“No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.” 1 Timothy 5:23 (ESV)
The following are some current statistics I recently discovered from pastoralcareinc.com. These are only the top ten. Take a moment to consider this information.
- 72% of pastors report working between 55 to 75 hours per week. (Pre-Covid-19)
- 84% of pastors feel they are on call 24/7.
- 80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families. Many pastor’s children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.
- 65% of pastors feel their family lives in a “glass house” and fear they are not good enough to meet expectations.
- 23% of pastors report being distant to their family.
- 78% of pastors report having their vacation and personal time interrupted with ministry duties or expectations.
- 65% of pastors feel they have not taken enough vacation time with their family over the last 5 years.
- 28% of pastors report having feelings of guilt for taking personal time off and not telling the church.
- 35% of pastors report the demands of the church denies them from spending time with their family.
- 24% of pastor’s families resent the church and its effect on their family.
Often, the church’s expectations on their pastor are unspoken, until the pastor and his family fail to meet these unspoken expectations. When this happens, and it will, the church board, or the congregation, finds fault with their pastor. This may result in personal accusations and attacks against the minister and his family, an enforced sabbatical with mandatory counseling, or even termination. It is no wonder why many pastors leave the ministry because of such a toxic environment.
This is not to infer all churches treat their pastors in such a manner. However, there are some congregations who repeatedly do and wonder why they are consistently looking to hire a new pastor. This is also not to infer pastors never fail or make mistakes. They often do. It is how a church responds to those mistakes, real or imagined, which indicates whether a church, and its pastor, is healthy in their walk with Christ and with each other.
Christian author Paul David Tripp, in his book LEAD, writes, “You will only handle the inevitable weakness, failure, and sin of your leaders when you view them through the lens of the presence, power, promises, and grace of Jesus.”
We can only speculate why the Apostle Paul gave commands for Timothy to no longer drink water, but to use a little wine for the sake of his stomach and other ailments. Was the pressure of pastoring the church in Ephesus taking its toll upon Paul’s young protégé? Was Timothy trying to avoid any appearance of evil before his congregation and the greater Ephesian community?
One commentary states, “This verse may be only a somewhat disjointed bit of personal advice to Timothy or it may flow more naturally from the reference to purity in verse 22. Perhaps Timothy was inclined to an asceticism which associated purity with total abstention (cf. 4:3–5), which in turn led in Timothy’s case to stomach ailments and frequent illnesses, perhaps due to the poor quality of the water he drank. Paul thus qualified his exhortation to purity by encouraging Timothy to drink a little wine (oinō oligō) for his stomach’s sake, because of his “frequent illnesses.” This instruction applies only to using wine for medicinal purposes, of course, and therefore contributes little or nothing to either side of the debate over the use of wine as a beverage” [1]
Dr. William Hendriksen explains, “Timothy was a conscientious person. He did not want to be accused of being the kind of individual who “lingers beside his wine” (see on 1 Tim. 3:3). Hence, he had formed the habit of drinking nothing but water. However, in the Orient the water is often far from “safe.” Those who have been there—including, for example, those who were there while serving in the armed forces—know this. If one insists on drinking nothing but unboiled water, attacks of dysentery may result. In fact, something worse might happen! Consequently, for the sake of helping Timothy to overcome his stomach-troubles and related ailments, which seem to have been coming to him “thick and fast,” Paul advises him to stop being purely a water-drinker. Timothy must use some wine, not much wine, but some wine. That will do him good physically. Paul is here speaking of wine as a medicine, not as a beverage, as Wuest correctly observes.”[2]
Whatever the reasons for today’s text, Paul was as concerned for Timothy’s physical well-being as he was for the spiritual. On behalf of our pastors, so should we.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Take time today to pray for your pastors, and even with them, for their overall encouragement and well-being.
Soli deo Gloria.
[1] A. Duane Litfin, “1 Timothy,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 744–745.
[2] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles, vol. 4, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 185–186.
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