Prayers for All People 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Justin Deeter April 24, 2015 Introduction One of the greatest prayer warriors in the history of the church was George Mueller. He said this concerning prayer, "Here is the great secret of success. Work with all your might; but trust not in the least in your work. Pray with all your might for the blessing of God; but work, at the same time, with all diligence, with all patience, with all perseverance. Pray then, and work. Work and pray. And still again pray, and then work. And so on all the days of your life. The result will surely be, abundant blessing. Whether you see much fruit or little fruit, such kind of service will be blessed... Speak also for the Lord, as if everything depended on your exertions; yet trust not the least in your exertions, but in the Lord, who alone can cause your efforts to be made effectual, to the benefit of your fellow men or fellow believers. Remember, also, that God delights to bestow blessing, but, generally, as the result of earnest, believing prayer." Today as we look at 1 Timothy we are going to reflect on the importance of prayer and that as Christians we must pray for all people. My prayer for this message is that as we learn about the importance of prayer, that our church would become a church of prayer, interceding on behalf of the entire world for the conversion of the world. May God make us a people of prayer! Prayers for All People Paul now turns to help Timothy rightly order the church and gives him some council on how to handle these false teachers. The major theme of this letter is the right ordering of the household of God. One of the keys to rightly ordering the household of God, is that we must pray. Prayer is essential for 1
the people of God, and should be a part of our activities as a church. We are commanded all the time to prayer. If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14, ESV) pray without ceasing, (1 Thessalonians 5:17, ESV) Yet, despite the biblical refrain of the importance of prayer, we tragically neglect it. We skip prayer in our devotions and truncate its time. We fall asleep in prayer or get distracted in the midst of prayer. Our mind wanders in corporate prayer. We avoid church prayer meetings in fear that we might actually have to pray! We see prayer as time wasted, and we ve become so distracted with buzzing phones and hectic lifestyles that we neglect daily prayer in our lives. But here is the truth, if you are too busy to pray, then you are too busy. You need to say no to some of your commitments, cleanse your calendar, and start prioritizing what s really important. Prayer expresses our dependence upon God, and our lack of prayer indicates how independent we truly believe ourselves to be. May our prayerlessness convict us, shame us, and bring us to our knees in repentance. Keep a prayer journal, pray out loud, get up earlier, go to bed later, skip lunch, whatever it takes! Be a person of prayer! You often know when you are in the presence of a man of God who prays. For two reasons, one, the Spirit is evidently on him in his life and two, he actually prays! As a pastor I m regularly traveling around, visiting members at home or in the hospital to catch up and pray for them. Usually when I go I m doing the praying, I m not being prayed for. But one man I visit, every time I see him, as soon as I stop praying for him, he immediately starts praying for me. That man is Milton Moore, a man many of you know and respect. His instinctive response when someone starts to pray, is to start praying as well. Its evident by his life that this a man who loves God and who loves to pray. May we imitate such godly men, and become ourselves people of prayer. Paul begins our passage by highlighting the importance of prayer, prayers that should be made for all people. That word all there is very important. Our prayers should not just be about ourselves, our own needs, or even our own church members. Rather, we must expand our prayers to pray for all 2
people. A pastor named John Stott described one an experience he had when he visited a church. He wrote this, Some years ago I attended public worship in a certain church. The pastor was absent on holiday, and a lay elder led the pastoral prayer. He prayed that the pastor might enjoy a good vacation (which was fine), and that two lady members of the congregation might be healed (which was also fine; we should pray for the sick). But that was all. The intercession can hardly have lasted thirty seconds. I came away saddened, sensing that this church worshiped a little village god of their own devising. There was no recognition of the needs of the world, and no attempt to embrace the world in prayer. When I read this, I felt terribly convicted about our own church. I fear that in some sense we are a little church who worships a little village god of our own devising. Our prayers are often so focused on ourselves. We don t pray for all people, we pray for our own, Forest Hills, people. For example, if you take our prayer list now as a church, It s remarkably self-centered. We have some missionaries on there, but other than that we aren t praying for the nations. We are not praying for unreached people groups by name. We are not praying for specific neighborhoods in our city that we are trying to reach. We are not praying for other churches in town. So much of our prayers revolve around ourselves. But, when we are convicted, it isn t good to sit around and just feel bad and go back to the way you ve always done thing. The Spirit convicts us to lead us to repentance. So, as a result, we are going to make some revisions on the prayer list so that we can start praying for all peoples. In addition, during our time of pastoral prayer on Sunday mornings, we are going to be more intentional about praying for other churches in our city and praying for unreached people groups and missionaries. In addition, I hope that we will discover ways to prioritize corporate prayer together as a church. We ve done some prayer nights before in the past on Sunday nights and we have prayer meetings on Wednesday night, but I plan on discussing with our pastors and deacons how we can make prayer more of a focus in our church. Prayer and Right Living Paul mentions that we should pray for kings and all who are in high positions as an example of all people. As we pray for all people, we should pray for the political leaders in our own country, but also in other countries. Especially this election year in America, everyone s is talking about politics. 3
It is right for us to pray for presidents, congressmen, senators, governors, mayors and the like. Paul most likely writes this letter under the tyranny of the infamous Roman emperor Nero. Nero was known for his persecution of Christians. In fact, he would string up Christians in his garden and set them on fire so that he could walk through his garden at night as the burning flesh of Christians lighted his way. Yet, Paul says to pray for such people. Notice that Paul says that we should pray that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Notice he doesn t pray for Rome to become a Christian empire. He doesn t even pray that Christian morality would become the law of the land. Rather, he prays that the government would allow Christians to live a peaceful, quiet, godly, and dignified life. Now Paul is not indicating here that Christians should not engage in the public square and in political discourse. After all we live in a democratic republic, where the people select their leaders and have a say in the laws of the land. But in Paul s situation, there was no lobbying for change. There was no election for emperors. You simply had to deal with who was in charge. So, you pray for them, and you pray that they would let you live your Christian life in peace and quiet. Now why is this the case? In order for our evangelism to be effective and winsome, prayer and right living go together. We must pray for all people, and we must have the freedom to live out our Christian life in godliness, so that the world might not only hear the gospel from the church, but also see the gospel in action in Christian s lives. The Christian life is incredibly important. Our words must match our actions if we hope to win our city, country, and world to Christ. And to do so we must have the freedom to live in peace and quiet, living a distinguished life in our community marked by godliness. This means that we must be good citizens, productive members of society who live in a counter cultural way that puts the Gospel on display. I get concerned at times as Christians begin to put all their hopes in politics. The great savior of our lives is America, so we are distraught when American doesn t uphold biblical teaching on morality or make laws from a Christian worldview. As a result, Christians are no longer peaceful and quiet, but violent, rude, arrogant, and self-righteous protestors who angrily lobby for the Christian position. Based off this passage, I think Paul would condemn such actions. Again, we should engage politically. We should seek to promote a biblical understanding of marriage in our culture. We should seek to protect the lives of the unborn. We should fight for religious liberty and the freedom of conscience. All of this is part of our duties and rights as American citizens, but we must never do so at the expense of our witness. 4
We must never speak as if our hope is in America itself, not in Jesus. And we must stop pretending that we are now living in a Christian nation. America is not the kingdom of God. So as Christians we are having to relearn what the first century church knew all too well. How do we live in a society that is hostile to us and hates us? Well Paul gives us two responses: prayer and right living. We must pray for our country, for our leaders, for our neighbors, indeed for all people. Second, we must live a quiet, peaceful, dignified, and godly lives in hopes to win over our neighbors to Christ. The moral majority must learn to engage as the prophetic minority. We must learn to speak with godliness and peacefulness, in a dignified way that both honors Christ and bears witness in our lives of the Gospel. This is a difficult challenge, a challenge the early church knew all to well, and Paul s words are incredibly relevant. We must pray for all people, and live a peaceful and quiet life. That s how we live in a society that hates us. Not by acting like toddlers who don t get their way (an image all to familiar in my house!), but rather winsome, persuasive, godly believers seeking the good of our country with the gospel on our lips and displayed in our lives. Reasons Why We Should Pray for All People In verse 3, Paul tells us that praying for all people and living in a winsome way, pleases God. If you need further persuasion to pray for all people and live rightly in the world as a witness to the Gospel, Paul gives us three reasons why we should. First, God s desire for all to be saved. Second, God s redemptive work in Christ. Third, Paul s missionary call. God s Desire (3-4) We must pray for all people, because God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. God is much bigger than Forest Hills Baptist Church. He is not just the God of Wilson, NC. He is not just the God of the United States of America. Rather he is the God of the universe, the one true God over every nation and every ethnic group. God is not a tribal deity, but the universal deity. He is God! Because that is the case then, God desires for all people to come to salvation through Jesus Christ. We see God s heart for the nations come up again over and over in Scripture. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! (1 Chronicles 16:24, ESV) Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! (Psalm 96:3, ESV) 5
Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. (Psalm 102:15, ESV) The Lord is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens! (Psalm 113:4, ESV) And I will set my glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. (Ezekiel 39:21, ESV) And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:14, ESV) And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, (Revelation 5:9, ESV) Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. (Revelation 14:6, ESV) The scriptural evidence is clear, he desires all people, from every nation, to bring glory to his name. The Lord desires the salvation of all people. That s why we must pray, because God desires the salvation of all. We must pray for the nations and pray for the peoples of the earth. Part of that means educating yourself on the peoples of the earth so you can learn how to pray for them. Thankfully there are so many wonderful websites now where you can go and learn about unreached people groups around the world. Website like operationworld.org or joshuaproject.net provide great resources for prayer. If you want to pray for all peoples, those websites will help fuel your prayer life. In addition, as I mentioned earlier, we as a church are going to be more intentional about praying for the nations. Now some of the more intuitive of you might be struggling with how do we square the Bible s teaching on election with what s taught here that God desires all to be saved. This goes back to the tension of God s sovereignty and human responsibility, a mystery that will never be fully understood. Though 6
God does elect some to salvation, God also desires for all people to come to the saving knowledge of Christ. God keeps his ultimate purposes for the world, including his work of election, hidden and secret from us. Yet, God reveals to us that he desires for all to be saved. Therefore, we must pray in accordance to God s own desires, that all would come to know Christ. God s Work (5-6) A second motivation for praying for all people is the work of Christ. Paul goes on to describe what God has done. The one God has sent one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ. Paul emphasizes the word one here, to signify that he is the only way. The relationship between God and humanity had been fractured by human sin. In order to reconcile our relationship, we need a mediator, one who could represent both parties. Only Jesus could fill that gap. He was the God man. Jesus is God in the flesh, fully God and fully man. As a result, he is able to step in and represent us both in order to bring peace. But Jesus role as mediator led him to a grand sacrifice. He gave himself as a ransom for all. Jesus on the cross gave up his life to pay the penalty of our sin. He paid the price of our redemption, a price that cost him his life. This is the essence of the Gospel, Jesus substitutionary death. The mediator died in the place of sinners in order to reconcile us to God. We receive this wonderful work by faith in Jesus. We turn from our sins and trust in Jesus, and Christ becomes our mediator, our representative to God. Through his blood we are forgiven, redeemed, and brought into a loving relationship with our Father in heaven. God s work in Christ is the second reason why we are motivated to pray for all people. He has done this work for the world, and therefore we should pray that all the world receives this gracious work of God. Paul s Call (7) The third reason we should pray for all people is Paul s own missionary call. Paul specifies in verse seven that he was appointed to preaching and serve as an apostle to the gentiles. God had specifically set him apart to take the Gospel to the nations, the unreached people groups of the world. Paul says my entire ministry is evidence of why we should pray for all the people of the earth. As we think about the many missionaries overseas like the apostle Paul, we have great cause to pray for the nations. We must pray for missionaries we have partnered with in our church family: the Midkiff family, the Gaultney 7
family, the Clemons family, the Pittman family, and the Watson family. Their service to our God reminds us that our prayers must be directed beyond our own country to the nations. May our remembrance of them lead us to extravagant and committed prayer for the nations. 1786, a young man named William Cary went to a ministers meeting in Northampton, England. As typical they asked the younger pastors in the room to propose a question that would generate discussion amongst the group of pastors gathered. They liked to put these young pastors on the spot and see what they would come up with. Well Carey had been struggling greatly with the Great Commission and had been wrestling that perhaps the Christian call is to take the Gospel to the lost nations, something nobody around him believed. So he proposed his question, asking if the Christian has an obligation to take the Gospel to the world based off of the Great Commission. As soon as William Carey proposed it, an older pastor at the meeting opened his mouth and said, Young man, sit down; when God is pleased to convert the heathen world, He will do it without your help or mine." The older man s criticism wouldn t squelch the passion of William Carey. Six years later, William Carey is preaching at the annual meeting of the churches. With all these Baptist churches gathered together for their annual meeting (kind of like our Southern Baptist convention), Carey preaches from Isaiah 54:2-3: Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. (Isaiah 54:2 3, ESV) Carey in that sermon urged the churches to take the Gospel to the nations and to send out missionaries so that the Gospel could go to the nations. It was during this sermon Carey so powerfully exclaimed: Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God. That old pastor who had criticized Carey earlier at that pastor s meeting many years ago commented that the whole congregation was moved and felt convicted of their shameful neglect of their obligation to take the Gospel to the heathen. As typical after a powerful sermon, the service concludes and everyone goes home. Everyone I m sure thanked brother Carey for his message and for blessing them with the word. Carey in desperation grabs his friend s arm, Andrew Fuller, and said, And are you, after all, going again 8
to do nothing?" The next day a resolution was passed in the meeting to form a plan. That plan eventually gave birth to a missions society sponsored by the Baptists churches, and William Carey would be their first missionary. Before long William Carey was on a boat to India, thus the modern mission s movement was born. Final Thoughts You see Carey understood the importance of reaching the nations and the importance of God s care for all people. One of my great prayers for Forest Hills Baptist Church is that we would be a great commission people. That our prayers, our money, our ministry would not be directed to our own membership, but rather to the nations around us who desperately need to hear the Gospel. My prayer too is that some of you would be like William Carey. That you will be so burdened by the nations around you that you ve got to do something about it. That you can t just hear a sermon about praying for all the people and God s love for all the nations and just go home, business as usual. May God give us a burden for the lost and a burden for the nations, and may we have the courage to expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. Or in the words of George Mueller, Pray then, and work. Work and pray. And still again pray, and then work. And so on all the days of your life. 9