Timothy, Don't Let Anyone Think Less of You! (1 Timothy 4:12, No Inferiority Complex Please)

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity"

(1 Timothy 4:12, NLT)

"[Don't] let anyone put you down because you're young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity."

(The Message)

Today I preached the Word of God on manhood at the church. Although I've preached many times before to the youth and students, I never failed to feel nervous as if I'm going to do it the first time. Today particularly, I feel an extra boost of nervousness. I'm nervous not because I'm not prepared or because I fear the crowd, but because I'm going to preach on manhood to men who are older than me that were in the church just now. Nervous is good because it leads me to rely on God and be prayerful; fear is not because fear assumes that the Message is yours and not God's. So what did I do? I preached to myself this verse, God's assurance: "Richard, don't let anyone think less of you because you are young!" I repeated it many times and prayed to God with all my heart until God's Word become a reality to me. When the nervousness and the fear were gone, I preached the Word of God as it is – challenged the men (including the fathers), warned them, and plead for their needs for God to become their Father. I was bold and straight to the point! After I'm done, I became nervous again but with a sigh of relief. An older man came to me afterward and asked, "Can you come again next month?"

Timothy was a young man. Perhaps by this time, he may have been about 40 years old. A man of 40 was comparatively young compared with the Apostle Paul who perhaps at this time was close to 70. Kenneth S. Wuest, a Bible teacher, points out that "many of the elders at Ephesus may have been older than Timothy." Look at it this way: 40 years-old is considered old for an athlete (Lee Chong Wei, now 36, thought that he should be retired), young for minister (Syed Saddiq Syed, Youth and Sport Minister, turn 26 on 6th December 2018), and very young for Prime Minister (Mahathir Mohamad, now 93, the oldest PM in the history of Malaysia. The real Optimus Prime!).

When Paul told Timothy to "don't let anyone put you down because you're young," what he meant was: Do not develop an inferiority complex because you are younger than some of those to whom you minister. Do not be concerned if they do not understand that God has called you to this leadership position as pastor or teacher or preacher. Do not worry if they seek to ignore you because of your comparative immaturity. "Be an example to all believers in what you teach, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity." A young man (my age is near to Timothy's) may be very immature in some respects (I admit), but if he is characterized by these things: careful as to his words, particular as to his behavior, manifesting the love of God, a man of faith and is careful as to purity of life – he will earn the respect and recognition from others, even the older ones. In short, Paul said to us to first "teach believers with your life." If these characters are in you, the people "will realize that though a young man there is something about him that marks him out as a man of God, and not one who is careless in his walk and slack in his service, or who are seeking an easy-going life as a professional cleric," said H.A. Ironside.

Don't let anyone think less of you and put you down because you are young.

Be an example to all believers and teach them with your life (too).

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Men Who Finished Strong: Joshua and Caleb, Part 4

"The Lord now said to Moses, ‘Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelves ancestral tribes.'"

(Numbers 13:1-2, NLT)

God is ready to hand over the keys to the Promised Land to the newly liberated nation of Israel. Under the leadership of Moses, He has brought them out of Egypt with the gold and riches of Egypt in the possession. And now they are ready to enter the rich and prosperous land that will be their new home.

God specifically instructs Moses to pick out twelve men, one from each tribe. But He is even more specific than that. He tells them to pick twelve "leaders." And that's what Moses did. He picked men from each tribe who have already proven themselves as leaders – Israel's best and brightest. They weren't rookies; they were experienced generals. These were the men with proven track records and vision for the future. Let's put it this way: Moses wasn't going to pick wannabees or has-beens to go check out the land. For a mission like that you don't sent second-hands – you send in your specialists. Your main men. Twelve of them to be specific… and out of those 12, only 2 finished strong.

Israel waited for 40 years to enter the land because 10 guys who had seen God open the Red Sea for them and their families, and then close it on Pharaoh's army… 10 guys who had seen God work time and time again on their behalf – freaked out because the land contained some very powerful tribes and fortified cities. In other words, the 10 had a greater fear of man than they did of God. And this was after all the mind-boggling miracles God had performed before their very eyes! It was E. Stanley Jones who said, "Fear is the sand in the machinery of life." And it brought these 10 leaders to a staggering halt.

These 10 leaders had a great start. They just couldn't finish. And they delayed Israel's realization of the Promised Land for 40 years. A whole generation perished in the sands of the Sinai desert because these men got sand in their machinery. These were names of the twelve spies: the 10 leaders who couldn't finish strong; Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, and Geuel; and only 2 leaders who finished strong; Joshua and Caleb. Of the original twelve, ten detailed. Only Joshua and Caleb had taken the time to develop their moral and spiritual character so that they had the faith and endurance to trust in God when the chips were down. Parents still name their boys Joshua and Caleb today, don't they? But I don't know any parents who want to name their son Palti or Shammua. Those names have been forgotten.

There must have been some very good reasons why these 10 men were chosen to spy out the Promised Land. At least there were some good external reasons. The problem is, no one but God can look into a man's heart. Well, you can bet that each of these 10 men-leaders, if they were around today, would be at church faithfully every Sunday morning and/or Sunday night. He'd be there for Wednesday Bible Study night and Thursday Men's Fellowship. He'd show up on Tuesday for worship practice and teach Sunday school. He would be a tither and serve on the board. Externally, all of these men looked like dynamite! But when push came to shove, only 2 out of 12 had what it took to be real men of God. And the difference was all on the inside – the continuous relationship with the Living God.

You see, it's endurance that separates the men from the boys. It's endurance that determines whether or not a man will finish strong. And endurance is the fruit of godly character. The Christian life isn't a hundred meters run. It's a marathon. It's a long race, and long races don't require speed. They require grit, determination, faith-endurance, and finishing power. As Scripture says, "Therefore since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."

In Christian life, it's not how you start that matters.

It's how you finish.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Men Who Finished Strong: Jack MacArthur, Part 3

Preaching several years ago in Scotland, John MacArthur Jr. was approached by a man after the service. “Is your father named Jack MacArthur?” the man asked. MacArthur said yes.

“Your father came to Ireland over thirty years ago with two other men to hold a revival in Belfast and in other parts of the country. I went to hear your father speak, and at that meeting, I received Jesus Christ and dedicated my life to the ministry. I am a pastor because the Lord used your father to minister to me. Would you tell him that when you see him?”

MacArthur indicated that he would, and then the man asked another question. “Where is your father now?” MacArthur told him that his father was preaching and pastoring. The man then asked, “Is he still faithful to the Word?” “Yes, he still faithful and still standing.” “What happened to the other two men who were ministering with your father?” MacArthur replied, “I’m sorry to report that one has denied the faith and the other died an alcoholic.”

There it is again. Three relatively young men, completely committed to Christ, make their way to Ireland to preach the gospel. They see God do great things. But thirty years later when the dust had settled, only one out of the three was still standing.

In the Christian life, it’s not how you start that matters.

It’s how you finish.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Men Who Finished Strong: John Bisagno (Or Only 1 In 10), Part 2

John Bisagno has been pastoring First Baptist of Houston for a number of years. John was just about to finish college, he was having dinner over at his fiancée’s house one night. After supper, he was talking with his future father-in-law, Dr Paul Beck, out of the porch. Dr Beck had been in ministry for years, and that was inevitably the subject toward which the conversation turned.

“John, as you get ready to enter the ministry, I want to give you some advice,” Dr Beck told the young man. “Stay true to Jesus! Make sure that you keep your heart close to Jesus every day. It’s a long way from here to where you’re going to go, and Satan’s in no hurry to get you.”

The older man continued. “It has been an observation that just one out of ten (1-out-of-10) who start out in full-time service for the Lord at twenty-one are still on track by the age of sixty-five. They’re shot down morally, they’re shot down with discouragement, they’re shot down with liberal theology, they get obsessed with making money… but for one reason or another nine out of ten (9-out-of-10) fall out.”

The twenty-year-old Bisagno was shocked. “I just can’t believe that!” he said. “That’s impossible! That just can’t be true.”

Bisagno told how he went home, took one of those blank pages in the back of his Scofield Reference Bible and wrote down the names of twenty-four young men who were his peers and contemporaries. These were young men in their twenties who were sold out for Jesus Christ. They were trained for ministry and burning in their desire to be used by the Lord. These were the committed young preachers who would make an impact for the Lord in their generation.

Bisagno relates the following with a sigh: “I am now fifty-three years old. From time to time as the years have gone by, I’ve had to turn back to the page in my Bible and cross out a name. I wrote down those twenty-four names when I was just twenty years of age. Thirty-three years later, there are only three names remaining of the original twenty-four.”

In the Christian life, it’s not how you start that matters.

It’s how you finish.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Men Who Finished Strong: Billy Graham, Part 1

Chuck Templeton, Torrey Johnson, and Billy Graham

"Truth is heavy, so few men carry it"

(Jewish Proverb)

You've heard of Billy Graham. But what about Chuck Templeton or Bron Clifford? Have you ever heard of them? Billy Graham wasn't the only young preacher packing auditoriums in 1945. Chuck Templeton and Bron Clifford were accomplishing the same thing – and more. All three young men were in their mid-twenties. One seminary president, after hearing Chuck Templeton preach one evening to an audience of thousands, called him "the most gifted and talented young man in America today for preaching."

Templeton and Graham were friends. Both ministered for Youth for Christ. Both were extraordinary preachers. Yet in those early years, "most observers would probably have put their money on Templeton." As a matter of fact, in 1946, the National Association of Evangelicals published an article on men who were "the best used of God" in that organization's five-year existence. The article highlighted the ministry of Chuck Templeton. Billy Graham was never mentioned. Templeton, many felt, would be the next Babe Ruth of evangelism.

Bron Clifford was yet another gifted, twenty-five-year-old fireball. In 1945, many believed Clifford the most gifted and powerful preacher the church had seen in centuries. In that same year, Clifford preached to an auditorium of thousands of Miami, Florida. People lined up ten and twelve deep outside the auditorium trying to get in. later that same year, when Clifford was preaching in the chapel at Baylor University, the president ordered class bells turned off so that the young man could minister without interruption to the student body. For two hours and fifteen minutes, he kept those students on the edge of their seats as he preached on the subject, Christ, and the Philosopher's Stone.

"At the age of twenty-five, young Clifford touched more lives, influenced more leaders, and set more attendance records than any other clergyman his age in American history. National leaders vied for his attention. He was tall, handsome, intelligent, and eloquent. Hollywood invited him to audition for the part of Marcellus in ‘The Robe.' It seemed as if he had everything."

Graham, Templeton, and Clifford.

In 1945, all three came shooting out of the starting blocks like rockets. You've heard of Billy Graham. So how come you've never heard of Chuck Templeton or Bron Clifford? Especially when they came out of the chutes so strong in '45.

Just in five years later, Templeton left the ministry to pursue a career as a radio and television commentator and newspaper columnist. Templeton had decided he was no longer a believer in Christ in the orthodox sense of the term. By 1950, this future Babe Ruth wasn't even in the game or no longer believed in the validity of the claims of Jesus Christ.

What about Clifford? By 1954, Clifford had lost his family, his ministry, his health, and then… his life. Alcohol and financial irresponsibility had done him in. he wound up leaving his wife and their two Down's syndrome children. At just thirty-five years of age, this once great preacher died from cirrhosis of the liver in a run-down motel on the edge of Amarillo. His last job was selling used cars in the panhandle of Texas. He died, as John Haggai put it, "unwept, unhonoured, and unsung." Some pastors in Amarillo took up a collection among themselves in order to purchase a casket so that his body could be shipped back East for a decent burial in a cemetery for the poor.

In 1945, three young men with extraordinary gifts were preaching the gospel to multiplied thousands across this nation. Within ten years, only one of them was still on the track for Christ.

In the Christian life,

It's not how you start that matters.

It's how you finish.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

[Taken from Steven Farrar, Finishing Strong: Going the Distance for Your Family (1995), page 14-15]