Pray Everywhere
Notes
Transcript
Read: 1 Timothy 2:8
Read: 1 Timothy 2:8
This text while I will read it separate doesn’t stand alone:
8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
Remember this text doesn’t stand alone
Paul was calling Timothy and the church at Ephesus to pray and to worship in light of the following realities:
God’s desire for the salvation of all people (2:4),
God’s deserving of the worship of all people (2:5),
and Christ’s death for all people (2:6).
So we’ve already seen in chapter 2 who to pray for and what to pray for.
Now Paul is telling us who we need to be as we pray...
Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus (To Divisive Men in the Church (1 Timothy 2:8))
The point isn’t that men only should pray, but rather that everywhere the church of Jesus Christ exists there should be men who pray - Thomas C. Oden, First and Second Timothy and Titus, Interpretation, a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, KY: J. Knox Press, 1989), 91–92.
Lifting holy hands - this could include literally lifting the hands while you pray - but bodily postures in prayer are cultural and are not important. but it also has to do with holy living.
Paul is using the “outward sign for the inward reality, for our hands indicate a pure heart.”
Just as the Psalmist in Psalm 24:3-4
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, Nor sworn deceitfully.
6 I will wash mine hands in innocency: So will I compass thine altar, O Lord:
Wuest points out there are two conditions of holy hands in this text that are necessary for effectual prayer -
“Without wrath” - Freedom from irritation towards our fellow men.
“Without doubting” doubting means disputatious reasoning, skeptical questions or criticism. Prayer should be without the element of skeptical criticism whether of God’s character and dealings, or of the character and behavior of those for whom prayer is offered.
To summarize - Holiness, Love and Peace are indispensable to prayer.
The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus i. Men and Their Prayers (2:8)
whether we stand, sit, bow down, kneel or fall on our faces, and whether our hands are lifted, spread, folded, clasped, clapping or waving are matters of little consequence, although we may be inclined to agree with William Hendriksen that ‘the slouching position of the body, while one is supposed to be praying, is an abomination to the Lord’
Whatever our posture - wherever we are - our heart, our lives, our hands are to be holy.
8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.