Provision and Protection for Elders

Transcript

GR 1278
7/11/2004
Provision and Protection for Elders
1 Timothy 5:17-25
Gil Rugh


I direct your attention to the book of I Timothy 5. We come to one of the most important passages in all the Bible today; it’s on paying your pastor. Paul has been instructing Timothy as his representative in the city of Ephesus on things that have to be done to bring the church at Ephesus into line with God’s will for His people. And one of those areas is the area of leadership. When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, sometime earlier than this letter to Timothy, at the end of that first chapter of the first letter he referred to the fact that Jesus Christ is the head over His body, which is the church. The spiritual body of Christ is the church and He is the head of the church. Peter wrote in I Peter 5 that the people of God are like sheep under God’s care, and Jesus Christ, according to I Peter 5:4, is the chief shepherd who rules over His sheep. But in those first 4 verses of I Peter 5, Peter makes clear that elders are responsible to shepherd the people of God under the authority of Jesus Christ who is the chief shepherd.

Paul planted the church at Ephesus on his third missionary journey, which is recorded in Acts 19. He spent three years there, ministering the Word of God to them. In Acts 20 shortly after leaving the city of Ephesus he had an opportunity to meet with the elders of the church at Ephesus and he gave them some clear instructions in Acts 20. He told them that they were responsible to shepherd the church of God which He had purchased with His own blood. They were going to be responsible to nourish and nurture the people of God according to Paul’s example, as the one who had taught them the whole counsel of God. He warned them of dangers to the church at Ephesus. They were responsible to protect the people of God from those who would try to bring in false teaching and false doctrine. He told them that from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, seeking to draw the disciples away after them. Sadly, the elders in the church at Ephesus failed to carry out their responsibility as God had given it to them. Paul wrote to Timothy, turn back to chapter 1, at the beginning of this letter.
And in verse 3 he told Timothy, as I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus. And note why Timothy had to remain at Ephesus--so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. Where were the elders? This church has been in existence for perhaps 10 years. These elders should have been well established, and if they were carrying out their responsibilities, how did these false teachers get in place? Why does Paul have to leave Timothy at Ephesus to put a stop to the false teaching? You get the idea that the elders have totally collapsed in their responsibilities, and the church is in trouble.

So Paul addresses the matter of elders in some detail in this letter. In chapter 3 he spent the first 7 verses laying out the qualifications for a man who would serve as elder. Basically, he has to be a godly man, a man whose godliness has been demonstrated. Paul will come back to that point in the chapter we’re in today. Then in chapter 5 verse 17 he’s going to come back to the subject of elders, and from verse 17-25 of chapter 5 he deals with matters relating to elders. It seems a little disconnected. Why didn’t he do this back in chapter 3 when he talked about elders? Now he’s talked about widows in the first part of the chapter, and then immediately following this on elders, he’s going to talk about slaves and masters. Widows, elders, slaves..I mean, what ties these groups together?

Well there is a theme. Each of these groups is instructed regarding giving honor. Verse 3 of chapter 5 gave instructions regarding honoring widows who are widows indeed. In verse 17 he’ll speak about elders who are worthy of double honor. And in chapter 6 verse 1 he will instruct slaves to count their masters worthy of all honor. So a theme running through each of these groups is the responsibility to show honor to certain people. And obviously he takes that opportunity then to elaborate the instructions that are involved in dealing properly with the elders. He’s going to deal with matters relating to honoring them, and deal with matters relating to accusations brought against them, dealing with an elder who sins. And then he’s going to give instructions regarding being very careful in selecting elders.

Look at verse 17, let’s begin just a walk through this section. What does God have to say about the leadership of His people? We talk about elders; we’ve already dealt with this in chapter 3; we’re not going to go back into the details. Various names for the same men—elders, overseers, pastors, bishops is sometimes a translation for one of the words. These are men given the responsibility of oversight in the church as we will see. The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor. The elders who rule well. Elders have responsibility to provide godly oversight, leadership for God’s people. Some do it well with excellence. This verb translated rule is in the perfect tense. Remember the perfect tense refers to something that happened in the past and it continues in the present. These are men who have demonstrated a pattern of ruling well. They have carried out their responsibilities as God intends them to. Now he may be making a distinction here between the elders who rule well and those who have failed to function as they should. He’s going to get into the matter of money here. He addresses this a couple of times in the pastoral epistles. And some of the false teachers thought that godliness was a way to get rich, and being an elder and getting paid well was what it was all about. So Paul will deal with that. Those kinds of men are not qualified to be elders, but those who do their job as God has instructed are to be honored or respected. Those who rule well, in a commendable way, according to what God has said is their responsibility.

Those who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor. The context indicates here that the honor that they are to receive is not only respect and admiration, but also includes some material provision. Now the next verse will go into the details on that. They are to be considered worthy of double honor. There is a lot of discussion on what the double honor is. Some say they should get twice as much as the widows got in the preceding portion. Some say they get double honor, they get respect and they get material support. It may well be that the double honor just indicates they are to be amply compensated, justly compensated for their labors.

Those who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. Now from this passage some churches have taken that there are two kinds of elders. There are ruling elders and there are teaching elders. There are those elders that rule well, there are those elders who teach. But I don’t think this passage is indicating that at all. In fact a key area of ruling well will involve their ministry of the truth. The word translated especially could also be translated namely. The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, namely those who work hard at preaching and teaching. The oversight, ruling, of God’s people is not just a matter of administrative things, it’s a matter of nourishing and nurturing them in the Word of God, directing them properly biblically, teaching them the whole counsel of God, as Paul said he did at Ephesus.

So the elders who rule well, in particular those who are laboring, working hard at preaching and teaching. That word translated work hard, favorite word of Paul, means to labor or toil to exhaustion. There will be men who are pouring their life into the responsibility God has given them to rule, teach and give forth the Word of God. The word translated preaching is simply the Greek word for word. They are giving forth the Word of God; they are explaining the Word of God to people. And they are giving all their energy to the accomplishing of that task.

Back up just before I Timothy Paul wrote the letters to the Thessalonians, and they appear just before the letters to Timothy, chapter 5. But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you. And that word translated diligently labor is the same as the one translated work hard, to toil exhaustively among you. They have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction. So you see the same characteristics. These leaders are those who work hard, who have charge over you. Same word. To rule over. And they give you instruction. You are to esteem them very highly in love for their work. There is to be a recognition of these men and an honoring of them, an appreciation of their ministry and the work that God has appointed them to do. Sometimes our churches get into trouble because we fail to be organized biblically and to function with biblical organization, not only to have a biblical structure as the Word is set down, but then that biblical structure must operate biblically. Sometimes we get the idea as believers we are all the same. We are all equal in Christ, we are sons of the living God, but God has delegated different responsibilities to us and there is order in the body. And God has given the responsibility of that oversight and the ministry of the truth to the body to certain individuals that He has appointed.

Now we talk about double honor. The next verse indicates that it’s not just respect, admiration, love, esteem, but there is material provision provided here. Verse 18, for the scripture says. Paul backs up his instructions with the authority of what has already been recorded in scripture. And first he quotes from Deuteronomy 25:4, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. The book of Deuteronomy is not talking in the chapter about animals, particularly, but there is instruction given. As the ox went about trampling the grain, separating the chaff and the wheat, he was allowed to eat of the grain. Paul gives an elaboration of this when he writes to the Corinthians.

Back up to I Corinthians 9. Paul is making a defense of himself here. One of the accusations that came against Paul was he was in it for the money. Paul argues that he has a right as the servant of God to be paid for his ministry, but at Corinth he did not exercise that right. Look at verse 3, my defense to those who examine me is this—do we not have a right to eat and drink? Verse 6, do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? Who at anytime serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock? I mean it’s just a principle that pervades society, that the worker is worthy of his wages. I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the law say these things also, so he turns to the law of Moses where it is written, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing. God is not concerned about oxen, is he? This is not an animal rights verse—see we ought to treat animals right, we ought to be concerned about animals. See here the Bible says you shall You know if you read the rest of scripture you find out that’s not a purpose. God is not concerned about the oxen, is he? Rhetorical question. No. Or is he speaking altogether for your sake? Yes, for your sake. In other words God was establishing a principle that the plowman ought to plow and hope, the thresher ought to thresh and hope of sharing the crop. The worker is worthy of his hire. That’s the principle. Those who do the labor and the working ought to benefit from their labor and working.

If we sow spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? Paul says, what’s the comparison? I brought to you the message of life; I brought to you the message of salvation. I’ve ministered to you spiritual truth. What is it if I receive material things back from you? I mean you receive far more from me, that of much greater value than I could have received from you. If others share the right over you, do we not the more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right. But we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Paul is not saying he never accepted money from people, but he didn’t accept it from the Corinthians. He wasn’t comfortable doing it at Corinth. He says I robbed other churches to minister to you. The Philippian church sent him money, but he didn’t take money from the Corinthians. You know why? He thought they might think he was in it for the money. But he wants them to be clear, they were obligated to support him; he had the right to expect it, but he didn’t avail himself of that. He uses the example of the priest in the Old Testament. Do you not know those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple? Those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? God had made provision for the priests in the Old Testament. People, a portion of what they brought and sacrificed to God was to be reserved for the priests’ benefit.

Verse 14 summarizes, so also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. Some believe that there should be no paid ministry today, but it’s hard to substantiate that from the Word of God. The Lord has directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. That does not mean that every time I preach I ought to get paid. There may be places where I preach that it would be better for me not to take pay, because people there might take it that I’m in it for the money. But the general principle is clearly established, that those who would be paid here would be those who are ministering as elders and ruling, teaching and preaching, and doing it well.

Come back to I Timothy 5. That doesn’t mean necessarily that every elder would be paid. Some of these churches would be very small; they’re meeting in homes. When Paul writes to the church at Philippi, he refers to the elders, plural. Does that mean their church there was able to support multiple elders financially? We don’t know, but the principle is set down that there is provision made for the financial support of the elders. And that’s what he does here.

He gives a second quote in verse 18, the scripture says, first from Deuteronomy and then, the laborer is worthy of his wages. This quote causes some discussion, because the only place we know in the scripture where it is found exactly as it is found here is in Luke 10:7, when Jesus sent out His disciples two by two. He told them that they didn’t need to take money with them, the people who benefit from their ministry should support them, because the laborer is worthy of his wages. The question comes, could Paul be quoting from Luke’s gospel and calling it scripture at this point? Paul wrote this letter to Timothy about 62 or 63 A.D. Luke’s gospel was probably written around 60 A.D., so there is no real problem. Who do you think Luke would have showed his gospel to when he finished writing it? He’s a close companion of Paul; who would you first want to review what you have written, but Paul? I assume that Paul would have been familiar with the gospel of Luke already by now. And he recognizes it as scripture. This already is going on in New Testament times that New Testament writers recognize that what others were writing was the authoritative Word of God. Peter did this in II Peter 3 when he said, there are those who twist Paul’s writings like they do the rest of scripture. He puts Paul’s letters on the same level as the rest of scripture. So here Luke’s gospel was already recognized as the Word of God, and Jesus Himself said the same thing—the laborer is worthy of his wages. And that was in the context of His followers going out and ministering the truth concerning Him.

So the first principle Paul sets down here is, elders who rule well, particularly laboring in preaching and teaching, are worthy of ample honor. They should be properly compensated. So while I may have reservations in being paid when I minister somewhere else, not all the time but sometimes, I have no reservations at all about being paid by you. And I appreciate your faithfulness in that. I think it is a horrible testimony,
I can say this now, having been here many years and being cared for well by you, it is a disgrace the way some churches show their appreciation of the leadership and ministry of the Word of God. I recently visited with a pastor who is a faithful man in another place, in another state and has been there some time. His wife works to help cover expenses, and from what I can observe they don’t live high at all. The church is plenty big enough to support multiple ministers. It’s a disgrace, and I told him, you need to sit down with your elders and talk about the biblical principles at stake here. It’s a poor testimony for your church to do that. So Paul is saying here, the laborer is worthy of his hire.

All right that deals with elders who rule well. But what about if there’s a problem with an elder; he’s not doing his job; he sins or an accusation of sin is brought against him. How do we deal with that? And that’s what Paul takes up next. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. When you first read this you say, well what’s unique about this? Don’t receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. You know that’s the same thing the scripture says about everyone else. There is nothing exceptional said here about elders, but what it does say is elders have the same protection as any other believer. Some people might think an elder has to be held to a higher standard, and if even one person would bring an accusation against an elder, that would be enough. God says elders have the same protection as any other believer. In other words, there have to be two or three witness who can validate the charges. You don’t even receive an accusation without the proper witnesses.

This goes all the way back to Deuteronomy 17:6. This was true in Israel in the Old Testament; it’s repeated in the New Testament on several occasions. Because obviously the devil is the slanderer, he’s going to bring false accusations of all kinds against God’s people to try to discredit them and dishonor them. This, of course, will happen to the leaders that God appoints for His people. Obviously in the position of leadership and visibility I have in this church, those who dislike the ministry of this church would love to discredit me, because that would say what? See that church always was hypocritical, look at the way the preacher behaved or what happened. Those are obvious things.

So the elders have the same protection as any other people, any other believers, no more, no less. One person can’t bring an accusation against an elder, but it doesn’t take a dozen. I can’t say, well I’m an elder, I need more protection, so it takes a dozen witnesses against me. It only takes two or three, the same as you. Not less, not more. Simple provision, but it’s important. There are times I will claim this provision— someone wants to bring a charge against me, I have the right to say there has to be two or three witnesses. I can spend all my life, the board could spend all its life, this church could do nothing but try to deal with accusations that come. So there is protection, there is protection for you. If there have been charges that people have wanted to bring against others in the body, we’ve chased them down. One time I was on the phone calling other places, other states. A person is absolutely adamant there were witnesses. It all came
back, everyone I talked to, well I don’t have firsthand information, I heard it from
I finally sat down with the person bringing the charges; we’ve talked to everyone that you said possibly would be involved, and it all comes back to one source. There is really only one witness here; there can be no proceeding. There are no witnesses. They left the church. What can you do? You have to be biblical. I’m not saying that one person may not be right in their charge, but the church cannot proceed in dealing with it without the testimony of two or three witnesses. All we can do is trust that if there is truth to that, it will come out in the end. We can’t decide, well here I think we can probably believe this person. We only have one witness, but I think they’re believable; therefore... Therefore what? Therefore we don’t have to follow the scriptural guideline in this case? Now where does that lead us? Total subjectivity, because maybe the next time we’ll decide well two or three witnesses, but we know these people and they’re sort of friends. So we won’t follow it there either. And we just end up deciding we obey the scripture when we want to, and we don’t when we don’t want to. All of us must make this commitment, as we’re going to see. So I know I’m repeating myself, we have to get this fixed in our minds because we’re getting into the area of church discipline. And it invariably is a problem. Personal relationships, emotions, all get involved. Let’s do it biblically.

All right, you don’t even receive an accusation; you don’t entertain it; you don’t give it a hearing if there are not two or three witnesses. All right, the next verse. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. Just as Paul elaborated on the matter of financial pay for those who minister the truth in I Corinthians 9, so Jesus elaborated on the matter of following the procedure in dealing with sin in the life of the believer. Matthew 18:15, if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. Now I take it Paul is assuming that kind of process already goes on, because where he is going
to pick up is with two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin Look at verse
16, if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. Okay, so there are two or three witnesses to substantiate the truthfulness of the charges, and so on. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

All right what did Paul say? Those who continue in sin, rebuke before all. Where did he pick up? Don’t receive a charge except at the mouth of two or three witnesses. What would have preceded that? If your brother sins, go and reprove him in private. If he refuses to listen to you, take two or three witnesses. If he won’t listen even to the two or three witnesses, but continues in sin, then you rebuke him before the whole church. So we’re dealing with an elder. Present tense, if they continue in sin they are sinning. Doesn’t mean you don’t do the first part of what Jesus set out here. Paul is picking up, you have to have two or three witnesses. How are we going to deal with this as the church? Your personal responsibility--you go to them in private, that’s Number 1.
Elders are to be dealt with the same way anyone else. We don’t discipline people here who sinned two years ago on an occasion, on a single occasion. This comes up all the time. You go and talk to someone; I’ve seen sin in your life. They say I appreciate your pointing that out, I will stop it. Well you don’t then take two or three witnesses, the person has responded.

Verse 15, if he listens, you’ve won your brother. If he does not listen you take two or three witnesses. It’s over. So whether there is something in an elder’s life that has to be dealt with, it has to be decided by the elders together, even in a past sin. But the real issue that Paul is dealing with, that Jesus is dealing with is the persistence in sin, the refusal to stop sinning. And if he listens to two or three witnesses, it’s done. And the indication in I Timothy 5 is it’s done there with the elder as well. It’s only those who continue in sin that you rebuke before all. Now again I’m not saying that there are indications where perhaps the elder stopped his sin that it’s going to be necessary for him to step out of his position. But it doesn’t have to become a public matter. We want to be careful that I tried the best I can to follow the biblical guideline, that those who continue in sin are rebuked before all. So the provision for elders is the same as the provision for all the rest of the body. Those who persist in sin, those who stop their sin anywhere in the process when they stop it, it doesn’t come before the body, because they stopped their sin. When we bring someone before the congregation for discipline, it is always in the context these are people who have refused to stop their sin, they’re continuing in sin. It’s the same point made with the elders here.

So there is provision. Paul has dealt with this already in the church at Ephesus, and the conclusion, while you’re still in Matthew 18, if he refuses to listen to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and tax gatherer. In other words, he’s dealt with as an unbeliever, he’s put out of the church.

Turn back to I Timothy 1:20. There are those who have persisted in sin, verse 20, among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan so that they will be taught not to blaspheme. So Paul was at Ephesus. Before leaving Timothy he had already dealt with a couple of key individuals who had to be disciplined. They persisted in their sin so Paul put them out of the church into the realm of the devil.
Serious matter, serious issues here.

Come back to chapter 5. You know there are always people who are more spiritual than God. Sounds blasphemous to say; it is, but they think they have a more loving heart and are more merciful and understanding than God so that it’s not right to disgrace people; it’s not right to shame people; it’s not right to humiliate people by publicly exposing them as sinners. Just what makes us think that we have a better understanding of what is right than God? And God understands it is shameful, it is humiliating, and it is meant to be. I think it would be awfully humiliating to have to be exposed before this congregation as one who is persisting in sin. I mean, I would fear that. People do. They go through all kinds of contortions and excuses and means to try to avoid coming to open discipline. Well it is shameful; it’s supposed to be. Note the last part of the verse, so that the rest will be fearful. Why are they fearful? Who wants to be exposed as one persisting in his sin before all the body? We don’t think about that, we don’t think about the humiliation that would come. We think how much we’re enjoying it, how exciting this is, the thrill of the sin, this is worth whatever. And then the disgrace that comes to me, what it means to my family, what it means to the church, when I’m revealed in my sin. That’s the purpose. We have to be careful we don’t become sentimental here. I just don’t think we ought to do that. Well I may not think we ought to do it, either, but God isn’t taking votes.

What’s He say? Rebuke in the presence of all. What did Jesus say in Matthew 18? Tell it to the church. Well I don’t think we should tell it to the church. Well then we have to decide whether we’ll listen to you or the head of the church, Jesus Christ. There really is no decision, is there? Serious matter. Look at verse 21, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels. This is a solemn charge given to Timothy, my son in the faith, as Paul would refer to him. I am charging you to do this in the presence of God the Father, God the Son and the angels who serve in the presence of God. Maintain these principles, what he just said in verses 19-20, without bias, no pre-judgments here, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. Well I couldn’t do that, they’re my friend. I tell you it is a sin against God, the one who will judge us when we do such a thing, because we’re saying that relationship with that one persisting in his sin is more important to me than what God says, than what God thinks. I don’t care that Jesus Christ, the judge of all men, sees that I prefer my friend over Him. It doesn’t matter to me that the holy angels who will observe my judgment say this. My friendship, my family are more important to me than God.

Some years ago we were sued over a church discipline case. It was a good thing for us from the standpoint it reminded us that we have to be careful. We were constantly challenged, oh you say you believe the Bible and only follow the Bible but here you did this. Where did you get that in the Bible? It was good to have to be able to come back and say what we have done is what the Bible says here, because someday we’ll give an account to God-- why didn’t you do what I told you? Who gave you the right to sacrifice the purity of my family for your friendship? Who gave you the right to overlook and ignore that offense which corrupted my family? It’s not your family; it’s my family. We will give an account of that and for that. Serious matters. Has to be handled biblically. Church discipline is painful. Why do you think Paul has to tell Timothy this? There are going to be elders that have to be dealt with. Now it gets even more difficult because of their position. Now the body fractures, those who like him, those who dislike him; those
who support him, those who don’t; those Let’s follow the issue; let’s stay with
the issue; let’s stay focused on what is at stake here.

Part of the problem we can avoid is to be careful in selecting elders. That doesn’t guarantee an elder won’t get into sin, but it is a good preventative. Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others. You see we’re entangled in this, we’re involved in this. If we are too hasty and we appoint men as elders who have not been properly evaluated according to the biblical instruction, when they do sin, we share in the guilt of that sin before God. Serious matter. We say, look, I
don’t know, I’m not Yeah, that’s all right, he’s a good person, hasn’t been here
long, don’t know a lot about him, but I think his enthusiasm and ideas will be a great contribution to our church. What about the biblical requirements? How many churches selecting people to serve in the leadership of their church are working carefully through I Timothy 3 and Titus 1 to be sure that those qualifications are met? He’s been here a long time; their family has been an important part of our church; he’s got a lot of friends in the church; they’re influential in the community, blah, blah, blah. Those elders appointed hastily and fall into sin--those who appointed them are guilty before God of that sin.
They share the guilt. They didn’t do it biblically. You see the importance of doing things biblically? When I don’t, then I am responsible and accountable before God for the results. If I function biblically, like Paul said, I am free from the blood of all men.
I’ve taught you the whole counsel of God; I’ve done what is biblical in this area, so I am free, no matter what you do. But when I don’t do what is biblical, now I am enmeshed and entangled in the sin myself, guilty before God. Keep yourself free from sin,
Timothy. Do what is right. I mean you don’t want to get entangled in being responsible for someone else’s sin. Paul has great confidence in Timothy, but he also realizes Timothy can fail, like any of us can.

Next verse almost seems out of line and I have to say, every time I read it I have to smile. Drink no longer water exclusively, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. I have to think I read that and I think, poor Timothy. I mean here he is in a pressure cooker and he’s got ulcers or whatever. He’s got stomach problems, his stomach churns and Paul just dumps the whole truck on him and tells him this is in the presence of Almighty God, in the presence of Jesus Christ, in the presence of the holy angels. You’d better do it. Now Timothy, drink a little wine for your stomach. Poor Timothy. And not only your stomach, your frequent ailments. He had multiple ailments, plural, and he had them often. Here is a guy who has a hole eaten in his stomach, he’s got all kind of physical trouble, and Paul puts him in a pressure cooker. Beautiful. His instruction here has nothing to do with social drinking. We’d have to deal with that on different passages and different principles. His use of wine here is medicinal; take a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your ailments. So this particular verse is not dealing at all with whether you should drink wine socially or not, it’s a different issue. But Timothy is to take wine for his stomach. And up until recently in large portions of the world wine was viewed as having medicinal qualities and was used accordingly.

Evidently Timothy thought for his own purity and testimony he needed to drink water only, because Paul tells him not to limit himself to water. But you can use a little wine to help with your physical problems. It’s interesting here, the Apostle Paul, who brought about healings in numbers of people, read the book of Acts, and he tells Timothy to use a little wine. Why didn’t he just heal him? I mean he had been here with him personally not too long ago; he left him in Ephesus when he went to Macedonia. He knows Timothy has a weak stomach; he knows he has a lot of other physical problems. Why didn’t he heal him before he left? Wouldn’t Timothy be able to do a better job if he didn’t have stomach trouble and a lot of other ailments? Good reminder. We think, oh I would serve the Lord if I didn’t have this problem. I know I’d be effective for the Lord if I didn’t have this particular difficulty. Forget it. You know Paul doesn’t mire down here; he gives one verse, almost like a parenthesis, to encourage Timothy. You don’t have to be afraid, you can maintain your purity and take a little medicinal wine. But he’s right back then into the subject of doing what needs to be done. We get so enmeshed with our physical problems, we’re no use to the Lord. So fine, you have a physical problem, good. And according to this I say, feel free to use whatever medicine might help. Some people think, well I’m going to pray about it. If the Lord wants to heal me, He’ll heal me. Well, that’s not the attitude Paul had with Timothy. He said, take a little wine for your stomach’s sake. Couldn’t the Lord deal with Timothy’s stomach without wine? Yes, but under the inspiration of the Spirit, Paul felt that it was proper to use resources that were available. So if you take medicine, that’s fine. Now let’s get on with it. But I have this limitation. That’s okay. Oh I don’t think he has the constitution to deal with the pressure. What do you mean? Did Timothy have the constitution to deal with the pressure? What’s that got to do with it? We’re talking about the sufficiency of God for you in this situation. Your stomach problems, all your other ailments that keep afflicting you, well, deal with them as you must, but it has nothing to do with whether you live in the pressure cooker and do what God calls you to do.

He’s right back in verse 24 to what you have to do in appointing men. We can summarize these two verses quickly. You get one side; you get the other. Verse 24, this connects back to verse 22, don’t lay your hands hastily on anybody. Why? The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. I think in summary fashion what he is saying here, some people’s sins have become obvious more quickly, others, it takes a while. Others are seen only after more careful scrutiny. That’s basically what it’s saying. I think the judgment has to do with the judgment he’s been talking about in verse 22 of avoiding men, and this whole discerning process. And you have to allow time. So ultimately all sin that has not been exposed will be exposed, we’ll stand before the bema seat of Christ and everyone will be judged before Christ for what we’ve done in the flesh, whether good or bad. In the context here, he’s talking about, don’t lay your hands on anyone hastily. Why? Because while you can see some men who might come up short, you can immediately see they’re not ready. There are things in their lives that would disqualify them. But for others it takes longer time and more careful examination. There is no guarantee. The most godly person can fall into sin, but there are preventatives. We can be sure that the maturity and longer time gives you an opportunity to observe that man in different situations under different pressure. You know, some people stand firm and strong it seems, except when it’s their family. Then when their family might get involved they are willing to throw the Bible out the window because there is one thing that supercedes all, and that is family. Well we have to have someone who if even my family is at issue here, I submit to the Word of God. So it depends, we get to see people in a variety of kinds of circumstances and situations. So some people’s sins are more obvious; some people’s sins take a longer time.

It’s the same thing in verse 25, likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, those that are otherwise, that aren’t evident, cannot be concealed. So you may say, I don’t know this person, I don’t see enough positive evidence in their life. Well give it time, you may see other things come out. You say initially they weren’t a person that these things are as clearly seen, but they are a rock. And their character and their meeting the qualifications has become abundantly evident with more time. So in other words, give it time. Don’t lay hands hastily on anyone, because you can’t tell. Your initial judgment may not be right, give it time. That’s the point he’s giving in these closing verses.

So simple instruction. What had happened to the church at Ephesus? Why had the elders failed? Somewhere along the line they got confused. Perhaps friendships and relationships became more important. We had all kinds of reasons why we shouldn’t deal with that sin, why we shouldn’t deal with that doctrinal error. I mean, what’s going to be the impact on our church? People like them, he’s got a following. Whatever reason, the church at Ephesus is in trouble and the elders had not done their duty. Now Timothy is there to set things straight, and part of it is going to involve appointing new elders, giving recognition to the right elders and disciplining the wrong elders, those who shouldn’t be elders, who aren’t functioning biblically, putting a stop to the error, the false teaching. It won’t be pleasant, but it is necessary.

There are eight commands here, I didn’t name them for you when we went through, but let me just say them to you. Verse 17, the elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor. To be considered worthy. All commands are given in the present tense. The right elders are to be considered worthy of double honor, they must be considered worthy of double honor.

Second command is in verse 19, do not receive. That’s the command, do not receive, you must not be receiving an accusation, except on the basis of two or three witnesses.

The third command, those who do sin, rebuke in the presence of all. Rebuke.
You must be rebuking those who persist and continue in sin.

The fourth command is in verse 22, and there are three commands in verse 22.
Do not lay hands on anyone hastily. Do not lay hands, do not appoint hastily anyone. Fifth command is in verse 22, do not be sharing responsibility. Our translation is, and thereby share responsibility. Some of you in the margin of your Bible have a literal comment, do not share responsibility. So do not lay hands on someone hastily, don’t share in their sin. And you will, if you lay hands hastily. The sixth command, the third in verse 22, keep yourself free from sin. That word keep. And you do that by doing what is biblical. Because in the context, keep yourself free from sin, keep yourself pure had to do with what? Don’t get involved by not doing the biblical thing, the right thing here. So do what is right, keep yourself free from sin, your own personal acts of sin and being involved when other people sin by not obeying the Word of God. You see I’m involved here. To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. We look at it and we say, it’s not so complicated, is it? But it’s not easy. But by God’s grace we can be faithful to Him.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the church, your church, your people. Thank you for your Word which is sufficient for us. Thank you for your Spirit who gives us understanding. Lord, may we have ready hearts and minds to obey you. Sometimes it’s not convenient; sometimes it’s not easy; sometimes it’s not pleasant. But Lord we must do what is right. Our love for you must supercede our love for anyone or anything else. Our passion for your honor and your glory must supercede all. I pray that we would be faithful as a church. Thank you for the elders that you have raised up here, for their godly character, their faithfulness, their diligence in the truth, the oversight of your people, the protection of the flock over the years. Lord, you have greatly blessed us, and our desire is those blessings would continue as we are faithful and obedient to you. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.