Amen. If you have a Bible, let me invite you to turn with me to 1 Timothy 5, verses 17 through 20. 1 Timothy 5 verses 17 through 20 as we continue our study in Paul's letter to Timothy and to the church at Ephesus. And what we've seen here is that Paul is establishing in this letter the priorities of a healthy church.
In verses 1 and 2 we saw in Timothy how to treat people of different ages. In verses 3 through 16, how to treat widows, both older widows and younger widows. In chapter 6, 1 and 2 he'll tell us how to treat slaves and verses 17 through 19 of that chapter, how to treat even the rich. Here in verses 17 to 25, how to treat pastors and elders.
So let me invite you to give your attention to God's Word, 1 Timothy 5 verses 17 through 20. 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 omit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
As for those who persistence in, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. Amen. This is God's Word making God our hearts with it. Let's look to him in prayer.
Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for this Word, and we pray that you would mold and shape us by it. We pray that you would build up Redeemer, and we ask that you would speak to us and be our teacher. We pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts would be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Well, the only other time I preached this passage was a decade ago as a charge to a congregation at the installation of a friend of mine, Chris Miller, as pastor of Trinity Grace Church in Rogers. And to be fair to Chris, I'll begin as I did then. To what animal shall we compare your pastor? A giraffe, feet on the earth, head stretching to the heavens?
How about a penguin? Well, but you'll not likely see him wearing black tie and tails unless you're getting married on Saturday night at 7, and you're paying for his rental tucks. Well, how about an ox? Yes, that will do.
An ox. That's what Paul says here. It's not the prettiest animal. It's not the most glamorous or sophisticated.
It's a working animal, and he tells us how to care for the ox. Now, I feel a bit awkward up here telling you how you should care for your ox, but we're committed to preaching the whole council of God, even the parts that make preachers tell their listeners how the listeners ought to treat their preachers. And so we study it in that light. What does Paul tell Timothy here?
Well, let me highlight three things. First and verse 17 to 18. It's going to tell him that we are to provide respect and remuneration to hard-working elders. Second, in verse 19, we are to protect the reputation of elders.
And third, at verse 20, we are to publicly rebuke elders who persist in sin. So there's a word here about respect and remuneration, about reputation and about rebuke. We consider these three things together in the first place. Notice in verses 17 and 18, Paul tells us to provide respect and remuneration to hard-working elders.
He says it this way, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. So he's saying honor and generously provide for hard-working pastors and elders of the church. Give them both respect and remuneration, both honor and honorarium. Paul is talking about this ministry in the church that's devoted to the work of ruling, to the work of preaching, to the work of teaching.
When that's the case, the congregation is to support them. Notice a few things about this. Notice there's going to be an evaluation of the work. Notice these are elders who rule well, he says.
And they work hard at preaching and teaching. This is an idea of hard work as one of Paul's favorite metaphors for ministry. A hard work is the language of a day, labor. Sometimes think that the only opinion a Christian minister needs about his ministry is the opinion of Jesus, that the only appreciation of faithful Christian minister needs is to know that one day Jesus will say, well done, good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your master.
But Paul was of a different opinion. Pastors and elders need affirmation like anyone else and those who do their work well and those who labor hard at it are worthy. Paul, as you may remember in his own ministry, sometimes would receive that support and sometimes he would refuse it. When he thought that there were congregations that were holding it over his head, as if his only motivation in preaching to them was gaining money, then he would just be a tent maker and supply his own support.
But there were other congregations that happily gave him support and he received that from them. You remember the book of Philippians, it's itself a thank you letter to the people that supported his ministry. And so here he's talking to Timothy, the church ought to support the labor of her ministers and there's going to be some evaluation in their ministry and some corresponding honor and honorarium associated with it. Notice that little phrase double honor.
Now what does that mean? Well, I don't think Paul means do the math and whatever a typical mediocre pastor elder receives, well double it for one who labors hard of preaching and teaching. I don't think he just means double it mathematically, but I do think by double he means there ought to be generous and ample respect and generous and ample pay. Double honor assumes comparative honor.
So we honor elders and give double honor for excellent hardworking elders. That's probably the idea here. Now it was the early church father, Chrysostom, who pointed out long ago that this verse and the next not only require the church to pay its ministers, but requires the ministers to work very hard so as to be worthy of the pay. Notice also in this passage, another interesting thing, that there's going to be more than one elder in a local church.
There's going to be a multiplicity of plurality of elders in a local church. The elders, he says, plural everywhere you look in the New Testament, churches are governed by multiple elders. Whether you look at Acts chapter 20, where Paul calls the elders to himself to talk to them or 1 Peter 5, the shepherds, multiple or Hebrews, your leaders or in 1 Timothy and other passages where Paul tells Timothy to all of them. Paul tells Timothy to appoint elders, plural in every local community.
You'll find out the New Testament expects there to be multiple elders that work in a congregation, not just one functioning independently and as a bishop. Now, as a young church, this is what we are seeking from the Lord over the next short while, that he would raise up from among us qualified gifted godly elders, so that we might have numerous leaders in that way. Now, why is it that there ought to be payment here? Perhaps you know people who are part of brethren churches, maybe a family or friends as we do, who are part of brethren churches, they don't pay their pastors.
Why does Redeemer pay me? Well, it's because of this verse in verse 18. Notice he gives three reasons why it ought to be this way. One is, because he just said so, the second is, because he says the Old Testament says so, and three, because he says Jesus says so.
First of all, he says so, and he's an apostle. Writing scripture on his own word. We ought to listen to him because he's telling us what God thinks is an apostle. But then he says, the scripture says to do this, and he quotes here in the first one, he's Deuteronomy, chapter 25, verse 4, you shout out Muslim ox when it treads out the grain.
Now, what's he talking about there? Calvin is his commentary on this, written in the 1500s mentions that there was nobody in France in his day. You know what he's talking about except the people of Providence. It was even an agrarian society in many ways unknown exactly what was going on here.
When threshing was done, at least one way it was done was that the sheaves of corn were laid on the floor, the threshing floor, and oxen walked around and around crushing the grain. Sometimes they were tethered to a post in the middle. They were goaded with sharp sticks into trampling on the corn separating the ears from the stalk. Sometimes they dragged sleds over the corn or the wheat and even people would sit and stand on those sleds to add weight to them.
But the point is these oxen were never muzzled. That was considered too cruel to smell the odor of broken corn and not be allowed to eat it as they worked. And Paul here picks up Deuteronomy 25 and says that's still true today and he bases this on Old Testament case law. He goes interestingly to the law of Moses that frankly was about the fair treatment, the kind treatment of domestic animals.
And he applies to that Old Testament civil law, that Old Testament case law, and he applies it to the church over and over. In fact he does that. He'll do that in the next verse. He'll apply it not to the state but to the church.
Now why does he do that? Because in the Old Testament the form of God's kingdom was Israel and Israel was a nation state. But for Paul the laws of the nation state have spiritual principles that have been worked out in the church. So he does this time and again we saw it in 1 Corinthians chapter 5.
He took Old Testament civil penalties for sin and he applied them to new testament penalties within the church for the discipline of unrepentant sinners. And so that's his approach. He takes up Deuteronomy 25 for you shall have Muslim and oxen the trans out the grain. As in the Old Testament days the priests were supported so that they can devote themselves to the law of the Lord.
So in the New Testament days pastors are supported so they can devote themselves to the work of the gospel. As we learned in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 14 the Lord commanded that those who proclaimed the gospel should get their living by the gospel. So that's a second piece of authority for what he's saying. And his third is after quoting Deuteronomy he quotes Jesus from Luke chapter 10 verse 7.
The laborer deserves his wages. And this too Paul says is scripture. He's telling us that Luke's gospel is scripture where Luke has recorded for us the words of our Lord Jesus and Paul is quoting them. So the church should pay those who labor hard in preaching and teaching.
I was reading in my study and came across this illustration. It's the story from Paul Cook of a mythical friend of his named interestingly enough John Brown. Not of course the John Brown of Silent Springs. But here's how his story goes.
John Brown went to stay with a friend for a week's holiday. During the holiday, he developed a severe toothache. He made a right as friend made arrangements for him to see a dentist. What John Brown could not understand was why his appointment was at 8 o'clock in the evening and why he was driven out of town into the country to keep the appointment.
However, he arrived at a large house and was shown into a homely sort of living room in there. He was ushered into a smaller room which appeared to be a surgery. He sat in a slightly dilapidated dental chair and while the bronze faced dead-tisked and the white coat was busy arranging his instruments, John Brown ventured to ask him a question. He said, but I cannot quite understand why my appointment is so late in the evening.
Oh, came the reply. I don't do this full time. John Brown's jaw fell open in involuntary response. But surely you've had proper training.
He said nervously. Oh, no, said the white man. I think college training ruins a man. My regular job is as a farmer.
I just do a bit of dentistry in my spare time. I believe in giving it straight from the shoulder if you know what I mean. And the last I heard of John Brown was that he was running across the plow fields calling for help. Now, as this story was told, of course, we can readily sympathize with poor John Brown.
But how is it that when some Christians think of preaching, they do not consider that this supremely important task requires a man's best hours and energies. There are, to be sure, times when circumstances may involve the preacher in tent-making, providing his own support for the work that he does. But ideally in a local church, that support comes from the congregation because you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and because the labor is worthy of his wages. So that's the first thing, provide respect and provide remuneration to hard-working elders.
But what about an elder, or perhaps especially a preacher who doesn't perform his duties acceptably? Well, first Paul explains at verse 19 what's to be done when an elder is accused, and then verse 20 what's to be done if an elder is found guilty. So notice the second thing he says, verse 19, protect the good reputation of pastors and elders. Verse 19, do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Paul warns the church here about spurious and exaggerated and unsubstantiated claims, and Paul knows that the reputation of a minister is a tender thing. It is easily bruised, easily crushed, easily destroyed in a community, and that is part of the danger of being a pastor. Think of it, after all, every Christian, including pastors, is a continuing center wrestling with imperfection in this life, and Jesus has chosen to use these sinful men to carry out his good purposes. So, more than that, he puts them in public and visible places of leadership in the church, where their flaws are perhaps more obviously noticeable and more easily criticized.
And more than that, when a pastor is faithful to his calling, he preaches the gospel to you, and the gospel offends people who might be tempted to push back. A pastor will at times, as he preaches the whole council of God, will at times correct people and rebuke people. And Paul knows that some will not hear that well, and what easier way to retaliate than by spreading malicious gossip about the minister. John Calvin says, none are more exposed to slander and insults than godly teachers.
He goes on to say, they may perform their duties well, but quote, they never avoid a thousand criticisms. And this, he says, is the craftiness of Satan to draw away the hearts of men from ministers that instruction may gradually fall into contempt. And this, he says, is what Satan chiefly labors to accomplish. So Paul says, don't listen to unsubstantiated accusations.
And here he picks up Deuteronomy chapter 19 verse 15, where the Old Testament said, a single witness shall not suffice against the person for any crime or 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. So again, coming right out of Old Testament civil law, where one of the protections of justice in Israel was that you couldn't simply make an anonymous charge against somebody or a charge that couldn't be considered. Or a charge that couldn't be corroborated only by the person bringing the charge.
A judge in Israel was not to entertain that. You had to have multiple witnesses. And Paul appeals to that same principle here to guard the good reputation of elders. Paul knows himself what is like to be slandered.
He knows what it's like to be falsely accused. He knows how much damage can be done and how disconcerting it is. He knows that once an accusation is out there, it's hard to take it back. He knows how discouraging it can be to the man.
So Paul, I think, would tell us to do what Jesus in Matthew chapter 18 tells us to do. And that is, if you have a complaint against an elder, the first thing you were to do is to talk to them personally and one on one. This is what we were to do in any situation. And if you come to Paul with a complaint against that person, Paul, I think would have asked.
Now, did you go to them first? And if you didn't, that would be the end of the discussion. And if somebody did come to Paul and says, you know, there are a lot of people complaining about elder so-and-so. I think Paul would have said, oh, really?
Which people were doing so? Who are they? And why are they not here with you to bring these charges against this person? If you can't round up multiple witnesses here, I don't want to hear it.
So all of this to protect the good reputation of pastors and elders and get, not at all costs. For immediately verse 20, he goes on to speak of a different situation. Those who persist in sin. What are we to do then publicly rebuke pastors and elders who persist in sin?
Verse 20, as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. So what should be done and why? Well, if you get a charge and it turns out to be true and the sin is of a nature that has been known in the public, then it needs to be reviewed in public. Ordinarily, with people, private sins are rebuked privately.
Public sins are rebuked publicly. Private sins are to be confessed privately. Public sins are to be confessed publicly. In this case, this elder is persisted in sin.
It's known by multiple people to become a public issue and they are to be rebuked publicly. And he uses a language here of persisting in sin. Again, along the lines of Matthew 18, where maybe one person went to them and they didn't repent and multiple people went to them and they didn't repent. And so now it needs to be brought out to the church.
What do we learn from that? Well, on the one hand, of course, we learn how we are to proceed in cases of charges against ministers for public and scandalous sin. But we also learn something else, as my pastor put it. We often say, oh, if it could only be in our church like it was in the church in the earliest days of Christianity, wouldn't that be wonderful?
Paul is here writing to a congregation just 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And what are you writing about? He's writing about Timothy. What do you do when an elder is persisting and public and scandalous sin?
He's talking about a church that has problems because there is no perfect church on earth on this earth and there never will be until the new heavens and the new earth. And that's so freeing for us. It's important for us to remember. We easily get disappointed in our own lives and in the lives of other Christians and even maybe the leaders around us.
And it's wonderful to know that even in a congregation where there could be serious charges brought against an elder, that doesn't mean the gospel isn't real. We're at work in that church. This text doesn't mean that we're to be complacent about those kinds of sins, but it recognizes that we do live in a fallen world and elders continue to be fallen people and sometimes they fall flat on their faces. So Paul says they are to be publicly reviewed.
Now, why should they be publicly reviewed? So that he says, the rest will be fearful of sinning. You may ruin him. If you leave him unpunished, you may ruin another.
I admit, says Augustine, that I make mistakes in this matter every day. It's a difficult thing, friends, but it needs to be done. And by the way, for all of us, isn't it interesting that the Apostle Paul here is saying that grace is not the only motivation to obedience. Now, to be sure, God's grace produces obedience.
And God's grace is a fundamentally important motive to obedience. We're to walk in gratitude to Jesus for what he's done for us. We're to be thankful to Jesus. And that ought to motivate us.
The love of Christ constrains us. But notice that this is not the soul or only motivation here. Paul gives a motivation for elders. Rebuke elders publicly who have sinned publicly so that others will be scared to death to commit those same sins.
It's not just love for the Lord, but the fear of the Lord, respect and awe for God and his holiness. And a trembling is also a motive. It is right for us to rejoice in and put our hope in the good promises of God towards us. But faith also trembles at his warnings.
And so Paul says here, we are to one, show respect and pay remuneration to pastors. Secondly, we are to protect their good reputation. And thirdly, if needed, we are to publicly rebuke them. And isn't it wonderful, friends, as we come to the Lord's table before us, that in the Old Testament, Levitical Law about sacrifices, there were atoning sacrifices specifically for the sins of leaders in the community.
And others specifically for the sins of the priests in the community. Because people who lead others and people who minister to others need the same ministry of Jesus for themselves. And so here at this table tonight, we gather together, pastor and people to proclaim the Lord's death for our sins until he comes again. Let's look to him in prayer.
Our Father in heaven, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon me. Forgive us all our sins, sins of co-missions, sins of o-missions, sins of gossip, sins of slander, sins of myzerliness, sins of lack of giving respect or giving generously. And I pray, Lord, that you would watch over and guard and protect your church and grow us into church in Jesus, where we ask it in His name. Amen.