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Reading 1 Timothy 5:19-21, where the Apostle Paul sets a defense for protecting the pastor, and guidelines for disciplining a wayward pastor. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
The pastor in your church is worthy of honor, and it is right for the church to protect his integrity. But if this man steps out of line and sins, it's also the responsibility of the church to correct that man when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website, www .utt .com.
Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We continue with our study of 1 Timothy chapter 5, this week looking at the section that goes from verses 17 through 25. The Apostle Paul writes, 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. So yesterday we talked about how a worker is worthy of his wages, with the Apostle Paul saying that if an elder does his job well, if he has devoted himself to preaching and teaching, then he is worthy of a double honor.
He has the respect of his congregation, and they would also support him monetarily, so that he might be able to devote his life to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. This is for their benefit.
He does this so that the congregation itself would be able to reap the benefits of a man who has devoted himself to preaching and teaching sound doctrine of the Word of Christ. And the Apostle justifies this instruction by referencing the Scriptures.
From Deuteronomy, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. So an ox that works at the mill can eat the grain that it has ground up, so that it gives itself energy to be able to continue to work.
And he also references Christ, the laborer deserves his wages, which is a reference that comes out of Luke 10, 7. And so a man who has devoted himself to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God has devoted himself to a good work, and he is worthy to receive payment for that work.
The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 9, beginning in verse 4, do we not have the right to eat and drink, referring to himself as an apostle, and also the other apostles and other missionaries that are with them when they go out and traverse the world spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ?
Don't we have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
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? This is Paul saying to the Corinthians that when these apostles come to you, when these missionaries travel to your city and teach the gospel to you, you should take care of them, provide for them and for their families.
As he references Cephas, who had a family, Cephas being Peter, and the other apostles who likewise had families. So Paul had surrendered his rights, and that's what he talks about in that chapter. And I mentioned that yesterday in what he had said to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 3.
But that doesn't mean that the Corinthians were relieved of ever supporting an apostle just because Paul didn't ask for anything. He worked himself. While he was there in Corinth for a year and a half, he was a tent maker.
But that doesn't mean that all the other apostles that come to labor for you, you shouldn't take care of them. You shouldn't pay them for the work that they do. Paul surrendered that right, which he could have rightfully demanded and received.
But it's still the responsibility of the church to care for those who labor in preaching and teaching. And once again, Paul referencing the scriptures to justify this instruction that he is giving to Timothy to exercise there at the church in Ephesus.
Next we get to verse 19, where Paul says, do not admit a charge against an elder, except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Now this is the way that any charge should be brought against anybody in the church, where Jesus gives instructions in Matthew 18 about correcting an offending brother.
So Matthew 18, 15, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Let it be to you as an outsider. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. Very popular verse.
The context is that it has to do with church discipline. But Jesus was instructing these things to be followed in the church as a fulfillment of laws that have been given in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy chapter 19, beginning in verse 15, it says, a single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed.
Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.
The judges shall inquire diligently. And if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Something that Moses had also instructed in chapter 17. And the rest shall hear and fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
So as this instruction comes from Deuteronomy chapter 19, it is that justice would be exercised in a right way. And notice here that if somebody brings a charge against somebody alone, so they do not have the evidence of two or three witnesses, it's just their word against somebody else.
So bring them before the judges and let the judges determine, is this word credible? Is it believable? Like say you have a situation where a pastor is alone with a person and he has said something to that person and only they heard it.
And it is something that he said that is uncharacteristic of what a pastor is supposed to be. Maybe he swore at that person, cursed them out. Maybe he said something sexually explicit. Well they said it in private and so it's only this person's word against the pastor.
This person has enough to be able to say, this pastor has sinned and it's serious and he needs to be called out for this. Unfortunately he doesn't have a witness to be able to back him up. And so he can go to maybe the other elders and be able to say, look, this is what the pastor has said to me and the other elders are able to examine and decide whether or not this person's word is credible or if they're just trying to bring some sort of malicious charge against the pastor because they don't like him and they have no basis whatsoever to make this charge against this man.
So that way these things would be handled in a right and in a proper way. For the most part though, as Paul puts this out there and in connection with the command that Christ gave in Matthew chapter 18, he says, do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
This is to protect the elder. It's to protect the pastor. He is a person that is in front of people. He is a person that instructs others in the ways of the Lord that calls a person to repentance and to walk the path of righteousness that preaches the gospel, that begs sinners to turn from the way that leads to destruction and instead follow Jesus Christ.
And in doing that, they're going to offend people. They're going to be people who will be very angry for what it is that that pastor says to them. And they may try to bring a malicious charge against that minister.
After all, they did it to our Lord Christ. And we read in Mark chapter 14 that when Jesus was arrested and brought before the council, it says in verse 55, the chief priest and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.
For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. This is the reason for having two or three witnesses that would bring a charge either somebody in the church, but in this particular case against an elder, their testimony has to agree.
And if it does not agree, then it's evident that those two people are trying to bring some sort of malicious charge that simply isn't true. This has happened to me a few times in my pastorate where somebody has been angry with me about something and they tried to bring a charge against me by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
They even tried to fulfill that instruction that Paul gives here in first Timothy 519, but they couldn't do it. They couldn't get their testimonies to line up. One time I had two men who hated the fact that I preached on election and predestination.
They hated that. I said that God is predestined from the foundation of the world who whom his elect are going to be and that Christ died specifically for his elect. That atonement that covers over his own and those who have received Christ as savior with those who were predetermined from before the foundation of the world to be followers of Christ.
There were men that hated that I preached that they actually thought it was heresy. They thought it was man's doctrine and not God's doctrine, but they knew that they could not bring that to the church.
They couldn't say that Gabe was preaching heresy and that people would listen to what it was that they were saying. Instead, they had to make something up and they tried to bring a false charge against me, but they could not get their testimony to be consistent.
I'm sure there were probably a few people in the very beginning who wondered if their testimony was true, but their motives quickly became very evident when they could not get their testimony to agree that these men were liars.
There was another occasion where there was a young man who was rather ungracious, just saw some things that I was doing and decided to assume the worst, thought that my motivations were unpure and malicious.
And so he likewise tried to make up some things about me that simply weren't true. And he got another guy to agree with him that the things that he was saying about me, that his testimony was true. And so therefore, since the two of them agreed, that became the evidence of two or three witnesses.
But when he came before all of the elders to bring his charges, it became evident that only one of those young men had seen any of those things transpire, and the other man had not been witness to any of it.
He just believed the testimony of the one guy. And so therefore, all of those charges were dismissed and the elders said that we do not find any trouble with Gabe's character according to these charges that you are bringing against him.
So this was a couple of occasions over the course of my pastorate where somebody has even tried to bring a charge according to this command on the evidence of two or three witnesses. But since their testimony did not agree, it was evident that these were malicious efforts not to build the church up and protect her and cherish her, but instead to tear the body down.
And Paul is very adamant about what God thinks of such people. In Titus 3, verses 10 and 11, we read, as for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned.
And we read also in Proverbs 6, that there are six things the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him. And that seventh thing that is an abomination to God is one who sows discord among brothers.
God hates it. He hates it when the body of Christ would treat one another this way. And so if a man has brought a false charge against his brother, as it says in Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse 19, you shall do to him as he meant to do to his brother.
You shall purge the evil from among you. And so Paul says there in Titus chapter 3, that this person is warped and sinful. He is self-condemned. If you have warned him about his divisiveness and he refuses to repent, then he should be removed from the body of Christ so that he would learn not to blaspheme in this way, not to slander and bear false witness against who are supposed to be his brothers and sisters in the Lord.
And so as a protection to these elders, do not bring a charge against him except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. But then we turn our attention to the elder who actually has done something sinful.
He does something that is worthy of being removed and being punished and probably even removed from the church. In verse 20, Paul says, as for those who persist in sin. So this is not as for those who have sinned, because that's every elder, every person, everybody who is in the flesh is still going to struggle with sin.
But this is a man who has sinned and he's been warned and he does not repent. He persists in it, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. This is not somebody who should be quietly disciplined and then asked to just walk away.
Why don't we just come to an agreement that you just resign and walk away? If there is such a sin that has been done by a pastor, that he has to be asked to step down from his position and leave the church.
This should be done in the presence of all so that the church serves as witnesses, perhaps even to the whole world, that here is what our pastor did and we have done something about that. We have followed the commands of scripture when it comes to correcting an offending brother.
And in this case, somebody who has been in the position of pastor is supposed to have a supposed to be setting a good example of Christian behavior in the pursuit of godliness for the church. And here he has done something very ungodly that disqualifies him from his position.
Either he has sinned so egregiously that he cannot continue in that position or he has been warned about his sin and will not repent and so therefore has to be removed. Well, this is something that needs to be done in the presence of everybody.
Everyone must know exactly why this pastor had to be removed from his position so that they may stand in fear, knowing that there are no secret sins. There is nothing that we do that that can be hidden from God, for God knows all.
And as he has asked us as the church to encourage one another and admonish one another with goodwill and also to purge the evil from our midst, which Moses has said here in Deuteronomy 19. And we also see the apostle Paul say in first Corinthians chapter five, purge the evil person from among you.
So as we do this, even with those who are elders that all may stand in fear and know that God is the judge of all, that they likewise will not persist in sin, that we are told in the scriptures that God is going to judge.
Now, what would be some of those sins that would disqualify a pastor from his position as pastor? We're not simply talking about a pastor who's gotten mad at somebody and and maybe has flown off the handle a little bit.
He should be rebuked for that and therefore apologize for that behavior. But we're talking about somebody who's been rebuked over and over again and will not correct that offense, but instead persists in that sin.
And as I talked about, even when we began to talk about the qualifications for an overseer in first Timothy chapter three, there are even things that that pastor can do that would permanently disqualify him from the pastorate, such as have an affair.
Or in the case of a pastor we talked about from Tennessee, he had sex with a minor, a girl who was a teenager while he was a youth pastor and she was one of the members of his youth group. Yes, I would say that that man is permanently disqualified from being able to serve in that position as pastor.
It's in first Corinthians chapter five, where Paul says in verse nine, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters, since then he would have to go out of the world.
And in other words, we expect those people to behave that way. They are following the course and the pattern of the world since they are worldly. But we who have been transformed in Christ, we are supposed to follow after Christ.
So Paul says, I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one.
For what do I have to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside purge the evil person from among you again, if he's guilty of sexual immorality or greed or an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler.
These are such sins that if if you've attempted to correct them and they will not repent from that pattern of behavior. These are sins that are worthy of being removed from the church. And there are you could add to this list.
So the list is an exhaustive. For example, if you go to Colossians chapter three, where Paul says, put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you? Sexual immorality. Well, we've read about that one in first Corinthians five.
But we go on to impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming in these two. You once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put them all away.
Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Maybe you have heard a pastor slander somebody or maybe you have heard obscene talk come from his mouth. Are those sins that are worthy of having him removed from his pastorate?
Well, it depends on if you've confronted him in that and he doesn't repent of it. He continues in that sin, then he probably should be removed. He could be restored back to the position of pastor again.
But like I said before, there are those sins that if committed are so serious, that man is no longer above reproach and is no longer qualified to serve in the position of pastor. He can be disciplined by the church and restored to the church, but shouldn't be restored to the pulpit again, though there are such sins that a pastor would commit that would result in him being removed from his position in the pulpit.
But then after undergoing discipline, he could be restored to the church and then over time shown to be of good character and fits with those qualifications that are listed in first Timothy three, one through seven.
Then he could even be restored to the pulpit again. So here are Paul's instructions related to protecting the pastor, but then also correcting the pastor in first Timothy chapter five, verses 19 and 20.
And then he says in verse 21, 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. Just because a man is a pastor doesn't mean that he is above being corrected.
And likewise, the members of the congregation, let us all be treated equally according to these instructions from our Lord Christ. We all must repent of sin and pursue holiness. Let's pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for this call to turn from sin and follow you.
And we thank you for your patience with us as we are yet fleshly creatures walking in this world and will stumble. It is by your grace that we seek forgiveness and find it in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we may we hold one another accountable as well.
Our brothers who serve in the pulpit, our brothers and sisters who are part of the congregation. Let us look after one another and see to it that each one serves well in the kingdom of God until the kingdom of God has come to this earth and we join our Lord forever in glory.
We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.