In this letter, up to this point, the Apostle Paul has been giving direction and exhortation, instruction to Timothy, a son in the faith, a younger pastor. He's been telling him how things ought to be ordered in the church of Jesus Christ so that God is glorified in the midst of her. And in verse six of chapter four, he tells him, If you instruct the brothers in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine or teaching which you have carefully followed. but reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach. Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Let's plead God's help once again. Lord God, will you bless us as we study your word now this morning and think about what life under God looks like. to think about how we may serve you in our generation. Lord, instruct us then, we pray, help us to hear and then to heed, to listen and to obey, to believe and to behave in a way that brings honour to you. Father, we call upon you because of your goodness and your mercy, in Jesus' name. Amen. Timothy had been a very privileged young boy. And I think I'm right in saying that I could say the same for every boy and girl who is sitting in this congregation this morning, because the Bible tells us that from his childhood, Timothy had known the Holy Scriptures. That scripture, the writings of God, this book that you hold in your hands or have on your laps, this book from God is what is able to make sinners like us wise for salvation. How does a sinner come to know who Jesus Christ is and what the Lord Jesus has done so that we can trust him for salvation? It is through the Word of God, as the Spirit of God opens our eyes. And that same book which makes us wise for salvation is able to make us mature in Christ Jesus, to grow us in grace until, in the same language of 2 Timothy chapter 3, we are made mature, properly proportioned in serving the Lord God. So Timothy is a man who has proved that it is good for us to know the Lord in our youth. Good for us to follow God from an early stage. Ecclesiastes 12 and verse one. He has enjoyed the same blessing that Jeremiah enjoyed, described in Jeremiah chapter three and verse four, where he says, Will you not from this time cry to me, my father, you are the guide of my youth. Now, no matter how old you are, if you can call God the guide of your youth, that's a real privilege and blessing. Paul had met Timothy when Timothy was a relatively young man. And even at that point, he'd been well spoken of amongst the Christians where Paul found him. And so Paul encouraged him, and Paul took him under his wing, and Paul ended up employing him, not necessarily paying him a wage, but using him for the service of the kingdom, still as a young man. And he sent him out to be a pastor of this church where he's now writing to him and saying, Timothy, this is how you are to conduct yourself. And so to Timothy, he says in verse 12, let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. You could compare that with what he writes to Titus in chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. Titus, you exhort the young men to be sober-minded in all things, showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine, integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. Now what Timothy and Titus must be as young pastors, all Christians should be in their youth. And over the last few months, we have sometimes more consistently and sometimes from time to time been considering life under God. What does it mean to live as those who are made new creatures in Christ Jesus? Who live according to the rule that God has given? Who live according to the design that God established for us as men and women by creation? In the various roles and relationships that God has established for us? And we've looked a little bit at true masculinity and true femininity. We've considered what it is to be a single Christian. And I want to look this morning at what it is to be a young Christian. And one of the reasons I'm not just going straight on to marriage is because this isn't just about family life in the terms of a Christian husband, a Christian wife, and 2.4 Christian children, and a Christian dog, or whatever else it would be today. This is about the different roles and relationships that we have as the people of God. And so before we come to marriage, we're going to look at this period of youth. And the first thing, and it must come first, is that you should be wise for salvation. Now, I know that many of you know the scriptures and are being taught the scriptures. I hope that everybody here understands that God has sent a saviour from heaven, his only begotten son, and that this son took our nature, took our humanity. He came, flesh and blood, a real man without ever ceasing to be true God. And in those two natures, that one person, Jesus of Nazareth, that man lived a life of perfect obedience to fulfil the law which we have all broken. And having lived a perfect life, he then died a sacrificial death. The only man who never deserved the wrath of God was himself a sacrifice for the sins of others and bore God's wrath against sin in his own body on the tree at Calvary. And so by his death, by the blood which he shed, sinners like us can be cleansed from our sin. And by his perfect righteousness, which he provides, sinners like us can have acceptance with God on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done. And all of those blessings are received by nothing more and nothing less than the empty hand of faith that comes to receive what God offers to you in Jesus Christ. And you can't be a young Christian unless you're a Christian. You cannot follow God in your youth until you have first come to God in Christ Jesus. And I tell you that you are not too young to follow Jesus Christ. You are not too young this morning to put your faith in this Jesus and to be saved from your sins. I should also point out perhaps that no one here is too old. No one is too old now to come to Christ, even with the long burden of a life that has been lived accumulating guilt and shame. and to ask that this Jesus would make you clean and make you whole. Whoever you are and whatever you may have been, you enter the kingdom like a little child, with faith, with confidence, trusting not in your own strength and ability, but trusting in him who delights to give blessings when we call upon him. I can't tell you how to follow Christ until you follow Christ. So my first thing is, follow Jesus Christ. Put your faith in him now. Trust yourself to him, your soul for all of eternity to Jesus Christ, who is the only saviour of sinners. And then you will be able to serve him, not with your own strength, but with the strength which he supplies. Then I would be able to say to you, let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. So, I hope that I am speaking. to some here who are following Christ who are young. That's the season that is identified in this verse, the season of youth. Now, what does society and what does the church typically do with youth? Well, it either idolizes it or it infantilizes it. I believe that children of the future Teach them well and let them lead the way. Nonsense. Nonsense. Why would you put the future of a society in the hands of those who are least equipped to know what is wise and good and right? And yet, how often we expect the children to be the ones who tell us what to do. And the tragedy is that that's as much in the church as it is in the world. What do the young people want? What do the children want? The number of times that people end up saying, I can't stay in this church because my children don't like it. Now if you were strict about that, you'd probably kill most of your children. because you wouldn't feed them the things that they don't like. And you'd leave them what? If not absolutely dead, then sick, malnourished, and diseased. Why? Because you let a child govern you. That's what society does. That's what the world does. That's often what a family does. And where it doesn't idolize, it infantilizes. It babies people. It turns us into feeble and dependent creatures when actually we ought to be standing on our own two feet and acting in a way that glorifies God. And so we're left with this strange situation where immaturity is perpetuated and celebrated. Does anybody here want to look old? Of course not, we want to look young. Start injecting and puffing and lifting and twisting, so that we look not actually young, but typically quite disfigured. The people who spend most of their time trying to look young end up looking odd, typically. Perpetuating it. I want to live like I'm a teenager forever. I want to live like I'm in my twenties forever. I don't want to grow up. I want to be this generation's Peter Pan. My friends, that's not maturity, that's childishness. And that kind of infant behaviour, the kinds of things that ought to embarrass a kid growing up, become celebrated and excused. You don't need to watch many football matches if you're into that. And you'll see infantile behavior that is being celebrated and excused. And not only by the players on the pitch, but by the managers and by the commentators. If you go into church settings, the classic evangelical youth group and youth pastor. The youth pastor, honestly, I think the job description under most circumstances would be wanted. Clown to diminish Jesus Christ in the sight of people who need salvation. And then all youth work is just fun and games and froth and folly. Now, the Word of God is perfectly honest about youth, and it recognises the limitations of youth. In the book of the Proverbs, young people are typically called simple. Children are simple. That doesn't mean necessarily that they're in the SEND part of the school. It means that they don't have developed wisdom. They have not yet been instructed. They have not yet learned things. That's why you need the wise and the older to instruct them. Your children cannot guide you yet because they need to be guided. They are simple. They lack experience. They have not lived long enough yet in this world to know what is best and distinguish sometimes between what is good and what is bad. and youthfulness continues to have both its advantages and its disadvantages, and Timothy is one of those who is young. Now this is interesting. How old do you think Timothy is when Paul says to him, let no one despise your youth? Because some of you might be sitting here thinking, okay, I hope my kids are listening to this. Timothy may be about 40 by this stage. Okay, certainly into his 30s. And in Paul's way of thinking, until you've hit 40, you're probably still in some ways a youth. That's young still. So Timothy is a man who's in the season of youth. And I hope all of a sudden that shifts your thinking about where the categories lie and where the lines get drawn in this congregation. Because if you're 40 and under, you're now listening to the Apostle Paul and he's talking about you if you claim to be a Christian. Because what Timothy must be as a young pastor, you should be if you are a young Christian. And if you really like to think of yourself as still young, even though you're in your 40s, then you can put yourself in the category as well. The danger then is this, that of youthfulness and more of immaturity. This is the season we're talking about, a season where people tend to drift rather than to drive. So the season is identified. It's the season of youth. And then in your youth as a follower of Jesus Christ, people are watching you. And there are two audiences that are implied here. Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers. Now, if you are a Christian, people will be watching you. And in some senses, it's right that they should do so. It's even desirable that they should do so. Because if the world is watching you, you should be able to say, I am for Christ and of Christ, and this is what it looks like for someone to be a true believer. And they may even ask you a reason for the hope that is within you, because they can see that you're animated by a different spirit and you're living by a different principle. But if you're a Christian among Christians, you should also be conscious of people's eye upon you so that you can say, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. So, in one sense, more negatively, everybody's watching. And Paul says, let no one despise your youth. You need to understand, I'm speaking especially now to these young Christians, that the world around you is watching and learning from what you do and say as a Christian. It's one of the reasons why it's good for people to know that you're following Jesus Christ. So they've got an explanation for your distinctiveness, but it's also good for you to remember these people are thinking of Christianity and my saviour by who and what I am. I may be the only Christian that these folks will ever meet. I may be the only believer that they have ever encountered. And they will understand what it means to be a Christian by me. They are going to assess the faith that I profess by the life that I live, by the words that I speak. But perhaps more positively, Christians will be watching. be an example to the believers. Paul says, Timothy, God's people should be able to take notes from you, whether they are older than you or younger than you. If they're believers, they ought to be able to look to you and you are living before them. So in this season of youth, Timothy, I want you to take account of at least two audiences. I want you to remember that the whole world is watching. and they're gonna judge what Christianity is by the life that you live, and I want you to take account of the fact that the church should be watching as well, and that what you do and how you live is either gonna be a problem for them or it's gonna be a blessing to them. So what's the contrast that Paul now establishes? What is it that Timothy's life is going to do as people either in the world at large or in the church in particular are looking at him? Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers. So despising or example. What does it mean to have someone despise your youth? It means to look with contempt. It means to discard as worthless. It means to treat lightly. It means to not take seriously. And Timothy is told by his father in the faith, Paul, Timothy, you are not to live in a way that allows people to behave like that toward you. Now in one sense, you can't do much about old, proud, snarky people who just hate people for being young. Not much you can do about that, Timothy. But don't let anybody despise your youth. Don't give anybody the excuse to look down their nose at you. Live so that you cannot be dismissed as a lightweight, as an unreliable, irresponsible, insubstantial young man. Have the kind of character that compels a certain kind of respect, a certain kind of appreciation, and don't do any of the things that young people typically do that would give others an excuse to say he's not worth listening to, and there's no point paying attention to him. But what you are to be, Timothy, is an example. Every Christian should be able to look at you, young man, in your 30s even, and to say, that is the kind of life that I should be living. Now Paul has said this to Timothy himself. He wrote to the Corinthians, we've already quoted it, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. Toward the end of his life, he says to Timothy, before he talks about Timothy knowing the scriptures, you, Timothy, have carefully followed my doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my long suffering, my love, my perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, what persecutions I endured. Timothy. I'm asking you to live the way you learned from me. That's not boasting. That's credible Christian testimony. Now Timothy, you live that way so that others can take you as an example. Remember what he said to Titus, Titus, you're a pattern. You're not to be the kind of person that somebody points to and says to their son, now listen lad, you see the way he's behaving? Whatever you do, never do that. Don't be an idiot. Don't be a fool. Don't behave so childishly. Don't boast in emptiness and frivolity. Don't beat your chest about things of which a grown-up ought to be ashamed. Timothy, don't be that man, but be an example, a pattern. a path worth following, a model to embrace. And his language says, in effect, Timothy, always do this. Go on being and becoming such an example. Let your life be one, young man, of consistent advance in godliness. so that as you go on in your race of faith, others can learn to run from you. Be a man worth learning from, and in the best way. You can learn, you know, from almost anybody. But sometimes you learn what not to do. Timothy's to be a man from whom you can learn what you should do. Now what's the classic objection to that? Oh, come on, Paul. Timothy's in his thirties, but the guys in their twenties, the teenagers, come on, Paul, live a little. Let them spread their wings. Let them have their season in the sun. Let them enjoy themselves for a little while. You're being unreasonable. This is all too young and too soon. Give them a few years just to enjoy themselves before you start expecting too much of them. I think Paul would say, yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Don't do that. Don't think like that. Don't diminish yourself. And don't diminish the young men and women who are following Jesus Christ. Those of you who are, say, in your 50s and 60s, how far do you think you would have got in your career if you hadn't started doing anything serious or learning anything substantial until you were in your 40s? When do you lay the foundation? When do you begin to build principles of work and responsibility? It's not when you're in your 40s. It's when you're in your teens and in your 20s and through your 30s, that's when the pattern is being established. Paul's saying, don't make excuses for yourself. Don't evade the privileges that God has given you, even in your youth of being a follower of Jesus Christ. Take responsibility, young Christian. Stand up to be counted. Let no one despise your youth. Don't give people the option of saying, well, what do you expect from someone that young? Oblige people to admire you. Take that in the right sense, you know what I mean? Not just applaud you, you're not showing off, but a life that draws out from wise and thoughtful assessors. the conclusion that you are someone who is worth learning from. Don't let others despise your youth and don't make youth your excuse. I'll do that when I get older. I'll do that when I grow up. The people who say they'll do something when they grow up tend never to grow up. So Timothy, you're a young man. Timothy, the world is watching you and the church is watching you. Timothy, with those eyes upon you, don't be a man who can be despised. And that's your responsibility. The problem isn't with their perception. The problem here, Timothy, that I want to talk about is any tendency in you and your action. Don't be a man who can be despised. but be a man who is an example to other Christians. And Paul doesn't just leave it floating generally, does he? Paul now identifies and clarifies the issues or the spheres of life in which this young man is to be an example to other believers. What are the things, Timothy, where people are going to be watching, listening, and learning? Where do I want you to invest? Where do I want you to really get a grip so that no one can despise your youth, but you show yourself an example? What are the areas of life which easily invite disdain when the young act immaturely, or that can demonstrate a powerful example when even a young person shows themselves exemplary? That's powerful, isn't it? Well, I might expect a Christian in their 60s to behaving like that, but this man's in his 20s. This young woman's in her 30s. This is noteworthy. This is somebody that I can esteem. What are those issues, Timothy? Word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, purity. What is Paul talking about? Timothy, don't let anybody despise your youth, but be an example in word, speech, and by extension, all communications. And that, my friends, means amongst other things today, all your socials. Whatever they are, however you present yourself with words written or spoken, or I might include now pictures, let your words be such that no one can disdain you and despise you, but that Christians would consider you an example. That means no vulgarity. It means that you do not casually drop coarse words or phrases into your speech. It means foolish talk and frivolous talk, always making light of things, always turning something into a joke. It doesn't mean never being funny and never enjoying time with your friends. But what is your contribution at that time? Timothy, let your speech be pure. Let your communications be clear and not fuzzy and unreliable. Let your word be true. You be the man who, when he says, I will be there, I will do it, turns up and gets it done. A man who's responsible in his speech and therefore in his acts. Words that are valuable. Words that carry some weight and bring some holy freight into the lives of the people who are around you. Can I ask every Christian here who's 40, 45 and under, I'll give you the extra few years if you want to cling to your youth, what kind of reputation do you have because of your words? If I were to ask the world, neighbors, colleagues, unconverted friends, or if I were to ask the Christians here who know you best, what about his words, what about her words? If I were to ask the parents, do you want your children to grow up speaking like her? Do you want your boys to talk the way he talks? to and about his parents, about the authorities that God has put in society, to the older people in the church, to the children in the church. What tone of voice, what substance of speech, what weight of words. Timothy, let no one despise you in your words, but be an example to believers. And then, Timothy, your conduct, not just the speech, the words that you speak, but the life that you live, your decisions and your actions, your self-government, the way that you show yourself and present yourself. Timothy, don't be an indulgent man. Don't be a greedy man. Don't be a selfish man. Don't be a lazy man. Don't be the one who pushes his way to the front whenever there's food or pleasures available to you. Don't be the man who stays in bed when you ought to be up and doing. Don't be the man who's manifestly concerned about his own pleasure and ease. Don't be the man who behaves unkindly and rudely and callously. but be the man who is disciplined, diligent, invested, and kind. Young Christian, 40 to 45 and under, are you the kind of person to whom I could point a new convert and say, I want you to go and spend time with Mr. Wong? I want you to go and spend time with Mr. Hero? I want you to go over and see what Lois is doing. I want you to, could I say, I'm not picking you out because I'm trying to ice it, but just, would you want that? Parents, who do you want your kids to spend time with to learn what it means to be a man or a woman of God? Are there people of whom you'd say, hmm, why are they teaching that Sunday school class? Or are there people whom you say, ah, good, I'm glad they're listening to him, I'm glad they're listening to her. That the conduct does not leave itself open to disdain, but is the kind of life of which someone could say, look at the way they work, look at the way they walk, look at the way they conduct themselves, and be more like him, be more like her. Timothy, I want you to be an example of love. of regard for and affection toward the Lord Jesus Christ and his church. Don't be the kind of man of whom someone could say, I thought Christians went to church. I thought Christians loved the church. Don't be someone who is remote, critical, and disengaged. If you're a young Christian here, what do you really think of this church? If you're a member of this congregation, what do you really think of this church? Now, this is not an accusation, but I know that I could go into some congregations, and if I could sort of incognito ask that question, well, I don't like this about the preaching, and I don't like this about the singing, and I don't like this about the way we spoke, and I don't like, All I did was ask you what you think. What do you love? What do you delight in about Christ? What is your eagerness to know and to serve him? Are you involved? Are you eager? Are you serving? Are you caring? Does it delight you to know more of Jesus Christ and to be able to honor him by working amongst his people? Is your love for the Lord Jesus the kind of love which is a savor to other people? Maybe not even now that a parent would say, just go and spend time with that saint. But the children would almost instinctively gravitate I like to be with this person. They're kind, they're caring. I feel safe and I feel happy. What about your spirit, Timothy? What about the inclination of your soul and the tenor of your affections? What kind of man are you inwardly? Are you proud? Are you brash? Are you harsh? Are you arrogant? Are you loud? Do you think you know best? Do you love to win an argument? Are you constantly in tune in a conversation for someone who's wrong and you can put them right? Timothy, don't be that kind of person. Now actually, if we're talking about the Trinity, now they may be wrong and they may be horribly wrong, but what's the spirit in which you deal with people? Are you humble, Timothy? Are you modest? Do you set an example of gentleness and meekness as a child of God so that other believers younger or older than you could say, ah, now that's a sweet man. And you don't bridle because you've got some caricature notion of what real masculinity is. I'm a real man, I'm not meek and gentle, me man. No, no, meek and gentle, but courageous and principled. Somebody who can be trusted. Somebody who can be relied upon. What about your faith, Timothy? Would someone despise you for your faith? Or would they say, yes, there's a man who embraces Jesus Christ as he's been presented in the gospel, and that young man has got his course set. Timothy's not a wobbler, Timothy's not a waverer, Timothy, like Paul, knows whom he has believed and has become persuaded that that Jesus is able to keep what he has committed to him until that day. Timothy's priorities are the priorities of a man who's living in time in the light of eternity. Timothy has his gaze fixed upon the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to those who run this race. So Timothy, don't let people despise you because of your whimsical behavior. Utterly unreliable. That some days you're gonna be this and some days you're gonna be that. That you're living constantly crippled by fear. That you're always worried what somebody else is thinking about you and that's what's governing your life. So that you're up when people applaud you and you're down when people attack you. Timothy, don't be a man who's governed by your carnal appetites, by what this world dangles in front of you or offers to you. But Timothy, be a man worth following, a man of principle, a man who knows what he believes and stands up for it, a Christian of courage, a spiritually-minded woman whose eye is toward heaven, whose understanding of the truth of God and what really matters means that the things that the world bins into her ears are not going to dominate the way that she thinks and feels and acts. A Christian who's living for the longest term and not for the short term demands or offers or threats of this present evil age. Timothy, let no one despise your youth but be an example with regard to purity. Timothy, I want you to be a blameless man who lives a blameless life, that you will be in effect a novice in sin. You know what a novice is? Someone who doesn't have much skill or experience or learning. Timothy, I don't want you to become skilled and experienced in sin. I want you to be pure. And that especially has to do with sexual sin. Paul goes on in chapter five, do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters with all purity. Timothy, in all your interactions with people and especially with those of the opposite sex, let your righteous motives and deeds be evident to all. Your attitude toward them, your speech to them or about them, the company that you keep, Timothy, the things that you watch on a television, on a screen, wherever it may be. Timothy, the way that you dress. Timothy, don't be the person who is lewd, whose speech is dirty. Don't be the man or the woman who is given to lustful looks, who's undressing people with their eyes as they look around. Don't be the man who makes the smutty joke. Don't be the guy who sniggers at every innuendo. Don't be the flirty young girl or the flirty young man who bats their eyelids at everybody and just draws attention to themselves. Can I say a word here, and we'll come to this in due course, about modesty in dress? Young men, you don't need to peacock your way through life. with your tail feathers up, drawing attention to yourself by the expense or the cut or the cling of the clothes that you wear. You will not ultimately be judged by your outward appearance. And young women, you especially, are subject to these pressures to an unusual degree. because our society now, even more than with men, is stuffed to bursting point with women who are parading their bodies for all to see. If I were to give you the first five female pop stars that came to the top of my mind, they would typically be women who wear less on stage than some would in a bedroom. and you are learning from them what it means to be a woman if your eyes are fixed upon them. Wear your clothes in a way that show that if you're a professing child of God, you have learned to be an example of purity. No man should look at what you wear and know everything about your body. not just in church, when you socialise, when you exercise, you should wear clothes that properly veil the beauty that God has given you. Your breasts, your backsides, your bellies do not belong to the eyes, still less to the hands of men to whom you are not married. I'd encourage you to make it easy for men to treat you as mothers and as sisters, not as the sex objects that the world tends to treat you as. Young Christian, be an example with regard to purity. Be upright in speech, behaviour and appearance. Be pure, be respectful Have respect for the man or the woman that God has made you and do not diminish yourself by becoming merely a piece of eye candy and have respect for others around you so that the way that you look at them and think about them and dwell upon them or don't reflects the fact that you are a child of God and not walking in the way of the world. Timothy. with regard to your word, your behavior, your love, your spirit, your faith, and your purity. Don't ever be the one that people can despise for your hypocrisy or your immaturity, but be an example to the believers in all those spheres. See, my friends, and here I conclude, this isn't about your charisma. That's not what impresses God's people, the fact that you've got some riz. It's not about your force of character that you can sort of carry people before you. It's not how loud your voice is or how clever your arguments are. Do you know what makes you an example among God's people? Likeness to Jesus Christ. And that's attainable by everybody who has come to see from the scriptures what it means to have salvation in him and then to be made complete for every good work. Can I encourage every Christian to set out to set the tone? Why should you, though in your 20s or 30s or early 40s, if we nudge over that line, why should you not be the people who are in this church establish the standard of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Why should that be left to the weird outliers? Why should that be left to the people in their 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s? Why should that not be all who name the name of Jesus Christ? We need to spiritually bulk up We need to stop thinking the way the world thinks about what it is to be young. We need to not drift into the low expectations that society has for young people and that too often and tragically the church has for young people. How do we do this? Give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you. Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them. Timothy, you're to do that particularly because you're an under shepherd of the flock. And so the weight of responsibility lands heavy on your shoulders. But I would suggest, my friends, that whatever Timothy must be, you, if you're a young Christian, you should be. I've spoken a lot to the young. Let me speak a moment to the very young. Children, come to Jesus Christ now. Trust him early. This Bible is God's speech to you. that you might become wise for salvation. If you say, well, I'm not a kid anymore, if you're not a Christian, trust him now. Trust Jesus Christ from this day. Take him as your savior. Walk in his ways. And turn your learning into living. You may be very young. Some of you are still sitting on dad or mom's laps. you can come to Jesus Christ and you can start the learning that will make you a Christian liver later on. Loving for Christ because you belong to Christ. And some of you may be saying, well, what is in this for us? I can't even claim I'm in my mid-40s now. Do I get to stand up here because I am no longer in my 40s? and to say, well, I'm glad this doesn't apply to me anymore. My friends, if this is what a young Christian should be, what about an older Christian? If you've had more experience, if you've learned more, if you've seen more of the grace of God, ought you not to be an example of godliness more clearly, more definitively? What can you do for the young Christians in this congregation? Why don't we criticise them? Why don't we expose all their faults? Why don't we pick holes in everything that they're not? Or why don't we encourage them? Why don't we be thankful for them? Why don't we stir them up to love and to good works? Why, when we see them doing something that could cast them in a bad light, do we not lovingly put an arm around their shoulder and say, there may be another way to do that. Why don't you come along with me and learn? And humility, and humility. Is there a single Christian in this room who would like now to claim that they are old enough to have nothing left to learn? Anybody proud enough to say I can learn nothing from a younger believer? If there's a young Christian that you know who has become an example in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, or purity, and you can learn, then may God help you and all of us however long we've been in the race, to learn to run well from all those who are worthy not of being despised, but have learned to set an example of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Amen.