Text: 1 Tim 2:1-8, Title: For Whom Do I Pray, Date/Place: WHBC, 3.18.18, AM
A. Opening illustration: tell the story of Esther
B. Background to passage: after the introduction in chapter one of Paul’s charge to Timothy to confront and correct some leaders in the church at Ephesus, Paul begins to move toward issues in the church. Throughout the rest of the book, we are given truth and instruction about church life that relates to Ephesus specifically and to the church in general. First item up for bidding is evangelistic intercessory prayer.
C. Main thought: three truths about for whom and why to pray
A. All Men (v. 1-3)
1. Paul uses four different words for prayer, not really to emphasize the small differences and emphases of those words, but to express seriousness and urgency. This could possibly be because the wayward elders had taught that prayer was unnecessary or discriminant toward a particular group or kinds of individuals. CAUTION: every instruction that Paul gave to Timothy had a reason, but we are not always able to deduce the exact situation. Paul tell them to pray for all men without distinction. Specifically mentioning kings, we must remember that the emperor in power at that time was Nero, a crazed persecutor of the church. He was encouraging them to pray for the conversion of leaders because it is the right thing to do, and because believing leaders fulfill the function of government more skillfully. They had either become lax, apathetic, bitter, or deceived, and were not praying for those outside the church.
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration:
4. How is your prayer life? This is what we finished on last week with spiritual warfare. However, the prayer here is not battling against spiritual attack and for the proper use of the armor of God. The prayer here is evangelistic and intercessory in nature. “I’ve concluded that feeling guilty about them is a very short-lived and ultimately ineffective incentive for prayer.” -David Thomas. It’s pleasing for us to pray for other’s salvation because God loves people. It’s pleasing to pray for leaders so that a peaceful existence might be a fertile garden for the advancement of the kingdom. A warning, however, if peacefulness comes, which we do live in a peaceful society compared to much of the world, it can also lead to laziness and lack of urgency in prayer.
5. How we pray: Think that it is time that we think less about how bad our prayer life is and move toward how the gospel propels us to think about prayer. If you didn’t read the piece that I sent to you about travailing prayer, please do so. The prayer that touches the heart of God and moves mountains into the sea is founded upon an attitude of brokenness, sense of boldness, and a heart that agonizes over its requests. It looks like Hannah’s prayer of apparent drunkenness for a child. It looks like Isaiah’s resolve to “give (God) no rest” in Isa 62. It looks like Jacob wrestling with God, unwilling to let go. It looks like Jeremiah’s determination to lay hold of God in prayer “as a belt clings to a person’s waist” in Jer 13. According to Heb and Luke, Jesus let loose petitions and fervent cries and tears” over Jerusalem. Luther spoke of attacking God with prayer; Finney spoke of constant argument with God in prayer; Edwards spoke of grappling with God. Spurgeon said, “You must get your battle-axe, and your weapons of war, from the armory of sacred communication with Christ. If you are much alone with Jesus, you will catch His Spirit; you will be fired with the flame that burned in His breast and consumed His life. You will weep with the tears that fell upon Jerusalem when He saw it perishing; and if you cannot speak so eloquently as He did, and yet shall there be about what you say somewhat of the same power which in Him thrilled the hearts and awoke the consciences of men.” And you can receive that empowerment to pray through Christ and the gospel, and only through Christ. The gospel says that when believed, Christ breaks the curse of sin, and you are freed to think the thoughts of the Spirit, for He dwells within you. You are free from prayerlessness, from weakness in prayer, you have been given boldness, as the apostles, to pray with power that brings down the rumblings of heaven. There is no guilt, only grace to them that believe; grace for you to go before the throne boldly until you gain a hearing from the Almighty. Know that this kind of prayer avails much!
B. For Them To Be Saved (v. 4)
1. Verse three mentions a title of God for believers that correlates to his character. God is a saving God. He has a desire that all men in all times of all peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations to come to know Him through Jesus Christ in a personal relationship. He wants men to come to a knowledge of the truth. One of the first verses we memorize captures this truth, “for God so love the world…whosoever believes will have everlasting life.”
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration:
4. This means that if you are here today within the sound of my voice, God wants you to be saved. So, let me tell you how. You call out to God confessing your treason against a holy God. Understand that you have not simply done bad things, you have thumbed your nose at the Sovereign God of the entire universe. Know that you are deserving of wrath, an enemy of God, and separated from God by nature and by choice. Ask for forgiveness of your rebellion with genuine repentance with sorrow and brokenness. Believe on Christ, casting every hope of salvation upon him and his sacrifice on your behalf. There is no easy-believism preached in the scripture. We are told to count the cost of following Christ and take up your cross and die. We are called to be willing to sell all that we have, be willing to have greater allegiance to Christ than to family, to be willing to give your very life for Christ. We are called to walk a narrow and difficult path, prepare and endure persecution, lay down your life for others, and make disciples of all nations. Know what you are signing up for. Realize that you are turning from loving self to loving Christ. This relationship is one of loving Jesus, not avoiding hell. It is one of followership of a new master, not simply going to church. But it is one of joy without comparison, one of peace, one of overcoming grace, and overflowing love of that same God of whose wrath you deserve. Come to the Savior who says, “Come to me all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.” Who says my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The same One who says I am the bread of life, water of life, you will never hunger or thirst with me, so come freely and I will give you eternal life.
C. Because Of The Ransom (v. 5-6)
1. Paul gives the reason after the reason that we pray for all men: there was a ransom paid on behalf of men. The term behind ransom was that used to purchase slaves off of a boat. Here it has a prefix added to intensify its meaning. Notice to that it is volitional of Christ himself following the will of God. Christ gave his life with fullness that every man who believes receives full benefits of the atonement of Christ. The payment is sufficient for all men; however, it is only effective for those who trust in Christ. If the application of the benefits of the ransom paid were to all men, then all would be saved, and universalism would be taught here. However, Paul says that there is only one God, and one negotiator, one who is able to put his hand upon God and upon man and bring forth a new arrangement between God and man. This is the center point of the entire Christian faith. Christ paid for a people with death. It is the most God-glorifying event in all the history of the world!
2. Argumentation
3. Illustration: the death of Stephen Hawking this week.
4. We fervently pray for others to come to know Christ because He laid down his life for them! He willingly became the go-between and bridged the gap. He became the substitute and took upon himself all the wrath that was due you, and offers you righteousness, all the righteousness you need. He says that you don’t have to earn your spot, I have earned it for you if you trust in Me and this ransom I have paid to free you. We pray out of gratefulness of what God has done for you and me. We pray because we do not rejoice in the death of our enemies who die without Christ. We pray because those we love don’t love Christ, but He loves them more than we do, and His death is sufficient for them to be redeemed. We pray for others that are trapped in other religions because there is only one true God. We pray for those who have no gospel witness, because they must hear the gospel. This is the greatest news ever!!
A. Closing illustration: The seventeenth-century English Puritan Richard Baxter wrote,
B. Oh, if you have the hearts of Christians or of men in you, let them yearn towards your poor ignorant, ungodly neighbors. Alas, there is but a step betwixt them and death and hell; many hundred diseases are waiting ready to seize on them, and if they die unregenerate, they are lost forever. Have you hearts of rock, that cannot pity men in such a case as this? If you believe not the Word of God and the danger of sinners, why are you Christians yourselves? If you do believe it, why do you not bestir yourself to the helping of others? Do you not care who is damned, so you be saved? If so, you have sufficient cause to pity yourselves, for it is a frame of spirit utterly inconsistent with grace. Dost thou live close by them, or meet them in the streets, or labor with them, or travel with them, or sit and talk with them, and say nothing to them of their souls, or the life to come? If their houses were on fire, thou wouldst run and help them; and wilt thou not help them when their souls are almost at the fire of hell? (Cited in I. D. E. Thomas, A Puritan Golden Treasury [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977], 92–93)
C.
D. Recap
E. Invitation to commitment
Additional Notes
? Is Christ Exalted, Magnified, Honored, and Glorified?
