This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
You don't pay a pastor to be a pastor.
You don't pay them to do the work of the pastor.
That's not why a pastor is paid. That's a hireling.
They're paid to do a job.
That's a hireling. And the Bible says, Jesus even
says himself that a hireling doesn't care for the sheep.
So you don't even want a hireling.
That's not what a pastor is paid for.
A pastor is given support so that he can be free to be a
pastor. That's what a true pastor is
being paid for. What does it mean to be a true
shepherd? In today's message, Pastor Lewis
makes it clear you don't pay a pastor to do the job.
You support him so he can freely be the shepherd God called him
to be. If someone works for wages and
flees when trouble comes because he truly doesn't care for the
sheep, Jesus warned about that. A true pastor's heart is for the
flock, not the paycheck. It's not payment for services,
it's a partnership and ministry. How do you support your pastor
so he can shepherd properly? Now?
Here's Pastor Lewis in the Book of First Timothy, chapter 5,
with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.
The widow was the one that would say, well, if they don't have
anywhere to stay, I'll take them to my house.
I got room, I got space. They'll take them in their house
or other, you know, some of the other people that may travel
with them, I'll give them somewhere to stay.
Hospitality. They have a spirit of
hospitality goes on. If she has washed the Saints
feet. Now washing the feet is
something that we don't typically do.
That doesn't happen that much in the church.
There are some churches now I want to say there are some
churches that still do that. They will wash feet.
They'll have what they call a foot washing ceremony, not sure
what that looks like, but they do that and they'll wash feet.
But what Paul's talking about here is being a humble servant,
being able to do or be willing to do menial things, things that
maybe other people wouldn't want to do or see themselves above
doing it. Paul said, you know, this widow,
a widow, a humble servant will do those kind of things.
And then he goes on and he says, I love this one.
If she has relieved the afflicted, this is a woman who
is truly, truly filled with the spirit of mercy.
If there's an affliction, she goes to help.
If someone is afflicted, she goes to help.
You know, I'm always struck talking to firefighters and
police officers, those that are what they call the first
responders, I'm always struck talking to them because I
realized that things that they run to most people run away
from. Like if it's a really bad fire,
I'm not going to run to this fire, I'm going to run away from
it. But the first responders,
firefighters and people of that nature, they run to it.
Police officers, if someone is out in the street, they're
shooting, I'm going to hide. I'm going to find somewhere safe
to hide. But there are people who serve
in our, in our law enforcement that their, their first instinct
is a run to it, run toward it to try to resolve the situation.
And this is what happens with these widows where other people
may not want to deal with someone else's affliction, to be
inconvenienced by someone else's affliction.
This woman who was a true widow and had the heart of mercy, she
runs to these people. She runs to them to offer
whatever relief that she can. Rather, it's relief because
they've had some crisis in their life.
May they lost a loved one. Maybe their their house burned
down and they need things to help them.
Rather somebody who just needs to be ministered to.
Maybe someone who fell in sin and they're now dealing with
adversity from that this person runs to them to offer relief,
relief. And then it also goes on and
says if she has diligently followed every good work, that
just simply means that she has been very, very committed to
serving in every good work. Now in verse 11 is when Paul
makes a distinction now for those who should not be
supported by the church. And in verse 11, he says, but
refuse, do not give support to the younger widows for when they
have become wanton, when they grow wanton against Christ, they
desire to marry, having condemnation because they have
cast off their first faith. Now let's walk through that.
He refuses those young women because see, what can happen
from time to time is that a woman who is younger, if she
loses a husband at an early age, I mean, she is distraught.
I mean, she's broken. I mean, really hurting.
And at that particular time, you know, she may say, you know
what, I'm not getting married again.
I'm not getting mad anymore because I'm never going to meet
another man like this in my life.
So I'm just not going to get married again.
I'm going to just give myself to the whore.
I don't even want to get married again in those times.
It's like a reaction. It's just a reaction.
It's a, it's a very fleshy reaction.
I mean, it's in the, you know, it's out of emotion, but they
make that reaction. They say, I'm not going to get
married. So they make that pledge.
I'm not going to get married anymore.
But then what may happen is that later on, they develop a
friendship with someone of the opposite sex.
And that ends up maybe there's some sparks that start flying.
They get interested, you know, in each other and start seeing
each other a little differently. Now all of a sudden, all those
emotions that she had suppressed and those things that she
thought had gone dormant, all those feelings start coming
back, and all of a sudden her body starts to respond again and
her mind starts to respond. She wants companionship again.
So she decides that they're going to marry.
Paul's not saying that it's a bad thing that a person marries.
That's not a bad thing. In fact, like we said before,
it's better to marry than to burn with lust.
But what Paul is saying is that what happens with these widows,
rather than to take them in as widows and have them make that
pledge that they're going to give the rest of their life to
God and not to anybody else, rather than to have them do
that, just let them remarry. Just let them remarry so that
they don't have to worry about that if they decide to.
They don't have to make a pledge because what happens, as it says
here in verse 12, having condemnation, that's self
condemnation because they made this pledge and now they broke
it. So it's like self condemnation
for themselves because they cast off their first faith.
And that first faith is really what it means is that their soul
promise, their solemn promise. They made a solemn promise and
now they're breaking it or they're retracting it, they're
forsaking it. So Paul is saying rather than
them doing that, let them marry. And then here in verse 13, it
says, and besides, now this is the other part, the other
warning that he had for Timothy about bringing these young women
in when they're so young and taking care of them in the
church, having them make these pledges, he said.
And besides, they learn to be idle, wandering from house to
house, and not only idle, but also gossips and busy bodies
saying things which they are not.
So they're not working. They're not working.
They're going from house to house because they got all this
time on their hands. They don't have a family, so
they're going from house to house.
They got all this time on their hands.
And so now they may have started off with a conversation, may
have been edifying, may have been a very spiritual
conversations at first talking about Scripture.
But then all of a sudden it starts to, you know, every
conversation starts to deteriorate and it starts to get
into gossip and talk about other carnal things and fleshy things.
And they start to say things that they just shouldn't be
saying. Getting in other people's
business, using the cover up we need to pray for so and so.
Did you hear what happened? You know, I mean, getting into
all those kind of things and just sharing other people's
business in ways that they need not to.
And he's saying, look, rather than to do that.
Verse 14. Therefore he says, I desire that
the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house and
give no opportunity to the adversary to speak
reproachfully. Paul says, look, if they're
running around behind kids, they ain't got no time to be going
busy bodying. You know, we got people here
with kids. You know, you ain't got time to
be busy body. And if you got kids, you running
around behind them. They keep you busy.
You're pouring into their lives.
And it's so important to listen. I don't ever want to minimize
the significance and importance of being able to pour into a
child's life. I don't ever want to minimize
that. You know you are, regardless of
what situation is, whether it's your children or whether it's
someone else's children that for whatever time period you have
responsibility for rather it's keeping them or you're teaching
them or you're a mentor to them. They look up to you and they're
spending time with you. There is such a blessing for you
to be able to be a mentor and pour in spiritual things to
young kids at a young age, to get them on the road of walking
with the Lord at a young age and being example of a godly woman
before young girls. That is valuable.
It's valuable for men to be godly examples for young boys.
We need that. And that's what God is talking
about when He says multiply after yourselves, after your own
kind. It's a blessing, it's an honor.
So Paul says, look, as opposed to becoming busy bodies, as
opposed to being tempted to go out and do ungodly things, go
ahead and get married. Go ahead and get married.
And then at the bottom of that, verse 15, it says for some have
already turned aside after Satan because see what happens that if
you are suppressing these things and you act like you don't want
to get married, you start sneaking around.
And what happens is that eventually you start opening
yourself up to ungodly things, ungodly relationships, you know,
so instead of getting married, you're moving in with somebody
you know, and fornication. All these things are taking
place that's just running after Satan.
You're not even honoring the Lord at all anymore.
And what you're doing in terms of relationships, not living as
a widow, nor are you living as a godly woman.
Paul says, for some have already turned aside after Satan.
And then in verse 16, it says if any believing man or woman, he
goes back and he repeats here what he talked about in verse 4
and verse 8. That's how serious he is about
that issue of people in their own homes taking care of their
own family members who are widows.
If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve
them. Do not let the church be
burdened. Why not that the church don't
want to take care of widows. That's not it.
But that the resources that the church has, let those resources
be given to someone who really, really needs them.
Who really needs them? A widow who was a true widow.
She's not going to go to work and work 8 hours anymore.
She's not going to marry and have a man take care of her
anymore. That's not going to happen.
She's a true widow. She has needs.
Let the resources that we have be there for them.
And then it goes on in verse 17. Now we're going to switch from
being from talking about widows to talking about elders, and
this is going to close us up. He says here, let the elders who
rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those
who labor in Word and doctrine. For the Scripture says you shall
not muzzle the ox while treads out the grain, and it also says
the labor is worthy of his wages.
So Paul said the elder should be worthy of double honor.
And that double honor in a lot of places is translated.
It should be the honor of respect and also the honor of
remuneration, you know, financial support for elders.
Now, I want to just say this point before we move on to the
next point. And the fact is you don't pay a
pastor to be a pastor. You don't pay them to do the
work of the pastor. That's not why a pastor is paid.
That's a hireling. That's a hireling.
They're paid to do a job. That's a Harlem.
And the Bible says, Jesus even says himself that a hireling
doesn't care for the sheep. So you don't even want to hire
Lane. That's not what a pastor is paid
for. A pastor is given support so
that he can be free to be a pastor.
That's what a true pastor is being paid for or being
supported for. It's not even being paid.
It's being supported so that they can be free to be a pastor,
so they can be free to put time in the study in prayer, be free
to go into calling the sick or those who are shut in, be free
to be able to administer the people when they need it.
And I don't have to worry about checking in with a job first.
Well, I got to do it after work. You know, they can be free to do
that. That's why support is given to
elders or pastors, not to pay them for their work.
That's a Harley. So then he goes on and he says
here, do not receive an accusation.
Now this is talking about the discipline.
We're getting into the discipline of elders, and this
is for elders. Keep that in mind.
This is not just for the general congregation.
This is for elders. Do not receive an accusation
against an elder except from two or three witnesses, pastors,
elders, they're targets. They're targets.
And it only takes someone to be offended by something that a
pastor may not even be aware that he said or did that
offended someone and that person then slanders it has happened.
The person may slander a pastor or or or say things that just
aren't true or misconstrue some things.
It all of a sudden accusation comes up that this pastor have
committed a sin. So Paul says in order to try to
avoid those things from happening, Timothy, these
misunderstandings or these false accusations, in order to try to
avoid that from happening, don't even receive the accusation
unless you get two or three witnesses that this is going on.
So in other words, if one person comes to Pastor Clark and says
Lewis is sinning, this is what he did, only one person, that
person could have an issue that might not even be true.
But if two or three people come to him and said, Pastor Clark,
I've seen Lewis do this, I saw him do this, well, now that's an
issue. That's an issue that needs to be
dealt with. So then that particular point is
confronted. The elder is confronted about it
and given an opportunity to own it and repent and turn from it.
That's an important part of repenting.
OK, not only repenting and asking for forgiveness, but
returning from the sin. You can't continue to do it.
So here in verse 20, he says those who are sinning rebuke in
the presence of all that the rest may fear.
Now when he says those who are sinning, that means that they
did not repent and they did not turn from it and they're
continuing that same old activity.
They're continuing that behavior.
He said for those now you got to take it before the other elders.
You got to rebuke them in front of the other elders.
So then he goes here to verse 21 and he says I charge you before
God. I like the way he said this.
He said I charge you before God. And if that one enough and the
Lord Jesus Christ and if that one enough and the elect angels
that you observe these things. Now this is the important part.
He says without prejudice. That means it can't don't be
harder on someone that you don't like.
So you're more prone to receive the accusation and to do
discipline because this is an L that you don't like.
This is somebody you got something against.
He said don't judge this thing with prejudice and he says and
also do nothing with with partiality.
That means you're covering up a sin for someone that you do like
or you're dismissing it or you're being a little softer on
that person because you like them.
He said no, in the foot of the cross, we're all the same.
We are all the same. God said several times, I am no
respecter of persons. There's no one more important
than someone else, no one rather than this house or rather than
any other church. No one is more important than
anybody else to God. We're all the same, no respecter
of persons. And then he goes on here in
verse 22 and says, and do not lay hands on anyone hastily nor
share in the other person's sins.
Keep yourself pure. Now, I love the way he put this
because what he's saying here is that in order to try to avoid
this from happening, Timothy, don't lay hands on people.
Suddenly don't lay hands on people's.
Don't just rush people into the position of eldership or
pastorate. Take some time, view these
people, look at their life, look at different situations.
How do they act in different situations or circumstances?
He said you got to take some time to do that.
And then he said nor share in other people's sins.
That means if you know that someone is not right and you're
still putting them in place, then you are sharing their sins,
you're sharing in their sins. Or if you're trying to help them
to cover the sins so no one else can see it, then you're sharing
in their sins. You're sharing in their sins.
And he says here, or if you reinstate someone too soon, you
restore them too soon while they're still sinning.
That is being a Co conspirator in their sins.
But he said, keep yourself pure. Keep a pure heart, Timothy.
Keep a pure heart when you do it, it's not worse for someone
else than it is for another guy. Keep your heart pure.
So that also be a good example so that you don't send before
the other elders as well. Now here in verse 23, it's
interesting because in the midst of all of this, he now takes
time to speak to Timothy personally.
All these other things were just like wide open general
instructions. But now he speaks to Timothy
personally and he says, and by the way, Timothy, by the way, I
know this ministry has taken a toll on you.
Your stomach is bothering you. I know that and I care about
you, Timothy. So don't just drink water.
Drink a little wine with your water.
Purify that water. Use wine as a disinfectant to
try to get some of those germs, some of those parasites out of
that water because it may be bothering your stomach.
What a sensitive thing to say in the middle of all this godly
instruction. But guess what?
That's exactly what God does to you as you're reading His word.
He takes time to speak to you directly and say, you know what?
By the way, this part is for you.
This is just for you. I'm not speaking this to
everybody. I'm just giving this to you.
I care about you. This is something you want to
take a look at. Take a look at this change that.
Give us that alert, that nudge. It's personal.
I love you and I know you by name.
This is just for you. Maybe you're going through some
hard times and say I love you, but I'm going to give you a
scripture. This is not for everybody else.
This is just for you to encourage you.
You need encouragement. That's God.
That's how loving He is and how gracious He is in the midst of
all that. Then in 24, he goes back to
talking about how to choose elders.
So some men's sins are clearly evident, okay, Preceding them to
judgment. In other words, you ain't going
to choose them because you can already see that they're
sending, so you're not going to put them in place.
They're sending right in front of you.
So that's an easy choice, but there are some Mens who follow
later. That means you don't see it
right away. You put them in place and then
later those things come up because you didn't take time to
observe them. And then he says in Likewise,
the good works of some are clearly evident.
We can have good works, right? In the beginning, it looks like
this is a good choice because look at all the good works he's
doing and then he said, and those that are otherwise cannot
be hidden. In other words, there may be
works that you don't see, but that person is doing good works.
And later on those things come out.
If it's us who is doing sins that are not evident right now,
we want the Lord to show us what those sins are because we don't
want to be in a situation where we get the judgment and then
have to deal with those sins too late.
Lord, show me now what it is that I need to change in my
life. Show me now where I'm out of
order. Show me now where I'm in
disobedience to Your word. Show me now.
That should be our prayer that we see these things now so that
our light can shine before men. I just want to say in closing
that obedience to God is important.
I mean, that's why we walk in obedience to Him and we walk in
holiness, which is obedience to the Lord.
And it's interesting because as we walk in obedience, we get the
opportunity to truly live out the heart of God.
So when we get these instructions, they help us to
avoid those troubles and problems that Timothy was trying
to avoid. Paul was saying, basically, I'm
giving you these things so that you can avoid pitfalls.
Timothy, I don't want you to go through the problems that some
others may have had to go through because they didn't obey
this. So I'm giving you these things
clearly, specifically, methodically.
And the Word of God does the same thing for us.
He gives us His Word to help us, to try to avoid pitfalls, to try
to avoid some of the issues that may happen.
Yes, we're still going to suffer.
We're still going to deal with afflictions, but they don't have
to be self-inflicted. They don't have to be
self-inflicted. Jesus Christ was our example of
one who was obedient. In fact, the Bible says He was
obedient unto death, unto death. And because He was obedient, he
benefited from a lot of things that His Father did in his life,
but he still had to suffer. In fact, it was because of his
obedience that He allowed himself to suffer.
But the benefit of that is what we have here, believers,
salvation, eternal life. He did that for us.
You've been listening to Pastor Louis Harrell here on Living
Waters of Grace. We're digging into all that Paul
shared with Timothy in the books of First and Second Timothy.
Timothy was commissioned to do the following fight the good
fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were
also called, and have confessed the good confession in the
presence of many witnesses. Timothy would be carrying on
what Paul had taught him and continuing on in ministry, even
though Paul knew that more hardships would come for
Timothy. This is the Christian life.
It's not glamorous. It's not some celebrity status.
It's hard fought. It's gritty, it's unpopular, but
it's worth it. Do you believe that today?
Are you willing to fight the good fight even at the cost of
earthly pleasures? Living the life of a follower of
Jesus will have its heavenly rewards.
To be a part of a community that's looking forward to that
heavenly reward, we invite you to join us at Calvary Chapel
Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA
area, come be with us this Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E
Pittsburgh St. Ste. 6B.
Check out Calvary Chapel online.com For more information
on directions and any other details you might want to know.
You can also download our mobile app from our website
thatscalvarychapelonline.com. If you have friends or family
members who want to tune in, encourage them to listen on
Grace FM 91.7. One last thing.
This radio ministry relies on your support to keep things
going. If you're willing to donate
financially, send gifts to Grace FM, PO Box 716, Greensburg, PA
15601. Thanks for prayerfully
considering this, and thank you for listening to Living Waters
of Grace.