Honor as Worship

0:33The text for this morning's sermon is going to be found in 1 Timothy 5, verse 17. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, You shall not muzzle an ox when it shreds out the grain, and the laborer deserves his wages. Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

1:12In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. The sins of some men are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden. Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers.

2:06Rather, they must serve all the better, since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. This is God's word. You may be seated. I'm not a regular viewer of Jimmy Kimmel Live, but he has this section on his show sometimes called Mean Tweets. This is a section where famous people read the tweets that have been written about themselves. Now, the stuff people tweet is often hilarious and is often horrifying. And by way of full disclosure, this segment of the show is often very vulgar, so I'm not encouraging you to watch it.

2:48However, there are some of these that are pretty funny, and one that was done a few years ago was done on President Obama. And so I want you to watch this President Obama edition of Mean Tweets. So, I don't think it you need to be reminded, President Obama was our president for eight years. And beyond that, President Obama is a human being created in the image and likeness of God, and therefore is worthy of honor and worthy of respect. But that's something that many leaders aren't afforded these days.

3:28We know that being a leader is tough. You're constantly criticized by all kinds of special people, but it shouldn't be that way, and particularly not in the local church. Look on the screen at what Thabiti Anyabuile says in a book that many of you have read, What is a Healthy Church Member? The health of a local church may ride exclusively on the membership's response to the church's leadership. How the congregation receives or rejects its leaders has a direct effect on the possibilities of faithful ministry and church health.

4:06Friends, as believers, we can't allow society to train us, to disciple us, and how we are supposed to respond to authority in our lives. If you watch social media regularly and you see what's written about leaders on Twitter as well as on Facebook and other mediums, you know that we are being discipled by our culture not to honor authority, but to disrespect authority. Critical that we as Christians are trained not by the world, but by the Word of God. And so, what we're going to see today in 1 Timothy chapter 5 and the beginning of chapter 6 is that as an act of worship, we must honor our leaders and treat them graciously.

4:46So, let's look at the text together, starting at verse 17. Paul says, Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. Now, as a reminder, the word elder is used synonymously in the New Testament with pastor, bishop, and overseer. All of those terms are referring to the same office that we commonly call pastor here in the United States. Now, elders are called by God and the local church. These are men who are supposed to be of the highest character, who have proven themselves over time to be able to manage their families well, to be above reproach, and to have the ability to teach.

5:31And the job of an elder is to shepherd or spiritually care for the church. And the primary way that elders shepherd or spiritually care for the church is through their preaching and teaching. You see both parts of that in verse 17. Paul speaks of ruling first, which can be translated lead, guide, or direct. And then he goes on in that same verse and he talks about both preaching and teaching. Preaching is proclaiming the The Word of God, calling people to repentance and faith. Teaching is explaining the Word of God, helping people to know what it means and how to understand it. And so Paul's instruction here in these first two verses are that the elders who rule well should be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. Now, there are some traditions, particularly Presbyterian traditions and Reform traditions, that see Paul talking about two different offices here, making a distinction between ruling elders and teaching elders.

6:37Well, I'm not persuaded that that's what Paul is doing here, because if you recall from chapter 3, all elders are required to have the ability to teach. And that seems strange if all elders have to have the ability to teach, but some of them are not doing that. No, I think it's clear from 1 Timothy that all elders preach and teach. That's part of their calling. That's part of how we shepherd the church. And so Paul's argument is here that the elders who faithfully shepherd the church are worthy of double honor, and particularly those who labor, that word means to work hard, hard work that makes a person tired. He says, particularly those who labor in preaching and teaching.

7:22And why is that? Well, it's because when faithful elders are faithfully preaching and teaching the Word of God, our Souls are nourished. We are instructed, and we're helped to grow spiritually. But a question that arises here is: what exactly does Paul mean by double honor? What does that phrase mean when he says that faithful elders are worthy of double honor? Well, it seems to be referring specifically to financial compensation, given the verses that he quotes. Look here, he quotes Deuteronomy 25, verse 4.

8:01You shall not muzzle an ox when it's treading out the grain. Well, Paul takes that verse elsewhere in 1 Corinthians 9, and he explains that that principle should be extended to people. Yes, God cares for animals, but God cares even more for people that are created in his image and likeness. And so his argument is whether an animal or a person, everybody, every animal, every person, should benefit from their labors. They should receive some of the goods, or they should receive financial compensation for their work. And then what's even more astonishing is that Paul quotes Jesus in the Gospel of Luke.

8:36So you have already Paul referring to a canon of Scripture that is written, this is from Luke chapter 10, verse 7, the laborer deserves his wages. That's what Jesus himself said. And his point is that Christian workers can and should be compensated for their spiritual labor. Now, financial compensation is good for pastors because it allows them to devote their full time and energy. To shepherding the local church, particularly through preaching and teaching. Many pastors around the world serve bivocationally. That is, they work one job during the day and then they devote their nights and weekends to serving the church. In those contexts, most of the time, their congregations cannot afford to pay them a full-time salary.

9:18That is honorable work. That is wonderful work, and it's done all around the world. But I think again and again, the scripture makes the case that it's better for pastors to be compensated in a way that they can devote their full time and attention to shepherding the church, because that's what's best for all of us. It's best for the pastors, and it's best for the church. So, Paul says here that elders who rule well should be considered worthy of double honor, which can include financial compensation.

9:46So, I want to give us three ways that we can doubly honor our elders, because it's not just financial compensation that we're talking about here. First, we can joyfully submit to our elders. We can joyfully submit to our elders. We read Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17 at the outset of the service. Look again on the screen at this verse: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

10:23So, not only are we commanded to joyfully submit to our elders, but when we do it, it's actually advantageous to all of us in the church. Church, because the elders of our church are given the task of watching over our souls. We don't want that to be a burden to any of our elders. We want that to be a joy to them. It's no advantage to us to make the work difficult for our elders. So, when we joyfully submit to and obey them, we're making their work more pleasurable, easier, and therefore better for everyone. So, first, we can joyfully submit to them. Second, we can express appreciation for their hard work.

11:00We can express appreciation for their hard work. Well, Paul mentions the labor of preaching and teaching the Word of God, hard work that makes a person tired. And I can certainly attest, doing it week in and week out, that preaching and teaching is hard work. It does make you tired. But it's not just the pulpit ministry that Paul has in view here, it's all of the ministry of the elders. Because we preach and teach in many different contexts, not just from the pulpit, but in classes, not just in classes, but in our homes, not just in homes, but in the coffee shop with one or two other people. The elders' work is never done. It's constant preaching and teaching. It's constant encouraging, constantly pointing people back to the Word of God. That's hard work. And it's especially hard work for the men of the church who volunteer as pastors, for Jason and Chris and Derek, who work full-time jobs. And then, above and beyond their demanding labor at work, they give their nights and weekends to serving you faithfully. And so be sure to express appreciation, yes, to the paid staff here at the church who serves in this way, but all the more to the men who volunteer and serve in this way. And then third and finally, we can financially compensate our pastors in a generous way.

12:16We can financially compensate our pastors in a generous way. Now remember, we've already learned from 1 Timothy 3 that a pastor must not be a lover of money. You can't even be a pastor if you love money, according to 1 Timothy 3 and what Paul writes there. So any faithful pastor is going to handle money in a way that honors God. I think that some churches are afraid to pay pastors generously because they're worried that that's going to turn them into lovers of money. Well, that would disqualify them from the office. They can't even serve if they love money. And so I want to just encourage you all, in our eight and a half year history, I believe our church has done a fantastic job seeking to honor our pastors and not just our pastors, but our part-time staff as well, by seeking to pay as generously as we can as a church. And so I'm very grateful for that. I know that we all are. And in turn, our pastors and our staff in general have sought to be generous with our time and our money. From every person, our church is getting more than what we're paying for in terms of hours per week and in terms of effort. And so just know that, that we seek as well to give above and beyond our time and our money to supporting the church as well. So, friends, faithful elders, Paul says, are worthy of double honor. That can include financial compensation, but certainly more than that as well. A question that arises, of course, with respect to leadership, though, is: what do you do when elders are unfaithful? We're talking here about faithful elders and how we should treat them, but what about elders who are unfaithful, or what about elders who at least are accused of being unfaithful? Well, Paul moves on to address that in verse 19. Let's look there.

14:05Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. All leaders are exposed to scrutiny, especially leaders who are in the public eye. Government officials, businessmen and women, coaches, pastors. In fact, this is what John Calvin wrote hundreds of years ago about pastoral ministry and pastors themselves. Look on the screen. He says, None are more exposed to slanders and insults than godly teachers. Even when they do all their duties correctly and commit not even the smallest error, they never avoid a thousand criticisms.

15:00Thankfully, that's not been my experience or our experience here at New Life, but I know from many conversations with other pastors and other churches that is their experience. I think it bears saying that here in America, in our court system, our guiding principle is innocent until proven guilty. Innocent until proven guilty. That is a very unique and wonderful part about our American government and about our judicial system in particular. Very few other places in the world operate on the basis of the principle innocent until proven guilty. Sadly, however, in 2017, in the public realm, that has transitioned to innocent until accused.

15:50In 2017, the guiding principle seems to be innocent until accused. Today, if you're accused of anything, you did it. And the mob on social media will call for your job or your head or both. That is the reality that we live in. And so, in our culture, where increasingly we are seeing that the guiding principle is innocent until accused, how should we handle accusations made against elders in the church? Are they innocent until accused and then immediately removed from their position?

16:30Well, not according to verse 19. Paul says that we should not even admit a charge, that is, consider it for formal church discipline, except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Now, you may hear that, especially in November of 2017, and think to yourself: now, hang on, isn't this just another instance of protecting powerful people? And not just powerful people, but men. Isn't this just another instance of that? Now, we have to remember who we're talking about here. We're talking about elders in the local church. These are men who have proven themselves over a long period of time to be above reproach in every area of life. They've proven themselves to be of the highest character. Look again at 1 Timothy chapter 3, and let me remind you of the qualifications for the office.

17:26Therefore, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. These are very high standards. And Paul is not saying that an elder needs to be sinless, but rather that he is living an exemplary Christian life. So, Paul's argument here is that men. Men who are known to be of the highest character deserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to accusations made against them. Now, I don't think for a second that Paul is saying if only one person comes forward with an accusation against an elder, you pat them on the head and say, Oh, honey, he would never do that.

18:22I don't think that's what he's saying at all. I don't think he's saying you never investigate if someone makes an accusation. I think that due diligence would require you to ask questions and investigate. But what Paul is saying is that on the basis of one person's accusation, we don't set up a formal church discipline scenario, call the church together, and then put this elder on trial in front of everybody because one person made an accusation. They deserve the benefit of the doubt. They deserve everything to be handled according to Matthew 18 principles. That if there is a problem, then that person should go to them and call them to repent. If that doesn't work, then two or three should go to him. And then and only then we bring it before the church. Their standards are the same for all Christians. The question then, of course, becomes: what if the charge is true? What if the truth is corroborated by multiple witnesses, two or three? Do you ignore the situation?

19:25Do you quietly relocate the pastor to another church far away? As the Catholic Church did for decades? Certainly not. Jesus' teaching in Matthew 18 is very clear, and Paul's teaching here is very clear. We have a clear process for handling sin. If an elder sins, then he needs to be corrected by the one that he sinned against, or perhaps two or three others. An elder can repent and ask for forgiveness and be reconciled just like anybody else in the church. If an elder sins grievously, that is, if his sin reveals that he is not qualified to serve as an elder, then he needs to be corrected and removed from his office. That needs to happen. That's not to say he can't be forgiven as a Christian. It is to say that his particular sin disqualifies himself from serving any longer as an elder of the church because it proves he doesn't meet the character criteria in 1 Timothy 3.

20:27And then Paul says, if an elder persists in sin, that is, if he is unrepentant about the sin that others have come to him and corrected him about, then what are we to do? Rebuke him publicly. Why? So that the rest may stand in fear. That could be the rest of the elders, or that could be the rest of the church body, depending on the context here. Friends, as we often say, a Christian is not a perfect person, but a Christian is a repentant sinner. It's one who does not persist in the sinner. Persist in sin, but repeatedly acknowledges it, confesses it, and turns away from it. That's what a Christian is. Not a perfect person, but a repentant sinner. So elders are setting an example for the rest of the church body to follow. And if they refuse to repent of their sin, they need to be rebuked publicly so that the rest may stand in fear.

21:26The fear of the Lord is a very good thing. That's a concept that you find all over the Bible. You'll find it in the Old Testament and the New Testament, the fear of the Lord. And the sad reality is that when we sin, we have stopped fearing the Lord to some degree. We have stopped believing the truth that nothing is hidden from his sight, that our sin eventually will be found out and exposed, whether in this life or the next.

22:00When we fear the Lord, we repent of, turn away from, and refuse to fall into sin. When we lose our fear of the Lord, we lose our fear of sin and its consequences as well. And so this is why we do this. We rebuke them publicly so that we are all reminded that all of us, elders and ordinary members in the local church, will fear the Lord and turn away from sin. So, Timothy has clear instructions. If an elder sins, it can't be ignored, and if he persists in sin, he needs to be publicly rebuked. Look at what he says now in verse 21.

22:42In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality. Timothy has a solemn charge before the Lord never, ever to show favoritism. So, what this means is that if one person brings a charge against a less popular elder in the church, we don't admit that charge. And if two or three witnesses bring charges against one of the more popular elders in the church, we don't ignore that. We don't cover it up. We do what is commanded here. We deal with it. There should be no partiality and no favoritism under any circumstances. And that's why such care has to be taken with respect to the recognition of elders, with respect to who becomes an elder in the first place. Look at verse 22 now. Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

24:01So many churches get in a hurry to recognize leaders. And what Paul is saying is that if we do that, and the leaders that we recognize then fall into sin, we are to some degree complicit in that sin because we rushed them into leadership without due diligence. So we have to keep ourselves pure by taking the necessary time to recognize leaders slowly, giving the church plenty of time to observe their lives, to hear them preach and teach. And he illustrates this point so well in verses 24 and 25. Look at what he says there: The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later. So also good works are conspicuous, and even those that are not cannot remain hidden.

25:00Afshin Ziaphat, who's the lead pastor of Providence Church up in Frisco, recently spoke at Southern's chapel service this past week. Look at what he said in his sermon: Talent can be spotted quickly, but character can only be revealed over time. Let that sink in. Talent can be spotted quickly. Many young men who have obvious talents in terms of preaching, in terms of shepherding, and pastoral care, are rushed into pastoral. At a young age, before anyone had the opportunity to observe their character and to see that from a character standpoint, they did not meet the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3 or Titus chapter 1. And so, friends, patience is key. We as the church body are called to watch and wait and pray and recognize leaders slowly, only after a lengthy period of testing. We need to keep ourselves pure by not recognizing leaders too soon and therefore becoming complicit in their sin.

26:07However, in our zeal to keep ourselves pure, we shouldn't go to such extreme measures that we fall into asceticism. If you've never heard that word before, asceticism is the idea that you deny yourself certain things, food or drink or pleasures that others have a tendency to abuse. So, back up to verse 23, look at this parenthetical statement, this odd statement that's in the middle of this paragraph. Paul says, no longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. Now, what in the world does that have to do with what Paul is talking about? You know, is it just they didn't have Microsoft Word? So, he'd already written, he's like, man, that's a, you know, the scroll. This is a hassle. I'm not going to redo this whole thing. I'm in chapter five, you know?

26:59What? What is the deal here? Well, remember, Paul has just said, don't take part in the sins of others, but keep yourself pure. And it seems that he adds this parenthetical statement to say, don't misunderstand me. Don't misunderstand me. Keeping yourself pure doesn't mean that you have to abstain from everything that other people abuse. Timothy seems to have been so zealous for purity that he chose to abstain from wine completely. There are other people maybe in his church, perhaps even other leaders, who have a tendency to abuse alcohol. And so he made the decision, I'm just not going to drink it at all. And what that meant in the first century was that his only option, I mean, he couldn't go get a vitamin water, his only option was to drink unpurified water. And so maybe that led to stomach issues. And so Paul is saying, don't go that direction. You don't have to avoid that just because some people abuse it. Take a little wine. It'll help your stomach.

27:59Or maybe Paul was saying, pastoral ministry is so stressful that the next best thing to prayer is a good glass of wine. You're worrying so much about the church, you're making yourself sick. I recommend Merlot. How many Baptist churches will you hear that interpretation in? So, elders should be treated with honor, and they should be treated fairly, from when they are installed to how they are respected and compensated by the church. But of course, pastoral leaders aren't the only leaders in our lives. We also have leaders in the marketplace. And so, Paul is going to explain how we are to honor them in the first two verses of chapter 6. Let's look there.

28:55Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers. Rather, they must serve all the better, since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Now, the ESV translates the Greek word doulos as bondservant, but it could also accurately be rendered slave.

29:30And in some instances, slaves or bondservants were actually contractual laborers. They entered into servanthood or slavery willingly to either escape poverty or maybe to pay off a debt. But that was largely in Jewish culture, because in the Old Testament, if you go back and you read the Pentateuch, the first five books, you'll find that God had given many laws, many instructions concerning the treatment of bondservants and slaves. They had to be treated fairly and justly. And after seven years or fourteen years, they had to have the opportunity to go away free.

30:07And so God guided that process very carefully. But remember, Paul is writing in a Greco-Roman culture. He's writing to a man, Timothy, who is pastoring a church in a Roman city. And Roman culture was very different. Some historians believe that up to half the population was enslaved. That would be 50 million people. 50 million people. And there were few, if any, laws guiding how slaves were to be treated. So with respect to this passage and many others, you may have thought to yourself before: why does it seem like Paul and the other apostles don't preach directly against slavery more often?

30:52Well, that is a difficult question to answer, but we have to keep the context in mind. Remember again, he's writing in a Greco-Roman culture. In first-century Greco-Roman culture, those people had a very different worldview than Christians. Christians were already being persecuted because they were going throughout the empire and they were saying, you should not worship Caesar. You should only worship God through the person and work of Jesus Christ. That was already getting them thrown into prison. That was already getting them killed, crucified, burned at the stake.

31:29And so you can. Understand if Paul and the apostles, then, in addition to preaching the offensive message of the gospel, also made the abolition of slavery a central part of their message, they would have been seen as advocating open rebellion in the empire, telling 50% of the people, you don't ever, you don't, you don't have to serve in this institution anymore, you should go and pursue your freedom. You can imagine how swift and ruthless the response probably would have been from the government. The entire society could collapse. Now, it's important to note: if you're not aware of this, no New Testament writer ever defended slavery. Not once. There is not a single passage in the New Testament defending the practice of slavery. In fact, you have many passages teaching that all people are created in the image and likeness of God and therefore have equal worth and dignity. And that principle, therefore, extends to both slaves and masters. Look at Colossians 4:1 on the screen. Masters, treat your bondservants or your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.

32:40It is significant to note that although slavery existed for many years in countries with large Christian populations, in those countries was also the very first place that slavery was eradicated. And almost without exception, those who eradicated slavery were men and women of faith. So, understand that Paul and the other New Testament writers, although they never preached directly against it, set up all of the philosophical and theological and moral underpinnings to completely undermine the institution of slavery. So, I think that background is important here. And Paul is simply acknowledging that many people in the church are slaves or are slave owners, and therefore he is giving them instructions on how they need to live together. And so, he says, This: let the slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honor. Notice he doesn't say because they deserve it. It doesn't say anything about the character or the conduct of these masters. As believers, Christians should seek to show honor to them, and Paul explains why. He says, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.

33:59You understand that if Christian servants were lazy or disrespectful or disobedient, the masters might connect their behavior with the Christian message and then reject the gospel completely. He says we shouldn't do this. And then he goes on and he addresses slaves that have believing masters who might be tempted to be lazy or disrespectful. And you can understand that some of those bondservants, some of those slaves, may have thought, look, we're brothers in Christ. We're brother and sister in Christ. And therefore, we're on equal ground. So I shouldn't have to submit to you any longer. But look what Paul says. No, they should serve all the better, since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved.

34:49Now, friends, thankfully, our society is very different today than it was in the first century, but I still think there are many principles that apply to our generation today from this passage. The first is whether your boss is a believer or not, you are called to honor him or her because the way that you work and the way that you conduct yourself reflects on the gospel that you claim to believe. Look at 1 Peter 2, verse 12. This is a great reminder. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

35:35Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable. Always conduct yourself with honor in your workplace, because the whole point is that they would see you and see how you talk and how you live your life, and they would honor God. They themselves might become believers. That's regardless of whether your boss claims to be a Christian or not. But then, friends, we have a great application if your boss. Is a believer. If your boss is a believer, what a great blessing you have.

36:07Paul's instruction is to work even harder because your hard work benefits those who are fellow Christians who are loved by God. And hopefully, they are following Paul's instructions to treat you justly and fairly as well. Look at Colossians 3, verses 23 and 24. A great reminder to all of us: whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

36:43Our society is very different today than from the first century, and for the most part, that's a very good thing, especially when we consider how many people were enslaved, how many people were in bond service of various kinds. But, friends, certain things don't change, particularly with respect to human nature. Times change, and cultural contexts change, and preferences change, but people are largely the same. And one temptation that has been the same all through human history is to treat authority with suspicion, even with contempt. And we certainly see that today in the way that government leaders, and business leaders, and coaches, and pastors, and other spiritual leaders are spoken of. In the media and particularly on social media. But as believers, we are called to reject those ways of approaching authority in favor of the ways that God has commanded us to live our lives in the scripture. And so, in the marketplace, we are to commend the gospel of Jesus Christ by working hard and showing respect to our bosses. And that goes whether or not they deserve it in our eyes. Friends, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the message that we do not deserve to be treated as we have been by God. We are rebels who rebelled against Him and His authority by sinning. And yet, because He loved us so much, He sent Jesus to live and die and rise again in our place. We did not deserve the grace that we received, and so, yes, our bosses may not deserve to be treated with kindness or fairness. They may not deserve to have our hard work day in and day out. But when we do that, in spite of their behavior and in spite of their treatment of us, we commend the gospel.

38:38And in the church, we must make it our aim to bless our leaders and to treat them with fairness if they are accused of wrongdoing. Such a posture toward our leaders commends the gospel both inside and outside the church, who are used to, people outside the church, they're used to an unhealthy relationship between leaders and followers. To show them a picture of something better in the church. So, friends, as an act of worship, we must honor our leaders and treat them graciously. Let's pray.

39:15God, we don't want to have the same kind of relationship between leaders and followers that we see demonstrated every day in our society. We want to be distinct. We want people to ask us: why do you always speak respectfully of the president even though you disagree with his policies and you didn't vote for him? Why do you always speak respectfully of people that have different political persuasions than you? Why do you always work hard at your job even though your boss treats you like that?

40:02Why are you always respectful and prayerful of the leadership in your church, even though they don't always deserve it? In all of these instances, we have the opportunity to give a reason for the hope that's in us. In all of these instances, we have an opportunity to point to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, God, we ask you that we would be given grace to honor our leader. Leaders, all of them, and treat them graciously.

40:38Father, we do pray for our elders here at New Life. Would you help us, both in public and in private, to be completely consistent? Would you help us to be men of integrity who love you and love your word and love your people without any duplicity? Would you give the members of this church grace to approach us and correct us when we need it and to extend forgiveness for our failures and sins? That we might always have healthy relationships in this church.

41:28And Father, I pray for the men and women of our church body who go to work every day for a very difficult person. Maybe that person is a professing believer. Maybe he or she is not. But I pray that you would give the members of our church the vision of commending the gospel in the things that they say. And the way that they conduct themselves and how hard they work each day at their jobs. I pray that companies all across our city would be so thankful to have Christians working in them because they are the hardest workers at their jobs. And that they would have no cause to say, I don't ever want to hire a Christian again. That was the laziest person I ever had.

42:28Father, we want to commend the gospel, and we will be the first to confess that we do not always do that. We need your grace, and we need forgiveness for our sins. And so we ask for it knowing that we receive it in Christ, and knowing that we have the Holy Spirit as our helper and our counselor to empower us to obey the word going forward. Thank you, God, for this passage of Scripture. In Jesus' name, amen.