Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message
May 4, 2025
1 Timothy 5:22-25
Theme: A commission to ministry in the church family must always be done carefully and prayerfully.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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I suspect that whenever someone embarks on a new vocation or career, the important cultural and societal events of the time have an impact on how it all begins for them. This was true for me, anyway … and it involved some sorrowful memories.
You see; back in 1983, Marilyn and I felt that the Lord was leading me to pursue training for the pastor ministry. We moved to Portland in 1984, and I began attending Bible college and serving as an assistant to the pastor of a church in the area. But it seemed that my ministry training had barely begun when the evangelical world was rocked by the very public and devastating moral fall of a prominent television evangelist. It was scandalous and horribly embarrassing to the Christian community. And we had all hardly recovered from the news of that terrible fall when—less than a year later—another scandal of another prominent evangelical figure became public. And shortly thereafter, yet another. Everyone was talking about it. The news media was having a field day with it. And I suspect that some of you can still remember the impact of those scandals from many years ago. At the time, I wondered if the evangelical community would ever fully recover. And forty years later, I’m still not sure that it has.
Sometime later, I remember reading the story of another very famous pastor. It was someone that I had looked up to and who had even inspired me early on to consider the ministry. He also fell—having been discovered to have been carrying on several immoral relationships secretly over a long period. The news of this pastor’s fall hit me very personally. I remember—as I read about it—how I felt as if the floor had dropped out from under my feet. And this was all happening at a time when I was just beginning to serve in ministry.
These various scandals had a terrible impact on my family of origin, too. My folks never really thought very highly of ‘preachers’ in the first place; and the news of all these scandals simply hardened them in their contempt for them. To top it all off, the famous ex-wife of one of those fallen televangelists ended up marrying a former acquaintance of my mother who himself ended up going to prison for tax fraud—all adding even further hardness in my family toward preachers. And there I was becoming—of all things—a preacher! It’s hard for me to estimate just how much damage those fallen preachers brought about within the hearts of the members of my own family … let alone how much damage their scandals brought to the whole cause of the gospel all around the world.
Sadly, since those early days of my ministry, we’ve seen the same kind of stories repeated several times. In fact, in just the past four or five years, we’ve seen another series of prominent pastors and Christian leaders fall in ways that have almost left the same kind of devastating and shocking feeling as back in those days of a generation ago. Each time the news breaks out about the latest scandal, I fear that unbelieving people look at it all and think to themselves, “What else would you expect from ‘preachers’?”
Well, we should, of course, expect something much better—something much more holy and honorable. But I wonder if at least one of the reasons such things have happened as they have over those early years—and even over most recent years—is because churches didn’t pay enough attention to the passage we’ll be looking at this morning.
This passage is a part of the instruction that the apostle Paul had been giving to his younger ministry colleague Timothy. Timothy had been entrusted with the responsibility of caring for the church in the ancient city of Ephesus. And in 1 Timothy 5:17-21, Paul gave Timothy specific commands with respect to how a biblically focused church was to care for its ‘elders’—that is, those spiritually qualified men in the church who were set apart by God and appointed to provide spiritual leadership and oversight to the church family. As we saw in our last time together, Paul told 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.” Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear. I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality (1 Timothy 5:17-21).
Paul gave those instructions to Timothy because the role of an elder in the church—that is, a pastor or overseer—is essential to church life as God has designed it. It’s an office that is worthy of being protected and treated with honor and care. And that’s why Paul then went on to give Timothy the instructions that he gave in this morning’s passage—instructions that, if ignored, can very easily open the door to scandals in public ministry, and that can cause great harm to the reputation and ministry of the church before the watching world. In verses 22-25, Paul wrote,
Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities. Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later. Likewise, the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden (vv. 22-25).
This is a part of Paul’s instruction to Timothy regarding elders. The first half of that section—in verses 17-21—had to do primarily with how the church should care for pastors, and hold them properly accountable, once they have been appointed to a place of leadership and service in the church. But the second half—our passage this morning—has to do with the care that the church should exercise over who it allows into positions of church leadership in the first place.
As this passage teaches us, a commission to ministry in the church family must always be done carefully and prayerfully. If more care is taken at the point of laying hands on someone and appointing them to ministry at the beginning, then there would be far less cause for sorrow in the end.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now, some may feel at first glance that this is a passage that should only matter to other elders—that is, to those who are responsible for laying hands on and appointing other potential elders within the church. But I hope you can see that, because of the vital role of witness that the church is to have in this world, this is actually a passage that the whole church family must pay careful attention to. As Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:15,
… I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15).
That, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is what we are as a church—“the pillar and ground of the truth”. There’s no other institution on earth that has been described by God in His word in that unique way except “the church of the living God”. The church on earth as a whole—and even this local church as a particular part of that larger church—is precious beyond measure. It proclaims the saving truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. And that means that the leaders and caregivers who are set apart and commissioned to be over the local church must first be carefully examined. Their work is truly the most consequential and eternally impactful work that any human being can do. The destiny of souls is at stake. As Paul told Pastor Timothy in 4:14-16;
Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you (4:14-16).
Any man who would serve as an overseer or minister in God’s house needs to be held to the highest possible standards of holiness and character. As Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:1-7;
This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil (3:1-7).
And that’s why the Holy Spirit saw fit to include Paul’s words to Timothy in holy Scripture for the learning and instruction of the whole church family. You, dear church family, must always insist that these principles be kept on the part of those who serve in church leadership. You must hold them accountable for holiness and godly character, just as they teach those things to you.
The need for that kind of accountability is something that—I now believe—those terrible various scandals impressed deeply upon my heart as my ministry began. And I hope this morning’s passage helps to impress it upon your hearts as well.
* * * * * * * * * *
So then; in our passage this morning, we see three basic and crucial principles when it comes to commissioning a man to the work of an elder. The first is …
1. DON’T BE TOO QUICK TO PUT SOMEONE INTO MINISTRY.
Paul told Timothy in verse 22, “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.”
Now; what exactly is meant by ‘the laying on of hands’? The roots of this practice seem to be found in the Old Testament law. In Numbers 8:10, God gave the pattern through Moses, to the people of Israel, with respect to the commissioning of the members of the tribe of Levi to their priestly work. God said,
“So you shall bring the Levites before the Lord, and the children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites …” (Numbers 8:10).
It was by the laying on of hands that the people were to recognize the ministry of the Levites, and that the Levites were to be considered authorized for their work by God Himself. In a similar way, Moses was commanded to set his successor, Joshua, apart for the task of leading the people of Israel into the promised land—just as God had instructed. In Numbers 27-18-19, God told him,
“Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight” (27:18-19).
The act of ‘laying hands’ on someone was meant to officially recognize their call by God for ministry, and to symbolically set them apart as bearing authorization for their work before God. And that was how Paul spoke of Timothy’s task of appointing elders to the task of overseeing the church. Timothy himself had been appointed by the laying on of hands. We’ve already seen this in 1 Timothy 4:14, where Paul wrote,
Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership (1 Timothy 4:14).
Not only had the elders of the church laid hands on Timothy, but so did Paul himself. Paul may have—himself—been a part of that ordaining committee. He told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6;
Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands … (2 Timothy 1:6).
And so, Paul used that same pattern in instructing Timothy to lead the church family in commissioning and authorizing elders in the church. The existing elders were to represent the whole church family by laying hands on the man being newly commissioned for ministry. But Paul warned Timothy—and with Timothy, the other leaders, and the church as a whole—not to do so ‘hastily’ or ‘in too quick a manner’. Just as was said of potential deacons in 1 Timothy 3:10—“But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless”—the same thing ought to be done with potential elders. There needs to be a time of testing beforebeing appointed.
In what kind of ways do they need to be tested? It would be in the very same ways that Paul described in 1 Timothy 3:2-7. Did you know, dear brothers and sisters, that when we consider a potential elder for our board of elders, we meet with them and examine them with respect to all of the things that are described in that passage? We basically walk with them and their wives through the items described in that passage and ask them about these matters in their lives. We want to make certain that they’re ‘above reproach’ before we begin the process of appointing them to leadership. And then, we ask them to serve on the elder board for a six-month probationary period, so that we can examine how they function in leadership. And only then do we bring them before the church family for a vote of approval, and commission them publicly by the laying on of hands for ministry.
This ought to take time. But why would a church be tempted to do such a thing ‘hastily’? It might be because there was the feeling of pressure to hurry up and fill a vacancy. Or it might be because someone was perceived to have a record of experience in leadership elsewhere, and therefore, a careful examination wasn’t thought necessary. Or it might even be because someone has ‘secular’ qualities that are felt to be needed immediately—such as business experience or financial skill. It might even be because a possible candidate for elder already had a certain amount of popularity or fame—perhaps because they had written books, spoken at conferences, or taught in a seminary. But it’s dangerous to appoint anyone to leadership in the church ‘hastily’ and without an appropriately thorough examination. In the haste of some churches, many professing Christians have been put into positions of authority for which they weren’t legitimately spiritually qualified, or who had serious character flaws that were hidden and unknown … or who had never actually even had a solid faith in Jesus as Savior in the first place. And that kind of haste leads to the sort of disaster stories we considered at the beginning of our time this morning.
Paul gave this very serious warning to Timothy: “Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people’s sins; keep yourself pure.” When the leaders of a church ‘lay hands’ on a man who has serious flaws of character in their lives, and who recklessly or knowingly appoint him to ministry, those ordaining leaders become partners with that man in his sin. The church family and its leaders must always strive to keep themselves pure in this matter. That’s why they should never lay hands on anyone hastily, or in such a way that overlooks things that ought not be overlooked.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now, you’ll notice that in the middle of this passage, Paul inserted a strange and seemingly out-of-place piece of personal advice to Timothy in verse 23. He told him, “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.” There have been lots of interpretations of this—and frankly also, a whole lot of misapplications. Sadly, many have used this passage over the years to justify the excessive use of alcohol. But what does it actually mean?
First, it seems obvious that Timothy had been refusing to drink wine. This may have been out of a desire to keep himself from any accusation—as Paul had said in 1 Timothy 3:3—of being ‘given to wine’. It appears that he only drank water; which, back in that time in Asia Minor, was not particularly good water to drink. But because of his chronic stomach troubles and frequent illnesses, Paul encouraged him to use at least a little wine—perhaps added to the water. Paul’s motivation in this was medicinal in nature. It was in order to help restore Timothy to health and well-being in ministry. It’s not a passage to use to justify frequent drinking; because that wouldn’t be in keeping with its context at all.
But I can’t help noticing that this seemingly strange piece of instruction is sandwiched between two very clear portions of this passage that have to do specifically with the careful appointment of leaders in the church. It is somehow meant to fit in with the larger context of the passage. And so, while many have felt that Paul’s words in verse 23 are a deviation from this theme, I don’t believe they are at all. I’ll admit that I’m speculating a bit; but I suggest that Paul had to tell Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach because Timothy—somewhere along the way—had made a serious error in the appointment of leadership; and that error was causing him a great deal of anxiety and trouble and physical strain.
And if that’s the case, then this would lead us to another important principle in this whole matter of laying hands on potential church leaders:
2. KNOW THAT MISTAKES NOW CAN CAUSE MUCH TROUBLE LATER.
When I think of this, I remember that in 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul had to encourage Timothy to stir up the gift that had been given to him by the laying on of hands, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”. There are indications in the Bible that Timothy was a man who had a natural bent toward timidity. In 1 Corinthians 16:10, Paul had to write to the Corinthian believers and tell them, “And if Timothy comes, see that he may be with you without fear …” And it may be that somewhere along the way, Timothy had appointed someone to a position of leadership that proved later to be unqualified—someone who had an aggressive nature, and who took advantage of Timothy’s naturally gentle nature, and who fought aggressively against Timothy’s leadership caused harmful division in the church.
There’s a terrible story in the Bible of just such a leader. His name was Diotrephes. We read about him in the tiny letter of 3 John. In verses 9-11, the apostle John said;
I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God (3 John 9-11).
A person like Diotrephes can create quite a bellyache for everyone—and particularly for other church leaders. And so, these words in verse 23 aren’t simply about using wine. They’re meant to illustrate to us the fact that making the mistake of laying hands on someone too hastily—and of ending up with a spiritually unqualified man in a position of leadership in the church—can cause a great deal of trouble and heartache later on.
And that’s all the more reason to go slow and make a careful examination of things first.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; humanly speaking, there’s only so much that can be known about someone in advance. No body of leaders, who are responsible for laying hands on a potential church leader, can ever read minds or peer deeply into hearts. That may be why—if I’m right in my interpretation of verse 23—Timothy had been suffering so much anxiety. He hadn’t been able to detect the truth about someone in time—that is, before hands were laid upon them and they were appointed to leadership.
And so, with that in mind, Paul gives one more principle in verses 24-25; and that is to …
3. TRUST GOD TO GIVE NEEDED INSIGHT IN DUE TIME.
Paul told Timothy in verse 24, “Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later.” There are some people whose sinful character announces itself before them everywhere they go—so that everyone else can plainly see it. Their abusive language, their hot-headedness, their impatience, their unreliability, their pride, andtheir lustful eye all let you know beforehand what kind of people they are. They show themselves to be unqualified for ministry well ahead of time. They practically show up wearing a t-shirt that clearly says, ‘NOT QUALIFIED’. But then, there are some other folks whose character flaws aren’t so clearly on display. Those sinful flaws seem to show up later—at times when their character is tested by trials and temptations and challenges. We can’t always see the flaws of such people at first. We only discover them later, when they’re active in areas of ministry.
Our Lord spoke of this in His Sermon on The Mount when He said;
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matthew 7:15-20).
But notice what Paul goes on to say in verse 25; “Likewise [that is, in the same kind of way] the good works of some are clearly evident, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden.” There are godly people who have a long history of evident faithfulness to the Lord. People can testify to the things that they have done in His service, and to how other people were blessed. They have a proven character that—upon examination—clearly affirms them for leadership. But there are also others who haven’t yet had the opportunity for those godly qualities to be put on display. Their good character can only be seen and become evident when it’s tested by trials and challenges. But it can’t be hidden. It will become evident over time.
No one can completely know one from the other except the Lord Himself. As it tells us in John 2:25 that He “had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man”. And that’s why—in preparing to lay hands on anyone in the church for leadership—we need to pray and trust Him to give us the needed insight in due time. That—again—is why Paul urged that potential elders and leaders first “be tested, and then let them serve … being found blameless” (1 Timothy 3:10).
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; when I look back at those sad scandal stories in the early years of my ministry, I still feel great sorrow. And I feel great sorrow when I hear of them today. But in a sense, those scandal stories can be a lesson to us all. They can help us to appreciate how important it is—for the good of the church family and for the cause of Jesus in this world—that we never lay hands on anyone ‘hastily’. That’s also why I’m very thankful for the good, godly body of elders we have over our church family today. We took our time in appointing these leaders … and it has paid off.
As the months and years roll forward, may God continue to give good elders to this church family. And may we learn to practice good, God-dependent, Holy Spirit-empowered discernment in the appointment of those leaders—always seeking to lay the hands of commission upon them carefully and prayerfully.
Let’s do this faithfully so that the name of Jesus Christ and His gospel will always be honored and advanced through us—and so that we can serve as ‘the pillar and ground of the truth’ to this world that God has called us to be.