In this day of countless assaults on so many of the Bible’s doctrines, it is essential for local churches to recapture and nurture the practice of setting aside qualified men to labor hard in the word. Such hard labor ought to be rewarded. The Scriptures clearly speak of the necessity of honoring our elders. Paying them is the first way in which scripture commands a church to honor its elders. Out of respect and appreciation for the time and energy that they have put into studying and preaching the word, the least the flock can do is pay them.

Music Good morning. I'm Jason Dome and I'm currently an Elder. I serve alongside Scott Brown and Dan Horn at Hope Baptist in Wake Forest, North Carolina. And it's a very great pleasure to serve alongside those faithful brothers. And they're hard to keep up with.

They labor really, really hard. They are machines as elders and so they stay set a brutal pace and I just have to try to keep up somehow and I don't think either one of them sleeps either and I have to sleep. Can we take that off the recording? So we're here today to talk about something that is completely unnecessary to talk about in a lot of circles, and that is paying elders or paying pastors. I'm confident that at the Southern Baptist Convention this year they're not having a session on paying your pastors.

It's just what they do. And so they don't need to establish any biblical footings for that because it's entrenched, it has momentum, it has inertia, and they don't need to take any time talking about it. We're a little different. We're a little different. And I love that we're a little different, by the way.

I think we should be, I think we should be a lot different and family integrated folk have really gotten their arms around the doctrine of the priesthood of the believer and it's a beautiful thing. Not sitting around waiting for the professional to do some ministry. We've gotten the grasp on Ephesians 4 that it's not pastors and teachers who do the ministry but it's pastors and teachers who equip the saints to do the ministry so we're not a bunch of people who are waiting around for the professional class to swoop in and do some ministry things whatever you know whatever that might be in the church. We understand that it's our obligations as saints, and saints just being people who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be working together So that every joint supplies, so that we really are functioning as a body. And this, brothers and sisters, is a sign of reform.

We should rejoice in this, that the wall between lay people and a clerical class has been busted down in many ways. The risk of course is that we over rotate and we develop a kind of priesthood of the believer on steroids, a kind of priesthood of the believer gone wild, where we take this to another extreme. And the other extreme goes something like this, since we the Saints are supposed to do the work of the ministry it's unnecessary to pay someone for their ministry in the church or even even it's bad to pay someone for their ministry in the church if that's the conclusion that we've reached from Ephesians 4 that we need to backtrack and we need to be brought back to what scripture says because you can't even escape Ephesians 4 and come to that conclusion. Yes, the saints do the work of the ministry, but even in Ephesians 4 Someone is equipping them and the clear teaching of scripture is that it's not only appropriate but also necessary to set aside certain qualified men for this equipping work. So that's what we'll be talking about today.

Our text today and hopefully you have your Bibles with you is First Timothy, excuse me, First Timothy 5 verses 17 and 18. First Timothy 5 verses 17 and 18. I love, I love, I love preaching from 1st Timothy because right in the middle of the book there's this purpose statement that tells you what the whole book is about and in 1st Timothy 3 15 Paul says, I write so that you may know how to conduct yourself in the house of God. I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God. So anytime you're preaching on First Timothy you can just hook what you're talking about back to that because Paul is talking about a well-ordered church, how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, how we ought to be ordering ourselves in a way that would honor God.

And so as we look at 1st Timothy 5, 17 and 18, we're going to hook everything that we say back to that and say this is a puzzle piece in a full picture of a well-ordered church. 1st Timothy 5, 17 and 18 says this, Paul says this to Timothy, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and the laborer is worthy of his wages. Let's pray. Father we start this session as we start every session and just thanking you for your word that we're not left to our own thoughts or our own devices but you have given us a beautiful pattern to follow That you have told us how we ought to conduct ourselves in the house of God.

You have said so plainly the things that we should give attention to so that there would be well ordered churches. And God, I pray that you would call us to be faithful to these things, help us to be faithful to these things and power us to be faithful to these things and you would give us hearts that desire to understand and obey. God we we love you only because you loved us first and you have called a people to display your mercy through. We thank you in Jesus name, Amen. So 1st Timothy 5 17 and 18 is about honoring elders.

It's tucked into an extended passage that's all about honor. If we look at 5 verse 3, it talks about honoring widows. Then here in 517 it says, let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor." And then in the beginning of chapter 6 verse 1 we see, let as many bondservants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of double honor. So we're talking about paying elders, but we're not really talking about paying elders, We're talking about honoring elders and this is one way in which we do it. Church life ought to be filled with affection and honor in all our relationships and that's certainly true of how we relate to our elders.

Romans 12 10 says this, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor giving preference to one another. So in in Romans Paul is marrying together being kindly affectionate and honor. And so when we think about honoring elders, if we have something in our mind that's different than being kindly affectionate to them, we should back up and say, At the very least, being affectionate to our elders is a part of the honor that we owe. Paul could have just said, pay elders who fit this criteria, A, B, C, D. That's not what Paul says.

Instead, he puts it in the framework of honor. It isn't simply time for money. This is not simply a time for money exchange when the people of a congregation set aside a man by making it financially possible for him to labor hard in the word. Instead the money is a representative form of honor. Do you get that?

This passage isn't about money it's about honor and it talks about money Because the money is a representative form of what Paul is calling us to. And that is honor. Galatians 6 says, let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Here again, Paul is talking about money. He just can't bring himself to say cash.

Now it's inferred from it, but he says all good things. He's talking beyond money again because he doesn't want us to think that this is simply a financial transaction. That there's, it's a piece of a larger picture money's just a subset of the whole of what Paul is calling us to. Here's another one 1st Thessalonians 5 verses 12 and 13 and we urge you brethren to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

So in this passage, he doesn't even hint at money. It's not even inferred, but he's saying that something is owed from people to their leaders, and it is recognition and high, high esteem. So there's a big picture of honor and affection and sharing and recognition and esteeming highly and money is just one little sliver of that pie. And we should see it in that context. I love what one commentator, Richard Linsky, says about this.

He says, wreaths are not to be laid on their graves after they are dead. Flowers are to be given to them now in order to cheer them in their work. And that is so beautiful because it might include money, but Richard Linsky's not talking about money. He's saying, let's not talk about how wonderful they were in their pastoral duties when they're dead. Let's put a flower in their hand today and push them on in their work and encourage them in their work and give them honor and recognition and highly esteem them and shower them with affection and and share with them all good things.

God calls us to give our elders the full picture, not just the isolated piece. So we are going to start talking specifically about money, but our framework isn't money. Our framework is honor and highly esteeming them for their work because they're watching over our souls and we should have affection for them, not just hand them a paycheck. So back to our text, First Timothy 5, 17 and 18. Listen to what Paul says.

He says there's a subset of elders who are worthy of double honor. What does that mean? That means that all elders are worthy of honor. If the subsets worthy of double honor then all the elders are worthy of honor and he calls us to honor them. So we must honor all of our elders but elders who fit a certain criteria get a double portion of that.

And here's the criteria. One, that there are those who rule well. They rule well in the church. They oversee the church well. And especially, number two, and especially those who labor in word and doctrine.

I really like the NASB translation here. It says, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. These are men who are working hard. They are toiling at preaching and teaching. It is their occupation in the true sense of the word.

They're really occupied by it. It's gobbling up the hours of their week. And the assumption is that every local fellowship will have someone or multiple someones who labor hard in the Word. They toil in the ministry of the Word. Brothers and sisters, if we are to have the Word of God be central in our churches, then we must make it financially possible for a man to have his hours gobbled up by toiling hard in preaching and teaching in the ministry of the Word.

And in verse 18 Paul substantiates this with two passages Deuteronomy 25 4 and Luke 10 7. Those are the texts that he's quoting in 1st Timothy 5 18. So if you love the Old Testament you got a passage to hang your hat on, if you love the New Testament you have a hat or you have a peg to hang your hat on and if you love them both you're just in hog heaven because there's one from both. So in Deuteronomy 25 4 this is a verse that Paul quotes elsewhere in the New Testament and he actually provides his own commentary. So we started in 1st Timothy 5 because it speaks directly to elders which is our topic today, but in 1st Corinthians 9, and I'd like for you to turn there, in 1st Corinthians 9 Paul quotes this passage again, Deuteronomy 25, and then he provides an extended commentary on it, which is very helpful.

1 Corinthians 9, and we're going to be starting in verse 9 and reading through 14. He starts out quoting this same text in Deuteronomy 25, 4. For it is written in the law of Moses you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. That's the quote. Is it oxen God is concerned about?

Or does he say it all together, for our sakes, for our sakes no doubt this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope and he who threshes in hope should be a partaker of his hope? If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless, we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?

Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel." I like this passage for a number of reasons. One is that we get to see the Apostle Paul using Old Testament case law. And it's really valuable because there's a lot of Old Testament case law that is lost to us that is no benefit to us unless we know how to do what Paul did with Old Testament case law So here we see him taking a case law about how you treat your ox and he's extracting the principle and he's applying it to something else. And the key phrase to me in this text is should be partaker, should be partaker. And it's the thought of sharing in the fruit of your own labors.

In other words, you don't send an ox out in the field to labor all day. And then at the end of the day, you withhold all food from him. At the end of the day, you say, thanks for the labor. You figure out the food part all on your all on your own and his day's gone his time to figure out food is gone because he's been laboring in your field oh well you figure it out I guess Paul is saying that the principle from that law is that you don't do that with an ox and you don't do it with your leaders either. And Paul unashamedly calls this a right.

A right. Not an option, not one way to do this in the church, but a right. Verse 12, he says, nevertheless we have not used this right. Verse 14, even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. It is imperative.

Paul is giving a firm directive. And Paul says, I give up this right sometimes. I give it up sometimes. So that there wouldn't be barriers to the gospel. But what I want you to notice about that is that Paul giving up his right is at the discretion of the laborer.

It's at his discretion. That's what makes it a right. If it wasn't a right, it's not at his discretion. But it is a right. So he says, I give it up.

It is at my discretion. And this is how it should be in the churches. You may have men in your body who God has blessed wildly financially and they don't need the money, they don't desire the money and so they forfeit their right and that's a blessing. It's a blessing for your church but it's very unusual and if you're not paying the man who carries the teaching load in your church it had better have been at his discretion and not at yours. Otherwise there is a debt that you owe that you have not paid and you have stolen from a man because it's his right.

So that is the first quotation. The second one, Paul is quoting from Jesus in Luke 10-7. So turn to Luke 10 and we'll actually set this in context and read verses 1-8. So Paul has called his first witness, it's Old Testament case law, it's how you ought to treat an ox, but Paul says it's not about the ox, it's for our sake that that was written. And now he turns to the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and calling him as his second witness and we'll pick that up in Luke 10 verse 1.

After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also and he sent them two by two before his face and every city and place where he himself was about to go. Then he said to them, the harvest is truly great but the laborers are few therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers in his harvest. Go your way. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road.

But whatever house you enter, first say, peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house eating and drinking such things as they give you for the laborer is worthy of his wages." This is what Paul quotes, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house.

Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. So God, Jesus Christ, is sending his laborers out into the harvest and how Are they supported? There are sons of peace with resources there already. And that's how he's providing. God has sent the advance guard out and he's given them resources.

He's put sons of peace in these places and he's given them resources and they're there with resources so that they can share with the laborers that are going out into the harvest. God really is going before and coming behind. God really has thought of where his laborers are going to go before it ever came into the mind of his laborers. And he's already staged resources there so that they would be supported. Isn't this a beautiful picture?

The sovereign hand of God is at work. Christian workers do not stumble upon their support. But God Almighty himself has put resources in place there so that their support is ready for them when they arrive. This is amazing. This is wonderful.

We should rejoice in what is being taught here. I look at my career path. When I was 20 years old I thought it was really great to play basketball so I became a physical education major because then I could call going to the gym studying and this would be you know a beautiful life. This is not really a way to support six children but I wasn't thinking six children then. I was thinking how much I like basketball, so that's what I majored in.

And that was my strategic outlook on life, and boy wasn't I having a great time. And God has given me an abundance of resources in the absence of the right educational criteria and experiences and he has done it supernaturally. I'm not you know I'm an average worker who was in the right place at the right time, significantly, over and over and over again without any credible way to take credit for it, and it just kept happening and God has given me resources. It's funny to call that career path as if there was a strategy to it. That's madness.

There was never a strategy to it. God was just doing what pleased him. And we ended up with a lot of resources because of it. And the one word to describe it is just inexplicable. Well, It is explainable, but God is the only way to explain it.

Outside of God, it is inexplicable. And so when that happens to a guy, and it's happened to a lot of guys, he has to ask the question, Why? Why? It doesn't happen to everybody. Why is it happening to me?

And the answer is this. He's put a son of peace somewhere and given him what he never deserved but for a reason, for a purpose. It's that he's staging resources for his laborers. And Paul says as much later in the book of 1 Timothy in chapter 6, he says this starting in verse 17. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

Let them do good that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life God gives rich brethren their money and they in turn are to be ready to give willing to share. This is exactly what Paul says in 1st Timothy 6 here just just later in the book. He gives them resources and they're to be ready to give willing to share. And it's also worth noting that Jesus himself was supported in this way. If you went to Luke 8, and I'm just going to paraphrase this so there's no need to go there unless you'd really like to, but I'm drawing from verses 1 through 3 in Luke 8.

It says in Luke 8 that Jesus was preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. So he was laboring hard in the word and in doctrine. And then he gives this list of people who were contributing resources. It was Mary of Magdalene, it was Joanna, the wife of Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, and here's how this text ends, who provided for him from their substance. Here's more people that God has given substance to and they're taking from that substance and they're providing for Jesus because he's out preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.

And this should be happening in every local church for all time. That God has given resources to people there. He's put them there in advance and they are to provide for their teachers from their substance. If Jesus is providing, Jesus is giving us a pattern, he's providing for his laborers in the same way in which he himself was provided for. Jesus gave us a pattern and he confirmed it through the apostles teaching.

So I want to go through three things that happen if we ignore the admonition of scripture. There's probably more but here's my three. Number one, our steady diet is bivocational teaching. Our steady diet for the local church is bivocational teaching. Now I'm a bivocational teacher.

I'm not running down bivocational teaching, but I'm giving you an insider's look to what bivocational teaching is like. I have a 40-hour a week job sometimes, sometimes it's more than that but sermon week for me means double duty for the whole family because I don't preach on vacation weeks, I preach when I'm needed to preach. And so all the preparation is in addition to my normal job. And so Lots of things go on hold that week. Lots of things in family life go on hold that week.

And it's not just double duty for me. How many know that when it's double duty for dad, it's maybe triple duty for mom. And this is the nature of preaching week at the Dome House. And you know what, it's no big deal. It's actually, it works out because next week, we're back to normal.

And then Scott, Scott will be preaching that week or Dan will be preaching that week and I probably preach once a quarter. So, you know, you, you gird yourself up for it, you brace yourself, you have a really busy week and then things go back to normal. Well, What if it's like that week after week after week? I actually got a taste of this a couple months ago. It was in the pulpit four out of five Sundays.

And the not so big a deal all of a sudden felt like a really big deal. I was in serious need of a nap at the end of that month and lots of things were beginning to suffer neglect at the end of that month and you know I know men who have done this for four and five years at a time because their church either couldn't or wouldn't or some combination of the two pay them and the teacher and the taught both suffer. Teacher suffers, the taught suffer. And I just marvel, you know, I want to just extend Andy Davis as a for instance. Most of you have heard Andy Davis since you've been here.

And Andy Davis has memorized 35 books of the Bible. So you can only pick off so many short books before you run out of them. And I don't know how many short books there are, but I know there aren't 35. And I don't say that to say, look at Andy Davis, isn't he wonderful? He has a tremendous mind.

But this is the result of him being set aside by his church to labor hard in the word and doctrine and he that this is gobbled up his hours But man can you ever tell it when you hear his preaching. Next time you hear him preach just notice how often he just lapses into scripture. I mean word for word scripture. Not this sloppy Jason dome paraphrase stuff, but just tight on it, knows it. It just comes out of his mouth and that has been purchased.

That has been purchased for him by his congregation. They set him aside so that he could labor and do this and it comes through in his preaching and the taught benefit. There's a richness to his preaching that would not be there in any sense Had he not been set aside and had it not been made financially viable for him to have his hours gobbled up by memorizing books of the Bible. This is a blessing to the church and it's a cumulative blessing. He's better today than he was ten years ago and ten years from now he'll be much better than he is today and we need the cumulative effect of a man of God who is sincere in his heart.

Many of these bivocational preachers are just as sincere and they have wonderful relationships with God but they just don't have the hours to toil in the Word of God and that must be purchased for them. Don't you understand? That has to be purchased for them. So number one, our steady diet is bivocational teaching. Second, and by the way, the church needs a steady diet that's different than that.

It's a blessing for the church when their steady diet is different from that. And there's a cumulative impact that is really critical. Number two, we create an opening for those who contradict sound doctrine. We tend to think of the ministry of the Word as the guy who stands up on Sunday morning and preaches the sermon. Oftentimes in a local church that's not the ministry of the Word at all.

Well, it's part of the ministry of the Word, but a big part of the ministry of the Word is to deal with the person who's talking to a friend or reading a great new Christian book, or listening to a radio program that is chock-full of nonsense, and they have gobbled it up and they love it and they're talking to everybody in the local church about it. And it is chock-full of nonsense, but nonsense is tricky. Nonsense is tricky. Often the error is subtle so that it's really disorienting in the way it seems to be biblical and or logical. And time and attention needs to be taken to deconstruct it and tease out the nuances so you can actually put your finger on the air.

Often times your first pass on hearing these things you say, There's something not right about that, but I'm not sure exactly what it is. That doesn't sit well and it takes hours to actually tease out the nuances so that you can put your finger and say this is the error and then you can refute it, you can contradict it. And the final qualification for an elder in Titus 1 verse 9 is that he defend sound doctrine. And much of the ministry in the word in our churches is that. It's not pulpit preaching at all.

It's the defending of sound doctrine. And it requires immediate, careful, gentle response. Or else these things take on a life of their own in the local church and man can those things snowball really fast. And so if you get to it next week, you know, this might be a steaming freight train whereas if you got to it today, A gentle response is adequate. If you get to it next week, a gentle response won't get it at all because it's taken on a life of its own.

So these errors, and there are many, many out there in evangelical, the evangelical world today, There's a lot of nonsense out there and it requires an immediate, careful, gentle response. Number three, we tempt men to sacrifice their families and thereby disqualify themselves from eldership. Have you thought about that? The shared guilt of shepherds and the church in this area. How many men are shortchanging their families, They're supposed to be leading our churches.

They're supposed to be an example to us in this very category, but they're robbing their families blind out of a sense of duty for the church. And it ends up disqualifying them from the very office that they are exhausting themselves to fill. This is so sad. How unloving of the church to demand that a man make a choice between his family and the congregation and his duty, his teaching duties in the church. I really, really appreciate the Second London Baptist Confession on this and I think the Westminster would be almost word for word, if not word for word on this topic because it rolls together the principles that we've been talking about into a beautiful summary.

Here's what it says. Pastors are required to give constant attention to the service of Christ and his churches. They are to be engaged in the ministry of the word and in prayer and to seek the welfare of men's souls as those that must give an account to the Lord. It is therefore imperative that the churches to which they minister should give them, according to the church's ability, not only all do honor, but such abundance of this world's material good as will enable them to live in comfort without the need to entangle themselves in secular employment, and which will also suffice to enable them to exercise hospitality towards others. Such an arrangement is required by the law of nature itself and by the express command of our Lord Jesus who has decreed that they preach the gospel should live of the gospel.

So don't miss this point to honor one or more of your elders in this way is to honor the Word of God and to secure for yourselves and increase in the ministry of the Word and prayer. To do this, To say we're as a local body going to be committed to this is to honor the Word of God and to put it right at the center of importance of your church because the Word of God is his voice to the church and it's to say we want more of that. We want more of God's voice in our church. We want to be better instructed. We want an increase of the ministry of the Word of God and prayer in our church.

This is the punchline. Here's the punchline. Setting aside a qualified man to labor in this way is about the centrality of the Word of God. By a man's hours. Pick the faithful man who is good at laboring in the Word, who loves to labor in the Word, who has the fruits of the Spirit in his life, who manages his household well, who's able to teach and defend sound doctrine.

Put your finger on him. Identify this man and then by his hours. By his hours and say, go, labor hard, and then bring us with you. This is what we're doing. We're saying, man, go, labor hard in the word, labor well in the word, and then bring us with you.

Teach us what you're learning. Bring us. Bring us forward so that we're all progressing in the faith. This is one key way in which Christ is the head of his church. When we hear his voice with great clarity and we obey him.

So the conclusion. We must take great care to honor the men God puts over us in the church, not just with the paycheck, but with affection and highly esteeming them and sharing with them. One of the ways that we do this is through financial support, but it shouldn't just be financial support. Let's not put wreaths on their graves but let's put flowers in their hands and encourage them and say brother go go go take us with you. That's what we ought to be doing.

And let's connect the dots between financial support and the quality and quantity of the ministry of the Word of God in our churches. That is the bottom line, friends, brothers and sisters, that there are two dots here to be connected. Financially supporting a man and buying his hours and saying, go labor hard in the word is directly connected to the quality and quantity of the ministry of the word of God in our churches. What if our churches had double what they have now in that category. What would it mean to our church if we had twice as much?

Prayer, the ministry of the Word. This is about the centrality of the Word of God in the church. Brothers and sisters, secure this for your church. If you're not doing it today, the confession says according to the church's means, when you're starting up a church there might not be much for it, but put yourself on a trend line to get where you think you ought to be. Put yourself, just put yourself on the path and start paying him something.

Buy some of his hours and then buy more of his hours later as the ministry grows. Let's pray. Father, your ways are beautiful ways. God, I do thank you and rejoice that you are reviving in your people a sense of the priesthood of the believer. And that for all those decades where we have waited for a professional to do something, that that is being overturned in many ways.

God, I thank you for that. I know this is the work of your spirit and I pray that you would accelerate it, that you would bless it, and that you would cause us to labor, all labor hard in your church and do the work of the ministry as we are equipped. And God, I pray for the men who have been charged to equip us, that you'd help us to be faithful to those men, not to rob from them, but to love them from the heart, to give them the affection and honor that you have called us to give them. And Lord, that you would cause a great rise of the ministry of the Word and prayer in our churches and that there would be a great blessing from more hours of time spent on the face before you, seeking you, and studying and defending sound doctrine. That this would be a great blessing to your church for building us all up into maturity.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen. On the subject of conforming the church and the family to the word of God. And for more information about the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, where you can search our online network to find family integrated churches in your area, log on to our website, ncfic.org.