Keep the Goal in View

Introduction: We all have goals in our lives. Sometimes those goal involve winning a game like basketball.

More often than not, our goals are self-centered. I don’t mean that in an immediately negative way. We set goals around January which we forget by February.

But we want to lose weight, get a promotion, get out of debt, get married, save for our children’s college. I my case save for 3 weddings.

How often do our goals involve God. How often do our goals involve the church?

Sure we might set person goals for spending time in prayer and in God’s Word. Maybe we want to read the Bible in a year. But how often to our Goals involve the all of us. How often do your goals include the goals of the church.

Right now, North Hills ministries are in the process of planning for next year. Our ministries will make plans and goals. And then the budget will come out of those goals.

However, the achievement of those goals will require all of us.

To pray for the church.

To give generously.

To attend faithfully.

To serve humbly.

But also: Setting goals to invite people to church.

Setting goals for how often you will serve.

Setting goals for sharing your faith.

God has goals for His people and this world and we ought to do whatever it takes to play our part in achieving those goals.

Transition to the Text: Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:1-4. Paul’s words to Timothy were as a mentor to a young pastor. Timothy was charged with continuing Paul’s work in Ephesus. Timothy was young. He was probably around 40 years old. And he was tasked with leading the church to accomplish the goals of God. As a pastor there are so many things on which Timothy could focus His time. But Paul wanted him to focus on the main thing: the goal of the Christian life, regardless of if you are in full-time ministry or if you are in another role that God has called you to. Our goal is to lead people to Jesus.

So... Introduce:

Authentic Principle: Let us Put our Energy into Leading People to Jesus.

Read:

1 Timothy 2:1–4 ESV

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 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, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Authentic Principle: Let us Put our energy into Leading People to Jesus.

Transition: We all know that we need to share our faith. But I think we’ll be surprised where this starts. It doesn’t start with “just do it.” It starts with prayer.

1. Pray that Leaders don’t get in the way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2a)

Explanation: Paul tells Timothy that in the interest of the mission of the church, that he should begin with prayer. Now Paul admits that we should pray for all people, but he singles out an unlikely group of people. Paul specifically instructions Timothy (and us by extension) to pray for political and governmental leaders. There are four aspects to prayer:

(1) “Supplications” is a general word meaning a request or a petition and was used of petitions addressed both to men and God. Coming from a verb meaning “to lack,” it signifies prayer which springs from a sense of need. A conscious sense of need is essential to all effective praying.

(2) “Prayers” is distinctly a religious term in that it was used only of prayer to God. Although unrestricted as to its contents, it carries the thought of reverence in prayer. In public prayer irreverence in manner or content is inexcusable. Heartfelt reverence in public prayer is often sadly lacking.

(3) “Intercessions,” occurring only here and in 4:5 in the New Testament, suggests the thought of confidence in prayer. It does not have the limitation of being for others, as implied in our English term. It was used for a petition of any kind to a superior. It speaks of personal and confiding intercourse with God on the part of one qualified to approach Him. A life lived in fellowship with God gives confidence in prayer.

(4) The three previous words indicate the character of the praying while the word “thanksgivings” points out the spirit in which our prayers are to be offered. It is the spirit of gratitude for blessings already received and those yet to be received. It is the complement of all true prayer.

(Hiebert, 1 Timothy, 50)

Illustration: Now in our lives, we often do pray for our leaders. We pray that the people we like will win the election and the ones we don’t like will lose.

When our candidate is in office, we pray that they would stand strong and make decisions we agree with. When our candidate is not in office, we pray that that they would be defeated, indicted or maybe fall down the stairs.

But let’s think about the nature of what Paul was saying to Timothy. As hard as it is for Christians around the world today, it’s hard to imagine a harder time to be a Christian than in the time of Paul. The dominant empire in the world was distinctly anti-Christian to the point of rounding them up and killing them. A few years after this letter, Paul would be executed for preaching Christ.

Yet, still he called for prayers to be made on behalf those very bad leaders. Even for thanksgivings. For some of you, the idea of being thankful for some of our political leader makes you throw up in your mouth a little.

But we are called to pray for leaders even if we don’t particularly like them.

Application: Paul gives the why here as well? Why should we pray for our leaders? So that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

When the government is evil, Christians have to make a lot of noise standing firm for our responsibilities to God. A lot of it has to do with our rights. But not always.

Romans 13:1–7 ESV

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Part of leading a quiet life means that we allow ourselves to be subject to governing authorities.

Now we know this isn’t absolute as Paul refused to submit to them when they said “Don’t preach about Jesus?”

Or even the words of Peter when told not to preach about Jesus:

Acts 4:19 ESV

19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge,

Paul recognizes that the government will be a big obstacle to the Gospel if there is constant strife. So pray for them so that they don’t get in the way.

2. Be dignified in your own conduct. (1 Timothy 2:2b)

Explanation: Now what’s interesting is that the primary reason for praying for kings and for those in high positions is not immediately for their salvation (though that will be part of verse 3). But the governments can make it difficult for the church to do the job God has called it to.

So we pray that our leaders would stay out of the church. Because it is true that the good of the nation will be the good of the church and vice versa. And within 300 years, you might say that the churched, prayed the roman empire to become a Christian nation.

But the goal of every Christian, the goal of every church that prays is “that we may lead a quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

We don’t want the government to get in the way. We also don’t want to get in the way ourselves. So we must be dignified in our own conduct. The desired life of every believer can be characterized by:

1. Lead a peaceful and quiet life

2. Lead a godly life.

3. Be dignified in every way

But it starts with identifying the real enemy. Some of us have been falsely led to believe that the government or even the political leaders, not on our side, are the enemy. It’s hard to pray for people you think of as the enemy.

The enemy of the church has always been Satan who blinds the eyes of people. And the truth is that even even nations have been used by God for good purposes. God used Babylon to discipline Judah. The book of Daniel talks about how God used the nations of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greek and ultimately Rome to move history toward the birth of Jesus.

So what does this mean: it does not matter what political leader is in office or which party has the power. The truth is that often, as John Calvin wrote, “they who rule unjustly and incompetently have been raised up by him to punish the wickedness of the people.” Evil rulers are a judgment on the nation.

But they are also a reminder to Christians to not put our faith in people and getting down to the business of the gospel. By keeping our eye on the goal.

We keep our eye on the goal by leading a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. We take stands when we absolutely have to.

Illustration: Many in the church incorrectly believe that the way you change the world is through your vote. Thought I will say that Christians should vote their conscience. But it’s not entirely true that your vote changes the world because your vote can never change a heart. We can’t legislate Christianity. It’s been tried throughout history and always ends in disaster. As they say, nobody expects the spanish inquisition. The way you change the world is to recognize that you are a part of a kingdom that is not of this world.

That this city, state, country, and world are not our home. We live for something more. I love what Hebrews 11:13-16

Hebrews 11:13–16 ESV

13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

So on the one hand while our goal is to lead a dignified life, we must keep our future home in mind. Our true home.

Application: We must keep perspective. Everything we do or say, we have to ask the question, how is this building up the Church and making much of Jesus? On the other hand is what I am doing taking away from Jesus.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t do anything to make the world hate Jesus. Trust me, the world hates Jesus. At least they hate the real Jesus.

The one that calls people to repent of their sins. (Mark 1:15)

The one who elevates the thoughts of your mind to be equal with your actions. (Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28)

The one that says no one comes to God except through Him. (John 14:6)

The one that calls out hypocrisy and lifts up the lowly of society. (Matthew 6:1-4) People like to say, Jesus hated religion. He didn’t. Jesus hated hypocrisy. There is a big difference.

Also they hate the Jesus who came to divide the people into children of God and children of the devil.

Matthew 10:34–39 ESV

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Jesus provides enough that divides we don’t need to add to it with things that don’t matter.

3. Recognize that God wants other people to be saved.(1 Timothy 2:3-4)

Explanation: Finally Paul tells us that not only is our peaceful, quiet and dignified life a goal in itself, but it’s leading towards something important.

God desires all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Here we see that salvation is closely tied to knowing the truth.

We aren’t just saved in ignorance.

Now first it’s true that God does desire all people to to be saved. Even kings and rulers in high positions.

And this is really the main goal of the church and Christians to see to it that as many people as possible hear the gospel and respond as possible.

And sadly the 2 greatest barriers to overcome are persecution from the government and ourselves. And let’s face it, the biggest obstacle is not the government, but us.

The second aspect of helping people be saved is the truth.

The truth that we must believe in order to be saved is contained in the next verse.

1 Timothy 2:5–6 ESV

5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Contrary to what is being put forth by many today, there are certain things that you have to believe in order to be saved.

And it is more than just believing in Jesus. It’s about what you believe about Jesus.

Illustration: It’s kind of like in sports, where you don’t win unless you compete according to the rules.

There are not many beliefs that you have to believe in order to be saved, but you certainly can’t believe whatever you want.

Paul gives us 2: 1. You have to believe the truth about God. 2. You have to believe the truth about the gospel.

Now there are some other things that Christians believe, but if you get God right, the rest seem to fall into place.

The other core beliefs of the Christian faith are contained in the creeds that unite all of Christianity.

So part of having the goal in view means that we know which hills are worth dying on. It also means that we unapologetically tell the truth about God and the gospel.

Application: We need to know what we believe. We need to know that God desires every one to be saved: including people we may see as enemies.

And then we need that all of us must see this goal of people hearing and responding to Jesus. And we must see our part in making that happen.

Response: Are you working toward’s God’s goal?

Summation:

Authentic Principle: Let us Put our Effort into Leading People to Jesus.

1. Pray that Leaders don’t get in the way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2a)

2. Be dignified in your own conduct. (1 Timothy 2:2b)

3. Recognize that God wants other people to be saved.(1 Timothy 2:3-4)

Closing Illustration:

In any sport, you have to look at the goal. In basketball, you certainly don’t want to focus on the ball.

Even in other areas of life, where you put your eyes is incredibly important. If you are playing guitar, you look at the next note, not your fingers.

In the beginning of any project be it at work or school, you start with a vision of the desired outcome.

For the Christian, our desired outcome is that the entire world would come to know Jesus.

We envision the fulfillment of Jesus’ command in Matthew 28:19-20

Matthew 28:19–20 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We envision that the answer to the Lord’s prayer when we ask that God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

And we ask, what part do I play in making this happen.

It starts with our own understanding of God and the Gospel. Have we embraced the love of a savior who gave His life a ransom for us?

Are we unapologetic in our convictions? And in telling others the truth even when it’s unpopular.

And then we turn our focus to prayer. We certainly pray that people would be saved, but we pray that the government does not get in the way. We pray that the our own lives would be characterized by by peace, quiet, godliness and dignity.

And then we must play our part in achieving the goal as we work together.

Let’s pray.

Week 31 of 2021-2022 Sermon Series: Team Church: Keep the Goal in View

Authentic Principle: Let us Put our EFFORT into Leading People to JESUS.

1. Pray that POLITICS don’t get in the way. (1 Timothy 2:1-2a)

2. Be DIGNIFIED in your own CONDUCT. (1 Timothy 2:2b)

3. RECOGNIZE that God wants other people to be SAVED.(1 Timothy 2:3-4)

Response: Are you WORKING toward’s God’s GOAL?

Opening Discussion: How much do you think about the primary goal (or mission) of the church? How much do you think about the part that you play in that?

Sermon:

When thinking about the goal of the church, what is Paul’s first step? Why is this so important?

What are the four keys of prayer for Paul in this passage?

Why does Paul say to pray for “kings and all who are in high positions?” How will this help the church?

According to Paul, what should the aim be of every Christian?

What is God’s desire for all people? How do we reconcile this with the fact that it doesn’t happen that way?

Why is knowledge of the truth so integral to salvation? Where do we find our truth about God and ourselves?

Application:

How are you praying for our political leaders at the local, state, and national level?

How can you use Paul’s four aspects of prayer to pray for leaders?

How can you lead a “peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way?” How does this compare to the way the world says we should live?

If it is God’s desire that all people be saved, what are you doing to help that become a reality?

How will you pray for people who need to come to know Jesus?