I want to tell you something about the maliciousness of sin. The maliciousness of sin leads people to take advantage of others. If the Lord has called us to love our neighbor as ourselves, sin inverts that. Sin uses neighbor for the gain of one's heart. Not a neighbor to be loved, but a neighbor to be preyed upon. When you read through the Old and the New Testaments, you get the distinct impression that God abhors the predatory behavior of sinners. People taking advantage of neighbor. People engaging in deceit and greed against those they're called to love and show compassion toward. If you really want to anger the Lord, mistreat widows. A widow is a woman whose husband has died. A widower is a man whose wife has died. And if you really want to anger the Lord, you can see in the Old and New Testaments, mistreatment of widows will do it. The Bible focuses on the state of need that widows find themselves in in the ancient world. Some things around the countries of the world haven't changed all that much in terms of the distress and difficulty of being a widow. Being a widow in the ancient world was a very difficult and distressing predicament, and mistreating widows was a surefire way to provoke the wrath of God against a person or against a people. In Psalm 68, 5, here's a description of the Lord. God is the protector of widows. That's what the Bible describes God as in Psalm 68, 5. If God is the defender of widows, then mistreatment of widows will invite the hand of the Lord against you. The care of the widows is a broad idea in the Old and New Testaments. For instance, in Exodus 22, 22, the law of God says you shall not mistreat any widow. In Deuteronomy 10.18, Yahweh is told to execute justice for the widow. In Deuteronomy 24.19, the reapers of the harvest would leave sheaves of grain for the widows to gleam. In the prophetic books of the Old Testament, a common idea identified in the problems of whatever the nations are being indicted for includes this. In Isaiah 117, the people failed to plead the widow's cause. In Jeremiah 7, verse 6, the people's repentance would include no longer oppressing widows. And in Ezekiel 22, 7, the sins of the people included committing wrong against widows. Now throughout our study of First Timothy, we've noticed Paul brings up a myriad of topics for the Ephesian church, for that church's health, for that church's maturity. The longest treatment of any subject is found in our passage this morning. This is the longest treatment of something Paul brings up in the letter. Verses three through 16, he writes about widows in the church in Ephesus. Think for a moment about the sheer amount of space devoted to that subject in the letter. Verses 3 through 16. This lengthy treatment tells us not only about the importance of this subject to Paul, but the fact that it was an issue in Ephesus. He would not have devoted this much space if things were happening awry and deviating from what would be righteous and just in the midst of the Ephesian church. The church in Ephesus needed clarity on the matter of widows in the church. Modern day readers will be helped by thinking about the logic of Paul's arguments and how he appeals to families and to churches about their respective responsibilities. In verses three to eight, we see the responsibility of families to take care of widows, verses three through eight, the responsibility of families to take care of widows. He says, honor widows who are truly widows. We remember that a widow is a woman whose husband has died, and that being truly a widow is not to say that if someone's husband has died that someone who has experienced that may or may not be a widow. Truly a widow is Paul's way of talking about isolation and destitution. Truly a widow is Paul's way of saying they're a widow without any help. They have no help. So he says honor widows who are truly widows and that means more in this chapter than having a high regard and esteem in your heart toward a widow. Honor widows who are truly widows will look like aid and resources and loving deeds of support. This is a situation he's addressing of those who lack that very thing. And his appeal in verses three to eight is the responsibility of families. This flows out of the fifth commandment. Do you see the language honor that begins verse three? This idea is rooted in the fifth commandment, which says you shall honor your father and your mother. So when he says honor widows who are truly widows, what does he go on in verse four to point toward? Family descendants. Notice in verse four, 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. And the reason this is pleasing in the sight of God is because this is, again, rooted in one's moral duty and joyful privilege to honor a father and a mother. And in verses 3 and 4, to honor a widow and to have this pleasing to God, no doubt shows this is rooted in the expectation of God's image bearers for their families. And he appeals here in verse 4 to not just children. Did you notice here children or grandchildren are brought up? And the question for those in Ephesus, at the Ephesian church, and for modern day readers, is to consider, am I a child or a grandchild of a widow? If so, Paul's talking to me here. And what he says is, let them first learn to show godliness. So here's what Paul's helping the readers do. Paul's helping his readers learn what godliness will look like in certain situations. And to refuse Paul's instructions, or to say, well, this is no thing I'm responsible for, is to refuse an expression of godliness that would be in keeping with the gospel Paul's trying to have them see and instruct them in. Let them learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents. Think about that phrase for a moment. What has happened from the top down, if you will, from the parents to the descendants? There has been care and authority. There has been investment in sustaining not only finances, but food and shelter and all the things that can be a part of a household in which you grow up. to make some return to their parents seems to have in mind, I have a responsibility because I was invested in and cared for, and now I'm thinking about the situation my parent or even grandparent is in, and some kind of return, that's the moral spot there that he's putting the finger on, some sort of return is reasonable, having been cared for, I now have a responsibility to show care toward. This is pleasing in the sight of God. What I think is helpful to notice here is he's not just saying, I think, in my opinion, this would be a helpful way of showing some kindness. He says this is pleasing in the sight of God, and that deep appeal is more than just what a human-to-human evaluation of kindness would look like. It would lead people hopefully to say, don't I want to do what's pleasing to God? Shouldn't that matter to me as a Christian? If I'm confessing Christ and I have laid out for me what would be pleasing unto God, that is a heavy thing upon my life I want to weigh. This is pleasing to God. She, in verse five, who is truly a widow, and what he means by that is explained, left all alone. She has her hope on God. Her hope is set on God, and she continues in supplications and prayers night and day. And so the assumption here is of a believing widow and her her dependence on God is obvious because there's no easily available set of resources around and help where in this family situation, people might have helped. And now there's not. In verse five, she's left all alone. She has set her hope on God. Her hope is in Him exclusively. And her prayerfulness, her dependence with supplications and prayers for her resources, one of the ways God is going to answer that is through the care that others will give toward the widow in need. She would be left all alone and ought not be. She has her hopes set on God, and with hope in God, what is one of the ways God will vindicate that hope? He will provide help and care through the lives and compassion of others around her. She continues in supplications and prayers. What will God do for his children? He will answer those supplications and prayers, and she is steadfast. She is continuing night and day. This is a woman of godliness and devotion. In verse 6, not all widows might be like that. We're told in verse 6, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. That phrase self-indulgent is envisioning someone of ungodly conduct. Self-indulgence here means that when she's alive physically, spiritually, she's dead. There's a lack of vitality, a lack of spiritual life. She is dead even while she is physically alive because her heart is in rebellion against God. Even into old age, she is in rebellion against God. He says she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she is physically alive. Now this responsibility isn't something Timothy keeps to himself, he's to teach it. The responsibility for godliness and to show godliness toward a parent or a grandparent, he says in verse 7 to Timothy, command these things as well. Command these things. Timothy has authority in the Ephesian setting, so that in that region, he could not only edify the people, he could exhort them to show true godliness of what it would look like to keep in step with the gospel they profess. Command these things as well, Paul says, so that they may be without reproach. And who's the they? Well, it could be the widow. These widows in general need to pursue Christ and not live in rebellion against him. They need to be spiritually alive and not physically alive, though spiritually dead. It could be that they want the widows to be without reproach, but I think that commanding these things is for the responsibility of others to obey so that in verse four, they can learn to show godliness to their household, the they here, that are to be without reproach, I think, is the conduct of the households, the family members. And I think that's confirmed by verse 8 contrasting it if these commands are rejected. So in verse 7, he's commanding these things so that people who claim to know Christ could consider and submit to what it would look like to show godliness to their parent or grandparent to demonstrate honor and care and love. And that they, these professors of Christ, could then be without reproach. But what if they don't? What if Timothy commands these things and they don't want to have anything to do with that? Verse 8 says, if anyone doesn't provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he's denied the faith. Now that's a strong word. And then he goes on to say, and is worse than an unbeliever. Okay, well, verse eight then, this is very, very in your face kind of language. Paul, tell us what you really think. Well, I think that you're denying the faith and you're worse than an unbeliever. Okay, Paul. You're like, okay, this is, how do we think through this, Paul? And denying the faith doesn't mean they no longer confess Jesus. It looks like denying the faith can be done by a rejection of what you confess or conduct that seems to be out of step with where your profession would lead. So denial of the faith can, in the letters to Timothy, be both something done verbally but also by action. It would contradict the compassion of Christ and the power of the gospel in the lives of His people to see those of their household in a state of distress and need and think, what responsibility do I bear for that? Am I my widow's keeper? Sounds a lot like Cain's question. And we don't want to ask questions that sound like Cain's. Because he said to the Lord, am I my brother's keeper? Rejecting as if Cain had any responsibility. But instead, as image bearers, and especially in the household, we recognize in Genesis 4, Cain was very wrong. And he was wrong starting inwardly, and that that worked itself outwardly to demonstrate where his heart was. So here's what Paul doesn't want. Paul doesn't want us, with our words or actions, doing things or neglecting things that make no sense if we're professing Christ. So he says in verse eight, this person would be denying the faith and worse than an unbeliever. What about that last phrase? Worse than an unbeliever would call to mind how in the Greco Roman world, The literature of the 2000 years ago Roman Empire included acknowledged understandings and convictions to care for ancestors. People in your household, mom and dad, widows and widowers, even unbelievers in the Roman Empire had some sense in the populace that the ancestors are to be regarded and honored. And he says here, if you claim to know Jesus and your treatment of others is below those who don't know Jesus, there is a huge problem here. So verses 3 to 8 are Paul appealing to family, to households, to take care of their widows. And in verses 9 and following, he begins to speak about the church's responsibility. Now verses 9 through 16 have not always been read the way I'm going to take this. Two main views exist. for verses 9 to 16. One in church history has been to see this as a special order of widows, which I don't think is an unlikely or impossible take on this text at all, but it would take this in a different direction than what Paul has set up in verses 3 to 8. I'm taking this not as an order of widows serving the church, I'm taking this as a list of needy widows that the church is financially caring for, though I think it would be quite likely that they could be serving in various capacities, such as in chapter 3, when Paul is laying out responsibilities for deacon and women in the church, and what could have been translated deaconesses in the church. If you look at this honorable widow situation, it could be that this list of registered widows who are receiving aid are also engaged in service and building up the church in a variety of ways. But at the very least, I would consider this as a passage that should be interpreted as the church providing for godly widows in their midst. Now, Approaching a passage like this with that view might make somebody think, wait a second, there could be widows in our midst that would seem to not fit various criteria here. What are we to do? Are they just to languish in their distress? Are they to be ignored? Paul doesn't say that actually. He's talking specifically about those that will be formally placed on a list of recognized need for church-wide support. It can be very helpful and useful for a church to discern with their discretion a variety of other needs to additionally help with and be charitable toward. So what I don't think we should see Paul doing is saying these are the only people you help. Instead he's giving here a formal registry of godly widows who are cared for consistently by the church. We would recognize that in addition to such circumstances there could be plenty of others in need of help in various ways and through charity and kindness, a church may come along with discretion to help in a variety of senses, okay? So we don't want to imply into Paul what he's not saying. Instead, we want to just notice what is he bringing up specifically in verses 9 and following. And in verses 9 and 10, he's talking about qualifications for an older widow to be registered. And this seems to be a formal acknowledgement on some sort of list or membership where there are names known who are older widows in need. And the reason these widows would be on this list for the church is because they have no children or grandchildren able to or desiring to help them. So this would be family household helping the widows first, and if those family members, children or grandchildren, are unable or unwilling, the church registers these godly widows for aid and resources from the people of God. Verses 9 and 10, here are qualifications for an older widow to be registered. Let a widow be enrolled if she's not less than 60 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. The first thing Paul is doing is giving you a few qualifications. We can label those as number one, having been the wife of one husband, two, having a reputation for good works, and thirdly, and I missed this at the beginning of verse nine, not being less than 60 years of age. So three qualifications. Then the good works are more subdivided after that. The good works include bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, caring for the afflicted, devoting herself to every good work. So three general qualifications, and then that third one has five examples. What would it look like in that third qualification for having a reputation of good works? It gives you five instances of that. These are qualifications for an older widow. And we know an older widow would be in view because it says in verse 9, let her be enrolled if she's not less than 60 years of age. He has this view then of younger widows having a different path set before them that he think would be wise. He's going to get to that in a moment. But it would be most apt and wise for Paul and the Ephesian church to say if she's 60 and older, would be less likely to remarry and bear children. There would be less likely, in other words, a future where there would be financial security and descendants that would be enabling to help her. You have in verses 9 and 10 Paul wanting to show care for what would be understood to be a very distressing situation. And this language, with not being less than 60 years of age, is qualification number one. Number two, having been the wife of one husband means a one-man woman. That's what it is. It doesn't mean she could only have been married once, even though the translation can sound like that. Having been the wife of one husband is literally a one-man woman, and it's a way in the ancient world of talking about faithfulness. Elders and deacons were also told in chapter three to, among their qualifications, to have been a one-woman man in order to be registered to be cared for by the resources of the church, this godly widow needed to have been known as someone who was committed to her spouse. And then in verse 10, a third qualification, having a reputation for good works. What would that look like? Five instances of good works. First of all, she was committed to raising her children. I don't think this would exclude childless widows, just as it wouldn't exclude an elder from being an elder if he had no children or a deacon in the same sense. You have some general comments being made here, and so a childless widow would not be excluded, but let's say that the woman has children. Well, was she faithful then not only to her husband, but to raise and bring up her children? Has she shown hospitality, which would include people outside her home, so faithful to her home, but also those who would come and need care, food, have various needs? Has she shown hospitality and aid? Has she washed the feet of the saints? This could be a figure of speech, though certainly hospitality in the ancient world would include people arriving at your doorstep with dusty feet, having traveled much on their feet, and needing perhaps some care for their feet or sandals. And therefore, this would be a gracious and humble way of serving others. And if this is to be taken in a modern day, you could think about the humility and servant-heartedness evident of those in the home. Has she demonstrated humble service? And then in verse 10, has she cared for the afflicted? Caring for the afflicted would mean someone who's not just coming alongside that would not have much in terms of needing sacrificial care, but caring for the afflicted might involve great sacrificial acts of help. Helping someone to the point where resources and time might be sacrificed and impeded on and you're recognizing that love can be inconvenient and she welcomes that. She embraces the greater responsibility to love neighbor even at the expense of herself. She has cared for the afflicted. And then lastly, she has devoted herself to every good work. A very general statement there, but to say that what is her life characterized by? Godliness. Godliness, not just because she had good intentions, but outwardly others have known and benefited from and been built up in her godly works. So Paul says in verses nine and 10, register the older godly widows. And then in verses 11 through 15, He speaks with some instructions about younger widows. Verses 11 through 15, he says, 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. Okay, wait a second, this just took a turn, all right? He says, refuse to enroll the younger widows. What is he bringing up here? Some sort of problem that he has identified, probably not just in Ephesus. This is a marriage they desire to marry that then in verse 12 leads to the abandonment of their former faith. Interpreters are nearly unanimous to say this likely means someone in the vicinity of the Ephesian saints who wants to marry someone even though they're not a Christian. And they say, I wanna marry this person, I'm a younger widow and I wanna get remarried. And it might be a desire for security. They were married and now are a widow and now they have this desire to marry again. And their passions and their desires prevail over their spiritual sense and reason about what would be wise and good for their livelihood. And so when their passions lead the way, It leads them away from Christ. That's Paul's concern in verse 11. So refuse to enroll the 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. He's talking likely here then about they are willing to no longer profess even being followers of Jesus because their passions and their desires have prevailed over their spiritual devotion to Christ. He's envisioning then younger widows needing to continue to grow in maturity and spiritual wisdom and even an alternative that he speaks about in verses 14 and 15 that I'll get to in a moment. What has he seemed to have noticed in Ephesus or elsewhere? with these younger widows. If they have remarried and their passions have led them away from Christ, in verse 13, it also has led to conduct that is ungodly. And he doesn't want the resources of the Ephesian saints sustaining rebellion against Jesus. That's the thinking here. He doesn't want the resources of the church sustaining the ungodly conduct of these who are younger. He says in verse 13, here's what else is going on. Besides that, meaning besides deviating from the faith and passions leading them away from Jesus, 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. In Ephesus, there was a false teaching problem. And I think interpreters have a point who suggest, what if what some of these younger widows have gotten caught up in are these influential, charismatic false teachers whose influence is detrimental? And that in their words and in their conduct, not only are they undermining the gospel, and is it leading them away from the faith, but when they do go from house to house, and when they are in relationships with others, it doesn't produce what's edifying in the faith, and it doesn't establish greater godliness. There is idle talk. There is gossip and busybodying activity. There are saying things that ought not be said. In other words, ungodly words and conduct. are the result of where their passions and desires have led them. And he doesn't want the resources of the Ephesian saints sustaining ungodliness. So he says in verse 14, what I would have is the younger widows marry. So if we were to look earlier in verses 11 and 12 and say, well, they desire to marry. Does Paul not want them to marry? These younger widows or their husband has died. What are they to do? Does he not want them to marry? No, if he doesn't want their passions leading them away from Christ, then his exhortation for them to marry would what by implication? It would be marry someone who loves Jesus. Because there, those passions and desires would be rightly ordered and guided by wisdom in the word of God and would not lead one away from Christ, but in union with together in covenant of marriage, a family and a household serving and loving Jesus. He says in verse 14, I would have the younger widows marry and bear children, managing their households. and giving the adversary no occasion for slander. Oh, he wants them to be faithful. He would exhort them to think about their future, that in their young lives, they could right now leverage these years toward what would be best for them in their widowed state. Get married, bear children, manage their household. The concern at the end of verse 14 is interesting. The adversary probably refers to the devil himself, especially because verse 15 names Satan by name. So in verse 14 at the end, he wants them to have no occasion that the adversary would have slanderous, legitimate accusations against their lives. He wants them to live godly. He wants them to pursue Christ. He wants their passions to be ordered by the word of God and not to lead them astray from the faith. He doesn't want the enemy to have a foothold in their life. And then he says in verse 15, what I think is very unsettling to read, for some have already strayed after Satan. This is not a hypothetical problem. He's not saying, let's just imagine, I know it's a reach, but you know, let's just, he's saying it's happening. Church in Ephesus. There are people whose passions have so prevailed over them that they're leading them astray from Jesus. And so if their passions are leading them to pursue relationships they ought not and lives that they ought not, you know what that's an ultimate pursuit of? Satan himself. I didn't say it, Paul said it. I'm just saying what the text says. In verse 15, their deviation from the faith is no longer than a pursuit of Christ. What's the alternative path? Not something neutral. It is not neutral. It is spiritually destructive. He says here, they have already, some of them strayed after Satan. And so what Paul wants is for the church to edify and encourage and support those who are godly widows in their midst. And he wants younger widows to think wisely about their path and not to stray after the devil, whether that's going after false teachers or other figures where their passions lead the way. Instead, they ought to be wise. And in their words and deeds, they ought to be ordered by the word and by sound doctrine. So he ends in verse 16, saying, if any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Now, we might recognize, OK, there could be there could be a person in a state of being widowed. And they don't have relatives or a household to provide this. So he says, let the church not be burdened so that it may care for those who are truly widows. And we've looked at that phrase at the end there, being a true widow is Paul's way of saying an isolated person without the help needed in their state of distress. He said, the church shall take on that responsibility. They shall take it on. So if a believing woman has relatives, the household takes the responsibility. And if there is no household to care for, the church shall consider it a privilege to honor the widows in their midst. The local church would care for widows not cared for by their own families, in other words. Paul's concern in verses three to 16 is for widows in the church and in Ephesus, and it is a concern consistent with the Old Testament. Paul was a Jew before converting to Christianity. His Jewish background and his thorough immersion in the Old Testament, it would not have escaped him that if you wanted to provoke the anger of the Lord, mistreat widows. So when Paul says what he does here in 1 Timothy 5, he does so out of a background knowing and being immersed in the Old Testament and what it teaches about those ignoring and neglecting, those in great need. Remember, if you will, from Acts chapter six, an issue of the distribution of food. Recall that the early church was in a situation where Greek speaking Jewish widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. And the early church had to organize a plan and the leaders there and the elders having to wisely and swiftly handle by appointing seven others so that this could be a matter dealt with because it was not an unspiritual issue. Caring for those in our midst is a spiritual issue. It is a spiritual issue of practical godliness and compassion. In Luke 7, 13, Jesus had compassion on the widow who was from the town called Nain. In Luke 21, Jesus held up the example of a poor widow who put two small copper coins in the offering box because in her poverty she had given so abundantly. But Jesus lived in a day where religious leaders tried to escape the responsibilities they had to their families, and it was ungodly for them to do so. He says in Mark 7 verse 9 to the Pharisees, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your own tradition, which Jesus have in mind. What kind of tradition are they trying to elevate and to negate the word of God? He says, Moses said, honor your father and your mother. But you say, if a man tells his father and his mother, whatever you would have gained for me from me is Corban. Corbin is a phrase that means devoted or given or vowed to God. Whatever you would have gained from me is devoted to God. Jesus says, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father and mother, making the word of God void by your tradition. You've handed down many such things you do. The situation Jesus is addressing is that there are religious leaders in the midst of his generation who have responsibilities according to the Bible, the Word of God, clear and evident, and the Word of God addressing their households. And rather than caring for those, the Word of God gave them the responsibility toward. They said, oh, you see, these resources we have and this money that we've acquired, we've devoted this to God. It's Corbin. It's just all God. So you see, we don't, we can't help you because we've given this all to God, which was a ruse. It was some tradition elevated to negate the word of God that they might keep their gain to the neglect of those the Lord had given them responsibility over. Think of the scene on the cross where Jesus' mother Mary is. And the language in John 19 implies that Mary, Jesus's mother, is a widow. Now what's Jesus's thought dying on the cross? Among the statements Jesus says on the cross, one of the things Jesus says is in John 19 about his widowed mother's state. And Jesus says to his mother with the disciple John nearby, woman, behold, your son, speaking of the other disciple. And then he said to the disciple, behold, your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. John 19, 27. Here is the dying Lord Jesus, and in his words on the cross, one of the things he will say is with regard to the state of his mother's care. And he establishes that, having such compassion, not for just widows he happens to cross paths with, like in the town of Nain, but even for his own mother. James says to his readers in James 127, religion that is pure and undefiled before the father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. It is indeed in keeping with the gospels and in the Old Testament, an expression of true godliness to care for those who cannot care for themselves. And that when households cannot step up and rise to the occasion that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ shows such compassion. Are there widows in your family? Are you a child or a grandchild of a widow? You should ask yourself this morning, am I and how can I be showing care toward them? How can I coordinate with others to be wisely thinking about the state of another? In the years that I've been here at Cosmosdale, we have had various families in this very church rising to the occasion to care for widows who are your mother or grandmother. I know this. We've spoken over the years about a variety of situations where family members in this very church have shown care. Sometimes that care has been shown while the lady has still remained in her own home. And other times that care has been shown because that lady has moved into your home. and that through your care and through the coordination of other caregivers, you have sought to demonstrate love and support. I've seen that happen in the families of this church. What a joy that is to see. It honors the Lord Jesus. It demonstrates true godliness and compassion. It is a noble and God-honoring thing to care for a widow in your family. What we need is compassion rooted in the power of the gospel. Jesus tells us to love others and that this love will be sacrificial. Christians have a unique perspective on sacrificial love, don't we? We have the cross. We have a demonstration of such compassion and love and kindness on our behalf that the apostle John in 1 John 3 draws upon the example of Jesus to exhort us toward compassion. He says in 1 John 3 verse 16, by this we know love. That Jesus laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. Take that claim, that example of the cross, an application of sacrificial love will be love in families and in churches for the widows in their midst. Paul's speaking about that in 1 Timothy 5. It's loving as Jesus loved. In the Gospels, we see his heart of compassion toward widows. And in 1 Timothy 5, I think what Paul's basically saying is, church, walk in love like Jesus. Walk in love like Jesus. Jesus laid down his life. Even at cost to himself, he looked toward the needs of others. Paul says in Philippians 2, consider the needs of others greater than your own. Looking to the example of Jesus himself, where he poured out himself in love toward us. How might we, in our households, in our churches, love others and pour ourselves out toward them to meet needs and to show care and compassion to say, this is what Jesus would do. And in showing such compassion, they are receiving the care of Jesus through you. What a privilege and a joy that is to be Jesus in the lives of others. Let's pray.