So today we're going to close out the fifth chapter of 1st Timothy. So if you have your Bible with you, please turn with me to chapter 5 of 1st Timothy. Our last two messages, we have covered Paul's inspired instructions regarding elders, the first week dealing with the church's material support of deserving pastors and elders, and last time, we looked at the instructions for how to deal with elders who are potentially sinning. And in that message, we saw that elders are to be treated neither better nor worse than any other Christian in matters of discipline over sin. We saw that God's longstanding principle has been sin must be established by multiple witnesses. So the verse tells us do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. And we suggested that it is important when dealing with issues of sin to ask ourselves if this is a minor offense or sin, can it simply be forgiven in love? If it's not something that we can or we should forgive, then we need to keep short accounts with one another so that no root of bitterness springs up between us. We also saw then that the Lord Jesus has prescribed the necessary steps to deal with sin issues in his word. We looked at his instructions that were recorded in Matthew 18, going first to discuss the problem one-on-one before we speak to someone else about the situation. Next, if there is no appropriate repentant response, bringing a witness or two to establish the matter. and then bringing the individual before the church if that does not work. Finally, removing the person from fellowship and treating them as you would an unbeliever if all those steps did not lead to repentance. We also noted though that because there is a greater responsibility held by pastors and elders and overseers and deacons, Their sin issues are not kept private if they have to undergo church discipline. Indeed sinning elders, Paul says here, are to be publicly rebuked that others may fear sin and its repercussions. Verse 20, those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone so that the others may take warning. And finally, we saw that church leaders are very solemnly enjoined to be impartial and fair in such disciplinary matters. This is verse 21. I charge you in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to keep these instructions without partiality and do nothing out of favoritism. could hardly be a more strongly worded caution to investigate thoroughly, to not prejudge such situations, and to not allow personal feelings, either for or against, to sway the deliberations as these matters are considered. And today, although there are definite connections to what has just come before, we also find Paul digressing just a little bit to more personal instructions for Timothy. That's our message title today, Personal Instructions for Timothy. And as I said, we're in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 22. In this final section of Chapter 5, we find Paul inspired to add additional personal instructions in leadership behavior. These last three verses, Paul is inspired to add additional personal instruction in leadership behavior. Here Paul first gives a specific caution to Timothy, then he momentarily digresses to advise on a personal health issue before he finally then returns to the initial topic related to good and bad elders. So verse 22 of 1 Timothy 5. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. Stop drinking only water and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them, and the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever. So in verse 22, we find Paul inspired to warn that by promoting or possibly restoring a man to leadership too quickly, one becomes complicit in their future sin. It's almost a unique concept in the scriptures, but clearly Paul says, by promoting or restoring a man to leadership too quickly, one becomes complicit in their future sins. So verse 22 again, do not be hasty in the laying on of hands. Now, there are several reasons in scripture throughout for the laying on of hands. Under the Old Testament sacrificial system, the priest would lay their hands on an animal about to be sacrificed, symbolically transferring the sin of the people to the animal known as the scapegoat. Now clearly that's not the intended meaning here, especially since the death of Christ removed the need for such sacrificial animals. Second reason for the laying on of hands then was during the miraculous healings that are recorded in the New Testament. Many times, although not all, those who were doing the healing, whether it was Jesus or his apostles, would lay their hands on the person and heal them. Again, clearly, even though Paul is discussing Timothy's frequent illnesses in the next verse, he doesn't mention healing here. And other biblical examples of laying on of hands for the purpose of healing happen quickly. There's no waiting around to do that. If someone found someone who had a deformed leg or couldn't see or whatever, boom, they would lay hands on them or speak words over them or whatever it was that they were going to do and take care of it quickly. There's no reason for an injunction on healing and laying hands on. So that can't be what Paul is referring to. So having eliminated those two possibilities, scholars and commentators then understand Paul's instruction here to be referring to the commissioning of church leaders by means of the ceremony of laying on hands where approval is given to the individuals and a symbolic transfer of authority is given. And that was an Old Testament practice. We see it in Numbers 27. Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eliezer, the priest, and the whole assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him as the Lord has instructed through Moses. in Acts chapter 6. The apostles commissioned those seven men who had been chosen to serve in the capacity of deacons. It wasn't the official office, but that's essentially what they were doing. And in Acts 6.6 it says, they presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid their hands on them. Paul himself, along with Barnabas, were commissioned for their missionary efforts in exactly this way, according to Acts 13. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. And finally, we've also seen Paul remind Timothy of the young man's own commissioning for ministry. That was recorded back in chapter four, where he writes, do not neglect your gift which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on him. So why does Paul here in chapter five say, do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and what is it that he means by this? Well, the word translated here in the NIV as hastily can mean too soon, too easily, or too quickly. And there's essentially three possibilities that Paul has in mind here. The first, suggested by the close proximity to the previous verses regarding sinning elders, is that these are leaders who are being restored after they've fallen into sin. And that's certainly a possibility. But it's interesting to note in the scriptures that forgiveness for repentant sinners rarely seems to be an extended process. For instance, regarding the person who had been caught in sexual sin at Corinth, we talked about him last week, Paul seems to encourage a very quick restoration to fellowship And in his second letter, he writes, if anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent, not to put it too severely. And so the punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him. Another reason I wrote to you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I've forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us, for we are not unaware of his schemes." So Paul seems to indicate here that withholding forgiveness could be a scheme of Satan to divide people. The Lord Jesus himself also encourages quick forgiveness when he says, if your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them. And if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times a day, and seven times come back and say, I repent, you must forgive them. And in reply, the apostle said, Lord, increase our faith. How do we do this? That's hard. I can't do this without help from you. Even though there is scriptural encouragement to quickly forgive, that doesn't automatically, though, mean that one who's had a significant fall from grace as a leader should be restored to their previous position too rapidly, if at all, depending on what issue it is we're talking about. Fellowship, absolutely. A return to leadership, once again, only perhaps after time. depending on the circumstances. The main reason, though, that most scholars don't think Paul is referring, at least primarily, to the laying of hands for the purpose of restoring an elder is that there's no really clear, direct biblical instruction to do this. Certainly not here. It's confusing. And even more significantly, there's no biblical example of such a restoration ever taking place. We don't see that happening. So scholars actually say that the first recorded instances of laying on of hands to restore someone didn't show up until the third century in the church historical documents. Now that being the case, then, most scholars believe that Paul is referring to the laying on of hands at one's initial commissioning as a leader. And so here he is widening the focus back from fallen leaders to the idea of how to keep from suffering fallen leaders. How do we keep people going into leadership from falling? Well, one way is don't promote them too quickly. Don't do it too easily. And the forms and the tenses of the original Greek indicate to scholars that Timothy and the other church leaders may have already been doing this. The form speaks of stopping an action that's already underway. And so we've seen Paul give similar cautions back in chapter three in the qualifications for elders and deacons. As it says there, he must not be a recent convert or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. And then just a few verses later under the deacons, they must first be tested And then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. So Paul is likely not referring to promoting someone who's still too young in the faith. just because they find him impressive. I think I said that incorrectly. I got my knots in the wrong place. Paul is likely referring to not promoting someone too quickly. Pardon me. He may well also be recommending a prolonged period of observation of any man's life even if he has been saved for a goodly amount of time before promoting them to leadership so that the rest of the church will be confident about the candidate and will believe that they are actually worthy of such an office and there is time for problematic things to come out. And the final verses here in chapter 5 seem to give indication that this is Paul's primary intent, although the other two are certainly valid as well. Paul's inspired also to add, do not share in the sins of others, keep yourself pure. Now that's not actually a separate thought here, although it easily could be, rather it's a warning that in the eyes of others, And indeed, in some way, if a church leadership accepts someone too quickly into a position of authority, and then they fall into sin, whether that's because of pride and immaturity, because they've been prematurely promoted, or whether that is the case that the church didn't do its due diligence, didn't observe long enough to make sure that a man doesn't have secret sin, those leaders are seen as culpable in this man's fall. The Greek word translated as share is actually koioneo. It means to come into communion or fellowship or to be made a partner with them. It's typically used in the scriptures to talk about Christian fellowship, the bond that you and I all have with one another, okay? Koinoneo, it means fellowship. But here it's being used in the negative sense. You don't want to have fellowship, you don't want to share with someone who is sinning. Because that reflects back on you. Don't promote or restore a man too quickly. And finally, Paul exhorts Timothy, keep yourself pure. Now that could certainly be taken in the general sense regarding Paul's life as a whole, and it probably should be to some extent, but I think it's best to understand Paul is primarily intending to encourage Timothy not to pollute himself by becoming a partner in their sins through unwise and premature promotion of people to the position of elder and deacon. We are always, obviously, to keep ourselves pure, but in this case, particularly by not sharing in the sins of others who were not ready or qualified to be made church leaders. Now next we come to a digression of thought here, at least to some extent, as Paul moves from advising Timothy to keep himself pure to an issue of personal health that could well have been one that Timothy was perhaps thinking about personal purity in a wrong way. We should point out that these sorts of little or even extended lengthier digressions are actually typical of Paul's writing style. Remember that one of the important tenets of our understanding of how God gave us the Bible is that the Holy Spirit superintended each and every word so that God is saying exactly what he wants said, but he does so using the personalities and the distinctive writing styles of the individual human author. That's like a divine thing, and it's kind of hard to understand how that's possible, but we believe that that is exactly what happens. God is more than wise and powerful enough to do this and yet still communicate exactly what it is that he wants to say to us, even with these little digressions. So if you recall, we said in the introduction to this series that some liberal scholars have actually disputed Paul's authorship of the pastoral epistles, and they ascribe these letters to a so-called pious forger in the second century, mainly because they believe that the heresies he seems to be combating didn't appear until significantly later in church history. Now, conservative scholars have done a more than adequate job in countering those arguments relatively easily, but John Kitchen makes a wonderful point refuting their contentions using this verse. He writes, the introduction of this sentence at this point in the discussion seems a bit jarring. something which commentators have puzzled over for centuries. But this, however, provides one of the best arguments for genuine Pauline authorship, for surely no later forger would have introduced something so apparently foreign to the context as well as a topic so particularly personal into the text. I mean, we can really trust that this is Paul's genuine writing. So in this brief digression into a very practical individual piece of advice, Paul is inspired to recommend to Timothy a little wine for medicinal purposes. Paul's inspired to recommend a little wine for medicinal purposes. Verse 23, stop drinking only water and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses. Again, according to scholars, the Greek syntax and structure indicates that this was something that Timothy was already doing. He had determined to completely abstain from wine. Drinking only water was what he was currently doing, and Paul advises him that that behavior was, frankly, a little bit unwise. Now, Timothy's abstinence may have been due to his own personal convictions, or, as some commentators suggest, he may have been trying to placate or go along with some of the false teachers who claim that the way to be spiritual and godly was by denying yourself all sorts of different things. These people would come to be known as the ascetics, and they were cropping up in other churches as well. Paul had written a letter to the Colossians just a year or two before this one, refuting those kind of thoughts, and it's very possible that Timothy had perhaps not even seen that letter yet. Paul argued, therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink. Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belong to the world, do you submit to its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These rules that have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use are based merely on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. So Paul enjoins Timothy, stop drinking only water and use a little wine. Now remember that Paul's own inspired standards for elders and deacons had not been total abstinence. We saw this in chapter three. There was instead a caution and a commitment to not overindulge as we saw in First Timothy three. Now the overseer, that is the pastor or the elder, is to be above reproach, not given to drunkenness. and a few verses later, in the same way deacons are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine. This is why Paul's inspired instruction here is to use a little. not a lot of wine, and the reason, he cites, is because of Timothy's apparent regular bouts of stomach issues, illnesses. Now, these problems were in all likelihood bouts of dysentery, and they were the result of drinking only water contaminated by bacteria or parasitic amoebas, okay? I want you to notice here, Paul's advice is actually practical and not spiritual in this case. It's kind of a strange thing to say that in the scriptures, but Paul's advice is practical, not spiritual. He doesn't say just simply, well, pray about this issue, okay? Undoubtedly, both of them had done so, nor does Paul suggest Timothy look for someone who has the gift of healing and get them to lay hands on him and heal him. And by the way, this certainly suggests that these gifts of supernatural healing by this time were beginning to fade away. They were not nearly so common. They may have stopped completely by this point. Why? Well, because the records of those miraculous healings were being written down now. The Gospels were being written and formed. And so we had the testimony that you and I were going to have today. And so the need for these, as the Gospel had spread out to the Gentile world, was ending. and the scriptures recording the facts that the witnesses of those happening had already been written down. Paul had probably at some point attempted to heal Timothy and maybe it just didn't work anymore. Scripture makes very clear, though, that early on, for both the Lord and his apostles, many people were being healed, as it says in Matthew 9.35. Jesus went throughout all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and sickness. So this should have been, if the healing gifts were still operating, this should have been something that they could have dealt with in that way. Apparently they could no longer do so. It also tells us that while God does want us to pray about physical illnesses, he does not always choose to heal them supernaturally, and thus he is not against doctors and medical science. Sometimes he heals himself. Sometimes he heals using physicians and practical means. So mixing wine containing alcohol with water in those days would render it safe to drink. Typical dilution was three or four parts water with one part of wine. And this would kill off the bacteria, the microbes, the amoebas in that and render the water then safe to drink. And hopefully then that would reduce the frequency and the intensity of Timothy's intestinal problems. Now, having said all that, this is no longer necessary advice for people living in most modern developed nations. It's not advice really that applies to us, in a modern developed nation. Almost all first world societies have easy access to relatively pure water, in most cases right from a faucet in their home. Those that don't typically have easy access to purified filtered water or filtration systems that remove these impurities and contaminates and it's far easier for us to boil water than it was in that day. Wine drinking today is quite frankly often much more about socialization. And so we should not take Timothy's encouragement to use a little wine as license for Christians to routinely be social drinkers. Why? Because drunkenness is consistently condemned by God. In the scriptures, drunkenness is consistently condemned by God. Paul puts it very clearly and succinctly to the Ephesians, do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Your behavior will be affected. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. In essence, he asks, what is going to control you? An alcoholic spirit control you? Or will the Holy Spirit be in control of you? One leads to debauchery. The other leads to righteousness, holiness, and godliness. The Corinthians, he warns, do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that's what some of you were. But you were washed. You were sanctified and you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God. Praise the Lord that through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be set free from the things that would enslave us and keep us from God's kingdom. And this occurs through the power of the Holy Spirit coming into our heart and our lives. Because we read in the scriptures and we even know from our own personal observation, drinking alcohol can lead to abuse and it can lead to addiction. Use of alcoholic beverage can lead to abuse and addiction. The book of Proverbs has been described as practical wisdom for life. And its authors were inspired to warn vividly of this danger. Proverbs 20 and verse 1, wine is a mocker and beer a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise. A few chapters later, who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine. Those who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. For in the end it bites like a snake and it poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange sights and your mind will imagine confusing things. You'll be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging. They hit me, you will say, but I'm not hurt. They beat me, but I don't feel it. When will I wake up so that I can find another drink? Prophet Isaiah was also warned to write. Woe to those who were heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks. Remember that the Hebrew word that's translated as woe is one of great sorrow and danger. It actually means you're as good as dead if you do these things. And even though the consumption of alcohol is, in fact, a matter for Christian liberty, according to the scriptures, it's every believer's responsibility to be exceedingly cautious in the use of alcohol, both because of the potential for abuse and addiction, and also because drinking alcohol can inadvertently encourage others to stumble and fall. The way we handle alcohol can inadvertently cause others to stumble and fall. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul discusses the danger to others that is created by a Christian eating meat that had been sacrificed for idols, but bear with me because you will see he extends this same principle to drinking when he wrote on the same subject to the Romans, so 1 Corinthians 8. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights, your Christian liberty, does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you with all your knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? And so this weak brother or sister for whom Christ died is destroyed by your knowledge. And so when you sin against them in this way and you wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I'll never eat meat again so that I won't cause them to fall. As I mentioned then, in Romans he writes, I'm convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in and of itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you're no longer acting in love. So do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. And therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness. of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. So let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification, the building up of others. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it's wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. Here it is, it is better not to eat meat or to drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother and sister to fall. We have a responsibility to one another, so we have to be wise about when, where, how, how much. And on often cases, it's best to just avoid so that we don't set a bad example. Now for health reasons, Timothy was encouraged by Paul to use a little wine to ease his stomach problems. But for the sake of weak and vulnerable people around us, we as Christians need to be very careful that any uses of alcohol on our part doesn't cause someone else to stumble and fall. And so, avoiding or minimizing the use of alcohol doesn't automatically make us more godly. Not saying that. Especially if we get prideful about it. Puff ourselves up, oh, well I don't touch that stuff. Okay? You don't see Paul doing that here. It's done in the most gentle sort of way. But if we curtail our intake for the sake of others, I think it says pretty clearly here that God is pleased. Now, having made that digression, Paul then returns to the overall theme of this section, which is differentiating between good and bad elders. A person's true character will always eventually reveal itself. We can have confidence in that. A person's true character will eventually always reveal itself. Verse 24, the sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them. Now the word translated here as obvious can mean it's openly evident. It's known to all. In other words, you can't miss the manifestations of some people's sins. It's easy to see how they've missed the mark of God's standards, how they have wandered from the path of uprightness and truth. Their sins are actually clear disqualifiers from positions of leadership. And sometimes, might even be an indication that the person is not even truly saved. The place of judgment here likely refers to the process of earthly evaluation by other church leadership of a man's suitability for leadership, even though it may well also refer to the ultimate judgment that is to come by God. Primarily though, it seems to be that Paul is talking about judging a man here on earth to decide whether or not they should be promoted to a position of leadership. Those with such evident sins will be known for them and the news of their sin will arrive even before they do. But he adds, the sins of others trail behind them. What does that mean? Well, it essentially means that some people's sins are hidden. They're not immediately obvious. It's going to show up sometime later. And thus we have Paul's admonition to Timothy to not be hasty in the laying on of hands. He should have come to know this man well, should have observed his life for a significant amount of time, and thus have great confidence then that hidden sins are not a problem before a man is promoted to a position of authority in the church, lest Timothy and his other leaders share in that man's sin. Paul writes to the Ephesians, but among you there must not even be a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse jesting which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure no immortal, immoral, impure, or greedy person, such a person as an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes upon those who are disobedient. Therefore, do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but you are now light in the Lord. Live as children of the light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It's shameful to mention what the disobedient do in secret. but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. You cannot hide your true character for more than a time. Here in the final verse of 1 Timothy 5, Paul adds the converse of verse 24. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever. good men will produce good fruits and good works. It's all good women, but we're talking primarily about elders here. The Spirit will guide such men into the works that the Lord has prepared in advance for them to do, and others will notice those deeds and they will praise God for them and for the gift of these sorts of men to them. These are the sorts of men that the church needs to have in leadership, so that others will want to follow them and emulate them. Paul adds, even the good deeds that they try to keep hidden, for whatever reason, modesty, or that's just the kind of person God has made them to be, eventually those good deeds, too, will come to light, and God will be glorified because of it. Let's pray. Lord, we again thank you for your word that is so practical. Lord, you give instructions to us so that we might know how to handle ourselves and how to handle your church. Lord, we pray that we would be faithful in doing such things and that you would be the head of your church. with men who are longing to be conformed to your image as your under shepherds. Lord, continue to grow our faith that we might be able to forgive as you have forgiven us. And Father, we pray that we would be the kind of church that you want us to be. May we not get in your way, but get under your ways for your glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name.