Title: The Accents of Prayer
Text: I Timothy 2:1-7
Thesis: Prayer is essential in creating a cultural climate in which the Gospel can flourish.
Introduction
I am not an expert in linguistics but I can tell if someone has an accent and I can often guess where a person is from based on that accent. In the English speaking world there are many different variations of the way English is spoken.
We readily identify those from the east coast or the south. Even within regions there are variations of accents. I’m told that south Texas English different from say, Mississippi southern English. We can pretty easily tell if someone is from Minnesota or Wisconsin by their accents. I’m told I have an Iowan accent. Every region seems to have unique and identifiable variations in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
And accents of non-native English speakers tend to carry over intonal and phonetic influences in the way they speak English. We readily recognize a German accent or a Scandinavian accent or an Asian accent or an English accent or an Aussie accent or an Hispanic accent or an accent from the islands.
Accents have to do with the way we emphasize or accentuate letters or words… Pecan or pecan? Potato or potato? Tomato or tomato? Louisiana or Louisiana? Wisconsin or Wisconsin? In a similar way we accentuate ideas or points of emphasis and our text today accentuates not a manner of speech but the manner of speaking a prayer. Specifically the text speaks to what we should accent or accentuate or focus on when we pray.
Specifically, what are we to accentuate when we pray?
I. Prayer is most effective in a Christian culture that is inclusive
I urge, then first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, kings and all those in authority… I Timothy 2:1-2
Our text specifically uses four words, all of which describe an aspect of prayer. Commentator William Barclay gives us some insight into how each of the words used in this verse have distinct inferences:
The first word is requests.
A. Requests – A request begins with a sense of need or an understanding that we cannot deal with something ourselves. A request stems from need.
The French film The Intouchables is the story of a quadriplegic who must ask his friend and companion for a drink. He recognizes he is thirsty and knows that he cannot get the drink himself so he requests a sip of water.
The second word is prayers.
B. Prayers – A prayer identifies who is being addressed. We may make a request to another person, as in, “will you get me a drink?” However what makes a request a prayer is that it is addressed to God, recognizing that there are some things only God can do.
It is the sinner’s prayer, “Lord, has mercy on me for I am a sinner.” It is the prayer that while grateful for all the medical advancements we enjoy prays, “Lord we ask you to do what no nurse or doctor or surgeon or psychiatrist or prescription drug or medication can do… divinely intervene with healing.”
The third word used is intercession or petitions.
C. Intercession (Petitions) – A prayer becomes petition when the person praying seeks to enter into an intimate conversation with a person with the intent of asking for something. It becomes intercession when the petition being submitted to the person of power or authority is in behalf of or for another person.
When Bonnie and I were about to become engaged I asked for a sit-down with Bonnie’s father, drove Farmington, Michigan and had a face-to-face conversation asking him and Mom Payne for their blessing. I know it was old-school but it’s what you do if you wish to ask for something really, really important. In the context of intimacy, as if face-to-face, we come into the presence of the one whose favor we are seeking, i.e., an audience with the King, so to speak.
Yesterday Dr. Ren Whittaker posted on Facebook a prayer request for his son, Rohm. Rohm was in the Rockies on horseback with his pack mule hunting elk and was caught in a snowstorm. They had not heard from him and the family was concerned so they asked us to pray, interceding in his behalf, for his safety. Prayer becomes intercession when it is behalf of others.
There is a passage in Scripture that speaks of how, because of Christ, who is now in heaven and inexplicably understands the nature of our humanness, we now come boldly to the throne of our gracious God where we will receive his mercy and find grace to help when we need it most. Hebrews 4:16
And the fourth word is thanksgiving.
D. Thanksgiving – Thanksgiving is the aspect of prayer that recognizes that while we have the right to bring our needs, desires and requests to God, we also have a duty to bring our expressions of gratitude to God as well.
Entitlement is big on our minds these days. I worked all my life and paid into Social Security and Medicare so I am entitled to take out what I paid in… it is not a government “gimme.” Or is it?
I’ve always been curious about how SS and Medicare work. I have wondered about what I have paid in compares to what I will take out.
When you run the numbers most Americans take out far more than we put in. A working couple, each making $44,600 in 2010 will pay in $772,000 and take out $966,000. A family with a single wage earner will pay in $360,000 but take out $850,000. Generally we take out more in Medicade benefits than we pay in Medicare taxes… in fact the numbers indicate that we take out three times the amount in benefits than we pay in taxes. (Louis Jacobsen, Medicare and Social Security: What You Paid in Compared to What You Take Out, Politifact, February 1, 2013)
My point. I am grateful to God for a government that provides for my mother’s needs and will continue to do so long after she has exhausted her own resources and exceeded the amount in benefits than she paid in Social Security and Medicare taxes.
When it comes to our personal relationships or our government or our God – the “gimme, gimmes” need to be followed up with lots and lots of gratitude.
In Thessalonians Paul instructs us to, Always be joyful. Never stop praying and to be thankful in all circumstances for this is God’s will for all who belong to Christ. I Thessalonians 5:16-18
Similarly in Philippians the bible says, Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for what he has done. Philippians 4:6
All this requesting and praying and interceding and giving of thanks is to be made in behalf of “all” people... even kings and all who are in authority, i.e., politicians!
That is why specifically used the words inclusive and bi-partisan in my first point. Prayer is at best when it is inclusive. I urge, then first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, kings and all those in authority… I Timothy 2:1-2
Inclusive embraces praying for everyone including the secular officials in our governmental system.
Regardless of how bad you may think some of our Presidents have been or are… when this was written those Christians were instructed to pray for Kings and emperors and governors and heads of state or ruling politicians who wielded power without the benefit of checks and balances. Then the emperor could have you drawn and quartered or wrapped in the skin of an animal of prey and pushed into an arena of hungry lions or have you dipped in flammable liquids and impaled on a pole and lit afire to serve as lighting for a garden party.
While that may be typical for Christians in some parts of the world it is not our experience and even if it were… God says we are to intercede in behalf of all men including kings and those who are in authority.
Our text does not speak specifically to the way we talk about or criticize or the nature of the emails we circulate about those in places of governmental authority but God is pretty clear about the fact that we need to pray for them. I wonder if we faithfully prayed for our leaders if there would continue to be hatefulness expressed toward them?
I attended a bi-partisan prayer meeting a couple of years ago that turned out to be more of a partisan than bi-partisan event. The name of the president was never mentioned in prayer and the prayers offered were more about changing the President’s mind so that he would do what we want him to do.
I wonder if what God has in mind is more along the lines of, “Lord, be with and bless the President, the Vice President, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the House and Senate, those who sit on the bench of the Supreme Court and their families. I ask that you be at work in their lives and present in their decision making that they may govern wisely and their decisions be beneficial and a blessing to us and to the world in which we live. Lord, make them instruments and examples of peace and civility. I pray that your will may be done here on earth as it is in heaven.”
That kind of praying is what pleases God.
II. Prayer creates a climate that pleases God
…that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Savior. I Timothy 2:2-3
Very quickly… we are to pray for those who are instrumental in creating a climate of peace and quiet and that our lives be marked by godliness.
The cultural climate for which we pray is that we may live…
A. Cultural climate: Peaceful and quiet
We are to pray for a life lived in peace and tranquility… that the climate in which we live be free of anything that detracts from peace in the realm, so to speak. It would seem that these are days in which we would do well to pray for a climate of peace and quiet for ourselves, our country and our world.
The Christian character for which we pray is for…
B. Christian character: Godliness and holiness
Our prayer is that living in peace we freely live out lives of godliness and reverence. The inference here is that we pray that we may live the kind of lives God wishes for us to live.
Barclay cites Socrates who is describes as, “So pious and devoutly religious that he would take no step apart from the will of heaven; so just and upright that he never did even a trifling injury to any living soul; so self-controlled, so temperate that he never at anytime chose the sweeter in place of the bitter; so sensible and wise and prudent that in distinguishing the better from the worse he never erred.” (Xenophon, Memorabilia, 4, 8, 11)
Years ago I knew a man who was the nicest man on the planet and the meanest man on the planet. In a private conversation with his widow I spoke of that dichotomy and was relieved when she said, “Yes, there were two Sams.”
When people speak of you and me and when God speaks of you and me, may we be known for being singularly, people of authentic Christ-like character and impeccable integrity.
All of this praying is not only for the pleasing God and benefiting ourselves… it is for the eternal good of others.
III. Prayer creates a cultural climate that is conducive for God’s missional purposes
[God] wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave his life a ransom for all men.
I Timothy 2:4-7
A. God’s mission is universal (God wants all men to be saved…)
Sometimes when I interview candidates for Ordination I ask, “If you could have a heresy of choice, what would it be?” I love it when a candidate answers, “If I could have a heresy of choice, it would be universalism.” Universalism not only implies God wants everyone to be saved but God unilaterally acts to save everyone…
When I say God’s mission is universal I mean God wants everyone on the planet who has lived, lives and who will ever live to be saved. I do not mean that everyone who has lived, who lives and who will every live will be saved. When I speak of God’s mission being universal I mean God’s love for mankind is inclusive.
• No person is so lost that he or she cannot be found.
• No person is so ignorant that he or she cannot see the truth.
• No person is so much a sinner that he or she cannot be saved. (Wm. Barclay, The Letters To Timothy, Titus and Philemon, P.63)
I love the inclusive language of Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians and the Colossians: “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. For you are alone in Christ Jesus. In this new life it does not matter if you are a Jew or Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters and he lives in all of us.” Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11
However, in our text today, God says that God’s mission of embracing everyone in Christ best takes place in a favorable climate… a climate marked by peace and quiet where Christians live good and godly lives.
A few days ago I read a story in the Denver Post about Al Matlock who owned a store in Glen Haven that was destroyed by the flood. He stayed in his house but soon found himself alone with his two tropical tortoises, a male African Spur Thigh and a female Leopard, with no heat to keep them warm and no hay or vegetables to feed them. So he hiked a few miles north to where his neighbors could send text messages from the top of the hill. A few emails and a Facebook posting later a man about an hour away with 30 years experience in alpine rescue and expertise in herpetology, who just happened to own seven turtles of his own, heard that the turtles need to be rescued. So he and five other rescuers hiked into Glen Haven, tucked the turtles in zippered and padded bags, strapped the two turtles to an alpine rescue sled and toted the two tropical turtles out before they succumbed to the cold. (Electra Draper, Floor-tested mountaineers resourceful in tropical tortoise rescue, The Denver Post, October 4, 2013)
Tropical tortoises need to be in a warm climate where they can munch away on pumpkins and other veggies. So when you have tropical tortoises and live in the Rocky Mountains you have to create a climate conducive for their survival. As the article put it you need “a toasty reptile rumpus room” suited for cold-blooded creatures.
In the same way, God wants us to pray for and create a climate conducive for the spreading of his Good News.
• II Peter 3:9 – God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
• I Timothy 2:6 – God wants everyone to be saved and understand the truth.
• I Peter 3:18
• II Corinthians 5:19 – For in Christ God is reconciling the world to himself.
• John 3:16 – For God so loved the world…
• John 12:32 – When I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all men to myself.
While God’s mission is universal God mission is not accomplished through pluralism.
B. God’s message is not pluralism (There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus)
Pluralism initially simply means we acknowledge diversity in areas including religious belief and practice. It means we peacefully allow for differences and in mutually respect and tolerate those differences as free choices.
You’ve likely seen the “coexist” bumper sticker in which coexist is spelled out with six different symbols. The symbols have meaning: They are the symbols of Islam, Pacifism, Gay Rights, Judaism, Paganism, Taoism and Christianity. Pluralism wishes for everyone to love and accept and tolerate everyone else.
Relativism takes pluralism a step further and says that all religions are of equal value and that no one religion has the corner on truth.
Syncretism takes pluralism yet another step further and suggests that we simply blend our religious creeds and practices into one faith…
Conclusion
Friday morning I met with a student from the University of Colorado Denver. She is writing a paper for a class on world religions and she wanted to know about Christianity. One of the questions she asked was, “Can you be a Christian and practice another religion?”
It was a more tricky question than you might think. Can you be a Christian living in an Islamic culture? Yes. Can you be Christian living in a Buddhist culture? Yes. Can you be a Christian living in a Jewish culture? Yes. Can you be Christian living in an atheistic culture? Yes.
However God’s mission is not a mission that says, “It does not matter what you believe as long as you believe.” God’s mission is not a mission that says, “All religions are essentially the same so just blend them together into a one-size-fits-all faith.
Our text says, “God, our Savior, wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile us to God, the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world…” I Timothy 2:4-6
So can you be a Christian and believe in and practice another religion. No!
That’s why we sing, “In Christ alone my hope is found!” “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
And that’s why we pray for those in authority that we might live in peace… We pray because it pleases God who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth… in Christ alone our hope is found.
Closing Prayer
Lord, we are often confused about how things work in the world… we know you are a God of order and not a God of chaos. We know you are a God of peace and not a God of conflict. Yet we live in a world so marred by mans’ selfishness and sinfulness that chaos and conflict are the experience of many of us...
We know your Word teaches us to respect and submit to every governmental authority for all authority comes from God… we wonder at that but know that your ways are not our ways. And we know your Word teaches us to pray for all who are in authority that we may live in peace and live good godly lives.
So this morning we pray for President Obama and his family, Vice President Biden and his family, John Boehner and his family, Nancy Pelosi and her family, our Senators and Representatives and their families, those who sit on the Supreme Court and their families… we pray that you will bless them and protect them from all any and all who would do them harm. We pray you would be at work in their lives and give them wisdom for the challenges of governing. We pray that there may be a new climate of peace and civility in our country.
This I pray in the name of Christ who taught us to pray, Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
