June 1, 2008 "GEMS Sunday"
"Young and Important"
1 Timothy 4: 11- 16; text v. 12
Do any of you kids ever become frustrated because other consider you too young? I know that used to bother me. I wanted to stay up. And my folks would say, "Dave, time for bed." And I would complain. "Well, when you get a little older you can stay up later." And when I was a little older, I couldn't wait to get my first real job; I couldn't wait until I could drive the car. But, I wasn't just frustrated because I had to wait for certain privileges, I also didn't always feel that older people took me seriously. I would say something and they would laugh. "He's just a kid; he'll learn." And I would feel belittled and humiliated. Do you ever have those feelings?
Well, those feelings don't necessarily go away when you get older. (Well, maybe by time you are my age they do.) But, even young adults can feel that way. And all of us can be belittled and made to feel insignificant. Pastors of churches aren't immune. We say things in sermons that we sincerely believe will help people live as God calls us all to live. Yet, some folks give us the impression that we are bit naïve and that we really don't know what real life is about. Parents can be made to feel similarly by their own children.
In our scripture for this morning Timothy was a young preacher, probably in his 20's or 30's. And he was serving a church, where the leaders were probably in their 50's. The Apostle Paul, who wrote this letter, undoubtedly knew these older men might not take Timothy all that seriously and that this might make his job more difficult. Maybe Timothy had already let him know that this was a problem.
If it had just been a matter of Timothy's feelings being hurt, Paul might not mentioned it. But the church where he was serving had some real problems.
Before I go into that, do any of you know where that church was? It was in a town in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) called Ephesus. It was one of major cities of the day and the home of many different religious beliefs. Now, some people were promoting some of the false teachings from those religions in the church.
In that same church there were also a significant number were of Jews, who had grown up following the laws of Moses and the Old Testament. Many of these laws and ceremonies pointed to Jesus and to what he would do for us on the cross. But, even though they said that they believed in Jesus, some of these people not only continued to follow them, but they demanded that all other Christians do so also. Some Christians today do that. There are even some Christians today, who would say that good Christians shouldn't eat pork or other meat from unclean animals. And if you do enjoy a ham dinner you can't be a good Christian. And other Christians emphasized other rules. That was going on in the Ephesian church.
You should also know that this church did not have the New Testament yet. So, they couldn't test some of these beliefs against what the Bible said. They had to trust their pastor and listen to him. But, it seems that, given Timothy's age, some were not doing this.
So, in verse 12, Paul writes a very practical word of advice.
Let no one look down on your youthfulness
Now, that's good advice, but it's a little hard to put to practice. What do you do when somebody looks down on you or makes you feel small? How do you handle it when someone doesn't take you seriously? What Paul mean by this?
First of all we must hear what Paul was calling Timothy to do in the previous verse.
Command and teach these things.
Basically, he was telling Timothy not to back down-to be bold in teaching the truth. Don't worry if other people belittle you or criticize you. Teach what you know is right and true. More than that he must insist that the people in the church do what is right and true. He's telling Timothy to show courage and stand up for the truth no matter who opposes him.
I am wondering if any of you ever had to stand up for the truth. Or has being a Christian been rather easy for you. Being a Christian means that you have to stand up for Jesus and for what the Bible says. If your friends or even family members are trying to get you to do something you know is wrong, Jesus says you have to put him first. Listen to his words,
Matthew 10:37 (NIV) 37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; [and we certainly could add, anyone who love their friends more than me is not worthy of me.]
Jesus was specifically talking about people who would be disowned by their parents for believing in him. That really happened. And it happens today. I think I might have told you about that Egyptian man who went seminary with me. When he became a Christian his father disowned him and brothers tried to kill him. And yet he continued to believe. He escaped to America and became a preacher. We can be so thankful for our Christian families. But there still may be times when friends or family members may try to influence us to do what we know is wrong. We have to stand up for Jesus and for what he tells us to do. So, Paul told Timothy not to let them put him down because he was young. And that's what we must do. Don't let others intimidate us and make us feel weak and insignificant. Rather, we must stand up for Jesus.
But, how do you keep others from belittling you? Some of us might try to do so by knocking down others or by making ourselves look more important than they are or by trying to make others think we are better than we really are. Jesus told us that this is foolish. In Luke 14: 7- 11 we read this story. Jesus was invited to a Pharisee's house for dinner. As they sat around the table
he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table and so he told them this parable: "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus point is clear. We are not here to make ourselves look good. We don't have to try to impress people. Often that will backfire and we will be humiliated. So how do we accomplish this? What can we do to help keep others from looking down on us? Let's look at the rest of verse 12
set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
Paul was telling Timothy that his life had to match his preaching. He couldn't tell people what was right, he had to show them.
He had to show them through his speech-in the words he used, but also through his life. Sometimes as Christian we do a pretty good job telling other people how to live, but we do a poor job living that way ourselves. If you want people to take you seriously, they have to know that you are genuine: that you don't say one thing and do another.
I remember that I had a PE professor at Calvin. He told us how important it was for us to stay physically fit. And we all respected what he had to say. Do you know why? Because when he took us out running he ran with us. I was a pretty good runner in college. I used to jog a mile and half to work. But, as we ran around that track, he passed me up several times. Clearly, his message and his life matched. And that's why we could respect what he had to say.
What kind of life are we to live and how should our speech be characterized?
Notice the next words,
In love, in faith and in purity
Setting an example of love means loving God above all and our neighbor as ourselves. Rev. Tony Van Zanten was the pastor I worked under when I was interning at Roseland Christian Ministries in Chicago. This past spring he received a distinguished alumni award from Calvin Seminary. The reason he received this award was that he was one of the most effective ministers we had in the inner city. Do you know what the key to his success was? The key to his success was his heart of love for those people.-homeless people, people on drugs and in jail, drunks. They all knew Rev. Tony. And they all knew that Rev. Tony loved and cared about them. He didn't agree with what some of them were doing, but he loved them anyway. Kid's there may those in your school who want you to follow them in doing thing that you know are wrong. Don't follow them, but you can still love them. Standing up for Jesus doesn't mean that we must be mean or obnoxious. Just the opposite, we are to be loving and forgiving.
We are set an example in faith. If we really believe in Jesus, then we will stand up for him, no matter what happens to us and we will trust him to take care of us. Think about Daniel 3 friends, Hananiah, Misheal and Azariah. We know them better as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Do you remember that story? The great king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar set up this huge golden statue and ordered everyone to bow down to it. And one who would be thrown in the fiery furnace. These men knew that it wrong to worship anyone or anything other than God. So, they refused. But the king gave them another chance. If they gave and bowed to his statue he would spare their lives. Listen to how they responded,
O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
Now that's faith. As it was, the Lord did rescue them from the fiery furnace. But, did you notice that they told Nebuchadnezzar that they would refuse to bow down to his idol, even if God chose not to save them. Sometime sticking up for Jesus doesn't work out so well. We do lose friends. You might pray for Jesus to change the other kids' hearts, but they don't change. And they make fun of you and reject you. You show your faith by continuing to stick up for Jesus no matter what the consequences.
Finally, Paul tells Timothy to be and example "in purity." This is a call to be all that Jesus saved us to be. It certainly includes purity in the area of our sexuality, but it includes more than that. I remember I once gave a chapel talk about being pure. I brought in a bag of pure cane sugar. Now, in that context, what did the word pure mean? It meant that this was 100% sugar. I brought in a jar of honey. On the label it said "pure honey" What does that mean? That means the jar contains 100% honey. I had bar Ivory soap. It's packaging read 99 and 44/100 pure. What does that mean? That it's 99 and 44/100 per cent Ivory soap. Jesus saved us to be his God's children. So what does it mean to be pure? We 100% a child of God. And if that's what we are, then our actions should 100% the way a child of God acts. We should be just like the Son of God, just like Jesus. That's real purity.
Now it's interesting to note what Paul says to Timothy in v. 14,
1 Timothy 4:14 (NIV) Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
The gift that Timothy was given was the gift he needed to do the work that God was calling him to do in his church. Probably in his case it was the gift of preaching and teaching. And God gives each of his people today-including his young people-- gifts and abilities to do what he calls us to do.
In Ephesians 4: 11 we read,
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
In 1 Timothy 1 Paul speaks about his own life and says, Listen to verses 12- 17,
1 Timothy 1:12 - 17 (NIV) 2I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service.
Did you notice that Paul said God had appointed him to his service. Ephesians 2: 10 says,
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
God has good works planned for all of us to do-not just Paul and Timothy-you and me. God saved you to be his own and he has a purpose for your life. And he will give you strength to accomplish that purpose
Paul then goes on to describe his life before he became a Christian and how terrible he was to Christian people. Listen.
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
God saved Paul from that life, so that he might become a missionary. God also saves every one of us for a purpose. What purpose does he have for you? Now, having a purpose does not just mean that he has good works for you to do some day. He has a reason for your life today. He has a reason for putting you in your family, in the school you go to, in the neighborhood you live in. And he will give you strength to do what he wants you to do-even today.
Paul ends with a word of praise
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Last Monday we celebrated Memorial Day. It's a holiday that was established for us to remember the soldiers who died for our country. Many of these who died were young men in their late teens and early twenties. Think about why we honor their memory. Do we honor it because they tried to make a name for themselves? No, we honor them because they sacrificed themselves for their country.
We began by talking about how we sometimes feel belittled and unimportant. We should remember that God did not put us here to make a great name for ourselves. We are here to honor him. But, because our God is a loving God, he tells that when we do that he will bless us. Listen to the words of that promise
If we died with him,
we will also live with him;
we will also reign with him.
That is the promise to those who boldly give themselves to God. What about you? AMEN!