Untitled Sermon (28)

Jesus Prays For Us (If we could See it)

In , and in other passages, we see that Jesus prays for us. It’s amazing that the eternal son of God, prays for you and prays for me. We say things like that but do we truly feel the weight of those truths, or I should say do we truly shed the burdens we carry knowing that Jesus prays for us. We can’t see him praying for us. But Scripture still says Jesus prays for us. Imagine you are in your home, and you are facing a bunch of different challenges. Financial, martial, parenting, stress, temptation, discipline…and imagine if you could actually SEE Jesus in the next room in your house on his knees praying for you. Praying to the Father for you…if you could actually SEE that it would embolden you and embolden me to face any challenge and any enemy in life. But the fact is that even though we can’t see Jesus praying for us, he still prays for us. In , we see Jesus praying for us…it was a far reaching, deeply emotional prayer called his high priestly prayer. And in this prayer, Jesus prays for you and for me…that may seem confusing to hear that Jesus prayed to God when Jesus IS God. Jesus was like, Hi God, It’s You, Me…but even though we can’t comprehend it fully, he prayed for us in specific ways…one thing he prayed for relates directly to this series on friendships…he prayed for the kinds of friendships he wants us to have...

This morning we continue our series called Everyone Needs a Friend and we have seen in this series that Jesus' plan and prayer even for us is that we would experience friendships on the deepest possible level. Jesus prayed an emotional, far reaching prayer in called his high priestly prayer. And he prayed for you and me…that may seem confusing to hear that Jesus prayed to God when Jesus is God. Jesus was like, hi God, it’s you, me…but that is above our pay grade to understand…but after he prayed for his 12 disciples, he prayed for us:

John 17:20–21 ESV

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:21 ESV

that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:9–10 ESV

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

John 17:9 ESV

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

“Just As”, Bond of Father/Son, Dream Team

Jesus shows us what his desire is for our friendships with one another when he prayed that we would be one. That we would be unified. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He defines the kind of unity he is praying for with the two words, “just as.”

I pray that they, us will be one, will be unified, just as…just as what? Just as I and my Father are one. Just stop for a moment and think about that kind of intimacy. We are talking about the relationship between the eternal Father and the eternal Son. Jesus said, that is my prayer for you…that you would have that same kind of Father and Son intimacy with one another that I enjoy with my Father. Jesus is saying I don’t want you to just tolerate each other, I don’t want you to have surface relationships, I certainly don’t want you to quit on each other, I want you to have friendships on the deepest possible eternal relational level.

I have said in this series, Everyone Needs a Friend, that everyone needs a Dream Team of Friends…and that may sound far fetched and idealistic…and it is…but a dream team of friends still doesn’t even come close to the depth of friendship that Jesus was praying for us to have with one another.

So when I say idealistic things like we need a dream team of friends, and everyone needs these types of friends....I am still not coming close to plumbing the depths of what Jesus’ prayer was for us when it comes to friendships. That’s incredible.

Christ Types

And so we have seen through Scripture that there are different kinds of friendships that we all need in our lives.

Everyone Needs a Nathan/Barnabas/Paul/Timothy

And so we have seen through Scripture that there are different kinds of friendships that we all need in our lives.

I want them to be one just as I am one with my Heavenly Father. That is a very high bar for friendships--to be so unified, to be so close to another that you are one with them in the same way the eternal trinity of father, son and Holy Spirit are one. And so we have seen that there are types of Christ, meaning there are people in the Scripture who remind us of Jesus, who point us to Jesus, flawed people, deeply flawed people in fact, who aren't there to be examples to us, but are there to point us to someone else, to Jesus. And so we can learn from them....so we have seen that there is a dream team of friends we need in our lives and that we need to be these types of friends in other peoples' lives. So we have seen that everyone needs a Nathan...a person who can speak hard truths into our lives, especially when it comes to blind spots at any time, for any reason. We have seen that everyone needs a Barnabas, a Barnabas is an encourager. Someone who stands by you even when the chips are down. And we saw last week that everyone needs a Paul...the Apostle Paul was a mentor to many people. Specifically he mentored a younger pastor named Timothy. We all need a mentor in our lives...and this week we will continue the theme of mentoring and see that we all NEED to be mentoring others. Everyone needs a Timothy on their dream team of friends. In fact you should be mentoring more than just one Timothy.

In the first few weeks of the series we saw that everyone needs a Nathan...a person who can speak hard truths into our lives, especially when it comes to our blind spots.

We have seen that everyone needs a Barnabas, a Barnabas is an encourager. Someone who stands by you even when the chips are down.

And we saw last week that everyone needs a Paul...the Apostle Paul was a mentor to many people. Specifically he mentored a younger pastor named Timothy. We all need a mentor in our lives...and this week we will continue the theme of mentoring and see that we all NEED to be mentoring others. Everyone needs a Timothy.

Proverbs 27:6 ESV

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

A Nathan may wound you, but that is a faithful wound. We have seen that we also need a Barnabas, an encourager.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

We saw last week that everyone needs a Paul…Paul was many things, but he was a great mentor of many. One of the most famous mentoring relationships in Scripture is the friendship between Paul and Timothy. Paul, an older man mentored Timothy a younger man, and we have two books of the Bible that are letters from Paul to Timothy mentoring him.

Proverbs 27:17 ESV

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

So everyone needs a mentor, someone who is pouring into you on an ongoing basis. And so last week we saw that everyone needs a Paul, everyone needs a mentor, and today, everyone needs a Timothy, someone you are mentoring, a mentoree.

First, I want to look at why we don't want to mentor. I don't know about you, but I question if it will work. I am so pragmatic and the Gospel is anything but pragmatic. We have a hard time believing that our mentoring will mean anything. We have a hard time believing that people will change since generally people don't change. In other words, many times we believe nothing good will truly come of mentoring another. And we could believe that for a variety of reasons. We may think that nothing good can come of those we would be mentoring. Or perhaps we think that we can't possibly be mentors ourselves, that nothing good could possibly come from our mouths to another that would be considered mentoring. Or it could be good old fashioned laziness or selfishness that makes us not want to be a mentor.

Mentoring is One of the Typical “Bullets”

This has been a tough sermon to prepare. Not because I don’t have enough material, but because I have way way too much material. I could preach for two hours on this. I won’t. But I could. And as I have studied for this sermon, I have seen that mentoring is a need in the church and we should probably do a whole sermon series on it at some point.

Mentoring as a Bullet and Definition

But another reason why this has been a tough sermon to prepare is because Mentoring, and all things related to mentoring, is one of the typical “bullets” pastors have in their preaching guns. What do I mean by that? I have said before that when it comes to preaching, and when it comes to ministry philosophy, and when it comes to life, I as a pastor, have realized that I truly only have one bullet in my gun. Or one kind of bullet I should say. And that bullet is Jesus.

That one bullet is the Gospel of Jesus, that bullet is Nothing but Jesus, and Jesus is not just for those who aren’t Christians, Jesus is for those who have been Christians for decades. Jesus doesn’t just save us, Jesus sustains and changes us. So my job and calling as a pastor is to preach Jesus in a million different and creative ways…but to always be preaching nothing but Jesus.

So pastors tend to rely on other bullets. There is what Tim Keller calls MOTS preaching. Meaning the moral of the story type preaching. There is that bullet.

There is political preaching. Which usually means for evangelicals aligning hook line and sinker with current conservative values instead of still tackling the issues but tackling them from a biblical and Christ centered perspective rather than a politically partisan one. So there is the political bullet.

There is the

Because mentoring is one of the Big Ones when it comes to the church. It’s one of the typical bullets a pastor has in his gun. I have said to you before that I have just one bullet in my gun, and that bullet is the Gospel of Jesus, that bullet is Nothing but Jesus, and Jesus is not just for those who aren’t Christians, Jesus is for those who have been Christians for decades. Jesus doesn’t just save us, Jesus sustains and changes us. So my job and calling as a pastor is to preach Jesus in a million different and creative ways…but to always be preaching nothing but Jesus. But that isn’t the way evangelicalism is....I would say that for the most part, Jesus is A bullet in the gun for most pastors, but not THE bullet. And the way it works is that Jesus is the bullet for the altar call. Or he is tacked on to the end of a moralistic sermon. He is an option on the menu, but he isn’t the whole menu. So there is that bullet, the Jesus light bullet. There is the political bullet where politics, usually conservative politics is the main bullet. There is the moralistic bullet. Tim Keller calls it MOTS preaching. Moral of the story preaching where we find heroes in scripture and we emulate them—we find the moral of the story and the heroes of the story instead of plainly and painfully seeing through the Bible stories that there is only one hero in Scripture. There’s that bullet. But there is also the mentoring bullet. And the mentoring bullet is more related to the promise keepers bullet. The men’s fraternity bullet. Where it’s about men standing up, and accountability groups and men making promises. And all these bullets are good and pious and true in some ways. But the temptation when we take on one of the big ones like mentoring is to lose Jesus. My role as the pastor is to preach Jesus and to apply Jesus to mentoring. Not to preach on mentoring and tack on Jesus at the end. Not to even give you a to-do list and tack on Jesus because the Gospel isn’t as much about transformation, even though we are transformed, but the Gospel is more about substitution…where Jesus takes our place and does for us what we could never ever do for ourselves. So I wanted to say that before we launch into this and hopefully you will hold me accountable to preach Jesus. My mom on many Sundays will text me two simple words, preach Jesus…so even on hot topic sundays my goal is to preach Jesus.

Not the Way Evangelicalism Is (one of Many Bullets)

It’s one of the typical bullets a pastor has in his gun. I have said to you before that I have just one bullet in my gun, and that bullet is the Gospel of Jesus, that bullet is Nothing but Jesus, and Jesus is not just for those who aren’t Christians, Jesus is for those who have been Christians for decades. Jesus doesn’t just save us, Jesus sustains and changes us. So my job and calling as a pastor is to preach Jesus in a million different and creative ways…but to always be preaching nothing but Jesus. But that isn’t the way evangelicalism is....I would say that for the most part, Jesus is A bullet in the gun for most pastors, but not THE bullet. And the way it works is that Jesus is the bullet for the altar call. Or he is tacked on to the end of a moralistic sermon. He is an option on the menu, but he isn’t the whole menu. So there is that bullet, the Jesus light bullet. There is the political bullet where politics, usually conservative politics is the main bullet. There is the moralistic bullet. Tim Keller calls it MOTS preaching. Moral of the story preaching where we find heroes in scripture and we emulate them—we find the moral of the story and the heroes of the story instead of plainly and painfully seeing through the Bible stories that there is only one hero in Scripture. There’s that bullet. But there is also the mentoring bullet. And the mentoring bullet is more related to the promise keepers bullet. The men’s fraternity bullet. Where it’s about men standing up, and accountability groups and men making promises. And all these bullets are good and pious and true in some ways. But the temptation when we take on one of the big ones like mentoring is to lose Jesus. My role as the pastor is to preach Jesus and to apply Jesus to mentoring. Not to preach on mentoring and tack on Jesus at the end. Not to even give you a to-do list and tack on Jesus because the Gospel isn’t as much about transformation, even though we are transformed, but the Gospel is more about substitution…where Jesus takes our place and does for us what we could never ever do for ourselves. So I wanted to say that before we launch into this and hopefully you will hold me accountable to preach Jesus. My mom on many Sundays will text me two simple words, preach Jesus…so even on hot topic sundays my goal is to preach Jesus.

But that isn’t the way evangelicalism is....I would say that for the most part, Jesus is A bullet in the gun for most pastors, but not THE bullet.

And the way it works is that Jesus is the bullet for the altar call. Or he is tacked on to the end of a moralistic sermon. He is an option on the menu, but he isn’t the whole menu. So there is that bullet, the Jesus light bullet.

There is the political bullet where politics, usually conservative politics is the main bullet and instead of biblically unpacking cultural and political issues and tackling them from that perspective, we strangely sound like a parrot for conservative talking points. If you apply the nothing but Jesus bullet to politics you will land all across the political spectrum on different issues and outside the political spectrum entirely on some issues.

There is the moralistic bullet. Tim Keller calls it MOTS preaching. “Moral of the story preaching” where we find heroes in scripture and we emulate them—we find the moral of the story and the heroes of the story preaching, instead of plainly and painfully seeing through the Bible stories that there is only one hero in Scripture. There’s that bullet.

But there is also the mentoring bullet. And the mentoring bullet is more related to the man-up bullet, the you can and you should do it bullet. The promise keepers bullet. The men’s fraternity bullet. Where it’s usually about how weak men are and men standing up for truth, and accountability groups and men making promises they already made and broke years ago.

And all these bullets can be good and pious and true in some ways, but the temptation when we take on one of the big ones, one of the typical bullets that tends to replace Jesus, like mentoring, is to lose Jesus.

My role as the pastor, and my calling as a pastor, and I can tell you that all of our pastors are deeply committed to this, is to preach Jesus and to apply Jesus. That we have just one bullet in our guns, and that is Jesus. Not Jesus light. But Jesus from start to finish. So my role today isn’t to preach on mentoring and tack on Jesus at the end. Not to give a how-to sermon and tack on Jesus because the Gospel isn’t as much about transformation, even though we are transformed, but the Gospel is more about substitution…where Jesus takes our place and does for us what we could never ever do for ourselves and because of that finished work, because it is a free gift, because it isn’t cheap grace we preach, but free grace that we preach…the outpouring of our hearts will be not just to mentor but to be ONE with each other just as Jesus and his heavenly father are one.

So I wanted to say that before we launch into this and hopefully you will hold me accountable to preach Jesus. My mom on many Sunday mornings will text me two simple words, preach Jesus…so even on hot topic Sundays my goal is to preach Jesus.

The Mentoring I have Received

The Mentoring I have Received

We all know that mentoring is needed. Just look at our culture. Just look at the next generation. Even your own life. I had one of the best mentors on planet earth. I was born into a Christian family. My Dad is s great leader a great preacher and pastor and many times when you have that the person is different behind closed doors but with my parents what you see is what you get, they were loving and gracious, and wise--even now when I have something big going on in my life I will call him and say I need to come over and talk. So I had and have a great mentor. My mom as well.

First, I want to look at why we don't want to mentor. I don't know about you, but I question if it will work. I am so pragmatic and the Gospel is anything but pragmatic. We have a hard time believing that our mentoring will mean anything. We have a hard time believing that people will change since generally people don't change. In other words, many times we believe nothing good will truly come of mentoring another. And we could believe that for a variety of reasons. We may think that nothing good can come of those we would be mentoring. Or perhaps we think that we can't possibly be mentors ourselves, that nothing good could possibly come from our mouths to another that would be considered mentoring. Or it could be good old fashioned laziness or selfishness that makes us not want to be a mentor.

Yesterday, as I was trying to chisel out a sermon from a mountain of material, I spent some time with my 11 year old son, CJ. Melanie is away in Kenya at Happy Life with our two girls. So it is just me, Markie, and CJ at home. CJ has been saving up for six months for a new lego set. He marks off each day he does his chores and keeps a running tab. And there is this new lego set that he wants, and these aren’t the legos we had when we were kids. This is a set with a couple thousand pieces. So we went to the mall and I surprised him and got him the set. We brought it home and the instruction manual is 300 pages long. He put it together in a few hours. Amazing. But the best part was our talks. He is getting older. And I am pouring myself into him because we have such limited time Dads out there. And so we spent time together, then I went over to my parents house and CJ went in the pool with his cousins and I just sat and talked to my Dad for a couple of hours. Growing up and even today I have and had one of the best mentors on planet earth. I was born into a Christian family.

My Dad is a great leader a great preacher and pastor and many times when you have that the person is different behind closed doors but with my parents what you see is what you get, they were loving and gracious, and wise--even now when I have something big going on in my life I will call him and say I need to come over and talk. And so we talked about sports, about ministry, we talked about how dark the days were when he came out of his surgery, I asked him for advice on different things, he shared his advice on a few things I didn’t ask about, because that is what mentors do.

My mom is a great mentor to me as well. Last night, I went home and as I was going to sleep it hit me that my parents aren’t always going to be here. In fact, they are getting older. And my Dad is kind of crazy. He had a surgery done and had to recover, so he started in a wheelchair, to a walker, and to a cane, and now he is almost off the cane, and I have said my prayer for him is that he comes to a point where he can play golf again. So yesterday he was in the backyard…and he took his cane and said to my mom, I think I’m ready to do some practice golf swings with my cane. My mom is like, don’t do it. And so he listened to her and took a practice swing with his cane, and so he swung the cane and the cane attaches to itself in the middle so it can be folded up and when he swung the cane the attachment came loose and the cane smacked him in the head. He’s a little bit stubborn so if it isn’t his heart that gets him, it could be his cane hitting him in the head. But my point is, I don’t know how much longer I will have these great mentors.

And beyond that I had my grandparents--my grandmother was one of my best friends.

My Dad is a great leader a great preacher and pastor and many times when you have that the person is different behind closed doors but with my parents what you see is what you get, they were loving and gracious, and wise--even now when I have something big going on in my life I will call him and say I need to come over and talk. So I had and have a great mentor. My mom as well.

And beyond that I had my grandparents--my grandmother was one of my best friends.

My wife Melanie is so wise, so supportive, she doesn't let me get away with much-she is usually right I can say that because she is in Kenya and won't hear me say it.

My father in law and mother in law should write a book on being a father in law and mother in law because they are basically perfect in that role and I really am not exaggerating. I do believe you can be almost perfect in certain relationships while not being a perfect person. There are people in your life who never let you down. They are like that. My father in law is wise and fun to debate and he mentors me. Why am I telling you all of this…listen...

But...even with this incredible family...I still desperately and still desperately today needed mentors outside of them. Let that sink in. 

I’ll take it further…even though my son CJ has me, has his older brother, has his granddads…I still want to know which one of you is going to mentor my son…which one of you twenty somethings is going to take an interest in my son and mentor him and pour into him…which one of you thirty somethings is going to mentor my oldest son and pour into him....when my kids get married, which of you married couples are going to mentor them and pour into them?

Mentors Outside of Family

Even being pastors kid of a legit pastor who behind the scenes was the same as he is out front-I still needed mentors. Badly. So I am willing to bet that if I needed mentors then you do too because I grew up privileged with mentors in my own family. And so God provided those men and women along the way.

There was a guy named Carl Trower. He came to our church years ago, he was one of the only African americans in our church, if not the only one, and he was larger than life…he had a huge love for Jesus and a love for the word of God. So he would memorize not just verses, not just chapters but whole books of the Bible. And so I was a 13 year old, 14 year old teenager, growing up in the church in the 80s, and when I look back on the 80s, it makes me wonder how any of us became Christians, but he would always catch me in church or wherever he would see me, and ask me what Bible verses I was memorizing. Now all I cared about back then was sports, girls, and piano, which was a weird mix. But he wanted me to memorize Bible verses, so he would write out a verse for me and put it on an index card and tell me how important Bible memory was, tell me how it had changed his life. It wasn’t until years later that I realized how right he was. The Scriptures are God’s way of speaking to us, our way of listening to his voice.

There was my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Wissinger. She saw potential in me, and she wouldn’t rest until she wrestled that potential out of me.

There was Mrs. Hetrick. She was my band teacher. And I remember one day after school, I was playing the piano in the sanctuary at red lion school and she came in and listened to me and said I want you to play that piece at the concert this weekend. And she began investing in me.

One of the great mentors I had was a man named Bob Webber. When I was leading worship and planning worship in the early 2000s, I remember my Dad told me that I needed to get theological training…he said you know music, but you need to learn a theology of worship. So I found this school in Florida…it was a non denominational school, I took a risk, went to the first class, I didn’t know anyone, and felt way out of my league. Most of the guys were much older than me, many of them had been to seminary....and the founder and president of the school was Bob Webber. He is one of the foremost theologians in the world on worship…you can look him up under Robert Webber and worship. And I was a nobody. My first day going to class to orientation, he runs into me, the guy had curly gray hair, full of life, a maverick in every way, and he walked with me to class…that night we had a gathering of the new and old students, and he and I were the last two to leave as he invested in me, mentored me…and that continued until he died of pancreatic cancer. He made you feel like you were the most important person on planet earth.

Missing in Church Today: 120 (pay it forward covenant)

I believe that mentoring is one of the key ingredients missing in the church today. Who is your mentor? Outside of family? Who are you mentoring? How are you reaching back into the previous generation and pouring yourself into them?

I was talking to a friend the other day who has mentored men for years and he told me his one regret is that he didn’t ask them up front to covenant to pay it forward. In other words, he said, I wish I had made each guy sign a covenant that I would mentor them, but they would promise to pay it forward by committing to finding and mentoring 12 people over the next few years. He figured out he had mentored 120 men. If each of them had mentored just 12 people, and each of those 12 people had mentored 12 people, and so on, he figured out that within five generations, he would have started a movement to mentor 1 million people. What if that started here? What if we adopted Jesus’ model of mentoring—he had 12 people he mentored, and they went out and mentored others and billions were impacted for all eternity.

This is desperately needed. And yet we don’t do it. Why? I want to focus on just one reason why we don’t mentor this morning and a couple more next week...

To do that let’s read from …this is the opening of the letter that Paul writes to his mentoree, Timothy:

1 Timothy 1:1–2 ESV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Timothy 3 ESV

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

1 Timothy 1:12–20 ESV

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

1 Timothy 1:12–18 ESV

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,

,

We are Too Sinful Ourselves

We see from these words both why Paul wouldn’t have mentored Timothy and why he ultimately did mentor Timothy.

As you are listening to this sermon, you may be thinking, I can’t even take care of myself, let alone mentor someone else. If you knew my sin you wouldn’t be saying that I should mentor anyone.

We may feel like a failure in certain areas, or not spiritual enough, or not wise enough, or we may have our own problems and challenges, how could we mentor someone else?

Look at Verse 15

1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Paul is at the end of his life....and he says to Timothy, this guy who is supposed to look up to Paul, I am the worst sinner I know. Now he isn’t talking about his past. He was talking about what Christ brought him out of earlier. He was a persecutor, a blasphemer, he isn’t those things anymore. He is talking about his present. Paul says I am the chief of sinners. I am the worst sinner I know. Now this verse jars people because how could Paul possibly be the chief of sinners. Certainly he is exaggerating. Certainly this means something different. But he says it again in verse 16

1 Timothy 1:16 ESV

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

He says it again in

1 Corinthians 15:9 ESV

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

And again in

Ephesians 3:8 ESV

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Again least of the apostles, least of the saints, he isn’t talking about before he was saved, a saint an apostle is someone already saved. So Paul is the worst sinner he knows and yet he is still mentoring and pouring into Timothy.

We are SO hesitant to share our brokenness with each other. Why? Paul said that is when God's strength is made perfect.

Lessons Learned

I have a file called Lessons Learned and I started keeping it about 6 years ago--right around the time we acquired Red Lion Christian Academy and went through extreme challenges on that front, through the time that I was called as the Senior Pastor here and went through those challenges all the way to today. And these files are raw. Some of them really shouldn't be shared, but so much of what I have written was written from dark places, from lessons I was learning about life and how to respond to difficulties, and yet those files are buried...I am so hesitant to share them with anyone. Now that is healthy on one hand as some of it could come across as bitter, I'm sure, but I think the biggest reason why I don't want to share them is because they are moments of weakness in my life. They would destroy the image you may have of me.

And yet, I am also 100 percent confident that those lessons learned are a treasure chest. Some of the lessons I have learned--the real ones, not the silly stuff, could really help people.

And you are the same way. The lessons you learn when you are struggling or when you have fallen in some way or failed, those lessons are the ones that will truly help others.

So you may be divorced, you may think I am the last person who should be mentoring a young couple, you being divorced may make you the absolute BEST mentor to someone struggling in their marriage, because you have been there.

You may have gone bankrupt and you think I can't help anyone with their finances, you may be the BEST person to help with finances because you can help someone else avoid what you went through.

You may be someone who has struggled with your temper in years past and maybe now you have mellowed out but you are ashamed of your past so how could you help a young guy?

Rocky Illustration

There is a great scene in the most recent Rocky movie. Rocky is an older man---he has to be, the first movie was in 1978. But he is training and mentoring Apollo's son...a young guy, early twenties--a new generation of fighters. And they are at a press conference just like the old Rocky movies...and the other fighter is taunting young Creed and Rocky says unemotionally, "don't fall for it." And he says don't fall for it because he fell for it so many times and it cost him. And the way he says it is almost as if he knows CREED is going to fall for it, but he says it anyway. Creed falls for it and all hell breaks loose.

And why are you the best person even though you are the worst person? Because you have experience in bad stuff in failing? Because you have learned through hard knocks and have this mountain of wisdom to share? No, verse 15-16, Paul said, I am the worst sinner I know, but I’m also the best, why? Because of mercy, and grace, and forgiveness, and because of Jesus. Because of the work Jesus has done in me. Because Jesus lives in me, because I am one with him, because I am adopted into his family, that is why.

We see from these words both why Paul wouldn’t have mentored Timothy and why he ultimately did mentor Timothy.

People Don’t Change

We have a hard time believing that our mentoring will mean anything.

First, I want to look at why we don't want to mentor. I don't know about you, but I question if it will work. I am so pragmatic and the Gospel is anything but pragmatic. We have a hard time believing that our mentoring will mean anything. We have a hard time believing that people will change since generally people don't change. In other words, many times we believe nothing good will truly come of mentoring another. And we could believe that for a variety of reasons. We may think that nothing good can come of those we would be mentoring. Or perhaps we think that we can't possibly be mentors ourselves, that nothing good could possibly come from our mouths to another that would be considered mentoring. Or it could be good old fashioned laziness or selfishness that makes us not want to be a mentor.

One of the reasons we don’t mentor others is because we question if it will work. At least I do…and the people I talk to question it as well. It sounds great…to mentor a friend…to pour into them. But will it work…will it truly make any difference whatsoever? We have a hard time believing that our mentoring will mean anything.

In other words, many times we believe nothing good will truly come of mentoring another. And we could believe that for a variety of reasons. We may think that nothing good can come of those we would be mentoring. We have a hard time believing that people will change since generally everyone knows that people don't change. There is another name for it that I can’t say, but the definition of an “asker” is a person who constantly asks for advice then does the opposite of what you told them to do. And Paul mentioned those he had mentored who are like this in verses 19-20:

1 Timothy 1:19–20 ESV

holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

In other words, Paul or Timothy or both of them had poured into these two guys named Hymenaeus and Alexander and Paul said they made a shipwreck of their faith…it seems the way they made a shipwreck of their faith was by doubting the call of Timothy....but whatever it was…they had made such a mess of things, that Paul handed them over to the devil. Paul doesn’t mince words does he?

Its people like Hymenaues and Alexander who cause you to stop believing in people’s ability to change. So we hesitate mentoring because what good will it do? Will people really listen? Will they even stop talking long enough to hear anything you have to say?

Or perhaps we think that we can't possibly be mentors ourselves, that nothing good could possibly come from our mouths to another that would be considered mentoring. Or it could be good old fashioned laziness or selfishness that makes us not want to be a mentor.

John Mark

Paul struggled with this as well. Many times we paint the Apostle Paul as almost perfect. Paul was a sinner and even though the words he writes are inspired by the HS and are perfect in that they are true, there are times that Paul's sinful nature bleeds through. Paul didn't believe John Mark would change. Paul had mentored this young man, John Mark, as he took him on his first missionary journey. How much closer can you get to someone than go on a mission trip with them--roughing it. We did a trip years ago to the Dominican Republic to build a school and in the men's dorms where the guys stayed they had showers and they began calling the showers the widow makers because the electric was so close to the shower heads that they risked electrocution every time they took a shower. I believe that going on a mission trip with a group of people for a week can be more profitable than a year long Bible study with the same people. And Paul and John Mark had an even more intense experience as they were the first missionaries, they were literally persecuted, went through a lot together...but eventually John Mark desserted Paul. He left the mission field and went home. And it wasn't the first time, most likely, that John Mark had run away. We see this odd account in one of the Gospels where a young man ran away naked when Jesus was arrested to be crucified. We aren't sure it was John Mark, but most scholars think it probably was. So when it came time to go on the second trip Paul said no way. I am not taking John Mark. He abandoned us. Forget it. Paul didn't believe John Mark had changed or that John Mark was worth investing in. Paul had given up on John Mark. Even when Paul was encouraged by Barnabas to give John Mark another change. Paul said no. Paul said no more mentoring from me to John Mark--it didn't work, it won't work. He gave up on him.

We do the same thing when it comes to mentoring. I know I do. I think--will they really change? Will they really stop talking long enough to hear anything I have to say? Will other influences in their lives just tear down everything I try to do?

John Mark did change...he was mentored by Barnabas and later by the Apostle Peter himself. And Paul missed it. Paul missed out on the chance to mentor John Mark who would write the very first and earliest gospel we have the Gospel of Mark. Now God was sovereign over that and we can give Paul a pass since he was Paul, but the point remains...we write people off so quickly. Do you know what that is? That is minimizing the power of the Gospel to change. The thing that changed John Mark, was the Gospel. It changed him so much, he gave us the very first account of it. When we don’t believe anything good can come of our mentoring of another, we are losing sight of Jesus and the power of the Gospel.

We are forgetting what we once were. Paul says what he once was in verses 12-14

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes--the Jew first and also the Gentile.

We are forgetting what we once were. Paul says what he once was in verses 12-14

1 Timothy 1:12–14 ESV

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Does Paul say that I was a persecutor and opponent of Jesus and a blasphemer and I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and became a great guy? No, he says, I thank Jesus who gave me strength, who judged me faithful, who appointed me to his service. Verse 14—he says, because I received mercy, the grace of God overflowed from me to others who are also in Christ Jesus. In other words, when we consider mentoring and we resist it because we don’t believe people will change, from the world’s perspective, we are right, people don’t generally change, but the Gospel alone has the power to change. When people tell me that they can’t help it, they don’t see a way out and have to sin in a certain case, I say, there is always a way out…the Gospel always gives us the ability to change. That is the power of the Gospel.

(NLT)

For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes--the Jew first and also the Gentile.

Will it be hard to mentor? Yep. Will some people fail? Of course. Will there be some who NEVER truly get it...I hope not, but probably. Are we still called to mentor? Of course we are.

So the first reason why we don’t mentor is because of other people, we don’t believe they can change…the second is related to it, we don’t believe we ourselves have the right to mentor anyone! You may be thinking—I’m not worried so much about other people, in fact I wouldn’t want to judge anyone because I can’t even take care of myself.

We don't mentor is because we don't feel equipped ourselves. We may feel like a failure, or not spiritual enough, or not wise enough, or we may have our own problems and challenges, how could we mentor someone else?

Another reason why we don't mentor is because we don't feel equipped ourselves. We may feel like a failure, or not spiritual enough, or not wise enough, or we may have our own problems and challenges, how could we mentor someone else?

Look at Verse 15

1 Timothy 1:15 ESV

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

Paul is at the end of his life....and he says I am the worst sinner I know. Now he isn’t talking about his past. He was talking about what Christ brought him out of earlier. He was a persecutor, a blasphemer, he isn’t those things anymore. He is talking about his present. Paul says I am the chief of sinners. I am the worst sinner I know. Now this verse jars people because how could Paul possibly be the chief of sinners. Certainly he is exaggerating. Certainly this means something different. But he says it again in verse 16

1 Timothy 1:16 ESV

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

He says it again in : 9

1 Corinthians 15:9 ESV

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Ephesians 3:8 ESV

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

And again in

Ephesians 3:8 ESV

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Again least of the apostles, least of the saints, he isn’t talking about before he was saved, a saint an apostle is someone already saved. So Paul is the worst sinner he knows and yet he is still mentoring and pouring into Timothy.

We are SO hesitant to share our brokenness with each other. Why? Paul said that is when God's strength is made perfect.

I have a file called Lessons Learned and I started keeping it about 6 years ago--right around the time we acquired Red Lion Christian Academy and went through extreme challenges on that front, through the time that I was called as the Senior Pastor here and went through those challenges all the way to today. And these files are raw. Some of them really shouldn't be shared, but so much of what I have written was written from dark places, from lessons I was learning about life and how to respond to difficulties, and yet those files are buried...I am so hesitant to share them with anyone. Now that is healthy on one hand as some of it could come across as bitter, I'm sure, but I think the biggest reason why I don't want to share them is because they are moments of weakness in my life. They would destroy the image you may have of me. And yet, I am also 100 percent confident that those lessons learned are a treasure chest. Some of the lessons I have learned--the real ones, not the silly stuff, could really help people. And you are the same way. The lessons you learn when you are struggling or when you have fallen in some way or failed, those lessons are the ones that will truly help others.

So you may be divorced, you may think I am the last person who should be mentoring a young couple, you being divorced may make you the absolute BEST mentor to someone struggling in their marriage, because you have been there.

You may have gone bankrupt and you think I can't help anyone with their finances, you may be the BEST person to help with finances because you can help someone else avoid what you went through.

You may be someone who has struggled with your temper in years past and maybe now you have mellowed out but you are ashamed of your past so how could you help a young guy?

There is a great scene in the most recent Rocky movie. Rocky is an older man---he has to be, the first movie was in 1978. But he is training and mentoring Apollo's son...a young guy, early twenties--a new generation of fighters. And they are at a press conference just like the old Rocky movies...and the other fighter is taunting young Creed and Rocky says unemotionally, "don't fall for it." And he says don't fall for it because he fell for it so many times and it cost him. And the way he says it is almost as if he knows CREED is going to fall for it, but he says it anyway. Creed falls for it and all hell breaks loose.

And why are you the best person even though you are the worst person? Because you have experience in bad stuff in failing? Because you have learned through hard knocks and have this mountain of wisdom to share? No, verse 15-16, Paul said, I am the worst sinner I know, but I’m also the best, why? Because of mercy, and grace, and forgiveness, and because of Jesus. Because of the work Jesus has done in me. Because Jesus lives in me, because I am one with him, because I am adopted into his family, that is when a divorce can be somehow sanctified, that is when bankrupcty can somehow be sanctified.

Because we are Selfish

This can come in many forms. It could be that you have mentored enough people in the past. Or maybe you are just lazy. Or maybe you just don’t want to work at it. Maybe you have been there done that. You could be bitter. It comes in many flavors. If there was anyone who had an excuse to not only stop mentoring, but to stop believing and to stop living, it was the apostle Paul at this point in his life. He is writing from prison. Let that sink in. He is writing as an old man at the end of his life. He is writing as someone who has already mentored a bunch of people. He is writing as someone who has been burnt by people he has mentored. And yet, here he is pouring into Timothy until the last breath. It’s remarkable.

Paul on his death bed, bring me my scrolls, I need my books, I need ways to write, send Mark to me, inquire about this person, share the Gospel, peach the Word Timothy. He didn't stop. He has so much to offer. So much of what Paul shared in his letters to Timothy are probably lessons he learned on his own.

Jesus mentored 12 men, Paul mentored many.

Union with Christ is the practical that shows that yes people can change. And yes something good can come out of Nazareth

Or perhaps we think that we can't possibly be mentors ourselves, that nothing good could possibly come from our mouths to another that would be considered mentoring. Or it could be good old fashioned laziness or selfishness that makes us not want to be a mentor.