1 Timothy 5:17-25

Bringing the sermon home:

The topic of financially supporting one or more of a church’s elders who “rule well” in order to free them up to more fully devote themselves to the task of “preaching and teaching” often makes people uncomfortable. For some, it’s because of bad experiences with manipulative, self-serving pastors, usually associated with false promises of health and wealth for giving to their ministries. For others, the discomfort arises from a misunderstanding of the Christian life and the purpose of the church.

When people adopt a consumeristic view of the church that reduces it to little more than an entertainment venue or a social club with a religious veneer, funding someone to "preach and teach" from an ancient book won’t be prioritized very highly when making budgeting decisions! But when we understand “the church of the living God” to be “a pillar and buttress of the truth” (3:15), existing to hold up the truths of that ancient book like pillars holding up the roof of a great temple so that others may come under its shelter, then we understand why it’s vital that every member be regularly nourished and equipped by the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word.

The second and third leadership-matters addressed are about not listening to accusations made about an elder outside of the process prescribed by Jesus and not being too hasty in commissioning new elders, revealing the importance of the purity of the church’s elders to the purity of the church, and thus to its effectiveness. In short, leadership matters. May what matters to God increasingly matter to us.



Sermon outline:

1. Compensation of Elders and the Purpose of the Church (vv.17-18)
2. Accusation of Elders and the Purity of the Church (vv.19-21)
3. Ordination of Elders and the Perpetuation of the Church (vv.22-25)