2020-03-08 1 Timothy 2:1-4 Public Prayer (1): Embraces Everyone

PUBLIC PRAYER (1): EMBRACES EVERYONE (I Tim 2:1-4) March 8, 2020_ Read I Tim 2:1-4 – Annie Dillard, in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, tells of an Eskimo hunter asking a newly arrived missionary, “If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?” The missionary replied, “No, not if you did not know.” So the Eskimo asked, “Then, why did you tell me?” If that conversation does not haunt you, you simply do not believe the gospel. The truth is, without knowing of God and sin and Christ, people do go to hell. But God 4) “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” God says in Hos 4:6, “My people are destroyed [why?] for lack of knowledge.” That burden of God’s heart must become our burden as well – to get the truth of God’s forgiving love shown in Jesus Christ to every person. The whole of I Timothy 2 is about gender roles in public worship. For men, evangelistic prayer is one key role. The principles we find in I Tim 2:1-8 apply to any prayer, public or private. This is how to pray to the heart of God. But Paul says in I Tim 3:14b-15: “But I am writing these things to you so that, 15 if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God” – public worship – thus our series title: Public Prayer. It’s a convicting passage showing our hearts need some fine tuning. So let’s begin. I. The Intensity of Prayer God desires we pray for conditions allowing the gospel to thrive. So, Paul urges intensity in this matter we often treat lightly. He begins, “First of all.” Here’s a matter of first importance – that people “be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” So, we ask, “Is that our first priority?” and “Is that priority reflected in our public prayers?” If not, we are failing to reflect the heart of God. We have to ask if we are lacking compassion. Often we look at OT Israel’s history and frown. Created for the purpose that “in your all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3), we instead find a nation of people who quickly became self-satisfied, privileged, with no desire to share their faith -- grasping it to themselves while looking down on others – but in the process, losing the truth themselves – replacing it with traditions that bypassed the truth that lost sinners can only be redeemed by grace thru faith. We fault them for their failure – but are we not in danger of the same thing? Do we long for others to come to faith in Christ? 1 A visitor to the hospital one evening heard groans coming from the room next door – yelps of distress, following by long moans of pain as if all hope was gone. He could not resist a peek on the way out. He saw there were no patients in the room, but two off-duty orderlies watching MNF with the sound turned off. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it, if we have more passion about the latest sporting event, social affair or recreational outing than we do for lost friends and neighbors. What really is “first of all” for us? Do we not need to pray for God to fill our hearts with compassion for those we know outside of Christ? Paul did. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.” Paul doesn’t just say, “Let’s pray.” He says, “Let’s get earnest about this. Let’s use every kind of Godly communication available to us.” He lists four kinds of prayer! Supplication (δέησις) from a root which means “to lack” or “be without.” It means to request something that you can’t supply yourself. In supplication we acknowledge we can’t change or even convict our heart on our own. So we ask God to provide thru us what we are inadequate to provide ourselves. Doing so in public prayer, reminds us all of our dependence on God to meet this need, reflecting an urgent desire that it happen. Prayers (προσευχή) – is a general word for talking to God. If there is a distinction here, it would be that while supplication emphasizes compassion for the need of the unsaved person, prayer emphasizes the desire for God to be glorified in this. It’s right that we care deeply about the person. But it’s even more imperative that we seek God’s glory in salvation of others. Intercessions (ἔντευξις) – emphasizes pleading with someone on behalf of another. Think of Abraham interceding for Lot in Gen 18 after God told him Sodom was about to be destroyed. He cared! That’s how we must pray for unbelievers who are equally in danger of the judgment of God falling on them. Thanksgivings – Even the most urgent prayer is to include thanksgiving. Paul says in Phil 3:6: “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made know to God.” Always pray with a thankful heart, even if you can’t see the hint of an answer. Thank God for what He’s doing that you can’t see. The reason for thanksgiving is stated by Paul beautifully in II Cor 4:15: “. . . as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” Aren’t we grateful to see people coming to faith in Christ – from the smallest child to the oldest person? Haven’t we rejoiced to see that, and to see them express that publicly in baptism? So thank 2 God, ahead of time, for what He’s doing in the lives of those for whom you pray. If we’re praying in faith, He’s responding. Thank Him. So that’s the list. Except for thanksgiving, they are largely synonymous. Even Calvin wrote, “I admit that I do not completely understand the difference between them. But I myself do not go in for subtle distinctions of that kind.” Neither I think, did Paul. I think he included all of them to emphasize the urgency of the situation and therefore the intensity of our prayer. We lack urgency bc we don’t, deep down, believe in hell. But look at Lev 10:1: Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. 2) And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.” What’s God doing? He is warning, “You may not come to me except on my terms.” And lest we fool ourselves that this is the God of the OT, I’d remind us, it’s the same God in both cases. And the NT says in Heb 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire.” He hasn’t changed, Beloved. Dorothy Sayers says, “There is a kind of conspiracy to conceal where the truth of hell comes from. The doctrine of hell is not “mediaeval priestcraft” for frightening people into giving money to the church: it is Christ’s deliberate judgment on sin…. We cannot repudiate hell without altogether repudiating Christ.” And so we must pray people off of death row – with urgency. II. The Inclusiveness of Prayer For whom are we to pray? You can’t miss it. 1c: “for all people.” 4a: “all people”. 6a: “[Christ] gave himself as a ransom for all.” All by name? No. Paul has in mind all groups, classes, races, nationalities, social divisions, and even enemies. He further defines this in 7b where he notes he was made “a teacher of the Gentiles.” He said that bc he knew his Jewish brothers -- the exclusivity they’d been reared with – that they were the “chosen people” who looked down on others – even as believers. Paul is clarifying such exclusivity has no place in the prayers or in the life of the church. We are to pray for all. The Jews forgot they were chosen to bless “all the families of the earth” (Gen 12:3). As a nation, they failed in that privilege. In the person of Jesus Christ, it came true. Now God wants that inclusiveness of the gospel to resonate all the life and prayers of the church. We are to pray for rich and poor, high and low, for all ethnicities in all places. God is interested in all people, everywhere. 3 Here’s a truly Xn conscience. Toyohiko Kagawa was born in Kobe, Japan, led to Christ by missionaries, took theology training in the US and returned as a missionary to Shinkawa where he lived and ministered in some of the filthiest, most depraved slums in the world. Biographer W. J. Smart writes, “His neighbours were prostitutes, thieves who boasted of outwitting the police, and murderers who were not only proud of their killing but always ready to add to their prestige by committing another. [Streets were filthy]. Rats crawled from open sewers to die. The air was filled with stench. An idiot girl who lived next door to Kagawa had vile pictures painted on her back to decoy lustful men to her den. Everywhere human bodies rotted with syphilis.’ Kagawa wanted people like that.” So does Jesus. We may not go there, but we must pray there, and repent of our failure to do so consistently. Paul also urges, pray “for kings and all who are in high positions” (2a). Who would pray for them? Tyrants mostly, in the ancient world. But the gospel is for them, too. The emperor when Paul wrote this was Nero, a deranged man whose personal life was debauched, and whose cruelties included lighting his profane parties by burning Xns as torches. Paul and Peter would eventually die at his hand as Xns were falsely accused of starting the great fire in Rome in AD 64. Paul says, “Pray for him!” So like Jesus Mt 5:44: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Pray for all men, everywhere. Early Xns took this to heart. Theophilus of Antioch wrote, “The honor that I will give the emperor is all the greater, bc I will not worship him, but I will pray for him. Those give real honor to the emperor who are well-disposed to him, who obey him, and who pray for him.” We are to pray for all people. Bring this up to date. We are to pray for public officials, in church. Democrats must pray for Republicans and Republicans must pray for Democrats, right? A visitor once asked a Senate chaplain, “Do you pray for the senators?” He replied, “No, I look at the senators, and then I pray for the country!” That’s out temptation, isn’t it? We’ll pray for our man, but not so much for the others! Paul says, “Pray for them all – all people, everywhere.” Jesus gave a parable in Luke 14 about a man who prepared a great feast. Many invited guests sent regrets. So the master, representing Jesus, told his servants, “[Then] go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled” (Lu 14:23). Invite everyone. Brennan Manning wrote, “Here is truth as bright as the evening star: Jesus comes for sinners, for those as outcast as tax collectors and for those caught up in 4 squalid choices and failed dreams. He comes for corporate executives, street people, superstars, farmers, hookers, addicts, IRS agents, AIDS victims and even used-car salesmen. Jesus not only talks with these people but dines with them – knowing His table fellowship with sinners will raise the eyebrows of religious bureaucrats who [reject] the gospel of grace.” Jesus invites all to come, and so we must pray for all. We have inserts on missionaries not so you’ll have more info, but so you’ll pray for them. In praying for them, we pray for all people. But we must do better. I think, Beloved, we must repent of apathetic hearts, don’t you? How much do we pray for our neighbors, friends, community, country and world? God’s urges “that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people.” F. B. Meyer was at a conference once, arising early and finding at the conference center A. B. Simpson (founder of CMA) weeping in prayer as he clutched a globe. May his tribe increase – even among us. III. The Influence of Prayer Now, why pray for all people? Two reasons. We’ll see one next week. But 23: Pray “for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.” Pray for their salvation, but also pray so we may lead a peaceful and quiet life – that is free of restraints from sharing the gospel. We are to pray for an environment where we can live a godly life and dignified, without persecution or restrictions that mock our faith. While persecution is promised by our Lord, and often used to further the gospel, we are to pray for a more favorable climate in which to live – not for our own comfort, but for the sake of the gospel. Even in days when Roman authority alternated between tolerance of and persecution of Xns, early believers found comfort in the security the empire provided. Tertullian wrote, “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 a world at rest.” Then he says, “We know that 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.” You can’t read that without thinking how privileged we are in the USA to have enjoyed such conditions for so long. But have we taken them for 5 granted? Have we supposed that our comfort is for our benefit alone and been lax in using our privileged existence to spread the gospel? Have we assumed it would always be so and failed to pray that it would continue? Then let us repent of our apathy, thank God for His mercy, seek delay of the threats to the liberties we have enjoyed, and seek His guidance in using this gift of freedom for His glory rather than just our own comfort and convenience. Conc – Do we lack compassion, Beloved? We always need more. A few years ago on a panel discussion at a Xn conference, the editor of a political mag was expressing frustration at left-wingers in a sarcastic, condescending manner. Finally, John Piper, also on the panel said, "I have long appreciated your ministry. You are an astute observer of our culture. [Your magazine is] always insightful. But there's one thing missing from your ministry." The editor looked at Dr. Piper and asked what it was. "Tears," Piper replied. Is it possible that we also would rather get our way, protect our interests and live comfortably more than we want to see others come to faith in Christ? God help us to see even our enemies in light of His invitation to all men everywhere to come to faith in Him. God fill us with compassion. Let’s pray. 6