Today’s passage provides the qualifications for a widow before considering her for financial support by the church. Interestingly, several qualifications are strongly connected to her efforts involving hospitality. Did she lodge strangers? Did she wash the saints’ feet? Did she relieve the afflicted? These questions basically sum up whether or not the lady was “given to hospitality” (Romans 12:13). A woman who had given her life to others was counted worthy of receiving help from others once she was no longer able to support herself. She was to be held in high esteem if she had taken others in when they had no place to go, or washed the feet of other saints when they entered into her home, or relieved those around her who were afflicted.
All good motives for Christian service should be rooted in love. As believers, we have a God-given responsibility in the area of hospitality. Twice the Bible refers to being “given to hospitality” (Romans 12:13; 1 Timothy 3:2). The First Timothy passage specifically speaks of the qualifications of a bishop. However, God never intended for hospitality to be limited to church leadership. In fact, the passage in Romans identifies hospitality as a responsibility for all believers. To be “given to hospitality” means to be led by or under the control of hospitality. In other words, everything we do involving others should be motivated by the desire to be hospitable. Titus 1:8 takes hospitality a step further by declaring that a bishop must be “a lover of hospitality.” Christians should purpose to find joy spending time with others, sincerely desiring to strengthen and encourage them in some area of need.
For some people, giving to the Lord is the equivalent of going to the dentist to have teeth pulled. They would rather do anything than to dip into their finances for the Lord. Yet, there are others who rejoice in giving to the work of the Lord. What is the difference between these two groups of people? One group gives from a willing heart. The other group, if they give at all, does so grudgingly (2 Corinthians 9:7). While giving instructions to Moses concerning an offering, the Lord said, “of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering” (Exodus 25:2). The Lord commands His people to give, but He desires that the giving be willing. The right heart in giving will rejoice that he gets to give and never considers that he has to give (1 Chronicles 29:9).
What does it mean to give financially to the Lord’s work? Does it mean that we give to the Lord only to try and manipulate the spending of every dime? Does it mean that we give without concern whatsoever on how the money will be spent? In our passage, we find that believers should give with simplicity. Before we give, we should pray and insure that our giving is acceptable to the Lord. Is the church receiving the gift doing the Lord’s work? Is the money being used to reach the lost and edify the saints? Once certain that the Lord approves of our giving, we should strive to always give with simplicity. The money is the Lord’s and we must insure before giving that we are parting with control. To do otherwise means that we are not giving with simplicity.
The believer’s relationship with God is twofold consisting of a positional relationship and one of practice. Positionally, the believer enjoys Christ’s imputed righteousness (Romans 4:6-8). In this position, the believer has been forgiven of all trespasses (past, present, and future) (Colossians 2:13). John confirmed this truth as he wrote to believers saying that their sins were already forgiven (1 John 2:12). Because of God's complete forgiveness, sins can never and will never affect a man’s position in Christ. However, man must also consider his practice (his daily walk before the Lord).The sins that cannot harm a man’s position in Christ can adversely hinder his fellowship with the Lord. Though all our sins are forgiven, we still should daily confess our sins to the Lord in order to keep our fellowship right (1 John 1:9).
God cannot allow man to simply sin with impunity because of His holy and righteous character that demands a righteous judgment. Yet, the Bible proclaims that the Lord is “good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon” Him (Psalm 86:5). It is important to realize that the Lord’s ultimate desire involves His desire to forgive a man’s sins. Therefore, the key to a relationship with the Creator involves trusting wholly in God’s provision. This is what the Bible means by, “The Lord is . . . not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Punishment for sin is death and man’s singular hope rests in God’s mercy. Based upon this readiness to forgive, the Father sent His only begotten Son to shed His blood for the sins of the world. Salvation is not the end all for forgiveness. Even after salvation, the Lord desires for man to remain in close fellowship with Him, but sin separates. The Bible again holds the key when it says that the Lord “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We are clean at salvation but must look to God for an ongoing cleansing.
Prior to salvation, every individual comes to understand the need for forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is directly associated to the nature of man’s relationship with God. Yet, apart from the need for initial forgiveness, most Christians have a very shallow concept of how the Bible defines forgiveness in general. According to scripture, forgiveness is directly connected to the covering of sin (Psalm 32:1). Psalm 32 does not stand alone as Psalm 85:2 exhibits the same association: “Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.” It is important to understand the Bible correlation of something being forgiven and covered. Interestingly, the Bible connects being forgiven and covered with financial expressions. For example, the Bible uses forgiveness as a financial term in Matthew 6:12. The term forgiveness suggests a removal of responsibility, while the term covered suggests that the debt was settled by another.
The New Testament frequently incorporates minor word variations when quoting Old Testament passages. Some Bible critics have pointed to these variations suggesting that the Bible contains contradictions. However, Bible-believing students know that these variations actually provide additional light and understanding of God’s word. For example, Romans 3:13 quotes Psalm 5:9 with the variation in wording shedding light on the meaning of the word flattery. The phrase from Psalms reads “they flatter with their tongue” (Psalm 5:9). Romans modifies this Old Testament quotation by stating that “with their tongues they have used deceit” (Romans 3:13). This indicates that flattery involves the use of deceitful words; and according to 1 Thessalonians 2:5, the motive is often connected to covetousness.
Fear introduced is faith attacked. As such, we should not be partakers of the world’s fears. Instead, we should “sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be” our fear (Isaiah 8:13). Throughout scripture, the Lord admonished His people not to fear the world. Why? The answer is twofold: (1) the Lord was with them (Genesis 26:24) and (2) fear of the world yields bondage (Proverbs 29:25). This worldly bondage never originates with the Lord (Romans 8:15) for He has given Christians a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). We need not fear those who can destroy the body (Matthew 10:28); rather, we ought to say the Lord is our helper, and we will not fear what men will do unto us (Hebrews 13:6).
The Christian life usually contains some very difficult decisions. Life's choices do not always involve choosing between good and evil; sometimes our choices involve choosing between something good and something better or best. For instance, a choice may involve something not necessarily wicked, but equally not edifying. This choice may not involve sin, but also fails to build others in the Lord. Believers who truly love the Lord may, at times, have to choose to forsake some things in life because they do not edify. Our passage confirms these truths as it says that all things do not edify. Paul emphasized this when he stated, “if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth” (1 Corinthians 8:13). Clearly, edification serves a much greater purpose than simple convenience or liberty.
