Sunday’s Sermons

Text: 1^st Timothy 5:21-25                                               5/18/08 a.m.

Thesis: Godly leadership must be impartial, pure, and wise.

Intro: My life is hid with Christ on high, with Christ my savior and my God.

My life is secure in Christ Jesus that means I have been set free from sinful fear to do the hard things God calls me to do.

I am forgiven in Christ. I am made new in Christ. I am gifted in Christ. I am eternally secure in Christ. The Lord is my helper. I shall not fear. What can man do to me?

We need this type of man in leadership in our church. This morning we pick up in 1^st Timothy chapter 5 where we left off two weeks ago.

The meat of our meal is God’s instruction concerning how to treat your pastors or according to the wording of the bible, how to treat your elders.

God’s not talking about how to treat men who are more advanced in years than others. God’s telling us how to treat the men who have been called by God and gifted by the Spirit to lead and teach the church.

Let’s begin reading in 1^st Timothy 5 verse 17 and our sermon will pick up in verse 21; how to treat your pastor part 2.

Read 1^st Timothy 5:17-25

I) Honor pastors, give grace to pastors, and correct pastors without showing partiality to pastors

a)      In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules

i)        The Holy Spirit is here intentionally putting the pressure on Timothy when it comes to honoring, correcting, and selecting elders.

ii)      Timothy, you are doing what you are doing under the watchful eye of God who is the creator of all things and the only Savior.

iii)    You need to realize you are doing what is right and doing what is wrong while Christ who will judge the living and the dead is looking on (2 Tim 4:1).

iv)    And by the way, the elect angels, those angels chosen of God who did not leave their proper dwelling (Jude 6), those angels sent by God to serve you (Heb 1:14), those angels who will gather every soul for judgment (Mt 13:49), they are watching too.

v)      God’s calling on your life should be a joyful as well as a sobering thing. What Timothy did and what every pastor does is a noble thing but the bar has been raised and the judges are intense.

vi)    Here is what they expect

b)      Be impartial as you fulfill God’s calling

i)        Let’s look at verse 21 again

ii)      Don’t honor, correct, or select a pastor based on some of the facts. Don’t make a pre-judgment.

iii)    A mind useful to God is a mind trained by the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture to be discerning.

iv)    Don’t judge a book by its and don’t show partiality.

v)      The good ole boy club with the “it’s not what you know but who you know” mentality is an abomination in the church.

vi)    Don’t be quick to honor or select someone because you like a person or because you know someone who likes him.

vii)  Don’t be quick to pass over a person or correct a person because you don’t like him or because you know someone who doesn’t like him.

viii)            When it comes to Jesus there is no paying off the bouncer or riding daddy’s coattails to the top.

ix)    God, Jesus, and the elect angels are watching. The things to avoid are making a life-changing pronouncement too soon and pandering to the powerful.

In verse 21 we’re making a transition of sorts. No longer are we receiving God’s commands concerning how to handle an elder who does well or how to handle an elder who needs correction.

Verse 21 is God’s wisdom concerning how to select a pastor or elder (read verse 21).

II) Here is our central command: Keep yourself pure

a)      Don’t be quick to support people you don’t know

i)        Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands.

ii)      The laying on of hands is a reference to the act of ordination. Don’t be quick to select a man to be a pastor or elder in the church. Here’s why:

b)      We are connected to the people we support

i)        Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others.

ii)      The church is not a disconnected group of individuals who claim the name of Jesus Christ.

iii)    The church is an intricately connected assembly of believers who have been made into a spiritual family.

iv)    I was arrested in high school on charges of a hit and run. I had nothing to do with the crime but because I was later with some guys who did commit the crime I was considered guilty by association.

v)      When you ordain a man you are connecting yourself to that man.  If he is godly that is to your benefit but if he is a faker than it is to your hurt.

vi)    The tendency therefore can be to avoid the church and avoid responsibility. If connecting myself to others can cause me pain then I’ll just do my own thing and be responsible just for myself.

vii)  But that’s just as bad as committing active sin

c)      Don’t avoid people or responsibility seek purity

i)        Keep yourself pure. Keep is not a suggestion it is a command. And it’s not a one time command it’s a command that God places on us every day.

ii)      God expects us to live life engaging sinner and saint alike while staying pure.

iii)    This word pure is one of the attributes of God it’s the equivalent of holy.

iv)    God since Adam and Eve committed the first sin God has been engaging this sinful world and calling out men to serve his people as leaders.

v)      God expects his people to act like Him. Read verse 23

vi)    God requires that an elder not be a drunkard. In light of this command it is easy to understand why Timothy would commit himself to drink only water.

vii)  But here’s the point; drinking only water doesn’t make you pure. In Timothy’s case, drinking only water was making him sick.

viii)            Now this passage is not intended to be used as a defense for a little social drinkin.

ix)    What I believe Paul is saying to young Timothy is don’t kill yourself in order to please man. Know what God requires, kill yourself to please God, work hard not to offend a weaker brother, but if you are sick take the medicine.

x)      Taking needed medicine is not sinful or a sin of weakness. Taking needed medicine is in line with keeping yourself pure.

xi)    Verses 24 & 25 return to the idea of selecting elders and the wisdom needed to discern who is pure (read it)

III) Keep yourself pure knowing that Christ will one day bring everything in the darkness to the light

a)      Some sins are obvious some are not

i)        It is obvious that some men should not be pastors because of some public sin they have committed.

ii)      A homosexual man should not be a pastor. A prideful man who does not lead a hospitable home should not be a pastor.

iii)    1^st Timothy 3:1-7 give us a list of obvious things to look for and look out for when selecting an elder.

iv)    If the shoe doesn’t fit then he shouldn’t wear it.

v)      But for some the shoe will appear to fit at first but then as it is worn it will rub painful blisters.

vi)    He’ll begin to limp as he walks and it will appear later that the shoe is not a good fit.

vii)  Something about him, some hidden sin, has made him unfit to be a pastor.

viii)            As Timothy appointed men to be elders in the church, probably to replace those elders he had to remove from the church, he need to exercise caution.

ix)    Just because there is no obvious disqualifying sin does not mean there is no hidden disqualifying sin.

x)      Some sins are obvious some are not and

b)      Some good works are obvious some are not

i)        Look at verse 25, “So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.”

ii)      Some men obviously meet the qualifications and everyone sees it.

iii)    Some men may seem not to meet the positive requirements of service but later it comes out that they were the most sacrificial and faithful of the bunch.

iv)    Just because you don’t see a man sin doesn’t mean he’s not sinning. Just because you don’t see a man serving doesn’t mean he’s not serving.

v)      We need the wisdom of God to follow the will of God.

c)      And we follow God knowing we are headed toward a day of judgment

i)        The sins of some men are shouted from the rooftops for all to hear while they are still on this earth.

ii)      The sins of some men will be shouted from the rooftops on the day when we all stand before God and give an account.

iii)    Hebrews 4:12&13 say, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.”

iv)    Those are very unsettling words. God knows everything we do and He knows why we do everything we do.

v)      The judgment day is coming when we will stand before God and explain why we did what we did, thought what we thought, and said what we said.

vi)    We’ll give an account for why we didn’t do what we knew God was calling us to do.

vii)  On our own there is nothing to cover us. We are naked and our sin is exposed for all to see.

viii)            But the good news is God has provided a covering for us. God wipes away the sin stain that is on all of us and clothes us with the perfect robes of Christ righteousness.

ix)    God does this for all who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus Christ.

x)      We are about to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. We are about to celebrate the fact that God has taken away our sins. There is nothing to fear concerning God’s judgment because Jesus has taken all of God’s wrath and all of our punishment on himself.

xi)    We celebrate the blood that was poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

xii)  We celebrate the body that was broken so that we might be healed.

xiii)            I invite you to celebrate only if you are trusting in Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of your sins.

xiv)            If feel yourself to be a sinner whose only hope is Jesus Christ then you are encouraged by God to remember the great work of your strong Savior.

xv)  We’re going to sing hymn #457, Lord be glorified. I would ask you to prepare yourself to celebrate all that Christ has done for you.

xvi)            Confess your sins, be reconciled to your brother, or rejoice in your salvation. What the Spirit leads you to do I encourage you to do and I give you the freedom in this church to do it.