Sunday Sermon: Honoring Elders (1 Timothy 5:17-25)

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe.

Honoring Elders in 1 Timothy 5:17-25

We come back to our study in 1 Timothy chapter 5. If you would open your Bible and turn with me there or turn on your Bible. In an 1876 sermon Charles Spurgeon said the motto of all true servants of God must be we preach Christ and him crucified.

A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon sir? Then go home and never preach again until you have something worth preaching. And so as we read here about honoring elders in the church especially those who labor in the preaching and teaching.

This is recognizing a man who has devoted himself to the declaration of the gospel to the people of God and even to those of the world who desperately need to hear the gospel in order to be saved. And so we're going to consider what Paul instructs Timothy in here let the elders who rule well be considered worthy not just of honor but even of double honor and even these closing instructions that Paul has for Timothy in this particular chapter.

So if you would please in honor of the word of the king would you stand for the reading of 1st Timothy chapter 5 verses 17 to 25 I'm reading from the English Standard Version. Hear the word of the Lord.

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages.

Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging doing nothing from partiality.

Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.

The sins of some people are conspicuous going before them to judgment but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous and even those that are not cannot remain hidden. You may be seated as we pray.

Heavenly Father as we come into this word this morning I pray that you guide and teach.

Us according to this.

Most of this seems like instructions that are specific to a pastor. What would this have to do for us as far as application beyond paying a pastor of the.

Church?

What about the call to be pure as Paul instructs Timothy and how good works will be known and even those who do who do evil works even those things will be known eventually. What must we glean from this?

How do we apply this to our lives? I pray that you give us wisdom as we come to the text that your spirit illuminates these things to us that as we have read in previous weeks we are to pursue godliness.

Even these words that we have read here grow that godliness in us that we may be made more like Christ sanctified for the day of glory. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray and all God's people said amen.

Expository Preaching and Sequential Exposition

The discipline of preaching here at Providence Church even before I came is expository preaching. Now expository preaching the definition of expository is right there in the word. It is to expose. It is exposing what the word of God says.

Another word for this is exegesis which means to draw out. So our desire is to draw out the intended meaning of a text. We don't practice eisegesis which means to impose upon. We don't impose our will or our desire upon the text but we want to know what the Holy Spirit is communicating through the original author to his original audience and then what the Holy Spirit would have to communicate to us today from the words that we read.

Now as a church we don't just practice expository preaching we practice sequential expository preaching. Well now I'm throwing out big words what are we talking about here regarding sequential expository preaching.

Well it's exactly what we've been doing as we've been in this series in 1st Timothy. We start at the beginning of the book of a Bible and we go verse by verse word for word through the whole thing hearing the whole counsel of God and this actually puts us in a position to have to deal with topics that we probably would not ordinarily deal with like consider last week's sermon when was the last time you heard a sermon on caring for widows in the church.

But because we're sequentially going through 1st Timothy eventually we're going to get to that section where Paul instructs Timothy to care for the widows of the church and that's an instruction that doesn't just exist for the first century church but the Holy Spirit would instruct that responsibility to us now even in how we are to handle in the household of God.

That's been the theme of this book as we've been reading through it how one ought to behave in the household of God which is the church of the living God. So as we continue these things in sequence we get to this next section where it says let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.

Now I find it necessary to have to preface with that so that you know I'm not up here preaching this section which seems a little bit self-serving. I'm not up here trying to communicate to you your pastor needs to be paid and you must pay him more than you're giving to him.

That's not the purpose here. In fact you might also have picked up that in this particular section it also talks about how to discipline your pastor if he needs it. So I think I'm safe from being accused of loading this sermon to benefit myself.

Now the third section of these instructions so you have basically pay your pastor and then if he needs it discipline your pastor. The third section does not have to do with honoring or disciplining but rather summarizes these instructions in counsel specific to Timothy and then we will try to glean from that also how that relates to us.

So once again our passage today breaks down like this. Number one in verses 17 to 18 Paul talks about honoring your elders. Number two in verses 19 to 20 admitting a charge against an elder. And then number three verses 21 to 25 keep these rules without prejudging.

Most of the sermon the bulk of the sermon today is going to be in these first two verses in verses 17 to 18. So likewise we understand how we are to honor those who labor in preaching and teaching doing nothing from partiality for all must consider our conduct in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who has given himself for us.

Honoring Elders Who Rule Well

So let's look at that first section on honoring elders. Read with me again verse 17 Paul says let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

Remember that when we went through the qualifications of an overseer back in chapter three I said that the terms elder, pastor, overseer, and bishop are synonymous. They're different titles for the same position.

So we're talking about who we commonly understand to be the pastor of the church. Now a pastor or an eldership is going to be made up of paid elders and also lay elders. So we're targeting specifically those ones whose livelihood would be supported because he labors in preaching and teaching.

And note that Paul calls this a ruling position. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor. Now that doesn't mean that your pastor is a lord or a king and then you're all his subjects.

The teachers of the synagogue were called rulers. In the account of Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from the dead Mark 5 22 says that he was one of the rulers of the synagogue. When Jesus warned his disciples about the persecution they would face he said they will bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities.

So this reference to ruling it is synonymous with presiding. He gives attention to the teaching in the church and the care of its members to hear the teaching and then live accordingly. Remember that when we read back in chapter 3 that the elder is an overseer we also read there that among the qualifications of an overseer he must manage his own household.

Well.

Remember that? Because if he can't manage his own household how can he manage the household of God? Well the word in 1st Timothy 3 4 through 5 that's translated manage is the same word that's translated here rule.

The word also occurs in 1st Thessalonians 5 12 to 13 where we read we ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

The word over is that same Greek word proistomai. A few years ago I was interviewing at another church I don't remember what the context was that came up but I was talking about I made a comment about an elder who rules and the pastor or one of the other elders rather came back to me later and he said the other elders were kind of they were a little uneasy about you using that position rule for a pastor.

I said why? It's right there in 1st Timothy 5 17. You shouldn't be afraid of it as if I'm talking about pastors coming in here and he's the big CEO of this company and he's going to tell you what to do and you have to do it.

That's not what we're discussing here but rather that this is a man who has devoted himself to the preaching and teaching of the church. That's simply what it means. As I had shared with you a couple of weeks ago when we were considering Timothy's age the role of a pastor is a leadership position.

The word of the spirit instructs him to lead and the congregation to follow his lead so that as long as it is in keeping with God's word and in scripture we are in obedience to these things together. More to the point a pastor is a servant leader.

Just as Jesus said in Mark 10 45 the son of man came not to be served but to serve and so should a pastor do as an imitator of Christ. In 1st Corinthians 11 1 Paul said imitate me as I am of Christ. He is to be an example.

He is a servant and so the members of the church look up to him and do as they see him.

Do.

Hebrews 13 7 and 17 say remember your leaders those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account.

Let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you. An elder who rules well is simply a pastor fulfills his duty as an overseer of the church. What should we be looking for in a pastor who rules well?

Let me give you five tasks that a pastor must regularly do as one who rules well and I present these to you given that this man is qualified for his role having met all of those qualifications that we read back in chapter 3.

So all of that is a given. What else must he do? What must he fulfill in his role as a pastor? Number one, he must have a great radio voice. I'm just kidding now that's not one of them. Number two, he must have a fantastic Bible podcast.

No that's not it. I've taken these five things from the pastoral epistles of 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus so number one should sound familiar to you. Number one, he must watch himself. In 1st Timothy 4 .16 Paul told Timothy in his role as a pastor keep a close watch on yourself.

What does that mean? It means that he must be vigilant. He must be on the lookout for potential pitfalls and avoid them. He must keep away from temptation and regularly be in pursuit of Christ and his holiness.

How many of you have flown on an airplane and when you sit in your seat you don't immediately plug in your headphones and tune everything out but you actually listen to the instructions that are given by the stewardess?

Okay, one of you.

I've listened to all of those instructions. If the cabin should lose pressure, what drops out of the ceiling?

Oxygen masks.

If you are a parent with children, who do you put the mask on first?

Yourself.

So some of you have been paying attention. Your children are thankful for that. The reason you put it on yourself first and not help your child first, that's not being.

Selfish.

It's because you could black out before you get the mask on your child and then you're of no use to your child or even to yourself. You're not being selfish putting on your mask first. It is in the best interest of your child.

And that is why a pastor must keep watch on himself. It is in the best interest of his congregation and the people that he ministers to, even unbelievers, that they see his life is consistent with his message, lest he bring the gospel and his teaching under reproach.

I'm sure every one of us knows of a pastor or a minister of some kind who has made a shipwreck of their ministry because they fell into grievous personal sin. One of the most infamous in the history of American Christianity was televangelist Jimmy.

Swaggart.

After being caught with a prostitute, Swaggart gave his tearful, I have sinned speech on live television on February 21st, 1988. A couple decades ago, Colorado pastor Ted Haggard was caught with a male escort and was purchasing meth.

In more recent years, it was discovered that renowned apologist Ravi Zacharias had been using his position in ministry to commit adultery all over the world. A little over five years ago, I had to do one of the hardest things I've ever done as.

A pastor.

And I had to remove my friend and fellow elder from ministry because he was caught in adultery. And he was a friend I so loved and respected in his teaching that if he had come to me and said, Gabe, I'm ready to be a pastor, I would have stepped aside and helped him.

Do it.

But he could not keep a close watch on himself. A pastor is to be a holy man. He knows, kind of to borrow the phrase from John Owen, he knows how to kill sin before it kills him. He is devoted to studying the scriptures, letting the word of Christ dwell in him richly.

He is a man of prayer, devoting himself to the will of the Lord, praying for his family, for his church, for his community, and even that the gospel would go into all the world. He loves his wife and his children, and he serves his family in keeping himself from.

Temptation.

In Numbers 1539, we read, remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So a pastor understands his own weaknesses, and he keeps a close watch on himself.

Number two, he must watch the teaching. This is from the same verse, 1 Timothy 4, 6, keep a close watch on yourself and on the.

Teaching.

So a pastor who rules well does not allow himself to be led astray by wild ideas. He doesn't allow his mind to wander. He doesn't come up with new and fanciful thoughts from the text. He's not tossed to and fro by every shifting wind of doctrine.

He does not aim to tickle the ears of his hearers with whatever he knows is going to satisfy them. Whatever is trendy or whatever is the latest buzz, he is devoted to God's word. He is an approved workman who has no need to be ashamed for he rightly handles the word of truth as we read in 2 Timothy 2 .15.

Now not only does he keep a close watch on his own teaching, it is upon a pastor to protect the church from false teaching. And we've heard about that from the very start of this letter, very first instruction that Paul had for Timothy, don't let anyone teach any different doctrine.

Titus 1 .9 says that among the qualifications of a pastor, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

John Calvin said that a pastor must have two voices. He must have a voice that calls the sheep and he must also have a voice that fends off.

The wolves.

In his devotion to the truth, a pastor who rules well helps to protect the people of his church from the lies of Satan, keeping a close watch on himself and on the teaching. Number three, he must preach the word.

In 2 Timothy 4 .1 -2, Paul says, I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead and by the appearing of his kingdom, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching.

A pastor must be devoted to the preaching of God's word. That is, in fact, his number one priority. As I had shared with you in the first sermon that we did in an introduction to 1 Timothy, as goes the pulpit, so goes the rest of the church.

A church needs a man of God committed to preaching the full counsel of God. Everything else that church does, every ministry, every outreach, it is going to be shaped by what comes out of the pulpit. Too many people expect a pastor to be a motivational speaker or a self-help guru or a stand-up comedian or an entertainer or a politician or a therapist or a financial advisor or a philosopher or a fortune teller or a best-selling author or maybe he's supposed to be somebody famous that I can brag about.

None of those things are required of a pastor to do his job well. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, 2, I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. A pastor needs to know God's word and he needs to know how to communicate it in such a way that his people understand it and they know how to apply it, that they may see Christ and grow in his likeness.

A pastor knows how to point his people to Jesus. I remember hearing Steve Lawson say, the best sermon that I could ever preach is not the one that people come up to me afterward and say to me, pastor, that was such a fantastic.

Sermon.

You're so great. I loved your transitions, your sayings, your examples are wonderful. Oh, that story you told, that was funny. I'm always going to remember that one. Lawson said, the best sermon I can preach is when a person comes up to me afterward and says, pastor, thank you for showing me Jesus today.

What an amazing and awesome God we serve. Now, this may sound like an odd thing to say, but a pastor doesn't need to preach heresy in order to be a heretic. All he has to do is withhold the truth and the effect is the same.

A pastor who doesn't preach the full counsel of God makes shipwreck of himself and of his ministry, but also of the lives of the people who listen to him. If a pastor is getting burned out on coming up with relevant sermon series, it's probably because he's too preoccupied with trying to keep people's attention instead of being occupied with preaching the word.

A pastor must preach the word. And number four, he must do the work of an evangelist. In 2 Timothy 4 .5, Paul tells Timothy, as for you, always be sober-minded, which that ties back in with keeping a watch on himself and on the teaching.

Endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Doing the work of an evangelist means that he must share the gospel. This doesn't mean that he must go door to door and share the gospel or he must do open air preaching going to, you know, a busy section of town with an open Bible and preaching it out as loud as he can so that more people can hear.

These are all things that I've done before, but that's not necessarily what Paul means when he says, do the work of an evangelist. A pastor who rules well must regularly go about the work of reaching the lost with the.

Message of the gospel.

There's no other way anyone is saved than by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. And because the gospel is a message, it must be spoken. How many of you have ever heard the quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, preach the gospel always, if necessary, use words?

You ever heard that before? There's a couple of problems with that quote, boo. Okay, yeah. Caitlin already knows the problem with that quote. Number one, St. Francis never actually said it. There's no historical record that this ever came from St. Francis.

We know that he wrote the song, All Creatures of Our God and King, but we cannot find any record that he ever said something like, preach the gospel always, if necessary, use words. Number two, the quote is self-defeating because it is necessary to use words.

So preach the gospel, though what is implied by the statement is that you should just be able to, by your actions, share the gospel with others. It's more important that you live your life a certain way and let that be your gospel and only when it becomes absolutely necessary, then you speak as a secondary measure, but your primary goal should just be to live it out.

But that's not how we share the gospel. The word gospel means what? What does that word mean? Good news, which means it's a message that must be shared. How many of you have ever turned on the news and you turn on to watch somebody mime for you what's going on in the world and you have to guess by their charades what it is that's.

Happening?

Is that how you watch the news? You turn on the news and somebody tells you what's going on and that's the way it is with the gospel of Christ. We actually have to communicate to people, you're a sinner and if you remain in the state that you're in, you are under the wrath and judgment of God, but God has sent a savior here so that whoever turns to him, puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you will be forgiven your sin and you won't perish, but you will have everlasting life with God forever in glory.

You have fellowship with God now and the promise of life forevermore with him in the very holy place where he dwells. A pastor who rules well must not be ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe, Romans 1 16.

He understands this world is full of people who are headed to hell and only by faith in Jesus Christ through the preaching of his gospel can a person be saved. So many modern preachers bristle at the idea of even mentioning hell.

They cower about it, but do you understand that if there is no hell, if the wrath of God is not here upon the sons of disobedience, there's no point in evangelizing anybody. Why would we need to evangelize anyone if no one's going to an eternal hell?

But if a pastor understands the imminent danger that everyone faces, if they do not repent and turn to Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, he must do the work of an evangelist. And number five, he must care for the flock.

The word pastor means shepherd. So like the good shepherd whom he is to imitate, a pastor cares for the flock that has been entrusted to his care. We've been reading about this as we've been going through 1 Timothy, but this is not just a dialogue between Paul and Timothy.

Regularly, Paul is told Timothy, put these things before the brothers. That's in chapter four, verse six, command and teach these things. Chapter four, verse 11, teach and urge these things. We'll hear that in chapter six, verse two.

Remind them of these things, 2 Timothy 2 .14. Why does Paul keep saying this? Because Timothy is tasked with caring for the household of God, which means the people of God. In 1 Peter 1, or sorry, 1 Peter 5, 1 through 4, Peter said, I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.

Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you. Not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those who are in your charge, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. A pastor who rules well is not inconvenienced by having to make house calls. He lets a man from his congregation cry on his shoulder because his unbelieving father had just passed away.

He sits in the waiting room of a hospital praying with the family while a loved one is having a dangerous operation. He encourages and builds up the woman who feels beaten down and is falling into despair, reminding her of the hope of the gospel and that Christ is sufficient.

He does not allow disputes in the church to grow or fester, but he sits down with those who are quarreling to resolve the matter that the grace of God may abound. He doesn't tolerate sin in the church, but he confronts it, rebuking and even disciplining where necessary.

He's not easily frustrated or impatient when members of his congregation struggle to grasp deep theological truths, but he guides them as they grow in knowledge together. And he does all of this because he loves God and he loves his people.

Now this that we've looked at here, this is not an exhaustive list. We could probably find more that we could say of a pastor who rules well, but these tasks are basic and regular. These are things that as a pastor, I would strive to do every week.

He must keep a watch on himself and on the teaching. He must preach the word. He must do the work of an evangelist and he must care for the flock. Now as Paul says this to Timothy, notice that it's not worded, Timothy, be a good pastor worthy of double honor.

But even in his role as a pastor in this church in Ephesus, he is to look for other men who are worthy of this honor. In fact, worthy of double honor, especially, or you might also understand that as specifically, specifically those who labor in preaching and teaching.

So remember that we considered last week about honoring widows, there, the word honor was synonymous with financial support. And so we see it the same here in this regard of honoring elders. Paul made the same point with the Corinthians, but more specifically in supporting the apostles ministry.

This is in 1 Corinthians 9, 5 -7. Paul says, do we not have the right to take along a believing wife as do the other apostles and brothers of the Lord and Cephas, who is Peter? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

Paul and Barnabas had decided not to take anybody's money or anyone's bread the way that he says it to the Thessalonians, but he wanted to set an example for them in somebody who works with their hands.

And so he voluntarily decided that he wasn't going to be supported by the money that was being provided there in the Corinthian church. You support your elders with that money. Paul was an itinerant preacher.

So he and Barnabas had their own businesses on the side and supported themselves that way while they were laboring in preaching and teaching. But in no way were the Corinthians to expect that of all ministers.

So Paul goes on to tell them, who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? But what does it mean that an elder who rules well is worthy of double honor?

Now we heard this in our confession this morning. It's right from the London Baptist Confession of Faith. So it means that he receives the honor and the respect due a man in his position, but it also means that he receives honor in terms of financial support.

He has invested all of his time and energy in preaching and teaching and caring for the needs of the flock. That's his occupation. This is what he has given his life to. He doesn't have time to go out and get another job and then also have time to be able to shepherd his own family.

So help him make a living that he may commit himself fully to this ministry. But in light of the caring for widows passage that we looked at last week, I would propose to you that a pastor is worthy of double honor means that he should be supported in his work in the ministry and it also means that when he is old and he is not physically able to do that work anymore, the church continue to financially provide for him.

He has shown himself worthy of being honored in the years of his ministry and even after and so therefore worthy of double honor. Now Paul says this is even the command of God. Look at verse 18. For the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages.

This is in reference to muzzling an ox. The command is lifted straight from Deuteronomy 25 .4. In other words, if you've put this animal to work, the animal must be allowed to eat some of the grain that even the animal itself has worked to harvest.

And so if God cares for animals in this way that he puts this in his law, then how much more would he care for those who have devoted themselves to the preaching and teaching of his word? Let him reap some reward.

Now the second statement, the laborer deserves his wages. That's not in the law anywhere, at least not worded exactly like that. There is a command in Leviticus 19 .13. You shall not oppress your neighbor nor rob him.

The wages of a hired man shall not remain with you overnight until morning. So indeed, God has instructed pay a man what is due him. But this specific wording we find spoken by Jesus in Matthew 10 .10 and in Luke 10 .7.

There it says the laborer deserves his wages. Exactly the way that Paul has worded it here. But he says the scripture says. So this letter was written later in Paul's ministry. It would have been likely after his first imprisonment in Rome that he wrote this letter.

To Timothy.

By this time, the gospels have been written and are circulated. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have been written by those men and they've been copied and the churches have copies of them. And so when Paul says, as the scripture says, the laborer deserves his wages, he is quoting the words of Christ that were written down in these gospels, which the churches had.

Kind of a cool, you know, church history tidbit for you there. But here we have this instruction to honor elders, to provide for them, that they may labor, they may devote their lives to the preaching and teaching of the word, may very well give their lives even in this work that they do in sharing the gospel.

And so this is the statement on honoring your elders in verses 17 to 18. We're going to go through the next two sections a lot more quickly. So number two is about admitting a charge against an elder, and this is picking up in verse 19.

Admitting a Charge Against an Elder

Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three.

Witnesses.

As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. Now, that first instruction there in verse 19, do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

That's not unusual because what does the law say about how a charge is to be administered against somebody? It must have the evidence of two or three witnesses. So really what Paul is just simply laying out here is you don't treat a pastor different than you would treat anybody else.

If somebody comes up with a complaint against the pastor, you don't just automatically go, that person, they got to be right, this guy's done wrong, and he needs to be disciplined for it. There must be the evidence of two or three witnesses.

Just as we would bring a charge against anybody, so it must be with regards.

To a pastor.

So Paul is talking about equal weights and measures here, even in the way that you would deal with a charge that is brought against a pastor. There have been times before in my ministry that people have raised charges against me.

In the church that I served in in Kansas, I remember we gave like two hours to a young man one time. All of us elders, including myself, sitting down and listened to him just go over and over and over on this list of stuff that he had against me.