They must not steal from them, either. Instead, they should show that they can be trusted completely. By doing all these things, they’ll make the teaching about God our Savior very attractive.
People who don’t believe might accuse you of doing wrong. But lead such good lives among them that they’ll see your good deeds and give glory to God on the day Jesus returns.
If anyone leaves the teaching of Christ behind and doesn’t remain in it, that person doesn’t have God. But whoever remains in the teaching about Christ has both the Father and the Son.
Keep your conscience clear, so that even if people say bad things about you as believers in Christ, they’ll be ashamed when the way you live proves them wrong.
Those who are being held as slaves should treat their masters as if they were worthy of full respect. That way people won’t say bad things about God’s name and about what we teach.
“If you can be trusted with very little, then you can also be trusted with a lot. But if you aren’t honest with very little, then you also won’t be honest with a lot.
“Suppose a master puts one of his slaves in charge of the other slaves and tells him to give them their food at the right time. The master would want to choose a faithful and wise slave to do that.
Elders who lead the church well should be honored both with respect and with financial support. This is especially true of elders who preach and teach.
Finally, my brothers and sisters, whatever is noble, right, and pure, whatever is lovely and worthy of respect, if anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about those things.
But no matter what happens, live in a way that brings honor to the good news about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you, I’ll know that you’re standing firm together in the one Spirit and that you’re fighting together as a unit to defend the good news.
But he didn’t say that because he cared about the poor. He said it because he was a thief. Judas was in charge of the moneybag, and he used to help himself to what was in it.