Restoring Biblical Eldership, Part 1
1 Timothy 5:17-18
Well let's open our Bibles this morning to 1 Timothy chapter 5...1 Timothy chapter 5. We embark upon a new section in verses 17 to 25 that I've entitled, "Restoring A Biblical Eldership ‑ Restoring A Biblical Eldership." And again, I wish we could cover the whole thing so you get the full perspective but we can't do that in one session and really do justice to what is here, so we're going to at least begin at the beginning and see how far along we go.
Our Lord Jesus only founded one organization while He was here on earth and that was His church. That is the only organization, organism, institution the Lord Jesus founded and the only one He promised to bless. He said, "I will build My church." It is His church that is the fullness of His plan for this world. The church designed by God and initiated by the Spirit of God, made possible by the work of Christ, is designed to be the channel of the saving gospel to the world. In a sense, the church has replaced Israel. God called out the nation Israel in order to be a peculiar people, a people of His own who would be the channel of saving truth to the rest of the world. As you know, Israel was unfaithful, Israel became apostate, the channel was blocked and God carved out a new channel so the river of salvation could continue to flow to the world and that new channel is the church. We are called by God then not to receive but to channel the truth through us to a waiting world.
The church by design is to have a purity and a power that can penetrate the kingdom of darkness and take men and women captive to the kingdom of light. The church is to be the living body of Christ, the visible form of Christ in the world to reveal His attractive glory and thus draw men to Himself. The church is to be the perfect model and example of godly virtue in the face of an ungodly world in order to draw men out of their sin unto His righteousness.
Peter summing up these things says of the church and to the church, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." We are to be demonstrators of the saving grace of God in Christ.
The church's ability then to be this, the church's ability to establish a pure powerful testimony to radiate Christ's glory, to manifest godly modeling and patterning of virtue is largely dependent on on crucial area, and that is the area of leadership. No church really rises higher than its leadership, as Hosea put it, "Like people, like priest." The character of the people of God is in great measure dependent on the character of those who lead them. Our Lord's plan for assuring that the church would be what He desired was the same plan He had used in Israel. He called out the nation Israel and He set within that nation certain leaders, kings and priests and prophets, elders among the people. Their task was to demonstrate godliness and virtue and holiness and character and to live out the will of God and to give their lives wholly and zealously to the service of God. They were to be the virtuous, holy examples to direct the rest of the people toward godliness that in and through that godliness they might be the channel to reach the world. But tragically, if you study the history of Israel, you will study the failure of the leaders of Israel. The kings, the story of Israel's kings and Judah's kings is a story of tragic decline, apostasy and defection. The priests degenerated so rapidly that by the time you come to the life of Christ they are a motley crew of politically motivated money‑hungry works/righteousness people. There was even a plethora of false prophets winding their way through the history of Israel, to say nothing of evil generations of elders who produced evil generations of children. And the defection of the leadership resulted in the defection of the people and that caused God to turn and cut that new channel, the church, and start the process all over again of calling for godly, holy, virtuous leaders.
Tragically, the church has seen much of the same thing happen in its midst that Israel saw as well. There has been a defection among leaders from the biblical pattern and the biblical standard and the biblical perspective and the biblical role and function of leadership. And I believe the issue facing the church today really most significantly is an issue of leadership. And as the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy here and calls for the restoration of a biblical eldership, I think he speaks to us a message desperately needed by the church today.
The effectiveness of the church in advancing the name of Christ in the glory of God is largely related to its leadership. And that leadership today is desperately in need of a restoration of biblical power and purity. Those who have been placed in the church as under shepherds to serve Christ who are called pastors or overseers or elders have a high and holy and sacred calling to perfect the saints for the work of the ministry. And largely the problems in the church can be traced back to the problems of leadership. After all, leaders are responsible for teaching. They're responsible for preaching. They're responsible for direction. They are responsible for protection. And so there's a premium, as there always has been, on godly leadership.
And may I say to you, that when I talk about this I'm not talking about some kind of hierarchy in the church. The Scripture presents no hierarchy, it presents a shared leadership, a shared leadership with a team concept. We're not talking about one man ruling a church. We're talking about a shared leadership among all men who are qualified and willing. The Bible speaks not of some hierarchy, some pecking order, some corporate structure, some pyramidic design. But it emphasizes a plurality of men who equally share the responsibility of leadership, though their functions in specific may be somewhat different.
As Peter spoke of the elders who are among you, he really helped us to understand the essence of this leadership. It is a leadership from among, from within. There's no one‑man head of a church and there is no board of men who are over those who feed and lead the flock. And yet churches today, many of them, have one man who rules the church or a board of men who rule the elder pastors who are called to lead the church. Nowhere in the New Testament is the people of God enjoined to obey him who has the rule over you, but rather them who have the rule over you. Nowhere are pastors told to submit to people but rather to people in Hebrews 13 are told to submit to the elder‑pastor leaders over them.
So, we're talking about a very simple plan that God has outlined. A congregation of people from within that congregation there are selected by the Spirit of God and the affirmation of the people a plurality of godly men who in a shared leadership model the virtue and the godliness that the Lord has desired for His church and in so doing teach and preach that truth which can change the lives of people. That shared leadership is the design of God. It does not preclude some men manifesting a stronger gift than others, some a wider influence than others, but they are first among equals and it is not a hierarchical ranking. They are a group of godly men feeding the church, leading the church, setting the example of holy duty, faithfully proclaiming the truth, warning of error and serving with all humility. They set the model for humble service, the model for cooperating love, the model for devotion to one another, the model for commitment to prayer, the model for exposition of the Word, the model for zeal for the lost. And churches today which are desperately in need of a revival of biblical authority, a revival of holy living, a revival of careful exposition, of humble love, of zeal, of self‑ sacrificing service are desperately in need therefore of those kinds of leaders who can model that for them and live out the reality which they seek so much to fulfill.
It wasn't any different in Timothy's day. He had been left in Ephesus to set in order the things that were wrong in the church at Ephesus, a church where Paul had ministered so wonderfully for three years, a church he himself had founded, a church with great foundations which had drifted away, the leadership of which had become corrupt. And this church at Ephesus where Timothy is when Paul writes was also desperately in need of restoring a biblical pastorate, or a biblical eldership, as the church today is in need of the same. It is imperative that the church of Jesus Christ develop a new generation today of godly pastor/elders and in so doing that it challenge and eliminate other unbiblical forms of church leadership. It is also essential that pastor/elders already serving churches be awaken to the true call of their office, both in character and function. Unbiblical forms of church leadership without elders are bad but they're no worse than a biblical form with ungodly men. And so we must restore not only a biblical pattern, but a biblical reality so that not just the form is right but the men are right as well. And the church which the Lord purchased with His own blood in large measure is dependent on its leadership. The New Testament certainly doesn't consider a church fully developed until it has qualified itself with a fully functioning group of elders.
And so, as Paul writes to Timothy here this is what's on his heart. And because it's so vital today it's as if he were speaking to us. In Ephesus there was obviously a very serious problems among the leaders. There was obviously among those who were the pastors of this church, a group of people teaching error and living ungodly lives and therefore both in word and deed they were saying the very opposite of what God wants His church to know. Back in chapter 1, you'll remember, in verse 3 how Paul reminds Timothy that there are some who were teaching other doctrine, are giving heed to fables, endless genealogies, their concerned with questions rather than answers and questions that have no redeeming virtue. There are some, verse 7 says, who want to teach the law but they don't understand the law. And what they say and affirm is in ignorance. At the end of verse...at the end of chapter 1, rather, and verses 18 to 20, Paul tells about having to put out two men by the name of Hymenaeus and Alexander who, no doubt, were pastor/elders in that church, and who because of their blasphemy had to be turned over to Satan not to do do that. The assumption of chapter 2 is that women had stepped into the role of an elder and usurped that teaching position and were in need of being reminded that they were to learn in silence and not to be permitted to teach. Chapter 3 also has a polemic flavor to it in the sense that it is not just a list of qualifications for elders giving in a vacuum, but it is a list of qualifications for elders given again a background of unqualified men who needed to be tested by whether they fit this or not. Chapter 4 further indicates that there were some lie speakers in that congregation mentioned in verse 2 who were teaching doctrines of demons, basically energized by seducing spirits. And then from verse 6 to 16 comes a definition of proper godly ministry given by Paul to Timothy as to how he is to conduct himself, again in contrast, no doubt, to the ministry of some in that congregation.
Furthermore in chapter 6, starting in verse 3, the mention of people who teach other than truth who are proud, verse 4, who only want to dote about questions and dispute with words and cause envy and strife and so forth and so on, who may be in it for the money, those kinds of people had found their way into the leadership of this church, no doubt. And so all through this epistle you get the feeling that the leadership of the church in Ephesus has gone bad. And if there is good leadership there, it is to be properly treated and esteemed, as we shall see here. Where there is bad leadership, it is to be replaced. A major portion then of Timothy's work and no doubt the thing that made it so very very difficult and brought about the great distress of soul which is shown in the second epistle to Timothy was trying to set the church right at the top, at the level of leadership...not an easy task...not an easy task. The problem of removing unqualified leaders and restoring qualified leaders needed all the enablement that God could possibly give to this man Timothy.
Now for this section, Paul wants to assist Timothy and the church at Ephesus in understanding how to restore a biblical eldership. He has already given us the qualifications for an elder in chapter 3. He has already defined for us the nature of ministry in chapter 4 as he instructed Timothy. Now he speaks to Timothy as if it were that he was speaking through Timothy to the church and telling them how to restore the biblical eldership in general. Not talking about the man so much but how the church treats the man, the church needs to know this.
He's going to discuss four things...honoring elders, protecting elders, rebuking elders, and selecting elders. And these four things when properly understood and properly implemented will restore to the church a biblical eldership, a very very vital vital portion of Scripture. I wish we could take it, as I said, in the whole, but we must take it as it comes in part and fully understand it because of its tremendous implications.
Number one, the first thing on Paul's mind in verses 17 and 18 is the matter of honoring elders...the matter of honoring elders. And I want to say at this juncture, please, a bit of a disclaimer. I feel a little bit awkward up here telling you that you need to honor elders of which I am one. Obviously I could be accused of a conflict of interests and I could also be accused of having a self‑serving motive and I could frankly be accused of trying to get myself a raise because I am going to talk about paying the preacher in a little while. So I want to put in an immediate disclaimer on any of those things. I'm trying to teach you the Word of God. I am not seeking more of anything. I don't want to be elevated in my position. I don't want anybody to buy me a robe or a backward collar or a special hat. I don't want anybody to give me a raise, if they do I'll turn it down. I'm not seeking any of that except to teach the Word of God for all of our instruction and edification that we might better be able to honor those godly pastor/elders that the Lord has put in our life. That is my whole purpose and my heart rests at ease before the Lord because He and I have gone over the matter of my motives several times this morning and if you'll accept that I have worked it out with Him, then you can handle me. All right?
First of all, then, honoring elders. Now I want you to know what he says in verse 17, it's very simple. "Let the elders that rule excellently be considered worthy of double honor, specially the ones who work hard in preaching and teaching." That's a rather literal translation. The key word here is the word "honor." You might just sort of mark that in your mind, or in your text. That's what he's really saying. This verse calls for honor to be given to pastor/elders in the church. Those who serve the church, leading the church, as it were, fathering the church by way of example and leadership, feeding and teaching in the church are to be given honor.
This is not a new concept in the Scripture. It has appeared in other places. A couple of books earlier in the New Testament Canon we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:12, "We beseech you, brethren, to know them who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you." That would be your pastors, your elders. "And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." Those who are over you in the Lord who minister among you, you should know them, you should love them, you should esteem them for the work which they render. In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 7 it says, "Those who have the rule over you, who have spoken to you the Word of God, you follow their faith." And then in verse 17 it says, "Obey them, submit yourselves to them for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that's unprofitable for you." Love them, esteem them, know them, remember their lives, follow their pattern, obey them, submit to them and do it all with joy so that they may have joy. If they don't, then their ministry will be unprofitable for you.
So the New Testament has enjoined us on several occasions to give proper honor and proper respect to those that are over us in the Lord. And there are other passages with which we will intersect in our discussion this morning, also.
Now I want to just remind you that the term "elder" is a general term referring to those in leadership in the church. They can be called shepherd, pastor, same word. They can be called overseer, as in chapter 3 verse 1, they are referred to, or elder. The term pastor refers primarily to the shepherding function; the term overseer to the authority and the leadership responsibility; and the term elder has to do with their role in maturity as a father or as the senior member of the congregation, senior members I should say since there are many. There's no such thing, by the way, as a senior pastor. There's no such thing as a senior pastor and his staff. There is simply a plurality of godly elders and in that shared leadership there may be varying responsibilities but there's no hierarchy or pecking order taught in the New Testament. So the pastor, overseer, elder as we know is the same person, one in the same. One emphasizes the feeding responsibility, one emphasizes the leading responsibility, one emphasizes the maturity of his position in leadership.
Now, we assume that these elders who are to receive elders are qualified. We don't have to go through that. We're basing that on chapter 3. If an elder is tested against the principles of chapter 3 and is qualified and therefore continues to be an elder, he is to be honored. He is a man, obviously, based upon his qualifications who is blameless, who is a one‑woman man, who is temperate, who has his priorities in order, who is good in his behavior, who is committed to the love of strangers, who is skilled in teaching, not given to wine, not a violent man, he's patient, he's not a striker or fighter, he's not covetous, he rules well his own house, has his children in subjection with seriousness, he's not a novice. He has a good reputation among outsiders. It's that kind of man who qualifying to be an elder is worthy of honor. So we're assuming then elder here, or elders, as it's always in the plural except when Peter refers to himself as an elder and when John twice refers to himself as an elder, every other time it's a plurality because the assumption is the church will be led by a plurality of godly elders.
So we see then here that when it says, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor," it means elders who are qualified. If a man is qualified to be an elder, he is qualified then to receive honor. We could say then generally that underlying this verse is the idea that elders are worthy of honor, okay? Elders are worthy of honor.
Now what do we mean by honor? Well the word is time, basically it means respect or regard. It's so used in chapter 6 verse 1, "But as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor." That doesn't mean a servant is supposed to pay his master, it means he's supposed to give him respect. So the word time can relate to respect or regard. But also it can relate to remuneration, that is money. Back in chapter 5 we used it that way in verse 3 as Paul had that in mind, "Honor widows that are really widows." And what we saw there inherent in the word honor is the idea of financial support. It includes, along with respect and high regard, the idea of remuneration, salary, whatever. In fact, in our English language we have a word that tells us that, it's the word honorarium. Honorarium is a form of the word honor which relates to giving someone money. When I go out and speak sometimes people will give me an honorarium. When I fill out my Income Tax every year I put down a category called "honoraria," which has to do with people who showed me a certain amount of regard in a financial way. And so the word meaning that originally has come down in the English form to mean that even today in some regard.
So when we read about honoring these elders, we are talking not only about respect, but also talking about remuneration. In fact, the word time is translated in several places in the New Testament by the word price. So it is not a word disassociated from money. You will find it so translated, for example, in Matthew 27:6 and 9, Acts 4:34, 1 Corinthians 6:20. So what Paul is saying is give honor but let that honor have within it remuneration, if need by.
By the way, honor in the Old Testament, I just thought of that, also contains that same idea. For example, in Proverbs 3:9 it says, "Honor the Lord with your substance." What does that mean? That means honor the Lord with your respect and your regard as demonstrated by giving Him your money. And then it further says, "With the firstfruits of all your increase." So there honor carries the idea of giving money to God in an offering. Also in verse 31 of Proverbs 14 it says, "The one who honors the poor by having mercy on him," it refers to one honoring the poor through mercy that has the idea of giving them something to supply their needs.
So, Paul here is saying then that you are to make sure that one who is over you in the Lord, who feeds you and leads you, is honored. An elder is to receive honor, that is respect and remuneration as fitting and necessary. That forms a true estimate of his worth in a tangible way.
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You say, "If Paul meant that why didn't he just say money?" Well, because money is such a crass expression he would rather deal with the motive behind the money than just deal with the money. How much nicer is it to say, "Here's your money, fella?" You wouldn't appreciate that. If someone could say to you, "We want to honor you with this gift." There's a big difference in that expression. And Paul was want to do that almost on every occasion. In fact, you're hard pressed to ever find Paul actually talk about money.
Let me give you just a little insight into that. In writing to the Romans and the Corinthians, he referred to money on one occasion as service. In writing to the Corinthians, the Galatians and the Philippians, he referred to money as fellowship. He referred to it again to the Corinthians as grace. In 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 he called it liberality. In 2 Corinthians 8:20 he called it bounty. In 2 Corinthians 9:5 he called it blessing. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 he called it a good work. In Galatians 6:6 he called money good things. In Philippians 4 he called it a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice. In 2 Corinthians 9:10 he called it a seed, in the same verse he called it a harvest of your righteousness. In Philippians 4:17 he called it a gift, and here he calls it honor.
In other words, rather than