Testing, testing, how's that?
So once you turn your bottles to first Timothy 5, I'm actually going to continue in 5 starting at verse 17.
Okay, we'll choose that. Okay.
Alright, thank you. Okay, so. We're going to be in first Timothy 5.
And last time I spoke, I did the beginning portion of First Timothy 5 speaking about families and widows.
The family of God and widows. And today we're going to be moving on throughout the passage and actually hopefully get to chapter 6.
So we'll see how it goes. So just as an introduction for those of you that haven't been with us, we've been going through the book of Timothy, First Timothy, and just a little review of what's been happening in the book.
Paul, the Apostle Paul left Timothy in Ephesus. To stand for the truth.
To stand for the truth of the gospel of grace, to stand for truth in light of new Testament, church order principles.
The main verse of the book is first Timothy 3. Verse 14 and 15. In my estimation.
So first Timothy 3 14 these things are right to you though I hope to come to you shortly but if I am delayed I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself.
In the house of God, which is the church of the living God. The pillar and ground of the truth.
How we ought to conduct ourselves in the House of God, in the Church of God. The Church of the Living God, it's the pillar and the ground of the truth.
The pillars it holds something up, a pillar. And that's our role is we are to hold things up.
The truth, the truth of God. The truth of God in Christ Jesus. The person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We hold up the truth, we promote the truth, we teach the truth. And we defend the truth, that is.
What we do here. Lord willing, that's our desire. And Paul is teaching Timothy here in the book.
He's reminding him, he's charging him, he's exhorting him to stand for these things.
And also he is giving what it actually looks like. When you do these things, when you pursue these things, What it looks like what the church looks like when these things are are done the practical outworking of them.
Just to review what we've gone through, proper teaching. Law versus grace, the purpose of the word of the preaching is transformation, that is the purpose.
To the role of the church in prayer or the role of prayer in the church. The roles of men and women, proper functioning of leadership.
Preparing God's people for the challenges ahead. With with the false teaching that comes in. All of these things, Paul is speaking to Timothy about, reminding him of these things.
In chapter 5. If you remember, we talked about how we treat one another, how we ought to treat one another as the family of God.
And take a look at 5 one. It says here do not rebuke an older man but exhort him as a father.
Younger man is brothers, older women as mothers. Younger women as sisters with all. Purity.
So all of these family relationships, how we are, how we ought to treat older men like fathers, we respect them.
How do we treat younger men like brothers? How do we treat older women as mothers? Concern for their needs.
How do we treat younger women as sisters with all? Purity, not potential conquest, right, but we look at sister at the younger woman as with all purity as sisters.
We are a family. So this next section.
But then it goes on to the widows and we talked about that last time, the widows.
There's 14 verses regarding Widows, the care and support of widows. And that's You know, Paul, he spent a lot of, versus talking about that because it was very important at that particular time and place.
And it's important as we go on together. The role of the church and assembly in the support of the widows and provided some guidelines.
So Paul wrote all of these things to Timothy because the church needed some course correction. It needed some direction and how to deal with these things.
And even though all these things were going on. You know, there there may have been some erroneous teaching that was happening.
There was mixing up of law and grace. There was maybe the roles of men and women were getting mixed up.
They were neglecting the widows. These sorts of things were happening and Paul is continuing to remind Timothy to stand for these things.
And even though all these things were going on, verse 17 we find out that there were faithful elders that were labouring in word and doctrine.
And we're leading and guiding well. And that's what we're going to be talking about today.
Beginning in verse 17. I'll go ahead and read a portion of that, but this morning our topic is the proper care and feeding of elders.
So take a look at First Timothy 5. Verse 17.
5 17. Let the elders who real well be counted worthy of double honor. Especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
First 18 for the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and the laborer is worthy of his wages.
Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from 2 or 3 witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all that the rest also may fear.
Charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice.
Doing nothing with partiality. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in another people's sins.
Keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake.
And your frequent infirmities. Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment.
But those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident. And those that are otherwise cannot be hidden.
I'm going to go ahead and read just the first 2 verses of chapter 6. Hopefully we get to that.
Let as many bonds servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor. So that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemed.
Those who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren. But rather serve them because Those who are benefited are believers and belong.
And beloved. Teach and exhort these things. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you that we can read and understand what you have to say to us. We thank you for this direction that you've given.
Timothy from the Apostle Paul and help us to learn here this morning. Lord, we look to you now.
For this time in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
So, as I was saying, the the the topic. The first couple verses at least are the care and feeding of elders.
And the widows. They may have been neglected. The and and Paul provided some direction and and course correction for them and how to deal with the widows.
It's Perhaps the elders were being neglected as well there in Ephesus at this time.
And as a reminder, the New Testament has different words for the leadership in the church. There's elder, there's bishop, which is overseer shepherds, which is pastor, all these, all these, all these words, they're all refering to the same person, all referring to the same individual.
Take a look at first Peter 5 real quickly. First Peter 5. Just so we know who we're talking about here.
First Peter 5. Peter here says in verse one.
The elders who are among you I exhort. I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that shall that will be revealed.
Shepherd the flock of God or pastor the flock of God which is among you serving as overseers or bishops.
Not by compulsion, but willingly. Not for dishonest gain, but eagerly. Nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples.
To the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not.
Fade away. So you see here that. Peter uses these words interchangeably about these, these roles, shepherd overseer, elder.
In the practice of the early church, there was a plurality of elders. So Paul, actually we just went through X 14.
Paul went to these different churches and him and Barnabas appointed elders in every place they went.
So this these were newly formed churches that were being formed at that time. As he was traveling his first missionary journey.
So the church and Ephesus had elders. So back there in first Timothy.
Verse 5, we'll jump in now. I'm sorry, chapter 5 or 17 will jump into the text here.
For 17. Let the elders who real well be counted worthy of double honor. Especially those who labor in word and doctrine.
So Paul is saying here those that rule well, those that the are being an example. They're leading. They're guiding.
They're attending to. Now this is not authoritarian in this, it says rule, that may be a little strong, word.
It's more of a guiding and leading, not controlling. As I read previously in First Peter, it said, be an example.
To the flock. And that's how it is to be, not being lords. Over the Lord's people, but being examples.
And we read, there's one Chief Shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is the chief shepherd.
And to rule well. To do it well. They deserve these individuals here in Ephesus. These elders, they deserved honor.
They deserved. Respect. Especially it says especially those who labor in word and doctrine. Preaching and teaching.
So we're told here that we are to honor. The elders here in this place. Take a look at another verse, first Thessalonians.
First testimony is very similar. Passage here. In first Thessalonians 5. Verse 12
Again, Paul writing here and he says we urge you brethren to recognise those who labour among you and who are over you in the Lord and in modest you.
Or encourage. And to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake. Be a peace among yourselves.
So there's this idea of respect and esteem. Now, Paul also says there in First Timothy, a double honor.
Double honor. What is he talking about? And, he's saying that it's It's not mathematical.
It's not, well, I give you honor. I'm going to give you twice as much.
But it's an ample amount. We're giving an ample amount, a special amount.
Those that are ruling well and labor in word and doctrine. This honor, this word honor, it can be used.
With material support, financial support. In fact, as you saw in First Timothy 5, talking about honoring the widows.
And he goes through and talks about how the church ought to honor the widows by supporting them, supporting the true widows that had no other, no other place to go.
So that's really the thought there. It's material assistance. And it goes on and says, especially those who labor in word and doctrine.
So this word labor, it's toiling to the point of exhaustion, those that sacrificially put aside their own things and work and toil in word and doctrine.
And really this, so it says. There's there's some under different understandings about what this is talking about who labor in the word and doctrine or Labour in Word in Doc, which would just be preaching the orally communicating the Word of God.
The word and doctrine, preaching and teaching. So it's clear that Paul is talking about material and financial support here because based on his scriptural references.
So if you go on to verse 18. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.
So you allow the ox, even the ox, the lowly ox. Gets to partake of some of the grain as it goes through the field.
You don't muzzle it as it's performing this work for you. You let it eat the food.
And that's really the thought there and then again Paul says he quotes another scripture of the Lord Jesus from Luke 10.
The laborer is worthy of his wages. So it is a laborer is entitled to the fruit.
Of his labor. So in some cases there may be exceptionally gifted men. In our midst that would be provided support to be full time.
In the ministry of the word. Think that the Bible makes that very clear. And that's judged by the local assembly that this individual should be free to serve.
In this capacity. It's so it is the church's responsibility to to provide in these cases.
And then moving on. Moving on in verse 19. Now there are some protections. In regards to the elders and actually all of God's people.
Enjoy this protection. It says verse 19, do not receive an accusation against an elder except from 2 or 3 witnesses.
So those in leadership, they can be a target of false accusations. We know that there's an enemy.
Out there that that is the accuser of the brethren. That's in Revelation 12, the enemy.
Accuses the brethren. And unfortunately, sometimes there are individuals that would do his bidding. And be accusers of the brethren.
As well. And as I mentioned, this protection is aed to all believers, Matthew, 18.
For 16. You know, accusations they can do much damage. There's a there's a saying a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on.
So lies and accusations and slander travel much faster. Then the truth does very often.
How often do we see a headline? That says some You know, scandalous thing is the blaring on the headline.
And you look at it you're scrolling through the news And then a few days later, you find out that it was retracted.
But unfortunately, that story doesn't get doesn't get in your news feed right you just see that headline and you see this horrible thing but then it gets retracted later on and you're not aware that it did get retracted.
We can do a lot of damage. With slander and accusations and that's why there's protections built in.
Now there are protections but there's not immunity. There's not immunity. No one is immune.
From you know, sometimes accusations are accurate. And so there's some directions in regards to that.
And we need to be really careful when it comes to this. In the church and really anywhere. We need to be careful.
Here. I think there's 2 common errors that people make. I know I make in my own mind.
Either we believe every accusation. Or we reject every accusation. I think both of those things can be an error.
Now, it's. Sometimes people think, you know, we reject every accusation.
Any accusation or criticism is from The enemy and sometimes we think that. That's not the case all the time.
Think about some authoritarian leaders. In a anywhere in church, in government, whatever. You know, well, especially in the church.
They will, any kind of criticism or accusation they will reject. What's the verse in Psalm one of 5 touch not the Lord's anointed, right?
If you criticize someone, if you say something, you see something that they've done that's not right, a moral failure, bringing it up, bringing it up.
You're touching the Lord's anointed. This person can do no wrong. That is, we reject that.
You know, the Lord's people are afraid to say anything.
And often there's cover ups. In these kind of situations. People are trying to cover up all of these things.
Something that happened recently. A lot of abuse has been. And revealed in a certain denomination.
You know and really that it was they had that attitude that this is the this is God's man and he can do no wrong And even though maybe we've seen things or.
We've heard accusations, we reject them all because this is, you're touching the Lord's anointed and you're touching the Lord's anointed and you're touching the Lord's anointed and you're bringing God's judgment on yourself and your accuser of the brethren.
We have to be careful. We have to be careful. Because Evil men can take advantage of that.
There was a big church. In Indiana. The pastor was having affairs with the wives of other men.
And they had that same kind of attitude. You don't accuse The Gods man, you don't accuse him.
And then this man would get up and on a Sunday and he would bring messages about how he's under attack by the enemy and you know The enemy is trying to bring him down.
Even while the whole time he knew that he was involved in this immorality. No shame.
Erin and I, before we were here in the ninetys. There was some some things happening within the church.
And individuals that came forward with eyewitness accounts. Were slandered by the leadership. So these are things that do happen.
And we need to be very careful. So, they were slandered by the leadership to protect. Someone to protect the reputation of a ministry.
And I tell you the cover up. Is always worse than the crime.
But if it was handled correctly, what happened was the whole, when this stuff started to come out, this was right when the internet.
Was new. There was a time when there was no internet, believe it or not.
And this, like the internet just started happening and people started sharing some of these things in the internet and the whole ministry just collapsed.
Under the weight of itself. And like I said, But if it was handled correctly, if it was dealt with, according to scripture, And that's what we see here in verse 20.
In verse 20 it says, so let's say that an accusation comes forward and there's 2 or 3 witnesses with the same accusation.
There's some. Investigations. Determine yes this is true. And it says verse 20, those who are sinning.
So this person is unrepentant. This person is not. Turned away from this. They continue on in this.
That says those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all. That the rest also may fear.
That's the Correct. Action of the church in those kind of situations. And. You know,
If we try to hide and cover up and try to protect someone, for one thing we're not being faithful to the Lord.
Right? So this is the proper way. We don't protect anyone, our loyalty. Is to the truth, not to any individual.
And it is to be done in the presence of all. Right? So all see it, what it says, it says that the rest also may fear.
Well, this is serious. You know, we're not playing church. This isn't just a civic club.
This is the House of God. This is the Church of the Living God. This is his house.
We need to be serious about things that happen in his house. There has to be a godly fear.
In our hearts. The one that accuses Right? There needs to be a godly fear. The one that accuses, this is a serious thing.
I'm bringing forth an accusation and I'm before the Lord. And I know that it's true.
Anyone that would bring accusation falsely. They're not fearing the Lord, right?
There needs to be a godly fear in this. Now here's an example of something that happened recently that I thought was handled well.
Matt Chandler, you may know him, he's a well-known. Preacher, teacher.
And he, it was discovered that he was. Privately texting another woman. Now he's a married man.
And he was texting another woman. And this texting, maybe it began innocently, but they began kind of sharing.
Stories and jokes and sarcasm and it got a little flirty. So when this happened, when this was discovered, The elders actually got up front and read a statement.
Rebuking and condemning the actions and then he stepped down. And I think that's the way it's supposed to be done.
Now, He's a celebrity pastor. Yeah, he's very well known. And think about all the damage we're going to do to this ministry if we bring this up.
Well, imagine the damage you would do if you didn't. Right, that's what's.
The real issue. The damage if you don't deal with it correctly.
So. We do these things, it says so that the rest also may. Fear.
It puts the fear of God. In you, right, when you see something like that. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
There should be some fear. We're involved with the living God and His church. His house. Verse 21.
I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing.
With partiality. We are to do these things without any kind of partiality or prejudice, not make up our minds ahead of time.
That's what prejudice means. Judge. And not showing any partiality. Being unbiased in these kind of things.
You know, Matt Chandler, very popular person. You imagine some people might want to protect him.
Maybe they have a particular bias and maybe they blame the woman and not him and want to cover it up.
Can't can't do that. You know, this is interesting too. It says, I charge you before God.
And the Lord Jesus Christ. And the elect angels that you observe these things. This is a serious thing.
God, the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the angels are looking in. To our gatherings.
And what we do is before them. And so that's why it's so important. You know, this is about him.
This is about his glory. This is about his house. And we're told other places that the Angels are looking in learning the manifold wisdom of God from our assembly from our gathering.
They're learning about God. What a responsibility we have. That they are learning about God from us.
So we need to make sure that we are. Holding up that truth accurately. And faithfully.
So, we are to be unbiased. There is a temptation to allow personal feelings to influence our decisions.
We give people benefit of the doubt. That we like right if if we like someone we'll give them the benefit of the doubt if we don't like them Well, you know, they're guilty.
We enjoy hearing unsubstantiated rumors about people we don't like. Oh, we like hearing about what was that?
Tell me that story again. What happened? We like that. We have to be careful.
We cannot allow it.
We have to call balls and strikes. Right? You have to be unbiased. Calling balls and strikes.
Think about football referees. Now I wrote this before the game last night, but
You have to be objective. In your, when you call a file, call a penalty. You know somebody there's a pass interference call.
And because I like the Packers. I'm gonna say oh yeah, he was you know they interfered with him and it should be first down and somebody that's another fan of the other team oh no that wasn't past interference you know so we're arguing we both saw the same exact thing but because of our personal biases and what we want We've ceased things differently.
That was a first down, by the way, that fourth and one. Yeah, that was the first down.
But. So, like I said, we need to be faithful. These are the rules, this is the rule, this is what it says, this is what happened.
You know, put aside your own personal feelings. And call the penalty.
That's what we have to do. As I said before, our loyalty needs to be with the truth.
Loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Continuing on. First. 22. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily.
Nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself. Pure. Now what Paul is talking about here is appointing leaders.
Laying hands on someone is appointing them as a leader. And it says don't do it hastily.
Now you can imagine maybe a young new church. There's not a lot of men around and oh here's somebody that has a pulse.
Let's take this person and make them a leader. You know, there is a Does, temptation to do that.
But it says don't do it hastily. Take your time. Slow down. Because If you do it hastily and there's a problem.
You will have some culpability. On that. That's what it says. You will share in other people's sins.
You know, and, You know, it's thought that perhaps you condone the behavior, you're responsible for that.
So that's why you condone the behavior, you're responsible for that. So that's why slow down and observe and investigate and see what this person is like in different situations and that's We're going to, Paul, give some more instruction in regards to that.
Coming up here.
Then we have this verse here. First 23. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake.
In your frequent infirmities. It sounds like It doesn't really fit in that in the flow of what's being said there.
But I think perhaps what's happening is You know, Timothy, he had some firsthand experience.
With maybe making some bad decisions and maybe going through some of this. You know, he did appoint someone hastily and there was some issue.
So maybe that's what is happening here. He's got some ulcers, perhaps. So we're talking about, you know, medicinal for stomach ailments.
And, Timothy wasn't from Ephesus. You know, it says no longer drink only water.
You know, that was. Finding clean water it's not something you could do very easily. Today we just grab a bottle, we drink out of the faucet, we don't even think about it.
But, but wine, it actually the fermentation process kills all the germs, so you can drink wine.
And perhaps Paul understood this as well going from all these different places. Travelling and all these missionary journeys understanding that you don't drink the wine, you don't drink the water in Ephesus.
Perhaps that's what he's saying here. Stay away from that, drink a little wine.
And it says a little, right? It says a little. Earlier in the book. He talks about qualifications for elder not given to wine.
Qualifications for deacons not given to much wine. So this was something that was an issue there.
Maybe people were partaking a little too much. And he's telling them qualifications of an elder is not being partaking of much wine.
And, So moving on. Verse 24 tells, verse 24 and 25 tells us why we don't move hastily.
Appointing leaders leaders.
Why were not hasty? Because it says in verse 24. Some men's sins are clearly evident.
Preceding them to judgment. But those of some men follow later. So what he's saying here is, you know, maybe you look at a person and you can recognize right away.
They're probably not a good fit, there's something. Their sin is. Out there everyone can see.
But some things take a little more time. To see. Maybe they, you need to see them in different circumstances, different situations.
Different environments. And you start to see things that come up in their life. Observe them in different scenarios.
And wait. To see. You know, it says in numbers 32, 23. Your sin will find you out.
You know, we may think that we're hiding something. We may think, well, you know, people can't really see that kind of sin that I'm doing.
But it's going to come out somewhere somehow. It's going to come out. So that's why we need to observe.
I was talking to my daughters actually about this. You could make the same application for finding a husband. You know, fighting a man.
You know, maybe you see him right away and there's a certain. A certain, you know, first impression that you see of this person.
Just wait a little bit, right? We see them in different sneers. How do they talk to their mom?
Right? Different things that happen in their lives. How do they react? How do they rack when things don't go their way?
Just take some time. Watch, observe. And then the other thing here, verse 25.
Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident. Some people, you see them right away and there's good works.
That you see. Maybe they're very outgoing and they're involved in a lot of things.
And you see that it's very noticeable right away you see But sometimes there's people that do things behind the scenes and you don't know.
The good works that they're involved with. And with little bit of investigation. It says there that and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden.
With a little investigation, those good works will be seen. The doing behind the scenes. So. A little direction for Timothy on.
How to what to look for. As appointing leaders.
First chapter 6 verse one. So we went from honoring the Lord's people, the family of God, honoring widows, honoring elders and now honoring masters.
6. Chapter 6 verses one and 2.
So in the Roman Empire, it's estimated there was 25 to 40%. Slaves. So any any assembly of God's people.
There would be 2540% of them would be slaves. What was the direction? To these individuals.
Was it we're going to overthrow Rome? And we're going to overthrow the culture and the way they do things, that's not what it was.
In fact, those individuals that were slaves in this culture. It says verse 6, chapter 6 verse one, let as many bond servants as are under the yoke.
Count their own masters worthy of all honor. So that the name of God and His doctrine may not be blasphemy.
So even as a slave, you can honor your master. And we may not have that kind of relationship today.
Thank the Lord for that, but we do have employers. Employees. Honor your employer. Right?
Or do what they tell you to do unless it's obviously against. The Lord, but we we do what we're told to do and it says you know there's something at stake here It's not just that you get a promotion.
I mean, that would be nice. But there's more at stake than that. It says we do this so that the name of God and his doctrine may not be blasphemed.
That's a serious thing. You know, I'm not going to hire Christians anymore because they just, They don't do what they're told to do, so I'm going to go hire other people.
Is that what's the reputation that you have there? You want to make sure that this individual, this employer understands, I want to hire Christians.
Because they're great employees. That's how you honour the Lord, and that's how you don't blaspheme.
You know, his, his, his name, his doctrine.
And then it goes on. Verse 2. Those who have believing masters, let them not despise them.
That's interesting. I don't know if you've ever worked for a believer.
But there's there's some temptations to maybe take advantage of that relationship. You know, yeah, sorry, I was late for work, but I was at a Bible site.
So you know, I'm sorry, I hired you to get here at 8 o'clock and you need to be here 8 o'clock and You know, we take advantage of that.
Oh, just, you know, show me some grace. It's like that's the natural tendency would to be to try to take advantage of that.
And here's something that's interesting too. You think it's possible that in this assembly where there's slaves 25 to 40% or slave that a slave could actually be an elder at the church.
That you know this slave is actually in the context of the church is actually over. His master? That's kind of interesting.
Situation. So it says verse 2, and those that who have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren.
But rather serve them because those who are benefited are believers and beloved. So, you know, serve one another, servant leadership, we serve one another, regardless of our hierarchy in the outside world.
You know, in the Church of God, we are brethren. Teach and exhort these things.
So again, Paul. Tells Timothy, teach these things, exhort these things. You know, we're involved in something very Sirius the House of God the Church of God There's a way that we are to behave and how we're supposed to react to certain situations and We need to, we need to walk in fear.
In his Church. They don't make accusations lightly. And we don't always believe every accusation and we don't reject every accusation.
We have to, again, We are loyal to the truth.
So with that, I am done, let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. We thank you that your word gives us practical application in this world in this life that we are living, help us Lord to honor you in everything that we do, help us to seek your word.
When we find ourselves in situations we may not know what to do. Lord, you can provide us direction and guidance.
Lord, we thank you for this time. We thank you for this day. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen.
Meeting is business.