Membership Matters [for Youth Too]

1 Timothy 4:12-16

 

Show Henry Cloud on the white fence….

 

2006 is going to be a year of major change at Christ Church.

I love change. It keeps me on my toes. It keeps my eyes on the horizon - on the white fence. My goal? To complete the mission.

It reminds me that God’s purpose is to make me more like Jesus and help this church reach its full redemptive potential.


I’m excited that as a church we are refining our purposes and will increasingly evaluate our activities, our priorities and our budget against these five essential purposes:

 

1. Worship - We were planned for God's pleasure
2. Fellowship - We were formed for God's family
3. Discipleship - We were created to become like Christ
4. Ministry - We were shaped for serving God
5. Evangelism - We were made for a mission


So 2006 is going to be a journey of discovery and challenge. There are wild boar out there – real and imagined. But with Jesus we are promised the greatest adventure on earth. He keeps us young, supple, creative, learning, inquisitive, expectant, optimistic, flexible, dependant on Jesus to guide and lead us, to protect us and help us face the challenges, the storms, the wild boar out there. 

And its been so encouraging to discover more and more people wanting to join us on the adventure here at Christ Church. Because our church family is growing we want to enlarge the church and build a new hall with six additional large rooms. Runnymede Council should decide on our application in the next two weeks. But even if we receive permission, it will take two to three years to raise the money and complete. In 2006, we also plan to expand the staff team with a full time student pastor and part time children and family pastor. These initiatives will help us accommodate and pastor our church family as well as, God willing, lead to further growth. And because we can’t wait two or three years for the new buildings, last week we also decided to add an additional service on Sundays. From Easter we plan to hold two identical morning services with Sunday Clubs at 9:00am and 11:00am, a more traditional service at 4:00pm and an unchanged 6:30pm service. So big changes ahead in 2006.

But growth has to be purposeful. It has to be intentional if its to lead to healthy growth. Cancers and tumors are one kind of growth we don’t want to encourage. That is why this Sermon series is all about membership. In March and April we will also be taking the 40 Days of Purpose Challenge together. We are inviting everyone to join a small group for six weeks to study the Purpose Driven Life book together Graphics.


Which brings us to you and your role in Christ Church family. You have an important role to play in these developments this year. We are an all age family and we need each other and to learn from each other. Rather appropriately tonight, I’d like us to look at Paul’s first letter to Timothy where we see an older Christian giving guidance and instruction to a younger person about how to best grow to serve God through the local church. So please turn with me to 1 Timothy 4. Let consider the context.


Context
: Timothy was a young man Paul had appointed as a youth pastor to help lead the church in Ephesus. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy. They contain a mix of teaching to help refute error and practical pastoral advice – what to teach about Jesus, how to train new leaders and how to live as a role-model, how to be an example to other Christians. It’s this third dimension I want to explore tonight. Clearly Paul knew Timothy and this letter is personal and specific to him. Nevertheless, these pastoral letters have been included in the New Testament for our instruction also. I therefore want to see what we can apply as young Christians who face similar challenges to those of Timothy. I want to pick out just three.


1. Don’t be intimidated

2. Set an example

3. Devote yourself to Jesus

 

1. Don’t be intimidated

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young…” (1 Timothy 4:12)

 

Its easy to look down on someone because they are smaller than you are. Its easy to assume that because someone is young they don’t know as much as you do.

Remember “Small is beautiful” and that size, age and maturity are not the same.  The school I went to there were lots of bullies and it wasn’t a happy experience for me in the early years. If you suffer from bullying – you tell your parents and your teacher. Don’t be intimidated. But intimidation doesn’t stop with school. People who bully learn to use more subtle ways to intimidate and get their own way. You may face it at work, in the home, in sport and leisure activities. You don’t have to put up with it. There are laws to protect you so if anyone ever makes you feel uncomfortable by the way someone treats you, tell someone else about it. One place we have banned bullying – is here in Church. This is no place for intimidation – because we are all equal – all precious – all valued by our heavenly father.


When we began to suggest ways to accommodate more people on Sunday mornings – it was suggested that if only the children went straight to their Sunday Clubs and didn’t come in to church that would leave more space for the adults. I know it was suggested with sincere motives but our Church Council rejected the idea. Why? Because it would give the impression that  children don’t matter, that it’s the children that are the problem, that children are not really part of the church family.

We don’t believe that and so we are not going to suggest it in our Sunday morning arrangements. We encourage families to come to church, to sit together, to worship together and learn together.  Our Sunday Clubs exist to support, assist and reinforce the example parents give but not replace them.   If you ever feel intimidated here at Christ Church let Mark and Megan know or let me know and we will deal with it. You are not the church of tomorrow. You are part of the church today. Don’t be intimidated just because you are young or small. Instead, Paul says,

 

2. Set an Example

“…but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” (1 Timothy 4:12)

 

Do you find this surprising? Paul is telling a young person to be an example to older people. We usually think it should be the other way round. This is because ultimately, people won’t respect you just because of your age or position. Ultimately they will respect you because of your example.

The five nouns used at the end of this verse are all vital in Christian living. Paul mentions, “in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Carelessness in any one can ruin a reputation and destroy our credibility. Paul is urging young Timothy to set an example for the older believers because he has been given a leadership role and because learning is both ways. The old can learn just as much from the young as the young can learn from the old. You have a lot to teach us. Lets just pick out one of the five Paul mentions. Purity. Purity in thought – purity in actions. Virus software. So take care what you read, what you watch, what you put into as well as on your body. Your purity is something beautiful and worth preserving. And when we fall and stumble, we can be assured that as we confess our sins God will forgive us and cleanse us. Isaiah writes, “Though your sins be as scarlet they will be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18)  Don’t let people put you down. Live in such as way that they hold you up. Don’t be intimidated. Set an example and thirdly,

 

3. Devote yourself to Jesus

Until I come, devote yourself…” (1 Timothy 4:13)

 

Devote yourself to Jesus until he returns. That’s your assignment. That is your white fence. Complete your mission. Paul unpacks this idea a little and shows us three ways we are to be devoted if we want to become like Jesus and complete the mission.


3.1 Devotion to Scripture

“to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. (1 Timothy 4:13)

 

That is why the public reading of the Scriptures is a central place in every service at Christ Church. That is why the teaching and preaching (that is the explaining and applying) of the Scriptures is central to every service at Christ Church. But it is also vital that we read it privately if we are to grow like Christ. Get yourself a reading plan and read the Bible daily. You can’t grow healthily on one meal a week. Read your bible daily. Read it slowly. Read it prayerfully. Read it consistently. Read it thoughtfully – trying to understand its meaning. That is why being part of a small group to study the Bible together is so important. Remember the Bible is your most valuable possession.

D.L. Moody once said “Either sin will keep you from the Bible or the Bible will keep you from sin.” I also recommend you save up for a study bible. The NIV Study Bible or the Life Application Bible are good examples.

A good study bible is like a life-long friend. God will use it to help you understand the more obscure or difficult passages.

In answer to the devil’s temptation, Jesus said “People do not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds from God.” (Matthew 4:4).  If Jesus needed to read the Bible, so do we.Devotion to Scripture.


3.2 Devotion to Service

Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.” (1 Timothy 4:14)

 

Paul advises his younger friend not to neglect his gift. This word, charisma, comes from charis ("grace"), and means a free gift God gives each one of us to serve him in the church. Irrespective of how well you do at school in exams, remember you are gifted. Uniquely gifted – wired by God for service and without you, this church is the poorer without your gifts. "Do not neglect your gift" means to be careless about something; being careless about God's gifts is a sin.


If God has gifted me in some way and I am not using his gifts for his glory, I am being irresponsible – like a lazy servant. You are gifted. Each one of you. God has given each one of you natural talents and spiritual gifts for the building of his church. If you are not sure what that gift or gifts are, ask yourself what you get excited about? What do you get passionate about? Is it musical, creative, practical, speaking, serving? It might just be a sign of what God wants you to do for him. In the CC News is an invitation to get on board and serve. With our new service pattern we need more Musicians : PA : Sunday Clubs : Welcomers : Hospitality Team.


If you are not sure, have a go, experiment? Its often only when we start to serve that we discover the right fit. God wants us to be devoted – devoted to Scripture, devoted to service.


3.3 Devotion to Saving

Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:15-16)

 

"Be diligent" means to "care for"; it is used frequently to mean "practice, cultivate, train”. To ‘persist with’ means to keep on doing something.  Timothy is told to persist so that everybody will see his "progress." Verse 16 is a kind of summary. Timothy is reminded that he must keep under careful and constant scrutiny both what he is in himself, and the example he gives in what he says and does. Only then will God’s saving purpose be visible in his own life, and be attractive to others. God wants us to become like Jesus so that we can be infectious with his love.   And as we live like Jesus, as we progress and become more like Jesus, he will attract others to himself through us. We growth physically through these three healthy daily practices.


Reading God’s word daily = this is our food

Using your gifts = this is our exercise

Serving at Christ Church = with our family


Your progress in becoming like Jesus will influence other people – they will see Jesus in you and want to know him too. You are the best people to reach your generation with the good news of Jesus. You can have the greatest impact on those of your age. Much more than I can. You can help Christ’s Church grow. Like Timothy, you may feel insecure. You may feel insignificant. You may feel self conscious, inexperienced, too young, too small, uncertain, you may have many unanswered questions. That’s OK. When you feel like that, remember this passage and Paul’s advice to Timothy.  

1. Don’t let people intimidate you.
2. Set an example to others.

3. Devote yourself to Jesus.

There will be wild boars our there – real and imagined. But you have a mission. Your mission is? To complete the assignment. You have a white fence to touch. It is to become like Jesus and make Jesus known. And your mission will not be complete – it will not be over you go to heaven or he returns.

 

Lets pray.