PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

In the church life the traffic in fellowship between brothers and sisters cannot be avoided. If we do not exercise all purity, we may fall into some kind of snare. Many have fallen into a snare because they were careless and failed to exercise purity in their contact with others. Therefore, we would emphasize again and again that the contact between brothers and sisters must be in all purity.

As we have indicated, our contact with all the saints, brothers and sisters, elderly and young, must be pure in every way. In speaking to an elderly sister as a mother, you need to be pure in your motive. It is evil to have impure motives. To have an impure motive means to seek gain for ourselves, to seek some kind of advantage or promotion. In our contact with all the saints in the church life we should have just one motive-to minister Christ to them that they may grow in the Lord.

DOING OUR DUTY

The fourth point I would bring out in this message is the matter of our duty. We need to be human, we need to exercise wisdom, we need to have all purity, and we need to do our duty. In the church life everyone must have certain duties to perform. No one should be idle or a busybody. In 5:4 Paul says, "But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness toward their own household and to render a return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God." Return here denotes requital, recompense. To render such a return is to show gratitude to one's parents.

In verse 13 Paul speaks of those who "learn to be idle, going around from house to house; and not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not." Some are idle, seemingly having nothing to do. But their idleness causes them to become busybodies. They go around from house to house gossiping and "speaking things which they ought not." No one in the church should be idle, and no one should be a gossip or a busybody. Instead, everyone should have something to do, some proper duty to perform.

Realizing the need for all the saints to do their duty, Paul tells Timothy not to allow a widow to be enrolled who is under sixty years old (v. 9). He then tells Timothy to refuse younger widows, for they may set aside their first pledge, or faith (vv. 11-12). Setting aside "their first pledge" means to break a pledge or promise. This indicates that some younger widows promised, pledged, to devote themselves in their widowhood to some service of the church.

In verse 14 Paul goes on to say, "I will therefore that younger widows marry, bear children, rule the house, give no occasion to the opposer for reproach." Childbearing and house affairs are a rescue and safeguard to idle busybodies. This is God's ordination to restrict and protect women since the fall (Genesis 3:16).

Witness Lee, The Life-Study of First Timothy, pp. 77-82; Printed by Living Stream Ministry.

APPLICATION

1. Why do we need to emphasize proper human living in the training of our children? How can you provide this training to your family practically?

2. How can you apply in the care and training of your children the fellowship concerning the need to exercise wisdom in our relationships with all the saints?

3. Fellowship with one another how you can train your children to have all of their dealings with the saints "in all purity" and how you can help them to realize that in the church life and in the family life everyone must have certain duties to perform.