Caring for Family and Maturity
Paul gives instruction for how the church ought to operate. There are things in here that I have seen people try to burden the church with, but the family should be the first to tend to a family member's needs before the church. Paul says those that do not provide for their family are worse than unbelievers (1 Timothy 5:8). Paul refers to true widows. Upon further reading from Dave Guzik, true widow meant a widow without children. If she had children, then they should help their mother out. And the part comes up that some may consider sexist, but I think it speaks more to a generalization of younger women during this time than an application for all young women at all times. But on the flip side, I know many people who say in their later years that they had to grow up from who they were when they were younger, which is what it seems like Paul is referring to here in verses 11-15. He says not to enroll/take financial care of younger widows as they have the opportunity to get married again and won't need the help as much as older widows would. But in verse 13 Paul basically calls out the young women for going from house to house (sleeping around), gossiping and being nosy. Paul wants what's best in God's eyes that shows the church to be in good standing.
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Order in Spiritual Gifts
Paul declares prophecies more important than speaking in tongues if there is no one there to interpret the tongues. The purpose of speaking in tongues and having an interpreter is so that the church can be built up, meaning expanded or increased. If one speaks in tongues and no one is there to interpret then Paul says outsiders would come in and think it is foolish for someone to be speaking what sounds like nonsense. Paul would love for the entire church to be able to speak in tongues but without interpretation, there is no point. In verse 19, Paul says that he would rather speaks 5 words of his mind than speak 10,000 words in tongues and have no interpreter.
Paul provides order for the spiritual gifts. He says it should only be 2 or 3, yet only allowing one at a time. In regard to order, it is understood that there were women who would speak out during the services and ask for explanation of things sitting apart from their husbands (as was custom) and disturbing the spiritual gifts. Paul says that they should wait until they got home to ask these questions and not in the middle of someone delivering a message. This section of text is often taken out of context and made to sound misogynistic, when in deed it was intended to create order not feed into disorder as the Corinthian Church was in (1 Corinthians 14:40).
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
Joined in Prayer
Jesus has already ascended in to Heaven after his resurrection. We already know that he is down one disciple (Judas hanged himself for betraying Jesus). All of the remaining disciples, Mary mother of Jesus, and other followers of Jesus (including his brothers who were not supportive of his ministry until after his resurrection) met totaling about 120 people. The purpose of this meeting was to find a replacement for the deceased Judas.
In verse 14, we see that they all had one accord. That means that they were all joined together and had unity in their purpose. There were not multiple perspectives on what needed to happen and of what was of the utmost importance. We read "All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers." They were all praying together for the same purpose. Not selfish motives, but for wisdom in selection a replacement.
They selected Matthias who had been a part of their group. They prayed that God would know their hearts and help them select who would be the replacement. I showcase this verse to show unity within the group to God's will and the group's purpose was for solidifying a unit and spreading the word of Christ. I ask this simple question, is your group of friends, loved ones, and/or family united to spread the word of Christ?
PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!
