Setting An Example

Youth is not an Excuse

Timothy was a young man, probably in his early 20's. But Paul's encouragement was not to allow his age to keep him from the calling of God.

The problem is, you want to be viewed as grown, while you don’t want the responsibilities this brings.

Ecclesiastes 11:9 ESV

Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Your youth doesn’t matter because:

Everything You do is Watched by Someone

You guys don't think of yourselves as leaders, but every week someone is watching you. The kids in AWANA are watching you.

Also the younger kids in our youth group are watching you.

To the kids in AWANA you guys are grown. And while they respect us, they look up to you.

A wise man once told me

“You may be the only Jesus some people see.”

They watch four areas of your life:

In Speech.

Not just what you say, though it matters, but how you say it. Whether its the younger youth in our group, or the younger kids in our AWANA, your speech matters.

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

This idea is not just about curse words, but about how we talk to each other.

Colossians 4:6 ESV

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

In Conduct

Not only does what you say matter, what you do matters.

1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

In Love

If we want others to show love, then we need to lead with love.

People respond as they see us.

In Faith

People grow by watching others. For some of you, you’ve heard the gospel, it’s time to put up or shut up. Some of you are waiting because you’re scared that following Jesus will change your life.

Well guess what, it will. Who cares?

It’s time for some of you boys to quit being boys and become men. Real men. You guys have seen men that aren’t men your entire life. Grown boys who don’t love their families well, don’t work hard: Overgrown children more concerned with partying or playing video games or hanging out with their boys. They never become the father’s and husbands God created them to be. They are baby daddies, but they aren’t fathers. Be a man.

It’s time for you girls to grow up. You’ve seen women your whole life who are neurotic messes, always complaining about their lives. Their children are their buddies, they live their lives jumping from man to man, never becoming the mothers and wives they were meant to be. They are buddies to their kids, more concerned with partying and having fun than raising kids who love Jesus. Don’t be that.

It’s time to grow up.

For some of you, you need to quit living for yourself. Those people I described. People you know and I know. Their lives are lived for themselves and their lives are miserable because of it.

You weren’t created for that. You were created for something more.

Be Men. Be Women.

Love Jesus.

In Purity

It’s time for this too. Our world is so sexualized. Sex is everywhere. But let me tell you something that’s true but unpopular. Your sexuality doesn’t have to define you.

But know this: Either Sex will define you or Jesus will. Both cannot. You may be struggling with addiction to pornography, or homosexuality, or transgenderism. And if you give in to the age, your life will be spent trying to find fulfillment in something that was never created to give that. Sex is a gift from God in marriage. That’s it. Anything else is sin. And you guys need to be pure.

I remember one time someone told me “To be a real man you need to sleep with a lot of girls.” To which I responded “dogs sleep with a lot of dogs, does this make them real men?” No. It doesn’t.

It’s time. The time is now, to step up and quit allowing your culture to define you. Your culture is lost. It’s broken. It’s turned upside down. It’s time to allow Christ to define you.

Young Men, MAN THE HECK UP.

Young Women, BE A WOMAN. Quit worrying about what others think of you.

Quit worrying about your friends making fun of you. Your friends can’t go to hell for you, but I promise you this, if you let them they’ll drag you down to hell with them because misery loves company.