Biblical Eldership Church Leadership

Paul ’s Instruction to Timothy

9: 10); harvest of your righteousness (2 Cor. 9: 10); gift (Phil. 4:17); honor (1 Tim. 523,17).

The word “honor” expresses financial compensation in a thor oughly Christian manner. Financial provision for elders is really honor due the elders, and such honor conveys the congregation’s esteem, thoughtfulness, and loving concern. We should not be like the people whom Hendriksen describes as thinking “that if any honor is to be bestowed it should be by means of the funeral sermon.”30 Or in the words of the well-known Lutheran com mentator Richard C.H. Lenski (1864-1936), “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.”31 The rights of some in the brotherhood to receive financial sup port is in full agreement with other passages of Scripture. Jesus was a full-time teacher and preacher who was financially sup ported by the believing community (Luke 823). He called certain disciples to leave their employment and follow Him so that they could preach the gospel and teach believers (Luke 524-11; Matt. 28219,20). Like their Master, they, too, depended on the loving financial support of others for their livelihood. Furthermore, Jesus taught that those who labor in the Word “get their living from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9214; Matt. 10:10). Paul also affirmed the right of those who preach and teach to receive financial provision from others (1 Cor. 924-14; 2 Cor. 1128,9; Gal. 626; Phil. 4216; 1 Thess. 225,6; 2 Thess. 328,9; Titus 3:13). In our present passage, Paul instructs the congregation to support congregational elders who preach and teach. Paul feels very strongly about the congregation’s duty to care for elders who labor in the Word. He wants no misunderstanding as to the meaning or necessity of his instruction, so in verse 18 he adds scrip tural support and clarification to his charge. Quoting from both the Old and New Testaments, Paul writes: “For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing,’ and ‘The laborer is worthy of his wages. 9” Paul introduces both quotes by saying, “For the Scripture says.” For the believer, just the mention of the word “Scripture” signals the

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