1 TIMOTHY 5:1-22007 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Timothy 5:1-2

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2007.

Cisco and I were commenting how quick this book has gone for us. We're already in chapter 5 and going to be finishing up in the coming weeks. It's just been flying by. God's been teaching us so much and there's so much we've been learning. It's so important for us because...

As I've often shared, you and I are much like Timothy in that God has given to us ministries, that he's called us to minister to the people around us. And he's placed people in our lives that we're called to disciple and raise up and encourage and equip in the body of Christ. Like Timothy, we're called into full-time ministry.

And so in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 5 here, Paul is sharing with Timothy how to relate to different people within the body of Christ.

He's been sharing with Timothy what he needs to be doing within the body of Christ and the way that things need to take place, the order of the service and the emphasis that needs to be placed in different areas and the roles of different people within the church and the qualifications for leaders. Last week, we were looking specifically at Timothy, that Paul was saying, Timothy, you need to be an example and these are the things that you need to abide by and that you need to pay attention to.

He's been encouraging Timothy how to be a good minister. And we should be, as ministers of the gospel as well, we should be interested and concerned about how to be a good minister. And so Paul continues to share with Timothy, these are the things you need to pay attention to to be a good minister. And now in doing that, he addresses the way that he relates to the people within the body of Christ.

And he takes the time to mention each group specifically, the way that you minister to older men, Timothy, is this way. And younger men, you need to minister to this way. And older women, this way. And younger women, this way. You need to approach them appropriately and minister to them effectively and properly.

respectfully and honorably in the way that you reach out to them, encouraging them, also correcting them. There needs to be a definite method to your approach in ministering to these groups.

He'll go on in chapter five. We'll see that more as we continue on the study next time talking about widows. And then in a couple of weeks, we'll be talking about the way that you relate to relate to elders within the church, those who are in leadership within the church. And so we get a good idea of what Paul wants Timothy to do and the way that he wants to relate to people within the body of Christ. And so for you and I as well, we're learning this morning how God wants us to relate to

to one another, how he wants us to exhort the family of God. And so we see this in verse one and two. And allow me to read it to you once more. It says, do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers and younger as sisters with all purity. He starts out saying, do not rebuke an older man.

And then he goes on to apply the things he's using to talk about the older men to all of the different other groups, the younger men, the older women and the younger women. And so we can take these things and apply them to each group. We'll look at them very briefly. But let's start off looking at this idea of not rebuking, but instead exhorting. There's a great difference between rebuking.

The word that Paul uses here for rebuke and the word exhort and what they mean, they're completely contrary to one another. The word rebuke here is more than the normal word for rebuke. It's not just correcting someone or putting someone back in their place or encouraging them with what God has said or what is right. This word rebuke, some translations say,

render it as a harsh rebuke or to rebuke harshly. And that fits the picture better because the word means to strike upon, to beat upon and to chastise with words. It kind of reminds me of Nehemiah. I don't know if you're familiar with Nehemiah. There's one point where he gets upset with the children of Israel and he jumps on their back and he pulls out their hair and he says, you stupid people, I can't believe you're continuing to do this and be disobedient to God.

That's kind of the harsh rebuke that Paul is referring to here. He's saying, listen, guys, you're not to rebuke harshly an older man. Now, this is important to note because, again, Paul has been sharing with Timothy how he needs to operate and how he needs to work within the ministry. If you remember back at the beginning of First Timothy, he said,

Paul has been having to remind Timothy, hey, you have authority. And as leaders, as disciples, as those whom God has entrusted us with people around us that he wants us to minister to, there is a certain authority that comes with that.

And so Paul has been telling Timothy, hey, Timothy, you have authority within the body of Christ and you need to put it into practice. The reason why I left you there was to put a stop to all of these false teachers and doctrines and all of these things that are going on that are contrary to the things of God. Timothy, you need to use your authority. You need to charge them. You need to command them. You need to tell them what God has said and the way that things need to go.

And so he's been telling Timothy, use your authority. It seems that Timothy has been holding back and not using the authority that God had gave him. But here's the balance. Okay, Timothy, you need to use your authority. But that doesn't mean that you are to jump on people's backs and pull out their hair and beat them up and approach them really harshly.

attacking them. You know, you're not to be the gospel Gestapo or gospel gangster and just knock them over, wipe them out and tear them down with the authority that God has given to you. Yes, you have authority and you need to use that authority. And sometimes you're going to deal with difficult situations, but you're not to do it with striking, with beating, with harshness in your attitude or your voice.

Instead of rebuke, he says, do not rebuke, but instead exhort them.

The word exhort means to call to one side. It's something we've seen many times before. It's the word parakaleo in the Greek. It means to call to one side, to come alongside. It's the word that Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit and the way that the Holy Spirit would minister to us. And coming alongside to comfort and equip and strengthen us.

And that's what this word is all about. It's a coming to one side or a calling to one side in order to bring comfort or to uplift and encourage. Sometimes it also includes the idea of correction and instruction. It's coming alongside to minister to whatever the need is to reach out and fulfill the thing that needs to be taking place there in a person's life.

So instead of approaching a situation or a person in the mode of rebuke or a harsh rebuke to strike and to beat and chastise with words, Timothy, you're to come alongside them and deal with the situation, but with an attitude of love and a right heart of comforting and encouraging and correcting and instruct instructing, not condemning and not adding burdens onto someone.

But to come alongside and help carry and lift their burdens, not to add on to the load that they're already carrying and make them feel worse about the situation they're already in, but to come alongside and you can picture if someone's carrying something heavy on their shoulders, to come alongside and help them lift up that burden and ease the heaviness of the situation.

Jesus, when he was talking about the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 23, it says that he's talking to his disciples and he's talking to the crowd that's there. And he says, hey, guys, listen to the scribes and the Pharisees because they sit in Moses's seat.

He's saying, okay, these guys have authority. Just like Timothy, you have authority. Just like you and I, as those called to make disciples, there is a certain authority that God has given to us. And so Jesus tells the people, listen, they have authority. They sit in Moses' seat. And so listen to them and do the things that they say. But he goes on, however, in verse 4 of Matthew chapter 23 to say,

In a sense, rebuke these scribes and Pharisees, because he says, for they, the scribes and Pharisees, bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders. But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

So these people in authority, these religious leaders that were to help people draw close to God, instead of doing that, what they ended up doing is laying more burdens on people, putting more burdens on men and then not helping them at all to carry those burdens. Paul is telling Timothy, don't be like that.

You're to come alongside and help carry burdens. You're to help lift them up and get them through, not just lay more and more trips upon them that they be discouraged and unable to carry them. This is important stuff for you and I, because, again, we are called to make disciples like Timothy. There's people in our lives that God has placed there and he's given us a certain authority in their life.

Not to lay heavy trips and bring burdens on their lives, not to jump on them and strike them and beat them, but instead to come alongside and to help carry the burden that they are facing. We are to use authority, but we need to know how to use that authority. We are going to have to deal with difficult situations and bring correction to people.

But we need to know how to handle those situations, how to bring that correction. We need to know how to treat the people around us in the body of Christ. So using authority. How are we to use authority as ministers of Jesus Christ?

Well, the scribes and Pharisees had authority, but they misused the authority that God gave them to do the opposite of what God desired for them to do. And that they added burdens to people and then would not help them. Now, how did they add burdens to people? Well, we know what the scribes and Pharisees were famous for.

Legalism and condemnation. They would set these laws and these regulations. They would set these rules and they would make it difficult for people to come to God. Even with the bringing of a lamb to be offered. You're familiar with the tactics of the Jewish leaders, I'm sure.

As Jesus overturned the tables there in the temple because they were dealing wrongfully with the people. They would bring a lamb to be offered and the priests would search diligently and make sure that he finds some type of blemish in that lamb so that it could not be offered, but instead offer to sell him at an inflated price this already approved lamb that he could have an offer right away.

They would make it heavy, make it a burden, make it difficult. They would discourage people from coming to God by adding on laws and rules and regulations. No, if you want to be close to God, if you want to be right with God, you have to do this and you have to do that and you have to get this right and you have to get that straight. And they would pile on all these things upon the people, but then they wouldn't help God.

The people carry those burdens. They wouldn't help them get through those things or press on and still come to God. They would just lay on the burdens and really keep people from God, which was exactly opposite of why God gave spiritual leadership and authority to his people.

God has given authority to the body of Christ, to his people, so that those authorities might be able to help people draw close to God. And so like Timothy, we need to use authority, but we need to use it appropriately and to use the authority that God has given to us to draw people close to him. Consider for a moment the woman caught in adultery of John chapter 8.

There in John chapter 8, the scribes and the Pharisees come and throw this woman before Jesus. She was caught in the midst of an adulterous relationship. She was caught in the very act, Jesus. What should we do? They all had stones. They were ready to stone her. They were ready to condemn her. They were anxious to bring judgment upon her. But Jesus had a different approach, didn't he? He was anxious. He was eager to forgive.

He was eager and anxious to see that life restored and to see her brought close to God, not having judgment inflicted upon her. It's the attitude and the heart that we need to have. God doesn't give us authority in people's lives to beat them down, but to lift them up.

Now, that doesn't mean that we do not address sin or sinful activity in a person's life. It doesn't mean that we don't have to correct people sometimes. No, we do. That's part of leadership. That's part of authority that God has given to us. It's part of making disciples. Because you are called to be a spiritual leader, because you're called to make disciples, you will have to correct and rebuke. But it needs to be done now.

In the proper way. With using authority appropriately. To draw close to God. To lift burdens. To help and to minister. Not to tear down and to push away. And to cast off. And so we're to use authority. The way that God has intended. Not with harshness.

Not with an eagerness to destroy like the scribes and the Pharisees, not laying heavy chips on people and not helping them with those things, but instead coming alongside to lift up, to strengthen, to help a person get through that difficulty, get through that issue, overcome that sin or whatever may be the case in their life. And there will be those times that we're called to correct.

Now, there's definitely right ways to correct and wrong ways to correct the wrong way. Paul mentions first, he says, do not rebuke. Again, it's a specific type of rebuke that's severe and unrestrained to strike upon, to beat upon, to chastise with words. It's a verbal lashing or a physical beating. It's the only occurrence of this word in the Bible.

Nowhere else are we commanded to inflict beating physically or verbally upon a person. Nowhere else are we called to by God to administer this type of rebuke. It's not something God has called us to. But we will have situations that we must address and situations where correction needs to take place. But we need to do it the right way.

Not the wrong way, but the right way. And to better understand the right way, let's turn for a moment. Hold your finger here. We'll come back here. But Galatians chapter six. Turn with me, please, to Galatians chapter six. Just a couple of pages there to the left. Guess more than a couple. A few pages to the left. Galatians chapter six. Look at verse one and two.

Paul says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Notice that Paul connects the correction and bearing one another's burdens in this passage.

He says if someone is overtaken in a trespass, if someone is involved in sin, if someone's caught up in a sinful activity, they're perhaps bound in a habit or bound under this particular sin. You who are spiritual. Now he's talking to us, I hope.

You who are spiritual, those who are called to make disciples, those who God has placed there to have authority in a person's life, you're called now to help this brother that is overtaken in a trespass. He says, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Not a harsh rebuke in the sense of,

A verbal beating and lashing, not to physically harm, not to come against and attack and tear down. But you're to approach the situation in a spirit of gentleness, opposite of what Paul says about rebuke there in 1 Timothy chapter 5. What does it take to be gentle? Well, if you could just imagine for a second or picture for a second, just regular physical activity.

If you're going to be gentle, it means you're going to need to slow down. It means that you must not do it in anger. It shouldn't be hasty, but you want to do it gently and softly with precision. Maybe an example would be in order. When you go to the dentist, you want him to be gentle, right? You don't want him to rush in with the tools and instruments that he has and start grinding away.

There's this one guy, I went to the dentist one time, and I really like my regular dentist. I mean, he's just really good, and we've seen very difficult situations together, and so him and I have a bond. But there was this one time I went for a regular cleaning, and my regular dentist wasn't there. And so it's this other guy, and I had never known this other guy before, I hadn't seen him before. I don't know who he is, I don't even know if he has dental practice or whatever, a degree or law, whatever you have to have. But

His regular cleaning hurt worse than my normal dentist root canals. I mean, it was like he was like, I don't know what he was doing. It felt like he was pulling all my teeth out and he was just going crazy, maybe trying to get it done as fast as possible. I don't know. But I hated that. And it was much worse than the root canal and the pulling out of wisdom teeth and all the other stuff me and my other dentists have seen before. It was like, I don't know what he was doing.

It wasn't a spirit of gentleness that he had when approaching me. And so I never want to go back to him again. If I see him, I say, I'm not going today. Make me another appointment for my regular dentist. And the same way in the spirit of gentleness is how we need to approach those who are involved in ministry.

Sinful activity. Those who are overcome by sin. Now, if you approach it like this crazy dentist, then that's the attitude and feeling that people are going to have. I don't want to go. I don't want to be near that person. Man, they went crazy on me last time. And I don't want to be around a person like that. But if you approach them in a spirit of gentleness, there's a whole different effect. See, we need to remember, we are not the Holy Spirit in people's lives.

We're not to make them feel guilty. That's not our job. What is our job? He says, hey, if anyone's overtaken, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. See, in most cases, the person that you need to approach and the situation you have to deal with, usually they know. They already know that there's a problem. The spirit has been convicting them. The spirit's already been at work. But either they're not responding correctly

Or it's too difficult. Or they just still struggle. And it hurts. You've been there. You've been overtaken in sin. You've been caught up in sin. You've been in difficult situations like that before. And you know what it's like. It hurts. To look back and go, man, why have I been doing this? Or to go, why can't I get this right? Why can't I just walk the way that God has called me to?

Why do I have to lose my temper like that? Why do I have to stumble into this and stumble into that? And you know what it's like. It hurts, just like when you go to the dentist and you've got a toothache. You know, it hurts, and you want the person who deals with it to know and understand, hey, I know you're in a lot of pain. I know it hurts. I'm going to deal with this gently. I'm not going to inflict more pain on you.

You don't want to go to the dentist and have him say, stupid fool, I told you to brush and floss and just for that, no anesthetic for you. We're pulling it out, you know, right now. No, that's not what you want. You want someone to come with a spirit of gentleness in the same way. When someone is involved in a sinful activity or overcome in sin or or facing this difficult issue, God has placed us in their life.

As those who need to make disciples, as those who have authority, as those who are called to come alongside and minister and build up and edify in a spirit of gentleness. It hurts them. They know. Now, there are those cases where they don't know, where they're blind to it. But it doesn't change the situation. We need to approach it in a spirit of gentleness, in a spirit of love. If you look at Jesus's ministry, you find that all throughout.

He approached people with great love and compassion. There are those that Jesus was more harsh with as a very specific group of people. It was those who knew the truth and purposely rebelled, purposely ignored Jesus.

The scribes and the Pharisees, the Jewish leaders who knew the truth, who should have known, and they were leading others astray and laying heavy trips on people and discouraging people from coming to God. And so Jesus's harsh words were reserved for those who knew the truth and refused to follow it and kept others from coming to God as well. That's a whole different situation. But for the rest of the world, for the rest of those who are

suffering or experiencing problems or caught up in sin. It's to be approached with a spirit of gentleness. I like what William Barclay had to say on this. He says, the rebuke which clearly comes from love is the only effective one. If we ever have cause to reprimand anyone, we must do so in such a way as to make it clear that we do this not because we find a cruel pleasure in it, not because we wish to do it,

but because we are under the compulsion of love and seek to help, not to hurt. It always needs to be the case that it is done in love. That's the only effective rebuke, he says. If we ever have cause to reprimand, and we will, if we ever have cause to deal with sin in someone's life or issue some correction, it needs to be love.

With the attitude of, I love you. I want to help you. I'm not here to hurt you. Still in Galatians chapter 6, he says, Restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. The object is to restore. To bring back to right relationship. Not to push away. Not to condemn. Not to keep from. We're not to put them in the corner. You can't approach God or you can't have right relationship with God. We're to instead...

Restore them and bring them back. Help them in their relationship with God. Again, exhort, come alongside, lift them up, help carry them, help them carry the burden that they care. As he goes on to say in verse two, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Bear one another's burdens.

You don't just correct, but you restore. You help them through the issue. You help them carry the load. Help them overcome the difficulty and the sin. Help set them free from the bondage to sin and death. This is the way that God has called us to approach rebuke and correction within his body. As he's given to us the ministry of Jesus Christ, the ministry of the gospel, leadership and authority within his body.

So we're to use authority, but use it appropriately. We're to correct, but do it in the spirit of gentleness. Not rebuking harshly, beating down, chastising, but exhorting, lifting up, coming alongside and helping to carry. And Paul carries that idea through each of the different groups involved.

That we'll find within the body of Christ back in First Timothy, chapter five, the older men, the younger men, the older women and the younger women. This is the way that you're to approach them, Timothy. He takes the time to specify each group of people within the body and using the terms that we use for family. We see this often through the scriptures. It's why we often refer to the body of Christ as the family of God.

We're family. We're brothers and sisters in the Lord. And we need to act appropriately since we're brothers and sisters in the Lord. God considers it very important that we treat people right and appropriately. And so he uses these terms. Now, if you don't treat your family well, then you shouldn't apply the scripture, okay?

If you have a problem and an issue there, well, that's a whole different thing. You need to get that in order first and then seek to come and serve the body. The American family model is not what Paul has in mind when he's writing this.

Going back to that culture, or if you've gone to and experienced some other cultures, you get an idea of what Paul is talking about. I remember in Samoa, we would go and, you know, they're looking at Paul that...

the way our youth treat each other and their leaders. And we're looking amazed at how their youth treat each other and treat others. I remember hearing the story of one time when a bunch of people were with Joanna and they pull up to the church and...

And they were all like, all the Samoans were like, what are you doing? Because Joanna was in the back seat. You never put the pastor's wife in the back seat. They had a very respectful attitude towards leadership. And it's the way that they respected one another and the way that they approached those who are elders and those who they were called to honor. It's the same type of relationships that existed in Paul's day as he's writing this.

There is that known. You don't disrespect your elders. You don't contradict them. You don't go against them. But you respect them and honor them. Within the church, unfortunately, there is so much that happens that should not. Christians hurt one another and attack one another. They destroy and condemn one another. It happens all the time within the body of Christ.

Not just today, Galatians chapter 5, verse 15, Paul warns the Galatians, if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.

There's always this type of issue where there's backbiting, where there's attacking, where there's personality conflicts or whatever. And so there's this war that goes on between people or these people that feel that they are the righteous standard and everybody else must live by it. And if you don't, then you're going to hear about it. And there's this cutting down and attacking and condemning and all these things.

things that take place within the body of Christ. And it's not supposed to happen that way. It's not supposed to be that way. We need to be very careful how we treat one another. God is very concerned about how we treat one another and the things that we say to one another and the way that we act towards each other. There needs to be the spirit of gentleness, the spirit of love. Jesus said, the world will know that you're my disciples by your love for one another. We need to make sure that

That our relationships are in love. And sometimes that's hard because when you're being attacked, it's hard to love back. But our relationships need to be in love. We need to represent the Lord. Paul deals with the older man. He says, don't rebuke an older man, but exhort him. First and specifically to the older men. And then he carries it over to the others. But understand Timothy's position. He was young.

Paul had just been warning him, hey, don't let anyone despise your youth or look down upon you for your youthfulness. Of course, the implication there is he is letting people look down on him. There are those who say, hey, you're too young. You can't minister to me. You can't teach me anything. You don't have any place to tell me how to live or what to do.

Again, especially in that culture, today, our society, you know, everybody tells everybody what they think or what they should do, but, but,

It was a definite no-no. You didn't go around and tell people who were older than you what to do. You wouldn't go around and correct older people. You wouldn't tell them, hey, no, you need to do it this way. If you can imagine, you've probably experienced this in the workplace. You know, have you ever had someone new try to correct you and tell you the right way to do the job that you've been doing already for many years? Oh, that's irritating. And that's kind of how it would be for...

Timothy's situation. They're these men in the church. They're older men. They've had experience, not necessarily been saved longer than he has, but maybe they have. How are you going to correct me? How are you going to tell me what God thinks or what God wants? It would be a difficult situation for Timothy. He says, exhort older men as fathers. Yeah, it's difficult to do.

It's a difficult situation, but Timothy, sometimes it's necessary. You need to deal with that. But when you deal with it, you need to approach it appropriately and rightly. God requires us to honor our elders. In Leviticus chapter 19, verse 32, he says, You shall rise before Harvey, I mean the gray-headed, and honor the presence of an old man. I jest, but let's take a note of seriousness.

Do we honor those who are older than our own selves? Do we honor those who are older in the faith? There needs to be respect and honor on our part for those who are in the body of Christ. We need to have, well, we need to have the right attitude. Not disrespecting. Not regarding as little. But instead, Leviticus 19 says, humble yourself.

And rise before them. Honor the presence of an older man. He says, inferior God, I am the Lord. This is what God desires and requires. Yes, we're the family of God. Yes, we're brothers and sisters in the Lord. And as brothers and sisters, as children of God, we need to act appropriately. And so when you're ministering to those who are older than you, you might have to deal with corrective situations.

You might have to deal with sin and difficult things, but you need to approach those situations. You need to demonstrate respect and honor. You need to approach that correction with gentleness and consideration. Timothy, I know it's difficult. I know that some despise your youth, but sometimes it's necessary and you have to do it. So make sure that you do it well. Again, not rebuking, not with harshness, not lashing.

But exhorting, coming alongside, help them, encourage them, minister to them with honor and respect. Likewise with the younger men.

Now, this is in contrast with older men. So he's not necessarily saying, Timothy, this is anybody who's younger than you. But he's looking at the church as a whole and saying, hey, there's the elders. There's the older men within the church. And then there's the younger guys who are your age, maybe a little bit older, maybe a little bit younger. They're your peers, but they're not the older men yet. They're not in that category yet. And Timothy, you're to exhort them as well.

Now, maybe a little bit easier than dealing with the older men in that there's not that same mentality of who do you think you are kind of thing. But at the same time, it's more dangerous now on our part to minister to our peers, to minister to those who are younger than us. It's more dangerous that we don't show them the same grace and patience that

As we do others, I think of Jesus with his disciples. Specifically, we could look at Peter. But how did Jesus handle correction with his disciples? These were men about his age, give or take. How did he handle correction with them? Well, lovingly and carefully, never pushing them away and keeping them away and doing things that would discourage them and tell them to get out of his life.

Instead, he demonstrated tremendous patience. Even when the disciples are there keeping the little children from him. And he deals with the situation. He says, hey, let the children come to me. For such is the kingdom of heaven. He deals with the situation. He brings the correction. But he doesn't jump on their backs and pull out their hair. Even if it's the seventh time or the eighth time. Even when they tell the man to stop casting out demons in Luke chapter 9.

Jesus, we saw this guy and he wasn't with us, but he was casting out demons in your name. And we told him to stop because he wasn't. Jesus says, don't cast it. What are you telling him to stop for? He didn't beat them up and destroy them or tell him, hey, I'm fed up with you guys. That's enough, man. I mean, you won't let this guy cast out demons in my name. You want the ministry all to yourself. You won't let the kids come to me. You know, all these things that you're doing. Later on, he tells Peter, hey, Peter, you're going to deny me.

Three times you're going to deny me this night. Oh, no, I'll never deny you, Lord. Of course, we know he does. And how does Jesus respond? How does Jesus deal with that situation? We see it in John chapter 21. Lovingly, he comes alongside Peter, gives him fish, feeds him, ministers to him. He deals with the situation. Hey, Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Hey, Peter, do you love me?

He deals with it lovingly, gently, carefully, precisely. He doesn't go off and beat him up when he's already down. He doesn't discourage him or push him away. But very patiently and graciously, he ministers to this one who has been overcome, overtaken, been beaten down bad by the world and his own self. Hey, Timothy, in ministering to younger men, you need to approach correction with love, with grace, with patience.

Have patience with those younger brothers. Show grace to them. Help them to carry on and keep going in the faith. He says also with the older women. I'm not going to give any examples of them, but with elder women, we need to have honor and respect as well. Leviticus 19 still applies. You shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the presence of the older man or woman. It makes me think of

John chapter four, when Jesus was at the well. Now, it doesn't specifically say we don't know if the Samaritan woman was older than Jesus or not, but in the way that he deals with the situation, we get a good understanding of how God would want us to deal with those who are older in our lives. You remember the situation? Jesus is there in Samaria at the well and

And a woman from Samaria comes out to draw water and Jesus says to her, give me a drink. They have this discussion about her being a Samaritan and him being a Jew. All the while, he's Jesus. He knows what's going on. He knows what's in her heart. He knows where she stands with God. In the midst of the conversation, he tells her, hey, go call your husband and come back here. She says, well, I don't have a husband. He says, well, you're right.

You've had five and the one you're with now, he's not your husband. So you've spoken truthfully, very gently and lovingly. She's she's a woman who's been hurt. I mean, five marriages. And now she's with this other guy. They're not married. This woman has some troubles and some difficulties, some pains and hurts. Jesus, very carefully, very gently.

deals with her. He shares the truth. He doesn't hold back the truth. He calls her on it. He says, you're right. You've had five husbands. You're now with this guy. You're not married. He doesn't shy away from the truth and what God says.

But he doesn't jump on her and beat her up either. He doesn't say, you don't deserve to know God. I don't want to give you the time of day. I'm not even going to talk to you. You're an adulteress. And you've been married all these times. I'm not even going to bother with you. He doesn't attack her or demean her or push her away. Instead, he draws her close and ministers to her. And she goes off to tell the whole town, hey, come and see a man who told me all things that I ever did.

It's something she's announcing kind of with excitement. Now, someone comes and tells her all the things I ever did. You know, I don't want to have anything to do with that. You stay away from me. I don't want to hear about those things that I did. I know what I did. But she goes and tells everybody, hey, could this be the Christ? And she brings the town. And as a result, the whole town is ministered to and many believe in Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus approached the situation, he dealt with her gently and lovingly. Now, she wasn't that gentle and loving. You can read the story, and in my head at least, there's a great deal of sarcasm and bitterness. She was pretty crass in her responses and the way that she related to him. But he restored her. He did not push her away or cast her off. And so when you're ministering to the older ladies...

To those who are older than you, you need to show that respect and honor. And you need to approach any correction that needs to take place with gentleness and consideration. And finally, he deals with the younger women. Again, same issue he's been dealing with. Do not rebuke, but exhort. Don't beat up. Don't lay heavy burdens on. Don't push them away or keep them away. But instead, come alongside them. Help them carry the burdens. Help them get through those things.

And draw close to God. But he adds on a phrase there at the end. Verse 2. And dealing with the younger women as sisters. He says, with all purity. With all purity. This is a hugely important point and issue. Because believe it or not, within the church there has been much immorality. And much of the immorality within the church began with good intentions.

Of helping, of comforting, of counseling. There's a situation, there's someone who's discouraged. No one seems to be doing anything. I really want to reach out. I mean, it's horrible that she's going to be discouraged and lost like this. And so a man or someone will come and have great intentions. I want to reach out to her and lift her up. And as a result, it kind of developed into, well...

What they didn't intend for it to develop into. There's a real great danger. And some of you may think, oh, that's ridiculous. You're just talking crazy now. Okay, yeah, maybe that happens, but that wouldn't happen to me. We need to be very careful. God doesn't warn us without reason. There's a great danger of immorality when a man will minister to a woman, specifically a younger woman.

Specifically, one who is in a difficulty or in a bad situation or going through something that's hard. When it comes to ministering to someone of the opposite sex, you need to take extreme caution. And I don't exaggerate when I say extreme.

Paul says with all purity, there shouldn't be a hint of immorality. There shouldn't be a hint of anything, a thought of anything. It needs to be with complete purity. As a general rule, we encourage guys minister to guys and girls minister to girls. When you train for the Harvest Crusade.

They share with you the same thing. Hey, if you're going to be on the field encouraging the new converts, okay, you're a guy, okay, you need to be ministering to guys. Now, if it's a mixed group, that's a different scenario, but you don't want yourself as a guy saying, hey, new believer girl, come here, let me disciple you.

Or if you're a girl, you're not to single out a guy and go, OK, let me disciple you. Let me minister to you. Let me show you how to walk with God in the same way within the church and outside of the church and the way that we deal with people. We need to be very, very careful. Of course, we all would think that wouldn't happen to me. Of course, we would have good intentions. But there's a real danger. There's a great danger.

When you minister to someone of the opposite sex, there's a great danger that you need to watch out for, that you need to take precautions against. When a woman comes to seek counsel or encouragement from myself or Pastor Sisko or Pastor Pule, we do our best as much as possible to have our wives with us for that reason. We will not counsel a woman by herself.

ongoing, without question. Ongoing counseling will be taken care of by one of the ladies within the fellowship for this reason, because there's a great danger. And when you're ministering to someone of the opposite sex, it needs to be with all purity. There will be those times. God is telling Timothy here, okay, when you're dealing with younger women,

Implying that, okay, there's going to be times where you need to address this, where there's that situation, but you need to do it with all purity and make sure that it's out in the open, that there's no hint of sexual immorality or that someone else is with you, that you're above reproach, that there's not the temptation for anything, that you don't put yourself in a situation that could lead to that potentially. We need to be very careful. And sometimes it's difficult. I've seen many times people

within the church, young ladies, straying, walking away. I've seen them turning away from the things of God. And I'm not able, many times, to do anything about it. And so I would encourage you ladies, help us. Because there are those that we cannot spend time with. We can't befriend certain people because of this danger. And I would challenge you ladies,

Pay attention. Look around. Be aware. And reach out to those younger ladies. That's biblical. The older ladies are to reach out and minister to the younger ladies. And so please, would you reach out to them and befriend them and minister to them and lift them up? Because as pastors, we can't have that role in a young woman's life. So Paul tells Timothy and you and I this morning, exhort the family of God.

Listen, this is why this whole issue of leadership and discipleship, this is the whole point of everything. This is why God has given us the opportunity to make disciples. He's given us leadership and authority in people's lives to help them draw close to Him, to help them through difficulties and situations. You need to use the authority that God has given to you. You need to correct mistakes.

Those issues. And deal with that sinful activity. You need to approach those situations. But you need to do it with the right heart and the right attitude. Not harshly rebuking. Not tearing down and destroying. Not pushing away. Not laying heavy burdens upon. But instead...

Those people in your family that God has placed there and the people at your workplace and the people in your neighborhood and the people that you're friends with within the body and those that God has allowed you to be an influence in their lives. Come alongside them. Don't just say a lot of things and lay heavy trips on them, but come alongside them. Help them. Build them up and strengthen them to be able to endure.

to remain steadfast, to press on, to draw close to the Lord. It's why God has called us to make disciples. It's what making disciples is all about. Teaching people how to walk with God and helping them to do so. Encouraging them and equipping them. Whether they be older or younger, let's edify the body of Christ. Let's pray.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.