So open your Bibles with me, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 5. I'll be reading verses 17 through 25. This is God's Word to us this morning. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain, and the laborer deserves his wages. Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and frequent ailments. The sins of some men are conspicuous, going before them to judgment. The sins of others appear later, so also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden. Let's pray together as we open God's word. Father, we thank you for your word. We bow before your throne today in humility, Lord, because we recognize how many faults we have. And Lord, were we left to ourselves we know that like ancient Israel we would grumble against you and those leaders that you have appointed and given to lead your church and I pray God that you would remove all grumbling from our hearts and that we would be humbled before you before your son this morning who is as Sean said earlier our elder of elders the true shepherd of our souls and that we would trust Christ with all of your provision for we know Lord that he is all that we need He is the bread of heaven and the water that comes from the rock. And we thank you, Lord, that you've given us Christ this morning. Thank you in his name. Amen. You know, 20 or 30 years ago, it wasn't uncommon to hear about a missionary who received a care package in the mail. And when he opened it up, he found some used or abused household item. And in some cases, although it may be an urban legend, I remember hearing stories about missionaries who opened up a care package only to find used tea bags. Now regardless of these actual stories, whether they're truth or not, when it comes to the support of men in ministry over the years, the church has often maintained what I would call a poverty mentality. One extreme goes something like this, a pastor or missionary is the servant of the church and as such they should be kept just above the poverty line so that they don't get proud and fall in love with money. The other extreme needs no explanation. We've all witnessed television evangelists and pastors who have fleeced their congregations in order to live extravagant lifestyles of the rich and famous. Now in this passage, Paul applies the law from the Old Testament and gives us a balance that drives right down the middle road of these two extremes. Now as I just mentioned, it's important to note that Paul here applies the law of God from the Old Testament. Now you often hear us, in fact Sean just used the words a few moments ago, talking about our service taking us from law to gospel. I'm not going to spend a great deal of time talking about this this morning, but there is one sense that Calvin talked about, actually three tenses or senses of the law, and one sense of the law is that we read the law which condemns us in our sin. And that's important. Why? Because it drives us to Christ. It drives us to our only hope. which is Christ himself. But there's also a second use of the law, which is civil law. God has given us judges, rulers, and authorities over us to submit ourselves to their authority because it is important that there be maintained order in the earth. The third use of the law that Calvin talked about is this use of the law, which is the moral use of the law, that there is a moral sense of the law of God. And that is contained in the writing down of the Ten Commandments, for example. And the moral sense is applied to our lives. We have the law that we obey. We obey the law of God. We're not anti-Gnomian. We're not against the law of God. We believe that God's law governs us in perpetuity, forever and ever. From the very beginning, when God gave the law to Adam and Eve and said, Eat of all the trees of the garden, but from this tree you shall not eat. That was the beginning of God's law. And God gives us his law to show us not just things that we ought to do, but it's not arbitrary, but rather God gives us his law because it is a reflection of what? It is a reflection of his character. It is a reflection of who he is, what kind of a God he is. And so Paul rightly takes the law of God from the Old Testament and applies it in this passage. And we'll see here how he does that. We notice here in verses 17 and 18, he says, Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, and here Paul quotes from the law in Deuteronomy 25.4, You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain. And Paul takes that principle of law and he applies it here and he adds another law to it. This one from Leviticus 19.13. You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning. And Paul paraphrases that verse And he can do that because he's an apostle and he paraphrases the verse and he says here that this is what it means. The laborer deserves his wages. Now I think it's interesting that Paul chooses this particular law of not muzzling the ox to apply to the support of pastors because it has to do with eating. He says, you don't muzzle the ox when it's treading out the grain. In other words, you let him eat to give him the strength that he needs to keep on working, to keep on going. In essence, Paul is saying, look, if the pastor or missionary labors to give you spiritual food, then the part or a part of the fruit of your labor should be to provide a means of support so that he and his family may eat. Now notice also what Paul says here in verse 17. Let elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor. Now, as we read this morning from Revelation chapter 4, I think it's interesting. It may be a coincidence, but I think it is interesting that in the Old Testament, how many tribes of Israel were there? Why, there were 12 tribes of Israel. And in the New Testament, how many apostles were there? There were 12 apostles. And so at the throne of God, at the end of the age, when we're all standing before the throne of God, you have both sets. You have the 12 tribes, or representatives of the 12 tribes at least, and the 12 apostles. And so you have double. You have 12 and 12 and 24. And it's interesting, Paul, here, maybe there's no connection, but Paul says here that let the elder who rules well be considered of double honor. Let him be considered worthy of really double wages, and we'll get to that in just a few minutes. Before I talk about this, however, I think it's appropriate that if the Apostle Paul sang these words, when the church at Ephesus would have read these words, They would have read the letter as coming from the apostle and not from Timothy who was the church planter or the pastor of that church. I think, in fact, it may be very difficult for many pastors to talk about this passage. I was talking to Mason yesterday. and talking about this passage, and I say, you know, it's really a blessing to be a church planter and to be a bivocational church planter because I have the freedom to talk about this, whereas many pastors would feel somewhat uncomfortable dealing with this passage because it may at least come across as being somewhat self-serving. Now, the advantage for Paul is that he was a church planter, but he didn't prefer to receive support from the new church being planted. To the Thessalonians Paul wrote, For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day, so as not to be a burden on any of you, we proclaim to you the gospel of God. Now Paul not only labored day and night in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, He not only labored in the word of God to bring forth the word of God, going from house to house, even teaching and discipling the church, but he also labored with his own hands. He was a tent maker by trade. He actually worked so that as a church planner, he was able to devote himself to the ministry of the word, but without being a burden on a very young congregation. Now I've been a church planter and pastor of a very small congregation where most of my support was coming from that church and I must tell you it was very difficult because I always knew that I was a burden on that congregation. It was very hard for both of us and I understand that sense of it. And so I think one of the advantages for Paul, and even in our situation, both myself and Sean, we can strongly encourage you to really think about this passage and think about what it means to support a pastor because we're in sort of the same situation as Paul, as bivocational church planters and not depending upon the church for support. If in God's providence the day comes when this church plant becomes constituted and we decide to call at that point or raise up even among ourselves a full-time preaching elder, then at that time this obviously will become something that the church and each of us as individuals need to think about very strongly and with great concern in our hearts. So Paul gives us here this mindset as to how we ought to think about the support of our elders. He says, let elders who rule well be what? Considered. Considered worthy. The idea is, is that you need to think about elders as being worthy of this honor, of the support of the church. I can't tell you how many times that I've heard comments from church people who say things such as, why should we pay our pastor so much when all he does is work one hour a week? We've all heard people say things like that. I was actually in a church where we put together a sign-up list for the people to clean the facilities and the bathrooms And one man actually made a comment, and he said, why should we have volunteers in the church to clean the bathrooms? We pay the pastor a salary, and he ought to be the one cleaning the toilets. Now that is not the way that we ought to think about the support of our pastors. Now certainly, Paul does say, let elders who, what, rule well. Let elders who rule well, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. Now there are some people who believe that all elders in the church ought to be preaching pastors. There are other people, even within our own Reformed Baptist circles, who believe that some elders are given the gift of preaching and teaching and other elders perhaps are given other gifts like administration. and they may not be preaching and teaching elders. Now, I'll tell you where I come down on that is somewhere in between. I think that all pastors ought to be able to at least teach the people of God. But they may not be those that God has gifted for the full-time preaching and teaching of the Word. And so there is a distinction, I think, in giftedness and and I think of function. But really, Paul says here, he's talking about those who work hard at preaching and teaching. Let them be considered worthy of double honor. Now, there are many pastors who neglect the Word of God. There are many elders who neglect the shepherding of God's people. And they, frankly, should never have been made elders in the first place. And yet, sometimes they do get into a position where they're elders and they begin to neglect God's Word. They begin to neglect God's people. And I think Paul is very clear about this here. That elders who are worthy of double honor are those who work hard, who labor in the preaching and teaching of God's Word. There are cases where pastors should not be paid. but they ought to be removed. When men become proud or lazy or fall into sin, as we'll see later, they should be reproved and dismissed. In general, however, when a pastor fulfills his duties and is faithful to Christ and to his bride, then Paul says, he's not only worthy of his wages, but we ought to think of him, we ought to have this mindset in our minds that he's worthy of what? Double honor. And what Paul means here, literally, as we've looked at this word honor throughout this context, he's talking about money. He's talking about the support of these pastors. In other words, Paul literally says, we ought to think of him as being worthy of double support, of double honor, of double salary. And why should we think like this way about our pastors? Well, when we understand the true value of God's word, When we understand that God's Word rebukes us in our sin, it reproves us when we go astray, and it trains us to walk in the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we understand that God's Word is living, it's alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and we understand that the depravity of our own souls and the deep rudeness of our sin, and how easily we are led astray into sin. When we truly understand the role of God's Word in the preaching and teaching of the Church, then we will begin to value God's Word in a way that we value nothing else in this life. There is nothing else that can compare to right handling of God's Word. to the right handling of the sword of the Spirit of God. And so we learn by God's grace and we ask God and we pray, God give us hearts, give us an understanding of your word in this way so that we value the elders that you give us. We value the preaching and teaching of God's word to such an extent that we're not only willing to support them but even go above and beyond and help them so that they're not encumbered by the things of this world. As a matter of fact, in our bulletins this morning, if you want to look there with me at this part of our confession of faith that I put here for the speaking of the church and of elders, this coming from the 1689 London Baptist Confession, which is chapter 26 and paragraph 10. It says, the work of pastors being constantly to attend to the service of Christ in his churches, in the ministry of the word and prayer, with watching for their souls as they must give an account to him, it is incumbent on the churches to whom they minister, not only to give them all due respect, but also to communicate to them of all their good things according to their ability, talking about money, so that they may have a comfortable supply without being themselves entangled in secular affairs, and may also be capable of exercising hospitality towards others. And this is required by the law of nature and by the express order of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath ordained that they preach the gospel should live the gospel. So in our confession very clearly. It sets this ideal, which is the ideal I think put forth in God's Word, that we provide for our pastors in such a way that they are comfortable enough that they don't have to worry about their living. They don't have to worry about where their next meal is going to come from, and we provide for them a comfortable supply. Again, That is different, I think, than church planting. In some cases, church planters are to be given this kind of supply and sometimes that comes through the support of other churches and even in our own association. Sean and I are a little bit different in that the road that we've chosen as bivocational church planters is not really the way that they would prefer, and yet we saw some advantages in this, that we can encourage you in your work, as we also work all week and are able to empathize with your own weaknesses, and that we're able to devote ourselves to church planting. And so, you know, there are different ways of looking at that also, and yet nevertheless, speaking of full-time preaching elders, This is the way we need to learn to think about our elders, that we really work hard at providing for them a living so that they can devote themselves to the Word of God. This is why in the next verse, in verse 19, Paul also says, Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses, because not only do we hold him high in respect enough to give him a comfortable supply, but we hold him high enough in respect that we're very careful in what we say against our elders. This law comes straight out of Deuteronomy 19 and verse 15. A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses shall a charge be established." Now this is not only a law that applies to elders, but here Paul applies it especially to elders. It's so easy for God's people to grumble against their leaders. From the very beginning of time, people have rebelled against God's appointed authority for every reason and for no reason at all. In Egypt, the Israelites grumbled against God and Moses because of the severity and the difficulty of their lives as slaves. In the wilderness, they grumbled against God and Moses because their life in the wilderness seemed sparse and difficult to bear. Even after God had provided for their every need, from the bread of heaven, which is Christ, the man had come down to the rock, which Paul says, followed them in the wilderness. It was Christ Himself. Paul says that. And gave them the water of life. And yet they rebelled against God. And they spoke evil of His provision, His own Son. This is why Paul says, We shouldn't even admit a charge against an elder unless there are very good grounds to do so. In verse 20, he says, as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. Now, it sounds as though this verse could apply to anyone, and in a general sense, certainly does. But I think in the context, Paul is speaking primarily about elders. Pastors are not exempt from examination, nor are they exempt from being rebuked. I've heard many people say that church members should never rebuke their pastors. And often they point to David when he had a chance to slay Saul in the cave. He said, I will not raise my hand against God's anointed. Now, the difference is in that case, he was talking about Saul's royal position. He was a king over a nation. David was talking about killing the king and not rebuking him. And I think that there are differences between the two. There may be cases where elders, even after being privately rebuked, persist in sin. And in some cases, there ought to be a public censure of their sin, and as Paul puts it here, so that the rest may stand in fear. You know, we live in an age where it's easy to, you know, we get mad at other church members, or pastor, or something he said, or whatever, and we go, and we're out the door. We go down the street to another church, right? Or an elder of a church, a pastor of a church, does something wrong, the church rebukes him, and he says, that's all right, I'll just leave and go apply somewhere else. You know, there's a Craigslist for pastors, or whatever, online, and he goes to some other church as a pastor. I remember many years ago, there was a very prominent pastor, of a church in California and was all over the radio, was a very prominent preacher of God's Word, a very powerful preacher of the Word. He fell into some sense of immorality where he kissed his secretary or something and was rebuked by his other church elders. He admitted it and they said, you know, we really believe in this case you need to step down from being an elder. He said, no, I'm not going to do it. I've been too gifted from God. And another prominent pastor California called him up and brought him down to his church and said, you know, this guy's too talented to be selling suits. You know, we need to promote him and make him a pastor in our church. And I thought that was so very sad. This, this, where Paul says here, this, the reason for public censure was just circumvented. And this man was able just to go down the street. The reason, Paul says, for this process is so that we may stand in fear of sin and its consequences. We need to understand how dangerous it is for men, even pastors, that they're not exempt. That they may fall into sin. They may go astray. And they're not exempt from this process of church discipline. And so, Paul says, if necessary we need to rebuke them publicly so that the rest may stand in fear. And yet he says in verse 21, in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging doing nothing from partiality. Now don't miss this because Paul is doing something very important here. Notice he says, in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ and what? Elect angels. He names three things. In the presence of God, in the presence of Jesus Christ, and the presence of elect angels. Now the reasons I believe Paul is doing this is one, he wants to emphasize That the church, when gathered together, is really in the presence of God. Now, notice here that Paul brings forth, he says, I give you this charge, what? What is the language? Dave knows, because he's an attorney, the language here is that of what? A courtroom, right? In the presence of God. In the presence of Jesus Christ, and the presence of elect angels. How many witnesses is he naming here? What did Paul just say? Don't admit a charge against an elder, except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Right? And here, Paul reverses it, turns it around, he says, I'm giving you this charge. By the way, in the presence of three witnesses. God the Father, God the Son, and the elect angels. Now why does Paul word it like this? Well, as I just said a moment ago, I think he wants to emphasize that the church when gathered together is really in the very presence of God. We're in the very courtroom of God when we gather together. Listen again to how the author of Hebrews puts this in Hebrews chapter 12 verses 20 through to 24. One of my favorite passages in all of the Bible. He says, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God and the heavenly Jerusalem and to innumerable angels in festal gathering and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word. than the blood of angels. You know, when you hear people ask, where do you go to church? Instantly, we think, well, I go to Reformation Baptist Church. And we might think of the other people that are gathered. That's a good thing. We've got to think about the body of Christ as being the church, not just a building on a corner. Or you might think, well, it's down there at the rec center, you know, in North, wherever we're at, Highlands Ranch. You know, that's where I go to church, down there at that rec center. And we think about the building. Or in your town, maybe you go to a church building, you know, on the corner or whatever it is. Now, next time someone asks you where you go to church, here's what I want you to tell them. And then I want you to open up to Hebrews chapter 12 and show them. When someone asks you to go to church, you need to say to them, I go to heaven. That's where I go to church. Because that's exactly what the author of Hebrews says. When the church is gathered together, we are being lifted up, literally, into heaven. We are lifted up by Christ, our mediator, who leads us into the very throne room of God. Now, you've heard me talk about this before. I'll say it a million times. This is why it's so important when you go to church. You've got to have a church. You've got to choose a church that rightly leads you from wrath to grace. that rightly leads you from law to gospel, that rightly proclaims that we are dead in our trespasses and sins. But for our Lord Jesus Christ, when you go to a church, and the first thing that happens when you walk in the church building, so-called church building, is you sing 30 minutes of praise songs, and you never hear a word about sin. Guess what? You're standing in the presence of a holy God praising Him as if there is no sin in your life. And you've gone to grace without any wrath. You've gone to grace without your sin being rightly condemned. And that is a wrong approach. It is not the way to approach our God. Why? As the author of Hebrews ends that passage, he says, we ought to approach God with reverence and awe because God is, not was in the Old Testament, because God is a consuming fire. And so we go into the consuming fire fully expecting to be burned up, fully expecting to be consumed in the fires of hell. which drives us to our Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only mediator who is able to save us from the wrath of God that is in the present tense. And so, when we come to God, we come literally, as the author of Hebrews says, to heaven. We are lifted up into the very throne room of God. The church is not simply a physical reality, it is a spiritual reality. And it's gathered together in the very presence of God in heaven. We're the bride of Christ. We've been purchased by the very blood of Jesus Christ. And he brings us before the Father to show the devil and all of his evil forces and to show the world, look what I have made. I have taken my bride who is filthy, who is covered with filthy rags, who stood in the presence of God with nothing but sin as clothing upon them. They were filthy rags. But I have taken them, and by my blood I have washed the bride of Christ, and I have made the bride to be pure and white before me." This is Christ's church. It is His bride. And that is who we are. We are the bride of Christ, purchased by the blood of Christ. And He shows us to the world as his new creation. This is why precisely why Paul is giving us these instructions when we're dealing with one another, when we're dealing with problems, when we're dealing with elders, we're dealing with our gripes and grumbles against them. It's so important to keep in mind we're not a political organization. We are not a club. We're not a social club that meets. We're not the PTA. We're not the local Lions Club or whatever. We are stones, as it were, as Peter puts it, being built up, spiritual living stones into the very temple of God. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, individually and corporately. And when we gather together in the presence of God, as was pictured in the Old Testament, God's glory fills the temple. We are filled with the glory of God in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because Christ has made us to be glorious. in the presence of His Father. This is why we need to think about the role of elders in the church as being important and so important as we spoke of earlier. Because they point us to our sin and then they point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. The only one who is able to save us from fiery hell. Now with that in mind, Paul says we ought to keep these rules without prejudging, without partiality. One or the other, right? We don't prejudge. All of us have a tendency to prejudge. We hear somebody say something. We see something. We think in our minds instantly. We jump to conclusions. All of us have that problem. And he says we need to be careful about that, especially with elders. Don't prejudge. Don't be too quick to judge. But we also ought to do it without partiality. And so there's both sides of that coin. In other words, just because they're an elder, It doesn't mean they're beyond reproach. And so with that in mind, in verse 22, he says, Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. You know, this has to be one of the greatest dangers that any church faces. And it's one of the principal reasons, I think, why churches get into trouble. You know, we live in this entertainment celebrity society. And you see somebody get saved, some football player or ex-politician or someone with some name, and what happens? I got saved. And they write a book. I got saved. And all of a sudden, some church says, wow, look at this celebrity that God saved. Isn't this amazing? God saved this guy who was such a horrible sinner before, and now he's praising God. Why, let's put him on the stage and make him a pastor. Let's put him on the stage and make him some celebrity Christian. And what an unwise thing that is. Paul says, be careful about laying your hands on a man too quickly. I got to tell you, this has been one of the greatest temptations as a pastor in my life, and one that has gotten me into more trouble than we have time to talk about, because I've been too hasty at times to lay hands on other men, and wanting to believe that, well, it's okay, you know, it's a good person. None of us are good. And we need to remember that, that it's God in his time, in his providence, will show forth a man who is mature, that God brings forth, that God has laid his hand upon that man. And we need to move slowly and carefully in this process. At one time, I was a pastor in a church where the previous pastor was not preaching the word of God. He was not shepherding the people of God. In fact, he becomes somewhat embittered against the people. And in response, the people have become embittered against him. And they finally got the guts to ask him to resign. And he refused to resign and wanted to stay there. And finally, they were able to get him to step down and leave. And the whole debacle nearly destroyed the church and the work of the word. in that place. Now don't be hasty, Paul says, but be careful. Examine a man for a while and make sure that he's faithful to the Lord, not only in his life and example, but also in the preaching of God's Word. Make sure that he's grounded in God's Word. Now this is why the old model of calling a man to come in for a weekend hey, let's just fly him in, we got his resume, and we'll hear him preach, and then we'll have a vote after the service and vote whether or not to call him as a pastor. That is a very flawed model in calling a pastor to preach. You've heard me use the illustration before that the elders at Heritage, our former church where we were members in the Dallas area for a year before we came here, That Pastor Larry would often say, look, when someone calls me and say, I want to go somewhere, he would say, fine, move here, get a job and let's observe you for a while. Let's observe how you interact with people in your life. And if God gives opportunity, your handling of God's word. And then we'll see for ourselves whether or not you are equipped to be, oh, no, I can't do that. I've been to seminary, you know, and I've got to go find a church. So never mind. Thanks a lot. I'll look on Craigslist and off they go. You know, it's a terrible way for pastors. And I'm not suggesting that a church in situations, perhaps the elders know of another elder and they know of his reputation. They know of his preaching. And God's people in another place have a place that can be trusted, in a place where the Word of God is being preached faithfully. and so on and so forth. There may be cases where a pastor needs to be called from somewhere else. But even in those cases, it needs to be handled with great attention and care. Paul says, Be careful. Don't lay your hands too quickly on a man. In verse 23, in a personal note to Timothy about his health, Paul speaks to him about not drinking only water, but also some wine for his stomach. Perhaps he's also encouraging him not to adopt an attitude of legalism. Maybe Timothy was tempted for that. We don't know. But then in verses 24 and 25, Paul says, The sins of some men are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden. All of the works of our Lord Jesus Christ, they speak for themselves, that Christ himself lived in such a way as to bring all glory and honor and praise to his Father. All glory and honor by what he said and by what he did from his life. And so Christ, of course, is our example as how we ought to walk And what Paul, in essence, is saying here is that you shall know them by their fruits. You shall know them by the work of the Spirit of God in their life. Their good works will be conspicuous. There are some men who sin, and not all their works are obvious because, frankly, they're good at pulling the wool over your eyes. And you need to watch out for men like that. He says, but don't worry, the day of judgment is coming. And all their works will be made manifest. But he says, Good works are always conspicuous. They're always out in the open. And even those that you don't always see cannot be hidden. In Matthew chapter 18 verses 19, a scribe came to Jesus and said to him, Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go. And Jesus said to him, you know, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man doesn't have anywhere to lay his head. Another of his disciples said to him, Lord, let me go and bury my father first before I follow you. And Jesus said, follow me, leave the dead to bury their own death. The Lord Jesus Christ is truly our example of examples. We need to call men of God who will humble themselves, who will be willing, even if necessary, to live in an impoverished state, who will be willing, if necessary, to give all that they have to serve the Lord their God. This ought to be the mentality and the thinking of a man of God. that he's willing to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever it requires. We know that we'll never live up to that. We'll never live up to our Savior while we're on this earth, because we're all so filled with sin. And yet we look to Christ, as Sean rightly said earlier, that He is our Elder of Elders. And we owe to Christ not only a double honor, but what? All honor. All praise. All glory. Because He gave His life. Foxes had holes. Christ had nowhere to lay His head. All of us may have a long life, but Christ, at a young age, gave His life so that He might become a ransom for many. So that He might redeem a people for His own name. And how grateful we are to God that He gave to us a shepherd of our souls. May God give to us the same gratitude as we go through this life, that God would give to us men who will shepherd our souls, who will follow in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God grant that to us and grant us the ability and the wisdom to know the difference. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have given to us our Savior, who came and humbled himself in a way that none of us can ever attain, Lord. He gave His own life. He gave His own hours. He gave even sleep, as we've been seeing in the Gospel of Mark. He gave of everything He had, because He wanted to point men to Himself. He wanted to show Himself as the only hope. Men and women were thirsty as the water of life When we drink from him, we'll never thirst again. He's the bread that comes down out of heaven. When we eat of his flesh, we'll never hunger again. God, we thank you that he gave to us, as we'll have in a moment, the communion so that we could remember what Christ has done for us and not grumble against him. And not grumble against your servants that you send into this earth to proclaim Christ. Oh, God, I pray, give us hearts of humility. Give us hearts of gratitude and praise to You, because You have given to us our Lord Jesus Christ. And He is the living Word still proclaimed this day to all the nations. We thank You for that. In Jesus' name, Amen.