Evangelistic Prayer

Introduction:

How is your evangelistic prayer life?

Let’s be honest, it is a challenge for some who believe in the Doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God in all things; including salvation, to be as evangelistically prayerful as they should.

But let me be clear of this very important statement; such is not a problem with the very clear teaching of the Scripture, but a problem in the heart of the believer.

I would suppose that the question that would then arise about all of this is:

Can we really pray for the salvation of sinners?

Since God is sovereign, is praying for the salvation of sinners even necessary or important.

On this point, the Baptist Confession says:

Baptist Confessions of Faith 3. Assembly or Second London Confession

GOD hath1 Decreed in himself from all Eternity, by the most wise and holy Councel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to passe; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin,2 nor hath fellowship with any therin, nor is violence offered to the will of the Creature, nor yet is the liberty, or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather3 established, in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power, and faithfulness4 in accomplishing his Decree.

The point that I want to focus on is the point of the “second causes”.

That basically means that God fulfills His purposes through means; that He ordained all things that come to pass and that He ordain HOW all of those things come to pass.

So to say, “if God Ordained all things, why pray” is to not understand that God ordained means as well.

Since God has ordained our prayers as the means that He uses to bring about the salvation of people, the we must be committed to doing it.

Moses, the representative for God spoke for the salvation of his people.

Numbers 11:1–2 NASB95

Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died out.

Numbers 14:19 NASB95

“Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

1 Samuel 12:23 NASB95

“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.

Now, here Samuel goes a step further than Moses went.

Moses prayed for the people, but Samuel said that it was a sin not to.

Psalm 25:22 NASB95

Redeem Israel, O God, Out of all his troubles.

1 Samuel 7:5 NASB95

Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.”

Daniel 9:17–19 NASB95

“So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. “O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

All throughout Scripture, it has been the practice of God’s people to pray evangelistically for others.

All the message is clear here.

From the heart of the Apostle, to the Pastor Timothy to the congregation.

And he breaks this passage up in sections that we want to notice: first, The Passion; second, The Pleasure; Third, The Person; and fourth, The Petition.

I. The Passion (vs. 1)

I want you to notice something with me as we begin to explore this rich text.

We all understand that when the Holy Spirit inspired the NT in Greek, He did it without chapter divisions or verse divisions; that it was all one long string of text.

So what the Timothy would have read would have been what we know to be verse of chapter one and then what we know to be verse 1 of chapter 2, without the division.

I bring that up because that is vital to understand in interpreting Scripture.

So this would have been just one thought:

1 Timothy 1:20 NASB95

Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

1 Timothy 2:1 NASB95

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

And the word “then” as it may appear in your English translation is the Greek word “οὖν” and is a conjunction that is also translated as “therefore”; either one would be a proper translation.

And both of these words would be to point back at something previously stated.

And after they read the portion about Hymenaeus and Alexander, they would then read, “Therefore”.

And what Paul is doing is that he is using the sins of Hymenaeus and Alexander as I spring board to encourage the Church to pray.

Paul says to Timothy, “I urge you”.

This Greek word is from the root word “καλεω” which means “to call”.

Here it is the Greek word “παρακαλέω” and it means “to encourage, to implore”.

Pau; says “I implore you, I encourage you to do certain things” that he will go to mention.

This is not seen, in the text as a command; it is not an imperative verb, it is an indicative verb.

The indicative mood in the Greek is the mood of reality.

It states the way things are, or should be; depending on context.

This would be the indicative mood of a wish or desire.

Paul says, “Timothy, I wish the Church would do this, I encourage the Church to do this”.

But Paul uses another word in the text that should lay some sense of importance at the door.

He uses the word “πρῶτος” or “first”.

Paul has now moved from directly dealing with areas in Timothy’s life that need encouraging, to now the Church.

This is where the real color of the book starts to show.

Pauls’ Passion was on two different levels

1. Prayer (vs. 1a)

The very first thing that the Apostle was to encourage the Church to do is pray.

I mean he is writing to a local Church Pastor and to the local Church and the very first thing that he tells them to do is pray.

And I think that it is very instructive to us that he uses the bridge word “therefore” to take us back to what has previously been stated.

As if to say, “Look at Hymenaeus and Alexander Church; the first thing you need to do is pray.

Then he goes on to describe four different type of prayers.

It is as if there are really two groups of prayers.

He has on group separated by a conjunction and then another group separated by a conjunction.

It is as if entreaties and prayers go together; although different sides of the same coin.

And it is as if petitions and thanksgiving go together; although different sides of the same coin.

A. Entreaties

This is the Greek word “δέησις” and the root of the word means “to lack,” “to be deprived,” or “to be without something.”

This kind of prayer arises from the sense of need.

Knowing what is lacking, we plead with God to supply it.

And, again, going back to Paul previous statement regarding Hymenaeus and Alexander, this would lead us to believer that the first point of importance for the Church are prayers that are evangelistic in nature.

Paul says to Timothy that I encourage you, see the need and ask God to meet it; that it the meaning of Entreaties.

As we look out on the masses of lost humanity, the enormity of the need should drive us to our knees in evangelistic prayer.

Charles Spurgeon said: “If you have no desire to see people saved, it is because you are not saved yourself.”

The seventeenth-century English Puritan Richard Baxter wrote:

1 Timothy: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Nature of Evangelistic Prayer

Oh, if you have the hearts of Christians or of men in you, let them yearn towards your poor ignorant, ungodly neighbours. Alas, there is but a step betwixt them and death and hell; many hundred diseases are waiting ready to seize on them, and if they die unregenerate, they are lost forever. Have you hearts of rock, that cannot pity men in such a case as this? If you believe not the Word of God, and the danger of sinners, why are you Christians yourselves? If you do believe it, why do you not bestir yourself to the helping of others? Do you not care who is damned, so you be saved? If so, you have sufficient cause to pity yourselves, for it is a frame of spirit utterly inconsistent with grace.… Dost thou live close by them, or meet them in the streets, or labour with them, or travel with them, or sit and talk with them, and say nothing to them of their souls, or the life to come? If their houses were on fire, thou wouldst run and help them; and wilt thou not help them when their souls are almost at the fire of hell? (Cited in I. D. E. Thomas, A Puritan Golden Treasury [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977], 92–93)

But not only Entreaties, but also:

B. Prayers

It is the word “προσευχή” and it is slightly different that entreaties.

Entreaties is a prayer that is an expression of need.

Again, in this context, we see the need for the lost to be saved and we entreat that way.

But the word “προσευχή” has an element of devotion.

It is a prayer that is addressed to God.

It; therefore, carries a unique element of worship and reverence.

Prayer for the lost is ultimately directed at God as an act of worship, because the salvation of sinners causes then to give glory to Him.

2 Corinthians 4:15 NASB95

For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

Paul reveals that all his efforts at reaching the ungodly were to spread saving grace to more and more people so they could give thanks to God, which would abound to His glory.

So Paul, the literary genius that he is, lumps these two Greek words together separated by the conjunction “and” and is saying, “ask for what you see as a need, so that it will bring glory to God.

Let me show you a verse that has, over the years, really, been taken out of context.

Luke 15:10 NASB95

“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

You have probably heard people say that the angles rejoice when one sinner repents and they use this verse as proof of that.

But is that really what the verse says?

It says that there is “joy in the presence of the Angels...”

Who is in the presence of the angels?

God…the Triune Godhead.

So, when one sinner repents, it brings the Godhead joy.

That is Paul’s point in our text.

Make your entreaties, the things that you see that are needs; and make you prayers, an act of worship that will bring glory to God.

In this context, see the need for the salvation of lost and pray for it; in order that God may be glorified.

And that is really how our prayers are suppose to work.

That is why the average Christian does not see more happen in their lives.

Someone says, “Well, we do not have because we do not ask.”

Well, I do not think that the average believer has any problem asking.

Here is the problem; right in the book of James

James 4:3 NASB95

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

The reason that believers make entreaties but they are not answered is because they are not really praying.

What do I mean?

Remember, the encouragement of Paul is to see the need (entreaty) and pray (addressed to God).

We see the need, and we ask for it…but not for God’s glory but for our own selfish ambition.

You see, Paul’s prescription for the Church was to ask for things that bring God glory.

You will always be safe in asking for the people to be saved, for that brings God glory.

C. Petitions

Petitions is the word “ἔντευξις” and comes from a verbal form that means “to fall in with someone” or “to get involved with them”.

The word from which “ἔντευξις” is derived is used to speak of both the Christ’s and the Spirit’s intercession for us (; ).

They identify with our needs, and become involved in our struggles.

ἔντευξις then is a word not only of advocacy, but also of empathy, sympathy, compassion, and involvement.

Evangelistic prayer is not cold, detached, or impersonal.

This kind of prayer that Paul urges the Church to make has the understanding of the depths of the their misery and pain and their coming doom.

And with that understanding we cry to God for the salvation of sinners.

The Greek has the idea that we get involved in their plight.

We feel it for them and that will lead us to make proper evangelistic prayer.

If we do not put ourselves in the shoes of the sinner, we will never pray with evangelistic zeal.

D. Thanksgiving

1 Timothy: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Nature of Evangelistic Prayer

Thanksgivings are a fourth element in evangelistic prayers. They call for us to pray with a spirit of gratitude to God that the gospel offer has been extended, that we have the privilege of reaching the lost with that gospel, and that some respond with faith and repentance.

2. People (1b-2)

Paul wants to take the Church beyond our all too often prayers that are confined to personal needs and wants and rarely extend beyond those our immediate circle of friends and family.

In contrast to that, Paul calls for evangelistic prayer on behalf of all men.

Now, just like everything, we have to define the word “all” and what exactly did Paul mean.

Did Paul mean by the word “all” that Timothy was to take out the Ephesian phonebook and start with the letter “A” and prayer for every single person in that book?

Some people might be tempted to say “why not?”

Because that would contradict was Paul had just said regarded the four elements of prayer.

If I am going to truly “fall in with someone” and intercede for them with passion, it might help if I knew them.

So, I do not believe that that is the point of Paul to Timothy.

Nor do I believe that the point of Paul was that the all is “the all of the elect.”

Such is ridiculous, since we have no clue of the identity of the elect.

Because the fact of the matter is that the call of salvation is a universal call.

Acts 17:30 NASB95

“Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

But we also understand that the outward call of the gospel does not mean an inward call of the Spirit.

Matt. 22:214

Matthew 22:14 NASB95

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

I believer that it is clear from the context of this passage that the “all” that is meant is the “all” of my influence.

If we are to follow the the command of the elements of prayer mentioned above, especially the third, then I cannot intercede on behalf of people that I do not know.

So I believe that the idea is that we are not prayer for the “all” of our realm of influence.

Yours is different than mine, so as we collectively pray for our sphere of influence the “all” is being fulfilled.

Now notice verse 2.

Out of the call of our collective group, Paul specifically singles out some who might otherwise be neglected in evangelistic prayer, “kings and all of those in authority.”

Because ancient (and modern) rulers are so often tyrannical, and even disrespectful of the Lord and His people, they are targets of bitterness and animosity.

And not being the part of the everyday life of believers there could be a tendency to be indifferent toward them.

But such a neglect is a serious sin because of the authority and responsibility leaders have.

The injunction here calls for the Ephesians to pray for the emperor, who at that time was the cruel and vicious blasphemer, Nero.

Although he was a vile, debauched persecutor of the faith, they were still to pray for his redemption.

The request for kings and all of those i authority is not limited to just a petition that they would be wise and just, but that they would repent of their sins and believe the gospel for the sake of their eternal souls.

1 Timothy: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Scope of Evangelistic Prayer

Paul does not command us to pray for the removal from office of evil rulers, or those with whom we disagree politically. Believers are to be loyal and submissive to their government (Rom. 13:1–5; 1 Peter 2:17). If the church today took the time and energy it spends on political maneuvering and lobbying and poured them into intercessory prayer, we might see a profound impact on our nation. We have all too often forgotten that “the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses” (2 Cor. 10:4). The key to changing a nation is the salvation of sinners, and that calls for faithful prayer.

While the contemporary Church may have forgotten that lesson, the early Church knew it well.

The last second to early third century theologian Tertullian wrote:

1 Timothy: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Scope of Evangelistic Prayer

Without ceasing, for all our emperors we offer prayer. We pray for life prolonged; for security to the empire; for protection to the imperial house; for brave armies, a faithful senate, a virtuous people, the world at rest, whatever, as man or Caesar, an emperor would wish. These things I cannot ask from any but the God from whom I know I shall obtain them, both because He alone bestows them and because I have claims upon Him for their gift, as being a servant of His, rendering homage to Him alone.…

Do you, then, who think that we care nothing for the welfare of Caesar, look into God’s revelations, examine our sacred books, which we do not keep in hiding, and which many accidents put into the hands of those who are not of us. Learn from them that a large benevolence is enjoined upon us, even so far as to supplicate God for our enemies, and to beseech blessings on our persecutors. Who, then, are greater enemies and persecutors of Christians, than the very parties with treason against whom we are charged? Nay, even in terms, and most clearly, the Scripture says, “Pray for kings, and rulers, and powers, that all may be peace with you.”

We know that a mighty shock impending over the whole earth—in fact, the very end of all things threatening dreadful woes—is only retarded by the continued existence of the Roman empire. We have no desire, then, to be overtaken by these dire events; and in praying that their coming may be delayed, we are lending our aid to Rome’s duration. (Apology, XXX, XXXI, XXXII; The Ante-Nicene Fathers [reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973], 3:42–43)

The second century apologist Theophilus agreed:

1 Timothy: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Scope of Evangelistic Prayer

I will rather honor the king [than your gods], not, indeed, worshipping him, but praying for him. But God, the living and true God, I worship, knowing that the king is made by Him.… Honour the king, be subject to him, and pray for him with loyal mind; for if you do this, you do the will of God. (Theophilus to Autolycus, I.xi; The Ante-Nicene Fathers [reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971], 2:92)

Moreover, concerning subjection to authorities and powers, and prayer for them, the divine word gives us instructions, in order that “we may lead a quiet and peaceable life.” And it teaches us to render all things to all, “honour to whom honour, fear to whom fear, tribute to whom tribute; to owe no man anything, but to love all.” (Theophilus to Autolycus, III.xiv; The Ante-Nicene Fathers [reprint; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971], 2:115)

Now notice the second half verse 2.