Snapshots of a Healthy Church Part 2

SNAPSHOTS OF A HEALTHY CHURCH–PART 2 

An Exposition of 1 Timothy 5:1-16

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date:   September 15, 2019

Series: Snapshots of a Healthy Church

Note:   Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

INTRODUCTION

In last week’s sermon we began to look at snapshots of a healthy church. As we saw in Acts 2:42-47, a healthy church is a church in which its members are ‘all in’ to worshiping the Lord and loving each other. This theme of being ‘all in’ to the life of the church will continue in this sermon, but we will also add another layer of responsibility that complements our responsibility to the church. One of the key concepts in today’s sermon is the household.

As a Christian, you are a member of two households. First, you are a member of your basic family unit. Your family constitutes a household, which comes with a particular arrangement of relationships and responsibilities that are assigned by God’s Word.

Second, you are a member of the church family, which the Bible calls “the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19, 1 Timothy 3:15) and “the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). As God’s household, the church is a family with a particular arrangement of relationships and responsibilities that are assigned and ordered by God’s Word.

God’s call upon your life is that you live faithfully and dutifully and productively as a member of God’s household and as a member of your household. God’s will is that you demonstrate enormous love for your church family and for your biological family. When it comes to your everyday, 24/7 discipleship, your energy and efforts ought to be taken up with these two massive priorities: the church of the living God, and the family unit at home. And it is vitally important that we learn to connect and integrate these two households in profound and practical ways.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

With this introduction in mind, let me read God’s Word as it is written in 1 Timothy 5:1-16. Brothers and sisters, let us hear the Word of the Lord:

“Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

“Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach. But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

“Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. For some have already strayed after Satan. If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.” (1 Timothy 5:1-16)

AN OVERVIEW OF THE PASSAGE

The Church is a Family

First, Paul tells Pastor Timothy to minister to the members of his congregation in a family-like way: to those who are older, as fathers and mothers; to those who are closer to his own age, as brothers and sisters. Since Timothy had just been told to “set the believers an example in speech, [and] in conduct” (1 Timothy 4:12), we can infer that we should follow Timothy’s example and also treat one another in a family-like way. And while we are familiar with the idea that we are brothers and sisters, we should take note that there is more relational texture than just that of siblings. Yes, all Christians are brothers and sisters to one another – but we are an inter-generational family with differing roles, and that too should be experienced in a family-like way. We relate to those who are older as fathers and mothers. We relate to those who are younger as sons and daughters – as Paul himself refers to Timothy as “my true child in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2). As both my parents and Charlotta’s parents live some distance from South Paris, Maine, Jared and Faye have become something like surrogate grandparents to our children – and this is just the sort of thing that ought to be happening within a church family.

Family-Like Relationships Entail Family-Like Responsibilities

As we move ahead to verses 3-16, we learn that family-like relationships entail family-like responsibilities. As we walk through this passage, we see Paul going back and forth between our ‘church family’ responsibilities and our ‘regular family’ responsibilities.

So second, notice that there are times when the church family must step up and care for widows. Verse 3: “Honor widows who are truly widows.” Then in verse 16, the reason that we don’t want the church to be burdened with those who aren’t true widows is “so that it may care for those who are truly widows.” Paul envisions circumstances when a widow doesn’t have the benefit of an extended family to care for her, and at such times the church family should step up and treat her like family – honor her like a mother or grandmother, and care for her like a family member.

The First Line of Responsibility is for Family Members to Care for Family Members

Third, even though there are times when the church family must step up and care for widows, notice how important it is for children and grandchildren to step up and care for their parents and grandparents. When it comes to the practical care of individuals – widows or otherwise – the first line of responsibility is for family members to care for family members. Verse 4: “But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.” Likewise in verse 16: “If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them.” The opportunity to care for an aged or needy parent or grandparent is not a distraction from following Jesus, but is in fact how you follow Jesus in that particular season. Spending yourself on behalf of a parent or grandparent is a fitting way to repay them for all the love that they have shown to you and your family.[1] Households should gladly bear the burden of providing generous care for their immediate and extended family members.

Godliness Matters

Fourth, when Paul tells us the church to honor true widows, what he means is that only godly widows are worthy of the church’s honor. Don’t allow the overused sentiment about ‘unconditional love’ to blind you to Paul’s instruction. While it is true that you don’t have to screen individuals for occasional acts of mercy, the Bible teaches us that the church must adhere to certain standards when it comes to honoring and caring for widows for the long-term. Paul uses the phrase “truly widows” in verses 3 and 16, then Paul describes “who is truly a widow” in verse 5, and then Paul gives further character qualifications in verses 9-10. When you put the whole passage together, a true widow who qualifies for honor and care from the church is an older, godly woman who doesn’t have a family of her own to provide for her. In such a circumstance, the church can and should step up to take care of her.

Paul emphasizes a true widow’s godliness in verses 5-6: “She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.” An honorable widow fixes her hope on the living God and fills up her schedule with prayer. This means that she doesn’t have a sense of entitlement from others, and isn’t interested in taking advantage of the church, and the last thing she would want to have done is for the saints to enable her to live a sinful, self-absorbed lifestyle. This woman is ‘all in’ for God: she trusts Him to supply her daily bread, and she utilizes her time and limited mobility to look up and pray for the building up of God’s people. That is a woman worth getting behind, looking after, and supporting with the church’s money. But we have no business throwing our support behind a lazy and self-indulgent person. Holiness matters! As a holy people who have been set apart by God and for God, our desire should be to utilize our resources in order to advance godliness, not ungodliness – and this mindset influences the way we steward our benevolence funds.

God’s Word Teaches Us How to Function in God’s Household and in Our Own Household

Fifth, Paul tells Timothy to teach these things. Verse 7: “Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach.” God’s Word teaches us how to function as a church family and how to function as family units. If we live a careless and selfish life and are unwilling to care for the members of our church family or our extended family, then we are guilty of sin and ought to be reproved. God has given us His Word in order to lead us into a dignified way of life that reflects His gracious character. If we obey what God commands, then we will have a good reputation and “be without reproach.”

Faith-full Christians Provide for Their Family Members and Relatives

Sixth, Paul again tells us how important it is to demonstrate our faith by caring for our family members and relatives. Verse 8: “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than unbeliever.” Many unbelievers have the good sense that they ought to care for their family and extended family, and if you as a professing Christian fail to rise to even this basic level of good sense that pagans have, then you are worse than them and your faith is effectively defunct.

Do you realize that you – if you are a Christian – have the greatest reason to bear the cost of providing for others? This reason, of course, is the gospel: the Lord Jesus Christ, with overflowing grace, gladly bore the cost of providing eternal nourishment, eternal provision, and eternal shelter for His people. This grace of Jesus is the root of our love: if He so loved us, then shouldn’t we demonstrate that same kind of love for others? If He laid down His life for me, then shouldn’t I lay down my life for the members of my household, for the members of my extended family, and for the members of my church family?

Provision, of course, is closely bound up with our work, whether it is work that earns a profit or work that bakes an extra loaf of bread for the widow across the street. We work – we spend energy and resources – in order to meet the needs of our household, our relatives, and our fellow Christians. Work is a good gift from the Lord, and He has given us this good gift so that we can provide for others: “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” (Ephesians 4:28) The motivation for work is not to make a name for ourselves, whether by climbing the corporate ladder or by posting self-promoting pictures on social media. The motivation for work is to build a way of life that honors God and meets the needs of loves ones within our regular family and within our church family. Obedience to 1 Timothy 5:8 requires not only a willing heart but also actual and shareable resources – therefore do your best to actually have shareable resources! Resources, of course, are often obtained through hard work. So work hard, that you might bless others.

Godliness in Action

Seventh, Paul expands on his earlier description of a true widow and gives a number of qualifications that a widow must meet in order to be financially supported by the church. Verse 9 begins: “Let a widow be enrolled” – which points to an official enrollment of qualified widows on the church’s care list. Everything that we do communicates, including who the church puts on its regular care list. And we should understand that among other things, these officially enrolled widows would function as an example of godly womanhood to the younger women. What kind of widow is worthy of this honor? Verses 9-10 say:

“Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.”

Here is an older Christian woman who has laid down her life for the good of others – for her husband, her children, her fellow Christians, and her wider community. Far from being self-indulgent, she has reflected the self-giving love of her Savior. Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6), and this faithful woman has given herself as a devoted servant to everyone that God sent into her life. Her life has done much good and has overflowed with great benefit for other people. Let the church recognize such widows as the honorable women that they are, and if they have needs, let the church take care of them. Matthew Henry hits the mark when he says, “Those who would find mercy when they are in distress must show mercy when they are in prosperity.”[2]

Don’t Enroll Younger Widows

Eighth, the official enrollment of qualified widows on the church’s care list should not include younger widows. In verses 11-12, you get the sense that being enrolled as a widow on the church’s care list carried with it a certain commitment to responsibilities like praying, doing good, and remaining single. Look at verses 11-12 and I think you’ll get this sense: “But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith.” The problem, as we shall see in just a moment, isn’t that these younger widows desire to marry; the problem is that they will desire to marry after they have vowed to live in single-minded devotion to the Lord while being financially supported by the church. These women on the widow’s care list have committed themselves to remain celibate for the rest of their lives. But Paul anticipates that the desires of younger widows will overrule their good intentions – they will desire to get married and then break their vow of devotion. And to put the matter simply, it is not spiritually healthy to break our promises. So the first reason that younger widows should not be included on the church’s widow care list is because they will likely want to remarry – therefore, help them to avoid a conflict of passions and keep them off the list.

The second reason that younger widows should not be include on the church’s widow care list is because they have far too much energy and far too little maturity to handle the free time. You know how the older women are going to use their free time, because they have developed godly habits over the course of decades – they are going to pray, they are going to receive guests, they are going to write letters of encouragement, they are going to counsel younger women. These older women have a proven maturity, and they will do good things as the church is paying their bills. But younger women will tend to get caught up in all kinds of wasteful activities – verse 13: “Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.” Our days ought to be full of productivity – and most people are hopelessly unable to live productively unless they have the structure of built-in responsibilities. Humbly accept this reality, and welcome the blessed gift of structure that comes with built-in relationships and built-in responsibilities. And it is the household – marriage and family – that blesses us with this gift of structure – with the gift of straightforward duties that keep us living and growing in the right direction.    

Younger Widows Should Get Married and Build a Christian Home
So ninth, with the church’s widow care list blocked to younger widows, what a younger widow ought to do is settle down and get married and live productively as manager of her household. Verses 14: “So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households…” Of course, similar instruction could be given to never-married-before singles and young widowers, but in our passage Paul is specifically addressing the case of widows. And what a younger widow should do is find a husband with whom to be fruitful and multiply, and then manage her household and follow the older widows’ example by making her household an epicenter of good work. The household is kid-friendly: “bear children” (v. 14), “[bring] up children” (v. 10). The household is also a ministry care center that is hospitable to others: show hospitality, wash the feet of the saints, care for the afflicted (see v. 10).

Do you see your household as an epicenter of good work?

Too many people haven’t caught the biblical vision of a home. Some people see the home as a personal retreat center. Other people, as C. R. Wiley observes, “largely think of [their] homes as recreation centers.”[3] Too many people act as if the home is has no grand purpose beyond the maintenance and entertainment of the family members who occupy it. 

One of my burdens in ministry is to help Christians recapture the biblical vision of a home. The biblical household is an epicenter of discipleship where children are brought up in the ways of the Lord; it is an epicenter of creative activity where the property and resources of the household are deployed for the benefit of other people; it is an epicenter of care for vulnerable strangers, weary saints, and afflicted souls; and it is an epicenter of provision not only for its immediately members but also for needy relatives and for needy members of the church family. She is no fool who throws herself into “every good work” and leads her children and her household to join her in compassionate care for others.

If young widows adhere to Paul’s teaching, then twenty years on they will have become like the godly women that Paul described in verses 9-10. At the same time, they will “give the adversary no occasion for slander” (v. 14) and they will not join those who “have already strayed after Satan” (v. 15).

An Unburdened Church is Able to Care for True Widows

Tenth, our passage concludes by showing us that if family members are faithful to care for their own relatives, then this frees up the church to focus its care on widows who are without family. Paul continues to give instruction for women in verse 16: “If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them.” When households are faithful to care for their own family and extended family members, then the church can focus its energy on true widows who have been “left all alone” (v. 5) – verse 16 continues: “Let the church not be burdened [i.e., by widows who aren’t alone but have relatives who can provide for them], so that it may care for those who are truly widows.”

THREE IMPORTANT LESSSONS TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS PASSAGE

With the entire passage now in our minds, let me highlight three important lessons to take away from this passage and then put into practice.

Lesson #1: Demonstrate Godliness to Your Own Family and Extended Family

Here is the first lesson: first learn to demonstrate godliness to your own immediate and extended family. Isn’t this clear? “[Let] them [children or grandchildren] first learn to show godliness to their own household.” (v. 4) Not making an honest effort to provide for one’s relatives or immediate family members is so egregious that it reveals you to be “worse than an unbeliever.” (v. 8) Before an older widow gets enrolled on the church’s widow care list, she must have proven the reality of her faith by “having been the wife of one husband” and by having “brought up children.” (v. 9-10). The younger widow should get married and focus her energies on the God-given gifts of marriage, children, and household management.

In the same vein, if you back up to 1 Timothy 3, we learn that prospective elders and prospective deacons must be demonstrating godliness in their home: “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (1 Timothy 3:4-5) And: “Let deacons each me the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.” (1 Timothy 3:12)

When we jump ahead to 2 Timothy, we learn that the Christian faith had been handed down to Timothy from his mother and grandmother: “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” (2 Timothy 1:5)

And Scripture teaches us that children and youth must demonstrate their godliness by obeying their parents (Ephesians 6:1-3).

The evangelist Ravi Zacharias tells the story of a woman who came to one of his lectures. She was impressed by the lecture and thought that Ravi had set forth compelling arguments. But this question was lingering in her mind: “I wonder what he is like in his private life.”[4]

Which of course could be modified slightly to say: I wonder what he is like in his home life?

Friends, there are at least two great temptations that you must guard against. The first temptation is to treat what goes on in your household as relatively unimportant. In other words, the really good stuff is what’s going on outside the home. What really matters is the day job and impressing the boss; what really matters is the weekend entertainment and sports; what really matters is the vacation. And this temptation can have a spiritual ring to it: what really matters is the church or the ministry or the ministry team that I’m on. But Scripture says: “first learn to show godliness to [your] own household.” That’s where it starts.

Children and youth, don’t let Satan trick you into believing that the household is what you need to get away from, that the household is what’s holding you back, that the household is something to minimize. Beware of the subtle temptation that it’s okay to neglect your home life because what really impresses God is throwing yourself into ministry ‘out there’. But it is not so! Listen: if you aren’t “showing godliness to [your] own household,” then you aren’t qualified to exercise leadership in Christ’s church. If you don’t have the capacity to joyfully obey your parents and love your siblings and value your grandparents and cheerfully contribute to the well-being of your household, then you’re not ready to be entrusted with ministry within the church.

Do you know what Satan wants? Satan wants the church family to be full of people who don’t love their own family members and relatives. The result? A highly dysfunctional and very deceived church family. Does anyone want to be truly spiritual? Then go home and love on your family! Children, obey your parents. Wives, follow your husband’s leadership and manage your households. Husbands, love your wives with warmth and sacrifice. Parents, labor with great care and patience to bring up your children in the ways of the Lord. Would we build a strong church family? Then let us build strong families at home.

The second temptation is to treat special needs within your family or extended family as a distraction from the more useful things you think you could be doing. You could be reading a great book, or you could be discipling a neighbor, or you could be serving on a ministry team, or you could be volunteering at the food pantry, but instead you have to spend enormous amounts of time and energy ministering to a parent or grandparent in declining health. What you need to do is take that temptation by the horns and speak to it: caring for my needy family member is not a distraction, but – according to 1 Timothy 5:3-16 – it is exactly what God wants me to do. So much of the time we may not know exactly what God wants us to do, but we do know that He wants us to provide for our relatives and family members. Rejoice in the fact that you know this is God’s will for you, and remember: “[showing] godliness to [your] own household and… [making] some return to [your] parents [or grandparents]” is what? It “is pleasing in the sight of God.” (v. 4) If you are doing that which is pleasing to the Lord, then you can quietly and contentedly put aside all the other ‘useful things’ that you would like to do. Because pleasing the Lord is the one thing that matters.

The first place to demonstrate godliness is to your own immediate and extended family.

Lesson #2: Demonstrate Family-Like Love to Your Church Family

Here is the second lesson: demonstrate family-like love to the other members of your church family. The church is a household with a particular ordering of relationships and responsibilities. In fact, Paul wrote this letter to Timothy so that “you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15) There is an orderliness to God’s household. There are elders and deacons (who ought to be exemplary husbands and fathers) who lead and serve in various ways. There are exemplary widows on the church’s care list. These widows are like mothers and grandmothers to the congregation. The elders are like fathers to the congregation. Beyond that, all of us within the church family are called to treat one another like family – not just as brothers and sisters, as we have seen, but also by looking up with great respect to our spiritual fathers and mothers, and by looking out with great affection for our spiritual sons and daughters. And when one of the older women in our church family is a widow who has been “left all alone,” we treat her in the same way that we would treat a beloved mother or grandmother in our own family: we take care of her, and count it a joy to do so.

In a world in which so much financial security is mediated through the state, retirement systems, and private insurance, the counsel of Tim Challies is especially helpful. Even if an older woman in our midst doesn’t require financial assistance, our family-like love for her can and should be expressed in other ways. Challies writes:

“Today many people, including widows, are financially wealthy but relationally impoverished. There is a great plague of loneliness in society in general and among the elderly in particular. The church has the opportunity and even the duty to provide for that relational need and many other needs among its members who are elderly or alone.

“From what I’ve observed, most churches are pretty good at meeting those needs on Sunday—we look for people we can love and serve before, during, and after our services. But what about the other six-and-a-half days of the week? I’m not convinced we do quite as well there. While it’s good and noble to express love on Sunday, there are many other ways we can help through the week. Perhaps we can help by caring for a home and property, offering assistance with shopping trips, providing transportation to medical appointments, or bringing fellowship into her home. This elderly woman, after all, is to be treated like a mother. Wouldn’t you take your mother to her doctor’s appointments? Wouldn’t you make sure she has relationships not just on Sunday, but through the week? Wouldn’t you make sure that she’s got more than merely money?”[5]

Walking in family-like love for each other also affects our speech: “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father.” Of course, Paul is giving instruction to Pastor Timothy – but again, it is part of a broader picture of how we should relate to one another. Do we speak to one another as if we are airing grievances to an impersonal organization or insisting on compliance with the rules and regulations of a bureaucracy? Or do we speak to one another as we really are, as members of the same family who are called to do life together and work things out and care deeply about one another’s well-being?

Lesson #3: Connect and Integrate Your Family and Your Church Family

Finally we come to the third lesson: Connect and integrate your family and your church family in profound and practical ways. Families should not treat the church family like a shopping mall or movie theater – something that we pass through as momentary consumers, but have no intent of embedding our lives into. We don’t seek to get our home life deeply integrated into the life and mission of the shopping mall – and if you do, maybe we need to talk. But the church itself is a family – in fact, it has been called ‘a family of families’. And the interconnections are profound.[6]

For instance, God the Father is the father of His household, the church, and we are His sons and daughters and brothers and sisters to each other – and this massive reality gets pictured in household after household under the leadership of godly fathers.

Then there is the marriage reality that Christ is the bridegroom of His church, and the church is the bride of Christ – and this massive reality gets pictured in marriage after marriage as husbands lay down their lives for the good of their wives and where wives follow their husband’s leadership.

In addition to these important theological and experiential connections, it is equally important to remind us that we simply need to an active part of each other’s lives. Jared and Faye are like surrogate grandparents to our children because we have been in their home on multiple occasions, and they have been in our home on multiple occasions. So I’m not making a theoretical assertion about how they ought to see themselves – instead I am making a concrete assertion about how they actually relate to each other.

Likewise, spiritual brothers and sisters actually spend time together. Spiritual fathers and sons actually spend time together. Spiritual mothers and daughters actually spend time together. As Paul told Titus, “[older] women” are supposed to “train the young women” how to be faithful wives, mothers, and household managers (Titus 2:3-5). So within the church you have older, mature women who are setting an example and investing time in the younger women, and all that feeds back into home life as this discipling work results in stronger marriages and healthier families. Here in 1 Timothy 5 as well as in other passages, Paul is teaching Christians to be faithful members of God’s household and, at the same time, to be faithful members of their own earthly families. Our disciple-making work must run in both directions.

Further, one of the key features of a healthy spiritual life is the practice of hospitality. Romans 12:13 and 1 Peter 4:9 teach us that God calls all Christians to show hospitality. Here in 1 Timothy, a prospective elder must be “hospitable” (1 Timothy 3:2): his heart and home must be open to all kinds of people, and that would certainly include the members of his church family. Likewise, a prospective member of the church’s widow care list must also have a track record of hospitality: “if she… has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.” She opens up her heart, her life, her resources, and her home to all kinds of people, including her fellow Christians.

For the faithful elders of 1 Timothy 3:1-5 and the faithful women of 1 Timothy 5:9-10, let it be clearly understood that their heart is in the church, and the members of the church are often in their home. Of course, that’s just one way to put it. It is equally true to say that their heart is in the home, and the members of their home are integrated into the life of the church. Don’t pick one over the other, but put both on the doors of your heart. Love your family! Love your church family! Do as much good as you possibly can in both contexts! Do that, and God will be pleased, people will be blessed, and you won’t have any time to waste on all the other things that the pagans are wasting their time on. 

Let us pray.  

 

ENDNOTES

[1] Robert W. Yarbrough, The Letters to Timothy and Titus (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018: p. 265-266.

[2] Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (In Six Volumes): Volume VI–Acts to Revelation. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Company: p. 824.

[3] C. R. Wiley, The Household and the War for the Cosmos: Recovering a Christian Vision for the Family. Moscow, ID: Canon Press, 2019: p. 71.

[4] Ravi Zacharias, “Think Again: Beyond Mere Morality.” Available online: https://www.rzim.org/read/just-thinking-magazine/think-again-beyond-mere-morality.

[5] Tim Challies, “Does Your Church Truly Care for True Widows.” July 1, 2019. Available online: https://www.challies.com/articles/does-your-church-truly-care-for-true-widows/.

[6] See Tim Challies, “God Created Family To Picture His Truth.” August 5, 2019. Available online: https://www.challies.com/articles/god-created-family-to-picture-his-truth/.