LIVING HONORABLY

1 Timothy 5 is a chapter about Living Honorably. Verse 3 speaks about honor, verse 17 speaks about double honor. Throughout this message I want us to think about the importance of living honorable lives. Today, more than ever, we need to honor others, teach our children and grandchildren to live honorably. 

 Honoring doesn’t stop at the door of the building—God wants us to live honorably, and to extend honor to all. So then, with that under our belt, we begin at verses 1 and 2 with the idea of Honoring Each Other – “1 Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.” (1 Tim. 5:1-2)

 I don’t know about you all—but when was young speaking to my father or my mother in a disrespectful tone—was met with a severe and immediate rebuke—which included a corrective rod. Consider the significance, and the warnings in these two scriptures as we expound on the idea of living honorably. “You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old. Fear your God; I am the LORD.”  (Lev. 19:32, CSB)…

YOUR WONDERFUL WORKS

Years ago, when I was a younger boy, I would camp in the mountains of California. Gazing up into the infinite and deep night sky, without lights from the city, the glory of God’s handy work is expressly seen.
I remember the stars, and how they moved me to marvel. It wasn’t for another 20 years before I understood, God Made this, and God made me.

David wrote: “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” (Psa. 40:5).

Paul told the church at Rome, “so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:5), so then, as “members of one another”, we all need to strive to strengthen one another daily as much as we can. Brethren, if we break that connection we have—the church falters and over time if not corrected the church dies. It is critical that we understand we are saints and members of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:19). We must search the scriptures our whole life time and what you will not find is any teaching of isolationism.

Exercise Yourself – Timothy, don’t waste time with pointlessness rather train yourself in godliness. That requires exercising our minds – in the word of God. Notice the pattern: V.6 Paul says, “Instruct”, then v.7 “Reject and exercise”. Teach them, reject their foolish talk, and make yourself strong in the word of God. Most certainly needed in our time as well. There are so many who teach false things, wasting so much time in pursuit of endless speculations. Let’s consider some…

Consider verse 6 where Paul says, “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.” (1 Tim. 4:6-7).

Exercise Yourself – Timothy, don’t waste time with pointlessness rather train yourself in godliness. That requires exercising our minds – in the word of God. Notice the pattern: V.6 Paul says, “Instruct”, then v.7 “Reject and exercise”. Teach them, reject their foolish talk, and make yourself strong in the word of God. Most certainly needed in our time as well. There are so many who teach false things, wasting so much time in pursuit of endless speculations. Let’s consider some…

The life of a Christian in the Bible is often described as a walk.

In Paul’s writing to the church at Ephesus one key word is the word “Walk”. Walking suggests our daily manner of behavior, or the mannor in which we live from day to day. In Ephesians 5:1-3 Paul wrote, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. 3 But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;” (Eph. 5:1-3).

Therefore the following are some ways that Christians are to walk. We begin with we are to, walk in good works…

This lesson, “Are They Seeing God Through You”, is so titled because that is what the church is supposed to be doing and helping others to do, see God!

We begin at verses 14 and 15, where Paul writes, “14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; 15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and [a]ground of the truth.” (1 Tim. 3:14-15).

When it comes to the church, brothers and sisters, we are that foundation, the mainstay if you will to the on-looking world around us. Therefore, it matters greatly how we behave ourselves. Why you ask? Because we are displaying Jesus to the world. We are showing the world by our actions, our words, our way of life, the glory of our Father. The church is the pillar and ground of this truth, and we are the church.

It is vital that you know who you are, you’re the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. When we live out our day to day lives we must live in a way that people see God, see His truth, see His righteousness…

Ezekiel 3:22-23, “22 Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you.” So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face.”
This is the second lesson on Glorious Things. Where we to have a thousand years to study the rich things of God there would not be enough time to
learn all about His glory, but we try.

In this lesson we will seek to better understand the roles of leadership, and servants. This will include discussion on overseers, deacons, and their wives. 

Listen in as we learn of these positions, from God and apply them in every church…

Ezekiel 3:22-23, “22 Then the hand of the Lord was upon me there, and He said to me, “Arise, go out into the plain, and there I shall talk with you.” So I arose and went out into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face.”

There are at least 45 uses of the term “glorious” as a noun between the Old and New Testaments. Let’s consider just a few in the first of a two part lesson. . .