A good relationship with God and people is inherent
to the teaching of the Bible. It is
at the heart of the 10 commandments and it
is reaffirmed by Jesus in Mark 12:30,31
: “Love God … love your neighbour…”.
The 5th Chapter
of Paul’s letter to Timothy deals
with relationships at different levels.
(i)
In 5:1-2 Paul
tells Timothy how to relate, as a
pastor to older men, younger men, older
women and younger women in the church.
(ii)
In 5:3-16 Paul helps Timothy in terms of relating to widows and vulnerable people in the
church. We will consider this text, God willing in February
2017 when we plan to have a “Diaconate
Awareness Sunday” explaining, and showcasing our diaconal ministry.
(iii)
In
5: 17-25 Paul
explains how we ought to relate to the
elders of the church, and how to understand their calling and character.
To this matter we now turn our attention.
The matter of the
elder and diaconal leadership of the
church was already raised by Paul
in Chapter
3: 1-13. In the matter of
eldership Paul had stated that “ If anyone aspires to the
office of an overseer, he desires
a noble task” (3:1) after which he also gives a list of necessary qualifications (3:2-7).
Now as we come to our text in 5:17-25, Paul deals with 5
further aspects relating to
the office of the elder:
(i) 5:17,18: The remuneration of the
full-time elders- particularly those who are set apart to labour
in preaching and teaching.
(ii) 5:19-20: The church discipline for elders who sin.
(iii) 5:21: The importance of being impartial.
(iv) 5:22-23:
The importance of not being hasty in the laying on of hands (w.r.t elder
ordination)
(v) 5:24-25:
The importance of discernment.
1. 5:17,18 : The remuneration of
the elders that rule well –
particularly those who are set
apart to labour in preaching and teaching:
The emphasis here is on
the elders who “ruling
well“. It appears as if the elders of the
early churches were remunerated, because they put in a lot of work and effort into the
work of shepherding the flock, and Paul has particularly those in mind who were set apart for the preaching and teaching of the Word. Such elders who
ruled well in the church, and
especially those that laboured in the Word [Gr. kopos lit. “toil
resulting in weariness” (Vines) ]
ought to be considered worthy of double honour. Since the
Word of God is central to the
church’s life because the Word
accurately preached maintains the proper
Christ centered focus of the church, it is important that the church recognizes this appropriately.
Such elders who rule well, and who
diligently labour in the Word, says Paul
are worthy
of double honour. What is meant by double honour? It means
generous provision, but this would
depend on their efficiency, as the adverb ‘well’ indicates.
V.18 (a quote from Deut. 25:4) is linked to this thought, and the
argument goes that if God is concerned that working animals are
adequately fed, how much more concern must He not have for those that labour on behalf of the church. Paul’s second
quotation follows, “The labourer deserves his wages”. These words were in fact spoken
by Jesus in Luke 10:7. [1]
Comparing pastoral work to the work that oxen or
labourers do may not sound very
flattering, but it does in essence describe
the work of the pastor. Biblical pastors
do a lot of plodding work, a lot of menial work. They are, after all, only servants. However, Paul
says, that such work ought to be tangibly appreciated in the church.
2.
5: 19-20 : Church discipline for
elders who sin : Those who do not rule well
Paul now turns from
good pastor –elders who deserve recognition and appreciation to bad pastor elders who deserve to be rebuked. He address the
manner in which sinning elders need to be addressed. Paul gives two directives in this regard:
(i)
What to do when an elder is accused (v.19)
(ii)
What to do when an elder is found guilty (v.20)
In the first instance
Paul says that the church
is not to receive an accusation against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses (v.19) i.e. the charge must be substantiated by several people. This
is an OT principle (Deut. 19:15) which is maintained in the NT ( 2 Cor. 13:1 cf. Matt. 18:16). This regulation
is important for the protection
of pastor –elders , who easily become
the subjects of gossip and slander. A smear campaign can ruin a pastor’s
ministry. Therefore it is important that
such charges are actually proven.
Hear-say is not good enough. Facts and witnesses are needed.
In the second instance, when an elder is proven guilty
(and remains guilty or unrepentant
– note the present tense),
such should be rebuked in the presence
of all. The general rule is that private
sin ought to be confronted
privately, and public sin ought to
be dealt with publicly. When elders sin
against the church, they must be dealt with before the church, so that
the rest may stand in fear. Church discipline is necessary because
the heart and life of the church is at stake. If problems are routinely
ignored and glossed over, this produces
an atmosphere where others will
be tempted and encouraged to sin. Church
discipline causes people to take note .
Such an action, in terms of public rebuke must always be the last resort
however, and it is never a cause for gloating. It
is a very sad thing for
church elders to sin. Many of
God’s flock are devastated when that happens.
3.
5:21 : The importance of being impartial
Now Paul solemnly
charges Timothy with a very important
matter, “ I charge you to keep these
rules without prejudging (Gr. prokrima – jumping to conclusions), doing nothing from partiality (favouritism).” In the matter of dealing with elders and people
it is very important that a sense
of fairness must prevail. The history of
the church has often shown the opposite, where sinning priests, pastors and elders have sometimes been protected by the system and excused from their sin, whilst many a church member has continued to
live with the bitterness of injustice.
Pastor-elders must
strive to be impartial , and where
two people or parties are at odds
with one another it is important that
sides are not taken ; that truth is established and that people are
helped forward . At all times elders will strive to keep people together, since
God is a God of peace and the Holy
Spirit is a Spirit of Unity and the Lord Jesus Christ has died to make us one.
4.
5:22-23 : Be careful in
hasty laying on of hand ( with reference to elder ordination)
In context, the laying on of hands here probably refers to pastor – elder ordination. In the pastoral epistles we have two
other occasions when mention is made of the laying on of hands [1
Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6].
It is a very common human tendency to make premature and
hasty decisions which should have been made with adequate testing and prayer. There may of
course be an opposite mistake, when we fail to make a decision at all. The general rule is that it is better to take time with the appointment
of church leaders.
There is an added thought linked to this statement, “nor take part in the sins of others”. If through excessive haste a mistake is made
or if the person chosen as a leader in
the church happens to be spiritually
unqualified or acting unwisely or sinfully (and contrary to the character expressed in 1 Tim 3:1-7), Timothy may
find that he shares in the sins
of others or find himself implicated in
other people’s misdeeds[2].
There is no thing such as sinning in isolation. An eldership can go through a
very difficult time as a result of one man's sin, and much energy
needed elsewhere can be wasted and drained when
the eldership faces internal sin issues. When this happens it almost feels that the gospel
is put on hold, while much precious time is spent on
resolving sin issues.
Paul wants
to spare Timothy from these things . He wants Timothy to keep himself pure by making wise, godly leadership
appointments .
5.
5:24-25 : The importance of discernment
These verses develop Paul’s emphasis on the need for caution
and add
a further reason to avoid haste. The fact of the matter is that people are frequently different from what they appear at first. Frequently we
underestimate or overestimate people. The point is that true character only surfaces over a period of
time, and therefore time is needed to establish proven character. The passage in
1 Timothy 3:1-7 makes it clear that an elder’s
character must be established before
he can serve as such.
Now, says Paul, ”the
sins of some men are conspicuous, going
before them to judgement…”. The case
is clear here, but other cases “the
sins of others appear later”, The
same criterion can be applied to good works. Some are immediately apparent, “ and in the same way also good works are conspicuous”, and other good works take a little time before
they surface “…and even those that are not
cannot remain hidden…”
The point is that we cannot judge by mere appearances. We
need discernment. We learn this from an iceberg. 9/10 of the
iceberg is hidden below the surface. In the same way 9/10 of a person’s character is hidden from view, and is this
this 9/10 which is the substance of the iceberg. It is this major fraction that does
the damage, as the captain of the Titanic discovered too late. We
therefore need time to make an assessment
of a person’s character. Attractive
personalities and people often
have hidden weaknesses, whilst ordinary, unassuming people may have hidden strength. Don’t judge a book by its cover, the English Proverb says. You need to read it to make an assessment, and reading takes
time. Elders must never be chosen on
the superficial basis of having high business
or political profiles. Christian
character is everything. It is the essential test that an elder must pass.
We need to learn to discern between the seen and the unseen, the surface
and the depth, the appearance and the reality.
SUMMARY:
So then we have learned 5 things in understanding and dealing with our pastors or elders:
1.
Appreciate
them when they rule well
2. Deal
with them fairly when they do not do well.Make sure that any charge against an elder is substantiated by two or more witnesses.
3.
Elders should be impartial , avoiding all favouritism
4.
Elders should be carefully chosen
5.
A proper
discernment needs to be
made with respect to choosing elders. Look beyond outward appearance.
Whenever the church takes these principles seriously,
mistakes will be avoided and the church will be
preserved in peace and love, and
God’s Name will be protected and
honoured.
Amen!
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