This week I have been reading 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.
When I first read these letters when I was in college I was a young man and read them as if they were from Paul to me. Now as I read I see them from the perspective of an older pastor who has been around for a while and wonder what I might add to the advise for younger pastors I minister with today.
The issues of the 1st century and the 21st century may be a bit different but there are still many similarities. There seems to be a bit more organization and structure to the emerging church. This translation uses some non-church terms like supervisor instead of bishop and servant instead of deacon. The letters seem to describe the qualities that these individuals should posess rather than job descriptions of how they were to function. And there are general descriptions for all of the church on how to behave as the church. They should act as a family, caring for one another. Specifically a concern for caring is addressed to widows. Those to be cared for by the church are the older widows as the younger ones are to be cared for by the immediate family or encouraged to remarry.
At the Bible study on Wed. night some were surprised to read that Paul advised Timothy to drink wine (1 Tim 5:23)
Beyond that there were several quotable quotes about:
1 Tim 1:15 Christ came to save sinners
1 Tim 4:4 all God's stuff is good
1 Tim 4:12 being young is okay
1 Tim 6:7 you can't take it with you
1 Tim 6:10 root of all evil
2 Tim 1:7 not to be timid
2 Tim 3:16-17 scripture is inspired by God
2 Tim 4:7 Paul fought the good fight
Titus 1:15 everything being clean
Titus 3:10 conflict
As you read these verses or the entire letters what are they saying to you? If you were to pass this along to a younger pastor or church leader, what words of experience or wisdom might you add?
Next time we will look at the book of Hebrews.
