Fences Ruin All The Fun | 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Opening: Have really enjoyed camp. I love your spirit and watching you interact with each other. I appreciate how respectful you are and how interested you are in hearing God’s Word.

We’ll be in 2 Timothy - Preaching on the theme this morning.

Paul is writing to a young pastor named Timothy who’s trying to stand for God but is feeling the pressure of living in a tough culture. Does that sound familiar?

We live in a tough culture with a lot of pressure, and too many young people are caving in to that pressure.

So Paul gives Timothy some help on how to remain standing.

READ 2 Tim 3:10-17

Monday Night: My Friends Won’t Affect Me

Tuesday Morning: I’ll Never Have Victory Over My Sin

Tuesday Night: Familiarity Equals Faith

This Morning: Fences Ruin All The Fun

Introduction: Falling down the ravine and hurting my ankle on Monday night

Really dark…Beautiful weather…“It’s going to be a great week up HEEEERE!”

Here’s what I see a lot of young people doing in their Christian lives — they’re dropping their hands. They’re letting their guard down as the cultural pressure gets stronger. Some of you may be doing the same things. You’ve started dismissing some of things that you received from your parents because you’re older now. You’ve started eye rolling the counsel of your pastor or youth pastor because “no one else is doing that, why should I?” And what you don’t realize is that dropping your hands outs you at risk.

Next thing I know I’m in the bottom of that ravine.

Never fell…just slid down to the bottom…but on the way down my foot hit something and it just clicked outward.

Stood there…what should I do?…embarrassed…started climbing up and people helped grab my Bible and iPad. Stood up and felt my ankle. I knew it was going to be a problem.

But listen, all of that could have been avoided if there had been some kind of barrier keeping me away from the drop off.

Fences are protection. Without them, we’re vulnerable.

Like a fort without walls

Or a mountain highway without guardrails

Where there’s danger, we need fences.

I. Timothy Was Facing External Pressure

A. Moral Pressure

1. Last days & perilous times (2-4)

2. Moral fences are being kicked down around at alarming rates

3. Drag shows in schools and libraries! The pressure of immorality is honestly shocking.

a. You’re feeling pressure I didn’t feel at your age.

b. Social media is bringing the pressure right to you whereas I had to go somewhere else to feel it.

c. Pressure to lower your morals and loosen your positions.

B. Religious Pressure

1. Vs. 5 – “Having a form of godliness.” Looking religious but not having a relationship.

2. That’s happening in our day. Everything is on a screen or a phone, so it becomes all about appearances.

C. For Paul and Timothy, this was more than pressure. They were being persecuted. (12-13)

1. Pressure eventually becomes persecution.

2. And it will for us too. The only thing untolerated now are Conservative Christian values.

D. And this pressure is causing young people to fold.

1. Timothy is young, which is why Paul warns him about the pressure with phrases like:

a. Hold fast, Be strong, Endure hardness

b. Labor, Study, Flee youthful lusts, Follow righteousness

c. Watch in all things, endure afflictions

d. When you’re young, you don’t fully understand all the pressure.

2. Illustration: Riding Velocicoaster with Jase, blacked out most of it, held his head back, picture, he thought he was ready for the pressure but he wasn’t. After riding it couple of times, he was doing great.

3. Paul isn’t sure young Timothy is ready to face the pressure alone. Paul is about to be executed. He won’t be there for Timothy anymore.

II. So Paul Applies Some Internal Pressure

A. He starts by telling Timothy that the external pressure will not stand the test of time.

1. Vs. 8-9 – Paul calls the pressure reprobate, which means not approved or not standing the test.

2. It won’t last. Young people all the time let cultural pressure dictate their lives, but in 5 years you’re going to look back and say, “That was dumb.”

3. You think it’s so cool to do the latest TikTok dance and get in on the trends.

4. In my day it was big bangs and fanny packs. Trends don’t last.

5. Paul says, “Hold onto things that are proven.

B. Vs. 10-11. “As a counter to the external unproven pressure, Timothy, you have something that has been proven – My example.”

B. Timothy had served with Paul. He’d observed him up close. So Paul could say, “Timothy, you’ve known my…”:

1. Doctrine – Teachings

2. Manner of Life – Conduct

3. Purpose – Motivation

4. Faith, longsuffering, charity and patience (perseverance)

5. Persecutions – You watched them chase me & try to kill...

6. Afflictions – You’ve watched me suffer

C. Paul is saying “You’ve watched me face terrible things and I endured.” What Paul is telling Timothy is, “I’m proven. The culture isn’t. So Timothy, why take your cues from the unproven when you have someone proven to follow?”

D. I’m going to say it this way – Paul is trying to build some fences for Timothy.

1. Doctrine (section of the fence) – Our strength begins with truth. Paul is pointing Timothy to God’s Word (15-17) but uses his own life as evidence of its strength.

2. Manner of life (section of the fence) – His behavior, his habits, how he conducted himself

3. Faith (section of the fence) – My commitment to God

4. Charity (section of the fence) – Love I showed others

E. Paul is saying, “These fence posts and panels were strong enough for me to endure under immense pressure. And they’re strong enough for you too.”

Vs. 13 – Even as things get worse and worse, the things you’ve observed in me are enough to help you endure.

F. Vs. 14 – But “CONTINUE IN” the things which thou hast learned…

1. What things? My doctrine, manner of life, purpose, so on.

2. Paul says, “These fences have proven themselves in my life. You’ve watched them hold up under all the pressure. There’s no reason to look elsewhere. Continue in them. Stay inside the fence!”

3. Timothy had watched Paul prove these things, so Paul says, “Knowing of whom thou hast learned them.”

4. Paul wasn’t just some guy. Timothy knew him.

a. Paul had felt the heat. He’d been chased and beaten and imprisoned. And he had endured.

b. And it gave Paul the confidence to tell Timothy, “All of the external pressure will one day fall part, its folly will be revealed, but right here inside the fence where you watched me operate, that’s been proven time and time again.”

III. I call this the Pressure of the Proven.

A. Pressure applied by someone who has lived it.

B. Paul says it’s valid to CONTINUE based on the examples of the people in your life that have lived out and proven God’s Word.

C. Young person, if you have Christian parents that have endured with the help of God’s Word, it is a perfectly acceptable reason to CONTINUE on their path based solely on the fact that they’ve proven it.

D. If you have a godly Pastor who has invested in you and preached the Word and has stood strong in the face of cultural pressure, it makes sense to CONTINUE in the example he’s given you simply based on the fact that he’s proven it.

E. This applies to your Youth Pastor and other godly adults and influences in your life.

F. If they’ve based their lives on God’s Word and have proven it, you have no reason to cast off what you’ve been taught simply because a different voice comes along.

G. Those fences are proven. Their doctrine is proven. This bible is proven. Their standards are proven. Their conduct is proven.

IV. Unfortunately, Many Teenagers Go Through A Fence Removal Stage

A. I’ve watched this take place so many times:

1. A young person is raised in a good Christian home by good parents.

2. They’re exposed to godly influences at church.

3. And they feel the pressure to do right.

4. But the pressure from the outside gets stronger the older they get. Jobs, car, college, meet new people that don’t believe like them. They start to be pulled by those pressures too.

5. Illustration: One guy in middle

One guy represents God pulling one way (parents and Pastor)

Two guys represent fences (10 o clock curfew, no rated R movies)

One guy represent Culture pulling other way

6. The older teens get, the more they begin to resist the pressure of the proven and welcome the pressure of the unproven.

7. So they pull away from the proven pressure and start to lean that way.

a. Reject parents’ counsel and accept friends’ advice.

b. Get scornful about their youth pastor but embrace without question everything their peers say.

c. Like the prodigal son, they cast aside the pressure of the proven and trade it for that which will someday be proven temporary and foolish.

d. There’s still a problem. There are fences in the way that keep them from wholly going over to that side. So what happens? Teenagers start kicking down fences.

C. Here’s the lie Teenagers Believe: Fences ruin all the fun.

C. But that’s not the point of a fence.

1. Paul wasn’t saying, “Continue in the things which you’ve learned of me,” to ruin Timothy’s fun. He did it to protect Timothy from spiritual destruction.

2. Illustration: Bro. Tyler last night explaining the fences for his dogs. Front yard, run off. Back yard, could play anywhere they wanted. Fences protect, even though a lot of young people think that boundaries or fences ruin all the fun. I believe that concept is what Paul is trying to emphasize to Timothy.

3. Illustration: As I’ve proven this week, fences protect us from those thing which will will hurt us.

b. Now be careful, because fences don’t make you holy. That’s the ditch on the other side. Outward things don’t make you holy. But they can help protect your holiness.

3. The fences you received from your parents and pastor aren’t there to keep you from having fun. They’re meant to protect you so you can avoid the danger.

4. Young person, stop resenting your authorities for the pressure applied. If you don’t have some fences, you are at risk.

SEND GUYS DOWN

D. You’re thinking, “I can’t wait to take down these fences.”

1. Watch what I want, wear what I want, date who I choose, sleep in on Sundays if I feel like it. It’s like kids that go to university. They get away from mom and dad and all their fences come down.

2. What they don’t realize is those fences were put there for protection, not to ruin their fun.

3. And they were put there by people that love you. People that have proven them.

4. Teenager, we’re in an era in which fences have never been more needed, but they’ve also never been coming down at a faster rate.

5. It’s shocking how many Conservative Christian kids are deconstructing their faith. Doubting God’s Word. Or just casting aside all forms of separation in order to fit in.

Listen, I know the pressure has never been stronger. But that means the fences have never been more necessary.

Don’t believe the lie that a fence is there to keep you from having fun. The fence is there to protect you from influences that will destroy your spiritual life.

V. Jogging with Cows

A. Bought property and built house

1. Nice spot, east side of property a large lake, lots of fish, wildlife (even bald eagles)

2. One day wildlife we hadn’t seen before – COWS

B. Woke up to go jogging and they were all in the trees. STORY

1. That was just the beginning. We had a period of a few months that we had problems with cows. Early one morning my wife went outside and came face to face with a cow. Well, that cow saw here and took off running. Ran through our garden and ruined it, then took down the fence around it. One day, no more cows.

2. We didn’t know what happened until months later when I went down to the lake and realized what had gone on.

C. On the east edge of our property there was a fence.

1. When we first bought it the lake was very full and all you could see was the top of the fence.

2. I was bothered because it hindered how much we could use the lake. So I took a whole section of the fence down.

3. But over the next 4 or 5 years we had a drought. The lake got very low. And our neighbor had cows.

4. Eventually the lake got so low that the neighbor’s cows came across on dry land, right onto our property.

D. You see, I didn’t think to ask why there was a fence there.

1. When the water was high it served no purpose. But when the water got low it was necessary.

2. That illustration has taught me a few lessons in life:

VI. Lessons Learned

A. #1 – Fences don’t ruin the fun. They protect you from ruin.

1. All I considered was what we were missing. We wanted access to the lake, but when a fence comes down there’s access both ways.

2. It never dawned on me what a missing fence might let in.

3. The pressure says, “Take down that fence so you can have more fun.” But a fence works both ways. It will let some things into your life you weren’t counting on.

4. I’ve known too many young that removed a fence to be accepted and lost their purity because of it.

5. You may think your parents’ rules about screen time are old-fashioned, but young men, when your mind is riddled with the effects of pornography, you’ll wish you could go back and never remove that fence.

6. Fences aren’t just there to keep you in. They’re there to keep the cows out.

B. #2 – Once one fence comes down, others are sure to follow.

1. The cow trampled our garden and tore down the fence meant to protect it.

2. Once that first fence came down, I didn’t get to choose the second one.

3. Once the cows start running through your life, you don’t get to choose what they trample next.

4. Illustration: I’ve had this conversation many times with young people. Physical contact starts small. Hand holding, then kissing, but once the door is opened it’s like a floodgate that you can’t control.

5. Once you take down one fence, there are surely more to follow.

C. #3 – Fixing fences is much harder than taking them down.

1. A few months after the cow problem stopped, I was down at the lake and realized the fence had been repaired. That’s when I knew what had happened. Our neighbor was as tired of chasing cows as I was.

2. Fences take forever to put up, and just a few minutes to take down.

3. Before you take one down, before you cast off your parents’ and pastor’s standards, you need to understand why that fence was built in the first place.

4. Taking down that fence didn’t just cost me. It cost my neighbor time and money to fix. He incurred loss because of my decision.

5. When you take down a fence, you’re not the only one to have to deal with the effects.

6. Young man, you pressuring a young lady to get involved physically doesn’t just affect you.

7. Older sibling, your choices to sneak around your parents’ rules is only making it easier for your bro and sisters to take it even further later.

8. If your influence in the youth group is to push the boundaries and talk about things you shouldn’t and be involved in activities no Christian teen should be doing, you kicking down fences is affecting others.

9. And while it’s easy to kick down a fence. It’s hard to build one.

Don’t believe the lie that Fences ruin all the fun.

Adam and would tell you fences don’t ruin your fun. In fact, they would say that ignoring fences will ruin you.

Samson would tell you the same thing.

David with Bathsheba, he’d say fences can keep you from ruin.

I can give you names of young people who resented the fences, took them down, and it cost them dearly.

But I can also give you the names of countless who kept their fences and God blessed their lives.

That’s my testimony. I’m not saying I never struggled, but I’ve decided that the people who invested in me and love are worth following. I’m going to CONTINUE in the things I’ve learned simply because I know of whom I’ve learned them.

They’re proven.

And listen, like I said last night, my fun has not been ruined. I’m living a life I wouldn’t trade. In fact, as evidenced this week, not having a fence will actually ruin your fun.

Application

Be thankful for the fences you have, because it means someone loves you enough to protect you.

If you don’t have many fences at home, take your cues from the spiritual leadership at your church.

Refuse to kick down fences unless you have a biblical reason to do it.

2 Timothy 3:14 “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;”

CONTINUE. Follow the proven path. And watch God bless you because you refused to take down those fences.