Pastors - Handle with Care

I'm preaching on pastors today, so I wanted you to see us as we really are when we let our hair down. Actually, we have been inspired by the Hall's Ridge Boys to form a new music group, the Chapel 5, and we're going to hit the road with that act, aren't we Dan? You can see the two main singers up there are two younger pastors, and the other three of us are just going to smile and do a few background vocals, but that's our new music group here at Johnson Chapel. Actually, I wanted to smile a little bit starting out because you may not smile a whole lot during this message. This is not an easy message or passage for a pastor to preach because it is a passage about pastors. Any time you have a passage that says pastors ought to be paid well, they ought to be publicly rebuked, and they can drink a little wine. I mean, you're really in for some tough sledding in a passage, and so I wanted you to smile a little bit to start with because it's going to get a little impense at times in this passage this morning. If you've been with us on Sunday mornings, you know that we've been going through first Timothy. And my reason for this series of messages, which I've entitled, the Church Owners Manual, is that as I move forward retirement and leaving the pastor at here, I wanted us to refocus on what the New Testament teaches the church should be, and what the church should be, how the church should function. And if it really calls purpose in writing this letter, he told Timothy right in the middle of the letter back in chapter 3, verse 14, he said, although I hope to come to you soon, I'm writing you these instructions so that if I'm delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. As we've moved through this book, we've seen different sets of instructions that Paul kind of groups together in chapter 1, it was instruction about false teaching and false teachers. In chapter 2, it was instruction about worship. In chapter 3, it was instruction about qualifications for leadership in the church. In chapter 4, it was various warnings that Paul had for Timothy about his own ministry and about the church itself. And then when we came to chapter 5, we saw that Paul kind of changes gears and starts talking about the church and instructions in terms of relationships in the church. And then at that time we were in first Timothy, we saw in the first 16 verses, he deals with first of all the church as family that we are to relate to one another's brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, really to relate to each other as family members. And then we saw that in the church, which he's addressing, how we should operate in the church, that we should care for the needy, particularly in the first century, he singles out widows for special attention. And then we saw that in chapter 3, that church is incumbent on us still today to care for those who are truly in need in our congregations. Now at the end of chapter 5, verses 17 through 25, he turns his attention to the church's relationship with its pastors. And he talks about what the church should do in relationship to pastors. So the relationship is critical to any organization, whether that organization be a company, a school, or a church. It's especially true in the church. In giving instructions to Timothy about how the church should function, which he said was his purpose back in chapter 3, he has talked a lot about the leaders of the church. He has talked about in chapter 3, a whole chapter given to the qualifications for leaders in the church. Multiple times, he has warned Timothy about allowing false teachers to have any place of leadership in the church. Be careful about false teachers and false teaching. Now he returns to that topic of pastors in the church. This time in the context of relationships, he's talking about the church's relationship to its pastors and the church's responsibilities for its pastors. I believe he is talking about the pastors here. He uses the term elders back in verse 17. You see the elders who directly affairs the church as who is talking about. He mentions the word elder again in verse 19. I believe that would that term corresponds not just to older men in the church or not to another group of leaders in the church. It seems clear that this is the office that we typically today call pastor. The reason why I say that is Paul has addressed elders in before in this book and will in second Timothy and in Titus. It's interesting that in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 mirror images almost of the qualifications for pastors. He uses the term overseers in one case and elders in the other case. So the same term used for the two terms used for the same office. In Acts chapter 20, when Paul was addressing the leaders of the church at Ephesus, he called them elders overseers, which if you're familiar with the King James is the term bishop, but overseer. And then he called them shepherds. He said shepherd the flock of God, which is among you. That's the term we get our word pastor from. And Peter uses all three of those terms of the same office in 1 Peter 5. I think he's addressing pastors here. And the work he describes certainly is fitting for pastors. Notice for 17. He says the elders who direct the affairs of the church. The word translated here in the NIV direct the affairs of the church is translated by one word in the King James rule. And that has led to some thinking these are separate group of elders called ruling elders. He's really addressing pastors because the word simply means to stand first or to stand before. That's what the literal meaning of the Greek word is. It has the idea of standing before to take leadership of the whole congregation to exercise oversight. Really, it's the role of the overseer, the oversight of the congregation. And then he also describes their work as preaching and teaching the ministry of the word. And for those who devote themselves as a vocation to the oversight of the church, the preaching and teaching of the word is clear from this passage. He's addressing people who've given their lives to that and are supported by that. He's talking about pastors. No less an authority than Philip Towner who is considered in our day, the foremost authority on the pastoral epistles has written a 900 page commentary on first second Timothy and Titus. He writes in the new international commentary of the New Testament. He says this in modern terms, Paul has in mind the pastoral staff whose members in obedience to God's call have devoted their lives to the service of the church. And so he's addressing pastors here. But he's also addressing the church responsibility for pastors. And in this passage, Paul lays out three responsibilities that the church has for its pastors. You ready? You buckled up? Ready to go? Okay. Responsibility number one is proper honor. Look at verse 17. The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. For the scripture says do not muzzle the ox while is treading out the grain and the worker deserves his wages. Worthy of double honor and then he says particularly or chiefly those whose focus is on the primary responsibility of preaching and teaching. He's not ruling out any pastors by that because he has made the case already in this book. We've seen it over and over again. We'll see it more as we progress through second Timothy that the primary function, the primary role of any pastor is to be the preaching and teaching of the word of God. That is our chief responsibility. And so he's saying for people who direct well the affairs of the church who oversee the church well and who focus on the preaching and teaching they are worthy of double honor. Now double honor is often interpreted by some simply straight strictly in terms of financial remuneration but there's more than that here. It's not double pay for those who preach that's not the point that's not the point Paul's making. But the double honor is literally a twofold honor. It's two kinds of honor. It's not double in amount. That's not the thrust of the original language. It's two kinds of honor. Two different kinds of honor and the verses make clear what kinds of honor he's talking about. This is a difficult passage for any preacher to preach on. I will readily admit that but I also will say to you I have a certain freedom about preaching this this morning that I've never had before in all my years of ministry. I'm on that slippery slope. That downward slide. I'm on my way out. You know the plans we've already made them clear to you. I'm retiring and pastor Dan will become the senior pastor. And so I have a certain freedom to say some things that I realize no longer affect me. I go through one more budget cycle in this church and I only be here for half a year doing so what I'm going to say about wages doesn't affect me. And what I'm going to say about honor whatever honor I have either received or rightly have not gotten that's that's behind me. My my day is pretty well done. And so this doesn't affect me and what I'm going to say this morning I can say with absolute freedom of no personal entanglement. I'm speaking on behalf of the other four pastors. And so I'm speaking today on on your responsibility. Their responsibility to is will be clear, but your responsibility to Jim and Jim and James and Dan, first, second, third James and Dan, speaking about about your responsibility to them. The honor that he suggests we give that he commands we give is first of all we should honor our pastors with respect with respect. See it again. Look at verse seven. The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor. The word honor is the word for respect or regard. That's the primary meaning of the Greek word here is respect or regard. Now this is not a respect that is demanded. It's not a respect that is demanded because of position. It is not a respect that pastors demand because of who we are our position. Now there are pastors who feel like they are higher, better, above criticism, irreproachable, untouchable, just because of their office. And so oftentimes when pastors who feel that way are criticized, they pull out an Old Testament verse. Touch not the Lord's anointed. Don't you dare criticize me. Don't you dare say anything about me. And you know if they only would actually look up that verse, they would realize how inappropriate that is. That verse is found in 1 Chronicles 1622. It's David speaking and he's giving a Psalm. It's poetic language. And it describes if you read the whole Psalm, it describes God's care for his people. Israel through the wilderness. And then as he led them into the Promised Land, his anointed is Israel. Has nothing to do with pastors. It's Israel. And so for pastors to pull that little nugget out of the Old Testament and use it that you can't criticize me, that's not appropriate. It's an illegitimate use of that text. So this is not a respect that comes because of a position. This is not a respect that comes because of a title. Reborn so and so or doctor so and so. I understand. I understand the intrinsic respect that is due to anyone in a position. One in a position of authority or leadership understand understand that many parents want to teach their children. Proper respect for people in leadership, whether it be law enforcement or a principle at school or a pastor in a church. I get that understand that. But the emphasis here is on the pastor not demanding respect because of either his position or his title. By the way, sometimes new folks will come to our church. And I guess maybe all the pastors get this, but I'm the only one that hears it for me. I guess people will come up and say, what do you want me to call you? How do you want me to refer to you? And I've always wanted to say this. I never have, but I've always wanted to say it. Now's my chance. You can call me the right Reverend, Dr. Bishop Elder, Pastor King. And if you do, we'll probably both drop dead in the floor. I understand a legitimate title. I understand calling someone doctor if they've earned that. That's a proper term of respect. However, no one as a pastor is to demand respect because of a title. What Paul is clearly talking about is respect that comes from the congregation, not because of necessarily position or title, but because of work. Do you see it? Do you see it in the text? He gives two kinds of work here. He says the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor. So provide legitimate oversight. The word well is the word for beautiful or excellence with devotion and passion and excellence. You lead the church well. If you do that, if you oversee the church well, then you're worthy of respect. And if you preach and teach the word of God well, then you are worthy of respect. If you work, he says, at preaching and teaching. The word work here's an interesting word. It's the word that means to labor to the point of fatigue or exhaustion. It has, it has, the meaning is not necessarily of the amount of work, but of the effort that's put forth in the work. And I know what some of you are thinking. That doesn't seem to go with preaching and teaching. Toil to exhaustion, preaching and teaching. That doesn't. I remember in my first church in North Carolina back in the mid 70s, I was in a home visiting with a young man that we were trying to win to the Lord. And he looked me right in the eye. He was very angry about spiritual things. He looked me right in the eye and said, you've got a real push job. You work one day a week. Why don't you get a real job and find out what real work is about. I remember a little boy in our church in Indiana. We, there were farmers, dairy farmers and they worked hard. And Jean and I grew a garden with them. We had an acre garden. We had over 100 tomato plants in that garden. We did everything you could possibly do with tomatoes. And it was incredible. But that's another story for another time. I'll never forget that little boy come up to me one day and said, when are you going to get a real job? You ought to become a farmer. And I just smiled and said, you know, working this one acre garden. I've turned into a farmer. But there are those who do not see the ministry as legitimate work. And I understand where folks come from with that. Again, I can say this with complete freedom, with no intent to receive anything for myself. I've done my share of manual labor and hard work through the years. Not necessarily as a vocation, but I've helped people in our church do lots of different things. I've cleaned up chicken houses and hog houses on the farms of North Carolina. I've cleaned out houses in Indiana that were being condemned. I've done my share of manual labor here whenever we would have work days or things here. I always tried to try to help. I haven't helped with everything not possible, but I've helped with as much as I could. I've done my share of hard work. I understand how that works. And I can tell you that the work of ministry, especially preaching and teaching, when you do it with all your soul and you pour your heart and soul into it, and you spill out your soul and your emotions and all of your passion, even when you preach with projection of your voice using your diaphragm perfectly right now, my stomach is as tight as a drum. By the way, what you see here is a well-developed diaphragm muscle over many years of preaching. You're not buying that, are you? I can assure you it is a toilsome labor. I remember a Bible college professor saying he had a medical doctor in his church that said, if you preach, not just stand up and talk to people in a normal language, but if you use your diaphragm and project your voice and preach with passion, when you preach a 40-minute sermon, you have done the equivalent of eight hours of manual labor. And I tell you, when I preach three times on a Sunday, I feel it. I feel it on Sunday night. I'm just wasted. But I love this, this kind of toil and labor. Let me tell you something. He's talking about hard work here. Now, I know there are pastors who are lazy. There are pastors who say, hey, I don't punch a time clock. I don't have a boss. I'm lazy. And they live that way. I know some. I remember a pastor in South Carolina, could call his name, but I won't do that, who said those very words to me back in the 70s. But I assure you there are no pastors like that on our staff. I can assure you that Jim and Jim and Dan and James work hard. And they deserve the respect, the honor that Paul says a church should give those who lead well and who preach and teach the word with passion and energy. But there's a different kind of honor also said that talked about in these verses. Paul talks about the honor of respect, but he also says you should honor them with wages. Notice again, he says they're worthy of double honor. And the word honor, as we have seen before, can be used of financial remuneration. Its primary meaning is regard or respect, but it's the same word we saw back in chapter 5 and verse 3. When he talks about giving honor to those widows who are really in need, it's clear there that he's talking about help them out. And as he describes it, it's to help them out, provide for their material needs. In Matthew chapter 26 and Acts 4 and 1 Corinthians 6 and other passages, the same word is used in terms of setting a price or establishing a price to pay. So the word honor does include the idea of financial support. In fact, we get our English word, honorarium from this very concept and use of this word, which is to provide payment for services rendered in the course of speaking or in ministry. And the two quotes that Jesus gives make it clear he's talking about financial remuneration. You see the first one there in verse 18 for the scripture says, do not muzzle the ox while it's treading out the grain. Paul is quoting there an Old Testament passage which had to do with how to take care of your animals. When an oxen is treading the grain, he's allowed to eat some of that grain. So basically his point is treat your pastor like an animal. He's an ox treading like an ox. Now seriously, if animals are allowed to feed from the work they do, pastors ought to be allowed to feed from the work they do. And then the second passage is a very interesting one there in verse 18. The second passage he quotes is the worker deserves his wages. You know, that's a quote from the book of Luke. It's fascinating. First of all that Paul considers Luke scripture already in the New Testament. And Luke was his traveling buddy. Remember he traveled with Paul and missionary journeys and now he's written this gospel and Paul recognizes this book already as scripture and he quotes it a scripture. But it's actually a saying of Jesus in the gospel of Luke. The worker deserves his wages and the point Paul is making here is if a person's work is ministry he deserves to make a living off of the ministry. Now I know what some of you may be thinking. Didn't Paul say he would not take any money for his ministry? Well, yeah, kind of look at the verse in 1 Corinthians 9. If others have this right of support from you, that ought to tell us what he's dealing with to start with, he says, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right on the contrary. We put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. Paul's referring to the fact that he did not take money from churches that he was support or churches he was planting when he would go into a new area, preached the gospel when people to Christ, planted church, he did not receive money from that church. But he said it is the right of people to expect support from the church, but in my case is different. There are different reasons, different dynamics operating in my ministry. You see Paul was going in the terms of the New Testament, the terms of New Testament office, first or the first area of Ephesians 4, as an evangelist. An evangelist we would call them today missionaries who take the gospel into areas where there is no foothold, preach the gospel when people to Christ and establish a community of believers, a local church. Paul is saying in my case, because my ministry is different from a pastor, in my case I'm planting new churches preaching the gospel in areas, I'm not going to go in and start preaching the gospel. And the first thing I do is take up an offering. Everybody who I'm trying to win to the Lord will say, okay, you're another one of those religious hucksters. We've had plenty of those come through here. Don't bother us with that. So Paul acted much like we do missionaries today. He did receive support from the church in Philippi, the church in Thessalonica, and possibly others, but he mentions those two. Much like we do missionaries today though, we send out a missionary. We don't expect them to receive support from the folks that are trying to reach with the gospel and the churches they're planting there. Churches here support them financially, send them out with our blessing and our support financially and prayerfully, and that's how missionaries take the gospel to new regions. That's what Paul's talking about. In this passage, he's saying the church bears a responsibility to honor their pastors with wages. Now let me back up and say this. I am very grateful for how this church has provided for me over the 25 and a half years I've been here. I'm very grateful for that. You have been very generous. You've been very kind and gracious in the salary that you've provided. In the benefits you've provided over the years, the church has addressed various areas of benefits for the pastoral staff and other staff as well. And I want to speak on behalf of all of us. We're very grateful for that. And thank you also that about, I don't know, 12 or 15 years ago, you saw fit to establish an expense account for pastors so that all the ministry expenses that we have. We're not just coming out of our pockets. You've provided an expense account and we're deeply grateful for those things. You have treated me with the utmost of kindness, generosity and graciousness. And I am profoundly grateful for that. You have allowed me to devote my life to ministry and to provide for my family. So what I'm going to say, I'm going to say in behalf of the other four pastors, I have nothing to gain from this, as I've already said. Please be sensitive to all of the pastors on staff. I understand the concept of rewarding those who've been here longer or who have various positions understand that. But please be mindful of all of the pastors, those with families, be generous to them. And I want to explain something to you that you may not understand about pastors. Some of you do, I know, but not all of you, I know, because I've received some letters about my salary and thinking it's too high for our area. And so I know that some of you do not understand this concept. Pastors are a strange breed when it comes to the IRS. We really are. Of course you said I could have told you that without the IRS, you were a strange breed anyway. Look at that picture at the beginning. You were really strange. But we really are. We're considered differently by the IRS. We're considered employees of the church for federal income tax purposes. So we get a W2 just like everybody else who would work for a company. But we're considered self-employed for social security purposes. And so we're kind of in a no man's land. The church does not withhold taxes and match our taxes. And so pastors are responsible for the total federal state and social security taxes out of their own pocket. Please remember that. In my case, that's about 25% of my income. And so the first 25, the first 10 plus percent of my income goes to the ward. The next 25 plus percent of my income goes to Uncle Sam. And we pay estimated taxes every quarter just like all self-employed people do. If you're self-employed, you understand that. You know what I'm talking about. You know the chunk it takes. But please, I'm just appealing to you. Understand that. When you see that line on that piece of paper, when you do the church budget, that's not what your pastors live off of. And so please be sensitive to that kind of special way the IRS looks at us that in a sense creates some extra burden for your pastors. Especially young pastors who are not earning the kind of income that older ones do. Could I also just throw this out? Wow. I'm really stepping into it now. Throughout the years, and again, I understand this. It's been our policy to give across the board percentage increases. And that's understandable. I understand that to be fair to everybody. But in a sense, it penalizes those who are on the lower end of the pay scale because it increases the gap between those who are making more and those who are making less. Every time you give everybody the same percentage, those in the higher income brackets are really gaining more. And please take that into account. I would urge you to consider at least some years, maybe every other year, to give everyone a lump, some increase that is equivalent rather than a percentage increase. Okay. Boy, I've said more than I even expected to say this morning, proper honor for pastors in regard to respect and regard to wages. But Paul goes on. That's the side that is a little uncomfortable, but this is going to even get more uncomfortable. Not only should the church respond to pastors with proper honor, they should respond with proper accountability. Pastors are to be held accountable by you, the church. Now Paul says three things about that accountability. First of all, he says, be cautious. Be cautious with this verse 19. He says, do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. That is taken almost word for word from Deuteronomy 1915. An Old Testament part of the Mosaic law. Let's look at that verse in Deuteronomy 1915. One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense because they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Now notice this is for anyone. This was in the Mosaic law. It was a protection, a legal protection for anyone against the false accusation because anyone can come up and say, I saw, I heard, I witnessed, I, and it can be totally false. That's legal protection under the law of Moses for every Israelite. Now Paul lifts that out of the Old Testament and applies it to pastors. There are two reasons why Paul applies that principle to pastors that don't even entertain something unless it is credible. It can be supported by two or three witnesses. Why? Number one, ministry depends on character. He spent a whole chapter in chapter three talking about that. The qualifications for ministry, 25 different qualifications between 1st, 10 to the 3 and Titus 1. Only one of them has to do with what you do in ministry and that's able to teach. All the rest of them have to do with your character, your character in response to God, in response to the flock and the community and your family that all has to do with character. And so if you lose your character, you lose your ministry. That's pretty important. So you can't just listen to every accusation. It's got to be founded. The second reason why he applies this Old Testament principle to pastors is since pastors are in a highly visible leadership role and Satan would love nothing more than to destroy the church, guess who's liable to go after first? Those who are in public roles of leadership who are visible because if you can bring them down, it creates a lot of trouble in the church as a whole. You know churches are shattered by things that happen to pastors. Even sometimes false accusations. And so pastors are especially vulnerable to gossip and slander and unjust accusations or criticism. Sometimes that's because people resist the truth that's being preached. Sometimes it's because they don't like a decision that's been made about the direction of the ministry. Sometimes it's because we all tend to believe the worst. And so we hear something real juicy and we tend to believe it. You see what Paul is saying here, unless it is credibly recognized by two or three witnesses, he says, don't even entertain it. Literally the word means don't consider, don't listen to it unless it can be substantiated by two or three witnesses. The Bible is full of false accusations against God's leaders. Joseph falsely accused of inappropriate advances toward his boss's wife. Moses accused of leading the people out on his own into the wilderness so that they might die. And his brother and sister didn't even like his choice of a wife. He was unjustly accused. David unjustly accused of trying to take the kingdom from Saul. Unjustly accused of an exuberant expression of joy and worship by his own wife. Nonetheless. Jeremiah unjustly accused by the people of Judah. Of citing with the Babylonians and being a traitor. Nehemiah unjustly accused of mounting an insurrection against the Persians. Paul unjustly accused of many things. The whole book of second Corinthians is responding to those charges. Christ unjustly accused. So it is possible for an accusation to be unjust to be unfair. And unless it can be substantiated by two or three people. Paul says don't even entertain it. Don't even listen to it. However, that does not excuse pastors from true accusations that can be confirmed. And so he moves on from there to address that issue. Be cautious about this thing of accountability. Don't don't entertain. Don't even listen to an unsubstantiated charge. But if there is clear guilt, then you be clear about your response Timothy. Verse 20. Be clear. He says those who sin are to be reviewed publicly so that the others may take warning. Now, he reminds us that there should be protection against unfounded accusations. But pastors are not immune from true accusations. Be clear here Timothy. If he does sin. And it's the present tense here, which means if he goes on sinning, the implication is he has been privately admonished, but he has not repented. He's not. He's not turned his back on his sin. He's continuing in that path of sin. If he continues sinning, then you review him publicly. The discipline has to be public. And that will serve as a warning to the others. He says evidently speaking of the other pastors, other pastors and anyone else in the church for that matter. There is sin. And if that sin is not properly repented of and a pastor continues in that path of sin, he has to be disciplined publicly. That standard has been so lowered today. And sinning pastors can disgrace themselves and disgrace the church in one church and just move across town to another church and start pastoring there. It's typical in our day. Even unrepentant pastors do that. Timothy is being told you take this seriously, Timothy, you be clear if there is sin there and if there is first of all the private admonishment, but there's a continuing law and sin, then you rebuke that pastor publicly. Yes, restoration is possible for one who fails, but only in the face of clear repentance. Not if there is an unrepentant attitude. Be clear about that, Timothy. And then he says something further about that very thing. If you have to deal with that situation of sin on the part of a pastor, he says be courageous. Be courageous. Don't back down. Look at verse 21. I charge you. That's serious language. But notice the audience he's calling Timothy to account. I charge you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels. It's like I'm going to pull in everybody and have it. I can think of I charge you Timothy. The audience that you're ministering before and the audience that you need to be concerned about their approval is God Christ and even the holy angels who are watching from heaven, the affairs of the church, the Bible tells us looking on with interest at the mystery of the gospel penetration into people's lives and changed lives by redemption and the angels wonder at the end of the world. The angels wonder at that. They're watching what's happening in the church as people are growing to be more like Christ. And when they watch something like this happen, the church blown all the bits by public sin of a pastor that's not been dealt with. Timothy remember you answered a God to Christ and to the angels about this. That's pretty serious stuff. He says I give you this charge. And you had better respect what they think more than what other people think to keep these instructions without partiality. The word literally means to jump to a conclusion to come to a conclusion before the facts are known. Oh, I know this person. He would never do that. Don't jump to a conclusion. And then he says without favoritism doing nothing out of favoritism. The idea here is a bias because of who that person is. So this means even well-known pastors nationally known pastors, popular speakers, gifted ministers. If they send to disgrace themselves and the church and are not repentant. Paul says you be courageous in dealing with that. Timothy don't back down because of who they are. That's serious stuff. Now while we pastors are encouraged a little bit by the responsibility of the church to honor us. This and spirit trembling through us because this is serious. There's a high standard here. Proper accountability. But then quickly Paul moves on. And then we have to go back to proper selection. And basically what he's saying in verses 22 to 25 is that if you exercise proper selection, you'll avoid what I just talked about. You'll avoid improper leaders who take advantage of the church and sin without any shame. If you are careful in your selection. So notice verses 22 and 23. He talks about careful selection. He says don't be hasty in selecting leaders. He's already said back in chapter 3 and verse 6 that you should not select the pastor from among new converts. So you should not go yet to take that position of leadership. But now he says regardless of how long they've been saved, you make sure you screen them properly. Screen them properly. Careful selection. Laying hands on means to affirm their suitability for ministry to publicly set them apart for ministry to identify with them as fellow church leaders that these men have been screened properly. And we commend them to you for public ministry for ministry of pastor. It's very similar to what we do with ordination today. When someone is ordained as a pastor, there is an examining council called of fellow pastors, maybe Bible college teachers, others in ministry who examined that person's qualifications, doctrinally, personally and character wise ministry experience, all those things, and then make a recommendation to the church. We have examined, we've screened this person, and the church has already said we believe they're capable and qualified or we wouldn't ask for their ordination. So together we say this person is qualified. That's a screening process. And that's what something like what Paul saying here, don't lay hands on, don't publicly identify someone as qualified too quickly. If you do, and they end up blowing up everything, then he said you will share in their sins, share in the sins of others. In other words, you're capable, you're responsible to whatever degree you didn't screen them properly. So he says, keep yourself pure. Now let me, let me pause for a moment to give you another personal observation. Man, am I enjoying this? Just be able to say whatever I want to say, you know, without fear. Dan thing is our next senior pastor. I look forward to the day when he's going to become my pastor. I love him like a son, and I look forward to him being my pastor. I want to tell you something though, he was carefully screened. Even though we had already called you to be one of our pastors five years ago. So we already showed our confidence in him and his family. When he became my first recommendation to our search committee last summer, I said to them, I want you to do as thorough a search on him, as thorough a process of examination on him, as you would anyone you might call that you don't know. You just get a resume. You don't know who this guy is. I want you to do a thorough search on him as you would anybody else. And they did. Didn't they? They did. Dan knows more than anybody. And our deacons who are here today, Barry, our chairman. Thank you again for such a great job in what you've done through this process. I mean, we asked for his resume. We already knew the guy. I could have told you everything. It was on his resume. But we asked for his resume and we went over it with a fine tooth comb, even asking for more information about courses he had taken in seminary to make sure he had taken courses we felt would prepare him for ministry. I mean, we were we were bearing down pretty hard. And so we examined him pretty carefully. We did a background check for crying out loud, already on our staff, but we did a background check anyway. And we didn't find anything, by the way, just in case you're wondering, we didn't find anything. We gave him a seven page questionnaire like we would anybody that we wouldn't know that may have been applying for this position from North Dakota. And I'm talking about seven pages of questions. That doesn't include the answers. It was to determine whether or not he was compatible with our ministry. We kind of felt like he was or we wouldn't be on our staff, but we drilled him anyway. And then we did two in depth interviews, a four hour interview. And then the second one with his wife, two and a half hours. I mean, we put him through the paces. We screened him carefully and at every stage he proved himself to be God's choice. We screened carefully. I have no, no question, but what he is the man for this job and the one that God has placed his hand on. And so I just want you to know when we take this seriously, and that's a case in point with someone that we already knew very well, we decided you're still going through the rigorous screening process before we say you're you're ready for this. And that I believe I feel good about because I believe that's what Paul saying. Don't lay hands on someone hastily. Take care. Careful screening. And by the way, it's in that context of him saying, you know, if you don't do this and things blow up, you will share in his sins. So keep yourself pure. It's in that context that Paul gives this little personal aside of verse 23 where he says, stop drinking only water. Use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. I mean, in the context, it almost is weird to see how does that fit. But it evidently, at most commentators believe it's tied to that last statement verse 22, keep yourself pure. And Timothy, we know enough of his nature and background from what we've seen already in this book. He was a little overboard in probably trying to keep himself from any appearance of anything wrong. And for that reason, may have not used wine medicinally at all, even though that was very except inappropriate in that culture. Just to make sure there were no question. In the first century, water was very impure. It carried lots of impurities and could lead to lots of diseases, primary of which was dysentery. And so if you just drank the water and nothing else, you would have all kinds of stomach and intestinal issues, which Timothy evidently did. And so Paul, you know, Greek, Roman, and Jewish doctors of the first century all agreed there was medicinal value in wine to help take the bacteria and impurities and so forth out of the water. So Paul is just saying, Timothy, I know whenever I say keep yourself pure, you're already going overboard with that. So I just want you to know, for medicinal reasons, use notice a little wine for your frequent ailments, he says. So it's a little and it's from medicinal uses. This is not a blanket overall endorsement on a broad scale of use of alcohol. This is not this is not a justification for using alcohol on a broad scale. This is a limited use for health reasons that he convinced Timothy. Now back back to the real point, be careful how you select leaders. And then he says, Timothy, not only careful selection, but discerning selection, discerning selection. Look at verse 24. Actually, before we read this verse, verses 24 and 25 break down into four categories of people. And in the context, they are clearly dealing with people that are being assessed as to whether or not they are qualified to be pastors, to be in church leadership. It's following straight through what he's just said about don't choose pastors quickly or without careful screening. Now Timothy, they're going to be some shockers. They're going to be some surprises when you're screening people. So you've got to be discerning because there are four kinds of people you're going to encounter when you're trying to screen people for leadership positions. The first one is in verse 24, the sins of some men are obvious reaching the place of judgment ahead of them. Place of judgment here is not the judgment seat of Christ or the great white throne. It's not a judgment in heaven. Remember the context he's talking about screening people judging them as to whether or not they are qualified to be in ministry. That's the judgment that he's talking about here. So he's saying the sins of some people are obvious even before you try to assess them. You know, they're not qualified. So that's the first category of person you're going to deal with. You know, they're not qualified. You already know enough about their life. You don't even have to assess them. The sins are obvious. But then he says there's a second category of people. The sins of others trail behind them. In other words, they're not as obvious. They may be hidden and they may not appear until you do that careful assessment. So Timothy, be careful screen carefully because some people sins are not as known, not as obvious. And sometimes you may miss it all together with the best of intentions. And then he says third category of people, verse 25, in the same way, good deeds are obvious. In other words, there's some folks that hardly need any screening. I mean, they're obviously qualified to serve. They're good deeds. Their character is just obvious. They've proven themselves. And then the fourth category and even those good deeds, even those good deeds that are not cannot be hidden. In other words, there's some people whose good deeds are not as obvious. Maybe their character is not as obvious. Maybe they're a little more retiring in their personality, unassuming in their personality. But you give them some time and their character will rise to the surface. It will become obvious. You can't keep good character hidden. So here's what he's saying. Timothy, as you look at people for church leadership, people sometimes are different than what they appear at first sight. They may initially seem better or worse than they really are. Their character may take a little while to surface. So you need discernment as you choose leaders for the church, pastors, because character, like an iceberg, is a lot more than what you see above the surface. Scientists tell us that 90% of iceberg usually below the surface. And a good percentage of character is below what you can see up front. That's the reason for discernment and careful assessment before you put someone in leadership, because attractive personalities may conceal serious weaknesses. And unassuming personalities, the kind of person that's just over there kind of bump on the log, you wouldn't notice him. Make and seal great strengths. So be discerning Timothy. Be discerning. Charles Ponzi was an Italian immigrant to this country in the early 1900s. He had an outgoing personality, a charm about him, a confidence from all reports. That drew people to him. After several failed business ventures, he hit on a scheme around Christmas time of December 1919 to start an investment company. In this investment company, he promised a 50% return in 90 days. Unheard of. And he promised that he would invest funds in what were called then international trading coupons. In foreign countries, you would place a coupon in place of a stamp on a letter, mail it to the United States, and then that coupon would be redeemed for a stamp here in the United States. Well, the difference in exchange rates, if you played it right and chose the right countries, you could make a bundle of money off that difference. And that's what he said he was going to do. Offering a 50% return in 90 days, actually his first investors found out he did it in 45 days. He turned around a 50% investment in 45 days. Within four months, people were learning about him through the newspapers and his business was growing by leaps and bounds within four months, $10,000 a week. This is in 1920 now, early part of 1920, $10,000 a week was coming into his office. By the time his business collapsed, $3 million a day were coming into his offices. But there was no investment at all. He was taking the proceeds from the later investors, which were giving a lot more money for these kind of returns and paying off the early investors. His scheme would later be known by his own name, a Ponzi scheme. There was no investment of funds at all. And so there was no equity on which to pay off investors. Finally, a Boston newspaper, the Boston Daily News exposed the scheme. And nine months after he started in August of 1920, the whole thing collapsed, leaving thousands of investors with the loss of everything they had. They've been deceived by a charlatan, a guy who was making inroads who had amassed huge wealth for himself, was known by everybody, was well loved by people. It just shows you don't always know what you're getting if you only look at the surface. That's why Paul says church leadership is more important than just to lay hands suddenly on somebody, trust them in the leadership position. No, no Timothy. He says you do careful selection. You do discerning selection. You make sure you select leaders carefully. When it comes to pastors, the church should truly handle with care. Yes, you have a responsibility to honor pastors with proper respect and proper wages. But you also have the responsibility to hold them accountable with caution. Don't believe everything you hear. Make sure it can be substantiated. But also when it is substantiated with clarity and with courage and then practice great care and great discernment in selection. The stakes are too high. This is the church of the living God. Paul calls it in 1 Timothy 3. The stakes are too high for us to take this any less seriously. Would you pray with me? Father, we are humbled and duly warned by these heavy responsibilities that are laid upon both pastors and churches. I pray, Father, that you would help us to understand this is your word. This is the church owners. You are the owner of the church. This is your manual on how the church needs to be run. So I pray that we would take seriously what we read here, what we have heard today. Lord, I thank you for how wonderful this church is in the regard to the very things we have seen in your word today. But I pray that there will never be a turning away from these clear principles of the proper care for pastors. I pray, Father, that you would bless our pastors also, that you would help us to recognize the accountability that we have to this church to each other and to you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.