Introduction

Within every church, God has sent leaders to that church to serve. While these leaders are called to serve, and are expected to serve well, not all do. There was an expectation for the leaders to be knowledgeable and stand against false doctrine and not propagate false doctrine. Yet, we know that not every leader within the church at Ephesus was faithful in service nor in holding true to pure doctrine. Paul wrote this first epistle to young Timothy partly because of the issues with leadership and the propensity that the younger widows had in following these false teachers.

We find the follow passages already mentioned and studied within a previous message addressing the false teachers and their character...

1 Timothy 4:1 (AV)1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

1 Timothy 4:2 (AV)2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

1 Timothy 4:3 (AV)3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

1 Timothy 4:4 (AV)4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

1 Timothy 4:5 (AV)5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

We also find that we will address in a future message the failure of the young widows to recognize these false teachings and follow after the false teachers...

Church Leadership: Support and Discipline

2 Timothy 3:6(AV)6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

2 Timothy 3:7 (AV)7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Church Leadership: Support and Discipline

Paul, within our text, shares with Timothy how to address both those that are faithful leaders and those that are not faithful and rather than lead the congregation closer to the Lord through the truth, lead them away from the Lord through false doctrine. How does he say to address leadership? How does he say to support leadership? How does he say to discipline those that were not faithful and were found to be false teachers? Let us go the Word of God and see.

Focus Passage

1 Timothy 5:17(AV)17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

1 Timothy 5:18 (AV)18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

1 Timothy 5:19 (AV)19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.

1 Timothy 5:20 (AV)20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

Outline

Faithful Leadership is to be Supported (vv.17-18)

1 Timothy 5:17–18 (AV)17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. 18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

Within any church there will be two types of leadership, those that are faithful and those that are not. It is a given. Truth be told, there will times within the church where even faithful leaders will not be as faithful as they ought. However, Paul is not talking about occasions of faithfulness or lack there of. He is writing on overall patterns within the leadership of the church.

He uses the term, “elder,” to represent two set types of leadership within both the faithful and unfaithful leadership. For some they may take this term to mean pastors only, however this would be not be Scriptural. The Bible does talk of two separate leadership offices within the church. The Word of God speaks of pastors and deacons. As Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons (cf. Philippians 1:1 AV). While pastors lead as the spiritual under-shepherd of God and overseer of the church, deacons lead through faithful servanthood to the church. Paul previously addressed both these supportive leadership offices previously in first epistle to Timothy in chapter three. Within vv. 18-19, Paul address the faithful elder/leader, the elders that rule well. He places an emphasis on those who lead through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

Before addressing how these faithful leaders are to be viewed and how the church is to respond to them, it is of same importance to understand the meaning of the word, “rule,” within our text. Paul is not stating that the elders should be tyrants or dictators. That is not the case at all. Leaders are to lead through grace and example. They are to serve out of pride or for financial gain, willingly and in response to the call of God on their life, The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock (1 Peter 5:1-3 AV). Who is a faithful leader? How are they to be supported by the church?

I. Faithful leaders are ones who consistently labor for the church

We must remember what Paul stated earlier within his first epistle to Timothy, This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work (1 Timothy 3:1 AV). If one is to faithfully serve the church, they are going to exhaust themselves for the ministry. Their lives are to be lived in sacrifice for the church. True ministry is not easy. True ministry takes time, effort, and sacrifice. It requires personal sacrifice, sacrifice to your family (wife and children), sacrifice of personal desire. When one is faithfully serving they will understand that it is not about them, but those they serve and how God wishes for you to serve them. It takes effort. True ministry is not a 9 to 5, Monday thru Friday job. You are on call 24/7, whether at home, visiting family, or even on vacation. You rarely get time alone and while you are trying to work through individual, marital, pre-premarital, addiction, and other various forms of counseling, you are also trying to prepare messages and bible studies, officiating weddings and funerals, and yes the occasional committee meetings within the church and if you are part of them, the association or convention levels too.

Along with this, this you have the occasional early morning, late night calls that are never good, typically crisis situation. As you are working through all this, you have to find time for your spouse, your children, your family, your spouses family, and at some point take care of your own personal needs (physical, mental, and spiritual). There is nothing easy about being a pastor, when a pastor is serving well. When he is truly understanding and apply what Paul wrote, he desireth a good work. If one faithfully serve the church and labors consistently for the furtherance of the kingdom of God, Paul writes to Timothy that this faithful leader is to, be counted worthy of double honour. What does Paul mean by double honour?

II. Faithful leaders are to be honoured in two ways...

A. Faithful leaders are due respect

When a leader is faithfully serving, faithfully working for the kingdom, it is not the church’s duty to tear them down, gossip about them, complain about them when they are not doing it your way. It is the congregation’s duty to support them, to respect them. Rather than talk about the pastor, pray for the pastor. Rather than tear down and complain about all that the pastor is not doing, pray for them and find ways to encourage them in how they are serving.

True enough, the pastor may not be serving in all the areas that you think he should be. True enough, he may not be doing all that you think he should be or could be doing. However, let me give you an insight into most of the pastors that I know. Most pastors that I know, which are hardworking pastors, that genuinely care about the ministry, care about the church they serve, and in between the church, secular work (if they are bi-vocational), and family duties, most of them feel like abysmal failures and don’t think they are doing enough, but they are doing all they can do. If they had the support of the leadership and the congregation rather than push back and complaints, there probably be more done in their respective churches than anyone could ever imagine, including themselves. If a pastor is faithfully maturing in the Lord, faithfully proclaiming the Word, faithfully praying, and faithfully leading, respect them, encourage them, and most definitely pray for them.

B. Faithful leaders are due financial support

Paul not only tells young Timothy to teach that pastors are to be respected, but they are financially supported. He writes to Timothy, For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward. As we look at this text, Paul references two sources of evidence, both of which he refers to as, the scripture. He references the Old Testament as the Scripture when quoting Deuteronomy 25:4.

Deuteronomy 25:4 (AV)4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

In reference to this text, is important to understand the background. When ox were used for farming, those working with them were to leave their mouth uncovered to allow them to graze the field in which they were working. The field they were working was also their source of feed. In the same way, Paul tells Timothy that those faithfully serving in the church field, should be fed by the same field they are working.

Paul then uses another reference, not from the Old Testament, but from the early teachings of Jesus, which reveals that Paul looked at not only the Old Testament as Scripture but the New Testament as well. Paul saw both testaments as authoritative. His reference to Jesus’ teaching on the faithful servant was probably toward a text similar to Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10:7 (AV)7 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.

Within the context of this teaching of Jesus, He sending forth his disciples to go and share the word, the Gospel. He declares to them go and share, go and serve and remain in the house that welcomes you and work there until they no longer receive you, Go not from house to house. But he states that his disciples were worth being taken care of because they laboured, they worked, for the labourer is worthy of his hire.

Many churches err and many Christians are in err by not giving the proper honor due to their pastor. If he is faithful and serves, he is worthy of double honor. I have understand that not every church can have a full-time pastor and especially not a full-time youth pastor, but a church should be support with encouragement, respect, and financially to the best of their ability those ministers who faithfully serve. Many churches give the minimum in both areas to their ministers and then expect the best from their ministers. I have even had church members through the years tell me that they did not think that I should be paid because what I did was a calling from God. I have been told that I should work outside the church because the members of the church work too. I have people ask me how I like retirement because of only working at the church, now this was at a different church, not here. All of these questions and comments were in biblical error.

I have seen were churches want only full-time pastors, Macedonia is one of them. I’m grateful for this. However, I also have seen where a church flourished because the minister was bi-vocational. Truly not every church can support a pastor and his family in that way, but I have not found a church yet that could not encourage and respect a pastor when they were faithful. I have not found a church yet, that in some way, could not financially support a pastor to the best of their ability outside of just not choosing too. Faithful and sacrificial ministers are worthy of double honor and worthy of their hire.

With all this said, not every pastor, minister is worthy of double honor. Not every pastor, minister is faithful. Not every pastor, minister is serving God the way He has called them to serve. There are those that have made a mockery of God and their calling. There are those pastors that are in error themselves. How does the church address ministers who are not faithful?

Unfaithful Leadership is to be Corrected (vv.19-20)

1 Timothy 5:19–20 (AV)19 Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. 20 Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

I. Unfaithful leadership and false teachers are not to be ignored

Paul understood that not all pastors, ministers, and leadership would be faithful. He spent a good part of his epistle to Timothy to address the false teachers at the church of Ephesus. As you should remember, he writes, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4 AV). As stated earlier, it was these false teachers that were leading away the young widows (2 Timothy 3:6-7) and causing great division within the church, As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do (1 Timothy 1:3-4 AV).

Within this understanding, Paul addresses this issue. While he addresses the issue with unfaithful and false teachers, leadership, he gives boundaries and direction in how to address these unfaithful, lazy, and false teachers.

II. There must be a witness to the false teaching and lack of faithfulness

Paul realized that people are people. They may get side ways with a leader and that leader may be faithful to the word and faithful to the ministry, but because they either didn’t do what one asked or to the level that one thought they should personally do this or that, that they would cry foul. Paul addressed this by stating that there had to be more than one witness. If there was going to be an accusation of unfaithfulness, laziness, or of the leader/teacher being a false teacher, that this could not be a charge of one.

He already addressed the truth that leadership should be respected and supported. Now he addresses that if leadership is going to be accused of unfaithfulness, slothfulness, or teaching false doctrine that even in the accusation there needed be respect. This respect is not necessarily for the individual but for the office in which they hold. He writes, Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. This is response in conjunction with an Old Testament law found in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 19:15 (AV)15 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.

What if there is substantial evidence of unfaithfulness, slothfulness, or teachings of false doctrine?

III. Unfaithful leadership and false teachers are to be held accountable for their actions

Then Paul says correct them. Hold them accountable. He writes to Timothy, them that sin rebuke before all. Those that openly sin, openly rebuke. However, this rebuke, this correction is not for nothing. It is not just because. Paul told Timothy to correct them openly and to hold them accountable to teach others that no one is above the Word of God. If God is stating to hold pastors, ministers, teachers of the Word of God accountable for slothfulness and false teachings, then He means for us all to be held accountable for our sin. When a pastor, teacher believes they are so above the congregation that they are beyond rebuke, they have failed themselves and the Lord they claim to serve. They are to be held accountable.

Conclusion

As a child, a preteen, and even as a youth I was always intimidated by my youth pastor and pastor. I always felt that they were beyond touch. They were God’s man. Here they were, teaching the Bible, standing in front of everyone, and no one ever interrupted or came at them. Everyone, it seemed, was afraid of them. I had a very high view of pastors and youth pastors. As I have aged and especially after twenty years in the ministry, I have realize that youth pastors and pastors are like everyone else. They struggle with sin, with pressures, with temptations, with people, and to put it quite simply, life. They are like everyone else. While, I still have a very high view of the office of pastor and youth pastor, and deacon, I realize they are human. That the same moral code, moral laws, and Word of God that the church is to live by, they are called to live by that same code.

If I were honest, I’m only intimidated by one man to this day, my pastor, Bro. Bob. I’m not sure it is intimidation as much as it is respect and fear of failing him. I have grown to have a great admiration for Bro. Bob and his family. Bro. Bob is my Timothy. While I have this great admiration for Bro. Bob, if I ever saw Bro. Bob fall and that failure became a habit, I would have call him to repentance. This is true for the pastor of any church. If God has called His pastors to repentance, his church to repentance, do you not think he has called you to repentance?

As Peter writes...

1 Peter 4:17 (AV)17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

I ask you to take a deep look into your soul this morning. As yourself, “Do I know the Lord?” If I were to die, where would I spend eternity? Have I repented of my sin and gave my life to Christ? If you can say, “Yes. I know the Lord. I’ve given my life to Christ. I know that I’m a Christian and if I die, I know I’m going to heaven.” Answer one more question, “Does your life match that of what the Word of God has called you to live?”

Many in this world are acknowledging Jesus with their lips, but denying Him by their life style. This is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. - DC Talk, What if I Stumble