1 Timothy 2:8
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Today we will primarily look at sixteen words. However, before I do so, I’d like to assign several verses for reference and reading later on.
These include: Gen 18.22, Ex 9.29, Gen 24.48, Acts 7.55, 1 Ki 18.42.
With that, I want to say, “I won’t be long today.”
However, I will refrain from spreading false information, as we have seen in the group chat, independent fact-checkers have determined that statement to be false.
8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
These are the sixteen words will we look at…
Before I get into the verse, I want to share this illustration…
Hawaii, Okinawa, Guam, many of us have been to these beautiful islands.
I lived in Hawaii for three years, and on certain days, I miss it. The Ko’olau Mountains were beautiful, the ocean water was clear, and the temperature was perfect year-round. I am sure the same can be said about the islands of Okinawa and Guam.
These island all have something in common. The exits are restricted, blocked, and eventually island fever kicks in. I can’t get into my car and drive to out of town, per se.
Likewise, we might understand there is a God. We might recognize His power and glory, His majesty and goodness, and desire with all our hearts to know Him and be in fellowship with Him. But the distance is too great. The gulf is too wide. We have loved, esteemed, practiced sin and have shut off the ear of the Lord.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear me:
Only through repentance of sins, can we cross that gulf to God the Father. We can exit the island of sin and restore fellowship.
As we look into 1 Timothy 2:8, I intend to drive home the point of restored fellowship toward God and fellow man.
Before we start to look at this verse, I want to open with offering this reminder, Paul was addressing conduct during the public worship service.
This was a church that had problems. Paul was writing to Timothy to address and correct these problems. Moreover, this epistle is the inspired Word of God which serves as a help for Pastors and congregants to solve problems.
This portion of scripture has been labeled as "one of the most controversial in all the New Testament.” The reason is because of Paul’s statements regarding women and their roles in the church in this section. Over the years, Paul has been ignored, rebelled against, championed, and vilified.
I will do my best to look at the context or circumstances surrounding the church at Ephesus and see how it applies for us in our church.
This leads us to our first point, a command from Paul.
Command from Paul
Command from Paul
Paul begins with a non-controversial command. He does this by picking up the theme of prayer we have been covering.
This verses opens with Paul saying “I will.” From what I gather in commentaries, this is somewhat more forceful than the word for “will” used it 1 Ti 2.4, where we read:
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
In 1 Ti 2.4, Paul was providing God’s moral will as opposed to God’s decreed will.
God’s decreed will involves what He ordains to take place in the world. He decreed that there be light, and there was light (Genesis 1:3)—an example of His powerful decree.
When Paul say “I will” in 1 Ti 2.8, it is more deliberate, more specific. In this context it is equal to a command.
The good news our church is mainly military personnel and I don’t need to explain commands. We get it, however, if this was a church composed of mostly civilian or Air Force personnel, I’d have to explain the meaning behind a command.
Paul continues with “I will therefore.” The therefore connects this passage with the preceding verses in 1 Ti 2:1-7.
In essence, “God wants all people to come to a knowledge of the truth, therefore pray everywhere.”
Now the question arises, “Who should do the praying in public worship?”
Paul proceeds to answer that anticipated question. He say, “I will therefore that men.”
This “men” carries a different meaning then of the men listed in previous verses to include:
1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
This “men” in 1 Tim 2.8 alludes to the fact of a man (adult male) compared to mankind (human beings) (male and female) in the other versus.
Paul instructs Timothy that the men should pray in public worship. The Greek word (andras, from aner) signifies “men, not women.”
Andrew Murray said:
1001 Illustrations that Connect Illustration 743: Personalizing God’s Will
God has no more precious gift to a church or an age than a man who lives as an embodiment of his will, and inspires those around him with the faith of what grace can do.
—Andrew Murray, Leadership
The point is men in the church at Ephesus needed to take the lead… the same truth applies to men in our age.
The early apostles believed men should be the leaders in the home, so they also commanded male leadership in the church.
As Paul shows later in this passage, the apostles did not feel this idea of male leadership was merely a matter of custom, but it was a matter of the proper order of creation.
Some commentators feel these instructions, as strong as they seem, are to be taken as a general principle and are not meant to place a total ban on women praying or speaking in the public worship services.
They point to Paul’s instructions, in 1 Corinthians, where he says:
4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
5 But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.
The emphasis here in Ephesus was on the men. Perhaps the men were not praying or abandoning their responsibility to pray.
Another point I find interesting in this context, is when Paul says “men,” he does not mean “the ordained men” or “pastors.” No, he was addressing the men in the congregation.
They were free to pray and participate in the public worship services.
When Paul says men should pray every where, he means “everywhere public worship services of the church met.”
This emphasizes both the different locations and circumstances where the early church met (homes, temple, synagogue, etc.), and the different cities and cultures where Christian churches existed.
Whatever the place, as long as there is public worship with a mixed audience, the principle of male leadership should be observed.
In addition to a command from Paul, we read of our need for cleanliness before God.
Cleanliness before God
Cleanliness before God
Before we look at this next portion, I would like for several of you to read the assigned verses. These verses relate to the various postures of prayer found in scripture.
People pray standing:
22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.
Hands spread out or lifted heavenward:
29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the Lord; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s.
Bowing the head:
48 And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter unto his son.
Lifting the eyes heavenward:
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,
Bowing with face between knees:
42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,
I appreciate you for reading these verses, the point is we get an understanding of the various postures of prayer.
Paul has spoken about the “who” specifically “men” and “where” particularly “every where” of public prayer. Paul now turns to the “how” this is “lifting up holy hands.”
One commentator mentions, “Paul’s choice of words probably points to one of the more common postures of prayer among Jewish and Christian men; however, we must be careful to avoid seeing that as his primary point.”
As we have just seen, the Bible gives enough variety of postures in prayer, from standing to bowing, to let us know any posture will do as long as it conveys a proper attitude for prayer.
We read Paul say, “lifting up holy hands,” not just “lifting up hands.”
Paul seems to be speaking about character more than posture. Hence, our cleanliness before God.
David asked, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place?”
Immediately David provides the answer, “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart” (Ps. 24:3, 4).
Thus, when men pray, they are to do so with spiritually unpolluted hands. This is another way of saying “an unpolluted life.”
It could be said, “pray with purity before God.” Hence, the emphasis here is not so much on posture but on purity.
All Christians need to ask the following question:
Is there a deliberate sin I’m holding onto in my life?
If so, confess it now and forsake it. Don’t play games with God. Be pure before Him.
We have a command from Paul, “I will therefore that men pray every where.” We see the need for cleanliness before God, “lifting up holy hands.” Now, let look at our standing or character with others.
Character with Others
Character with Others
Not only does Paul say that we should pray with cleanliness before God, but we must also pray with peace amongst others.
This is what it means to pray “without wrath and doubting.”
Ask yourself another question:
Is there anything in my life right now that is unreconciled with another brother or sister in Christ?
Is there anger, quarreling, or conflict? If so, make it right. Peace with God is artificial if there is not peace with others.
In studying for this, I came across an instance to demonstrate dealing with with anger:
In May 1987, thirty-nine American seamen were killed in the Persian Gulf when an Iraqi pilot hit their ship, the USS Stark, with a missile. The son of one of these seamen, John Kiser, age five, stood with his hand on his heart as his father’s coffin was loaded onto a plane to go to the United States.
“I don’t have to mourn or wear black, because I know my husband is in heaven,” John’s mother said to reporters. “I am happy, because I know he is better off.”
Later she and John sent a letter and an Arabic New Testament to the pilot of the Iraqi plane, addressed to “the man who attacked the Stark, Dad’s ship, in the hope that it will show that even the son and the wife do not hold any grudge and are at the same time praying for the one who took the life of our father.”
This wife and son had every reason, humanly speaking to be upset and resentful toward this Iraqi pilot but they made a choice to forgive. They turned a tragedy into a triumph for the gospel.
Here it is, Paul was addressing a church that had problem. Clearly, there were false teachers and all kinds of disputes in the Ephesian church. The situation was apparently contributing to an attitude and conflict among believers (1 Ti 1:4; 1 Ti 6:4-5).
To combat contention, Paul essentially said, don’t pray before God when you are not right with your brother. We are reminded of Jesus‘ words.
23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
The “wrath” in this verse conveys the idea of anger, rage, or a state of fury.
It seems certain the “wrath” means anger toward others.
We read in:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Paul drove home this point concerning our character with others. He did not stop with wrath but continues, “without wrath and doubting.”
“Doubting” suggests we must pray in faith, but as we look at the Greek meaning, the word means “disputing or argument.”
When we have anger in the heart, we often have open disagreements with others.
Anger and an argumentative spirit go together. Such attitudes toward fellow men must be corrected before we can expect to get the ear of God in our prayers.
Christians, both in the church at Ephesus and in our age, should learn to disagree without being disagreeable.
With this verse, we have read a command from Paul, “I will therefore that men pray every where.” We have realized the need for cleanliness before God, “lifting up holy hands.” In closing, we have recognized the importance of our character with others, “without wrath and doubting.”
Closing
Closing
Sixteen words:
8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
This took a little longer than sixteen seconds.
But I trust it will be helpful. In the last two weeks, we have seen our need to pray…I can tell you this has impacted at least one person and he is standing up here!
Here is the truth I want everyone to leave with:
Maintain purity with God and a proper relationship with other believers.