Hi guys,

Great that you are studying the Bible again.

Here is the text I'm reading:
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1 Timothy 5:21, “I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality, and do nothing out of favoritism.”

Interesting points:
1. In this verse Paul strongly emphasizes to Timothy that he must follow his instructions in correcting, rebuking and even removing elders, impartially and without bias. By naming three witnesses that will ascertain whether he follows these instructions faithfully, Paul reminds Timothy that he – like all men – will give an account for his motivations in how he dealt with leader accountability.

2. Paul’s words in this verse strike at the heart of leaders who must learn that leadership, especially righteous leadership, is not always comfortable and is not an exercise in popularity. Upholding standards and defending them is probably one of the hardest things to do for a truly humble leader, exposing the truth and removing a sinner from positions of authority is tantamount to humiliating someone and the caring shepherd is always thinking “there must be some other way.”

3. And yet Paul’s words remind us all that the under-shepherd is subject to the Shepherd – God is sovereign and Jesus is Lord. As for the angels, they are all actively engaged in the battles in the spiritual realm and will undoubtedly bear witness to whether we champion God’s ways or divert His commands to make our life “easier”. When righteousness is compromised, it must be quickly addressed and in full or like yeast in dough, sin will spread through the entire church. Partiality and favoritism also expose another danger area: we end up placing our affections for someone over our love for God. Jesus says it best in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” In this case, confronting and dealing with sin and holding leaders accountable for leaving the path of righteousness must override our tendency to make excuses for others and holding them responsible. As we studied in Proverbs 3:2, “For whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.”

Application.
Brothers, for those of us that hate confrontation, we need to take a hard look at ourselves. Will evil dominate because we decide to do nothing or hide sin in the name of maintaining a friend’s reputation from being tarnished in the eyes of men? May we never forget what it means to fear the Lord!
For those of us that are subject to discipline for choosing to engage in sin, what is our response? Do we fight accountability, shift blame or refuse to own up OR do we choose to take responsibility, repent and accept that there are consequences for our action(s). May our attitude be thankful to those that bring us back to the path of righteousness and may we seek accountability and reconciliation. Better to be humiliated in this life and be brought back into the fold than be identified as a goat on Judgment Day (Matthew 25:31-46) because we chose our ways over His!