A Clear Calling to Cry Out for America

1 Timothy 2:1–7 (ESV)

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,

for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,

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

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Introduction: Pastor J. Vernon McGee tells of a time when Many years ago a famous chaplain of the Senate was asked by a visitor, "Do you pray for the senators?" He replied, "No, I look at the senators, and then I pray for the country!"

Independence Day is upon us. I am grateful that we live in a nation that has afforded us the freedom to exercise our God-given rights to free speech and freedom of religion.

However, I believe we are living in times in which these liberties are coming under attack from within. We cannot assume that we will always be allowed to exercise these rights in the future. In fact, we are seeing efforts to silence free speech through political and cultural means.

This idea of cancel culture comes to mind. If you don’t agree with certain groups of people who are allegedly tolerant of other people’s ideas, then your voice is to be silenced by any means necessary.

Our constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” Yet we hear politicians exchange the words “Freedom of Religion” for “Freedom of Worship.” Words mean something. Even though these terms sound interchangeable, I assure you they are not. Freedom of worship means you have the right to express and practice your religion within the 4 walls of the church only.

I realize today that it can be difficult to pray for our leaders whenever they are expressing contempt for Good but we are told to pray, And this applies whether we have a benevolent administration or an oppressive administration.

Today, we are delving into the first letter of Paul to his son in the faith Timothy to examine what he says is the duty and calling of Christians to cry out to God for their nation.

Our First Priority (v. 1)

Paul wrote to Timothy and reminded him about his first priority - to pray for all people.

Illus. “To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees.” – Billy Graham

When Paul wrote these instructions to Timothy, he was addressing the fact that false teachers had infiltrated the church.

He was also living in a day in which the Roman Empire was beginning to decline. Soon, Jerusalem would be destroyed by Rome and the people would be scattered.

Paul wrote this letter in the mid 60s AD somewhere close to his second imprisonment and impending martyrdom. The persecution of Christians was ramping up under Nero and the church was experiencing it.

Paul could have instructed the church to go protest the conditions it saw in the culture, he could have instructed them to write to their political leaders a strongly worded letter, or he could have instructed them to withdraw from the culture and hope for the best.

NO, Paul said to PRAY for all people.

As we look at the conditions around us today, we see a lot of similarities.

Much false teaching has infiltrated the church today. Think about the prosperity gospel that says that if you name it and claim it, confess it and possess it, blab it and grab it that wealth and health can be yours. Also, easy-believism that says that if you just pray a prayer, you are guaranteed to go to heaven. No repentance. No heart change.

I don’t have to remind you about our political situation in our nation. Division and strife everywhere…sliding toward socialism and the loss of freedom. One thing you need to remember about politics and America…the left wing and the right are attached to the same bird.

And persecution is coming. Ever since the Roe vs. Wade was announced, the hostility level toward Christians has gone through the roof. The New York Times had an article the other day blaming Christianity for the gun culture that led to the epidemic of mass shootings.

Paul reminds us that prayer is our priority over anything else.

There are several reactions to the cultural situation around us.

We complain about it and do nothing.

We ignore it and hope it will get better.

Or we can drop to our knees and intercede on behalf of America.

Our Focal Point (vv. 2-3)

Paul now gives us a particular focal point to pray for…for Kings and all who are in high positions.

First of all, Kings…referring to a king or ruler who has sovereign authority over a people or nation.

What does scripture say about our duty to rulers.

Romans 13:1 ESV

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.

We have a duty to follow the leadership of the rulers that God has placed in authority over us UNLESS that ruler implements laws and regulations that are contrary to Gods word. Then we have a duty to peacefully resist.

Our greater duty to these rulers is prayer.

Now God didn’t say you had to like them to pray for them.

God didn’t even say you had to vote for them to pray for them.

And God didn’t even say they had to be in your political party to pray for them.

He said pray for them.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking and praying, especially in regards to our current leader. Psalm 109:8

Psalm 109:8 ESV

May his days be few; may another take his office!

I’m not going to touch that…I’ll let the Holy Spirit speak to you on that one.

I will tell you one way you can pray though...

Proverbs 21:1 ESV

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

So if that particular ruler, king, president, or whatever hold’s positions that are contrary to the word of God, then we need to pray that God directs their heart toward his way and not man’s way.

He writes that we should pray for all those in authority. I found this on the National Day of Prayer Website:

They say that there are seven centers of influence that we ought to pray for...

Government - federal, state, and local.

Military

Media

Business

Education

Church

Family

And it just so happens that there are 7 days in a week…what a coincidence!

Also, If you would like to know who the government leaders are, there is a Website for that: Pray1Tim2.org

Paul gives us the one of the reasons why we should pray for these leaders - that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life. he will give us the other reason in the next verse.

Illus. Albert Barnes in his commentary wrote about the peaceful and quiet life and if we pray for these in authority, “That their hearts may be so inclined to what is right that they may protect us in the enjoyment of religion, and that we may not be opposed or harassed by persecution.

Our Fervent Plea (v. 4)

Here is the most important way in which we should pray for these leaders...

1 Timothy 2:4 ESV

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

We ought to pray for their salvation.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

To pray and to witness is the Christian’s privilege because God has chosen to use us as the means by which He brings the message to the lost.

Now when it comes to prayer, I know some people might be tempted to say that prayer won’t do any good. We need to do something. Well, prayer IS doing something.

The sovereign God of the universe has chosen to work in response to the prayers of His people.

illus. “Prayer that all people may be reached with the gospel should pervade the life of the church.” ~ Stephen Cole

There is no one that is too far gone nor is there anyone that is too high up in authority in our government that does not need the grace of God.

No political leader should be excluded from our prayers for their salvation.

Think about the Emperor at the time…Nero

He killed both his mother and step-brother in order to remain in power.

He executed both Peter and Paul.

Early Christians considered him to be the first great persecutor.

This was the Emperor that used to set Christians on fire in his garden to provide light for his evening walk.

He played the fiddle while Rome burned…then he emptied the Roman treasury to rebuild his Palace.

Do you think he deserved salvation? NO, but do any of us deserve salvation? NO WE DON’T

That is why the grace of God is made available to us through Christ. Grace is when God bestows upon us that which we do not deserve.

Illus. “You have never met someone that you cannot or should not pray for.” ~ David Guzik

illus. I thought about this illustration by Pastor David Holwick: What is 750,000 miles long, reaches around the earth 30 times, and grows 20 miles longer each day?

Give up? Here's the answer: The line of people who are without Christ.

Our Freedom has been Provided (vv. 5-6)

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

What is a mediator? A Mediator is someone that intervenes between two parties that are at variance - that have differences - with the intent to reconcile them. A Go-between.

Jesus was uniquely qualified to be that mediator because he was fully God and fully man.

Isaiah 59:1–2 ESV

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Because of our sin, we are separated from God…in fact, in another place God called those who are unsaved his enemies.

But Christ is the one who willingly stepped in-between by going to the cross, taking the punishment that you and I deserved for our sins. When a person repents and believes the Gospel - God forgives them and gives them eternal life.

It says that Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all - he paid the price that was required to redeem lost humanity from sin.

The word ransom here is used in the sense of the prices paid to redeem a slave or prisoner.

And such a high price was paid!

1 Peter 1:18–19 ESV

knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Our freedom has been provided by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Now God desires all men to be saved, but not all men are saved. Why?

Christ’s death on the cross was sufficient to save whosoever will but he only saves whosoever will...

In other words only those who respond in faith will reap the benefits of his atonement. His death was sufficient for anyone, but only effective for those who repent and believe.

True freedom is knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. No enemy that we have ever faced as a nation is as great as the enemy of our own sin.

Sin keeps us in bondage and it ends with death…but Jesus came that we might have life.

John 8:36 ESV

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

And never let us think that God can’t the most vile and evil person from their sin. Paul is an example.

1 Timothy 1:12–17 ESV

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.