Care of Widows

1 Timothy chapter 3, I'm going to jump in here in verse number 12. Let the deacons be the husband of one wife, by the way we're going to talk about deacons taking care of the widows here, ruling their children and own houses well, for they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. I love that passage there because you're going to find that these deacons two of them are mentioned Stephen and Philip and they did the ministry to the widows.

They were ordained for that purpose. There was seven of them. We'll see that here in a minute and you'd think well these deacons they just kind of focus on taking care of the natural things, but it isn't long because before these deacons Philip and Stephen are mentioned have great boldness in the faith of the Lord Jesus and they're out preaching the gospel and doing great miracles and signs and just having some boldness.

Stephen especially was a man of boldness. Stephen was just a regular guy in the church until he was called upon seven men of honest report will ordain them to this ministry of serving, just taking care of widows. Now many people think well that's my gift.

That's my responsibility. I'm not supposed to be out preaching, but these men, these deacons, they got a great boldness. In other words God blessed them because of their faithfulness and what they were doing and he took them up another level.

And so Philip and Stephen went forth. Verse 14, these things write unto you hoping to come unto thee shortly and I'd like you to notice verse 15, but if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. Here's how you need to behave yourself in the house of God.

So when Paul writes these things to Timothy, he says Timothy here's how I want the church to function. This is how you behave yourself properly in the house of God. And he goes on, he talks these next couple of chapters about how to behave in the house of God.

What's the right way to do things in the house of God? And he brings up here in chapter 5 this idea of widows. He takes a rather long time to address widows. And so to God it's important in the house of God how we address widows and how we minister to those who have needs.

So look with me to 1 Timothy 5 and let's read down through here and I'll just make a couple of comments. Chapter 5 verse 3 says, Honor widows that are widows indeed. And we're going to see what that is here in just a minute.

But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home and to requite their parents for that is good and acceptable before God. So if someone is widowed, notice it says widow not widower, it's talking about the sisters. If someone is widowed, then if they have children, let's say I were to pass away and my wife, she would be left by herself and she has children.

She has nephews. By the way, I think it's interesting it says nephews, not nieces. Nephews, it's a male thing.

You men are to be the providers. Husbands, nephews. If you have nephews or children, they should take care of mom.

They should be the ones that provide and not to cause the church to be in charge. But a widow that is a widow indeed, a widow truly, for the church's sake is one who has no nephews, one who has no children. She is desolate.

She has no one to provide for her. She has no family. And she's a widow who is a widow indeed.

But friends, if your mother or if your aunt, if you say your mother's sister, she's a child of God, and you're a nephew, you have a responsibility to that individual. And I know sometimes our homes are so broken up and we're so disconnected, but it seems like God is asking children, you first, take care of mom. And maybe if there's not enough support there or there's no children, how about a nephew? Is there a nephew? Nephew, you take care of this widow so that the church be not charged.

Verse number five, now she that is a widow indeed and desolate trusteth in God and continueth in supplication and prayer night and day. There's something I'm seeing here more and more, and it's a message for me personally, but more and more the idea of how prayer is so important in the church. Here you've got widows.

And the emphasis on a widow, widow, you give yourself to pray. That's not five minutes in the morning. That's not a little devotional.

But widow, give yourself to prayer. That is something that is seen here in the book of Acts. We're going to see it in the ministers giving themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word continually.

But here a widow is asked to pray. I don't think we get enough prayer from God's people. That's one of the reasons why the church struggles.

Here's a beautiful story in Luke chapter 2. You don't have to turn there or read. It's talking about an older lady named Anna. She was a widow.

And look what it says here. Let me read it to you. Luke chapter 2, verse 36.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phineal of the tribe of Aser. She was of great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow of about four score and four years. That's amazing.

She had been widowed for 84 years. I estimated this woman with all these figures to be about 110 years old. Amazing.

An aged widow saint. It says here that she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayer night and day. Wow.

Now that's an interesting ministry for an older lady. She's a widow, and I'm certain that she had children and grandchildren and probably great-grandchildren that were supplying her needs, nephews, but here's a woman that's giving herself to prayer. And, you know, I don't even fathom what that means.

How many hours this older woman was sitting in her chair or on her knees, and she gave herself to the service of the church? It says she served God. You know, she wasn't probably able to get out and physically do a lot of the things that others did because of her age, but she served God by prayer. And, boy, we need some more of those sermons.

Amen? Oh, just a wonderful thing. We had a dear saint, Brother Stevens, 90-some years old, and, boy, he was a man of prayer, and he served God with prayer. And we need more of those.

If you want to serve the church, if you want to serve God, spend some time praying for God's people. Spend some time praying for the prosperity of his church. We have a lot of Marthas.

We have a lot of people who like to do work, and I'm one of them. You know, I can get into the work, and we can do work, and we can go out and preach, and we can busy ourselves with activity, but there needs to be some Marys. Amen? There needs to be some Marys who are sitting at Jesus' feet and praying and offering up prayers continually.

And so, widows, you know, someone says, I'm a widow. What am I supposed to do with my life? My! You can serve God. Well, I don't have much strength.

I don't have much money. How can I serve God? Well, you can fast and pray night and day for God's people. Just make a prayer list.

You know, if you want to, take everybody in this church, make a nice prayer list. Just spend time praying for everyone. And so that was a part of the ministry, and I look at the early church, and I see the early church probably had many widows just gave themselves to prayer.

And that's necessary. And I believe God moves on the basis of our prayers. God delivered those Haitian captives because of the prayers of His people.

And so, just a reminder here again today, the need to pray. There's a lot of people who do things, but we need more people who pray. Lock yourself up in the closet and just spend some time in prayer.

Verse 6, But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. Here's a widow who's, I'm going to go out and do my own thing. I'm going to go out and live my own life, do whatever I want, live in pleasure.

That's going to lead her down a course that's not good. Verse 7, And these things give in charge that they may be blameless. And here's verse 8. This is the context of verse 8. But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

Now, most of us think about that as husbands and wives. I'm a husband. I provide for my wife and my children.

But that verse is actually in the context of widows. And it's actually talking about if any provide not for his own. That's his family.

That goes further than my wife and my children, because it goes on here and says, if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house. In other words, your own extends farther than your house. I know some, like the Frost, are not here this morning, but they have family living in their home that they're taking care of.

But let me ask you this. Do you have an aunt who's a widow, who's struggling, who God is saying, hey, you know, yes, it's not your own house. How about moving a little step further and looking outside of your house to the next level? What about uncles or aunts? What about widows outside of your own house? So, men, here's an encouragement to you all.

If any provide not for his own, that's his family, grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, and their sisters and brothers, and especially they of his own house, that's your local house. He hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. I need to broaden my horizons a little bit.

You know, I tend to think of that verse meaning my wife and my children. But it actually extends a little farther than that. It talks about maybe my wife's sisters who are widowed.

Of course, we support two sisters of Eva's. They're not widows, but they're by themselves down in Honduras trying to do a good work. So, as you sit here, does your wife or do you have a sister who's widowed, who is in your family unit, your structure that maybe is just kind of off the radar for you? Well, it should be on the radar.

You should be thinking about those individuals. Verse 9, let not a widow be taken into the number under three score years old, having been the wife of one man. In other words, don't take someone into the church ministry, as far as ministering to them daily, who are under 60 years old.

Verse 10, well reported of for good works, if she hath brought up children, if she hath lodged strangers, if she hath washed the saints' feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted, if she hath diligently followed every good work. And it goes on to talk about the younger widows, and we'll not read that. And so widows, very important that we provide for widows.

It's unfortunate we have the social security system, and I think the social security system is a way in which you provide for people who can't provide for themselves. But that was the responsibility of the church. God's people need to make sure we take care of our own, and that no widow gets neglected.

So, talking about some widows here this morning. Does God bring anyone to your mind? Someone who is a widowed, above 60, and maybe desolate. No one to take care, or no one who is taking care.

So, taking care of widows is an important part of early church life. And one of the verses that probably all of you have in your memory is in James 1, verse 27. Pure religion and undefiled before man is to take care of the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and keep yourself unspotted from the world.

So, pure religion, fatherless, and widows. And I think if you take care of fatherless and widows, you're in a good place as far as before the Lord. These people who have no one to take care of them.

Fatherless and the widows. It's called in the book of James a pure religion. Pure religion.

You know why it's pure religion? Because when you go and minister to a widow, especially a widow in deed, she's desolate. She cannot return anything to you. And so your motive has nothing to do with selfishness.

Your motive has everything to do with, I want to give and minister to you. I expect nothing in return because you have nothing. God says that's pure religion.

That's doing something without any selfish motive. I'm just giving with nothing, expecting nothing in return. And that's the way we ought to be in the church.

Amen? Now the Pharisees, if you were back in Jesus' day, the Bible says, and Jesus accused the Pharisees of devouring widows' houses. You are devouring widows' houses. That tells me that they would come to the widow and say, hey, give me a faith offering.

I want to buy an airplane so I can fly around and do my preaching. You hear some of these people. You give me, give me, give me, give me, even widows give me, give me, and taking from people who are desolate.

Selfishness. And you see some of that on the television set. I don't have a television set, but I've seen it over the years.

Give me your money. They make widows' houses desolate. They devour widows' houses.

So let's be mindful of widows as a church. And are there widows that we're missing? I mean, are there family members? You say, well, we can't provide for my wife's sister or my mother's sister. We can't do it.

Well, maybe you can bring it to the church and say, hey, can we provide for this widow? I think God would honor it. We could support those who are widows indeed. Well, let's keep reading here.

Chapter 6. So we have this problem going on here with the widows. And in verse number 2 it says, Then the twelve, those are the leaders, the apostles, then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. It's not common sense.

So just try to put yourself in that position. The apostles come and say to the church, listen, it doesn't make sense. It's not reasonable for us to go and get involved in this serving the widows every day when there are other things that we should be doing.

Now, is it wrong to be a servant and to take care of widows? No, it's not. I've just been encouraging that. It's not wrong.

But the leadership, the twelve apostles were given another responsibility. And that responsibility is to minister the word. As a matter of fact, if you jump down to verse number 4, he says this, But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

And so these elders, these leaders felt the need to focus on what God had called them to do, and that was to feed the flock of God. So is serving widows bad? No, it's not bad. But it wasn't priority number one for those who were in leadership.

It's not their main function. Their main function was not to leave the word of God. Notice what it says here in verse 2, Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.

Now, the Lord had given them the responsibility of feeding the sheep. And apostles, I want you as leadership to study, to prepare, and to give food to the flock. And they said, now wait a minute, we've got other problems here.

We've got widows that need ministry too, not me. I'm this kind of person that says, well, I can do that too. And then some other need goes, well, I can do that too.

And pretty soon I'm so scattered all over the place, I'm not doing anything well. And you know, a lot of people who have a heart to do and to give and to help, they'll just take any cry and say, I can help, and I can help, and I can help over here. And before long, they burn themselves out because they can't do it all.

And so these men realized that, listen, this is a great ministry, these widows, they need help. But you know what? We can't do it. We can't do it.

We can't leave what God has given us, our responsibility to share the word of God and to feed the sheep. We cannot leave that to serve tables. And so Peter especially understood that.

You know, Peter, he was given the responsibility to feed the sheep, but he went off and went fishing. And not a role of fishing, especially if you do it for a living. But the Lord said, I didn't call you to fish.

I didn't call you, I called you to feed my sheep. And so he brings him back to what he was supposed to be doing. And here Peter recognizes, I'm supposed to be feeding the sheep.

I know there's some widows over here that need a daily ministration, but God told me I got to feed sheep. So I can't leave the word of God to serve tables. And so that's one of the responsibilities that elders have.

I have personally, anybody who is ordained here and elsewhere, your primary responsibility is twofold, to feed the flock of God and to take the oversight thereof. That's the responsibilities of an elder. Is their responsibility to take care of the widows? No.

By the way, that's why they had an ordination. And that's why if we have an ordination of a deacon, that ought to be the primary reason why you ordain a deacon, is to allow this person to take care of other things, to free up the elders who are given the responsibility of feeding the sheep. And so feed the flock of God, taking the oversight thereof.

As a shepherd, no I didn't bring this to use this as a shepherd illustration, but you know, I guess I can use it Brother John. As a shepherd out there in the field, you basically have two responsibilities. Number one is to make sure that the sheep get to the pastures that are green and to the streams that are clear.

And also to keep your eyes open in the distance. Don't sleep for any wolves that might be prowling around, that might have a bad intention with regards to your sheep. So if you take care of those two things as a shepherd, you're doing good.

Feed them, get them to the pasture, and make sure there's no wolves or lions that devour the sheep. And so if you're a shepherd, get my staff back here, and you're out there, and you're doing your responsibilities, you're feeding the sheep, and you're watching out for wolves, and all of a sudden someone calls you over and says, Hey, we need someone over here to help us bale this straw. Can you come over and help us? We're really short-handed.

The guy with a good heart, like Brother Chris up here, he says, Well, I don't want to help. I always want to help people. So he leaves his staff, and he runs over here, and he's baling hay for a couple of days.

Then he comes back over, and he realizes about ten of his sheep have been eaten up by wolves, and the sheep are all scattered, and they're looking awful thin. He says, Well, I probably shouldn't have done that. It was a good thing, but it wasn't the right thing.

So we need to have that mindset, I think. I need it more to realize what's the right thing to do as an elder. I could run myself silly.

There's so many things that could be done, and then come back and realize that the sheep are all scattered, and half of them are missing legs and arms. Do sheep have arms? I think they only have legs. Children, do sheep have arms or legs? Just legs, I think.

So the twelve call the disciples, the rest of the congregation, and they say, It's not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. Verse 3, Wherefore, brethren, and this response was given to the church, Brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report. Here's men who have an honest report.

People in the church, outside the church, they have nothing bad to say about them. They are full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. So this is a recommendation.

Let's set some men aside and give them this responsibility. Verse 4, But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. And so this idea of a deacon, I know the word does not show up here, the word deacon, but the idea of a deacon comes out of this need to free up the elders to study, to prepare, and to pray.

And that's a ministry that's necessary. And something I've struggled with all my last 30 years is I need to give myself more time for prayer and the preparation to feed the sheep of the Lord. And I'm actually trying to make decisions on that basis even now.

Just going through this, the first couple of chapters, and now here, there really is a need for someone to give themselves to prayer and to the study and preparation of the Word of God. And the brethren said what? Anybody say amen to that? And, you know, we can run ourselves ragged and we can do a lot of things, but I think an effective church, we see here, has to have people who are giving themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word. And for my, at least on my side, more time in prayer.

And I think we lack because we don't have a plurality of elders who are giving themselves continually to prayer. And that means something, and we'll see that here in a minute, but giving themselves continually to prayer. So these elders, these leaders, the apostles, they saw the temptation to leave their calling and to get involved in something different, something good, but it's not what God had called them to, and they chose not to pursue it.

Now if you go back to the Old Testament, and we're going to see Paul giving an example in 1 Corinthians, but in the Old Testament, God separated one tribe, one tribe out of the 12 called the Levites, and those Levites were to give themselves to the ministry of the temple and of the sanctuary. And when things functioned well, you saw the Levites down there busy about their work, and their work was the work of the temple and the sanctuary. But when things started to decay in Israel, and in Nehemiah's day and in Ezra's day, the Levites left the temple and they went out into the fields and started working, gathering hay and straw and corn and all those things out there.

In other words, they decided they're going to take a job, and they're going to go out and do other things. And of course, the temple and the sanctuary started to lack and to decay. And finally, Nehemiah, God raised him up and said, Hey, you Levites, get in from out of the field and get back here where you belong.

And he called the Levites to restore their purpose, get back to serving God day and night. And that's necessary. I know that we need to labor.

Many of you men labor and provide, and that's a good thing, but it should not consume your life. But there are some who we need to set aside to labor in the things that pertain unto the Lord. Look at verse number four.

But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Is this an area of church life that we have some familiarity with? As an elder, you'd think I would have familiarity with, but I think I'm so far short of what that means, giving themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Let me ask you a question.

When you read that verse, they gave themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. How many hours do you think that those apostles were praying on a day-to-day basis? Just throw out some thoughts. Anybody? Eight hours.

Anybody else? A normal work day? Eight hours. Can you imagine praying? Do you know any way to pray eight hours a day? I don't. I don't.

I don't know anybody that prays like that. I don't know anybody that labors in prayer. I will call this a labor.

To labor in prayer. Now, it says they gave themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. What would happen if we had three or four elders, and they basically prayed three, four hours a day, and they were out ministering the word three or four hours a day? Do you think that would affect us as a congregation here? It would be a good thing.

I'm sure it would be a good thing. But in the early church, they had 12 men who gave themselves continually. I don't know what that word means.

Continually. There's a couple of places in the Bible it's used. Continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

So God is moving my heart more and more in that direction. I have throughout the years wanted to go in that direction by faith. And it's something that we need to do as a congregation.

Like Brother David mentioned this morning, I can come up here. And by the way, I feel uncomfortable in the rest of this message I'm going to share with you. It makes me uncomfortable, but I need to teach you what the Bible says, whether I'm uncomfortable or not.

But we need to have an agreement. God wants to move. And it's just not one person or three persons or five persons.

And we need to be patient and say until we come to the place where we all say, Amen! Let's move ahead. Like we heard this morning. Have unity.

Well, you know, after talking or after sharing in 1 Timothy, let's go back there again. 1 Timothy, after him talking about how to behave yourself in the house of God, telling Timothy, here's the rules, here's the order for behaving yourself in the house of God, he moves from the widows into the elders, interestingly enough. And he says, OK, here's how you do the widow thing in the house of God.

Now I want to show you some things about the elders. This is how you do the elder thing also in the house of God. So let's jump down here to 1 Timothy chapter 5. And I'm going to jump into verse 16 to show you that he's still talking about widows.

Verse 16, if any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. Now he jumps to the elders, verse 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and the doctrine.

For the Scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. So here we have an admonition to the elders to labor in the word and in the doctrine. And so it's called a labor.

I'm out painting all last week. It was labor. I painted a whole interior of a house, two coats and ceilings and walls, and it was a lot of work, five days of labor.

And it was labor. And most of us think of labor as painting or plumbing or putting up gutters or cleaning a house. That's labor.

But the Bible expands the idea of labor to laboring in the word and in doctrine. And so it's a labor. It's a mental labor to study and to feed the sheep and to prepare.

It's a labor to pray. The Bible actually uses that phrase, laboring in prayer. And so it's a ministry of labor.

And so elders here are said to be those who are supposed to be laboring in the word and in the doctrine. So when Paul thinks about setting things in order in church life, he talks about get your widows taken care of. And here's how you do that.

And something else needs to be done, elders. And they need to be set. And here's what their responsibility is.

And you notice something here, and I don't like to talk about this subject, but there is provision. You know, these elders, they have obviously families. One of the qualifications is that they have families in order.

But they have families, and they need provision for their labor. Look at verse 17 again. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor.

Honor means provision. Especially they who labor in the word and in the doctrine. For the scriptures say, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the labor is worthy of his reward.

So here's a, I was down in Muddy Pond, Tennessee many years ago when I first met my wife. I never saw this before. This is a view from heaven down from the top.

You have this animal. It was a horse back then. Needless to say, my artwork is rather lacking.

So you're looking down on a horse. And there was this thing in the middle. It was called a grinding wheel, a big stone.

And they put, actually they put the stuff you make, molasses, cane, into this thing here. And then there was a long wood thing that was attached to this horse, big horse. And this horse all day would just walk around in a circle.

And when the horse walked around in a circle, it would take this and it would grind the maize or the corn, whatever that stuff was. And the picture here is if you got a horse or an ox that's doing this for you and grinding out a lot of corn, then how many of you, if corn was important to you and to get a lot of it ground out, how many of you would muzzle the ox that treads out the corn? How many of you would put a muzzle? Do you know what a muzzle is? It's something that you put on the mouth of an animal that it can't eat very fast. It's a muzzle.

So why would you want to starve your animal that's grinding your corn for you, right? You don't muzzle an ox or the ox that treads out the corn. So he's using it in the light of elders. So if the elders are laboring in the word, they're laboring in prayer, and they're bringing forth food for your heart, for your soul, don't muzzle the ox that puts out the corn or the maize.

So a laborer is worthy, the scripture says, of his reward. And so an elder. So when you think about the early church, you had men who were giving themselves to this, prayer and the ministry of the word.

That was their labor continually. And because of that, they were supported. They were provided for.

And so you have widows provided for. You have elders provided for. And that's why I think Paul brings these two in here.

And you wonder where all that money was going, where the people were selling their houses and lands and bringing it and laying it at the apostles' feet. Well, a lot of that was being used for providing. For those who were widows and others who were laboring in the word.

And I think, personally, I think that we as a congregation, I would believe it's a biblical direction to have a plurality of elders and to tell those elders, labor in the word and the doctrine. And we'll support you. You know, in the Old Testament, there were 12 tribes and each of the tribes were to give a tenth.

And that tenth, if you divide it all out, that tenth, if everyone gave, which there's 12 tribes, so there's a little extra because there's probably some who didn't give. But those 10 who gave provided for the one who was laboring in the temple and in the sanctuary. So God had it all figured out.

So setting things in order in the church. Do we have widows that we need to take care of? How about elders? I think we need to ordain elders. We've had a couple of different elders here in the past.

Joe Thompson was an elder here for probably 10, 12 years. He and I were elders together. Recently, we've been back and forth with elders, but I think we talked about the brother's meeting.

We need to consider a plurality of elders. But in doing so, I would encourage you brothers to consider the reality that God wants those elders to labor in the Word and in prayer. Amen.

And that you would consider providing, helping those elders. Do that. So provision, not muzzling the ox.

Let's look at another passage here in 1 Corinthians chapter 9. 1 Corinthians chapter 9. By the way, an elder is not to be greedy and filthy lucre. It's not something that an elder ought to desire to get rich or to live off of others. But an elder ought to desire prayer and the ministry of the Word.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul writes. By the way, Paul here is a single man. He is writing to the church at Corinth.

Verse 4. Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? Don't we have the power to take our families with us and they're in the ministry with us? Yeah, we could do that. Verse 6. Were I only in Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working? Don't we have the right and the authority to say we're not going to work any job? We're going to give ourselves to the ministry? Yeah, we do. Any reasons here, and I'll reason with you all here, the way Paul reasons with the congregation at Corinth.

Verse 7. Who goeth to warfare any time at his own charges? How many of you know any soldiers who are drafted in the military and they have to pay all their expenses? Okay, you're drafted in the military, in the army, so you need to pay for uniform, you need to pay for all your food, you need to pay for your travel to get over to Iraq or wherever you're going. You need to pay for everything. Well, that'd be a tough job, wouldn't it? Who goes to warfare and does not have his expenses paid for? Who plants a vineyard and eats none of the fruit thereof? Who goes out and labors and plants a vineyard and then doesn't get to eat anything of it? Or who feeds a flock and eats not the milk of the flock? So he uses the army, he uses a vineyard, and he uses here a shepherd.

Say I these things as a man, or sayeth not the law the same also? Is it common sense? I mean, everybody knows this as a man, but also the Old Testament has talked about it and he quotes this verse again. For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Same thing.

If you're laboring in prayer and the ministry of the Word, you ought to have some provision. And look at the next verse. Or sayeth he that altogether for our sakes, for our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope.

And he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. How many of you go out to the garden and you plow, and you labor, you take your tiller, maybe you don't have a tiller, you take your hoe, and you sweat, and you weed it, and you put a seed in the ground, and you do all that labor, and you keep it weeded, and you have no hope for getting anything from it. Who would plant a garden and have actually no hope of ever eating from it? You'd never do that.

Everyone who plants does so with hope. In other words, I'm hoping to receive something for my labor or be benefited. Verse 11, if we have sown unto you spiritual things, if we have taught you the Word of God, if we have taught you the way of eternal life, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? Is it a great thing to get a tomato back? Is it a great thing to get a filthy lucre dollar bill? Or an apple? That's what he's saying.

And then Paul makes this statement. He says, listen, if others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Other people, elders, are getting provision from you. Shouldn't we? Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.

Do you not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? And they that wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? In the Old Testament, when you brought the sacrifices down to the temple, that lamb, that bullock, those priests who labored there all week took that bullock or that lamb and slayed it and took some of the meat home with them. God said, the priests, you get the meat. Because you're working down here.

You take the sacrifice. The blood goes into the sanctuary. You can be a partaker of the meat.

And then verse 14, he closes with this. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. This is God's ordination.

God's purposes. Those who stand up in front of you or those who pray for you, who give themselves continually, those who pour themselves this way should live off of this way. They that preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

And I know many people have taken advantage of that. I told you about the guy that's trying to take advantage of the widow to get into a nice big airplane. And yeah, there's a lot of bad things going on.

People are greedy of filthy lucre. But there is a biblical principle that those who labor in the spiritual things to benefit the church ought to be provided for by the church. And that's something I think that we need to adjust ourselves, not for my sake or anybody else's sake who's an elder, but I think we'd be more biblical if we would set aside two or three men to give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word and we as a congregation support their efforts.

It's awful quiet in here. You know, in these settings, my Baptist setting, that was just common knowledge. And I know some people took advantage of it.

But in these settings, it's a little different. I think these are new concepts, new thoughts. But it's biblical.

Not to muzzle the ox that treads out the corn. So let's go back here again and to Acts. We'll keep reading in Acts chapter 6. And Paul said this when he wrote to the church at Corinth.

He said, I'm not writing this that you'll do these things for me. And by the way, I'm not preaching these things for you. Do these things for me.

But I would like to see us as a congregation have a few men giving themselves to the ministry. I think we as a church would blossom and grow if we would do that. Let's keep reading here and I'll finish in Acts chapter 6, verse 4, but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

And I like this. This is what Brother David was talking about. And the saying pleased the whole multitude.

This is how biblical leadership is. Hey friends, I'm doing this here this morning. Friends, I'm suggesting that we go a certain way.

This is the truth. And the saying pleases the whole multitude. And we have a unity and we go together in unity and we act in unity.

And God blesses it because it's of one spirit. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas. I think it's interesting.

Nicholas is a proselyte of Antioch. Nicholas is a proselyte. He's an outsider.

He's one of these Grecian. Got to have one of them in there for these Grecian widows to balance this thing out. Verse 6, Whom they sent before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

Here's this idea of ordination. And we're, Lord willing, going to have ordinations maybe in the next year or so. But the laying on of hands.

And I went back to the Old Testament for a little bit and just try to get a feel for what the laying on of hands actually meant in the Old Testament. The laying on of hands was first and foremost a transfer. You know, the first laying on of hands in the Old Testament was when they brought this goat in, and they were told to lay hands on the goat and to transfer the sins of Israel and put them on the goat and send the goat out into the wilderness.

Beautiful picture there. And so when you think of laying on of hands, you're transferring. For example, if I'm here praying and Brother Chris, we're going to ordain Brother Chris as an elder, I'm transferring, I'm an elder, my eldership into him.

And we're connecting. You're receiving of authority and responsibility. So it's a transfer.

I'm going to read you one account, not of a goat, but actually a human being. Laying on of hands here in Numbers 27. It says, And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thy hand upon him.

And set him before Eliezer the priest and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight. And now shall it put some of thy honor upon him that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. A couple of things that happened there.

God told, Moses, lay your hands on Joshua. Set him before the people. Everybody see this.

Give him a charge. That's a responsibility. Here's your responsibility.

Everybody hears it. And put your honor upon him. Honor, your authority, your position upon him.

Joshua, the position I had, that honor is given to you. Lay your honor upon him that all the children of Israel might be obedient. And so in the laying on of hands, there is a responsibility given.

There is a position given. There is authority given. And all the congregation recognizes it.

And God recognizes it too. When you go to the New Testament, there's a couple of examples of actually gifts. You know when God gives someone a responsibility to do a work, he always gives the gifts to get it done.

God's not going to give you a responsibility and then say, well, I'm just not going to give you the tools you need to do it. And so, in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 6, Paul says to Timothy, I gave you the gift of prophecy by the laying on of my hands. You needed the gift of prophecy to get your work done, so I gave that to you through the laying on of my hands.

So you see those examples. So when God gives persons responsibilities as elders and deacons, you lay hands on them. Hey congregation, we're giving this person a responsibility, a charge.

Here's your ministry. We're giving you the authority to do it and the abilities to do it. Fulfill your obligation.

And the congregation acknowledges it and says yes. Joshua is now our leader. We'll obey him.

Yes. Brother Chris, I'm using him as an example this morning, is now an elder. Obey him and have the rule over you.

Submit yourselves. And so the congregation says amen. Now one of the things that I've experienced over the years is when you ordain an elder, you generally like to see the congregation in unity.

I told one brother recently, how would you like to be a man in the church like a church here and only 40% of the people in the church wanted you to be an elder? It'd make you feel kind of uncomfortable, wouldn't it? Like here I'm going to lead these people and they don't want me to lead them. And so I think we ought to have a consensus, a unity. This brother, this brother, a deacon, an elder, we need to support them and raise them up.

Unity. And all the people of God in the Old Testament would say amen to what's happening. So when the Lord thinks about a church that's functioning well, he thinks about taking care of the widows.

Maybe there's a widow that the Lord brought to your mind this morning that you need to remember. He also thinks about elders, setting elders in order, deacons in order if they're necessary, and functioning as a New Testament church. And so you see this here in the book of Acts.

The elders starting off busy about laboring in prayer and the ministry of the word, then all of a sudden, hey, there's some widows over here that's got problems, we've got a problem over here in the daily ministration. Okay, should we leave this and run over there and start working with that? No, no, no, that doesn't make sense. Let's ordain someone to take care of that work while we continue with this work.

This is an important work for a church. I believe that. And we need to have plurality of elders.

I know we're going through a time where our numbers are diminishing a little bit, but that's been the case for 30 years. We have times of pruning. God always sends churches through pruning and then times of fruitfulness.

And so pruning is sometimes difficult. It's hurtful. Getting some vines cut.

But wait till the spring and you'll have a lot of vines growing back. So let's think about these things. This is the early church.

This is God's order, his example. And we can talk about them and hopefully set a course in unity and move forward. Let's pray and then I'll open it up for anyone who'd like to share.

Lord, we acknowledge that your word is a truth. Lord, help us to understand it better and be willing to obey it and submit ourselves to it. And Lord, may our hearts truly love the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Give ourselves for the building of your church, your people, for eternal good and eternal purposes. And so Lord, I pray you'd raise up men here, men who are leaders, men who, like Joshua, have a desire to serve and to labor for you. We pray your blessing on us as a congregation, Lord.

May we patiently wait and work and look for your fruit to be brought forth in time and patience, Lord. Bless us, we pray, and those that are not with us this morning, as they're in different places, Lord, may you comfort them and bless them wherever they're at. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.