James Merritt - Role Model
We are in a series we're calling generational discipleship. If you're joining us for the first time, and we're telling you and saying to you there are four elements in that process. Last week we talked about teaching, that it all begins with teaching people about the truth of God and the God of truth. Today we're gonna talk about stewarding. Stewardship is so very, very, very important that we take every opportunity we can to recognize how valuable one's soul is and then to disciple that soul for the Lord.
So as we begin today, there are some logos, people are big on logos today, and there are certain logos you can see on apparel or on a car or whatever and you automatically know what that logo stands for. Well, this may be the most recognizable logo in the world. Everybody knows what that is, that's Nike. The world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel. Revenues last year were $46 billion.
There's not a more dominant company or corporation in the world than Nike. But 30 years ago, in 1993, alarm bells went off all over their organization. And the reason is, because they learned their popularity was slipping among teenage males, which has always been their bread and butter. So up until 1993, 92% of teenage males preferred Nike to all other athletic brands. But then in the mid seventies and going to 1993, that number plunged into the mid seventies and that's a lot of money. Well, that led to one of the most fiercely debated commercials in Nike history. Some of you remembered, some of you, this was before you were born, but it's well worth watching, and it's by none other than the most infamous guy, Charles Barkley.
Charles Barkley: I am not a role model. I'm not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I dunk a basketball, doesn't mean I should raise your kids.
You talk about controversy, you talk about stirring it up. It ignited a fierce debate, are athletes role models or not? Well, former Utah Jazz star, Carl Malone, some of you remember, he wasn't happy, he said, and I quote, "We don't choose to be role models, we are chosen. Our only choice is whether to be a good role model or a bad one". Now you may be surprised, I believe both those guys were right. I agree with Carl Malone, every athlete is a role model. Matter of fact, I'll go even further. Every non-athlete is a role model. Everybody is a role model one way or the other, because somebody is always looking up to somebody else. Every person is either looked at or looked up to by somebody.
So I agree with Carl Malone. On the other hand, he was called, "The round bound of rebound," you probably can see why. I never did understand how a fat guy like that could jump. But Charles Barkley was right, Charles when he said, "Parents ought to be role models. Just because I could dunk a basketball, doesn't mean I ought to raise your kids". He's right, I got news for you parents. It is not his job to raise your kids. It's not my job to raise your kids. It's not the church's job to raise your kids. It's not the Christian school job to raise your kids. It's your job to raise your kids. They're your kids. God didn't give them to the church. You can clap. God didn't give them to the church, he didn't give them to me, he gave them to you! And the moment he gave them to you, he said, "You're number one job is to be a role model for your children".
And if you don't think that's a big deal, let me just remind you of something. 68% of everyone who claims to be a Christian made that decision before they were 18 years of age. Seven out of ten people who say they got saved, they're believers, did it before 18. That means the chances of your child following Jesus after they graduate from high school decreases dramatically. So knowing this, the need to lead our children to follow Jesus and to be like Jesus is even more critical. And that's why I'm hoping that you will really take the next three weeks seriously, the series we began last week, that we're calling generational discipleship. Every generation has the same divine directive, the same missional mandate, to disciple the next generation. Not just to be disciples, but to make disciples of the generation that comes after them.
Now, last week we said, "It begins with teaching, teaching the truth". Now we're going to move from teaching to modeling. 'Cause it's one thing to communicate God's truth, it's another thing to replicate God's truth. So we talked last week about what it looks like to teach God's word. Today we're gonna talk about what does it mean to model? And before I start, let me just say, so you'll be very clear. No, this is not just for parents and it's not just for grandparents, it is for everybody. Everybody ought to be in the game. Everybody ought to be involved in generational discipleship. Parents, grandparents, married people, single people, empty-nesters, discipleship's for everybody. Disciple making is for everybody.
So I want you to take God's word, however you wanna turn to it, do it. I want you to turn to a book in the New Testament called 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy. And I know what some of you're saying, "I have no clue where it is". Easy, it's right before 2 Timothy. So I want you to turn to 1 Timothy, it's kind of going toward the back of the Bible. Let me set this up. This is a letter that a man named Paul, an apostle named Paul, wrote to a young protege of his called Timothy. You might say he mentored Timothy. Timothy was kind of his son in the ministry. So he's writing this letter, because Timothy is about to take over pastoring the church in Ephesus.
Now scholars say that he was young, he might not have even been 30 years old. He was inexperienced, he's wet behind the ears, but he's basically being thrown into the deep end of the pool. Now he knows he's limited and Paul knows he's limited. But here's what he's gonna say to Timothy. "Timothy, look, I understand. I know you're lacking in education. I know you don't have any experience. But let me tell you one thing, you can begin on day one when you start your job, you can be a role model. You can set an example. You can say to the people in your church, this is what it's like to follow Jesus". So for all of us today, here's what I want you to remember. This is kind of my sermon in the sentence, ready? "Your role for any generation is to be a role model for every generation".
Now I wanna make that first person not third, "My roles". I want you to say this with me, don't say your, put that back up on screen. Don't say your, say my, ready? Repeat this with me. "My role for any generation is to be a role model for every generation". Doesn't matter how old you are or how young you are, that is our job. Now we're gonna learn today in Timothy chapter four, we're gonna learn four ways that we can do that. We're in 1 Timothy, chapter four. First of all, Paul says to Timothy, "We should model". "We should model a lifestyle for God". I think back to the Sunday, I was called to be the pastor of my very first church. It was a small country church, ran about 40 people.
Frankly, I'll be honest, I was scared, I was intimidated. I'd been a summer youth minister for a couple of churches and I'd been a full-time youth minister for a church, but I'd never ever pastored a church. And so I just kind of made up my mind, nobody told me this, but I just kind of made up my mind. I said, "You know, I'm gonna pastor these 40 people as if they were 4,000 people". Because there's something that God just instinctively put in my heart. I knew that the way I would lead that church is the way I'd lead the next church. And I knew that the way that I would be preaching in that church, be the way that I would be preaching in the next one.
So I knew that first little country church would set the tone for the way I would lead and pastor every other church. So I wanted to make sure that I did it right. That's why one of the reasons I know good, looking back, the reason why God had me start out as a youth minister was it was kind of like the minor leagues, and I don't mean it's a minor league job, but I knew now that God was getting me ready, because I remember this, let me tell you how I got my start in the ministry, I don't think I ever told you this. I was gonna go to law school. You remember that? I wasn't gonna save them, I was gonna sue them. I've told you that before.
And so I was home for spring break and I was trying to get a job interning with a law firm. And so my pastor, out of the blue calls me, he knew I was home for spring break and he said, "Hey, what are you doing today"? I said, "Hey pastor, I'm not doing anything". He said, "Come up to church, I wanna talk to you". I said, "Okay". So I go up to the church, he sits me down, he says, "What are you doing this summer"? I said, "Well, I wanna try to clerk for a law firm. You know, I'm trying to find a job". He said, "Yeah". He said, "That's not what you're gonna do". I said, "What"? Now, he said, "I want you to come with me. I want you to come work with me and we're going to start a youth ministry".
Now, I grew up in country churches, I'd never been in a youth ministry. I didn't know what a youth ministry was. I said, "Pastor, I don't know what a youth ministry is". And he looked at me and he said, "Neither do I"! I said, "Well, pastor, I don't know how to do youth ministry". He said, "I don't either! We're gonna learn together". I'll never forget it. He said, "This is what you're gonna do". Paid me $50 a week, man, I was rolling in the dough. So that summer I went and I'll never forget it. He said, "Look, I know you don't know much about the Bible". Which I did, I read it, but I wasn't a theologian. He said, "You have no experience in the ministry". But he said, "Let me tell you what you can do. You can be the best you for Jesus you can be and you can show those kids what it means to love Jesus".
And so he taught me this very same principle that Paul taught Timothy, 1 Timothy four, verse 12. Listen to it. He said, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, but set an example". I.e be a role model. "Set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity". I was just... I know where young Timothy was. I didn't know enough theology to put on a tablespoon. I had absolutely no experience of being in a youth ministry or knowing anything about youth ministry. But I made up my mind for day one, I will set an example.
So let me just kinda stop right here for a moment. I wanna talk to everybody, but I wanna talk directly just for a moment to parents. Please, please understand how important and crucial it is for you to set an example for your kids. Because children in the long run will not do what you say. They will do what you do. If you show your kids by your modeling, church is not a big deal, "If we don't have anything else going on Sunday, we'll go. But if it's pretty, we'll go to the lake. If it's this, we'll do that or... it's not a big deal". And you go to church and then you sit soak and sour, but you never serve. And you're saying to your kids, "Serving the lord's just not a big deal. It's not that important". Or they know deep down that you don't ever give a dime to the church and you're kind of saying, "Hey, let somebody else carry the financial load". They won't do what you say, they will do what you do. And that's not only biblically solid, it's psychologically sound.
A social psychologist named Albert Bandura, he did some research, this is so interesting. He did some research on the issue of learned violence from media characters and other role models. Here's what he found. He said, "The most powerful educational tool on the planet is not a book, not a speech, not a video, not a program, not a seminar, it's not even online training". He said, "It is modeling, providing an observable pattern of behavior and doing it consistently". That's why one of the things that I advise young leaders to remember is that before you try to figure out how to get other people to follow you, I talk to young pastors all the time and they got these grandiose ideas, "I know, I'm gonna be this kind of leader, I know what I want our people to do. I'm gonna be, I wanna lead them to do this, this and that".
And I'll always sit young pastors and I'll say, "Look, before you try to figure out how to get other people to follow you, you better make sure that you're the kind of leader you want other people to follow". Too many pastors are trying to get their people to go where they want them to go, but they've never really become the person that they want to go after. Paul specifically gives young Timothy, listen, five areas. He said, "Timothy, here's where you ought to set the example. Here's where we all ought to set the example". And they're all specific, speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.
Now, as you think about those five things, it's kind of interesting, it kind of covers the gamut! These five ways are the ways we ought to set an example. So I kind of grouped them in a set of three. He said, "First of all, set an example in what you say". "In what you say". He said, "Be an example in speech". He gives an entire sermon on the importance of the tongue. He said, "You know, we ought to set an example for the next generation. We ought to set an example for our kids when to say something and when to say nothing. And then when we do say something, let's show them how to say it at the right time in the right place, in the right way to the right person". while I'm in the neighborhood. There's some people that they take pride, "Well, I just say, what's ever on my mind"!
You know people like that? They say it with pride. "Well, I just say whatever's on my mind". Can I just butt in for a minute? It takes a whole lot more character and maturity to hold your tongue than it does to speak your mind. Be an example in speech. I mean, one of the most disturbing things to me, it it just, I'm not a puritan, one of the most disturbing things I see today in our culture, it's not what I see, it's what I hear. You can't hardly go anywhere today. Crude language, profanity, obscenities, just spoken almost everywhere at any time. So I just wanna give you a simple reminder.
Number one, you never have to apologize for what you don't say. I know you've heard that before, but it's so true. You don't have to apologize for what you don't say. And number two, God hears every word you say and you will give an account. So he says, "You should set an example in what you say". Then he says, "You ought to set an example in how you act". He says, "Set an example in your conduct". In other words, he said, "It's not enough just to talk the talk, you better walk the walk. Don't just be a believer in word only, 'cause if you really want people to follow your example, make sure you walk your talk and you talk your walk".
So in other words, people need to see what they ought to be. I wanna say that again. Your kids need to see what they ought to be by the way you're doing what you ought to do and being who you ought to be. I read one time where someone said this, "No matter what you teach the child, he will insist on behaving like his parents". "No matter what you teach the child, he will insist on behaving like his parents". We need to model what we teach and walk what we talk and the steps that we take and the words that we say he says, "Should always be in love". And that goes for all disciples.
So Paul says, "Set an example on what you say and set an example in how you act". And then he said, "Set an example in who you believe". "Who you believe". He says, "Your faith". That's not so much just what we believe or who we believe, but how much we believe in who we believe. So here's a great question to ask yourself every now and then, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Granddad. And by the way, whether you're a parent or not, here's a great question to ask, "Does my life show others I trust God completely". "Does does my life show that I trust God completely". And then I'm gonna throw in one more. He said, "You should set an example in what you do and don't do". "Set an example in what you do and don't do".
Your purity, we need to be modeling for the next generation of life and not only worship a God that's holy, but by the fact that we are holy. One of my favorite people of all time is Coach John Wooden, the greatest college basketball, maybe the greatest basketball coach of all time, Everything Coach Wooden wrote on leadership, I've read it and just can't get enough of it. Coach Wooden one time said this, "No written word, nor spoken plea can teach our youth what they should be. Nor all the books on all the shelves, it's what the teachers are themselves". So everybody pick this up and look at it.
Now, don't be tempted to sing, "How Great Thou Art," when you look at that. Can your kids see Jesus in you, do they? Does your next door neighbor see Jesus in you? Hey students, do your teachers at school, they see Jesus in you? You kids that play sports, do your teammates see Jesus in you? Does that person you work with in the cubicle next to you in that office, do they see Jesus in you? Set an example in the lifestyle that you live, first thing. Second thing, "We should magnify the word of God". We should model a lifestyle for God, but we should magnify the word of God. Now, the very next piece of advice he gives is given to leaders in the church, but it really relates to leaders in the home and leaders in the family and leaders in every generation.
Listen to what he says, "Timothy, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching". Now, some of you may say, "Well, now wait a minute, that's the number one job of the pastor and that's the number one job of ordained ministers and that's the number one job of the church". And you'd be right. We ought to be preaching and teaching the word of God. But I've got news for you, it's also the number one job of Christians and it's also the number one job of parents. It's also the number one job of believers. Because think about it, think about what he just said. "Devote yourself to the public reading of scripture and preaching and teaching in the church".
Well, if we ought to devote ourselves to publicly, which is what we're doing now, if we ought to devote ourselves to publicly reading this book and preaching this book and teaching this book, how much more should we be devoting ourselves to the private reading of the scripture? And the private teaching to our kids? And the private preaching to those around us? Because I would assume, I'm not gonna ask you to raise your hand, I would assume many, if not most of you, have at least one Bible in your house.
Now I understand even with the iPads and iPhones and all that, I know that's kind of outta style. But really and truly, I would venture to guess that almost all of you would have a Bible in your house. But here's the question I'd like to ask you, I don't really wanna know, do you have a Bible in your home? What I wanna know is, do you read it? Do you apply it? Do you listen to it? Do you use it? Are you leading your family, your kids, your neighbors, your friends, everyone you have influence over, to know that the authority, the supreme authority, for the way we ought to live and what we ought to believe is the word of God? Because let me tell you what, I've finally come to the conclusion, the two worst things you can do with the Bible and it's not what society thinks.
The worst thing you can do with this Bible is not to burn it. The worst thing you can do with this Bible is not to deface it. The worst thing you can do with this Bible is not to rip out the pages in it when it says something that you don't like. The worst thing you can do with this Bible is not throw it in the garbage. let me tell you the two worst things you can do with that Bible. Here they are. "Leave it unopened and leave it unused". In other words, the worst thing you can do with your Bible is let it gather dust on your desk. Here we are. Here's what we're doing in the church, in the home and everyday life, every chance we get. We ought to be teaching and preaching this book.
By the way, somebody says, "Well what's the difference between teaching and preaching"? I like to put it this way, "All preaching is teaching, But not all teaching is preaching, yet both should instruct others on what to believe and how to behave". That's why when I visit other churches, I do that every vacation, I go on vacation, retreats, I visit other churches. When I walk in, a lot of people judge churches different way, I'm not worried about what the thing looks like, what the quality of the music is or how good the band is or whatever.
Here's how I judge a church, this is just me. I walk out of a church, I ask two questions. Number one, "Was the word of God preached"? And number two, "Was the gospel presented"? If I walked in and I didn't know Jesus from butter beans, I didn't know Jesus at all, would I know how to know Jesus? And would I be given an opportunity to trust Jesus? That's how I do it, because when I go into a church, I'll be honest with you, I'm not interested in some man's opinion, I wanna know God's truth. I wanna know what God has to say.
So the next generation ought to always see in the present generation, "Hey, we believe in authority, but an authority that's rooted in the unchanging truth of the word of God. Because any ship that is anchored to this book, any ship that's anchored to this book will be able to navigate through the stormy seas of criticism and persecution. You'll never be tossed about by the shifting winds of cultural beliefs, you'll always be headed in the right direction". That's why when you make up your mind, I'm gonna let this book guide me. You don't have to consult newspapers, the internet, television or public opinion in what you believe. So we need to model that for our kids.
Number three, "We should minister the gift of God". We should magnify the word of God. We ought to model a lifestyle for God, but we ought to minister the gifts of God. Now listen to what Paul says. The advice that Paul gives to this young pastor is real simple. He says, "Timothy, you're a gifted child. I don't mean that intellectually, I don't mean that in terms of brain power, Timothy, you're a gifted child. Every Christian is a gifted child. We all have spiritual gifts".
I'm looking at Bruce back there, Bruce Hardy, my CFO, my buddy back there, 35 years we've been together, Bruce. Seems like it anyway. Bruce has gifts I don't have. I admire them, I don't covet them, that would be wrong, but I do admire them. I got gifts he doesn't have. And one of the reasons why Bruce is so effective and is so great, when Bruce came to serve with me, was 25 years ago, when Bruce came, he wasn't doing what he's doing now. But he realized, "You know what, my gift at this," and he is a gifted musician, "but my gift at this, is not so much in this area, it's more in the area of finance administration". He uses his gifts, that God's given him.
That's exactly what Paul says to Timothy. Listen to verse 14, "Do not neglect your gift". let me just, can I stop right here? I'm not fussing at anybody, but if the shoe fits you wear it. I'm looking at a lot of neglected gifts. A lot of neglected gifts. "Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you". Now, notice what Paul says. "Don't neglect the gift that was given you". Said, "Timothy, you're not a privileged character, you're not a favorite child, but you're a gifted child, 'cause we all have gifts, we're all gifted children". And one of the ways to be role models for any generation is to do two things.
Number one, find out what are my gifts, what is my gift? And then number two, to unwrap that gift and put it to use. Pastor and author Rick Warren said something over 25 years ago, just as true today is the day when he wrote it. He said, "The greatest need in the church," and I don't necessarily disagree with this, he said, "The greatest need in the church is to release members from ministry". And this is what he said, "Only 10% of American church members are active in any kind of personal ministry, and 50% of all church members have no interest in serving any ministry". We need to show discipleship by serving. And oh, by the way, this is how the church does its business.
Let me put it to you this way. You say, "Well you need money to run the church". Yeah, we do! But you can gimme all your money, everybody in this room right now could gimme 10% of all your money every single week, but if nobody comes to serve, we can't have church. This is how the church runs, this is how the church operates. It's how it stays in business, by every member discovering what their spiritual gifts are and putting them to use in the body of Christ. Because these things are true of every believer, every believer. "God equips every believer with spiritual gifts". "God enables every believer to recognize those gifts". And, "God expects every believer to use those gifts in service to the church and to the world".
Because what Paul was basically saying to Timothy was, "Timothy, when it comes to your spiritual gift, don't neglect it" In other words, use it or lose it. Because every link in a chain is important. Every ingredient in a cake recipe is important. Every spark plug in a car is important. And, every member of a church is important. And I'm here to tell you, we are only as strong as our weakest link. Christianity is a team sport and every member of the team, every member is crucial. So you'll love this, can anybody see this? What am I holding in my hand? It's a pencil. Just a simple run of the mill pencil. Many years ago, a man wrote a fascinating essay about the pencil and you know what he said about that pencil?
"It looks simple, but there's no one human individual in the world that is capable of manufacturing a simple lead pencil. The most brilliant person, the richest person in the world, can't even, by himself, with no help, make a simple lead pencil, you know why? Because no one single person knows how to mine the graphite, process the wood, produce the rubber, manufacture the paint, make all the investment, marketing and inventory and distribution decisions required to put one pencil in the hands of one person. It took a whole lot of work and a whole lot of people and a whole lot of team members to give me that one little pencil".
So the next time you look at a pencil, you think about the church. 'Cause we can't have church, I cannot do church by myself. I don't care how great a preacher you may think I am and I don't... well I used to. One time I said to Theresa, I said, "Honey, how many great preachers in the world do you think there are"? She said, "One less than you think there is". Not even the greatest preacher in the world can do church by himself, it's a pencil. It takes everybody, No one person can enable the church to be what we ought to be and do what we all do, it takes all of us and for the sake of every generation, we all need to find out, "What is my gift and how can I put my gift in the service of the church"?
Because I will remind you, even the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the most amazing thing that may have come out of his mouth, he said, "I did not come to be," what? Served! "Sure you did, you're king of kings, you're Lord of lords. You created all this, you ought to be served". "No, I didn't come to be served. I came to serve and give my life of ransom for many". And again, I'm just going to step my foot in a little thing and move on, I wanna get on a soapbox. The reason why a lot of people church-hop and the reason why a lot of people, they'll go to a church a while, but let the pastor say just one little thing they don't like, boom, they're out the door is because they come to church, not to serve but to be served and this is gonna be a strong statement, I wasn't gonna say it, but I'll say it anyway.
If you're coming to this church to be served, you probably ought to go and find another church, because you're not gonna help us at all. Now I wanna serve you, I'm here to serve. You're not here to serve me, I'm here to serve. But we're to serve each other and so we need to minister, we need to minister the gift of God. Here's the last thing, I'll be done. "We should motivate the people of God". Got to motivate the people of God! So what's the end result? If you do all these things, what will happen? Alright, listen to how Paul closes. "Timothy," he says, "Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers".
So every generation needs to show the next generation that no generation can quit. We're not gonna quit growing in the Lord, we're not gonna quit going for the Lord and if you are, by the way, if you are at a standstill in the Christian life, you are either progressing in the Christian life or you are digressing. You're either going forward or you are going backwards. Compare your life to where you were a year ago, you're either doing more for God than you are or you're doing less. So simply put, our generation needs to continuously show the next generation, we're always striving, never arriving, but we're always striving.
And so Paul says, "Watch your life and doctrine closely". And, "Persevere in them". In other words said, "Timothy, to your last breath, watch how you live, watch what you teach, live what you teach, teach what you live, because those two things are organically linked". See, we should only teach what we truly believe, because what we will truly believe, we live. You see the worst thing I could do, not just for you but for me, and the worst thing I could do for me when I know one day I'm gonna stand before God and give an account of my ministry, the worst thing I could do is stand up here and preach things to you that I'll tell you I believe, but I don't live them, therefore I really don't believe them.
So when I say to you, "Everyone should give a tithe of his income to the Lord," And I believe that, but I live it, 'cause I'm a satisfied customer. Done it all of my life, give more than a tithe. By the way, not to brag, I just, I'm a satisfied customer. It works, I don't do it because it works, but it works! And when I'm stand up here and tell you, "You need to be sharing Christ, sharing your faith". I don't just believe that, I live that, 'cause I do believe it. I do believe Jesus and the gospel is the only hope for a lost world. He's the only hope for that person you work with. He's the only hope for that adulterer and that fornicator and that liar and that thief and that proud person that thinks he's so good, he doesn't need God. It's the only hope. So you always only teach what you believe.
So when we stay the course, finish the drill, live every day as if it were our last, we talk the walk, we walk the talk, we be the model we ought to be. Paul says something interesting, he says, "When you do that," he says this, "You'll save both yourself and your hearers". Well he didn't, what does it mean? It certainly didn't mean that's the way you get saved. We know that. What he is saying is this. "When we do those things, parents, grandparents, married people, single people, older people, younger people," he said, "When we do that, we'll show other people what it means to be saved, what it looks like to be saved, why the Christian life is the greatest life of all and we'll motivate others to be saved as well".
So parents, I just ask you, really, is there a greater thing you can do for your kids than to send your kids out into the world, to live for God and love God in such a way that they will motivate others to do the same thing? I mean, Paul's whole point to Timothy and to us was this, "The Christian life is serious business and we ought to take it seriously and we ought to be open for business every single day". Christian Smith was a professor of sociology at Notre Dame. He did a lot of research on the family, on parents and own children. You know what he found out? Listen to this. "Parents are the number one predictor of a child's spirituality throughout their lives". I'm gonna say that again. "Parents are the number one predictor of a child's spirituality throughout their lives".
So what does that mean? Well, let's get real practical. You got a son or a daughter. If I said to you, 25 years from now, would you like your son or daughter to read the Bible every day and be in the word every day and spend time with God every day? You say, "Yeah". Well then you better start. 25 years from now, do you want your child to believe that the church is important? That the local church is important? That fellowship with God's people is important? That serving the family of God is important? "Yeah, I do"! Yeah, you wanna make sure they take your grandkids to church and you went, "Yeah". All right, then you better start. 'Cause the number one predictor of how your child's gonna be spiritually 25 years from now, Mom and Dad, is you.
And that's why Paul says, "We ought to set an example for others to follow, that's discipleship. We ought to devote ourselves to the word of God, that's worship. We ought to use our spiritual gifts, that's serving. We ought to live in such a way that others are motivated to follow the Jesus that we do". So what did Paul say? He said, "Timothy, there are four things people better see in your life. They better see discipleship. They better see worship. They better be serving. They better see sending".
Quick question, sound familiar? Can I get an amen to that? Yeah, we call it the cross shaped life. That's exactly why we talk about it. When I worship, when I'm discipling and being discipled, when I'm serving, when I'm being sent, when I walk out those doors, intent on sharing the gospel, I'm living the cross shape life. So let me just close with this and I'll be done. Before I do that, two things. Let me talk pastorally, let me get out of preacher mode for a minute, just be pastor for a moment. I hope you don't feel like I'm beating on you, 'cause that's not my intent. I certainly hope you don't feel like I'm putting you on a guilt trip, because guilt trips don't work. It's not my intent.
I do hope you say, "You know what? You're doing everything you can to motivate me, to move me. If you can, if you will, even make me be the role model for my kids, my grandkids, my neighbor, the people that I work with, the people I go to school with. That's what you're doing". And it is, so I close with this. Matt Tullos is a minister, author, and actor. He wrote a special letter to his son about manhood and it's a long one, but I want you to read it now, it goes for daughters as well, we're not being, sexually discriminatory, but he just happened to write it to his son. It's so powerful. So I want you to listen to what he wrote. We're gonna read it.
"You are now the caretaker of your destiny... I want to challenge you to step fully into manhood. It is not something that happens instantaneously. I learned the hard way that manhood is not an age, but a choice. A boy is selfish, a man is sacrificial. A boy speaks lies, a man speaks hard truth. A boy has a foul mouth, relying on a few vulgar words to communicate a myriad of messages, a man uses a robust vocabulary to solve a myriad of conflicts. A boy refuses to listen with an open mind, a man listens much and talks little. A boy is controlled by anger, a man challenges anger to create godly change. The pleasure of a boy is unbridled and thoughtless, a man lives for a cause that ultimately brings him more pleasure than anything a boy could ever imagine.. Life is difficult and once you accept that life is difficult you will find it is not too difficult to handle... Today, I regard you as a man. Now it is your turn to change the world".
In other words, what this dad basically said, who's a believer, "Son, I've tried to point you to Jesus and I've tried to inspire you to live the cross shape life. Now you go and do likewise. So let the next generation, let every generation, see Jesus in our lives and hear Jesus in our lips exactly the same way. And we can change the world in a way that Wall Street and Washington put together never can".
Would you pray with me? The issue as you leave today is not, are you going to be a role model? That's not at your choice, that's not your call. No, the issue is, are you going to be a good one? Are you going to be a godly one? That is the issue. But you can't be a role model, not the role model you ought to be until you know the ultimate role model, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You say, "Well you mean, I have to know Jesus to be a good role model"? No, I'm not saying that. I am saying you have to know Jesus to be a godly role model and to be the right kind of role model. Because again, you know what a model does? A role model not only sets the example, but he sets the example he wants other people to follow. If you're a good role model and you lead children, you lead your kids, grandkids, whoever, to do so many good things, but you don't lead them to know Jesus, at the end of the day, what good is it? So I asked the question today, who here, who listening to me right now?
You don't know Jesus, you've never trusted in Jesus, you've never been saved, you've never repented of your sins, but maybe right now you're saying, "You know, for the rest of my life I wanna be a role model like God wants me to be". And it starts with you following the ultimate role model. And you can do that, just by in your own words, in your own heart right now, just asking Jesus into your heart. It's so quick, it can be so easy and yet can be so life changing. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord, don't just say it, mean it! You surrender to him and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, not your head but your heart, and you commit your life to a risen Lord, you'll be saved.