Over the last few weeks we've looked at the church's responsibility to Widows, this week I want to turn the corner and look at the widow's responsibility to the church reflected in the same passage. Please open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 5:3-16 where we will see that there is a dual classification of widows in the early church. In verses 3-8 we have the broader category focused intentionally on helping those who cannot help themselves and from verses 9-16 we turn the corner and we see a specialized – sacred ministry of widows in the early church who through taking a personal vow dedicated themselves completely to the Lord Jesus alone.
When we look at this passage we note that it raises the bar a bit. While it is important that we do good to everyone, it is especially vital that Christians help Christians. But there is a clear expectation that Christians be Christlike. A widow who is truly in need, whom the church should assist is a godly widow, it should not be the church's practice to reward godlessness which is why as we look through the perspective of the widow in this passage we see first and foremost that she has fixed her hope on God.

Personal Godliness is Primary (v3-8)

In the text, every Widow must be Godly. Above all we are seeking for faithfulness. There are three general characteristics in view.
The first we see in verse five is that she has “Fixed her hope on God”. Remembering the circumstance of a first century widow was incredibly dire. She had no means of taking care of herself and was thus dependent upon others for her daily needs. Ultimately however a godly woman is one who has fixed her hope on the Living God. She trusts the Lord to take care of her.

It is a Christian virtue to want to help people who need it. But in terms of how the church operates what begins as an honest desire to help whomever needs it can often devolve into a frenetic attempt to meet every need presented until cynicism and low coffers cause the church to fail on it's commitments or to end up accidentally helping those who don't truly need it while rendering itself unable to help those who truly do need it. The only way to fix that situation is to establish some guidelines. This is what Paul does in our passage this morning which is 1 Timothy 5:3-8.The Apostle acknowledges the need to honor widows and encases it with some reasonable guidelines meant to spiritually protect those helped as well as protecting the church from unnecessary burdens and slander. Out of that list we gain some helpful principles. But we have to learn these principles in the context of what appears to have been going on.Apparently the Ephesian church,being eager to help had committed itself to support some local widows who could not take care of themselves in that culture. Apparently the financial strain on the church was too much. Somehow, whether by trying to achieve some perceived ideal of “fairness” they had taken on too much. By looking at the requirements here you canalmost get a sense that among the widows being supported were a number of young widows, godless widows or even widows who had other means but who were feeding off of the church.

While the presidential candidates spar about one policy or another, today I want to talk about welfare reform or rather, Welfare as God intended it. Redistribution of wealth through the federal government is not God's plan for taking care of those in need. God's intent from the beginning is that God's people take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. Those who are capable of taking care of themselves should continue to do so for as long as they are able. Please turn to and prepare to read 1 Timothy 5:3-16 where we will be focusing today on verses 3-8 which describes this church's requirement to care for widows. (Read it)

God's passion for The Helpless

Throughout the scriptures a significant measure of righteousness has been "What do you do with the helpless?" In particular two classes of people have always required God's special protection. In that culture especially the orphan and the widow typically had no social standing and thus were helpless. God describes himself as "A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation."^{(Ps. 68:5)} For this reason godly people will spend themselves on the widow and the orphan because like their Father they strive to deliver those who cannot deliver themselves.