Many of us are careful to watch the details in our lives, be it finances, health, or the words we choose. But are we also careful in watching what matters for our character and doctrine? It is altogether easy to compromise and have a loose grip on our life or our theology and have it be a poor witness to our community. May we choose to lean on God's grace to be watching our character and doctrine closely, so others can see Jesus.

So far, in 1st Timothy, Paul explains the structure of the church, both how it should be organized and the church's purpose: to uphold the truth of God. With that, Paul realizes that a false teaching of legalism has penetrated the church that will cause people to abandon the gospel. Paul applies a corrective against this false teaching by instructing Timothy and us to focus on training ourselves for godliness because of the gospel message that we have received.

We live in a consumer-oriented world. The customer is always right. Unfortunately, we may have the same consumer mentality about church. The church should cater to our needs. After all, the church member is always right, right? Yet Paul argues that the church is not ordered around us. How do we then become a rightly ordered church according to Paul?

In a rightly ordered church, the classifications of the world get reversed, so that whoever would be great must be a deacon to all, i.e. a servant. That's why those specifically called to the office of deacon should be honored and honorably sought in the church.

Because the church is God's pillar and buttress of the truth, he cares about church leadership. Good leadership supports and enhances the church's mission to display Jesus to all the world. So if you care about making the truth of Jesus and his gospel known, then you should care about church leadership, particularly its eldership.

As our bodies age – as they grow weaker and more prone to illness and injury – they become sources of pain and frustration. Yet the Christian's hope is not to one day shed this burdensome body but to see it changed. We anticipate being raised in an imperishable, resurrection body like Christ's.

We live in a world that is broken. It is filled with news of death, disease, and disaster. Yet as Christians we live with hope because of the gospel. The gospel is not just merely about Christ dying on the cross for our sins to restore us unto a relationship with God. It is also about resurrection, which is the promise of new life. For a gospel without the resurrection leads to a life without hope. How do we persist then to believe in the resurrection?

The Gospel, the Good News, is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul addresses those who denied the physical bodily resurrection, because only through the resurrection can we find the true hope of eternal life and freedom from the penalty and power of sin.

How can Christianity be pro-women if it prohibits them from doing something in the church? Many would either reject the notion that Christianity is good for women or reinterpret the prohibitions. But Scripture affirms both. God's heart for women is huge and his rightly-ordered churches do them no harm.