1 Timothy 4:12: Seize Your Youth! (Part 1)

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
1 Timothy 4:12 ESV

Does age matter? You might be thinking that this is a silly question. You might respond, "Of course it does! After all, we can't have a 25 year old man running our country. We can't expect a 12 year old girl to raise a family of five. We can't possibly be mislead and believe that a five year old is capable of driving an eighteen wheeler across the country. Does age matter? Yes! Of course age matters!"

I would respond by saying that you are exactly right. Age does matter. Especially concerning your Christian walk. Let no one despise you for your youth. These words of Paul to his beloved pupil Timothy resound in the Holy Scriptures today for our teaching and study. These words call the youth to let no one despise them because of their age. Most importantly, they should not despise themselves because of their age.

As we look at the Christian church today, we see a large number of youth. The church has no shortage of youth, and that is certainly a blessing. However, the church does seem to have a shortage of young adults. The Christian church today is not retaining the youth within our midst. As youth groups flourish, as youth ministries grow, as the church branches out and contorts itself to appeal more and more to youth, we have to ask ourselves why the retention of youth is low. Have we despised them for their youth?

I grew up attending a church with a youth group. I cannot speak for every youth group, but I can testify to the gross neglect of the spiritual needs for the youth within my own. Our youth pastors were often not chosen for their theological prowess but their radical dudeness. Often, they were chosen to be our pastor because the church thought that the youth would find a young guy (not much older than ourselves) covered in tattoos with his nipples pierced more appealing than a man of the Word that wore flannel shirts and knee-high socks. We did not meet in the conventional church building with the rest of our Christian brethren, but we walked across the street to Wendy's where we enjoyed frosties and fries. We were never encouraged to bring our Bibles with us, and most of the youth did not. We were never encouraged to bring our Bibles because we really didn't need them for the "preaching" that our youth pastor shared Sunday mornings. Do good in school, love your neighbor, obey your parents, don't do drugs, and most of all, have fun being in church! Not only did these meetings leave me lacking any intellectual theology but they severely crippled me in my faith. I was a skeptic from the day I was born, and I never accepted anything we discussed on face value, but there were many others there that found the message appealing and ran with it.

With youth groups like these, is it any wonder we do not retain our youth in the church anymore? Can we really be surprised that our youth are leaving the church in droves once they move out of the house and are no longer dragged to church by their parents? Can we honestly say that we are surprised that our frosty eating youth that have been taught to do good in school and stay away from drugs by a guy covered in tattoos with pierced nipples do not find an orderly church service where Bibles are necessary appealing? Who are we kidding? Only ourselves.

Let no one despise you for your youth! As the leaders of the church, this passage should be read, "Do not despise them for their youth." What is the difference between a 20 year old man walking by faith and a 40 year old man walking by faith? 20 years, yes, but they are both walking by faith. They are both being led by the same Holy Spirit. They are both saved by the same grace of God. They both call Jesus their Lord and Savior. They both believe the Word of God to be just that, the words of God, an infallible guide to faith and life! 20 years of life experience separate them, but God's Word and teachings are as much available for study and meditation to the youth as it is to a 40 year old man.

Are our youth encouraged to worship with the adults? Are our youth expected to sit under the same preaching of the Gospel as their parents? Are our youth encouraged to meditate and search the Scriptures in devotion and sincerity of heart like the adults? Do our youth know truly and completely that the promises laid forth in the Scriptures are for them as covenant members of the body of Christ, and that they need to consciously and actively pursue God's sovereign will for their lives as such members? Are our youth encouraged to actively participate in the church government and to volunteer to help with church functions with important roles? Or are they merely segregated from the rest of the congregation, taught to avoid drugs and friends that steal, and that the whole purpose for going to church is to have a good time?

I was about 13 or 14 years old, and my family and I were now attending a new church. There was no youth group. Instead, the youth were expected to sit in with the rest of the congregation under the preaching of the Word by an ordained minister. For Sunday school, instead of huddling into a fast-food joint to eat fries and talk about how to be a better teenager, I went through the shorter catechism with others my age led by two young men that were Biblically and theologically sound to teach the class. The most stark contrast, however, was when my new pastor walked up to me after the morning worship service and asked if I had ever considered a call to the ministry. I was completely taken aback! I'm only 14 years old and this man is asking me if I've considered being a pastor?! I hardly consider what I'm going to eat at the end of the day, let alone what I'm going to do with my life. Does he seriously think that I, a youth, consider how God could use me in His kingdom, for the advancement of His Gospel truth, and the teaching and preaching of Christ and Him crucified to every tribe and nation? Although I did not consider seriously the implacations of what my pastor was asking of me at the time, that incident has stuck in my mind for several years and I recollect it now when I see and appreciate God's calling for my life.

As youths, this imperative is not completely passive. You are included in the "no one" that Paul speaks about here. Let no one despise you for your youth, and that includes you! Don't fall victim to the mind frame that the modern Evangelical church has on youth. They would like you to believe that a watered down Gospel is good enough for you because of your age. You don't need to know the meat of the Gospel because you're too young yet. They'd rather you choose a career where you can be successful, get married, have children, and raise them into their youthful years before you take the Gospel truth seriously. Let no one, however, despise you for your youth! Well, you don't have much control over how they treat you. How are you going to let no one despise you for your youth if they won't take you seriously? Take yourself seriously! Take your walk with the Lord seriously! Take your call as a covenant member of the body of Christ seriously! Do not despise your own youth!

I know the frame of mind because I fell victim to it once too. I'm too young to take my spiritual walk with the Lord seriously. I'm only in high school and all I do is take tests, play video games, and do homework. I'm obviously of no real importance or influence to the Kingdom of God. I'll put off studying the Bible, meditating on it day and night, considering my call to the ministry, and prayerfully considering my membership to the body of Christ until it seems more convenient and purposeful. Do not, however, despise your own youth. You are in the prime of your life. You have the incredible blessing of faith and God's grace at a young age. Use this to your advantage and for God's glory! You have the great privilege of knowing God and studying His Word without the numerous distractions that come with age. You seem to have a blank slate ahead of you, to make the most of your life for God's glory and for the advancement of Christ Jesus and His Gospel truth. Do not despise this! Take hold of it! Grasp it and cherish it! Do not neglect this wonderful blessing of the Lord, but claim it as your own and seek to use it for God's glory. Don't bury this treasure in the ground, waiting for the right opportunity to dig it up and cash it in for it's face value. Invest your time wisely in your youth, and use every last opportunity you have to seek to give no one any reason to despise your for your youth. Make yourself known as a member of the Church of Christ! Make yourself necessary in the body! Give yourself completely as a faithful servant of Christ in your youth and watch God bless your faithfulness and devotion!

Timothy is a wonderful example of a man in his youth that went off to change the world. Paul didn't see Timothy and despise his youth. Paul didn't say, "He's only a mere child compared to me. What can he possibly know about God and His everlasting Kingdom?" No, Paul recognized that the same Spirit of God that dwelt within him dwelled inside of Timothy. The same Spirit at work in Paul's life and ministry was at work in Timothy's life and ministry. Saving faith and faithful preaching are not primarily the result of scholarship, study, and intelectual prowess. No, they are primarily the result of the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. There is nothing that a 60 year old man can do in regards to salvation and works of faith that a 20 year old man can't do. Both men can do no good thing of their own accord. Both men must rely on God's grace for salvation and the work of the Spirit to bear any good fruit in their works. Let no one despise you for your youth!

In closing, I want to remind you of the story of Job. Here was a man who was righteous in his own eyes. He was old, wise, and faithful to God. He was surrounded by three friends who knew that Job was not righteous but did not have an answer for his suffering. For three fourths of the book, Job and his three friends, wise in years and understanding, bicker back and forth about how Job is not righteous and yet they cannot answer Job's question of "Why has this happened to me?" In the 32nd chapter of the book, Elihu, a mere youth compared to the old men, cannot bite his tongue any longer. He cannot stand the way these men tip-toe around the answer they're looking for, but are too proud to be humbled by the truth. In light of all that I have just shared with you about not allowing anyone to despise you for your youth, read and meditate on the words of young Elihu as he rebukes Job and his three older friends:

So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger. And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said: 

"I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I said, 'Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.' But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right. Therefore I say, 'Listen to me; let me also declare my opinion.' 

"Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your wise sayings, while you searched out what to say. I gave you my attention, and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job or who answered his words. Beware lest you say, 'We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a man.' He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches. 

"They are dismayed; they answer no more; they have not a word to say. And shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stand there, and answer no more? I also will answer with my share; I also will declare my opinion. For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer. I will not show partiality to any man or use flattery toward any person. For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.
Job 32:1-22 ESV

"But now, hear my speech, O Job, and listen to all my words. Behold, I open my mouth; the tongue in my mouth speaks. My words declare the uprightness of my heart, and what my lips know they speak sincerely. The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Answer me, if you can; set your words in order before me; take your stand. Behold, I am toward God as you are; I too was pinched off from a piece of clay. Behold, no fear of me need terrify you; my pressure will not be heavy upon you."
Job 33:1-7 ESV