I Timothy 5: the Church and the Occupy Wall Street movement

Tuesday night at a seaside restaurant on the North Shore of Massachusetts, my dinner companion, an old friend from high school and college, mentioned the Occupy Wall Street movement and asked, “what does the Church have to say about it?”

It’s a timely question. To its shame much of the church tolerated the destruction of the American Indians, ignored the rise of Nazism and sat on their hands while civil rights protesters marched. It pleases Christ the Head that His Body neither loves the approval of the world’s movers and shakers, nor ignores pleas for justice, emerging, like the tired old judge of the parables, only when its own comfort is threatened. Instead the Holy Spirit uses prophets and the irreproachable lives of His people to speak redeeming gospel truth to individuals and nations. The gospel message may begin by recognizing and solving the problem at hand, but it always ends with a call to join the Kingdom through the Cross.

My superficial answer to my thought-provoking friend’s question was something like, “in Thessalonians Paul tells the idle men of the church to get a job, work hard, and take care of their own families.” And there is some truth to that rebuke. The American spirit of quiet, determined industry has been corroded (I do not say replaced) by a loud, demanding spirit of entitlement. Say what you want about the illegal immigrants, but they are not occupying Wall Street. They and their green-carded brethren are holding nail guns, not cardboard signs. The protesters are the “real” Americans who have been raised with wealth but a declining sense of family and community support, and now that bad times are a’ comin’, both the government and family safety nets look overused, overburdened and full of holes. These folks are scared, and given their situation I do not blame them. The church can lead by example, being careful to give God the glory in the prayer closet and in public, if it follows some of the direct and implied directions about community support contained in I Timothy 5.

The gist of Timothy 5 is that we love those around us in appropriate ways. Treat old men like fathers, younger men like brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters (with purity). Widows are to be cared for by the church if necessary, but ideally by re-marriage. Americans may miss the impact of these statements because we lack a sense of Jewish family cohesion or Middle Eastern hospitality: “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

Whoa! So if I fail to treat everyone in the Body as relatives for whom I am responsible, what does that make me?! In Old Testament times the brother or near male relative of a man who died was obligated to care for the widow and children, thus the concept of the kinsman-redeemer. This was “welfare”, God-style. What if….what if….what if…..I actually practiced something like this? What if I really was my brother’s keeper in tangible, serious ways? No doubt I would have less money and time and living space, fewer “talents” to invest in my personal pursuit of the American Dream. (Oh boo hoo.) But as David Platt in his book “Radical” says, Christ has carried his cross and so must his followers, and indeed Christ through us is carrying the gospel cross until the Great Day when its work is accomplished.  I am reminded of admonition of the King to his servants in Luke 19’s Parable of the Talents:

“Occupy until I come.”

I Timothy 4: The value of physical training

Paul writes in 4:7-8, in response the supposed godliness of restrictive diets and presumably other physical disciplines:

"....Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

In today's Boston Globe appears a story that the Boston Red Sox starting pitchers, on non-start days, would sit in the clubhouse drinking beer, eating fried chicken, and playing video games. Paying little heed to their calling as athletes or their responsibilities to their teammates and the Great Cloud of Witnesses that is Red Sox Nation, they "let themselves go". Two of them, John Lester and Josh Beckett, were looking pretty chunky towards the end of the season, and perhaps not coincidentally they both pitched lousy and the Red Sox were beaten out of the playoffs on the next to last day of the season.

A year ago in July I wrote Diane 18 reasons why I should lose weight. I refer back to that list today because it seems that for the Christian the "why" of physical training is at least as important as the "how." The Hebrew mindset, in many ways very much "of this world" with its appreciation for nature and community, seems unconcerned with physical appearance and training. Can you imagine the Greeks not even bothering to describe the physical appearance of its central man-god figure? Their myths are all about buff Apollo and winged Mercury and femme fatale Athena and that randy old goat of many disguises, Zeus. But the Hebrews, with a few exceptions (Song of Solomon notable among them) don't much dwell on it. So in terms of cultural patterns, we are left with zilch from the Hebrews, and TMI from the Greeks.

I ramble. What I'm trying to say is that godliness is the guide for a biblical view of physical conditioning. For example: I told Diane I know am called to work hard to provide for my family and to also work hard in the Lord's vineyards. Since doing so requires staying healthy and energetic, I must eat and exercise well. Sickness may come, but shame on me if I bring it on myself. It's all about being a faithful maintenance worker of God's temple.

A couple years ago I was so tired and heavy that, like Beckett and Lester, I just faded in the homestretch of the Legislative Session. At a time when I needed gas in my tank, I was running on E. I noticed that other men my age but in better shape seemed to move more quickly and with more energy. They were equal to the task. And of course as I head into my mid-fifties (will be 54 next Monday!) it is important to do my part to reduce the likelihood of lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, back pain, arthritis, and cancer.

Taking care of myself is an act of love for my kids. God bless them they all have made it clear that they want me around for a very, very long time. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain, but being convinced that there is fruitful labor for me, I resolve to stay and live and love with them, and the grandkids when they come, too.

And for me to be fat is just a lousy, lousy witness. It proclaims to the world, "Jesus has no real control over my appetites, over the warp and woof of my daily life. My addiction is more powerful than He is."

I do not make these statements for anyone else. They are about me, my motives, my life. And because they are mine, they are truly motivating as I eat and exercise with a positive goal in mind.

I Timothy 3: Overseers and Deacons

Ever since the lunch rush at the Jerusalem Church cafe got too crowded for the apostles alone to handle, causing Peter to say in Acts 6, "it is not good to neglect the ministry of the word to wait on tables," there have been overseers and deacons. The oversimplified distinction between the two is: overseers serve the soul, deacons serve the body. There is crossover. In the first century, Deacon Philip preached the gospel to Samaritans and Ethiopians. Last Saturday night, Overseer Peter (Andersen) waited on tables at the Jericho Congregational Church chicken supper. Only in the religious flesh is one position "more important" than other, for in the Kingdom all are servants, the greatest least of all and vice-versa. The biblical emphasis on servanthood probably explains why the qualifications for both jobs are less CEO and more PTO: be a good dad, a good husband, well-thought of, honest, sober. As for job-related qualifications: the overseer must be able to teach; the deacon, not given to dishonest gain (unlike Judas, the "deacon" of the original 12). Neither should be untested newbies. As always, Paul points to the Lord Jesus as the example. The church's call to serve both body and soul comes from he who dwelt among us in the body, walked in the Spirit, and magnificently ministered to the whole person, unlike any other before or since. I had never noticed it before, but Paul's little hymn at the end of chapter two (who goes very well with the traditional Christmas song "the Christmas Bells Are Ringing") portrays Jesus equally in body and in spirit, in the "seen" world and in and by the unseen:

He appeared in a body / was vindicated by the Spirit
was preached among the nations / was seen by angels
was believed on in the world / was taken up in glory

I have received some gracious, interesting feedback on the last blog entry about women being silent in churches. One brother wrote that his wife asked him, "so where was Adam when Eve sinned?" In other words, why wasn't the brother leading? Was he off playing golf? Watching passively? It's a good question. (The answer would probably conclude that just because Adam and every male leader since has been a cowardly, power-hungry, lazy, arrogant dope from time to time, their failure has not revoked God's call. The church did not discard the Cross when the Romans and the Klan misused it as a weapon of intimidation and power.) Another brother, by far the most Patriarchal, head-covering-and-silence-for-women believer I know, gently mentioned that scripture encourages women to prophesy in the power of the Holy Spirit. This is an example of scripture commenting on scripture.

There are four steps to inductive Bible study: 1. Definition - what do the words in the passage mean? 2. Interpretation: what is the writer saying? 3. Application: what does this passage mean for my life? And, 4. Correlation: how does the teaching of this passage fit with the rest of scripture? In the last blog, I gave a quick treatment of 1-3 and left 4 untouched. That is a task for another day, or perhaps for a group of godly men and women, led by overseers "able to teach".

I Timothy 2 - The Whole Counsel of God

15 short verses on life and worship, today’s blog post will be a breeze…..

Pray for kings and rulers, so that we can be left in peace – check.

As the rabbi in Fiddler on the Roof said, “A blessing for the Czar? Hmmm, let me think. Ah – May the Lord Bless and Keep the Czar – Far Away From Us!” Paul doesn’t want to be or even advise the Caezar, but he does value his Pax Romana as an unwitting enabler of the spreading of the gospel. But he hastens to add that there is one mediator between God and man, and it is not the GodKing Caesar – it is Jesus Christ. There is room in Paul’s pecking order for Caesar, but not at the top.

Men, lift holy hands in prayer – check. Testosterone makes ungodly men lift hands balled in fists or holding rocks. The Spirit turns these aggressive impulses into humble prayers for strength, protection and whole-armor-of-God unity. All men must have a deadly enemy to fight. In Christ we no longer wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the devil in the world and inside us.

Women, adorn yourselves with good deeds not beautiful jewels – check. Men like this verse because our women’s good deeds are usually not very expensive! But seriously – from my perspective, a woman’s adorning beauty may create attraction, but her good deeds create the trust and the soul-ties. Diane was a knockout blond but it was her dogged loyalty to her troubled son and her depth of character that really drew me to her.

“I do not permit a woman to tech or to have authority over a man; she must be silent…..it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner…..but women will be saved through childbearing….” – NOT check. Not-even-CLOSE-check.

I am forever preaching to a woman pastor friend of mine that evangelicals, unlike religious liberals, are empowered for life and doctrine because they follow the whole counsel of God. Unlike Thomas Jefferson and his famous scissored gospel, we do not pick and choose. It is precisely verses such as this that “test” me, and I mean that in a positive, gold-purified-by-fire way.

I am reminded of a story by the great WWII war correspondent, Alan Moorehead, in his book about the North African campaign, “The Road to Tunis.” A group of Afrika Corps captives are marching in file past their British captors, defiantly singing the Nazi version of “Yankee Doodle”, called “the Horst Wessel Song”. The rank and file soldiers, among them many cockneys from London, jeer and gesture. “Bugger off ye sodding wankers…..” and the like. Their officers, on the other hand, are upper-class gentlemen. They just turn their backs.  The seeming misogyny of this verse is the song; the cockneys are mocking religious liberals; I am the officer, politely, discretely turning my back, saying nothing.

In defense of Paul, I could argue that history shows that male-only preaching has done pretty well over the last 20 centuries, and churches that have embraced women preachers are in decline. But this argument fails for two reasons: first, there are many third world mission fields where women are preaching the gospel quite effectively. We just don’t see them here in America. And second, history is written by the winners and is at best a subjective “proof” for a teaching.  The horrific, respectable 19^th century obsession with Aryanism and Manifest Destiny is reason enough to avoid the “obvious lessons of history,” which may illustrate, but do not convincingly confirm  or persuade. Only the whole counsel of the rest of scripture can do that.  Truth has its pecking order, too.  As the Lord Jesus is over Caesar in authority, so His Scripture has authority over the interpretations of the history of the kingdoms of this earth.

So here is what I think: Under the inspiration of the Spirit that loves and redeems and empowers men and women without distinction, Paul commands male servant leadership in the area of teaching scripture. His reason: Adam was formed first, and Eve sinned first. He hearkens back to the Garden, before the potential for sin inside us and the world outside us had warped our minds and loyalties. Men are to be like the first Adam, redeemed, giving names and bestowing knowledge and order as stewards of creation. Like Eve, women are to join with and help men in this work. In its application it is a hard teaching, hard both to understand and accept in its many permutations. I think it is part of the narrow way, the cross, reviled by the world, countintuitive to our own understanding. The Romans embraced the cross as a tool of domination. The Christians embraced the cross as a tool of humble service. No doubt the Word of God has been and will be used in the same way, until its Author returns.

Does that mean women cannot preach the gospel to men in Africa? I think it does mean that when those men receive the gospel, they should find those among them with the pastoral and teaching gifts. Even closer to home, does this mean that women who teach men should altogether cease doing so? I think it does mean they should recognize this principle of Paul’s and seek to transition to it, in an orderly way, encouraging the men among their students to develop their gifts. And above all I think this verse needs to be understood and if necessary clarified in the context of other scripture. As I said above, neither the world nor history can tell the church what scripture means; that job belongs to other scripture.

Well, like I said, 15 verses, a breeze. A stiff, 90 knot, capsize-your-sailboat breeze. Enough for today of trying to rightly divide the word of truth – the sun is shining, the mercury is dropping, I gotta go split some wood.

Advice to Timothy from the worst of sinners

So I went ahead and highlighted the parts of I Timothy 1 I want to talk about......

Timothy my true son....command certain people not to teach false doctrines..... they want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm... the law is made for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars.

I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Timothy, my son, fight the battle well.

I have a son named Timothy, too. And besides my adopted son Tim, I have a kind of "son in the faith" named Timothy, a former roommate and fellow journalist whom I pointed to Christ lo these many years ago. I am grateful to God that both of these Tims are trophies of God's grace and deliverance, as am I. There is a quaint saying, "there but for the grace of God go I." This is truer than I will ever know this side of eternity.

Gotta wonder what those good Christian slave traders in the 18th and 19th centuries thought when they read a scripture comparing them to homosexuals and liars. No doubt in the spirit of the Pharisee they said, "he must be talking about UNRIGHTEOUS slave traders."

Paul really threw young, timid Timothy into the deep water. He is told to "command" the self-righteous confident Judaizers in the church to cease and desist. Wonder how that worked out for him. Clearly Paul knew that Timothy knew what he needed to know, he just lacked the necessary vim. One thing I am learning in the gym - sometimes I have to just go out and "just do it" even when it's way out of my comfort zone, and when frankly I don't think I can do it.

II Thess 3 - Everyday Heros

I just found out today that "Courageous" will play at Essex Cinemas for at least another week. Since seeing the movie Friday I have been thinking about what it means to be Dad, head of household. Paul has a lot to say about it in Chapter 3. After laying on a heavy trip about the Anti-Christ and the Mystery of Lawlessness and the End of the World, he takes a deep, calming breath, and says, "now, you men. Don't be lazy. Work hard. Mind your own business. If you don't work, you don't eat."

It seems an odd segue.

But - not really. Surely one of the greatest restraints on the spirit of lawlessness is the biblical teaching of family, hard work, and minding your own business. The lazy, rootless young man  is a chaotic pimple on the hind end of humanity. He "produces" nothing but loud, late-night noise and graffiti. The young man who loves his work and his bride and his children is a happy person who produces something valuable every day is likely to promote the general order and welfare. So many men have said, "my Dad was my hero. Every day he got up and whether he felt like it or not, he went off to work and provided for us. He kept his nose out of other people's business and just put his head down and worked."

It is all very well to talk of singing hymns of victory while being led to martyr's chopping block, as I wrote yesterday. To this I may someday be called. But today Jesus says to me, "take up your cross and follow me." And so I do, obeying God by honoring my daily commitments to family and employer. And holding back the spirit of lawlessness for one more day in my own little way.

II Thess 2 - the mystery and man of lawlessness

 First Paul tells me about the bad stuff sliding down the pipe in my general direction. He tells me the same thing Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jesus and John the Revelator say: a ruler claiming to be God will demand obedience and worship in the holy places. Paul calls him the Man of Lawlessness. Jesus and the OT prophets call him the abomination that brings desolation. John calls him the Anti-Christ. The world, prepared for his coming by the spirit of lawlessness, will embrace him and his counterfeit signs, wonders and miracles.

Anti-Christ forerunners, those who foreshadowed and resembled this man, have already come and gone: the kings of Tyre and Babylon, the Greek Antiochus Epiphanes, the Roman Caesars, and Herod Antipas, regarded as divine by his subjects in the Book of Acts shortly before his guts burst open. In modern times, Alexander Solzynitzyn told of Greek Orthodox Church believers who chose the gulag over Communism, which they regarded as the mark of the Beast. To them, Stalin, the former priest candidate, was the anti-Christ. Bonhoeffer and other German saints repudiated the German church  when its pastors agreed to swear loyalty to Adolph Hitler. Each of these "types" of the anti-Christ were credited with seemingly supernatural powers of protection and success. Communism had its Rasputin, Hitler his SS worshippers of pagan Norse gods. Each encouraged and enjoyed a cult of quasi-worshippers. And sadly both were regarded as wordly saviors by the worldy so-called Christian church.

As to the mystery of lawlessness that goes before these men .....it is a persistent, behind-the-scenes thing. For example......Whitaker Chambers, the American communist turned Quaker who exposed the infiltration of mid-20th century American government, called communism godless man's attempt to replace God and build the Kingdom without Him. Without the tireless efforts of generations of 19th century and early 20th century communists, Stalin could not have seized power. Without the generations of anti-semitism, selfish nationalism, and the growing popularity of "Aryan" triumphalism, Hitler's poisonous seed would have fallen on hard ground. Historians argue whether the Great Man makes Great Events, or whether Events make the Great Man. Paul would say that in a perverted way, the Spirit of Lawlessness brings about events that "prepare the way" for the Great, Evil Man.....just as the Spirit of God prepared the way for the Christ, "in the fullness of time".

And what does this mean for me, when the force holding back the Man of Lawlessness is finally removed? It means that the laws about assisted suicide and abortion I am trying to stop will be passed, because society's historic sense of compassion and decency will have disappeared. It means the church I worship in, the beautiful historic brick church with the beautiful bas-relief artwork and the joyful godly worship, will be either closed, empty, or compromised, and the salt and light traditions of communion and singing the old hymns and preaching the clear meaning of the Word of God will be forgotten by all but a few. Instead the hearts of many will revere the Great Man and revel in his signs, wonders and miracles. It means that people I love and respect will hate and reject me, because they hate the Kingdom. Our brother Marcel Berard had said often that the unbelieving agnostic world is drawn to Christianity because its story is so thin and ours is so rich.  But what if suddenly their story seems rich, and ours thin by comparison, as happened in Nazi Germany?

I choose now to live and love and worship today so that, if this abomination happens in my lifetime, I will be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and my belief in the truth, and will share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ - even if the glory to which I am called to share is His suffering. In short I choose to stand firm and hold fast to the teachings passed on to me. I am a link in a chain stretching back to when Jesus called his first disciple. The other end of this chain is at the Great Reunion. I am not the strongest or prettiest link, but by God's grace the fiery trials will only serve to temper my metal. I say this not in any false confidence in my strength but in trust that His grace will be sufficient. And if every church in the world is shuttered and burned down, I will still maintain one shrine to the love and glory of Jesus Christ the Son of God - my heart. He said, "the Kingdom of God is within you." No tyrant can rob me of the freedom to make my heart Christ's home. This morning in that wonderful church in Jericho we remembered Christ's sacrifice in communion and then sang a great old "pumper" hymn - "He Lives." If ever I am summoned to the executioner's block by the minions of the Man of Lawlessness, I will if able to sing one last song for his glory - the one that ends, "You ask me how I know he lives - he lives within my heart!"