows and orphans. That means we got to take care of people who have for. So for whatever reason, do not have the resources to, to help themselves, all right? But they got to be real widows. Real widows. Now we've got a couple widows in the room here tonight. And so we need to, we need to identify what a real widow is. And maybe y' all can identify whether y' all are or not, all right? He says, but if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and repay their parents for this is good and acceptable before God. I got a text message about a week ago from a couple that has not been here as much lately as they have been in years past. And the text message, it was, pastor, I know you think we're part time Christians now, but we're taking care of my, you know, I think it's, I can't remember which one it is, but it's her mom and his dad or it's something like that. I, you know, basically, you know, we're not here because we got, we've got to go down there and take care of them. And all that, and I sent them back. Well, that's, that's your responsibility. I mean, you have to apologize for doing what you biblically have a responsibility to do. Now, look, you got to take care. A lot of people want to run their mom and dad after, after a parent dies. You know, I've seen that happen. Your job. Look, if they can take care of themselves, let them take care of themselves, okay? This is for people who can't take care of themselves, okay? This is, that's, that's. First of all, these are people that can't take care of themselves, all right? And, and, and it's important that you, that you understand if they can't take care of themselves and their family are Christians, the first responsibility falls to who it's tall. It's false to the family. Now you need to understand this too, because it's very important that we get these institutions because there are three biblical institutions that God gave humanity, okay? The first biblical institution is the family that was in the garden. The second biblical institution are the people of God, okay? That may be the children of God with Israel. It might be the church in the New Testament. So the, the, the, the, the group of religious people, group of Christians or Jewish people, Jews in the Old Testament. That's the, that's the second institution. The third institution is the government, okay? And all those are instituted by God. In fact, our Declaration of Independence alludes to that, talks about it, and talks about how the government and the people must relate to each other. And if they don't relate to each other rightly, the people have a right to overrule the government and overthrow the government, okay? That's what our Declaration of Independence says. And if you read it, you understand it. And it's a powerful document. So which is the most important institution? The family. The family's the most important institution. It's the first one. We're the bride of Christ. The Jews are the children of God. If you'll notice, the most intimate ways God relates to us as people, he relates to us as what? Family. Family. We're brothers with Christ, co heirs with Him. If you think about it, it's as family. All right? Now you say, well, the church is family too. Sure it is. Sure, if done right, it's family. But the church is, is, is the second institution. And it, it exists to help the individual, but it also exists to build a family, okay? And so knowing that is really, really important that we understand that. And then finally, the government exists. The government exists to make, make orderliness of the society, all right? So that the church and the family can prosper. All right? And now. Now we kind of get that out. Out of whack sometimes, okay? And we begin to think that. And in fact, there's a godless ideology that was started by a guy named Carl from Germany, okay? And he came up with a godless ideology. And anything that has anything to do with that, I'm gonna tell you. It's not to be messed with, okay? Not to be messed with. And there's three forms of it. One of them starts with the S and ends with an ism. The other one starts with a C and ends with an ism. And interestingly enough, because nobody really knows that knows it. The other one is an F and has an ism on the end. Okay, all right. I'm not. You're going to want. You say it, Pastor, because you know, the algorithms will pick it up. But then the AI ain't that smart. All right? But, but, but all three of them, one of them, they. They all fought with each other during World War II, and we were the capitalist who came over and really set things straight. And you go, I thought, I thought, I thought the Europeans weren't. No, they were. They were mostly S's with the ism on the end of them, okay? And today they want to say their S's with isms on the end of them here, but they're not. They're. They're. They're seized with the end is on the end of them, okay? And they're godless. They're godless and their principles are godless, and we don't have anything to do with it, okay? I reject them completely because you can't have government without God. He's the one that instituted. Says here, now, she who is really a widow and left alone. Notice what. What's a widow? Somebody that's alone, okay? Now, can you be a real widow and your family taking care of you and you're a real widow? Sure you can. But. But you're not a widow in the sense of the church's responsibility. All right? He says. He says. He says you're left alone, trusting God and continues in supplication of prayer night and day. Notice. What is the widow doing? The widow is asking God to help her take care of, be taken care of. All right? All right. And. And that's the right way to deal with it. The widow's asking to be taken care of, and she's trusting God. Right? All right, follow me on this. All right? But he but she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives. What does that mean? Well, I mean, if in this word for pleasure, it. Huh. It means to indulge in the world. Okay? Don't think of it always as, as sometimes when people are reading, Timothy, they think that they're, they're saying, you know, that, you know, she just, you know, out there partying like a, you know, like Diane does all the time. I got to get her out of jail. You know what I'm talking about? But, but just like, just like Diane, I. But, but it is indulgent in the world. It says, and these things command that they may be blameless. What he's saying is teach the widow. He's telling the widows, trust God. And, and the way we're going to trust God is we're going to teach the family to do what they're supposed to do, and then we're going to make sure that the church is doing what they're supposed to do and they're going to be taken care of, then expect to be taken care of. That's a real social welfare system. Okay? All right? And I say that because that's not just sending the check, okay? There's more relationship to it. Okay? He says, and these things command that they may be blameless, but if anyone does not provide for his own, this is the family. And especially for those of the household, he is denied the faith and is worse than unbelievers. Do you see that, that he's teaching them, you know, if, if they can't take care of themselves, you got to take. You got to do what you got to do, okay? And the family's got to do that way it goes, that's. For a lot of people, that's very difficult. They spend a lot of their life dealing with that. Right? Just the way it is. All right? He says do not let a widow under 60 years old be taken into the number. Now that seems. That's very practical. Under 60, she, she's not gonna be. She's not in the widow circle. Okay? That, that, that, that, that's. They're still young. How many? All God's has been the wife of one man. Do y' all remember that? Same words? All right, what, what, what I don't understand exactly about this is if, if we're going to translate them, if we're going to be fair about it, when we translate them, you need to be used husband and wife together and man and woman together. Okay? Here. I don't know why, why our translators, especially when they're coming from the same book, okay? I don't know why they wouldn't translate husband and wife, man and woman, when you're doing this. Because that. That. That you're drawing the different ways to translate and translate them, and you're mashing them together. All right? So apparently this is an important thing, right? This is an important idea. What is that saying? What does that say? Now, remember when we were talking about the qualifications of a. Of a leader? Those were present tense. Qualifications make sense, all right? Qualifications are present tense. Why aren't they past tense? Do y' all remember if we went through all the qualifications for an elder, if we made them past and present tense? And by the way. By the way, the word here is. The words here are present tense, particular, okay? The voice is present tense, which means it's right now, all right? Why can't we decide qualifications based off somebody's life? Nobody would qualify. Very good. Very good. No one would qualify. You don't qualify. There's certain things in the list of qualifications of an elder that I clearly don't qualify for. If we're going off my resume, all right, I'm definitely pugnacious, okay? I have definitely been pugnacious, okay? And I'd use that as an example, but it's just one of those things. You. You. There was a time in my life I was. Okay, did that disqualify me from the ministry for the rest of my life? Absolutely not. All of these. When. When these qualifications are being written down, if you can't read the language, but their tenses to them and their voices to them, it's voice intense. I. And if they're present tense, particular meaning right now, it means right now, all right? Well, what is he talking about? This. This. This. This widow, she's got to be. She's got to be. Well, she can't have a bunch of boyfriends, okay, and be in the widow ministry, all right? I mean, you can't. No, no, no, Diane, no, okay? You cannot do that, all right? You can't have a bunch of boyfriends, all right? If you do have a special someone, it only can be one of them, all right? Now, are we saying to somebody that you can't have a friend of the opposite sex that y' all eat dinner with and hang out with? No, no. You could be a widow and still be in it, but you can't be. You can't have. You can't. You know, you can't be playing the field, as it were, all right? You can't Be doing that. I mean, I mean, what I do about this, I mean, it's, it's, it's problem for me. When they called from the jail and Diane's out there and I'm having to bail her out. You know what I'm talking about? I'm setting her bail and then having to pay the bail to get her out. It's rough. I don't know why I'm picking on Diane, but it's so much fun. All right. I've never really done it before. I'm getting good at it. He says, he says, notice they're well reported for their good works. Well, what are they doing? They're doing God's stuff right now. Notice is that past tense and present tense? No, it's present tense. There's reports of them being people of godliness. They're. They're doing their, Their faith. It has action to it, right? Good works are born of faith. If they're not born of faith, I want you to listen to me. They're not good works. They gonna burn in the fire. Y' all hear that? When we. At the. When we're at the. The bema seat judgment and he puts all your works in front of him and the fire of the Holy Spirit comes down on everything that was. Everything that was not a faith burns. So you'd be out there doing good works all the time and it not reap you any reward. And by the way, if you're doing good works and you want to be. And you want to be lauded for it, rewarded for it, people talk about how great you are in the world, what you've had your reward. Okay, all right. I. I don't want you. I don't. I don't even mention what I did. Okay? Why? Because I want to get. I want, I want to get it up there. I don't need it right now. Okay. I don't want it right now. He says here, he says it will report a good works if she's brought up children, if she's lied strangers, if she's washed the saints feet. Notice some of these are past tense because it's talking about. Talking about a family. So, so there, there, there is an element to this that has some pants, past tense to it. It says she has brought up children and she has lodged strangers. Why is it talking about that? Well, because. Because she can't do it now. She doesn't have the resources to do those things now. She's the one in need. Okay? And so, so we're talking about people that when they're Christians, they've lived out their faith and we're just not taking in all the widows of the city, okay? They got to be believers and you got to see that. He says if she has washed the saints feet, that means served, served the believers, that's service. If she's relieved the afflicted, if she's diligent, followed every good work notice, there has to be an element of we just not taking a list of people who have been widowed. We're not taking on the whole world. And you go, well, that seems kind of. Well, oftentimes now you do need to hear this, okay? We do want to take care of the world. Jesus fed the 5,000, okay? He healed the sick, all right? We do want to be ministers and lights to the world. But just like the family has a responsibility to take care of the family, the church first has the responsibility to take care of the church. Now that's a leadership principle that's really important and sometimes it's missed the church has to do to take care of the church. There's a lot of churches that spend a whole lot of time doing stuff way off from where they're at and don't do anything for the church and they don't do anything for the community. There's a lot of churches that do that. Look, we, we send mission trips to, you know, every corner of the earth, all right? And then, and then they've got people in their church that are in need, they're not taking care of those. And then they got people in their community that are in need. Are you following me? Look, if you're going to take care of the widows and the orphans, you better take the care of the widows and orphans that are right there. And I don't have a problem with you, but it's one of the things that's, that say it's a nueve way of doing church nowadays. You know, we've got people who are flying off to the four corners of the earth to adopt children. We got children here need to be adopted. You know what I'm saying? We got children here need to be taken care of. All right? If you're going to fly off to the, to the ends and look, that's going to hurt some folks feelings. But the truth is, is let's take care of what we got here first. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that's quite biblical. We, we, we got a lot of kids that need, need some help right here. We got a lot of widows need help right where we're at all right now. Am I against that? No. Am I. I'm on. I'm on board ministries that go all over the world. Okay. It's okay. I'm for that. But a church that. A church that doesn't handle its business at home has no business handling a business somewhere else. All right? And so that's. That's an important principle that you got to take from this. As you go today. I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.