"Be an Example"

Dear Friends in Christ,         

                When I was a kid, I used to hate when I would be in a store and an employee would follow me around the store.   It really annoyed me that the employee assumed since I was a kid I was definitely up to no good, usually that no good would be stealing something.  It wouldn’t take long for me to notice being followed. It always seemed that shortly after realizing it, the employee would ask, “Do you need any help?”  My typical response was, “No, I am just looking.”  Even after asking the question, I would still be followed.  It really was just annoying to me.  I wasn’t going to steal anything; I wasn’t planning on doing anything wrong.  It is all because of the examples that other youth have set that store employees do this.  In those times I felt like I was being looked down upon because of my youth.

                Have any of you had that happen to you?  How did it make you feel?  Did you feel the same way that I did?  Nobody likes to feel looked down upon.  We all know that we all are equal, and don’t like that feeling of being judged.  In God’s eyes we all are equal.  God doesn’t look down upon a person because he or she is a child.  In fact we heard in the Gospel reading Jesus telling His disciples, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”  Jesus didn’t look down upon them.  He wanted the children to come to Him, because He died on the cross even to save them.

                As I think about that feeling of being looked down upon because of age, I can’t help but be reminded of Paul’s words to Timothy in his first letter to him as he was a young pastor.  Paul wrote to him, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”  Before I go any farther I want to point out that sometimes Timothy is thought of as a teenager when he received this letter.  In actuality Timothy was most likely in his 30’s or older.  But I don’t think the fact that Timothy was in his 30’s changes the message.  No matter how old you are don’t let no-one like down on you or despise you.  I want all the youth to pay attention as I say again, Paul’s words of encouragement, “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

                It’s so important that all you understand that no matter how old you are, you can be an example for people of all ages.  The question is what type of example are you going to be.  Are you going to be a positive example or a negative example?  There are a lot of ways that we can be a negative example such as, living a life that is not according to God’s Will, not listening to people in authority, being mean to somebody, and there are so many other ways also.  It’s these negative examples that really hurt the way the people view youth in our society.  And sometimes you might not realize that your actions affect other people.  Yesterday on Facebook, I saw a post by a friend that made me think about this.  She put up on there, that at the Galleria (a mall near the seminary) there is a new rule in effect.  The rule is that anybody 16 and younger must be accompanied by an adult after 3:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.  The mall has seen from the youth’s examples a lot of negatives things going on, and now it affects everybody.

                On the other hand Paul is encouraging you to be a positive example no matter what your age is.  He gives to us different things in which to be in an example of.  The first thing that Paul is encouraging all of us to be an example of is our speech.  Your speech can play a role in the example that you set.  What type example are you setting when you use cuss words?  It’s not the example that Paul was talking about he is encouraging us to not use those words.  The example that you set by not speaking cuss words could be an example for adults.  Maybe there are adults you are close with that use cuss words, if they see you not using them, it might make think about what they are saying.  You might be the example that they need to change.  Not only does it help in that regard with adults but it also sets a great example for younger children especially if you have younger siblings.  Little kids repeat anything you say, if you are always speaking words that you shouldn’t, your younger siblings are just going to do the same thing.  Trust me I know, I see it with my nephew and niece.  They repeat anything you say.  There have been numerous times when I will tell my nephew Jason, to tell my brother who likes the Cubs, “Cubbies stink!”  Of course Jas will repeat that exact sentence to my brother.  In return my brother will tell him to say, “White Sox sink!”  And Jas will then say that to me.  What you say truly does matter especially with regards to little children.

                Paul also encourages all of us to set an example in love.  This is something that is very important to set an example in.  When you look around your school do you see a lot of bullying?  I am sure that each of you has seen some sort of bullying at one point in your lifetime.  I found some statistics of bullying, that I want to share.  It’s estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attacks or intimidation by other students.  That’s about 15% of the daily absentees from school each day.  282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month.  This next stat is very scary to me, 1 out of 20 students have has seen a student at school with a gun.  Even if the student doesn’t plan on using the gun, you never know what type of accidents that could take place.  And I just want to say one more statistic and that is that 1 out of every 10 students who drop out do so because of bullying.  These students need love.

                You as a student can be an example in love by not taking part of bullying.  If you see a friend acting as a bully, you can set an example by telling that person to stop.  Another way of being an example is sitting with a student who you know is typically bullied.  Think about how much that would mean to that person if you take time to sit with him or her and get to know them.  It would mean so much to that person that someone took time to show them love.  And who knows if other people see you taking time to show love to a person, that might be the example that they need to do the same thing.  It would be amazing if we could see those stats I listed earlier go down.  It starts with one person setting the example to make that happen.

                A third thing that Paul encourages all of us to be an example in is our faith.  Plain and simple Paul is telling us to live our faith.  That means let your faith in God be the first thing that people notice about you.  If we live out our faith all of those things that Paul lists will flow from us.  It all starts with us living out our faith.  I came across this quote recently by actor Zachary Levi in an interview with Relevant Magazine that’s a great example of living your faith.  He said, “My job on my set, I believe, is to first just love people and gain that trust with people where they know that I really do love them and care about their well-being, so that when they are running into problems, they will hopefully, at some point, come to me and ask me, “What is your peace all about? What is your comfort all about? Where do you get your love? Where do you get your talents? And I can turn to them and say without blinking, “Jesus Christ.”

                What a great example of how to live life.  Everything that we have comes from Jesus that is what our faith is all about.  I pray that all of you can be an example like that to your friends and even family.  As we live out our faith people will take notice.  When we live that way we can point others to God.

                Now I know I have been talking a lot to the youth this morning, but I do want encourage the adults to be an example to the youth.  It’s tough to be a youth today.  I mentioned one issue that youth had to deal with earlier, bullying.  Not only do they have to worry about that there is so much more.  More and more you have children coming from broken homes, more issues with drugs and alcohol, sex before marriage, living in a society that doesn’t value Christianity, and so much more.  Youth need positive adult role models more than ever right now.

                As a role model it’s so important to be able to express your faith to the youth not only in your family but also the youth of the church.  When adults are able to express their faith it helps youth grow in their faith and relationship with God.  With all the difficult things that youth go through its key that you can point them to Christ and what He has done for you.  Another aspect of being a role model is to be there for support.  Youth are going through a lot of difficult situations now days, it’s beneficial for them to have someone they can go to and talk about what is on their mind.  As you listen to them you can reflect back on your own life to give them advice to help them handle whatever they might be going through.

                “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”  I encourage all of the youth to always remember those words Paul wrote to Timothy.  You might not realize you can be an example to so many people.  You are an example to people who are younger than you, to your friends and peers in school, and you are an example to adults.  And for all the adults these words of Paul I want you to remember them as well.  You can be an example for the youth, and help them grow in their relationship with their Heavenly Father.

Amen