1 Timothy 5:1-8

One size does NOT fit all: Love the GENERATIONS well

1 Timothy 5:1 Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

      Philippians 2:19-22

One size does NOT fit all: Love the GENDERS well

1 Timothy 5:1 Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.

One size does NOT fit all: Love the WIDOW well

1 Timothy 5:3 Honor widows who are truly widows.

Next Week: 1 Timothy 5:9-16

Questions for the Community

Personal Reflection  

1. Spend some silent time alone and invite God to bring to mind what he wants. Think about your family and how you grew up. Does it hurt or help to think of fellow Christians as family?
2. What is a time that you were really seen and cared for well?

Group Discussion

3. “One size does NOT fit all”, this is true of clothes, cards and care!” Discuss how this is so and why it fits with the text.
4. “your home life feeds and informs your church life and vice versa”. Explain ways this is true and what it looks like for you.
5. What messages around generations and gender are being confused right now? What truths and actions help guard us from going along?
6. Have you experienced the mutual building up of different people coming together in Christ? Describe what that looks like when it’s healthy. How have you seen “seams of division” healed when they have broken apart in your home or church family?

Plan of Action

7. How can you tailor your love for those older and younger than you both in the home and in your church? 
8. Spend time in prayer on this. We all need God’s ongoing instruction and power to have great relationships. When we don’t, people suffer.