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TIMOTHY IS ADVISED AS TO HOW TO AVOID SLANDER!
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood tall and
straight before King Nebuchadnezzar and pleaded guilty as charged. Yes,
they had refused to serve the gods of this powerful king and had spurned his
image of gold; an image that was 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. They
knew full well the consequences of their actions and submitted to them. But
just before they were condemned to die in a blazing furnace they, in Daniel 3:16
- 18, said:
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. 17
If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save
us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he
doesn't, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship
the gold statue you have set up."
Wow! It was a courageous statement but
it didn't sway Nebuchadnezzar from carrying out the sentence. Nor was it
uttered in hopes of changing his mind. It was simply a bold statement
of faith in the one true God, the God the three served.
Most of you, of course, know what happened. The
three were thrown into a furnace so hot it killed the soldiers who tossed the
three into it. But it did absolutely no harm to Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego. It didn't singe their hair, scorch their robes, and they didn't
even have the smell of smoke on them!
In shock and awe Nebuchadnezzar brought them back
into the courtroom and publicly declared, in Daniel 3:28 - 29, the following
decree. We read:
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise to the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego!
He sent his angel to rescue his servants who trusted in him. They defied the
king's command and were willing to die rather than serve or worship any god except
their own God. 29 Therefore, I make this decree: If any people, whatever
their race or nation or language, speak a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, they will be torn limb from limb, and their houses will be crushed
into heaps of rubble. There is no other god who can rescue like this!"
In other words, if anyone slanders Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego they will die a horrible death and their families will suffer the
loss of their home. King Nebuchadnezzar wasn't the smartest bureaucrat
in those days. However, he knew something that most of us, in our
instantly-talk-to-anyone-about-anything world, don't think about anymore.
He knew how injurious slander can be for an individual
or a group of individuals. So when he wanted to honor and protect these
three servants he decreed that no one, absolutely no one, was to utter a word
of slander against them. To do so would not only be foolish, it would be
deadly. And rightfully so, for slander is itself foolish and deadly as
it can wipe out one's hard-earned reputation in an instant.1
It is for this reason that the Bible commands
you and I not so slander anyone and encourages us, as a church, not to open ourselves
up to slander. In regards to the former there are a number of place in
Scripture that command you and I not to slander anyone. For example, in
Psalm 15:1 - 3 we read:
Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD?
Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
Those who lead blameless lives
and do what is right,
speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
Those who refuse to slander others
or harm their neighbors
or speak evil of their friends.
In the New Testament, Peter in the first verse
of chapter two of I Peter says to all those who are new creations in Christ:
So get rid of all malicious behavior and deceit. Don't just pretend to be good!
Be done with hypocrisy and jealousy and backstabbing (i. e. slander).
Peter knew quite well how deeply someone can be
wounded with mere words. As a young Christian his words from time to time
had cut others deeply. So speaking from bitter experience he urged his
recipients to refrain from slandering others.
On the other side of the coin, as a church we're
encouraged not to behave in such a manner that others can look in and be given
an opportunity to slander the good name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It
is this possibility that probably prompted Paul to advise Timothy as to how to
avoid slanderous accusations. In I Timothy 5:1 - 16 we read:
Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal
to him respectfully as though he were your own father. Talk to the younger men
as you would to your own brothers. 2 Treat the older women as you would
your mother, and treat the younger women with all purity as your own sisters.
The church should care for any widow who has no
one else to care for her. 4 But if she has children or grandchildren, their
first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by
taking care of them. This is something that pleases God very much.
But a woman who is a true widow, one who is truly
alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. Night and day she asks God for
help and spends much time in prayer. 6 But the widow who lives only for
pleasure is spiritually dead. 7 Give these instructions to the church so
that the widows you support will not be criticized.
But those who won't care for their own relatives,
especially those living in the same household, have denied what we believe. Such
people are worse than unbelievers.
A widow who is put on the list for support must
be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband. 10
She must be well respected by everyone because of the good she has done. Has
she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers? Has she served
other Christians humbly? Has she helped those who are in trouble? Has she always
been ready to do good?
The younger widows should not be on the list,
because their physical desires will overpower their devotion to Christ and they
will want to remarry. 12 Then they would be guilty of breaking their previous
pledge. 13 Besides, they are likely to become lazy and spend their time
gossiping from house to house, getting into other people's business and saying
things they shouldn't. 14 So I advise these younger widows to marry again,
have children, and take care of their own homes. Then the enemy will not be able
to say anything against them. 15 For I am afraid that some of them have
already gone astray and now follow Satan.
If a Christian woman has relatives who are widows,
she must take care of them and not put the responsibility on the church. Then
the church can care for widows who are truly alone.
In the midst of the details of this passage it
is easy to miss the reason for Paul's advice to Timothy. Yes, he is talking
about internal affairs. But his fear is that if the church doesn't handle
its internal affairs in a right manner the enemy will be given an opportunity
for slander.
Now you might be thinking, if we don't handle
our internal affair in a right manner and the watching world, at the prompting
of Satan, accuses us of mistreating one another it wouldn't be slander. It
would be the truth! Yes, it would be the truth about our wretched behavior
but it would slander our God. For while our actions might rightly deserve
the accusing finger of the world, our Lord does not deserve to have his reputation
damaged along with ours.
You see, Paul's advice isn't given so much as
to protect us from slander as much as it is to protect God's good name from serious
injury. In other words, this passage isn't really about us. It's
about conducting ourselves toward each other in such a manner as to bring glory
to God.
So how should we conduct ourselves toward each
other so as to protect God's good name. First, we are to give senior members
of the church the respect which is due to their age and the affection which is
due to our parents. In other words, we are to treat older men like our
father and older women like our mother.
Yes, there is such a thing as the generation gap
and it has practical implications for us. Toward those who are older than
us, old enough to be our parents, we are to always be polite, gentle, caring,
and affectionate. To those who are younger, we are to treat them as we
would a younger brother or sister. That is, we are to come alongside them
and offer our help, our guidance, our wisdom, and perhaps some of the lessons
we have learned the hard way. And, where a man is relating to a sister
in Christ they are to do so in all purity.
In regards to widows Scripture has much to say
about them and honors them in a way that is not seen in our everyday world. For
example, as far back as Exodus 22:22 - 24 we read:
"Do not exploit widows or orphans. 23 If you do and they cry out to
me, then I will surely help them. 24 My anger will blaze forth against
you, and I will kill you with the sword. Your wives will become widows, and your
children will become fatherless.
In Deuteronomy 14:28 - 29 we read:
"At the end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops and store
it in the nearest town. 29 Give it to the Levites, who have no inheritance
among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the
widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the LORD your God
will bless you in all your work.
In Psalm 68:4 - 6 we read:
4 Sing praises to God and to his name!
Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds.
His name is the LORD
rejoice in his presence!
5 Father to the fatherless, defender of widows-
this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
6 God places the lonely in families;
he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy.
But for rebels, there is only famine and distress.
And in Malachi 3:5 we read:
At that time I will put you on trial. I will be a ready witness against all sorcerers
and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their
wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among
you of justice, for these people do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.
Then in the New Testament we see the Lord Jesus
consistently compassionate toward widows. He restored to life the only
son of the widow of Nain. He commended both the request of the widow who
badgered the unjust judge into action and the generosity of the poor widow who
contributed two small copper coins to the temple treasury. He also warned
his disciples against the scribes who "devoured widow's houses" while
at the same time declaring they were religious. And from the cross he practiced
what he preached when he commended his widowed mother to the care of John.2
It's pretty clear from Scripture, and it meets
with common sense, that widows are in a very vulnerable stage of life. They
can be left to suffer as has often happened. They can be taken advantage
of, even within the church, by those who are motivated by greed. Or,
they can be cared for by their families and/or the church family.
So here in I Timothy Paul advised Timothy
as to how to care for widows within the church. This issue had been dealt
within in the early church and now had to be given some attention at First Church
of the Living Way in Ephesus. But what makes this issue a little bit tricky
is that within "widowhood" there are various categories of widows.
There are those that are truly in need. They
are to be recognized and supported by either their own children or grandchildren
or by the church. You can recognize these women because through their prayer
life you know that they have put their hope in God. In addition to their
prayer life these are widows who:
1. Are
over the age of 60.
2. Have
been a one-man woman.
3. Are
known for their devotion to good deeds, such as
-
hospitality.
-
a willingness to serve others.
-
helping those in trouble.
-
Second, there are those widows who would be on
the list of those who ought to be honored except for the fact that they have
abandoned their own family as well as the church for the sake of pleasure. These
are the women who squander what little they have by taking the bus up to Fort
Apache to find pleasure in betting against the odds. Of all the widows
these are to be most pitied for they are already dead in their sins.
Finally, there are the younger widows, less than
60 years old, who should not be put on the list. They are still young enough
to get married. Should they not get married they are likely to become busybodies
which brings us to a principle that applies to both men and women. It is:
Too much time with not enough to do is dangerous for anyone
except those too old to get into trouble!
1 Slander (slan'der) n. 1. Law. Oral
communication of false statements injurious to a person's reputation. 2.
A false and malicious statement or report about someone.
2 See: Luke 7:11-17; Luke 18:1 - 8; Luke 21:1 - 4;
Mark 12:38 - 40; and John 19:26-27.
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