I invite you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter five. We'll look at verses one to two this morning. Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father. Younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger as sisters with all purity. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your holy word, and I thank you for the privilege of being able to stand and preach and teach your word. Lord, help us to draw from your word the life principles that we need, both personally and as a church. And so help us as we hear your word this morning to believe it and to put it into practice, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. So far, the apostle Paul has been directing his letter primarily to Timothy. And now in chapters 5 and 6, we begin a new section in his letter. And in these chapters, Paul deals with Timothy's relationship to various groups within the church. For example, he addresses how he should relate to various age groups in the church. He addresses how he should minister to widows, and the church should minister to widows. He addresses how Timothy should relate to the pastors of the church. And then finally, he addresses the relationship between bondservants and their masters. Indeed, our relationships with one another is very important. Jesus taught that if you're not right with one another, you're not going to be right with God. And so we have here, in this text of Scripture, Paul addressing relationships in regard to age groups. And in the particular issue that he addresses When you as a pastor, or you as a deacon, or you as someone else in life in a position to correct them, how are you to do so? Well, Paul told Timothy that he was to preach the Word of God. And in preaching the Word of God, he would give general correction to God's people. You know, sometimes when I preach, there'll be times when I kind of step on your toes. gives some correction, and it kind of comes close to home, you know, and so I give general correction, but at times a pastor, a deacon, other leader may need to kind of pull you aside and give you some personal correction about something you said or something that you did. But in this passage of Scripture, Paul tells how we are to correct. It is important that we do so in the right way. And so I ask you this morning, when was the last time you corrected someone? And when you corrected them, did it bring about the desired change in their life? And then I would also ask that, did it, you know, seem to not do any good at all. Well, I think if we hear the message today, we will do better when it comes time to correct and that we do it in an appropriate way. And so, I want to share in verses 1 to 2, first of all, some general principles that we can draw from these two verses. And the first is this, how we should correct others. In verse 1, Paul says, Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father. Now I don't think Paul is limiting that instruction just to older men, because if you look at the text, the verbs are not repeated when he talks about younger men. and older women and younger women. And so actually, what he says here about rebuking someone and how you should do it is not addressed just to older men, but really to everyone, to all age groups. And so let's look at the first command. He says, do not rebuke. other believers, basically the whole context he would be saying. And yet in verse 20, he says, those elders who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all. Now you might think that Paul is contradicting himself there. But actually, though it's translated the same way, in the original language, those are two different words. The word rebuke found in verse 1 is only found in verse 1 in the entire Greek New Testament. And it literally refers to striking at someone like a master would do with his slave. But then the word came to mean to strike at someone verbally. to break someone, to give someone a tongue lashing. That's what Paul is prohibiting here. That to an older man, even to older women, and even to younger men and younger women, you are not to, as a pastor, give them a tongue lashing as a means of correction. You are not to pompously be harsh in how you correct members of the congregation, Paul is saying. And so instead of dealing harshly with those who need correction, Timothy must soften the approach and instead exhort them, he says. That word exhort literally means to call to one side. Come here. I need to talk to you." And when you do so, you give them a word of exhortation. You give them a word of encouragement. You give them a word of comfort. It's translated all those ways in various portions of the New Testament. And so the right approach is required. Do you know why? Because when you correct someone, you know what's going to happen? They're going to throw up their defenses. and they're going to have a tendency not even to listen to you, especially if you berate them, if you chide them, as Paul describes in verse 1. And so instead of berating them, he says you are to exhort them. And the right approach is required for the very reason that I just gave and is found in other scriptures. For example, in Galatians 6.1, Paul says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, he says. Paul desires that recipients of correction be treated with due respect and with tact and gentleness and moderation. In 2 Timothy 2, verses 24 to 25, Paul says that the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition. We must make sure that the other person knows that we are correcting them out of love and concern. Jesus himself said in Revelation 3, 19, Whom I love, I rebuke and chasten. So even though we are to soften our approach, spiritual leaders must not neglect the ministry of correction. both in our preaching and in our personal ministry. The apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4 in verse 2, Preach the word, convince, rebuke, and exhort. In Titus 1-9, he told Titus to refute those who contradict sound doctrine. And so many a person would be saved from sorrow and shipwreck in their life if someone would correct them, if someone would admonish them, if someone would exhort them to understand that what they are doing is not only hurting other people, but it's hurting themselves. And if you find yourself on the receiving end of correction, I hope you will listen and evaluate whether what that person is saying to you is truly a word of correction that you need to hear. William Sapphire said, nobody stands taller than those who are willing to stand corrected. This principle of not giving a sharp reprimand but to exhort and admonish should also be applied in family relationships. When was the last time you gave your spouse a tongue lashing? When was the last time you berated and chided your child in a way that crushed their spirit and was not really helpful? I think Paul may have had this in mind in Ephesians 6 where he said, And you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Parents, we have a responsibility to stay on the right road and avoid the ditch of harshness and the ditch of permissiveness. We must balance our approach to correction and discipline. And so Paul gives some general principles here about how to correct and how not to correct. But there's another general principle that comes out in verses 1 and 2, and that is we are to regard other believers as family. In our dealings with others in the church, we are to regard one another as members of the same family. He refers in these verses regarding others in the church as fathers, as brothers, as mothers, as sisters, depending on their age and gender. Chapter 1, Paul referred to Timothy as my son, my genuine son, speaking spiritually. Jesus said in Matthew 12, 50, For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. Jesus taught we are to regard one another as family. So treat one another the way you should treat your own family. That's a very important principle, and the question is, have we been doing that in our relationships within the church body? Now, there's a special reason why Paul encouraged to treat other believers as family. And that is that when a person became a baptized believer, oftentimes they would be disowned by their own family, especially if they were a Jew, for example. And so when you're disowned by your family, then your church family is your family. That's all that you really have left. And so it was very important to regard one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. There may be some of you who feel like you're closer to your church family than your unbelieving family member. And that's okay because we are family. We are bound by a common faith in Jesus Christ. We are blood kin because we're washed in the same blood of Jesus Christ. Love one another as family. this passage indicates. And then finally, we are to treat our elders with respect. The Bible teaches that we are to respect our elders, and Timothy was not to correct his elders in a disrespectful manner, as we see here, but to show respect. You know, The biblical world, in the biblical faith, we are taught as young children, Exodus 20, 10 Commandments, the first in human relationships is to honor your father and your mother. To show respect and honor to your father and mother. and not only to your father and mother, but you are to be taught to show honor and respect to all the elders in your life. When I was growing up, I vividly remember being taught to say yes ma'am and yes sir to those who were the elders in my life. I did that at school, and I did that in other realms of life, You go to school these days and the kids don't show the kind of respect that I was taught and probably you were taught far too often. Yes, a biblical principle is to respect your elders. And this principle is not just a biblical principle. It was a commonly held belief in the ancient world. And for the sake of our witness before unbelievers, certainly Christians in that day were expected to practice this principle. Cicero wrote, it is the duty of a young man to show deference to his elders and to attach himself to the best and most approved of them so as to receive the benefit of their counsel and influence. When there is mutual respect between the generations, we mutually benefit from the relationship. The young benefit from the relationship to the elders who have wisdom and experience. And we elders enjoy the relationship of the young. Oh, how we love your youthfulness, your idealism, your energy. That's the way it ought to be. And of course, this was practiced in Hebrew culture. In Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 32, It commands the Hebrews, rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly. When I was pastor of my previous church for 34 years, I had a man in the church who always stood to greet me. He was also a career military person. I don't know if he learned that kind of respect in the military or he was just brought up that way. But he always, even though he was old enough to be my father, I was his pastor. He respected my office. He stood every time I greeted him. By the way, you don't have to do that. It's just because I spoke of that man. It's more of the respect of your heart than the position of your body. So the elder saints of God are not to be pushed around and ignored as has happened too often in the contemporary church. Instead, they are to be loved and honored as fathers and mothers. We are not to follow the cultural attitude of looking down on people just because they're old, just because they don't know all the latest trends and fads in contemporary society, just because they have trouble programming their computer software and you know so much more than they do in such matters. No, the church should be counter-cultural, and we are to demonstrate respect for our elders, appreciation for our elders. And so these are three principles that we can draw from verses 1 and 2. But finally this morning, we need to note how these principles are to be applied based on age. And notice that Paul mentions that there would be elder members of the church, there would be younger members of the church. Evidently, that's the way it was in the early church. And by the way, every community basically had just one church. You know, you couldn't go to the young church or go to the old church. It was a church for everybody, all ages, and that's the way it really ought to be. And yet you visit churches around Some churches are mainly older people, some churches are mainly younger people. Folks, that's not the way it really ought to be. It ought to be a cross-section of the generation because we benefit from one another. And a goal of every church is either to maintain or achieve a broader spectrum of ages within the church. But let's look how we are to relate to older men in the church. In verse 1, Paul says, Do not rebuke, do not berate with tongue lashing an older man, but exhort him as a father. Now when he refers to an older man, it's translated that way, but actually it's the word for elder, the same word found in verse 17. there it refers to an elder who holds the office of elder, a pastor. But here in verse 1, it just is referring to an older man. Now, keep in mind that Timothy, chapter 4, verse 12, was still a young man. And so there would be a lot of men in the church who would be old enough to be his father. There would be a few that would even be old enough to be his grandfather. And so how was he to relate to them, especially when it came to giving correction? Well, notice Paul says regarding our dealings to an older man, we are not to rebuke such an older man in a harsh manner. Now if you think the older men of the church had a hard time being instructed by a young pastor, How much more would they have a hard time being corrected by a young man? And so Paul cautions Timothy to be careful about his approach in correcting an elder man. Choose your words carefully. Speak with tactfulness and kindness. and care. By the way, he says you are to regard them as a father, as a father. Do you remember ever trying to correct your father? It probably didn't go so well. I mean, he spent your whole young, your young life correcting you, and now you're going to correct him? And so, again, Paul cautions Timothy about that, but yet he maintains balance. Yes, you need to be respectful, you need to be loving, you need to be gentle in offering any kind of correction to an elder, but correct them, you must, if you're a pastor. He balances it. But we not only see his relationship to older men, but also to the younger men. In the last of verse 1, Paul says that Timothy was to exhort younger men as brothers. Remember, Timothy was a young man himself. He does not to regard them as their kids, their sons, but as brothers. You know what that tells me? You are to treat young men with respect as well. You're not to look down upon them. You're not to have an air of superiority over them. You're not to lord it over them as a pastor, but you are to treat them as a brother. Remember in 1 Peter 5, verse 3, Paul told pastors not to lord it over the congregation. Recall what Jesus said in Matthew 23, verse 8. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one Lord. and you are all brothers, Jesus said. And yet in spite of what Jesus said, the church in the later centuries began a hierarchy of popes and cardinals and bishops rather than regarding us as brothers in Christ. And so pastors and deacons in the church are not to treat the young men as inferior, but treat them respectfully as equals. And since no one was to despise Timothy's youth, then Timothy certainly should not despise the youthfulness of the younger members of the congregation. I wonder how many young men have quit the ministry after being berated and treated as such an inferior by their elder mentors. in the ministry. Older men, younger men. What about the older ladies of the church? Verse 2, Paul says that Timothy was to exhort older women as mothers. And so the same principle applies to how you correct the older women of the church. Timothy? You correct the older women of the church as you would your mother. Very carefully, right? Be careful with your words. Approach them in a spirit of prayerfulness. Approach them in a spirit of gentleness and love. And be careful how you approach them and correct them. Actually, the apostle Paul himself regarded a woman in the church as his mother. In Romans 16, verse 13, he says, Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, and mine. The mother of Rufus had a motherly relationship with the apostle Paul, and he regarded her like a mother in the family of God. When I became pastor of Swift Creek Baptist Church at the age of 30, it wasn't long before some of the older women in the church began to regard me like a mother. They would greet me with a hug and they would, they loved me as their pastor. And my mother was way off in Georgia. And so they just decided that this boy needs a mother. So they says, I'll be like a mother to you. And we had a special relationship. I had a special relationship with a number of the older women in the church. And that's perfectly fine. That's the way it ought to be. And so the older women in the church are being treated as mothers with love and honor and esteem and thankfulness and appreciation. Some of the most godly, prayerful, serving members of this church. are the older women of the church. Finally, he says, now when it comes to the younger women, Timothy, notice what he says at the last of verse 2. He was to exhort younger women as sisters with all purity. Yes, Timothy, was not just to preach to the women of the church, but he was to personally minister to the women of the church, including the younger women of the church. At times he would need to pull them aside and give them a word of exhortation, a word of admonition, a word of encouragement and comfort. And yet what we see here in verse 2 was actually contrary to Jewish culture. Did you realize in Jewish culture, in worship, men and women were always separated? They were not to have any contact. They were not to look across and gaze at each other. They were not to engage even in... conversation of an enjoyable manner. That's the way it was in Jewish culture, but it seems like in the church, the church was more permissive in terms of the relationships between men and women. And I'll tell you why. Because Jesus ministered personally to women, did he not? You remember the woman at the well in Samaria? How Jesus ministered to her, talked to her, witnessed to her, tried to bring her to faith in Christ? And so in John 4, verse 27, it says that when the disciples walked up on Jesus talking to this woman of Samaria, it says they marveled that He talked with a woman because they just didn't do that in that day and time. And then you think about his relationship with Mary Magdalene, his relationship to Mary and Martha. And so the church became more open about personal relationships between men and women in the church. But yet, Paul cautions Timothy Especially with the younger women, you need to be careful that this relationship doesn't lead to an improper relationship. And so he says that you are to admonish them with all purity, as he says there. He needs to be careful to relate to them in all moral purity and free from any suspicion about the relationship. And this really applies to all of us. In 1 Thessalonians 4, in verse 3, Paul says that we are to abstain from sexual immorality for this is the will of God concerning you. So how do you keep the relationship pure? as Paul says here. First of all, by regarding them as sisters. Sisters. You know what it is to have a sexual relationship with your sister? That's called incest. And so Paul is saying, listen, if you will regard them not as a potential girlfriend, not as a potential improper relationship, but regard them as sisters. That will help keep the relationship pure. Now, it's been traditional that fathers and brothers would protect the moral purity of their daughters and sisters. And if you regard the ladies in your church as sisters, it will help to keep the relationship pure. Another way we protect ourselves to keep the relationship pure is by setting boundaries. Stay away from situations that could lead to sexual temptation. Paul states it quite strongly in the next letter that Timothy was to flee immorality. You realize that the strategy of the Christian, first and foremost, regarding temptation, is not for strength to resist. The first strategy is avoidance of temptation. Jesus taught us to pray, lead us not into temptation. Lord, help us to avoid temptation. And so that is what you do. You set boundaries to protect. yourself from temptation. I followed the Billy Graham rule in my 45 years of ministry. If you're not familiar with that, then early in Billy Graham's ministry, he said, you know what, I'm not going to be alone with a woman who's not my wife. And so that's the approach. Why? Because we think every woman's ready to be some kind of a predator? No, it's just to protect. both you and her, not to be alone. You know, I'm fine with greeting ladies with a hug. I've done that a number of times. But if we find ourselves alone in some part of the church building, that's not the place to do it. You understand? Or if we're alone in some other setting, no. In my counseling ministry, I would counsel a woman, just the two of us, but only if the secretary is in the adjacent room and because I have a window in my office door. In all purity, he says. Let me tell you something else in church relationships. If you're not careful, you will find yourself spending too much time with this person in church activities, in church relationships, maybe calling on the phone too much, maybe texting too much, and that's kind of crossing a boundary that can lead to problems. So he says, relate to the women of the church in all purity. We also need to guard our hearts. Purpose to guard our hearts. How many of you know about Steve Green the singer? some of you In 1994 he came out with the album people need the Lord and one song on that album was guard your heart and The lyrics include the following lines What appears to be a harmless glance can turn to romance? and homes are divided, feelings that should never have been awaken within, tearing the heart in two. Listen, I beg of you, guard your heart. The human heart is easily swayed and often betrayed at the hand of emotion. You dare not leave the outcome to chance. You must choose in advance or live with the agony, such needless tragedy, guard your heart. As a payment for pleasure, it's a high price to pay. For a soul that remains sincere with conscience clear, guard your heart. If we're not careful, we can shipwreck our marriage and our ministry. That has happened. too many times, not to heed Paul's warning in verse 2. So to avoid failing in your ministry or marriage, give heed to these principles of the Apostle Paul. Be careful about correcting someone harshly. Correct them with gentleness and humility and love. Furthermore, keep your relationships respectful, and pure. That is God's Word for us today. And may we heed God's Word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the guidance of your words, and I just pray, Lord, that your Word will help us to build appropriate, loving relationships within this body of believers Help us to heed your word, I pray in Jesus' name, amen.