The sermon discusses the concept of '1 Timothy 3 men,' who are described as mature Christians embodying the qualifications outlined in 1 Timothy 3 for overseers or elders in the church. These men are characterized by Christian virtues such as blamelessness, temperance, and the ability to teach. The speaker emphasizes that these qualities reflect spiritual maturity rather than being 'super Christians.' The sermon outlines three core aspects of a 1 Timothy 3 man: Christian character, leadership in marriage and parenting, and the ability to teach the Word of God. The speaker encourages young men to seek discipleship from these mature figures, highlighting the importance of active engagement and initiative in forming mentorship relationships. The aim is to progress in faith through the guidance of seasoned Christians, fostering a transition from mentorship to friendship over time. Practical steps include starting with one's father and expanding to other men within the church community, ensuring a proactive approach to spiritual growth.

Well my topic here for the closing session is seeking and engaging discipleship from first Timothy three men. Now what is a first Timothy three man and how do we seek and engage discipleship from such a man that's really the what I'm going to try to answer during these 20 minutes so open to first Timothy 3 we'll see what a first Timothy 3 man is and then we could talk about seeking and engaging discipleship from such a man. 1 Timothy 3, I'll be reading one through seven. I could go further, but we don't hardly have time for those seven verses, so there's no point reading past that. 1st Timothy chapter 3 Paul writes this this is a faithful saying the man desires the position of a bishop or of an overseer overseers more literal he desires a good work and overseer then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous, one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence.

For if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the Church of God? Excellent question. Not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover, he must have a good testimony among those who are outside lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. So there you have it, the description of a first Timothy three man.

These are the qualifications of an overseer or of an elder in a local church. You look at the New Testament text, both Peter and Paul use overseer and elder interchangeably. So this is the qualifications for an overseer or an elder in a local church. The first thing I want to note is that Paul isn't describing super Christians here. You should never think of the qualifications of a church leader as God calling for a super Christian.

What he's calling for is a seasoned Christian, a mature Christian, a believer, a disciple, a follower of Jesus who has been brought to maturity over time. And if you look at this list of qualifications for church leaders, what you find is three things. One is Christian character. So again, not the calling of a super Christian, but the calling of a Christian in terms of conduct. How every Christian man is called to have these things being cultivated in his life.

There's nothing in here that the normal, everyday Christian isn't called to. The point is, if a man's going to be a church leader, he has to have these things verifiable that all Christians are called to, he has to have those things verifiable in his life. Secondly, you have Christian leadership and care in marriage and parenting. So you look at a man, you say, he's leading his home like a Christian should lead his home. He's being a husband like a Christian should be a husband.

He's being a father like a Christian should be a father. He's caring for the people entrusted to him like a Christian should. And then third is the ability to teach the Word of God. So you really only have one ability or how you would think of maybe a talent in the whole list. The rest of it is really just character and the ability to care for people who are entrusted to your care.

The point is that almost all of these are essentially the fruits of the Spirit. So if you went to Galatians chapter 5 and looked at the fruits of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and those nine things and you match them up with the characteristics in 1st Timothy 3, it would be the easiest exercise to say, okay, this goes here, this goes here, and you could draw lines one to the other. It is a man who the Spirit of God has been at work in his life over a period of time and has brought him to maturity in the different categories. What I mean by the different categories. He's been made spiritually mature, emotionally mature, relationally mature.

He was relating to the people in his life in a mature Christian way and the patterns of his life are mature. So if you were to follow around and just look at his habits you'd say, oh those I recognize those as Christian habits. They are essentially marks of discipleship progress. So that's how it fits in with the weekend. We've been talking about discipleship.

First Timothy 3 gives you the marks of discipleship progress. In other words, you look at this man and say, oh, he's following Jesus. He's been making progress as a disciple as Jesus has been forming and fashioning him. Second, These men tend to be a little bit older. Meaning if you find somebody who fits this description, who has the marks of the fruits of the Spirit in his life, they tend to be, they don't have to be, but they tend to be a little bit older.

Elder is a word with a meaning outside of church leadership. It does describe in the New Testament church leaders are church elders, but even if you backed away from church or religious categories and just said Respect your elders. You wouldn't be saying respect church leaders. You'd be respecting people who are what? Old older Honor the the greyheads Okay, it's just might be another way to say that, honor the gray-headed, the people whose hair has turned color over time because they've got older.

It's supposed to be that you've learned a thing or two through experience in that time, not his first rodeo. So do church leaders have to be old? No, but they tend to be older because these characteristics tend to be established in your life, not on day one of Christianity, but of day 1000. In Christianity, as the spirit incrementally, little by little produces fruit in your life. These men tend to be off the roller coaster.

Oh man when I think about my early Christian years, what a roller coaster. Meaning, like zip up to the highest heights and then plummet down to the deepest depths and that all could take place within a 24-hour period of time. Those of you who have walked with the Lord for a while know exactly what I'm talking about. High highs and low lows and only 24, 48 hours apart. Your elders, Not in the church leadership, but in the gray hair sense of using that term, tend to be off the roller coaster.

The baseline is higher, and there tend to be less of a gap between the highs and the lows. So the average is higher than you were in your younger Christian days because God has established things in your life. You're more even keel and you're not given to those wild swings. Men like that sons, men like that who are off the rollercoaster whose baselines are higher than when in their younger days and who have had the fruits of the Spirit firmly established in their life can help you go farther, faster. And you should want that.

You want to go farther, faster because the alternative is going less far, slower. Pick between those two things. Go farther, faster, or don't go as far and slower. You want to go farther, faster. These are the men who can help you do that.

They can and are almost always willing to pull you up into biblical manhood. I wanna say that again. Sons, are you listening? These men, and we're not just talking, I mean, they are your church leaders, they better be your church leaders. As 1 Timothy 3 is saying, Church leaders better be described this way, so it ought to be your church leaders.

But there are more men than just elders in our church that have these characteristics, that the Spirit of God has been producing fruit in their lives over time. And some of them are young men. They don't have to have a lot of gray hair. Men who fit this description are almost always willing to pull you up into biblical manhood. You're not just going to float on the current and end up at biblical manhood.

You're not just going to be able to go with the flow of life and end up at biblical manhood. And so you're actually, things are going to have to be done for you to arrive at that destination. One of the things that can happen to bring you into biblical manhood is for a biblical man to grab you by the hand and help pull you up into it. And here's what we're saying, such men exist, now go get their investment in your life, go get their investment. They're almost always willing to pull you up into biblical manhood.

Now these are the busiest guys. Men who fit this description have full lives because they know exactly what they're supposed to be about and it's a long list and they're they're trying to make progress in these categories. So don't expect them to be the ones to necessarily, and in my, but don't expect them to try to pull it out of you. But if you try to pull it out of them, you'll find them willing. Now why is that?

That is because it's no coincidence that they've become Biblical men. Biblical men have pulled them up. So They feel a debt. They feel a debt. Having been pulled up into biblical manhood, they feel a debt for anyone who would desire that investment from them to pull them up into it.

So that If you say, will you help me make progress in the faith? They'll almost never say no because they know other men have brought, have helped them come into the state that you're trying to come into. So sons, there are men like this around you. So seek it. Seek it.

Seek what? Seek discipleship from men who fit that description. Start with your dad. Your dad is some or all of these things. And it doesn't matter which.

If he's some of these things, get what you can. Get all that you can out of your dad. There is no one better, no better starting point than your dad for these things. Because he's the dad that God has given you to help you make progress in the faith, but go even beyond your dad. So absolutely start with your dad.

That's the starting point that God has given you, but it really isn't the ending point that God has given you. He is the best one to pull you up into biblical manhood, but He's not the only one to pull you into biblical manhood. Do not wait around and then act disappointed that some biblical man hasn't made you his project. They're busy. Unless that man's your dad, It's not his job to notice you and to pull you up into biblical manhood, but you can actually initiate that and seek that.

We wanted to close today by saying, young men, you initiate it, you seek it out, you go for it, start with it in your day, but don't stop there. Also engage the other biblical men in the church to help you come into biblical manhood. I am hereby declaring it illegal to wait around and then act disappointed that some man hasn't made you his project. That is illegal. I am throwing the flag.

This is a 15-yard penalty. You are not allowed to wait around and then act disappointed that I didn't make you my project. You initiate it. You engage it. And then when that man who feels a debt to the men, when you ask, when you ask him to help you make progress, in his mind's eye he will see the men in his mind's eye who have helped him make progress and it will keep him from saying no to you.

I can almost guarantee That's true. And then when he's willing to, throw yourself wholeheartedly to extract the very most out of his investment. Here's a wonderful secret. Are you ready? I'm letting you in on a secret.

Those relationships will mature into a combo relationship as time passes. Meaning, I'm a son, I'm seeking out investment from biblical men, starting with my dad but not ending with my dad, other biblical men in the church that have the fruit of the Spirit established in their lives, and then he's investing in me. I'm saying in time that relationship will mature into a combo relationship. A combo of what? A combo of a mentorship relationship where he's teaching you and helping you and a friendship.

I'm telling you how to make a friend. And over time it'll be less mentorship and more friendship. We've been alive as a church long enough to see this happen in some of the lives of our children as they've grown up and gotten married and now the people who are helping them make progress and get ready for marriage are now they're part of their friend group. It's amazing. It ought to be that way.

It's sweet when it's that way. So find a mentor now and just understand this. They're going to be your friend later as you grow up. Let me close with a couple of suggestions. One, here's the low hanging fruit.

What's a low hanging fruit? Just means it's on the branch down there and you don't have to get a ladder or anything. You just like, there it is. It's low hanging. You just pick it.

It's easy. You don't have to go to the ends of the earth for this low-hanging fruit Sunday afternoons pull up a chair or men tend to go out and talk to each other. Just go be there. Go be there. Hear what they're talking about.

Engage yourself in the conversations. That costs you nothing but a little bit of time with your peers. Doesn't have to cost you the whole afternoon. It could cost you just a little bit of that time with your peers to reallocate that time, to go be near a gray head who the Spirit of God has produced fruit in, and you go and just partake of that fruit for a few minutes every Sunday afternoon. That is such low-hanging fruit that costs you almost nothing.

Then go deeper. Consider asking your parents to help you identify people and opportunities. Don't leave your parents completely out of the equation like going on a journey to find discipleship. No, just Ask your parents, who do you think would be good to invest in my life and mom and dad, what would be good opportunities for that? Help me to identify that.

Just include them in your quest for discipleship from others in the church. Finally, develop a specific ask, a reasonable ask of A godly man in the congregation. We started with dad, but now we're also engaging another godly man in the church and we have a specific thing that we're asking for. And it can't be, will you be my new daddy? That's not a reasonable ask.

He won't be, if he's a godly man, he won't be your new daddy. You have exactly the dad God wanted you to have. How do you know that? Because he's your dad. God is king.

He gave you the dad that you have. How about this instead of what you'd be my new daddy. Could we have a conversation once in a while on Sunday afternoons? You just talked to me and I'll want to know about this category and every once in a while could we just have a conversation on Sunday afternoons? Again, you're already together on Sunday afternoons.

You don't even have to create a new time slot for that. You can have an appointment every Sunday afternoon. He's probably not going to want to have a conversation every Sunday afternoon, but from time to time he'd be delighted to have a one-on-one conversation on a Sunday afternoon. How about this? As you get older, you have a driver's license.

Could I take you to breakfast and ask you some questions about blank? Questions about preparation for marriage, questions about thought life and purity and thought life, questions about blank. You fill in the blank. These godly men will allow you to buy them breakfast okay if they won't I will you you buy me breakfast and ask me questions about those things. All right, 20 minutes and five seconds.

All right, I'm gonna pray. God, I pray for these sons of ours that you would help them. Thank you for the men in my mind's eyes who have pulled me up into biblical manhood, the investments they've made in my life, and God I pray that you would give us hungry sons, sons that long to have investments from us in their lives and to just make us faithful brothers to them in Jesus name. Amen.