The title of this sermon, The Royal Family of Grace. The Royal Family of Grace. If I asked you, what is a church? Probably many of you, if not all of you at least here in this church, would give me a biblical definition, or at least we'd be close. But what if we went on the street and we asked, what would people say? So we go on the street and we ask, what is a church? What do you think a church is? I think a lot of people would say, well, the church is a religious structure. I don't know if many of you guys have traveled around. We certainly have some interesting and nice churches here, but I spent some time in Europe, and in the years that I was in Europe, they have these old, like, you know, a really old thing in America is like, you get a 100-year-old house, and like, their new houses are 150 years old, so it's different. So they have these really old, amazing churches with these huge, huge vaulted ceilings, amazing art, just stunning decor. And I think sometimes people probably think, that's a church. So is that a church? Others would say, no, no, no. A church is a group of people who exercise benevolence and take care of the poor. This group would describe the church and the primary mission of the church as being that of the salvation army or goodwill. Is that a church? Still others would see the church simply as a social organization. You know, I need a sanctuary. I need a safe place for me, for my family, for my kids to be able to interact with. And they like the youth group and the programs that a church provides because they see the church as a social gathering and a place that's safe. It's almost like a cheaper country club, so to speak. Is this a church? Some people see the church as a political organization, to forgive the irony here, to make America great. The television see the church as a cash cow. The television see the church as an opportunity to fleece people of money. Is this what a church is? I don't think so, probably most here would not say it is. Let's just consider some of the metaphors of scripture before we read our text here in Timothy. In Ephesians 5, 22 to 32, the church is pictured as the bride of Christ, which Jesus himself redeemed and won and paid for with his own blood. That's what we see in Ephesians 5, the bride of Christ, which was bought, cleansed, and paid for with his blood. In 2 Timothy 2.34 and Ephesians 6, the church is pictured as an army of soldiers, but not just an army of soldiers. They're pictured as an army of kingdom soldiers, and the kingdom referring to that which Jesus always spoke about, the kingdom of God is at hand. One of the most beautiful metaphors for the church in 1 Peter is in 1 Peter 5 and 2 through 4. And the church is mentioned as this precious flock, this flock that is precious in the sight of God. And then, of course, Paul, when he talks about the church in Romans, in Romans 12, in 1 Corinthians 12, as well as Romans 12 and Colossians 1, he calls the church the body. The body of Christ, Christ is the head, and he refers to the church continually as the body, where each piece comes together in unity around the gospel. A group of sinners, deserving of hell, saved by the choosing of God through the blood of Jesus alone, and this group comprises, makes up the body of Christ. That's how it's described by Paul. The body concept though, on the other side, can be impersonal to us. I don't know my liver, right? I know I have a liver, it's inside. I don't come in contact with my liver very often, right? So sometimes I know the body concept can be a bit foreign to us. And to be honest, probably like me, none of you have any desire to come into any contact with your liver. But in our passage, the metaphor God brings is that of a kingdom family, it's personal. It's a body that's personal, that's close, that's connected, that's a group of people who are able, and more than able, it's a group of people who are willing to interact with each other. And that's where it's difficult, right? I mean, it's very easy to be, oh, I'm saved, and I'm a Christian, and I come in and out of church when I want, and as quick as I can, and do the thing, but I don't feel like interacting, right? Being able to interact and actually being willing to interact are different. And that's the encouragement here. We are a group, a body that is able, and the encouragement is to be willing to interact, and even during potentially conflict, but done in love, done in a way that's around the gospel. And some of that is the context, actually, of our text in Timothy 5. A loving, tight group, willing to interact with each other. This is not a surprise. As earlier in 1 Timothy, as we'd been preaching, we already saw in 1 Timothy 3.5 this, but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the church of God? And we see this concept of the household, okay? Ephesians 2.19 says that you are no longer strangers and aliens, but are fellow citizens with the saints. And we are, those who are purchased by the blood of Jesus, are of God's household. This is the church, this is the body, this is how it's explained. So the church is a family. Families can be difficult. If you're a believer, then you are actually of God's household, the creator of everything. God who is holy, righteous, thought of the universe and every law and good thing that we know is solely from the mind and the hand of God. And if you're a believer, you're actually of God's household. Do you deserve it? No, you don't. Are you what you should be? No, you're not. But that's the point. It's of grace. Galatians 6.10 says, so then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who, what, are of the household of faith. So we've already seen in 1 Timothy that some of the family members were following wrong doctrine. We saw this. Paul wrote to Timothy about this. We saw even that things got so bad in this church family that Timothy was having to work with some Christians who had, in Paul's language, shipwrecked. their faith. He didn't say they weren't Christians, but they were at a point in their life where they had behaved, acted, reacted to the Lord, whatever happened. We don't know all the details, but they had gotten into a point where the scripture says that they had shipwrecked their faith. Members of the family. All those who are anchored in the gospel, those who have repented of selfism and have turned to Jesus, that means that they trust in Jesus alone for salvation, are part of the royal family of God. And we are a family held together by the grace of God. With that context, read with me in 1 Timothy 5 as we continue on talking about the family, and I just want to look at the first two verses here for context today. It says this, do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters in all purity. So as believers, we are to interact with each other as a loving family. All interactions within a family should be made where the goal is growth, where the goal is the gospel, where the goal is grace. This is the fault of often, and this is just a little bit of a rabbit trail, but let me just bring this up in this context of the family. This is the fault of child training often taught in the church, and not that I am claiming to be the expert on said things. But biblically speaking, we tend to discipline or teach in a way where parents, Christian parents, tend to discipline their children when they aggravate them enough, or they want their kids to act better. But this isn't the Bible goal of discipline. Specifically, I'm talking about children, child discipline here within the family. But the goal of discipline in any interaction within the family is to point to Christ and to point to the gospel. But again, too often, it's like, oh, my kids embarrass me. I don't want them acting this way. I don't want them saying this. And it's real annoying when my kids act this way. And if my kids could behave better, then I'd be happier in life. And this becomes the goal of discipline. And then discipline's done at best for wrong motives, usually out of anger, and usually implemented at the wrong time. Like, that's it. Now I'm fed up. Now you're going to get it. So I can tell you honestly before the Lord, I don't want well-groomed and well-behaved kids. I want kids. And my prayer for all of us here and all believers is to have kids who love Jesus and love the gospel, which is different than having the kids that maybe we look at and we're like, oh, I wish my kid was like that. You know, usually we're talking about, you know, the behavior and external appearance when we look at that. You know, we want kids who love Jesus. We want kids who love the gospel. This is the goal of our interactions. Yes, in the family, and it's the goal of our interactions in the body of Christ in church with one another. That's the point of what we just read in 1 Timothy 5. And now in 1 Timothy 5, the context is do not sharply rebuke. So it's even starting from like where there's problems. Right? Because he's talking about rebuking. It doesn't say, don't rebuke one another. It says, don't do it this way. Don't do it with this heart. And we'll talk about that here today. So in the same vein as with the kids, the goal of all of our family interactions, even when it's, I need to rebuke, I need to go to someone and say something. The goal of all interactions is to bring Christ, is to bring the gospel. If confrontation is needed, it's done with the goal of gospel growth, of unity, with humility, with the respect that the Bible has us to bring to one another. So let me ask you again this morning, or let me ask you this morning, what is your purpose in church? Why do you come and engage with the Cornerstone Bible Church family, or whatever church family you go to? Consider Galatians 6.1, it says this, brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, so that's sin, they've done something wrong, right? So someone else caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of what? Gentleness. The idea of meekness. Each one looking to yourself so that you will not be tempted. And this idea of meekness, power, but what? Under control, right? Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is power, great power, under control. So how do we do this? Well, in today's text, we see some examples. The principles of our text in 1 Timothy 5, 1 and 2 apply to many situations. But let's look specifically at the examples that the text brings. How, in a gospel way, within grace, We have people of different genders. We have people of different ages. That's the context here of 1 Timothy 5. That's what God has here in his word. So how do we confront, interact with one another? Well, first we deal with older men as we would fathers, right? This is what we see right here in what we just read. Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father. In context, yes, we're dealing with older men. I know some say, oh, well, maybe this is elders. That doesn't make sense because then it talks about younger men and then older women and then younger women. No, this is talking about the older men and older women. That's what's going on in our text. So if you are a man or a woman of either older or younger age, we all would probably say we're younger, right? There's always someone alive older than us, so then that must mean we're not there yet. But if you are a man or a woman, then I would say today's text directly applies to you. Timothy is being told by Paul to not be clicky. and to interact with all people in the church? Let me just read some scripture here. Consider Leviticus 19.32. You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the aged. And you shall revere your God, I am the Lord. Amen. This is pretty clear. Proverbs 16.31, a gray head is a crown of glory. It is found in the way of righteousness. In general, the scripture tells us to respect those who have traveled longer than us. Does that mean that they're always right? No, that's not the point here. That's not what it's saying. But biblically, we are of the royal family of Christ, and we are to respect all people, which means giving respect to those who are older than us. Now, this is actually talking about even having to go to that person and rebuke them or bring something to them, but it talks about the attitude that we need to come here in 1 Timothy. Now, we talked a little bit about this in Sunday school, though the Sunday school wasn't about this, but in our conversating, I had mentioned we were gonna talk about this here today. The context here is not right to be used as a weapon. It's not like, oh, well, you know, I'm older than you, so you need to do what I say, because haven't you read, you know, Proverbs 16.31 and Leviticus 19.32? No, the encouragement is for all of us here in how we, in God's heart, and how we should approach one another, others for whom Jesus died for. Okay, that's the point here, it's more, It's more to the younger person and how they should look up. It's not one to be weaponized. But Proverbs 4, 1 through 5 says, hero sons, the instruction of a father, and give attention that you may gain understanding. For I give you sound teaching. Do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, then he taught me and said to me, let your heart Hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live. Acquire wisdom, acquire understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. In Proverbs, wisdom typically is Christ personified. It means that wisdom is resting in Jesus. It's going to Jesus, seeking wisdom, seeking Jesus. But the context of listening to those who have experiences both in failure In success, the scripture says, is wise. You would be silly, in fact, the scripture would call you foolish, not my language, the scripture's language, for not doing so. So young people here, let me say this. I know we think, you know, Paul yelled at Peter when he confronted him, but actually in Galatians, Paul simply asked Peter a question. And I bring this up because I know we read it, it's like, you know, we read the English and it's like, oh, well, you know, Paul stood Peter to his face in front of everybody. Paul asked Peter a question in front of everybody. right, of what he was doing. Why, you know, is it right for you to do this? And there's nothing wrong with discussion, but it's to be done with respect. Look, I get it. I failed here. I remember, you know, and I failed many times. The thing that came to my mind, I remember my first semester in Greek and, you know, I had pastors who were way more, you know, senior in knowledge and understanding than I would have been and certainly knew more language than I knew. regarding Greek and Hebrew. Well, maybe not as much Hebrew as I learned Hebrew when I was younger, but knew much more Greek than I was. And here, not even out of my first semester of Greek, and here I'm correcting everybody on their Greek. Another time, I remember being told just something that happened that stuck with me. I remember being told, and this was a pastor who was much older than me at the time, and this was years after this other situation, but I'm having a Bible discussion with him and we didn't agree. Instead of using the Bible, instead of responding to me with the scripture, And I haven't changed much. I'm thankfully less snarky than I used to be. So if you think things are bad now, they really were bad. I'm not saying I solved it. I'm just saying they were worse. So instead of responding to me at the scripture, because he basically got done talking to me, I guess, he says, well, maybe when you're older you'll understand. Like, that was like the worst thing that someone could have said to me, right? I'm like, what do you mean? I mean, you don't have any Bible? That's your answer? I disliked the answer tremendously. And I still do, I understand it. But the right way to respond is loving and with the scripture. And that doesn't matter which side of that coin you're on, but for sure, the scripture demands respect for those who have gone before us. It's very clear. And it's done in grace. All of this goes back to the fact that God has saved all of us wretched sinners and is uniting us in one body. It goes back to that church metaphor. Gentleness is the mode in which we confront one another always. Just some simple advice, guys. Our goal's not to paint people in a corner. Do you do that? I do this, right? I argue, and if any of you have argued with me, some of you have, maybe you've seen that, right? I'll build those little boxes around you. You know, so you can't get out. I remember I was having a discussion with Edwin a few weeks ago, and I started kind of doing that. He said, don't put me in a box. I'm not putting you in a box. But the point is, you know what? Our goal is not to corner people. Our goal is not to win. the argument to be right? Or are you just trying to prove that, you know, well, this person, you know, the older person, well, they just don't get it, if we apply directly to our text here in Timothy. Well, they're older age, don't get it, and you know, and you're right, and you're just, you know, well, are we trying to bring the gospel in the situation? Or are we just trying to prove that we're right? Don't paint people in a corner. Is this situation about you? Or is the situation about the grace of God? Is the situation about the gospel? That's the other question we need to ask ourselves. I'm just saying, why are we having the conversation we're having? Am I having it for me? Am I having it because of my own arrogance? Or am I having a conversation because, you know what, this is right in the eyes of God, and we need to talk here. I mean, in every different conversation we need to, but all things done for the glory of God, Corinthians 10.31. So in this vein, the scripture says to treat older men like a father. Our text says, do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father. Now the word sharp here is saying, and I'll just put it in my own words and help you understand kind of the language and the Greek that's happening here. Here's what it says. It says, don't use violence with your words. Don't use violence with your words when trying to restore a family member. And that's true of, yes, older men that we interact with, but isn't that true of all interactions? Isn't that the point of Galatians 6.1? Don't use violence in your words as you're trying to restore someone. It's never okay. So what do you do? You appeal to them. You come alongside the person. Think if you've ever heard pastors talk about any Greek, the paraclete, right? The God is our helper, right? Para is like alongside. And so it has the idea of coming alongside to help. Okay? So that's the idea that's here in this text. This is how God treats us. And whenever I see the word father in the scripture, I always think of God, right? The perfect father we have in heaven. God who saved us when we were sinners. The father who reached down to the lowest depth and showed mercy on us while we were sinners, while we were the enemies of God. And without him changing our hearts, all of us here would hate God and would go to, at the end of the day, would go to war against Him. God who's holy, God who's good, who's righteous, goes out of His way and the Father gave His Son for us. In addition to this, the Son, who is God, submitted to the will of the Father and died for us out of love and compassion for us. And then, the comforter, the paraclete, the helper who comes alongside, the Holy Spirit who is God, comes and helps us and shows compassion on us as, and I'm gonna describe the person who lives the best Christian life here as you bumble and stumble around this life. That's what God does for us. So brothers and sisters, Don't use violent words. Don't be insensitive as you deal with one another, and especially those who are senior to us. I'm not saying don't correct. I'm not saying don't have a conversation. I'm simply appealing to the word of God and dealing in grace with one another as a family. Will we have to correct those older than us? Yes, sometimes, and sometimes we'll need to be corrected. But with love and compassion, motivated by the love and compassion that God has shown to us. That's the appeal for us to forgive one another, right? This works everywhere, because you've been forgiven. Jesus even said it, who's gonna forgive more? Who's gonna love more? The one who's been forgiven more. Let me open up that our small family here in Cornerstone Bible Church. Some of you have been around here longer, so maybe this is more meaningful to you. When I became a soul elder, I had men in leadership who God had put there under me. I think some of them were there in like the Civil War, I don't know. But they were there a long time. Did I agree with everything that they had to say? No. I did it, but I had this same challenge. So it's even being given to Timothy, and the reason I bring this up is in context. This command from Paul is being given to the elder of the church in Ephesus. It's being given to Timothy, who has older, younger, male, female, people around him and serving with him in the church. So it's very applicable what I'm talking about here. But I knew God wanted me to show respect, patience, compassion, and love in the gospel. Did I do this perfectly? No. And hopefully, occasionally, I did do it. My heart was to do it. But I can tell you that some of those men still sit here today and are men that I have great respect for. Some of them are crazy, but I love and appreciate the work that God has done in their hearts over, in context, let's say, the many years. My point of this, even in a position of leadership, the gospel calls for me to show deference and to be respectful in the exact same way. This is the gospel call for all of us. At the end of the day, when we gossip, when we slander about those, about anyone, and let's say those older than us, in the context of Timothy 5.1, we dishonor those who Jesus died for. Just think about that. When we slander and gossip about another brother or sister, we dishonor the one whom Jesus died for, as well as laying more sin upon our already sin on Jesus. Think about that the next time you desire to use violent words directly at or about someone. encourage one another with respect and appeal within the confines of the gospel. So what about young men? Look at the end of verse one. Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, and now we see this next group, to the younger man as brothers. If you have seen children interact with one another, and if you have kids, I know in some way you've seen this, but probably you've seen it anyway. So one sibling says to the other, hey, you need to do this, and what's the response? No, I don't, you're not the boss of me. Some way, you've either said that to your sibling, or you've observed children say that, maybe today. Our text point is here in verse one, is to treat those younger than us as equals. So there's respect up and those who are younger than us, we treat them as equals. The context is the same we've been looking at. The guiding motive in heart is love and compassion. When you confront your brother, you do it with a heart to bring the brother, and this is brother or sister in the general sense, but you bring the brother to the cross and whatever the situation, there's no basis for us to interact with each other outside the gospel. And sometimes we struggle with loving our sibling. Right? Sometimes we struggle with loving our siblings. The church is no different. The church is the same. We struggle with one another. I'm not gonna ask for a show of hands of who has a hard time in church, you know, ever, but probably every hand would go up if you come to church. Listen to the heart of God talking to his people. This is unchanged. Obviously, God never changes, but this has been the message of scripture the whole way through. Listen to Leviticus 19.17. Way back when, God said this, you shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart. Who's he talking to? The people of Israel, the people who were God's people at the time. You shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart. You may surely reprove your neighbor. Don't hate him, sure. You need to tell him something's wrong, you need to reprove him, go to him. Don't hate him. But shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people. But you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Way back when. I know Jesus summed it up for us when he said the whole law could be summed up in those two commandments, and we see that right here in Leviticus. Way, way back when. Loving our fellow countrymen, loving our fellow brothers and sisters in church. Loving our neighbor as ourself. Why? Because God is God. That's what he says. You can talk to them, you can deal, we're not to hate them, we're not to gossip, we're not to slander, we're not to be violent in our words. Too often in church, we would never say, oh, you know, I hate so-and-so. Like, oh, because that's unchristian to say. But in our heart, bitterness and hatred is the only thing that pours out. And Jesus is very clear, out of the abundance of the heart, what? The mouth speaks. My mind wanders and it just can't let it go. This isn't the heart and this isn't the goal of God. And it's certainly God's heart and goal is restoration. And for sure, God's encouragement is for that to be on display in the royal family of God, the royal family of grace. None of us deserve to be in the family. This is a work of God. But we are to help one another, draw closer to Jesus and the gospel. Let me read some more scripture. 1 John 2.10, the one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. So that's what we act like when we hate one another. We act like blind people walking around. 1 John 3.15. It says, everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know, loved by this, that he laid his life for us and we ought to lay down our life for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in needs and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but indeed, And it's not just an effort thing because it says what? And in truth, in our heart. This is a hard attitude. The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 13 said, let the love of the brethren continue, talking about their attitudes and working amongst one another in context. Hebrews 13, one, let the love of the brethren continue. As we all look at each other as peers, which again is the point to the older in 1 Timothy 5.1, right? And this is not to be weaponized, right? I said the other side's not to be weaponized. None of this is to be weaponized at each other. The point is encouragement. As we look at those older than us, yeah, we have encouragement here. And as we look at those who are younger than us or we deem younger than us, then we look at them as peers. equals here, and we need to exercise humility and love. Again, I point to God, Jesus, who became the servant of all because of love. Jesus, who died for all those who turn to him and offer salvation to all. Jesus, who is God and demonstrated the greatest humility of all and calls us, that's you and me, Jesus, God, calls us his brothers and sisters. Think about that for a minute. I mean, you think of who Jesus is, you think of who God is, and the humility and what God went through, and you think about the things the scripture says there, so that you could be his brother or his sister. I know a lot has been said about Philippians 2. This is the gnosis, the emptying. And I'm always sad when I read commentaries on that chapter and books on that chapter, because they spend a lot of time talking about a lot of complex things. And while I don't have a problem with that, they actually miss the simple truth that that passage is talking about, in my opinion. It's very simply about the love of God who left heaven, who took on humanity to bear the punishment for your and my sin. That's what that passage is about. Philippians 2 says this, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. And here we go, verse six. which is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The appeal is based on the work of Jesus, and because of what he's done, humility, regard one another, at minimum as equals, really, more important than ourselves. Deal with one another as you would a brother, who you love, which includes those younger than us. The text goes on to say in verse two, the older women as mothers, and I'm not going to cover, we very generally dealt with verse one and two here, but let me just make some quick points here on the older and younger women. Exodus 20 says, we're to honor father and what? Mother. And I know the feeling, oh, there's this lady in church, and I perceive, you know, this is, I'm stereotyping, I probably shouldn't, but, right, and I perceive she's, you know, she's critical or nagging or whatever, and it may not be, but this is how people perceive things. But how would you want someone to treat your mom? That's kind of the point of the text. We need to treat the older ladies in our church with honor, with honor. Now, I can give you kind of a negative example of someone who is not a Christian, but I saw kind of get taught a lesson here. And many of you know Ken Ham, he does Answers in Genesis. Anyway, many, many years ago in my apartment in Germany, I was in the army at the time. I was a young, low-ranking sergeant in the army, so no one important. But it was a big night, Ken Ham was over, and I invited some different families from the church over. And there was one particular family I invited over, and the husband is a full-bird colonel. So if you're not a military person, don't worry, they're pretty high-ranking. So the husband's a full-bird colonel. Of course, everybody's in civilians, right? Because this is night, we're eating. We do get out of military clothes from time to time. So, the colonel pulls up and we're in this big complex. There isn't a lot of people, places to park. And he pulls up and his wife gets out of the car and the sergeant, who my upstairs neighbor, who also was a sergeant, little hot-tempered guy, starts just railing on this colonel's wife, right? Like he's cursing at her, he's yelling at her because of where she parked, he didn't approve, blah, blah, blah, this whole thing, right? None of you guys have ever had any parking issues here in Miami. But, so he's like, he's yelling at her, and the colonel does nothing, right, he's just there. But he takes note of who the sergeant was. Later that week, the colonel, now the colonel is also a dentist, that was his job in the military. So he's a dentist, so he calls the sergeant in for a dental checkup. Occasionally military tell you you got to go in. So he calls the guy in for a dental checkup. And so here's the scene as I understand it, the sergeant sitting in the chair. So in walks the colonel, picks up the dental tools, the drill. and says, hey, remember me? I think you had some choice words for my wife the other night. Now, here he's the dentist in uniform now, full bird colonel, and the point is this. Hopefully we don't need God to confront us. with a drill to learn the lesson of respecting the older ladies, and people in general, for that matter, all ladies and all people, hopefully we don't get to that point. Take the admonition of the scripture, and because of the gospel, treat older women with honor, as you would want a woman and a mother who deserves honor to be treated. See them as the value that God does in the kingdom and for the kingdom's sake. And finally, treat the younger women as you would a sister. The older women as mothers and the younger women as sisters in all purity. If you had a younger sister and a guy was trying to do wrong by her, I assume that guy would be in trouble, okay? We are to value and to be passionate about the purity of the younger women in the church. That's the scripture, in all purity. This means bringing the gospel to them. It means being respectful. Now, I can speak as a guy here, because I kind of am one. Men, If you treat women in a way that is disgraceful, or as we talked about the other week, as objects simply for your pleasure, you really need to bring your heart before the Lord and apply the gospel. Our sisters are equals to us. And that's what's being spoken of here. Jesus died for their sin and for ours equally, and they are to be cherished and encouraged in the gospel. And this isn't just a sexual morality thing. The idea is guarding our own hearts. And this is for anybody here. Guarding our own hearts in addition to helping the sisters in the church guard theirs. We all fail in loving one another. I get that. If you're a believer, you struggle. Praise God Jesus died for us. And the point today is let us therefore, in the gospel, strive to engage with one another in a way that is respectful and that where we are pointing one another to the cross. Again, listen to the text and then we'll pray. List 1 Timothy 5, 1 and 2. Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters in all purity. And may we all honor, respect, and love one another within the royal family. family of grace. That's us. That's those who Jesus died for. That's those who turn and repent and trust in Jesus for salvation. God and his grace made us all one body. He made us all one family. Let's be that grace dealing family. Amen? Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your grace and mercy. And Lord, we know We deserve hell. We deserve judgment. But Father, you have offered salvation to us. And if there's someone here who's never put their faith and trust in Christ, and they're not born again, Father, we pray for them. We pray for their salvation. Lord, we pray that you would grant them repentance and faith. Father, for those of us who are your children, help us to love you. Help us to interact and love one another. And Father, because of what Jesus has done for us, and Lord Jesus, we're thankful. And we know we fail and we know we will fail, but But give us a heart of humility to love, to bring grace to one another, and to respect one another in a way that you would have us to do. Help us to love and honor you. And again, we pray for grace and mercy and wisdom in these areas. And we pray for a good holiday season, Father, for anyone traveling. For those who are going to be interacting with family, pray for grace and mercy there. And we all need that. And we certainly, again, pray for any of our family who don't know you, who maybe we'll see over this holiday season. Pray this in Sunday school, Father. For our friends, families, neighbors who don't know you, we pray mercy. We pray grace. We pray that they would turn and repent and turn to Christ and embrace the cross and the gospel in their lives. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.