- Well, good morning. My name is Seth Fagerland. I'm one of the pastors here at Rockpoint. I'm so glad that you are joining us here today. We will be continuing our series in the book of 1 Timothy, so you can start turning there in your Bibles now. We'll be in chapter five. And just to give you a quick just context, again, of this letter in the Bible, the apostle Paul is writing this letter to a young guy named Timothy, kind of his protege, a guy he's mentoring and raising up as a young leader in the church. And he writes this letter because there was some trouble going on in the church In Ephesus. There were these bad teachers inside the church that were spreading incorrect views about Jesus and what it means to follow Jesus, But he leans into the fact that what a church truly believes is what they live out, and he says it's the only the gospel that can produce godliness and the transformed life. That's why we're calling this series "This is Us: A Healthy Church," because we wanna go after as Rockpoint of what a healthy church looks like only by the power of God within us. So with that in mind, would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, thank you for today and for every person that is tuning in right now. And I pray that through your living Word that you speak to us of what it means to be a healthy church by God, by the power of your Spirit within us, moving us to live out this transformed life as we not only believe, but we live out the gospel of Jesus. It's in your name that we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, just last week, Pastor Kevin talked about in 1 Timothy 4, focused on the importance of growing in godliness. You can check that out last week, growing in godliness. But now, as we turn into chapter five, we're gonna be looking at this same godliness from chapter four. What does that look like lived out? What does godliness looked like lived out, Or what does the gospel lived out look like in the church? In a healthy church. Well, the first section this morning are just the first two verses. It's living out the gospel and how we see and treat each other as family. 1 Timothy 5, starting in verse one. It says, "Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, in all purity." See, the apostle Paul starts out with living out the gospel. It's not a list of things that we do, but it starts with who you are. Living out the gospel starts with who you are. He says, "You now belong to a family, God's family. You belong not because of anything you have done, or achieved, or earned, but only by receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ through faith. He gives you a new identity. He rescued you from the dominion of sin, and he gave you his eternal life, and, therefore, you now not only relationally belonged to Him, but you now relationally belong to each other. This is huge, and this changes, this changes how you view yourself, but how you view others inside the church. And so he says the gospel changes the way you see and treat each other as family. The gospel of Jesus, where we have set our hope and our faith in the living Jesus as our savior, that changes how we see and treat each other as family. Paul mentions four categories of the church families. He starts off with older men. He says, "Do not rebuke them," and rebuke here means don't lash out, don't don't treat harshly, but exhort, encouraged him as you would a father. He's talking about respect and honor the older men as fathers because there is wisdom that only comes from experience. And then the secondly he talks, "Treat older women as mothers," right? Protected, lifted up, cherished, that you would do anything for Mom, right? A quick illustration is I enjoy watching football, and it's fun every year to watch the NFL draft, right? This is where these college football players are getting drafted, and it's fun to see what team, who goes where, that whole thing. But it never fails, every year, here the camera pans in, and it shows these big, massive muscular, just big tough guys, right? And when their name gets called, what happens? They just start crying and hugging their mommas. I love it. It's so great. And then in the following weeks, they're buying their moms cars and houses, and all this kind of stuff. It's amazing to see the transforming power that the love of a mom has. And then, in return, the love and care that her kids have for her the rest of her life. It's amazing. And Paul leans into that here. Treat older women as mothers. Thirdly, treat younger men as brothers, right? I don't know if you grew up with brothers, but it's interesting to see how God designed boys to learn by making so many mistakes, right? Yeah, that, wasn't a good idea. And there's a lot of leeway, there's a lot of forgiveness that comes with growing up with brothers, but there's also a bond, a bond with brothers. On one hand, they are knuckleheads that makes you wonder what is going on in that brain of theirs; yet, however, there's also a fierce loyalty to someone that you would go that extra mile with. And when it comes, if anyone starts messing with your brother, no one messes with your brother, right? And when you get brothers united on the same mission, look out, right, if they get focused on the same task or accomplishing the same thing. So young men, let me just say, you will fight for something; it's just a matter of what you will fight for. Younger men as brothers. And then, lastly, he talks about younger women as sisters, in all purity. And I love that in this list, that Paul makes that extra clarifying statement when he talks about sisters in absolute purity. You see, in order for someone to be your sister, that means she is someone else's daughter, and Paul leans into this truth, that young women are daughters in the kingdom of God and that you have to contend with her Heavenly Father. That changes everything, and there is so much I wanna talk about right now in a day and age where pornography has become so rampant and is more of a dangerous epidemic than COVID ever will be, and that sex trafficking is not something that just happens in some far off country, but it is happening at an alarming high rate in this very county that we are in right now. But we don't have time to talk about those things this morning, but what the apostle Paul is getting after is having a protective spirit when it comes to treating younger women as sisters. So a quick personal story, for those of you who know me, you can imagine that I've not been in very many physical altercations in life, right? I just smile too much. It's just who I am. But there was a time in college where there was a guy who started messing with my older cousin, and the way he was treating her was making her feel really, really uncomfortable. As soon as I heard about it, a line got drawn really quick, and I let him know he will not treat my cousin that way. Why? Because she's family. I think this is huge for what Paul was trying to talk about. So let me talk to the guys right now. So any guy that's hearing my voice right now, let me talk to you for just a second. I believe this is God's design in you to rise up with a protective spirit because these young women are your sisters. She has a Heavenly Father, and he designed you first and foremost to protect her and make her feel safe. This changes how you interact with them, right? It changes how you touch, how you flirt, the things that you joke about, but it also changes what you like on social media. It changes what you look at. It changes it goes into that search bar. I am convinced that the power in living with sexual integrity is not with avoiding things that are negative but fighting for things that are positive. In your efforts to fight against, it's not what you fight against, it's what you fight for, and when you fight to protect young women as sisters, only then will you find the power to overcome temptation. This something I'm even trying to teach my son who is eight years old, that he is older than his younger sister who is five. And I keep telling him, "Buddy, you're bigger, and you're stronger," why? Because you men are meant to protect and make your sister feel safe. And that gets applied the rest of your life well into being an adult and how you treat women. Now, let me talk to the ladies. Okay, any ladies that are hearing my voice, I believe this is God's design in you as well, that he designed you to have an inherent worth and a beauty that only comes from receiving that love from your Heavenly Father. That's good, so help a brother out. So how does you viewing yourself as a sister, how does that change the way that you interact with guys? How does that affect what you wear? How does that affect what you post? How does that affect how you interact in your relationships with them? This is part of being a family. Well, let's talk next steps, right? Because multiplying disciples in a healthy church, our mission here at Rockpoint, it means that we are always looking for ways to take next steps in following Jesus together. So I wish I had time to unpack each of these things in greater detail, and let me encourage you to do so, whether it is within your family, or in your life group, or a huddle of friends that you are following Jesus together with, continue to unpack each of these categories of what it means for the church to be family. Each of those dynamics of father, and mother, and brother, and sister, and what that means, and what that looks like practically, lived out. But ultimately what Paul is saying, that because of our faith in Jesus Christ, we have experienced an identity change. He has changed you on the spiritual level, down in your soul, and you have been adopted, permanently adopted, into a family. And there is security that comes with that. There is belonging, there is an inheritance, and you see this from the very beginning of God's design for the family, but also for the people of God that he would live his life with, that he would live with. So practical application as we wrap up this first section. One of the struggles that we have in our spiritual growth is how do you measure progress? How do you tell if you're growing? And Paul gives us a marker here of what he's talking about, what it means to be a healthy church, and it's this: he says one major marker of progress in your spiritual growth is how you treat each other as family inside the church. So it's not just that we are all believing the same things, but that we belong to each other because of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that's why Jesus himself said, and Jesus said, "This world will come to believe that he is real by our love for one another as lived out inside the church." Well, that was section one, okay? Section two in our passage this morning is the rest. It's the rest of the verses, verses three through 16, so that's gonna be a lot longer, but he's talking about living out the gospel and caring for and meeting people's physical needs. Now Paul begins and ends this section by talking about taking care of widows who are truly widows. Now, like I said, this is a longer section, and we're gonna read it together, but we'll connect it back to what we're talking about, but please follow along with me as I read God's Word together. Verse three in 1 Timothy 5. He says, "Honor widows who are truly widows, but if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers, night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command these things as well so that they may be without reproach, but if anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Verse nine, "So let a widow be enrolled if she's not less than 60 years of age. Having been the wife of one husband, having a reputation of good works, if she's brought up children, if she has shown hospitality, if she's washed the feet of the saints, if she's cared for the afflicted, and if she's devoted herself to every good work, but refuse to enroll the younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry, and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learned to be idlers, going about from house to house. Not only idlers, but gossips, busybodies, saying what they should not, so I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, give the adversary no occasion for slander, for some I've already strayed after Satan." Verse 16, "But if any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them, and let the church not be burdened so that it may care for those who are truly widows." So the second thing I want us to see this morning is that this, our hope in the living God as our savior, the gospel moves us to care for people and meeting their physical needs. In these verses, Paul takes the time, it was a lot to classify widows who are on the list, who were receiving support and help from the local church, women who had no means to help themselves. And three times he mentions to help those women who are truly widows. Why does he do that? Remember, there were some problems going on in this church. This is why Paul is even writing this letter, is that there were some issues that were going on. You see, there were some younger women who are taking advantage of this very important ministry. These were younger women who actually were wealthy and they actually had the means to provide for themselves, but they were receiving support from the church. Most likely these were the same young women mentioned in chapter two that were causing some other problems. They would sign up for the support from the church, and then they would spend their days sleeping around and spreading gossip and damaging the church's reputation in the city. And Paul says that needs to stop, and that this ministry is meant to care for the women who are truly widows and are part of this church. See, this was a culture where women couldn't own property, and a lot of them couldn't have jobs. So if you were a woman and you didn't have a family, and you didn't have any form of income, you couldn't take care of yourself. And he mentioned for those who are older than 60, well, the average lifespan back then was 56, so I think Paul's talking about how do we help even take care of those who are 80, 85, 90? You see divorce was rampant back then. It was very sad to say that a woman could have been just dismissed at any time, and they didn't have any options. And this was also a church that came out of a pagan culture, so when people were becoming believers, a lot of 'em, they were practicing polygamy, so had multiple wives. So if that was a household that also converted and became Christian, they were like, "Okay, well, I'm gonna have one wife, and I'm gonna be married to just to her. What do I do with these other ones, and what options do they have?" Well, they could've gotten remarried to somebody else. That was the hope, that's what Paul talks about, he mentions that, but some of them are like, "Well, do I have to force into prostitution?" Or if they were truly a widow, and their only option is they wanted to be devoted to being a part of the church, devoted themselves to God. So the church starts loving people and meeting needs, and taking care of widows was their biggest need, so let's pause for just a moment, and let's talk about next steps. Let's talk about the how, okay? He starts, "How do we deal with people that are in need?" 'Cause that's part of what it means to be a healthy church, and that's what Paul's talking about. So there needs to be a structure takes care of people. So what does that look like here at Rockpoint? Well, you've heard us say a lot about the importance of getting into a life group 'cause we believe that's the best context for you, and following Jesus together, and multiplying disciples and healthy churches, getting into a closer community of followers of Jesus for your own sense of encouragement and accountability, but also for meeting needs. You see, Rockpoint is so big, there is no way we can be aware of everybody's needs, but that's why we so encourage you to get into a smaller group of people, of a life group, where you are not only aware of other people's needs, but they're aware of yours. You see, this is part of God's design, is part of your needs to be met through his people, through your family, but also God's design for you in meeting other people's needs. So the first level that we would see here at Rockpoint is getting into a life group. That's that first level of care, and prayer, and support, and meeting those needs. But then there's a second level, and that's when the need is greater. If it's too much, or too long, or too hard, then that life group leader, or they'll help bring that need up into that next level of getting into the care's ministry here at Rockpoint. And once we become aware of those needs, then it goes into a process where either through pastors, or the deacons, or volunteers, where those needs get addressed, and met, and built up in seven areas that needs get taken care of. It's a great process, but this is where we want you guys to be into life groups, following Jesus together, meeting each other's needs. But just so you know, is Rockpoint is a bigger church family where we can take care of those bigger needs as well. Well, the gospel moves us to care for people in meeting their physical needs. So we talked about the how. Now let's ask the question, "Why?" Why did Paul lean into the importance of taking care of widows who are truly widows? Why did I make the great emphasis of it's in through our life groups or those closer communities where we actually meet each other's needs? Why? Because it's family, it's family. Those first two verses were nice, right? Where we talked about fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters, but if we truly believe that this is our identity, that we are family and we belong to each other, then we take care of each other. Why? Because we're family. And did you catch verse 10, describing these women that Paul said are truly widows? Verse 10, it says, "Having been the wife of one husband, having a reputation for good works, if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality, if she's washed the feet of the saints, if she's cared for the afflicted and devoted herself to every good work..." That is not just a description of a widow. I believe that this is a description of the gospel being lived out, that this is godliness in action, and this is family in the kingdom of God. And later in verse 16, he talks about the priority of caring for our own families first, that the immediate family is actually the first line of care and responsibility. And as soon as I say that, let me pause. I know that there are a lot of you that have a lot of brokenness in your family, and we're not talking about being foolish in your giving, and we're not talking about you being a doormat, and we are not talking about enabling your family members to continue in destructive living, but it is talking about leaning in and caring for your immediate family first, whatever that looks like. So practical applications, we wrap up this second section. We said earlier, how do you measure progress and spiritual growth in a healthy church? And I think Paul saying, "Are there evidences in your life of growing in godliness?" as listed in verse 10. Chapter four is all about the importance of going after growing in godliness. Now, chapter five, I think Paul's talking about are there evidences of you living that out in your life? Let's walk through those again. Faithful to your spouse, and that's not talking about just not cheating. I think he's talking about, are you investing in your marriage? The last several months, you've been hearing us talk about marriage mentoring here at Rockpoint, and that is now available now. It's available now. There are people ready in place to come alongside you and your marriage as a source of encouragement and walking with you. And this is not just for marriages that are in crisis. This is for any marriage, any couple that wants to invest in their marriage for the long haul. That is being faithful to your spouse. That's what it's talking about. You made a promise in your vows that till death do you part, that you would be all in, that you would fight for this and invest in your marriage. I think that what he means by being faithful to your spouse. Are you being known for good deeds? Are you a person that someone can recall and say, "Man, that is a person that goes out of their way to help somebody else, even at costs themselves." It makes no sense to the outside world. The outside world is all about, "Well, I'll do this for you if you do this for me," but when they see someone do something for the sake of someone else, purely for the sake of just love and care for that person, it makes no sense, but people are known for doing good deeds. Thirdly, bringing up children, and I think that doesn't require just marriage or even having kids, the ability to have kids. I believe this speaks to investing in the next generation. So here at Rockpoint, the kids team, the student team, the children, the teenagers, are you a part of bringing them up as a part of the family of the church here at Rockpoint? We bear the responsibility in raising up the next generation as multiplying disciples in a healthy church. So just so you know, right now there are still 25 spots available on the kids team going into this fall. So right now there are 25 of you that are hearing my voice that maybe God is tugging at your heart saying, "Hey, I want you to be a part of bringing up kids within the family of God here at Rockpoint." Get signed up, contact Wendy and Sharon, and let them know, say, "Hey, I wanna be a part of serving in the kids team or the student team here at Rockpoint." Moving on, a couple other ones here. Showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, which I believe is just service anywhere within the local church, helping those who are in trouble, devotion to good deeds. This is us: a healthy church. That means that our faith in Jesus makes us family, and as with any family, we are broken, We are imperfect, but we have found our hope in the love of Jesus Christ. That means that because of his gospel, we now view and treat each other as family, and that also means that because of his gospel, his transforming love in our life, we now meet the needs of other, their physical needs and other needs because their family. And, again, this is only possible because of his power at work inside of us. So would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, thank you, that it is because you loved us first that we are now able to love one another. We honestly can only give what we have first received, and we didn't choose you, but you pursued us. You adopted us, and we are now permanently a part of your family. Jesus, by your life, and your love, and your power within us, move within us as Rockpoint to live out the truth of your design in our lives to be a family inside a healthy church. And, God, then through us, help us to be a part of your mission and letting this world know about who you are by our love for one another and for this world. It's in the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.