Double Honor and Sacred Duty

We're going to be in 1 Timothy chapter 5 as Pastor Aner noted. So, I'm going to go ahead and uh pray again if that's okay and uh then we'll dig into that. We're going to look at the last half of chapter 5 of 1 Timothy. Our father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for uh your word and we thank you for the direction that you have given it to us through it. As we have gone through this study, um we have been encouraged in how we are to um live in the church, the things that are important within the church. Um and as we continue to look at uh the commands here, the directions in chapter 5, we will continue to get direction for how uh you want the church to be.

As we will see as we look through this, it is the church that is um the only organization that you have ordained to uh work your truth through. Uh and Lord, we want it to be in a in a accordance with your uh direction. So would you guide us uh as we look at this? Would you uh protect my words as I speak in your heavenly name? Amen. So 1 Timothy chapter 5 starting at verse 17, we're going to read to the end of the chapter. It says, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward.

Against an elder, receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Then that sin, rebuke before all, that others also may fear. I charge thee uh before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another uh doing nothing by partiality. Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins. Uh keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before the judgment, and some men they follow after.

Likewise also, the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. Have you ever thought about what church membership actually means? You know, every few months we have an ohana night where uh new members uh come in and give their testimonies and we we welcome them into the church. But have you ever thought about what that membership actually means? What does that membership actually entail? You know, our church membership is unique. It's not like a Costco membership. It's not like a gym membership where we uh purchase the membership and then we receive some sort of service from the organization.

Church membership is different. In church membership, u the members have a responsibility to each other and that often requires that the members provide services for the others. But it is not a responsibility or service that the members are forced to do. But it is a responsibility uh that they have to each other that that comes from an attitude of gratefulness and out of an attitude of love. It is a unique position that we have. We are in a unique organization. And there is nothing else on the like the church on the earth. And I wanted to highlight that uniqueness and that aspect of responsibility because in 1 Timothy chapter 5 uh the Lord directs the church, the congregation uh you and me to be responsible for the well-being and the care of two special groups within the church.

This response from us as a church requires a a corporate response. There's an individual aspect to our response, but ultimately it's a corporate response. We are responding as a body uh to these two groups to take care of them. And the first one is pastor Peter taught us last week was was of widows. Peter taught us last week that we are to honor widows and that would include their financial support when necessary. and and Peter taught us how important it is or widows are uh to our Lord and how important it is uh for us to take care of them. In fact, so important is the care of widows that pastor uh Peter taught us last week that the early church um created the role or the role of deacon was created uh in the early church for taking care of widows.

And so families are to take care of their widows, but when necessary, the congregation is to step in and to care for those widows. These widows that we then provide for are to be women that have lived a life of obedience to God's word. They are women who are godly examples for others. And they are women who are women of prayer. I really like that aspect of that teaching from last night. They're women of prayer. By providing for these women, really what the church is actually doing is the church is actually supporting the assets that are within the body. Because women like this are an unbelievable asset for us because they set examples for the other women.

They bring encouragement to the men and in their prayers uh they bring the church and its needs before our lord and our savior. And so we are commanded to honor them. We are commanded to take care of these assets that we have within the church. Now, in our passage, the we get to the second uh group of people that were cho chose to take care of, and that has to deal with elders. And look down in verses 17 and 18, and we'll get into that. There it says, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward.

And so in here, you see that there's this call to honor the elders, but there's some wording in there that we need to get straight so we can understand exactly what what Paul is talking about here. We need to understand what double honor means. And then we need to understand exactly who that double honor is is to be given to. Honor in this part of the chapter 5 speaks even more of financial support than it does uh regarding the widows because it's tied to verse 18. Uh there it says, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treed out the corn and the laborers worthy of his of his reward." Two statements, one from the Old Testament, one from Christ himself that that speak to wages.

It's very clear here that as Paul speaks of double honor, uh he's not talking about just an attitude towards certain elders, but what he's talking about is their financial support. And the double of the honor speaks to the honor actually being greater than what widows receive. Now, this may sound a little shocking in our culture. This probably uh cuts a little um against the grain maybe. Oftenimes just in our culture, we would look at that and we would see a healthy man and we would see an aging woman, single aging woman, and we would think, well, clearly she deserves more double honor than he does.

But if we think that way, we're missing the the aspect that is of the church. When we look back at Acts when de when deacons actually were brought into or that group was actually uh brought into existence within the church, we find that the deacons were brought in to care for the widows. But but they were brought in for the purpose of allowing the disciples to continue in their preaching. They didn't want to give up their preaching time to go serve widows. Not because uh the widows aren't a need. Clearly, they are a huge need. But what is actually the greater need within the church is the proclamation of of God's truth.

It is a preaching and teaching of God's word that is the greater responsibility. And so for those who who do this, there is the aspect of receiving double honor. Now double honor doesn't mean twice as much as what is given to a widow. When scripture speaks of doubling something, it often uh speaks to the idea of of making it a generous amount. And so double honor for for certain elders really means to provide for them generously to the point so that they don't have to worry about their financial needs. It's not like they're overpaid, but the idea that they don't have to be concerned that they can focus on their duties without being a concern for the financial support of their wife or of their children or whatever other responsibilities God has God has given them.

It's to be a support that allows them to focus on their duties without distraction. But then there's only a special group of these elders that receive the double honor. Look over to verse 17 again. It says, "Let elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in word and doctrine." Double honor for elders are those or belong to those who rule well. You know, here at Ohana, we don't actually uh call our men elders. We have two groups. We have deacons and pastors. And and in uh the Bible elder is um that position is given a number of different names. And so we don't use actually elder, we use pastor.

But but if you want to think of how this plays out in Ohana, we have the deacon group and then we have a pastor group. And within that that pastor group is basically that that elder group. And within that elder group, there will be some that will just lead better than others. This doesn't speak to a group of lazy elders and hardworking elders. Really, what this speaks to is is to certain elders are within the group or certain pastors within the group have just been gifted better than others. It's the gifting issue, and it's God's choice to give those gifts. So those that have been gifted uh to be able to rule well are the ones that we then now bestow this double honor, this financial support uh to you see this in our church.

Pastor Peter and myself for a number of reasons do not have the ability to leave our secular jobs. And because we can't leave our secular jobs, our ability to lead well is greatly diminished. We're we're not fitting this category. But but we have three men that do. We have Pastor Wayne, Pastor Andy, and Pastor uh Anster. All three men that God has given the ability to be able to go into full-time ministry. And for these three men then for us at Ohana, they are now our responsibility to uh provide for so that they can then minister back to us. Now, in addition to pastors who rule well, there's another special group that's noted in this verse as well, too.

And it is for those that labor in the word and doctrine. If you want to think of this uh grouping of of leadership, you have a grouping of of pastors or or elders. And within that group, there will be some that rule well. Okay? So that spark gets the the special honor. But within that group, there's even another uh uh greater according to Timothy here of of another group that that actually labors within God's word and within the doctrines of God's word. To understand the importance of that, we need to look back a little bit in Timothy and go back to chapter 3 15 because there in describing the church, Paul says that the church is the pillar and the ground of truth.

Recognize then that is God's ordained plan that it is the church that where his truth or sorry it is God's ordained plan where where the truth is grounded where the truth is upheld and where the truth is proclaimed. It is not God's ordained plan that a seminary that stands apart from a church should hold this position. They can be a great help, but that's not God's ordained plan for them. It's for the church. It is not God's ordained plan that some other parurch organization should take this role. It is not God's ordained plan that any school program or club or missionary organization should take over this role.

It is God's plan that the church be the organization that leads the proclamation, the protection of the truth and that everything radiates eight out from there. In fact, these other groups that I listed, why they list outside the church are really intended to be under the church. The reason why they today exist outside the authority of the church is because if you look back at the history of our western church, you'll see that for many years our western churches have uh neglected the role of of this higher level I guess of elder to focus as being the ground and or sorry focus being the pillar and the ground of the truth of God.

leaders have failed to uh make it important to labor in God's word and within doctrine which is really the highest calling for these elders and the result is that is that the church grew weak and then these other organizations came up along to take over the areas that the church has become weak in and so now we have folks that leave the church that go to these other organizations because they desire to grow in truth and doctrine and for a church to reclaim its god orained role it needs these particular men who are these special ones that receive double honor. Men who will labor and work and do the hard study in God's word and work through the difficulties with the doctrine to understand it that it may be rightly proclaimed and rightly upheld within the church.

This is why those that labor in God's word to get their doctrines correct or to be especially honored. And the reality is we need men like this. We we need those men that are driven to know God's word. And as a congregation, we need to make sure that when we have those men, we provide for them so that they can pursue that passion. Because the reality is when they pursue that passion, we as a congregation then grow spiritually. In 1 Timothy 5:15, Paul tells Timothy if that that if he would only commit himself to to this that that in last part of verse 15 says, "In doing this, thou shalt both save thyelves and them that hear thee."

The actual results of the man that then labors within God's word is reflected not only in his own walk, but also in the changed hearts of his listeners, the members of the church. And so you can see the importance of this role and should we have men like this, the importance of making sure that they are provided for so that that our church is built up and so then that we are built up. But not only do we need to provide them financially, we need to provide them with time. It's important to note that this kind of work of laboring in God's word is often done in private. For a man to labor in God's word requires hours of private, quiet study to be able to work through his word.

What this means then is the men in this position or men that that cannot be at every social event. They have to be allowed not only the finances but the time to be able to study. Often times we think of pastors as the men that are supposed to be there for every event, uh every funeral, every wedding, every birthday party, and they're they're stretched so thin they can't actually have that time. But what part of the the aspect of honoring these men is to give them the time to not only take care of their own families, but at the same time to be able to dig quietly into God's word and plumb the depths that are there that they may bring that out to you and me.

You know, we cannot see what a pastor is doing when when he's in this private time, but the reality is whether he is faithful or not with his time will will come out in his teaching and how he lives. And so we provide for these elders. We provide for these pastors, but then we also protect them. Look at verse 19. It says, "Against an elder, receive not an accusation uh but before two or three witnesses." You know, Satan truly desires to knock down our not not our church, but all churches, right? And truly desires truly desires to knock down the church. And really the most effective way to do that is to discredit the leadership.

And really one of the fastest ways to to discredit leadership is to start to start accusations against it to give it a false accusation. And that's what this verse is addressing. It's it's not a new idea. In Deuteronomy 17 and 19 uh in the law there was the commands that you could not uh charge a man guilty on the witness of only one testimony. And so it's a similar idea, but but this is now applies to these elders or pastors in our churches uh that when there is a false accusation or a accusation that comes against them with no other bias, then we are not to listen to those charges. In fact, we're to treat them like gossip and to simply ignore them, not give them any power.

If we see it uh coming through our email box or if we see it posted online somewhere, we just don't give it any attention and we let it die. I got to be honest, as I studied through this passage and I thought through this aspect, this is clearly what this passage teaches. But at the same time, I'm not unaware of the number of pastors that we have had fallen um bigname pastors that have fallen in the last couple of years. And I look at this and I think, you know, what happens if you are the only one that knows a pastor is tied up in sin? something's happened. You walked in, you you you you you saw him with somebody and you realize and you're the only one that knows.

You know, does that mean that we cannot listen to that accusation? Well, actually, God has given a different path to address those kind of issues as well, too. In Matthew chapter 18, we're told on how to address sins between one another and and and if there's just that single person, Matthew 18 is open to the brother or sister who has an issue against one of the pastors. He can go in private and address the sin one on- one and hopefully the pastor at that period of time would repent, seek forgiveness. The one wrong would offer forgiveness and then restoration would take place. But if that shouldn't happen, still within that example or within that teaching in Matthew 18, there's there's additional roles that take place that that can work towards ongoing or work towards ultimate correction of the issue.

And so should there be that situation where only one person knows the issue, there is a path but but the path is not public. The path is not over the internet. The path is not through gossip. That's through that initial private meeting with the person. Now pastors and elders are people that have already proved themselves. That's how they wind up in their position. And so to a certain degree we can have some confidence in them, but still the reality is is that we do have them fall and there is the possibility that they will fall into sin. And so our passage notes that if there's more than one person making a charge against them, then this is a totally different issue and requires a completely different response.

The reality is if there's more than one making a public charge against one of the pastors, then the then the the the course forward is that it gets investigated and if it's found out to be true then then that pastor or elder is to be publicly rebuked. Look at verse 20. Them that sin rebuke them. They're referring back to the elder that sin rebuke before all other elders that the others other elders may also fear. I'm sorry I misspoke them. Speaks to the elders that sin. and rebuke before all as congregation that others elders also may fear. The leadership of the church is held to a higher standard and so when a pastor or elder falls into sin the response is a public rebuke and implied with that is the removing of him from his position.

I've shared a number of times and you may remember that last year one of my seminary professors was caught having a relationship with a lady that was not his wife. I was encouraged that the church that he is a part of addressed it according to this passage when they were confronted with the issue they investigated and once confirmed that it was true. They made a statement before their church. But because this man was or also had a public ministry and because he was also a seminary professor, they also put out a public statement. His church had followed the teaching here and removed him from all ministries.

And since I knew him as this came out, to be honest, this was quite sad for me. And and to be honest, I still find it hard to believe after the time I'd spent under his teaching. But but the reality is that in his fall, it has put a fear in me that I could also fall. This public rebuke is to do that. It's to put the fear in others. That we should if we should not let our own sin or if we should let our our sins go unadressed. If we should let the sin rain and not tear down that rain that we too can fall just as that person does or that person has. In my example, I look at the seminary professor that fell.

I think the reality is is that he is just a better man than I am. He assured the L Lord longer than I have. His understanding of God's word greatly exceeds mine. And the reality is if somebody like that can fall, it puts fear in me and probably every one of the students that have ever sat under him for the last 20some years that yes, they too can fall. And while that fall was horrible and hurtful, the reality is is it put all of us that had been under him on notice. And that fear is a good thing. And so we should pray for our leaders that they do not fall into sin. But the reality is that if they do that, that public rebuke is necessary.

So should that ever happen, don't push back on that and let it happen. It is warning and it keeps others from following after their sinful lusts. And so at this point now in our in our passage, we've we've covered the aspect of what's responsible uh for memberships or members within the church. As members, uh we are to not only provide for widows, but we're to gener generously provide for elders and pastors who rule well and especially for those who labor in word and doctrine. Now, this is going to require a financial commitment. You guys, I'm sure I'm sure I've already picked up on this. It requires a financial commitment to to support them.

And and one of the things that we need to watch ourselves on is that we have to or we cannot limit our thinking to the Old Testament model of a 10% tithe only. And I'm not here trying to uh uh promote a greater giving. What I'm trying to say is that the mindset needs to we need to have a a second mindset as well too. You see, since widows and these elders are part of our responsibility, we need to look at them as as the way we would look at other members of our family who we have responsibility for their well-being for. And the thing is, I don't look at my people that I'm financially responsible and for and say, "Well, you know, you get 5% of my pay and you get 3% of my pay and you get 6% of my pay and that's how it is, right?"

Right. No. I I look to see to make sure that their well-being is covered. And as a congregation, that's not how we need to look at at widows and and these these elders or these pastors. We need to look to see is your well-being taken care of. And the reality is is that well-being need is going to go up and down. Sometimes it's going to be greater, sometimes it's going to be less. But the reality is, have we covered that? And if we limit our mindset to simply, oh, I give it 10% and I can walk away and I've done what I've needed to do, we've missed this point and we're we're we're in sin and we need to repent from that.

Because the reality is we have a greater responsibility as members of the church. And when I say members of the church, I don't simply mean members of Ohana, but I mean members of the church of God. And so we support them and we protect their reputations. But also in no way do we allow unrepentant sin in their lives. Should they fall into gross sin, we know they should be rebuked and made an example of so that others don't fall. Now the support of pastors is our responsibility as congregations. The rebuking aspect of a pastor is not our as a congregation responsibility that belongs to the other pastors.

That belongs to the deacons. However, we as a congregation are to hold our leadership accountable to follow through on that should we ever recognize that that needs to take place. But for the rest of our passage as we go through this, the the commands that are coming out next are are the ones that are being spoken to the church leadership as to how to uh generally um address the eldership. And the first issue comes up with this uh issue of rebuking the pastor or or elder because to do that to re to publicly rebuke an elder is a difficult thing to do or a pastor is a difficult thing to do because when a man has gotten to that level of leadership within the church he's very very involved.

He's going to have a lot of tasks that he has taken care of or has to take care of. He's going to be influential in the church. He's going to have a following within the church. And to call that man out is going to have ramifications within the church. It's going to be difficult. I know with my seminary professor it was difficult for his elder board. He was a very powerful speaker and he was very influential and he was very popular and because of that he brought a lot of people to the church and because he brought a lot of people to the church he also brought a lot of funds to the church and and to have to publicly rebuke this one was going to have an effect and they knew it and it did have an effect on that church.

But the righteousness of a church is far far more important uh than not following through with God's word. And so for this reason, the fact that it's difficult to carry out this command, Paul then warns Timothy about it in verse 21. And he says,"I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before the other, doing nothing but partiality." Timothy is not to let his personal preference for any elder cause him to hold back on a rebuke. Now, it can be easy to hold back on a rebuke. There can be a number of reasons to want to hold back.

Uh you know we can have mentors within the in the within the elder group or pastor group and and to be honest as part of or a person who had been part of the deacon uh group and now part of the pastor group the reality is friendships develop within there. Um great respect amongst each other develops within those groups. And then if you were to suddenly find out that one of those guys needs to be pulled out of ministry and publicly rebuked that's going to be difficult because of the love that you have developed for that person. But Paul is extremely serious on this. Look, he says he he charges them before God, Christ, and elect angels.

It's like Paul is throwing everything out there to say, you know what, don't hold back the righteousness of the leadership within the church. It needs to be such a priority that nothing else can hold you back. Do not be partial. Do not prefer one over the other. Carry out the command. Then Paul gives Timothy directions on how to select elders. And he says in verse 22, "Lay hands suddenly or or hastily uh on no man, neither be partaker of men's sins. Keep thyself pure." An elder should not be put in a position hastily, Paul tells Timothy. Because if a man is put in a position uh quickly and he has a sinful lifestyle and that hasn't come out yet, that hasn't been observed yet, then when it is exposed, those who select him are going to be associated with his sins.

There's an investigator reporter by the name of Julie Roy. I don't know if you've heard about her before. She puts out a blog called the Roy report and she got quite famous because she's one of the investigator reporters. In fact, I think she might have been the first one uh that exposed the sexual abuse of Ravi Zachcharias. If you're not familiar with that name, he's a famous apologetic speaker who drew large crowds to speak him. He was here in Hawaii a couple times and I got to listen to him and and his his teaching is is very very powerful. But he was living a secret life sexually abusing women around the country, around the world actually.

And she discovered that and she called it out and and rightly so. and he needed to be called out and that was good. But but what has happened is is is this Julie Roy, she's she's kind of let this gone to her head and now she starts making accusations against pastors kind of left and right and and and one of the things she has done is is with the fall of the seminary professor that I know is she started making charges against other pastors that she wants to see knocked down uh just because they're associated with him. And while they have had nothing to do with this man's sin, but because they were part of the group that helped put him in the seminary position, uh she used that now to attack them.

And Paul and telling Timothy to keep pure, he's telling him to not only uh personally keep pure, but but also at the same time be careful of who he puts into leadership so that the sins of that person should they fall not come onto him as well. And then Paul kind of makes a side comment and he says in verse 23, "Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." Sounds like an odd place to put this verse, but what's probably going on here is Timothy um for whatever reasons. We're not told why. And don't use this verse to promote use of alcohol or to um or to promote the not using of alcohol.

This verse gets used in both ways and it's just not for that purpose. Has a different purpose. But but for some reason, Timothy had chosen to only drink water and to abstain from everything else. Uh and at that period of time, there was water you could get that would be clean, that would be healthy, but there was also plenty of water uh that would get um stuff that would make him sick. And he already had a stomach issues. And so Paul tells him, you know, take a little wine, which would settle help settle his stomach uh to address that issue. And really what Paul is getting at here is what Christ taught in Matthew 15:1.

Uh Christ says, "Not not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the man mouth this defileth a man." Timothy, your spiritual purity, why I want you to be pure and be careful about who you put as an elder. U your spiritual purity is not also tied to what you drink. For that reason, uh and because you need some medical help, take a little wine for medicinal purposes. And then Paul comes back in verses 24-2 and he closes out his discussion about choosing leaders and he says this. Some men sins are open beforehand going to judgment. Some men they follow afterwards.

Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. At first, it sounds like this might be a weird closing couple uh verses out of this passage, but what Paul is pointing to is the sovereignty of God over the leadership within the church. You know, Timothy can do his be best to remain pure and and not choose a man who's going to stumble and fall. But the reality is is sometimes we just don't know. And sometimes a man is going to fall. But yet God says here regardless uh that judgment of that man for his sin will still play take place. God is still sovereign.

But the other is also true is that in Timothy trying to select elders that would be good men in leadership, he's going to uh select some that are going to excel more than he thought they ever would. And that's how it is for our leadership now. They they do their best to be able to select godly men to lead the church, but the reality is sometimes it doesn't happen. But then the wonderful thing is sometimes it greatly exceeds what we'd hoped. And in this we see that God rules over all aspects of the church. As I close this section, I just want to note that we need good godly leadership in our church.

And it's the congregation and our current leadership that are responsible for bringing that about. But really, no matter how faithful we are to those callings or to this calling, the reality is God's still going to build his church. You know, we can look at this passage and we can say, "Yeah, John, these are good ideas." says, "And then when it when it comes to actually uh taking on the responsibility of caring for widows and for these elders, we're like, "No, I don't want to do it." God's still going to build the church. However, the big question out of this is whether we are going to be faithful with our responsibilities and be a part of that