2018 Maryland Men of Faith: The Want of Men

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Maryland Men of Faith

Kameron DeVasher

Grow Up

This media has been presented to you by the Maryland Men of Faith, where men are challenged and encouraged to form the character of Christ.

For more information, please visit www.mmof.org.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this Sabbath day.

Thank you that we get to spend it at this place with these people.

Thank you for these men of faith that are here assembled.

And Lord, help us to be truly men of faith.

Help us to understand what that means, help us to know beyond just the theory and the platitudes what it looks like in practice to follow Jesus.

So bless us as we study, for we ask it in Jesus' name.

Alright, I would say if you have your Bibles, but that is ridiculous.

This is Sabbath and we're Sabbath keepers and this is a church event, so since you have your Bibles with you, please take them out.

Digital will be accepted for those weaker in the faith.

The Apostle Paul had an interesting way of doing ministry, methodology.

He wouldn't just go out on his own, he would go 2 by 2.

He would always have a partner with him, an apprentice, someone who is kind of a protege to learn the ways of ministry.

So you could, anytime you say the name Paul, usually it's Paul and someone, right?

So for instance, let's throw out some examples.

Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Silas, Paul and Timothy, Paul and Titus, there's always Paul and somebody, you know?

And in this instance, obviously, as the letter is written, this is, he's talking to Timothy.

Now this evening, or later on, I don't want to say this evening, I think our message is at 4.30 or something like that, but anyway, we're going to be looking at Timothy a little bit, so we're not going to dive into his biography at this point, but just in brief, Timothy was younger than Paul, significantly younger than Paul, And so he was training him in the work of ministry and we find this interesting counsel in 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 12.

It says, and I'll be reading this from the New King James, it says, let no 1 despise your what?

Now the King James, let no 1 despise thy youth, let no 1 despise your youth.

New International Belief says, don't let anyone look down on you because you are young.

But be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

Now, before we get into the more practical considerations he gives of how to be that example, let's just start with that opening premise where he says, Let no 1 despise thy youth.

Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young.

What do we learn just in that opening sentence, that phrasing, how he couches his counsel to Timothy about the church or about Timothy?

What's something we can know about Timothy just from this sentence?

In fact, he's young enough that it would be notably young.

There even might be an inclination to as Paul says here to despise his youth Now what does that tell us about the church They're older right and they might look good Now, that's exactly the thought I had when I first read it.

Oh, Paul is bracing young, noble Timothy for dealing with those old, mean, you know, conservative, whatever denigration you want to give them.

Grumpy even, as I've heard it referred to.

Maybe what Paul is saying here is not that, watch out for that mean old church.

But I'm not sure that's what he's saying.

Let's think about it from the church's perspective.

Would they have some valid reason to be hesitant about young Timothy following in the wake of Paul?

What are some differences between Timothy and Paul?

He was, he was, he sat at the feet of Gamaliel, he was a Pharisee, I mean he's all kinds of stuff.

And Timothy, what do we know his educational background?

So he's inexperienced, comparatively, comparatively uneducated, He's young.

Can you imagine a scenario when the church family might be like, now wait a minute, him?

Now, I would say that there might be 1 other thing that would be influencing their perception of the potential of young Timothy coming there.

And it's 1 that we don't often talk about, but let's frame it this way.

Is it possible that youth itself, youth culture, because notice they, they weren't despised him, they're going to despise something about him, the potential is they might despise his youth.

Is it possible that youth of that time were not noted for their maturity?

Maybe they might be of note because of their Immaturity.

Is that possible that something similar could happen today?

That maybe some of the hesitation about young people is not the old people being mean, but the young people having kind of earned it.

Now, is there anything that Timothy can do about his lack of education?

I mean, he could always read more and study more and whatever, but that's...

And his lack of experience, is there anything you can do about that?

No, you got to get in the job to have experience.

Nothing more frustrating than signing up for a job and they say you need more experience.

You're like, well, how can I get experience without doing the job?

But there's 1 thing he can do something about, and that is his own behavior.

Notice again, verse 12, let no 1 despise your youth but be a what?

That is, Don't confirm the negative stereotype.

Now I, in my own experience, having not only been young but worked with young people, I can tell you that it is not unreasonable, oftentimes, for a church to be wary of youth in positions of leadership.

Yes, they might just be old-fashioned, mean, grumpy people.

But more times than we want to talk about, the problem is in the people themselves.

They're just confirming the stereotype of everything, you know, whether it's, you know, the you have A plus potential but you only bring home C's, show up late to everything, you're talking in the back when the guy in front, whatever the thing is, you know, and then they get frustrated.

Hey, why don't you put any of us in positions of leadership?

Because you don't take yourself seriously.

And notice Paul doesn't say the way to not let people despise your youth is to complain about it.

It doesn't say start a petition, it doesn't say grumble online, it doesn't say...

If they might have an issue with you, what do you need to do?

Demonstrate that you're not what they might be thinking.

To the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.

Grow Up

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