Take care of your family
1 Timothy 5:7-8
Our goal is to strengthen families. We want to strengthen families in general and in our church in particular. Churches need to focus attention and efforts in strengthening families. There has been family breakdown and there are so many good reasons for us to strengthen families. Let us be about reversing the trends of drug abuse, alcoholic parents, high divorce rates and millions of ask risk children who are vulnerable when they do not have a family to nurture and protect them.
The vision for our church is to strengthen families that these families will stand as a model before our troubled world. Every family that makes Christ the head of the home and walks with the Lord and puts the Word of God as their guide and prays to God and walks by faith trusting the Holy Spirit in the midst of the challenges that will come to every family there will be a blessing to that family.
Families that have faith in God have a blessing, like the blessing given to Abraham who was blessed to bless all the families of the earth. Abraham was not blessed to hoard his blessing but to bless others. Let’s strengthen families to bless you, your family and others, up to all the families of the earth. If these are dark times for the institution of the family then we need to shine the light of Christ. We need couples who live as disciples of Christ and raise their children to love God.
Christian, you have an obligation to your family. You have a stewardship with your family. God has entrusted you with your family and you have a Christian responsibility.
Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1 Timothy 5:7-8)
Paul uses strong language for the Christian who doesn’t accept his responsibility for the family. He says that Christian is worse than an unbeliever. Scripture gives clear teaching, Christians have a duty to take care of the needs of their family.
God places a high priority on the family. Christians are to take responsibility for their family. The context of the verse is set in verse 4, the teaching to take care of widows.
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. (1 Timothy 5:4)
But with this context verses 7-8 are more general to take in all the needs of the family. Not just children caring for widowed parent or grandparent but parents caring for children. This is a general call for Christians to care for their families.
There were some Christians in Paul’s day who were ignoring their own family. They were trying to avoid personal responsibilities and shift them somewhere else. They might have made some pious excuse using Paul as someone who is not a family man because he was not married.
Later Paul refers to Timothy’s family members by name. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. (2 Timothy 1:5)
The instructions to take care of family were not just for Timothy, but for him to pass on to the entire congregation and are for all of us. We are all to know that part of our Christian stewardship is to provide for our families.
Taking care of our family is a way Christians shine their light. A family that honors the Lord is a powerful testimony. Our testimony should be in word and deeds. This is a way we will make a difference through strong families.
In taking care of our family there is an aspect of providing and planning. The idea is to give forethought to what it will take to care for your family. This requires us to plan for what it will take to care for our family even for the unforeseen difficulties that will come up. We will have to look ahead.
Those of you who are leaders in your family have all the more responsibility on you to provide for your family. You need to manage your personal resources in a way that enables you to care for the family and prepare for the future.
Our giving to the Lord’s work should be accompanied by providing for our families. It is a poor reflection on God’s people. Probably in most cases the ones who are generous givers in the Lord’s work are the same ones who excel in taking care of their families.
The two aspects of stewardship, giving to the Lord’s work and taking care of family should be connected, because unless giving to the Lord’s work is accompanied by taking care of family there is a negligence of biblical duty.
When I say we need to foresee the future and provide it means basic provision. It does not mean spoiling children with excessive material things. The primary aspect of provision is spiritual nurture and a loving family environment. We are not to hoard wealth for our families we are to provide for them.
We need to look ahead and prepare for the needs of our family. We need to be prepared to keep our household in order. We need to be prepared for a major medical expense. We need to have insurance not hope that nothing will go wrong. If we do not plan for what might come, then financial ruin is only a step away.
To look ahead includes retirement planning and investing each month. It means making sure you live a lifestyle that expenses are controlled and less than your income. Christians provide for those who are dependent on them. That could be the elderly or that could be little ones.
Providing is part of our Christian duty. Has anyone ever called you a bad name? Well you will be called a bad name by the Apostle Paul if you do not provide for your family. He says you are worse than an infidel. Ouch!
Christians that do not provide for their own, that is a person who professes faith in Christ. If you do not care for your own family, then you need strong language. Our Christian faith does not mean we do not have our family duties, it only strengthens them. The implications of verse 7 is that Christians need to be blameless in this area.
An infidel is a person who is not a Christian. Even this unbeliever will care for their family. If you do not care for your family, you are worse than an unbeliever. You have a negative testimony if you do not take care of your family. Please here this if you are a Christian workaholic.
Husbands consider that the likelihood is you will die and leave your wife a widow. You can take care of your health and be sure your family is taken care of if you die tonight. The evangelism question is, if you die tonight do you know for sure you will go to heaven? The 1 Timothy 5:8 question is if you die tonight will your family be provided for? That takes some preparation.
The more you see the need and provide for it the freer you are to give your time, talent and treasure to God’s work. The most important way you can care for your family is spiritually. To pass on your faith. This letter is to Timothy and his mother and grandmother were people of faith. Commit your life to Jesus Christ.
