Keep Yourself Pure

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in 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. 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. (1 Timothy 5:17-25)

Scripture commands us to be holy and tells us we cannot be—both true, and both pointing us to the supernatural power of God.

Honoring Those Who Rule Well

Before we turn to the Scriptures, I want to acknowledge something. One of the verses we'll look at says we should honor those elders who rule well, and a big part of the reason I'm in the ministry today is the work God did through a youth pastor named Tony Bonita when I was in high school. I came into the ministry nineteen years ago, largely due to God's work through him. Shortly after I started—twenty years ago—he was severely injured in a mountain bike accident.

Pastor Tony is here today. I can say with absolute certainty that I would not be in the ministry today if it weren't for him. He has always been a mentor and an encouragement to me, and he continues to attend this church every week. Tony, thank you. Anything God has done through me is fruit to your account.

The Universal Drive to Be Pure

If you take time to think about it, it won't take long to conclude that we humans are amazing beings. One of the amazing things about us is this abiding internal drive, this desire to be pure, to be better. To my knowledge we don't see this in any identifiable way in animals. Humans have a deep desire for purification—which begs the question, why?

If you survey the various opinions, you find many ideas. One view popular in our increasingly naturalistic society comes from evolutionary psychologists. They theorize that as the human brain evolved, it tripled in size, and most of that final development took place in the neocortex—presumed to be the seat of perception, thought, and language, the necessary precursors to religion and morality. They believe early humans realized they needed to stay together in tribes, because to be alone and exposed in the ancient world meant you wouldn't last long. Out of that social structure, they say, we developed an inclination toward morality and eventually religious rites and rituals that held the group together. To transgress those was to be banished, and to be banished meant death—so this got hardwired into us.

That's one theory. Anything is possible, I suppose. These theories arise to explain what is. The scientific method observes reality and tries to deduce why it is the way it is. What we observe is that every culture, as far back as we can study, at every time and place, has an inclination toward purity and morality and is geared for religion. Because those in the social sciences begin with a naturalistic framework—everything came to be by random chance and mutation over billions of years—they must come up with a naturalistic explanation for it.

Two Worldviews in Conflict

There are, of course, other theories. If, like me, you don't see morality and the inclination toward purity and religion as merely socially derived, you might assume a different origin. In modern Western culture there are fundamentally two worldviews: a naturalistic framework, where everything came to be by random chance over billions of years, and a theistic framework. These are in conflict, and you've probably met that conflict in conversations with friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.

Perhaps the advanced neocortex is not a product of blind evolution but something designed. Perhaps our inclination toward morality and purity exists because we were created in the image and likeness of a God who is pure, who has called us to morality and written this inclination into us. That's why we have a conscience. One of the hardest questions for the naturalist to answer is where the conscience came from. I would posit, in line with Scripture, that we have a conscience and an inclination toward purity because God hardwired us that way—and that's why every culture orients itself toward religion.

Much to the disappointment of many evolutionary atheists, religion is not disappearing or even in decline. I would suggest that even ardent atheists are religious in their atheism, and they too feel this compulsion toward purification. If you tell almost anyone, "You're not living up to your potential; you could be better," they'll agree, because it aligns with what we innately already know. Richard Dawkins, the famed atheist professor at Oxford, even thinks there needs to be a purification of all that is bad and evil—and he identifies religion as that evil. He is religiously committed to purifying the world of religion.

Keep Yourself Pure

There is a compelling sense among humans everywhere, at all times, to keep oneself pure. It is an essentially human desire. And here in 1 Timothy 5, Paul explicitly gives the exhortation: keep yourself pure. He's writing to his young protégé, a newly appointed pastor of the church in Ephesus, two thousand years ago.

The context is intriguing. This exhortation toward purity follows a word about the appointment and ordination of elders. Paul tells Timothy to choose leaders carefully—"do not lay hands on anyone hastily"—to hold them to a high ethical standard, and to reward them generously with double honor. Then he says, do not share in other people's sins; keep yourself pure.

That brings us to point one: we should be careful to maintain a personal purity. This aligns with the innate drive of every human being and with the teaching of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. In Leviticus 11:44 God says, "You shall be holy"—and then gives the standard: "as I am holy."

The interesting thing is that we usually set the bar for holiness based on other people, which is a problem, because you can always find someone worse off than you. "At least I'm not as bad as Hitler." But that's not the standard. God says, be holy as I am holy. Jesus says it in the Sermon on the Mount: "Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). That's a high bar—God Himself as the objective standard. Paul says, "keep yourself pure." Peter says, "be holy in all your conduct" (1 Peter 1:15).

How People Try to Be Pure

We interpret and apply this internal drive in different ways. Some pursue purity by purging certain things from their lives. In 21st-century American culture this shows up as a near-religious zeal: if I could just get rid of calories, carbs, and gluten, I'd be more pure. Have you met any anti-carb evangelists? They're out there.

Others think purity comes by separating from certain people or groups—and frighteningly, that was the core mindset of the Third Reich: if we purify ourselves from these people, all will be right. Still others believe purity comes from purging certain ideas and thoughts. We see this in North American culture today: certain speech is classified as hate speech, and the new holy ground for this religious endeavor is the university campus with its safe spaces. And others pursue purity through denial—self-discipline, buffeting the body, getting rid of anything contaminating.

The simple question is: how do we actually keep ourselves pure? Here's what matters where the gospel is concerned. When you genuinely try to live by this drive and apply Scripture's command to be holy, you quickly reach point two: we are not naturally pure. Try as we may through asceticism, self-denial, separation, and safe spaces, the labor of self-purification will ultimately wear us out. We come to the clear understanding: I am not holy.

We Need God's Supernatural Power

The Bible says, "Be holy," but it also says, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). Why would God call us to holiness and then tell us it's impossible? Is He messing with us? No. This is not a cosmic joke; He's leading us to a vital conclusion—point three: we need God's supernatural power to acquire and maintain purity. At its core, this is the gospel.

Paul puts it this way in Romans 7: the good I want to do, I don't do; the evil I don't want to do, that I practice. Can you identify with that? We desire purity, we agree with the standard, but we have no power in ourselves to make it a reality—certainly not to the level our conscience desires or to the level God demands when He says, "Be holy as I am holy."

The Verse That Wouldn't Fit

What does this have to do with 1 Timothy 5? When I set out to teach this letter, I planned on six weeks. This is our twenty-first message; six weeks became six months. And over the last several weeks I've been dodging this passage—not because I don't understand what Paul is saying, but because one verse in the middle just didn't seem to fit the flow.

Remember the context. Paul left Timothy to pastor a church in Ephesus that had gone off course, to bring it back. It's clear from chapter 1 that a large part of why the church went astray was that its leaders had led it astray. So Timothy, a young and newly appointed pastor, would have to exercise church discipline over elders already in place—men probably older than he was, which made it harder in that culture. That's why Paul said earlier, "Let no one despise your youth" (4:12).

So Paul cautions him: "Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses" (5:19). There must be due process. Don't go in guns blazing, turning over tables. But also honor those who do well: "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor" (5:17). Discipline bad behavior; reward good behavior. Then in verse 20, "Those who are sinning"—underline that word; in the Greek it's the present tense, those openly and continually practicing sin—"rebuke," that is, openly confront for the purpose of correction and repentance, "in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear."

And then verse 21: "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." There would be a social compulsion to fall in line with respected leaders, so Paul says: show no partiality. God, Jesus, and the elect angels are watching how the church is led.

It all flows—verses 17, 18, 19, 20, 21—and then verse 22: "Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in other people's sins; keep yourself pure." By ordaining elders too quickly, you could have koinonia, fellowship, with their sin. And then, suddenly, verse 23: "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities." It seems like a massive speed bump dropped right into the middle of the logic. How does that fit?

Maintaining Purity Is a Corporate Endeavor

This leads to point four: maintaining purity in the church is a corporate endeavor. I read commentaries and talked with Bible-teaching friends, and I didn't love any of the explanations. Then last week a friend from this church asked to have lunch. He shared part of his testimony—he was a terrible alcoholic for the first half of his life, and by God's grace has been sober for nearly forty years. As we talked, I said I'd been wrestling with this very passage, and I asked him: would you agree that drunkenness is sin? Absolutely, he said. Then I asked: would you also agree that sobriety does not equal righteousness? Yes, he said—you can be sober and still be totally unrighteous.

I think alcohol was a problem in the Ephesian context, just as it is for many in ours. Paul exposes it as an issue in Ephesians 5:18: "Do not be drunk with wine, in which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." He wrote that to the Ephesian church a few years before sending Timothy there. Here's my theory—Paul can correct me in heaven if I'm wrong—that the elders at Ephesus were not given to wine, and yet they had led the church astray. They had a standard: we don't drink. In a culture where alcohol was a major problem, that's a valuable standard. But sobriety did not equal righteousness. You can be not drunk with wine and also not filled with the Spirit—and that became the problem at Ephesus.

That's why, right in the middle of instructions about appointing elders, Paul throws out this parenthesis to Timothy. Nearly every commentary agrees Timothy was probably a teetotaler. The water supplies in that day, as in many developing nations today, were often unsanitary, so people added a little wine to kill off contaminants. Timothy's abstinence—a standard practice he shared with the Ephesian elders—was causing him physical infirmity. So Paul says: deal with this problem, and don't think your standard makes you righteous. It doesn't.

Some Sins Are Hidden

Then Paul returns to the thought in verse 24: "Some men's sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment." Some people you look at and immediately know they're not ready for eldership—their lives are out of order, their sin is worn on the outside, pushed before them in a cart for everyone to see. Maybe in the future, as God transforms them, but not now. "But those of some men follow later"—some people hide it well. The same is true of good works: some are clearly evident, and "those that are otherwise cannot be hidden."

So Paul is saying: don't lay hands on someone too quickly, because often the very thing needed is time—time to see the fruit of their life, because people can look very good on the outside. This is what Jesus condemned in the Pharisees in Matthew 23: you clean the outside of the cup, but inside it's dirty; you're like whitewashed tombs, beautiful outside but full of dead men's bones. No matter how good you make the outside look, the inside is still full of decay.

Private Impurity Will Be Publicly Manifest

This brings us to point five: private impurity will eventually be publicly manifest. You can't hide it forever. Numbers 32:23 says, "Be sure your sin will find you out." Jesus said in Matthew 7:15, "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? A good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. By their fruits you will know them.

Having personal convictions about righteousness and purity is a good thing. But those positions, rites, rituals, and traditions don't make you righteous. Christ makes us righteous, beginning internally and working out through our lives by the renewing of our minds. We need God's supernatural power to acquire and maintain holiness.

The Fruit We Should Look For

In that light, the more important visible evidence is the fruit of the Spirit. Paul said, "Do not be drunk with wine, which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit." What do we want to see in people—just that they keep certain standards, "I don't drink"—or that they're filled with the Spirit, with the evidence showing in their lives? It's the evidence of the Spirit's filling we're far more interested in.

We can be tempted to exalt people whose lives look good on the outside while paying little attention to what's happening inside. So Galatians 5 gives us a wonderful barometer. The evidence of God's Spirit is not religious ritual, church attendance, tithe records, or serving in children's ministry—all good things, but not the test. What we need to see is "the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." These are what God wants manifested to show forth His glory, and these are what we should honor when we lay hands on someone and say, "We see God's call and work in your life."

That's exactly what we'll do next week. I've been observing a young man's life, watching him walk these things out, and we'll be appointing him to the work of the ministry. We can get so fixated on how religious a person appears when we need to see Christ's righteousness manifested in them through love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. And we, as followers of Jesus, should endeavor to see that grow in our own lives by the work of God's grace and Spirit. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank you for this passage of Scripture, even though seeing the clear logical thread through it is sometimes hard for my little mind. Thank you for the work of your grace and your Spirit to lead us into these things. I pray, God, that any loose ends I've left, you would tie back together by your grace.

Thank you that it is not up to us to work our way up to you, because by our own strength and determination we will never get there. Thank you that you came down to us and dealt with our unrighteousness perfectly on the cross. So work out your righteousness in us as we follow you by faith.

Maybe as we stand here you realize you've been trying, through church attendance or religious effort, to make yourself pure—and you've found it impossible by your own strength. Christ died for your sin to make it possible that you could be forgiven and pardoned, indwelt with His Holy Spirit, and that He could accomplish His good work in and through your life by grace. If you would like to receive the forgiving grace of God today—His salvation, His Spirit in your life—lift up your hand.

If that's you, pray this with me out loud where you are: Dear Jesus, I know I cannot make myself pure. I confess that I need you. Would you come into my life, forgive me of my sin, and help me to follow you by faith, for your glory. Amen.