The Good Shepherd Saves

Good morning, church.

Let me ask you a question.

How many of you have ever prayed something like this...

"God, I just want to know what You want me to do."

Maybe it was about taking a job.

Maybe it was about buying a house.

Maybe it was about whether to retire.

Maybe it was about dating someone.

Maybe it was about a ministry opportunity.

Or maybe it was simply,

"Lord...what's next?"

I don't think that's a bad prayer.

In fact, I think it's a good prayer.

It shows we want God to lead us.

And if we're honest, every follower of Christ has asked that question at one time or another.

"God, what is Your will for my life?"

That's why we're beginning this new series called He Leads Me.

Over the next several weeks, we're going to look at passages where God pulls back the curtain and says,

"This is what I desire for My people."

Now here's something I've noticed about myself over the years.

Maybe you'll identify with this too.

When I ask God about His will...

I'm usually asking about my future.

Where should I go?

What decision should I make?

What door should I walk through?

But when I read Scripture...

God often answers by talking first about my heart.

I ask,

"Lord, where do You want me?"

He says,

"Aaron, let's first talk about what I want you to love."

Because before God directs our steps...

He shapes our hearts.

Think about that.

If your heart becomes more like His...

many of life's decisions become much easier to navigate.

Because you're beginning to love what He loves.

You're beginning to care about what He cares about.

You're beginning to desire what He desires.

That's exactly where Paul takes Timothy.

Timothy, a young pastor who has been left in Ephesus to deal with a church that has drifted.

False teachers have distracted God's people.

They've turned attention toward

speculation...

arguments...

controversies...

…Things that produce controversies and distracts from the Gospel .

Paul has already said that's not what healthy churches are built on.

Now he says something fascinating.

Look at verse one.

1 Timothy 2:1 CSB

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,

Having had Timothy confront strong personalities and those looking to crush the church, Paul’s next order of affairs is to pray. This is where healthy churches begin.

Healthy churches begin with prayer because prayer leads our hearts to beat in rhythm with God's.

And how do you know what captures someone's heart?

Listen to what they pray about.

Have you ever noticed that?

Our prayers often reveal our priorities.

When we pray...

we're telling God—and often revealing to ourselves—what we believe matters most.

So Paul says,

"First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone..."

Now don't get hung up on those four different words for prayer.

Paul isn't giving Timothy a lesson in prayer vocabulary.

He's using a variety of terms to paint a comprehensive picture.

In other words...

Pray.

Pray earnestly.

Pray consistently.

Pray thankfully.

Pray for all kinds of people.

Then he gets very specific.

"...for kings and all who are in authority..."

Now imagine hearing that in the first century.

Who's the king?

Who's in authority?

Nero.

The Roman government.

This isn't a government that's friendly toward Christianity.

This isn't a government that's making life easier for believers.

Yet Paul doesn't say,

"Attack them." He doesn't say, “Despise them." He doesn't even say, “Avoid them."

He says...

Pray for them.

Why?

Because the Gospel doesn’t just change how we see our friends.

It changes how we see everyone.

That may be one of the first signs that God is changing our hearts.

Because let's be honest.

It's easy to pray for people we like.

It's much harder to pray sincerely for people we disagree with.

People who've hurt us.

People we don't understand.

People we think are leading our country in the wrong direction.

Yet Paul says...

Pray. Why?

Because prayer begins doing something in us before it does anything around us.

It's difficult to keep hating someone you're consistently bringing before the throne of God

I'm not saying you forget every disagreement or evey pain disappears.

I'm saying God begins softening something inside of us.

When we pray for people...

we begin seeing them the way God sees them.

And that's exactly what Paul is telling us.

God loves to turn our eyes outward.

You see, left to ourselves… our prayers become very small.

"Lord, bless me."

"Help me."

"Protect me."

"Fix this."

"Provide that."

Now hear me.

There is nothing wrong with bringing those requests to God.

The Bible invites us to do that.

But if that's all we ever pray...

our prayers become centered on our kingdom instead of His.

Paul is inviting the church into something much bigger.

He's saying,

"Lift your eyes."

There are people all around you who need God's grace.

Pray for them.

Pray for your neighbors.

Pray for your coworkers.

Pray for your children's teachers.

Pray for those in authority.

Pray for those you agree with.

Pray for those you don't.

Pray because God is doing something in your heart as He draws you towards His own.

One commentator made an observation that I found incredibly helpful this week.

He pointed out that after confronting false teaching in chapter one, Paul doesn't begin chapter two with a strategy meeting. He begins with prayer.

Because healthy doctrine should always produce healthy worship.

And one of the first expressions of genuine worship is a heart that begins caring about the people God cares about.

If someone listened to your prayers for the last month...What would they conclude matters most to you?

Your comfort?

Your schedule?

Your finances?

Your health?

Again, none of those are wrong to pray about.

But would they hear a heart that's also burdened for people who don't yet know Christ?

Would they hear concern for neighbors?

For family members?

For coworkers?

For leaders?

For people who seem far from God?

I have to confess...

This passage challenged me this week.

I asked God this week. “Do my prayers reflect your heart?"

And as I thought about that...

I couldn't help but think about my own story.

Long before I ever surrendered my life to Christ...

I had grandparents praying for me.

Faithfully.

Consistently.

I didn't always know it.

I certainly didn't appreciate it at the time.

But God was already at work.

Later, my brother shared the Gospel with me.

Looking back now, God was weaving together the prayers of His people and the witness of His people to draw me to Himself.

Prayer wasn't the whole story.

But it was part of God's story.

And I wonder how many of us are here today because somebody refused to stop praying.

A grandmother.

A parent.

A friend.

A pastor.

A Sunday school teacher.

Someone who loved you enough to keep bringing your name before God.

Never underestimate what God may be doing through faithful prayer.

Why does Paul want the church praying for all kinds of people?

Why should our hearts become this expansive?

Because prayer reveals something much deeper.

It is revealing the very heart of God.

When God changes your heart, he changes your prayers.

Movement Two — God leads us by revealing his heart through Christ (3-4)

Paul doesn't leave us wondering.

He doesn't simply tell us what to do.

Now he tells us why.

Look at verse 3.

"This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Now stop there for just a moment.

Paul just pulled back another curtain.

He didn't merely tell us what God commands.

He told us what delights God's heart.

Did you catch that?

Sometimes we think about God's will as though He's hiding it.

As though He's standing back saying,

"You'll never guess what I want..."

But here...

God says,

"Let Me tell you what brings Me joy."

People coming to know Me.

People rescued from sin.

People reconciled to their Creator.

People discovering life in Christ.

That tells us something incredibly important about God.

God isn't reluctant to save people.

He's eager.

He isn't indifferent toward lost people.

He loves them. EVERY SOUL MATTERS TO GOD

He's not looking for reasons to keep people out of His Kingdom.

He's making a way to bring them in.

That's His heart.

Now, let's address something that often creates confusion.

Paul says,

"God desires all people to be saved."

What does he mean by "all people"?

He has just told us to pray for all kinds of people.

Kings.

Authorities.

Ordinary citizens.

People inside your circle.

People outside your circle.

In other words...

The Gospel isn't reserved for

one nation...

one ethnicity...

one social class...

or one political group.

God's saving heart reaches toward every kind of person.

That would have been revolutionary in Timothy's day.

And if we're honest...

it's still revolutionary today.

Because every generation has people it quietly writes off.

"They'll never come to Christ."

"They're too far gone."

"Not them."

Yet Paul says...

Don't decide in advance who God can't save. Pray.

Because God's heart is bigger than yours.

I wonder...

Have you ever found yourself surprised by someone's salvation?

Maybe someone you never imagined walking into church.

Someone who mocked Christianity.

Someone who seemed completely uninterested.

And then...

God changed everything.

How does that happen?

It’s not because that person chose to see God differently, but Because God begins to work on their heart leading to salvation.

You know, one of the beautiful things about reading the Gospels is watching who Jesus was drawn toward

Children.

Widows.

Tax collectors.

Roman officers.

Fishermen.

Religious leaders.

Outcasts.

People everyone else avoided.

Why was Jesus constantly crossing lines that other people refused to cross?

Because He knew the Gospel changes everything as it reveals the Father's heart.

Remember what Jesus said?

"The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

Not the impressive.

Not the religious elite.

Not the people who had their lives together.

The lost.

Church, If you've ever wondered what God is like...

look at Jesus.

If you've ever wondered what captures God's attention...

look at Jesus.

If you want to know God’s heart, look at Jesus

Because Jesus is God's heart in flesh. I think that’s why Paul calls Him,

"God our Savior."

That's a beautiful title.

Not merely Judge.

Not merely Creator.

Not merely King.

Although He is all those things.

Paul reminds Timothy first… He is our Savior.

That's how Timothy is supposed to think about God.

That's how the church is supposed to think about God.

And that changes everything.

Because if God's heart is to rescue… then prayer is no longer simply another spiritual discipline.

Prayer becomes joining God in what already matters most to Him.

Think about that.

Sometimes we pray hoping God will care about something.

The truth is… God already cares infinitely more than we do.

Prayer doesn't convince God to love people.

Prayer aligns us with the God who already loves them.

That's why prayer becomes worship. We're learning to love what He loves.

We're learning to desire what He desires.

We're learning to see people through His eyes instead of ours.

And that's a lifelong transformation.

Movement Three

God Lead us by inviting us into his mission (5-7)

Paul has shown us God's heart.

Now he tells us how that heart became reality.

Look at verse 5.

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all..."

Everything hinges on that little word...

"For."

Paul is explaining.

Why can God desire sinners to be saved?

Why can we pray for all people?

Why can the Gospel go to every nation?

Because there is only one bridge between sinful people and a holy God.

Jesus Christ.

Now think about what a mediator does.

A mediator stands between two parties who cannot reconcile themselves.

He represents both.

He brings peace where there was hostility.

Paul says...

That's exactly what Jesus did.

Church… Every religion in the world asks essentially the same question.

How do sinful people reach God?

Most religions answer,

Climb higher.

Work harder.

Do better.

Become worthy.

Earn acceptance.

Christianity says something completely different.

You couldn't climb high enough.

So God came down.

You couldn't bridge the gap.

So Jesus became the bridge.

You couldn't pay your debt.

So Christ paid it Himself.

That's why Paul doesn't merely say Jesus taught us the way.

He says Jesus is the Mediator.

Not one of many.

The only one.

That sounds exclusive in our culture.

Because we live in a world that says,

"Every road eventually leads to God."

But Jesus didn't say that.

The apostles didn't preach that.

Paul certainly doesn't teach that here.

He says there is...

one God.

And because there is one God...

there is also… one Mediator.

Because only one Person is uniquely qualified.

Only Jesus is fully God.

Only Jesus became fully man.

Only Jesus lived without sin.

Only Jesus died in our place.

Only Jesus walked out of the grave.

Only Jesus can place one hand on a holy God...

and one hand on sinful humanity...

and reconcile us forever.

Then Paul adds something beautiful.

"...who gave Himself as a ransom..."

Notice the language.

No one took His life. He gave it.

Voluntarily.

Willingly.

Lovingly.

Jesus wasn't trapped by the cross.

He chose the cross.

Because that's what God's heart looks like.

If you've ever wondered whether God loves you...

Don't start with your circumstances. Start with the cross.

If you've ever wondered what God thinks about sinners...

look at Jesus.

If you've ever wondered whether God wants people rescued...

look at Calvary.

Because there God forever answered that question.

Paul says He gave Himself as a ransom.

A ransom was the price paid to secure someone's freedom

GOd’s desire and His will for you is to be saved and help others understand salvation through Jesus.

Now we understand why we pray.

Now we understand God's heart.

Now we understand the Gospel.

But Paul isn't finished.

Look at verse seven.

"And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle...a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles."

Do you hear Paul's passion?

He can't talk about Christ without talking about mission.

Because once you've experienced that kind of grace...

how could you keep it to yourself?

Paul says,

That's why God sent me.

Church… That doesn't mean we're all apostles.

But it does mean every believer has been entrusted with the Gospel.

The same Gospel someone shared with you.

Is available to everyone who will receive it.

I couldn't help thinking about my own story again.

I mentioned earlier that my grandparents prayed.

Eventually my brother shared Christ with me.

Think about that chain.

Someone prayed.

Someone went.

Someone shared.

Someone believed.

That's exactly what Paul is describing.

And I wonder...

Whose name are you carrying before the Lord right now?

A son?

A daughter?

A spouse?

A coworker?

A neighbor?

Someone who's wandered from the faith?

Don't stop praying.

Don't stop loving.

Don't stop looking for opportunities to speak about Christ.

Because you never know where God is already at work.

The same God who pursued you… is still pursuing people today.

Conclusion

As we've walked through this passage...

I hope you've noticed something.

Paul never really wanted to give Timothy a lesson on prayer.

He wanted Timothy to understand God's heart.

Prayer… reveals God's heart.

Christ… reveals God's heart.

Mission… reveals God's heart.

This passage has challenged me this week.

Because it's made me ask

Not, “Am I seeking God's will?"

But,” Am I seeking God's heart?"

God leads His people by shaping their hearts to reflect His own.

Church...

This is what happens when a church embraces this passage.

It’s hundreds of people praying faithfully for neighbors.

It’s small groups intentionally praying for coworkers by name.

It’s students praying for classmates.

AND ITS THEN ASKING GOD HOW CAN I HELP THEM LEARN YOUR HEART FOR THEM

I believe that is where we are heading as a church.

Where we are know as a church not for our programs, but by the way we love others like Jesus

I believe this is exactly what Paul longed to see.

Lives changed.

Families restored.

People discovering Christ.

Because the Gospel still changes everything.

Gospel Invitation

Maybe you're here today...

and as we've talked about God's heart...

you've realize You've never personally experienced that heart yourself.

You've spent your life trying to be good enough.

Trying to earn God's approval.

Trying to climb your way toward Him.

Friend...

You'll never make it. That's why Jesus came.

The Gospel isn't that you finally reach God.

The Gospel is that God is reaching to you.

Jesus Christ gave Himself as your ransom.

He died the death your sin deserved.

He rose again victorious over sin and death.

Today He offers forgiveness...

new life...

peace with God...

Because He loves you.

The Bible says there is one Mediator between God and man.

That means there is one Savior.

One hope.

One name by which we must be saved.

If today you recognize your need for Christ, I want to invite you to respond.

If you're ready to stop trusting yourself and place your faith in Jesus Christ alone, I'd encourage you to pray with me in just a moment….

And for those of us who already know Christ...

Who is one person you'll begin praying for this week?

Write down their name.

Pray for them every day.

Ask God for an opportunity to share the hope you've found in Christ.

Because that's how God often leads His people.

He gives us His heart.

And when He gives us His heart...

He changes our prayers.

He changes our priorities.

Then He changes the lives of those we share with.

Would you pray with me?