March 24: Caring for Others

THE TARGET
Focus on what adults should leave knowing, understanding, and doing.t

Adults will answer the question: 

"What can I do to help meet others' needs in my church?"

This study provides you with an opportunity to help your group become more involved in a few ministries we provide. Please mark your calendars for April 28th as well. This is our next Connect Group training event. We will be focusing on helping you organize and focus on the ministry of caring for your group. This study gives you an opportunity to emphsize this training and to begin enlisting leaders. Remember teacher, you need to expand and extend your ministry through individuals in your group. You can download or review the organization guide at the following link: Organization Guide.

I suggest you insert the following information into your study:

• Operation Reclamation. The intent was to remind Connect Groups of the priority we place on people, part of our GPS. We can't forget people.
• Care Group ministry. There are many approaches to organizing care group ministry. Remind them of the principle of ACE (See the picture to the right or download the PowerPoint slide to display or copy. Click here for download).
• Ministry to Senior Adults. Adam Creel is launching a new ministry related to caring for shut-ins called HOMECONNECTION. I highly recommend you emphasize your class's involvement in this very important ministry (Click to Download Homeconnection). There is also another important ministry called AMEN. This is a support ministry for widows and widowers (Click to download the bookmark you can share with your group).
• Ministry to the Pastoral Staff. Consider asking your group to pray for and/or to write a note of appreciation to various pastoral staff members.

Context
We continue Paul's focus and advice to Timothy as he seeks to help the church in Ephesus develop into a healthy church. Here has been the progression so far:

• Watch out for false teachers.
• Role clarification for men & women in the church.
• Leadership standards for pastors, deacons, and for leaders like Timothy.

Paul now shifts his attention to how we should care for and relate to one another, focusing particularly on widows and elders (leaders of the congregation). Paul placed a priority on the proper treatment of people in the church. He reminded Timothy to treat others with respect and compassion by caring for their spiritual and material needs. At the same time Paul urged the application of careful and honest discernment. 

The church can help some people, but not everyone, so a discerning stewardship is essential to avoid the waste of limited resources (ETB Commentary, p 41)

Overarching Principle: Do not rebuke, but exhort. 
The following verses need to be seen as providing some overarching principles for this entire set of passages:

Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and with all propriety, the younger women as sisters. (1 Timothy 5:1-2, HCSB)

Paul provides us with a broad gender and age graded list along with actions that you will discuss. As you focus on these passages, lead adults to identify the meanings of these two words and how they relate to the broad groups listed, and then he gives specific principles for a narrower group--widows and elders.

• Rebuke - Implies a harsh reprimand that could lead to an antagonistic relationship. It carries the picture of striking at someone, meaning to chastise him.
• Exhort - The Greek term rendered exhort means to "come alongside" a person and implies encouragement, guidance, or support more than a reprimand. It carries the idea of comfort and encouragement.

Keeping in mind the TARGET of the lesson, the question would be then, "What are the specific actions for widows and elders in the church based on the overarching principle of, 'Do not rebuke but exhort?' "
 
Another Caution
As you focus on widows, Paul gives an overview of the kinds of widows we should help. Again, be sensitive to those who have experienced divorce, remarriage, and then the death of their second spouses.  There might also be discussion or disagreement regarding the criteria Paul gives for the types of widows to help based on their spiritual maturity or relationship to Christ. Ask God to give you wisdom to know how to stay true to the text while offering grace to those who might struggle.

The point is to provide criteria and principles for developing caring relationships within the church body. Paul was not saying we should ignore ministry to those who don't know Christ. In the context of the church in Ephesus, he is giving specific instruction regarding how to take care of people inside the church; this does not remove responsibility to look for ways to share Christ through ministry outside of the church body.

Use any of the suggestions below to supplement your Discover Guide plans or ETB Leader Guide teaching plans. Don't forget to check Extra! for additional helps!

TEACHING PLAN SUGGESTIONS

Look Up: "Soft Methods" to draw attention to the study as adults are visiting and gathering for Bible study.

There is an excellent "soft method" object lesson in the QuickSource this week (p 21, Care for Others). I recommend that you use the idea, modifying it as needed. This can help your group focus while everyone is arriving.

Remember: Start on time - learning begins when the first person enters the room. Soft methods enable you to do this while adults are still visiting and gathering.

Transition: We continue Paul's focus and advice to Timothy as he seeks to help the church in Ephesus develop into a healthy church. Here has been the progression so far:

• Watch out for false teachers.
• Role clarification for men & women in the church.
• Leadership standards for pastors, deacons, and for leaders like Timothy.

Paul now shifts his attention to how we should care for and relate to one another, focusing particularly on widows and elders (leaders of the congregation). Paul placed a priority on the proper treatment of people in the church. He reminded Timothy to treat others with respect and compassion by caring for their spiritual and material needs. At the same time Paul urged the application of careful and honest discernment. 

The church can help some people, but not everyone, so a discerning stewardship is essential to avoid the waste of limited resources (ETB Commentary, p41)

Today we want to answer the question, "What can I do to help meet others needs in my church?"

Look In: Supplemental ideas unpacking the text.

1 Timothy 5:1-2 (An Overarching Principle for Caring for Others)

• What is the difference between rebuking and exhorting? (See previous explanation and QuickSource, p20 for additional information)
• Are you more likely to respond to a rebuke or an exhortation?
• Does exhorting someone mean you overlook something they are doing wrong? (No, it means we approach correction differently, redemptively.)
• List the following on a marker board: Father, Brother, Mother, Sister. Ask the group to describe what exhortation would look like for each of these groups. List their answers. (Treat each other respectfully as you would a family member. Treat women with dignity, respect, and sensitivity and, in the case of younger women, with utmost purity)

Transition: 
Remind the group of the importance of connecting with People (See PowerPoint slide). Explain how you are or want to use Care Groups to connect with people. (Consider explaining Care Group Ministry and promoting the April 28 training).

Remind them that Operation Reclamation was for the purpose of helping us exhort others.  Our entire text today teaches us to treat each other as if we are family members. Paul provided a broad gender and age graded list along with two basic principles: Do not rebuke but exhort. He then narrows his conversation to focus first on widows and then on the elders of the church.

1 Timothy 5:3-16 (Caring for Widows)
Note: ETB breaks these passages down in two segments and skips verses 11-15. I suggest you treat these passages as a whole and combine the discussions in the Leader Guide or Discovery Study Guide.

Reference: See Dig Deeper in QuickSource, page 21 for an explanation of the four types of widows described in these passages.

• Explain: These passages use the term "real" and "genuine" when referring to widows. These are not intended to be derogatory terms but terms to establish criteria for widows who don't have help from anyone other than the church or widows who aren't living out their faith. Remember, this is focused on how we take care of widows in the church.
• Ask a volunteer to read the passages. Instruct the group to listen and identify the differences between widows the church should support and those the church should not support (See QuickSource, p20, question 2 for more information). Supplement the discussion with the information from Dig Deeper, QuickSource, page 21.
• Why should there be criteria for taking care of widows?
• What factors contribute to a family's ability or inability to care for widows? (Discover Study Guide, p32) 
• Based on these passages, how is the church supposed to help when children of widows are present?
• If you are teaching middle age adults, consider reading the story in Extra under Get Started. It provides a great overview of the struggles adults have when taking care of aging parents. Discuss how the church should help while still exhorting children to take care of their aging parents.
• If appropriate, ask adults in your group to share about the challenges of taking care of an aging parent. Invite your group to pray for an adult or couple in your group who is taking care of aging loved ones.

Transition: (In advance: Click and download the following handouts and distribute: Homeconnection and AMEN.)  Refer to the handouts that describe the ministries we have for widows and the homebound. Discuss how they could be involved, encouraging them to contact the individuals responsible for those ministries.

Paul continues his overarching principle of exhorting others by providing guidance on how to take care of church leaders.

1 Timothy 3:17-18 (Caring for Church Leaders)

• How would you summarize how we are to exhort church leaders based on these passages?
• What does an ample honorarium communicate to church leaders?
• How many of you have ever felt unappreciated for your dedication to your job? How does that relate to the descriptions of the ox and the laborer in verse 18? What does this say about the result of providing for church leaders?
• What other ways should we exhort our church leaders?

Transition: Ask the group to write down one pastoral staff leader that they will commit to praying for and to write an encouraging note to them during the week. Remind the group that their tithe helps to provide the means by which the church takes care of the staff.

Look Out: Hitting the target and applying it to daily living.

Summary:  Paul described the criteria and principles for developing caring relationships within the church body. Paul was not saying we should ignore ministry to those who don't know Christ. In the context of the church in Ephesus, he is giving specific instruction regarding how to take care of people inside the church; this does not remove responsibility to look for ways to share Christ through ministry outside of the church body.

Application:

• Review the multiple ways we can show we care for others (Care Group ministry, HomeConnection, AMEN, encouraging adults who are taking care of aging parents, praying and encouraging our staff, tithing so our budget can be used to take care of staff.)
• Ask the group to write down one way in which they will become more involved in caring for others. Ask for several to share.