Timothy was not necessarily your average Christian young person. The Bible records a substantial amount of his background from his mixed nationality (Acts 16:1 – half Jew and half Greek), to his Christian upbringing at the hands of his mother and grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5 – Lois and Eunice), to his early meeting with the apostle Paul which not only forged a lifelong friendship, but helped to mold him even further into the Christian servant he ultimately became (1 Timothy 1:2).
However, much like today, his youth did not work in Timothy’s favor. In Jewish society young men were not considered spiritually mature until the age of thirty. Traditionally men were not appointed to serve as priests until the age of thirty, and interestingly enough Jesus did not begin His public ministry until He reached the age of thirty (Luke 3:23). Timothy was not that old. We obviously do not know Timothy’s exact age during this period of his life but many commentators believe he was in his late teenage years (17-19, maybe even 20), still a good ways away from the traditional age of spiritual maturity.
For that reason it is very likely that regardless of how able Timothy was as a Christian, preacher, and leader among the people of God he was immediately dismissed by virtually everyone with whom he came in contact. He would have been despised and disrespected because of his youth. No one would have taken him seriously. Sound familiar?
This is a problem that has been virtually unchanged throughout history. Sure, the age at which we begin to recognize adulthood has changed, but our attitude toward those younger has not. We still dismiss them as too immature to make a valuable contribution to the cause of Christianity. We still assume that they are only interested in fun, frolic, and being entertained rather than being concerned with the purity of Christianity and the salvation of the world. We still despise their youth.
However, Paul essentially makes a statement to Timothy that needs to be repeated to empower our young people – DON’T LET THEM! Don’t let the world despise you for your youth. Don’t let older Christians, even, dismiss your energy, your ideas, your abilities to do great things for Jesus Christ. Some of the greatest men and women in the Bible were young people (David, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah, and I can’t imagine that Ruth or Esther were very old when they each displayed their faith respectively). They beat the odds stacked against them to leave lasting legacies of faith and obedience. But how can young people set themselves up to be taken seriously in a world that simply will not?
In the remainder of 1 Timothy 4:12 through verse 15 Paul tells Timothy that he had to make himself an example of the believers, and then highlights nine specific areas on which he could focus to set himself apart as a force for Jesus Christ. Over the next several weeks we’re going to take those nine specific areas and focus our attention on them to both encourage young people to commit them to heart, but also to encourage older people (adults, and yes this means you!) to develop a better attitude toward our young people and the profit they are to the church right now. Young people, work “that your profiting may appear to all” (1 Timothy 4:15)!
-Andy Brewer