1 Timothy 4:11-5:2 | Practice and Perservere

If you have a Bible, go grab it and open it to the book of 1 Timothy. We’ll be looking at the end of chapter 4 this morning, 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 11 into chapter 5, verse 2. So if you’re using an electronic Bible or an app, this is going to be an uncomfortable sermon for you. We’re going to read the end of chapter 4 into chapter 5, verses 1 through 2, 4:11 through 5:2. If you don’t have a Bible, use a pew Bible in front of you. Again, we’ll be looking at 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 11 through chapter 5, verse 2.

It says this:

Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity. Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation, and teaching. Don’t neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy, with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers. Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters with all purity. — 1 Timothy 4:11-5:2 (CSB)

Let’s pray. Well, we’re trying to follow after the example of your word. I pray, Lord, that you would strengthen me as I try to command and teach these things. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be a church that values what your word commands us to do. Help us not just to be hearers, but also doers. Help us to delight in this gift of your word and of pastors. I pray, Lord, that you give us wisdom to do this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Expectations for a Pastor

What do you expect your pastors to do? Paul’s been telling Timothy to command and teach all the things in this letter. He’s been giving Timothy a bit of a spiritual pep talk. He’s been continuing to pastor a church in Ephesus as a young man. Over the course of his pastoring there, there’s been division, there’s been false teaching, there’s even been false teachers who’ve been standing up and testifying against Timothy.

For anyone who’s pastored for any amount of time, they know that what Timothy is going through is not anything unusual. Pastoral ministry brings pressure. And Paul wants to remind Timothy to remember what really matters and to be able to command and teach the things that are written in this letter. That’s Paul’s expectation for Timothy: not to do what he wants, but to be able to honor the Lord. And with that expectation, Paul anticipates obstacles to Timothy’s ability to persevere. Pastoring is hard work. Everyone has expectations, and not all of those expectations are the same. It’s easy to lose focus on what matters. It’s easy for tempers to flare and cause fires to erupt in the church. And Paul, like a good father, is recalibrating Timothy’s eyes to focus on what really matters.

So I want to answer a question in the sermon today: What should you expect of your pastor? Three things: One, he should set an example. Number two, he needs to pay attention. And lastly, number three, he needs to exhort the family. He needs to set an example, he needs to pay attention, he needs to exhort the family.

Setting a Godly Example

I’ll start with number one: set an example. Read with me from verse 11 again: “Command and teach these things. Don’t let anyone despise your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.” If 1 Timothy 3 outlines an elder’s qualifications—what he needs to be qualified to do in order to do the job—1 Timothy 4 gives an elder’s expectations: what does he actually do as a pastor?

Paul wants Timothy to continue to teach, to warn against these demonic evil spirits that are seeking to deceive and destroy the church, and to prioritize godliness and Christ-centered living. But there are opponents to Timothy’s work. There are people that are in and outside of the church who are openly advocating against God’s word. In particular, we’re not too happy at the thought of Timothy speaking out against their teaching, calling them out, opposing them for their false teaching. And one way that they can brush off what Timothy has to say is to disqualify him on the basis of his age: “Oh, he’s a young guy. He’s just a baby, not really worth paying attention to.”

Now, it would be really easy for me to take a passage like this and open it up in front of you and be like, “Ah, guys, young man here, you should listen to this.” But I think it’s worth considering that there’s a lot of youthfulness that might lead someone very reasonably to not listening to a man. It’s kind of intuitive. There’s a lot of things even in Scripture that speak against, that warn against the folly of youthfulness. Proverbs 20:29 says that “The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is gray hair.” (Proverbs 20:29 CSB). Age tends to bring wisdom. Young people may have more energy, but that does not immediately correlate with more maturity. You might have a prestigious college or university education, but that doesn’t mean that you’re wise. You might have a stronger body, but that doesn’t mean that you necessarily know what to do with it.

I remember one time I was 19, helping out with a church work day and trying to chop at a tree stump in the lawn, and I had never held an axe in my life. And Jimmy Span, in his 80s, just gently asked if he could hold the axe. In two minutes, he did more work than I did in 20. You know, these deficiencies are not illegitimate. Age can be a powerful teacher, a good way of bringing someone towards greater maturity as the Spirit continues to work in their heart. It’s not unreasonable to assume that with age comes experience, and that with experience comes wisdom. So it’s not crazy, as someone might be a little thrown off to look at a prominent church like the church in Ephesus, and then see a young man like Timothy standing up in front of everyone. I mean, John the Apostle is an elder there. And they’re sitting under the ministry of the word as Timothy stands up behind the pulpit to preach. Can you imagine that?

For Timothy to stand up in front of older and presumably wiser men and tell them to their face that they are wrong. Well, you might be tempted to just dismiss Timothy altogether on the basis of his age. Pat him on the head, give him a candy pop, and just send him away while the adults figure out what’s actually true. See, youthfulness can absolutely imply immaturity. At the same time, all of these legitimate disadvantages that come with age do not give someone reason or grounds for despising or rejecting someone on the basis of their age.

For a couple of reasons: Age certainly gives more opportunities for growing in wisdom, but age itself does not guarantee that someone grows in wisdom. I’m sure all of us can think of people who ought to know better because of age or experience, that demonstrate baffling levels of immaturity. Some of you are looking at your spouses; I’m a little uncomfortable. Second, we don’t want to have old leaders for the sake of having old leaders. We want to have godly leaders, right? That’s why in 1 Timothy 3, you don’t see any qualification on the basis of someone’s age. It’s on the basis of maturity: “He must not be a new convert.” The metric isn’t based on someone’s physical age, but their spiritual age. Are they grown? Are they mature spiritually? Godliness is more valuable than gray hairs.

And third, God calls us to be discipling and raising up leaders in this church. And if you think about what that means, if we’re called to actually disciple, invest in members so that they’re growing, if we’re called to be raising up leaders in this church, if part of my job as a pastor is to be raising up other pastors or elders around me that can also carry on the work of the ministry, then inevitably that means that we will have leaders that are younger and less experienced than us. That’s not a deficiency, that’s the goal. That’s not bad, that’s good. In other words, this isn’t about calling someone who isn’t qualified for ministry. This isn’t about turning off your discernment receptors and being okay with having a young guy kind of drive the truck and go off-roading with his life. It is important that you have competent men of godly character.

It’s about making sure that we don’t raise the bar with ourselves as we grow in such a way that no one else below us can ever reach it. We don’t want to make the qualifications of leadership based on our own maturity because we won’t be around someday. We don’t want to constantly move the goalposts over and over again in a way that no one ever becomes good enough. Al Mohler, currently in his 60s, has been leading Southern Seminary for over 30 years. And when he became president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, he was 33 years old. He was called to lead the seminary that at the time was divided, split over the authority of the Bible, whether the Bible is actually true. Even on whether or not the Trinity was true, and that split didn’t just divide seminary professors but the students as well. And Al, as a 33-year-old man, was given the helm of this institution and expected to lead it.

And it’s amazing, you can look this up on YouTube. There is a Q&A that he gives before he even starts the job where you can just see professors and students incensed at the thought of a man who actually believed the Bible was true leading this institution. At one point in the Q&A, an older man stands up and says, “Dr. Mohler, there are many professors and students who are here and older than you, and by extension, wiser. What do you intend to do about that?” And Dr. Mohler thanked him for his question and said, “Well, sir, as to what I do, what I intend to do, I intend to age.”

Now one of the main reasons why I’ve loved pastoring here is because I think all of you have been wonderful examples of exactly that. People find out that I’m pastoring this church and they ask me, “Are they okay?” Mainly because some of them know me, but they’re also asking if it’s okay for me leading a congregation where the majority of the members are older than me. And I think all of you have been wonderful examples of exactly what Paul has been telling the church in Ephesus to do. In many ways, I am one of the least experienced in this room. I’m not unaware of that. But I think by God’s grace and by your kindness to me, I don’t feel any tension with my age and my ability to lead because you guys have made leading a joy. So I just want to thank you for that, right? I don’t think that that’s a testament to my own character as much as it speaks to your godliness. I’m grateful for all of you.

But let’s say leading wasn’t a joy. Let’s say I had naysayers around who were constantly condescending, constantly dismissing, sticking up their noses in my face. The way that Paul wants a young pastor to respond to that kind of condescending opposition isn’t through aggression, defensiveness, or even verbal debate. He’s not telling Timothy to stand up and try to outman these people. Instead, he tells Timothy to set an example. The way that Timothy will shut up his accusers is by being godly, by setting an example. Because what destroys a man’s reputation isn’t youthfulness, it’s sinfulness. A pastor must be faithful in his life. His life becomes his testimony, his own defense, that he needs to speak, act, care, believe, and walk in holiness in such a way that communicates maturity to those around him.

He doesn’t need a good verbal rebuttal. He needs to watch his speech. He doesn’t need to plot against his opponents. He needs to act in holiness and faithfulness. He doesn’t need to dedicate his emotional energies to his enemies. Instead, he needs to love the flock. He doesn’t need to believe in himself. He needs to have faith in the Lord. And he doesn’t need to prove himself innocent. He just needs to walk in purity. Timothy has to be so obviously holy, so obviously mature, that it makes his accusers look more and more ridiculous as they keep trying to levy accusations against him. “We’re talking about Timothy? Dude, he’s awesome! What are you talking about? He’s godly. He fears the Lord.” His example is his defense. Young pastors have to be examples that you can follow. All of the pastors that you have in this church should be examples that you can follow, not just being gifted men, but being godly men. I should be able to look at any of the young people at the church and be able to point at the elders and say, “Live your life like them. If I ever die someday, live your life like them.” Pray that God will raise up more men who can set that kind of example.

And if pastors are meant to be examples of godliness, then these examples are expected of members too. This is something that God calls all of us to do, that we should all live godly lives in our speech, our conduct, our love, our faith, and our purity; to live righteous lives. In other words, the best defense that you can ever have in your own Christian life is your integrity, your godliness, your holiness. You don’t need a good defense. You need a good soul. And most of us know that. Most of us have read passages like these before. But it’s hard to remember it day after day, especially when the days get hard. So Paul doesn’t just exhort Timothy here to set an example, but to pay attention, to focus, to prioritize this pastoral work, which leads us to point number two.

Paying Attention to God's Word

Pay attention. Look at verse 13: “Until I come, give your attention to public reading, exhortation and teaching.” What is the work of a pastor according to Paul? It’s three things: it’s public reading, exhortation, and teaching. Public reading, because for those in the early church—imagine a room like this today—only about 10% of those in the room would be able to read. So in order to hear from God’s word, they would need to get together and hear from God’s word when someone stands up and reads Scripture. And often those who were tasked with reading Scripture would also be those who would teach from Scripture, being the pastors, the elders of the church.

Timothy has to task himself with this duty, this responsibility of the public reading of Scripture. His job was not to start his sermons with funny statements, or funny stories, or pithy statements, or even profound thoughts or interesting factoids. He wasn’t even supposed to begin by teaching biblical truths, as true as they might be. He’s to begin with the public reading of Scripture, because the most important thing to say isn’t what Timothy has to say at all, but what God has to say. In fact, everything a pastor says that’s worth saying comes from what God says. What is Timothy exhorting the church to do? What God says. What is Timothy teaching to the church? What God says. Nothing that Timothy declares comes from his own inherent authority or ancient wisdom, or his talent and ability. A pastor labors to speak the word of God. The word of God is the fountain of life. If pastors don’t go to the source, draw from the source, and pour out the source as they preach, then we are all damned. And because of that, he needs to give his attention to these things. He needs to pay attention to these things.

You need your pastors to be word-centered pastors. Expect that of me. Expect that of any future pastor that gets nominated or affirmed in this church. And in order to expect that, in order to be able to actually evaluate me and be able to determine whether or not what I’m saying is coming from the word of God, you need to know what it says. You need to know what the Bible says. In order to have word-centered pastors, you need to have a word-centered focus. You need to pay attention to the word. Make sure that your pastors aren’t just nice men or smart men, but Bible men.

And this responsibility, this calling to teach the word of God, came from the words of God himself. You can see that in verse 14: “Don’t neglect the gift that is in you; it was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.” Timothy receives this gift, this gift of pastoral ministry. And it is a gift. It really is. It’s a joy and it’s a job. It’s both. And honestly, purposeful work, meaningful work should be both. We all think of times in our jobs where it’s been a joy and a job. And this gift was given through prophecy with a laying on of hands by the council of elders. He was given the supernatural God-given responsibility to teach the word of God.

Now this isn’t a calling from God used to gas up Timothy’s ego. Sometimes pastors misuse the language of calling this way: “This isn’t, ‘God called me, so you better do everything that I say.’” I unironically heard a Christian leader declare that “this scepter was given to me by God and shall not leave my hand.” Don’t go to a church where a guy talks like that. This calling is to remind Timothy of his God-given responsibility. This calling, this job, this duty that Timothy has, is given directly by the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Paul is reminding Timothy of where this responsibility started. And he reminds Timothy of the laying on of hands, that this God-given responsibility was also a church-given responsibility. The elders lay their hands on Timothy and entrust him with this responsibility of teaching God’s word to God’s people. And Paul is telling him, “Remember that. Remember that responsibility that you got. Remember when you had your installation. Remember when Pastor Mark looked at you and told you, ‘Preach, pray, love, and stay.’ Remember all the pastors that came on stage and laid hands on you.” Remember your calling from God. And he needs to pull that responsibility from his past to remind him to focus in the present.

Verse 15, let’s keep reading: “Practice these things; be committed to them, so that your progress may be evident to all.” He has to put these things to work. He has to practice. He’s supposed to do it and commit to them—to keep going when it doesn’t make sense, to keep going when enemies rise up and call you crazy, to face the cultural currents and satanic opposition, and keep doing what you’re doing. That is really hard. But every day that you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you get to showcase your life in front of others. In other words, part of my job is to practice the Christian faith. I don’t just teach it, but believe it. To live my life in a way that people can look and say that he is growing in his pastoring and his teaching.

I’m not talking about being fake. I try to make it a point of not being a phony or trying to be a fake Christian. I mean being faithful, where people can see my errors, can see my sin, and can also see my growth. Where people can say, “God’s at work in his life.” A pastor must be committed to practicing these priorities, and you need to expect your pastors to do this.

The Saving Impact of Perseverance

Verse 16: “Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Pay close attention to his life and his teaching. Those are the two things that you need to expect of your pastor: holiness and good Bible teaching. He is to persevere in these two things—living a godly life and preaching a godly word—because in doing so, this will save both yourself and your hearers. Timothy is saving himself and his hearers. I am saving myself and I’m saving you. Does that sound a little weird? It’s a bold thing to say. It almost feels like a heretical thing to say. What does it mean for a pastor to save himself and his hearers?

Well, it doesn’t mean that you’re saved by what you do, right? That the basis, the grounds of how you’re made right with God, is somehow based off of your own actions. We know from the Bible, that’s not true. Romans 3:28 says, “For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law” (Romans 3:28 CSB). So if I’m saying I’m getting justified by what I’m doing here, I’m going against Romans 3:28, and you should fire me. You’re justified by faith, not by works. So Timothy cannot be justifying himself by his works. So how does Timothy save himself and his hearers? What does it mean for him to save himself and his hearers? Because God uses means, ways to accomplish his salvation.

We are saved by Christ alone, but you and I get to save by bringing the saving Christ to people through teaching, through sharing the gospel. You are taking Christ to them. And as they hear it and the Spirit regenerates their heart, they go from death to life, right, from hearing the word. As they place their faith in Christ, that supernatural miracle, God uses you as his instrument to bring the word to people. So Paul says in Romans 10, right? “How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” (Romans 10:14-15 CSB). Paul understood this. He’s even willing to use this exact same language, talking about himself in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 22. He says:

To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by every possible means save some. — 1 Corinthians 9:22 (CSB)

He says that by himself. He’s like, “I’m trying to be like the world, not in compromising in sin or in righteousness, but by contextualizing, being like the people that I’m around so that I can share the gospel with them. And by those means, I might save some.” That’s what Paul is trying to do, he’s trying to save the world, and he understands that eternity is on the line. That all of us are headed towards hell because of our sin, and Christ is the only way that we can go to heaven. That all of us need Christ’s death, payment for sin, offering us grace through his sacrificial death and resurrection. If you’re not a Christian here this morning, that’s the good news that I want you to hear. I want to unabashedly, unashamedly, I want to save you. I want you to hear that good news and turn from your sin and trust in Christ. All of us need that kind of saving.

And the only way that people hear that good news is if someone loves them enough to share it, to open their mouth and share that good news. God uses means. That’s why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, another part of the chapter, he says, “What then is my reward? To preach the gospel and offer it free of charge” (1 Corinthians 9:18 CSB). He says, this right after he talks about saving some, he says, “I do all of this because of the gospel so I might share in its blessing.” The preaching of the gospel saves. That’s what the word does. Do you believe that? Do you believe that the word of God saves? That these words actually do something? The word of God displays the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that every single time you mutter or stutter your way through a gospel conversation with your friend that you are saving those around you, or at least that you are aiming or intending to save?

Because if you believe that, if you really believe that you would save yourself and your hearers from preaching the word, you’re going to do it. That’s what you would do. You’re going to do it over and over and over again. You’re going to prioritize it. You’re going to trust it, and you’re not going to let anything get in the way of that. Whether it’s your opponents, your own sin, you will focus on the one thing that flings open the doors of heaven and shuts the gates of hell: you will preach Christ. Why is it important for you to prioritize God’s word and your holiness in your life? Why is it important for your pastors to prioritize holiness and Bible teaching? Because salvation is on the line, because eternity is on the line. This is why we want to have word-centered priorities. Our church needs to be a church known for loving the word.

Some people try to pit loving the word and loving God against each other. But the Bible doesn’t do that. If you understand the word, then you understand that the word of God brings salvation. We want our church to be oriented around that. We want to be able to pray the Bible. We want to be able to sing words that remind us of truths from the Bible. We want to be able to hear the Bible preached in sermons that actually talk about what the Bible says and not what I have to say. And we want to see the Bible lived out in our congregational life together, as we love each other, as we care for one another. That’s the stuff that matters. That’s our priority. That’s what we need to be focusing our attention, trying to save ourselves and our hearers, because those who teach and gather to hear God’s word are more than just isolated people. We’re family, we’re family, which brings us to the last point this morning.

Exhorting God's Family with Purity

Number three: exhort your family. Chapter 5, verse 1: “Don’t rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters with all purity.” You can imagine this gospel burden with this high calling, responsibility, and the duty to command these things that Timothy might get a little amped, right? He might run a little hot. He might even start to see his opponents, even his own church people, as obstacles to some kind of greater goal. “But you understand what I’m trying to do? I’m trying to save people here.” And the idea of rebuke is this idea of drawing your fists to fight, to verbally assault someone, to punch them in the nose with a fist of truth.

And Paul, after giving all these expectations to do, is trying to buffer what Timothy would do by reminding him that God doesn’t just care about what you do, he cares about how you do it. And that affects everything about the way that you interact with others in the church. Not just what you say, but the way that you say it. Paul’s telling Timothy, “Watch your tone. You treat them like family.” Timothy is to be firm, but never violent, right? And he uses his image of the family because when we think about the family, things start to click into place, it’s intuitive. I mean, can you imagine going up to your dad and smacking him upside the head? Never. Right, what if you look at your sister with daggers in your eyes? Or if you don’t speak to her for the rest of your life? You would not do that. You treat your family with love, right? With wisdom, you understand that’s more than just being right. It’s about caring for them the way that they are.

You treat men who are older than you with respect. You treat them like a father. You exhort them, you even need to correct them, but in a way that keeps their dignity intact, that shows that you respect and care about them, even as you help them. That doesn’t give Timothy license to treat younger men and women disrespectfully either. This family framework reorients everything. You know, in Korean culture, you are societally ranked respectfully based on the year that you were born, right? It literally affects the way that you talk. You speak to those that are older than you with honorific, formal language, and those that are younger, then you can be addressed with casual language. In fact, like we would joke a lot in the Korean church growing up about how the older can just command the younger to like bring them water and they have to, right? Or you can kind of do whatever you want with those below you, but you have to be subservient to those above you.

But Timothy is not allowed to do any of that. He can’t pull rank on those that are younger than him. He is to treat younger men as brothers. You treat them respectfully. This is not condescending or dismissive. This is caring like an older brother. Older women are to be treated like mothers. Next week we’ll see the way that Paul instructs Timothy to care for widows in the church. You know, older women in society at that time are not well respected at all. It’s not good. In fact, widows who had no one to take care of them were considered lower than dogs in society. This paradigm changes with the gospel. You don’t treat older women as burdens, but those who are worthy of your respect, like your mom, someone that you cherish and that you care for.

And you treat younger women with all purity in a world that can objectify women or take advantage of them. Timothy is called to treat younger women as sisters and honor them with all purity. Paul is making clear that honoring these young women, looking out for them, protecting them, honoring their reputation is Timothy’s job. They are to be treated as sisters because that is what they are. They are to be treated with all purity. It’s never okay for a Christian to take advantage of another Christian, especially a Christian sister, never. But that also doesn’t mean that Timothy cowers away from interacting with Christian females. Sometimes churches overcorrect when they think about treating sisters with all purity.

I was having a heartbreaking conversation with a sister where she just felt like she was a potential mistress walking around because she wasn’t married, uncomfortable having conversations with pastors that did not know how to interact with her. We don’t want anyone to feel like that. You know, some people wonder if it’s possible to have co-ed friendships, that is, friendships with people of the opposite sex, and the answer is, of course, you can, especially in the church. You don’t have friendships with people of the opposite sex in your church because they’re not potential mistresses. They’re your siblings. You don’t avoid your sister. You don’t run away from your brothers. You love them. You care for them. You treat them with dignity. How else do you expect your Christian women to know what godly manhood looks like? How else do you expect the men in your church to know how to love and care for the sisters in the church or to care for women?

You need to have co-ed relationships that are undergirded with the holiness and the honor of Christ. Now, that absolutely means that you exercise discernment and wisdom. You want to make sure that you uphold not just someone’s integrity, but also their reputation as you interact with them. But that doesn’t mean that you deliberately avoid having loving relationships with them, because all of these relationships in the church are understood in the context of your family. You don’t order your family around. You love your family. In fact, the truth matters because your family matters. Your rules and regulations matter. Every family has them. You have rules in your family that you need to follow. But they matter because they set the framework for how you best love your family. That’s the whole point.

You don’t have rules in your family just so that you can play referee whenever someone breaks the law. You have rules in your family so that you can trust each other and continue to grow together. That’s the point. If you have the right theology but you don’t bother to love your family, you’ve missed the plot. Biblical truth helps us to know how to best love our family. It’s never an excuse to mistreat your family. So Timothy’s reputation is put up. It’s established. He’s called to persevere in his work. And lastly, he’s told to love, to love his family members, to be committed to caring for them, to cherishing them, to dignifying them, even as he corrects them and brings them God’s word. After all, that’s exactly what our Father in heaven does for us as his children. He saw us in our helpless state. He saw us as true rebels who abandoned the family and forsook our birthright. And he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the ability for sin that we deserve, so we could be forgiven and adopted as sons and daughters into his family. Jesus never gave up on us, and he never will. And that means that we should never give up on each other.

If we believe that God’s word is true, if we believe that God’s word is good, then that means that we will continue to love each other. That we will pay attention to what really matters. And we will confidently model this gospel hope to one another as we continue to walk in faith and love. You need to expect that of your pastor. And you need to expect that of your family. We pray that you would help us to be able to embody these three expectations from your word. Help me to do that. Help our church members to do that. We thank you, Lord, that you haven’t given up on us and you’re continuing to work in our lives for our joy and for your glory. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.