A Call to Prayer 1 Timothy 2:1-15

-God expects us to be praying people

What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.

E.M.Bounds

I. Pray for All People vv. 1-4

As Paul continues his instructions to Timothy and his leadership of the church, he urges the people to pray!

He uses four words here: Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, but all speak to the same truth.

We must be talking to God for people, but which people? Paul describes two groups:

First, we pray in general for all people

Second, we pray specifically for people in positions of authority and influence

What do we pray for?

While it is not made explicit in these verses, in the next few we will see that this is a prayer for their salvation

We ought to be praying that they would experience the conviction of sin, hear the Good News of Jesus, and respond in faith to it

Why do we pray this way?

First, we pray this way for a very practical reason: it is for our own good

More people living in Christ opens the door for us to live peaceful and quiet lives, serving the Lord in a culture that increasingly honors Him

Second, we pray this way because it is consistent with the heart of God

Paul makes it clear that God wants all people to be saved and when we pray for the salvation of people we are praying in accord with the will of God

Something beautiful happens when we join with God’s desire in our prayers!

Matthew 6:9–10

[9] Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

[10] Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven. (ESV)

James 4:3

[3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (ESV)

II. Pray Through Jesus Our Mediator vv. 5-7

When we pray, we are praying to the one God, but we are also praying through one mediator: Jesus

What is the purpose of a mediator?

A mediator stands between two parties as a bridge

Jesus serves as that mediator because of the separation that has existed between God and Man caused by sin

Jesus made access to the Father possible because He gave His life as a ransom for sin

Jesus satisfied the justice of God by paying the penalty for sin on our behalf

Now, He advocates for us and continues to intercede for us as we pray

This reality ought to shape how we pray:

There is someone who is in the presence of the Father who is praying for us

Though we consistently fail and fall short of God’s will, He never does and He is the one who is representing us in His righteousness

This message of the mediator is the message that we live by and that we proclaim!

In her book Ten Fingers for God, Dorothy Clarke Wilson writes about Dr. Paul Brand who worked with leprosy patients in India.

Sometimes they would all gather together in fellowship. One evening, Paul joined them, and they asked him to speak.

Dr. Brand had nothing prepared, yet he willingly stood up, paused for a moment and looked at their hands, some with no fingers, and some with only a few stumps. Then he spoke: "I am a hand surgeon, so when I meet people, I can't help looking at their hands. I would like to have examined Christ's hands. With the nails driven through, they must have appeared twisted and crippled. Remember, Jesus, at the end, was crippled too."

The patients, on hearing this, suddenly lifted their poor hands towards heaven. Hearing of God's response to suffering had made their suffering easier.

Hebrews 4:14–16

[14] Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. [15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. [16] Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (ESV)

III. Pray with Holy Hands vv. 8-15

Finally, Paul gives instruction to men and women about their attitude in prayer;

He uses a beautiful picture, prayer with “holy hands” lifted high

What is it that makes the hands holy?

Paul describes a fundamental posture in prayer, with specific applications for men and women, a posture of humble dependence on the Lord

First, he instructs the men:

They must be gentle and peaceable

When we are anxious, selfish, and impatient with our desires, we tend to act out through anger and fighting; this is the opposite of the attitude of a disciple of Jesus

Men, we must live in a way that demonstrates our trust that God will hear us and answer our prayers

We must depend on Him rather than live in a position of self-reliance

Secondly, he instructs the women in the church, and there’s a lot to unpack here:

First, he addresses the issue of modesty

This is a word with a much broader application than we typically give it credit for

Paul does not specifically speak to the issue of revealing dress, but of attention-seeking dress

He is describing a woman who wants to be known for physical beauty, flashy clothing, and style more than the greater beauty of good works and godly character

Second, he addresses the issue of submissiveness

Paul’s expectation is that the women of the church listen to the teaching of the church and receiving it without disruption

I think it’s important to note here that pastors and male church leaders are not infallible and female believers are not inferior in their understanding of and application of the Scripture

There is a specific picture here, of a woman disputing with a man teaching the Scripture within the church; it would be disruptive to the worship of the church

Generally, if an issue with the teaching of the church needs to be addressed, Paul anticipates that the men of the church should speak to it and exercise the authority given to them by the Lord within the fellowship of believers

This is not an exhaustive explanation and it is a reminder that we need to be conscientious about its application

All of this flows out of God’s complementary design for men and women

Adam was formed first and was given a responsibility that Eve wasn’t

We see this in the Fall of Man, Eve’s failure was a result of deception; Adam had a higher culpability because he was not deceived, but disobedient

However, the woman’s role in the Kingdom is not lesser, just different

There is no reason to feel inferior or less useful, just because your position in the church may look a little different than someone else’s

The salvation offered through Jesus is also the same and we are invited to walk in the same kind of holiness

With an attitude of modesty and submission, the women reveal the same heart attitude as the men should, of humble dependence on the Lord to see them and to hear them!

At the end of the day, it all comes back to this: what is our attitude in prayer? Will we pray with holy hands lifted?

Once, as an experiment, the great scientist Isaac Newton stared at the image of the sun reflected in a mirror. The brightness burned into his retina, and he suffered temporary blindness. Even after he hid for three days behind closed shutters, still the bright spot would not fade from his vision. "I used all means to divert my imagination from the sun," he writes, "But if I thought upon him I presently saw his picture though I was in the dark." If he had stared a few minutes longer, Newton might have permanently lost all vision. The chemical receptors that govern eyesight cannot withstand the full force of unfiltered sunlight. 

I hope that we will be a people who have had the image of Jesus so burned into our minds that we pray like people who love and trust Him in all things!