What's Age Got to do with It

Six years ago at a conference clergy meeting, I was invited to participate in a “young clergy” group designed for pastors under 35 years old. A friend and I joked about being “grandfathered” in, as we were both 35. Though for years young people have been told not to trust anyone over 35, in clergy years, 35 is considered “barely out of diapers.”

But, as I read to the children earlier, Paul writes to Timothy, telling him, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”  1 Timothy 4:12

Timothy was disregarded because he was too young. Now, there are some here who would consider themselves “young” but most of us aren’t, and none of us is getting any younger. But most of us have reasons why someone would look down on us. Maybe it’s not about youth, but instead we’re too old. Maybe we just don’t know the Bible well enough. Maybe we’ve got the wrong family name. Maybe we’re not from around here. Maybe we don’t dress right. Maybe we don’t have enough money or status. Maybe we’ve had “that person” always telling us we can’t (or won’t) succeed. 

But whatever the reasons, when it comes to Timothy, Paul looks right past all of those excuses and gets to the heart of the matter. Don’t let anyone look down on you because you don’t fit into their mold of what someone’s who’s a sold-out follower of Jesus Christ and a leader of others might look like. Don’t let them look down on you, but instead, be an example.

In Acts 16, starting in verse 1, we meet Timothy.  He [Paul] came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was a Jewess and a believer, but whose father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Now, don’t let the half-Greek part bother you, because Timothy was Jewish. Judaism is passed down through the mother, so no matter who his father was, Timothy was Jewish. It is interesting that he hadn’t been circumcised, and that at this point Paul circumcised him, especially with the Jerusalem council of Acts 15 in which it was decided that circumcision was not a requirement for salvation, that God was pouring the Holy Spirit out, even on Gentiles!

We learn in Paul’s second letter to Timothy that his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are believers. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you. (2 Timothy 1:5)

How many of us came to faith because of a faithful mother or grandmother? Those of you who are parents, remember that the example you set to your children and to your grandchildren is going to be the most important influence they experience. You can fool some people by looking your best on Sunday morning, but your kids know if it’s for real or not. On the other hand, there are plenty of adults who are still hanging on to their mother’s faith. They attend church because it makes mom or grandma happy. The church isn’t theirs, it’s mom’s church. One of the difficulties in our system is that when a family chooses to have their child baptized, they are choosing for that child, and that’s fine, because it’s a picture of God choosing us, but there are plenty of adults who never chose for themselves; they are still living off their parents’ choice. Even Confirmation Classes are often just a formality – the joke is told that a pastor found mice in the parsonage. After trying all of the usual remedies, snap traps, glue traps, poison, filling any holes the mice were getting in, the pastor came upon a solution. He caught the mice and baptized and confirmed them, and he never saw them again.

Just this week in our district leadership team gathering, I heard of a church where one person carried almost 1/3 of the annual budget, and when she died, guess who her kids weren’t writing a check to. Though they attended that church, it wasn’t their church, nor was it their faith. I have seen churches close because they were small churches to begin with, but when the matriarch of the church died, none of the family stuck around.

But Timothy wasn’t like that at all. Paul wrote that in Timothy, he saw the same sincere faith that he saw in Lois and Eunice. What better legacy can we leave to our children than the sincere faith that lives in us? Remember this: the faith of our parents is great, but it doesn’t mean anything for us if we don’t make it our own.

Some of you are thinking, “my kids are already grown and they are solid Christians. What does this have to do with me?” You’re already tuning out because it doesn’t seem applicable. But the truth is, it is important for our kids to know that Mom and Dad aren’t the only Christians out there who care about them. Other Christian adults have an incredible impact on our kids.

For example, I am intentionally raising our kids to know and love Jesus with everything they are. That is a prayer I pray with them every night. But do you want to know Jonathan how accepted Christ? Under the tutelage of Liz Hoover, his Sunday School teacher in Millersport. I am thankful for committed Christian disciples who take seriously the task Jesus gave of making disciples of all nations.

And that’s what Paul did with Timothy. Commentaries suggest that though Timothy’s mother and grandmother introduced him to the faith, it was Paul who led him to Christ. This is why, in 2 Corinthians 4:17, Paul calls Timothy his “beloved son in the Lord” and in 1 Timothy 1:2, his “true son in the faith.”

Paul mentored Timothy and brought him along on some of his missionary journeys. Timothy was active in bringing the Gospel to Corinth, though he saw few people convert, his obedience was notable. When news of disturbances at Corinth and Macedonia reached Paul at Ephesus, he sent Timothy, perhaps along with Erastus (Acts 19:22), to resolve the difficulties.

Timothy put his life on the line to share Jesus around the world, and he was even imprisoned for his faith, as Hebrews 13:23 tells that he had been released from prison. I love the description Paul gives of him in Philippians 2:19-24: I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

Timothy’s strongest traits were his sensitivity, affection, and loyalty. He has proven character, faithful to Paul like a son to a father, and without rival in his concern for the Philippians. Timothy took a genuine interest in the welfare of the church in Philippi, looking out for the interests of Jesus Christ. What might our church look like if we looked out for Jesus’ interests and not our own? We wouldn’t ever have frivolous complaints about what the pastor is wearing or about silly changes to the order of worship or about the use of technology in the church. The prayer lists for our friends and family members would have jumped off that back table, because we would so badly want the individuals on that list to know Jesus. We would never start any argument by saying, “Well we’ve never done it that way.” Instead, in everything, we would simply look at what serves Jesus best.

Not only do we find out about Timothy’s heart for others and for Jesus, the Bible also tells us that Timothy was a prolific writer. We recognize Paul as the author of about half of the New Testament, but did you realize that Timothy is the co-author of six of those letters? Timothy is credited with being co-author of 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

There are suggestions from scripture that Timothy suffered from fearfulness. Paul has to warn him (in 2 Timothy 2:1) to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Likewise, in his first letter to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 16:10), Paul tells the church, “If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am.”

Timothy faced some serious issues in his day. Angry mobs, beatings, imprisonment, and torture, to name four. Yet Paul commends him to be strong and tells the church to protect him. What might it look like if each of us knew that the church had our back in issues of sharing the Gospel with our unchurched friends, neighbors, and family members? Like maybe if we had Barnabas the Encourager whispering in our ear, “You can do this!” Or if we had Paul the mentor telling us, “If God is for you, who can be against you?”

I think one of the fears Timothy faced was a fear that he would be dismissed because of his youth. That’s why Paul tells him to not let anyone look down on him because he is young. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”  1 Timothy 4:12

Paul told Timothy to set an example in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. In other words, people will look at him and see that he’s young. He can’t do anything about that. But what he can do is make sure that what he says, the love he shows, his faith, and his purity speak louder than his age.

I started this message focusing on the why not excuses – why we might think we can’t do certain things. Maybe it’s age or Bible knowledge (or lack thereof) or wrong family name or we’re outsiders or wrong clothes or the lack of money or status. Maybe we’ve simply listened to the wrong voices, the ones telling us we’ll never succeed. But right in the midst of that, the call is clear: set an example for the believers. Notice that the call is toward the believers. Paul has sent Timothy to the church in Ephesus to strengthen the church and to help keep them from falling into heresy. So he’s dealing with church people here. But the same principles can be held for dealing with non-Christians as well.

Paul tells Timothy to set an example in speech. Your words are important. God created everything by speaking it into existence, and God made us in His own image. Our words have power. What will we use that power for? Will we use it to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, or will we use it to put others down? How do you set an example in speech? It’s not just watching what you say. As Jesus says in Luke 6:45, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

So setting an example in our speech is not just about what we say, it’s about our heart. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that it’s just your life, though; what you say is vitally important. You can’t share the Gospel without using words at some point.

But Paul is clear to Timothy, that besides his speech, he is to set an example in life. Live your life completely under the direction of the Holy Spirit. What might your life look like if you allowed the Holy Spirit to make all decisions? This includes your finances. It’s strange to me that someone would call themselves a Christian and then blatantly defy God with the use of money. Look up Ananias and Sapphira in the Bible and see how that turns out.

Paul also calls Timothy to set an example in love. Who here has someone in your life who it’s hard to love? Right on. Most of us do. Do you love that person more by trying harder to love them? Usually that’s just frustrating. Oh, and Jesus tells to love our enemies. You can only love the unlovely by allowing God to love them through you. It’s all about life in the Holy Spirit, not about us.

Timothy is also supposed to set an example in faith. How can your faith be an example? How about this: just on faith that God is with you, do one thing that you haven’t done before. Talk to one person about Jesus. Do one new thing that others will see and will encourage them in their walk. Then come back next week and share what you did in faith.

Finally, Timothy is supposed to set an example in purity. Many people want to have it both ways: I will accept Jesus, I will call myself a Christian, but I won’t go all the way with it. I still want to do things my way. That’s like mixing up “only a little” poison in your water! Setting a pure example includes when nobody else is looking. There are too many examples of well-known Christians falling from grace, especially into sexual sin or sin regarding drugs or alcohol, when the reality is they were hiding those sins from outsiders. But what is more sinister is that when our purity is compromised, so is our ability to hear clearly from God, because our sin creates a wall between a Holy God and us. When we continue in willing sin, we purposely keep God at arm’s length, and that’s no way to share him.

So don’t give anyone reason look down on you, but set an example by living your life entirely led by the Holy Spirit.