This letter is primarily instruction to Timothy about how to conduct church meetings and everything he says must be understood in that light.
In a church gathering, the men should pray. Paul uses a specific word for men (males), not the usual word that can refer to all people. The emphasis is not on lifting the hands but on the hands being holy and is representative of the whole person. The man who leads the church in prayer must be right with God and not caught up in anger or quarrelling. Those who lead God’s people need to have their relationship with God right so that their sinfulness isn’t leading others into sinfulness.

In the church, women should be careful to dress modestly. Not in a way that draws unnecessary attention to themselves and causes a distraction. When you dress, think carefully about why you choose a specific outfit. A church service should be about God and even what we wear can help keep that focus or shift that focus.

In the church service, a woman is not to teach men. She should learn quietly in proper submission based on the order God established at creation. God made Adam and then Eve to be his helpmate, not the other way around. Eve was deceived in the garden when she took the leadership role she shouldn’t have. There are many women who are able and talented to teach. The church service is just not the place for that to happen.

The last verse is quite confusing and if we wrongly understand “saved” it presents real problems. This verse cannot be teaching about eternal salvation through childbirth. The key seems to be the words “she” and “they”. She is the mother and they are her children. A woman will be fulfilled (likely in her desire to teach) if she raises her children to continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. A mom has an important role (along with Dad) to raise her children to be godly, and perhaps the future elders and deacons of the church. A woman who does not have children of her own can still find fulfilment in helping other women with their children, especially single moms.

How does this passage and passages in the Bible like this sit with you? Do you feel completely comfortable doing things God’s way or do you feel a little out of joint because you’d prefer to do things differently? In some areas God doesn’t give us preference and how we handle that is a real reflection of the state of our heart. What do you need to change to live your life in submission to God?

Paul begins the main part of his letter which is instructions to Timothy on how to establish and lead the church.

This first section has five occurrences of the word, “all” (and one occurrence of “every”). Go back through the passage and read it and see how God’s focus is on all people, everywhere.

We, as a church, but also as individuals, are to pray for all people. Too often we lead a closed-minded, self-focussed, or when we do pray for others, very nearsighted life. To pray for those close to us is good but we need to expand our concern. God wants us to have His heart for all people. We should focus some of our prayer effort on those in leadership, specifically our government, because those are the people who have the power to make life difficult for us. We should pray that they will allow us to live our faith in a quiet and dignified way. I think the other side is also true, we owe it to our leaders to live out our faith in a quiet and dignified way, never swaying from the truth, but not making our leaders’ lives unnecessary difficult either.

God’s desire is that all people live in fellowship with Him growing in our knowledge of the truth. It’s interesting that the word “saved” here probably doesn’t refer to eternal salvation because Paul uses the same word later in his letter where it definitely can’t refer to eternal salvation. But in order for all people to live in fellowship with God, they need to be saved for eternal life because no one can have fellowship with God without that. In order to have fellowship with the one true God, there is only one Mediator through whom we must go, Jesus Christ, the man who gave His life and removed the sin barrier for all. Jesus’ death makes it possible for all who believe in Him to come to God. Jesus is also the means for fellowship with God as we abide in Him.

How do you need to adjust your prayer life in response to what you’ve learned today?

Paul gets a little sidetracked here. He had just listed sins that the law was laid down for and that probably made him recall his own sin. He takes a moment to thank God who showed him incredible grace by appointing him to His service even though he had been a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. He had acted ignorantly in unbelief because he had believed he was serving God by opposing a false Messiah. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Paul believed he was the greatest of sinners, not because of some objective sense, but in humility recognising the gravity of his sin against God. Each one of us should view ourselves in the same light. What sin we have committed isn’t really the issue when you have sinned against a perfect and holy God. When we recognise that Jesus has shown perfect patience towards us when we didn’t deserve it, then we can be a good example to those who still do not believe. We are all sinners saved by grace through faith with a message of good news to those sinners who have not yet been saved by grace through faith. We are nothing more, they are nothing less.

In verse 18, Paul returns to discussing the charge he began in verse 3. Timothy had been appointed to the ministry by the church elders (1 Tim 4:14). Because of his appointment, he could be sure of this charge to teach sound doctrine he had been given and wage the spiritual warfare needed in confidence. Ministry is hard and Satan will look for ways to demotivate you and sway you from your course. Knowing that you are working within God’s will is a great motivator to continue serving faithfully. Timothy was to hold to faith and good conscience by teaching the truth even though others had rejected this and made a wreckage of their faith. Making a wreckage doesn’t mean they had lost their salvation, because the Bible is clear that can’t happen (John 5:24) but rather they had not remained faithful in service to God and would lose out on their future reward.

It is vitally important that we recognise the importance of sound doctrine. Some people use the Bible as a guise to teach their own ideas but that does not produce faith and good conscience, that results in uncertainty, lack of assurance and a Christian walk that ends like a shipwreck. Are you making sure that you only expose yourself to solid Bible teaching? Are you taking the time to make sure you read and understand the Bible for yourself?

Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, his true son in the faith. Paul was Timothy’s spiritual mentor and had appointed him to lead the church at Ephesus. When Paul had left Ephesus, he warned them that savage wolves would come in and attack the flock (Acts 20:28) and this letter begins by dealing with that reality.

False teachers had risen up within the church and were teaching a different doctrine. Their teaching was based on myths and speculation rather than the truths that come from God. Paul wanted the believers to produce a pure love that comes from a pure heart and a good conscience that in turn comes from true faith in God, both faith for salvation and faith in all the promises and teachings of God.

These false teachers had wandered from the truth because they desired to be teachers but did not have a solid grounding in the truth. They taught the law of Moses and had elevated it to something that God had not intended. The Christian life is primarily about Christ, not about obeying laws, not even the commands of Christ (while those are important, they are not to be the focus of the Christian life). It is important that if you desire to teach God’s Word, that you have a solid understanding of it first.

The false teachers had incorrectly taught that obedience to the Mosaic law was important for Christians to grow spiritually but Paul points out that the law is only good if it is used the way it was intended. The law exists to show those who live contrary to God’s way that they are indeed sinners. On the other hand, sound doctrine promotes righteousness (Rom 12:2). The Christian life is not about following a set of rules, it is about following Christ. How would you characterise your Christian walk? Are you free as you follow Christ, or do you feel bound as you try to follow a set of rules?

Wisdom should be evident in how we treat those around us.

Fulfil your obligations timeously to those around you. Be quick to pay those who have worked for you and do not hold back what you owe unnecessarily. This included being generous to the poor and needy when you are able to help them.

Do not harm your neighbour or accuse him falsely, especially when he has done nothing to you. Live in peace with those around you.

Do not be envious of people who live evil lives. Why would I do that you might ask? Because you might be lured by the wealth of his ill-gotten gain.
God hates those who are devious but the upright enjoy fellowship with Him.
God’s curse is on those who are wicked but blesses those who are righteous.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6 cite this proverb).
God will bring disgrace on the fool but honour the wise.

Does how you treat others exhibit wisdom in your life? What do you need to do today to change it for the better?

God used wisdom, understanding and knowledge to create the entire universe. The world around us reveals God’s incredible knowledge and wisdom in its intricate design where complicated elements, chemicals and forces work together to allow life to exist. If God needed wisdom, knowledge and understanding then we certainly need them.

Do not lose sight of wisdom. Hold on to it and it will keep your life secure. You will not stumble and fall. You will be able to sleep peacefully. All of this is possible because God will be your confidence. When we act unwisely, we lack confidence because we know that some unexpected consequence could befall us at any moment. When we live God’s way, the way of wisdom, then we can live with confidence knowing He is by our side.

To honour God with your wealth is to recognise that it all belongs to God in the first place and that He has allowed you to receive whatever you have. If you honour Him by giving back a portion to Him and being generous with what He has entrusted you with, then you will find that you have more than enough. This is not some magic formula for wealth. This is a principle that applies whether God chooses to bless you with a little or a lot.

Discipline is always for your benefit. Discipline helps correct you when you stray from the right way. If you recognise discipline for what it is, God gently pointing you back to the right way, then you will not despise it, but embrace it. When you yield quickly to discipline then it won’t last long, because it doesn’t need to.

The rest of this passage is another reminder about the enormous blessing of true wisdom. To have wisdom from God is better than to gain much silver and gold and far more precious than jewels. In fact nothing you desire can compare with wisdom. That’s quiet a statement. That means that it is better to give up on any of your dreams in order to pursue wisdom. Or, prioritise wisdom over your dreams and God will make sure your dreams align perfectly with His will. Note carefully that all the things most people long for and do all kinds of things to obtain are listed here as the result of holding fast to wisdom: long life, riches, honour, pleasantness, peace, abundant life (the tree of life represents the source of life) and blessing.

Solomon urges his son to pay attention to his teaching using both negative (do not forget) and positive (keep) statements. The benefit of keeping wisdom is the blessing of longevity of life and peace and prosperity (the word translated peace means more and includes wholeness, health, and harmony as well).

Steadfast love is about loyalty to God and faithfulness includes dependability. These two attributes should adorn your life like a chain around your neck and should be engraved figuratively on your heart. This again is speaking of holding fast to the teachings of wisdom and the result is favour and a good name with both men and God.

Verses 5-7 are well worth memorising. We should live with complete trust in the Lord and with no dependence on our own understanding. As we learned yesterday, man’s wisdom turns out to be foolish while true wisdom comes from God. In everything you do you should honour God because your life’s purpose is to bring God glory. Do not be wise in your own eyes, instead, in humility, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Note the use of the word all in these verses. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” and “In all your ways acknowledge Him.” We tend to trust in the Lord with some of our heart and in some of our ways we acknowledge Him. In what areas in your life are you not trusting in God? In what areas of your life should you be acknowledging Him more?

What is wisdom? It is more than just the accumulation of knowledge, though knowledge is an important part of wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge plus application and experience. Wisdom is something that if you recognise it’s value, you will treasure, seek out and search for it. True wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord (Prov 9:10). We must begin by acknowledging that God is the source of everything and that includes the knowledge of how we should live as well as the wisdom to live that way. Without the Holy Spirit, our natural inclination is to live in foolishness, not wisdom. Wisdom from God is a matter of the heart and leads to moral uprightness. It will guard your path and protect you like a shield. How valuable is wisdom to you? Is it something you seek and search for regularly?

Wisdom is not something we find easily because in our sin we are easily deluded. This is shown most clearly in the cross, the ultimate display of God’s wisdom as He made a way to save us from our sin. But the cross to most people is complete foolishness showing that as humans we have a hard time discerning wisdom and need God’s help (1 Cor 1:18-31).

David begins this psalm with extreme confidence in the Lord, “whom shall I fear?” Even if his enemies rise up against him, it is they who will stumble and fall. As they wage war against him, he will remain confident in the Lord.

David saw the tabernacle as a symbol of God’s protection and desired to live there enjoying God’s beauty and to remain close to him. He desired to be close to God, singing praises and offering sacrifices. His confidence was that God would protect him and lift him up over his enemies.

The psalm seems to take a turn where David faces a situation where God isn’t granting him the serene protection he was asking for. He prays that God would answer him. He points out that God had instructed them to seek Him and He had done that, and now he asks that God not hide his face from him. God has been his help in the past and he looks to God again to protect him. He knew that God would be there for him even if his father and mother abandoned him. He calls on God to give him wisdom (teach me your way) and to lead him on the right path because his enemies were lying in wait for him.

David returns to a place of confidence believing that he would survive this onslaught and once again experience God’s goodness. He returned his focus on God and took courage to wait for God to come through in His time.

If God is for us, then who can be against us (Rom 8:31). This is easy to say when things are going well but it gets harder as we face challenges. This sin-wrecked world is inconsistent and full of ups and downs. God is unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Heb 13:8). When we focus on God, then we have a sure thing. We can trust that He is the stronghold of our life and then what will make us afraid. When things are uncertain wait in confidence for the Lord to come through for you because He will (Rom 8:28-29).