Many of you will probably remember the classic 1984 movie, The Karate Kid. That movie contains a very memorable scene. It's become a pop culture reference. In this scene, the teenager, Daniel Larusso, vented his frustration toward his mentor, Mr. Miyagi, for assigning him what seemed to be meaningless tasks - painting a fence, sanding a floor, and waxing a car. Daniel wanted training in martial arts, but instead he heard, "Wax on, wax off."
Then suddenly it all came together and made sense. Daniel realized all these tedious hours of work were part of his training. What seemed like meaningless chores had been cultivating skills and building the strength he needed. Mr. Miyagi wasn't ignoring or even delaying Daniel's request to learn karate. He was fulfilling it in an unexpected way.
In a similar way, if we are supposed to carry out the Lord's commandment to love others as ourselves, we have to be trained by the Holy Spirit. And one of the primary ways the Holy Spirit grows and shapes us is through prayer. When we pray for others, we are building a spiritual skill and strength that we need in order to love like Jesus loves. Our main passage today comes from 1 Timothy 2. PRAYER
*****1 Timothy is the first of two letters that the Apostle Paul wrote to a young pastor named Timothy. In chapter 2, Paul addressed the topic of prayer, and he began with the phrase "first of all." Paul stressed that it's important that we pray - and that we pray for everyone. So I looked up the word "everyone" in the original Greek text, and it means everyone! That includes that person who gets on your nerves. Yes, he's included. It also includes the family member who rubs you the wrong way almost every day. Yes, she's included too.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 – “First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Paul urged his readers to pray four different types of prayers: petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving. We usually use these terms interchangeably, but their meanings carry different meanings that explain in detail how we should pray.
Petitions. A petition points to a need - something a person lacks. It means appealing to God about a matter.
Prayer. Prayer simply describes communicating with God. That term doesn't emphasize what we're praying for, but to Whom we're offering our prayers.
Intercession. This is the type of prayer we most often think of when we pray for others. An intercession has the idea of a meeting or an interview with someone. It is like an appointment with God in which you present a request.
Thanksgiving. We express thanks when we express gratitude to God for something He's done for us or on behalf of another.
Notice that in his instructions on prayer, Paul even went so far as to command believers to pray for earthly authorities. He wrote these words in a world that didn't have a representative government or 'liberty for all" like we value in America today. The first century culture was one in which authorities could imprison, torture, or even kill anyone who fell out of favor with Roman rule. Paul didn't stipulate between godly rulers and wicked rulers. Instead, he instructed Timothy to practice the pattern of praying for all those who are in authority.
But notice why Paul told us to pray for those in authority in verse 2. So that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. So, we are to pray for earthly authorities because their decisions affect how we live out our lives as followers of Jesus. As we pray for those in authority, we are praying to the ultimate authority: the Lord God. We make our petition to God and ask Him to give us rulers who will let us live for God in righteousness and integrity, protected from harm. For Paul, ‘how earthly authorities ruled’ was the difference between peace and persecution. But no matter who sits in that place of temporary authority, God's eternal authority is still sovereign.
Now would be a good time to evaluate your own prayer life in light of this passage. Who do you pray for? What do you pray about? Ask God to help you in areas that you would like to improve. But all in all, we are to pray. It was George Herbert that said, "Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night."
You see, prayer is key to our spiritual growth and witness. Listen to how Paul prayed for the Ephesian Christians.
Ephesians 3:14–19 – “For this reason I kneel before the Father 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. 16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit,
**********17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
When we pray it is an integral part of our spiritual growth. Some may think of prayers like this as irrelevant, as if offering petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving for everyone in your world including earthly authorities is an unimportant and unnecessary use of time. The reality is that the Holy Spirit not only works through our prayers, but He changes us as we cultivate those habits of prayer.
For example, when we pray for those with whom we have had a conflict, we are better able to see them as God does, maybe even be able to see their frustrations and pain. Our prayers become grounded in love, which gives us patience. When we pray for members of our church family, we are mindful of their needs and how we can serve them. Again, because our prayers are established in love, we no longer are self-seeking. When we pray for those who mistreat us, we recognize their spiritual need, which leads us to be forgiving. Does that make sense? Again, when we pray it is an integral part of our spiritual growth.
Having the priority of prayer in our lives is directly connected to our personal growth in God's love. As we grow in loving others, we are more inclined to pray for them, and the more we pray for others, the more God fills our heart with love for them. Praying for others and loving others are interconnected spiritual postures.
Right now would be a good time to commit to pray this week for someone you have a difficult relationship with. I know that is not easy, but that is what all of this is about. You will grow spiritually and your witness will grow stronger as you practice praying for others.
Ephesians 6:19-20 – “Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. 20 For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.”
So often, the very people in our lives who are the most difficult to love give us the greatest opportunities to display Christ. God has put us in their lives to proclaim the forgiveness He offers exclusively through faith in Christ. But if we're focused on our situations only, or we're only mindful of our own needs, will miss how God wants to use us as His witnesses.
Maybe that's why Paul's letters so often direct our attention toward the spiritual and away from the circumstantial. For example, when Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, he was in prison. But he didn't pray to be released, nor did he ask the believers in Ephesus to pray for his release. Instead, he only asked them to pray that he would have the words to proclaim the gospel with boldness. Similarly, when Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians, he was also in prison. Yet even then, Paul focused on how his imprisonment made others even more fearless in their witness. We need to be praying for each other, asking God to strengthen the faith of all our members.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 – “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.”
Notice that Paul anchored his instructions on prayer to what matters for eternity: the salvation of others. That's what matters. We have a responsibility to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, and prayer plays a role in both.
The Great Commandment and Great Commission put the challenges we have with others into an eternal perspective. The conflict we may have with a family member or co-worker, or the friction we may experience in a culture that is hostile to the Christian faith, offer opportunities to fulfill our roles as ministers of reconciliation. You and I are on this earth to glorify God, no longer living for ourselves but for the One who died for us. That includes sharing the good news of God's kindness and grace with those He has entrusted us to influence.
You and I are God's voice, legs, and hands to share the good news of the gospel. This passage reminds us that the heartbeat of God is love, including love for those who don't know Him. Paul specifically mentions that God wants everyone to be saved. Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for all.
These verses have caused many Christians over the years to scratch their heads. How is it possible that an all-powerful God who does everything according to His will could want everyone to be saved, yet we know that not all will be saved? The sovereignty of God and the work of man is beyond the grasp of our finite minds.
Scholars and theologians have dedicated their knowledge to explain it over the course of time. It's an unfathomable mystery of God, but we don't have to understand the how in order to understand the what.
God loves people and wants to save them from the penalty of their sins, from the guilt they carry, and from the meaninglessness of life without Him. And He has chosen us, His followers, to be His messengers. It can begin with our prayers, praying that our neighbors come to Jesus as the only way to salvation.
Before each Sunday morning service Ron and I pray for the service that day. In those prayers we ask God to touch the hearts of those that don't know Him and draw them to Him and give them the courage to accept Christ as their Savior. We pray for their salvation. By the way, this is not an exclusive prayer meeting that we have. This prayer time is and has always been open for anyone who wants to join us.
As we pray for the salvation of others, it begins to condition our hearts with the love of God. The condition of our hearts impacts how effective we are in our witness.
1 Timothy 2:7-8 – “For this I was appointed a herald, an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. 8 Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument.”
In these two verses, Paul tied it all together, connecting the truth of the Gospel with his instructions on prayer. He reminded Timothy of his spiritual authority as a herald, and Apostle. Paul was an apostle. He had personally seen the risen Jesus and had been commissioned to give witness to His resurrection. Paul mentioned his identity as an apostle in terms of his purpose.
And while you and I can't be apostles since we have not personally seen the resurrected Christ, we share the same focus and purpose to proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sin, rose on the third day, ascended back to the Father, and is alive at the Father's right-hand interceding for us even now. And just how should we do this? With a heart that is free of anger or dissension. Remember that, as you pray for your neighbors.
So let's pull all of this together in terms of how we are to pray. Paul tells us not only to prioritize praying for others, but we must do so with hearts that are free from wrath and dissension. But in between those two commands, Paul reiterates the gospel and reminds us that God wants everyone to be saved by it.
Now let's not miss how this connects to us personally. This means that the relational conflicts in our lives, our families, and our churches-- that is going to hinder our effectiveness in proclaiming Christ. When we fail to walk in love, we fail to fulfill our purpose as God's Messengers. We can have all the prayer meetings and ministry programs we want, but if we have unresolved conflict and unrepentant anger, we cannot expect God's blessing.
We can be active in church, participating in every ministry, but without love our religious activities and spiritual sacrifices are empty. Paul explained that to us last week in 1 Corinthians 13.
So how do we overcome all of these barriers to God's blessing? We pray. And as we pray, we will watch God change our attitudes and our relationships. As we cultivate praying for others, our love for them will naturally increase. And as our love increases, so will our witness. The practice of prayer, our personal relationships, and the power to proclaim Christ are all interconnected and cannot be separated.
So I close with this. Pray for yourself today. Ask God to show you any areas of conflict in your heart so that these can be resolved. Because until those conflicts are resolved, if there be any, the love of God will not be in your heart, and all your efforts and prayers are empty.
Don't let that happen to you. God will help you to resolve any issues that cause barriers between you, others, and God's love for both.
Before we leave here this morning, we want to give you the opportunity to know Christ as your very own personal Savior. If you have never asked Christ to come into your heart and life, then come and I will pray for you and show you how easy it is to become a child of God.
