Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (I Timothy 5:3-8)
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17)
Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” (Exodus 18:17-23)
Today’s topic is a hard one. The Church took has the job of caring for its people. It hasn’t always done a good job, and somewhere along the line, it was decided by some that the government was a far better caregiver. Part of this was because well-meaning folks decided that if the government oversaw the care of people, certain levels of behavior could be mandated. Social Engineering would fix all our personal and societal woes.
The problem is simple. The further the agency tasked with fixing a problem is from the problem, the less it understands the problem, and the more generic and ineffective the solutions become. Paul tells Timothy that the Church is to care for widows…if they can’t care for themselves (which was often the case) and if they didn’t have families who could do so. In effect, the Church was to hire these women and put them to work.
If you read the verses at the top of the blog, you’ll have noticed that I repeated yesterday’s passage about dealing with people who are sinning. I’m not suggesting that the widows being described in the first passage are sinning, but there’s a parallel I noticed. The first step in solving the problem of someone sinning is to go to them and discuss it with them one-to-one. The second step is to take a couple others along. The third step is to take them before the Church. The fourth is to remove fellowship with them. The first step in the solution to the problems facing widows is for them to take care of themselves. The second is for their families to take responsibility for the widow (and be held accountable for her.) The third step is for the Church to take responsibility or the widow. The fourth step, if the family will not fulfill its responsibilities is to remove fellowship from the family (not the widow.)
The third passage today is Jethro’s advice to his son-in-law Moses. The pattern is there, too. Problems are to be handled by those closest to the problem, and it’s only as we can’t solve them that we add people, and it is only those within the Church who refuse to work within that Scriptural framework who are excluded.
One last issue to consider. These principles were given to the Church. I believe they will work anywhere, but consider this. Some people are posting memes saying that it’s wrong to care for illegal aliens before we take care of our veterans or our own. I believe it’s equally wrong for the Church to allocate resources to help the world and those in it while there are still people within the Church that need help. That doesn’t mean we don’t seek or help those outside the church, but the priority is to care for our own and then to care for others. Some people are so focused on the unsaved that they neglect their brothers and sisters in the pews. That is not what Scripture teaches.
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