4 Rules About Pastors - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Please meet me in the book of first Timothy in chapter five, and place your finger on verse 17. Let's read together. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the scriptures say, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain, and the laborer deserves his wages. Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. Let's pray.

Lord, these are your words. We believe in. Now, make them real in our lives. Renew our minds. Change us.

Lord, we wanna be a faithful church that honors every instruction that you have. Keep yourself pure. Let's pray. Lord, these are your words. We believe in.

Now make them real in our lives. Renew our minds. Change us. Lord, we wanna be a faithful church that honors every instruction that you Up to this point, as we've been studying the book of first Timothy as a church, we have discussed about how God instructs us to relate to men and women, how to respectfully engage with both young and old, how we should deal with those who have needs, and how we should give them special attention, how families play a role in alleviating burdens from the church and playing a part in helping others. But today, we turn our attention to where our study takes us and that is about specific rules that apply to pastors, to elders, to overseers, to those who lead in specific congregations.

Now let me say this right from the beginning, you can imagine how preaching on a subject like this can be awkward, Right? Put yourself in my shoes for a little moment here. It can be uncomfortable, and therefore, I think it's appropriate to make some personal things clear before we unpack these verses. First off, if I had the choice, I probably would rather have somebody from the outside come in and teach on how the church should treat their pastor. Right?

Because this is what is so unique about these set of instructions. They're not mainly about how the pastor should operate and serve his people, it's how the people should actually relate and see and serve their pastor. A little uncomfortable. But here's the beauty about exegetical preaching. That's a fancy way of saying where you take a book of the Bible, and you go verse by verse and explain what God is saying in its immediate context.

A topical sermon is where you say, I'm gonna preach today on jealousy, and and you go in different places in the Bible and you pull truths about that topic. When we do exegetical preaching, we're going verse by verse in a book, and what that does is it forces you to unpack and to teach on things that you might avoid if it was up to you. It challenges you to to study, to look into things, and then to come up and say, this is what God is saying about this matter, and not just turn a blind eye to it because it's uncomfortable or controversial. And so, this morning, I did not choose to come with this text because I want to hide behind the authority of the Bible and and try to manipulate your heart so that you can get the point and and do something for me. I hope that you know that God bears witness to that and I hope your spirit can bear witness to that.

And so that's clear, but secondly I wanna say that as someone who bears the responsibility of the very role that I'm describing here in a moment, and that we're gonna uncover, I am deeply aware and grateful for the amount of love, honor, and respect that I've experienced from this congregation. I can say that I feel a sense of reward every single time I come into contact with each person in this place. I have no complaints before God. In fact, I never thought that being in ministry would be this sweet, would be this rewarding. And I'll tell you this, it's not about the money, it's not about the fame, but to know that there are people that genuinely love me is a manifestation of the grace of God.

On a weekly basis, I sense God's love, care, support. I feel your prayers. And so I stand here to give these instructions with no concern or no doubt, but with an extreme joy in my heart already, just wanting to be faithful to the text and wanting us to be informed with what God has in mind, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. God knows in my prayers that I thank him for you all, and I praise him that I get to serve with a congregation that loves him and fears him. So thank you.

With that being said, let's be reminded that as we're sitting under God's word, it's really God's word here. It's not about man's opinion about how elders should be regarded, it's about the Holy Spirit's set directions for how we should see and view our leaders. And so this morning, it may not be as gripping as a specific topical message, but it's important nonetheless. And so I present to you four rules pertaining to pastors. Number one, pastors should be provided for.

Number two, pastors should be protected. Number three, pastors must be held accountable. And number four, pastors must be selected very carefully. Let's go through these together. Paul says, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.

Now remember, every local church is called by God to be managed by plurality of pastors. There is no such thing as one church being run by one pastor. There must be at least a minimum of two, and depending upon the size or the demands of a congregation, each church is called and has the right to discern how many elders they should elect and raise up to serve the purposes of God in that church. And we see even a distinction here in the roles and responsibilities. You have different pastors in that church and they might each have a different focus or task.

But one thing is for certain, there's at least one man in that leadership that will consistently occupy the pulpit and teach as the main voice in that church. And that's why Paul makes a distinction that they are worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. Meaning that there's gonna be one who's gonna dedicate his time to the task of studying and declaring the word of the Lord. Now, you've heard this over and over in the study, but let's be reminded again. The main job of a pastor is to mind the word of God.

He's to excavate. He's to dig up these truths throughout the week and then polish these gems and call the people to behold the wonders of God. And even here, Paul says, especially those who labor. That's an intense word. It means to be exhausted.

It means to be to grow weary in. That tells us here that most of his energy is gonna be in this activity. And he will come to this word and so intense is his devotion to it that his body, his mind, his soul will feel the effects of it. And if there's any spirit filled biblical Christian that sits in a pew, you better believe that they can discern that when a pastor comes to that pulpit, they are aware whether or not he is devoted to the word of God, to this degree or not. Because it's proven when he preaches.

When he opens his mouth, you will know this is a person who labors and and preaching and teaching. This is not something that they just try to fill up with different things. No. They come and they bring meat. They come and they bring truth.

The substance is the scriptures. And then you can also tell that this is a person that really doesn't know their bible, that they'll use some things here and there, but it's about them or it's about stories or etcetera. And you know what the Holy Spirit says? Those who labor in preaching and teaching, they are worthy of double honor. Now think about that.

When we read that, we think that means that we're called to give them great respect and admiration, and And absolutely, that's true. Let me read to you another place because on more than one place do we read this command. So listen carefully in first Thessalonians five twelve to 13. We ask you Paul says, We ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and who are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

In a day where our generation is is being taught not to respect authority, this is very fitting. This is very important. And so he says, Esteem them. See them as highly regarded, called by God, shepherds over your souls. But in this context in in first Timothy, the idea of honor has a different emphasis.

It's more than just respect. It's more than just love. It's more than just saying nice things to them and speaking kindly to them, or kindly about them to others. The idea of honor here has to do with financial support. How do we know that?

Let's go back to verse three in first Timothy five. Honor widows who are truly widows. And we studied and we understood that with this word honor here implies financial assistance. That when there is a need, you are to supply that need to them carefully, but respectfully. And this is the same thought that the Holy Spirit has in connection to pastors.

It's an honor that allows a minister not to have to find a living or make a living elsewhere, but to be completely devoted to the singular task while having his needs met. That's what it means, to honor. Now, I'm fully aware that what was just said could greatly disturb unbelievers. Maybe make feel some church members feel uncomfortable. And you know what?

You would even have some people who are elders that would be angry at what I just said. Because there are some elders from different denominations and and traditions that do not believe a pastor should get a penny for preaching and teaching God's word. And they'll point to Paul, how Paul laid aside that right, so that he can preach the gospel freely. And they'll point to the fact that there are many other people who are in need of resources, and pastor should not partake of the finances that the church gathers, but it should be distributed to those who really need like widows. And while it it seems like a noble thought, and while pastors and elders do have the choice to be lay leaders, and work, and then come and teach, the idea of saying that a leader cannot be compensated for his gospel work is unbiblical.

It's not right. It seems super spiritual. It seems like it's the right thing to do, but it's not biblical. And just have to deconstruct it very easily. Paul was the one who wrote this about elders.

The very same man who said, I'm not gonna take up this right to get paid from you, lest I be a burden to you, says, you better pay elders. And secondly, did you notice the wording? Verse three, he says, honor widows who are truly widows. And then when he comes to pastors, he says, those who labor preaching and teaching, those who are ruling well, they are worthy not of honor, double honor. Double honor.

And now we grit our teeth. Are you saying that pastors are more worthy of finances than widows? And the reason why we'd be so hesitant to swallow that is because we are all aware of the supposed gospel preachers that take a text like this, and abuse it to take advantage of the naive and the weak. But this is not talking about the weirdo on TV. We're not talking about those who are clearly false teachers, who are clearly peddlers of God's word, who are clearly self consumed and self absorbed.

It says here, those who rule well. Those who have integrity, faithfulness, transparency, a walk with God, they are worthy of double honor. Not those who are clearly false in their teaching and in their lifestyle. So this is not an automatic command that anybody who is a pastor and anybody who has a ministry that tells you, give me money, that you should give them money. This is speaking about those who do not have that right unless they minister with excellence.

With excellence. And the people should have the discernment to say, this is a ministry and these are leaders that are serving with excellence. But another reason why a verse like this might might make us feel uncomfortable is because if we're honest, we might not really consider the value that such men bring into our lives. Now think about that for a moment. What is a pastor called to do?

He's a communicator of God's word to help clarify truths that set men free. Weekly, maybe sometimes more than once a week, he comes up and he attempts to display the beauties of Jesus to stir your affections for the lover of your soul. He comes up here and he is a voice of reason that reminds us of eternity, that reminds us to set our mind on things above in a world that is trying to distract you moment by moment. He is the voice of courage that will come up and warn you of the dangers of sin and of the false messages out there, while the devil in the flesh and the evil system of our age try to do the opposite. A pastor comes, he watches over your soul at times when you don't even care to do so for yourself.

He counsels the confused, he comforts the mourning, he cherishes the lonely, and he is called to be on call for everyone and everything in between. We might not realize the incalculable value of the spiritual contribution that is made by these leaders when they do so with excellence and when they rule well. And that's why Paul says something in first Corinthians nine eleven. In his defense of this idea, he says, if we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? And so he's making this contrast.

Do you realize that these leaders, these ministers are making a spiritual contribution that goes beyond this life and it makes an investment into the next life? This is not some service that blesses you for your home and your car that you're gonna leave behind one day. This deals with your soul. This right here, what's happening and everything in between, the soul is being dealt with. Your spirit man, the thing that will move on when your flesh will rot and be resurrected in the future.

They're supplying and imparting a spiritual substance that will be an investment for your eternal experience. That's what's happening. And because of this, Paul says, it shouldn't be a controversial matter for them to make such an investment in your life, and then to reap some material blessing to aid them to do what? To be lavish and extravagant? No.

To to better focus on the task that they've set their lives on. See, there are pros and cons between the pastor choosing to work a different work, a secular job, or choosing to be full time and being paid for it. I mean, we know that if a pastor chooses to live out in the world, he he engages with the lost, he's making an income where the world can't criticize him for for peddling people with his gospel ministry. But then the con is that something of their study will be affected, something of their time will be divided, and that's why there's a beauty of the one who is receiving payment from the church. He has more time to invest in the word of God and in the people of God.

And so, it's a matter of discernment and conscience for the leader that has been called on whether or not they will receive this right or not. And Paul here wants to say that this is not his own imagination, but this is from scripture. So he says in verse 18, For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. He quotes the Old Testament and the New Testament. Now what does an ox have to do with a pastor?

What does grain have to do with a pastor? Well, you're still there in first Corinthians nine. He says earlier, to clarify, he uses the same scripture from Deuteronomy. You shall not muzzle an ox. You shouldn't put a piece of instrument that blocks them from the ability of eating from their own work.

And he says, for it is written in first Corinthians nine nine, in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. Is it for oxen that God is concerned? In other words, do you think God cares about a beast more than his servants? No. And what Paul does is what we try to do safely on a Friday bible study Old Testament study.

He pulls the principle from this teaching and applies it in different ways. And the principle is this, that it would be inhumane to try to trap the mouth of a beast while he is providing your food and blessing your home and is suffering in the process. And if God is so concerned about the life of an animal, how much more concerned is he of the one who works in his kingdom and should be taken care of in the midst of that service? And so he says here, remember that if a beast can provide your physical nourishment, and you should take care of him in that, how much more those who would thresh out and extend spiritual sustenance? And then Paul quotes here in verse 18, not the old testament, but the new.

And the laborer deserves his wages. He he quotes Luke, his friend, the doctor. Can we just pause and meditate on the fact that Paul esteems the Old Testament of the same level of authority and inspiration as the new? At this point, it's clear that the gospel of Luke was completed and distributed among the churches. They were benefiting from it.

And Paul had no concern to say, what my friend Luke wrote, that's actually Holy Scripture. So if there's any skepticism, if there's any concern of the writers of the New Testament believe what they were writing was inspired, they knew it was inspired. They had the nudge of the Holy Spirit. You know what Luke wrote in his gospel? That's from my mouth.

And Paul points to that book and he says, Jesus said the laborer deserves his wages. He points to the animal then he points to a servant that's hired for a task. He goes, if an animal can be blessed, if a servant hired for a job should be rewarded. What is he saying? And no matter what field you find yourself in, it is right to repay them for their work including gospel work.

Including gospel work. And so Paul here is making a strong point, and it's a simple one. Make sure that they're provided for as they serve you. But then we might think to ourselves, but I know some verses that are popping in my mind right now that might, that might contradict what you're saying. And one that came to my mind in studying this was what Jesus said in Matthew 10 verse eight.

He told his disciples, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay. Uh-oh. Freely you have received, freely you give. Right?

Are we in trouble now? Because people would quote this and say, pastor, I just demolished your sermon up to this point, because Jesus says, if you're gonna serve him, you shouldn't be paid for it. Is that what Jesus is saying? All you have to do is go a couple verses later and he echoes what he said in Luke about how labor deserves to be rewarded for his service. So it can't be that.

What is Jesus saying? He's calling his ministers to refuse to put a price on their service. Do you know what that means? Men who proclaim the word of God should not put themselves out there for hire. They don't put a price tag.

They don't ask for a specific fee for their service and the exercise of their gifting. A pastor, an evangelist, a teacher, a traveling minister should have nothing in their hearts of desiring or requiring a certain amount for what God has called them to do. They should have completely by faith. Completely by faith. Serving God and trusting that if God really called them, he will supply the needs of that minister through his people.

Now, you know what's amazing is that today, you have high profile ministers that actually do the opposite of what Jesus just said. Do you understand that? Right? Do you understand that there are ministers out there that will not go to a certain church or place unless the price is right and sometimes it's a very high price. That is against scripture.

I remember when I first start going to youth conferences and stuff, I had one person asked me upon the invitation when I responded, yes I would love to be with you and to join you, and they asked me, what's your fee for teaching for a weekend? I was shocked. My fee? A 500 per sermon, like what do you say? What do you say to that?

And then I thought to myself, for them to ask means that this must be a normal thing to them, or perhaps it's a normal thing that they have related to ministers in such a manner. A fee. And I've learned from wise people that whenever that's even asked, you just say, I live by faith. I live by faith. And God has proven to be faithful throughout the years.

That when you just live by faith, and whether it's nothing or much than you expected, you serve him with the same intensity and devotion. You know what I love about Jesus? I was sharing this with somebody a few weeks ago. When Jesus was on that road to Emmaus, he he gave one of the most profound Old Testament studies of himself with an audience of two. Right?

That seven mile journey he gave one of the most profound sermons, and you would think, Jesus why didn't you save that for the Sermon on the Mount? You you have thousands there. You could've you could've expounded who you were in the Old Testament from Genesis on. Why would you Jesus didn't care. Well, there was 2,000 or two, I will exercise my knowledge and my grace and my gifting because I'm doing it for their sake.

I'm doing it for their hearts sake. I'm doing it for the glory of God. What a wonderful God. What a wonderful example in our Christ. And so Jesus is saying here that you ought to not make your decision of where you're going to serve based on who will pay you more.

That's not your motivation. What kind of offering am I gonna get? What kind of check am I gonna get out of this? You go if God has called you. And you have pastors today that determine what church they will serve to where they will move to based on how much they're gonna get in their salary.

Instead of the spirit prompting them, instead of the spirit leading them, now what's motivating them? Unfortunately, it's the dollar sign. This is what Jesus is correcting and making sure that his ministers do not adopt. Pastors must be provided for, and when they are provided for, they will be held accountable of how they deal with those finances. They will be.

But then we come on here to pastors not just being provided for, but pastors being protected. And so let's read here in verse 19. Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Unfortunately, not only will you have some people that will find great difficulty in the idea of honoring a pastor, instead you have people that are set on destroying them. On destroying them to find powder.

The church is not just a nice family. The church is an army in the middle of an ancient war with an ancient foe. Satan knows the power of the church. Satan knows the influence of the church. So Satan will come after the church.

And one of Satan's strategies is to find a whisperer or two and to plant doubt or accusation in the minds of others so that they would not trust in that minister. And when you attack the messenger, you have the potential of spoiling the message. And we just heard a couple weeks ago how spiritual leaders fall. But we have to also be reminded that there are spiritual leaders who are falsely accused. It's all over the bible.

From old to new. And the best way for a minister or a ministry to protect itself from such assaults is that each one of those leaders live blameless and careful and holy, giving Satan no ammunition to work with. But you know what? Even when a man lives in such integrity, there will be somewhere so frustrated that they'd be audacious enough to still assault their character and desperately make a move to try to bring them down. They will.

And there are some who are doing it today. So that's why Paul by the spirit offers another layer of protection for pastors. And this is what he says, the idea here of two or three witnesses is not bringing leaders to a place where they are untouchable. It is actually to shield them from being victims of venomous slander and gossip. The concept of two or three witnesses can be about the number, but it's more about having substantial evidence before you bring an accusation.

And if there's no evidence, then the people of God, including the leadership, should ignore it and not even entertain it. This verse trains the people of God to be discerning of what they hear about their leaders and leaders all across the board. It trains you to be discerning, to know what to hear and examine, and know what to reject and ignore. Throughout your Christian journey, you are going to hear things. And especially the more as a minister grows in influence, the more Satan will pull his hair and find a way to try to taint his testimony.

It will happen. This is what he's been doing since the beginning. Be very careful now. Lest you succumb to his ways and you give him a foothold to work with. Somebody brought up a point a couple weeks ago when we were talking about how leaders follow, beautiful point about Joseph's story, and how Joseph, who was a man of integrity, who was innocent, was actually apparently proven guilty by an evil woman with a crazy plot, and she supposedly even had evidence.

She had his work cloak that he worked with every single day. And guess what? People believed it. People believed it. Look what Joseph did.

Look, this is his work cloak, isn't it? And he's not wearing anything now. He tried to he tried to rape me. He tried to molest me. And people saw the cloak, and they saw a crying woman, and they said, must be true.

And they threw the man in jail. We need discernment. We need the fear of God. We need to be careful. And in this day where anybody can have a voice, and you can make your own blog, and you can make your own channel, and you seem like a newscaster, you can just you can be anybody these days.

And it just takes minutes for something to spread like wildfire. And oh, is a new story juicy to us. Right? Delicious morsels that go down into the innermost parts of who we are. And Paul says, a church shouldn't even consider those blogs, those whispers, unless there's actual evidence to work with.

Leadership and leaders shouldn't even waste their time, and neither should churches. You know what's amazing about the story of Joseph though? Let me tell you this, any person that would entertain the idea of accusing a leader and I'm not saying this as a leader. Remember, this is God's word. This is not my opinion.

This is not me trying to flex some muscle. Even if I wasn't in a place that I am today, I would say the same thing with the intensity that I'm about to say it in. You're playing a dangerous game. You're playing a very dangerous game when you try to fabricate a story against somebody for whatever sinful reason you have to do so. Because here's what God does, he is able to supernaturally vindicate his men.

Amen. Supernaturally. You know what I love about the story of Joseph? I was reading this the other day, going through Genesis. And you read this story of Joseph being accused of rape, thrown into prison, you think what a sad sight.

Right? But the same God who he honored in that moment of temptation was the same God that was gonna honor him for doing so. And so you know this story, he interprets the dreams of two of Pharaoh's employees. Two years pass by before the one, he goes, oh, I forgot about that guy. Hey Pharaoh, by the way, there's somebody who can interpret your dreams.

Maybe you should consider him because he was right about ours. Pharaoh says get him. They get him, they bring him before him, he interprets Pharaoh's dream, it's accurate, and he gets hired for the job to be second in command, to deal with the prophetic utterance of what was gonna happen in the world with a famine. And then you read this, you might miss it, but I love it because I I saw it and I said, oh, God, you're amazing. Genesis forty one forty two to 43.

Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him ride in his second chariot and they called out before him, bow the knee. Thus, he set him over all the land of Egypt. What happened? He was promoted instantly, received a signet ring, and they made a parade for the guy.

And he, what, was set over all the land of Egypt. And they traveled through those roads and they went into neighborhoods and everybody was forced to bow the knee and acknowledge him as the elect leader for the people. You know who that includes? Potiphar and Potiphar's wife. I would have loved to seen the sight, to be in that chariot and to see Potiphar and Potiphar's wife on the side of the road bow the knee, and with her little grin on her face, reluctantly getting down and bowing before Joseph, the one that you accused, How the story has turned, Potiphar's wife, God is able to vindicate his men.

And listen, if you wanna come against a man or a woman of God, whether they have a pulpit or not, God is able to humble you. God will make you bow the knee, either in this life or the next. You want proof? You think this is just me pulling out a truth from the Old Testament story? Go to the other side of the Bible in Revelation chapter three.

This is the church in Philadelphia. I want you to see this, to understand God's heart behind accusations and slander and persecution toward his own. Revelation three nine, Jesus says to this church, a faithful church, Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, they were Jews, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. These Jews that were persecuting these Christians, these Gentile Christians, those who are operating like in the ministry of Satan, not just persecution but Satan is an accuser.

See when you accuse, you're advancing the gospel of Satan. And you know what he says here? He says, I'm going to make them, whether it's in that life, in their lifetime or in the next. I'm going to make them bow at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you and that they were wrong. I'm going to humble them for accusing you, for persecuting you, for making life difficult for you.

Can you imagine that? So he's able to make it happen in this life and in the next life and all to say, that I would be very weary, I would be very careful of getting in the business of either fabricating something or joining a fabrication and being a part of the condemnation club, only to be later humbled by Jesus himself. So I'm very careful, you should be very careful of the things that you hear and read. Unless there is evidence, two or three witnesses that make it clear and true, we should be very reluctant and there should be even a holy fear. A holy fear of accusing somebody who's dedicated their life to serve God.

So he says, pastors must be protected. But at the same time, pastors are capable of sinning. They are. They're not untouchable. They're not invincible.

They're not beyond or above accountability or discipline. They are capable of messing up royally. They are capable of sinning to the extent where it is so severe that not only are they removed from ministry, but they can be removed from ministry permanently. And so that's why we go from pastors, yes, must be provided for, pastors must be protected, but pastors also must be held accountable. And that's what he says here in verse 20.

As for those who persist in sin, persist may not be the best word, those who are present in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear. Now, before we unpack this, I want to even shed a little bit more light on the idea of it being possible for a genuine spiritual leader to actually crash and fall because of sin. Because again, the temptation, especially when we hear a very degrading story of a double life, we automatically assume that they weren't safe to begin with. Not realizing that it's possible for a Christian in that caliber to actually fall. But then what happens?

How does God deal with them? Well, he deals with them in many ways. But I want us to look at another place in second Timothy. I want you to see this in verse five of chapter two. This is how Christ would deal with such ministers.

Look what look what Paul says to Timothy. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. Do you see what's being said there? Paul loves to illustrate the Christian life with athletic imagery and principles. And in this place he says, you know, an athlete, like a Christian, will not receive a reward unless he abides by the rules.

So what does that mean? It means here that if you're a person that's playing a game or playing a sport and you come up with your own rules, play all you want, but because you're breaking the rules, there's going to be no reward to you. You're just in your own little world. So just stay there, play in your own little world, but you're not going to be recognized for it. If you run a 100 meter track and you do so on a scooter, nobody's gonna recognize you for it.

You'll look crazy, you probably think you win and that's fine, but you're gonna be you're not gonna be crowned. And here's what he's saying here, there are Christians that are living according to their own rules, And there are ministers who think that they can minister with their own standards. And here's what's gonna happen, when it comes to the end of the day, and they stand before the judge, he's gonna look at Christians and he's gonna look at ministers who thought, I can live like this while preach. I can travel and do this with this girl. And he's gonna look at them and say, you broke the rules, you have no reward.

You forfeited your reward. Everything. I don't care how many nations you planted your church. I don't care how many uploads and views you've had. I don't care how many ministers you trained.

It will all come down to ash. Because you played according to your rules and you did not come to this rule book and govern yourself accordingly. And so they will suffer loss. They will suffer loss. I'm telling you, many Christians coming up with their own rules and they will suffer loss.

But coming back to this verse in first Timothy, we learn that something can be done in this lifetime when accusations are true against the minister. When the evidence is there, when the witnesses are genuine, and there are some serious trespass found in an elder, something has to be done. And here's what has to be done, with a wonderful honor and respect that stems from public ministry also comes the pain of public penalty for failure for being above reproach. This may seem like a degrading thing, this may seem like a dishonorable thing, but the reason for this is that God calls for leaders to be examples in righteousness. And when leaders fail to be examples in righteousness, God will not waste their failures.

You wanna be unholy? You wanna be unfaithful? I'm still gonna use your failure to teach my people. There's no loss with God. Your pain is not in vain.

And guess what? Your failure is not in vain. It's not gonna be a blessing to you, but God will use it to touch others. In what sense? That's why he says here that you should rebuke him in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

So what does that look like? It looks like when a leader morally fails with a sin that disqualifies him from his office, that the rest of the leaders in that place or that ministry must come up, explain and expose what he has done. And what's the result? Trembling. What's the result?

A fear in their hearts. And this is what's amazing. The promotion of a healthy fear against sin is greatly correlated to the attitude against sin from the leadership. When you have elders or pastors or leaders that are silly, light, or irreverent about breaking God's commands, that will be replicated in the perception of the people who sit under them. But when you have a people who tremble before God and deal with it accordingly, it will promote the same attitude in those who are observing and are aware of what's going on.

And I see a redemptive wisdom that God possesses here, that he's showing here. Because it's very likely at one point, you've experienced the gut wrenching sensation when you heard the news of a well known minister or pastor that you've known, that has fallen from grace. But here's what I want you to know, that in this day of age, when things can spread like wildfire in in minutes and we start to think, oh, here are the articles. Unbelievers are gonna be more confident in their lack of belief, and now Christians are gonna doubt their faith. And now I'm gonna question other leaders that are preaching and teaching, God can use the ugliness of exposure for a sanctifying purpose.

And he does every time. You felt the trembling in your soul the past few weeks, haven't you? What's the trembling all about? Well, if God is able to expose that kind of a man, he's no respecter of persons. Nobody lives above his rules.

All men, including the most gifted, successful and loved, will be dealt with equally when it comes to sin. And so he doesn't have favorites, and if he's willing to do with that well known minister, he's willing to do it with you. But if the the church fails to take leadership sins seriously, they might just be communicating to the crowd that God tolerate sin. And that if you're a leader, you can get away with things. And that you don't have to suffer.

And although this verse applies to leaders, it's not limited to leaders by the way. It's not just limited to leaders. Why? Because it can be possible that in the congregation, there are those who are causing so much trouble, so much division, with no sign of repentance, that the leadership must carefully discern that the last solution will have to be to come up here and say, so and so is doing this, and you bring them to open shame. For the sake of the health of the local church, that sometimes has to be done.

And you know what? You think about I mean, I don't know anybody that likes to do that. I don't know anybody that that hopes that one day in their ministry, they can stand up and declare the sin of another person. And so it's uncomfortable, we want to avoid it, and even with leaders or anybody that sins in a way that affects the congregation severely, we want to deal with them as quietly as possible and let them slip out of the door. And sometimes and oftentimes that's appropriate, but here we see a need in some measure to stand up boldly and courageously, but in love to say, this is what's going on.

And let's get on our face before God and ask him for mercy. And that's why knowing this, Paul says this to his beloved son in the spirit in verse 21, in connection to that. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Timothy, hear me very carefully. God, his son, and the angels are watching on how you handle these issues in your church.

You have a heavenly audience that is watching you. Do not be afraid of the reactions, of the frustrations, of the emails, of the people leaving your church for what you're doing and standing up for righteousness. Don't be afraid of them, be afraid of God. Be more concerned with the purity of the church than your reputation as a minister and as a ministry. Because that's what people do.

They wanna hide. They wanna hide this scandal. They don't want people to know about it. Or maybe they're being pressured or maybe there is a relationship with a person who's fallen in sin in which you you might give some favoritism and and Paul says, no. No.

No. No. No. God and Christ and his angels are who you're supposed to be concerned about. Make the stand when you have to make it.

It might be uncomfortable, it might be disturbing, but it is necessary. Leaders must be more concerned about the purity of the bride more than anything else. And let me tell you this, oftentimes the evidence of a leader's love for the Lord will be proven when sin sews up in the church and how he deals with it. Even if it will cost him his friendships, even if it will cost him favor from others, even if it will cost them the offering, a leader will prove his love for the Lord in this way, when he says, okay, Lord. This is your church.

You've entrusted me to be a steward of it. I'm concerned about the holiness of your people more than anything else, so I will make this decision and have this awkward conversation if I need to. And there's no doubt that the one who stands for God's truth will win his favor in the end, and even sometimes during that ministry in his lifetime as a minister. I remember hearing the story of a church of somebody that is a part of that church. And one of the ministers fell into adultery.

He cheated on his wife with somebody else from the church, and the leadership of the church obeyed what Paul told Timothy here. And that minister who sinned had unbelieving parents. And when the ministry honored this and brought it before the church and said that we will have to put him aside, we will have to counsel him and discipline him, The unbelieving parents were so touched by their integrity, that they didn't try to hide this, that they ended up getting saved as a result of the way they dealt with this person. They realized how serious they were. They realized this isn't business.

They realized that they really believed this book. Now they could have done it so many different ways in order to protect, in order to we don't want this to taint, we don't want that No. No. No. They honored God's word and God blessed them for it.

Obedience. You'll never lose an obedience, no matter how uncomfortable it is. Should it happen every time? No. Should this be our first solution with sin in the church or in leadership?

No. But it is a need at times. Find a leadership who desires to please God in his word, that really believes that he lives before a heavenly audience, and you will find a church that will be blessed by God. Find a leader who admires God, but is bound by the fear of men, and in time, I guarantee you, you will find a compromising church. They will compromise in something and in many things eventually.

And that's why, you don't have to turn there, but when Moses's father-in-law instructed him to find sub leaders to his ministry, listen to the qualification in Exodus eighteen twenty one. Moreover, look for able men from all people, men who fear God. That's the first thing. Moses, find men who fear God. You know what we're looking for today for ministers?

What kind of degrees you have and what kind of schools you went to. Why don't they put it on, job applications? Do you fear God? Do you fear God? Prove how you fear God.

Men who fear God and who are trustworthy and hate a bribe. You know what that means? That you're not influenced by, not just money, but by people. To to point you in this direction or to preach in this certain way because I give the most in the church or or to say this or to say that, they're not moved because they fear God. I'm not moved by your bribe, I will honor God.

When you find such caliber of men, you will find a blessed church. Pastors must be held accountable before God. And lastly, pastors must be carefully selected in light of that. A lot of the mess that we're hearing today in modern evangelical churches, I believe is due to the fact that we do not elect qualified men to begin with. You're cool, you're muscular, you have tattoos, you have charisma, you have a handsome face, get up on here.

You're a good commune, come on up here. Oh, you believe in the foundations of the essentials of the faith, come on up here. And so he connects the idea of not showing partiality and favoritism with what he's about to instruct next because it influences that. He says in '22, do not be hasty in the laying on of hands. That language, that action, we have evidence to show that it is what you do when you ordain a man into a leadership role.

Existing leadership finds a man, tests the man, questions the man, and then prays for it. And And then once they receive confirmation, they bring him up, they lay their hands and they're saying, we are in agreement that this person is set apart for a specific call for this specific ministry. And Paul says, don't be quick to do that. Be very slow to do that. Take your time in doing that.

Now why would you be rushed in wanting to do that? Well, like he said before, you might have favoritism. You might admire somebody, you like them and you want them to be a part of this. You might be pressured by a congregation to have somebody up there or to be in a leadership place. There might be a need.

We're, you know, growing church, we need more elders. Come on, hurry up. We we need more people in positions of leadership. Paul says, don't be hasty. Don't be quick now.

Be very calculated and be very careful here. And the reason because is, we see here that if he doesn't do this carefully, if he doesn't be cautious in investigating a candidate, Timothy would be liable. Timothy would have some responsibility in the failures that would surface from an unqualified person. That's why he says here, that you do this not hastily nor take part of the sins of others. It's much easier to take your time and find the right person, than it is to hire the wrong person and have to bring them down.

So don't be a participant in the sins of others means, don't be so quick where you fail to screen, and you fail to pray, and you fail to fast, and you fail to investigate, and you just bring them on. They sin and you are now a connection to their actions because you elected them in the first place. This is not a joke. It's not. This is not about numbers.

This is not about so we can have certain things in place because we just need to have them in place. This is serious, extremely serious. You know, once a company hires somebody, they're worried about how they're gonna affect their income, their reputation, their image. What should we be concerned about at church? Money coming in?

Popularity? No. It's the souls of men that we're dealing with here. It's the souls of men. And we know that one soul is worthy of our tears and our prayers and our evangelization.

One soul. Imagine a group like this. Just bring up anybody, absolutely not, and that's why you see a pattern in the New Testament that when these men went and preach in a certain place and they saw a church being born, that when they wanted to choose leaders, what do they do? Well, listen to these words in Acts fourteen twenty three. When they had appointed elders from them, for every church with prayer and fasting, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Church would be born, revival would break out, people would meet in the house, and these apostles knew there needs to be leaders to watch over their souls. And so what did they do? They got before God and they fasted. God, you know who they are. You know their hearts.

You know if they're true. You know if they will be for this church. Reveal it. Show us. Confirm it.

Make it known in our spirit. Expose what is wrong. Show us if this is if this process needs to end because of some secret sin or some secret convictions that are not according to the Word of God. Please, God, help us. Do you think God will neglect such a plea?

Do you think God will ignore such desperation and humility? And so that's what happens. And when a leader is selected, the New Testament proves the pattern is not just in that desperation, but it is based on the discernment of existing leadership. This This is not politics where we vote somebody in. From the beginning of the church, we have seen apostles electing elders and then from there elders, existing elders raising up more and more elders down the stream till 2021.

So yes, there can be recommendations. Yes, there can be requests. But in the end, existing leadership comes before God and say, Lord, we don't wanna be hasty now. Show us what to do with this person. Show us if this is your will.

Church, be reminded today that pastors should be provided for. Pastors should be protected. Pastors must be held accountable and pastors must be selected very carefully. Let's pray together. And let me say this before we pray, with the same intensity in which leaders should pray and fast for for future leaders, I believe we need to do just as much praying and fasting for existing leaders that God would preserve and have his hand upon those that are in those positions, and that they would finish well and they would live according to the rules of the word of God.

Can we do that together, please? Let's pray for our leaders. Let's pray for the pastors across this land. Pray for future pastors that God would have mercy. Father, we come before you.

And the reason why, Lord, we are blessed today is because this is found in your word, and your word, no matter what's what it's about, it is a blessing to us. And we ask, Lord, in light of what we just heard, that your hand would be placed upon the leaders that we know in our lives. You would protect pastors of local churches, of big ministries, of YouTube ministries. Lord, we do not take joy in the sound of a scandal. It grieves us.

And Lord, we want to see men anointed of the Holy Spirit instead, empowered by God, mightily used by him, fruitful, effective, blameless. Raise up such men, Lord. We confess that seminaries cannot produce such men. Churches cannot raise up such men. It is the spirit of God that trains men in the school of God.

And we pray, Lord, for the future of this church that if it be your will that you raise up more, that they would be men who fear you and men who do not take a bribe, who are immovable, who are unshaken, who are fearless, but also oozing with love. Lord, we pray that the future of this church would be led by the Spirit of God in every decision from leadership down. Lord, we would sense your guidance, God. That you would protect the leadership of this church from Satan's schemes and lies, from his temptations, Lord. And that, Lord, we would be a family.

We would be a family, but also an army that's aware of the schemes of Satan. And so Lord, as this church is open during these times, and as this church is striving to move forward in gospel work, make us a discerning people. Make us a people that are prayed up, filled with the spirit, not unaware of the plans of our enemy. But Lord, fully trusting you, fully trusting you. And so Lord, we dedicate this ministry to you afresh, this church to you afresh, this church that is starting up, that needs a lot of things to be in place, but we believe in the process and we will not be hasty, Lord.

We will allow you to guide us step by step. Help us to trust you along the way. Lord, we love you. Thank you for your wisdom, Lord. Thank you for your wisdom in all your ways, God.

We bless you this morning in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord together.