This sermon was preached by Scotty L Killingsworth on Sunday morning November 2, 2003 to the Evergreen Church.
The sermon is an installment in the Biblical Church Series from 1 Timothy
The sermon title is: The Biblical Church is right on the Family Chapter 5
The church is a family of faith
A man was picked up after years on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. The crew of the ship disembarked to help the man collect his few belongings. They were questioning him about his life on the island and noticed he had several building he had built. They asked him what this building was for and he said it was his house. Then they motioned to another building and he said it was his church. Finally they asked him what the third building was used for. He said, “That is the church I used to attend. I go to this one now.”
My wife and I have joked that the next time we start a church were not going to tell anyone, maybe then it will be perfect. There are no perfect churches. If you find a perfect church you should not join it because then it will no longer be perfect. One thing I have found amusing about church is that when people join a church they immediately begin to try to change the new one to be like the one they left. If they succeed and change the new church to be like the old they will not like it and leave.
Despite all its faults the church is still the greatest hope for the world. More potential for positive change exists in a group of people who have covenanted together to become fully devoted Christ followers than in any other human organization. Something with that much potential for good has an equal amount of potential for destructive change when higher principles are not in play. The church can not play by the rules of the world! If we begin to play by rules not based on Biblical principles we will produce exactly what the world produces. This may explain why the world has marginalized the church and branded us as irrelevant.
What could happen if we built this church on Biblical principles even if they ran counter to good business management practices and philosophy? Is it possible that we might then be blessed by a higher philosophy if we built a church like Jesus wanted? I for one would really like to try.
The Faith Family is cautious
21I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and to do nothing out of favoritism.22Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.23Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.24The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. 25In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not cannot be hidden.
1. Be as fair as you possibly can in all things. V 21 The church is an egalitarian society where there is no slave or free, male or female, Jew or Greek. If the church gives preferential treatment to a certain class or group that basic unfairness causes what binds us together to blow us apart.
2. Be cautious when you set people to positions of ministry. v22 The danger here is that of setting someone aside who is not ready for the assignment. It takes time to develop a church leader capable of withstanding the temptation of power or ego. I have no doubt that we have stretched this caution too far and set aside people who were not yet ready.
3. Drink a little wine. v23 Is this a rule or guideline? In this case it is neither. It is a personal act of love and care from a mentor to his protégé. He is concerned about his health. In the days before Prilosec and Malox wine was the only thing available for stomach ailments. The acidity in wine may have helped digestion, and the alcohol may have been beneficial with parasites and other bacterial un-friend-lys.
He advised him to drink a little wine, not a lot. Christianity is always practiced best when we do all things in moderation and with balance. Paul is not instructing all believers for all time to use beverage alcohol. With that said, he does not ban the use of it either.
Our Baptist opposition to beverage alcohol comes from the Temperance movements of the 1800’s. Because we could not trust ourselves with moderation we decided to ban its use entirely. The use of alcohol in a contemporary culture is dangerous because of our tendency to over-use and abuse everything, but Jesus drank wine and was even accused of being a wine bibber and a glutton. Yet, He is without sin. His first miracle was turning water into wine, and my guess is that was the finest wine ever made. It is not a Biblical sin to drink a little wine for your stomach’s sake. It can be a cultural sin and a sin of hindrance to weaker brothers. Sin does not always have an objective definition.
Some have wondered why in the world Paul included this instruction, and why did the Holy Spirit allow it to be in the Holy Writ? I think it was allowed inclusion so we would not be so smug. Guess what? We don’t know all there is to know about God yet. He may have a few surprises up his sleeve He hasn’t shown you yet. Peter Lord, from the great church in Titusville Florida, said to Greene County Baptists in the early eighties, “He wouldn’t be surprised if God enjoyed a beer once in a while”. If for no other reason this was added so that we should not be judgmental or holier-than-thou. The Holy Spirit allow this little verse to sit in the middle of church instructions and thumb its nose at us and rattle our cages a little. Maybe thinking you are better than someone who uses a little alcohol is a sin too?
4. Remember all sin and all goodness will be exposed eventually v24-25 As instructions go this is profound. It tells us that good and evil run in our lives and it is God’s business to sort it out. Some of the time it is obvious and other times it is not. It doesn’t matter—God knows.
1 Timothy 5:1 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
5. Older men have earned the right to be respected. They should never receive harsh or impatient treatment in the church. A general rule for dealing with older men is to talk to them as you would your father in a functional family setting.
6. Younger men are also to be respected. A general rule for dealing with younger men is to treat them as you would your brother in a functional family setting.
7. Older women are to be revered with honor. A general rule for dealing with older women is to treat them as you would your mother in a functional family setting.
8. Younger women are to be treated with purity. (Relate with them without sexual under-tones or without any attempt to hit on them). A general rule for dealing with younger women is to treat them as you would your sister in a functional family setting.
The Faith Family cares for its weakest members
3Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. 4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.—8If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.—16If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, she should help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need
1. The immediate family is responsible for the family v8
Functional families have first level responsibility. Failure to provide for one’s own family is high treason in the Family of Faith.
2. There are times the church is not supposed to help v3
When the guidelines are met the church is supposed to step in and provide a safety net of benevolence. We are bound to properly recognize people in this category.
2. There are times the church is supposed to help.
5The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.
Devout family-less widows are to be enlisted in a ministry of giving assistance at the church and are to be given a benevolence safety net by the church. A pleasure seeking widow is not to be helped by the church. A widow who refuses to be part of the ministry assistance corpus of the church is not to be helped by the church.
There seems to be no “Something-for-nothing” in Timothy’s instructions in benevolence.
3. Who gets help and who does not?
9No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.
Church benevolence is only for older widows who have been faithful Christ followers, good mothers, hospitable, humble and full of good deeds.
4. Younger widows help comes from other sources; it does not come from the church.
11As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. 12Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. 13Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to. 14So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander. 15Some have in fact already turned away to follow Satan.
Generally Paul instructs younger widows to re-marry and go to work.
He follows other Biblical injunctions against idleness of hands which opens the door on gossip and other things that open the door on evil and slander.
The Faith Family blesses its Leaders
1. Honor Them
17The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 18For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”
Last Sunday I felt so honored as you expressed your love and support during a Pastor appreciation moment. It was a healing moment for me and meant more than you can imagine. The challenge of leading a contemporary congregation is detrimental to church leader’s spirituality, marriage and emotional balance. The daily grind challenges you in the area of drinking only a little wine and your stomach is not the reason for the wine. The work of God around can destroy the work of God in you. Your honor and love allows the God called shepherd to survive and thrive.
Directing the affairs of the church well is a demanding job. Add to leadership direction the weekly demand of sermon preparation and you have a difficult task. Those who have chosen church leadership as a career are worthy of your honor. When honor is withheld the job is impossible.
It is Biblical to have vocational church leaders. When a church is large enough it needs a staff that can focus on specific area distinctions. The staff person who works well is worthy of your honor. When you undermine, back-bite and sabotage the work of your church workers you have stepped outside of the model for a Biblical church.
When church leaders are honored and held in love and high esteem by the congregation there is something almost magic that happens in the congregation. The love given goes around the corner and comes back to the pew. We get what we give. If you want to ramp up the effectiveness of your church be intentional in giving honor to your leaders.
2. Protect Them
19Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. 20Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.
The Message says it like this: “Don’t listen to a complaint against a leader that isn’t backed up by two or three responsible witnesses.”
Church leader are very vulnerable. In fact, our leadership and integrity can be damaged even by accusation and innuendo. We just need to be accused and our reputation is damaged permanently.
The Holy Spirit knows the vulnerability church leaders assume when they serve so to help them the church is held to a higher level of responsibility than any other organization. We must not allow someone to accuse our church leaders in our presence. If we could establish this value here we would raise the effectiveness of our staff and leaders to an unlimited point.
Here is how it would work. You would be having lunch with a church member and they would say in passing, “Well I don’t know about brother ____________. I question his integrity because he. . .” The conversation would end immediately when you said, “Please wait just a moment. Our church has made a covenant to be a Biblical church. We have agreed together to not allow someone to speak negatively about our church staff in our presence. If you have something you need to say to brother ______, please say it to him in person and follow the Matthew 18:15 rule. “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
How does one become a member of a family of faith? What is required to be a member of Evergreen?
1. We require that all our members witness to a personal walk of faith with Jesus that includes the recognition of our sinfulness and an acceptance of his faithful forgiveness.
2. We require that our members witness to the inner faith life by the act of water baptism.
3. We require that our members have all invested one hour in our membership class and covenanted together to tithe, serve, honor leadership and grow in the Lord.
