You probably heard it said that the best of men are men at best. Even the most admirable individuals are subject to human imperfections and the temptations of sin. While those in church leadership deserve to be honored, that doesn't mean their sins are to be covered up. And today on Truth for Life, Alister Beck addresses how believers should deal with accusations and allegations against elders. We're looking at First Timothy chapter five.
It's a dreadful shame when congregations conclude that eldership and particularly the teaching eldership, the responsibility of labouring in the word and in doctrine, that somehow or another congregations conclude that this is not really work, and somehow or another these people are on a sort of They're at a Bible conference that lasts for the rest of their lives. They sort of went on retreat for the rest of their lives. The kind of things that the congregation gets the opportunity to do, you know, for a day and a half.
Well, somehow or another, these characters got to do it for the rest of their lives, you know. And any notion of honoring them will come when they die. And I remember speaking at a pastors' conference when I had been asked to give two seminars. I gave one on the subject of biblical church discipline, which was averagely attended, and I gave one on the matter of ministerial depression. I called it dealing with ministerial depression because I thought I knew a little bit about that—not clinical depression.
I changed it when the men came. I called it the blues, dealing with the blues.
Well, it was the biggest seminar in the whole event, and no one knew my name from a hole in the ground, and it was standing room only. And as soon as we got to Q and A, it was obvious that there were all kinds of concerns and heartaches that were represented in the minds and lives of these elders who were seeking to serve their congregation. And there were actually elders there and leaders of the church there who had not been set aside to the task of preaching and teaching. And these individuals were responsible for the exercising of the principle of remuneration and compensation here. And one of these non pastoral elders, if you like, asked the question.
We have a problem in our church, he says. If you could address this, it's not a concern about the the pastor being depressed. It's about his wife being depressed. She seems to be just down in the dumps. She has no apparent joy in what's going on.
We find that somehow or another, she is increasingly isolated from any aspect of ministry. Do you have any insight on this, or do you have any suggestion as to what we might do? And I don't know why I said it, but shooting from the hip, just straight, which is something I hardly ever do. I said. I suggest that you increase your minister's salary by five thousand dollars a year.
There's total silence, and the guy sat down. Didn't even have a follow-up question.
Someone from that church came to me afterwards and said, "You don't know it, but you just answered that question because our pastor's wife." Has never had the privilege of buying her children new shoes. She has hand-me-downs from members of the congregation. She shops sometimes in the Goodwill, and the congregation think that they are doing her an amazing service, while they do her husband an amazing service. Of ensuring that he will not become a lover of money by never giving him any money that he could possibly love, and some of you serve on boards for the city mission, and you serve on boards for missionary organizations, and you serve on boards for Christian schools and so on. And I think you better take real carefully.
Your responsibilities when you sit in those meetings and make decisions about the pittance of a salary that you are prepared to pay for someone who is prepared to invest their whole life in the cause of the gospel. Say, does the Bible speak to pressing issues? Sure does. Do not muzzle the ox while it's treading out the grain. Don't be like the pagans.
The worker deserves his wages.
Now this is not isolated here. Paul makes this point all the way through his letters in First Thessalonians two, in Second Corinthians eleven, in First Corinthians chapter nine, and nowhere more clearly than when he says, "The Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you?" If fathers have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? And then he's able to say, and I envy them this. He says, and then he says, but of course, although it is legitimate for this to take place, we didn't take any of it because we didn't want ever to obscure the issue.
We didn't want anybody ever to get the wrong position. Do you understand this? Do you understand the way this works? That the church appoints elders. If if he did it in his pristine form, this would be how it was.
Here you got a group of people, and they set apart elders. They recognize them to have capacities and rule. And then they just got this little virgin church, and they get it going. And one of the guys is a mailman, he's a postman, and he works in the mail, and he and he does the sermons on Sunday because he's the most gifted out of the five guys that they've set apart to eldership. And then as the church begins to grow as a result of his instruction, the the the the elder stadium.
You know, Bob, I I. I think that you would be even better at doing this teaching on the Lord's Day if you didn't have to go out and be a mailman.
So we're going to say to the congregation, maybe we should set you apart to the task of preaching and teaching.
So now we will remunerate you in order to set you free. We won't pay you per sermon, but we will pay you in order that you don't have to derive your income from the mailman, and then you'll be able to proceed in that way. And so the individual is set apart. He still functions as an elder. He still is to direct the affairs of the church, but now he's in the privileged position of not having to go out and do those other things, which is in part provision, part privilege, and it is part not privilege because it would be nice to go out and do those things.
It'd be nice to sort of live in the real world every so often, but that's not what you're to do. You're to go over here. You're to give yourself. You're to toil. You're not to skive.
You're not to show up late. You're not to leave early. You are to bear the burden of the responsibility of shepherding the flock of God that's in your charge. And remember, the test comes at the very end.
Now, I have never understood why it is that certain groups. Have tried to suggest that it is wrong to have full-time pastors who receive remuneration in the exercise of oversight within the church. For the scriptures are so abundantly clear. Paul understood that those who proclaim the gospel may make a living by the gospel, and that in no way negates. The concern that he's mentioned earlier—that such individuals, elders, should not be those who love money.
Well, that's probably more than enough on compensation, wouldn't you agree? All right.
Now let's go to this matter of accusation. Verse nineteen and twenty. We'll just start it. I just want to introduce it, and we'll return to it this evening. Trap the commentator says every fool has an arrow to shoot at a faithful preacher.
Every fool has an arrow to shoot at a faithful preacher. To be involved in the leadership of God's people is to be on the receiving end of all kinds of allegations and accusations. Fact, fact. In fact. If to be accused were sufficient to make a man guilty, then no good minister would ever be innocent.
If the accusation was enough to confer guilt, then none of us could ever exist. And that is why, recognizing that these accusations come, Paul says they are not to be entertained without corroboration.
Now, once again, he is. Bringing into the New Testament principles that were clearly understood and practiced in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy nineteen and verse fifteen: One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Now this is why, when you turn to Matthew 18 and the instruction Jesus gave on church discipline, that when you go to an individual and you point something out to them, and that individual denies the existence of it, you are to go with two or three who are able to corroborate the concern that is expressed. These individuals act as witnesses to the accusation.
Now Paul reminds Timothy that in relationship to this, there is a need for public censure.
Now, in saying that, it should be absolutely clear that the reference to the sin here is to a matter of public import. All right, those who sin are to be rebuked publicly.
Now, clearly, that doesn't mean that every time something happens with an elder, there is to be some great legal brouhaha that emerges on account of it. We have to understand Scripture with Scripture. When we understand the principle in Matthew eighteen of going on a personal basis regarding a personal matter, of extending it when there is an unrepentant spirit, of bringing it to the church when there is no response to that, then when you take that and coalesce it with this, you understand that public rebuke is a response to public sin.
So there is not that we simply take and make much of that which is a matter of privacy. Let me give you a Calvin on this. Paul is here speaking of sins that give rise to public scandal. For if any elder commits a fault not in this category, it is clearly preferable that he should be admonished privately rather than openly accused.
However, if then that elder was to refuse the private admonishment, then the church would have no other recourse than to make a matter which was originally private then become public.
Now, the concern and the principle is this: sin amongst leaders in churches is not to be shielded; it is not to be covered up; it is not to be hidden away. It is to be publicly rebuked. In other words, when an elder sins in a public fashion, he and a church member, for that matter, he or she is to be rebuked in a public manner, so that the principle in application will be such that the others may take warning.
Now, loved ones, if in the average church. The approach to compensation is pretty poor. Believe me, the situation in the average church in relationship to dealing with matters like this is worse than the way in which they deal with the matter of remuneration. The spinelessness that exists at the leadership level in many churches and the favoritism and the and the politicking is incredible. And that's why churches are in total chaos, because people won't do what the Bible says.
And when we don't do what the instruction book says, if we don't won't run the plays out of the book, then who knows where the ball ends up, and who knows where the team goes? Says Guthrie, when faced with sinning elders, a spineless attitude is deplorable.
Now, the action to be taken is not only punitive; it is purposeful, and one of the reasons that we have such difficulty with this, and one of the reasons that we have such manifold confusion in the contemporary situation on Capitol Hill, is because any notion of jurisprudence, any notion of justice, is just about completely shot. The idea that punishment is punitive. The idea that punishment can be restorative, the idea that punishment is purposeful, so as to enable others to heed the warning. JB Phillips says this should be done as a salutary warning to others. The King James Version that others may also fear.
The NIV so that others may take warning. Deuteronomy for the last time, and then we're through. Deuteronomy 13. Verse six: If your very own brother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, say and let us go and worship other gods.
Okay, somebody tries to draw you away into heresy. The gods that neither know you nor your fathers have known, gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other, do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. Listen, you must certainly put him to death.
Do you think God is concerned about doctrine? Do you think God is concerned about purity? Do you think God is simply sitting up, looking at the chaos of evangelicalism, and going, you know, this isn't really a problem? In the Old Testament, he said, "If somebody actually tries to seduce you into heresy, even if it's your wife, stone her to death, and your hand should be the first to cast the stone." Why? Verse ten, eleven.
Then all Israel will hear and be afraid. Notice. And no one among you will do such an evil thing again.
Now that's the principle here. If you've got an elder and he blots his copybook and he sins morally, don't don't run him out of town on the late bus. And come back to the congregation and make up some notion about how his his mother wasn't feeling well or something else, and we've got to deal with a few things, and then hope that it will all die down, create a distraction. Don't do that stuff. He says the pagans do that stuff.
They've got that down. You stand up and say, "Here's the deal." Through your tears, through your brokenness. Loved ones, this is what has happened, and we're here to tell you because the Bible says we have to come and tell you. Otherwise, we'd run for it. We go on the late bus, and we believe that if we do this, then it will be a solid dose of preventative medicine.
See, our culture doesn't believe this. That's why kids don't get the paddle. It's one of the reasons, but you remember that sound, don't you? You remember sitting there, going, "My goodness gracious, that could have been me." I mean, that was always me. That should have been me.
You're saying, "Whoa, made it." Yes, I'm looking. No, I'm not chewing. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Oh, yes.
It's the same with our kids. The Muslims understand it. Orthodox Jews understand it, but all the weak, willy Christians, they lost it completely. Almost completely. I've been on the receiving end of letter after letter, and call after call, and invitation after invitation, to go and fight the big giants that are working against the church.
To encourage all of you to phone one eight hundred numbers and call your congressman, and we'll fix this place. It's really getting fixed, isn't it? We're really fixing it good. Yesterday's headline: fourteen-year-old boy accused of killing his own son. Simultaneously, the sixteen-year-old, seventeen-year-old girl in all of the sorry predicament in her young life.
Do you really think the answer to that is political? Get serious. These well-meaning souls can even take care of their own situation. What is the answer? The answer is to live out the life of Christ.
The answer is you in your small corner and I in mine. The answer is to be so radically different. That the culture comes to inquire of us how it is that we managed to deal with this, how it is that we managed to live in this way. But why would they ever come and ask us about premarital sex when the statistics for premarital sex in the average evangelical church are the same? As the statistics in the secular culture.
Why would they ever come and ask us about marriage and divorce when the statistics within the average evangelical church are the same for divorce as in the secular culture? Why would they ever come and ask us about dealing with pornography when the statistics that are given in the average evangelical church are that forty percent of the men are involved themselves in pornography? See how easy it is. Play with our minds. Phone the number, sign the ticket, send the dollar bill, and think we did it.
God says, "Listen, it's time for judgment to begin at the house of God." That means it's time for judgment to begin with me. It's time for judgment to begin with you, and the only way in which we will make a radical impact in our culture, as we're going to see in the coming weeks, is by being the kind of worker who really works, the kind of teacher who really teaches, the kind of father who really fathers, the kind of elder. Who really cares? You say, what? Don't you realize there are two hundred and fifty million people here?
Yeah.
Well, how do you change the world? Just one person at a time. Can you imagine if we were able to mobilize a company like this to concerns like this? What an amazing difference it would be! You're listening to Truth for Life with Aleister Beg.
He'll return in just a moment to close today's program. As we heard today, those who are willing to invest their lives in the cause of the gospel deserve to be honored. And since October is Pastor Appreciation Month, we want to say thank you to those who are in pastoral ministry for all you do to serve God and your local church. I want to encourage you to take advantage of the carefully selected free and low-cost Bible teaching resources that we offer to you and your congregation at the for pastors and churches page on our website. You'll find special teaching messages from Alister for you as you lead your church family, as well as Bible studies for your church's small group.
There are helpful resources that you can share with your congregation. Check it out. Go to truthforlife.org/slash. Churches, and while you're on that page, be sure to sign up to receive quarterly updates. That way, you'll be notified whenever new materials are released.
If you're not a pastor, keep in mind that every time you give a donation to Truth for Life, you are making free or low-cost resources available to pastors and churches. And when you donate today, we want to invite you to request Alister's brand new verse-by-verse study guide through the Book of Second Timothy. It's titled "Guarding the Truth." You can give online at truthforlife.org/donate or call us at eight eight eight five. Eight eight seven eight eight four.
Now here's Alister with a closing prayer. Oh God, look upon us in your mercy. We pray. Thank you that Jesus said, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." Thank you for the victory that is ours in Christ. Thank you for the chilling rectitude of the instruction of Your Word, which turns the gaze, the spotlight on our very souls.
Save us, Lord, from spinelessness, from laziness, from capitulating to the world around us, and grant instead that we might increasingly be men and women of the Book. And now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be the abiding portion of all who believe today and forevermore. Amen. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, we will find out why selecting suitable candidates to do God's work should never be a hasty process.
The Bible teaching of Aleister Beg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.
