I read an article the other day that was written by an Air Force officer who had been stationed with the Army Corps of Engineers in Baghdad. He told of something that happened to him while they were working on the reconstruction of Iraq. His unit was responsible for rebuilding roads and bridges and buildings and schools. And in order to perform their mission, they employed 40-50 Iraqi contract engineers. These people are often the targets of terrorists because of how closely they work with us. And that was the case with one of the young Iraqi ladies who worked for him. She was regularly threatened and harassed because she chose to wear western clothes and refused to wear a hijab. When she began to share these incidents with the Air Force officer, he gave her some advice. He thought it was good advice. He thought it would protect her and keep her safe. He suggested that she just go ahead and wear the hijab so they would leave her alone. After he made that suggestion, she gave him a completely heartbroken look. She just looked up at him and said, “But sir, I’m free.” You see, in all the day-to-day concerns… in all the focus on his mission… with all the focus on bridges and roads and buildings… that officer lost sight of the big picture. He lost sight of the fact that everything he was doing was for the purpose of providing freedom for those people. I find myself doing the same thing. I get so wrapped up in the day to day concerns of life that I tend to forget the big picture. With all the work that has been done around the church the past few weeks getting ready for the associational annual meeting—it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. With all the planning and organizing for the fall revival and bean dinner and fall festival and FRANday—it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. During this political season, I have to constantly guard against it. I tend to get so wrapped up in issue after issue and debate after debate that I lose sight of the big picture. I get so focused on who’s winning and who’s losing that I forget the purpose of it all. That’s why our passage this morning is so important to us right now. It reminds us of the big picture. It reminds us of the purpose of it all. This passage is part of the first letter that Paul wrote to his young apprentice Timothy. Paul had apparently led Timothy to the Lord sometime in the past—probably when Timothy was just a teenager. And after Paul led him to the Lord, he took him along on several mission trips. He mentored him and taught him like he would his own son. And then it was time to send him out from under his wing. So after sending him off by himself to serve several churches temporarily, Paul sent him to Ephesus to be their pastor. All this took place late in the life of Paul and he wrote this letter to Timothy after his first imprisonment in Rome that closes the book of Acts. And one of the main themes of this letter is for Timothy to keep his eye on the big picture. That theme really comes out in the passage we just read. When you look through the New Testament and you study history, you know that this was a dangerous time to be a Christian. Paul spent much of his ministry in prison. Timothy even spent some time in prison. They had been persecuted by Jewish leaders and were being increasingly persecuted by the Roman government. It was during this time that the Roman Emperor Nero was in power. Nero was a horrible tyrant and was the first emperor to make it his policy to brutally kill Christians. He murdered his mother, his brother, and even burned most of Rome down in order to have room to build new buildings dedicated to himself. He wasn’t a nice guy. How easy it would have been for Paul and Timothy to focus on all the rotten things Nero was doing. How easy it would have been for them to try to generate a movement to throw Nero out of power. How easy it would have been for them to call on Christians to band together and fight the power. But they didn’t. As a young man, it probably would have been very easy for Timothy to get all fired up in that direction. But Paul wrote him this passage to remind him to keep his eye on the big picture. When I look around and I see the wholesale slaughter of unborn children… when I see the false promises and the lies… when I see threats to freedom of choice in education and healthcare and self protection… when I see those things, I tend to lose sight of the big picture. I need to be reminded about what our chief political job is as Christians. Is it to rail against Nero? No. Is it to build a political coalition? No. Is it to do nothing? No. Well then, what is our chief political job as Christians? Verse 1 and the first part of verse 2 tells us:
1 TIMOTHY 2:1-2b
Our chief political job as Christians is to pray. Does that mean that praying is the only thing we do? No—but it does mean that nothing else really matters unless we start with prayer. Well OK, that’s easy enough—“Lord help my guy to get elected.” That’s prayer, right? It’s prayer, but it’s prayer that has forgotten the big picture. The question is, why are you praying that prayer? This passage gives us our reasons why we’re supposed to pray for our leaders. First it gives us the why and then it gives us the how. Let’s take just a few minutes and see why we’re supposed to pray for our leaders.
First, the second part of verse 2 says that we’re supposed to pray for our leaders so “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” Why does God give us government in the first place? We’ll talk about that more next week when we look at Romans 13. But God gives us government in order to restrain violence. In other words, if there was no government, there would be anarchy. And anarchy is chaos. And chaos is unchecked violence. Human nature is very clear about one thing. When government breaks down, chaos and violence runs rampant. That’s why God instituted government in the first place. Before the flood, there was no such thing as human government. And sinful people ran roughshod over each other. To the point that the only solution was for God to pour out His judgment in a universal flood. By His grace, He chose to save Noah and His family. But He destroyed everyone else. The chaos and violence were ended. And in their place was a new beginning. And it was in that time of new beginning that God first instituted human government. And do you know what power He specifically charged human government with? The death penalty. In Genesis 9:6, God told Noah, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” That was God’s institution of human government. And that was the charge that he gave them. All for the purpose of keeping peace. All for the purpose of allowing His children to lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. That is why we pray for our leaders. We pray for our leaders to exercise the authority that God has given them. The authority to keep the peace. The authority to squelch violence. The authority to enforce the law and punish lawlessness. The authority to restrain the sinful heart of man… the heart of man that is as Genesis 6:5 says, “that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continuously.” We are to pray for our leaders so that they will exercise the authority that God has given them. So that they will allow themselves to be used of God to restrain evil in our world. So that they will restrain evil in such a way that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life. Not like a ‘60s peacenik in a commune somewhere. But live godly and honest lives free from persecution and strife. That is the first reason we are supposed to pray for our leaders. The second reason is found in verses 3-4.
1 Timothy 2:3-4
We’re supposed to pray for our leaders so that we may live in an environment where all people have the opportunity to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. That is a big statement. But what it means is that we pray for our leaders with the big picture in mind. We pray that government will not be a hindrance to people coming to know Jesus. In Canada and throughout Europe, there are legal restrictions on what pastors can preach from the pulpit. In those places, preachers have gone to jail for preaching that homosexual unions are God’s judgment on rebellious and unthankful people. But it’s not just in those places. People are arrested in this country for speaking against homosexuality. They are arrested in this country for speaking against immorality. They are arrested in this country for speaking against abortion. People have even been arrested in this country for handing out Bibles. Students have been fined and have had their diplomas withheld throughout this country for simply praying in public at their graduation ceremony. We pray for our leaders so those things will stop happening. We pray for our leaders so that government will stick to keeping the peace and stop hindering the gospel. We are called to pray and not to protest. We are called to pray and not to rebel. We are called to pray and not to incite. We are called to pray. We’re supposed to pray for our leaders. We’re supposed to pray so we can live in an environment that doesn’t hinder the gospel. We’re supposed to pray so we can live in an environment that doesn’t restrict truth. That is the second reason we’re supposed to pray for our leaders. The third reason is in verses 5-7:
1 Timothy 2:5-7
We’re supposed to pray for our leaders so that we can be free to preach the gospel, exercise our faith and speak the truth. This takes us right back to the big picture. Let me ask you something. When God saved you, why didn’t He take you straight on to heaven with Him? Because He’s got a job for you to do. Now, let me ask you what that job is. Is it to build a kingdom? Or is it to build the Kingdom. Is it to look to the government for salvation? Or is it to look to the One who the government will be on His shoulders. Is it to build a coalition? Or is it to build a church? See how easy it is to get distracted from what we’re really here to do? We are to pray for our leaders so that they will leave us alone to do the work God has called us to do. As Christians, our whole sole purpose for being here is to be a living testimony for Christ. He is our mediator—not man. He is our Savior—not government. He is the One who paid the price for our sins—not the economy. He is the only one who can bridge the gap between a lost and dying world and a holy and pure God. And as Christians, that is the message we have been ordained to preach. Not just me. Not just preachers. Not just the ones who have gone through a formal ordination service. All Christians. If Jesus has saved you, He has also ordained you to preach His gospel to a lost and dying world. We pray for leaders who will leave you alone to do that. But if God gives us leaders who will not leave us alone… if God gives us leaders who will throw us in jail and persecute us and fine us and kill us… we will still preach the gospel. We’re supposed to pray for our leaders so we can have the freedom to preach the gospel. We’re supposed to pray for our leaders so we can have the freedom to exercise our faith. Not so we can have separation of church and state. One line from one letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danville Baptists has been twisted and magnified and distorted until it is unrecognizable. Now, it has come to mean the opposite of what is should mean. Now it means that the church or religion or even God Himself can have nothing to do with government. When in fact, it was originally supposed to mean that the government could have no authority or jurisdiction in church or religious matters. How far we have drifted from God’s Word. How far we have drifted from God’s truth. Do you suppose that it’s because Christians have lost the big picture? Do you suppose it’s because we’ve gotten caught up in parties and politics and legislation so much that we’ve forgotten to pray? That we’ve forgotten to preach? That we’ve forgotten to live the gospel in the face of a lost and dying world? That we’ve forgotten to speak the truth of the gospel in love to all who will hear? Our chief political job is to pray for kings and for all that are in authority. We’ve seen the reasons why. Now the question is, how? To find that out, we need to look at verse 8:
1 Timothy 2:8
Paul tells Timothy, “I will that all men everywhere” do what? Vote? Protest? Complain? Campaign? Run for office? No—the Bible calls all men to pray. Do we need to vote? Yes—that is the freedom and opportunity that God has given us. We need to vote. And we need to vote in a way that will honor God. But is that our chief responsibility during this election? No. Should Christians run for office? Yes—godly men and women need to be salt and light in every moral profession. But is our chief responsibility to infiltrate the government with a bunch of Christians and take over? No—our chief responsibility is to pray. All people everywhere are to pray for our leaders—no matter who gets elected. No matter if it’s our guy or not. No matter if we agree with his policies or not. I’m sure that Paul wasn’t agreeing with Nero’s policies when he told Timothy to pray for him. And no matter how you feel about our candidates, I don’t think that either one of them is Nero. The point is that we are to pray for our leaders. We are to pray with holy hands. Hands are what we work with. They are what we perform the activities of life with. And they are to be holy. They are to be clean. They are to be unpolluted. Isn’t it ironic how we’re more worried about air pollution than we are about the pollution of sin in our lives? That is what we are to be concerned about. When we pray, we need to make sure our lives are clean. We need to make sure our daily activities aren’t polluted with sin and filth. We need to make sure our work is honest and clean and pure. When we pray for our leaders, we need to pray with holy hands. We need to pray with holy hands and we need to pray without wrath. They say that there are two things you don’t talk about in mixed company—religion and politics. Now, why is that? Because it seems like both of those can get heated in a hurry. I loved my grandpa as much as is humanly possible and I miss him tremendously. But Pawpaw would get completely irrational when the subject of politics came up. Needless to say, we didn’t agree on politics. But I had a choice to make. Either I could argue and fight with him about it. Or I could refuse to discuss it with him. One would lead to anger and a broken relationship. The other led to open avenues to talk about more important things. You see, if you believe that your highest calling in life is to change someone’s politics—you’ll fight them tooth and nail. But that isn’t your highest calling in life. Your highest calling in life is to preach Christ and Him crucified. Let Jesus change their politics if they need changing. Pray with holy hands. Pray without wrath and anger. Finally, pray without doubting. The word that’s translated doubting literally means reasoning. It carries the idea of debating or quarreling or arguing. In other words, it’s not our calling as Christians to protest and debate and complain and quarrel with the government. There are many godly people who disagree with me on this point. But they’re not disagreeing with me—they’re disagreeing with the Bible. Paul didn’t tell Timothy to protest or debate or quarrel with Nero. In Acts, when Paul appeared before Roman leaders, he didn’t protest their policies. He preached the gospel. Here in this passage, he tells us to pray. Do we vote? Yes—but not before we pray. Do we participate in government? Yes, when appropriate—but not before we pray. And everything we do, we do for the purpose of advancing the gospel of Christ. After all, that’s why God’s left us here.
This morning, I want you to take a look at your life. What is the most important concern in your life right now? Is it politics? Is it the election? Is it the economy? Is it our national security? If it is, then you need to encounter the gospel. You need to encounter the good news of Jesus Christ this morning. Because do you know what? Jesus is King no matter who wins the election. Jesus is King no matter what happens to the economy. Jesus is King no matter what happens to America. Even if it was real, man-made climate change is not important. Because God has promised a climate change that will roll up the sky and melt the earth at an elemental level. It’s called His judgment. And if you don’t let Jesus be your King now—you’re going to have a whole lot bigger problems to worry about than some election. Have you submitted yourself to Jesus as your King this morning? If you haven’t, today is the day of salvation. You can turn your life over to Him to serve Him as your Lord and Master while there is still time. If you have trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior this morning, I exhort you therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority.” Quit focusing on the wrong things. Get sight of the big picture. And do the only thing that can truly change this nation. Preach the gospel.
