Well, I invite you to turn to 1 Timothy. I'm preaching through the book of 1 Timothy, and now we're up to chapter 5, verses 17 to 25. You will follow along in your Bible while I read from mine. 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. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing from partiality. 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 infirmity. Some men's sins are clearly evident preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for the guidance of your holy word, and I thank you for the opportunity of teaching your word and preaching your word to this congregation today. I pray, Lord, that you will fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me as I preach, and help each one as they listen, and help us to do what you would have us to do in response to this message. And we pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. As we moved into chapter 5, the Apostle Paul addresses responsibilities that we have to different people within the church. We started with responsibilities based on age and, for example, how we are to show respect to the elder members of the church. We also addressed those who have family and family responsibilities to care for widows, for example, and to care for widows who don't have family, how the church should step in and help them. But now we move into another area of responsibility, and that is the responsibilities that the church has to the pastors who serve the church, including appropriate financial remuneration. I had a barber that loved to talk, and one thing he would do when the preacher came in was joke about how preachers only work one hour a week. Well, Baptist preachers may work a little bit more than that, but he would still joke about that. But I saw in a survey that 65% of pastors surveyed worked 50 or more hours a week. And then factoring out those who work only part-time, the average full-time pastor actually works closer to 55 hours a week. You see, pastors have many responsibilities. And church members actually were surveyed and it was discovered that church members can think of about 14 different responsibilities that a pastor has to his congregation. But you know, even though pastors have responsibilities to the congregation, here we see today that the congregation has responsibilities to the pastor, and we're going to see what those responsibilities are. Now, you may think that this message that I'm preaching today is self-serving, And I just want to point out, first of all, that I'm just preaching through a book of the Bible. There's no ulterior motive in me preaching this message. And furthermore, I'm just the interim pastor. Okay. So the main thing that I want to get across to you is your responsibilities to the permanent pastor, the regular pastor that follows me. And also the search committee has a responsibility in searching for a pastor and I think some of this relates to their work and what the church should do once that next pastor comes on the field. So I want to share four responsibilities that the congregation has to your pastor. And the first is providing honor and fair compensation to your pastor. Paul says in verse 17, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor. So the first question is, who are the elders that he's talking about here? Is he just talking about the elder Members of the church, even deacons, the elder leaders of the church? No. As you study the New Testament, the term elder was used interchangeably with pastor and overseer. And it's probable that the early church adopted the Jewish custom of having elders lead the synagogue. And even so, there would be a body of elders, pastors, who would lead the local church. Furthermore, Paul refers to their work as ruling in the church. And that is a rather strong word. It's not referring to authoritarian rule, but actually the word literally means to stand before. So it refers to those who preside over the church, who lead the church. And so he's definitely here, I believe, talking about pastors, also from the fact that compensation is mentioned. And notice, secondly, how this honor is to be given. He says the congregation is to give them double honor. Honor was very important to people in that day and time. And so it means, it does mean, that you are to give respect, high esteem, and love for your pastor. And such honor. means that you are to speak respectfully to your pastor and about your pastor. However, as we saw in the case of widows, honor was to be given to widows and that honor was to be in the form of financial help where financial help was needed. Even so, here is very clear that honor includes giving adequate and fair compensation to the pastor that serves the congregation. Notice in verse 18 how this is very clear, for the scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain, and the laborer is worthy of his wages. And also the word honor literally means price or value. In fact, in 1 Corinthians chapter six and verse 20, Paul says, you've been bought with a price. Same word to me is used there. And so we are to value the work of our pastor and give appropriate compensation that recognizes that value. In fact, a good pastor is very valuable to a local church. People will be saved through his ministry. People will grow in their faith. A good pastor generally will help the church have strong offerings. And Paul taught elsewhere that ministers should be financially supported, so there's no question that that is one of the responsibilities of a local church. I read the story of a conversation between two church members, and one church member says, oh, I have nothing but praise for our new minister. And the other member said, yeah, I noticed that when the offering plate was passed. So, you know, honor and praise is one thing, but it does include the responsibility of compensating. their labor. But notice furthermore that some pastors should receive double honor. as Paul says in verse 17. Now, some commentators might say, well, that means that widows are to be honored and pastors are to be double honored, get twice as much. But you know, any pastor with a family would need more than twice as much as a widow might receive in support. So I don't think that is actually the meaning. The word double, I did a word study. Got on my computer software, looked up every occurrence of the word double in the Old Testament, and you know what I found? It was typically associated with various forms of compensation. For example, the law mandated that the firstborn was to receive double inheritance. Why? Because he became the administrative head of the family. when his father died, and so double inheritance. And then in 1 Samuel 1 and verse 5, it says, but to Hannah, he would give a double portion for he loved Hannah. He's talking about his wife there, and he had two wives, but he gave Hannah a double portion compared to the other wife. And then Jeremiah 16, 18 says, and first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin. Found at least four other examples where double is used in reference to various kinds of compensation. And so double doesn't necessarily mean an exact double in amount, but it definitely means extra compensation. So who is it? that Paul is saying should receive double honor here in verse 17. Well, it's first of all the elders who rule well. How well a pastor is paid partly depends on how well he serves. Is he doing a good job? Is his ministry effective in numerical and spiritual growth? And that's not the only consideration. Consideration about how much education the minister has, how much experience the minister has, the needs of his family, and so forth. And this is an example of the fact that Scripture supports the concept of a meritocracy. Have you heard that word? That was a big word in the founding of our country. And our country has been a country that has prospered. It's a country that has been innovative and has become one of the leading countries of the world, partly because we have practiced the scriptural principle of a meritocracy. The harder you work, the better job you do, the more compensation you should receive. And that is supported right here in this text. And then furthermore, among the elders, the pastors of the church, there would be some that would have the primary role of preaching and teaching. And so the last of verse 17 says, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. And by the way, the word translated labor means to labor to the point of exhaustion. Ecclesiastes says much study is a weariness of the flesh. And those that engage in much study in preparing to preach and teach. Paul says should receive double honor, as he says here. And so why would Paul distinguish between elders who teach and preach and those who don't? One thing you need to understand is that in the early church, the New Testament church, a large city like Ephesus, where Timothy was serving, would have one church but many small congregations that would meet in homes and other appropriate places, and they would have pastors over each of those smaller units. And so the church would have multiple pastors, multiple elders, and some would be the lead teachers, but others would serve in other ways, in administration, in visiting, and so forth. And in 1 Corinthians, we read that at times all of these small groups would meet together as one big congregation wherever they could find a suitable place to meet. And so certainly when the whole church gathered together, there would be a lead pastor that would do most of the preaching and teaching. And also the fact that the Apostle Paul emphasized double honor for those who preach and teach is a recognition of the value that ministry has to the church. You remember in Acts chapter 6 and verse 4, the apostle says, but we will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. There's the priority. Others can take care of other affairs and responsibilities within the church. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul talks about various spiritual gifts, but he cited as most important the gift of prophecy, preaching, teaching the Word of God. And so for this very reason, Paul says that what responsibilities that you value the most should be compensated with double honor. But you may wonder, well, why should a pastor be paid at all? After all, my great-great-grandfather, Johnson Pate, was a Primitive Baptist preacher, and Primitive Baptists didn't pay their preachers. By the way, the Primitive Baptist Church has also just about died off. But whether it relates to that, I don't know. But anyway, why even pay them at all? Well, first of all, as Paul argues in verse 18, it's based on a principle of Old Testament law. He says, you shall not muzzle the ox while it treads out the grain. Now, pagans would sometimes muzzle the ox while it was trading the grain to keep the ox from eating the grain. But God said, listen, if the ox is working, the ox ought to be able to enjoy the fruits of his labor. And not only that, but in the last of verse 18, he quotes from Jesus. who gave that same principle in Luke chapter 10 and verse 7, the laborer is worthy of his wages. And he was talking about his disciples who had devoted themselves full time to being disciples of Jesus and going out and serving in the name of Jesus. And Jesus says they should receive compensation. And so a church has a responsibility to properly compensate their pastor. I read the story about a preacher in Kentucky who rode a fine, beautiful horse. And some of the members were talking about this fine, beautiful horse this preacher rode. And one of them said, well, preacher, why is it that you ride such a fine, beautiful horse? And he said, and you're so skinny. And he said, well, I feed my horse, but you feed me. You know, so anyway, churches have responsibility to adequately support their preacher. But you know, it's not just pastors, but missionaries need support as well. You know, your Lottie Moon offering goes to support missionaries. We need to support our missionaries as well. But then also, not only does the church have a responsibility to give honor, which includes compensation, but also to protect your pastor's reputation. That's part of giving honor. Notice what Paul says in verse 18. Do not receive an accusation against an elder, a pastor. except from two or three witnesses. Oh, how important it is to safeguard a pastor's reputation from accusations that are not well substantiated. You know, false accusations is a tactic in politics. And in other adversarial relationships, false accusations are commonly cast against that person. And also Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10 says that the devil is the accuser of the brethren. He incites false accusations, especially against pastors, because the devil knows that if you hurt a pastor's reputation, then you hurt his ministry in the church, and effectiveness in the church. Therefore, Paul says that a pastor, and anyone really, deserves that if an accusation is brought forward, it must have at least two or three witnesses. Deuteronomy chapter 17 and chapter 19. And this requirement of two or three witnesses is repeated several times in the New Testament as well, including this text of Scripture. And so if two or three unite in a common testimony, then a discrete inquiry should be made. But if not, if you don't have sufficient substantiation of the accusation in the form of witnesses or some other collaborating evidence, then the deacons or whatever body is to investigate is not even to take up the matter. It's not even to be heard, he says in this text of Scripture. And so, verse 23 is a puzzling matter because many commentators don't see what in the world this has to do with the context. And I'll tell you what it has to do with the context. Timothy was concerned about accusations. And I think out of that concern, he made the decision, you know, I'm not going to drink alcohol at all. I'm not going to drink wine at all. And yet in ancient times, The water oftentimes was contaminated with bacteria and people would get sick from the water. And Timothy, probably because of this stand that he took, was having digestive and stomach issues. And Paul says, well, listen, I know you're concerned about accusations, but due to the situation that you faced, due to your health situation, he says, you know, it's okay if you need to, drink a little wine, go ahead and do it. Now there's a lot of people that drink wine and alcohol that love this verse. You know, the preacher said, you know, Paul said himself that you can go ahead and drink, but listen, listen, he said only a little, only a little if you're going to drink it as a beverage in strict moderation. The Bible absolutely condemns drinking too much to where it affects you and hurts you and can certainly hurt your witness if you engage in drinking too much. By the way, something else to consider is we don't have the problem that Timothy had with contaminated water. The water that we have available to us is safe to drink. And so I've made the decision a long time ago that I'm not going to drink at all. Unless it's a little bit of alcohol in some medicine or something like that, but for medicinal purposes. But that is a position that I take and that's a position I think we generally ought to take. So what should you do if you hear an accusation against a pastor or against a deacon or against really anyone. Well, based on this text of Scripture, you need to ask, are there other witnesses? Do you have any collaborating evidence? And if they don't, you tell them to follow Scripture and to keep their mouth shut. And we should not repeat what we've heard, which may be idle gossip, to someone else, to where it can hurt the witness of a pastor, the ministry of a pastor. You know, it's very easy to repeat some gossip, and by the time it passes through several lips, it has been blown up, it has spread all over the place, and a lot of damage can be done. The great evangelist D.L. Moody used to say that a lie gets halfway around the world before truth even gets its boots on to follow it. And so be careful about how you deal with accusation against a pastor. And then thirdly, provide accountability to incentivize your pastor's purity. And the last of verse 22, it says that a pastor is to keep himself pure morally, doctrinally, which will be a challenge for Timothy and other pastors in a city like Ephesus, which was the center of the worship of a fertility goddess of all things. And so what should be done if a pastor fails to keep himself morally pure? Well, if the accusations are well substantiated, then they must be dealt with. Elders must not be spared just because they're pastors, just because they are respected in the community. And knowing that a church will hold him accountable for deviation morally or doctrinally will help motivate him to keep himself pure. So, what if there's an accusation? What if there's enough substantiation for the deacons to meet and have a hearing about the matter? Well, what should you do? First of all, you should give a just and fair hearing in the manner. It says in verse 21, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality. God is just and he expects us to practice justice and fairness. And there are two principles right here in verse 21 that must be followed. First of all, they are to be judged without prejudice. In other words, you don't prejudge the person. You don't make a judgment until you've heard all the evidence, until you've heard both sides of the story. Regardless of your personal feelings toward this person, you wait until you've heard all the evidence before you make a judgment. And then the second principle is don't engage in partiality. You know, you may really love your pastor, You may really appreciate how gifted he is and how effective he has been, and this may cause you to show partiality toward the pastor, but when it comes to sin, when it comes to doctrinal error, you can't be partial either. You must judge righteously. And so except for very serious sin, one other consideration is whether the sin was an occasional slip-up or a pattern of behavior. In verse 20, my translation says, those who are sinning. And it's translated that way for a reason. because it's in the present tense in the original language, which indicates habitual continuous action. It's talking about someone who has had a pattern of committing this kind of sin, not necessarily just an occasional slip-up. And so if found guilty, this is what is to be done, the apostle says in verse 20. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all. Because of their public position, and especially if the accusation has become public, then the appropriate way to deal with it is a public rebuke. Now imagine what that would be like, that if a pastor has committed impropriety, and he's brought before the church, and he is rebuked publicly. Instead of experiencing honor, he experiences shame, the very opposite. And that is punishment indeed. And so, Paul says, that is what should be done. And I don't know how many churches have done what verse 20 says. Most of the time, it's kind of swept under the rug. Most of the time, they just sit on their way quietly. But Paul says a public rebuke should be done, that the pastors should publicly express regret and remorse and repentance of what he has done. And the last of verse 20 gives an important reason that the rest also may fear, that the other pastors and even others in the congregation, knowing that that kind of accountability will be held and practiced, will help keep us pure, Paul says. Now, since that is the case, Since it is possible for pastors, they're human, sometimes we do mess up. And sometimes when a pastor messes up significantly, it brings great harm to the church. And so in light of that reality, there's one other responsibility that Paul raises, and that is this. Don't be hasty in appointing or restoring a pastor. Paul says in verse 22, Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins. Now there's two ways to interpret that. Laying on of hands is associated with special prayer. Appointment for office, for example. And so what Paul could be saying is those who have sinned don't hastily restore them to office. You give it time. You make sure this person has had time to prove that they have truly changed, they have truly repented before you restore them to office. On the other hand, it can refer to laying on the hands of ordination. And before you ordain someone to the ministry, you better make sure that 1 Timothy 3 verses 1 to 7 is followed, that you do a full examination of their qualifications for ministry. It's far better not to ordain them, not to elect them as a pastor if they're not truly qualified and then they end up messing up and they end up hurting the church. It's better not to ordain them to begin with than to hastily rush through the process and ordain someone who isn't truly qualified. So that's what Paul says. In fact, chapter 3, verse 6, he says you shouldn't ordain a novice, you shouldn't ordain a new believer because he hasn't had time to prove whether he's really going to be a good pastor or not. And so what happens if you are too hasty? in ordaining someone or restoring someone to the ministry. Paul says in the middle of verse 22 that you could share in other people's sins. You could become partly responsible for the mess that's created by a hasty ordination or a hasty restoration. They end up messing up like we're talking about here in this context. But we also need to not be in a hurry about such matters because, as Paul says, sometimes their sins need time to be revealed. Look at verse 24. Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment. I mean, you see this drunkard walking down the road, and he's staggering. It's quite evident. This guy's got a sin problem. He's got a problem, okay? Some sins are quite evident, but those of some men follow later. They show up later. You see, it's not that difficult to give the outward impression of piety and godliness. but inwardly, you're not really that way. And so for a while, it can appear that you're godly, you're fine, you're a good man and so forth, but you know, you just give it time and someone who's truly not a born again Christian growing in the Lord, their sins will eventually become manifest. And sometimes churches have called a pastor or restored a pastor and they end up doing the same thing over again because that's just the principle that Paul lays out here. But then also notice verse 25, likewise the good works of some are clearly evident and those that are otherwise that are not clearly evident cannot be hidden. You see, some people may be overlooked as a candidate for a pastor because their good works are not as obvious, their abilities are not as obvious. Maybe they're shy, maybe they're unassuming, and so they're just not the type that quickly rises to the forefront. And yet Paul is saying, listen, You just give it time and some people that really ought to be pastors will be recognized for their calling and their ability. I announced my call to preach when I was just after my 18th birthday. I was active in the church for the last year or so and sang in the youth choir, college career choir perhaps at that point. I was 120 pounds, very shy, but I stood before about a thousand people that day and announced that God had called me to preach. And later, my minister of music admitted that he thought to himself, boy, has he made a mistake. you know, this guy will never amount to anything. I mean, I stuttered and I was shy and I just really didn't have the qualities, apparently, to be a pastor. And no one rushed to ordain me to be a pastor, I can assure you to that, but after almost finishing Bible college and after being called to serve as pastor of a mission church in Dallas, I was ordained. to be a pastor at that point. Yes, sometimes it's not so obvious who should be a pastor and who should not, but time will tell. And so, even though I and other pastors have many responsibilities to the congregation, the congregation should understand the responsibilities that you have. You have a responsibility to give honor and fair compensation to the pastors that serve you. You have a responsibility to protect your pastor's reputation. Don't repeat gossip. Next, you have a responsibility to hold him accountable for deviation morally or doctrinally. And finally, don't be hasty. in ordaining or calling a pastor. Examine the candidate thoroughly and don't rush the process. The health and well-being of your church depends on it. Would you bow with me in prayer as we reflect upon God's Word this morning? And I ask you, have you practiced these principles? to me and other pastors that have served in this church. Will you make a commitment to follow these principles in the next pastor that serves this church? I encourage you to say, God, help me, Lord, to fulfill these responsibilities. And may you bless the relationship between pastor and congregation. Thank you, Lord, for your word and the principles of your word, leading God in this time of response and invitation, and I pray and ask this in Jesus' name, amen.