First Timothy lesson 29 cont.

We are in Lesson 29 of 1 Timothy 5, and I'm going to go back up and read just because context. Sometimes we get so focused on one word at a time or one section that we lose the whole context. So basically I read, I want to go over 17 through 22 of 1 Timothy 5. And so this is all really on elders. and how to handle that. So this is Paul giving guidance. Remember, again, this is a pastoral letter from Paul to Timothy on how to run the church at Ephesus in Asia Minor. So, 1 Timothy 5, 17.

The elders who rue well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing, and the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus of his chosen angels to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality. Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others. Keep yourself free from sin." So we've gotten down. I think we're on question six. Let me get down there.

So what does it mean to rebuke an elder? So those, in verse 20, those who continue in sin rebuke in the presence of all so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. So of course, what's the first thing we're gonna do? What is the meaning of rebuke?

Chew them out, okay? Reprimand, all right. What was that, Cheryl? Oh, I just said discipline, but it's probably more reprimand. Yep. Reprimand. Any others? Remember to turn your mics on when you're chatting. We may have turned them all off to find the hum.

So yes, with Merriam-Webster, the first one is to criticize sharply, reprimand, to serve as a rebuke to, using the word, or to turn back down, keep down, check. I think the reprimand is really the the better of the English translations of rebuke. But there are a couple of synonyms for it were reprimand and also admonish.

And Mike's been going a lot through admonish in the Romans. So admonishing somebody. So, from Zodiatis, the Greek word is elenko. In the New Testament, it means to convict, to prove one in the wrong, thus to shame him. So he's telling him to rebuke them. So he's telling him to reprimand them, to check them, to admonish them, to prove one in the wrong.

Interestingly, I want to shame one. I thought that was kind of a harsh one. I don't know if that's applicable in this case, but to shame them. Yeah, it's harsh. I think that was, in the Greek translation, I thought that was a little harsh to shame them. But maybe, you know, because we'll also see those continuing in sin. So maybe the shaming is to really turn them around. Sometimes we need that as Christians.

Yeah, well, I think shaming to me is kind of like a I don't know. It doesn't sound right to me. Yeah, it's a negative one. You're doing it kind of out of... It's harder punishment. Yeah. Yeah, but to me it's more motive. I'm going to shame you. I'm just going to get you.

When I read that shame, that one felt harsh or can be in the wrong motive. If the motive is correct, shaming may be apropos. But it seemed like it was a little bit much or maybe more personally motivated than reprimand. Reprimand is, you know you did something wrong. We're going to show you did something wrong.

Well, it sounds more vengeful. Yeah. Right. That's what I'm saying. The motive is wrong. Shaming shows to others to fear. Yeah. Well, I think all of them reprimand and monish. When you reprimand somebody in a group of elders and you're reprimanding them, you're putting in check or saying, we're pointing out this sin that you're doing.

And I think, as it said, it's for fearful, to make it fearful for everybody else. that you can't get away with this or keep doing it with no repercussions. And again, remember this is Paul telling Timothy how to run the church's efforts as an Asian minor. It's like don't let, especially as we talked last week, especially an elder be in sin continually. And it's continually, it's the present tense that, you know, he's continually doing it, he's not changing, then you reprimand him. Because, you know, it's kind of like, you know, you cut off the head of the snake, you know, and the rest of it goes away. Well, in the elders, you know, that's the head of the church, and if they're sinning, that really can, you know, bring down the entire body, that local body. So it's important to reprimand an elder who is sinning. So again, I think the reprimand is probably one of the better definitions for this. So in Mike's notes, he had a reference from Trench. Rebuke is Elangeco.

To rebuke another with such effectual wielding of the victorious arms of the truth as to bring him, if not always, to a confession, yet at least to a conviction of his sin. So again, that kind of was a little harsh too, but it's the effectual wielding of the victorious arms of truth. I thought that was kind of an interesting one.

You're coming to him with truth. Remember, you come with two or three witnesses. This isn't just an arbitrary, I want to get you as an elder. Two or three witnesses, and remember, it wasn't of the accusation. It was witness of the actual sin. It wasn't, we're all gonna climb on board on these accusations. You had to witness the sin, or the sinning that he was doing. So this is, again, you're coming to him with the truth, three witnesses, and you're telling him he's wrong.

And he's continuing in it. So, other thoughts? Restore. Right. And that's the whole purpose of it. But if he continues, then I think it's a time to, you know, if he's continuing, then that's probably time to get rid of him as an elder. Yeah. I think anything beyond a reprimand, generally, you're going to disgrace them. Well, you're going to lose them then. And it destroys everything that you've built up.

Well, and there are others that Paul gives guidance on how you treat somebody. The purpose and the goal, and I forget which one, maybe it's Corinthians or whatever, the purpose is to restore a brother. And I think it's the same in here. The elder is saying, we're pointing it out, maybe he doesn't know it, maybe he does, and we're going to reprimand you in order to bring you back into line. So again, that's kind of the shaming part. I don't think shaming is more vengeful. It seems more attacking, rather than for the purpose of love to restore. When you get into shaming, you're risking disgracing them.

Right. Then you've completely destroyed everything. Right. So again, it's the purpose to restore. Yeah, I think it depends on what it is too. Of course, I think it depends on what it is you're reprimanding for too. Well, it's a sin. There's a sin. He's calling out that he's actually sinning. Yeah, Mike. Do you have your mic on? Yes. In Galatians, I think it's 6.

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Interesting thing about all of this, it's a theme that goes through, is the church, the body of Christ functions under principles that must be maintained So when someone violates it, especially someone in authority, violates a principle, you can't just sweep it under the rug.

And what's good about that is the fact that it isn't that, how do I say this? It isn't that everybody's looking around to make sure that everybody else has got their act together. is someone who has overtaken in sin, say an elder. I don't know, we could name a thousand things, but whatever it is, the object, like Donna said, is restoration. And not only restoration for that person, but anybody else who might be thinking, well, that's not so bad.

Well, and that's the, in the rest of the verse, in the presence of all, so that the rest will be fearful of sinning. You're pointing it out, so it's to maintain order in the church. And so others don't fall into this. And I think in Asia Minor at this time, the beginning of the church, I'm sure that there were behaviors that were customary in the culture that were not acceptable in the body of Christ.

And that's the issue you're dealing with. And again, there's a couple different things. If you look at the Greek tense on these two, it's continuing in sin. He's continuing. It's not like you did one thing wrong and we're going to boot you. No. It is a continuing sin that he's doing. Sure.

And so it's not just a, you know, you did something and, yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, didn't realize that, you know, this is continuing. And the verb tense on this, too, in the rebuking is present active voice imperative, meaning that Timothy was commanded to continue rebuking or reprimanding the elder who is continuing in the sinful behavior. It wasn't like, I'm just going to talk to you. I'm going to talk to you and rebuke you until you change and get out of that sinful behavior.

Again, it's not to be taken lightly. And again, when you think, when the elders are sinning, That's different, and I think elders and teachers will be judged harsher because the position they're in of misleading a body or misdirecting or doing something.

That's why I think it's critical in Paul's eyes for Timothy to take care of these so it doesn't morph or metastasize into the body. Very important concept he's relaying on to him. In the work of the cross he's involved in. Involved in all of us. Remember, this is a pastoral letter from Paul to Timothy. How does it run? What we're talking about now is how does the local body function? That's what we're talking about. The cross is involved in every one of our lives. But this is a pastoral letter. Timothy, I'm giving you guidance. So that's what he's given here. All right, question seven. Who is to deliver the rebuke? So in verse 20, those who continue in sin rebuke in the presence of all so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. So from this, who's supposed to rebuke the elder? A sinless person. A church committee. Church committee?

Yeah. Or other elders, because it's being written to Timothy. Yeah. In this case, it's Timothy. He's really talking to Timothy to rebuke. Remember, when I was thinking about all this, it's like, remember, Timothy is youthful. Remember? And we've already gone through those, where don't let him look at your youth And so now it's Paul telling him, you have to rebuke the elders. And I think from the context, Timothy is supposed to deliver this rebuke.

I think the lesson is further, is that either two or three witnesses come before and confront. So in the local body, maybe the elders don't see the other elder sinning, but two or three come and say, Mike's been off in left field over here. We've personally witnessed him sinning and continuing in this. And it could be that we've also looked back in whatever it was where one person comes with a purpose of restoring, one person, if he's restored, great. If not, then you come with the multiple witnesses. So it could be even in an elder situation, hey, Mike, This is, you're going off in the wrong direction. It appears to be sinning. I could come to him. If he doesn't, then we go with two or three witnesses to the rest of the elders.

And so this is the guidance that Paul is giving Timothy here. But in this instance, he's telling Timothy, you're the one gonna have to do this. And again, I thought of it in the youthful part of it. Timothy's going, wait a minute, I'm the young guy here, and I'm gonna go after these elders? And we'll see later, I solemnly charge you to do this. So again, he's telling him to do this, and it's important that he does it.

I won't tell you who the people are, but a buddy of mine is an elder in the church, and another elder in the church was accused of being very aggressive towards his wife, let me put it that way. And he was a guy, I guess, who has a really extreme temper. And he had come over from another church in which they sort of invited him to leave because he was really outspoken. So they sat down and talked to him and said, you can't do this, you can't do that.

You have to resign from the elder board, which he did. And he said, so, you know, so he goes, everything's going fine for about a month or so. And then they find out that after church on Sunday, he's going down to the old church and he's demonstrating in front of the church with a sign, telling them they're all gonna go to hell. He got the lesson. So they had to call him back in and say, wait, but you can't do that.

Yeah. Well, again, getting to the elders is an important thing. If the elders are sinning, it has to be dealt with. And again, three witnesses, two to three witnesses. And then, you know, it could be within the elders. If they see it, they could address it. But if it's in the body, two to three witnesses come forth and tell them.

And we're getting into the question here. And further, where was the rebuke supposed to take place from this verse 20? This is publicly. I guess that would be in the church, Speaking to church people yeah In the presence of all now There and I think you had this too, and I was looking it up You can either take this in a narrow view or a broader view in that The word all and the word rest may be taking a narrow or wide view sense in the narrow sense they would refer to an action taking place in the presence of the other other elders and it could be the in the presence of their at the wider view as it's based in tight in front of the entire assembly so it's not specific here so i could probably be taken either way uh... you know and i and really i think it's probably case-by-case basis maybe uh... if the elders know about it they'll just handle it within the elders if i think if it's a member of the body two or three witnesses then that would be more in front of everybody, in front of the body. If the other elders see another elder in something, the body hasn't seen that, maybe they don't know this guy's going down and protesting or whatever, but the elders do, they'll address it within the elder body. But if it's something that is out, that the elder is out and the body sees it, then I think the rebuke's got to be made in front of the entire body. So I think it's kind of a dual, depending on the case.

Well, that's where speak the truth and love comes in. Well, it'd be that in any case, but it's really who it's in front of. You want to do that either in front of the elders or in front of the body. So, Al says, what was the result that Paul tells Timothy would be from the rebuking? What would be the results if you rebuke them, either in the elders or in front of the body? What was the result?

Verse 20. But the rest also will be fearful of sinning. Yeah. So the rebuke was supposed to be sharp. So nobody is to fall in the same trap. It was to be sharp enough that it put fear probably to the body as well as to the rest of the elders, that they were fearful of doing sinning. Because, again, it wouldn't be a pleasant situation being rebuked in front of the whole body. And I don't think it was meant to be to the other elders in particular, don't do this or you'll be in front of the body too. And if it's within the elders too, we know you did this and we're rebuking you here within the eldership. don't do it and nobody wants to do that. You know, get rebuked. It's not a pleasant situation. So again, it was mainly to have fear. Fear that nobody else would do the same thing. Yeah?

I think you have to keep in mind that the body of Christ is designed to be as transparent as possible. That there's a light within the body of Christ to be lived by all of its members as leaders and everybody. it's to be lived out in the open and not in light, not in darkness. And so this fits that principle, where if there is sin, which there's going to be, there's restoration, but it isn't something that we don't talk about. Burying sin only metastasizes it more. Culture goes contrary to that. Oh, sure it does. Oh, yeah.

But this is purposely meant to make you fearful. You don't want to do this. If you're in the body, and if it translates down into the body, rebuking somebody, this is for the elders, but if it's confronting somebody in sin, it's meant for restoration and also to make other people think twice about what they're doing. especially in the eldership here. This is in the eldership. It's basically saying, you better not do this. You're going to be in a hot seat here too. And witnesses out there, we're going to bring it in front of the whole body.

And so it was meant to create fear so others wouldn't sin. It's interesting when you look at the very first sin. The temptation was, God's lying to you. And there isn't going to be a consequence for your sinning. Actually, it's going to be a benefit to you. So when the Lord goes into the garden, they're hiding. He exposes them. It's the first thing he does. But he does it in a way of restoration. But there's no covering over. There's none of that. Other than, it was her. Right, well that was it. He exposed them. All right, question eight.

Does Paul have confidence in Timothy's courage to carry out this? So it says in verse, well, verse 21, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of his chosen angels to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in the spirit of partiality. So does Paul have confidence in Timothy's courage to carry out this charge? I think it would be truthful.

I think it would be something that It's not pleasant. And also, what I brought up at the beginning, Timothy is young, and now he's rebuking elders. And that's tough. A young guy coming in and rebuking the old guard is a very difficult thing, just in business. Now I'm the old guy. Yikes. Young guys come in. Us old guys think we can get by with a little. Just because we're old. They don't want to correct an old guy. I remember when I was younger, it was like, man, those guys know everything. I don't want to talk to them. Unfortunately, now I'm one of them. They don't want to be thought of. But anyway.

So, something from some of my expositors say, it's easy to see that St. Paul had not perfect confidence in the moral courage of Timothy. He injects similar adjurations in 1 Timothy 6.13, where he said, I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate. OK, so he's again, solemnly charging him.

And then in 2 Timothy 4.1, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing in his kingdom. So, what are your thoughts about this admonition? What do you think? Is he fearful Timothy's not gonna do this? What are your thoughts? Yeah.

I think since it says in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, it's kind of like they're watching over how you're setting up this church. But also it could be that the Lord has given you authority to go ahead and carry these things out correctly. You know, it's not just you being the bad guy. You know, this is the Lord giving you the authority to do these things. Yeah, dual purpose in that, you know, yeah, God is why this is important. And God is, you know, we're telling you have the authority to do this. Oh yeah. It's like the same responsibility you have as a teacher for anything. Yeah. Well, that's why I think, you know, elders, teachers will be judged harder because the purpose of misleading somebody is grave. And, you know, God, Christ, they're all looking over this. And you know, it's important.

And that's basically what I said. The second thought would be that Paul is only expressing the thought that this is a very important point, and that Timothy was not to take it lightly. And that he's saying, I solemnly charge you, in the presence of God, this is important. Don't shirk this responsibility. Because I know that, again, If the eldership goes south, the body goes south, that local body goes south. So Paul is telling, you know, this is very important.

God is looking over you, I think what you're saying. God is looking over this, and he's wanting you to maintain this, you know, and make sure you do this. Do this. Even though it's tough, nobody likes to rebuke people. It's not a fun thing. But you need to do it. And so again, I just see it as kind of whatever you're saying. God is looking over to make sure and he's giving you the authority to do this. Next one, which is kind of an interesting one. I think we have time, yeah,

41. Who are the angels? I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus and of his chosen angels to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in the spirit of partiality." So, who are the chosen angels? Nobody knows. The secret angels. It sounds like a motorcycle group. The ones that didn't sin. Yeah. The holy angels it's referred to. So yeah, angels that haven't fallen. Well, just that you got the good angel on the right side.

You've been watching too much TV, way too much TV. Michael will talk to you later and rebuke you for that one. I think one of the interesting things here is that Paul says, look, the elect angels are paying attention to what's going on in the body of Christ. They're watching because they're learning from us. Yeah, they're actually learning. That's an interesting thought. That really blows my mind when you think about that. It's like they're watching us. What? Yeah. Yeah. And again, it goes to the importance of this. Salome charged you in front of God and Christ Jesus and his chosen angels.

So I think this to me is like an exclamation point on how important this is. Everybody's looking at you from heaven, basically. From heaven, from earth, from all places. They're watching what's going on. And if you don't address this, it's going to go south quickly.

To me, when I read this, it was more like the exclamation point. Normally it's God the Father, God the Son. But now he throws in the chosen, or holy, or select angels. This really has importance. There's the exclamation point on my my charging you to do this.

So I think Mike had a positive say that epithet elect has probably the same force as holy in our communion phrase, the holy angels, the references to angels and Paul speeches and letters suggest that he is an unquestioning belief. in their benevolent ministrations, though he may not have attached any importance to speculations as to their various grades." They're holy ones and less than holy. It was kind of an interesting note. We're safe in saying that the elect angels are identical with the angels which kept their own principality in Jude 6 that did not sin.

So these are the not fallen angels. So the question is, what is Paul telling Timothy to do before God, Christ, Jesus, and these angels? What's he telling him to do? It's in the verse. Just the back half of the verse. Maintain the principles without bias. Yeah. So to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in the spirit of partiality. So Paul tells Timothy to rebuke the elders who continue to sin, but to do it in a manner without bias or partiality. This goes again to what I was talking about, the attitude or the motive. The motive isn't because of partiality.

Mike's really been bugging me lately. I'm going to go after him. Partiality means it's directed at somebody, not based on fact or anything. You're taking it out on somebody. So do it without bias. So I'm just, I'm not going to, you know, Mike's okay, but, you know, Mike and Roger are doing it, but I'm gonna get Roger, because, you know, bias, you know. I like Mike, but Roger, you know, I can go after him. Bias, that means you're taking an unequal approach to your admonition or your reprimand. If both of them are doing it, you both do it. You both are rebuked. If one's doing it, do it. But you don't... I like Mike, so I'm going to go get Roger. So that's a bias. I'm taking a bias approach to my rebuking, which is saying don't do it.

So I said also bias or preferring one before another, a prejudgment. The idea is well expressed by the word prejudice or discrimination. And then partiality, the Greek word is leaning toward or joining the party of one. It refers in general to a leaning or inclination toward one person, thus a showing of partiality towards them.

So again, both may be sinning and you only want to get one guy because you like the other. So show no partiality, no bias in your rebuking. If they're sinning, you take care of it. It doesn't do the body any good to show partiality when one's sinning and you're both sinning and you only address one. it's still going to be a problem. So he says, do it without partiality. You may like this guy, but he's the guy sinning, you take care of it. So Paul's very specific in this too, that you don't parse it out based on your feelings, or your judgment of one person over another. The sin is a sin and you take care of it, regardless of who it is. So again, just kind of a strong warning.

I don't know if we have time. No, we're 47. I'll take care of it. We'll start, we'll finish up next week. I've only got a couple left. We'll finish and start on 10, which again, I like, what do the words lay hands suddenly mean? Lay hands on somebody. Well, that's kind of an interesting one when you think about elders, so. All right, let's close and we will move on.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again. for the direction that you've given to Paul and to us on how the local body is supposed to function, and just the importance of identifying sin in the body, and especially sin in the eldership. So we thank you for your guidance here, and we realize that it isn't a fun thing to rebuke people, but it's a necessary thing, and your guidance from Paul to Timothy was to encourage him to take care of the sin before it created problems within the body. And we thank you, as he said, it's before you, Christ, and chosen angels that are looking over our body, which gives us great peace and joy knowing that you're looking over us. There's not a moment that you're not. And we thank you for that. And again, we just pray for Roger as he gives us a message in the next meeting. And again, we just thank you for all your blessings to us and all your care each and every day. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.