Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from radical. net.

1st Timothy chapter 5 verses 1 and 2

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.

There's so much we can talk about here in the context of First Timothy,

chapter four, leading into chapter five,

and how to care for one another in the church right after this Paul goes on to

talk about honoring widows and making sure widows are cared for in the church

but the big picture I want you to get in your mind,

maybe here in your heart from First of the chapter 5,

verse 1 and 2, is this picture of the church as family.

Like, 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.

Like the way the Bible describes the body of Christ, the church is like family.

Like we look at each other in the church as family. We would even say that we should look at brothers and

sisters in Christ in the church as closer than family.

Because the reality is there is a union that comes in Christ

that is deeper than blood ties, physical ties, and that union will last far beyond this life.

Like we are closer to a brother in Christ than we are to a person in our family who is not in Christ.

Now obviously there's unique relationship with those who we share family ties with physically or through adoption or the people in our homes and the network, the web of relationships that flows from that when it comes

to extended family. And part of the picture here in 1st Timothy Chapter 5 actually exhorts us to make sure we're caring for our households,

our physical households well.

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