Following God’s Way: “Living the Connected Life” – 1 Timothy 4:12-5:16

You hear them everywhere… the ring of cell phones. We have “old school” ringers, favorite pop songs, classical canons, piercing noises, famous voice recordings and even the occasional scream or recorded laugh. They go off in the movie theater, concerts, your child’s school plays and even funeral services. We are ALWAYS connected today. It seems we can’t manage to write a list before we go to the story… we just call someone at home! Because our lives are all about connectedness to people, we need to know that there are ground rules, set up by God, on how to deal with each other.

Key Principle: When we are careful with one another, we assist God’s use of other believers for His Kingdom. When we hinder them, we hinder His work.

How do we properly connect to other believers? God’s Word points out some essential areas we must give attention to in order to aid one another to a successful testimony.

Ten Practices that will help us make EACH OTHER more effective in the body:

1. Do not discriminate: Be careful not to look down on people for something they cannot change (their background, their age, their inexperience) when they walk according to God’s Word as best they can at this stage (4:12).

2. Do not distract: Do all to avoid distracting the mission by drawing in many other agendas that are not the calling of the body from the Lord (4:13). The church is a place where God’s business is to get done in the hearts of people. There are many places to offer philanthropic work. Some of us can band together to feed the hungry. Others can work to help those who are addicted get free in Christ. Yet, the body itself is not to refocus from the Word and its instruction and encouragement. This is the feeding place from which many will build strength and go out to their ministry. It is the strong believer that is to bring the message to the lost. When the church tries to be the ministry center for all the needs, it dilutes the vision, and soon becomes a social center – attempting simply to solve social ills. The problem is – no one else brings the Word into the people’s lives and they end up Biblically weak but socially minded!

3. Properly recruit: Encourage people to work in the areas of their giftedness. We must resist the temptation to simply fill slots of ministry that we need filled. (4:14-15).

4. Give them focus: We must continually call people to personal inspection and personal renewal. When we fail to take personal time to build our passion for God we can become in cranky and dragged out – even to our ministry! (4:16).

5. Respect: We must remember to respect people, even when they are wrong about their conclusions (5:1-2a). We don’t always agree, and when we are called to lead we must correct – but never without respect!

6. Be clean: We must never allow impurity and sensuality to color our walk with one another (5:2b). These dear men are our brothers in Christ. These dear women are beautiful sisters in the Kingdom. We must look into their eyes and see a person – one that Jesus loves and wants to purify for His Father. We dare not focus on the vessel of the body, or we frustrate the Spirit of God and His work in us!

7. Be open: We can receive help from one another, but must not resist being tested by others. We want to GET HELP without anyone knowing our “personal situation”. (5:3, 5-6, 9-12). If we are prepared to be honest before the Lord and each other, our needs will be met.

8. Follow Tough Love: As a body, we must agree to place the responsibility for caring for needs on the right people (i.e. the people God ordained to do this). (5:4,8). When we try to be the one who meets the needs of another’s life in an area that God has designed another to fill, we take on ministry that we were not called to and cripple the proper growth in the other believer. A young lady called her parents from the streets. She was pregnant out of wedlock and was living a self-willed life. She wanted “more help” from them. She didn’t understand why they weren’t “there for her”. They had to lovingly share with her that God provided a way to be cared for – a husband – but she was rejecting the way He wanted things and asking others to care for the place SHE wanted them to be. It is dangerous for us to take the roles that belong to another, because in our effort to be generous and loving, we corrupt the plan and enable bad behaviors.

9. Watch our words: We must be careful not to meddle inappropriately, gossip about one another and speak about private things to the wrong audience (5:13). Love covers, pride exposes. We must admit that many of us like to hear the negative, and like to share the “inside track” on things – especially if they seen especially juicy!

10. Explain How: Telling people WHAT God wants them to be is only half the work, we must include the how. When we don’t help people with strategies that will help them avoid sin and its terrible consequences, we only sound piously disconnected and unreachable (5:14-16).

When we are careful with one another, we assist God’s use of other believers. When we hinder them, we hinder His work. We need to be connected, but according to the way God says!