Lessons

Timothy Study – Part 12. The lesson on May 13, 2007 continues the lesson in Timothy and covers Chapter 5:21-25. Isn’t it required of a Christian to guard our heart? In Proverbs 4:23 it says “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Jeremiah says that there is nothing more deceitful than the heart. Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” If Christians don’t guard their heart, it leads us astray. Sin never wins and faith never fails. Faith comes from the study of the word of God where you learn the divinely implanted principles of God.. In 1 Timothy 5:21 we find Paul charges Timothy in a very serious manner with doing nothing by partiality. In churches today we find they are in a habit of picking elders with partiality. They pick men of certain worldly talents instead of biblical knowledge. It says in Proverbs 28:21 “To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.” If you pick men to hold leadership positions in church who haven’t been tested, they will corrupt the church. We see an example of choosing leadership correctly in Deuteronomy 1:15-17 when Moses picked elders to be judges over the different tribes in Israel. Paul is charging Timothy to exercise the same wisdom when picking elders within the church. The lesson continues with the remainder of chapter 5. 1 Timothy 5:22-25 “Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities. Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.” 1 Timothy 6:1-2 is also covered which brings the instruction to the ministers of the church to a close.