"THE INTENTIONAL VILLAGE"
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“THE INTENTIONAL VILLAGE”
“THE INTENTIONAL VILLAGE”
2 Timothy 3:14-16
I want to preach to you this morning from 2 Timothy 3.
For the past few weeks Pastor Sam has been preaching a series about fighting for our family, and I, as I am sure all of you, agree with him that our families are not only worth fighting for, BUT WE MUST BE INTENTIONALLY FIGHTING FOR THEM!!!
This morning I am going to somewhat piggyback on that series and preach from the title: “The Intentional Village.”
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
PRAY
I am going to preach this morning from the title:
“THE INTENTIONAL VILLAGE”
“THE INTENTIONAL VILLAGE”
At some point in all of our lives, we have heard, or said these words… “It takes a village to raise a child.” Now, whether you think you agree or not, we all live that out to some extent every day…well at least for 9 months out of the year, when we send them to school
For most of us, we have kids, then the reality hits that our life as we knew is WAS OVER!!!
For the first 9 months or so sleep quickly disappears and becomes a distant memory.
Around a year old OR SO they begin to walk, and your sanity quickly disappears and becomes a distant memory as the very thing you waited for, becomes the very thing that keeps them in harms way.
Then they begin to talk… NEED I SAY MORE? If you have teenagers you have probably had fantasies of going back to that day before they began talking.
The point I am making is, KIDS ARE EXHAUSTING!!!
We love them between 50 and 99% of the time, BUT THEY ARE EXHAUSTING. Between their inherent need for food, new clothes, entertainment, and who knows what else, and their constant pursuit of becoming their own person, they can wear on the nerves, SO…
So, we rely on grandparents to give us breaks. When the grandparents aren’t available we might call an aunt or an uncle…maybe a good friend, and if all of those fail, we consider the creepy guy in the white panel van.
OF COURSE I’M KIDDING….MOSTLY…. BUT THE REALITY IS, It is easier to raise well-rounded children and young adults when we rely on the wealth of knowledge wisdom, and experience of the tribe around us.
The majority of us send our kids to public schools. My sister has chosen the home school option, but even there, they attend what they call a “co-op” where they share experiences, knowledge, understanding, and entertainment. ALL Because whether they use those words or not, IT TAKES A VILLAGE.
I think that we can probably all agree that never before in our lifetime has it been more important for the church to be AN INTENTIONAL VILLAGE that binds together to raise up children in the way they should go!
The context of the passage I read this morning starts pretty bleak; it’s dark and doesn’t shine a lot of hope!
The passage starts in...
1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,
7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.
Unfortunately, I believe that is the very world we live in!
Unfortunately, we see all of those things predominately displayed in the society around us.
Unfortunately, those are the very attitudes, actions, and behaviors that have ruled failing societies for millennia.
Paul is probably writing this final letter to Timothy around 67 or 68 AD.
He is probably in jail awaiting the death penalty.
Rome is ruling the then known world with Nero at the helm.
Hedonism is the rule of the day.
FEELING GOOD TRUMPS DOING GOOD and FEELING GOOD CERTAINLY OUTWEIGHED FOLLOWING GOD.
But as Paul is writing this, he has hope. As Paul is writing this, HE KNOWS WHO HE IS WRITING TO!
When Paul said, “Continue in what you have learned and firmly believed...” He had faith that he wasn’t writing empty words.
He had faith that when he continued writing and in 2 Timothy 4:1-2
1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.
When he wrote those words, Paul knew that he had a disciple that loved the Lord and loved sharing his faith.
I believe that we have a great opportunity and responsibility to call on and raise up some Timothy’s TODAY!
As a matter of fact, I believe that if we don’t we are being disobedient to Jesus, and we will be yet another “nation gone under”
Using 2 Timothy as a guide we must commit to being people they can learn from while they are children, not only teaching them truth, but showing them how to apply it to their lives!
I. WHO THEY LEARN FROM
I. WHO THEY LEARN FROM
Paul said, “continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it...”
The charge was to continue in what you have learned. The charge was to keep the faith, and keeping that faith required action.
Keeping that faith meant preaching the Word.
Keeping the faith meant sharing the Good News!
I believe that AT MINIMUM, every person here desires their children, their children’s children, and their children’s children’s children to serve God.
AT MINIMUM, you want them to believe, and AT MINIMUM, you wan them to be good people.
Maybe you aren’t hoping for them to be pastors, evangelists, or missionaries, BUT AT MINIMUM, you pray that they will keep to a certain set of standards that we can read about in This Word.
A couple things there....
I think we need to raise our minimum expectations.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
WIth that in mind, we need to raise our minimum efforts
23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
We Need To Do It Together
Fathers Are The Priest of the Home
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Timothy’s Spiritual heritage tracked back through his mother 2 Timothy 1:5
5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.
c. Timothy had a spiritual mentor Acts 16:1
1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.
AND 2 Timothy 1:2
2 To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
It seems that then, and even today, The Timothy’s are the wild card.
They seem to be the ones we want to raise up, but somehow we keep missing the mark.
Certainly there are some Timothy’s being raised up, but it takes An Intentional Village.
It takes a group of people willing to pour into young people…AND VERY YOUNG PEOPLE!
IT TAKES MOMS, DADS, EXTENDED FAMILIES, IT TAKES ME, PASTOR SAM, AND IT TAKES YOU!!
It takes a village that is willing to get involved, to be vulnerable, willing to get hurt, willing to push some boundaries, willing to love beyond what you think you are able!
In the book of 2 Kings 18:1-7
1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.
2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan).
5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
6 For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses.
7 And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.
We would think that a father that gets those kind of credentials in the Bible would have kids that shine brighter than HE did.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case...
IN SECOND KINGS 21 TALKING ABOUT HEZEKIAH’S SON IT SAYS THAT MANASSEH...
2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
I’m not going to stand here and tell you that you can’t do it alone!
I’m not going to be so arrogant as to think that a mom and a dad can’t pass biblical values on to their children in a way that causes them to live all in, all their days for Jesus.
What I will stand here and say, and show you some research later, is that it is far more likely for students to turn into adults that stay active and serving when they have a group of people around them teaching them and cheering them on!!!
THEY NEED “AN INTENTIONAL VILLAGE”!!!
The Intentional Village UNITED
1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!
3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.
10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
The Intentional Village IN PRAYER
The Intentional Village INFORMED
Maybe as important as WHO THEY LEARN FROM is WHEN THEY LEARN
II. WHEN THEY LEARN
II. WHEN THEY LEARN
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
In a study conducted by Barna a few years ago they discovered a few things.
Around 44% of teenagers in church said they were “absolutely committed to the Christian Faith.” Out of the same group of students only 33% said they would likely continue to participate in church life when they left home.
THE WHEN AND THE WHO ARE CONNECTED!!!
Starts at Childhood…in that same study the authors cite research on the small minority who “stayed the course” throughout their adult lives. “There were six common influences in the lives of these teens—four occurred while they were kids. These four were: (1) Christian faith deeply imbedded in their family; (2) at least three adult Christian mentors; (3) involved in ministry by age ten; and (4) going to a church defined as “cool”
2 Kings 21:26–22:2 (ESV)
26 And he (Amon, Manasseh’s son) was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his place.
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.
2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.
What do we think caused Manasseh and Amon to go the wrong way.
Manasseh had a Godly father.
Maybe he was absent, maybe Hezekiah was too busy when Manasseh was a child, MAYBE Hezekiah didn’t surround his son with Godly leaders when he was a child. To say any of those things is conjecture and assumption.
We really don’t know why!
What we do know is...
When we skip a couple generations we see that Josiah, Hezekiah’s GREAT GRANDSON would lead major reform.
THE DIFFERENCE?
Maybe, just maybe, the difference is that Josiah had a Godly mother that surrounded him with Godly leaders AS A CHILD!!!
Our young people are important… they are a legacy...
As important as Who and the When are, THE WHAT THEY LEARN IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT!!
III. WHAT THEY LEARN
III. WHAT THEY LEARN
15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Another recent survey by Barna shows that just slightly more than 1/3 of pastors hold a biblical worldview! Approximately 41% of senior pastors and 28% of associate pastors...
THAT IS DISTURBING, but if you want to hear the more disturbing part...
One of the more concerning revelations emerging from the research is the worldview of pastors who work with young people, Barna noted. The study found that only 12% of Children’s and Youth Pastors hold a biblical worldview. And among Teaching Pastors, the level of biblical worldview is a mere 13%
The report went on to say...“A person’s worldview primarily develops before the age of 13, then goes through a period of refinement during their teens and twenties. Therefore, from a worldview development perspective, a church’s most important ministers are the Children’s Pastor and the Youth Pastor,”
NOW, just as a side note, I have good news!!!
I did some thinking, and here is what I came up with...
I was recently a Senior Pastor
I am Currently an Associate Pastor
I have been a Youth Pastor
Part of my current role involves being both a children’s pastor and teaching pastor, SO...
If you do the math, and believe statistics, the chances of me having a biblical worldview should land somewhere between 94 and 107%
Here is what I will tell you about me and my plan for our young people
EIGHT GOALS!!!
Powerful in Prayer
Responsive in Worship
Biblically Fluent
Spirit Empowered
Actively Serving
Bold in Faith
Giving Selflessly
Living Like Christ
The Who they learn from, the when they learn it, and the What they learn are ALL VITAL, but if they don’t know HOW TO USE IT we will struggle to see multiplication
IV. HOW TO USE IT
IV. HOW TO USE IT
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
We have to have...
Demonstration
Discipleship
DIRECTION
CALL TO ACTION!!!
NEED VOLUNTEERS!!!
ALTAR
LOST LOVED ONES SPECIFICALLY GROWN CHILDREN!