1 Timothy chapter 5, we'll start with verses 17 through 20, and then we'll try to work our way all the way through verse 25. So 1 Timothy 5, 17 through 20. This is the word of the Lord. Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor. especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear." Thus far the reading of God's Holy Word. God shifts through the pastorate And as he does so, he separates between the pastors who honor him and those who do not. Of course, Christ Jesus is the chief shepherd. He's the shepherd. And so pastors in his church are merely under shepherds, not to lord it over people. But just as Jesus Christ, the good shepherd, sifts through the flock of his church, and separates between the sheep and the goats, so too does he sift through the pastorate. He separates between the good pastors and the bad pastors. But before we begin, before I think we can begin, studying this process of how God sifts through the eldership in the pastorate. First, I think we need to sift through a lot of confusion that's been brought upon this text, and specifically verse 17. Because of the history of how this verse has been interpreted, there's a lot of confusion surrounding verse 17. So we need to sift through that first before we can hear God sifting through the pastorate. So here's 1 Timothy 5, 17. And the confusion centers around the definition of who the elders are. Who are the elders in verse 17? And there's a lot of confusion about this. 1 Timothy 5, 17. Let the elders. The question is, who are they? People are very confused over this. who rule well, be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and doctrine." So the great confusion is who are these elders? Of whom is Paul speaking? And I would say that most everyone in the church agrees that this phrase double honour, so whoever the elders are, there's an agreement on the double honour phrase. Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor." Most everyone in the church agrees that that phrase, double honor, is again a pecuniary phrase, just like we saw with the widows. It's a financial phrase. It's a monetary phrase. It refers to financial help and support. Almost everybody agrees about that. Just as widows, as we saw, are to be honored by the church with the financial help of the church, so to these elders, whoever they are, are to receive double honor, which means an extra measure of support from the church. And this is plain and not confusing. Everyone agrees elders are to be financially supported by the church when it's feasible. So that's not the confusing part. The confusing part is the understanding of who the elders are. And the reason why it's confusing is because of our good friend John Calvin. who brought a Reformed view to 1 Timothy 5.17 and took a different spin on it. Before the Reformation happened, this verse wouldn't have been interpreted this way, but Calvin came to verse 17 and was trying to go back to Scripture and do all things according to Scripture. And he read into verse 17 two types of elders. So when Calvin came to 1 Timothy 5.17, he didn't see one kind of elder in the verse, he saw two. He saw one class of elder called the ruling elder and then another class of elder called the pastor elder or the preaching elder. And he says, quote, there are two kinds of elders, end quote. So that's directly from Calvin. And and this is how you would read the verse. So First Timothy 517, again, reading it as Calvin would let the elders who rule well, And then stop there, Calvin says, there's the first class. Those are the ruling elders, a different type of elder, be counted worthy of double honor. And then Calvin reads, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. And he sees there a second class of elder. This would be the pastor class or the more vocational elder, the preaching elder. So Calvin thought that every local church ought to have a plurality of elders. Or, as we might say in today's language, a board of elders consisting of both ruling elders and then the pastor, the main preaching elder who would be the pastor. Or, to simplify that, what Calvin did is he invited the laity into the eldership. That was new. That wasn't heard of before, so he invited lay elders into the eldership. And because of the Reformed theology on this, there's been a lot of confusion ever since on how to interpret this verse. And if I could be bold, I'd like to venture that maybe Calvin was wrong. This view of Calvin's, which which in my opinion at least is wrong, I think has created a lot of confusion in the church. I think ever since the reform movement set forth from Calvin, really reform theology comes from Calvin, there's been a lot of confusion over the issue of elders because of the way Calvin innovated. because of the way he brought a new interpretation to this verse. And of course, I think we lack time to really sift through the details of that. It would take a lot of work and a lot of time to sift through the details of why I think Calvin was wrong. But let me at least give you three great reasons why I think that the best way to read verse 17 is to see it as referring to pastor elders. They were all the same category, pastors or elders, elders or pastors. in the church and not referring to these two groups of ruling elders and then pastor elders and splitting the eldership and inviting the laity into the eldership. And of course, in the traditional view, where verse 17 is talking about pastors, Those pastors are indeed sole pastors. They're the sole pastors of the small local churches that they pastored, but they were obligated to work together. The reason why there's a plurality is because the pastors always work together in a given city, and usually they worked under the authority of some kind of a local bishop. But here are three great reasons why I would venture to say that Calvin was wrong. The first is that in verse 17, the verb to labor, is not a functional verb, but a vocational verb. And I'll explain that. Verse 17 says, especially, remember you've got those who rule well are worthy of double honor, especially those who labor, and that labor word is really important, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. The verb to labor in the Greek text, you look it up all throughout the New Testament, is not a functional verb. So, in other words, this is describing a function of an elder, as if there was one type of function, the ruling function, and then there's the other type of function, which is the pastoral function, and the pastors labor in the pastoral function, and the ruling elders labor in the ruling function. It's not how the verb is used. That's not the verb. The verb is a vocational verb. To labor means to work for one's sustenance. It's what you do for your vocational work. To put it simply, laboring in verse 17 means working with your hands in order to gain your sustenance. So I think Paul is not differentiating between ruling elders, who would be kind of a lay group of elders in the church, and then pastor elders. Rather, I think he's differentiating between what we would call tent makers, who are the pastors who supplement the gifts of the church with their own work, with working with their own hands the way Paul did. And then the second part of the verse would be the full-time ministers, those who have dedicated themselves to the full-time work of the ministry and the church is able, by God's grace, to support them. I think that's the differentiation. You've got tin makers and then you've got those who are full-time dedicated to vocational work. And so let me just show you Ephesians 4.28 is one example out of many. The verb to labor is vocational. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor. And of course, in the context there, that's not functional labor. That's vocational labor. That's working with your hands in order to gain sustenance. And then Paul says, even in order to be able to give so that you can give to those who have need. So the verb to labor is not functional. It's vocational. Second great reason why I think Calvin was wrong. When you go to the New Testament, And you read very carefully all the passages about elders. So you go to places like 1st Timothy chapter 3, 1st Peter chapter 5, Titus chapter 1, and you study elders in the New Testament. In my opinion, those passages more naturally describe the pastorate, not this group of lay elders who rule and govern the church, kind of like a church senate or a church congress. It doesn't seem to me to be what those passages describe. They're very pastoral. They're very focused on the pastorate. The third reason why I think Calvin was wrong in his reformed view on elders in the church, creating these two classes of ruling elders and pastor elders, is because he was going against church history. He was innovating. Calvin knew, he says it in his commentary on 1 Timothy 5, he knew that he was going against the Church Fathers when he innovated on this verse. He knew that the traditional interpretation of the verse up until that time had always been focused on pastors, and he knew it, and then he just decided to take the gamble and innovate anyway. And I would suggest that that's probably not wise. The Church Fathers are not inerrant. You can certainly find places where the Church Fathers err. But when the church fathers happen to be in agreement on a particular doctrine, as seems to be the case with the issue of elders, all the way from Papias and Ignatius in the second century to Athanasius and Chrysostom in the fourth century, when there's a widespread agreement amongst the fathers in how they read the scripture, it's usually not wise to go against them. And then I need to say, however, Today, there are not a few. There are not a few. Strong. Bible-preaching churches who hold this to Calvin's view. So they have lay elders, they've got a board of elders, and they hold this view, and my intent is not to disparage them. That's not what I'm aiming at. But I do think, I do think that churches that have been deeply influenced by this Calvinist theology on elders, they've been kind of intimidated by the Calvinistic view on elders, need to consider the church fathers. I think they need to at least consider that point. The fact is that the Church Fathers are against them, and that should at least give them pause. So to sum that up, elders in the passage, in my opinion, this term elders refers to pastors. And some of them were tent makers, and so they were worthy of double honor, but the church couldn't exactly, you know, the church is poor and couldn't support them all the way, so they had a supplement income. And then others were graced with the ability to participate in full-time ministry, their labor. was in, their full-time labor was in preaching and in doctrine. Well, that's my attempt to sort through the confusion on the verse. Of course, that's a fallible attempt, and I know how fallible I am, but that's my stab at it. So now I think, at least that sets the stage so you know the background. So now we're ready to hear how God sifts through the pastorate. God is the one who really sifts through the pastorate. And I believe we're speaking about the pastorate and God sifts through it. And the first sifting mechanism that God uses to sift through the pastorate involves this word worthy. The question is, in the pastorate, who is worthy of this double honor and who is not? 1 Timothy 5, 17 through 18 says, let the elders who rule well. So not all elders are worthy of double honor, it's the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor. And then listen for the word worthy again, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine for the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and The laborer is worthy of his wages. This is God sifting through the pastorate and he separates between pastors. First, God says, there are the pastors who rule well and they are worthy of double honor. They're worthy of the support of the church. And then, of course, there are the pastors who do not rule well and they should not be supported by the church. But let's start with the ones who are worthy. There are pastors who labor hard for the gospel. And so, Paul says they're worthy of double honor. Just as Jesus said to his apostles, Luke 10, 5-7, But whatever house you enter, he's speaking to his apostles, first say peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give. For, and here it is, this is what Paul is quoting, for the laborer, is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. Or here's how the Apostle Paul puts it in another sense in 1 Corinthians 9, 9-10. For it is written in the law of Moses, you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. And then Paul asks, is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does he say it all together for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written that he who plows should plow in hope and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. So that's how the Apostle Paul puts it. Or, here's how the Apostle John puts it when he's speaking of itinerant preachers of the gospel. This is John saying in 3 John 5-8, Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers who have borne witness of your love before the church, if you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God. So you support them. You come alongside and support these faithful itinerant preachers. You will do well because they went forth for my namesake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. We therefore ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. So all of these verses are describing ministers of the gospel who are worthy in the sense that they labor sacrificially for the gospel. But then secondly, of course, that means that there are pastors who are not worthy of the support of the church, of this double honor. They are unfit pastors. They do not belong in the pastorate. Therefore, they're unworthy of the support of the church. So, for example, Second John 10 through 11, here's a here's a case in which. Someone is found not worthy. If anyone comes to you. And does not bring this doctrine. doesn't teach the gospel faithfully, do not receive him into your house nor greet him, for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. And of course, the implication is you're kind of supporting this false teacher financially and then you're sharing in his sins. So just as God sifted through the leadership of Israel when they were wandering in the desert and there was that There is that power grab for leadership between Moses and then remember Miriam and Aaron at one point rose up and tried to try to squash Moses and take the power. Who are you, Moses? God has spoken to us to just as God sifted that out and sifted through the leadership. And of course, Miriam was struck with leprosy and it was very clear who who God had ordained to be the leader and who was not worthy. And just as God sifted through the prophets. Jeremiah was claiming to be the prophet of God, and then the false prophet Hananiah was claiming to be the prophet, and one said, you're going to wear the yoke, and the other one said, the yoke is going to be broken, and God had to sift that out between the true prophet and the false prophet, and Hananiah the false prophet was struck dead. So it was obviously sifted out. So too, even today, God shifts through the pastorate. He shifts the bad pastors out from the good pastors. And make no mistake about it, I think he's doing it even today. There are worthy pastors. I've met some of them, some of them I haven't met, but they're out there and they're wonderful men of God. They are worthy of double honor. These are the ones who preach the truth. They hold fast to sound doctrine. They labor in the Word of God, and it is a labor. I've watched some of them suffer. They are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. And being worthy of double honor, Usually this means, according to the providence of God, it usually means that they just barely get by financially. That's usually what God has in mind there for double honor. They sacrifice. They make a great sacrifice in order to preach the gospel. Sometimes they barely have enough sustenance to make ends meet, and yet they do it gladly. The ones I know, the real heroes, they do it gladly with cheerfulness because they're not working for rewards in this life. They're working for a heavenly reward. But today, I would suggest that there are pastors in our land who are not worthy of the pastorate. These are the ones who cheapen the gospel. They cheapen the blood of Christ with their teaching appeals to the flesh. They preach what itching ears want to hear. They count themselves, this is one of the marks of a pastor who's not worthy of double honor, they count themselves worthy of triple or quadruple honor, apparently, because they make lots of money and live far too comfortably. They kick and grow fat. in their worldly praise, and all people speak well of them. And so I say their reward is only in this life, because they lack a future reward altogether." I think that's what Paul's getting at. So God sifts through the pastorate. He distinguishes between those pastors who are worthy of double honor and those who are not worthy of the pastorate. And then specifically, if we want to get specific about this, God separates between pastors who, on the one hand, are falsely accused in the context of the church, And then those, on the other hand, who are actually accurately accused of sin in the church. And God sifts that out. God's the one who sifts it. 1 Timothy 5, 19 through 20. Here's more of the sifting process. Do not receive an accusation. So there's some kind of accusation that's been leveled against an elder. Except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all. that the rest also may fear." So this isn't just about the pastor, this has implications for the whole church. You see the sifting process? It gets very specific now. There are those on the one hand, there are pastors on the one hand who are falsely accused. They are innocent, but they're falsely charged. And then there are pastors who, on the other hand, are are exposed. Their sins are exposed and they are accurately charged and Jesus Christ sifts it out. Now for those who are falsely accused, the pastors who face false accusations like the brother we prayed for in Kazakhstan, they are very much like their chief shepherd. They're having to undergo what their chief shepherd underwent. Jesus Christ himself was falsely accused. Mark 15.3 says, and the chief priests accused him, Jesus, of many things. Can you imagine accusing the Son of God of sin? But he answered, nothing. Well, Jesus, of course, was sinless. You can say of Jesus and Jesus alone that all accusations against Jesus were false. No one could bring a single true charge against Jesus. But I think Paul would say that even sin-damaged pastors, even pastors who still have a sin nature and they're not perfect, even those pastors, by the grace of God, the blood of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, can live uprightly and ought to live uprightly. And so there are many pastors, like the Apostle Paul himself, who are living in a righteous manner and yet are falsely accused. That's one thing that Satan likes to do, is falsely accuse the brethren. And this is what happened to Paul. Paul, remember, in Acts 26, is in chains. He's a criminal. He's treated like a criminal. He's standing before the governor and the king as a criminal in chains. And this is what happens. They examine the charges against him. Acts 26.30 says, When he had said these things, he just gave his defense. The king stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with him. And when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, Here's the verdict. This man is doing nothing. deserving of death or chains. So Paul himself was falsely accused, and he knew what that felt like. On the other hand, as God sifts this out, there are pastors who are living in sin. And God sometimes allows that sin to be publicly exposed, and then commands that it be publicly rebuked, so that all may fear. And the Apostle Paul again sets the example in this. Paul knew that it was necessary at times to publicly rebuke those pastors who had fallen into sin so that all would fear. For example, 2 Timothy 1.15 apparently names some false teachers or false pastors by name publicly in the letter. 2 Timothy 1.15, This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phougalas and Hermogenes, and he names them by name. So it's a public rebuke. The Apostle John did this too. The Apostle John knew that there are times when a pastor is sinning, when he needs to be publicly rebuked so that all would fear. Here's 3 John 9-11, I wrote to the church, says John, but Diotrephes, This is the bad pastor, Diatrephes. who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds, which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church." And here's the rebuke, "'Beloved, do not imitate what is evil.'" Those are strong words. But what is good? He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. So this is another way in which God sifts through the pastorate. God acquits those pastors who are falsely accused. God gives the innocent verdict on their behalf. And at the same time, God exposes pastors who are sinning. He brings their sin into the public light so that all may fear. One of the earliest Christian letters we have on record. Outside of the Bible, it's not Scripture, it's not inspired, it's not the Bible. But one of the earliest Christian letters we have is called the letter of 1st Clement, or the letter from Rome to Corinth, and it's written by a pastor named Clement, who was in Rome. And in the letter, writing to the church in Corinth, the pastors who are in Rome are appalled because the great Corinthian church, they even almost flatter the church in Corinth, they say, you're the church that Paul wrote to, you're the great Corinthian church has fallen into this great travesty of expelling pastors from the pastorate in Corinth based on false accusations. And the writer of the letter is grieved over this. He's grieved because the pastors are being falsely accused and expelled from the ministry. The writer, First Clement, says, quote, These men, he's speaking of the the innocent pastors, these men we consider to be unjustly removed from their ministry. And then later he says, blessed are those presbyters, those elders or pastors who have gone on ahead, who took their departure at a mature and fruitful age. That means they've died and they're now in heaven, for they need no longer fear that someone might remove them from their established place. For we see that you have removed certain people, their good conduct, notwithstanding from the ministry which had been held in honor by them blamelessly. So they had been falsely accused by the false teachers and then removed from their pastorates. Which means in the church, Paul says there must be two or three witnesses. One of the applications of this for the church is we should be very careful about rumors regarding pastors in the church. We should not entertain rumors about pastors, even if it's a pastor that is a well-known guy that lives way far away and you've never met him. Don't entertain a rumor about him if it's just a rumor. So, you know, someone in the church says, I heard from a close friend that Pastor Matthew said that, and then the rumor follows. But of course, there's no evidence. It's just secondhand rumor. Or someone says in the church, well, I heard that he was actually part of the group that made the decision that, but it's all just gossip and rumor. We're not talking about hard evidence here. These are rumors, and Satan loves rumors. because rumors are vehicles for lies and false accusations. So if there is no hard evidence, If there are not two or three witnesses, as the scripture says, then stay away from it. Someone who goes spreading rumors about a pastor, especially if he's got a high profile ministry and there's going to be a big impact. Be careful. Be very careful. The case may sound like they may make the case. The rumors may make the case for him being guilty, but he may not be guilty. And if he's guilty, God will judge him. But if he's innocent, we dare not accuse God's servant. We don't want to falsely accuse. But on the other hand, there are guilty pastors. I know of a church in America, and I'll just keep it broad, whose pastor in the past had committed adultery. And the church knew about it. All everybody in the church, including the church leadership, knew about it. And yet the pastor was never publicly rebuked. It was all in the name of grace. We want to show grace and cover this up and keep it quiet. The pastor was never publicly rebuked. First Timothy, chapter five, was not followed, which says he's to be rebuked publicly so that all would fear that scripture was not obeyed. Moreover, he was never removed from his office. He could just quietly commit the sin of adultery, move on, it's covered over, and the Bible is not obeyed. And when those kinds of things happen, we need to be bewildered at the lack of obedience to 1 Timothy 5. It's plain, it's clear, the Apostle Paul has commanded it, there's a reason for it, it's so that all would fear, it's so that people would know how grave sins in the past really are, and it needs to be obeyed. Christian grace is not anti-church discipline. That's not true Christian grace. Rather, the opposite is true. Church discipline is an expression of Christian grace. It's actually grace. Church discipline is a grace from God. It's a grace from God both for the man who has sinned and for the church. It's all a grace from God. And I think that one of the reasons why the church in America is dying today is because the church in America doesn't practice discipline. There is no discipline. In the name of grace, we've just almost completely removed discipline from the church altogether. I think one of the reasons why the gospel is dying in Christian homes is because parents don't know how to discipline their children. And God commands us to discipline our children as a grace to them, as an act of love for them. In the same way, churches are dying. Because pastors today do not know how to discipline sinning members of their congregation. They don't have the courage to do it, or they don't have the conviction to do it. And then, of course, when it comes to pastoral sin, when we talk about pastors who are sinning in the pastorate, this is where Paul says the discipline has to be the most severe. It must be the most severe. That is a grace from God, because people must fear. And that fear is not my own word, that's Paul's word. I've been blamed for using that word in this context. It's Paul's word, not my own. It's because the idea of bringing blatant sin into the pastorate ought to bring fear to the congregation, because God is holy, because the blood of Jesus is precious. So what we've seen are two ways in which God shifts through the pastorate. First, we've seen that He separates between those who are worthy of the pastorate and He separates those from those who are not worthy. There are those who are humble and labor in the gospel, they are worthy. There are those who are proud and they're living in sin, those are not worthy. And then second, God sifts through the pastorate by separating between the pastors who are innocently accused. They're falsely accused. I'm sorry, they're falsely accused. Being innocent, they're falsely accused. And then the pastors who actually are sinning and need to be publicly rebuked. So this is a sifting process. And then there's one more method in this passage. There's one more method of God sifting through the pastorate, and it is It involves the issue of ordination. Then the question is, who is fit to be ordained to the pastorate and who is not fit to be ordained? So let me show you the ordination here. First Timothy 5, 21 through 23, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels. So this is all a very fearsome task. That you observe these things without prejudice. Doing nothing with partiality. And then specifically, here's ordination. Do not lay hands. That's ordination, by the way. Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins. Keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities. So this is the issue of ordination. The laying on of hands was for the purpose of ordaining men into the pastorate. And this is the issue that Paul raises. And it's the third mechanism that God uses to sift through the pastorate. There are those who are qualified to be ordained and then there are those who are not. And Timothy is the acting bishop, as it were, of Ephesus. He's overseeing all the churches in Ephesus. And so he is not to ordain pastors in a rush. He's never to rush into ordination. Rather, he is to test all men who are seeking ordination. He's not to ordain them out of personal favoritism, because there are many who are not fit for the pastorate. Proverbs 26.1 says, As snow in summer, which is backwards, and rain in harvest, Honor is not fitting for a fool. And Proverbs 26.8 says, Like one who binds a stone in a sling is he who gives honor to a fool. So be careful, Timothy, who you raise up for ordination. Timothy, like King Jehoshaphat of old, is not to show partiality in raising up the leadership. King Jehoshaphat first was rebuked for showing partiality. In 2 Chronicles 18.1 it says, Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and by marriage, so that's where the favoritism came in, he allied himself with Ahab. So because of family and by marriage, he entered into this favoritism relationship with Ahab, and that was wicked. 2 Chronicles 19, 1-2, Then Jehoshaphat the king returned safely to his house in Jerusalem. And Yehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. So he's guilty of favoritism. and showing partiality towards the wicked, and God rebukes him, and thankfully, Jehoshaphat repents. He learns his lesson, repents, turns away, and appoints judges over the land, and when he raises up the judges, he charges them never to show favoritism. They're to honor God without any partiality. 2 Chronicles 19.7, Jehoshaphat speaking to his judges, Let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes. This is very important. There can be no partiality in the raising up of leaders. There can be no partiality in the ordination of God's ministers. This is such a critical issue for the church that it actually caused a split between Paul and Barnabas. The issue was over partiality and who's fit and qualified to be a minister. In Acts 15, remember, it was all about Mark. The split was over Mark. Acts 15, 38 through 40. But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work." So Paul judges him not yet worthy or fit for the task, for this missionary task. Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another, and so Barnabas took Mark. But remember, from other parts of Scripture, I think it's Colossians we learn, that Mark was Barnabas's cousin. And so he's inclined to show partiality to one whom Paul judges to be unfit for the work, and sailed to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas, and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. So for Paul, this was such an important issue that it was even big enough to cause the split between him and Barnabas. When it comes to the pastorate or to the ministry, there can be no partiality. There are those who are fit for the pastorate. They are fit, even if they are meek, unimpressive. and undesirable to the world. But these are fit and they should be ordained. It doesn't matter if not a great speaker, not very handsome. If he's fit, he ought to be ordained. And then there are those who are not fit for the pastorate, even if they are strong, handsome and full of charisma. Even if they are close friends or relatives to Timothy. who is the acting bishop there in Ephesus. He must refuse their ordination. If he does not, if he ordains them out of favoritism, all because he's handsome and he'll draw a crowd. Well, then Timothy will be guilty of the sins that follow. If he ordains the wrong man, then the sins will be upon Timothy because he's the one who is in charge of the ordination. So you can ask yourself personally, it's not just about the pastor, it's also about the church. Are you in some way being tempted to show favoritism, to show partiality to someone who is clearly against God's kingdom? But in your heart, you're inclined to show partiality or favoritism towards that person because of the relationship. It's a close family member, a close friend. So you're inclined to grant them kind of a special exception, even though their heart is clearly against God. The truth is, if you do it, if you show partiality towards the wicked, You're actually hurting that person because you're not confronting them with the truth of Christ. And ultimately, you're hurting God because you're raising someone else and the relationship above your relationship with God. So Paul commands Timothy to be pure. There's kind of this little parenthetical side note. You're a pastor. You're not to ordain people who are not worthy. If you do, their sins will be on your head. And then this side note is, you're to be pure. You're to keep yourself pure, Timothy, because you're a pastor. But don't be overly sensitive in your conscience. You're a pastor. And so you must abstain from much wine. This is the funny little parenthetical comment. Yet in your zeal for purity, Don't neglect your body, Timothy. Wine, as a medicinal treatment for your stomach ailments, must not be refused. Don't be overly scrupulous, Timothy. Just be a wise pastor. So that's the kind of interesting little parentheses there. And then back to the issue of sifting out the pastorate. God is teaching Timothy how to sift through the pastorate. And God is using Paul to teach Timothy how to judge between those pastors who are either worthy or unworthy, the ones who are falsely accused versus the ones who really are sinning, and then the ones who are fit for ordination and the ones who are not. And yet, when I look at that, I would say, but this all seems really black and white. It seems clear-cut and easy to do. But isn't the reality that life is actually messy? It's much more messy than this. The church is messy. The pastorate itself is messy. What do you do about the hard cases? If the pastorate is to be sifted through, and we as the church are supposed to help that process along by obeying scripture, what do you do with the hard cases? What does Timothy do with the hard cases? What about pastors under Timothy's authority who are crafty and sly? What if they are unworthy of the pastorate and Timothy knows it, but he cannot quite put his finger on why they are unworthy, at least in a public manner. He can't prove it publicly. What if they're living in sin and Timothy just suspects it because of the promptings of the Holy Spirit, but there's no way to actually expose it because it's all hidden and it never gets caught. What if all of the bad pastors are the ones whom people love and respect? They're the popular ones and they think that they're the good pastors. What is Timothy to do in sifting through the subtle and crafty evils of the pastorate? What do you do with the hard cases? The last two verses of our passage, verses 24 and 25, some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment. They're out in the open. But those of some men follow later. They're hidden for now. They're crafty. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. So I think this is an encouragement given by God through Paul to Timothy, that as Timothy does his utmost to sift through the pastorate and try to keep the pastorate pure in Ephesus, the Lord God promises to be the one who will take care of the hard cases. God will help him and God will do it. It is the Lord who will do the ultimate and final sifting. Timothy doesn't have to finish the work. Some of the cases are too hard. So even when the wicked seem to triumph. When the wicked are the ones who successfully remove the godly pastors via false accusations and actually get them through, they win. Or when the wicked people, the wicked pastors are the ones who take over the power of church denominations and hijack and usurp the church denominations, when they gain power and seem to win, then the promise, the encouragement is that they will not have the last word. God shall have the last word. Though the truth in the present time may not be evident in a public sense, though the truth may be hidden, God in the end will bring it to light. Psalm 37, 12-13. The wicked plots against the just and gnashes at him with his teeth, but the Lord laughs at him for he sees that his day is coming. There will be a day. 1 Corinthians 4, 5. Judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes, who will bring both to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God. In the end, God will do the final sifting, for we must all appear. before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad." So I say that this is a very serious matter, the matter of sifting through the pastorate, who's worthy to be a pastor, and who being a crafty sinner is not. And I say it's serious because it's about more than just the pastorate. It's really about the Church. For as goes the pastorate, so goes the church. So the ultimate question from this very special passage of scripture set before us today is not just who's worthy to be a pastor and who's not worthy to be a pastor. The ultimate question is who is worthy to be a part of the church of God and who is not? And the promise is, the promise of the New Testament is, well the Old Testament and the New Testament, is that in the end, on Judgment Day, there will be a sifting out of the wicked from God's Church. God's church is like a big net. They put the net on the boat and drag it through the sea and it drags up a bunch of stuff and it catches a lot of things. But when the net is brought to shore, there's a sifting out. Some in the church are righteous and some in the church are hypocrites. There will be a sifting out. When Jesus returns on the clouds with his fierce and holy angels to judge the living and the dead, He will sift out the wicked from the church. There are those who are not worthy to be called by His name. They have acted the part of Christians, but they have been hypocrites. They have called Him Lord, Lord, but they have not done what He has said to do. They have claimed to love Him, but they have not obeyed His commandments. These hypocrites have sought high places in the church. Some of them have even sought out ordination in the church, but they have harbored hidden lusts and sins in their hearts. They have not been born of the Holy Spirit. They never accepted the gospel for what the gospel is. They have worshiped self, not God. They have served Satan, not Christ. And at the final judgment, they shall be sifted out. So it's very serious. Well, who then is worthy? to be called members of the heavenly Church of Christ. Well, the Bible tells us who is worthy. The worthy ones are the ones who know that they were formerly quite unworthy. Those are the worthy ones. Having been wretched sinners and children of wrath, They looked upon the face of the crucified Christ, and they saw the mercy of God. They are the ones who cried out for the forgiveness of their sins before a just and wrathful God, and found through the blood of Jesus the forgiveness of sins for which they longed, and in the process they discovered the favor of God. These are the ones, the worthy ones, the Christian ones, the spirit-reborn ones, These are the ones who know just how unworthy they are for heaven and just how great the gift of God's grace really is. They understand it. Those are the worthy ones. These are the ones who, by the Spirit's power at work in them, abhor sin. They've learned by the Holy Spirit to hate sin. They are persecuted for the sake of righteousness. They are falsely accused by the devil and falsely condemned by the world, but they are vindicated by God the Father and declared righteous by faith in Jesus. They are day by day being made holy and and sanctified through the work of Christ and then the hope of glory. So it's really a sifting of the heart. And the real question is, how is the Holy Spirit sifting through your heart? And if you are a Christian and you know how unworthy you are of the gospel and the blood of Jesus, Is there anything in your heart, even today, that the Holy Spirit wants to sift out? What is it that needs to be sifted out? These, the worthy ones, are the ones who feel so unworthy to draw near to the Savior, even as they do indeed yearn to draw near to the Savior. that they cry out with John the Baptist, his sandal straps we are not even worthy to untie. And yet at the same time they have the boldness to lie down at Jesus' feet and wash those feet with their tears. These are the worthy ones. They, the worthy ones, know that they are not worthy. Instead of proclaiming their own worthiness, their own righteousness, They long to spend eternity lauding the worthiness of Jesus Christ, their God and Savior. They long to gather with the elect angels. This is an amazing passage. Paul calls them the elect angels. They long to raise the cry of heaven. which is a doxological cry, a worshipful cry to Jesus, the Lamb of God. And the cry is Revelation 5.12. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. He is worthy. When we come to the table this morning, we don't come worthy of the table, but we come because we're in need of the table, and because Jesus is worthy to pay for our sins. Before that, here's the doxology. Praise be to God our Father, who sifts through the pastorate, even today, and who shall in the future sift through his church. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is worthy, not of double honor, but of infinite honor. And praise be to the Holy Spirit, who sifts through our hearts, sifting out sin, and who moves towards completion, the goodness of His holy work in us. Thank you for joining us for the preaching of the Holy Scriptures. You can find more resources at our website www.GodCenteredUniverse.org You may also send correspondence to us at the following address PO Box 461978 Aurora, Colorado 80046 God Centered Universe is a faith-driven ministry that exists to encourage the Church in family-based discipleship and to call the Church to continue trembling joyfully at God's Word.