Prayer Life Challenges
1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.
7 And for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as 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 wrath and dissension.
Whenever Christians are in the midst of confusion and quarreling, mark my words: the first thing to go is praying together. Christians in conflict cease to pray together. Try this and see if it isn’t true. The next time you are as mad as a hornet in an argument with someone, see if you can stop in your tracks, bow your head and pray with that person. No, praying is not something we are able to do well together when we are fighting with each other. The first part of the first chapter in first Timothy we looked at revealed a major problem that the church faced, and that was false teachers. The symptoms of the false teaching were pride, fruitless discussion and quarreling. And you can be sure that prayer was on the back burner in this church. Oh, they probably went through the motions when they assembled together. Anyone can do that. I am reminded of the church pictured in Mark Twain’s story of Huckelberry Fin. There was a feud going on between two families, but on Sunday’s both families were there. One family sat on one side of the church and the other family sat on the other side. Prayers were said and pious platitudes were preached, but after church let out, no love was lost between them. And you can guarantee they didn’t get together to pray. So it is here in Ephesus. Paul tells his testimony to Timothy to point out that God can change and save a violent sinner. Paul says, my life is exhibit A for Christ’s patience and saving power for sinners. So there is hope for these quarreling Christians.
In the first part we learned the three goals of good gospel instruction God’s way. All start with Love: coming from pure hearts with good consciences and sincere faith. God’s way is the good way that brings life and peace, love and joy. When the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are missing… if that’s not what the teaching at church is producing, you may just be eating from the wrong tree. The gospel of Jesus Christ produces good fruit. Good lives. Orderly, respectable, beautiful, loving, servant hearted lives. The good news of heaven has power to change us and save us. That’s the key point from what God has shown us thus far in this book.
So what’s a leader to do to help a quarreling church filled with false teachers? You start with prayer.
Get them on their knees Timothy! Look at these words: 1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
He uses four words for prayer here in that first verse. I wonder why? And notice he says: “First of all…” In other words, before we can go anywhere else. The most important item to begin with is prayer! I urge it. Get the feeling behind this. These Christians need to be talking to God. They need to be setting their attention upward, heavenward, instead of setting their verbal targets on one another. He says it with passion. Foremost, this is job one, entreat God. Pray to God. Petition God. And don’t miss this last one. This may be the biggest need of all. Thank God.
And who is to be the subject of all this praying? Who are you to pray and give thanks for? Everybody! Pray, pray, pray, and give thanks for everyone!
There is a broad field before us where we are called to enter and do the Christian work of praying for every soul. You and I do that and we will be too busy to fight. And in verse 2 we see that it starts at the top politically. Pray for rulers everywhere, all who are in authority. This glorious work of praying is often the most neglected and despised of all Christian services.
Jay and Johnie hosted a prayer meeting at their home last Thursday evening. It was really a wonderful time. There were eight of us. Jay, Johnie, Orpha Simmons, Carol Lockhart, Gary and Deborah Smith, and Jenny and I. Just speaking for myself, I was very encouraged and blessed by it.
We get together for all sorts of things, don’t we? Worship, fellowship, work, Bible study, eating, and playing… I wonder what it would take to make us deeply desire to assemble just to pray. We read in Acts about several prayer meetings the church had. As God describes the church, prayer is always central to that description. In fact, before the Holy Spirit came and the church began, they were meeting simply for the purpose of prayer. See it in Acts 1:14? Next, on the very day the church began the apostles were assembled together, and I just imagine they were praying when the Holy Spirit came down. In 2:42 we see the 4 things that the first Christians were devoted to… In chapter 3 we see Peter and John going up to the temple at the hour of what? Look at verse 1. Prayer. After they were threatened and released in Chapter 4 what is the first thing they do? Look at 4:23-24. We even have their prayer recorded. When the church began to have growing pains and widows were being overlooked in chapter 6 the apostles published their priorities in verse 4. Look at it. When men were chosen to take the responsibility for the work and were brought to the apostles to be installed into the positions, the first thing they did before appointing them was, guess what? In chapter 7 as Stephen is being stoned to death, guess what he is doing? 7:59-60. Look at it. In chapter 8 when Peter rebukes Simon the sorcerer for his wickedness, what do you suppose he advises Simon to do? 8:22. In chapter 9 after Saul saw Jesus on the road and was lead blind into Damascus he sat for three days, he wasn’t eating or drinking, but guess what he WAS doing: Praying. In the same chapter Peter goes to Lydda where a woman named Dorcas had died, he goes to the body and says a prayer, and then raises her from the dead. In chapter 10 we meet a praying man who is not yet a Christian named Cornelius. Verse 2 says he prayed continually… (can you and I say that about ourselves?) and in verse 4 God says in his Bible that he took notice of this man’s prayers. He even sent an angel to tell him so!
Shall I go on? It gets even better…we see in chapter 12 where there is a prayer meeting for Peter and God rescues him from prison! Peter goes to the prayer meeting, (he knows there will be a prayer meeting… that’s what they do!) And when they discover God has answered their prayers they are all shocked! That sounds more like today, doesn’t it. The point is this. When God describes his people, he constantly tells us about their prayers. In fact, he says more about their praying than just about any other item of worship! Think of it! God is building an image of what his people are to look like. Remember that the word is a mirror of what God’s people look like. And when God described his people and the things that Christians do, one of the main items on God’s list of what people who follow Jesus look like is this: they are people who and known for prayer!
I get the strong impression that Ephesus is not known for being a praying church. Getting back to Timothy, we see an interesting phrase in verse 2: in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Tranquility and quietness with all godliness and dignity come when people pray the way they should. What does that tell you will happen when we don’t pray the way we should? This doesn’t mean a life void of persecution and trials. The quiet and tranquil life here is centered in the two qualities, those of godliness and dignity. That last word is “semnotays” translated dignity NASB, honesty KJV, reverence, NKJV. It is a word that describes one who is aware of God’s nearness and presence. There is a kind of tranquility and quietness of the heart that this describes. It is the blessing God gives to the people of prayer.
1 Tim 2:3-4 make up the next sentence that tells us how good this is. How pleasing to God this is. God is pleased because our prayers and men’s salvation are connected. Lost people will learn the truth better from a praying church! Can you see that?
Even Jesus, before he went to the cross spent hours in prayer and even from the cross he prayed! Jesus the only mediator between God and man is a praying Savior! Remember his prayers in the garden before he gave himself as a ransom for all men? He was empowered, encouraged and guided by prayer! The church needs that same empowerment, encouragement and guidance! We need to be people of prayer! Because of this Paul says he was appointed an apostle and a preacher!
With all of this in mind look at verse 8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.
Where are we supposed to be praying according to this verse?
How are we supposed to be praying according to this verse? Don’t get lost in the altitude of the hands and forget their quality. Besides lifting, I see three qualities that are a dead give away to the problems of Ephesus. Holy, without wrath and without dissention.
In this text I see these problems:
1. They weren’t praying together as a first priority
2. Some of them had not made the connection between prayer and the salvation of themselves and others
3. Some were not honoring God by coming to him through the one and only mediator, Jesus Christ
4. Among them there was anger and fighting with one another
May God help us to avoid the pitfalls and respond to the calling to prayer God’s way for our good.
