Evaluating Elders

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

Life is full of choices. This past week, Grace and I began Christmas shopping. Choices are required. When we go out to a restaurant, more choices are required. It can be a bit overwhelming.

<Story of Brazilian team ordering in a restaurant>.

Of course, some choices are much more important than others. Choosing a spouse is more significant than choosing a pizza topping. What makes choices scary are the relationships that form through the choice.

Involvement:

Of course choosing a pastor is an important choice for a church, one that forms a vital relationship.

Context:

As we continue through the last couple of chapters in Paul’s letter to Timothy, we are encountering the specific issues that Timothy faced in the church in Ephesus. The false teachers and their teachings had created specific problems. Paul has given general instructions regarding things like worship and leadership selection in the first part of the letter. Now, he is advising Timothy on some of the specifics.

Timothy is going to have to deal with these specifics by dealing with particular people and particular problems. Last week Timothy was to instruct the church regarding dealing with widows within their midst. This week, the instructions turn to the leaders of the church—the elder, or pastor as we know the person.

Preview:

We should remember that Paul anticipates that this letter will be read to the entire church; by instructing Timothy, Paul is also instruction the church. Such is particularly apparent as the instructions that Paul gives Timothy for dealing with the pastor will require ongoing attention. The church members collectively must learn the main point of the verses that we are going to look at this evening: The church is responsible for the relationship with its pastors.

The church is responsible for the relationship with its pastors. This idea is as true today as it was in Ephesus in Timothy’s day. The church is responsible for the relationship with its pastors.

This evening, we are going to extract 5 principles from our verses that Timothy was to teach the church in Ephesus. We will not spend a lot of time on them since we have our business meeting still tonight, but we will briefly consider them and how they apply to us in 2020 America.

Transition from introduction to body:

The church is responsible for the relationship with its pastors. The first principle of that relationship is…

BODY:

I. Principle 1: Respect and compensate pastors who work diligently.

We see this principle in verses 17 and 18 … <read 1 Tim 5:17–18>.

As I explained when we looked at the qualifications for a pastor in the first verses of chapter 3, the terms “elder,” “overseer,” and “pastor” are used interchangeably in the NT for the person who holds the main office of leadership in the church. Since the Reformation, protestants have tilted toward the title “pastor” for the man in this office. It is a spiritual office as well as administrative. The person is responsible for teaching the word of God and ensuring that the church, both collectively and individually, are striving to live by the principles it contains. Teaching you this evening about your duties toward that position is part of the role, even though I am in the office personally.

The first principle that Paul gives is that men who fulfill the position well…or with excellence in a commendable way, as the word “well” means…are to be considered worthy of “double honor.” Paul even supports this idea by showing it is consistent with both the OT, he quotes Deut 25:4, and the words of Jesus, quoting Luke 10:7. The church should honor the pastor because Scripture supports the idea.

There are two things to note in the specifics of verse 17. First, the idea of “rule” is that of managing. What is the pastor to manage? His “preaching and teaching.” In fact, he is to work hard in his labor over these things. So that means that your main evaluation of the pastor from a work-performance standpoint is whether or not he is managing his work toward preaching and teaching well.

Second, what does “double honor” mean? That actually is a question that has generated a lot of discussion over the centuries I believe that the idea is really “twofold honor” rather than “double” anything. Twofold in the sense of two types of honor. One type is to give the proper respect that the office deserves. The second type is financial compensation as illustrated by the quotations in verse 18. That is why I labeled this first principle “respect and compensate,” together they make up the “double honor” that the church is to show to the pastor who works diligently at preaching and teaching.

Application

For as long as I have been aware of things, I believe that this church has done a good job overall in this area. I try to focus on preaching and teaching, and I appreciate the respect and compensation you provide. So…I am going to move along even though the principle clearly applies in 2020 America.

Transition:

Principle 1: Respect and compensate pastors who work diligently. Moving on,…

II. Principle 2: Reject unsupported accusations against pastors.

This is found in verse 19…<read 1 Tim 5:19>.

Illustration

If our political climate over the past few months demonstrates anything it is that those who are visible can be accused of all sorts of things. If every fringe accusation made was to be believed, both President Trump and Joe Biden would have to be placed into the category of totally despicable human being. Fortunately, the really fringe accusations are outside the realm of credibility and are presented with no substantiation whatsoever by people who simply hate what each man stands for.

Well, the pastor has the most visible position in the church. It is possible that he too might be accused of outlandish things by someone who hates what he stands for. Furthermore, because he is in the position of confronting people regarding their sins, he is in the position of generating animosity at times. That animosity can lead to the creation of false accusations in the attempt to destroy the pastor. The church is required to recognize that such scenarios are possible and reject any unsupported accusation against the pastor. There truly is to be an assumption of innocence until proven otherwise. The benefit of the doubt must be given.

Notice, I say “unsupported accusations.” This does not mean that the church should refuse to listen to an accusation. Rather, the immediate question that should come up is what evidence is there to support the accusation being made.

Application

This really is important to remember. I have not had any problem of in this area in our church, but I have heard of many pastors who have. I know of a couple of churches who lost good pastors because an ungrounded accusation was made regarding the handling of funds and rather than look for substantiation of the accusations, enough members in the church believed the groundless accusation that the pastor had to resign. In both cases, by the way, eventually the church realized that the accusation was completely false, entirely formulated by someone who was mad at the pastor over a personal matter.

We live in a day where the idea is increasingly becoming to believe the accuser until innocence is proven. Such behavior should not occur within the church.

Transition:

Reject unsupported accusations against pastors…principle 2. On the flip side, number 3…

III. Principle 3: Publicly rebuke pastors who continue in sin.

Look at verses 20 and 21…<read 1 Tim 5:20–21>.

Pastors are not sin free. In fact, Satan loves to attack the pastor because bringing down the leader hurts the whole organization. We should never blindly believe that a pastor is above sin. If an accusation of sin is made against a pastor, it should be dealt with in the same way as with any other church member, we should follow the principles of spiritual discipline. The pastor should be confronted regarding his sin by the one who knows about it. If he doesn’t repent and turn from the sin, he should be confronted by multiple and so forth. If he refuses to turn from his sin, he must be brought before the church, just as any other church member would be following the process laid out in Matt 18.

The emphasis in the verses that we just read, though, land on the public nature of the action taken for the sake of the community. We need to remember that the pastor is the public leader of the church. For that reason, it is possible that his sin will render him disqualified for the office according to the qualifications given in chapter 3. Because his role is public, dealing with his sin must be public. Public handling will result in even his discipline fulfilling a teaching and purifying role in the church. People will see his disgrace and consider their own lives.

It will also possible that people will have strong personal feelings toward the pastor—for or against—because of his public role. Well, those personal feelings should not influence the churches actions in dealing with the pastor. There should be no bias. There should be no partiality. Disqualifying sin must be addressed publicly. In fact, this probably was the primary concern of this entire passage—Timothy had to deal with the false teachers who were distorting the gospel message in Ephesus, regardless of who they were, and he had to do it publicly.

Transition:

Principle 3, publicly rebuke pastors who continue in sin. Now, I’m going to skip over verse 22 as it actually goes with the principle that is rounded out in verses 24 and 25 and deal first with the principle found in verse 23…

IV. Principle 4: Encourage practical behavior from pastors.

Paul writes in verse 23…<read 1 Tim 5:23>.

Apparently, in trying to maintain his respectability, Timothy had gone to extremes in his own personal conduct. It could be that the false teachers had an extreme view of purity that included abstaining from certain things, there are some indications of that. It could be that Timothy simply wanted to ensure that he set the right example for not being addicted to alcohol. Whatever the case, he was refraining from all alcohol and that was creating a personal problem for him. Much like you still find alcohol as an ingredient in cough medicine today, wine was widely used for medicinal purposes in that day. Timothy’s complete avoidance was not helping him recover from his frequent ailments and hindering his effectiveness. Essentially, Paul tells him to knock it off. Paul carefully qualifies his recommendation with the word, “little,” “little wine,” but he tells Timothy to drink that which will make him healthier. He wants Timothy to be practical, to use the remedies available so that he will remain an effective minister.

From a principle standpoint, the church should continue to encourage practical behavior from pastors. Now, I do not believe that there is any reason that alcohol is needed today…unless it is in medicine as an ingredient, like I mentioned… as we have other options, but things like vacations and days off are somewhat analogous. The church should encourage practical lifestyle choices of their pastor that make him an effective, healthy minister.

Transition:

Encourage practical behavior from pastors, principle number 4. Fifth, the church must…

V. Principle 5: Select pastors carefully.

We see this idea in verses 22 as well as 24 and 25….<read 1 Tim 5:22, 24-25>.

The pastor is such an important leadership position, having the wrong man in that position is extremely detrimental to the church. At the same time, removing the wrong man from the position is both difficult and disruptive for the church. For that reason, care must be taken to carefully select the right man for the office…that is what laying hands upon means, selecting a man as pastor for the church.

Paul indicates that there is moral blame that goes along with selecting the wrong man. But how can you know if a man is the right man or wrong man? The answer to that according to verses 24 and 25 is that you must take time to observe. Some sins are evident immediately. For example, you see a person blow up over someone spilling coffee on him and you know that he has a temper problem. Other sins though are not so visible. Same is true for good things. Some things you can see right away, but other things like patience, take time to manifest itself. Thus, the church is to take time to get to know a man before they put that man into the position of pastor.

Not only is the church to take time, though, the church also is to look below the surface and Investigate the man to know what his character is like overall.

Application

Frankly, this is probably the hardest principle for us to put into place with the way pastoral selection as generally progressed in 2020 America. Pastoral selection has largely followed the job recruitment process of corporate America. Most churches now expect pastors to have seminary training…and usually some experience in the ministry beforehand as well…so the candidates for the pastorate are generally men from outside the church itself. It is hard to get to know a man in a short time to the extent that these verses require. Of course, churches can compensate for the lack of observation somewhat by an open dialog with church leaders in the church the man is coming from, but it is still second hand.

Illustration

I remember actually being nervous when the church was looking at me as a candidate here because I had been in the church for so many years prior to that time. I had been a member here 17 years at the time you considered me for the position as your pastor. I knew that you knew my character flaws fully by that time, there was nowhere to hide. I hope, though, that such knowledge also helped the men leading the church in the selection process to have more confidence because they had personally observed me for so long.

Transition from body to conclusion:

The church is responsible to take great care selecting a man for the important position of elder—the pastor. The fifth principle is select pastors carefully.

CONCLUSION

We make a lot of choices in life. We choose Christmas gifts. We choose pizza toppings. We choose spouses. We choose pastors. Having selected the pastor, the church must deal with the ongoing relationship that results.

The church is responsible for the relationship with its pastors. Five principles:

1. Respect and compensate pastors who work diligently

2. Reject unsupported accusations against pastors.

3. Publicly rebuke pastors who continue in sin.

4. Encourage practical behavior from pastors.

5. Select pastors carefully.

The church is responsible for the relationship with its pastors.