Restoring a Biblical Eldership Part 3
The Pastoral Epistles • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
Introduction:
I believe that one of the greatest failures in our modern Church is a failure at the role of the Elder.
And I am not only talking about the failure, at times, on the level of elders, but I am talking also talking about failure at the the level of the congregation.
Because just like the elders have a responsibility to the congregation of which we have looked, the congregation also has a responsibility to the elders.
Because if the saying is true that the congregation will only rise above the level of its leaders, then the congregation needs to ensure that they are doing right by their elders.
Now, we have seen together that the Apostle had in mind when he spoke on this subject was with plurality of elders.
We saw that the NT shows here that there are the plurality of leaders that are eligible for the honor for which the text calls.
Now, as I told you last time together that this is difficult passage for any non-self seeking Pastor to preach because can come off as self seeking.
However to not preach the entire counsel of God because of the way that it could come across is just as dangerous as preaching it for self-seeking reasons.
And I trust that you understand my heart in this and that is to only teach you the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ loves His Church so much that He died for her and being that He loves the Church to that degree He is not going to let His Church die the death.
And because He loves the Church He wants the Church the operate in such a way as brings glory to Him and to have a place of worship for His people.
Because the fact remains, that we do not remain inside of these hallowed walls and our responsibility is to take the message of the Lord Jesus outside of these walls to a lost world.
And the best way to bring about the joy of sharing what the Lord is doing here is for there to be an atmosphere of oneness here; where you understand the responsibility of the Elders to the congregation and the responsibility of the congregation to the Elders.
Right now, we are in the text that speaks about the Restoring Biblical Eldership and that has to do with the way the congregation treats the Elders.
Back in chapter 3 and 4 we went into great detail about the responsibility of the Elders to the congregation.
And here is latter part of chapter 5 we are noticing how the congregation is to treat the Elders.
We noticed first of all the The Church Must Honor Their Position.
The first thing that needs to happen in order to restore Biblical Eldership in the Church in that the Church must honor the position of the Elders.
We saw that very clearly in our text in verse 17-18.
I. The Church Must Honor Their Position (vs. 17-18)
I. The Church Must Honor Their Position (vs. 17-18)
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.
And we that those Elders that rule well are to be counted worthy of double honor.
And we saw that the term to “rule well” speaks regarding the elders ability to manage, lead, give aid.
All Elders are worthy of honor, but the Elders that give special attention to the care of the Church are worthy of double honor.
Then we also told you that the honor there has to do with two areas; respect and remuneration.
And when the text says that the Elders that rule well are worthy of double honor that is speaking to the fact that the Elders are to receive ample respect and ample remuneration or pay.
We notice together the Apostles lengthy discussion on this fact from 1 Corinthians 9, where he talks about that every Elder has the right to expect that the Church is going to compensate them for their work of the ministry.
In fact, at one point he lays so much an importance on this that he says:
Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?
In other words, what soldier goes off to war and funds himself outside of the war to survive?
If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
Paul says, if we give you spiritual food, should we not expect to receive material things from you?
Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.
Notice that Paul says that the “Lord ordained...”
Where did the Lord command this?
Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat.
And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
The Lord has always ordained that God’s people take care of God’s men.
And he says:
Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
You take extra good care of the men that work to the point of exhaustion to give you the word of God and Doctrine.
For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.
And we saw those principles from the OT in Dt. 25:4, that if you would not muzzle a working animal who provides to give you physical food, do not muzzle the men who give you spiritual food.
But there is a second way that the Church works to restore Biblical Eldership.
One is The Church Must Honor Their Position.
II. The Church Must Harbor Their Reputation (vs. 19)
II. The Church Must Harbor Their Reputation (vs. 19)
Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
Now, it is very important that you understand that part of honoring your elders is in this whole matter of harboring or protecting their reputation, and thus ensuring their proper treatment.
Pastor’s are and forever will be, on this earth, on the hot seat.
And there are always those people who are lining up to falsely accuse the man of God.
And people do this for a number of reasons.
First, some people resent his calling.
There are just those people that carry around a lot of resentment and hostility and it may even be personal or it may be just a general hostility towards many things.
Because the fact of the matter is that there are some people that are not happy unless there is trouble somewhere.
Even typically mild mannered persons who get out of fellowship with the Lord will end up people that are resentful and bitter and love trouble.
And if they cannot find some, they will manufacturer it theirselves and usually the aim of such trouble making is at the Elders.
They are the easiest and best targets because if you can cause doubt in people’s minds about the Elders then you can really disannul their ministry and for some reason in the corruption of such thinking, they believe that this makes their sin better.
Some there are some who resent the calling of the men of God.
Some people the teaching.
Sometimes people take a different view, and generally it is on the issue of holiness, and they react negatively against it and perhaps in their anger and hostility they begin some kind of campaign to falsely accuse and discredit the man of God.
Sometimes it is because people resist Biblical authority.
The resist biblical teaching and they strike out our for revenge to one who has them to accountability before God or who has brought them real feelings of guilt over what they know is wrong but really do not want to give up.
The Puritan writer John Trapp put it this way, “Truth hath always a scratcht face.”
When a man teaches the truth it never comes without scares.
And what is always true no matter the reason, when a person or persons set out to discredit publicly the man of God they become the pawn of Satan and his emissaries to tear down and discredit what God wants to do.
Now, of course, I am talking about people that are doing these kinds of things maliciously and usually based on rumors, because that is Paul’s point.
The rumors that are geared towards the man of God by people that are being used of the Devil.
Listen, it is a sacred trust to be in the ministry and the Devil will use any ploy and any person to try and tear down the man of God.
Because when that trust has been questioned, the effectiveness of that minstry is greatly effected, because the Pastor’s believability has been brought into question by one that is seeking to destroy.
If you think about it, really, the most devastating things that were done to Christ were not physical, but were accusations that He spends all of Hid time with drunks, prostitutes, and wicked people.
They said that He was a wine-bibber and a glutton and that He was possessed with demons.
And all of that was in an effort to discredit Him publicly.
Now, this was a real issue in Ephesus and it is has always been a real issue and, listen will always be a real issue as long as Satan is alive and Christians continue to give Him the ammunition that he needs by always being willingly and ready to receive gossip about the Pastors.
Now, in the text Paul is talking about Elders, that is who the text is about.
Those men who have been picked by God to lead and feed the flock.
But notice what the text says:
Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
Would your please note the word in our text “receive.”
It is the Greek word “παραδέχομαι” and I think one source gives a good sense of the meaning.
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 31.52 ἀποδέχομαι; ἀποδοχή, ῆς; παραδέχομαι
to come to believe something to be true and to respond accordingly
Let me elaborate on that just a little bit by showing the usage of the word in another passage that shares that same Greek root.
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Now, would you please not the word “receive” in the text.
It is the word “ἀποδέχομαι” and carries the idea of accepting and then acting.
The folks at Pentecost “received” the Word and then acted on that reception by being baptized.
And by comparison in our text it speaks of people that “receive” or could be translated “welcome” accusation and then act on the reception by believing it and usually spreading what they have been told.
The verb in our text also means to acknowledge an accusation as being correct.
And accusation is “κατηγορία” and speaks about a “complaint” with emphasis on the content of the charge.
Now, what does the Apostle says to do with such an “complaint?”
Do not even consider it, just flatly reject.
John MacArthur Sermon Archive Restoring Biblical Eldership, Part 2
don’t even investigate an unsubstantiated accusation made against a pastor/elder. It ought to be ignored.
Listen, to put it simply, one of the best ways you can protect your pastors and protect your Church is with a deaf ear to accusation; it is that simple.
When a man is in the place of spiritual leadership, he has to anticipate that hateful, jealous, sinful people will falsely accuse him to try to ruin his ministry.
And people can and will often say anything to do it.
You know, if you go back to the OT yo will find that one after another of spiritual leaders were beset by false accusations.
Joseph, Moses, Jeremiah, Nehemiah.
And then when you come to the NT, Christ was crucified under false accusations, Paul under false accusations, defending himself again and again and again in his epistles.
And false accusations can, over time, tear a man of God to shreds, when the people of the Church receive them as truth.
However, it is especially bad, when you have people inside the Church, who are not being led by the spirit, spreading accusations inside and outside the Church against the elders.
One such person that has come to my mind is one pastor that I knew in my youth; in fact, he was the administrator of the Christian school of which I graduated.
He came to the Church when I was in my sophomore year with so much joy and plans for the work of that Church.
And because I had surrendered to the call to preach myself, he and I immediately (along with my parents) become close friends.
In fact, the first trip that I made to Louisa County was with him because the County had given our Christian school some desks.
However, not much time had past before he began to feel the sting of an ungrateful, uncaring congregation who had began to believe and beat on him with accusations; some (if not most) coming from within the Church.
By the time my senior year of high school came, the pressure was mounting very great and it began to even weaken and tear down the relationship that we had.
Rumors, accusations, and division in the Church had become so fierce at this man, that depression began to become a reality.
His family began to take him to doctors and he was put on anti-depression medications and his family was told to keep anything out of the house that he could use to harm himself.
Fast forward a couple years after my graduation.
I was sitting at my desk and received a phone call that this preacher one day during school, went into the home of one of the other Elders and took a gun that he had in his home; not sure how he knew one was there, but he did.
He went out onto the back porch of that elders home and with the gun he took his own life.
And make matters worse, if they can get any worse, he was discovered by a young man in the high school who had heard the gun shot; I had attended Church with that young man and his family for years, so the situation is very close to me all the way around.
That was one of the saddest, non-family, funerals that I have ever attended; to watch as his widow was escorted down the aisle by their son (the principle of the school) barely able to put one foot in front of the other for such unimaginable grief; that image is forever etched in my brain.
Now, that is an extreme example no doubt and one that, thankfully, has not been repeated with any other Pastor that I know; however, I am sure that it has happened many times to men in the ministry.
Beat on by accusation and grief, driven to the point where this man did not think that life was worth carrying on; that somehow the world would be a better place without him.
And I am here to tell you, we had our differences no doubt, but the world is not a better place without him.
Again, we had our differences, but we shared many, many times of great fellowship…he was a friend.
Some may be quick to say, “Well, it seems to me that he should have been lead by the Spirit enough to get strength from Him.”
Folks, that is a copout, because if you want to use the same logic, I guess the members of the Church should have been led by the Spirit enough to love and support their Pastor and harbour his reputation instead of taking accusations and just running with them and beat and beat and beat on their preacher.
This example, extreme as it is, is a reason why the Church should be so careful to harbour the reputation of the Elders and just flatly ignore any accusations that is brought against the Elder.
Because even if an Elder does not go to this extreme, how passionate and how successful do you think that an Elder that is beaten on with false accusation will be?
Because you see, accusation is a standard approach of the enemy to discredit.
You see, men’s ministries can be brought to a halt due to no fault of their own, but due to the fault of people that who will listen to a false accusation.
Because if Satan cannot get a man to fall into sin, if he cannot cause a man to stumble into evil, then Satan may cause some who more willingly will stumble into evil to become a group of false accusers, the net effect of which is to discredit the man as if he himself had sinned.
You see, it is not that the Elders are above responsibility and accountability, but the point is that the Elders jobs are so delicate and easily ruined that they are to be protected from any accusation that cannot be substantiated.
And so the best insulation of the man of God against that is a deaf congregation in the sense of hearing accusation.
And the text tells us that an unsubstantiated accusation is one that is made without the cooperation of two or three witnesses, the text says.
Would you please note the word “witnesses?”
It is the word “μάρτυς” and literally speaks about a person who witnesses something.
The only time that you ever entertain it, and that does not mean that it is true, is when it comes with the force of two or three confirming witnesses.
In other words, it is not one person who has some kind of an act of aggression against the man the God.
If a person comes to you with an accusations against an Elder, the principle of restoring Biblical eldership is to say that unless that can be confirmed by two or three confirming witnesses (and a witness is someone who actually saw the event of which he is being accuses), a deaf ear is the best thing you can do to someone who brings an accusation against an elder.
Now, the principle of two or three witnesses goes all the way back to the OT.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
There was no accusation against a person to be upheld apart from two or three confirming, credible witnesses.
In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 18, in the discussion of Church disciple, the same principle holds true.
But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Now, Christ made this requirement for everyone in the Church.
What is unique to the Elders is that they may not even be accused of a sin unless there are multiple witnesses.
Two or three are required, not for a conviction, but before an accusation can be entertained at all.
Now, please understand that this is not for the purpose of “bullet-proofing” a sinning Elder, but it is intended to protect the integrity and ministry of a man that is being falsely accused without witnessing cooperation.
Because if people go and raise a problem for the Elder based on the word of one person and does not have two or three witnesses that saw what supposedly happened and then raise an “investigation” (many times in the form of Church members spreading rumors to each other), then even if the accusations are ultimately proved to be unfounded, the man’s reputation will be tarnished.
That is why, unless there are two or three witnesses that saw the actual accused events, then a deaf ear to the accusation should be the practice of the Church in order to restore Biblical Eldership.
Elders are never to be at the mercy of frivolous, evil accusers and find themselves taking away time from the study of God’s Word for having to go around to their people justifying themselves to people who are eager or willing to believe such lies.
1 Timothy The Accusation of Elders
As John Stott wisely observes, “Adherence to this biblical principle would have silenced many a malicious talebearer and saved many pastors from unjust criticism and unnecessary suffering.”
This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
The phrase “raise a false report” is a way of saying, “You are not to spread a false report,” unless you have two or three witnesses that can credibly witness to the exact same events of which the accusation is being made.
Lacking such support, the accusation must not even be taken up or entertained. The reputation of the elder must not be unnecessarily damaged, and his work must not suffer unnecessary interruption.
Warren Wiersbe made a good statement on this:
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Five: Order in the Church! (1 Timothy 5)
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” may be a good slogan for a volunteer fire department, but it does not apply to local churches. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” could possibly mean that somebody’s tongue has been “set on fire of hell!” (James 3:6)
John Calvin said:
1 Timothy The Accusation of Elders
none are more exposed to slanders and insults than godly teachers. This comes not only from the difficulty of their duties, which are so great that sometimes they sink under them, or stagger and halt or take a false step, so that wicked men find many occasions of finding fault with them; but added to that, even when they do all their duties correctly and commit not even the smallest error, they never avoid a thousand criticisms. It is indeed a trick of Satan to estrange men from their ministers so as gradually to bring their teaching into contempt. In this way not only is wrong done to innocent people whose reputation is undeservedly injured, but the authority of God’s holy teaching is diminished.
Let me say a word to those who might accuse; you should be very careful when you accuse someone who is in the ministry.
You should be very careful to speak against a godly leader,
Let me give you a little insight into this matter of caution.
I am reminded of an account in 1 Samuel 24.
The background of that account that Saul is the king but he is a rejected king, he is rejected by God, he will never be part of the kingly line, he will never produce the Messiah from his loins.
Saul is a rejected sinful king.
The anointed king who is God’s choice is a young man by the name of David.
Saul is very much an adversary to David and wants to take his life.
And in the midst of all of this a very, very interesting situation happens.
And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.
He wanted to kill David, eliminate the enemy.
He took 3000 chosen men out of Israel.
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
Engedi is a desert place, jagged mountains.
And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
Now that little phrase “went in to cover his feet” is an OT euphemism for a visit to the mens room.
Now, I do not want to get in to deeply in this discussion, but in those days what happened was you took your robe and just kind of threw it out as you crouched down.
And that is what is known as covering your feet, and we will leave it at that.
And it says at the end of verse 3 that “David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.”
So, the men’s room is occupied and it is occupied with David and his men.
So you David and his men in the cave and then you have Saul in a very vulnerable position, and they could pounce on him and kill him in an instant.
The coup would be over and David would be King.
And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily.
I mean this is the day that we have been waiting for David, get rid of Saul so you can be King.
And David off a little piece of Saul’s robe.
And it came to pass afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.
Now there is very conscientious guy, he is feeling guilty because he cut his robe.
And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.
That is amazing sensitivity isn’t it?
I mean that is like saying, do not even step on the Pastors toes, incredible.
But this also symbolizes something that was in David.
In his heart there was hostility towards Saul and he could have taken his life but he backed off, even cutting his robe, that small act of hostility seemed to him to be sinful because this was, after all, the man who was king because the Lord anointed the man, the Lord did make him king.
So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.
He would not let them kill Saul.
David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.
That is amazing respect for one that is your adversary, but is the anointed of the Lord.
The attitude of David is, “I do not touch the Lord’s anointed.”
You know what happened a little in the story?
Saul got in the middle of a losing battle and decided that he wanted to take his life.
And so, he got the assistance of an Amalekite to help him in his suicide and he leaned on his spear and died.
In 2 Samuel 1, notice this, David interviews this man that did that.
Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him:
And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.
David is weeping even at the death of Saul.
And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.
And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the LORD’S anointed?
How could you do that on a man that has been set apart by God.
And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died.
Notice, not only did David have the man who assisted in Saul suicide killed but he said to him as he was bleeding and dying.
And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I have slain the LORD’S anointed.
I understand not every detail of the story analagous but it gives you an idea that God says, “do not speak up against or come up against my anointed.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Great seriousness must be considered in attacking any faithful servant of the Lord.
So, when you set our to falsely accuse God’s servant, you are walking on treacherous ground.
Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
Two principles of restoring Biblical Eldership; The Church Must Honor Their Position, and the Church Must Harbor Their Reputation.
