First Timothy 5, verses 9 through 16. He's been talking about relations in the church, and then especially beginning with verse 3 of honoring widows, taking care of the church's responsibility to care for widows. And that word also could refer to a woman who's been abandoned by her husband, that sort of thing, has no one to help and support her. and made the point that the family is to help, then if not, the church. And it continues on to talk about widows, but I think that we'll see a little bit different light, not so much about caring for them, but more about what they should be doing. So we begin reading with verse 9. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than 60 years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works. If she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. but refuse to enroll 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 learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. So I'd have the younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. For some have already strayed after saying, If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the Church not be burdened, so may it care for those who are truly widows. There's an ad on the TV that shows three boys, maybe a little bit older than Christopher, going into a convenience store. And as they go there, they kind of spread out in the store, and each one begins to do something somewhat destructive in the store, and you're shown this young store clerk watching this all going on in sort of amazement, thinking, what should I do? And then we cut to the mother who's out at the gas pump, and she's pumping the gas, and she's saying sort of innocently, boys, Where are you? What are you doing? Maybe you've seen that ad. And the point of the ad, if you didn't get it, is that you need to buy a car that's more fuel efficient so you don't have to stop at the gas station so often and run into that situation where the boys are running around crazy inside. Well, I trust you realize that that's a false dichotomy. There are more than just those two simple choices of whether buying a fuel-efficient car so you don't have to stop very often or seeing your boys go in and destroy the convenience store. There's a third and a much better option. That's teaching the boys how to behave. What do they do when they don't have anything to occupy themselves? What are some good things, some acceptable things to do, even in a convenience store, when mom's not there, is outside? And what are the things that are wrong? What are the things that are unacceptable? Because that's a choice that faces those who have free time. How do you use that time? What purpose do you have? And I encourage us to think about this passage along that way, of how do you use your time? What's good and acceptable, and what's wrong and unacceptable to God? Because this section is continuing to talk about widows, but not so much about the responsibility the church has for the widows. That's been talked about, and we've seen certain things. It's now talking about those widows who've now been freed up. They're being provided for. And so the question is, what do they do with their time? Do they use it well? Or do they use it wrongly? Just as those boys in a convenience store. And so we've already had laid out what the responsibility is toward the widows, that it first falls upon the family to provide, and then if there's no family, then it's up to the church And then there's a third idea that, you know, a widow who's living wantonly, who's living in sin, is not to be provided for, that they're free from that obligation. But now he's dealing with a new area. What about these widows and some of these women who are abandoned, whose needs are taken care of? The church is providing. They aren't able to go out and work, and in that day there were very few jobs that were available to women, and most of them involved things that were immoral. And so they would have time on their hands. What are they doing with it? And so we'll look and see that the passage talks about the wrong use of time, and then a couple right uses, and it depends upon the age which one you would fall under. But I want us to begin with the relevance that it has today. And so the first point is, what's the relevance of this passage today? Because if you look around our group, we don't have any widows here. And it may be quite a number of years before we have any widows in the group. You know, women whose husbands have deserted them. Why not just skip this passage and say we'll come back to it when it's more applicable to us. What have you, consider the fact that although we don't have widows, We have people who like the widow in the first century who have free time. That one of the things that maybe set apart the widow in the first century, especially if they were provided for, is that they had free time. And the question that Paul is dealing with is, how do you use your free time? How do you spend it? Now that would have been actually fairly rare for people in the first century. They would have been trying to earn a living, trying to provide for themselves, and most times barely getting by. They wouldn't have known of retirees who had retired at age 65. and have enough in savings to live out the rest of the years never having to work again and being in good health. They wouldn't have known of young people who haven't yet reached the job market, would be maybe taking summer vacation off from school and have a lot of free time on their hands, or ones who are disabled and are being provided for. And I maintain that such ones like that today face the same problem, the same question that the widow did in the first century. What do I do with my free time? And so even though we don't have widows, we have those who have free time. And with the labor-saving devices we have, we have a lot more free time than they did in the first century. And so the question just as a widow is to think about how do I use my time? What is the right way? What is the wrong way to use it? The question for us is how do I use my free time? And some of us may have a lot more and some have a lot less, but how do I use it? What are some good things to do with that time and what are some wrong things? And so the second point I want to see under this is the wrong use of time. It's highlighted in verse 13. There are certain widows that they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. And so children, if you draw through the picture of somebody gossiping, put that no around it, that symbol saying don't. And so as you read here, the first sin is that of idleness, of not being productive. And we know in scripture that every idle word is going to be judged or going to be held accountable for. How much more when we're idle and unproductive for hours or days or weeks, when we can look back on a week and say, you know, I've really not accomplished a single thing all week long. I've just wasted hour after hour. And it doesn't mean that every waking moment has to be packed with some activity or we can't take time to relax. But there are those who learn how to waste time, to accomplish nothing, to be able to look back and say, you know, I really haven't done anything that needed to be done this whole week. Such idleness is sin. And one of the things that happens when a husband retires is he has to learn how to use that free time. He's been productive, he's been laboring, and now he retires. And more than one husband, I know, has gotten their wife crazy by not having anything to do. Not having figured out what I want to do now that I'm retired. And that inactivity is often depressing. Because each one need to have a sense that we're doing something, that we're accomplishing something. It may not be changing the world, but it's accomplishing something. Now, the Nazis learned this in the prison camps. That if you gave the soldiers something to do, no matter how menial, you know, digging a dent for the latrine, well, that gave them good morale. But if you had them dig a hole and move the dirt to the other side of the camp, and as soon as they got done doing that, you had them carry it back and put it back in the hole, well, that demoralized. the group. Because they had a sense that their labor meant absolutely nothing. As soon as they got the whole dug, they'd fill it up again and they'd do it two, three, four times. That lack of purpose. Even as you're digging a latrine, you felt like you were doing something that mattered, that counted for something. But not only is it a matter of idleness, this idleness opens a door for further sins, for gossiping, for being busybodies, for saying things that you should not. The sins of the mouth that can do harm to others as you gossip, as you speak, things that maybe you're told in confidence and pass it on. You maybe have heard it said that idle hands are the devil's workshop. And although it's not a direct quote, it's a reflection of the verse here. When there's idleness, there's going to be something that's going to come in and occupy the person. And oftentimes, it's the wrong thing. It's gossip. Instead of doing something positive and good, it becomes something unacceptable. You know, think about the three boys in that TV ad. What they needed to learn was how to do something good. Maybe to read a book. Maybe to quietly go through the store and think about Maybe what they need, what they would want for dinner, or whatever it is. Notice that it says here, they learn to be idlers. A natural instinct is the opposite, is to want to do something, is to want to be engaged in life. And we find various ways of doing that, whether it be, you know, the work that we do from nine to five every day, or maybe taking care of the house, or cooking, or being involved in yard work, visiting someone who's lonely. These are things that make life meaningful. We naturally want to do something like that, to feel we have accomplished something, or we've done something this week. It's saying we have to learn to be idle, learn to be pointless in what we do each day. And to be content with that. So that's what's prohibited. For the widows, but really for all of us. It's to misuse our times to be idle, to be needlessly idle and gossip and being busybodies. What a wrong thing, what a dishonoring thing to Christ to do that. Well, the third point is the proper use. What's a proper use of our free time, whether it be the widows or just any of us who would have extra time. There are two different cases. The first is the older women, the older widows. It seems like by now the church in Ephesus has developed some sort of role of older women, of widows. And they've taken a pledge to dedicate themselves to Christ and to put Him and His service first in their lives. To not think about marriage and all the rest, but to focus their activities upon serving Christ. And we don't know all the details, but that's what we glean as we look at this portion of Scripture. And so they had certain qualifications. They had to be 60 years or older. Now in that day, 60 years was fairly old. I think the equivalent today might be about 80 years old with some of the advancements in terms of living longer and health and better health. So it wouldn't have been that just everybody would have reached 60, but there were those who would have. there to be the wife of one husband. That's very similar in wording to what we find for the elders and the deacons, the qualification there, where it's turned around, the husband of one wife. And as we looked at those, we made the point that it really isn't talking about no remarriage or things like that, but it's talking about someone you know who has lived morally with a husband who has an unblemished record and is not open or susceptible to adultery. Someone of unquestioned morality and faithfulness. Third is a reputation for good works. And as mentioned, there's some very practical things. That what's involved in those good works. Brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet. of the saints, a very practical need. You may remember how Jesus washed the feet of disciples. It's considered menial, but it was a very practical need in that day. Devoted themselves to every good work and talks in terms of cared for the afflicted. We can think there in terms of someone in their physical illness or maybe somebody who's been imprisoned as they're afflicted that they've been cared for by these widows. And so we see ones who've been living out their Christian faith. Not in some extraordinary terms of great and glorious works that have been going around and converting hundreds and raising people from the dead and performing miracles. It wasn't those types of things, but what James would call that pure and undefiled religion. That simple putting into practice what you believe. Of caring for others, of loving others, of loving your neighbor as yourself. They've shown that. We get the local newspaper and there's an order of nuns that live across the river and that's where they retire to and so they often will die over there. And the obituaries will say often a lot of the same sort of things at the very end of it. They'll say that Sister So-and-so gave herself to a prayer ministry in a certain time, a year ago, two years ago. And what it is saying is, at least in theory, that these nuns are always giving themselves to service to God. Now, maybe when they were younger and in the prime of life they were teachers in a Catholic school, They come and retire, but they still remain active, they still remain busy. And most times when they go to prison, there's a nun or two who are going in to visit an inmate. Well, they get to the point where they can't even get out. There may be bedridden. What do they do? Well, they're to be in prayer. That their service doesn't end. Even with the fact that they can't get out of bed, they can't get out of their room. Well, shouldn't that be true for all of us? As we retire, we think about, how do I serve God? How do I use my time and energy and strength and service to God? And there may be times when we get to the point where we're not able to get out, we're not able to do much. But we should still, like the nuns, be in prayer. bringing those things that we're aware of to God in prayer. In all this, it's nothing extraordinary. There's a practice putting the religion into what they do. It isn't that they have to do something phenomenal, something that the world takes notice, but just the simple things of life. that show kindness and caring, that the love of Christ has transformed you into a different person. There's a second category, and that's the younger women. You might notice what Paul suggests that they are to do, that because of likelihood that at some point they'd want to remarry, that they might find somebody and there, he said, it'd be good for them not to make a pledge, to be given over to Christ in his service. So what's for them, what is it for them to do? In verse 14, they're to marry, bear children, and manage their households. And in verse 16, they're to care for widows. And some wonder about verse 16, why is it focused on women that aren't the men to care for the widows as well? Well, it's talking here really about the women who have time on their hands. And they're to take care of their homes and to be thinking about that previous generation, the widows. Is there somebody in their house? that needs care, a mother, a stepmother, a mother-in-law. Now realize in all this, these are not absolute commands. Women can't be guaranteed they'd find a suitable husband. And even if they do, they may not be able to bear children. They might be prevented from doing that. But the point is, as they consider their time and what are they to do, they're to do the normal things of life in a Christian way. They are able to serve God. by being married, by taking care of children, by providing a household for the husband. And so, there's nothing wrong with that. They don't need to be dedicating themselves through prematurity to serving Christ, to be involved in ministry all the time to the sick and to the needy, to the visiting in the prison. A younger woman can serve God, can serve Christ in her family by raising children. And these things are honorable. The danger is if you make a promise to serve Christ and to serve Him wholly, and you back away from that. You slander, it's said, and you actually following the devil is you make a commitment in faith and then you don't live through it. And so for the younger widows, they have to live God honoring lives in their station of life of being involved in family. Now today we have more opportunities for work and being involved in the community. So that's maybe more options that we have that they didn't have back in the first century. But it really is saying to us, whatever our situation, we're to be using that to honor Christ. And sometimes it's by placing family first and being involved there. Sometimes it may be able to give yourself more time to service of Christ. or to be in prayer, but to consider use of time. How do I honor Christ? What are things that are acceptable, and what are things that are unacceptable? And so I'd have you, each one, consider this, even though none of us here are widows, We all would have a certain amount of free time, a time that we can use one way or another. And the challenge is for us to use that time in serving Jesus Christ. To avoid idleness, to avoid gossiping and being a mere bitty body, but rather to use our time well. to serve Christ, and sometimes it may be in things that the world doesn't see as glorious, but rather mundane. To be a good mother, to be a good father, to be spending time with your spouse, to be spending time with someone who is feeling lonely, is feeling discouraged, to be spending time in prayer. Those are the things that honor Christ with our time. Let's pray. look at these words and see they're talking about widows and yet there's a sense in which we have some of the same privileges that the widows have, that we have often free time with a shorter work week and easier work conditions, that we don't have to devote ourselves as much as they did in the first century to work for providing for our basic physical needs. We have the ability to retire and to live off of what we've accumulated over the years. Thank you for that. That presents us an opportunity to use our free time, to make it count. I pray that we would do that. We would know how to use our time wisely, not to fill it so full that we're overwhelmed. But to do those things that are honorable in your sight. Those things that maybe are not seen as flashy, but mundane. But which have an impact on people around us. Show us how we might do that each and every day. And pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.