First of All—Pray: Part 1
1 Timothy 2:1-8
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
C. H. Spurgeon was one of the most popular and successful preachers of Victorian England. His Metropolitan Tabernacle drew thousands each Sunday. Often hundreds would stand outside in the street hoping to catch a bit of the Baptist preacher’s message. One day a group of young seminary students came to visit the church they had heard so much about. When they entered the huge building, they were met by a gray bearded gentleman they took to be the janitor. He offered to lead them on a tour through the facilities and answer any questions they had.
They walked through the sanctuary, stood in the pulpit, and looked down from the balcony. When they had seen just about everything and asked every conceivable question they could come up with, the old gentleman asked a strange question, “Would you like to see what heats this church?” They weren’t really that interested in touring the coal cellar and furnace room. But just to humor their host, they followed. They went down a narrow stairway to an area beneath the pulpit. As the gentleman opened the door, he said, “Behind this door is the secret of this great church. Everything that happens upstairs starts down here. This is where the fire in the pulpit begins.”
The old man, actually Spurgeon himself, opened the door to reveal several dozen people on their knees in fervent prayer. The great preacher would always insist that the secret of any church, big or small, was the prayers of the people. It was Spurgeon who said, “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.”
Along that same line, someone else has said that you can tell a lot about a church by the attendance at its various meetings. The Sunday morning service, for example, reveals the popularity of the church. The Sunday evening service indicates the popularity of the preacher. But the size of the prayer meeting shows the popularity of Jesus. An interesting concept!
My goal in our Sunday Night School of Prayer is to lay the foundation for prayer becoming the unquestioned heart and center of our church. I know that we pray, but I believe we could prayer more. I know most of you pray, but I believe most of you could witness more answers to prayer. I want prayer to become so much a natural part of our life as a church that it is our first response to anything, not our last resort once we have tried everything else.
We have begun these studies by listening to the Scriptures’ call to pray: We looked at Robinson Crusoe’s text: (Psa 50:15) and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." Last week we examined a classic Old Testament promise: (Jer 33:3) ’Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ Tonight we turn to the New Testament for another call to pray. We will begin our study of this passage tonight and continue it next week.
A bit of background sheds some light on the passage. 1 Timothy is one of a series of three books written by the Apostle Paul to two of his young protégées. We call them the pastoral letters. Someone has said that 1 and 2 Timothy are like bookends or two sides of the same coin. 1 Timothy describes the church that every preacher would like to pastor. 2 Timothy describes the pastor that every church would like to have. Set against the background of dangerous false teaching that threatened this church at Ephesus, Paul calls for a devotion to Scripture, to the message of the Gospel, to quality leaders, to the courage of convictions, and to right priorities about money and possessions. It is important to note how chapter 2 fits into this. In chapter 1, he offers a bit of his own testimony and outlines the seriousness of the doctrinal challenges facing the church. Chapter 2 begins his instructions for how to handle the situation. “I urge, then, first of all, “ he begins. What follows is the top priority.
In this text, we will examine 1) what we are to put first—the place of prayer. Next week, we will look at , 2) why it belongs there—the purpose for prayer, and 3) who should keep it there—the people of prayer. What was at the top of his priority list for the church—prayer! That is what we need to see first, before we look at anything else the text says. “First of all!” For the church of Jesus Christ prayer is not a luxury, an option if we are not too busy, or what we do after we have tried everything else. First of all!
Some years ago, a young man approached a logging crew and asked for a job. The foreman asked for a demonstration of his skill. The young man quickly stepped forward and felled a selected tree. The foreman was impressed. “You can start Monday.”
Monday came and the young man was sent out with a crew of veteran lumberjacks. He worked hard and thought he was doing well, Monday, Tuesday rolled by. Thursday afternoon, the foreman called the rookie in and told him to pick up his paycheck. He was being let go.
He was puzzled and embarrassed. “I don’t understand. I thought I was doing OK.” “You were—at first, “ the foreman replied. “Our charts show that you’ve dropped from first place on Monday to last place on Wednesday in the number of trees cut.”
“But I’m a hard worker. I don’t understand. I arrive first, leave last, and even have worked through my coffee breaks!” The foreman then asked a telling question, “Have you been sharpening your ax?” To which the young man replied, “I’ve been working too hard to take the time.” The foreman then explained the difference between working hard and working smart. He pointed out that the sharpness of the ax is as important as the strength of your swing. Do you see the parable?
Jesus knew that prayer was first. You need to simply read the Gospels to realize that he prayed often and before every critical juncture in his ministry and life. The early church considered prayer a priority. Nearly every important event in the apostolic church was preceded by prayer meetings. Did Jesus and his apostles know something that we need to know?
What comes first—prayer! The text uses four different terms for prayer. All four are related, but each has a different shade of meaning. We can learn something from each. Together they reveal the nature of prayer and the proper attitude of prayer. The first term is “requests” or “petitions.” This term would have been used for bringing needs or wants before a king or higher authority. The second is “prayers”—the most common term for praying. It simply means asking. These two words remind us that prayer is coming before the King of Heaven and asking. Prayer is not the same as talking to ourselves, thinking positive thoughts, or wishing real hard. It is asking of God.
D. L. Moody was visiting Scotland in the late 1800’s when he asked a group of children, “What is prayer?” To his amazement, hands went up everywhere. He asked a young boy in the front row to answer the question. He youngster stood and responded, “Prayer is an offering up o four desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.” The answer was a quotation from the Westminster Catechism. Moody observed, “Be thankful, son, that you were born in Scotland.”
I have never been one much for creeds and catechisms, but I don’t think we can do much better than that answer for a definition of prayer.
The next two words in the list, “intercessions” and “thanksgivings” offer insight into the proper attitude of prayer. Intercession refers to asking in behalf of another. Serious prayer is unselfish prayer. The highest form of prayer is going before our God for others. “Thanksgiving” is always involved because unless we are grateful we likely don’t understand whom we are talking to. The very fact that our God offers us an audience before his throne is reason enough for thanksgiving.
Consider who we are to be doing this for. Next Paul provides a prayer list. Who do you pray for? Perhaps it might be easier to answer: who is on our prayer list as a church? Almost always a church’s prayer list reads like the admission list at the hospital. Hear me clearly, there is nothing wrong with praying for the sick, the shut-ins and the sorrowing. That is good and important. We ought never leave them out. But if that is the primary focus of our praying then we are missing a big part of what God has made available for us. Why is so much of praying focused on such things? Perhaps, for the most part because we know what to pray for in such cases. Secondly, there is often little else we can do.
If my observations are anywhere near accurate, this says a lot about how limited our perspectives on prayer can be. Could it be that we understand so little about what God is doing and can do in so many areas of life? Could it be that we don’t appreciate how dependent we truly are on him in areas where we can do some things?
Note who Paul puts on our prayer list. First—everyone! It is the word for human beings—anthropos. Who are we to pray for? There is no limit. We can pray for people around the world.
Prayer ought to be a big part of our philosophy of missions. As a church we should be praying regularly and fervently for every missionary we support. We should pray for the people the missionaries are trying to reach and the nations in which they serve. In recent years, many congregations have adopted a nation or people group to specifically pray for as their project. This doesn’t mean they don’t pray for other people or countries, but they intentionally target a specific nation to learn about, inform others about and pray for. Congregations have been encouraged to pray for nations in what has come to be known as the 10/40 Window. Imagine you had a flattened world map and on that map you drew a box from 10 degrees north to 40 degrees south latitude. Missionary experts tell us that the vast majority of the world’s pre-Christian nations and people groups are within that box or window. This world will never be significantly reached for Christ unless the people living in that 10/40 Window are reached.
Is this something we could do? Is it possible that we might adopt a specific nation or country to pray for? Maybe it is a nation we already have a missionary in. Or perhaps we would start by praying for the Lord to raise up a missionary for our adopted country? It might be a country without any missionaries of any sort. Maybe it could be a long term project in which families in this congregation will be raising up children who a generation from now will be going to that nation as missionaries. We would certainly pray more fervently for a nation we knew that our own children or grandchildren might be living in some day.
Paul says pray for all men. Is there any limits to that? We can certainly pray for our friends. We naturally pray for our families. But Jesus said to pray for our enemies as well. That puts a whole new slant on praying. Who might you put in this category? Who has been unfair to you? Maybe just unkind? Perhaps it goes all the way back to childhood. Someone lied about you, hurt you in some way, and you have never totally forgotten it. In our kind of society, many of us could pray for ex-family members due to divorce. Almost always there are plenty of hurts and pains and mistakes to pray for on that list.
Christ-like praying for one’s enemies would certainly not be a prayer for harm and suffering. We would pray that they might find forgiveness and a changed heart, that the Lord would do a mighty work in them. We should pray for opportunities for reconciliation and personal blessing on our enemies. We should pray for the courage to reach out to those enemies and offer forgiveness and healing. Just praying for adversaries and enemies opens many doorways to prayer.
We can pray for all the people in this church. What would it mean to be praying regularly for every single person in this congregation—from the staff, elders, deacons, Sunday School teachers, the workers in various capacities, to young families and children, to older people and shut-ins? We certainly ought be praying for our teenagers and young people who are at such vulnerable points in their lives. We should pray for college students away from home for the first. We should be lifting up any from the congregation who are in the military or who have moved to other places to work. Obviously, we should pray for members who have fallen away for whatever reason. Of course, we should pray for new believers who are just taking those first baby steps of the Christian life.
Some congregations organize prayer agendas so that every member of the congregation is prayed for by others on regular basis. What would it mean to be part of a prayed for church? What would it mean to a new or prospective member if they knew that being part of this church meant they would be prayed for by name on a regular basis? What might it mean if when a person became a member of this church, they knew that they would be expected to pray for others on a regular basis?
We can pray for all the people in this town. Some churches have organized prayer efforts in which the pages of the telephone book are distributed to prayer groups with instructions to specifically pray by name for every person, business, and organization listed in the book. What would happen if we started praying the Lord’s blessing, the Lord’s prosperity, and health on every person in this town? What if we prayed that the Lord would create a greater atmosphere of faith and spirituality in this town? What if we prayed by name for pre-Christian neighbors who live around us? What if we prayed that the Lord would open their minds to the Gospel, and soften their hearts toward the things of God? What if we prayed that our pre-Christian neighbors would have open eyes to simply begin to see how good our God already has been to them and how little this world really has to offer without God? We could pray for a lot of things for people in this town.
But note the specific topic for prayer that Paul calls for—for kings and those in authority. This is especially significant when you realize that Paul’s readers did not live in a Christian nation or anything that even came close. Almost all of their rulers were totally pagan unbelievers who often subjected Christians to horrible persecution. Now I ask you if Paul could say that to first century readers living in Ephesus, don’t you think American Christian Republicans should be praying for Bill Clinton and Al Gore and our Governor? Shouldn’t American Christian Democrats be praying for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and our various Republican legislators? And I don’t mean praying—“Yeah, Lord—get him or them. Teach them a thing or two!” I mean praying for God’s blessing on their personal lives and their families’ lives. Praying that they will be effective and capable leaders. Praying that they will find deep personal satisfaction and joy in their work and enjoy health and long life.
This reminds me of a comment by Edward Everett Hale, U.S. Senate chaplain from 1903-1909. He was asked one day, “When you consider the condition of our country, is that what makes you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale?” Chaplain Hale responded. “No, I look at the Senators and pray for the country.” Politics aside, we have much to pray for in this country!
Consider the reason Paul cites for such praying. We are to pray this way so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives in all holiness and godliness. The term peace refers to an inner tranquillity, freedom from worry and concern. Quiet describes an outer peace, a calm that others can see. Godliness is reverent awe before God, a life lived in recognition of God’s presence. Holiness is not the typical word translated by this term. This one describes a seriousness or earnestness about the way we conduct ourselves. We want to be that kind of people and we know that kings and rulers can have a big effect on the issues of life that either add to or take away from those qualities.
But note the connection Paul makes. This is connected with God’s passion for the lost. That is why we pray the way we do so that we can live the way we do. We are walking billboards for the greatness and goodness of our God. Eternity is at stake in our praying.
Next week we pick up here and consider more about why we pray and who should pray.
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
