In the middle of chapter 6, Paul has an interesting discussion on seeking after wealth. In brief, Timothy shouldn't pursue wealth and should encourage others to follow his lead. In this passage comes the famous line, "The love of money is the root of all evils." (By the way, although not a Greek expert, I do think this is the correct translation. I do not see anything in the original that can be legitimately translated as "all kids of".) But before this is what I believe is the far more important line, "Now godliness combined with contentment brings great profit."
Ancient Greek philosophers had a term that I think might be beneficial for modern Christians: eudaimonia. The rough translation is "flourishing", or to put it differently, being the best you that you can be. The idea is that everything has a purpose and that thing is only as good as it achieves that purpose.
The eudaimonia of the Christian is to serve God. It isn't to become rich. It isn't to own a big house. It isn't to have a lot of stuff. These things can get in the way of serving God. Wealth can be used to advance the Kingdom. This isn't to say that making money is inherently bad. I have a friend who I think is a model for this. He owns a highly successful internet business. He only needs four employees to run the whole thing and he pays them well. The profits he makes go into growing the business and ministry. He himself lives in a 900 square foot cabin. He doesn't splurge on anything, but rather lives simply. After giving money to ministry, he makes $30,000 per year. (I don't know the details, but he gives away a lot more than that.) He devotes 20 hours a week to ministry. This, I believe, is an example of living a life of godliness combined with contentment. And he flourishes, in the true sense of the term. He is highly fulfilled with his life, mostly because he is content and feels like he is serving God.
Showing posts with label I Timothy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I Timothy. Show all posts
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Thoughts on I Timothy 5: Practical advice for the Church
In chapter 5, Paul gives Timothy a lot of tips for handling situations in the church. Today I will just focus on the handling of widows.
Perhaps contrary to what a lot of people might think today, Paul did not call for the universal helping of the poor. He believed it was the responsibility of the church to help those who truly needed it. In his day, the primary case was widows. Paul instructed Timothy to only help widows who did not have family to care for them. If someone refused to care for their elderly family members, they were to be shunned. (Boy, do we have a different mentality today in the US...)
If the widow was young enough to remarry she should, so that she could be taken care of and the church could focus on those "truly in need". I think the modern corollary is that people who are young enough to still work should be expected to do so and not be taken care of by the church. This is something the church in the US used to do well. If someone could work, the church would help them find work, even if that meant cleaning up the church and doing yard work for elderly parishioners. With the advent of the welfare state, there is both less expectation of the church to help and greater expectation that when the church does help, that it does so without regard to the capabilities of the recipient. Both mentalities are wrong, but it is very hard, given today's circumstances, to escape either one.
Perhaps contrary to what a lot of people might think today, Paul did not call for the universal helping of the poor. He believed it was the responsibility of the church to help those who truly needed it. In his day, the primary case was widows. Paul instructed Timothy to only help widows who did not have family to care for them. If someone refused to care for their elderly family members, they were to be shunned. (Boy, do we have a different mentality today in the US...)
If the widow was young enough to remarry she should, so that she could be taken care of and the church could focus on those "truly in need". I think the modern corollary is that people who are young enough to still work should be expected to do so and not be taken care of by the church. This is something the church in the US used to do well. If someone could work, the church would help them find work, even if that meant cleaning up the church and doing yard work for elderly parishioners. With the advent of the welfare state, there is both less expectation of the church to help and greater expectation that when the church does help, that it does so without regard to the capabilities of the recipient. Both mentalities are wrong, but it is very hard, given today's circumstances, to escape either one.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Thoughts on I Timothy 4: Don't neglect your gifts
When I was younger, vv. 12-16 of the fourth chapter were some of the most important to me in the Bible. Now I am middle aged and not quite sure what to do with them.
When I was in high school and college, I did receive confirmation of my spiritual gifts through prophesy. I never had a blueprint for what I was supposed to do with these gifts, so I spent my early adulthood doing things that I thought would put myself in a position to both fine-tune the gifts and give myself more credibility. I earned a master's degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in government. I served in the churches I was in and did gain credibility within those churches.
Then I got married. My criteria for getting married for as long as I can remember is that I should be able to better serve God with my wife than without my wife. I found a woman who had strengths in my areas of weakness and we married. I have since found that I am serving God less effectively. The marriage drains my energy and I am constantly doing things to fix things for her because she has glaring weaknesses in my areas of strength. But it saps up all of my energy and I am no longer serving God. In addition, my spiritual gifts have been neglected and I feel like they are weakening.
That's primarily why I am doing these "thoughts on" posts. I am trying to exercise some of my spiritual gifts and get them back into shape so that hopefully I can get back to serving God and live up to the potential He gave me. I'm not even remotely close to being there yet. I look back on some of my older writing and listen to some of my old talks and am in wonder of what I was once able to do. Now I just feel tired and hopeless that I can never get back to where I once was, let alone to where I know I should be. I neglected my gifts and now I feel the consequences of that neglect.
When I was in high school and college, I did receive confirmation of my spiritual gifts through prophesy. I never had a blueprint for what I was supposed to do with these gifts, so I spent my early adulthood doing things that I thought would put myself in a position to both fine-tune the gifts and give myself more credibility. I earned a master's degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in government. I served in the churches I was in and did gain credibility within those churches.
Then I got married. My criteria for getting married for as long as I can remember is that I should be able to better serve God with my wife than without my wife. I found a woman who had strengths in my areas of weakness and we married. I have since found that I am serving God less effectively. The marriage drains my energy and I am constantly doing things to fix things for her because she has glaring weaknesses in my areas of strength. But it saps up all of my energy and I am no longer serving God. In addition, my spiritual gifts have been neglected and I feel like they are weakening.
That's primarily why I am doing these "thoughts on" posts. I am trying to exercise some of my spiritual gifts and get them back into shape so that hopefully I can get back to serving God and live up to the potential He gave me. I'm not even remotely close to being there yet. I look back on some of my older writing and listen to some of my old talks and am in wonder of what I was once able to do. Now I just feel tired and hopeless that I can never get back to where I once was, let alone to where I know I should be. I neglected my gifts and now I feel the consequences of that neglect.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Thoughts on I Timothy 3: Choosing Elders and Deacons
I have never been an elder or a deacon myself. I have been influential in choosing both positions at two different churches, though. I can also tell you that I have high standards for both positions and certain individuals did not receive appointments because of walking through this chapter with church leadership.
It is good to be both an elder and a deacon. Having said that, though, I am very cautious about those who think they are ready for the job--who strongly believe they are qualified. That indicates an arrogance that I think might indicate a lack of qualification.
In my opinion, most churches need to be more careful in their selection of deacons and elders. I've seen too many problems pop up from the choice of a "big name" who then become arrogant and leads the church in an unhealthy direction. I think part of the lack of cautiousness largely comes from two problems:
It is good to be both an elder and a deacon. Having said that, though, I am very cautious about those who think they are ready for the job--who strongly believe they are qualified. That indicates an arrogance that I think might indicate a lack of qualification.
In my opinion, most churches need to be more careful in their selection of deacons and elders. I've seen too many problems pop up from the choice of a "big name" who then become arrogant and leads the church in an unhealthy direction. I think part of the lack of cautiousness largely comes from two problems:
- The church is thinking too much like the world in the selection of leaders. A good business or political leader, for example, does not necessarily make a good church leader.
- Many churches have church constitutions or charters which mandate the number of elders and deacons that are to serve there. But what happens when there are too few truly qualified candidates in a church?
Friday, October 11, 2013
Thoughts on I Timothy 2: Pray for everyone
Pray for everyone. Not just the people you like. Not just your family. Not just for those close to you. Pray for everyone. Pray for those who do you wrong. Pray for those you've never encountered.
When teaching a politics class, I often refer to a something studied in social psychology. Unfortunately, I am blanking out on the technical term, so I will just describe it. We tend to favor those who we see ourselves associated with. If a member of my family is in dispute with a neighbor, I side with the family member. If my neighbor argues with someone across town, I side with my neighbor. If someone from across town argues with someone from a different town, I side with the person from my town. We naturally favor those with whom we identify. This has both positive and negative consequences.
In terms of prayer, it means it is much easier for us to pray for those with whom we identify. I don't do a good job of praying for those in South America. I don't have any affinity with that part of the world. I don't bother to see what their needs might be.
A few years ago I had a book that was essentially a guide for praying for every country in the world. I got it at a missions conference, and, although it had some flaws (including factual errors), it did at least give me a broader perspective. I was able to see needs outside myself and outside those with whom I identify. I was better able to (although not perfectly able to) pray for everyone.
When teaching a politics class, I often refer to a something studied in social psychology. Unfortunately, I am blanking out on the technical term, so I will just describe it. We tend to favor those who we see ourselves associated with. If a member of my family is in dispute with a neighbor, I side with the family member. If my neighbor argues with someone across town, I side with my neighbor. If someone from across town argues with someone from a different town, I side with the person from my town. We naturally favor those with whom we identify. This has both positive and negative consequences.
In terms of prayer, it means it is much easier for us to pray for those with whom we identify. I don't do a good job of praying for those in South America. I don't have any affinity with that part of the world. I don't bother to see what their needs might be.
A few years ago I had a book that was essentially a guide for praying for every country in the world. I got it at a missions conference, and, although it had some flaws (including factual errors), it did at least give me a broader perspective. I was able to see needs outside myself and outside those with whom I identify. I was better able to (although not perfectly able to) pray for everyone.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Thoughts on I Timothy 1: Keep the main thing the main thing
As a teacher, it is very easy to get distracted. Students (at least at the college level) also love to distract you. They often want to get into heated discussions about something they find interesting rather than focusing on the content that they are supposed to learn. There seems to be something about human nature that drags us away from focusing on what is good for us so that we can ponder irrelevant things.
Paul warns Timothy in the beginning of this letter to be careful of such things, and to watch out for those who are trying to distract from the central themes of the gospel. I don't know the specifics of these distractions, but I imagine it is similar to those today who focus so much on an obscure piece of theology and end up ignoring the larger picture.
How does one not get distracted? By keeping the main thing the main thing. I am a sinner. God saved me. Now He wants a good relationship with me. God wants the same for you.
Discussing other things can be valuable when done in certain ways and in certain contexts, but only when done in proper perspective. Our relationship with God should always be the focus and the purpose for all of our discussions.
Paul warns Timothy in the beginning of this letter to be careful of such things, and to watch out for those who are trying to distract from the central themes of the gospel. I don't know the specifics of these distractions, but I imagine it is similar to those today who focus so much on an obscure piece of theology and end up ignoring the larger picture.
How does one not get distracted? By keeping the main thing the main thing. I am a sinner. God saved me. Now He wants a good relationship with me. God wants the same for you.
Discussing other things can be valuable when done in certain ways and in certain contexts, but only when done in proper perspective. Our relationship with God should always be the focus and the purpose for all of our discussions.
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