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1 Timothy 5:17-25 - Elders: Good and Bad · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. Today we are in First Timothy
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  chapter 5, verses 17 through 25. First Timothy 517 through 25.
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  Today's topic is Elders, the good and the bad, Elders, the
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  good and the bad. We in chapter 3 and verses one
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  through 6, we looked at the topic of elders, also called
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  overseers or pastors, shepherds, and the role that they play in
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  leading the local church. They are the spiritual fathers
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  of the church. They are the ones that we are
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  commanded throughout the New Testament, that they are the
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  ones that are guiding the church, that we listen to their
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  instruction as they teach and preach.
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  We follow the path that they have for us as individual, like
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  members of the church, and they minister to us, feeding us the
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  word of God, watching over our souls as we learn together in
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  Hebrews 13. I think that was maybe year and
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  a half two years ago now. And so elders are super, super,
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  super important within the local church.
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  So Paul, not content with what he said in chapter 3, now brings
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  out some more things that his son in the faith, Timothy, a
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  elder, a pastor himself there at the church at Ephesus, some
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  things that Timothy needed to know about the elders at
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  Ephesus, financial responsibilities that the church
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  had to the elders, as well as what to do when an elder, if you
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  will, what to do when an elder goes bad.
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  And so we're going to look at these verses today and I'm I'm
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  super excited. I got to tell you guys, when I
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  am recording this, I have to leave in no later than 15
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  minutes. So today you're going to get
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  either very fast talking Brian, or I'm going to be super upset
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  and only get through like 3 verses and then have to double
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  back on this next episode. But I don't want to do that
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  'cause that's a lot more work for me.
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  So let's read versus 17325. The elders who are good leaders
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  are to be considered worthy of double honor or double support,
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  as we learned last episode about the widows that were being
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  supported financially by the church.
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  So the elders who are good leaders are to be considered
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  worthy of double support, double honor, especially those who work
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  hard at preaching and teaching. For the scripture says do not
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  muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain and the
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  worker is worthy of his wages. Don't accept an accusation
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  against an elder unless it is supported by two or three
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  witnesses. Publicly rebuke those who sin so
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  that the rest will be afraid. I solemnly charge you before God
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  and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to observe these things
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  without prejudice, doing nothing out of favoritism.
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  Don't be too quick to appoint anyone as an elder, and don't
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  share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
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  Don't continue drinking only water, but use a little wine
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  because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
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  Some people's sins are obvious, preceding them to judgement, but
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  the sins of others surface later.
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  Likewise, good works are obvious, and those that are not
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  obvious cannot remain hidden. All right, let's look first at
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  verses 17 and 18. So he says the elders who are
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  good leaders are to be considered worthy of double
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  honor or double support, that there should be financial
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  support for those elders who are good leaders.
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  And he says especially those who work hard at preaching and
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  teaching. From this passage from First
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  Corinthians, from several places in the book of Acts, Second
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  Corinthians. And I feel like there's one
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  other spot as well. We do not pay people as our
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  pastors because because it the the preaching and teaching could
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  not be done for free like it could.
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  Absolutely. I know many churches that are
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  unable to pay their pastors, but they're pastors out of just deep
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  love for the Lord and deep love for the church.
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  They work a regular job to provide for their family, which
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  we read yesterday. One has to provide for their
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  family. That is something that is
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  commanded by God. So some pastors do that and they
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  work an outside job and they also prepare sermons and lessons
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  and and teaching and they counsel with people and they
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  hope to guide and direct a church according to the will of
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  God. And they do it all for free for
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  the people of God. And man, what a wonderful thing
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  that that is when someone does that.
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  Paul actually modeled that within his ministry, that
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  whenever he went to a new place, he worked as a tent maker and
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  supported himself through doing that while he was planting the
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  church. Then as he planted the churches,
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  what we read here, what we read in First Corinthians, is that he
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  would actually tell the believers, now when I'm gone,
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  you guys need to financially support those who would be
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  teaching you. And if you guys want to
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  financially support me, if you will, as a missionary, as I'm
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  going to other places like you can do that.
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  But Paul when he was planting churches did not want anyone to
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  think that he was like there and doing it for the money.
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  But he did instruct them, if you have a a pastor, one who is
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  regularly in the Word teaching and preaching to you, you ought
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  to financially support him. I'm really thankful that here at
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  Tabernacle that I've been cared for, that I have clothes on my
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  back, I have food in my belly, I have a roof over my head.
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  And it is because God's people have together said we are going
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  to provide for Brian and for the selves.
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  And I'm, I'm incredibly thankful for that.
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  It means that right now at 240 is when I'm recording this, when
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  I am, you know, during a work week, I don't have to worry
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  about working, you know, 40 to 60 hours at, you know, the
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  McDonald's or Taco Bell by my house or, you know, Home Depot
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  or something. I don't have to worry about
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  working my full time job and then trying to do everything for
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  the church. I can devote a ton of my time to
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  the ministry of the Word and a prayer.
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  And so every single day I get to spend time in the Word.
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  I get to prepare messages and Bible studies and teaching
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  resources and materials for others.
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  I get to counsel with people that have various like needs and
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  and life concerns and all of that.
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  And I get to do it all as a result of the giving of God's
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  people. It frees me up to do more
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  ministry. If there ever were to come a
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  time where I would need to get another job, I would probably
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  not be able to do, you know, a weekday Tabernacle talk.
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  I might do, you know, once a week or once a month or
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  something like that. But I am able at this time,
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  because of the giving of God's people, to teach more of the
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  Word of God, whether online or in preparing sermons or
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  counseling with people throughout each and every week.
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  I'm just really grateful for that.
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  It's a really amazing privilege. But here, this is where that
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  concept comes from and it's born out of, I actually think I
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  mentioned this verse when we were in Leviticus says, for the
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  Scripture says do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the
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  grain. So your oxen would be trampling
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  on the grain. And if you were like, oh man, I
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  want all of the grain to be able to, you know, be made into bread
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  or whatever they did with grain back in that time.
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  Some people would say, OK, well we're going to put a muzzle on
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  the ox so that way he doesn't eat any of the grain and that
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  way we can keep all of the grain.
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  God actually forbade that. He says, no, the person that is
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  working ought to be compensated for the work that they're doing
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  here. It's very interesting when Paul
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  says the Scripture says this do not Muslim ox while it's
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  treading out the grain that's from the Old Testament, like
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  that's from the Torah. And then he says and the worker
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  is worthy of his wages. So he calls both of these
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  statements Scripture, but actually the worker is worthy of
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  his wages is something that Jesus said.
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  So Paul here in First Timothy 5 is saying that what Jesus said
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  is also Scripture. So that goes into a whole bunch
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  about like, you know, the Canon of Scripture and all of that.
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  But there was recognition even by the early church that what
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  Jesus and the apostles were writing and and putting together
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  and what the apostles were writing of what Jesus has had
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  said, that was also Scripture, just like the Old Testament
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  scriptures. And so Jesus says the worker is
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  worthy of his wages. If someone puts in work and
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  effort, they ought to be compensated for that.
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  That's not always a particularly popular view online.
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  Almost every week I'll get some comments on either, you know,
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  the church's TikTok or YouTube or something about, Oh yeah,
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  you're just trying to fill those offering plates.
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  And that's why you, you know, why I'm preaching Jesus is the
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  only way of salvation or something like that.
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  And the, the truth is like, if I wanted to make a ton of money,
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  pastoring a, a local Baptist Church is not the way to go.
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  You know, this is not, you know, Creflo Dollar or, you know, any
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  one of those kind of like prosperity preachers where I've
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  got like my 3 private jets. Pastoring is not a, a way to
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  make phenomenal money. But I'm thankful that for the
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  work that I am putting in for the Lord and for these people
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  that that I am being cared for. And I want to encourage you if
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  you're not a part of Tabernacle like give financially to your
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  local church so that they are able to provide for the needs of
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  your pastor. Now again, may he be faithful in
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  regularly teaching and preaching the word, especially doing it
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  well, but but care for those people.
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  So that's that portion verse #19 and I only have 5 minutes left.
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  And so you guys, you're great today.
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  You will not have a 30 minute episode.
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  He says sometimes elders will do wrong here.
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  Paul throughout the book has been saying some people have
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  been teaching things that are false.
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  And he says don't accept an accusation against an elder
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  unless it is supported by two or three witnesses.
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  So sometimes people will be upset at a church leader.
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  And here this would be a, I'll call it a moral accusation, not
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  a criminal accusation. So if a, again, this is very
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  unfortunately something many people have walked through.
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  If a pastor abuses a child or abuses a woman or abuses a man,
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  there would only be the pastor and the victim in that
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  situation. And so you could not have two or
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  three witnesses. That is not the type of scenario
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  that is being demanded here, that two or three witnesses.
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  This is again going with Levitical law.
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  If someone's like, hey, you know, the pastor is greedy, the
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  pastor is promiscuous, you know, some of those types of things
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  that there needs to be corroboration of accusations.
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  That was something that was set out in the Old Testament law.
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  And Paul brings it now to Timothy to say sometimes people
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  will be upset with elders for decisions that they come to.
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  But I I want you to realize that sometimes people are just
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  disgruntled. That is not to say that if you
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  ever hear about a pastor abusing someone, just tell the cops.
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  Allow the cops to be the detectives.
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  Allow them to be the investigators.
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  So many churches have gone down the tubes because they
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  misapplied and misused this verse.
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  This is about character things. This is not OK.
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  Well, unless we have two or three witnesses to the crime, it
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  didn't really happen. I'm not supposed to receive that
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  accusation. No Tell the cops, let them deal
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  with it. If it's character things, then
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  that's something as a church that you deal with together.
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  Verse #20 publicly rebuke those who sin so that the rest will be
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  afraid. I've also seen this misused
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  plenty of times in the past. This is specifically talking
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  about the elders. When a pastor falls, the church
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  needs to name it and if you will, they need to name it and
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  shame it to say this is absolutely unacceptable
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  behavior. And he tells Timothy as it
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  relates to publicly rebuking those church leaders, that sin,
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  that that yeah, the the living sin.
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  He says, I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and
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  the elect angels. So from everything in heaven
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  commands you to do this, to rebuke sin and wickedness in
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  church leaders. He says to observe these things
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  without prejudice, doing nothing out of favoritism.
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  He says, Timothy, you're going to be having worked with some of
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  these guys and spent time with them, but you need to regardless
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  of how much like you love or care for them, you need to shoot
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  straight when they've sinned, call out the sin.
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  He says don't be too quick to appoint anyone as an elder and
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  don't share in the sins of others.
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  Who you put into church leadership is actually then a
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  responsibility of you of like, hey, you did wrong.
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  This person abused this. This person, you know, was able
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  to to make off with funds in this way.
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  This person like lorded the over people and harmed them
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  relationally, emotionally as a result of the fact that they
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  were in church leadership and you put them in that spot.
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  We participate in the repercussions of who we place in
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  the church leadership. So it is super, super important.
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  It's also why I would have a conviction.
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  Let's stick with only the church leadership that Scripture has
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  for us, which is elders and deacons.
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  And when you have that, that is a safeguard for your church that
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  you don't have 1000 different positions that then you can be
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  responsible for 1000 different sins that are committed.
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  He says keep yourself pure verse #23 even as in chapter 3, Paul
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  had said those that are going to be overseers, elders, pastors,
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  they need to not be addicted to wine in verse #23 he actually
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  tells Timothy. But Timothy, even as you're like
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  keeping yourself pure, you're guarding your life, you right
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  now are totally avoiding drinking any alcohol.
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  He says don't continue drinking only water.
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  He says you have stomach issues and actually drinking some of
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  the wine there in that 1st century that will actually help
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  you if you will. This is a commendation of early
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  1st century medicine in the use of a glass of wine.
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  He says use a little wine because of your stomach and your
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  frequent illnesses. He doesn't say pray your stomach
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  illnesses away. He says use this medicine.
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  So medicine is good. It is not unbiblical verse #24
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  he says some people's sins are obvious, preceding them to
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  judgement, but the sins of others surface later.
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  So some, some people will sin at the front end.
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  And you know, I shouldn't put this person into church
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  leadership. Some people's sins show up later
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  on once they're in church leadership, he says.
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  So be aware that this will happen.
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  You won't be able to tell who all the bad guys are on the
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  front end. Some you will have to rebuke
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  once they're put into leadership.
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  And then verse 25, he ends on a good note.
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  Likewise, good works are obvious and those that are not obvious
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  cannot remain hidden. There are going to be people
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  that we know are good and there are people that we will find out
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  more and more as the years go on are actually better and better
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  through the Holy Spirit working and living in them than we ever
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  thought possible. Well, I'm at my time for today
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  and we got through all of the passage.
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  So praise the Lord. I hope that this was maybe a
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  challenge or an encouragement to you.
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  If you have any thoughts, throw it down in the comments.
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  If you're like, yes, I love, you know, the wine thing.
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  Maybe you need to back off the wine.
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  And if you're like, no, I can't believe you said that Timothy
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  needed to drink wine. Maybe you should, you know, look
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  at some more scripture. If you have any questions on
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  wine, at some point I'll do an episode on on wine and and what
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  scripture talks about all all throughout scripture.
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  So wonderful study of air enlightening.
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  But today is not that day. Hope you have a wonderful day.
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  See you next episode.