GOD'S COMPASSION 1 Timothy 5:1-8; 17-22

• Fruits of the Holy Spirit, Jesus and Father God: Sympathy, empathy, concern, kindness, consideration, caring, thoughtful, kind-heartedness, benevolence, generosity, goodwill, tenderhearted; and if LOVE lacks there is no compassion nor mercy
• Opposite of God: Is coldness, emotionlessness, unfriendliness, distant, unfeeling, unkind, impersonal, lack of feeling and this can drive a person into hate—bitterness and/or anger
• The Author of Compassion—Love—is God:
• John 3:16 “For God LOVED the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
• Nehemiah 9:19 “Because of your great COMPASSION you did not abandon them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud did not fail to guide them on their path, nor the pillar of fire by night to shine on the way they were to take.”
• Psalm 6:2 “Have COMPASSION on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.”
• Psalm 31:7 “I will be glad and rejoice in your LOVE, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.”
• Psalm 42:8 “By day the LORD directs his LOVE, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.” (and I’ll add, He is the lover of our soul)
• 1 Peter 3:8 [Suffering for Doing Good] “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be SYMPATHETIC, LOVE one another, be COMPASSION and humble.” (NLT) “Finally, all of you should be of one mind. SYMPATHETIC with each other. LOVE each other as brothers and sisters. Be TENDERHEARTED, and keep a humble attitude.”

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT TIMOTHY?

He was Paul’s young disciple from Lystra in southern Asia Minor, a son of a mixed marriage; his father a Gentile (Greek) and his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, both Jewish. Timothy was circumcised (set apart for the Lord) as an adult by Paul. Paul disciple him and guided him with the Holy Spirit in all the truth of the Lord.

TIMOTHY WAS LEADING THE CHURCH IN EPHESUS—the loveless church

Ephesus was a wealthy city and according to Revelations 2:1-7 the state of the church of Ephesus, which Timothy was pastoring, had some spiritual issues. The Lord here reveals their spiritual condition and at the same time, the Lord is revealing and helping us to reflect and see for ourselves if we have fallen out of our First Love—or fallen out of the Primary, Foremost, Love in our life by taking God out of first place and if so, we would need to repent and turn back to God and place Him back in first place. The first commandment reads, “And God said all these words: 2I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison house. 3You are to have no other gods but me. (Ten Commandments Exodus 20:1-3)

What are some of the signs of taking God out of First Place; lacking love, lacking compassion, and having other gods taking God’s First Place in a Christian’s Heart?  In Ephesus, the women were uprising, acting and speaking in the flesh, in other words, they were not lead by the Holy Spirit; therefore, Paul was instructing Timothy how to lovingly and respectfully with all compassion lead the souls, foremost, to repentance and back into God’s Grace with God in first place in their life’s.

How can we tell if we are in need of repentance and needing to turn back to God’s Grace? If we are lacking the following: love, compassion, joy, peace, humility, meekness, faith, mercy, not believing in the Lord, and not believing the Lord which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, God’s Presence, in our lives. (2 Corinthians 6:6, Proverbs 12:13, 13:2, John 15:2, 4, Galatians 5:22-23, Ephesians 5:9, 11)

1 Timothy 5:1-8, 17-22

Paul’s epistles, letters or messages to Timothy are not only for Timothy, but also for us today. The Holy Spirit of the Living God is Advising on how to respectfully with love and compassion, pastors, counsel, lead and discipline the Widows, the Elders, the Young, and the Slaves—all types of social or diverse groups or souls into God’s Grace.

1. Never speak harshly (bitterly, cruelly, unforgivingly, unsympathetically) to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers (pals, friend, equal, partner, associate).

2. Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity (respectfully) as you would your own sisters. We are to treat each person as a family member with the respect we should have over our parents as God instructed in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12-17).

• I once heard the Ten Commandments described as, “you wouldn’t want someone to hate you…” However, if we truly have love, we would love each other with compassion and bringing forth the fruits of love in actions toward our brethren.
• 12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” He wants to give you long life by honoring
• 13 “You shall not murder. (and hate) He gave us life and love…
• 14 “You shall not commit adultery. (fornication) we would not want it done to us
• 15 “You shall not steal. we would not want it done to us
• 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. we would not want it done to us
• 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” we would not want others to desire our stuff to the point of envying and hating us

3. Take care of 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.

• What is society doing today for our elderly?
• Is there any compassion when placing elderly family members in nursing homes by their children or family members and forgetting them? According to this verse, it does not please God to forget the elderly.

5. Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his help.

6. But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives.

7. Give these instructions to the church so that no one will be open to criticism.

• Do we have widows in our church who are truly alone? We have an elderly sister who has placed her hopes and faith in the Lord for her needs and I believe she strives to live her life according to God.
• What does Paul mean by the widow living only for pleasure and this widow being spiritually dead even as she breathes? What pleasures? The widow has replaced God with her deep desires, emotions, actions and words of wanting to fulfill her desires (either a husband, companion, a father for her children or just not wanting to be alone) to a point where her desires take first place and God takes a back seat.

8. But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.

17. Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.

18. For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!”

• Here Paul is clarifying that a worker, a leader, a pastor, should be paid so he can continue to focus on the needs of the church because the needs of his home are taken care of.
• By taking care of our pastor’s needs financially, etc., we would have love and compassion for our pastor’s natural needs since he is helping us with our spiritual needs, (our walk and growth with Jesus) either by counseling us, teaching us, leading us, pastoring us, mentoring us, and even disciplining us.

19. Do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by two or three witnesses. 20 Those who sin should be reprimanded in front of the whole church; this will serve as a strong warning to others.

• Timothy is dealing with a group of church members out of God’s will who need to repent due to their behaviors and actions not being in tune with the fruits of Holy Spirit and as a result, they are out of God’s Holy Will and acting in the flesh; they may cause confusion, hostility and division in the church.

21. I solemnly command you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and the holy angels to obey these instructions without taking sides or showing favoritism to anyone.

• By staying within God’s will, we will be obedient to God and become helpful in God’s work to save souls and not bring glory to ourselves, but only to God.

22. Never be in a hurry about appointing a church leader. Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

• If we move outside of God’s will, we make mistakes; it is best to wait on the Lord for His Holy Instruction and Guidance. We never know if the next leader could be you, but you may not be ready because God is still pruning you by taking all the dry sinful ways not pleasing to Him away, such as bad thoughts, unbalanced emotions, insecure feeling, and out of control actions or reactions.
• God does not share his Glory and if we are taking His Glory and feeling prideful, than we are not ready to be used by Him because we are still in the way—in the flesh.
• Do NOT SHARE IN THE SINS of others: NOT to partake in the sins of other or become part of the sin(s) and not to reveal or disclose a person’s sin(s), instead we are to pray. Paul is consistently instructing Timothy and us to stay Holy in God’s Holy Will and to totally stay away from sin, this also means renouncing our secret sins within us; the sins no one knows, but God. These secret sins could be desires, thoughts, words, actions and lies we tell ourselves about ourselves which are out of God’s Holy Will. (Psalms 19:12, 69:5, 90:8, 44:21)

WRAPPING UP CLIMAX

God’s Compassion For Us and Toward Us:

1. He thinks ahead – He looked into the future and saw us; He is omniscient: all-knowing, all-seeing, wise, well-informed, all-insightful, all-discerning, etc. (Job 37:16, Psalms 147:5, Jeremiah 1:5, 1 John 3:20)
2. He created creation for His Son & with His Son as His Son’s inheritance and He placed us humans in it (Genesis 1-2 & John 1)
3. He made man with His Loving Holy Hands and designed man to multiple because He wanted to see us born and walking with Him for eternity. (Genesis 1:6-7 & John 3:16)
4. He gave wisdom to Noah to build an ark – for himself, his 3 sons, his wife, and his son’s wives and selected animals. Noah was the only holy man on earth at that time, but God knowing He was about to destroy humanity and start over, He had compassion over Noah and his family and again, He looked into the future and saw you and had deep compassion to rescue Noah and his family. (Genesis 6:9)
5. He made a covenant with Abraham to make him a great nation and the savior of the world would come from him – God made a treaty, a bond, a pact, a promise with Abraham because He, again, looked into the future and saw us and wanted us in eternity with Him.
6. God Rescued and Saved Lot, his wife, and his two daughter’s from Sodom’s Destruction – When God revealed His plan to destroy the city of Sodom, Abraham pleaded with God over the righteous souls and God had mercy and compassion over Abraham’s prayer and plead for Lot. The angles of God took Lot, his wife, and his 2 daughters by the hand and brought him out and set him outside the city prior to the destruction of the sinful city. God heard Abraham’s pleads for the righteous in those cities and God’s compassion saved Lot, his wife and his two daughters. This is a picture of God saving families; therefore, we are not to give up on ours. (Genesis 18:16-33 & 19:1-29)
7. Esther’s Bravery, Faith, and Zeal for the True God Lead Her to Deliver the Israel Nation from Annihilation/Total Wipe Out – If the Jews would have been murdered we would not be in this room or alive or maybe even born. God’s compassion toward the Jewish nation brought forth the Messiah, the Savior, our Lord Jesus the Christ. (book of Esther)
8. Ruth God did not care about her past sins; all He saw was her heart. She became King David’s grandmother. Not only did God have compassion over David and the future of the Jewish/Israelite nation, but also for us since the Messiah would come from David, but He also saw us learning from David’s humility full of worship and praise. (book of Ruth)
9. Moses God’s compassion toward His people used Moses to deliver them from slavery, bondage, captivity, oppression and freed them and also guided them and us today on how to be free from demonic sins; bondage, slavery, captivity, oppression, etc. (books of Genesis 39 – Exodus 1-20)
10. Jesus dying for us on the Cross – and His prayer for us to become one with Him in Spirit and Truth as He is one with the Father. (the Gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and John 17)
11. Holy Spirit – God having compassion toward us and knowing we needed help; He sent His Holy Spirit, His very Being, His Essences, His Presence, His Soul, His Life-Force, His Inner Self, or His Disposition, His Temperament, His Attitude, His Nature, His Temper, His Personality, His Character, His Outlook, His Feelings, His Strength, His Courage, His Will, His Force, His Heart, His Strength of Mind, and His Moral Fiber to be with us and to guide us toward eternal life by prompting us constantly/continually of our sinful nature and guiding us to repentance and holy living—a holy life style with self and others. (The Entire Bible, however, presented fully in us in the book of Acts – The Holy Spirit in Action)
12. The Scribes and Apostles our Teachers – Their writings inspired by God gave us the Holy Bible to guide us into ALL TRUTH. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
13. The Ultimate Compassion He has for us – His Promise to Return for us to live with Him for Infinity – He has kept all His Promises and He will keep His Promise to Return, but He warns us to be ready as the virgins with oil in our lamps—full of the Holy Spirit and without blame because He is coming when we least expect it or on our last breath. So let’s continually repent of our sins because God’s compassion is truth and now it is up to us to believe, to submit to His Will, to confess our sins to Him continually, and to walk with Him toward eternity and bring others with us since He has shown us numerous times, that He has saved and rescued households.

He is compassionate and true – He is the WORD and TRUTH of God to set us FREE from all lies.