Good morning. Well, today we continue winding down our study of The ABC’s & XYZ’s Of The Bible. In our study so far, we have taken a look at the letters:
A – For Abundance
B – For Biblical Mothers
C – For Creation.
And if you weren’t with us last week, we skipped the next 20 letters, and we took a look at the letter X – For Xulon, which is the Greek word meaning tree. And so today, we come to the letter Y. With the Youth helping to lead worship today, and with graduation coming up next week, I think that for the letter “Y,” we will take a look at the word “YOUTH.”
Now, the word “youth” can be found 61 times in both the Old and New Testaments. And the word “young” is found 334 times in both the Old a New Testaments.
I’m sure that you have probably heard it said that our youth are the church of tomorrow. But, I believe that our youth are the church of today. And with that being said, there are 4 things that I would like to address today when it comes to our youth. And today will be a short message, that way you have plenty of time to get home, get changed, pack things up, and meet us down at the old dam site for an afternoon of fun and fellowship at our church picnic.
Before we do that though, let’s open with a word of prayer. Let’s Pray!
# 1, Let No One Look Down On You Because You Are Young
In I Timothy 4:12 it says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”
In this particular passage, Paul is writing a letter to Timothy and he is encouraging him as a young pastor. And at this point in the letter, Paul is talking to him as a young man.
So, to the youth that are present today, I would give you the same encouragement as Paul gave to Timothy. Whether male or female, do not allow anyone to look down on you simply because you are young. And at the same time, do not allow your own thinking of things keep you from doing great things.
But I want you to notice that the verse told Timothy to set an example to everyone. He was instructed that even though he was young, he was still to set an example to everyone in the way he talked, in the way he lived, in the way he loved, in his faithfulness, and in his purity.
And now, to the adults, I would like for you to look at this from the other end of story. To you, I say, do no look down on people simply because they are young. You have to make sure that you treat every child, and every teenager as an important part of God’s Kingdom.
Because whether you believe it or not, they are. In the words of Jesus, He said in Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.”
Time and time again, we see the importance that Jesus places upon children. In fact, Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:3, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.”
So, it benefits everyone to not only minister to our children, but also to be more childlike in our faith. So, let no one look down on people because they are young.
As we move on, in Titus chapter 2, Paul gives some instructions for both older men and older women. And these instructions specifically speak to their duty to minister to and to teach and disciple the youth. Listen to this passage, Titus 2:1-8 says, “1”
# 2, Lessons For Older Men
Again, Titus 2:2 says, “Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.”
To the older men, you need to be temperate, and self-controlled. You need to be slow to become angry and frustrated.
When kids run through the sanctuary or the foyer, there’s a right way and a wrong way to instruct them. I you are self-controlled and calm, cool, and collected, then you can instruct in such a way that builds up, and doesn’t tear down.
But if you fly off the handle, if you show your deep frustration and irritation, then they pick up on that, and you instruct in a way that is condemning and belittling.
Paul tells us that we need to be “worthy of respect.” We might be quick to tell children and youth to “respect your elders…,” but the question is, “Are we worthy of respect?”
Respect is something that has to be earned. A person can’t MAKE people respect them. But, for most part, they can EARN that respect. And the same is true with how we interact with our youth. We would like to think that they would just automatically respect us because we are older, but that doesn’t often happen. However, you can EARN their respect by letting them know how much you love them and care for them, by letting them know how important they are to us.
Paul says we need to be “sound in faith.” It should go without saying that we need to be strong in our relationship with Christ. But let’s say it anyway, the youth around us, they see us. They see how we live out our Christianity. They see how we interact with others. They see how we act when we are in tough situations. And we need to make sure that we are setting them good examples! We need to be sound in our faith in the Lord.
Paul says in I Corinthians 11:1 to, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” Right now, are you living in such a way that we could say the same thing about you? Could you say that to the people around you, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”?
Paul says we need to be “sound in love.” Paul also says that we can speak all the right words, but if we don’t have love...then our words are just a bunch of noise. Believe it or not, children and youth KNOW when people really love them. And the opposite is true too, they KNOW when people don’t like them. We need to make sure that our children and our youth KNOW of our love for them.
Paul says we need to be “sound in endurance.” In other words, we need to hang in there when the going gets tough. Our faith is not just the fair weather variety. So we need to make sure our faith is strong through the storms of life. And when we teach that to our youth, then, they understand that they too can be strong and endure.
So, there is the message that Paul has for the older men when it comes to the youth around them.
# 3, Lessons For Older Women
Once again, in Titus 2:3, Paul says, “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.”
Be reverent. The word and the idea of being reverent speaks to your attitude toward God. Are we showing the proper respect for God in our own attitudes?
Don’t slander. We need to watch what we say and how we say it. We need to be careful that we use words that build people up, and don’t; tear them down. We need to be careful not to gossip. We need to be cautious about the words we use. In other words, as my mother used to tell me, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Don’t be addicted to wine. I think that one is pretty self explanatory. But in addition to that, I would encourage you to not be addicted to anything that would lean a youth astray.
And then we need to teach what is good. We can’t expect our children to just learn on their own. We need to teach them. We need to disciple them. We need to help them learn more about the Bible and about God.
And then in Titus 2:4-5 Paul goes on to say to the older ladies, “Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”
So you not only have those responsibilities, but you also have the responsibility to train the younger women:
1. to love their husbands and children.
2. to be self-controlled and pure.
3. to be busy at home.
4. to be kind.
5. and to be subject to their husbands.
So, there are the lessons for the older women among us. And finally…
# 4, Paul Has Some Final Instructions, And I Believe That These Are For All Of Us
Once again, Titus 2:6-8 says, “Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”
So, we need to encourage others to be self-controlled. Not only are we self-controlled and showing them that by our example, but we ENCOURAGE them to be self-controlled as well.
In EVERYTHING we do, set the example.
Do what is good.
Teach them.
Show integrity.
Have seriousness.
And have soundness of speech.
In closing, let me just say that our children and youth are important. It is crucial that we reach them with the Gospel while they are young, because, if we wait until they are older, we may lose them forever!
So, I want to encourage you to pray for our youth. Encourage them. Love them. And most of all, share the message of Christ with them in the way you speak, in the way you act, and in the way you treat them. Do all of that, with the goal of winning them to Christ.
One last time, Titus 2:1-8 says, “1”
The youth aren’t the church of tomorrow; they are the church of today!
Let’s Pray!
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