1 Timothy 5 verses 1 and 2 is our text this morning. Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather plead with him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, to the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters in all purity. Let's open in a word of prayer. Father God, we just come to you this morning, Lord, Look at this short passage yet, packed full of information that we need to learn. Again, Lord, we just come to you, and again, we'd ask that you would, as a result of being here, your saints would be edified, and you, Lord, would be glorified. Again, Lord, we offer this teaching time up as part of our worship to you from us, and we offer it all in Jesus' name, amen. By way of introduction, the church is described in the New Testament by various metaphors and analogies. And I'm just gonna give this morning four examples of those. Some you're very familiar, most of these you'll be very familiar with. And there's a reason for it as we will hopefully see. First one I wanna look at is the church as the body of Christ. And some of you folks in what I call the Well, the young adults class upstairs, you know where this is, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the church is the body of Christ. Beginning in verse 12, 12, 12. We'll read through this very quickly. Obviously, this would be a couple of weeks just if we studied this one. But we're just looking at it for one main purpose today. For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all of the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For also by one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For also the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, because I am not the hand, am I not part of the body? Is it not for this reason any the less part of the body? And if the ear says, because I am not the eye, I am not part of the body. It is not for this reason any the less the part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has appointed the members, each one of them, in the body just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet. I have no need of you. On the contrary, how much more is that the members of the body, which seem to be the weaker, are necessary? And those members of the body which we think is less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become more presentable. Whereas, our more presentable members have no such need, but God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which is lacked. So there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now, you are Christ's body and individually members of it. I read all of that to say this. That's metaphor of the body and what you see here is the fact that the church is made up of a variety of people. having all kinds of different functions and different gifts, but every one is important. And it's important that we all function so the body will function. And it gives the idea of some of the lesser parts. You ever stubbed even your little toe? how that just knocks your body out of whack to at least some degree. Your toe is sore over here, so you lean over here and then, well, okay, you've relieved that toe a little bit, but now you got a bad knee or an ankle or something else picks up the slack. And so it's just the body just isn't functioning as it was designed to function. So that's the point here, and that's all we're gonna make today. Like I say, we could go a long way on that, and we're not. And that's the point. The church is the body, and here, especially in Corinth, Paul was, just kept pounding away, unity, unity, unity, because they were all, they were having, and then we'll just leave it at that. But anyway, the body of Christ. Another metaphor is that the church is a building or a temple. Ephesians 2.20 and 22 says this, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing up into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. And Peter adds in 1 Peter 2, 4, and 5, and coming to him as to a living stone. which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God. You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Okay, that's another metaphor is a building or a temple. A third metaphor is that we are often called a holy nation. Sometimes we are referred to as citizens of heaven, members of his kingdom. And that concept, 1 Peter 2.9 says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. And then Philippians 3, 20 to 21 says, For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into the conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even subjecting all things to Himself. And then the fourth one, which has a lot of meaning for us today, is that the church is likened to a family, or sometimes the term household of God is applied to the church. Right here in 1 Timothy 3.15, which is just a page over or so, 3.15 says, but in case I'm delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth." The church, the household of God, the pillar and support of the truth. Okay, Ephesians 2.19, to add to that, says, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens of the saints and are of God's household. In our text, instructions are given on how to deal with various problems that may arise in the church with perspective of us being a family. It's presented as a family, like in a family setting. We are a family, okay? Back to our text, verses 1 and 2 of chapter 5. do not sharpen Luke an older man, but rather plead with him as a father." Okay? A younger man as younger men, as brothers. Older women as mothers. Younger women You see that? The family concept. We're all family. And so we want to treat each other like family. And again, it's talking to the church and speaking of fellow believers of that family. Not a believer? You're not part of the family. in the context of the Scripture in the salvific sense. Just not. Only those that are saved are of this family. That's why you want to make sure that you're treating them as family. Now, in this passage, there are two verbs that actually direct the force of this passage. There's two verbs. They're right there in the first one in chapter, in verse, excuse me, first one, Epiplesso. Okay, what's that? Well, that's which is translated either sharply rebuke or rebuke in most English translations. Now, epiplesso refers to a harsh or a verbally violent rebuke. It carries the idea of lashing out or even striking at, you know, like you swing to hit somebody with a stick or something. That's the, the word carries that forth. And see what it says? Do not sharply rebuke an older man. All right? And the second verb is one that some of you heard earlier this morning, parakaleo. All right? Translated, that's the word that translated either plead, appeal, encourage, and it means just that. You appeal to them. You don't beat them over the head. You appeal, plead, encourage. Could be this word is sometimes used for counsel. Parakleo means to come alongside. Okay, so that's the thought of that verb. Also, that verb is in the present tense. It's a present imperative, by the way. Present tense, meaning what? Continuous action. And then the imperative mode makes it a command. This is how we must do it. We must come alongside these people. Now, a good example of how this verb is used and how it's meant here, let's look at Luke chapter 15. The gospel of Luke, chapter 15, a passage you'll I know we've all heard, that's the parable of the prodigal son or the lost son. Luke 15, and we'll pick it up in 25. As you're turning there, you know, the scene was this. You had the younger brother go to his father and say, hey, I want my inheritance now. So the father, remember this is a parable, the father gave him the inheritance, he took off, he squandered it foolishly, and the next thing you know, he finds himself destitute, really at the point of starvation, really, really in a bad way. Then he comes to his senses and he decides, I'm dying out here. I'm going to return to my father and I'm just going to beg him to take me back. I'll work as one of the hired hands. I mean, I'm just, I'm losing it out here. And so he comes back. Now in 25, we'll pick it up in verse 25. Now his older son, that's the one that didn't leave, was in the field and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. I need to stop there. Now the father did in fact receive the wayward son back and was so rejoiced, so was overjoyed and rejoiced over the fact that his son repented, came home, that he wanted to celebrate that by having a party. He ordered the slaves, the servants, get the fatted calf, we're having a party. We're celebrating, my son is back. So that's the scene. And so, verse 26, and summoning one of the servants, he began inquiring, this is the older son, inquiring what's going on, what these things could be. And he said to him, your brother has come home and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he, that's the older son, became angry and was not wanting to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him. There's that word, there's parakaleo, pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, look, for some years I have been serving you and never have I neglected a command of yours. And yet never have you given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, came who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes you killed a fatted calf for him and he said to him child you're always with me and all that I is mine is yours but we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and is alive was lost and has been found Right there you see the attitude of what Paul is writing to Timothy about in terms of pleading with him, talking with him, encouraging, appealing. you know, just like the father is here doing to his older son, whom he also loves, right? And saying, hey, you know, we got, you notice what he didn't do? He didn't lash out at the son, you know, didn't yell, scream, harp, holler, throw rocks. He said he was just trying to reason with him, appealing to him, pleading with him, hey, You know, in a sense saying, you know, you should be happy too. But that's what this word means. And back to Timothy. And so again, when confronting problems, again, this, both of these verbs apply to all people involved here. So when you say, do not sharpen rebuke an older man, but rather plead with him as a father, you move on to the next one. It says the younger men is that you would, The verbs apply there. Do not sharp a rebuke a younger man, rather plead with him as a brother. You see what I mean? So these two, these verbs apply to all four categories of people. Older men, younger men, older women, younger women. Okay? It applies to all of them. So think those verbs when we, when we... Now, to the older men. Gotta deal with the old guys first. Older men as fathers. The word older men, presbuteros, if that rings a bell, it should. When we were earlier on in this book, the word means elder, means elders. In this context, linked with younger men, older women, younger women, obviously is not talking about the office of elder, which will be dealt with later on in this chapter. But it's dealing with just older men, and you're supposed to treat them as a, you would treat a father or your father. And again, these are all written in best case, more natural scenarios that In most cases, most folks love their fathers, love their mothers, brothers and sisters, okay? It's given in that context. Leviticus, okay, Scripture teaches that older men are to be treated with respect. Right, older guys? I guess they weren't. Right. And whether we deserve it or not, I gotta say, Leviticus 19.32 says, You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the aged. Okay? Proverbs 16, 31 says, a gray head is a crown of glory. It is found in the way of righteousness. Showing disrespect to one's father and mother, by the way, was a serious offense in the law. Very, very serious offense. Remember, in creation, God established marriage and also the family. Okay, the family unit is extremely important to God. As a matter of fact, the family unit is one of the main pillars of society. You wreck up the family in a society, your society is going to collapse. It's going to collapse. Now Exodus 21, 17 says, He who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. That's it. That was the Old Testament law. I'll tell you, in our country, if this is what we were ruled under, there'd be a A lot of capital punishments going on. Proverbs 30, 17 says, the eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother, the ravens of the valley will pluck it out and the young eagles will eat it. How's that for a pretty picture? But that shows you what God thinks about mothers and fathers and families. That's it. You do not do that. You do not do that. A great example. And we're going to go to the book of Job, so we might want to turn there in case you have trouble finding it. Everybody knows where Psalms is, right? It's the book right in front of it. Job chapter 32. We're going to look at a fellow named Elihu who puts for us, gives us a tremendous example of a younger man who showed respect for older men even when they were in error. And this is what the context of 1 Timothy 5 is. We're trying to deal with somebody that's either in sin or in error, both. Whatever the problem is, this is how we are to deal with these folks, okay? So here's a great example of someone doing just that. In chapter 32, verses one through 10. Then these three men, ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes." We've got two problems there. See, this is Job. Job was righteous in his own eyes at this point in time. But the anger of Elihu, the son of Barakel, the Buzite of the family of Ram, burned against Job. His anger burned against him for proving himself righteous before God. That's not good. and his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job. We'll stop right there. So you've got his three fans, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, and Zophar, their help was nothing. They had nothing of any real value to pass on to Job. Okay? And so, but at the same time, Elihu, who in this instance is the more spiritual one, the more he's got the truth, but he's laying back. And why is he laying back? Verse five, or verse four. Now Elihu had waited with his words for Job because they, that's Eliphaz, Bidad, and Zophar, because they were years older than he. Okay? Then Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of the three men, so his anger burned. That just really upset him, the fact that these guys were spouting all this stuff, yet they had no real answers. They were just talking, talking trash, talking junk. They had nothing going. So Elihu, the son of Barakel, the Bozite, answered and said, I am young in years, and you are old. He's now talking to Job. I'm going to stop right there. So what did he didn't go in? Number one, he waited till all these three older men said what they were going to say out of respect for their age. He just stayed. And it just was frustrating to no end. You ever been like that? You're sitting there listening to junk and you just want to and you can't for whatever reason. Well, Elihu was practicing tremendous restraint. He was holding back. Let him talk. They were older, he'll get his say, he waited in turn, they said what they had to say, they left, and now he goes before Job and he starts talking. So, in verse 6 he says, I am young in years, you are old, therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you my knowledge. I thought age should speak, and increased years should make wisdom known." Well, that was, that is the plan that didn't work this time, but verse 8, but it is a spirit, it is a spirit in man, and a breath in the Almighty gives them understanding. The abundant in years may not be wise, nor may elders understand justice. So I say, listen to me. I too will tell my knowledge." And then it goes on for two or three chapters. So we're not going to go. But the point this morning is this. Here's a classic example of this fellow Elihu who respected the age, the older men. Let him go first. I'm not going to cut in line, but in. Let him talk. Job. Again, remember Job is a righteous man. We knew that from back in chapter one and two. He's a righteous man. as men go, but still he had his shortcomings. As a matter of fact, God will let him know those shortcomings in chapters future of this. But the point here is the fact that this is how, it's a great example of a younger individual approaching an older individual in an attempt to correct a problem. It doesn't say you should not do that, but this is a great example of how you want to approach that. Respect the age. It's, I know it's so funny, sometimes younger men, I was there once. And I think the younger you are, I just keep backing up, the younger you are, the more we think we know. You know, that's why my counsel to teenagers, leave the house now while you still know everything. No, but seriously, it doesn't work that way. You get older, you learn, and that's the whole thing, the whole concept of the gray hairs. Respect the gray hairs. If nothing else, for their time in on this earth, they're gonna pick up a few things. They've been around the barn a few times, okay? They've got things to offer, all right? And again, which lays a burden on the older men. The goal, I say the goal and responsibility of older men is to be worthy of such respect. The scripture says we should get it, and scripture also says we need to be worthy of it. Matter of fact, Titus 2 says older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, Sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Sound, temperate, dignified, sensible. Not run around like a bunch of old dingbats. Sound, knowledgeable. Put that knowledge to use. And now on to the younger men. Younger men, how do we treat them? As brothers. The younger men as brothers. And again, you do not sharply rebuke them, but rather you want to, again, plead with them. Talk to them. The New Testament commands believers, I mean, to love other, to love the brothers. Romans 12, 10, be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Give preference to one another in honor. And again, in this verse right here, and in most of these verses, you notice that brotherly love is applied to all believers. But brotherly love, as brothers. Well, then how then should we approach a brother who is caught up, say, in some sin? Well, Galatians 6.1 says it well. Brethren, even if anyone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself so that you too will not be tempted." In other words, we want to approach it in just the opposite, not by sharply rebuking, but in gentleness. And what about somebody that just seems like they're just not going to turn around, they're not getting with the program? Well, 2 Thessalonians 3, 14 and 15 says, if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, Take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet, do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." Again, this is talking about those in the family of God. Admonish them as a brother. Even those that aren't of the family of God, they're outside the church. as much as we can there, too. You don't wanna go browbeating them. We admonish them from a different perspective. We admonish them by presenting to them the gospel again and again and again, as long as they'll pay attention, okay? Same idea, just a little bit different approach. Now, if you wanna see an example of somebody exercising brotherly love, Remember Joseph? Remember Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob? Let's look at Genesis. Genesis 45, we'll try to make this quick. We all know the story of Joseph, I think. Most of us do. Exodus 45, verses one through five. The scene, you know the whole story. Remember the... The brothers got jealous of Joseph, so they were at first going to kill him, and then Reuben steps in and says, no, let's not kill him. And so they're not sure what to do, and then, oh, a caravan came by, so they sold him into slavery. Joseph winds up in Egypt, and then through a course of God's divine sovereignty, moved him into a place of tremendous authority. Like he was actually, he was Technically, he was second to the Pharaoh, but realistically, when you read that story, he was Pharaoh in terms of the decisions being made. Pharaoh kicked back and basically let Joseph run the show, and he ran the government. He literally did. And so Joseph was powerful. He was powerful. And so then Things happened, famine in the land, okay? Remember, that was all part of Joseph. Remember the seven years of plenty, seven years of famine? Well, we're in the now, the seven years of famine, and Egypt's cutting a fat hog. They're doing good. They had all the storehouses chock full of stuff. You read that whole account, they had so much stuff, they were selling it to people. They were selling it to people and other countries. And so then, okay, here comes now Joseph's family. Verse 45, we'll pick it up here. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all those who stood by him. So he called out, have everyone go out from the room. So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He gathered his brothers. Now Joseph's gonna make himself known. So then, verse two, then he wept loudly. And the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Then Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified in his presence." They were thinking like the men who were at once going to kill him and then sold him into slavery. That thought pressed, you know, they were thinking, oh man, payback could be a real bear here. I mean, that's what they were thinking of. Here you have the man that runs the show and we're standing in front of him, the guy we sold into slavery. Then verse four, Joseph said to his brothers, please come near to me. And they came near and he said, I am Joseph, brother whom you sold, whom you sold, remind, whom you sold into Egypt. So now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. Let's move forward to chapter 50. And already we're noticing, and again, God's sovereignty in all this. Verses 15 through 21, we'll start with 15 here. Then Joseph's brothers saw that their father, now Jacob had died. And verse 15, then Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead and they said, what if Joseph bears a grudge against us and returns back to us all the evil which we dealt against him? Guilty consciences are a marvelous thing, aren't they? Verse 16, so they sent a message to Joseph saying, your father commanded before he died saying, thus you shall say to Joseph, please forgive, I beg you the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they dealt evil against you. So now please forgive the transgressions of the slaves of the God of your father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. And when his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are your slaves. But Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid, for I am in God's place. As for you, you meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good in order that what has happened on this day to keep many peoples alive. So now do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.' And he comforted them and spoke to their heart." So here you have Joseph, what an attitude, what a man who in spite of what they did, his love for his brothers plus His love for God and the recognition of this whole situation was under God's sovereign control. It was under God's sovereign plan. Utilizing the sinfulness of his brothers put Jopheth wound up down there in Egypt, in essence, running the country. Why? Well, Joseph said it in chapter 45, to save the nation. What nation? The nation Israel, which was just a little tiny family at that point in time. So it was all God's sovereignty, all God's timing, and you have to love this. And two, when things happen around here, it's good as much as our flesh will let us, as Joseph did, try to view these things in a godly perspective. And we need to maintain that kind of perspective when we deal with a brother or a sister or older man or older woman. Just maintain a godly perspective. 2 Timothy 2, 24 to 26 says this. The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." So I mean, again, again, the same, same approach. Same approach as the older men, except just a little bit different perspective, but the same idea. It's not with a striking out at them in a note of severe condemnation, but dealing with them in a soft manner. Now, while we're here, how are young men to act? We saw how old men are to act. How about young men? Well, Titus says, or in Titus it says this, Titus 2, 6-8, likewise, urge the young men to be sensible. in all things. In all things, show yourselves to be an example of good deeds with purity of doctrine." You notice that? Purity of doctrine, dignified, sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Interesting. About us. He's saying young men do this so they have nothing to say about us. Nothing to say about us. Keep up when you're talking, especially talking to people outside the church, maintain the testimony. And within the church, same thing. Maintain civility. Although you get too harsh with people, You lose an audience. You drive people away. You'll accomplish nothing. You've driven them away. And now on to older women. This could be a problem, but I don't think so. Older women. Older women as mothers. Verse 2, the older women as mother. Again, do not sharpen rebuke, but plead with the older women as mothers. Again, we already saw looking at the fathers that mothers in scripture are said to have that same respect that is to be given to older men, fathers. Now, Exodus 20.12 says, honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. So again, honor your father and your mother. And again, Proverbs 1.8, hear my son your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. Listen, when you're at home, listen. They've got something to tell you. They've been around a while. They know what they're doing. Proverbs 23, 22, listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. Don't despise her when she's young either, but especially when she's old. Now, an example of dealing with a couple of women who are at odds with each other. I don't know if you remember, in Philippians chapter four, we went through Philippians some time ago. It's not too far away. Philippians four, one through three, there was a couple ladies, I'll just read it in chapter four of Philippians, verses one through three. There's one of my brothers. loved and longed for my own, my brothers, loved and longed for my joy and crown in this way, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. And here he goes. I urge you Odea and I urge Synthicae to think the same way in the Lord. Indeed, I ask you also, genuine companion, help these women who have contended together alongside of me in the gospel. with also Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the Book of Life." Context, within the church family, treat these ladies with respect. They're banging heads here. They've got something going. These two gals, don't know how old they are, and it really doesn't matter, but it's just the idea of just treating people with respect. Urge them, talk to them. Again, don't browbeat them. Don't come at them like you're coming at them with a stick. Talk to them, plead with them. Say, hey, and I love that. And he says, I also ask you, genuine companion. We're not sure who that is. It's probably the one that was handed this letter when it was delivered to Philippi. Go talk to these women who have contended together alongside of me in the gospel. So these are ladies that have spent time working together, promoting the gospel, and now they're at odds with each other. Fix that. That's got to be fixed. That's a sin. Okay? Stop. Get that corrected. And how do you get that corrected? Talk with them. Speak to them. Speak to them. Okay? Now, Titus, before I get to Titus, you know, the ministry of older women is of great value. to the church. In our day and age, it's very underused, I would say. Titus 2, 3-5 says, Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips, or enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good. so that they may encourage the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands. Why? So that the word of God will not be dishonored. And again, I say, you older ladies, you have experience. Some of you have raised kids. You've got good ideas. You know what works. You know what doesn't work. You've been there. You have so much to offer. And again, both older men and older women have much to offer the church. I would personally just urge the older men, Men and women, don't check out. Stay engaged. You know? Hell, I'm old. Nobody wants to hear me. Yeah, we do. We do want to hear you. We need to hear you. I'm referring to you older people. We need to hear you. I need all the help I can get. I'll listen to the young ones, too. No, seriously, we need to function. Again, that body, you know? Does the eye say to the ear, I don't need you? No, we need all, we need all of you. And now which leads us to the younger women. And it says there in verse two of the younger women, younger women as sisters in all purity. Well, sisters is a common designation for women, for women believers in the New Testament. One good, there's several examples, I'll give you one. Romans 16, one and two, when we were going through this in First Timothy, the study of deacons, we looked at this one a little bit. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant, that's Diakonos, deacon of the church, which is at Centuria, that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and that you help her in whatever matter she may have need of, for she herself has also been a helper of many. and of myself as well. And so this lady we talked about a little bit back then, this Phoebe, now remember, Centuria is a town right just outside of Corinth. And remember, Romans is written to Rome, the Romans, right? And so here is a lady that is coming from her church in the area of Corinth, I think in Greece, Back then, this lady, she's coming from Greece, and she's heading to you, heading to Rome. When she gets there, treat her right. She's a good, she's a servant of a church, she's a friend of mine, treat her right, okay? And again, but that's just an example, I went a little bit beyond, I was just looking at the word sister, but it's just the idea here that sisters are important, young women are important, and we need to treat them as sisters as we treat the younger men as brothers, okay? And the younger women who are, again, younger women who are caught up in some sin or error, again, must be treated as, say, a loving brother would treat his sister. And again, in a normal family-setting brothers are protective of their sisters. They should be. At least they should be. And this should be the case in the church as well. Protect our young ladies. And this little phrase is added there, in all purity. in all purity." It wasn't said of the brothers, it wasn't said of the older men or older women. This phrase kind of stands as a warning to Timothy and all other men who would interact with young women in their perhaps pastoral or their teaching or counseling ministries. Watch out. Be very careful. Be very careful. MacArthur had a good word on this. He said, quote, there are few things as evil as a pastor who sins mentally or physically with a young woman he had been helping spiritually. That is nothing less than incest. in the spiritual family. For that reason, Paul adds the phrase, in all purity. It stands as a warning. As a matter of fact, Deuteronomy, concerning incest, Deuteronomy 27, 22 says, cursed is he who lies with his sister. And as the family of God, those thoughts and deeds should not be a part of any of us, especially those that minister. Jesus said, Matthew 5, you have heard it been said that you should not commit adultery? But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Okay, therefore, anybody who has those kinds of thoughts about Women in the church certainly need to take care of themselves when you start ministering to them. Okay? That just won't go. That can't go. There's trouble on the horizon that has to stop right there. Right then and there. Right then and there. Now, we've hit everybody else. What's expected of the young women? What's expected of younger women is, quite frankly, follow the advice, hopefully, you're getting from the older women. And hopefully, the advice you're getting from the older wing is better than the advice that Job got from his friends, okay? But assuming the advice is good, and what is that advice? Well, it's to, what was it we just read? To love their husbands, to love their children, be sensible, pure workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored. Okay, well, What about the younger single women? Well, my personal counsel to you is hold out for a young man, or if you're an older woman and single, hold out for a man who fits the description that was laid out in Titus 2, 6-8 that we read about the younger men. Likewise, young men should be sensible. You're looking for a man? Sensible, number one. You want some ding-dong. In all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds. Does he show himself to be an example of good deeds? I love this one. And this is a big one. One that's often overlooked. With purity in doctrine. And there's that word, doctrine, dare I say theology? Somebody that's got their theological heads on straight. And on top of that, dignified, sound in speech, which is beyond reproach. so that the opponent would put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us." In other words, you want somebody that's solid in their faith and lives up to it, to just abbreviate. Solid in their faith, that lives up to it, and you can see it. Now, a closing thought for all of us collectively, and I have always liked this. This is one of Paul's prayers for the church. If you wanna follow, it's in Ephesians chapter three, verses 14 through 21. Tremendous prayer that Paul prays for the church. And there's a few of his that are sprinkled out through his epistles. Ephesians 3, 14 to 21. And this should be all of our prayers for this church and every church. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, in that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Let's close in a word of prayer. Our Father God, as we Conclude this morning, Lord, we just thank you so much for this body that you've given us, this portion here of your family that we indeed consider our family, our mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters. Lord, may we treat them as such. May we respect them and honor them as such. And again, Lord, we honor you for having brought us together. In Jesus' name, amen.