Honoring the Elders 1 Timothy 5:17-6:2

-God is glorified when we honor the authorities in our lives

This morning, I find myself in a spot I don’t think I ever really expected to be growing up, serving as the pastor of a local church, here in the pulpit on Sunday morning. I think it’s in part because of how much I held my pastors in esteem. Honestly, I find it a little hard to put myself in the same category of men that I have observed them to be over the years. Nevertheless, here I am! Over the years, I’ve gotten to know those men on a more personal level, and it turns out that they were far more human than I ever would have suspected as a child or a teenager, but that hasn’t really changed the way I feel about those guys. It leads us to a question though: how should I relate to the pastors in my church?

I. Honor Your Elders vv. 17-18

In this morning’s passage, Paul continues this discussion of the honor that we give to each other as members of the household of God

Last week, he addressed Timothy as an overseer and his responsibility to treat the church as his family

Further, Paul reminded the church of their responsibility to care for the widows, because of their inability to care for themselves

Now he is going to shift focus and address how we relate to the elders in our church and other authorities in our lives

The first group that he addresses are the elders in the church, a term that seems to be synonymous with the overseers that he spoke about earlier in this letter

These elders are to be treated with double-honor. But what does that mean

It certainly means that they are worthy of respect from the church family, but this honor goes to another level

The “double-honor” is financial compensation.

I think there are two principles at play here:

There is a sacrifice- if an elder gives himself fully to the work of the church, he is giving up the opportunity to be fully-invested in a career, a business, or other ways to make a living

There is an investment- if an elder is fully invested in the life of the church, he deserves the benefit of his labor.

There is an important note here:

This honor is especially due to the ones who labor in preaching and teaching

Paul makes it clear that this responsibility is of critical importance in the life of the church

It may not be visibly fruitful, but the role of teaching is just as important as the work of shepherding or administration!

Your pastors will be imperfect men, but where you see them laboring in the work that God has given them, take care to treat them with honor!

Winston Churchill exemplified integrity and respect in the face of opposition. During his last year in office, he attended an official ceremony. Several rows behind him two gentlemen began whispering. “That’s Winston Churchill.” “They say he is getting senile.” “They say he should step aside and leave the running of the nation to more dynamic and capable men.” When the ceremony was over, Churchill turned to the men and said, “Gentlemen, they also say he is deaf!”

II. Treat the Elders with Impartiality vv. 19-21

Next, Paul gives an instruction for a particular circumstance: what should we do when an elder in the church fails?

Clearly, this is not a casual situation. What is being described is an accusation of sinful behavior

Timothy must not receive these accusations without multiple people who had direct access to the situation

The stakes are high enough that a singular witness is insufficient: But why?

There is something in the nature of people that delights in the failure of a leader

The Enemy delights when the church is discredited through the failure of a leader, whether real or imagined

When you receive a juicy piece of gossip about a church leader, be very careful about what you do with it!

However, if the charge is confirmed, it must be dealt with firmly!

If we do not take the sin of our leaders seriously, we cannot take sin seriously anywhere else

So often, the world is not offended by our stance against sin; they are shocked by our inconsistency!

Further, whenever we fail to address the sin in the life of one leader, we give other leaders a blank check to behave poorly

The key to all of this is impartiality

It is wrong to treat an elder in an unjust way out of a sense that they deserve a “higher standard”

At the same time, it is wrong to ignore sin in the life of an elder because of his position

We must judge them with fairness

I served a church during a really unique season where the deacon leadership was pretty divided on their opinion of me and my staff team. I had two leaders who thought I couldn’t do anything right and I had one who couldn’t do anything wrong. Obviously, it was a little easier to love the one who showed me so much honor! I’ll never forget the day that Keith told me that he learned how to honor his pastor from his father. He told me, “If the Pastor at our church stood up and quoted the national anthem, my daddy would have said it was the finest sermon he’d ever heard!” I don’t know that any pastor needs that much honor, but it meant a lot in the moment. What every pastor needs is impartial treatment and a fair amount of grace.

III. Consider Their Works with Patience vv. 22-25

Third, Paul issues a warning to Timothy: He must make careful examination of any elder

He must not be hasty to lay hands on a potential elder, because only time will tell the genuineness of their faith

Likewise, he must take care of himself, that he not sacrifice his own purity by participating in the sins of others

At this point, Paul offers Timothy some wisdom that is marked by mercy

Timothy has seemingly taken his purity so seriously that he refused to drink wine

Timothy lived this commitment out, in spite of the practical cost: it was causing him physical sickness, especially of the stomach

Timothy needs to give himself the grace to drink the wine he needs to bring healing to his stomach

Timothy, like all the rest of the pastors I know are just human.

They have genuine pains, problems, and passions

They ought not be held to unreasonable standards; Jesus has already been enough, so your pastor doesn’t have to be!

The truth is that the quality of a pastor’s ministry will prove itself over time

Some sin appears early, but some only proves out over time

The same is true with good works; you find out the fruit of a pastor’s ministry through careful consideration of the whole picture of their work.

Romans 8:33–39

[33] Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

IV. Honor Others for God’s Glory vv. 1-2

Finally, Paul addresses an even more sensitive subject, the relationship between a bondservant and his master

Make no mistake, this is a form of slavery. Though not directly correlating to the slavery of the early-Modern era, it was awful as we would understand it

We don’t have a direct application of this principle, but I believe that the closest we have is the relationship between an employee and their employer

How do you treat the person who has authority over you in the work place?

We need to treat them as worthy of honor

Interestingly, this is given without qualification; the honor is not given because our boss is gracious, good, or effective

This is even more true when our boss is a fellow-believer

We cannot let the relational familiarity that we have with a brother or sister in Christ become an excuse for bad behavior

Instead, out of love for the body of Christ, we ought to live with a greater concern for those who benefit from our hard work

The honor is given for the glory of God

We need to understand this and live by it!

This is the example Christ gave to us.

Philippians 2:3–8

[3] Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. [4] Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. [5] Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

-Do you have this love?

-Are you showing this love?